Economics 101: The Broken Window Fallacy

Alhamdulilah, this short video explains why government bailouts, stimulus plans and "job creation" schemes never help an economy but in fact make things worse.

The baker in the video makes reference to Frederic Bastiat and Henry Hazlitt. Bastiat's work is called That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, while Hazlitt's book is called Economics in One Lesson. The latter was first published in the 1940s and explains very clearly and brilliantly how a healthy economy can be brought to ruin, albeit unwittingly,  and thus it explains why the global economy, especially in the United States and Europe, is in such a terrible state. 

And with Allah alone is every success.

Imam An-Nawawī on the Ten Days of Dhul Ḥijjah

The chapter on the Adhkār of the first ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah[1]

Allah the Exalted has said: “so that they can invoke[2] Allah’s name on specific days.” [Al-Ḥajj 22:28] Ibn ʿAbbās, Ash-Shāfiʿī and the majority say that these are the ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah.

Know that it is recommended to increase one’s dhikr in these ten days more than any other time, and it is recommended to do it more on the Day of ʿArafa[3] than any of the remaining ten days.

504_We have related in Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “There are no better days than these in which to do good deeds.” They said: ‘And not even to strive in God’s way?’ He said: “Not even to strive in God’s way, except for a man who goes out and risks his life and his wealth and does not come back with either.” This is the wording of Al-Bukhārī, and it is authentic.[4] The wording in the collection of At-Tirmidhī is: “There are no days in which to do righteous action that are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” The wording in Abū Dāwūd’s narration is almost identical, except that his says: “than these days” i.e. the ten days.

We have related in the Musnad of Imam Abū ʿAbdillah Bin ʿAbdur Raḥmān Ad-Dāramī, with the chain of transmission of the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, that he said regarding it: “There are no better days in which to do good deeds than the ten days of Dhū Al-Ḥijjah.” It was said: ‘Not even striving?’ The rest of the ḥadīth was then quoted in full. In another narration it says: “the ten days of Al-Aḍḥā.”[5]

505_We have related in the book of At-Tirmidhī, on the authority of ʿAmr Bin Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, that the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “The best supplication[6] is the supplication on the Day of ʿArafa, and the best thing that I and the Prophets before me have said is: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner. He has the Dominion and He deserves all Praise, and He has power over everything.’[7]” At-Tirmidhī declared its chain of transmission to be weak.

506_We have related in the Muwaṭṭāʾ of Imam Malik, with a chain of transmission that is mursal[8] and the wording of which is shorter, which is: “The best supplication is the supplication on the Day of ʿArafa, and the best thing that I and the Prophets before me have said is: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner.’”

507_It has reached us on the authority of Sālim Bin ʿAbdillah Bin ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he saw someone asking people on the Day of ʿArafa, so he said: ‘O feeble one! Is other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, asked on this day?’

508_Al-Bukhārī has said in his Ṣaḥīḥ: ‘ʿUmar would make takbīr[9] in his dome in Minā, and the people in the masjid would hear him and do likewise. Then the people in the market would follow likewise until all of Minā was shaking with takbīr.

509_Al-Bukhārī said: ‘In these ten days, ʿUmar and Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with both of them, would go out to the markets and make takbīr and the people would make takbīr with them.

Related Posts:
Dhūl Ḥijjah, the Day of ʿArafah and Fasting

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[1] (Translator’s note: translated from Al-Adhkār lil Imām Abi Zakariyyā Yaḥyā Bin Sharaf An-Nawawī Ad-Dimashqi (Beirut: Muʾassasa Al-Maʿārif, 2005) p.154-155

[2] (tn): i.e. dhikr

[3] (tn): i.e. the 9^th of Dhul Ḥijjah

[4] (tn): Ar. ṣaḥīḥ

[5] (tn): i.e. the Sacrifice

[6] (tn): Ar. duʿāʾ

[7] (tn): Ar. La ilaha illa Allah, waḥdahu, la sharīka lah, lahu al-mulk, wa lahu al-ḥamd wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr. It should be noted that even though this ḥadīth is weak per se, it is backed up by numerous other ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīths that mention the praiseworthiness of this invocation. For example, there is the ḥadīth in the collections of Al-Bukhārī and Muslim in which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “Whoever says: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner. He has the Dominion and He deserves all Praise, and He has power over everything’ one hundred times in a day, will have the reward of freeing ten slaves. Also, one hundred good deeds will be written down for him, one hundred evil deeds will be erased from his account and he will be protected from Shayṭān on that day until he turns in. No one can bring anything better than what this person has brought apart from the person who does more than that.”

[8] (tn): i.e. a ‘discontinued’ or ‘disconnected’ ḥadīth, especially at the level of a Companion.

[9] (tn): i.e. saying Allah Akbar

The Difference Between Tawassul and Shirk

Assalaam alaykum,

Alhamdulilah, a new article is now available from www.marifah.net entitled "Wasila, Circumambulating Graves and Accusing Others of Shirk and Kufr". Please have a read, as the article discusses the fundamental difference between Ahl us-Sunnah and the Khawarij, which, in summary, is that the latter always assume the worst of fellow Muslims.

And with Allah alone is every success.

Assalaam alaykum,

Mahdi

UPDATE (01/02/2017): The marifah website is down. The article is now available here.

Good Intentions

Assalaam alaykum,

 From the You Tube Channel:

"Walter Williams' PBS documentary Good Intentions, based on his book The State Against Blacks (1982). The documentary was very controversial at the time it was released and led to many animosities and even threats of murder.

In Good Intentions, Dr. Williams examines the failure of the war on poverty and the devastating effect of well-meaning government policies on blacks, asserting that the state harms people in the U.S. more than it helps them. He shows how government anti-poverty programs have often locked people into poverty, making the points that:

- being forced to attend 3rd rate public schools leave students unprepared for working life

- minimum wages prevent young people from obtaining jobs at an early age

- licensing and labor laws have had the effect of restricting the entrance of blacks into the skilled trades and unions

- the welfare system creates perverse incentives for the poor to make bad choices they otherwise would not."

Insha'Allah, you'll find that a lot of what Dr. Williams has to say applies to the economy in general, and not just in the United States.

Assalaam alaykum,

Mahdi

Imam An-Nawawī on Benefitting the Deceased

Al-Ḥashr 59:10

Assalaam alaykum,

Alhamdulilah, a new article is now available from www.marifah.net entitled 'Imam An-Nawawī on Benefitting the Deceased', which is a translation from the Imam's book Al-Adkhār min Kalām Sayyid Al-Abrār .


Please have a read, and with Allah alone is every success.


Assalaam alaykum,


Mahdi

UPDATE (07/02/2017): The marifah.net website is down. This article is now available here and the PDF is available here.

The Aphorisms of Ibn Ataillah: Hikma 177

With Sheikh Muhammad Saeed Ramadan Al-Bouti:

ان اردتَ ورود المواهب عليك صحّح الفقر و الفاقة لديك

انَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ الفُقَرَاءِ

Assalaam alaykum,

Mahdi

Showing Birr to Parents and The Rights of Children

Sūrat Luqmān 31:14 

Assalaam alaykum,

Alhamdulilah, a new article is now available from www.marifah.net, entitled 'Showing Birr to Parents and the Rights of Children', which is a khutba given by Sheikh ʿAbdul Ḥamīd Kishk. Insha'Allah, you will find it very beneficial, and with Allah alone is every success.

Assalaam alaykum,

Mahdi

UPDATE (31/3/2017): The marifah.net website is down. This khutbah is now available here.

When is Ramadan?

Assalaam alaykum,

Please listen to this lecture (with slides) by Al-Hajj Abu Ja'far Al-Hanbali, in which he discusses how the beginning and end of Ramadan, and every other month of our lunar calendar, are determined according to the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the First Three Generations and the fuqaha that have followed since. The various fallacies that come up every year regarding moon sighting, such as the assertion that it can't be seen in the UK, that we don't have to bother looking for it because of modern science, that we should follow Saudi Arabia because that's where Islam began, and so on and so forth, are clearly dealt with, and with Allah alone is every success.

Courtesy of the Reasons for Faith Channel.

Wassalaam,

Mahdi

Related Posts:

Moon Sighting: The Evidence from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim with commentary by Sheikh al-Islam Yaḥyā An-Nawawī

Moon Sighting: The Evidence from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim with commentary by Sheikh al-Islam Yaḥyā An-Nawawī

In the Name of Allah, The All-Merciful, The Most Merciful

2. The Chapter on the obligation of fasting Ramaḍān upon seeing the crescent and breaking it upon seeing the crescent and if it is obscured at the beginning or the end the month is completed as thirty days.

(#1080) Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā has related to us. He said: ‘I read under Mālik, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, from the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, that he mentioned Ramaḍān and said: “Don’t fast until you see the crescent, and don’t break [your fast] until you see it. And if it is obscured from you then count it (faqdurū lahu).”

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shayba related to us. Abū Usāma related to us. ʿUbayd Allah related to us from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, mentioned Ramaḍān and brought his hands together, saying: ‘The month is such and such and such (and he tied his thumbs when saying the third) so fast upon seeing it and break [your fast] upon seeing it, and if it is obscured from you then count (faqdurū lahu) thirty.’

Imam An-Nawawī: (faqdurū lahu) In a narration we have ‘count 30 days’, and in another narration we have ‘If you see the crescent, fast, and if you see it, break [your fast], and if it is obscured from you, then count it.’ In another narration: ‘If it is obscured from you then fast thirty days.’ In another narration: ‘If it is obscured from you then complete the number.’ In another narration: ‘If the month is obscured from you then count thirty.’ In another narration: ‘If it is obscured from you then count thirty.’[1]

All these narrations are in the book in this order. In the narration of Al-Bukhārī: ‘If it is not known to you then complete the number of Shaʿbān[2] as thirty.’ The scholars differ as to the meaning of ‘faqdurū lahu’. A group of scholars have said: ‘The meaning is “confine it and count it under the clouds.” Amongst those who said this is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and others who hold it permissible to fast on the day following a cloudy night of Ramaḍān, as we will mention if Allah the Exalted so Wills.[3] Ibn Surayj said, along with a group that includes Maṭraf ibn ʿAbdullah, Ibn Qutaybah and others: ‘The meaning is to count it by calculating lunar phases.’ Mālik, ash-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfa and the majority of the Salaf and the Khalaf[4] hold that the meaning of qadurū lahu is to complete the thirty days. The people of language say…[5]

The majority use as their evidence the mentioned narrations and complete the number as thirty, and this is the explanation of qadurū lahu and for this reason the two are not gathered in one narration. Rather, sometimes this one is mentioned and sometimes that one is mentioned, and the previous narration of ‘then count (faqdurū lahu) thirty,’ strengthens this. Al-Māzarī[6] said: ‘The majority of jurists hold that the meaning of his saying, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, ‘faqdurū lahu’ is to complete the number as thirty as has been explained in the other ḥadīth. They say: “It is not permissible to hold that it means the calculations of the astronomers because the people, if they are made responsible for this, will be put in a difficult situation because only a few people know [the science of astronomy] and the legislation is that the people know what the masses of them know[7], and Allah knows best.

As for his saying, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him: (if it is obscured from you) means that there are clouds between you and it. It is said…[8]. In these aḥādīth are evidences for the madhabs of Mālik and Ash-Shāfiʿī and the majority that it is not permissible to fast the day of doubt[9] nor the day of the 30^th of Sha’ban as Ramadan if the thirtieth night is cloudy.

His saying, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him: (fast upon seeing it and break [your fast] upon seeing it). The meaning here is the sighting by some Muslims. It is not a condition for every individual to see it; rather the sighting of two upright witnesses is sufficient for everybody, and likewise one [upright witness], according to the strongest position, for fasting. As for breaking the fast, the witness of one upright person of the crescent of Shawwāl[10] is not permissible according to all the scholars, except for Abū Thawr, who holds one as permissible.

His saying, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him: (The month is such and such). In a narration: ‘The month is twenty-nine days.’[11] The meaning is that the month could be twenty-nine days. The gist is that, with consideration of the crescent, the month could be complete as thirty or incomplete as twenty-nine. The crescent may not be seen and therefore it would be obligatory to complete the number of thirty. They say: ‘The incompleteness [i.e. 29 days] could be continuous for two months, or three, or four but not more than four. In this ḥadīth is the permissibility of relying upon the understood indication in something like this.

[Translated from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi Sharḥ An-Nawawī v.7 p.165-7]

5. The Chapter clarifying that every locality has their own sighting and if they see the crescent in a locality its ruling is not established for those who are far from them.

(#1087) Yaḥyā bin Yaḥyā has related to us, and Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb, and Qutaybah, and Ibn Hujr (he said Yaḥyā bin Yahyā: informed us, while others said: Ismāʿīl related to us, and he is Ibn Jaʿfar) from Muḥammad (and he is Ibn Abi Ḥarmalah) from Kurayb, that Umm al-Faḍl, the daughter of al-Ḥārith, sent him to Muʿāwiya in Shām.[12] He said: ‘I arrived in Shām. I carried out her [Umm al-Faḍl] task and the month of Ramadan came in, and I was in Shām. I saw the crescent on Friday night.[13] Then I arrived in Madīna towards the end of the month. ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him, asked me questions. Then he mentioned the crescent and said: “When did you see the crescent?” I said: “We saw it on Friday night.” He said: “You saw it?” I said: “Yes. The people saw it. They fasted and Muʿāwiya fasted.” He said: “But we saw it on Saturday night, and we will not stop fasting until we complete thirty days, or we see it.” I said: “Isn’t the sighting of Muʿāwiya and his fasting sufficient for you?” He said: “No, and this is what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, commanded us.”’

Yaḥyā bin Yaḥyā was not sure whether he said ‘sufficient for us’ or sufficient for you’.

Imam An-Nawawī: In this [chapter] is the ḥadīth of Kurayb from Ibn  ʿAbbās and it is clear evidence of the Tarjima[14] and the strongest position amongst our companions[15] is that the sighting is not general for all people, but rather it is specific to whoever is close by a distance in which one does not shorten the prayer.[16] It is also said that if there is agreement of the region[17] they are necessitated. It is also said that if the locale (iqlīm) agrees [they must fast] and if not then no. Some of our companions hold that the sighting is general for all the people of the earth[18], and regarding this we say that Ibn ʿAbbās did not act on the information of Kurayb because it was one testimony and it cannot be established by one person. However, the outward purport of the ḥadīth is that he [Ibn ‘Abbas] did not reject it for this reason but he only rejected it because the ruling of the sighting cannot be established for those far away.

[Translated from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi Sharḥ an-Nawawī v.7 p.172]

Conclusion: The objective of this article is to provide the evidences for reviving the Sunnah of sighting the moon in western lands, as it still remains in the Muslim heartlands. In order for there to be unity amongst Muslims in the United Kingdom, United States, and other western countries, what better way than to return to the Sunnah of sighting the moon and establishing your own lunar calendar?

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[1] All of these narrations can be found in the same chapter of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.

[2] This is the month that precedes Ramaḍān.

[3] For further details on this position, which is unique to the Ḥanbalī school, please listen to this lecture by Al-Hajj Abu Jaʿfar Al-Hanbali, which is available from the Reasons for Faith Channel.

[4] The Salaf are the first three generations of Islam, and the Khalaf are those who come after.

[5] The part is left untranslated because the Imam goes into lexicography, which is of little benefit to the non-Arabic speaker.

[6] Imam al-Māzarī is Abū ʿAbdullah Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, d. 536/1141, a Mālikī scholar of Sicilian origin who settled in Al-Mahdiyya and wrote a commentary on Al-Burhān by Imam al-Juwaynī.

[7] In other words, this religion is accessible to the layman in its foundational form. Moon sighting is not the exclusive property of so-called experts, intellectuals, academics and self-appointed spokesmen for Islam in the west.

[8] The part is left untranslated because the Imam goes into lexicography which is of little benefit to the non-Arabic speaker

[9] This is the day that could be either the 30^th of Shaʿbān or the 1^st of Ramaḍān.

[10] This is the month that follows Ramaḍān.

[11] This and other narrations on the month being twenty-nine days can be found in chapter 4 of the Book of Fasting.

[12] Shām includes modern-day Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. Muʿāwiya was the Khalīfa at the time and based in Damascus.

[13] This means the night before the day of Friday.

[14] Ibn Abbas is called ‘Tarjima al-Qurʾān’, which means the Interpreter of the Qurʿān. The Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, made a supplication for him in which he asked Allah to bless him with this ability.

[15] i.e. the Shāfiʿīs

[16] That distance is approximately 50 miles. (Reliance of the Traveller p.190) N.B This is not the limit of the sighting zone in the Shāfiʿī school. Please see following note.

[17]An example of a region, or sighting zone, would be the Ḥijāz, or Iraq, or Egypt. (Reliance of the Traveller p.281)

[18] The idea of a global lunar calendar is inherently flawed. Lunar calendars are based on moon sightings, which differ from region to region.  Furthermore, there is no precedent for this from the first three generations, as this ḥadīth demonstrates. Some ʿulamāʾ, particularly ʿAlā u-Dīn Al-Mardāwī Al-Ḥanbalī (d. 885 AH) and others, explain that when the Khalīfa, the chief Qāḍī, or his representative, see the crescent moon, they declare it for all seven domains, those being the seven jurisdictions of the Khilāfa, stretching from areas in South America to China. They then start their own Ramaḍān from that day and the nearby cities and areas do the same, an example being Baṣra and Baghdād. However, faraway lands, which have not seen it, follow suit but according to their peculiar calendar, i.e. they hear that the chief Qāḍī has announced it but it may only be the 28^th where they are, so they wait a day and then start fasting.

A Guide for New Believers

#[1]

Assalām ‘alaykum [Peace be upon you],

Welcome to the bliss of Islam, the religion[2] of Truth. We ask Allah to bless you in this life and the next, and to make your journey to Him easy.

Allah says in the Qurʾān:

“He is the one Who sent His Messenger with Guidance and the religion of Truth to make it manifest over all other religions.” [At-Tawbah 9:33]

“Whoever Allah wants to guide, He opens his heart to Islam.” [Al-Anʿām 6:125]

“Whoever desires other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” [Āl-ʿImrān 3:85]

INTRODUCTION

Now that you have embraced the faith and accepted salvation, all praise be to Allah, you must have many questions, and maybe even concerns. The purpose of this guide is to make things easy and clear for you, and to put you in the right direction so that you can stand up in this world as a confident Muslim, proud of your Islam and prepared to deal with challenges that will come your way while constantly turning to your Lord for assistance, seeking His forgiveness, and asking Him to shower His mercy upon you in this life and the next.

Let us now look at the benefits of embracing Islam and accepting salvation:

* All previous sins have been wiped out and all previous good deeds have been validated and recorded.

This means that whatever good deeds you have done in your life have been recorded, and you will be rewarded for them, insha’Allah (Allah willing). As for all your sins, they have been wiped away. Allah has now given you the opportunity to start afresh.

* You now have a direct relationship with your Lord. Allah says:

“And when my slaves ask you [Muḥammad g[3]] about Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the call of the caller when he calls on Me, so let them respond to Me, and let them believe in Me, so that they may be rightly guided.” [Al-Baqara 2:186]

Call on Allah at any time. Ask Him to make things easy for you, to guide you, to fill your heart with love for Islam, love for Allah, and love for the final Prophet, Muḥammad g. If you have just recently said the Shahādah, it is highly recommended at this time that you make lots of supplication (duʿā) to Allah. This will help you build your relationship with Him, and you will start to feel Allah working in your life. Allah also says:

“Is there doubt in Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth? He calls on you in order to forgive you your sins, and He gives you respite until an appointed time.” [Ibrahim 14:10]

* You will see Allah in the Hereafter, and be admitted into Paradise.

Allah says: “Faces radiant on that day, looking at their Lord.” [Al-Qiyāma 75:22-23]

This is the most awesome reward, and cannot be comprehended or understood by our limited human minds. Seeing Allah in the Paradise is the exclusive reward of the believers, and cannot be compared to any pleasure that we know of or don’t know of.