Alhamdulillah, most of you will be familiar to the many blessings and endless mercy which transcends this holy month but here is the Prophet (sws) & Sahaba (ra) describing the Month of Rajab.
Month of Rajab
The Prophet said "Rajab is the month of Allah, Sha`ban is my month and Ramadan is the month of my Nation."
Is the seventh month of the Islamic Calendar.
The meaning of Rajab: The lexical definition of Rajaba is "to respect", which is where the word Rajab has been deprived from.
This month was regarded as one of the sacred months (Al-Ashhur-al-hurum) in which battles were prohibited in the days of the Holy Prophet Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. It is also a prelude to the month of Ramadan, because Ramadan follows it after the intervening month of Sha'ban. Therefore, when the Holy Prophet Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam sighted the moon of Rajab, he used to pray to Allah in the following words:
"O Allah, make the months of Rajab and Sha'ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings)."
Al-Hafidh Ibn `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Hajar Al-`Asqalani, an eminent scholar, wrote a detailed study entitled “Tabyeen Al-`Ajab bima Warada fi Fadl Rajab.” Ibn Hajar included in this study almost all the hadiths reported about the merit of Rajab and the rewards entailed by observing fasting and optional Prayer during it, classifying these hadiths into either weak or fabricated ones.
He also mentioned that Rajab has eighteen names, the most famous of which are these:
Al-Asamm (“the Deaf Month”). It was called so because no rattle of weapons was heard during it, it being one of the sacred months in which fighting is prohibited.
It was called also Al-Asabb (“the Poured-in Month”), because [it was believed that] mercy is poured on people during it. It was called also “the Iron Remover.” In this regard it was reported that Abu Raja’ Al-`Utaridi said, “We used to worship stones [before Islam]. But when we found a better stone than the first one, we would throw the first one and take the latter. If we could not get a stone then we would collect some earth (soil), then bring a sheep and milk that sheep over it, and perform Tawaf around it. When the month of Rajab came, we used (to stop the military actions), calling this month the Iron Remover, for we used to remove and throw away the iron parts of every spear and arrow during it” (Al-Bukhari).
The merit of Rajab is like the merit of the rest of the other sacred months. Allah Almighty says: (Lo! the number of the months with Allah is twelve months by Allah’s ordinance in the day that He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred: that is the right religion. So wrong not yourselves in them) (At-Tawbah 9: 36).
The names of these sacred months are mentioned in an authentic hadith said by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Farewell Pilgrimage. According to this hadith, the sacred months are four, three in succession—that is, Dhul-Qi`dah, Dhul-Hijjah, and Muharram—and the fourth is Rajab, which comes between Jumada Thani and Sha`ban.
According to the above verse, Allah Almighty has ordered the Muslims not to wrong themselves (or others), especially in these sacred months. So no fighting between tribes was to be waged during these months, so that people would guarantee that the way to the Sacred House be safe. This is indicated by Almighty Allah’s saying in another verse: (Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them) (At-Tawbah 9: 5).
Another manifestation of not wronging oneself in the sacred months is to avoid committing sins or wronging others. Some scholars derived from Almighty Allah’s ordering Muslims not to wrong themselves especially in the sacred months that the blood money paid in the case of killing a person by mistake is to be increased by one third if this act is committed during the sacred months. But it is to be noted that the fatwas of those scholars are not based on direct evidence from the Qur’an or Sunnah.
Observing voluntary fasting in the sacred months, including Rajab, is recommended. In this regard, Abu Dawud reported on the authority of Mujibah Al-Bahilyyah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her father or uncle, “Observe fasting for some days in the sacred months and leave fasting for other days.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said this three times, folding three fingers of him and then unfolding them each time. The Prophet’s using three fingers here is meant to assert his recommendation of fasting during these months, and not to indicate the number of the days to observe fasting therein.
Hence, doing good deeds, including fasting, in Rajab is generally praiseworthy like doing so in the rest of the sacred months. According to Ibn Hajar, there is no hadith, whether authentic or good, reported to the effect that observing fasting in Rajab entails a special reward.
Among the weak hadiths circulated about the special rewards entailed by fasting in Rajab is this: “There is a river in Paradise called Rajab; its water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. He who observes fasting of a day from the month of Rajab is like him who observes fasting for a whole month; he who observes fasting of seven days from it will be given refuge against the seven gates of the Fire; he who observes fasting of eight days from it, the eight gates of Paradise will be opened for him; and he who observes fasting of ten days from it, his bad deeds will be turned into good ones.”
There is another long hadith reported in this regard, in the context of which it is reported “Rajab is Almighty Allah’s month, Sha`ban is my month, and Ramadan is my Ummah’s month.” This hadith was said to be fabricated. It was also mentioned in Al-Jami` Al-Kabir by As-Syuti that this hadith was reported by Abu Al-Fat-h ibn Abu Al-Fawaris in his book Amali as a mursal hadith (a hadith which a Successor has directly attributed to the Prophet without mentioning a Companion).
Of the fabricated hadiths reported about the praiseworthiness of offering special Prayers during Rajab is this: “He who performs the Maghrib Prayer in the first night of Rajab, and then offers twenty rak`ahs, two by two, reciting in each rak`ah surat Al-Fatihah and surat “Qul huwa Allahu Ahad,” Allah Almighty will guard him, his family, his wealth, his children; he will also be given refuge against the punishment of the grave and will pass over the bridge above Hell like lightening without being brought to account or exposed to punishment (in the Hereafter).”
Ibn Hajar dedicated in the study referred to above, a whole chapter for the hadiths reported about prohibiting fasting the whole month of Rajab. He then said, “This prohibition applies to the person who observes fasting during it out of following the pre-Islamic tradition of sanctifying this month. But if he observes fasting in this month for Allah’s sake without obligating himself to fast certain days from it, or to offer night vigil Prayer in certain nights of it, there is nothing wrong in this. The prohibition meant here is analogous to the prohibition referred to in the Prophet’s hadith ‘Do not single out the night (preceding) Friday among the nights for Prayer and do not single out Friday among days for fasting.’ ”
As for him who observes fasting in Rajab, believing that fasting during it is more praiseworthy than fasting in the other months, this is controversial among scholars, but Ibn Hajar was of the opinion that this is not permissible.
Ibn Hajar also quoted Abu Bakr At-Tartushi as saying in Al-Bida` wa Al-Hawadith, “It is not recommended to observe fasting in Rajab if this is done out of one of three intentions, one of which is to do so out of believing that its fasting is obligatory like the fasting of Ramadan, or it is a regular act of Sunnah, or that its fasting is more rewarded and praiseworthy than fasting in the other months. If anything of the kind had been true, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would have clarified it. According to Ibn Dihyah, fasting in general is a good act, but it should not be observed in Rajab out of believing that it entails special rewards then. `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) would not recommend fasting in Rajab out of this belief.”
Concerning visiting graves in Rajab, many people, especially women, are used to visiting graves on the first Friday of Rajab. There is nothing in Shari`ah that recommends such an act, and doing so does not entail a reward better than that entailed by visiting graves on any other ordinary day.
Muslims should, rather, remember the important events that took place in the history of Islam during this month, such as the Night Journey and Ascension, the Battle of Tabuk, and the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque from the crusaders at the hands of Salah Ad-Din Al-Ayubi (AH 538). Muslims should derive lessons from this glorious history, so that they may reunite and seek to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque anew from its recent brutal occupiers.
Events of Rajab:- The Holy Prophet ascended to Heaven on the 27th of Rajab on either Sunday or Monday (Mi'raaj).
-Hadhrat Bilal Ibn Haritha (R.A) brought a congregation of four hundred men named Banu Muzeena in the presence of the Holy Prophet . They all embraced Islam and became followers of the Holt Prophet in the year 5 A.H
-The battle of Tabook took place in the year 9 A.H. This was the last battle which the Holy Prophet participated in.
-The second Oath of Aqabah took place in Rajab, 12 A.H.
Deaths in Rajab:-
-Imam Abu Hanifa (R.A) passed away on the 15th of Rajab 150 A.H.
-Imam Shafi'ee (R.A) passed away on the 14th Rajab 204 A.H.
-Imam Muslim (R.A) passed away on the 24th of Rajab 261 A.H.
-Imam Nawawee (R.A) passed away on the 14th of Rajab 677 A.H.
“Knowledge knocks on the door of action. If it receives a reply, it stays, otherwise it departs.”
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !! .
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Friday, 11 June 2010
Remember Allah in times of ease,
Understanding that We are in constant need of Allah the Most High, is crucial to a believer, and therefore the tool of dua (supplication) is vital to a believers success. How, when, where.
Blow over the sick person and make Dua for his recovery
Hadrat Aa'isha (Radiyallaahu anha) relates: Whenever anyone of us would become sick, Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) would pass his right hand over the affected part of the sick person's body and recite the following dua:
Azhubil ba'sa rabban naas washfi. Antash shaafie. Laa shifaa-a illaa shifaa-uk. Shifaa-al laa yughaa diru saqamaa 0 Allah, Lord and Sustainer of mankind, remove his difficulty and cure him You are the only One who cures. There is no cure but Yours. Grant such (complete) cure that leaves no trace of illness. (Bukhaari and Muslim)
Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) once visited a Muslim man who was sick. His voice was very feeble and he had become very thin and weak. Seeing his condition, Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) asked him, 'What dua have you been making to Allah?' He said, 'Yes, I used to say: 0 Allah! Whatever punishment was in store for me in the Aakhirah, let it descend upon me now.' Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) said, 'Subhaanallah! You do not have the strength to bear it. Why do you not say this dua:
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid dunyaa hasana taw wafil aakhirati hasana taw wa qinaa azaaban naar O Allah, our Lord and Sustainer, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the Fire of Jahannam.
The narrator, Hadrat Anas(R.A.), says that the man thereafter began to make this dua (abundantly), and Allah Ta'ala cured him. (Musnad Ahmad)
Another Hadith has it that whoever visits a sick person, not yet destined to die, and he recites the following dua seven times, Allah Ta'ala will certainly cure him of his sickness:
As-alul laahal azeem Rabbal arshil azeem Ay yashfi yak I beg Allah the Almighty, the Owner of the Majestic Throne, that He should cure you. (Abu Dawood)
Hadrat Ibn Abbaas(R.A.) relates that when Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) would visit any sick person he would say:
Laaba-sa tahoorun, lnshaa Allah Have no fear ! If Allah wills, your sickness will purify you of your sins. (Sahih Bukhaari)
Hadrat Usmaan bin abil-Aas(R.A.) says that he once complained about pain in his body to Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam). Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) instructed him: Place your hand on the area of the pain and recite:
Bismillah thrice and say (the following) seven times: A'oozu bi'izza tillaahi wa qudratihi min sharri maa ajidu wa uhaaziru I seek protection in the great might of Allah and His power against the evil I am experiencing and dread. (Sahih Muslim)
Usmaan(R.A.)thereafter says, 'I did this and Allah removed my pain.'
Our Lord! accept from us; surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. (Aameen)
Dua (supplication) is one of the most excellent forms of worship, one of the deeds most beloved to Allah, one of the best gifts that a Muslim can give to another and one of the most formidable weapons in the armoury of a believer. That said, the number of instances mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah where dua is mentioned alone, without any accompanying action, are very few. Rather, the norm in the Quran and the life of the Messenger (SAWS) and his Companions and the Pious Predecessors is dua accompanied by action
For example, at the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet (SAWS) and the believers did not just sit in Madinah and make dua. Rather, they went out to face the army of their enemy and then made dua before, during and after the battle. After establishing authority in Madinah, the Prophet (SAWS) did not just make dua for the spreading of the Message. Rather, he sent out emissaries, propagators and scholars to call the masses to the Message, but made dua before, during and after his efforts. There are numerous other examples in the Quran and Sunnah.
In the above verse, Allah the Exalted mentions actions WITH dua: He does not mention dua alone, without actions. Dua is mentioned without action only in a few, emergency circumstances,
where action was all but impossible.
For example, Yunus (AS) made dua alone in the belly of the whale because there was nothing else practical that he could do in his situation. When Musa (AS) had delivered his people from Firoun, only to be sandwiched between the sea and Firoun’s army, he made dua alone because he had exhausted all of his efforts. Likewise, after the Prophet (SAWS) had called the people of Taif to Islam, and been mocked and beaten by them until his sandals were flowing with blood; he made dua to Allah, having exhausted his efforts. In the hadith of the three men trapped by a rock in a cave, each one in turn made dua alone to Allah because there was practically no action that they could undertake.
Virtues of Supplication (Dua)
Ayah: "And your Lord says: Call on me; I will answer (your prayer). But those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell in humiliation."
[Ghafur / Mu'min: 60]
Ayah: "When my servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them). I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calls on Me. . ."
[Baqarah:186]
Hadith: "Dua is (a form) of worship; your Lord said, "Call on Me; I will answer you (your prayer).
Hadith: "Verily, your Lord (Blessed is He and Almighty) is alive, generous and if His servant raises his hands towards Him, He feels reluctant not to return anything to him."
Hadith: "Any Muslim who supplicates Allah with a supplication that does not contain any sin or cutting off of family relations, Allah will give him one of three things for it:
1. Either He will speedily answer his dua
2. or He will save it for him until the Hereafter
3. or He will avert something bad from him equal to the value of his dua.
(Explanation: a dua has a certain relative value determined by Allah, so if a person says a particular dua, say 15 times in a day, then Allah protects him from something bad that is equal to the valued amount of his dua.)
Customs and Manners of Making duas and the Causes for their Being Answered:
1. Faithfulness to Allah
2. To start with thanking Allah and praising Him and then giving salat on the Prophet (SAW) and ending the dua with the same.
3. To be serious in dua and certain that it will be answered
4. Persistence in the dua and not rushing it (Hadith says don't rush or be impatient. Don't say "I prayed for such and such a thing and Allah didn't answer my prayer. Allah dislikes that.)
5. To put your heart into the dua -- make it from your heart (even if you are reading the words, i.e., mean what you say)
6. Say dua in times of crises as well as times that are good -- don't just say dua in times of need only.
7. Ask Allah alone -- and no one else.
8. Do not make dua on someone's family or money or child or life -- that is, don't say I wish that that person's family be destroyed, or I pray that she loses all her money, or I wish his oldest son would fail or I wish that he would die.
9. Make dua in a moderately low voice -- not silent yet not completely out loud.
10. Know your sins (faults) and seek forgiveness for them and know and acknowledge the benefits and blessings you have been given and thank Allah for them.
11. The oppressor should make amends for what he has done and repent.
12. Turn to Allah with humility, desire and fear of Him.
13. Do not use rhymed prose when making dua.
14. The supplication is (said) three (times). [Hadith that states that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) when making dua, repeated it 3 times.]
15. Face the Qiblah when making dua.
16. Raise the hands during dua [sunnah, not wajib]
17. Make wudu before making dua when possible.
18. Don't pray for injurious or harmful things to happen to people (like praying someone has an unfortunate mishap, or falls down, or chokes or breaks his leg, etc.) Also remember, that the Angels say "Ameen" and the same for you," after your dua.
19. The person making dua should start with himself if he is going to pray for someone else.
20. To make intercession to Allah by use of His beautiful Names and superior Attributes, or by some good deed that the supplicator performed or by the dua of a good man living, who is in his presence (e.g., asking someone who is a good Muslim to make dua for you)
21. That the food and drink and clothing is halal and of a halal source
22. Do not make dua for a sin or cutting off of family ties.
23. To order that which is good and forbid that which is forbidden
24. Distancing one's self from all types of sin.
...... THE PREFERRED TIMES,
CONDITIONS AND PLACES SUPPLICATIONS ARE ANSWERED: (bearing in mind that one can make dua at any time and in any place; however, the following are the most preferable times, conditions and places.)
1. Lailatul Qadr
2. Deep in the last third of the night
3. Immediately after the mandatory prayers
4. Between the adhan and iqamah
5. An hour during every night -- [hadith states that Allah comes down to the sky of the earth during the last 3rd of the night and hears the duas of the believers]
6. At the time of the call to the mandatory prayers
7. At the time of rain
8. During jihad when the ranks of fighters (mujahidoun) advance in the path of Allah
9. An hour every Friday -- the soundest opinion regarding this hour is the last hour between the hours of Asr on the day of Juma, and it could be the hour of the khutba and salat.
10. At the time of drinking Zamzam water with true intentions
11. During sajda
12. At the time of waking up at night and there are hadith regarding what the Prophet r said in these duas
13. If you sleep after having made wudu then wake up at night and then make supplication
14. After you say dua Yunus, make your personal dua or one from Qur'an or sunnah and it is La illah ila Allah subhannaka inni kuntu min al thaalimeen.
15. Dua of people after the death of a person (e.g. the dua of a person who is praying for someone who has just died)
16. Dua after praising Allah and giving salat on the Prophet (SAW) in the tashah-hud at the end of salat. Make your dua before the 2 tasleems.
17. At the time of dua, call upon Allah by the greatest of His names that, if called by them, He answers, and if asked by them, He gives (e.g. Ya Rahman, Ya Raheem, Ya Thal Jalaali wal Ikraam, Ya Al Ahad As Samad, lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakum kuf wan ahad)
18. The dua of a Muslim for his brother or sister Muslim stemming from the heart.
19. Dua on the Day of Arafat
20. Dua during the month of Ramadan
21. Dua at the time of a Muslim gathering for the purpose of remembering Allah.
22. Dua at the time of a crisis by saying Inna lilahi wa inna ilaihi raje'oon, Allahuma ajurni fi museebati, wa akhlif li khairun minha. Verily, we belong to Allah, and verily, to Him is our return. O Allah, Bless me in my problem and replace it for me with something better than it.
23. Dua when the heart reaches out to Allah and is ready to be totally sincere
24. Dua of the oppressed against the one who is oppressing him
25. Dua of the father or mother for or against the son
26. Dua of the traveler
27. Dua of the one fasting until he breaks his fast.
28. Dua of the one fasting at the time of breaking fast
29. Dua of a desperate person
30. Dua of a just Imam
31. Dua of a son or daughter obedient to his or her parents
32. Dua immediately after wudu saying what has been mentioned in the hadith that is directly related to it (ablution)
33. Dua after stoning the small Shaitan (jamrat sugra) during Hajj
34. Dua after stoning the middle Shaitan (jamrat wusta) during Hajj.
35. Dua made inside the Ka'aba and the dua of one who prays inside the hijr as it is part of the house (bait Allah). [This is the semicircle to the right of the Ka'aba if you face the door.]
36. Dua on the mount of Safa during Umrah or Hajj
37. Dua on the mount of Marwa during Umrah or Hajj
38. Dua at any of the holy sites.
Note: The believer can call to his Lord at any time, wherever he is but these times and conditions and places are special and more care should be taken.
Note: All of these circumstances are substantiated by hadith
“Remember Allah in times of ease, and He will remember you in times of distress. What hit you could not have missed you, what missed you could not have hit you. Remember that victory comes with patience, relief comes with affliction and ease comes with hardship.”
Remember the time when we wanted something from our mother and she said “NO, it is not good for you”
Therefore, surely Allah knows what is best for us, more than a mother. Whenever a duaa is not answered, try to accept that it is actually what is best for us and say Alhamdulillah.
He is the Merciful, He gave us things that we did not even ask for.
Are you making Dua's.( Don’t be lazy, make Dua!)
Allah’s Messenger, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, would often pray,
“O Allah! I seek your protection from anxiety and grief,from incapacity and laziness, from stinginess and cowardice, and from the burden of debt and the domination of people.”{Bukhari}
[Lessons from this Hadith]
None of us wants to live in depression or in debt or be lazy. Seek Allah’s protection from all of this, just like your Prophet, salAllah alayhi wa sallam, did. Learn the dua, and say it often
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !! .
Blow over the sick person and make Dua for his recovery
Hadrat Aa'isha (Radiyallaahu anha) relates: Whenever anyone of us would become sick, Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) would pass his right hand over the affected part of the sick person's body and recite the following dua:
Azhubil ba'sa rabban naas washfi. Antash shaafie. Laa shifaa-a illaa shifaa-uk. Shifaa-al laa yughaa diru saqamaa 0 Allah, Lord and Sustainer of mankind, remove his difficulty and cure him You are the only One who cures. There is no cure but Yours. Grant such (complete) cure that leaves no trace of illness. (Bukhaari and Muslim)
Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) once visited a Muslim man who was sick. His voice was very feeble and he had become very thin and weak. Seeing his condition, Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) asked him, 'What dua have you been making to Allah?' He said, 'Yes, I used to say: 0 Allah! Whatever punishment was in store for me in the Aakhirah, let it descend upon me now.' Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) said, 'Subhaanallah! You do not have the strength to bear it. Why do you not say this dua:
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid dunyaa hasana taw wafil aakhirati hasana taw wa qinaa azaaban naar O Allah, our Lord and Sustainer, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the Fire of Jahannam.
The narrator, Hadrat Anas(R.A.), says that the man thereafter began to make this dua (abundantly), and Allah Ta'ala cured him. (Musnad Ahmad)
Another Hadith has it that whoever visits a sick person, not yet destined to die, and he recites the following dua seven times, Allah Ta'ala will certainly cure him of his sickness:
As-alul laahal azeem Rabbal arshil azeem Ay yashfi yak I beg Allah the Almighty, the Owner of the Majestic Throne, that He should cure you. (Abu Dawood)
Hadrat Ibn Abbaas(R.A.) relates that when Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) would visit any sick person he would say:
Laaba-sa tahoorun, lnshaa Allah Have no fear ! If Allah wills, your sickness will purify you of your sins. (Sahih Bukhaari)
Hadrat Usmaan bin abil-Aas(R.A.) says that he once complained about pain in his body to Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam). Rasulullah(Sallallaahu alaiyhi wassallam) instructed him: Place your hand on the area of the pain and recite:
Bismillah thrice and say (the following) seven times: A'oozu bi'izza tillaahi wa qudratihi min sharri maa ajidu wa uhaaziru I seek protection in the great might of Allah and His power against the evil I am experiencing and dread. (Sahih Muslim)
Usmaan(R.A.)thereafter says, 'I did this and Allah removed my pain.'
Our Lord! accept from us; surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. (Aameen)
Dua (supplication) is one of the most excellent forms of worship, one of the deeds most beloved to Allah, one of the best gifts that a Muslim can give to another and one of the most formidable weapons in the armoury of a believer. That said, the number of instances mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah where dua is mentioned alone, without any accompanying action, are very few. Rather, the norm in the Quran and the life of the Messenger (SAWS) and his Companions and the Pious Predecessors is dua accompanied by action
For example, at the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet (SAWS) and the believers did not just sit in Madinah and make dua. Rather, they went out to face the army of their enemy and then made dua before, during and after the battle. After establishing authority in Madinah, the Prophet (SAWS) did not just make dua for the spreading of the Message. Rather, he sent out emissaries, propagators and scholars to call the masses to the Message, but made dua before, during and after his efforts. There are numerous other examples in the Quran and Sunnah.
In the above verse, Allah the Exalted mentions actions WITH dua: He does not mention dua alone, without actions. Dua is mentioned without action only in a few, emergency circumstances,
where action was all but impossible.
For example, Yunus (AS) made dua alone in the belly of the whale because there was nothing else practical that he could do in his situation. When Musa (AS) had delivered his people from Firoun, only to be sandwiched between the sea and Firoun’s army, he made dua alone because he had exhausted all of his efforts. Likewise, after the Prophet (SAWS) had called the people of Taif to Islam, and been mocked and beaten by them until his sandals were flowing with blood; he made dua to Allah, having exhausted his efforts. In the hadith of the three men trapped by a rock in a cave, each one in turn made dua alone to Allah because there was practically no action that they could undertake.
Virtues of Supplication (Dua)
Ayah: "And your Lord says: Call on me; I will answer (your prayer). But those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell in humiliation."
[Ghafur / Mu'min: 60]
Ayah: "When my servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them). I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calls on Me. . ."
[Baqarah:186]
Hadith: "Dua is (a form) of worship; your Lord said, "Call on Me; I will answer you (your prayer).
Hadith: "Verily, your Lord (Blessed is He and Almighty) is alive, generous and if His servant raises his hands towards Him, He feels reluctant not to return anything to him."
Hadith: "Any Muslim who supplicates Allah with a supplication that does not contain any sin or cutting off of family relations, Allah will give him one of three things for it:
1. Either He will speedily answer his dua
2. or He will save it for him until the Hereafter
3. or He will avert something bad from him equal to the value of his dua.
(Explanation: a dua has a certain relative value determined by Allah, so if a person says a particular dua, say 15 times in a day, then Allah protects him from something bad that is equal to the valued amount of his dua.)
Customs and Manners of Making duas and the Causes for their Being Answered:
1. Faithfulness to Allah
2. To start with thanking Allah and praising Him and then giving salat on the Prophet (SAW) and ending the dua with the same.
3. To be serious in dua and certain that it will be answered
4. Persistence in the dua and not rushing it (Hadith says don't rush or be impatient. Don't say "I prayed for such and such a thing and Allah didn't answer my prayer. Allah dislikes that.)
5. To put your heart into the dua -- make it from your heart (even if you are reading the words, i.e., mean what you say)
6. Say dua in times of crises as well as times that are good -- don't just say dua in times of need only.
7. Ask Allah alone -- and no one else.
8. Do not make dua on someone's family or money or child or life -- that is, don't say I wish that that person's family be destroyed, or I pray that she loses all her money, or I wish his oldest son would fail or I wish that he would die.
9. Make dua in a moderately low voice -- not silent yet not completely out loud.
10. Know your sins (faults) and seek forgiveness for them and know and acknowledge the benefits and blessings you have been given and thank Allah for them.
11. The oppressor should make amends for what he has done and repent.
12. Turn to Allah with humility, desire and fear of Him.
13. Do not use rhymed prose when making dua.
14. The supplication is (said) three (times). [Hadith that states that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) when making dua, repeated it 3 times.]
15. Face the Qiblah when making dua.
16. Raise the hands during dua [sunnah, not wajib]
17. Make wudu before making dua when possible.
18. Don't pray for injurious or harmful things to happen to people (like praying someone has an unfortunate mishap, or falls down, or chokes or breaks his leg, etc.) Also remember, that the Angels say "Ameen" and the same for you," after your dua.
19. The person making dua should start with himself if he is going to pray for someone else.
20. To make intercession to Allah by use of His beautiful Names and superior Attributes, or by some good deed that the supplicator performed or by the dua of a good man living, who is in his presence (e.g., asking someone who is a good Muslim to make dua for you)
21. That the food and drink and clothing is halal and of a halal source
22. Do not make dua for a sin or cutting off of family ties.
23. To order that which is good and forbid that which is forbidden
24. Distancing one's self from all types of sin.
...... THE PREFERRED TIMES,
CONDITIONS AND PLACES SUPPLICATIONS ARE ANSWERED: (bearing in mind that one can make dua at any time and in any place; however, the following are the most preferable times, conditions and places.)
1. Lailatul Qadr
2. Deep in the last third of the night
3. Immediately after the mandatory prayers
4. Between the adhan and iqamah
5. An hour during every night -- [hadith states that Allah comes down to the sky of the earth during the last 3rd of the night and hears the duas of the believers]
6. At the time of the call to the mandatory prayers
7. At the time of rain
8. During jihad when the ranks of fighters (mujahidoun) advance in the path of Allah
9. An hour every Friday -- the soundest opinion regarding this hour is the last hour between the hours of Asr on the day of Juma, and it could be the hour of the khutba and salat.
10. At the time of drinking Zamzam water with true intentions
11. During sajda
12. At the time of waking up at night and there are hadith regarding what the Prophet r said in these duas
13. If you sleep after having made wudu then wake up at night and then make supplication
14. After you say dua Yunus, make your personal dua or one from Qur'an or sunnah and it is La illah ila Allah subhannaka inni kuntu min al thaalimeen.
15. Dua of people after the death of a person (e.g. the dua of a person who is praying for someone who has just died)
16. Dua after praising Allah and giving salat on the Prophet (SAW) in the tashah-hud at the end of salat. Make your dua before the 2 tasleems.
17. At the time of dua, call upon Allah by the greatest of His names that, if called by them, He answers, and if asked by them, He gives (e.g. Ya Rahman, Ya Raheem, Ya Thal Jalaali wal Ikraam, Ya Al Ahad As Samad, lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakum kuf wan ahad)
18. The dua of a Muslim for his brother or sister Muslim stemming from the heart.
19. Dua on the Day of Arafat
20. Dua during the month of Ramadan
21. Dua at the time of a Muslim gathering for the purpose of remembering Allah.
22. Dua at the time of a crisis by saying Inna lilahi wa inna ilaihi raje'oon, Allahuma ajurni fi museebati, wa akhlif li khairun minha. Verily, we belong to Allah, and verily, to Him is our return. O Allah, Bless me in my problem and replace it for me with something better than it.
23. Dua when the heart reaches out to Allah and is ready to be totally sincere
24. Dua of the oppressed against the one who is oppressing him
25. Dua of the father or mother for or against the son
26. Dua of the traveler
27. Dua of the one fasting until he breaks his fast.
28. Dua of the one fasting at the time of breaking fast
29. Dua of a desperate person
30. Dua of a just Imam
31. Dua of a son or daughter obedient to his or her parents
32. Dua immediately after wudu saying what has been mentioned in the hadith that is directly related to it (ablution)
33. Dua after stoning the small Shaitan (jamrat sugra) during Hajj
34. Dua after stoning the middle Shaitan (jamrat wusta) during Hajj.
35. Dua made inside the Ka'aba and the dua of one who prays inside the hijr as it is part of the house (bait Allah). [This is the semicircle to the right of the Ka'aba if you face the door.]
36. Dua on the mount of Safa during Umrah or Hajj
37. Dua on the mount of Marwa during Umrah or Hajj
38. Dua at any of the holy sites.
Note: The believer can call to his Lord at any time, wherever he is but these times and conditions and places are special and more care should be taken.
Note: All of these circumstances are substantiated by hadith
“Remember Allah in times of ease, and He will remember you in times of distress. What hit you could not have missed you, what missed you could not have hit you. Remember that victory comes with patience, relief comes with affliction and ease comes with hardship.”
Remember the time when we wanted something from our mother and she said “NO, it is not good for you”
Therefore, surely Allah knows what is best for us, more than a mother. Whenever a duaa is not answered, try to accept that it is actually what is best for us and say Alhamdulillah.
He is the Merciful, He gave us things that we did not even ask for.
Are you making Dua's.( Don’t be lazy, make Dua!)
Allah’s Messenger, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, would often pray,
“O Allah! I seek your protection from anxiety and grief,from incapacity and laziness, from stinginess and cowardice, and from the burden of debt and the domination of people.”{Bukhari}
[Lessons from this Hadith]
None of us wants to live in depression or in debt or be lazy. Seek Allah’s protection from all of this, just like your Prophet, salAllah alayhi wa sallam, did. Learn the dua, and say it often
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !! .
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Unite with his Allah(God)-Beloved only by Sinking into Him.
ISLAM began as something strange, and it will become thus again, as it was at the beginning.
Blessed, therefore, are the strangers.
(He was asked who the strangers are).
The strangers are those who restore what the people have corrupted of my law,
As well as those who revive what has been destroyed of it.
But this is not the only reason why we need to speak about Islam. Islam expresses the ethics of the attitude of man to God in laconic and methodologically true form.
Moreover, the attitude to God, which was taught by Jesus Christ, was realized in Islam and not in mass Christianity.
This is why it are in the field of Islam's activity that there are many sound spiritual schools on the Earth now.
The Quran — the main holy book of Islam — contains their sayings and description of their acts. The narration in the Quran is communicated through the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Allah SWT God, Who gives Muhammad SAW
What is the newness of Islam? Why God did not spread Christianity in the regions that are covered nowadays by Islam?
The matter is that many people calling themselves Christians strayed from the Teaching of Jesus Christ even at that time. And the modern mass Christianity has lost God and its followers can be called Christians only relatively — only because they continue to observe the ancient Christian rites.
… Let us compare it to India. The people of India have Bhagavad-Gita where there is a detailed description of what is God (in Sanskrit — Ishvara) and what man has to do in relation to this. But in India too the majority of people are unable to accept the concept of monotheism (due to the fact that in any region of the Earth the people of the early stages of psychogenetic development are in majority). So, nowadays, the followers of the mass Hinduism and Buddhism of Mahayana worship not Ishvara,
Who is so vividly represented in Bhagavad-Gita, but the pagan fictitious "gods": Ganesha, Kali etc., with corresponding iconography? And in some degenerated branches Of the Buddhism this tendency has gone so far that for God there was left no room and He is denied completely.
But people relying on the Judaic and Christian Bible turned out to be in even a worse situation since these books do not contain any description of God which can satisfy
The inquiries of man on the intellectual search: there God is depicted so that He becomes an object of belief and not an object of knowledge.
Therefore, return to the pagan form of religious outlook, which is more convenient for young souls, was even easier among people involved in Christianity.
The loss of God in the mass Christianity manifested in the fact that God preached by the Judaic prophets and Jesus as the main object of attention, aspiration, and love, was superseded by the pagan cults of Nicholas the Wonder-worker and others "patron saints", by the cult of the earthly mother of Jesus, who was, undoubtedly, a Remarkable and virtuous woman, but could not understand and accept what her Son taught; once she even counted Him insane (Mark 3:21,31-35). And the main essence Of the Teaching of Jesus about aspiration to cognition God-the-Father was superseded… by prayerful panhandling.
It is important to note, that the pagan tendency was legalized by the Orthodoxy already in the liturgical tradition where very good, but not divine woman Maria, the mother of Jesus, is called "my all-blessing Queen", "Our Lady", and we are her slaves, with no hope to receive help from anyone, only she can help (God, as one can
See, in this case is of no importance).
And, seeing the beginning of this tendency, God once again repeated through the prophet Muhammad (SAW) that people have to concentrate attention on the Total
Universal God-Creator and devote their lives to Him.
Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah, and whoever turns back, so we have not sent you as a keeper over them. (Surah An-Nisa, 80)
The point one needs to pay attention in the verses is that they emphasize on the concept of "obeying the Messenger". This point shows us that following the Messenger, in other words following His commands and rules is a worship that Allah brought as an obligation. When we look at the verses, we again see that our prophet has the Authority to enjoin and forbid things. For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be Careful of (your duty to) Allah.
(Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Quran. Besides, it is again informed in the verses that the believers took the matters that they did not understand to the prophet and the prophet judged for them.
The Quran is the last divine book, which was revealed from Allah as a declaration and guidance to mankind. It is an explanation of all things and means for men to be rightly guided. In many verses of the Quran, it is commanded to obey the prophet of Allah. This is quite a significant point because understanding the Quran fully can only be possible with following the Sunnah of the prophet.
The Sunnah is the explanation of the Quran. It is the creed of ahl-i Sunnah, which has been constituted with collecting true hadiths of the prophet Muhammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam), and interpretation of these hadiths by great scholars in later times.
It's worth dwelling upon a point here. The Sunnah is not a concept that can be dealt with separately from the Quran. In the Quran, it has been mentioned that the Prophet removes heavy burdens, makes rules, and teaches the ummah (society) the open and hidden meanings of the Quran. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Practices of Sunnah, we see that the prophet of Allah gave His companions a lot of information about numerous subjects. This information was then interpreted by Scholars of the time continued to be practiced in daily lives and has passed on to us generations to generations.
Allah has informed in the Surah Al-e Imran that the Prophet had the characteristic of teaching the Quran and purifying mankind:
Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error. (Surah Al-e Imran, 164).
It would be useful to attract attention to the phrase "teaching the book and the wisdom". Because, It is not possible to understand the Quran fully and practice its Commands without following the Sunnah of the prophet of Allah. Our religion is a whole only with the Quran and the Sunnah. At that times when the Quran was revealed, the people around the prophet learned and practiced the commands of our religion as required by looking at the examples of the prophet. Indeed, the prophet has been an important example with His life, where he practiced the commands of the religion, for us to understand the Quran.
We can give "Salat" (ritual prayers) as a clear example to understanding the commands of the religion. As well known, in Islam, performing Salat 5 times a day is an
Obligation and there are verses giving general information about how to perform it, how to perform ablution (wash). However, we can understand how exactly we should perform prayers only by looking at Sunnah. Because there is no detailed information in the verses about the way of praying, what to say in prayer, the way of man and Woman’s performing the prayer, the degree of importance of the prayers, the details of ablution, what nullifies ablution. We can learn such details only by looking at Sunnah of the prophet.
As another example, we can mention the suggestions of the prophet about Friday and the things He said about Friday prayer. Beside the subjects such as speaking that which is best, cleanness, foods, modesty, there are verses in the Quran about obligations such as fasting, ablution and hajj (pilgrimage). However, there is no detailed information about those worships in the verses. We learn the detail information about how to perform these worships from the interpretations of the scholars about the words and habits of the prophet.
Sunnah has acted the lives of Muslims throughout the history, of all past scholars of Islam, shaping their worships. Since the era of our prophet, which has been hundreds of years, the Muslims have worshipped in compliance with the Sunnah. Worships like praying five times a day, fasting, giving charity and sacrificing have not changed until today as they have been always performed according to the Sunnah. For this reason, starting discussions upon the worships, which have been practiced for hundreds of years without change, and speculating about the subjects like time of the prayers, the numbers of the rakaats (units) are completely unnecessary. All of them are Obligatory worships, whose details are described in the Sunnah. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Quran, we see many verses in the Quran about following the Messenger. In a verse, for example, Allah commands us to obey the Messenger as follows:
Surely we have sent you as a witness and as a bearer of good news and as a Warner, That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and may aid him and revere him; and (that) you may declare His glory, morning and evening. Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a Mighty reward. (Surah Al-Fath, 8-10)
Imam Malik (R.A,) one of the greatest Islam scholars, compared the Sunnah of the prophet to the ark of Noah and said: The Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam) is like the Ark of Noah. Whoever embarks upon it reaches salvation and whoever refuses is drowned.” The true salvation will be realized only when the creed of ahl-i Sunnah is understood by everybody and prevails in the society
And in conclusion let us cite one more hadith in which Allah (God) outlines the steps of one's approaching to Him and Merging with Him.
We should comment that death in it should be understood not as the death of man's body, but as the death of egocentrism in man and his isolation from God. For one can unite with his God-Beloved only by sinking into Him.
He who searches for Me — will find Me.
He who found Me — will cognize Me.
He who cognized Me — will fall in love with Me.
He who fell in love with Me — will conceive passion to Me.
To him who conceived passion to Me — I too will conceive passion.
Him who is in love with Me I will kill,
And to him whom I killed I will pay a ransom for the blood.
I myself am the ransom for his blood.
You will not enter paradise until you believe,
And you will not believe until you love one another.
Let me guide you to something in the doing of which you will love one another.
Give a greeting to everyone among you.
Inscribed on the prophet's sword:
Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off;
Do good to him who does evil to you;
And speak the truth even if it be against your self.
How many people carry the Quran in the hearts but it curses them from inside their hearts!
If the bearer of Quran disobeys his Lord, the Quran calls him from inside his chest saying, "By Allah, you have not carried me (memorized me) for this! Will you not be shy from your Lord?"
-Ibn Mubarak.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
Blessed, therefore, are the strangers.
(He was asked who the strangers are).
The strangers are those who restore what the people have corrupted of my law,
As well as those who revive what has been destroyed of it.
But this is not the only reason why we need to speak about Islam. Islam expresses the ethics of the attitude of man to God in laconic and methodologically true form.
Moreover, the attitude to God, which was taught by Jesus Christ, was realized in Islam and not in mass Christianity.
This is why it are in the field of Islam's activity that there are many sound spiritual schools on the Earth now.
The Quran — the main holy book of Islam — contains their sayings and description of their acts. The narration in the Quran is communicated through the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Allah SWT God, Who gives Muhammad SAW
What is the newness of Islam? Why God did not spread Christianity in the regions that are covered nowadays by Islam?
The matter is that many people calling themselves Christians strayed from the Teaching of Jesus Christ even at that time. And the modern mass Christianity has lost God and its followers can be called Christians only relatively — only because they continue to observe the ancient Christian rites.
… Let us compare it to India. The people of India have Bhagavad-Gita where there is a detailed description of what is God (in Sanskrit — Ishvara) and what man has to do in relation to this. But in India too the majority of people are unable to accept the concept of monotheism (due to the fact that in any region of the Earth the people of the early stages of psychogenetic development are in majority). So, nowadays, the followers of the mass Hinduism and Buddhism of Mahayana worship not Ishvara,
Who is so vividly represented in Bhagavad-Gita, but the pagan fictitious "gods": Ganesha, Kali etc., with corresponding iconography? And in some degenerated branches Of the Buddhism this tendency has gone so far that for God there was left no room and He is denied completely.
But people relying on the Judaic and Christian Bible turned out to be in even a worse situation since these books do not contain any description of God which can satisfy
The inquiries of man on the intellectual search: there God is depicted so that He becomes an object of belief and not an object of knowledge.
Therefore, return to the pagan form of religious outlook, which is more convenient for young souls, was even easier among people involved in Christianity.
The loss of God in the mass Christianity manifested in the fact that God preached by the Judaic prophets and Jesus as the main object of attention, aspiration, and love, was superseded by the pagan cults of Nicholas the Wonder-worker and others "patron saints", by the cult of the earthly mother of Jesus, who was, undoubtedly, a Remarkable and virtuous woman, but could not understand and accept what her Son taught; once she even counted Him insane (Mark 3:21,31-35). And the main essence Of the Teaching of Jesus about aspiration to cognition God-the-Father was superseded… by prayerful panhandling.
It is important to note, that the pagan tendency was legalized by the Orthodoxy already in the liturgical tradition where very good, but not divine woman Maria, the mother of Jesus, is called "my all-blessing Queen", "Our Lady", and we are her slaves, with no hope to receive help from anyone, only she can help (God, as one can
See, in this case is of no importance).
And, seeing the beginning of this tendency, God once again repeated through the prophet Muhammad (SAW) that people have to concentrate attention on the Total
Universal God-Creator and devote their lives to Him.
Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah, and whoever turns back, so we have not sent you as a keeper over them. (Surah An-Nisa, 80)
The point one needs to pay attention in the verses is that they emphasize on the concept of "obeying the Messenger". This point shows us that following the Messenger, in other words following His commands and rules is a worship that Allah brought as an obligation. When we look at the verses, we again see that our prophet has the Authority to enjoin and forbid things. For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be Careful of (your duty to) Allah.
(Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Quran. Besides, it is again informed in the verses that the believers took the matters that they did not understand to the prophet and the prophet judged for them.
The Quran is the last divine book, which was revealed from Allah as a declaration and guidance to mankind. It is an explanation of all things and means for men to be rightly guided. In many verses of the Quran, it is commanded to obey the prophet of Allah. This is quite a significant point because understanding the Quran fully can only be possible with following the Sunnah of the prophet.
The Sunnah is the explanation of the Quran. It is the creed of ahl-i Sunnah, which has been constituted with collecting true hadiths of the prophet Muhammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam), and interpretation of these hadiths by great scholars in later times.
It's worth dwelling upon a point here. The Sunnah is not a concept that can be dealt with separately from the Quran. In the Quran, it has been mentioned that the Prophet removes heavy burdens, makes rules, and teaches the ummah (society) the open and hidden meanings of the Quran. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Practices of Sunnah, we see that the prophet of Allah gave His companions a lot of information about numerous subjects. This information was then interpreted by Scholars of the time continued to be practiced in daily lives and has passed on to us generations to generations.
Allah has informed in the Surah Al-e Imran that the Prophet had the characteristic of teaching the Quran and purifying mankind:
Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error. (Surah Al-e Imran, 164).
It would be useful to attract attention to the phrase "teaching the book and the wisdom". Because, It is not possible to understand the Quran fully and practice its Commands without following the Sunnah of the prophet of Allah. Our religion is a whole only with the Quran and the Sunnah. At that times when the Quran was revealed, the people around the prophet learned and practiced the commands of our religion as required by looking at the examples of the prophet. Indeed, the prophet has been an important example with His life, where he practiced the commands of the religion, for us to understand the Quran.
We can give "Salat" (ritual prayers) as a clear example to understanding the commands of the religion. As well known, in Islam, performing Salat 5 times a day is an
Obligation and there are verses giving general information about how to perform it, how to perform ablution (wash). However, we can understand how exactly we should perform prayers only by looking at Sunnah. Because there is no detailed information in the verses about the way of praying, what to say in prayer, the way of man and Woman’s performing the prayer, the degree of importance of the prayers, the details of ablution, what nullifies ablution. We can learn such details only by looking at Sunnah of the prophet.
As another example, we can mention the suggestions of the prophet about Friday and the things He said about Friday prayer. Beside the subjects such as speaking that which is best, cleanness, foods, modesty, there are verses in the Quran about obligations such as fasting, ablution and hajj (pilgrimage). However, there is no detailed information about those worships in the verses. We learn the detail information about how to perform these worships from the interpretations of the scholars about the words and habits of the prophet.
Sunnah has acted the lives of Muslims throughout the history, of all past scholars of Islam, shaping their worships. Since the era of our prophet, which has been hundreds of years, the Muslims have worshipped in compliance with the Sunnah. Worships like praying five times a day, fasting, giving charity and sacrificing have not changed until today as they have been always performed according to the Sunnah. For this reason, starting discussions upon the worships, which have been practiced for hundreds of years without change, and speculating about the subjects like time of the prayers, the numbers of the rakaats (units) are completely unnecessary. All of them are Obligatory worships, whose details are described in the Sunnah. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Quran, we see many verses in the Quran about following the Messenger. In a verse, for example, Allah commands us to obey the Messenger as follows:
Surely we have sent you as a witness and as a bearer of good news and as a Warner, That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and may aid him and revere him; and (that) you may declare His glory, morning and evening. Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a Mighty reward. (Surah Al-Fath, 8-10)
Imam Malik (R.A,) one of the greatest Islam scholars, compared the Sunnah of the prophet to the ark of Noah and said: The Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam) is like the Ark of Noah. Whoever embarks upon it reaches salvation and whoever refuses is drowned.” The true salvation will be realized only when the creed of ahl-i Sunnah is understood by everybody and prevails in the society
And in conclusion let us cite one more hadith in which Allah (God) outlines the steps of one's approaching to Him and Merging with Him.
We should comment that death in it should be understood not as the death of man's body, but as the death of egocentrism in man and his isolation from God. For one can unite with his God-Beloved only by sinking into Him.
He who searches for Me — will find Me.
He who found Me — will cognize Me.
He who cognized Me — will fall in love with Me.
He who fell in love with Me — will conceive passion to Me.
To him who conceived passion to Me — I too will conceive passion.
Him who is in love with Me I will kill,
And to him whom I killed I will pay a ransom for the blood.
I myself am the ransom for his blood.
You will not enter paradise until you believe,
And you will not believe until you love one another.
Let me guide you to something in the doing of which you will love one another.
Give a greeting to everyone among you.
Inscribed on the prophet's sword:
Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off;
Do good to him who does evil to you;
And speak the truth even if it be against your self.
How many people carry the Quran in the hearts but it curses them from inside their hearts!
If the bearer of Quran disobeys his Lord, the Quran calls him from inside his chest saying, "By Allah, you have not carried me (memorized me) for this! Will you not be shy from your Lord?"
-Ibn Mubarak.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Third Kalima
Glory be to Allah and all praise be to Allah, and there is no deity (worthy of worship) save Allah, and Allah is Great.
Al Hasan Al Basri (ra) said," You always see the believer reproaching himself and saying things like: Did I want this? Why did I do that? Was this a better thing to do or should I have behaved otherwise?
Hazrat Umar Al Farooq (ra) Said:
"The Wisest Of Men is he who can account for his own actions."
Start With the Self.
A man was on his death bed, Someone asked him to give some wise counsel before he departed, the world he Said.
" When I was young I wanted to change the world and solve its problems, As I got older I realized that perhaps I should lower my sights, I thought I would be better served in changing my country as time went on I realized that people of country could not be changed. I decided to change the people of my town , but they also did not wish to change, When I reached my old age I thought I would try changing my Family, here also I found my endeavors go to waste, try as I might my family members would not change.
" Now that I am on my death bed, I have realized that if I had sought to improve myself, and removed my own defects, then perhaps my family members would have been influenced. Then seeing the behavior of my family people of my town would have been influenced. By seeing the spiritual change and improvement of the people of my town, the people of my country would have been influenced. And perhaps through the people of my country the world may have been influenced."
* Source Unknown.
Is it not the case that we spend very little time reflecting on ourselves, but seek out the faults and defects of others. I joined this forum last week, to help improve my knowledge, instead what I have found myself doing is getting engaged, in fruitless debates be it sectarian issues, political issues or otherwise. I wish to change the world but I find it near impossible, to change myself.
MaY Allah give us all the Tawfiq to improve our own behavior and conduct and a sinner like me in particular, ameen.
Shaqeeq Bin Ibraheem (ra) says: " In four things a person conforms with me by way of his tongue but opposes me by way of his deeds.
1.) He says that we are the servants (and slaves) of Allah subhanahu wa tala,
Yet does the deeds of free people.
2.) He says that Allah subhanahu wa tala is responsible, for our sustenance, yet his heart is not at ease upon this responsibility until at such time that he is not in possession of any worldly material;
3). He says that the hereafter holds virtue over the world, yet he always worries about hoarding wealth for this world (he has no worry for the hereafter);
4.) He says that death is inevitable, it will definitely come, yet his deeds are like those who do not want to die."
In short we spend our whole lives in the pursuit of wealth, material things and violating the rights of others, It fails to register with us that one day we shall die, only our deeds will accompany us to the grave: Often we find people who fall out with their loved ones over something petty, they spend the rest of their lives in enmity, neither willing to apologise, or compromise.If one of them passes away then the one who remains alive is filled with remorse of course by then it is too late to make ammends.
Enhance your good deeds, settle your debts, Make ammends with those whom
you have fallen out with, does it really matter whose right ,or whose in the wrong, Will our status be lowered if we are the ones who compromise and offer an apology.
The Third Kalimah
The third kalimah has a unique and very interesting story behind it. It all started before Allah Ta'alah created Adam A.S. The Angels were trying to move the Arsh (Throne) of Allah Ta'alah but it was too heavy and wouldn't budge. So they asked Almighty Allah for help. Allah told them to recite "Subhanallah." The Angels did as they were told and found that it gave them power and strength and they were able to move the Arsh. They liked this so much that they began constantly hymning "Subhanallah."- (Glory be to Allah)
Then Allah created Adam A.S. When Allah blew life into Adam, the first thing he did was sneeze and say "Alhamdulillah" (All parise be to Allah)The angels liked this act so much that they added this to their parise and glorification of Allah. Thus the kalimah became "Subhanallah Walhamdulillah"
Hundreds of years passed and the Prophet Nooh A.S. was now on earth. For nine hundred years he proclaimed the oneness of Allah with the words "La illaha illalah." (There is none worthy of worhip The Angels loved this act so much that they added this to the kalimah. Thus, the kalimah now became "Subhanallah Walhamdulillah Wa La illaha illalah."
The Angels kept repeating this kalimah day and night. Many centuries passed and the Prophet Ebrahim A.S. (Abraham) was asked by Almighty Allah to sacrifice his beloved son Ismaeel A.S. He was about to slaughter his son and He needed something to give him the courage he needed to do this difficult deed. So he recited "Allahu Akbar." (Allah is Great) The Angels loved this act so much that they added "Allahu Akbar" to the kalimah. Thus the kalimah became "Subhanallah Walhamdulillah Wa La illaha illalah Allahu Akbar."
More centuries passed. It was the night of Meraj, when our Beloved Prophet Muhammed S.A.W. ascended to the Heavens with Gibraeel A.S. There Gibraeel A.S. told Nabee S.A.W. the story and Nabee S.A.W. added the final part of the Kalmiah "Wala Howla Wa La Quwata Illah Billah Hil Aleyeel Azeem." Thus the kalimah now became Subhanallah Walhamdulillah Wa La illaha illalah Allahu Akbar Wala Howla Wa La Quwata Illah Billah Hil Aleyeel Azeem" (There is no Power and Might except from Allah, The Most High, The Great)
And up to this day, this kalimah (or declaration of faith) buzzes around the Arsh of Almighy Allah.
Third Kalima is Tumjeed, this is the Kalima(the first part) that is recited 33 times after each Farz Namaaz, and is called tasbih Fatima.
urah Fatiha protects one from the anger of Allah.
Surah Yaseen from the thirst of the Day of Judgement.
Sura Waaqiah from poverty and starvation
Surah Mulk from the punishment of the grave
Surah Kausar from the enemity of the enemy
Surah Kaafiroon from kufr at the time of death
Surah Ikhlaas from hypocrisy
Surah ! Falaq fr om calamities.
Surah Naas from evil thoughts
Should someone become aware of the above from your message and read any of these surahs, u will also receive the sawaab for passing on the knowledge. So keep forwarding…….
Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W.W (PBUH) says that
“If a person recites ” Ayatal Kursi” after every Farz Namaz then there will be nothing between him and Heaven except Death”
2) There is a Hadith that says “3rd kalima” is such a great medicine that it cures every disease and the most minor disease it cures is “Sorrow” (Gham).
Third kalima being: ” Subhaan Allah, WalHamdo Lillah, Wa La Illaha IlAllah, Wa Aallah o Abar. Wa Lahoalwalla quwatta illa billah hilm Ali al Azeem.”
3) Another Hadith says “if a person recites surah ikhlaas 10 times in a day then Allah build a palace for him in the Heaven.(Subhaan Allah)”
and the last but not the least ALLAH says ” spread the knowledge whatever u have …Its duty of each n every Muslim”
May ALLAH accepts our good deeds…Aamin (InshahALLAH)
..........The Third Kalima...........
Relates Hazarat Sumara bin Jundub that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) once said that of all the spoken words and the Kalimas the most excellent were these four:
Narrates Abu Haraira that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said, "The Kalima of is dearer to me than the entire world on which the sun shines.
This Kalima is most complete and comprehensive and all the aspects of Divine Praise are covered by it. In some Traditions the phrase is also included in it. It occurs after . A revered spiritual mentor used to explain the import of the Kalima to the present writer in following manner:
Subhaa nallah, 'Glory be to Allah, Free from all faults and blemishes and other things that are not worthy of His Glory .
Alhamdu lillah, 'Praise be to Allah, He is the embodiment of perfection and the center of every kind of virtue, (therefore) all praise is for Him, and when such is His Glory that He is absolutely blemishless and all the wonderful virtues are assembled in Him, He alone is our Lord and the sole object of our heart's desire .
Laa ilaaha illalaah, 'There is no Allah save Him, We are His own helpless slaves and of no one else.
Allahu Akbar, 'Allah is Great, He is Most Powerful, Almighty. We can never acquit ourselves of our duties to Him as His slaves nor can we ever gain nearness onto Him except that he himself blesses us with His grace.
Laa howla walaa quwwata illa billaah, 'There is no power or virtue but in Allah."
Tasbihat-I-Fatima
A well-known Tradition of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has it that the Prophet's beloved daughter (and Hazrat Ali's wife), Hazrat Fatima, used to perform all the domestic duties with her own hands. She had even to draw water from the well and to carry it home and to grind the corn in the millstone. One day she begged the holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) to provide her with a domestic servant upon which the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) observed, "I will tell you of something that will serve you better than a domestic servant. Recite Subhaa-nallaah 33 times, Alhamdu lillaah 33 times, and Allahu Akbar 34 times after each Salaah and on retiring to bed. This will be of greater value to you than a servant."
Another Tradition says, "Whoever will recite after each Salaah 33 times Subhaa-nallaah, 33 times Alhamdu lillaah, and 34 times Allahu Akbar, and, at the end of it, the Kalima of ‘Laa ilaaha illal laahu wahdahu laa sharika lahu lahul mulku wa-lahul hamdu wa huwa alaa kulli shay-in qadiir’. (There is no Allah but one Allah. He is alone. No partner hath. He Him belongs sovereignty and unto Him belongs Praise and He is all-Powerful) all his sins will be forgiven even if they be as profuse as the foam of the sea."
May Allah give us all the Tawfiq to examine our own faults and rectify them ameen.
May Allah give us all the tawfiq to reform ourselves, and a hypocrite like myself
in particular ameen.
P.s I humbly request that you please, remember me in your duas.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her)
Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya (RA)
Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya, may Allah be pleased with her, was married to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in 4 AH at the age of twenty nine, after her first husband, Abdullah ibn Abdul Asad, had died from the wounds he had received while fighting at the battle of Uhud. Umm Salama and Abdal Asad had been among the first people to embrace Islam in the early days of the Muslim community in Mecca. They had suffered at the hands of the Quraish who had tried to force them to abandon their new faith, and had been among the first group of Muslims to seek refuge under the protection of the Negus in Abyssinia. When they had returned to Mecca, believing that the situation of the Muslims had improved, they had found instead that if anything it was worse. Rather than return to Abyssinia, Abdal Asad and Umm Salama had received the Prophet’s permission to immigrate to Medina, but this proved not to be as easy as they might have imagined.
In the words of Umm Salama: “When Abu Salama (my husband) decided to leave for Medina, he prepared a camel for me, lifted me up onto it and put my son Salama on my lap. My husband then took the lead and went straight ahead without stopping or waiting for anything. Before we were out of Mecca, however, some men from my tribe, the Banu Mahkhzum, stopped us and said to my husband: “Although you may be free to do what you like with yourself, you have no power over your wife. She is our daughter. DO you expect us to allow you to take her away from us?’ They then grabbed hold of him and snatched me away from him. Some men from my husband’s tribe, the Banu Abdul Asad, saw them taking both me and my child and became hot with rage: “No, by Allah!’ They shouted. ‘We shall not abandon the boy. He is our son and we have a rightful claim over him.’ So they took him by his arm and pulled him away from me. Suddenly, in the space of a few minutes, I found myself all alone. My husband headed out towards Medina by himself; his tribe had snatched away my son from me; and my own tribe had overpowered me and forced me to stay with them. From the day that my husband and my son were parted from me, I went out at noon every day and sat at the spot where this tragedy had occurred. I would remember those terrifying moments and weep until nightfall.
“I continued like this for a year or so until one day a man from the Banu Umayya passed by and saw my condition. He went to my tribe and said, ‘Why don’t you free this woman? You have caused both her husband and her son to betaken away from her.’ He went on like this, trying to soften their hearts and appealing to their emotions, until at last they said to me, ‘Go and join your husband if you wish.’ But how could I join my husband in Medina, and leave my son, part of my own flesh and blood, in Mecca among the Banu Abdul Asad? How could I remain free from anguish, and my eyes free from tears, if I were to reach the place of hijrah not knowing anything of my little son left behind in Mecca?
“Some people realized what I was going through and their hearts went out to me. They approached the Banu Abdul Asad on my behalf and persuaded them to return my son. I had no desire to remain in Mecca until I could find someone to travel with me, for I was afraid that something might happen that would delay me or stop me from reaching my husband. So I immediately prepared my camel, placed my son on my lap, and set out in the direction of Medina. I just had just reached Tan’im (3 miles from Mecca) when I met Uthman ibn Talha (He as in charge of looking after the Ka’ba, but did not embrace Islam until the Conquest of Mecca). “‘Were are you going, Bint Zad ar Rakib?’ he asked. ‘I am going to my husband in Medina.’ ‘And isn’t there anyone going with you?’ ‘No, by Allah, except Allah and my little boy here.’ ‘By Allah,’ he vowed, ‘I will not leave you until you reach Medina.’
He then took the reins of my camel and led us on our way. By Allah, I have never met an Arab more generous and noble than he. Whenever we reached a resting-place, he would make my camel kneel down, wait until I had dismounted and then lead the camel to a tree and tether it. Then he would go and rest in the shade of a different tree to me. When we had rested, he would get the camel ready again and then lead us on our way. This he did every day until we reached Medina. When we reached a village near Quba (about two miles from Medina), belonging to the Banu Amr ibn Awf, he said, ‘Your husband is in this village. Enter it with the blessings of Allah.’ Then he turned round and headed back to Mecca.”
Thus after many difficult months of separation, Umm Salama and her son were reunited with Abu Salama, and in the next few years that followed, they were always near the heart of the growing Muslim community of Medina al Munawarra. They were present when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived safely from Mecca, and at the battle of Badr Abu Salama fought bravely. At the battle of Uhud, however, he was badly wounded. At first his wound appeared to respond well to treatment, but then his wounds re opened after an expedition against the Banu Abdul Asad, and after that they refused to heal and he remained bedridden. Once while Umm Salama was nursing him, he said to her, “I once heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that whenever a calamity afflicts anyone he should say what Allah has commanded him to say: ‘Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!’ ‘Surely we come from Allah and surely to Him we return!’ and then he should say, ‘O Lord, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in return, which only You, the Exalted the Mighty, can give.’”
Abu Salama remained sick in bed for several days. One morning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to see him. The visit was longer than usual, and while the Prophet was still at his bedside, Abu Salama died. With his blessed hands, the Prophet closed the eyes of his dead Companion and then raised them in prayer. “O Allah, grant forgiveness to Abu Salama; elevate him among those who are near to You; take charge of his family at all times; forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds; make his grave spacious for him and fill it with light. Amin.”
Once again Umm Salama was alone, only now she had not one child, but several. There was no one to look after her and them. Recalling what her husband had told her while she was looking after him, she repeated the dua’a that he had remembered: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!” “Surely we come from Allah and surely to Him we return!” she repeated. “O Lord, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in return, which only You, the Exalted and Mighty, can give.” Then she thought to herself, “What Muslim is better than Abu Salama whose family was the first to emigrate to the Messenger of Allah?” All the Muslims in Medina were aware of Umm Salama’s situation, and when her idda period of four months and ten days were over, Abu Bakr proposed marriage to her, but she refused. Then Umar asked her to marry him, but again she refused. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself asked for her hand in marriage.(Umm Salama had the right to agree/diagree which Islam gave her. She rejected Umar RA and Abu Bakr RA as they were not Prophet but she was reluctant to reject Prophet SAS right away and she let her concerns be known to Prophet SAS. The reason she had rejected earlier and was relucatant to agree right away to prophet SAS was:) “O Messenger of Allah,
” Umm Salama replied, “I have three main characteristics: I am a woman who is extremely jealous and I am afraid that you will see something in me that will make you angry and cause Allah to punish me; I am a woman who is already advanced in age; and I am a woman who has many children.”
“As for your jealousy,” answered the Prophet, “I pray to Allah the Almighty to take it away from you. As for your age, I am older than you. As for your many children, they belong to Allah and His Messenger.”
The Prophet’s answered eased her heart, and so they were married in Shawwal, 4 AH, and so it was that Allah answered the prayer of Umm Salama and gave her better than Abu Salama. From that day on, Umm Salama was not only the mother of Salama, but also became the ‘Mother of the Believers’ ‘Umm al Muminin’.
Umm Salama was not the only wife to have been widowed as a result of the battle of Uhud, and thanks to this marriage, many of the Companions followed the Prophet’s example, marrying widows and thereby bringing them and their children into the circle of their families, instead of leaving them to struggle on their own.
A’isha said, “When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) married Umm Salama, I felt very unhappy when he mentioned her beauty to us. I waited until I saw her and she was even more beautiful than her description.” She was also from a very noble family and known for her keen intelligence. On more than one occasion, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked her advice in tricky situations.
Like A’isha and Hafsa, Umm Salama learned the whole of the Qur’an by heart, and an indication of her high station with Allah can be found in the fact that she was permitted to see the angel Jibril in human form: It has been related by Salman that Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while Umm Salama was with him, and had a conversation with him. After Jibril had left, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Umm Salama, “Do you know who that was?” and she replied that it was a man called Dihya al Khalbi. “By Allah,” said Umm Salama, “I didn’t think it was anyone else until the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told me who it really was.”
She also had a home for her four children: Salama, Umar, Zaynab, and Durra who ere the foster children of the Prophet. Once she was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with her daughter Zaynab when Fatima came with al Hasan and al Husayn. He embraced his two grandsons and said, “may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, People of the House. He is Praiseworthy, Glorious.” Umm Salama began to weep and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) looked at her and asked tenderly, “Why are you weeping?” She replied, “O Messenger of Allah, you singled them out and left me and my daughter!” He said, “You and your daughter are among the People of the House.” Her daughter Zaynab grew up in the care of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and become one of the most intelligent women of her time. Once Zaynab came in while the Prophet was bathing and he splashed water in her face. Afterwards face retained its youthfulness even into her old age.
Her son Salama later married Umama, the daughter of Hamza, the martyred uncle of the Prophet. Umm Salama was married to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for seven years until his death in 10 AH and accompanied him on many of his expeditions: Hudaybiyya, Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, the siege of Ta’if, the expedition against Hawazin and Thaqif, and the Farewell Hajj. She continued to live for a long time, outliving all the other wives of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with them, until she died in 61 AH, at the age of eighty four, may Allah be pleased with her, and Abu Hurairah said the funeral prayer over her.
Umm Salamah’s du’a is also narrated in Muslim:
“Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying, “When a person suffers from a calamity and utters: `Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji`un. Allahumma ujurni fi musibati, wakhluf li khairan minha (We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. O Allah! Compensate me in my affliction, recompense my loss and give me something better in exchange for it), then Allah surely compensates him with reward and better substitute.” Umm Salamah (ra) said: When Abu Salamah (ra) died, I repeated the same supplication as the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) had commanded me (to do), so Allah bestowed upon me a better substitute than him [Muslim].
When we are afflicted with hardships and tests, or simply do not get something we anticipate
Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya, may Allah be pleased with her, was married to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in 4 AH at the age of twenty nine, after her first husband, Abdullah ibn Abdul Asad, had died from the wounds he had received while fighting at the battle of Uhud. Umm Salama and Abdal Asad had been among the first people to embrace Islam in the early days of the Muslim community in Mecca. They had suffered at the hands of the Quraish who had tried to force them to abandon their new faith, and had been among the first group of Muslims to seek refuge under the protection of the Negus in Abyssinia. When they had returned to Mecca, believing that the situation of the Muslims had improved, they had found instead that if anything it was worse. Rather than return to Abyssinia, Abdal Asad and Umm Salama had received the Prophet’s permission to immigrate to Medina, but this proved not to be as easy as they might have imagined.
In the words of Umm Salama: “When Abu Salama (my husband) decided to leave for Medina, he prepared a camel for me, lifted me up onto it and put my son Salama on my lap. My husband then took the lead and went straight ahead without stopping or waiting for anything. Before we were out of Mecca, however, some men from my tribe, the Banu Mahkhzum, stopped us and said to my husband: “Although you may be free to do what you like with yourself, you have no power over your wife. She is our daughter. DO you expect us to allow you to take her away from us?’ They then grabbed hold of him and snatched me away from him. Some men from my husband’s tribe, the Banu Abdul Asad, saw them taking both me and my child and became hot with rage: “No, by Allah!’ They shouted. ‘We shall not abandon the boy. He is our son and we have a rightful claim over him.’ So they took him by his arm and pulled him away from me. Suddenly, in the space of a few minutes, I found myself all alone. My husband headed out towards Medina by himself; his tribe had snatched away my son from me; and my own tribe had overpowered me and forced me to stay with them. From the day that my husband and my son were parted from me, I went out at noon every day and sat at the spot where this tragedy had occurred. I would remember those terrifying moments and weep until nightfall.
“I continued like this for a year or so until one day a man from the Banu Umayya passed by and saw my condition. He went to my tribe and said, ‘Why don’t you free this woman? You have caused both her husband and her son to betaken away from her.’ He went on like this, trying to soften their hearts and appealing to their emotions, until at last they said to me, ‘Go and join your husband if you wish.’ But how could I join my husband in Medina, and leave my son, part of my own flesh and blood, in Mecca among the Banu Abdul Asad? How could I remain free from anguish, and my eyes free from tears, if I were to reach the place of hijrah not knowing anything of my little son left behind in Mecca?
“Some people realized what I was going through and their hearts went out to me. They approached the Banu Abdul Asad on my behalf and persuaded them to return my son. I had no desire to remain in Mecca until I could find someone to travel with me, for I was afraid that something might happen that would delay me or stop me from reaching my husband. So I immediately prepared my camel, placed my son on my lap, and set out in the direction of Medina. I just had just reached Tan’im (3 miles from Mecca) when I met Uthman ibn Talha (He as in charge of looking after the Ka’ba, but did not embrace Islam until the Conquest of Mecca). “‘Were are you going, Bint Zad ar Rakib?’ he asked. ‘I am going to my husband in Medina.’ ‘And isn’t there anyone going with you?’ ‘No, by Allah, except Allah and my little boy here.’ ‘By Allah,’ he vowed, ‘I will not leave you until you reach Medina.’
He then took the reins of my camel and led us on our way. By Allah, I have never met an Arab more generous and noble than he. Whenever we reached a resting-place, he would make my camel kneel down, wait until I had dismounted and then lead the camel to a tree and tether it. Then he would go and rest in the shade of a different tree to me. When we had rested, he would get the camel ready again and then lead us on our way. This he did every day until we reached Medina. When we reached a village near Quba (about two miles from Medina), belonging to the Banu Amr ibn Awf, he said, ‘Your husband is in this village. Enter it with the blessings of Allah.’ Then he turned round and headed back to Mecca.”
Thus after many difficult months of separation, Umm Salama and her son were reunited with Abu Salama, and in the next few years that followed, they were always near the heart of the growing Muslim community of Medina al Munawarra. They were present when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived safely from Mecca, and at the battle of Badr Abu Salama fought bravely. At the battle of Uhud, however, he was badly wounded. At first his wound appeared to respond well to treatment, but then his wounds re opened after an expedition against the Banu Abdul Asad, and after that they refused to heal and he remained bedridden. Once while Umm Salama was nursing him, he said to her, “I once heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that whenever a calamity afflicts anyone he should say what Allah has commanded him to say: ‘Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!’ ‘Surely we come from Allah and surely to Him we return!’ and then he should say, ‘O Lord, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in return, which only You, the Exalted the Mighty, can give.’”
Abu Salama remained sick in bed for several days. One morning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to see him. The visit was longer than usual, and while the Prophet was still at his bedside, Abu Salama died. With his blessed hands, the Prophet closed the eyes of his dead Companion and then raised them in prayer. “O Allah, grant forgiveness to Abu Salama; elevate him among those who are near to You; take charge of his family at all times; forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds; make his grave spacious for him and fill it with light. Amin.”
Once again Umm Salama was alone, only now she had not one child, but several. There was no one to look after her and them. Recalling what her husband had told her while she was looking after him, she repeated the dua’a that he had remembered: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!” “Surely we come from Allah and surely to Him we return!” she repeated. “O Lord, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in return, which only You, the Exalted and Mighty, can give.” Then she thought to herself, “What Muslim is better than Abu Salama whose family was the first to emigrate to the Messenger of Allah?” All the Muslims in Medina were aware of Umm Salama’s situation, and when her idda period of four months and ten days were over, Abu Bakr proposed marriage to her, but she refused. Then Umar asked her to marry him, but again she refused. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself asked for her hand in marriage.(Umm Salama had the right to agree/diagree which Islam gave her. She rejected Umar RA and Abu Bakr RA as they were not Prophet but she was reluctant to reject Prophet SAS right away and she let her concerns be known to Prophet SAS. The reason she had rejected earlier and was relucatant to agree right away to prophet SAS was:) “O Messenger of Allah,
” Umm Salama replied, “I have three main characteristics: I am a woman who is extremely jealous and I am afraid that you will see something in me that will make you angry and cause Allah to punish me; I am a woman who is already advanced in age; and I am a woman who has many children.”
“As for your jealousy,” answered the Prophet, “I pray to Allah the Almighty to take it away from you. As for your age, I am older than you. As for your many children, they belong to Allah and His Messenger.”
The Prophet’s answered eased her heart, and so they were married in Shawwal, 4 AH, and so it was that Allah answered the prayer of Umm Salama and gave her better than Abu Salama. From that day on, Umm Salama was not only the mother of Salama, but also became the ‘Mother of the Believers’ ‘Umm al Muminin’.
Umm Salama was not the only wife to have been widowed as a result of the battle of Uhud, and thanks to this marriage, many of the Companions followed the Prophet’s example, marrying widows and thereby bringing them and their children into the circle of their families, instead of leaving them to struggle on their own.
A’isha said, “When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) married Umm Salama, I felt very unhappy when he mentioned her beauty to us. I waited until I saw her and she was even more beautiful than her description.” She was also from a very noble family and known for her keen intelligence. On more than one occasion, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked her advice in tricky situations.
Like A’isha and Hafsa, Umm Salama learned the whole of the Qur’an by heart, and an indication of her high station with Allah can be found in the fact that she was permitted to see the angel Jibril in human form: It has been related by Salman that Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while Umm Salama was with him, and had a conversation with him. After Jibril had left, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Umm Salama, “Do you know who that was?” and she replied that it was a man called Dihya al Khalbi. “By Allah,” said Umm Salama, “I didn’t think it was anyone else until the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told me who it really was.”
She also had a home for her four children: Salama, Umar, Zaynab, and Durra who ere the foster children of the Prophet. Once she was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with her daughter Zaynab when Fatima came with al Hasan and al Husayn. He embraced his two grandsons and said, “may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, People of the House. He is Praiseworthy, Glorious.” Umm Salama began to weep and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) looked at her and asked tenderly, “Why are you weeping?” She replied, “O Messenger of Allah, you singled them out and left me and my daughter!” He said, “You and your daughter are among the People of the House.” Her daughter Zaynab grew up in the care of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and become one of the most intelligent women of her time. Once Zaynab came in while the Prophet was bathing and he splashed water in her face. Afterwards face retained its youthfulness even into her old age.
Her son Salama later married Umama, the daughter of Hamza, the martyred uncle of the Prophet. Umm Salama was married to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) for seven years until his death in 10 AH and accompanied him on many of his expeditions: Hudaybiyya, Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, the siege of Ta’if, the expedition against Hawazin and Thaqif, and the Farewell Hajj. She continued to live for a long time, outliving all the other wives of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with them, until she died in 61 AH, at the age of eighty four, may Allah be pleased with her, and Abu Hurairah said the funeral prayer over her.
Umm Salamah’s du’a is also narrated in Muslim:
“Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying, “When a person suffers from a calamity and utters: `Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji`un. Allahumma ujurni fi musibati, wakhluf li khairan minha (We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. O Allah! Compensate me in my affliction, recompense my loss and give me something better in exchange for it), then Allah surely compensates him with reward and better substitute.” Umm Salamah (ra) said: When Abu Salamah (ra) died, I repeated the same supplication as the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) had commanded me (to do), so Allah bestowed upon me a better substitute than him [Muslim].
When we are afflicted with hardships and tests, or simply do not get something we anticipate
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Muslim women
Asma bint Umays
Despite the stereotypes, Muslim women have always played a vital role in the Muslim community, and not only in traditional roles. Early Muslim women served the community through scholarship, teaching, nursing, and other important activities. Far from being downtrodden slaves to the men in their lives, these women served Allah and their community with bravery and wisdom.
Asma bint Umais was from the Banu Hashim tribe.
Her father is Umays ibn Ma'ad and her mother is Hind bint Awf
Her half sister is Maymuna bint al-Harith, one of Muhammad's wives.
Her full sister Salma bint Umays married Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib.
First marriage
Her first husband was Ja'far ibn Abu Talib, also of the Banu Hashim. She had kids from Jaffer. In 8 AH Jaffer was martyred in Battle of Mota which was fought against Byzantium alongwith Zaid bin Hartha (Muhammad's adopted son), and Abdullah bin Rawaha. Mota is in the north of Syria and Jaffer tomb is there.
Muhammad's SAW era
The most important act of worship that the Muslim woman can do is to strive to establish the rule of Allah (swt) on earth, and to follow the way of life that He has prescribed, so that Islam will govern the life of the individual, the family, the community and the nation.
The sincere Muslim woman will feel that her worship is lacking if she does not strive to achieve the purpose for which Allah (swt) created jinn and men, namely promoting the supremacy of the authority of Allah (swt) on earth, which is the only way in which mankind can truly worship Allah (swt):
( I have only created jinns and men, that they may worship me.) (Quran 51:56)
This is the only way in which the true meaning of the words “la ilaha ill-Allah” will be realized in our own lives.
The first Muslim women had a sound grasp of this meaning, which penetrated deep into their souls. They were no less enthusiastic than the men when it came to sacrifice and courage for the sake of Allah (swt). Some of the women of the early generations of this ummah excelled many of the men in this regard.
Asma’ bint ‘Umays, the wife of Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, hastened to embrace Islam along with her husband in the earliest days of Islam, the days of hardship and suffering. She migrated with him to Abyssinia, in spite of the risks and hardships involved, for the sake of Allah (swt) and to support His religion. When ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab joked with her and said, “O Habashiyyah (Abyssinian woman)! We beat you to Madinah,” she said, “You have most certainly spoken the truth. You were with the Messenger of Allah, feeding the hungry and teaching the ignorant, whilst we were far away in exile. By Allah (swt), I shall go to the Messenger of Allah and tell him that.” She came to the Prophet (saas) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, some men are criticizing us and claiming that we were not among the early muhajirin.” The Messenger of Allah (saas) said, “But you have two hijrahs; you migrated to the land of Abyssinia, whilst we were detained in Makkah, then you migrated to me afterwards.”
Asma’ bint ‘Umays was successful in establishing the virtue of those who had migrated to Abyssinia in the early days of Islam, and she understood from the Prophet (saas) that this distinguished group would have the reward of two hijrahs. This was a great honor which was theirs because they had not hesitated to support the Prophet (saas), even though it meant leaving behind their families and homeland for the sake of Allah (swt).
Return
It is also known that Ja'far returned to Medina after the Muslims conquered Khaybar in 5 AH.
Death of first husband
Ja'far ibn Abu Talib died in the Battle of Mut'ah.
Second husband
After Ja'fars death she married Abu Bakr (after the hijra).
Abu Bakr's era
She was present at the house of Ali at the time when Fatima bint Muhammad SAW has died.
Children with Abu Bakr
Asma, when married to Abu Bakr, was expecting their child but did not want to miss Muhammad's last pilgrimage even though her delivery was near and so she decided to accompany her husband. On one of the stops along the pilgrimage route, Asma gave birth to their son who they named Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr planned to send Asma and their child back to Medina, but when Muhammad learned of his intent he told him to let her continue by making the major ablution, and then rededicating herself in offering the pilgrimage.
They also had Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr.
Umar's R.A era
Third husband
When Abu Bakr R.A died, Asma married Ali ibn Abu Talib.
Both Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr and Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr went to Ali's household after she remarried.
Is is said that since Aisha had the authority, Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr married Umar. In that case, she became one of many "Umm Khultum" Umar ibn al-Khattab married.
Legacy
She was regarded as a scholar of Islam.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
Despite the stereotypes, Muslim women have always played a vital role in the Muslim community, and not only in traditional roles. Early Muslim women served the community through scholarship, teaching, nursing, and other important activities. Far from being downtrodden slaves to the men in their lives, these women served Allah and their community with bravery and wisdom.
Asma bint Umais was from the Banu Hashim tribe.
Her father is Umays ibn Ma'ad and her mother is Hind bint Awf
Her half sister is Maymuna bint al-Harith, one of Muhammad's wives.
Her full sister Salma bint Umays married Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib.
First marriage
Her first husband was Ja'far ibn Abu Talib, also of the Banu Hashim. She had kids from Jaffer. In 8 AH Jaffer was martyred in Battle of Mota which was fought against Byzantium alongwith Zaid bin Hartha (Muhammad's adopted son), and Abdullah bin Rawaha. Mota is in the north of Syria and Jaffer tomb is there.
Muhammad's SAW era
The most important act of worship that the Muslim woman can do is to strive to establish the rule of Allah (swt) on earth, and to follow the way of life that He has prescribed, so that Islam will govern the life of the individual, the family, the community and the nation.
The sincere Muslim woman will feel that her worship is lacking if she does not strive to achieve the purpose for which Allah (swt) created jinn and men, namely promoting the supremacy of the authority of Allah (swt) on earth, which is the only way in which mankind can truly worship Allah (swt):
( I have only created jinns and men, that they may worship me.) (Quran 51:56)
This is the only way in which the true meaning of the words “la ilaha ill-Allah” will be realized in our own lives.
The first Muslim women had a sound grasp of this meaning, which penetrated deep into their souls. They were no less enthusiastic than the men when it came to sacrifice and courage for the sake of Allah (swt). Some of the women of the early generations of this ummah excelled many of the men in this regard.
Asma’ bint ‘Umays, the wife of Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, hastened to embrace Islam along with her husband in the earliest days of Islam, the days of hardship and suffering. She migrated with him to Abyssinia, in spite of the risks and hardships involved, for the sake of Allah (swt) and to support His religion. When ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab joked with her and said, “O Habashiyyah (Abyssinian woman)! We beat you to Madinah,” she said, “You have most certainly spoken the truth. You were with the Messenger of Allah, feeding the hungry and teaching the ignorant, whilst we were far away in exile. By Allah (swt), I shall go to the Messenger of Allah and tell him that.” She came to the Prophet (saas) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, some men are criticizing us and claiming that we were not among the early muhajirin.” The Messenger of Allah (saas) said, “But you have two hijrahs; you migrated to the land of Abyssinia, whilst we were detained in Makkah, then you migrated to me afterwards.”
Asma’ bint ‘Umays was successful in establishing the virtue of those who had migrated to Abyssinia in the early days of Islam, and she understood from the Prophet (saas) that this distinguished group would have the reward of two hijrahs. This was a great honor which was theirs because they had not hesitated to support the Prophet (saas), even though it meant leaving behind their families and homeland for the sake of Allah (swt).
Return
It is also known that Ja'far returned to Medina after the Muslims conquered Khaybar in 5 AH.
Death of first husband
Ja'far ibn Abu Talib died in the Battle of Mut'ah.
Second husband
After Ja'fars death she married Abu Bakr (after the hijra).
Abu Bakr's era
She was present at the house of Ali at the time when Fatima bint Muhammad SAW has died.
Children with Abu Bakr
Asma, when married to Abu Bakr, was expecting their child but did not want to miss Muhammad's last pilgrimage even though her delivery was near and so she decided to accompany her husband. On one of the stops along the pilgrimage route, Asma gave birth to their son who they named Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr planned to send Asma and their child back to Medina, but when Muhammad learned of his intent he told him to let her continue by making the major ablution, and then rededicating herself in offering the pilgrimage.
They also had Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr.
Umar's R.A era
Third husband
When Abu Bakr R.A died, Asma married Ali ibn Abu Talib.
Both Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr and Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr went to Ali's household after she remarried.
Is is said that since Aisha had the authority, Umm Khultum bint Abu Bakr married Umar. In that case, she became one of many "Umm Khultum" Umar ibn al-Khattab married.
Legacy
She was regarded as a scholar of Islam.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Ahmed Ibn Taymiyah
Ibn Taymiyah:( the Wahhabi founder’s role model)
It is worth giving an overview of a man named Ahmed Ibn Taymiyah (1263-1328) who lived a few hundred years before Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab. The Wahhabi founder admired him as a role model and embraced many of his pseudo-Sunni positions. Who exactly was Ibn Taymiyah and what did orthodox Sunni scholars say about him? Muslim scholars had mixed opinions about him depending on his interpretation of various issues. His straying from mainstream Sunni Islam on particular issues of creed (`aqeedah) and worship (`ibadat) made him an extremely controversial figure in the Muslim community.
Ibn Taymiya has won the reputation of being the true bearer of the early pious Muslims, especially among reformist revolutionaries, while the majority of orthodox Sunnis have accused him of reprehensible bid’ah (reprehenisible innovation), some accusing him of kufr (unbelief).
It behooves one to ask why Ibn Taymiyah had received so much opposition from reputable Sunni scholars who were known for their asceticism, trustworthiness, and piety. Some of Ibn Taymiyah’s anti-Sunni and controversial positions include:
(1) His claim that Allah’s Attributes are “literal”, thereby attributing God with created attributes and becoming an anthropomorphist;
(2) His claim that created things existed eternally with Allah;
(3) His opposition to the scholarly consensus on the divorce issue;
(4) His opposition to the orthodox Sunni practice of tawassul (asking Allah for things using a deceased pious individual as an intermediary);
(5) His saying that starting a trip to visit the Prophet Muhammad’s (s) invalidates the shortening of prayer;
(6) His saying that the torture of the people of Hell stops and doesn’t last forever;
(7) His saying that Allah has a limit (hadd) that only He Knows;
(8) His saying that Allah literally sits on the Throne (al-Kursi) and has left space for Prophet Muhammad (s) to sit next to Him;
(9) His claim that touching the grave of Prophet Muhammad (s) is polytheism (shirk);
(10) His claim that that making supplication at the Prophet Muhammad’s grave to seek a better status from Allah is a reprehensible innovation;
(11) His claim that Allah descends and comparing Allah’s “descent” with his, as he stepped down from a minbar while giving a sermon (khutba) to Muslims;
(12) His classifying of oneness in worship of Allah (tawheed) into two parts: Tawhid al-rububiyya and Tawhid al-uluhiyya, which was never done by pious adherents of the salaf.
Although Ibn Taymiyah’s unorthodox, pseudo-Sunni positions were kept away from the public in Syria and Egypt due to the consensus of orthodox Sunni scholars of his deviance, his teachings were nevertheless circulating in hiding. An orthodox Sunni scholar says:
Indeed, when a wealthy trader from Jeddah brought to life the long-dead ‘aqida [creed] of Ibn Taymiya at the beginning of this century by financing the printing in Egypt of Ibn Taymiya’s Minhaj al-sunna al-nabawiyya [italics mine] and other works, the Mufti of Egypt Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti‘i, faced with new questions about the validity of anthropomorphism, wrote: "It was a fitna (strife) that was sleeping; may Allah curse him who awakened it."
It is important to emphasize that although many of the positions of Ibn Taymiyah and Wahhabis are identical, they nonetheless contradict each other in some positions. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts Sufism (Tasawwuf) as a legitimate science of Islam (as all orthodox Sunni Muslims do), Wahhabis reject it wholesale as an ugly innovation in the religion. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts the legitimacy of commemorating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (Mawlid) – accepted by orthodox Sunni Muslims as legitimate – Wahhabis reject it as a reprehensible innovation that is to be repudiated.
Ibn Taymiyah is an inspiration to Islamist groups that call for revolution. Kepel says, “Ibn Taymiyya (1268-1323) – a primary reference for the Sunni Islamist movement – would be abundantly quoted to justify the assassination of Sadat in 1981…and even to condemn the Saudi leadership and call for its overthrow in the mid-1990s".
Sivan says that only six months before Sadat was assassinated, the weekly Mayo singled out Ibn Taymiyya as “the most pervasive and deleterious influence upon Egyptian youth.” Sivan further says that Mayo concluded that “the proliferating Muslim associations at the [Egyptian] universities, where Ibn Taymiyya’s views prevail, have been spawning various terrorist groups.” Indeed, a book entitled The Absent Precept, by `Abd al-Salam Faraj – the "spiritual" leader of Sadat’s assassins who was tried and executed by the Egyptian government – strongly refers to Ibn Taymiyya’s and some of his disciples’ writings. Three of four of Sadat’s assassins willingly read a lot of Ibn Taymiyya’s works on their own.
Ibn Taymiyah is also noted to be a favorite of other Salafi extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Syed Qutb. Ibn Taymiyyah’s student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, is also frequently cited by Salafis of all colors.
Ibn Taymiyah’s “fatwa” of jihad against Muslims
What is also well-known about Ibn Taymiyah is that he lived in turbulent times when the Mongols had sacked Baghdad and conquered the Abassid Empire in 1258. In 1303, he was ordered by the Mamluk Sultan to give a fatwa (religious edict) legalizing jihad against the Mongols. Waging a holy war on the Mongols for the purpose of eliminating any threat to Mamluk power was no easy matter. The Mongol Khan Mahmoud Ghazan had converted to Islam in 1295. Although they were Muslims who did not adhere to Islamic Law in practice, and also supported the Yasa Mongol of code of law, they were deemed apostates by the edict of Ibn Taymiyah. To Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Law was not only rejected by Mongols because of their lack of wholesale adherence, but the “infidel” Yasa code of law made them legal targets of extermination. The so-called jihad ensued and the Mongol threat to Syria was exterminated. Wahhabis and other Salafis to this day brand the Mongol Mahmoud Ghazan as a kafir (disbeliever). Orthodox Sunni Muslims, however, have praised Mahmoud Ghazan as a Muslim. Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani writes:
In fact, Ghazan Khan was a firm believer in Islam. Al-Dhahabi relates that he became a Muslim at the hands of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Abu al-Majami’ Ibrahim al-Juwayni (d.720), one of Dhahabi’s own shaykhs of hadith….During his rule he had a huge mosque built in Tabriz in addition to twelve Islamic schools (madrasa), numerous hostels (khaniqa), forts (ribat), a school for the secular sciences, and an observatory. He supplied Mecca and Medina with many gifts. He followed one of the schools (madhahib) of the Ahl al-Sunna [who are the orthodox Sunnis] and was respectful of religious scholars. He had the descendants of the Prophet mentioned before the princes and princesses of his house in the state records, and he introduced the turban as the court headgear.[7]
Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab would later follow Ibn Taymiyah’s footsteps and slaughter thousands of Muslims in Arabia.
Orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyah’s pseudo-Sunni positions
Ibn Taymiyah was imprisoned by a fatwa (religious edict) signed by four orthodox Sunni judges in the year 726 A.H for his deviant and unorthodox positions.
Note that each of the four judges represents the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence that Sunni Muslims belong to today. This illustrates that Ibn Taymiyah did
not adhere to the authentic teachings of orthodox Sunni Islam as represented by the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence. There is no evidence to indicate that there
was a “conspiracy” against Ibn Taymiyyah to condemn him, as Wahhabis and other Salafis purport in his defense.
The names of the four judges are:
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Jama’ah, ash-Shafi’i,
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn al-Hariri, al-`Ansari, al-Hanafi,
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr, al-Maliki,
and Qadi [Judge] Ahmad Ibn `Umar, al-Maqdisi, al-Hanbali.
Some orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyya for his deviances and opposition to the positions of orthodox Sunni Islam include:
Taqiyy-ud-Din as-Subkiyy, Faqih Muhammad Ibn `Umar Ibn Makkiyy, Hafiz Salah-ud-Din al-`Ala’i, Qadi, Mufassir Badr-ud-Din Ibn Jama’ah, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Yahya al-Kilabi al-Halabi, Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-`Id, Qadi Kamal-ud-Din az-Zamalkani, Qadi Safi-ud-Din al-Hindi, Faqih and Muhaddith `Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Baji ash-Shafi’i, the historian al-Fakhr Ibn al-Mu`allim al-Qurashi, Hafiz Dhahabi, Mufassir Abu Hayyan al-`Andalusi, and Faqih and voyager Ibn Batutah.
PLEASE READ THIS
Wahhabis attribute a place and direction to Allah
While accusing the masses of Muslims of being polytheists, Wahhabis themselves have differentiated themselves from other Muslims in their understanding of creed.
Due to the Wahhabis’ adherence to an unorthodox, grossly flawed literal understanding of God’s Attributes, they comfortably believe that Allah has created or human
attributes, and then attempt to hide their anthropomorphism by saying that they don’t know ‘how’ Allah has such attributes.
For example, Wahhabi author says:
He has neither corporeal body nor is He a formless spirit. He has a form befitting His majesty [italics mine], the like of which no man has ever seen or conceived,
and which will only be seen (to the degree of man’s finite limitations) by the people of paradise.
Discussing each part of his statement will shed light into his anthropomorphic mind.he says that “Allah has a form befitting His majesty…” What he confirms in his
mind is that Allah definitely has a form. He even specifies the kind of form by saying: “He [Allah] has neither corporeal body…” meaning that Allah has a form that is
not like the forms of creation, and then says, “nor is He a formless spirit. Then he says, “He has a form befitting His majesty…” The problem with such statements
to a Muslim is that they express blatant anthropomorphism. What he is doing here is foolishly attributing a “form” to God that, in his mind, nobody has ever seen.
Therefore,he believes that God has some type of form, or non-corporeal body. No orthodox Sunni Muslim scholar has ever said such a perfidious thing.
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, one of the greatest mujtahid Sunni imams ever to have lived, refuted such anthropomorphic statements over a thousand years
before Wahhabi author was born. The great Sunni Ash`ari scholar, Imam al-Bayhaqi, in his Manaqib Ahmad relates with an authentic chain that Imam Ahmed said:
A person commits an act of disbelief (kufr) if he says Allah is a body, even if he says: Allah is a body but not like other bodies.
Imam Ahmad continues:
The expressions are taken from language and from Islam, and linguists applied ‘body’ to a thing that has length, width, thickness, form, structure, and components.
The expression has not been handed down in Shari’ah. Therefore, it is invalid and cannot be used.
As for Ahl ul-Sunna – and these are the Companions and those who followed them in excellence – they assert a direction for Allah, and that is the direction of elevation, believing that the Exalted is above the Throne without giving an example and without entering into modality.
Another now deceased Wahhabi scholar, Muhammad Saleh al-Uthaymeen, blatantly expresses his anthropomorphism. He says:
Allah’s establishment on the throne means that He is sitting ‘in person’ on His Throne.
The great Sunni Hanbali scholar, Ibn al-Jawzi, had refuted anthropomorphists who were saying that Allah’s establishment is ‘in person’ hundreds of years ago:
Whoever says: He is established on the Throne ‘in person’ (bi dhatihi), has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception. Such a person must not neglect
that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively. If you said: We read the hadiths and
keep quiet, no one would criticize you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous. Therefore do not bring into the school of this pious man of the
Salaf – Imam Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] – what does not belong in it. You have clothed this madhab [or school of jurisprudence] with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said
‘Hanbali’ except in the sense of ‘anthropomorphist’
Sulayman ibn `Abdul Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, the grandson of the Wahhabi movement’s founder, says:
Whoever believes or says: Allah is in person (bi dhatihi) in every place, or in one place: he is a disbeliever (kafir). It is obligatory to declare that Allah is distinct from
His creation, established over His Throne without modality or likeness or exemplarity. Allah was and there was no place, then He created place and He is exalted as
He was before He created place
Just as , and Ibn Baz confirms limits to Allah in his mind, al-Uthaymeen confirms that Allah is literally sitting ‘in person’ on
the Throne in his mind. All of them have loyally followed the footsteps of Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab – the two arch-heretics who were instrumental
in causing tribulation (fitna) and division among the Muslim masses because of their reprehensible, unorthodox interpretations of the Islamic sources.
Wahhabi anthropomorphists say: Allah is in a direction, Allah has limits, Allah is literally above the Throne, and that Allah is sitting ‘in person’ on the Throne.
To a Muslim, the fact is that the Throne is located in a particular direction and a certain place. By understanding Allah to be above the Throne literally as the Wahhabis do,
they are attributing Allah with created attributes and, as a result, are implying that a part of the creation was eternal with Allah. This opposes what the the Qur’an and the
following hadith authentically related by al-Bukhari says:
Allah existed eternally and there was nothing else [italics mine].
Sunni orthodoxy clears Allah of all directions and places. To a Sunni, Allah has always existed without the need of a place, and He did not take a place for Himself after creating it. Orthodox Sunni scholars have said exactly what was understood by Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Companions (ra). Imam Abu Hanifah, the great mujtahid Imam who lived in the time period of the Salaf said: “Allah has no limits…”, period. And this is what Sunni orthodoxy represents.
The Muslim community is different from all the other communities of the world. In the Muslim community, the bond of unity is neither country nor color, nor language
nor economic conditions. The main unifying force in the Muslim community is Islam. Islam disregards all the distinctions of caste and color, country and climate, language
and living. Muslims are a single community though they may live in different countries, speak different languages and have different colors.
Too many critics of Islam, fail to appreciate just how diverse and varied Islam can be. There are things you can say that apply to all or most Muslims,
as is the case with Christianity, but there are many more things which only apply to some or a few Muslims. This is especially true when it comes to Muslim extremism
because Wahhabi Islam, the primary religious movement behind extremist Islam, includes beliefs and doctrines not found elsewhere.
It would be a mistake and unethical to criticize all of Islam on the basis of doctrines particular to Wahhabi Muslims.
Modern Islamic extremism and terrorism simply cannot be explained or understood without looking at the history and influence of Wahhabi Islam.
This means that it's important from an ethical and an academic perspective to understand what Wahhabi Islam teaches, what's so dangerous about it,
and why those teachings differ from other branches of Islam.
Origins of Wahhabi Islam
Name: Wahhabism, Wahhabi Islam
Founder: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792) was the first modern Islamic fundamentalist and extremists. Wahhab made the central point of his reform movement the principle that absolutely every idea added to Islam after the third century of the Mulsim era (about 950 CE) was false and should be eliminated. Muslims, in order to be true Muslims, must adhere solely and strictly to the original beliefs set forth by Muhammad.
The reason for this extremist stance, and the focus of Wahhab's reform efforts, was a number of popular practices which he believed represented a regression to pre-Islamic polytheism. These included praying to saints, making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, venerating trees, caves, and stones, and using votive and sacrificial offerings.
These are all practices commonly and traditionally associated with religions, but they were unacceptable to Wahhab. Contemporary secular behaviors are even more anathema to Wahhab's successors. It is against modernity, secularism, and the Enlightenment which current Wahhabists do battle — and it is this anti-secularism, anti-modernism which helps drive their extremism, even to the point of violence.
Wahhabi Doctrines
In contrast to popular superstitions, Wahhab emphasized the unity of God (tawhid). This focus on absolute monotheism lead to him and his followers being referred to as muwahiddun, or “unitarians.” Everything else he denounced as heretical innovation, or bida. Wahhab was further dismayed at the widespread laxity in adhering to traditional Islamic laws: questionable practices like the ones above were allowed to continue, whereas the religious devotions which Islam did require were being ignored
This created indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women. Wahhab characterized all this as being typical of jahiliyya, an important term in Islam which refers to the barbarism and state of ignorance which existed prior to the coming of Islam. Wahhab thus identified himself with the Prophet Muhammad and at the same time connected his society with what Muhammad worked to overthrow.
Because so many Muslims lived (so he claimed) in jahiliyya, al-Wahhab accused them of not being true Muslims after all. Only those who followed the strict teachings of al-Wahhab were truly Muslims because only they still followed the path laid out by Allah. Accusing someone of not being a true Muslim is significant because it is forbidden for one Muslim to kill another; but if someone is not a true Muslim then killing them (in war or in an act of terrorism) becomes licit. It would be hard to underestimate the importance of this principle to modern terrorists and extremists.
Obviously, Wahhabi religious leaders reject any reinterpretation of the Qur’an when it comes to issues settled by the earliest Muslims. Wahhabists thus oppose the 19th and 20th century Muslim reform movements which reinterpreted aspects of Islamic law in order to bring it closer to standards set by the West, particularly with regards to topics like gender relations, family law, personal autonomy, and participatory democracy.
Wahhabi Islam & Extremist Islam Today
Today, Wahhabism is the dominant Islamic tradition on the Arabian peninsula, though its influence is minor in the rest of the Middle East. Because Osama bin Laden comes from Saudi Arabia and is Wahhabi himself, Wahhabi extremism and radical ideas of purity have obviously influenced him considerably. Adherents of Wahhabi Islam do not regard it as simply one school of thought out of many; rather it is the only path of true Islam — nothing else counts.
Even though Wahhabism is a minority position overall in the Muslim world, it has nevertheless been influential for other extremist movements throughout the Middle East. This can be seen with a couple of factors, first of which is al-Wahhab’s use of the term jahiliyya to vilify a society which he does not consider pure enough, whether they call themselves Muslim or not.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
It is worth giving an overview of a man named Ahmed Ibn Taymiyah (1263-1328) who lived a few hundred years before Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab. The Wahhabi founder admired him as a role model and embraced many of his pseudo-Sunni positions. Who exactly was Ibn Taymiyah and what did orthodox Sunni scholars say about him? Muslim scholars had mixed opinions about him depending on his interpretation of various issues. His straying from mainstream Sunni Islam on particular issues of creed (`aqeedah) and worship (`ibadat) made him an extremely controversial figure in the Muslim community.
Ibn Taymiya has won the reputation of being the true bearer of the early pious Muslims, especially among reformist revolutionaries, while the majority of orthodox Sunnis have accused him of reprehensible bid’ah (reprehenisible innovation), some accusing him of kufr (unbelief).
It behooves one to ask why Ibn Taymiyah had received so much opposition from reputable Sunni scholars who were known for their asceticism, trustworthiness, and piety. Some of Ibn Taymiyah’s anti-Sunni and controversial positions include:
(1) His claim that Allah’s Attributes are “literal”, thereby attributing God with created attributes and becoming an anthropomorphist;
(2) His claim that created things existed eternally with Allah;
(3) His opposition to the scholarly consensus on the divorce issue;
(4) His opposition to the orthodox Sunni practice of tawassul (asking Allah for things using a deceased pious individual as an intermediary);
(5) His saying that starting a trip to visit the Prophet Muhammad’s (s) invalidates the shortening of prayer;
(6) His saying that the torture of the people of Hell stops and doesn’t last forever;
(7) His saying that Allah has a limit (hadd) that only He Knows;
(8) His saying that Allah literally sits on the Throne (al-Kursi) and has left space for Prophet Muhammad (s) to sit next to Him;
(9) His claim that touching the grave of Prophet Muhammad (s) is polytheism (shirk);
(10) His claim that that making supplication at the Prophet Muhammad’s grave to seek a better status from Allah is a reprehensible innovation;
(11) His claim that Allah descends and comparing Allah’s “descent” with his, as he stepped down from a minbar while giving a sermon (khutba) to Muslims;
(12) His classifying of oneness in worship of Allah (tawheed) into two parts: Tawhid al-rububiyya and Tawhid al-uluhiyya, which was never done by pious adherents of the salaf.
Although Ibn Taymiyah’s unorthodox, pseudo-Sunni positions were kept away from the public in Syria and Egypt due to the consensus of orthodox Sunni scholars of his deviance, his teachings were nevertheless circulating in hiding. An orthodox Sunni scholar says:
Indeed, when a wealthy trader from Jeddah brought to life the long-dead ‘aqida [creed] of Ibn Taymiya at the beginning of this century by financing the printing in Egypt of Ibn Taymiya’s Minhaj al-sunna al-nabawiyya [italics mine] and other works, the Mufti of Egypt Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti‘i, faced with new questions about the validity of anthropomorphism, wrote: "It was a fitna (strife) that was sleeping; may Allah curse him who awakened it."
It is important to emphasize that although many of the positions of Ibn Taymiyah and Wahhabis are identical, they nonetheless contradict each other in some positions. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts Sufism (Tasawwuf) as a legitimate science of Islam (as all orthodox Sunni Muslims do), Wahhabis reject it wholesale as an ugly innovation in the religion. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts the legitimacy of commemorating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (Mawlid) – accepted by orthodox Sunni Muslims as legitimate – Wahhabis reject it as a reprehensible innovation that is to be repudiated.
Ibn Taymiyah is an inspiration to Islamist groups that call for revolution. Kepel says, “Ibn Taymiyya (1268-1323) – a primary reference for the Sunni Islamist movement – would be abundantly quoted to justify the assassination of Sadat in 1981…and even to condemn the Saudi leadership and call for its overthrow in the mid-1990s".
Sivan says that only six months before Sadat was assassinated, the weekly Mayo singled out Ibn Taymiyya as “the most pervasive and deleterious influence upon Egyptian youth.” Sivan further says that Mayo concluded that “the proliferating Muslim associations at the [Egyptian] universities, where Ibn Taymiyya’s views prevail, have been spawning various terrorist groups.” Indeed, a book entitled The Absent Precept, by `Abd al-Salam Faraj – the "spiritual" leader of Sadat’s assassins who was tried and executed by the Egyptian government – strongly refers to Ibn Taymiyya’s and some of his disciples’ writings. Three of four of Sadat’s assassins willingly read a lot of Ibn Taymiyya’s works on their own.
Ibn Taymiyah is also noted to be a favorite of other Salafi extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Syed Qutb. Ibn Taymiyyah’s student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, is also frequently cited by Salafis of all colors.
Ibn Taymiyah’s “fatwa” of jihad against Muslims
What is also well-known about Ibn Taymiyah is that he lived in turbulent times when the Mongols had sacked Baghdad and conquered the Abassid Empire in 1258. In 1303, he was ordered by the Mamluk Sultan to give a fatwa (religious edict) legalizing jihad against the Mongols. Waging a holy war on the Mongols for the purpose of eliminating any threat to Mamluk power was no easy matter. The Mongol Khan Mahmoud Ghazan had converted to Islam in 1295. Although they were Muslims who did not adhere to Islamic Law in practice, and also supported the Yasa Mongol of code of law, they were deemed apostates by the edict of Ibn Taymiyah. To Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Law was not only rejected by Mongols because of their lack of wholesale adherence, but the “infidel” Yasa code of law made them legal targets of extermination. The so-called jihad ensued and the Mongol threat to Syria was exterminated. Wahhabis and other Salafis to this day brand the Mongol Mahmoud Ghazan as a kafir (disbeliever). Orthodox Sunni Muslims, however, have praised Mahmoud Ghazan as a Muslim. Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani writes:
In fact, Ghazan Khan was a firm believer in Islam. Al-Dhahabi relates that he became a Muslim at the hands of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Abu al-Majami’ Ibrahim al-Juwayni (d.720), one of Dhahabi’s own shaykhs of hadith….During his rule he had a huge mosque built in Tabriz in addition to twelve Islamic schools (madrasa), numerous hostels (khaniqa), forts (ribat), a school for the secular sciences, and an observatory. He supplied Mecca and Medina with many gifts. He followed one of the schools (madhahib) of the Ahl al-Sunna [who are the orthodox Sunnis] and was respectful of religious scholars. He had the descendants of the Prophet mentioned before the princes and princesses of his house in the state records, and he introduced the turban as the court headgear.[7]
Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab would later follow Ibn Taymiyah’s footsteps and slaughter thousands of Muslims in Arabia.
Orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyah’s pseudo-Sunni positions
Ibn Taymiyah was imprisoned by a fatwa (religious edict) signed by four orthodox Sunni judges in the year 726 A.H for his deviant and unorthodox positions.
Note that each of the four judges represents the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence that Sunni Muslims belong to today. This illustrates that Ibn Taymiyah did
not adhere to the authentic teachings of orthodox Sunni Islam as represented by the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence. There is no evidence to indicate that there
was a “conspiracy” against Ibn Taymiyyah to condemn him, as Wahhabis and other Salafis purport in his defense.
The names of the four judges are:
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Jama’ah, ash-Shafi’i,
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn al-Hariri, al-`Ansari, al-Hanafi,
Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr, al-Maliki,
and Qadi [Judge] Ahmad Ibn `Umar, al-Maqdisi, al-Hanbali.
Some orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyya for his deviances and opposition to the positions of orthodox Sunni Islam include:
Taqiyy-ud-Din as-Subkiyy, Faqih Muhammad Ibn `Umar Ibn Makkiyy, Hafiz Salah-ud-Din al-`Ala’i, Qadi, Mufassir Badr-ud-Din Ibn Jama’ah, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Yahya al-Kilabi al-Halabi, Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-`Id, Qadi Kamal-ud-Din az-Zamalkani, Qadi Safi-ud-Din al-Hindi, Faqih and Muhaddith `Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Baji ash-Shafi’i, the historian al-Fakhr Ibn al-Mu`allim al-Qurashi, Hafiz Dhahabi, Mufassir Abu Hayyan al-`Andalusi, and Faqih and voyager Ibn Batutah.
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Wahhabis attribute a place and direction to Allah
While accusing the masses of Muslims of being polytheists, Wahhabis themselves have differentiated themselves from other Muslims in their understanding of creed.
Due to the Wahhabis’ adherence to an unorthodox, grossly flawed literal understanding of God’s Attributes, they comfortably believe that Allah has created or human
attributes, and then attempt to hide their anthropomorphism by saying that they don’t know ‘how’ Allah has such attributes.
For example, Wahhabi author says:
He has neither corporeal body nor is He a formless spirit. He has a form befitting His majesty [italics mine], the like of which no man has ever seen or conceived,
and which will only be seen (to the degree of man’s finite limitations) by the people of paradise.
Discussing each part of his statement will shed light into his anthropomorphic mind.he says that “Allah has a form befitting His majesty…” What he confirms in his
mind is that Allah definitely has a form. He even specifies the kind of form by saying: “He [Allah] has neither corporeal body…” meaning that Allah has a form that is
not like the forms of creation, and then says, “nor is He a formless spirit. Then he says, “He has a form befitting His majesty…” The problem with such statements
to a Muslim is that they express blatant anthropomorphism. What he is doing here is foolishly attributing a “form” to God that, in his mind, nobody has ever seen.
Therefore,he believes that God has some type of form, or non-corporeal body. No orthodox Sunni Muslim scholar has ever said such a perfidious thing.
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, one of the greatest mujtahid Sunni imams ever to have lived, refuted such anthropomorphic statements over a thousand years
before Wahhabi author was born. The great Sunni Ash`ari scholar, Imam al-Bayhaqi, in his Manaqib Ahmad relates with an authentic chain that Imam Ahmed said:
A person commits an act of disbelief (kufr) if he says Allah is a body, even if he says: Allah is a body but not like other bodies.
Imam Ahmad continues:
The expressions are taken from language and from Islam, and linguists applied ‘body’ to a thing that has length, width, thickness, form, structure, and components.
The expression has not been handed down in Shari’ah. Therefore, it is invalid and cannot be used.
As for Ahl ul-Sunna – and these are the Companions and those who followed them in excellence – they assert a direction for Allah, and that is the direction of elevation, believing that the Exalted is above the Throne without giving an example and without entering into modality.
Another now deceased Wahhabi scholar, Muhammad Saleh al-Uthaymeen, blatantly expresses his anthropomorphism. He says:
Allah’s establishment on the throne means that He is sitting ‘in person’ on His Throne.
The great Sunni Hanbali scholar, Ibn al-Jawzi, had refuted anthropomorphists who were saying that Allah’s establishment is ‘in person’ hundreds of years ago:
Whoever says: He is established on the Throne ‘in person’ (bi dhatihi), has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception. Such a person must not neglect
that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively. If you said: We read the hadiths and
keep quiet, no one would criticize you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous. Therefore do not bring into the school of this pious man of the
Salaf – Imam Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] – what does not belong in it. You have clothed this madhab [or school of jurisprudence] with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said
‘Hanbali’ except in the sense of ‘anthropomorphist’
Sulayman ibn `Abdul Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, the grandson of the Wahhabi movement’s founder, says:
Whoever believes or says: Allah is in person (bi dhatihi) in every place, or in one place: he is a disbeliever (kafir). It is obligatory to declare that Allah is distinct from
His creation, established over His Throne without modality or likeness or exemplarity. Allah was and there was no place, then He created place and He is exalted as
He was before He created place
Just as , and Ibn Baz confirms limits to Allah in his mind, al-Uthaymeen confirms that Allah is literally sitting ‘in person’ on
the Throne in his mind. All of them have loyally followed the footsteps of Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab – the two arch-heretics who were instrumental
in causing tribulation (fitna) and division among the Muslim masses because of their reprehensible, unorthodox interpretations of the Islamic sources.
Wahhabi anthropomorphists say: Allah is in a direction, Allah has limits, Allah is literally above the Throne, and that Allah is sitting ‘in person’ on the Throne.
To a Muslim, the fact is that the Throne is located in a particular direction and a certain place. By understanding Allah to be above the Throne literally as the Wahhabis do,
they are attributing Allah with created attributes and, as a result, are implying that a part of the creation was eternal with Allah. This opposes what the the Qur’an and the
following hadith authentically related by al-Bukhari says:
Allah existed eternally and there was nothing else [italics mine].
Sunni orthodoxy clears Allah of all directions and places. To a Sunni, Allah has always existed without the need of a place, and He did not take a place for Himself after creating it. Orthodox Sunni scholars have said exactly what was understood by Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Companions (ra). Imam Abu Hanifah, the great mujtahid Imam who lived in the time period of the Salaf said: “Allah has no limits…”, period. And this is what Sunni orthodoxy represents.
The Muslim community is different from all the other communities of the world. In the Muslim community, the bond of unity is neither country nor color, nor language
nor economic conditions. The main unifying force in the Muslim community is Islam. Islam disregards all the distinctions of caste and color, country and climate, language
and living. Muslims are a single community though they may live in different countries, speak different languages and have different colors.
Too many critics of Islam, fail to appreciate just how diverse and varied Islam can be. There are things you can say that apply to all or most Muslims,
as is the case with Christianity, but there are many more things which only apply to some or a few Muslims. This is especially true when it comes to Muslim extremism
because Wahhabi Islam, the primary religious movement behind extremist Islam, includes beliefs and doctrines not found elsewhere.
It would be a mistake and unethical to criticize all of Islam on the basis of doctrines particular to Wahhabi Muslims.
Modern Islamic extremism and terrorism simply cannot be explained or understood without looking at the history and influence of Wahhabi Islam.
This means that it's important from an ethical and an academic perspective to understand what Wahhabi Islam teaches, what's so dangerous about it,
and why those teachings differ from other branches of Islam.
Origins of Wahhabi Islam
Name: Wahhabism, Wahhabi Islam
Founder: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792) was the first modern Islamic fundamentalist and extremists. Wahhab made the central point of his reform movement the principle that absolutely every idea added to Islam after the third century of the Mulsim era (about 950 CE) was false and should be eliminated. Muslims, in order to be true Muslims, must adhere solely and strictly to the original beliefs set forth by Muhammad.
The reason for this extremist stance, and the focus of Wahhab's reform efforts, was a number of popular practices which he believed represented a regression to pre-Islamic polytheism. These included praying to saints, making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, venerating trees, caves, and stones, and using votive and sacrificial offerings.
These are all practices commonly and traditionally associated with religions, but they were unacceptable to Wahhab. Contemporary secular behaviors are even more anathema to Wahhab's successors. It is against modernity, secularism, and the Enlightenment which current Wahhabists do battle — and it is this anti-secularism, anti-modernism which helps drive their extremism, even to the point of violence.
Wahhabi Doctrines
In contrast to popular superstitions, Wahhab emphasized the unity of God (tawhid). This focus on absolute monotheism lead to him and his followers being referred to as muwahiddun, or “unitarians.” Everything else he denounced as heretical innovation, or bida. Wahhab was further dismayed at the widespread laxity in adhering to traditional Islamic laws: questionable practices like the ones above were allowed to continue, whereas the religious devotions which Islam did require were being ignored
This created indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women. Wahhab characterized all this as being typical of jahiliyya, an important term in Islam which refers to the barbarism and state of ignorance which existed prior to the coming of Islam. Wahhab thus identified himself with the Prophet Muhammad and at the same time connected his society with what Muhammad worked to overthrow.
Because so many Muslims lived (so he claimed) in jahiliyya, al-Wahhab accused them of not being true Muslims after all. Only those who followed the strict teachings of al-Wahhab were truly Muslims because only they still followed the path laid out by Allah. Accusing someone of not being a true Muslim is significant because it is forbidden for one Muslim to kill another; but if someone is not a true Muslim then killing them (in war or in an act of terrorism) becomes licit. It would be hard to underestimate the importance of this principle to modern terrorists and extremists.
Obviously, Wahhabi religious leaders reject any reinterpretation of the Qur’an when it comes to issues settled by the earliest Muslims. Wahhabists thus oppose the 19th and 20th century Muslim reform movements which reinterpreted aspects of Islamic law in order to bring it closer to standards set by the West, particularly with regards to topics like gender relations, family law, personal autonomy, and participatory democracy.
Wahhabi Islam & Extremist Islam Today
Today, Wahhabism is the dominant Islamic tradition on the Arabian peninsula, though its influence is minor in the rest of the Middle East. Because Osama bin Laden comes from Saudi Arabia and is Wahhabi himself, Wahhabi extremism and radical ideas of purity have obviously influenced him considerably. Adherents of Wahhabi Islam do not regard it as simply one school of thought out of many; rather it is the only path of true Islam — nothing else counts.
Even though Wahhabism is a minority position overall in the Muslim world, it has nevertheless been influential for other extremist movements throughout the Middle East. This can be seen with a couple of factors, first of which is al-Wahhab’s use of the term jahiliyya to vilify a society which he does not consider pure enough, whether they call themselves Muslim or not.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
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