Excerpts from the post-Fajr advice of Mahmud Kurkcu

Let's pretend we are entering a time machine and go back to the time of the Prophet (s.a.w.) to find out what he and his Companions were like in their personal qualities.

Muslims today are like bottles with labels on them. The labels are clear, but the contents are not. Some bottles are empty while others are filled with dangerous concoctions. This is because the contents bear little resemblance to what Rasul and sahaba made of. If that is their condition 2 generations after the Prophet (s.a.w.), what of us?

Umar bin Abdul Aziz was a caliph who ruled only 2 years. During his reign most ahadith (reports of the sayings, actions and responses of the Prophet (s.a.w.))were collected. He lived 2 or 3 generations after the Prophet (s.a.w.). His contemporaries were impressed by his piety and devotion and often commented that he reminded them of the time of the Companions. Once they did this and he started to cry. He addressed them: “If you saw the Companions and how they showed devotion to the Prophet (s.a.w.), you’d think they were cuckoo. If they saw you in your lax condition know, they would not recognise you as Muslims. I am not comparable even to the dust that emits from the donkey of the least of the Companion (Wahshi - the assassin of Hamza) as he walks it through the streets of town”