Dr Saleh as Saleh – The Ummah loses another good one

I received  news of the death of a great man – Dr Saleh as Saleh. I never met him nor  know how he looked.  But I do know that he was a good man placed here on earth to convey the message of Allah to others.  A scholarly man placed here on earth for a short time to convey the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad(sa).  A loved man who will be missed by many.

The Prophet(sa) once said that a person’s outcome can be determined by the amount of people who praise him when he leaves this earth.  Well  many now praise Dr saleh As Saleh.  Many now have nothing but good to say of Dr saleh As Saleh. 

Peace be Upon you, my beloved brother in islam.  May your body sleep as your soul takes the form of a green bird in paradise.  May Allah forgive all your sins and place you near the prophet whose sunnah you died trying to preserve…ameen ameen ameen!

The “Big Head” Syndrome

Innal Hamduliallah…It seems anytime a person tries to do something good, there will appear his enemies from amongst the allies of Shaytaan who will in turn try to tear what the person is doing down…and thus, here we go again!

What is the “Big Head” syndrome?  This is when a person does something and then becomes so proud and arrogant about what he has done that he begins to think that there is none better than he.  He begins to view himself as being above everyone else.  This is a horrible affliction for a person to suffer from because first of all, whatever the good deed was that was done, the reward has been lost because as our Prophet(sa) has said,

“Riya or the showing off of deeds destroys the the deed.”

Also anyone who suffers from this type of pride will be denied entrance into paradise.

So to accuse a person of suffering with this affliction is something serious indeed.  So now lets get to the heart of the matter.  I have received emails from a couple of people asking me why did I make this blog.  They then asked did I make it because I am suffering from the “Big Head symdrome” since my lectures are now on video for the world to see.

At first I became angry from the emails…this is why I waited till now to comment on them.  I wanted to be sure all the anger had dissappeared and I comment rationally and Islamically.  Being so, my response is as follows:

Alhumduliallah I was raised by a God-Fearing gracious woman who instilled self respect, self esteem and self love into me.  She also instilled  Love for Allah and his Prophet and the companions in me as well.  So thus, I do not suffer with symdromes such as “The Big Head”.

You all know of me only here in cyberspace, but in real life there is more about me than meets the key board.  Since my mother instilled the above things into me as a child, I have had success in every endeavor I have attempted in my life.  Video’s in which you can not even see me, do not even count.!  If I wanted to have a big head I would have had one over my accomplishments in the real world..not video’s in which you can not even see me.

 Let me explain why I put those video’s here.  First of all, I am a professional teacher..not some internet wanna be.  In the real world, after teaching a course the teacher hands out a questionaire for the students to complete asking what have you learned, what improvements are needed to make it easier for others and the likes.  So just as we do that, in the real world so that we can improve the course so the students can better understand the material, I decided to do the same here too.  So that is the reason behind posting the video’s here.  To allow you as a student to give me feedback so as I can make the material easier the next time around.  Please note that all the classes I teach are repeated over and over again each year.  As I stated, I am a professional teacher and our website is a REAL online school.  So that is the reason for the video’s!

Subhanallah… Understand that bad thoughts come from Shaytaan.  Its his way of keeping you from learning and also his way of disuniting us.  When you get bad thoughts about a person, especially one who has devoted their time to teaching you your religion..try saying “aoothu billah”  and push those thoughts away.  Then make duaa for that person.  I guarantee if you try doing that you will be a much happier person!

Any questions or comments about this… please do share!

Tell us about Shaykh Morsy and your relationship with him

Innal Hamduliallah… Shaykh Morsy is my Mentor and I am his protegee.  When the website was made over 10 years ago, Shaykh Morsy was the one who taught all the classes, and I was just a student. Morsy would log on everyday and spend 12 hours teaching the basics of Islam… the same classes that I teach now on Sunnahfollowers.net.  His friend Shaykh Hassan joined us and both he and Shaykh Hassan would teach around the clock.  This went on for 6 years.  After the 6th year, Morsy was no longer able to spend that type of time on the net teaching…so it was then that he told me to take over teaching the people.  I was not wanting to do this but Morsy said I was ready and that I was his best student.  So thus, that is how I began to teach. 

Morsy has always been the one behind our website.  He is the one who approves the books I use.  He also checks behind me to make sure everything I teach is in accordance to the Quran and the Authentic Sunnah.  If I make a mistake, he will correct me and have me send out emails to the people with the correction.  

Morsy is a man devoted to the Sunnah.  Even the name of our website was chosen by him.  Where there are so many scholars out their who follow the extreme view on things, Morsy takes the middle course,  just as our prophet(sa) would do.  He is kind, gentle and understanding..but he can turn into a ferocious lion when he feels the limits of Allah or his Prophet (sa) have been transgressed.

That is Shaykh Morsy in a nutshell.

He is the best teacher I have ever had…but even still I do not follow him blindly.  To do so would mean that I have learned nothing from him.

I pray Allah preserves him for us and that he bestows upon him paradise…ameen! 

What’s new for Sunnahfollowers.net?

Well right now we are working to establish our new name.  We want the people to think of Sunnahfollowers.net  now intead of what they were programmed to think before.  We are in the process of re-designing the entry page to give it a new look to match our new name.

If you have suggestions, feel free to comment here to us!

I see Dr Ibrahim Dremali has joined your team

Alhumduliallah yes this is true.  MashaAllah he is such a gracious humble man and the people love him.  His teachings are so beneficial. Inshallah he will take our wesite into a new direction.

Of course Shaykh Morsy is still with us and I believe the three of us will be able to move the website on to a higher better level.

So Who all exactly are the persons behind Sunnahfollowers.net?

MashaAllah..the person’s behind sunnahfollowers.net  are;  Shaykh Mustapha Morsy,  Shaykh Ibrahim Dremali and Myself.  So when you hear the name “Sunnahfollowers.net”  Think of us three please.

What are your aspirations for the future?

Hmm thats a good one.  My aspirations are to keep conveying the message of the sunnah and to die a Believer.  I pray everyday that Allah keeps me firm and steadfast and that he continue to protect me from the evils of mankind, shaytaan and the hasideen.

I pray that our website continues to grow in quality and quantity and that we inpact Muslims to the point of bringing them back to the sunnah.

If we can do this then we have truly succeeded!

How do you think your students view you?

Well, I think as a whole, most of them respect and like me.  They seem to enjoy my teaching methodology.  I have met many of them in person so they know I am a funny, sensitive, caring person who only wants the best for them and myself. 

The video lectures have helped to make it easy for me too because now when a new person joins the website, most of the time they are joining because they have listened to and watched one of my video recordings.. so they are not put off by my voice tone.

Tell us a little about yourself – How did you come upon islam?

Innal Hamduliallah…Unlike many may think, I am not a convert to islam. I have been Muslim all my life. My mother is a very strong Muslim woman of creole ethnicity so that means she has the strength of many in her blood;  Mostly of Celtic Origins (French Viking and Scottish) and African (Southern Bantu and Camaroon) are known to be people of strength, and she has all of those bloods within her. So thus embracing Islam was a natural for her – and she raised all of her children to know that they were created for paradise and there is nothing that they can not do or be in this world.

My father died when I was a young child so I did not get to know much about him. He was Arabic – Egyptian… but the credit of being Muslim and raised as such belongs to my mother.

I also had a great step-father who contributed in instilling my islamic morales. My Allah bless both he and my mother with paradise…ameen

What and when did you develop an interest in the dawah?

Subhanallah.  When I was six years old I knew how to read and my mother immediately made me attend classes held at the masjid to learn what being a Muslim was all about.  My first teacher was Imam Mutawwaf Abdus Shaheed and he focussed on teaching the sunnah via Hadith to us.  So thus I began to memorize the hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim beginning at age six along with their meanings. 

By the time I was twelve I was giving presentations on the Rulings of Marriage, Menses and the likes at mini conferences held at our masjid…remember too this was back in the late 70’s when Islam was not a well known thing here in America.  I continued to study Islam with concentration upon Hadith all my life (now included) and when I met up with my present teacher, Shaykh Mustapha Morsy – I then was given permission by him to teach to others.  And I have been on the internet teaching for the past 5 years.

I have sacrificed a lot for this dawah but alhumduliallah it will be worth it.

Where did the Video Lecture idea come from?

MashaAllah.   Wallah the idea came from Allah.  It was totally inspired by him.  When the fitnah emerged, I pondered how to address it and then the idea came to me, to not address it at all…at least not in the traditional way.  Instead the idea was that my work speaks for itself, so just put my work out there for the world to hear and thus I would be addressing and diffusing the allegations made against me.  I followed that idea and so thus…Here we are!