A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Azeem_NYC |
09/12/03 at 01:44:32 |
Asalamu-alaikum, If you haven't already heard... Awakening Media has produced an eleven CD set by Imam Suhaib Webb entitled Mothers of the Beleivers which is an in depth look at the lives of the spouses of Prophet Muhammad (S) - Notice how I didnt say.. Lives of the Wives.. I got annoyed of hearing that over and over again...ha... Alright the set overall was excellent mashallah. At the very end of the set Imam Suhaib revealed all the sources he used to prepare his presentations.. most of them were arabic texts.. so I can't even remember what they were. For those of who you have heard Imam Suhaib before are used to him giving very electrified slanged out speeches... but this set does not contain speeches.... you can clearly tell that he sat down and recorded this in a studio... so his style is different from when he is speaking to a crowd. Throughout the set Imam Suhaib attempts to draw paralells between our lives today and instances from the prophet's (S) marriages in order to extract some lessons. In fact he touches on many issues that we face today (from interaction of the genders to spousal abuse). He attempts to clarify the role of women when it comes to Dawah (Islamic work), Societal Life (politics), and Family Life using the examples of the prophet's wives. I believe that he successfully does this. He also puts emphasis on character building in light of the character exhibited by our mothers. For each wife, he gives the background of the wife, if she was married before, what her lineage was, under what circumstances was she married to the prophet, what trials she faced, what her personality was like, In what islamic sciences did she excel in, what were her major achievements, how was her relationship with the prophet, what role did he play amongst the believers, and finally how she died. Thats the basic setup he ran through for each wife. I think he did an excellent job for the vast majority of the wives. Although I was very dissapointed with his presentation on Hafsa bint Umar. This summer I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Abdullah Idrees Ali give a lecture at the YM (Young Muslims) Summer Camp on the Seerah of prophet Muhammad (S). He spoke on the topic of marriages of the prophet. In his talk he spent a great deal of time on the personality of Hafsa Bint Umar. Like her father.. she was very Bold, very strong, and was very very very opinionated. She would at times irritate prophet Muhamamd (S) because when he might have told her to do something... she would say... are you saying this as the Messenger or as Yourself... (because if it is as yourself then I want to voice my opinion). Imam Suhaib did not bring any of this up. When he spoke about her he spent more time talking about her acheivements and barely touched on her personality. Also I don't think its an acheivement to be Hadrat Umar (R)'s daughter... because that's something she was blessed with... not something she obtained... I felt that was made a point.. while her personality wasn't... and I didn't like that because so many lessons could have been drawn from prophet Muhammad (S) having to deal with 'a strong woman'. Another criticism I have is that when he was covering Hadrat Aisha (r) he mentions the battle of Siffin... (where she (r) sided with hadrat Muawiyyah who was on the opposite side of Hadrat Ali (r). He mentions the battle but he never even gives the bakground to it. Anyone who doesnt already know about the battle would end up being confused. He could of at least stated where she stood on the issue which led to the conflict. I think this is something very crucial which we need to study. Yes we need to be careful when speaking about the questionable actions of the Ashaab... but if treat this fact of history as a dark secret we'd only be hurting ourselves. Other than these two relatively small criticisms I liked the set a lot. And I would recommend for everyone to listen to it... both brothers and sisters. Especially before someone gets married they should listen to it. I like how he kept advising sisters to be patient and supportive of their husbands who are involved in dawah. nowadays many sisters pull thier husbands out of Islamic work because they are very selfish about 'their time'. I am glad he zeroed in on this and talked about it. Also on the flip side It's really good that he showed how important it is for sisters to play their part in Islamic Work. Inshallah I pray that one day I can retain knowledge the way Imam Suhaib who has been muslim for only about 10 years can! Oh yeah I also thought it was funny when he would say... Subhannalllaaaah.... its funny because there is a brother who does that a lot who I know of... and its so annoying its funny... Ohh yeah on CD01 he keeps quoting the Quran so this really slow reciter comes in... every 10 secs and starts putting me to sleep.... but thats only CD01 where he's quoting a lot of Quran because he's laying the foundation of the topic. It sounds much better in subsequent CDs. He also did not discuss the difference of opinion between the scholars on the numbers of the prophets wives... I was hoping he'd talk about that. Theres nothing else for me to say awakeningusa.com go cop that joint! |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
momineqbal |
09/12/03 at 02:05:24 |
[slm], [quote]]For those of who you have heard Imam Suhaib before are used to him giving very electrified slanged out speeches... but this set does not contain speeches.... you can clearly tell that he sat down and recorded this in a studio... so his style is different from when he is speaking to a crowd. [/quote] The lectures were given at Islamic centre of Hawthorne here in Southern California and at Masjid Ansar in orange county, spread over 3 days, about 2/3 hrs each day I think. The third day at Masjid Ansar, I am sure he had to re-record it in the studio, because there were lot of kids and making noises, crying etc. in the masjid ;-) . I have not listened to the CD, so maybe he re-recorded lot of it in a studio or something. |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
09/12/03 at 02:40:39 |
[wlm] U don't hear a single baby crying or any people coughing or anything.. so it's kind of odd to be such good quality?? but I kind of miss that real 'live' effect I guess...maybe he did re-record all of it.. good review azeem with some good points inshaAllah will post mine soon... |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
ascetic |
09/12/03 at 20:08:16 |
Assalam Aleikum, Yeah he did re-record the CD set in a studio. I love his "live" lectures. He's having a series on the "Khulafa Ar Rashideen" on the lives of the first 4 caliphs and he's doing an excellent job. He actually told the people recording the lectures on tape recorders not to distribute it since he wants to re-record the entire lecture in a studio and distribute it (that's why his CD has great quality). [wlm] |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
09/13/03 at 01:09:40 |
[wlm] You know what would be cool... a LIVE version and an unplugged :D seriously there's a different kind of interaction and vibe with live lectures, for example, a recorded studio lecture is very scholarly and planned out (like a book u can read and reference). it's advantage is that the quality is better, it's very detailed and more open to a wider audience. anything mis-said can be corrected...the speaker can say everything they wanted to say, everything can be controlled and has more flexibility. in a live lecture however, you hear babies crying or controversial questions etc.. it's one audience in a certain place, so it makes you feel like it was an event, the lecture is tailored to the audience, has time constraints, but you're kind of living it vicariously and that gives it a more a live feeling vibe i think both have plus's and minus's ... for my own opinion, haven't decided which i think is better yet :) |
09/13/03 at 04:12:03 |
jannah |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
BoldMuslim |
09/13/03 at 02:59:04 |
Asalamu alaykum Anyone can read this stuff! Come one I know many speakers and especially those who do cd series. There is a lot of research and time put into the work they do. For example, Br. Tariq Sweydaan said he read more than 100 books on the seerah in preparing for his series. I don't think we should belittle what they brothers and sisters are doing. I know that was not your intention, but it came out like that. Bigdaddy |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
09/13/03 at 03:51:18 |
[wlm] Brother I'm in no way belittiling the series.. it's great! (more to say when i do the review) I don't even think there is a book that covers the information in it, let alone all the real life good current points. I'm just saying the media of live lectures versus recorded studio lectures are different things. I've modified my post to make it clearer what I was trying to get across... Hope you understand inshaallah.... |
09/13/03 at 04:10:45 |
jannah |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
BoldMuslim |
09/13/03 at 13:01:08 |
Asalamu alaykum, Yo sis, I need to ask your forgivness. I shouldn't have fronted on you like that. I should have just send you a private email. Pleae excuse me. I knew what you meant, that you didn't intend to diss anyone, however, I thought it would be good to clarify it. Please excuse me for not doing it privatley. BigDaddy |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Azeem_NYC |
09/15/03 at 01:14:24 |
Thanks.. to BoldMuslim for posting this in another thread. Publisher: Awakening Media (2003) Voice: Imam Suhaib Webb Media: Audio CD (11 in Travel Album) Total running time: 460 mins. Product description: Mothers of the Believers is a ground breaking series exploring the lives of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (s). It seeks to enlighten the hearts, minds and souls of the Muslim youth in the West. It is through the wonderful examples of the Mothers of the Believers that we can achieve a correct and balanced understanding when approaching issues such as building the Islamic family, social life, working, parenting and raising children. Awakening supplies a range of interesting and challenging audio products covering a variety of Islamic subjects. This audio album is available in a variety of formats including cd and cassette, the cassette version will be available in Ramadan 2003. Contents Cd 1: Introduction Why this series? Objectives Lamps through the ages (Women Scholars in Islamic history) Cd 2: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid Birth and early life Early marriages A great business women Marriage to the Beloved (sa) Cd 3: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid Behind every good man is? The first to accept Islam Early days in Mecca Dawah Challenges The death of our mother (ra) Virtues and impact Cd 4: Sawda bint Zam’a Background and early life Migration for Allah A new Muslimah with no husband A community responds Life with the Prophet The death of our mother Cd 5: A’isha bint Abu Bakr Background and early life The making of a noble daughter Marriage to the Prophet (sa) Responses to the critics of this marriage The model of the Muslim home Cd 6: A’isha bint Abu Bakr The great fabrication Al-Ifk The death of the Prophet Life under the Caliphs The great trial Her virtues The death of our mother Cd 7: Hafsa bint ‘Umar Background and early life First marriage Umar (sa) seeks a good man Hafsa with the Prophet The guardian of the Qur’an The death of our mother Cd 8: Hind bint Abi Umayya (Um Salamah) Background and early life What saves a young couple? Tests are inevitable Alas duaa and only duaa Marriage to the beloved Life after the Prophet The death of our mother Cd 9: Zainab bint Jahsh Background and early life Older siblings have huge a responsibility First marriage Marriage to the Prophet Life with the Prophet The death of our mother Cd 10: Juwayriya bint al-Haarith & Um Habiba bint Abi Sufyaan Juwayriya Background and early life First marriage Marriage to the Prophet Life with the Prophet Life under the Caliphs The death of our mother Um Habiba Background and early life First marriage Tested through a disobedient husband The reward of sabar Life with the Prophet The death or our mother CD 11: Safiyah bint Huyy & Maimoonah bint al-Haarith and conclusion Safiyah Background and early life A strange incident Marriage to the Prophet Life after the Prophet A great test for the Ummah Maimoonah Background and early life Marriage to the Prophet Our mother’s gift to the Ummah The death of our mother Conclusion From darkness to light. About the speaker: Imam Suhaib Webb was born in 1972 and raised in the State of Oklahoma, USA. During his teens he became a Hip Hop DJ and made many records with different artists and bands. During this period of his life, he was a member of a gang and turned his back on religion. Imam Suhaib Webb accepted Islam at the age of twenty. He graduated with honors in Education from the Central Oklahoma University and has studied Arabic and Islamic sciences under many notable scholars. He is currently a lecturer at the Islamic American University (IAU) in Santa Clara, California. |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Anonymous |
09/16/03 at 22:59:00 |
Asalamu alaykum, Bismellaah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulellah Akhee Kareem Azeez, Jazakalicious for posting the review of our CD all over the net. May Allah reward your for you good comments and pointers. Please keep us in your prayers and I hope we can hook up on some YM activities in the future. Suhaib D. Webb "I don't write books. I write MEN!" H. Al-Banna (ra) |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
09/19/03 at 03:02:06 |
[wlm] vowwwwwww......... guess i'm gonna have to be careful writing that review now ;) it's all in love bro all in love for the deen... alhamdulillah welcome to the madina brother... it's gonna take awhile tho cause sadly i don't go anywhere in the car these days...so when is the AbuBakr series going to come out? And can you do one on the lives of some Great Sahabiyat?? :-[ |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Anonymous |
09/19/03 at 16:50:29 |
Asalamu alaykum, As Umar used to say, "May Allah have mercy on the one who gave me the Gift of my mistakes." Ibn Qudama says in his abbreviation of the Ihyaa of Ghazaaali that, "You should benefit from the words of your enemies." Meaning the harmful words of enemies, although hard on one's soul, can bring about a lot of internal development in a person. If this is the case with one's enemies then what about the sincere advices of my fellow brothers and sisters. Actually, I'm very pleased to read all of your thoughts especially the areas for improvement. So don't worry, write what your heart tells you, and speak the truth. As for Abu Bakr, inshallaah, we plan to release it next year at ISNA. The original recording was 12 lectures and we, by Allah's permission, have just started Umar (ra). Inshallaah, Umar should be around 12-16. However, the company that I work for would like them shortened to 5-6 each recorded in the studio as well. We plan to do a few more sister friendly projects. First, the stories of the women in the Qur'an. Lesson, points, and Fiqh rulings. Then Great Women Sahabah and then Great Women from the Tabieen. We also plan to do the 10 promised paradise (brother friendly) a series on all the companions who were promised paradise by the Prophet (sa) called, "Give them glad tidings of Paradise." (Bushrahumal Janaah). We plan to do on for the brother’s bushraahum and for the sister’s bushraahuna in two different albums. We plan to focus on the specific behavior that each on had and just flow with it. And let me not forget to top all that off with a phat inshallaah. Okay, too much talking for me. May Allah reward all of you for your interest and concern for our products? Asalamu alaykum Suhaib D. Webb "I don't write books. I write MEN." H. Al-Banna |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Anonymous |
09/20/03 at 18:11:30 |
Bismillah assalamu alaikum Brother Suhaib Please pass a message to your producers (insha allah I am sure many Madina citizens would agree with me): If the information in the CDs is beneficial, we would like to get the 11 CD set as opposed to a 5 CD set. There isn't enough islamic knowledge of good quality (especially audio, etc) and we are thirsty for it. Its bad enough to have to wait a whole year for it! I personally feel sad when I move to the next CD of the Mothers of the Believers for example -because that means the end of the series is drawing closer... wa salam 'One Madina Lurker' |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Azeem_NYC |
09/22/03 at 01:26:33 |
I can totally understand if they want to reduce the number of Cds in the sets... I know because I am editing a few speeches right now as we speak!... YM is about to come out with a CD about Ramadan w/ speeches by Sheikh Ibrahim Negm and Br. Abdullah Adhami aloooot of work goes into editing, and every cd you make increases production costs. (also when there are less production costs.. the actual products can be sold at a much smaller price). Getting all the graphics work done is also a hassle.. although the advantage of doing sets though is that you dont have to worry about the CD artwork too much because you just have to follow 1 template. www.ymsite.com/store check out our CDs and Books btw I posted the following post on the MSA site also: ------------------------------------------------------------- Salaam! Hey I hope you didn't mind any of my criticisms! I love Awakening and IBN. It's cool to see that you are part of these excellent projects (not to mention MAS, IAU and MYD) We met before at the MAS-ICNA convention in Chicago remember two brothers from chicago and myself sat with you and were complaining about how you don't come to YM events often enough I was the brother from Brooklyn, NY. I was also with Arif (Chicago) at ISNA when he was talking to you about Quran Memmorization before a MYNA session. anyways... I love you for the Sake of Allah. And I hope we are blessed with more opportunities to have you speak. May Allah protect you and increase your Taqwa, Knowledge and Mic Skillz (ha j/p). |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Azeem_NYC |
10/10/03 at 03:31:08 |
go to awakeningusa.com click on digital library.. check out the new Imam Suhaib Audio files which are available.... Islamic Aqeedah Workshop - Sacramento, CA Workshop on Sincerity - Ottowa, Canada Sisters Undercover: A workshop on the Islamic Dress for Sisters 1 Sisters Undercover: A workshop on the Islamic Dress for Sisters 2 Jumuah Khutbah Sept 19, 2003 - Santa Clara, CA MYNA Youth Conference 2003 - Importance of Fajr Salat Importance of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) Last Sermon What is Tafsir ? - Tafsir of Surah Qaaf Tafsir of Surah Fatihah - Santa Clara, CA - Lecture 1 Tafsir of Surah Fatihah - Santa Clara, CA - Lecture 2 Tafsir of Surah Fatihah - Santa Clara, CA - Lecture 3 Jumuah Khutbah - September 19 2003 (p.s. I got like 46 Imam Suhaib Audio files on my cpu :) ) I love awakening! |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
zanfaz |
10/10/03 at 16:25:09 |
[slm] [quote]go to awakeningusa.com click on digital library.. check out the new Imam Suhaib Audio files which are available.... [/quote] brother, where is the 'digital library' link ? |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Azeem_NYC |
10/12/03 at 01:39:03 |
I apologize.. I meant.. "Audio Library" |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Anonymous |
10/14/03 at 02:59:18 |
Asalamu alaykum, Inshallaah at the same audio site on awakening.com we have a special suprise for Ramadaan! Inshallaah, each night of Ramadan we plan to upload a new lecture designed to awaken the sleepers, encourage the repenters, get the hearts pumping, lips moving, and sujoods flowing. www.awakeningusa.com Suhaib |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
11/05/03 at 16:47:51 |
[slm] Ok I really liked this series of tapes I think they were really overdue about a subject that is seriously understudied - that is our famous Muslim women of the past. Some really good things that I liked: I think Sh. Suhaib is a very interesting speaker who can really get down to a person's level. Sometimes...he's just hysterical.. at one point he asks.. "brothers and sisters what is the role of the Muslim woman.. is it wife, mother, servant, biryanathon maker?"... stuff like that just makes me laugh out loud. The quality of the cd's are awesome.. i really don't think he gave these talks in public.. sounds like he just spoke into a minidisk from prepared notes and then they put it together later. As I said a much needed topic especially when most brothers find it unusual to see a sister in the masjid let alone trying to do dawah. And esp when most brothers think a woman's first role is to be a wife or mother and/or to serve them and not a servant of Allah. Sh. Suhaib puts them in their place and we really get the impression of the greatness of these women in all aspects of life. Some things they can improve for the next series: - Technical Stuff: They need this in tapes.. because besides the price hike for cd's.. it's really hard to listen to on cd in the car cause u have to go back to the beginning of the track to continue every time. A criticism i have of the sh awlaki tapes too his voice and the quran are different levels.. so u hear him talking all of a sudden it's so loud when the quran comes on then it goes back so low when he's talking so you're always turning it up and lowering it down in the car... Also I mean Quran is Quran, but the recitor is very slow with tajweed recitation. I think it would be better if they picked a faster reciter like efaasi or shaatri or ghamdi or sudais or someone who has a smoother qiraat? It's like u hear the fast lecture and all of a sudden its like slowww tajweed recitation. On the sh awlaki's tapes I think they have Efaasi lately which really enhances the lecture when u hear the beautiful recitation. - I didn't like how each of the wive's was physically described as "beautiful" or "pretty". i can't recall sahabah's stories mentioning if this sahabah was handsome or good looking. It just makes me more intimidated about these beautiful awesome women who i'll never be like. And i really don't know how young muslim girls will take listening to how the prophet [s] married all these most beautiful women (except for sawdah?). They have enough problems as it is without having more self-esteem issues about never being as 'pretty' or 'beautiful' as these great Muslim women and the thought that not even someone as good as the prophet [s] married normal average looking women. - I think also it would have been good to go into detail more specifically on the defense of why the prophet [s] married so many women. U get the idea if you listen to each wife's story but this is something that is always attacked on by missionaries etc. so it's something good to go through explicitly maybe at the end.. summarize..ie... we can see how most of his life ras [s] was married to one wife and she was also so many years older! and how each subsequent marriage was either to support widows, strengthen ties with companions and enemy clans etc. Overall Again those are seriously minor things!! The tape set is excellent and I really would highly recommend them to sisters and brothers, esp. the younger generation. I'm trying to get different people here to buy a set for their MSA so they can get together and listen to them. They are also really nice to listen to in the car or just on your own!!! P.S. As a side general comment on Islam: I found myself wishing for more detailed biographies of Muslim women of the past...like more personal stories, more hadith, more detailed life accounts, more about them but then I realized that it's just not recorded or has been lost thru time. That's why this series is so important!! And it also amazes me even more about how much of the life of the prophet [s] was recorded. Every detail and aspect, so much so that you could read dozens of accounts of seerah and keep learning more about the life of the prophet [saw]. I think there is no one in history like that subhanAllah. |
11/10/03 at 16:41:51 |
jannah |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
Ruh |
11/10/03 at 23:50:22 |
[slm] Sis Jannah, interesting how you brought up the point about each of the wives being physically described as being "beautiful" or "pretty". I was listening to the Seerah tape set by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and he too describes the wives as all being beautiful, etc... Just an interesting point... :) Massalama :-) |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
BoldMuslim |
11/11/03 at 04:12:55 |
Asalamu alaykum, May Allah reward you all with good in this life and the next. And may Allah reward you all for establishing the right of your brother with good advice and council. If you look in many of the great books of our history like Siyar Alam Anubalah of Al-Thahabi, Usduul Ghaba of Ibn Atheer and even the seerah of Ibn Hisham, you will, for example, Ibn Hisham says, "Khadijah was the most beautiful women from the Qureish." And the same applies to the other wives as well. I actually had some reservations about it, however, while preparing the series I noticed that the scholars would mention it time and time again. As for the male companions, while preparing the life of Abu Bakr I came across that he had a handsome face, and one scholar said he had, get this, cute cheeks and as for Umar they said, and this is translated in our English venacular, "He was ripped.". If you would like those references I can get them to you. Therefore, we find that the male companions, were also described as handsome etc. I am very happy that you are all enjoying our production and I pray that Allah will help us to do better in the future. Do you have any topics that might be of interest in the future? I would love to hear them. Abu Shifaa Suhaib............... |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
faith |
11/13/03 at 22:31:24 |
[slm] Pardon me for my ignorance, but please do tell me how is it possible for the people who lived during the times of the Prophet [saw] be able describe his wives as beautiful? With the exception of Khadija r.a., I thought Allah decreed that the Prophet's [saw] wives be hidden behind a curtain when speaking to non family members. Hence it could not have been possible to determine whether they were beautiful or not. Plus, there is also a hadith that our Prophet [saw] prohibited wives from describing to their husbands the physical features of other women, though I don't remember the source. And since the narration of the Prophet's life are mainly by men, with the exception of A'ishah r.a., Pardon me again for my ignorance and curiosity. I would be most grateful if someone could enlighten me on this matter. :-) |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
jannah |
11/13/03 at 23:39:02 |
[slm] Faith they were known and seen by people before the legislation of "hijab". Also the women saw each other and someone may have been said to be "beautiful" that's not exactly describing their physical features. Like Aisha (ra) upon seeing Juveria(ra) said she looked as beautiful as a 'fairy' :) |
Re: Mothers of the Believers- by S. Webb-- Review |
---|
BoldMuslim |
12/02/03 at 04:16:04 |
Asalamu alaykum, Good news! Awakening USA has decided to release the entire series on the Khalipha by Imam Suhaib free on the web! Inshallah, there is no set date, however, the plan is release it un-edited so you will get 11 one hour lectures on the life of Abu Bakr etc.......look for it soon www.awakeningusa.com. BD |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |