Reflections after the Summer Stroll

Talk - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 24th June 2012 - 14mins 20secs

After this year's Summer Stroll fundraising event for the new Cambridge Mosque the Sheikh offered a few thoughts after spending some time in Cambridgeshire's countryside. He began by noting that iman, faith, is the entity that connects and binds us to Reality, as it involves the internalising and experiencing of the principle of Tawhid. Thus our becoming monotheists involves not only mental function but also the life of the heart. We have to allow the heart to see things, just as the Qur'an describes the heart as something that sees. This is how we heal the painful divide between the ghayb and shahada, what is hidden and what is seen. Engaging in nature is engaging in this effort, a wisdom the Qur'an sends for this time when we the world seems stuck in a solely positivistic viewing of the creation. This iman makes the Muslim at home anywhere, as he knows where he is going, where he has been and what the purpose of existence is. This, the Sheikh prposes, is one of the meanings of the Prophet's words, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, 'for me, the whole earth has been made a mosque, and made pure'. 

The image above is a scale model of the proposed Cambridge mosque revealed at a pre-planning exhibition on September 7th, 2011

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The Mawlid of Imam al-Barzanji

Mishkat Media has released a beautiful live recording of the celebrated Mawlid of Imam al-Barzanji. A classic of Islamic culture, it is a sung celebration of the birth and greatness of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

The recording was made in Cape Town at the annual Mawlid Jama’at at the Al-Zawiya mosque, under the direction of Shaykh Seraj Hendricks.

The performance is available on DVD, with full English subtitles of the Arabic recitation as well as several bonus features, including an explanation by Shaykh Seraj on ‘Understanding the Mawlid’. It is also available as an MP3 with the recitation of the mawlid only.

Like all Mishkat Media products, all profits go to the Cambridge New Mosque Project!

Travelling Light Series III MP3s - 10% Off

Series III of Travelling Light with Shaykh Seraj Hendricks is out now as downloadable MP3s - a perfect alternative to the surrounding seasonal excesses. As a special introductory offer, there is 10% off until 1 January 2011 when buying the complete series.

Shaykh Seraj studied at the Al-Zawiya mosque in Cape Town, and then at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca. He was Chair of the Fatwa Committee of Cape Town, and is currently Imam of the Al-Zawiya mosque, where he regularly teaches the works of Imam al-Ghazali.

In Series III, he covers Books 13-16 of The Revival of The Religious Sciences, which are: The Courtesies of Earning a Living; The Halal & the Haram; Friendship, Brotherhood & Companionship; and The Courtesies of Seclusion.

As always, every penny of profit goes to support the Cambridge New Mosque Project, so please spread the word as far as possible and encourage your friends and family to buy!

Love For Others

TRANSCRIPTION PENDING

All the videos from the Travelling Light webinar are now available online - just in time for Eid! There are beautiful reminders and uplifting lessons from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Mohammed Magid, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Shaykh Muhammad Ninowy and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

You can watch all of them on the Cambridge Mosque Is Moving channel on Vimeo, but in the meantime Shaykh Abdal Hakim's video is embedded here. His talk on loving others provides a wonderful message to take away from Ramadan as the hustle and bustle of everyday life reclaims us again.

Sorry for the relative lack of posts over the summer, but we will try our best to bring you more excellent talks very soon. In the meantime, please keep praying for all of us in Cambridge, spread the word about the Cambridge New Mosque Project, and may you all have a blessed and enjoyable Eid.

Ramadan Travelogue

A series of reflections on Ramadan - updated daily!

This Ramadan Shaykh Abdal Hakim will be sharing with us an exclusive Ramadan Travelogue in order to mark the countdown to The Cambridge New Mosque Project Ramadan Appeal. A new installment will be posted everyday at http://www.cambridgemosqueismoving.org.uk/ramadantravelogue.html

As a taster we've included the first of Shaykh Abdal Hakim's offerings below:

Metabolically and internally, Ramadan knocks the stuffing out of us. Like all the basic practices of our religion, it is an idea as simple as it is shattering. The body and spirit respond at their deepest level. The ego squeals with pain. To the extent that we are still babies, we cry and cry.

There are some elemental human experiences where the body, detecting its limits, transforms the spirit. Making love, famously, is one example. But there are others. Once, walking in the Alps, I passed a lake as blue as cobalt, formed from the meltwater of a glacier which towered over it. No-one was in sight, so I stripped off and ran straight in. The shock of that freezing water around me was staggering, and I could feel my heart straining. Coming out, shivering uncontrollably, I felt like a king. All of life seemed to be shivering around me, and the world seemed to have become strangely sharp and bright.

The experience of being born must be similar. From a comfort zone we experience the pain of delivery, and the outrage of new existence in an external world of bright lights and strange sounds. The baby screams, but its pain is its first experience of true life. Spiritually, it has begun its career.

The fast blasts us, and exhausts us. We feel the laughable flab melting away, and start to remember the important fact that we are alive. Life is a symbiosis between our bodies and the world. We are alive when we feel that interaction and dependency at work.

On August 30, 2010 (21st night of Ramadan) join the Cambridge New Mosque Project at http://www.cambridgemosqueismoving.org.uk/fundraising/ramadanappeal.html and Channel S at www.chsuk.tv as they team up for a LIVE APPEAL in support of the first purpose built mosque in Cambridge and the first eco-friendly mosque in Europe (http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/07/eco-mosque-england/). Our goal this Ramadan is simple: One night. One million. In order to reach this we need you! If you have gained benefit from this post then please commit to support The Cambridge New Mosque Project (http://www.cambridgemosqueismoving.org.uk/fundraising/ramadanappeal.html), and please remember us in your prayers.

Healthy Hearts, Healthy Communities

Mishkat Media & SeekersGuidance present ‘Healthy Hearts, Healthy Communities: the life and teachings of Imam al-Ghazali in the modern world’, a webinar in aid of Cambridge New Mosque Project.

The exclusive broadcast will feature a special message from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, a talk and LIVE Q & A with Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, and talks by Shaykh Yahya Rhodus and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

The webinar will be broadcast inshaAllah on Saturday August 7th at 2pm EST / 8pm BST (7pm GMT).

Places to view the webinar are strictly limited and are by registration only. Registration is FREE but donations for the mosque project are welcome!

Everyone who registers will also receive a discount code for 20% off all Mishkat Media products for a limited time. All profits from Mishkat Media go to the Cambridge New Mosque Project.

REGISTER HERE

Travelling Light MP3s & Website

Travelling Light has a new look website with new content too. As well as being able to get Travelling Light lectures in MP3 format for the first time, you can also hear and download more of the beautiful nasheeds from the three series so far.

As most of you may know, Travelling Light aims to spread the timeless wisdom of Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din, bringing it alive for today by the teaching of leading scholars. As always, all profits from the project go to help build the new Cambridge mosque.

The site will be regularly updated with more talks and nasheeds inshaAllah, including the exclusive new Heart Surgeon series featuring Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Shaykh Ibrahim Osi-Efa and Shaykh Idris Watts. And of course, news of the next series will be here first.

So check out the site and please, please spread the word! You can join the Facebook group if you are so inclined.

May Allah reward you for each friend you tell who buys or donates for the mosque, or who simply benefits from the blessed work of Imam al-Ghazali or any aspect of the Travelling Light project. Please keep praying for the success of the mosque project!

An Appeal From Cambridge

As-salaam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuh.

As you all may know, we are raising money here in Cambridge to build the first purpose built mosque in this historic and prestigious city, which will accommodate the rapidly growing community here. Thanks to Allah, we have the land and we have a design for a beautiful and inspirational building. Now we reaching the stage of construction, and we need YOUR help to raise the necessary funds.

Historically, wherever Muslims have travelled, Islam has become embedded in the spiritual and cultural life of the local society. Whether the Muslims became the majority or not, the message they were blessed to bear ennobled and enlightened each place. For that to happen in the UK, we need mosques in towns like Cambridge and to support leaders like Sheikh Abdal Hakim.

You can help in at least these three ways:

1) Donate - whatever you can give will help. You can donate by credit card, cheque, standing order or bank transfer, and Just Giving will be added soon inshaAllah. Can you spare even just £1 or $1.50 - not even the cost of a cup of coffee - for each download you have made or will make? If each of you donated just that much, we could raise tens of thousands of pounds.

2) Spread the word - about the mosque project and about this site. Please tell all your contacts about the free downloads they can get here and encourage them to donate. Just one minute writing an email may be rewarded inshaAllah!

3) Pray for the success of the project - inna Allah mujib al-da'wat, so please pray for the Muslims of Cambridge and for the success of the mosque building project.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said that, 'Whoever builds a mosque, desiring thereby Allah's pleasure, Allah builds for him the like of it in Paradise'. So please, for the sake of Allah and out of love for the religion of His Beloved and Final Messenger, help us in whatever way you can.

For those of you who have already donated or helped this project in any way, and to those who will in the future, thank you. May Allah reward you all and bless you.

The CKetc team

P.S. We've got more great content for the site coming up soon inshaAllah - inspirational khutbas and a MP3 of a talk from several years ago intriguingly entitled 'The Twilight of the Islamosaurs' - so check back soon!