A rare recording from al-Masjid an-Nabawī, 1968
Monday, 22 June 2015
Thursday, 18 June 2015
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in Ramaḍān (Part 1)
A translation of this article from Naseem al-Sham
In the Name of
Allah, the All Merciful, the Most Merciful
 |
| العلق 96:1 |
The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in Ramaḍān (Part 1)
By Asmāʾ Ramaḍān
Translated by
Mahdi Lock
Introduction:
The Exalted has said, “You have an excellent model in the
Messenger of Allah.” [Al-Aḥzāb 33:21]
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all Creation, Who has honoured
us with the blessing of Islam and sent to us the best of mankind and made him
the most excellent model in all of his statements, states and actions; may the
best blessings and peace be upon him.
He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was the
practical illustration of the Qurʾān,
the precise and honest translation of its āyāt,
and he is the one who called us to follow his example in his acts of worship.
He has drawn the practical and applied illustration for us so that it can contain
clear guidelines for whoever wants to follow it.
What this Ummah must realise, in a very deep sense, is that
taking the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as a model and
imitating him in all aspects of his life is the only way to wake it up from its
slumber and return it to the heights of glory, which it lost by turning away
from diligence and veracity and faithfully implementing this doctrine. This is
to be done by sincerely going back to the Book of its Lord, Mighty and
Majestic, and the Sunnah of its Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace. He left us on the clear path; its night is like its day and no one
deviates from it except that they are ruined. He was the exemplar for his
Companions in his lifetime and for the Followers after his passing, as well as
those who come after them and follow them with excellence until Allah inherits
the earth and those upon it.
His personality, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was not
restricted to one nation or to one generation. Rather, it is an exemplar for
every Muslim and a model for every believer whose heart has been opened to
receive light. A righteous model for this Ummah is like a head for a body, or a
spirit for a body; can a body be guided without a head? Can a body live without
a spirit?
Any discussion on the obligation of fasting cannot be
detached from his life and his guidance, peace and blessings be upon him, for
it is from him that the Ummah has received Allah’s obligations upon His slaves,
and these include fasting in Ramaḍān.
What made me choose to write about this topic in particular is the desire to
talk about the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and
how he performed his worship.
However, this is a very lengthy discussion, so I thought I
would single out one aspect of his worship, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace.
Also, my attention is constantly drawn towards the ḥadīth qudsī which states,
{Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has said, ‘Every action of the child of Adam is
for him except for fasting, for indeed it is for Me and I reward it.’}
(Narrated by Muslim) and towards the various meanings that it contains
regarding fasting: that the fasting person and his ego (nafs) get
nothing out of it. It is the Most Generous (al-Karīm), Glorified
and Exalted, who exclusively rewards it, which indicates the sublimity of its
reward and vastness of His gifts, Majestic and Exalted is He.
All of this has pushed me to write about this noble month
and this worship that is connected to it in the context of the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the master of those who fast,
the imam of those who have taqwā.
We ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to accept this, and may
Allah’s prayers and peace be upon our master Muḥammad and upon his Family and Companions.
And our final supplication is that all praise be to Allah,
Lord of all creation.
The connection between the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, and the blessed month of Ramaḍān
Our
Master, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prepared for Ramaḍān before the
Revelation came down
The fasting of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, was not some new obligation that was exclusively for this
Ummah, as fasting was an obligation for the previous nations, and it was
Allah’s decree, Mighty and Majestic, that the month of Ramaḍān be the month of
fasting for this Ummah as well. This is why Allah prepared and readied His
Messenger to receive the Revelation in the blessed month of Ramaḍān, for he would
supply himself with some provisions and then go out to the cave of Ḥirāʾ, where he would
remain in solitude, spending days and nights pondering on the creation of the
heavens and the earth. When his provisions ran out, he would go back to his
family to get some more and then return to Ḥirāʾ,
far removed from people and their hubbub.
Sunday, 14 June 2015
Ramadan is Innocent
This is a very informative and inspirational video regarding the benefits of fasting, i.e. the wisdom behind Allah commanding it, as well as the benefits of eating less in general. In addition to being worship of our Lord and Creator, we should also view Ramadan as an opportunity to heal and repair our bodies. We should give our digestive systems a rest and allow our bodies to cleanse themselves. As you will see in the video, it's not so much the fasting that we need to focus on but how we break our fast. After some dates and some water or milk, what are we going to eat and how much? Sumo wrestlers actually fast for several hours and then eat a huge meal all at once in order to gain weight, so we should bear that in mind.
The information in the video also dovetails nicely with what Imam al-Ghazali has said on protecting the stomach as well as contemporary fitness trainers like Steve Maxwell, who says that eating less is the fountain of youth. Please check out his excellent interview on undereating, intermittent fasting, fasting in order to cure yourself and other beneficial information. Please note that the man is in his early sixties and is in fantastic shape. Ma sha Allah.
The episode is called 'Ramadan is Innocent' because Ramadan, i.e. fasting, is not to blame for the fatigue and exhaustion that a lot of us feel in this month. Rather, we should look at what we're eating, how we're breaking our fasts and how much sleep we're getting. So many majors battles of Islamic history took place in Ramadan and the Muslims were victorious. We should actually be feeling more energetic in this time.
Last but not least, we have to address the power of suggestion. We need to be wary of telling ourselves that we're going to feel weak and tired because we're not eating and drinking. We should remind ourselves that this month is for our benefit, spiritually and physically, and therefore we should be both spiritually and physically uplifted. Allah would never legislate something that would harm us.
And with Allah alone is every success. May Allah grant us all a beneficial, uplifting and healthy Ramadan, ameen!
و الحمد لله رب العالمين و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله
Monday, 8 June 2015
Imam al-Ghazālī on Protecting the Stomach
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و صلى الله على سيدنا
محمد و سلّم
 |
| منهاج العابدين الى جنة رب العالمين |
Imam
al-Ghazālī on
Protecting the Stomach
Translated
by Mahdi Lock[1]
Section Five: The Stomach
and Its Protection
Then you must – and may Allah grant you
success – protect your stomach and rectify it; it is indeed the most difficult
of organs for the one who strives (mujtahid) to rectify. It is the most
troublesome and the most distracting; it is the most harmful and has the most
widespread effect. This is because it is the fountainhead and source; from it
all the states of the other limbs come to be: strength and weakness, abstinence
(ʿiffah) and willfulness (jimāḥ), and so forth.
Therefore, you must firstly safeguard it
against the unlawful and the doubtful and secondly against going to excess with
regards to the lawful, if your intention and desire is to worship Allah the
Exalted.
As for the unlawful and the doubtful,
you are obliged to look into them because of three matters:
The first is being wary of the Fire of Hell; Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has
said, “Those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully consume nothing
in their bellies except fire. They will roast in a Searing Blaze.” [An-Nisāʾ
4:10]
And the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, said, {The Fire is more deserving of every piece of flesh that
grows out of ill-gotten property.}[2]
The second is that the consumer of the unlawful and the doubtful is repelled and
not granted the enabling success (tawfīq) to perform worship, and thus only those who are pure and
purified are fit to serve Allah the Exalted.
I have said: has not Allah the Exalted prohibited those in a state of major
impurity (junub) from entering His house[3]
and the one in a state of minor impurity (muḥdith) from touching His Book?
The Almighty has said, “…nor in a state of major impurity – unless you are
travelling – until you have washed yourselves completely” [an-Nisāʾ 4:43] and the Exalted One has also said, “No one may touch it except
the purified” [al-Wāqiʿah
56:79], and this is despite the fact that to be in either state of impurity is
permissible, so what about someone who is immersed in the squalor of the
unlawful and the filth of ill-gotten property and doubtful matters; when will
he be summoned to the service of Allah the Almighty and His noble remembrance,
Glorified is He? That will absolutely never happen.
Yaḥyā ibn
Muʿādh al-Rāzī, may Allah have mercy
on him, said, ‘Obedience is stored in Allah’s storehouses; their key is
supplication and the teeth of that key is the lawful. If the key doesn’t have
any teeth, the door won’t be opened, and if the door to the storehouse can’t be
opened, how will one arrive at the obedience that lies therein?!’
The third is that the one who consumes the unlawful and the doubtful is cut off
from doing good, even if he is destined to do good…for it is rejected from him
and not accepted from him. Therefore, he obtains nothing from it except toil
and hardship, and the taking up of his time. He, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, said, {How many people stand in the night to pray and all they
obtain from it is sleeplessness? How many people fast and all they obtain from
it are hunger and thirst?}[4]
It is on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās,
may Allah be pleased with both of them, that he said, ‘Allah does not accept
the prayer of a person who has something unlawful inside of him.’ This is what
this is.[5]
As for going to excess with the lawful,
indeed it is the plague of the ordinary worshippers and the calamity of the
people of ijtihād. I have reflected on the matter and I have found ten evils that are the
foundations of this matter:
Monday, 1 June 2015
Islamic State is Destroying the Common Patrimony of the Human Race
 |
| Palmyra |
Daniel Hannan has written a very pensive article on what is currently happening, or feared will happen, in Palmyra, Syria, now that it has fallen into the hands of the latest manifestation of the Khawarij, i.e. the so-called Islamic State.
The author intelligently points out, as evidenced by the fact that this site and so many other historical sites have survived to this day, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Muslim rulers and scholars who followed saw no need to destroy such places. Rather, they are a testimony to human history and a sign and a reminder to mankind; nothing lasts forever. Allah has said, "Every nation has an appointed time. When their time comes, they cannot delay it a single hour or bring it forward." [Surat al-A'raaf 7:34] ِAllah has also said, "Have they not travelled in the earth and seen the final outcome of those before them? They were more numerous than them and greater in strength and left more and deeper traces on the earth, but what they earned was of no use to them." [Surat al-Ghaafir 40:82]
They are also a reminder of what happens to nations who reject Allah. In verse 83 of the same chapter above, Allah says, "When their Messengers brought them the clear signs, they exulted in the knowledge they had and were engulfed by the very things they mocked."
As for these sites being maintained and used for tourism, Imam Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, may Allah have mercy on him, gave this fatwa a few years ago when he was asked about visiting historical sites in Indonesia, namely those that include Buddhist statues and drawings. The translation of his response is:
"Looking at historical statues and the like, passing by them and sitting by one of their graves is not unlawful. Have you not seen the Pharaonic relics that have remained [i.e. in Egypt] since the days of the Islamic conquest? The Muslims still visit them, pass by them and look at them, and no one has ever declared it unlawful."
Please click on this link for further details and discussion on this fatwa, especially the comments below.
In conclusion, it should be clearly understood that the Khawarij of the "Islamic State" are not following Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, or the scholars of Muslim Orthodoxy (Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah). They are following Iblis and their desires, plain and simple.
And with Allah is every success.
Sunday, 31 May 2015
Ibn Khaldun: Islam's Man for All Seasons
 |
| Imam Ibn Khaldun |
Benedikt Koehler has written another wonderful article, this time on Imam Ibn Khaldun.
Related Posts:
Britain's Trillion Pound Horror Story
Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism
Why Muslims Don't Need Adam Smith
Gun Control?
The Case Against the EU
As usual, big government has led to corporatism, i.e. corporations exerting their influence and getting regulations passed to stifle and keep out the competition. One example mentioned in the lecture below is that of pharmaceutical companies trying to ban alternative remedies and herbal medicines within the EU.
The lecture itself is a comprehensive argument against the EU, from several angles, and is also an interesting historical and cultural lesson.
For more on the corporatism of the EU, the speaker wrote this article a couple days ago.
UPDATES:
FIFA, the EU and the UN are riddled with crony corporatism
The EU's Thieves' Kitchen Makes FIFA Look Like Bumbling Amateurs
Brussels is a corporatist racket
TTIP is About Giant Corporates Dominating Our Economies
John King: The left wing case for leaving the EU
Does the EU really bring peace?
Britain staying in Europe looks more and more absurd
Eight ways to tell if the EU renegotiation is real
The EU is dead: The Grexit crisis has laid bare Europe's inability to rescue itself
Auto Companies Fear British EU Exit Because Of Convenience, Not Economics
European Union exit could make British households £933 richer
Britain needs to get a better deal or leave the EU
The Pope joins the EU in a sad world of make-believe
Revealed: The European Union Plan to Censor Your Pictures of the London Eye
Brussels tells British mothers: get back to work
The EU: A Wounded Beast Whose Time Has Passed
Dear Britain, there is life outside the EU
The Case for Brexit 5) Global Engagement
New Report: EU Membership Increases Unemployment
The EU Is Dead: It Just Refuses To Lie Down
What is the EU for?
The UK governments fails to block a single EU measure (i.e. the UK has no influence on EU policy)
Europe faces political war on two fronts as backlash builds
Corbyn was the only moderate among the Labour leadership candidates - on the EU
Look to Guernsey for a model of a post-EU Britain
EU commissioner tells European governments to IGNORE voters
UPDATES:
FIFA, the EU and the UN are riddled with crony corporatism
The EU's Thieves' Kitchen Makes FIFA Look Like Bumbling Amateurs
Brussels is a corporatist racket
TTIP is About Giant Corporates Dominating Our Economies
John King: The left wing case for leaving the EU
Does the EU really bring peace?
Britain staying in Europe looks more and more absurd
Eight ways to tell if the EU renegotiation is real
The EU is dead: The Grexit crisis has laid bare Europe's inability to rescue itself
Auto Companies Fear British EU Exit Because Of Convenience, Not Economics
European Union exit could make British households £933 richer
Britain needs to get a better deal or leave the EU
The Pope joins the EU in a sad world of make-believe
Revealed: The European Union Plan to Censor Your Pictures of the London Eye
Brussels tells British mothers: get back to work
The EU: A Wounded Beast Whose Time Has Passed
Dear Britain, there is life outside the EU
The Case for Brexit 5) Global Engagement
New Report: EU Membership Increases Unemployment
The EU Is Dead: It Just Refuses To Lie Down
What is the EU for?
The UK governments fails to block a single EU measure (i.e. the UK has no influence on EU policy)
Europe faces political war on two fronts as backlash builds
Corbyn was the only moderate among the Labour leadership candidates - on the EU
Look to Guernsey for a model of a post-EU Britain
EU commissioner tells European governments to IGNORE voters
Saturday, 23 May 2015
Brief Notes on Shaʿbān
 |
| O Allah, enable us to reach Ramadan |
Alhamdulilah, by the mercy of Allah, we have reached the month of Shaʿbān. May Allah bless us all in this month and allow us to reach Ramadan in health and wellbeing, ameen.
Shaʿbān is the eighth month of the lunar calendar, falling between Rajab and Ramadan. In the two saheeh collections, i.e. of Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim, it is related that Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said,
'I never saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, fast an entire month apart from Ramadan, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Shaʿbān."
Usamah ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, said,
'I said, "O Messenger of Allah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Shaʿbān."
He replied,
"It's a month that people don't pay attention to, falling between Rajab and Ramadan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of all creation. I like for my deeds to be lifted up while I am fasting." [Narrated by An-Nasāʾī]
May Allah the Exalted grant us the enabling success and strength to follow in the footsteps of His Beloved, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and may He enable us to reach Ramadan and enjoy its blessings and bounties. Also, may Allah have mercy on those souls who yearned to fast Ramadan and are now under the earth. O Allah, cool their graves for them and open doors for them through which the cool breezes of Paradise may blow. Ameen.
Related Posts:
Explaining the 15th of Shaʿbān (Jurjis)
Authentic Narrations Regarding the 15th of Shaʿbān
Word of the Month for Rajab
Usamah ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, said,
'I said, "O Messenger of Allah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Shaʿbān."
He replied,
"It's a month that people don't pay attention to, falling between Rajab and Ramadan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of all creation. I like for my deeds to be lifted up while I am fasting." [Narrated by An-Nasāʾī]
May Allah the Exalted grant us the enabling success and strength to follow in the footsteps of His Beloved, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and may He enable us to reach Ramadan and enjoy its blessings and bounties. Also, may Allah have mercy on those souls who yearned to fast Ramadan and are now under the earth. O Allah, cool their graves for them and open doors for them through which the cool breezes of Paradise may blow. Ameen.
Related Posts:
Explaining the 15th of Shaʿbān (Jurjis)
Authentic Narrations Regarding the 15th of Shaʿbān
Word of the Month for Rajab
Friday, 15 May 2015
Saturday, 9 May 2015
The 27th of Rajab, and Tawassul
A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham
[This translation is also available from the English Naseem al-Sham site]
 |
| قبة الصخرة |
Question:
Faḍīlat ash-Sheikh, As-salām ʿalaykum,
Did the Miʿrāj (Ascent) of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, happen on the 27th of Rajab as some people claim? My
second question: is it permissible to say “O Messenger of Allah, take my hand!”
(Yā Rasūl Allah, khudh bi yadī) as some munshids
say, and what is the proof? Please give us a fatwā, and may Allah
reward you.
Answer (Sheikh Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):
The date of the Miʿrāj is the same as that of the Isrāʾ (Night Journey), and
its specified time being the 27th of Rajab is not just what some
people claim. Rather, it is the narration that many scholars have relied on. As
for tawassul of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, it
is a legislated matter. Those who oppose this cite as their evidence the ḥadīth: {When you ask,
ask Allah…}, which is a ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth, but tawassul does not contradict this ḥadīth. Rather, tawassul
is nothing but asking for his intercession, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and if seeking his intercession in his lifetime is established by the ḥadīth of the blind man,
which is not denied by those who deny tawassul, and it is established in
the ḥadīth of al-Bukhārī that he, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, will intercede on the Day of Resurrection…is tawassul
after his death thus not legislated? Thinking like this actually necessitates
idolatry (shirk) because it implies that the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, has some sort of intrinsic benefit that he could
bestow whilst alive, but since his death he is no longer able to do so![1]
We, on the other hand, do not say that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, has any intrinsic ability to benefit or harm. Rather, it is
all in Allah’s Hand,[2]
but Allah grants intercession to some of His slaves.[3]
Related Posts:
[This translation is also available from the English Naseem al-Sham site]
[1] (tn): The sheikh’s father, Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī, may Allah have mercy on him, expands on this further
while discussing the law of causation in the universe in his book Kubrā al-Yaqīniyyāt al-Kawniyyah. The Imam says,
‘What is amazing is that
certain people continue to attribute matters to their apparent causes. Indeed,
they use expressions that would clearly indicate that the apparent cause is
actually that which produced the effect, such as attributing a cure to
medicine, or asking a physician for it. Then you see these same people paying
very close attention to the words of others and whenever they hear the words tawassul or tabarruk [seeking blessings] of the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, from anyone, they declare them guilty of shirk and kufr, even though this individual did not
attribute the production of the effect to him, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, and did not say anything more about the Messenger than what they say
about physicians and medicines. Is the causation of medicine with regards to a
cure greater than the causation of our
master Muḥammad, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, with regards to blessings and mercy?! What we say is that
there is no actual causation in this or that, but it is preposterous to elevate
this apparent causation in medicine and medication to even one-tenth of the
degree to which the apparent causation in Muḥammad, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, is raised with regards to mercy, forgiveness and blessings.
What
is also amazing, and which boggles the mind, is to see them saying, “The
Companions only did tawassul of him because he was still alive…after his passing, tawassul was nullified and its
ruling was abolished, and it became shirk and kufr.”!!
Can anyone say this unless they think that
the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, assumed, while he was
alive and had physical capacity, the means of producing an effect for those who
did tawassul and tabarruk of him, and then when he
died the means of producing an effect disappeared and therefore tawassul of him became tawassul of something that cannot
produce an effect?! This is nothing but pure kufr, and it’s worse than what these people pretend they are fleeing from.
Indeed the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, cannot produce an effect in anything whatsoever,
not in his lifetime nor after his death. Whoever believes otherwise is a disbeliever
in Allah and His Messenger. As for the anchor of tawassul and tabarruk of him, it is nothing but an honouring from Allah, Mighty and
Majestic, that is bestowed upon him, and He made him a means of mercy for His
slaves. This honouring and ennoblement was not detached from the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, upon him passing away. Rather, it was
increased, as we know, in sublimity and nobility.’ [p.295-296]
[2] Ar. yad
[3] (tn): See Āyat al-Kursī, for example (Al-Baqarah 2:255)
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