School of Iman and an opportunity to recharge our spiritual batteries.

 Shawwal And What to Pray

. Have you missed a great chance of getting rewards?Ramadan has been and gone. Have you missed a great chance of getting rewards?
 Hmmmm Now What?

You still can catch up

So, don't miss this great chance... if you think you haven’t made most out of Ramadan, you still have this chance of getting great rewards InshaAllah...

Eid Al-Fitr (Ramadan Festival) marks the end of the month of Holy Ramadan. We say farewell to the blessed month, its beautiful days and its fragrant nights. We leave the month of seeking nearness to Ar Rahmaan, the school of Iman and an opportunity to recharge our spiritual batteries.

In the previous nights, we prayed, offered charity and attended lectures. What will happen now? Have we fulfilled the requirements of Taqwa and graduated from this school with the diploma of the God Fearing?

During the period of ignorance Ramadan was regarded as a blessed and sacred month. Shawwal was regarded as a cursed month and a month of ill omen. The people of that time never married during Shawwal.
Shawwal :( Tenth month of  Islamic Calendar.)

Meaning: Uplift/breakage, as before Islam, Arabs believed that any marriage held in Shawwal would always turn out to be unsuccessful.  Taken from the word "shala”: which means "when the female camel gets pregnant". When this name was given, the female camels used to get pregnant during this time of the year.

Beginning of the Ashur-ul-Hajj

Shawwal is the first of the three months named as “Ashhur al-Hajj” (i.e. the months of Hajj). Although the major acts of Hajj are normally performed in the first ten days of Zulhijjah, yet the whole period starting from the first of Shawwal up to the 10th of Zulhijjah is held to be the period of Hajj because some acts of Hajj can be performed any time during this period. For example, the Tawaf-ul-qudum, followed by the Sai’ of Hajj cannot be performed before Shawwal, while it can be performed any day after the beginning of Shawwal. Similarly, an ‘Umrah performed before Shawwal cannot be treated as the ‘Umrah of Tamattu: while the ‘Umrah performed in Shawwal can be affiliated to the Hajj, making it a Hajj of Tamattu: Moreover, ihram of Hajj should not be started before Shawwal, because it makruh.For these reasons these three months have been named as the ‘months of Hajj’ and the month of Shawwal has the distinction of being the first of these.
Blessings:

The first day of Shawwal is Eid-Ul-Fitr, the day of festival and when all sins are forgiven as a reward for fasting and prayers in the month of Ramadan.

Its Sunnah (Tradition of Holy Prophet) to fast for six days in Shawwal, as narrated in the following Hadith by Abu Ayyub Ansari (R.A) that the Holy Prophet has said, "If one throughout his life keeps the fasts of Ramadan and keeps six consecutive fasts in Shawwal it will be as though he has kept a whole life time of fasts, and if one fast for six consecutive days in Shawwal it will be as though he has fasted all year round."
(Muslim)


The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) have said
Whosoever fasted in Ramadan and then followed up with six fasting days of Shawwal, it is like fasting every day ... (Muslim)

The meaning is that the reward is like the reward of a person who is always in fast every day of his/her life.

. According to scholars, one may fast any of the six days of Shawwal. Neither do they consider it necessary for a person to fast the six days consecutively. So long as one has fasted six days either consecutively or separately, He has fulfilled the requirement or he will receive the same rewards.
One should continue to perform acts of worship after Ramadan to prevent sudden emptiness of the soul.

The rapid shift from obeying Allah Almighty in Ramadan to disobeying Him and moving away from His way after Ramadan has its reasons, the most important of which are the following:

• Absence or lack of sincerity during the acts of worship that used to be performed: This insincerity is exemplified in the person who performs prayer or pays charity so that people will see him. In doing so, he may achieve a certain rank, some material benefit from them, or the like. Such a person does not perform acts of worship with the intention of pleasing Allah Almighty, and achieving a great reward in the Hereafter.


• Absence of concentration during the performance of the acts of worship despite the presence of sincerity: This leads to the person not benefiting from performing such acts, not filling the heart with faith and not drawing his heart closer to his Lord, a thing which would have prompted him to persist in doing good and abandoning evil.


• Lack of moderation in acts of worship, being over enthusiastic and exerting much effort than that which each person can bear: This makes the soul change afterwards because it does not possess the quality of persistence. This happens although the Messenger (Pbuh) ordered us to do those deeds which are within our capabilities.

Read this:

(Salat al-’utaqa’ fi Shawwal).

As for the ritual prayer of those who are emancipated [from the Fire of Hell] in [the month of] Shawwal [Salat al-’utaqa’ fi Shawwal], we learn from a traditional report, transmitted [by a chain of reliable authorities] from Anas [ibn Malik]* (may Allah be well pleased with him), that Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:

"If someone performs eight cycles of ritual prayer [rak’ah] in the month of Shawwal, either during the night or during the day-reciting in each cycle the Opening Sura of the Book [Fatihat al-Kitab] [one time] and "Qul Huwa’ lahu Ahad [Say: 'He is Allah, One!']" fifteen times-and if, when he has finished performing his ritual prayer [Salat], he glorifies Allah [sabbaha] seventy times, and invokes Allah's blessing upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) seventy times -- by Him who sent me as a Prophet bearing the Truth [bi'l-Haqqi Nabiyyan], no servant [of the Lord] will perform this ritual prayer [Salat], without Allah causing the fountains of wisdom [ya nabi’ al-hikma] to well up in his heart, and causing his tongue to speak with wisdom, and showing him both the sickness of this world and the cure for that sickness.

By Him who sent me as a Prophet bearing the Truth [bi'l-Haqqi Nabiyyan], if someone performs this ritual prayer [Salat], exactly as I have just described it, that person will not raise his head from his final prostration [sujud] until Allah has granted him forgiveness, and if he dies, he will die as a martyr [shahid] to whom forgiveness has been granted.

Nor will any servant [of the Lord] perform this ritual prayer [Salat], in the course of a journey, without Allah making it smooth and easy for him to travel and arrive at his intended destination. If he is burdened with debt, Allah will settle his debt. If he is needy, Allah will satisfy his needs.

By Him who sent me as a Prophet bearing the Truth [bi'l-Haqqi Nabiyyan], no servant [of the Lord] will perform this ritual prayer [Salat], without Allah (Exalted is He) granting him -- for every letter [harf] and every verse [ayah] [of his Quranic recitation] --a makhrafa in the Garden of Paradise."

Someone asked: "And what is this makhrafa, O Messenger of Allah?" So he went on to explain (Allah bless him and give him peace):

"[The term makhrafa is applied to] orchards in the Garden of Paradise, through which the rider may travel for a hundred years without passing beyond the shade of just one of the trees that grow there."

By Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah be pleased with him:

 Still reading He!He!He! http://islamicchildrenstudy.blogspot.com/
Eid Al-Fitr must not just mark the 'end' of Ramadan Al-Mubarak. Rather, it should be a new beginning, where we emulate our character and Islamic values, which we have focused upon for the past 30 days. We are like a child out of the womb, pure and innocent. Eid Al-Fitr is the day of victory as we have succeeded in subduing our desires and purified ourselves. Let's not wash away our good deeds and revert to our merry old ways. Let the Masjid still overflow with worshippers; let the Glorious Qur'an be the most essential part of our lives instead of letting it gather dust on our shelves. Our condition should be better than before Ramadan Al-Mubarak.

        Did You Know...?  What happened in this month of Shawwal..?

  Mother of the believers,    Hadrat Aisha Sadiqah (R.A) was born in Shawwal, 4 years after Prophet Hood and 9 years before Hijra.

 Mother of the believers, Hadrat Aisha Sadiqah (R.A.) was married to Holy Prophet   in Shawwal, 10 years after Prophet Hood which is 3 years before Hijra.

 The fight between Banu Qaynaqaa took place between the battle of Badr and Uhud, Shawwal 2 A.H. after Hijra.

The battle of Uhud also took place in Shawwal, three years after Hijra.

 Hadrat Hussein (R.A) Holy Prophet's grandson (son of Hadrat Fatima R.A.) was born in the month of Shawwal 4 years after Hijra.

The Holy Prophet married Hadrat Ummah Salamah (R.A.) in Shawwal in the 4 year after Hijra.

 Hadrat Aisha Siddiqah's (R.A) mother passed away in year 5 A.H.

 The Holy Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib departed from this world in the middle of Shawwal in the year 5 A.H.

Imam Bukhari (R.A.) was born on a Friday of Shawwal in the year 194 A.H.

Abdullah bin Az-Zubair (radiyallaahu anhu) was born in the year 1 AH and he was the first child to be born to the Muslim immigrants (Muhajirin) after the Hijra (to Al-Madinah).

Again why such a big Reward?

It is commendable to keep six fasts in the month of Shawwal. The Holy Prophet May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him has said:

“Whoever completes the fasts of Ramadan then adds to them the fasts of six days in the month of Shawwal, it will carry the thawab of fasting for the whole year.” (Sahih Muslim)

This Hadith had described the great thawab of six fasts of this month. The scholars have interpreted this Hadith by saying that according to the recognized rules of Shari`ah, every good deed is rewarded ten times more thawab of its origin, therefore, the thawab of 30 days of Ramadan amounts to the thawab for 300 days. If the fasts of Ramadan are followed by six more fasts, they carry the thawab of 60 days more, raising the aggregate thawab to 360 which is the number of dais in one year according to the Islamic calendar. Therefore, the Muslims should take this opportunity of acquiring such an enormous reward from Allah. It is more preferable to start these fasts from the 2 day of Shawwal and keep fasting up to the 7 day of Shawwal. However, if they are kept in other days, it is hoped that the requirement of the above Hadith may also be fulfilled.

Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know,
And earn Sawab-e-Jariya..May Allah swt make it a source of Sawab-e-Jariya for u and me .Ameen  

P.S.: "Have fun praying    don’t forget to make dua for me.