Figure 1A: The crypt of Az-Zubair ibn Al-`Awwam, one of the ten promised Paradise by name.

Regarding the identity of who fits the definition of a Companion, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH), the last voice of the first three generations and known as the Imam of Muslim Orthodoxy, mentioned that a Companion is, “As far as the use of the expression ‘companion,’ this is any Muslim who met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, even for a moment.”[1]

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH), said the following of the Companions and the Household of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:

“The Rafidah are those who disavow and renounce the Companions of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and they also curse and consider as low the Companions, along with…

By Parul Sehgal, The New York Times Magazine, July 14, 2015

THIS SPRING, THE novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put a new spin on the commencement speech, that most staid of genres. Speaking at Wellesley College, she didn’t emphasize how the graduates had been helped by their education, but how they had been hindered by it. She invoked their privilege — and her own — to describe how ‘‘privilege blinds.’’ As a highly educated woman, she told them, she hadn’t always been alert to the ‘‘nuances’’ of people who were different from her. ‘‘Privilege blinds, because it’s in its nature to blind,’’ she said. ‘‘Don’t let it blind you too often. Sometimes you will need to push it aside in order to see clearly.’’

Adichie was speaking to her audience in their own language. The word ‘‘privilege’’ has become ubiquitous on college campuses — but in her coolness, in her ability…

“The dead person is not one who has left the world, the (truly) dead one is he who walks the earth with a dead heart.”

Stages of hardening of the heart.

There are stages that lead to heart becoming hard. In the first stage the heart becomes dark. Darkness is then followed by rust settling on the heart and in the third stage Qasawat (hardness) overtakes the heart. Qasawat (hardness) is caused when a person stays Ghaafil (unmindful) for long periods of time.

There is hope

The locks on the heart can be opened. It need not stay there forever. The darkness can be removed and the heart can become soft once again.

Imam Qushayri (Rahmatullah Alayh) has mentioned some ways to bring the heart alive.

1. Tears of regret.

The proof of this is in the Noble Ahadeeth (sayings) of The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam)

Al…