Printable Sunnipath Curriculum guides!!! To read and re-read and get inspired by. 
One of the (many) things I really like about Sunnipath is their commitment to excellence and their attention to the student experience. The curriculum info is available on the website, but being able to have your own curriculum guide of each level with a really pretty cover just makes learning more fun.
More info here.
Another day full of blessings alhamidullah.
I’m thankful for watermelon and sunshine and encouragement and mountains and beautiful scenery and solitude and lovely company and moving nasheeds and new experiences and sunnipath and ice-cream.
So no time for complaining
Categories: Gratitude · Reflections
These two paragraphs are at the end of the book, Agenda to Change our Condition, as part of one of the appendices. The truth of these words really struck me when I read this section, and insha’Allah this is a section of the text that I shall read often and commit to memory. (A side note: the cd set titled The Poor Man’s Book of Assistance is an incredible listen as well).
“Never demand a right from anyone, whether a relative or a stranger, for the simple reason that a stranger owes you nothing, and a relative is far too important to direct your blame at. Never assume that anyone in the world can really understand your circumstance other than from their own perspective. People perceive things based only upon their own personal frames of reference and their personal experiences. However, when aims, purposes and aspirations are similar, people tend to work together toward a common goal
Never belittle any discussion about people in their absence, even what appears to be harmless, due to the harm that can result from it. Guard your secrets, even if you feel safe with someone, because the one to whom you divulge your secret is not a safer vessel than your own heart before you revealed it.”
Source: Agenda to Change Our Condition, The Counsel of Sidi Ahmad Zarruq, Excerpts from The Poor Man’s Book of Assistance.
Categories: Books · Imam Zaid Shakir · Readings · Reflections · Shaykh Hamza Yusuf · Zaytuna
This an extract from a Rumi poem that is definitely one of my favourites. I stumbled upon it several months ago, and no matter how many times I read it, the words still manage to retain their original beauty.
The original post where I found the poem can be found here.
Here it is:
Say, do not despair because the Beloved drives you away;
Categories: Readings · Reflections
I have a terrible headache tonight, so I thought I’d make a list of things I’m happy and grateful about today. Insha’Allah the diversion will make the advil work faster 
Here I go insha’Allah..Things I’m happy and grateful about today:
1) the yummy smell of baking
2) inspiring books and cd sets
3) tasty chicken curry
4)sunshine!
5) the feeling of being cosy and snug in my house as it gets dark outside
6) dinnertime fruit plates
7) anticipation!
8 making salawat
9) delicious tetley tea
10) patient listeners
one of my favourite reciters…and one of my favourite videos.
Assalamu alaykum,
Jum’ah Mubarak! Hope everyone is having a salawat and dhikr filled Jum’ah! Here is a beautiful video about the Prophet’s dua after he was chased out of Taif that is worth several listens. Hope you enjoy…
Categories: Shaykh Hamza Yusuf · Videos..
This is a bit of a random post. Last year I started reading ibn battuta’s travelogues while travelling myself, but didn’t get very far in the text. Today I was reading a bit about ibn battuta, and here is an excerpt from my readings. In the Aramco article lots more can be found about ibn battuta and his famous travels.
“First, though the book is commonly referred to as “the Rihla,” that” is not its title, properly speaking, but its genre. (The title is Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara’ib al-Amsar wa-’Aja’ib al-Asfar, or A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling.) The Prophet Muhammad’s traditional injunction to “seek knowledge, even as far as China” had the effect of legitimating travel, or even wanderlust, and, in the Islamic middle ages, gave rise to the concept of al-rihla fi talab al-’ilm, travel in search of knowledge. In Islamic North Africa in the 12th to 14th centuries, as paper became increasingly widely available, educated men began to pen and circulate first-hand descriptions of their pilgrimages the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah. Such an account was called a rihla, or “travelogue,” and it combined geographical and social information about the route with the writer’s description of and emotional responses to the religious experience of the Hajj. The rihla is thus a category of Arab literature which Ibn Jubayr and, almost a century later, Ibn Battuta brought to its finest flowering.”
Source: Saudi Aramco World
I read this paragraph today and thought it was too beautiful and inspiring to keep to myself.
A man once came to a sage and said, “I think your path is a wonderful path, but it is too arduous for me to follow.” The sage responded, “Most people attempt something before they give it up, but you have already defined your limits before testing them.”
The path of Allah is indeed arduous, and it would appear to one looking at it that treading it is too difficult for most of us. Let us first set out and then see how long we can last. God willing, a divine wind will blow on our backs, our feet will become light, and wondrous fellow wayfarers will show up with sustenance just when we thought we had none. Our success is by Allah, upon Him we place our trust, and to Him do we return.
Source: Agenda to Change our Condition, Introduction. (Zaytuna Institute)
Categories: Imam Zaid Shakir · Readings · Reflections · Shaykh Hamza Yusuf · Zaytuna
There is a electronic sticky note on my computer that I keep telling myself to actually write down, but never actually get around to getting out paper, a pen and just writing it down. I can’t quite remember what it is in reference to, but including it on the blog is probably a better way for me to remember it, instead of just keeping it buried in a notebook where it might be easily forgotten. (One of the benefits of blogging, you really do remember things much better this way alhamidullah!) Anyway, here it is.
Keys to good character:
istighfar
company of good people
Salawat un nabi
tilawat of Qur’an with tadabbur (reflection)
wird of Qur’an a day
Important things to Remember and Do
Turn each worry into dua, and each dua into action plan (do your part)
Leave the world behind five times a day
Develop Sabr: self control, perseverance, endurance, and focused struggle to achieve your goal
Know the 99 Names.
Read ayatul kursi frequently
Remember that Allah is al-Razzaq: He provides
Remember Allah during the day
Put your trust in Allah (tawakkul). remember Him in awakening and sleeping.
End your day properly by making wudu, reflecting on the day’s occurrences, praising Allah for good, and asking forgiveness for the negative. Then read the last two chapters, last two verses of Surah Baqarah and sleep on your right side.
Categories: Reflections
