The Saudi government has finally announced that Hajj will be closed to international hujjaj this year due to Covid-19. This is the dreaded announcement by millions of Muslims who have planned and saved for years to perform the fifth pillar of Islam. Our hearts may be saddened, but we should never lose hope in Allah. We are not the firs...

Isteri saya antara pelajar terbaik SPM 2000. Beliau dapat 10A1. Beliau antara pelajar terbaik UIA 2006 - CGPA 3.9. Sepanjang di uni beliau bukanlah seorang ulat buku sehingga tidak ada aktiviti lain. Malah pernah dua kali membentangkan kertas kerja di United Nation berkenaan hak kanak2, sekali di New York dan sekali di Italy. Beliau ju...

Sakeenah: Imagine if we really had to pray 50 times a day. What would Allah name them? Sumayyah: We wouldn’t even have the time to pray all of them. Sakeenah: And Ayah (dad) will have to make a song just for us to remember all the prayer names. #randomthingskidsays #randomthoughtsbeforesleep Azizi Khalid Making Islamic education fun at...

Sakeenah: Mama, why do you need to go out on dates with Ayah? Mama: Because we are a couple that love each other. It is important that sometimes we go out, just us, to celebrate our love. The stronger we love each other, the better it is for the family. — When we become parents, it is important that we do not forget to work on our rela...

Last Saturday, we continued our reading of Surah al-Muzzammil with the Quran 3 students at Qaswa. I had my cup of McCafe coffee from lunch with me. Student 1: Do you like Maccas (McDonald's)? Me: Not really. But Maccas is the closest cafe for coffee. So one of the teachers went to get some coffee for all of us since Qaswa Kitchen is no...

In Imam al-Ghazali's fantastic book, The Forty Foundations of the Religion, he divided the forty foundations into four chapters. The first chapter relates to matters of Belief, the second matters of Practice, and the last two chapters are about the diseases and beautification of the heart. Each chapter contains ten foundations. When it...

Last week we were discussing Surah al-Muzzammil with some of our more advance Quran students at Qaswa. We divide our Quran classes into three levels; reading, reading with tajweed and reading with meaning. For the third level, I take the students through the Quran based on the order of revelation to allow them to see the historical sig...

In one of my talks at a youth event, I was asked about the best form of dhikr to work on our spirituality. First of all, I am not qualified to have an opinion on this. I will just relay of practices that have been passed down to me by my teachers. When I asked for Sheikh Abdul Latif al-Farfour al-Hasani of Damascus for wird (daily dhik...

If you are like me, my Quran reading drops significantly post Ramadan. Of course, we are not expected to connect on the same intensity after the blessed month; we should not forget the Quran altogether. At the very least, let’s aim to do another khatm of the Quran before next Ramadan. It’s not that hard, really. There are 604 pages in ...

For Muslim parents living in Western countries, we must put in the effort to make Eid a special day for our children. When Rasulullah migrated to Madinah, the people of Madinah had two days of celebration that was tied to their pagan beliefs. Islam came and replaced those two days with the two Eids. On that day, there was music, dance,...

Tahun 1999 - pertama kali saya berpeluang duduk bersama para ulama’ dari Hadhramaut, Yaman. Ketika itu Habib Umar bin Hafiz datang berziarah ke Mesir. Antara tokoh muda yang turut serta bersama Habib Umar ialah Habib Ali al-Jufri. Alhamdulillah, dalam kesibukan jadual mereka, Habib Ali sudi meluangkan masa untuk sesi khas bersama beber...

Peace be upon all of you. I begin by praising Allah, God of the universe, God of Adam, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, and all the prophets in between them. Peace and salutations to all of the prophets and those who follow their true path until the end of time. Today is the 9th of Ramadan. Since nine days ago, Muslims around the globe, about 2...

This is Sumayyah. Our firstborn. She is eleven years old. This Ramadan marks her second anniversary wearing a hijab. I think that is one of the hardest things to do as a Muslim living in a non-Muslim land. It makes you different. Stand out in the crowd, especially if you are the only one wearing it at school. While most people in Austr...

This is Sakeenah. Our second daughter. She is six years old. She really wants to fast this Ramadan. She thinks she is ready. However, in our family, we have a rule where a child can only start fasting once the child prays the five daily prayers regularly. You are not allowed to fast until you get your prayers in order. Sumayyah, our fi...

Q: Azizi, how do I get my child to want to memorise the Quran? A: Are you memorising Quran with your child? Q: Am I not too old to memorise the Quran? A: Is there a time limit to get connected to the Quran? Many parents would love to have their children memorise the entire Quran. But are they memorising the Book themselves? And then th...

“Azizi, kau selalu pergi camping tu tak ada ke jumpa ‘apa-apa’ ke?” tanya seorang sahabat. “Azizi, kau masuk hutan bawa anak-anak tu dia orang tak takut ke? Tak kena ganggu ke?” tanya seorang sahabat yang lain pula. Saya sering menerima pertanyaan-pertanyaan seperti ini berkenaan hobi kami sekeluarga yang sering masuk hutan. Berbeza de...

"Azizi, why did God create religion? The way I see it, religion makes life difficult and complicated. There are so many rules; if you do this, you go to hell; if you don't do that, you go to hell. It is as if God is just setting traps for us to fall so that He can throw us into the Fire," asked a young gentleman in one of my talks with...

"Azizi, what do you think about Sheikh Nasiruddin al-Albani?" I get this kind of question quite often. What do you think about this sheikh vs this sheikh. First and foremost, Sheikh Al-Albani is a hadith scholar who has done great works in modern hadith scholarship. "But, Sheikh Al-Ghummari and Sheikh Al-Buti said this and that about h...

"Azizi, I've attended a lot of Islamic lectures in my life. And now, with YouTube, I've watched hundreds of hours, maybe more, of Islamic talks from different scholars. I found that they are repetitive. I've lost the interest to go to Islamic lessons," said a gentleman to me one day. I don't think this problem is unique to that educate...

27 Rajab 1432H marks a hundred years of the fall of the last Islamic caliphate. On the 27th of Rajab 1332H, the Turkish republic removed the Office of the Caliph and abolished the highest Islamic political power that has been going on for 1,321 years. Although, at times, the office is more ceremonial than real authority, it was an offi...

First Law A grad student in procrastination tends to stay in procrastination unless external force is applied or better know as ‘Law of Inertia’. Second Law The age, a, of a doctoral process is directly proportional to the flexibility, f, given by the advisor and inversely proportional to to the student’s motivation, m. Mathematically,...

Islam moulded one of the most significant civilisation history has ever seen. Within a hundred years it spanned much of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. From the 7th century right until the 12th century, the Islamic world was the centre of the universe; from centres of learning to scientific advancement, to medicine to architecture t...

It was a difficult year for the Prophet. His primary protector, his uncle, a man who was more than just a father figure to him, had passed away. A few weeks later, his wife of twenty-five years, the first person to belief in him and his message passed away. He was rejected in Makkah, his hometown, and Taif, the next neighbouring city. ...

“The route of the Sufis leads to the same ending as the route of the scholars, and the route of the scholars leads to the same ending as that of the Sufis. The hardships the scholars encounter during their endeavours are the same hardships the Sufis face on their route. The Tariqah (Sufi order) is the same as the rules of the Religion ...

I was reading hadith no 23 of the Forty Hadith of Imam Nawawi today with the Indonesian brothers and sisters studying in Murdoch University. One of things that got me really mind blown was the way Rasulullah described prayers and patience. Solah is described as nur, and patience (sabr) dhiya’. Both essentially means light, but of diffe...

نعيب زماننا والعيب فينا وما لزماننا عيب سوانا ونهجو ذالزمان بغير ذنب ولو نطق الزمان لنا هجانا - الإمام الشافعيي We blame time though we are to blame No fault has time but only us We scold time that has no fault Had it a tongue, it would scold us - Imam as-Shafi'i

First. I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Purpose in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action. Second. I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical a...

Daughters, you are the keys to your fathers' paradise. Wives, you are half your husbands' religion. Mothers, paradise lies under your feet. Happy International Women's Day. Azizi Khalid Making Islamic education fun at Qaswa House

I was asked about madhhab and the need to study and follow one. My answer: Madhhab is here to make our lives easier. The objective of learning fiqh is to enable us to worship Allah. Madhhab simplifies the process. Scholars have over the 1400 years have analysed the sources of law and codified them into books of fiqh using the madhhab a...

Many youths come to my wife and me asking if we can help them find a partner to get married to. Usually, we will ask them why do they want to get married. In some cases, they say that their lives are lonely, they are unhappy, and they think only a spouse can make them happy. They envision a perfect life once they find the ideal partner...