Using the Quran for healing

This is going to be a personal story. I use this blog to write about things that don’t belong in the Islamic Learning Materials website. I bear witness that everything I mention after this is the truth to the best of my knowledge.

My youngest son is named Ishaaq. He was born in 2006. When he was about a month old, my wife and I noticed he had a strange patch on his right cheek. Over the next few months that patch continued to spread and spread. It festered and broke out into a horrible case of eczema. By the time he was six months, his entire body was literally covered in this tortuous rash.

Of course we took him to a doctor. The doctor prescribed a hydrocortizone cream that used a steroid as its active ingredient. We were reluctant to use it on such a young child but we did anyway. The cream eased the itching my son suffered from and cleared up his face for a little while. But it was only temporary and we knew it was only hiding the symptoms.

We had Ishaaq’s blood tested and found out he had mutlitple allergies. He was allergic to dairy, soy, wheat, peanuts, and eggs. It was difficult, but we had to change our entire lifestyle around. No more PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) sandwiches. We started eating a lot of rice and chicken. As Ishaaq grew older, it became very difficult finding appropriate food for him. The hardest thing of all was that since my wife was nursing him, and the doctor said mother’s milk has lactose, she decided to ween him much earlier than we did for any of our other children.

Well, none of these measures helped. Ishaaq’s skin continued to break out and stay in a perpetual state of rash. As he grew older he learned to scratch, and the itch seemed to drive him crazy. He would cry and tear up his face because he was scratching so hard. We tried cutting his fingernails and putting socks on his hands. Those measures helped a little bit, but none of it was enough.

When the medical treatments didn’t work, we turned towards “alternative” or “natural” treatments. We went to a naturist (I don’t know what else to call her) and she used some crazy device to find out what he was allergic to. She suggested we buy a bunch of her remedies (totalling over $200) in order to stop the problem. We declined.

We went to another guy who was actually well known. He used a special device to remove “negative energy” from people suffering allergies. We tried him for a while, but it didn’t seem to help much.

We tried another “natural” doctor, a Muslim one. He suggested we purchase certain medicines for Ishaaq. We tried to follow through, but he isn’t from Atlanta. Eventually, we couldn’t complete his treatment.

We went back to Ishaaq’s original doctor, the REAL doctor. He gave us a stronger dose of hydrocortizone. It muted the symptoms a little, but not much. Ishaaq still scratched himself silly and tore up his face.

We finally decided to use our last resort which should have been our first resort. We turned to Allah and His Quran.

I’m going to deliberately leave out some information at this point, because I’m still watching how Ishaaq develops. Inshallah, I’ll fill you in later with these other details, but right now I can’t go into them just yet. I’m going to tell you the treatment I used and the results.

Near the end of Ramadan, I bought a bottle of black seed oil. I then started reciting Quran over Ishaaq every morning with the bottle of black seed oil open in one hand and the Quran in the other. I would do this right after Salaatul Fajr while Ishaaq was still asleep. I started with Suratul Fatiha and then read all of Suratul Baqarah. I didn’t do this all in one day of course. I would usually just read a fourth of a juz every morning.

After reading, I would blow over Ishaaq’s face, put some of the oil in my hand and rub it into his face. He’d squirm around and sometimes he’d wake up crying. But it never seemed to cause him any serious problems.

It is now October 30, 2008 about a month after Ramadhan ended. Ishaaq’s face is completely clear and has been so for almost three weeks. I haven’t stopped reciting Quran over him. Ishallah, so long as Allah allows me to, I will recite it over him every day of his life until he can do so himself. And if I’m not available, Inshallah my wife will do it.

I don’t know what to say brothers and sisters. My son just turned two years old and this is the first time in his entire life that his face has been completely clear of the rash and eczema for this long. You don’t know how amazing it is to see my son’s clear and beautiful face. I’m almost about to cry just writing about it.

I’ve posted a couple of picturs below so you can see the before and after. The before picture is actually Ishaaq on one of his better days. Believe, he’s had outbreaks far worse than what you see here. In the after picture, you can still see a few scars on his face, but they should fade with time, Inshallah.

Before starting the Quran treatment

Above, you can see the rash around his upper lip and on his cheeks and forehead. Like I said, this was not the worst instant.

Here’s Ishaaq today, Alhamdulillah. His face still shows some of the scars and there are a few red spots that haven’t completely disappeared yet. But believe me, the medicine of the Quran has worked better than anything we’ve tried so far.

After Quran treatment

I bear witness that Allah, may He be praised and glorified, has sent us a magnificent Truth.

La ilaaha illa Allah, wa Muhammadan Rasulullah.

Leave as many comments and questions as you’d like. This is one of the greatest miracles I’ve ever witnessed.

Islam and Art

If you read my About the Author page at the top, you’ll find out a lot about me. You can also visit the main website Islamic Learnng Materials and learn some things about me as well. What you’ll find out is that I’m a bit of an artist. I don’t know why I say it like that, but I do.

I’ve always lived trying to balance two very important parts of my life. One part is my life as a Muslim, the one that wants paradise, that’s scared of hellfire, that fears and loves Allah, that reveres Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions (ra).

The other part is my life as an artist. The part that likes to write fiction and draw cartoons and build websites. I know there’s nothing wrong with the website part, but I’ve only recently discovered that new desire. I like writing fiction, short stories, novels, and scripts. Not too big on poetry. And I also like to draw. I’m not the best artist in the world, but I think I’m pretty decent.

I’ve tried to use my talents in an Islamic manner. I created a series of children’s books for Muslims based after my eldest son Ibrahim. The books have sold well, when I actually put them on display. But of course, there are those that tell me I shouldn’t be doing any of this.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinions. And actually, I’m well aware of the hadith that forbid the creating of pictures. At the same time, I’ve heard of rulings that allow drawing for Islamic purposes, and some that say that hadith only referred to creating statues.

I don’t know. It’s difficult. Many of these people also say using cameras to photograph individuals is also haram. In the end, I wind up stuck. I love writing and drawing too much to completely leave it alone.  Yet, I fear the punishment of Allah too much to fully develop my talents. So I remain mediocre at best.

Anyway, here are a few pages from the books I’ve published with Abu-Ibo LLC. Go here if you’re interested in purchasing any (US, Canada, and UK).

And please leave comments if you have anything to add to this discussion.

From

From

From

To Madhhab or Not to Madhhab – The Islamic Schools of Thought

Assalaamu Alaikum.

First, I want to let everyone know that I’ve started adding video to my main website, Islamic Learning Materials. I plan to add some videos here as well, but I’m still trying to figure out how best to do it. Basically, I don’t want to put the same videos here that are on the website. So I have to decide which types of videos I’ll put here, Inshallah.

What I want to talk about today are the Islamic Schools of Thought, aka Madh-hab. As I’m sure most of you know, there are four dominant Madhahib (plural of Madhhab) practiced throughout the Muslim world. These are the Schools of Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi’i, and Imam Hanbali.

There used to be many more Madhahib, but these are the ones that have withstood the test of time. Without getting into too much detail, these Schools of Thought were started by their respective teachers (all of whom were born within the first 3 generations of Islam). The Imams that founded the school used different methodologies and methods to come up with their rulings, fatawa and practices. The committed and vigilant and dynamic students of these teachers were the ones responsible for spreading the Schools of Thought. The schools that had committed students lived on while those that did not, eventually died out.

Today, the four remaining schools of thought are pretty much settled in specific areas of the Muslim world. Imam Malik’s school has taken root in West Africa. Imam Abu Hanifa’s school is dominant in the Asian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan). Imam Shafi is followed in East Africa and Southeast Asia. Imam Hanbali is primarily in the Arabian Peninsula.

Alhamdulillah, I’ve had the opportunity to study under two different Madhahib. I’ve studied with Maliki teachers in Senegal, West Africa. And I’ve studied under Hanifi teachers in Trinidad, West Indies.

I’ve often heard people state that Muslims must choose a school of thought. The reasoning, at least according to one person I’ve spoken to, is that we don’t have the ability and knowledge to read the Quran and Hadith and study the lives of the Sahabah and Righteous predecessors that’s necessary to come up with our own rulings.

I totally agree with that. I’m sure there are some Muslim scholars out there that can, but the vast majority of Muslims (myself included) cannot. We need to follow the teachings of those that came before us.

But why must we follow a specific School of Thought? What if I decided to follow Imam Abu Hanifa but found out there was an alternative view according to Imam Malik that had more evidence? Am to just ignore what Imam Malik says and blindly follow Imam Abu Hanifa? That would be very foolish of me.

And the irony is, just about every major scholar I’ve ever heard of, no matter which madhhab they follow, uses the evidence of ALL FOUR Schools of Thought when formulating a decision! So if the scholars use good judgement and compare evidence of all the Schools, why can’t we laymen?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those guys that says you shouldn’t follow any School of Thought. If a person decides to follow a particular Madhhab, and they feel comfortable with the information and knowledge they’ve gained from it, hey, more power to them. But I think it’s wrong to state that one must, ie it’s mandatory, to follow one, specific, School of Thought.

I think I understand why I feel this way. Here in the United States where I live and grown up, Islam sprouted up with very little attachment to other countries or cultures. Just about every Muslim country in the world has a population that predominantly follows one School of Thought. But Islam did not come to America through any particular group or from any specific ethnicity, therefore there is no one dominant Madhhab.

Consider this. As I mentioned, I studied Islam in Trinidad and Tobaga at Darul Uloom. After Britain abolished slavery in her colonies in the 19th centure, Indian indentured servants were brought to Trinidad to work the sugar plantations. These Indian indentures servants were predominantly Hindu and Muslim. As I mentioned earlier, Imam Abu Hanifa is the major school of thought in the Indian subcontinent. Hence, most of the Muslims in Trinidad today follow the Imam Abu Hanifa.

But Islam did not come to America in such a manner. Immigrants from SEVERAL different Muslim contries came here, bringing all four schools of thought. And the largest single group of Muslims, ethnically speaking, are African-American Muslims. And most of these Muslims converted to Islam from Christianity (like my parents). They did not come to Islam because of any particular Madhhab. They just became Muslim because they saw it was the truth. Hence, most African-American Muslim families don’t follow any particular School of Thought.

Now, i don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. Perhaps if there was an established School of Thought amongst Muslim Americans, there would be more unity, less infighting, and a higher level of knowledge. I don’t disagree that following one of the Madhhab is certainly beneficial.

I just don’t think it’s mandatory.

And Allah knows best.

Muslim Men and Marriage

I’m starting to notice an odd trend.

Whether you know it or not, I run the website Islamic Learning Materials, hence the name of this blog. They were supposed to compliment each other, but in reality, I just write whatever I want on the blog, while the website is strictly…Islamic learning stuff.

To keep up with the happenings of the Muslim world, at least the one in cyberspace, I’ve bookmarked and followed several blogs. You can see some of them on the side there, but that’s only a small portion.

I’ve noticed that a lot of these blogs are run by Muslim women and a lot of them are about marriage. I’ve always known there are usually more women than men in most populations, simply due to common traits found in men. (Men are more violent, commit more crimes, go off to war, die earlier, so there just aren’t as many of us around). I talk about this more on my Marriage in Islam page on the website. Yes, shameless plug.

My question though is: Where are the men? Why are we doing more talk about marriage? What the hell is wrong with us these days?

And here’s what really hurts. The plain, ugly truth. There are very few available African-American Muslim men. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with Muslims marrying outside their race. But I’m no fool either. Usually people want what they are comfortable with and what they grew up with. However, if anyone finds Mr. or Mrs. Right and they’re of another race, but still practicing Islam, then I say go for it.

I wonder why aren’t there more available Black Muslim men? Well, I know some of the causes.

Quite frankly, Black Muslims still face the same struggles that Black Christians in this country. I’m not blaming racism, because I don’t think that’s the cause. I’m blaming poor guidance, poor examples, poor leadership. And mostly, a lack of fathers to set the example.

Inshallah, I’m going to talk about this more in the coming days. This is something I’d really like to explore further.

Until next time.

Riba. Usury. Interest.

I can’t believe this is happening.

Let me take that back. I can believe it’s happening, but I’m just astonished that it really is happening.

It seems like the entire system that we knew and trusted for so long is falling apart before our very eyes. The British, the Japanese, the Russians, and even the “terrorists” (more on that later, Inshallah) couldn’t do what good ol’ American greed did.

The U.S. economy is collapsing. People are scared. We’ve gone past just thinking recession. A lot of folks are talking about DEPRESSION now.

And it’s all because of greed and Riba. It’s all because people want to make money from nothing. People want to lend $100 and get $125 back. That type of system can’t last forever. Eventually, there has to be a correction. And now we’re seeing it.

Do I want this to happen? No. Of course not. I live in this country and it’s downfall will certainly have negative impact on me and my family. So this does me no good. I’m not gloating. Instead, I’m actually a little worried.

Okay. Maybe more than just “a little worried.”

Can Obama fix this mess? I doubt it. He believes in the system so he’ll propogate it also. But I think he’ll do more to help than to hurt.

America…this is your chance. It’s not too late to change course. It’s not too late to correct the economy before it corrects itself.

America. You must leave Riba, usury, and interest alone. You must learn to make money and profit honestly. You must loan money to help people, not profit from them. You must learn to diversify your economy. We cannot survive on “services”, “financial institutions” and “warfare.” Really, does America export anything else to the world.

It’s not too late America.

And finally. Please…please….read up on what Allah says about riba, interest and usury in the Quran.

Read Chapter 2 of the Quran (Koran) verses 275-276. I’ll make it easy on you. I’ll just post it below.

Those who eat Ribâ (usury) will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection) except like the standing of a person beaten by Shaitân (Satan) leading him to insanity. That is because they say: “Trading is only like Ribâ (usury),” whereas Allâh has permitted trading and forbidden Ribâ (usury). So whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and stops eating Ribâ (usury) shall not be punished for the past; his case is for Allâh (to judge); but whoever returns [to Ribâ (usury)], such are the dwellers of the Fire – they will abide therein.