Friday, July 12, 2024
Do You Know? : The Final Messenger's Children
All except Ibraheem were born to Khadeejah.
1. Al-Qaasim: Born in Makkah before Islaam. Died at the age of two after being able to walk. The first of the children to die
2. Zaynab: Born in Makkah before Islaam. She married Abul-`Aas ibn ar-Rabee` ibn `Abd-Shams (her cousin: son of her mother’s sister Haalah) – in the lifetime of her mother, after Prophethood. She accepted Islaam and performed the Hijrah to al-Madeenah, six years before her husband. He accepted Islaam and joined her in Muharram 7H. She gave birth to a daughter Umaamah (who married `Alee after the death of Faatimah) and a son `Alee ibn Abil-`Aas (who it is said to have died as a child). She died in the beginning of 8H.
3. Ruqayyah: Born in Makkah before Islaam. She married `Utbah ibn Abee Lahab, but after the revelation of Sooratul-Lahab he separated from her on the orders of his father, doing so before having relations with her. She accepted Islaam along with her mother and sisters, and married `Uthmaan ibn `Affaan, and performed the two Hijrahs to Abysinnia with him. She gave birth to `Uthmaan’s son `Abdullaah [who died at the age of six]. Then she performed the Hijrah to al-Madeenah after `Uthmaan. She became ill before Badr, and died in Ramadaan, 2H.
4. Umm Kulthoom: Born in Makkah before Islaam. It is said that she married `Utaybah ibn Abee Lahab, who separated from her on the orders of his father, before having relations with her. She accepted Islaam and performed the Hijrah to al-Madeenah. After the death of Ruqayyah she married `Uthmaan in Rabee’ul-Awwal, 3H. She did not give birth to any children and died in Sha`baan, 9H.
5. Faatimah: Born in Makkah shortly before Prophethood. She married `Alee ibn Abi Talib after Badr in 2H. She gave birth to al-Hasan, al-Husayn, al-Muhassin, Umm Kulthoom and Zaynab. She died in 11H, six months after her father.
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6. Abdullah: Born in Makkah after Islaam, and died as a baby. The second of the children to die.
7. Ibraheem: His mother was Maariayh al-Qibtiyyah. He was born in al-Madeenah in Dhul-Hijjah, 8H and died at the age of 17 or 18 months in 10H.
Taken from:
‘Siyar A`laamin-Nubalaa.’ of adh-Dhahabee & ‘as-Seeratun-Nabawiyyah’ of Ibn Katheer
Compiled by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank]
Are There Only 99 Names of Allaah?
Al-Asmaa ul-Husnaa or the 99 Names of Allaah as it is popularly known, is something Muslims the world over is familiar with.
But did you know that there is something about the Names of Allaah that most Muslims aren't aware of?
Nowhere in the Noble Quran nor in the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم does it explicitly say the number is limited to 99 nor did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم give us an explicit list of 99 Names.
In this hadith the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us that Allaah has ninety-nine Names which are given a promise, that whoever preserves them correctly and acts upon them will enter Paradise. This does not mean that Allaah azza wa jal does not have Names apart from these.
To put it simply, it's like when someone says: “I have twelve dresses to give to charity,” which does not mean that the speaker has only these twelve dresses, rather these twelve are prepared for this purpose.
The list of 99 Names that are widely popular was actually compiled from the ijtihad of scholars. The scholars, from the early times right until this day, have striven to look through the Book of Allaah and the authentic Sunnah to extract these ninety-nine Names.
Do You Know? : The Mothers of the Believers
It is well-known that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was exceptionally authorized to have more than four wives for various reasons. The wives he married and consummated the marriage with were eleven. Nine of them outlived him. Two died in his lifetime.
Below is a brief overview of the Prophetic marriages in chronological order:
1. Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid: In Makkah — prior to Hijra — the Prophet’s household comprised him صلى الله عليه وسلم and his wife Khadijah. He was twenty-five and she was forty when they got married. She was the first woman he married and she was the only wife he had till she died. She was his greatest source of strength and comfort during the initial years of Revelation. She was also the only wife with whom Allah had blessed him with children. They were together for twenty-five years and her death deeply grieved the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
2. Sawdah bint Zam‘a: He married her in Shawwal, in the tenth year of Prophethood, a few days after the death of Khadijah. She was one of the early converts who had migrated to Abyssinia and was widowed there. She was older than the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at the time of their marriage and she was also the wife who, a few years later, gave up her turn with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to her co-wife 'Aishah
3. ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr: He married her in the eleventh year of Prophethood, a year after his marriage to Sawdah, and two years and five months before Al-Hijra. She was shown to him in a dream as his wife and she was six years old when he married her. However, he did not consummate the marriage with her till Shawwal seven months after Al-Hijra, and that was in Madinah. She was nine then. She was the only virgin he married, the only wife in whose bed he received Revelation, and the most beloved creature to him. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died in her house, on her day, in her arms and was buried in her house. 'Aishah was the most learned woman in jurisprudence and even the greatest of the Sahabah sought her consult, particularly on matters relating to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
4. Hafsah bint ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab: She was widowed at a young age and the Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in the third year of Al-Hijra, in the period between the Badr and Uhud battles.
5. Zainab bint Khuzaimah: She was nicknamed 'Umm Al-Masakeen', because of her kindness and care towards them. Her husband was martyred at Uhud, and she married the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the fourth year of Al-Hijra, but she died two or three months after the marriage.
6. Hind bint Abi Omaiyah (Umm Salamah): She was a widow from Bani Makhzum - the clan of Abu Jahl and Khalid ibn Al-Waleed. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in Shawwal in the fourth year of Al-Hijra. Her marriage to the Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم produced good results. Khalid’s deliberately indecisive attitude at Uhud — for instance — was due to the Messenger’s marriage to Umm Salamah. Khalid ibn Waleed went even further than that, in a short time he willingly embraced Islam and went on to become the greatest warrior of this Ummah.
7. Zainab bint Jahsh: The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in Dhul-Qa‘dah, the fifth year of Al-Hijra. She was previously married to Zaid bin Haritha — who was then considered the son of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. In jahiliyah the Arabs used to consider adopted children exactly like a real son or daughter as far as rights and inheritances are concerned. In order to eradicate this deeply rooted pre-Islamic tradition and to explain that it has no basis in Islam, Allah سبحانه و تعالى sent down Qur'anic verses giving Zaynab in marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when Zaid divorced her. Surah Al-Ahzab was revealed to shed full light on this issue.
8. Juwayriyah bint Al-Harith: Daughter of the chieftain, Juwayriyah was among the booty that fell to the Muslims from Bani Al-Mustaliq when her tribe attacked the Muslims and were defeated. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم freed her and married her in Sha‘ban in the sixth year of Al-Hijra. On the occasion of her marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, his Companions set a hundred families of her people free. Subsequently, her people later on went onto embrace Islam.
9. Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan (Umm Habibah): Her husband apostatized and became a Christian, but she remained steadfast in her religion and refused to convert. When her husband died and she became a widow, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم married her, in the seventh year of Al-Hijra. After the Messenger of Allâh’s marriage to Umm Habibah, Abu Sufyan, her father, did not encounter him with any sort of hostility and once an ardent enemy of Islam, he later on embraced Islam.
10. Safiyah bint Huyai: From the Children of Israel, she was among the booty taken at Khaibar battle. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم took her for himself. He set her free and married her after that conquest in the seventh year of Al-Hijra. Her marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ceased hostilities between her people and Islam.
11. Maimunah bint Al-Harith: The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم married her after the Compensatory ‘Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage). That was in Dhul-Qa‘dah in the seventh year of Al-Hijra.
***
For anyone who would just take the time to read about The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم 's life, you will understand that his marriage to this great number of women in the late years of his lifetime, after he had spent almost thirty years of his best days of youth sufficing himself to one old wife — Khadijah, was in no way an overwhelming lustful desire to be satisfied through such a number of wives.
These marriages were in fact motivated by aims and purposes much more glorious and greater than what normal marriages usually aim at.
Anyone who has read historical fiction or even skimmed through basic information about the medieval period, you will find that marriages played a great role in establishing alliances and eradicating hostilities. That was the way of life back then, be it in Europe, the Arabian Peninsula or the Eastern part of the world.
Take two warring parties, marry one of them to the other and you will have a ceasefire. It was a matter of honor and hostility and fights against alliances and affinities would bring an unforgettable shame, disgrace and degradation to them. The same way of life existed among the Arab tribes.
By marrying the Mothers of Believers, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم demolished the Arab tribes’ enmity to Islam and extinguished their intense hatred. Moreover, the Mothers of the Believers and particularly Aisha'ah were the ones who related the ahadith on the intimate matters in Islam, and as such, we witness the great wisdom with which Allaah decreed these marriages.
Taken from:
Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoum (The Sealed Nectar) by Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
The Prophetic Household : Abdurrahman.org
Thursday, July 11, 2024
What or Who is A Wahhabi?
There is a lot of ignorance and misconception about this term "Wahhabi" isn't there? I truly find it sad that a lot and I mean a lot, of Muslims just blindly mimic what they see and hear without even bothering to find out for themselves what the truth actually is.
There is no such thing as a sect or group of Muslims who call themselves Wahhabis. Who are they? What are their beliefs? Their legislations? There are none. It's just an offensive term used as an insult. It is only a lame mockery about one of the greatest scholars of Islam.
Do you know who Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab was? Do you know who this man was, what exactly he called towards, and what he wrote about?
Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab was a scholar who was born on the Arabian Peninsula about 200 years ago, at a time when the religious practices of the people therein contained polytheism, superstitions and sanctification of the saints and graves, all of which are in clear opposition to the Islamic texts.
When writing his works, he concentrated on bringing the people back to the correct Tawheed and adherence to the following of the Sunah. As he was reviving the message of the Prophets, he faced many obstacles and hardships and was severely opposed for bringing about this call.
Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab was a scholar who called towards Tawheed and the Sunnah, just like the thousands who had already preceded him upon goodness. His creed was the same as theirs, exactly as that of the Four Imaams and others of the righteous Salaf.
He only became famous for his defense of this creed because he came at a time when these false practices were so widespread that he was essentially alone in his defense of the truth.
To this day, he is seen in many parts of the Muslim world as a deviant who had aimed to alter the religion of Islam. This is a baseless lie, as can be seen if you would read his books, which are well documented and widely available.
And do you know something else? I personally find it extremely idiotic of the people who coined the term "Wahhabi" because Al-Wahhab is one of the lofty Names of Allaah. And to use it in a derogatory term against a people who only establish Tawheed? It's like a slap in your own face, to mock Allaah or TRY to mock a people with the Names of Allaah.
- Please click here for more information.
The Night Prayer
There is a lot of confusion regarding the night prayers; what they are, how many rak'ah do they have, what are its timings etc.., so since Ramadan is the month where almost all of us attempt to devote our nights to worship, I hope this post will insha Allah clear some of the doubts about the night prayer.
I ask Allah to make this effort completely for Him, and to make it beneficial to myself and to His servants.
So here's the thing...
Qiyam means "standing"; and Qiyam ul-layl means "standing at night".
In the shar'i context, both terms refer to the same thing, namely, the voluntary night prayer whose time extends from after 'Isha prayer until dawn. It is described as "standing" because it involves long standing in which long portions of the Qur'an are recited.
Other common names for it are: Salat ul-layl (the night prayer), Tahajjud (remaining awake at night after sleeping a portion), Witr (odd-numbered), and Taraweeh (resting) etc..
Witr in particular has two different meanings in the Sunnah. It usually refers to the last one or three rak'ah of Qiyam. But it sometimes means all of the night prayers because, collectively, they are odd numbered.
Some people think that Tahajjud is a night prayer different from Qiyam or Taraweeh. Others think nafl (voluntary) prayers at night are only recommended during Ramadan. So it is important to clarify:
There is only ONE nafl (voluntary) prayer at night and different names are used to describe it.
Even though Taraweeh is most commonly used to describe it in Ramadan, this does NOT make it a different prayer.
***
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم consistently performed Qiyam (optional night prayer) through out the year because Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:
وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِ نَافِلَةً لَّكَ عَسَىٰ أَن يَبْعَثَكَ رَبُّكَ مَقَامًا مَّحْمُودًا“And in some parts of the night (also) offer the Salah with it (i.e. recite the Qur’an in the prayer) as an additional prayer for you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم).It may be that your Lord will raise you to Maqam Mahmud (a station of praise and glory i.e. the honor of intercession on the Day of Resurrection)"[Surah al-Isra’ 17:79]
In 2 AH, when fasting became obligatory, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم performed Qiyam on his own in the masjid. Some of the Sahabah joined him, then more joined him the next night and more the night after and so on.
When it became popular, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stopped leading the people in Qiyam for fear that night prayer in Ramadan would then become obligatory and the people would not be able to do it.
After the death of the Prophe صلى الله عليه وسلم, people prayed Qiyam in the Masjid in separate groups, behind various Imams.
During the caliphate of Umar bin Al-Khattab رضي الله عنه , he gathered the people behind one Imam and revived the Sunnah of praying Qiyam-ul-layl in congregation during Ramadan.
And from since then, Muslims have continued to perform Qiyam during Ramadan in congregation, naming it Taraweeh.
Taraweeh, got its name from tarweehah, which means the space of rest between every two rak’ah.
Usually in mosques, they give a short break after praying 2 sets of 2 rak'ah (after praying 4 rak'ah) because people tend to get tired due to the long standing. So you pray 2 prayers, take a break, and then continue again. So because of this rest, the name Taraweeh is used.
To conclude, the night prayer is ONE prayer, not a bunch of different prayers.
***
As for the number of rak'ah:
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم NEVER prayed more than ELEVEN rak'ah during night prayer.
EIGHT rak'ah of Qiyam and THREE rak'ah of Witr.
But he also never exactly specified a limit.
*There is a difference of opinion among the scholars on this issue about allowing the number of rak'ah to exceed eleven since a limit was not specified. This is why we have some mosques praying twenty, others eight etc..
But it is better and closer to the Sunnah to pray as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم prayed and stick to eight rak'ah of Qiyam and three rak'ah of Witr.
And Allah knows best.
Taken from:
"The Night Prayers - Qiyam and Tarawih" by Muhammad al-Jibali
(based on works by Sheikh Nasir ud-Deen al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) and other scholars).
Do You Know? صلى الله عليه وسلم
One of the absurd traditions of this later generation is to abbreviate the writing of صلى الله عليه وسلم to "SAWS" or "PBUH", when the name of our Prophet Muhammad is mentioned in written form.
Muslims are obliged to send Allaah's Salaah and Salaam upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم when his name is mentioned because Allaah has commanded us!
'Verily Allaah and His Angels send Salaah on the Prophet. O you who believe! Invoke Salaah upon him, as well as a complete Salaam!' [Soorah Al-Ahzaab (33):56]
When you abbreviate the phrase into initials, does it really fulfill the obligation of sending the Salah and Salaam on the Messenger?
The Committee of Major Scholars in Saudi Arabia issued the following verdict when asked about the validity of abbreviating the Salaah on the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم :
"The Sunnah is to write the entire phrase صلى الله عليه وسلم since it is a kind of supplication, and supplication is worship, (in one's WRITING) just as it is in one's SPEECH. So to abbreviate it using the letter SAAD or the word SAAD-LAAM-'AYN-MEEM is NOT a supplication NOR it is worship, whether it occurs in speech or writing. For this reason, this abbreviation was not used by the first three generations, those that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم testified to their goodness."
*"SAAD" and "SAAD-LAAM-'AYN-MEEM" are often used in some 'Arabic books. The English equivalents of these abbreviations would be: SAW, SAWS, SAAWS, PBUH, and the likes.
The Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
"For each time someone invokes salaah upon me, Allaah writes for him ten good rewards because of it." [Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan (#906, 3/187)]
Why have we become so lazy and stingy that we cannot even properly send supplication upon our Prophet? When we talk, we do not say "Es-Ey-Doublew" or "Pee-Bee-Yoo-Ech", do we?
Properly sending Salah and Salam upon our Prophet actually has THREE benefits for us:
- We fulfill a command of Allah
- We express and increase in our love for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
- We gain reward for it
And Allaah knows best. May the most perfect and complete Salaah and Salaam be upon our beloved Messenger, and upon his noble family and companions.
Source : Bakkah.net
Salafi
"I'm not a Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Salafi or anything. I'm JUST a Muslim!"
This is something we see and hear a lot, especially during arguments on social media.
Many make this declaration quite passionately and they feel that it's contradictory to Allaah's saying and damaging to divide among ourselves with different labels. Quite simply, we are all "Muslims", so we should all hold hands and skip down the rainbow.
To be very frank, this is something only an ignorant would say.
In today's world, the term "Muslim" does not have the same pristine and pure meaning it had during the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his Companions. It does not denote a single unified Aqeedah and Manhaj upon which the people are united upon.
Today, being a Muslim means that you maybe an adherent to a number of different belief systems. So if all of these people call themselves "Muslims", how would we recognize the original path from those that deviated?
This is why we call ourselves Salafi. And to find out who exactly a Salafi is, please see here and here.
To read Shaykh al-Albaani's رحمه الله beautiful explanation of why we call ourselves Salafi, please see this link:
Where is Allaah?
A very simple question, one every Muslim should know.
Where is Allah?
NO - He is not here, there and everywhere.
NO - He is not within His creation
NO - He is not in the sky or the heavens.
Where is Allah?
ANSWER:
Mankind and jinn are the inhabitants of the Earth.
The Angels are the inhabitants of the Heavens.
Allah's Kursi (literally : Footstool) extends over the heavens and the earth.
*The comparison in size is like a ring thrown into a vast desert (the ring is the heavens and the earth and the Kursi is the desert)
Imagine! Aayat al-Kursi is the greatest Aayah in the Qur'an as it is the most emphatic description of Allah's Power over His creation.
If the Kursi extends over the entire universe, how much greater is the Arsh?
Allah's Arsh (Throne) is over His Kursi.
*The comparison in size is that of the desert with respect to the ring again (the Kursi is the ring and the desert is the Arsh)
Allah is above His Arsh, in a manner befitting His Majesty.
The Most Gracious (Allah) rose over (Istawa) the (Mighty) Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). [Surah Ta-Ha : 5]
Outside this universe, independent from His creation.
We don't ask How
Imaam Ahmed Bin Hanbal رحمه الله
Many of you must have heard of Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله, the last of the Four Imaams and the one to whom the Hanbali Madhhab is ascribed to, right? He is also the one who collected and compiled the famous book of hadith, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Imam Ahmad is considered the Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, not because his fiqh positions in some issues are better than the other Imams nor because he is the one of only two scholars in the history of Islam to have memorized one million ahadith (not even the greatest scholars of hadith such as Bukhari or Muslim reached this level).
No. He is considered as such because of his stance, resilience and iron-will.
Al Ma'mun was a caliph from the Abbasid Dynasty who reigned from the years 813 - 833 CE (about 200 years after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم). This was roughly around the period when the Mu'tazila sect emerged, who asserted that, because of the perfect unity and eternal nature of Allah, the Qur'an must therefore have been created, as it could not be co-eternal with God.
In a bid to assert the religious authority of the Caliph and test the loyalty of his subjects, Al-Ma'mun introduced the 'mihna' i.e. an inquisition undergone by elites, scholars, judges and other government officials. It consisted of a series of questions relating to theology and faith. The central question was about the creation of the Qur'an, if the interrogatee stated he believed the Qur'an to be created, he was free to leave and continue his profession.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله (d.241 H) lived during the time of Caliph Al-Ma'mun and being an influential scholar, he too was called before the Inquisition, just like his fellow contemporaries . And this was the decisive event where Allah سبحانه و تعالى favored him above EVERYONE in his time.
Many of the greatest scholars at the time fell and gave into the coercion, unable to withstand the torture and fear of death. And they do have the legislated Islamic excuse of coercion, and are not held accountable for what they said.
Imam Ahmad though, viewed that it was not for everybody to take this excuse. Someone had to protect the deen. Someone had to take the torture. Someone had to be killed perhaps. He was the most severely persecuted, imprisoned as an old man, beaten naked and flogged till he would loose consciousness. And yet he never wavered in his beliefs. Never gave in to the coercion.
The scholars would say after Imam Ahmad, that Allah saved Islam or preserved Islam in the trial that "the Qur'an is created" through Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله.
Just like how Allah preserved the deen through Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq رضي الله عنه when the death of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم threatened to tear the Ummah of Muhammad apart (a number of people apostated and the Ummah was plunged into chaos, and it was Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه who held Islam down).
May Allah grant Imam Ahamd the company of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, his Sahabah and the righteous predecessors in Jannatul-Firdaws. Allaahumma Ameen.
Reference :
- Lecture by Moosaa Richardson - "Understanding the Serious Mistakes of Yusuf Estes" - Troid.ca
- Bulugh al-Maram by Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - Written by Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Sanani
- Where is Allah? by Mahmud Murad
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Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Should You Follow a Madhhab?
Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafi'i, Hanbali, we've all heard of it, but what are they exactly?
In Islam, a madhhab is a school of thought. To put it simply, there are four major scholars whose religious rulings are commonly referred to by Muslims seeking knowledge.
These scholars lived way back, and at the time they were not consciously creating these schools of thought. They simply happened to be among the most knowledgeable and pious (and Allah knows best) of their time, and thus when they shared the knowledge they had gathered over a lifetime, they attracted students and followers who hung on their every word.
Eventually those students and the ones who came after wrote down the advice, rulings, and musings of these scholars, and over time the points of view ossified into the four major mathaahib (plural of mathhab). The four major scholars who lent their names to these schools of thought were Imaams Abu Hanifah, Maalik, Shafi’i, and ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on them).
Nowadays, over 1400 years after the time of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), almost every Muslim identifies at least marginally with one school of thought. If you are from a certain country in Africa, you will be Maaliki, or if your country is in a certain part of Asia, you might be a Shafi'i.
Now, the controversy arises due to the fact that since these scholars were human beings, they were correct in some instances and may have erred in some instances. Some Muslims say if you grew up learning within a particular school of thought, you have to adhere to it no matter what.
Others decry this “blind following” and stress that you have to follow the evidence. If scholar “A’s” point of view is weak, then even if your entire country follows him, if you find the evidence supports scholar “B”, you have to abandon the first and follow the one who is correct.
Some say this leads to “fatwa shopping” where a person will deliberately seek out a ruling that supports his internal desire. The squabbling over schools of thought has gone on for centuries and there are some Muslims who are quite fanatical about it.
But here is a simple explanation that will insha Allah lessen the confusion a bit and give you a clearer picture.
Your “mathhab”, your school of thought, will vary depending on YOU. Imagine that you are an illiterate peasant who lives in a rural farm in Egypt. You are not educated. When you have a question about Islam, you go to the local Imaam. HE is effectively your “mathhab” because since you are not educated you have to rely on what he tells you is right or wrong.
If you are the Imaam in that little village, you can read and write and you went for higher studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The teachers there taught strictly according to Hanbali fiqh (the mathhab of Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal) so that is all that you learned. You are simply a village Imaam without a lot of resources so you always give advice based on your mathhab because that is what you know and you don’t have internet access or further chances to study because you are a farmer also so you are usually right next to everyone in the field. So your mathhab is Hanbali because that is what you know.
Now, imagine you are a scholar at Madinah University. You are highly educated, have the latest technology and you have the best scholars in the world on speed dial. You grew up in the Hanbali fiqh, but you are not a blind follower and when someone brings you a difficult question you access all your resources to find the best answer regardless of whose school of thought it comes from. You are mainly Hanbali in your outlook, but you are also open to other points of view. This is the correct position for someone with this level of education.
In our time and in the times before us, there are and were great scholars who ascribe to Madthabs, while, in reality, they followed the evidences. Their ascription to their Madthab only came because they studied that Madthab specifically, or that it was the one that was common in their land. Thus, they have been given the ascription to the Madthab, not because they were blind followers.
So it is said about:
• Ibn Taymiyah, for example, that he was a Hanbali.
• Ibn Al-Qayyim that he was a Hanbali, too.
• Ibn Hajr that he was a Shafi'i.
• Al-Laknawee that he was a Hanafi.
• Sheikh Bin Baz and Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymin that they were Hanbalis.
• Sheikh Al-Fawzan that he is a Hanbali.
and the reality is that they all followed the evidences.
The Manhaj of all of these great scholars is to give verdicts according to the evidence. When the evidence came to them, they followed it. If they did not have the evidence, then they would give a verdict according to their Madthabs.
The most important thing to remember is ALL the scholars of the major schools were one hundred percent united when it came to the usool or foundations of the deen, Their aqeedah and manhaj were one and the same. They only differed regarding various fiqh issues. For example, one school might say to raise your arms higher when making takbir in salah. Another might say only to raise them to chest level. Each will have some sort of proof for his point of view.
Shirk : The Greatest Sin
You may already know what is Tawheed. However, to truly understand Tawheed, its opposite, Shirk, must also be understood. The greatest thing Allah has commanded us to do is worship Him alone, and the greatest sin He has forbidden is Shirk.
Shirk is an Arabic word which means sharing something with others that ONLY Allah deserves, such as worshiping others or describing others with Allah’s descriptions. Making someone or something equal to Allah is Shirk. It is to belittle Allah, believing Him to be less than He is while believing others are equal to Him.
You may remember that there are three categories of Tawheed. Shirk is done when you associate partners with Allah in each of these three categories.
1 - Shirk in Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah
Shirk in Tawheed of Lordship is to believe that others besides Allah create or share control over His creation. This belief means that someone other than Allah can make good things happen or keep bad things from happening.
One example of this type of Shirk is to believe something brings good luck. People often have “good luck” rings or similar items they believe will help good things to happen to them. Others tie special strings with Quranic verses believing they are a protection against bad things.
Only Allah can protect us from bad things and we should only seek His protection in ways He mentions in the Quran or the Prophet صلّى الله عليه وسلّم taught us in the hadīth.
Another common example of Shirk in Tawheed of Lordship is when people believe the souls of the dead can control things in this life even after their death, and so they pray to them. This is completely wrong because Allah alone controls everything that is in the heavens and the earth.
2 - Shirk in Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat
Shirk in Tawheed of Names and Attributes is to believe that Allah can be described with the descriptions of the creation, or to believe that others besides Allah share in His descriptions.
There are several ways this type of Shirk is made. One example is when people make statues or paintings of God, claiming they are images of Allah. By doing so, they have described Allah in the image or form of people although Allah says: "There is nothing like Him".
Christians fall into this type of Shirk when they believe Allah has a son, because procreating is an attribute of the creation, not the Creator.
Another example is when many Jewish people claim that Allah likes the Jews more than all other people – just because they were born to a Jewish parent. This belief of theirs means that Allah is prejudiced and unfair just like some people are, and this is describing Allah with descriptions of people.
Yet another way this type of Shirk can occur is when people raise other humans up to the level of Allah. For example there are those believe fortunetellers and soothsayers know the secrets of the unknown.
Only Allah is the All-Knowing. Only He has knowledge of the Ghayb (the unseen). Palm readers and astrologers do not have true knowledge of the unseen, and believing that they do is Shirk because you're saying that they know what only Allah knows.
3- Shirk in Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah
Shirk in Tawḥeed of Worship is worshiping others along with Allah. We must NEVER share our worship with other than Allah. There are two types of Shirk in this category: Major Shirk and Minor Shirk.
• Major Shirk :
Major Shirk is any type of Shirk the Quran or the ḥadīth explains that whoever does it is not considered a Muslim anymore.
Major Shirk dooms the person to live in Hell forever if he does not stop making Major Shirk before he dies. Any form of worship that is done for other than Allah is Major Shirk.
A common example of Major Shirk is when people pray to idols or objects or other people such as prophets or saints, believing those people hear or answer prayers. If someone makes Major Shirk, all their good deeds may be ruined and lost.
• Minor Shirk :
Minor Shirk is any type of saying or action that the Quran or ḥadīth describes as being Shirk but that the person who says or does it could still be considered a Muslim.
Some common superstitions are also Minor Shirk. For example, if someone believes Allah will allow bad things to happen if he does not wear a certain ring or hang verses from the Quran in his house, or if a black cat crosses his path. These are all forms of Minor Shirk because Allah has not made those things ways to cause or prevent bad things from happening.
However, if someone believes those things themselves actually cause or prevent bad things from happening instead of Allah, then this becomes Major Shirk. Such a wrong belief would then mean there are other things besides Allah that control creation.
Another form of Minor Shirk is harder to recognize. This type of “hidden Shirk” is in a person’s intention, or the reason he does something. When someone does a good deed—which he should do for only Allah—yet he does his good deed just for people to think he is a good worshiper, this is a form of Minor Shirk.
Examples of this may be if someone prays very well, raises his voice while remembering Allah or reading the Quran, or gives charity but he does so only for people to think and say good things about him.
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We do not study Tawheed and Shirk simply to memorize detailed categories and types of Shirk. We learn Tawheed for the purpose of getting closer to Allah by believing in and worshiping him in the way he wants. Similarly, we learn Shirk so we know what beliefs, statements, and actions make Allah displeased and take us out of the fold of Islam.
Shirk is a real threat and one we must be vigilant against, because no one is safe from misguidance. Because of its importance, the Prophet صلّى الله عليه وسلّم taught us to ask Allah's protection from knowingly making Shirk in belief, statement, or action. We must also ask for His forgiveness if we happen to make a mistake by believing, saying, or doing anything that is Shirk that we may not know.
Please click here to find the dua against Shirk.
All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah Alone, the Lord of the Worlds, and may He forgive us our sins and make us among those who are truly guided. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his Companions. Ameen.
Reference :
Title: Explaining Shirk: The Greatest Sin
Original Title: شرح ثلاثة الأصول، كتاب التوحيد، الإرشاد إلى صحيح الإعتقاد
Original Authors: Shaykh Muḥammad Ibn Ṣāliḥ al-‘Uthaymīn and Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān
Salaf Quotes: Look Where You Take Your Deen From
Shaykh Ahmad Bazmool states:
'...This is how important this is, this knowledge is deen, something that he will be raised with on the day of judgment...the Muslim must look and take his deen from Ahlus-Sunnah, as-Salafiyyoon, known for knowledge, being upright and having taqwaa'
'Imaam Maalik said it is not enough for someone to be a worshipper, and to be known for Zuhd, outward expression of worship, that you take from them...but they did not take from them because that was not their affair (knowledge), they were worshippers that's all. In this time we see someone who has a lihyah (beard), his thobe above his ankles and he is then the muftee of his area, this is a mistake!'
'It is forbidden for the one who is asked and doesn't know, to answer. Likewise it is haraam for the one to ask one who doesn't know...he has to ask the scholar...if you had a medical situation, would we go to a mechanic? And if we had a problem with our car, would we go to a farmer...no we would go to each individual who is a specialist in their field...so when it comes to the issue of deen, we must go to the scholars, it is not right to ask (just) anybody or do what everyone else is doing.'
''Abu Dardaa' went to the masjid one day (in the time of the tabi’een) and he observed the people praying differently than according to the Sunnah, so he came home angry and his wife (Ummudh-Dardaa') asked him what has made you angry? He said, 'By Allaah I don't see anything from the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) except praying together (meaning that they had abandoned much of the Sunnah).
This is his statement whilst he was close to the time of the Messenger (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). So what about know? 1400 years after that, are general masses upon Sunnah? Are the general masses upon knowledge? No! Rather we should follow the scholars!'
Source: 'Explanation of the Statement of Ibn Seereen 'Indeed this Knowledge is Religion' by Shaykh Abu ‘Umar Ahmad Baazmool (Troid)
A Glimpse at Four Great Men in the History of Islam
In the past fourteen centuries of Islam, there have been a number of men and women who have left indelible marks in the history of this deen, but amongst all of them, these four men are especially noted.
Why? Because the sheer magnitude of what they did to preserve this deen was so great that it continues to reverberate through the centuries, whereby Allaah تعالى has raised their names to be forever taken as the greatest defenders of His deen.
Why is it important for us to know about the great scholars who have preceded us and their invaluable service to this deen?
Because we need to see and we need to realize the blood and the sweat, the patience and the striving, the effort and everything that went behind into what these great men stood for and what they called to.
Saying "Sadaq Allahu al-Azeem" Has NO BASIS
Many people have the habit of ending a recitation from the Qur'an with the words "Sadaqa Allaahu al-‘Azeem (Allah has spoken the truth)," but this has no basis in Islam because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not do it, nor was it the custom of the Sahaabah رضي الله عنهم, and it was unknown among the Taabi’een (the generation after the Sahaabah).
This custom arose in later times because some reciters would say these words, on the basis of the ayah: "Say: Allah has spoken the truth" [Surah al-Imraan 3:95], and people liked this. But this istihsaan (being liked) should be rejected, because if this was really something good, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the Sahaabah and the Salaf (the best generations of the Ummah) would not have neglected to do it.
The aayah, "Say: Allah has spoken the truth” (Surah al-Imraan 3:95) does not mean that these words should be said at the end of any reading or recitation. If that were the case, Allah سبحانه و تعالى would have said, "When you finish reading, say "Allah has spoken the truth,’" just as He said: "So when you want to recite the Qur’an, seek refuge with Allah from Shaytaan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed one)" [Surah al-Nahl 16:98]/.
The ayah which the innovators use to support their practice of saying "Sadaqa Allah" after reciting Qur’an was actually revealed in the context of commanding the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to make it clear to people that the revelations contained in the Tawrah (Torah), the Injil (Gospel) and all the other heavenly revealed Scriptures are true.
By the same token, revelations contained in the Glorious Qur'an are true. Believing that Allah has spoken the truth is obligatory, and whoever disbelieves or doubts the truth of what Allah has said is a kaafir who is outside of the pale of Islam. We seek refuge with Allah from that.
However, there is nothing wrong if someone happens to say this expression unintentionally. If a person says "Allah has spoken the truth" on certain occasions, such as when something He has foretold comes to pass, affirming the truth of what He has said, then this is permissible, because something similar has been reported in the Sunnah.
In short, there exists NO evidence in the Shari'ah that makes it desirable to conclude recitation of the Qur'an by saying: "Sadaqa Allaahu al-‘Azeem". It belongs to the category of Bid`ah, particularly when someone believes it to be an act of Sunnah. This expression has to be left unsaid so that one would be following the example of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his Sahabah رضي الله عنهم.
Since Allah سبحانه و تعالى always speaks the truth, this expression of "Sadaqa Allaahu al-‘Azeem" has to be thought of as an absolute expression which should not be limited to a given time, place, or situation. Therefore, habitual recitation of this expression whenever one finishes reading the Qur'an has NO evidence in its support as has been mentioned above.
Reference :
- Izaalat al-Sitaar ‘an al-Jawaab al-Mukhtaar by Sheikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, Page No. 79-80
- Fatwas of Sheikh Ibn Baz : Volume 9 : Part No. 9 : Page No. 343
- The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' : Volume 3 : Fatwa No. 21039
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