Dhuhr

I don't need to complain to the creation, for i have the creator at my side
I don't need to reveal my bruises to anyone, from Him I can never hide..
He has given me happiness just like he has given me grief,
No matter what my state is, all is from Him thats my belief.

What harm can this world do, If He is the one taking my care,
He sent people specially for me, people who are always there.
Everyone goes through tough times in life, Even I did..
The best part is that I can expect Him to reward me for it

Breathe,Just let go now set your heart free
When Allah is with you, why do you feel misery
Life's too short and this world is temporary
When Allah is with you, why do you feel misery..

(Yes, I am bent on making myself feel better today and writing helps. Hence, the numerous posts)

Don't hold on..

Very often, I feel this immense need to remind myself that I must not cling to the bad times of life and I must learn to let go of them. Today, was one of such days.
Sometimes we do not accept few things like memories, thoughts in a fear that they might be true and because we do not want them to be true. But at some stage in life, you need to accept it because denial isn't the best way to go about it, and once you do accept it, you let go..

This life will always have something going on in it which would compel us to fret, to change our focus towards the negative side of life.. How to change our focus then? Well, just few verses of Quran help me immensely, because very often we forget how this life is a test and we will tested with that which is difficult for us not that which is easy for us. Because very often I feel ''Oh man, why couldn't Allah swt test me with this or that (a thing that i am good at)?'' but then thats not the point of a test...

My favortire verses :)

Allah is the Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light. (2:257)
Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest. ( 13:28)
Surah 94, Verses 5 and6"Verily, with every difficulty there is relief, with every difficulty there is relief."
009.129 But if they turn away, Say: "Allah sufficeth me: there is no god but He: On Him is my trust,- He the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme!"

MY SUPER FAV!
"Say: Oh My servants who have wronged themselves, do not despair of the Mercy of Allah, Allah forgives all sins, Indeed Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (verse 53, Zumar)

Fiqh of Fasting - Notes!

Bismillah & As salamualaykum!


I thought a lot before deciding to actually put up my fiqh of fasting notes because it is going to be a bit comprehensive and I also felt kinda lazy. But what the heck, I want those good deeds too. So you guys stayed updated with my blog, read what i write, so both of us can benefit with them.


Fiqh of Fasting is taught to us by a completely awesome teacher called Sister Q, she is referring for this course to the Fiqh of Fasting from Bulugh Al Maram explained by Sheikh Muhammad Salih Uthaimeen.



Fasting in arabic comes from the word Saum which linguistically in arabic means ''refraining from'' a particular matter. In islamic terms it means worshipping Allah SWT through mainly abstaining from the following three 1. Eating 2.Drinking and 3. Sexual relations from dawn till dusk with the firm intention of pleasing and worshipping Allah SWT.


On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said:
“Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says:
‘Fasting is Mine and it is I Who give reward for it. [A man] gives up his sexual passion, his food and his drink for My sake.’ Fasting is like a shield, and he who fasts has two joys: a joy when he breaks his fast and a joy when he meets his Lord. The change in the breath of the mouth of him who fasts is better in Allah’s estimation than the smell of musk.”




It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, Malik, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah)


It is one of the pillars of Islam as most of you know and whosoever rejects it has disbelieved. A person who believes in it and yet shuns it is called a fasiq.


Fasting was ordained by Allah SWT in 3 stages because remember? Allah is Al-Lateef , the most subtle, He knows our limitations which is why fasting was prescribed in 3 stages ;


I) Fasting on the day of Ashura (10th muharram)


II) Fasting was then prescribed as a voluntary act. To encourage people, to show the reward (ref : chapter 2, verse 184)


III) Allah SWT then ordained us to fast for the entire month of Ramadan (ref : chaper 2, verse 185)

Fasting was not ordained at once, it was done gradually.


Why did Allah SWT ordain us to fast?

1. To attain piety, to be pious & righteous (ref : chapter 2,verse 183)

2. To appreciate Allah's blessings

3. Training one's self to be patient and tolerant

4. In order for the rich people to feel the need of poor people

5. It constricts the blood, what does it has to do with fasting? because when we do not eat or drink our veins in the body become narrow so there's not the normal flow of blood and remember the hadith?
The Prophet said, "Satan flows inside man like blood.." (Bukhari and Muslim )
So if the veins are constricted there's no chance of shaitan flowing easily through our blood.

6. It clears the body from all waste

7. More time for worshipping Allah SWT


These are the reasons that we in our limited capability can comprehend on, For sure Allah SWT knows what we don't.


Rulings for Fasting


1. Prohibition of asting 1 or 2 days before Ramadan.


Here's our proof : Al-Bukhaari (1914) and Muslim (1082) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not anticipate Ramadaan by fasting one or two days before it begins, but if a man habitually fasts, then let him fast.” Reasons ?



a. To prevent exxagerration



b. In order not to make anyone suspect that this is from ramadan



Some scholars have differed opinions on whether it is makrooh (disliked) or haraam (forbidden) to fast on these days. The best opinion is to avoid fasting in them.


2. The prohibition of fasting on 30th of Sha'ban because it is a doubtful day.



In case, the moon of ramadan was not sighted? It is still prohibited and if the moon of Ramadan is sighted then it is haraam.


3. Commencing and terminating our fasting with the sighting of the moon.



Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi' from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once mentioned Ramadan and said, "Do not begin the fast until you see the new moon, and do not break the fast (at the end of Ramadan) until you see it. If the new moon is obscured from you, then calculate (when it should be)."
[cf Bukhari 1807]



If the sky is overcast, determine when it should be. Sighting of the moon should be after maghrib time. One muslim witness is enough to announce the ramadan. Reference?


A bedouin came to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and said: I have sighted the moon. Al-Hasan added in his version: that is, of Ramadan. He asked: Do you testify that there is no god but Allah? He replied: Yes. He again asked: Do you testify that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah? He replied: Yes. and he testified that he had sighted the moon. He said: Bilal, announce to the people that they must fast tomorrow.

[NARRATOR Abdullah ibn AbbasABU DAWUDHADITH_No 2333]

But for witnessing the month of shawwal, 2 witnesses are enough. How about the fasts when you are going from one country to another in Ramadan?



Eg : You are in middle east, where ramadan starts 1 day before it does in India. So, now when you go to India you will be getting 1 additional day for fasting. Is that okay? Yes. You can do the extra fast even if it leads to 31 days.



What if its the other way round? You are going to a country where shawwal starts a day before the country you actually started your ramadan in? You have to complete your month of ramadan by doing the extra 1 or 2 days of fast that you may have missed after the day of Eid.



What if you are travelling to another country after you have completed your 30 days of fasting? and ramadan is still ongoing in that country? You are not supposed to fast.


4. The Intention

One must make the intention of fasting before the time of Fajr in the case of obligatory fasts. You should have the intention before the dawn, if you do it after fajr that day's fast in not accepted.


As related by at-Tirmidhiyy, an-Nasa’iyy, and others, the Prophet peace to be upon him said:
لاصيام لمن لم يبيت النية
which means: : “Whoever does not intend fasting prior to Fajr, then there is no fasting for him

The intention for any obligatory fasting of Ramadan must take place the night before the fast. However, the intention time for an optional fasting, is extended untill Dhuhr time as long as one does not commit any of the invalidators of fasting since the dawn appeared.


It is permissible to make an intention for the whole month at the first evening of Ramadan provided that you have not discontinued in between, then you need to renew the intention. Some scholars suggest that it is better to make intention on every night.

Other rulings to be followed in the next part.

Kindness - A rare quality

It's been a long time since I noticed small acts of kindness or the ones that I have done myself. Which is why it was a pleasant surpise for me when on the metro ride today, I could not get a seat and I was standing with my laptop trying to balance myself as the metro started running on the tracks. I noticed a niqabi sister with her son who noticed me and asked her son to get up from the seat so that I may sit down. She insisted and the son got up offering me his seat. Certain thoughts that came to my mind during this course of action are :

1. The mother was teaching her son a valuable lesson

2. ''Kindness inspires kindness'' - I read this quote somewhere today and it made me reflect on myself. How kind am I to people even if it is just offering an elderly person my seat. So by the end of the day, on my way back.. I did what the little boy had done for me.

3. Good Deeds in the account for the small act of kindness

SubhanAllah, we get so busy with other things in our lives sometimes that we forget to go back to the basics. This, is a reminder for myself first of all.

Need some inspiration to do the little acts?

Jarir ibn 'Abdullah said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Whoever is deprived of kindness is deprived of all good.'" [Muslim]

'A'isha reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whenever kindness is in a thing it adorns it, and whenever it is removed from anything, it disfigures it." [Muslim]

'A'isha reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah is kind and loves kindness and gives for gentleness what he does not give for harshness nor for anything else." [Muslim]

Do not belittle any kind act for Allah SWT is THE Most Appreciative.

In our age and time, it is very important to reflect upon these ahadith so that we may inspire ourselves as well as our young ones to do the acts of kindness.

Matters of the Heart

When I am upset, I tell it out loud to that person.
When I am angry, I yell my heart out to that person.

When I am hurt, I keep quiet. And it's not for everyone, If some X,Y,Z has hurt me then I kind of make sure to give them a taste of their own medicine. But, When its someone who is very close to my heart, I keep quiet or just stop being in touch with them for sometime. Its not because I have a grudge against them, Its because healing takes time.

Then, the second stage happens where I need to remind myself that just like the person who have unknowingly hurt me, I may have done it to others too. Perhaps even knowingly, so why do I need to make a big fuss? These explanations sometimes work but I think mostly we all become a little partial when it comes to being in others shoes.

Third stage, What really matters? Would it be a big deal if I let go of this one hurtful thing few years from now? Its kinda funny how complicated human beings are.. with their lives, emotions, relations..They just learn by making mistakes. Sometimes, repeatedly.

The easy way to enter Jannah?

Bismillah,

As salaamualaykum my lovely people!

Jannah, a place of delight where no ill feelings we shall feel,

No humanly form, no hurt, no wound to ever heal..

Meeting up with our Rabb and each of us having our personal talk,

Imagine having wings and not having to walk!

Imagine, Your Creator informing you HE will never be angry with you,

Imagine meeting Prophet Muhammed (saws) saying *peace be onto you*

To be honest, I can keep writing my poem, but this is not what I intend to write today. That was just to pump up some excitement. Most of us, Love Jannah and want to be there, but sometimes we just wish if we could escape the questioning on the Day of Judgement because I don't know about you, but I would never want to talk about my deeds :

So the below mentioned information is an excerpt from the book I am currently reading (you should totally buy it if you find it!), Its titled ''Slaves of the All-Merciful'' by Mohsen Shaker al-Bayoumi.

So, are you ready?? :D Inshallah;

THE PEOPLE WHO PRAY IN THE NIGHT HAVE A HIGH STATUS IN BOTH THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT

Asma' bint Yazid related the Prophet (saws) said : ''On the Day of Rising the people will be gathered in one line and the call will come : 'Where are the people who forsook their beds?' They will come and there will be only a few of them, and they will enter Paradise without being questioned about their past deeds. Affter they have entered Paradise, Allah will order all the rest of the people to come for questioning.'' (Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Kathir in his tafsir)

Who would not want to be one of those fortunate people who enter the Garden without being questioned about their deeds in this world? What can we do to be among these people? In his book Ihya ulum ad-din, Abdul Hamid al-Ghazali has given some advice concerning the inner and outer qualities which help a person to stand before Allah SWT, in prayer at night. He advised us about the four outer aspects;

1. Do not eat or drink too much as it will make you sleepy

2. Do not tire yourself out during the day doing something that has no value

3. Take a midday nap if it is possible

4. Do not commit any wrong actions during the day or Allah will prevent you from standing in prayer at night

The Prophet (saws) said; ''Stand before your Lord in prayer during the night, because it was the practice of our righteous predecessors. It draws you near to Allah and erases your wrong actions. It prevents a man from wrong actions and his body from sickness'' (Ahmad and At- Tirmidhi)

May Allah increase our Iman and grant that we are among those who regularly perform the night prayers. Ameen

But, I am a born muslim!

Bismillah,

''I am not a convert to Islam, I am a born Muslim hence I don't need to *seek* knowledge, it is for new muslims''

Many of us, most often, if not out loud then subconsciously live under the belief that seeking knowledge is only for the people who were not raised as muslims. Most certainly those who were raised in proper muslim households without any innovation being entertained have slightly more knowledge than the new reverts but that does not mean that we know EVERYTHING. What? We don't? Yes. We don't.

We might like to think that we do but unfortunately we don't. Plus, there are many countries where everyday a new biddah (innovation) is attributed to the sunnah of the Prophet Muhmmad (saws) and many people each day follow it without looking for the proper evidence. If you question some of them, they might give you answers like ''But i am not asking them to do a bad deed, i am asking them to do a good deed for a certain reward'' ... To such people ''Did the prophet Muhammad (saws) used to do that? Did He mention that a person will get such and such reward?''

It may come as a shock, but even if you start a *good deed* which is not found in the Quran or the Sunnah. Then Guess what?! It is a biddah regardless that it is a good act. To make it more simple, Last night I had a message from someone reminding about ''Ramadan and how its on its way'' and it said ''Forward this to 3 muslims and get the reward of 7 years of worship'' ... So I just ended up asking that particular person, whats their evidence for claiming such a reward, is there a hadith relating to it? or in Quran? well.. what happened after that you wouldn't wanna know. My point being that when we even receieve islamic information in our emails, without proper references then we either must look for the reference or we must refrain ourselves for forwarding it to other people.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) states in another Hadith: [2]

طلب العلم فریضة علی کل مسلم

The seeking of knowledge is a religious duty [mandatory] on every Muslim

(Usool Al-Kaafi, Vol. 1, Page 30. Also Ibn Maajeh Vol. 1, section 17, Hadith 224).
This hadith is confirmed by a chain of more than 50 narrators.

So no, it is not just the scholars who must seek knowledge about Islam, it is also people like you and I. For there are different levels in seeking knowledge too, the scholars spend their entire lifetime just studying about 1 area of fiqh. Also, when we start seeking knowledge by attending a course or two, and reading books on fiqh we do not become fuqaha. So there's absolutely no place for boasting about it and this is a reminder to myself before anyone of you.

Being raised as a muslim does not guarantee us a confirmed first class ticket to paradise, I know that we all are aware of this fact yet it is quite astonishing that our actions do not reflect what we know about.

Think about this, we read Surah Fatiha (the opening chapter) a minimum of 17 times. What do we ask for in the Last verses?

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ

Show us the straight way,
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The Scholars have commented that the ''Maghdhoobi'' those who went astrayed are the Jews who had the knowledge about the coming of the prophet (saws) but when he actually came they denied him. Meaning they had knowledge yet they refused to act upon it. Now, most of end up thinking ''Damn those jews how could they be so arrogant''... Wait, lets think about us. Now that we know that seeking knowledge is important how are we going to deal with it? We KNOW, enough of knowledge being raised as muslims but how little is that we act upon? So after knowing something, if we are not acting upon it. Isn't it also a form of denial?

The ''Dhalleen'' are the ignorant ones who the scholars comment are the christians. The problem is when we don't seek knowledge we are left in ignorance, Its quite an obvious fact. And I can assure you from my experience that you cannot do a bigger harm to yourself than living in Ignorance. Some of us begin to think Ignorance is bliss, *as long as I don't know about it, I cannot be held responsible for it*. But think now, what are we asking of Allah 17 times a day? Who don't we want to be like?? We are asking him thats for sure, but are we taking any measures from our end? to not to be of those ;

1. Who have knowledge but do not act upon it
2. Who are ignorant

Okay, so we are getting a bit serious about seeking knowledge what must we do? There are 2 pre-requisties for it;

1. It should be ONLY for the sake of Allah SWT : How often is that sometimes we may be reading Quran and the minute someone walks in on us the tajweed gets a bit loud and clear, when we are praying and realize someone's watching us the sujood becomes a little longer? How often is it that we flash our knowledge cards to prove someone wrong in an argument? Subhanallah, I don't know about any of you, but sometimes without even realizing it I fall under such error because we as humans love it when we get attention. So, Let's CLEAR THE INTENTION, Do it for the sake of Allah SWT, Our reward is with our creator, the creation is of NO BENEFIT to us.

2. It should be from the Quran & Sunnah : No, we do not have to seek knowledge about something which is not mentioned in the Quran or the books of Sunnah. So before seeking knowledge from any source, do a quick check about them.

As I was googling a particular hadith I stumbled upon this beautiful article written by this fantastic sister that i know. You must definitely give it a read, here it is.

The Most Beautiful - Al Jameel

Bismillah!

As slamaualaykum wr wb! I know I haven't completed the last name and attribute of Allah SWT , Al- Noor, subhanAllah it is so comprehensive that I do not want to write about it when I am not having much of time on hand. However!! NEWS NEWS! Today sister E! completed 1 whole name in 1 class! And It was so amazing! That Although I am with just few hours of sleep I just HAD to share it with you guys! :)

What is it that we look for in a person? In a house? When we go outside? When we buy something? When we even want to fall in love? Guess Guess! :P You can read the TITLE of this blog!! Its beauty!! Its either beauty in appearance or beauty in action or beauty in character of a person which creates a liking in our hearts towards them.

Think about the most beautiful thing you have even seen, it could be in nature , a beautiful sunset? some beautiful person? a beautiful personality trait? now, think about the creator who is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HIMSELF!! :D

It is not just a name, In fact it is one of his attributes! SubhanAllah think about it, what happens when we find beauty in a person or even in a thing? We develop affection towards it,right? Now, think about how would you feel after you get to know about your creator, AL- JAMEEL! The Most Beautiful!!

Now, we don't just make any names and attributes of Allah SWT. Do we? So where do we find the evidences of any of the Name and Attribute of Allah SWT that we study? We look for it in the Quran or in the Sunnah of our beloved prophet Muhammad (saws). This Name and Attribute of Allah SWT is mentioned in a hadith ;

“Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.” [Sahīh Muslim (911)]

Some of our Ulema (scholars) say that if you gather all the beauty of this world and then compare it to Allah's beauty! It is like comparing a tiny lamp of fire with the Sun itself. Beauty in the human beings? Well, imagine just a few thousand years ago all the ladies were mesmerized looking at Yusuf Alay his Salaam.. Now, imagine what would happen if He (AS) was here with us now.. Well... now, think about the creator woh made this fantastic creation! Imagine HIS beauty!! :D

Scholars have classified the Beauty of Allah Al - Jameel into 4 types (no, i am not going to leave you guys so easily, so here you go!) ;

I) Jamal Az Zaat (Allah himself is the Most Beautiful - Allah is beauty himself!) : When you think about this beauty, when you see something so beautiful, wouldn't you want to even see the creator who created something this beautiful? The best delight in paradise for people is not even the highest of heavens, the best delight is to look at the beautiful face of their creator. This constant pondering after looking at something beautiful will create a longing in your heart to see its creator.

On a side note, the importance of knowing the names and attibutes of Allah?
Can you believ that some people will actually believe that Dajjal (anti christ) is God himself? Because of his claim? Although when you think about his description he is quite ugly! So why would people believe it? Because they would not know that Allah - God Is the Most Beautiful!

Our beauty can also be a trial for us from Allah SWT because it is very easy for some of us to get carried away when presented with compliments, well atleast I do! :P because its quite rare that it happens! hehe! And we know how sometimes we subconsciously become a bit arrogant about it! So whenever next time we are complimented about anything beautiful from our appearance to our character then we must always say ''This is the blessing of Allah!''

Beautifying ourselves for the sake of Allah SWT, because He loves beauty also becomes like an act of worship! How, you ask? It's due to the intention! Now, wait wait lets not think way too much, this does not mean that we can look all goregous and beathtaking and show off ourselves out in the world, we wouldn't want to cause people to have heart attacks now, do we? :P P.s. remember hijaab? ;) We can beautify ourselves for our girlie parties, for hubbies, or behind that proper veil! :D

Imagine this, even the people in paradise would get beautiful eternally, you must have heard some things get better with time? Ooooo yeah! this is EXACTLY what happens in paradise! SubhanAllah every friday when the people of paradise would meet each other they would compliment that the other person looks more beautiful than the last time they saw them! wohoo! imagine that.

II) Jamaal Al Sifaat (Beauty in Attrbutes) : Sometimes we come across people who do look beautiful but subhanAllah it is only when we hang out with them for a while and when they open their mouth. They simply leave you speechless! :P

III) Jamal Al Af'al (Beauty in Action) : Sometimes, in some situation a person's characteristic maybe kind but that very person at another time may not be so kind. But Allah is beautiful in all his actions, With good doers He blesses them with abundant reward and With Evil doers he is The Most Just. Even the people will be baffled at the beauty of Allah's justice and will praise him for that, now think about the people of Jannah?
So Allah SWT just does not have beauty as his name but Subhanallah It is in his actions too, think about the way babies are created in one stage at a time. So beautifully!

IV) Asm'a Al Husna : There's beauty in ALL the names and attributes of Allah SWT. The more you study about them, the more you will be mesmerized by the beauty of it.

So, now that we know so much about this Name and Attribute. Am I going to leave it at it? naww,we need to know how this should impact our life! :D Here it is ;

a. When you see something/something beautiful you should say Mashallah or TabarakAllah. When you see something beautiful this way, it will remind you of Allah SWT and it will ward off the evil eye! yes, it is true whatever your eyes admire shaytan makes it his target!And to the person who gets a lot of compliments on their beauty they must seek Allah's protection through morning and evening supplications.

b. We can make any act of beautifying as the act of worship If ywe do it for the sake of Allah SWT.

c. We need to start beautifying ourselves not only on the outside but also on the inside. Which translates as the purification of our hearts through seeking of Allah's forgivenss, removing any ill feelings. It will also effect on our outside beauty too.

d. Islam empahsizes so much on the cleanliness because cleanliness also leads to beauty. Which is why even when we are in a public place we shall avoid taking the liberty of littering around, because remember, cleanliness is half the emaan!

Thats all for now :)

Inshallah hope you can benefit from this post. Whatever good it has, it is from Allah Subhanahoo wa ta'ala, Whatever mistakes and erros are there they are from me.