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About

﷽

ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ,

All are welcome to my blog. Here I have named myself 'ābiru sabīl.

Who am I?

I am an 'abdallāh (slave and servant of Allāh subḥanahu wa ta'ala) who is on a journey to better understand Islām which is a perfect and complete code of life. My goal with this blog is to better my own understanding, and hopefully help out others (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) in the process.

I'm mostly a visual thinker, or rather an experiential thinker. I imagine concepts as feelings, sounds, sights, etc. That is the best way for me to understand, and to learn.

Motivation

In one da'if hadith from Jami' at-Tirmidhi it is said that the Prophet, ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, said:

"The feet of the son of Adam shall not move from before his Lord on the Day of Judgement, until he is asked about five things: about his life and what he did with it, about his youth and what he wore it out in, about his wealth and how he earned it and spent it upon, and what he did with what he knew."

Note: This Hadith is sahih according to Al-Albani with a slightly different translattion, although the Arabic is the same.

So the 5 things we will be asked about are:

  1. Our life and what we did with it
  2. Our youth and what we wore it out in
  3. Our wealth and how we earned it and
  4. how we spent it (our wealth)
  5. What we did with what we knew (knowledge)

The first time I heard this hadith it scared me. My life was steaming ahead on the wrong track. I was wasting my youth in all things other than what would benefit me. I did not care how I earned my wealth and wasted it on useless things in Dunya (temporal world and its earthly concerns and possessions). Lastly, whatever knowledge I gained was either uesless, or, if it was beneficial, remained with me alone and would have been buried with me.

I wanted to find a way to pass on that knowledge, whether I was able to implement it or not. I believe that if I could help even one person in some way, it would make that moment standing before Allāh easier.

A bunch of things happened which led me to wanting to create a blog, this blog. Two of my friends pushed me towards it as well and helped me find the motivation and energy to just start it, zp4rker and sheharyarn.

Purpose

I will utilize this blog to share what I learn as I learn them, and also a place to share my thoughts on a wide variety of topics linking them to Islāmic thoughts and principles where ever I can.

I hope that this blog will be a means for Muslims to improve their daily lives and understanding, and a means for non-Muslims to see the Light of Truth helping them to better understand Islām.

Behind the Name

In one hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, it is said that the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam said:

‏كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ، أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ‏

In English:

Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.

This hadith stood out to me a lot. A stranger (gharīb) or a traveler ('ābiru sabīl).

Note: another translation I have seen for 'ābiru sabīl is "a traveler on a path".

What do these mean?

  • gharīb means someone who is a stranger or a foreigner. Someone who is far, or distant, from his (or her) home.
  • 'ābiru sabīl means "he travelled, or passed along, the way, or road;" "as though he cut it, or furrowed it."

For gharīb:

Imagine a person going to a different country from one they grew up in. They would "stick out like a sore thumb". They don't know or understand the rules and practices of the locals, the laws, culture, customs, etc. For example, some cultures shake their head side to side to indicate "yes" while others nod their heads up and down.

The stranger or foreigner would appear unusual to the locals, and the locals would appear unusual to the gharīb.

For 'ābiru sabīl:

There is another hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari which describes an incident where 'Umar, raḍiallāh 'anhu, went to see the Prophet, ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam :

... Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) smiled while he was lying on a mat made of palm tree leaves with nothing between him and the mat. Underneath his head there was a leather pillow stuffed with palm fibres, and leaves of a saut tree were piled at his feet, and above his head hung a few water skins. On seeing the marks of the mat imprinted on his side, I wept. He said.' 'Why are you weeping?' I replied, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Caesar and Khosrau are leading the life (i.e. Luxurious life) while you, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) though you are, is living in destitute". The Prophet (ﷺ) then replied. 'Won't you be satisfied that they enjoy this world and we the Hereafter?'

Imagine a person travelling from one city to another. For the sake of argument, let's say he's going from city A to city B. They know that they are on a journey and their final destination is B. Would it make sense for them to spend all of their wealth building a home on the road - where they would remain only temporarily - such that there is nothing left for when they reach city B?

From the Qurān majīd (the noble, the glorious, the magnificent):

Sūrah al-Mu'minūn āyāt 112 - 113 Translated by Dr.Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

  1. He will ask ˹them˺, “How many years did you remain on earth?”
  2. They will reply, “We remained ˹only˺ a day or part of a day. But ask those who kept count.”

Footnote for 113: Compared to the length and misery of their stay in the grave and Hell, their worldly life will seem very short to them.

Sūrah an-Nazi'at āyah 46 Translated by Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

On the Day they see it, it will be as if they had stayed ˹in the world˺ no more than one evening or its morning.

I wish to live my life in the way the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam recommended.