AL HUDA

AL-HUDA NEWSLETTER FORTNIGHT PUBLICATION 26 TH JUN 2009 ISSUE 4

Important dates
Event Date

Current News
Tow Saudi Shaikhs visiting Dunedin next week
Shaikh Alghayth Abdulmajid and Shaikh Alhuqail lbrahim are from Saudi Arabia. They are currently in Christchurch giving

Soccer tourna- 5th July ment Foot Festival Brothers Camp Sisters Camp 16th July 18th July 18th July

lectures on Islamic topics. The two Shaikhs will be visiting Dunedin next Wednesday 1st of July. They will have a short series of lectures and talks during their visit. The first talk

Notices would be with Saudi brothers on Wednesday from Maghrib Newsletter

There will be no newsletter published on the 10 July due to the holiday period. The newletter publication will resume on the 24th of July.

prayer to Isha prayer. On the same night, 1st of July, after Isha there would be lecture for all brothers and sisters. We encourage all the brothers and sisters in Dunedin to participate and show our unity. The Shaikhs will be departing from

Soccer tournament
The soccer tournament will be held in Edgar Sport Centre. It is only one day tournament. Last day for entry is on the 1st of July. The game starts on the 5th of July at 9AM sharp will finish at 4PM. The winners of the tournament will be announced on the day. The games will be played in groups according to the number of teams.. For any further details contact Jonaid Alam: 021 134 7105

Dunedin the next day 2nd July. We wish them a happy journey and we hope that we will be able to get the most out of their visit and increase our knowledge of the Deen (Islamic knowledge).

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Letter from MUSA president

Assalamualikum WRB all, Welcome to MUSA 4th newsletter for this year. I pray to Allah that all exams went well, everybody is enjoying their vacations. Alhamdullilah, this year MUSA is up to a lot of activities, and we really need ALL help you (both brothers and sisters) can offer us. All suggestions and contributions are welcome by emailing me at: yasao@hotmail.com.

Lessons from his life for our life, Loyalty

From the depths of your heart, do you love the Prophets? Knowledge is power and the more we understand their lives, the more we will love them. Following the battle of Hunayn in which the tribe of Hawazin was defeated, Muslims gained large amounts of spoils (wealth from the enemy). The Prophet (pbuh) was informed that one of the people in the tribe of Hawazin was his brother from breastfeeding. The Prophet (pbuh) gathered his companions and to them he asked: Will you allow me to return their spoils to them?. With surprise they asked: Why O Prophet of Allah?!. As unexpectedly as he had asked, he replied: From them is my brother from breastfeeding. Do you remember him O Prophet of Allah? No I do not he replied. Then why? the companions enquired. Heart warningly the Prophet replied to them: as wafa (loyalty) to my mother Haleema. Some of the companions agreed to return the spoils whilst others did not. The Prophet (pbuh), respecting each persons right to free choice, took out a loan to buy back the spoils that were not returned to give back to the Hawazin tribe.

Preparations for Islam Awareness Month (IAM) are underway. This year, MUSA has decided to extend it annual Islam Awareness Week to Islam Awareness Month (IAM). It will not be as intense as IAW used to be. We are planning to have 2-3 activities per week, for the 4 weeks of July inshAllah. We are starting off by welcoming a couple of sheikhs from WAMY, who are having a New Zealand tour, and are coming down to Dunedin Masjid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shortly after that we have MUSA soccer tournament, at Edger Blair on Sunday, July 5th. I will make sure to put up the rest of the timetable on the notice boards we have in our Masjid.

Wafa or loyalty in the heart touching life of the Prophet (pbuh): What is Wafa? Its precise translation is dependent of the context in which it appears. The word in isolation and in its original interpretation is closely interpreted as loyalty.

Last week, MUSA was invited to attend a retreat organised by Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group (DAIG). DAIG was formed here in Dunedin in the aftermath of the events of September 11th 2001 out of spontaneous expressions of solidarity and goodwill between leaders of the three faiths: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, the police and the Dunedin City Council. DAIG exists to express a common heritage and concern, as people of faith in Dunedin. The retreat was organised so members of DIAG get to know each other better, as well as re-defining DIAGs purposes and goals.

Lets examine the core of society: family. Ask your heart: have you acknowledged the contribution your family has given you in order to enable you to reach the status you have now? What about in relation to your guardians, relatives and friends? What about societys contribution to you?

Lastly, I would like to remind all of us that this newsletter wants our contributions to keep running. Brother Hikmat is the one responsible for editing the newsletter, and would be so happy to publish your writings. Just email your article to his email: hikmatune@gmail.com. We are trying to establish an archive of articles at the moment so it gets easier to publish the newsletter during busier times (ie exam periods).

Well, I think this is it for me this time. Stay warm, and enjoy your holidays. May Allah-SWT- bless us all, and guide us to the best always. JAK all, Wassalamualikum Yassar Alamri

Haleema breastfed the Prophet (pbuh) from birth until 2 years of age. Whilst her colleagues would race to find babies from affluent families to feed, Haleema was left with one option: go back without having adopted a baby for breastfeeding or take Muhammad (pbuh). 55 years on from this moment and the Prophet enters Makkah victorious, head down in respect for this blessing. An old lady, approximately 80-90 years of age, limps on her walking stick, looks up at the Prophet and smiles. Who is this? the Prophet asks his companions. It is Haleema they inform him, on whose breast you were raised. The face of the Prophet fills with light, he smiles and says: My mother! My mother! He then removes his robe, flattens it on the ground for her and sits down with her, smiling. Please allow me to speak to my mother! he asks his companions.

Lets all take time and concern to acknowledge the people in our lives who have given much to enable us to reach where we are now.

The more that we are given in goodness, the greater is our responsibility to give back. Your time, my time and our time is precious while most of humanity struggles on. The life of the Prophet was not a simple miraculous going but rather was filled with hard work, planning and teamwork. All of us, lets step out from our enclosed worlds and contribute to society.

By: Waseem Al-Zaher

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Top 10 steps choosing a career

Career choices may well be more difficult today than at any time in history, for three reasons: there is infinitely more to choose from; career definitions are more fluid and changing; and the levels of expectation are rising. Most men and women entering the workforce today can expect to change careers three or more times during their working lives. Here are ten steps that will help ensure that your choices are good ones.
1. Begin with your values. Your values are the emotional anchor of all that you do. Satisfying careers are built upon the notion of a high correspondence between one's personal values and the work they will be doing. Begin your career search by sorting out your values and writing them down as clearly and succinctly as you can. 2. Identify your skills and talents. A skill is something you've learned to do. A talent is something you've been born with, or at least that you seem naturally qualified to do. It's important to recognize the difference between the two. You may be skilled at something and still not find it interesting. Put another way: you are more apt to enjoy doing what you do well naturally than what you have simply been taught to do. experience as you can. If you're committed to finding out about a certain career, you may want to consider volunteering in order to gain work experience. That way, you'll be able to test out whether it fits your values and preferences. If you aren't getting paid to do it, chances are you won't stay with it unless you like it. If you aren't able to commit 110% to what you are currently doing, start NOW to find something in which you can.

8. Build your lifestyle around your income, not your expectations. A better way is to begin, right with your first job, to structure your lifestyle in such a manner that you can put away ten percent of every paycheck. Starting early and investing regularly and wisely are probably two of the greatest secrets of wealth accumulation.

5. Become broadly literate. In this high tech information world, there is an incredible pressure to specialize, to know more and more about less and less. That's dangerous, because it increases your chances of being obsolescent immensely. Many people lose their jobs and scuttle their careers because they have gradually developed tunnel vision about who and what they are and what their capabilities are. Learn as much as you can about what interests you and about the jobs and careers youre considering--not just what those involved are currently doing, but about where the industry or profession is heading.

9. Invest five percent of your time, energy, and money into furthering your career. In terms of a forty-hour week, that's only two hours per week. The point is, you cannot rely on your employer to spoon feed you. Employers today are oriented towards immediate returns on their dollar. They will invest in you only when they can see an immediate or relatively quick expensive benefit, or when they see extraordinary potential. Better to not count on either.

3. Identify your preferences. From early on, we approach the world with certain personal preferences--how we perceive others, how we think and make decisions, whether we prefer concepts over people or vice versa, and the extent to which we are comfortable with uncertainty in our lives. One way of sorting this all out is by taking the MyersBriggs Type Indicator a self-assessing instrument that helps clarify these issues.

6. In your first job, opt for experience first, money second. If you're at the top of your class graduating summa cum laude, you may be able to combine both in a single package, but for most new entrants into the workforce, it's a matter of priorities. A good way of sizing up several opportunities is to ask yourself: "Which position will offer me the best chance of becoming excellent at what I do?" And that may not be the one that pays the highest initial salary.

10. Be willing to change and adapt.

4. Experiment. There's no substitute for experience, the more the better. It's probably safe to say that nearly every career looks vastly different from the outside than from within. If you're new to the job market or if you are considering a career change, get out and talk to people who are actually doing it. Take a job in the field or industry and see for yourself if it's really all you thought it would be. And don't rely on a single authority or work experience. Within the bounds of the area you've picked, try to get as much and as varied

The distinction here is between "direction" and "plan". An ant has a direction, but not a plan. The ant knows where it wants to go and is willing to turn around, back up, and change course in order to get there. But the ant hasn't written it down, posted it on a bulletin board, or gained concurrence from all the other ants. The ant just knows, with absolute certainty, the general direction in which 7. Aim for a job in which you can become it's heading and that it WILL get there. 110% committed. That's what modern day career direction Modest dedication and average perform- is all about. ance are unacceptable today. The problem is, with downsizing becoming fully By Jonaid Alam acceptable you aren't likely to discover the truth of that statement until you're out of a job! So, how to protect yourself?

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Seven valuable pieces of advice

MUST READ !

Hereunder are 7 valuable points, that can help us with practical change in our daily life: 1. Ikhlas (sincerity of intention). Also known as the correction of intention. When someone wants to do something good we should not be tempted to do the deed for worldly benefit, rather do it purely for the sake of allah seeking the reward from him in the hereafter. The Prophet (saw) said the reward for you deeds depends entirely on your intentions and everyone is paid in accordance with the nature of their intention (on the Day of Judgment). Therfore it is not merely actions of good deeds that secure allah's reward but the sincerity of our intention which will ensure it.

body; similarly if tasbeeh is an individual form of Dhikr, it will give a individual vitamin for the soul; and when a person purchases multi vitamins for his whole body, then the Glorious Quraan is a multi vitamin for the whole soul. (the best form of Dhikr in the time of the prophet, sahaba, tabieen and even now is still the Quran!) 4. Masnoon duas & Personal Dua: learn as many as you can, they are our Nabi Sallallahu alayhi wassallams supplications, and they are beautiful; when a person reads them he will realise that only a Prophet of Allah could utter such words which were perfect because they were so clear and concise. Personal Dua: supplication: this is the essence of worship; and unfortunately a neglected one, therefore one must make dua to Allah subhanahu wataaala after every salaat and after every good deed. A special moment should be set for dua only where a person should spend 15 20 minutes in dua. One should in his daily chores be connected to Allah subhanahu wataaala, he should speak to Allah subhanahu wataaala from the heart and supplicate- asking for His help only.

sunnah of Maghrib or Isha there are more hadith read with a collection of brothers too. EVERYDAY! 6. The Shaikh & the local muslim community: make your relationship strong with your Shaikh; always keep him up to date with your religious condition, and inform him about your spiritual conditions, which he can prescribe spiritual remedies for you. (it might be hard with Shaikh Jamal who left us but there are many other knowledgeable brothers that we can trust and build a bond of Muslim brotherhood with.

7. Spreading the word and Involve with Mosque activities. Arabic clases, Seerah, Dawah, Tafsir, Hafiz, Hadith and many more calsses and gatherings are happening on a weekly basis. Involve your self in these 2. Salaat: is full of zikr (Remembrance of and make it a point to everday, or if not Allah): it has the Quraan; takbeer; tadleel; everyday, every 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th day to salaat & salaam upon our Beloved Prophet bring yourself and someone with you to Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam; its also has a the mosque. And even it may be one ayat portion of fasting (because you are forbidof the quran convey it to a Muslim (or non den to eat whilst engaged in SaMuslim) brother as this is an obligation of laah). Salaah is the gift of Meraaj (the asevery Muslim. Allah says again and again in cension to the Heavens); and it is a direct the quran "you should invite people to connection to the bondsman s Creator good and induce them to legal things, and Allah subhanahu wataaala ; the servant is 5. Asghar: to act upon those Authentic should prevent them from evil things and bowing and prostrating to his Master. A Hadeeths which show advices given by our certainly these will attain salvation." person should fulfill all of his five times Beloved Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wassal- Dawah is also taking place at our Mosque 1 salaah (with jamaat/congregation for lam, where if a person was to perform cer- -2 times a week so please involve in one of men); if there is Qadha Salaat to fill then he tain rituals from the Quraan or recite cer- the greatest of deeds. should fulfill those, otherwise he should try tain supplications or tasbeehs etc then to obtain nawafil salaat i.e Tayatul Masjid; they would receive a certain amount of Remember we have been commanded to Tayatul Wudhu; Awwabeen (after Maghreward in the Hereafter, these should be compete in one thing ONLY = ISLAM and rib), Chast (late morning); Tahujjud (after sought and practiced. For example reading now its up to us to YOU to start batting for Isha and before dawn). Surah Yaseen in the morning and Allah will the Hereafter before death catches us out! protect you until the evening and if you 3. Quraan recitation: one should aim to recite Surah Yaseen in the evening then recite atleast one juz per day, every form Allah will protect you until the next mornof Dhikr is in the Glorious Quraan, i.e. tas- ing. It definetly helps to come for Fajr and By: Sami MOID beeh; takbeer; tadleel etc. Just like how a Maghrib/Isha Salat at the mosque as we person will get a bottle of vitamin have the imam read 1-2 hadith directly A, specifically for a certain area of his after these prayers, and after performing

Muslim Students Association (MUSA)

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