note: insight

Today I was googling the name 'Salman Al-Oadah' because I needed to find out who was the sheikh that delivered a short, inspiring speech at the univ's masjid. My search resulted in a few individuals, and since I do not really know the real spelling for the name that will lead me to the right person, I fail to identify that sheikh. Anyway, the attempts have led me to a post by Subaib Webb where he shared a conversation between him and Sheikh Salman al-`Oadah (not sure if this is the sheikh I was searching for). I think the short conversation is worth sharing, since the sheikh recommended two important text for students of Fiqh which is Fiqh Al-Sunnah and Bulugh Al-Maram. Above all, I think Suhaib Webb's site is awesome. Here's the link to his post i mentioned earlier.

I'll also write down some interesting insights I heard from Sheikh Salman at the end of 2009 (I must first apologize if I fail to quote exactly what he said, and also for the inaccuracy in translation):

• The journey towards building a solid faith that would result in action is not a 'دفعة واحدة' (One striking impulse/something that happens immediately at a single time). It is a process of continuous building and 'tahseen' (beautification of 'amal, renewal of imaan, etc)

• "ليس الإيمان بالتمني" - Imaan is not by dreaming/something we merely dream of. We have to work for it and put effort, of course, to show how serious we are in our 'business' with the Creator.

• "نجاح شخص نجاح هذه الأمة" - The victory of one individual (among us) is the victory of this ummah. Thus, we should really help ourselves and help our friends + fellow muslims to achieve success. After all, people around us are Allah's gift to us.

• "ما يجد في البحر لا يجد في النهار" - What is there in the sea is not the same with what there is in the river. Each and everyone of us has different talent, different strength. Collectively, we should use all these potentials to assist each other and achieve the best that we can. Together, we would soar to greater heights inshaAllah!

• "الصبر أساس العلم. هناك مشكلة لا حل لها إلا بالصير" - Patience is the basis of knowledge. There's problem that has no solution except for being patient

• A beautiful phrase in the du'a recited was "أسألك بأنك الله, لا إله غيرك" - I am asking (from) You because You are Allah, (which) there is no God but You."