Rabi’ al-Awwal Newsletter

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Welcome to our new monthly newsletter. We begin by rejoicing and welcoming Rabi’ al-Awwal: the month in which the beloved of Allah ﷺ entered and graced this earth, filling it with his light ﷺ and his mercy ﷺ for all of creation to bask within. In this first edition we will be sharing updates, books and some advice on how best to welcome in this auspicious month in sha Allah.

FORTHCOMING TITLES 
As many of our readers will know, we have been working on our forthcoming publication “Man of Many Splendours,” which is based on the biography and life of Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad rahimahu Allah. It will contain full colour pictures and accounts never shared before from various sources who surrounded him during his illustrious life.  Presently we are in the final stages of proofreading, indexing and then rechecking, before we send it out to print.  We will inform you all, once it is complete in sha Allah. 

DALA’IL AL-KHAYRAT APP 
We are working on a collaboration with dalailalkhayrat.com team to create an app.  We pray that it will be ready very soon in sha Allah and will announce its release on our social media pages. In the meantime, please check out their website, ma sha Allah it really is a wonderful resource to have.

https://dalailalkhayrat.com/

SELECTED PRAYERS UPON THE PROPHET ﷺ
During the first 12 days of Rabi’ al-Awwal, we will be sharing “stories” on our social media pages, about the virtues of sending salutations upon Sayyiduna Muhammad ﷺ.  One of our publications “Selected Prayers upon the Prophet ﷺ,” is a beautiful compilation of salawat that you may find especially beneficial to use during this blessed month in sha Allah.

https://ivpublishing.org/book/selected-prayers/

WHEN RABI’ AL-AWWAL COMES

Sayyid Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him) tells us how to receive the month of Rabi al-Awwal.

When Rabi al-Awwal comes, open your heart to receive the divine outpouring and to attain closeness to Allah and His Beloved ﷺ.  Do not place anything above him. We have not been permitted to love anyone or anything, however great, as much as him ﷺ. May Allah not deprive any of us of the goodness that You have because of the evil which we have.

This is the month of ennoblement – the month in which the Beloved ﷺ emerged into the world – the blessing was completed, the earth was illuminated. Make us amongst those who receive this month in the best way.

Seek spiritual gifts through purifying your heart. Establish gatherings in every room in your house in which Allah is remembered, in which the Mawlid and Sirah are read. Do you not long for this light, for this purity, for this beauty? Are you content to turn away from it? Why exchange jewels for filth? Who tricked us into removing the speech of Allah and the Messenger ﷺ, the righteous and remembrance of Allah from our houses? He informed us that the house in which the Qur’an is recited appears to those in the heavens just as the stars appear to those on the earth. This is the speech of a tongue to whose truthfulness Allah Himself testified: He does not speak from caprice; it is no less than revelation sent down to him.[1] Allah said of him: If you obey him you will find guidance.[2] If you want guidance in all its meanings in this life and the next then follow My Beloved, My Chosen One ﷺ.

The greatest fear is being turned away to a different direction on the day when his followers will be under his banner ﷺ. On that day it will be clear to all that the Sovereign is One, the judge is One. Those who had been deluded in this life will be asked: “To whom belongs the Dominion today?”[3] If you do not know Muhammad ﷺ now, on that day everyone will know him ﷺ. Everyone will lower their heads to him ﷺ because he ﷺ is the one that Allah has chosen.

Give us sincere intentions, purify our hearts and increase our certainty. Save the people of la ilaha illAllah.

Turn to Him – present your state to Him:

No created thing has any portion of this affair neither here,

Nor there, so rely on the statement of the Truthful

He is the Lord, none other, and all

Are slaves under His governance without exception.

So ask your Lord for enabling grace, forgiveness and His pleasure

And to be with the people of guidance, on the path

People that travelled to the All-Compassionate with high ambition

With truthfulness, sincerity, unobstructed

They obtained that which is beyond all other requests

By Allah what a noble and perfect life! [4]

Article Credit: Muwasala

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[1] Al-Najm, 53:3-4

[2] Al-Nur, 24:54

[3] Ghafir, 40:16

[4] Imam al-Haddad

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Credit: Muwasala (“When Rabi al Awwal comes” article)

“Selected Prayers upon the Prophet ﷺ” is available here:
https://ivpublishing.org/store/

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