* Beauty Tips

My dears in Islam, please take a look at this advice, so thatyou can stay attractive and beautiful for the rest of your life.

• To beautify your eyes, lower your gaze towards strange men, thiswill make your eyes pure and shiny.
• To have attractive lips, always remember to speak the truth.
• As for blush and rouge, "Modesty" (Haya') is one of the best brandsand it can be found in any of the Islamic centers.
• To remove impurites from your face and body, use a soap called"Istighfaar". Insha'Allah this soap will remove any bad deeds.(Ameen)Now about your hair, if any of you has a problem of hair split ends,then I suggest "Islamic Hijaab" which will protect your hair from damage.
• As! for jewellery, beautify your hands with humbleness and let yourhands be a power to forgive people who hurt your feelings. And the necklace should be a sign to pardon you fellow brothers and sisters.

Insha'ALLAH, if you follow this advice given to you by the Creatora beautiful and attractive inner and outer appearance

* Ways to avoid Fitnah or Temptations-2

6 – Keeping away from bad companions:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“A man will follow the way of his close friends, so let each one of you look at who he takes as a close friend.”

Narrated by Abu Dawood, 8433; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 4046.

7 – Keeping away from places of temptation:

It is obvious that we are living in a society that is filled with temptation – media of all types, magazines, flirting in the marketplaces, satellite TV, the internet, etc… So you have to flee from all of these in order to keep your religious commitment sound.

8 – Do not make your houses graves:

Make your house a reminder of obedience, not of sin. If a room is connected to sin for example, that will make a person commit sin repeatedly, because every time he enters that room he will remember the sin and may be provoked to commit the sin again. So he should make his room and his house a reminder of obedience to Allaah, so when he enters he sees the Mus-haf which he reads, and he remembers praying qiyaam al-layl for Allaah, and the regular Sunnah prayers that he offers in this room. Doing a lot of acts of worship in your house will make a connection in your mind between the house and doing good deeds, so you will do more and will think less of sin, and the calls of desire will grow less.

9 – Trying to make the most of your time in worshipping and obeying Allaah.

Time is one of the great blessings that Allaah has bestowed upon His slaves, but there are many who are not making the most of it. It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Two blessings which many people do not make the most of: good health and spare time.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6412.

10 – Remembering the blessings of the Hereafter:

Particularly appropriate in this context is remembering al-hoor al-‘iyn and their attributes, whom Allaah has prepared for those who are patient and steadfast in avoiding sin. This can help the Muslim to look at these transient haraam pleasures which only lead to regret and loss.

We ask Allaah to help us to avoid temptation, both obvious and hidden.

* Ways to avoid Fitnah or Temptations-1

1 – Faith in Allaah:


Faith in Allaah and fear of Allaah provide a safety valve and protect a person against committing haraam actions and following his own whims and desires.

If the believer becomes aware that Allaah is always watching and if he ponders the meanings of His names and attributes, such as the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Watchful, the Reckoner, the Preserver, the All-Encompassing, that will generate fear of Him in secret and in public, and will put a stop to disobedience towards Allaah, and will reduce the strength of desire that leads many people to commit haraam actions.

2 – Lowering the gaze and avoiding looking at haraam things :


The gaze can generate bad thoughts in the heart, which then lead to ideas and then to desires, then to will and resolve, and then inevitably to doing haraam things. Think about the meaning of this verse which makes a connection between the first steps towards haraam and the end result. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts). That is purer for them. Verily, Allaah is All-Aware of what they do”

[al-Noor 24:30]

Ibn Katheer said:

“This is a command from Allaah to His believing slaves, to lower their gaze and avoid looking at that which is forbidden to them so that they only look at that which they are permitted to look at. If it so happens that a person’s gaze accidentally falls upon something haraam, he should turn his gaze away from it quickly.

3 – Warding off evil thoughts :


Bad thoughts pose a danger to the heart… If a person dwells on them and does not push them away, they will develop into an idea, then into will and resolve, then this will inevitably lead to haraam actions. Beware of dwelling on passing thoughts; rather what you must do is to ward them off and crowd them out with good thoughts.


The treatment, then, is to ward off these passing thoughts and keep yourself busy with beneficial thoughts.

4 – Marriage:


It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:


“O young men, whoever among you can afford it, let him get married, and whoever cannot, let him fast, for it will be a shield for him.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5065.

5 – Fasting for those who cannot afford to get married :

– because of the hadeeth quoted above, in which it says,

“…and whoever cannot, let him fast, for it will be a shield for him.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5065.

Al-Qurtubi said:

The less a person eats, the weaker his desire becomes, and the weaker his desire is, the less sins he commits.

* Fitnah

Allaah has created man in a world of trials and tests, and He has made Paradise the abode of His friends and beloved ones, who preferred His pleasure over their own and preferred obedience to Him over their physical comfort. And He has made Hell the abode of those among His slaves who disobey Him and preferred their own whims and desires to the pleasure of their Lord. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Such is the Paradise which We shall give as an inheritance to those of Our slaves who have been Al-Muttaqoon (the pious)”

[Maryam 19:63]

“But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires and lusts.
Verily, Paradise will be his abode”

[al-Naaz’i’aat 79:40-41]

And He says concerning the people of Hell (interpretation of the meaning):

“Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salaat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salaat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell”

[Maryam 19:59]

And He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“That shall be their recompense, Hell; because they disbelieved and took My Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and My Messengers by way of jest and mockery”

[al-Kahf 18:106]

“Then for him who transgressed all bounds, (in disbelief, oppression and evil deeds of disobedience to Allaah).
And preferred the life of this world (by following his evil desires and lusts),
Verily, his abode will be Hell-fire”

[al-Naazi’aat 79:37-39]

So the Muslim must strive to worship Allaah and keep away from that which angers Allaah, for Allaah will not cause the reward the one who does good to be lost:

“As for those who strive hard in Us (Our Cause), We will surely guide them to Our paths (i.e. Allaah’s religion — Islamic Monotheism). And verily, Allaah is with the Muhsinoon (good-doers)”

[al-‘Ankaboot 29:69 – interpretation of the meaning]

One of the fitnahs (temptations) with which we are tested is the fitnah of women, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“I have not left behind me any fitnah (temptation) more harmful to men than women.”

There follow some of the methods by which we can avoid this temptation. We ask Allaah to set the affairs of the Muslims straight.

* Hijab for women

Islam uplifted the status of women and granted them their just rights 1400 yearsago. Islam expects women to maintain their status.

The next verse of Surah Noor, says:

“ And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze andguard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty andornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that theyshould draw veils over their bosoms and not display their beautyexcept to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, theirsons...”

[Al-Qur’an 24:31]


Six criteria for Hijab:

According to Qur’an and Sunnah there are basically six criteria for observinghijab:

Extent:

• The first criterion is the extent of the body that should be covered. This isdifferent for men and women. The extent of covering obligatory on the maleis to cover the body at least from the navel to the knees. For women, theextent of covering obligatory is to cover the complete body except the faceand the hands upto the wrist. If they wish to, they can cover even theseparts of the body. Some scholars of Islam insist that the face and the handsare part of the obligatory extent of ‘hijab’.

All the remaining five criteria are the same for men and women.

• The clothes worn should be loose and should not reveal the figure.

• The clothes worn should not be transparent such that one can see throughthem.

• The clothes worn should not be so glamorous as to attract the opposite sex.

• The clothes worn should not resemble that of the opposite sex.

• The clothes worn should not resemble that of the unbelievers i.e. theyshould not wear clothes that are specifically identities or symbols of theunbelievers’ religions.

Hijab includes conduct and behaviour among other things:

Complete ‘hijab’, besides the six criteria of clothing, also includes the moralconduct, behaviour, attitude and intention of the individual. A person onlyfulfilling the criteria of ‘hijab’ of the clothes is observing ‘hijab’ in a limited sense.‘Hijab’ of the clothes should be accompanied by ‘hijab’ of the eyes, ‘hijab’ of theheart, ‘hijab’ of thought and ‘hijab’ of intention. It also includes the way a personwalks, the way a person talks, the way he behaves, etc.

Hijab prevents molestation

The reason why Hijab is prescribed for women is mentioned in the Qur’an in thefollowing verses of Surah Al-Ahzab:

“O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing womenthat they should cast their outer garments over their persons (whenabroad); that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such)and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

[Al-Qur’an 33:59]

The Qur’an says that Hijab has been prescribed for the women so that they arerecognized as modest women and this will also prevent them from being molested.

* Hijab for Men

People usually only discuss ‘hijab’ in the context of women.

However, in theGlorious Qur’an, Allah (swt) first mentions ‘hijab’ for men before ‘hijab’ for thewomen. The Qur’an mentions in Surah Noor:

“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah iswell acquainted with all that they do.”

[Al-Qur’an 24:30]

The moment a man looks at a woman and if any brazen or unashamed thoughtcomes to his mind, he should lower his gaze.

* Polygamy allowed in Islam?-part 2

Qur’an permits limited polygamy

As I mentioned earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earththat says ‘marry only one’. The context of this phrase is the following verse fromSurah Nisa of the Glorious Qur’an:

“Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear thatye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one.”

[Al-Qur’an 4:3]

Before the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limitof four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women,only on the condition that he deals justly with them.
In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:

“Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women....”

[Al-Qur’an 4:129]

Therefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under themisconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one wife.

Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do’s and Don’ts:

(i) ‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory
(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged
(iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed
(iv) ‘Makruh’ i.e. not recommended or discouraged
(v) ‘Haraam’ i.e. prohibited or forbidden

Polygyny falls in the middle category of things that are permissible. It cannot besaid that a Muslim who has two, three or four wives is a better Muslim ascompared to a Muslim who has only one wife.

* Polygamy allowed in Islam?

Definition of Polygamy:

Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marriesmore than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marriesmore than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted; whereas polyandryis completely prohibited.

Now coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more thanone wife?

The Qur’an is the only religious scripture in the world that says,“marry only one”.

The Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase ‘marry only one’. There is no other religious book that instructs men tohave only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be theVedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible doesone find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures onecan marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests andthe Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.

Many Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiplewives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna hadseveral wives.

In earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished,since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a fewcenturies ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.

Polygymy is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham hadthree wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygynycontinued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (960 C.E to 1030 C.E) issued anedict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countriescontinued the practice till as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate ofIsrael extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.

(*Interesting Note:- As per the 1975 census of India Hindus are morepolygynous than Muslims. The report of the ‘Committee of The Status ofWoman in Islam’, published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961 was 5.06% among the Hindus and only 4.31% among the Muslims. Accordingto Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It isillegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it beingillegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to Muslims. Earlier, therewas no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wivesallowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that itbecame illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the IndianLaw that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not theHindu scriptures.)

* Hijab for Men & Women

24:30 Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.

24:31 And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.

Note: Hijab for men is mentioned in Quran first than Hijab for Women.

* Women wearing jeans.

Praise be to Allaah.

Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Jibreen (may Allaah preserve him) was asked about the ruling on women wearing jeans.
He replied:

“As for women wearing pants or trousers, this is not permitted, even if she is on her own or in front of other women or her husband, except if she is in a closed room with her husband only. Apart from that, it is not permitted because it shows the details of her body and makes her get used to these clothes. So she is not permitted to wear these clothes at all.”

(al-Nukhbah min al-Fataawaa al-Nisaa’iyyah, p. 30).

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih ibn ‘Uthaymeen was also asked about the ruling on women wearing any kind of pants or trousers. He (may Allaah preserve him) answered:

“I think that women should not wear trousers at all, even if there is no one with her apart from her husband, because this is imitating men. The ones who wear trousers are men, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed women who imitate men.”

*Supplication for good of both worlds

Rabbanaaa 'aatinaa fiddunyaa hasanatanw wa fil 'aakhirati hasanatanw-wa qinaa 'azaaban-naar.



Our Rabb! give us good in this world, and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the Fire. (2:201)

History and Significance


This supplication which is made by Muslims are compared to another supplication mentioned in the previous verse (2:200). That supplication is "Our Rabb! give us in this world". That supplicantion, made by worldly individuals, is insufficient and provides no share in the Hereafter. Based on these two supplications, Allah (swt) is recommending us to ask for good in both the worlds, here and the hereafter

*Supplication for good of both worlds

Rabbanaaa 'aatinaa fiddunyaa hasanatanw wa fil 'aakhirati hasanatanw-wa qinaa 'azaaban-naar.

Our Rabb! give us good in this world, and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the Fire. (2:201)

History and Significance

This supplication which is made by Muslims are compared to another supplication mentioned in the previous verse (2:200). That supplication is "Our Rabb! give us in this world". That supplicantion, made by worldly individuals, is insufficient and provides no share in the Hereafter. Based on these two supplications, Allah (swt) is recommending us to ask for good in both the worlds, here and the hereafter