Assalaamu ‘Alaykum
Of course we all know the importance of parents. 
The Quran and Hadith are full of guidance on how important our parents are, their rank in Islam, and our duties unto them.
But do we sometimes take our parents for granted?
Just last week one of the Message Islam members sent me an email with a very striking Hadith. It is a follows:
Malik the son of Rabi-‘ah is reported to have said: “While we were with the Messenger (May Allah bless him and give him peace) a man from the Bani Salamah tribe approached and said: “O Messenger of Allah! Does there remain anything left for me to obey my parents after their death?” The Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “Yes. To make du-’a for them, to seek forgiveness for them, to carry out there oaths and agreements they have made while alive, to honour their friends and to cement family ties which you have only because of them.”” (Reported by ‘Abu Dawud, ‘Ibn Majah and ‘Al Hakim)
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What an excellent video by one of my mentors…
1. Every Muslim should make preparations for Friday from Thursday. After the asr prayer of Thursday, he should make a lot of istighfaar. 
He should clean his clothes and keep them ready. If he does not have any perfume in his house, then if it is possible he should try and obtain some and keep it ready so that he will not get distracted with these things on Friday. The pious people of the past have stated that the person to receive the most benefit on Friday will be that person who waits for it and who makes preparations for it from Thursday. The most unfortunate person will be he who does not even know as to when Friday will fall, so much so that he will ask the people in the morning as to which day this is. Some pious people used to go and stay in the congregational mosque from the night of Friday in order to make full preparations for the following day. (Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din, vol. 1, page 161)
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Assalaamu ‘Alaykum
We have been talking so much about Fiqh this week, and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani has surprised me last night. Shaykh Faraz is one of the founders of www.SunniPath.com. 
In all my years I have not come across such a wealth of Fiqh knowledge at one website. I met Shaykh Faraz about 2 or so years ago while he was living in Jordan (not physically but online), and he has recently moved to Canada in order to work for Islam there. Shaykh Faraz is what you would call a Faqih, a true scholar of Fiqh, and he specializes in Hanafi Fiqh. Alhamdu’Lillah I am blessed that he is my personal advisor and teacher.
So what’s the surprise?
Shaykh Faraz emailed me and some of his other students last night about a course he will be giving over the next 12 weeks, starting 15 May, Insha’Allah. The course is titled Understanding Islamic Law: Mawsuli’s Mukhtar Explained. One of the classical mutun (texts) of Hanafi Fiqh, Imam Mawsuli’s al-Mukhtaru li’l Fatwa, the basis for the majestic commentary al-Ikhtiyar, will be covered in four parts.
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Assalaamu ‘Alaykum
I think one thing we should be 
very careful about is the source of our knowledge. Whether it be knowledge in Fiqh, or Aqidah, or Tasawwuf, or any other science of aspect of the Deen.
I have myself received misguidance years ago. I listened to deluded scholars on the Internet. I’m sure that they were sincere, and that they did not know that what they were taught was incorrect. But still, I listened to these scholars. That’s one of the reasons I started Message Islam so many years ago – to be a provider of reliable and authentic sources of knowledge, Insha’Allah.
Even Shaykh Hamza Yusuf explains in one of his talks how he received incorrect advice when he just entered into Islam. Someone had told him that he can perform Tayammum (dry ablution) at anytime, as opposed to only when there is no water available. Only very long afterwards did he find out that this was incorrect.
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Assalaamu ‘Alaykum
Firstly, what I mentioned 
yesterday about reciting the Fatiha when following the Imam was particular to the Shafi’i School which most people in our region follow. The Hanafi School has a different position regarding this.
Fiqh is very important for us in order to know what we should do and should not do, what we can do and cannot do. We’re not here on this earth for play and amusement. We’re here to serve Allah and follow His Messenger (May Allah bless him and give him peace).
The best way to learn any type of knowledge is to learn it from the Shaykh directly – from his heart to your heart. But we cannot always find good teachers, or we cannot reach them, or we do not have the time. So sometimes we rely on books, but this should never be sufficient for us. As one of my personal teachers, Sidi Mustapha Elqabbany, writes: “No fiqh book can ever be a substitute for a qualified fiqh teacher. Having said that, reading a good book is better than nothing.”
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Assalaamu ‘Alaykum everyone
A few years ago 
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Shaykh Muhammad al-Yacoubi al-Hasani delivered a course at the Zaytuna Institute in Haywood, California, USA. I don’t know the subject matter of the course, but the “farewell advices” were recorded and presented online for people like ourselves to benefit.
In this farewell advice Shaykh Hamza said that after taking into consideration the types of questions they were getting, that most of the students’ problems would be removed by having a basic knowledge of Fiqh.
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