Sharing is (really) caring 2.0

By Aneesah, 19 Oct 13

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim…

Hehe. Sometime ago I posted an entry called Sharing is (really) caring, which really was just a list of links and online resources related to Islamic knowledge (and stuff) that I regularly utilise or at least have heard good things about. This is an addendum to that, spurred by a Facebook message from a sister asking whether I knew of any online usrah/halaqah groups. I told her I’m not an usrah-goer but I do try to seek knowledge through various other resources.

Anyone who has me on their Facebook list knows that I am quite the link/quote/article/video-sharer. I believe in the power of the little things, and the need for constant reminders. I only subscribe to a handful of pages, websites and newsletters (although you might disagree with me by the time you scroll down), and from those I try my best to only share the best (read: the ones yang bagi terasa/tercucuk, that are poignant, perfectly-timed) posts that I come across. A lot of posts also come from other shared links, so having good companionship, online and offline, is also a huge blessing. :clap: I’ve realised that that is also where loads of the online events have come from (online acquaintances inviting me on Facebook!).

Sidenote: obviously learning face-to-face directly from a teacher or knowledgable-person is excellent and commendable, and these are alternatives or supporting measures to having a trusted teacher whom you can ask questions to and ask for advice from. Understandably, many of us already spend ridiculous amounts of time online, so I think curbing the habit towards gaining knowledge rather than wasting time, is the way to go.

Facebook People/Pages

1. Mufti Ismail Menk — a.k.a. Mufti “Deep Understanding”, because he likes to say that a lot in his lectures. 😆 A very prolific and wise scholar of our time mashaAllah.
2. Sheikh Waleed Abdulhakeem — a.k.a. The Travelling Sheikh! Amazing stories and sharings about the beautiful places of the world.
3. Daood Butt — a Canadian Sheikh studying in Malaysia. His posts are much about “regular” daily life things, but always with a cunning twist at the end. Heh.
4. Omar Suleiman — known from the Quran Weekly vids. He has such a pleasant way of story-telling, mashaAllah.
5. Yahya Adel Ibrahim — friendly Australian Sheikh who has been to Malaysia a couple of times and always gives excellent programs and talks.
6. Imran ibn Mansur — UK-based young da’ie who makes naseeha videos on sensitive (but crucial) topics.
7. Boonaa Mohammed — poet and all-around talented da’ie.
8. Haleh Banani — psychology from an Islamic point of view. Great insight and pointers on issues a lot of us have.
9. Umm Zakiyyah — an author whose quotes are like magical gems to me.
10. Islamographic, Sketchy Muslims, Takbyr Graphy — the graphical forms of information/reminder sharing. :boogie:

Blogs

1. MuslimMatters.org — is quickly becoming one of my favourite blogs: their topics and opinions are diverse but quite relevant to Muslims living in the West (especially).
2. ProductiveMuslim — I work with them, yes, but even if I weren’t in the team, I’d still love their simple, practical advice from various writers. ^_^ BE SURE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER please and thank you.
3. Marc and Angel Hack Life — this is not a faith-related blog, at all, but subhanAllah, Marc and Angel have some awesome advice on various aspects of navigating life: overcoming difficulties, living your dream, relationships with others, productivity, and then some. I discovered the blog via Aiman Azlan’s Facebook.
4. Faith Fashion Fondant — Sr. Asma is such an honest and open blogger, giving much-needed reminders to sisters, and also makes amazing-looking cakes for a living. :nod:
5. theChocolateLover — Sr. Izyan is a medical student in Dublin, and is one of those people with the precious gift (or skill) to pluck lessons out of little observations and occurrences in life, and shares them with others. 🙂
6. MuslimLifeHacks — a fairly new one for me, but their newsletter has been great and useful so far alhamdulillah.

Online Classes

1. Bayyinah.TV — a paid subscription, but so worth it. :nod: Brilliant Arabic lessons and various Quranic studies.
2. ILFTexas — (Islamic Learning Foundation) free access to various courses and recordings, donations are encouraged.
3. Habibi Halaqas — online webinars and recordings targeted to sisters, but some topics are relevant to all, eg. “Arrogance: A Sign of a Sick Heart” with Sheikh Omar Suleiman.
4. SeekersGuidance — various online courses on different topics (some are more technical/scholarly in nature), free of charge.
5. iERA — some online webinars, many offline da’wah courses and training
6. Pure Matrimony — a matrimonial site / blog, but also some free webinars on related subjects.
7. The Marriage Revolution — has also organised some very awesome webinars, I remember this one called “Loving that Girl in the Mirror” [recording available].
8. Islamic Online University — lots of video recordings and PDF notes from courses from their Bachelor’s and Diploma programmes.

Real-life Classes/Programs (mainly Malaysia-based) (not much descriptions because I do not have experience of attending them yet)

1. iMuslim
2. Blessed Gatherings KL
3. Al-Maghrib Institute (also some online broadcasting, eg. PropheticGuidance)/ Qabeelat Ihsaan
4. AlKauthar Insititute
5. Young Muslims Project
6. Al-Khadeem
7. Khalifah Institute — I remember attending one of their youth training programs when I was school-age. The late Prof. Dr. Muhammad al-Mahdi was probably the first person who instilled in me the realisation of the importance of being a khalifah, and consequently a da’ie.

Podcasts

1. Fajr Reminders — pretty much the only one I subscribe and listen to regularly (while cooking, most likely: because the kitchen does not get Wi-Fi 😛 ). The episodes are short, around less than 20 minutes, and are not too deep/intellectual, but always asks the questions you really need to hear. 😥

YouTube Channels

1. Amenakin — ah I love this sister. She has recently produced more discussion/sharing-type vlogs alongside her hijab tutorials, which I think is excellent. Lots of kindly sister-ly stuff on her channel.
2. IProduksi — pioneer of the “whiteboard animation” for short Islamic tazkirah.
3. CikBeahOsem — targeted to a younger Malaysian audience, but still pretty cute & universal reminders.
4. masterchomic — whiteboard animation brought to another level! Amazing visual presentations drawn from Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan’s recordings.
5. lebo2196 — no idea what the username means, but they’re a group of Australian brothers with cool spoken-word videos and other campaigns.
6. Quran Weekly — one of my favourites, no doubt! Awesome-quality video reminders from awesome teachers/speakers. Sometimes they also have bloopers. 😆
7. HijabiBengaliSisters — catered to teenage sisters more than any other group, but I found them very funny and I’m sure younger girls would be able to relate to their vlogs.
8. NAKcollection — probably the ultimate collection of Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan recordings.
9. TVSunnah — awesome collection of recordings of lectures in Malaysia.
10. Yasmin Mogahed — recordings of Sr. Yasmin’s talks.
11. Madmie Channel — amazing young filmmaker producing da’wah shorts.

Free PDFs

1. Sheikh Yawar Baig’s — Marriage – The Making and Living of It, Akhlaaq of the Ummati, Leadership Lessons, and a few more on the website.
2. Kalamullah.com — there are loads in their collection, but in particular I’ve marked: Children around the Prophet (MP3 lectures recommended by Ustaz Nouman), Enjoy Your Life (a book reminiscent of Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, but with examples from the Prophet sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam’s life), Don’t Be Sad (the famous one, by Aaidh al-Qarni).
3. A Practical Guide to Debt and Personal Finance for Muslims by DebtFreeMuslims.
4. IERA pocket dawah manual — useful little guide to answering questions / giving da’wah.

iPad apps

1. are all listed here, but to that I have one addition: Voice Dream Reader, which is essentially a (paid) text-to-speech tool so you can listen to all your saved e-books/PDFs instead of reading them. So good for long bus rides!

Phew.

I know these are a bit overwhelming to view, let alone click and digest, but I advise you to be quite selective and only subscribe/follow pages that you think you will be able to keep up with. That means practicing the knowledge you gain, and sharing it, while you’re still gaining more. I’m pretty sure I’ll be needing to trim down on my subscriptions based on which ones I don’t use anymore.

May Allah accept our efforts as ibadah and may He grant barakah in our time and knowledge, ameen!

 

P.S. I do not have Instagram or Twitter (nor browse Tumblr anymore) but I’m sure there are beneficial stuff on those platforms too. Peace!