Saturday, September 15, 2007

Developing patience and gratitude

Alhamdulillah, by the Grace of Allah, there are many circles of fiqh in Bradford. There can be little progress without a respect for the Law , that is, the Divine Command. And it is a part of our deen that we submit our bodies and egos to the prescriptions that Allah has placed upon us. We wish to add to this by providing a class as an introduction to the inner sciences – to the adab of the heart and we wish to do this through the works of one of this ummah’s greatest scholars: Imam Ghazali.

Imam Abu Hamid al Ghazali (d. 1111) is regarded as one of the greatest figures in Islamic scholarship. This is for several reasons and one of them is his book ‘Ihya Ulum ud-Din’ (the revival of the religious sciences). He wrote this book as a way of bringing life back to the practice of the deen. The book is divided into four quarters, and the first book of the first quarter is the book on knowledge in which he explicitly states the importance of keeping the heart alive through seeking knowledge and practicing the religion.

We will be providing classes in one of the books from the last quarter of the Ihya, the book on ‘Sabr and Shukr’ – the book on patience and gratitude. Shaykh Saad will be reading from the text and providing explanations where necessary. There are few circles in the Ihya in Britain as a whole. We invite you to attend to share in this great knowledge and reflect upon our condition.