e-Supp Supplication App for iOS.

A colleague of mine released an app a little while ago call e-Supplications (e-Supp) on the iOS App Store. 

They were frustrated with the supplication app they had been using and how:
a) it hadn't been updated in YEARS, 
b) it didn't have the option to search for supplications, and
c) it didn't have the option to save favourites. 

He checked the app store and found a nice looking app, but upon trying it was HORRIFIED to discover his supplications were interrupted (at random) by pop up ads. The first one was for McDonalds. I'm not kidding. A supplication app, he thought, should NOT have ads. Either charge a price for it to recoup the cost of making it/donate all proceeds to charity, or make it free. 

So, he did just that. 

The app can be found here, please give it a try and leave a review! He asks that if you like the app, give a small donation in his name to the charity or masjid of your choice! 

Asking for Forgiveness

As we go through life, no matter how hard we may try to be the best Muslims that we can be, we are bound to our human fallibility. Despite our best intentions to stay on the right path, it may be easy to slip up. Whatever the sin may be, at some point, it will weigh heavily on our minds and hearts. How can we go about asking for Allah's forgiveness for the mistakes that we make in our life?

While there are no clear-cut guidelines or rituals that must be followed in order to repent, a few guidelines can help:

1) Acknowledge that a sin was committed.
2) Vow not to repeat the sin and sincerely ask God for forgiveness.
3) If the sin involved wronging another person, rectify the wrong done to the best of your ability and ask for forgiveness from the person.

It may help tor remember that Allah (SWT) is the most forgiving. Sometimes, it can feel that we have strayed so far from the right path that we are beyond redemption. But we should not lose hope or faith in the enormity of Allah's mercy. If we sincerely vow to amend our ways and give up the wrong, we will find our Lord welcomes us in his embrace.The following Hadith attests to the magnitude of His mercy.


On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H.) say: 'All the Almighty said: 'O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you to forgiveness nearly as great as it.' (Al-Tirmidhi) 

The thing about life is that no one knows when their day will come. For most of us in the West, our mortality remains a concern for old age. It then always comes as a shock when we are faced with the end of our time. The truth remains that it could in fact come any day at any moment. What might you have wished that you had done differently when faced with that inevitable moment? What might you have said to those you loved? What might have you avoided? Seeking Allah's forgiveness takes on a whole new meaning when placed in this perspective.

Dua can Change Destiny

It's a fundamental part of our religion to believe in fate and pre-destiny. This can be a good thing, because when we get into fender benders with our parents cars we can say "It's not my fault, it was the will of Allah! It was going to happen anyway!" but it can be a bad thing because it can leave us feeling helpless. 

Someone very close to me was telling me though, that dua (supplication) is the only thing that can actually alter destiny. A few days later, I got my daily hadith email (courtesy of Adaptive Solutions: http://dailyhadith.adaptivesolutionsinc.com/) which actually discussed this topic, and it did so in the clearest way possible:

"Some people wonder what the use may be of making Duas. They say that since everything is preordained, and the good and bad written in one’s Taqdeer (Qismet/preordainment) will come to one anyway, why make Dua? But Taqdeer should be understood as a vault, a very big safe deposit box. In that vault is one’s Paradise and Hell, good and bad. When we make Dua we ask for the good things in the vault to be given to us.

Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim said to invoke Taqdeer to counter Taqdeer. Thus, if you have an accident, then ask Allah for recovery from it. Since Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has kept every good thing in store for us, He gets angry if we don’t ask Him for any of those good things. To not ask Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) for things is to be ungrateful towards Him.

We can understand this from our own experience: Suppose you gather together all the things your children would love to have. Then you ask your children if they would like to receive these wonderful treats you got for them. Some of your children run to you happily saying “Yes, please!” and some of your children keep sitting indifferently saying “Well, if you got them for us, you’ll give them to us anyway.” Which attitude of your children would you be more pleased with?

Ask for the good that Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has deposited in the vault for you, and ask Him to keep the bad in it away from you."

I'm the kind of guy that needs some more hadith to back a grand idea like this up though, so a quick google search took me to AlQuranClasses.com. This appears to be very neat and tidy, Muslimah run website that seems worth checking out, but they had an article similar to this one, but they've got references. (Usually I go to searchtruth.com, but their search wasn't yielding any results, so these hadith may not be in those books.) 

Anyway, their article can be found at:

http://www.alquranclasses.com/?p=1005

and the supporting hadith they have are:

The Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said: “Nothing can change the Divine decree except Dua.”(Narrated by Ahmad, 5/677; Ibn Maajah, 90; al-Tirmidhi, 139. Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 76687. See also al-Saheehah, 145)

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: “Du’aa’ may be of benefit with regard to what has already happened or what has not yet happened, so adhere to Du’aa’, O slaves of Allaah.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3548)

The Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said: “No precaution can protect against the decree of Allaah. Du’aa’ is beneficial with regard to what has been decreed and what has not been decreed. The du’aa’ meets the calamity that has been decreed and wrestles with it, until the Day of Resurrection.” (Narrated by al-Tabaraani, 2/800 (33). Al-Albaani said in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 7739, (it is) hasan).

As a bit of a disclaimer, you can't change destiny in the sense of going against God's will. At the end of the day, something is going to happen to you, and it'll be what God has written, dua is just a request for timeline re-evaluation, and to have what WAS written changed to something else. 

So, there you are! Keep calm and make dua! :)

Qunut Nazila, The Supplication of Calamity

Last week I made a short post about a mid prayer supplication that we did during Jumaa prayer that I had never done before. Fortunately, last week we did it again, but this time the Imam said it by name, it is called Qunut Nazila, or the Supplication of Calamity.


Sahih Muslim, Chapter 94 is actually dedicated to it, but Bukhari's got some quotes too:


Narrated Muhammad bin Sirin: Anas was asked, "Did the Prophet recite qunut in the Fajr prayer?" Anas replied in the affirmative. He was further asked, "Did he recite qunut before bowing?" Anas replied, "He recited qunut after bowing for some time (for one month)."  (Bukhari Book #16, Hadith #115)


**By "for one month" I think they meant, RasulAllah (SAW) did this every day for a month. It seems there was an incident where Seventy of our men were killed by some men from another tribe who had claimed to be muslims:


Narrated 'Abdul Aziz: Anas said, "The Prophet sent seventy men, called Al-Qurra 'for some purpose. The two groups of Bani Sulaim called Ri'l and Dhakwan, appeared to them near a well called Bir Ma'una. The people (i.e. Al-Qurra) said, 'By Allah, we have not come to harm you, but we are passing by you on our way to do something for the Prophet.' But (the infidels) killed them. The Prophet therefore invoked evil upon them for a month during the morning prayer. That was the beginning of Al qunut and we used not to say qunutbefore that." A man asked Anas about Al-qunut, "Is it to be said after the Bowing (in the prayer) or after finishing the Recitation (i.e. before Bowing)?" Anas replied, "No, but (it is to be said) after finishing the Recitation."  (Bukhari Book #59, Hadith #414)


So, how do you perform Qunut Nazila? Well, it appears the nice folks over at Sunnipath have already answered nearly all questions anyone could have on the topic:


From: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=3&ID=1621&CATE=389


a brief summary:


In the last rukaa of an obligatory prayer (it's not recommended for sunna prayers), stand up straight after performing rukuu (the L shaped bow with hands on knees for those of you just joining us), raise your hands to about chest level, palms facing the sky (typical supplication form I'm sure you've all seen it), and supplicate. 


It seems there is no exact supplication (trials and tribulations change), so supplicate for the removal of whatever calamity has stricken our good people at the time. There's no shortage of them these days: the nutcase ruining Libya, the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, the unrest in Syria (check out the BBC if you need some more). Also, since it's not a Quranic recitation, you could probably do it in your native tongue. I'm pretty sure Allah (SWT)'ll understand :)


Once you're done supplication, carry on your prayer like normal!

Mid Prayer Dua?

Two fridays ago, in Jumaa prayer, we did something I've never done before or knew we could do. 


After the Quranic recitation, right before the rukuu, we raised our hands and the Imam made what sounded like a dua. It was all in arabic, but it had the structure of a dua (there were male and female versions of the same words and it had a repetitive structure, you know: forgive all the believers men and women, and all the muslims men and women...) and I'm pretty sure I heard something about helping the people of Libya. Then he said "Allahu Akbar" and we went straight to sujood, no rukuu, and continued the Jumaa prayer like normal.


I've looked for information on this practice, but so far haven't found any instructions. If anyone know's anything, please let me know! :)

Imake Dua

PSYCH! QUICK POST!

I'm looking for a replacement app for Duas. The one I have is comprehensive (VERY COMPREHENSIVE) but is lacking in the navigation and user friendliness department. I'd also like it to be free. I came across this one:

Imake Dua (http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/imake-dua/id356925192?mt=8)

It's pretty, easy to read, and easy to navigate. It features a "Favorites" option, and (like the other one) takes it's material from "Fortification of the Muslim Through Remembrance and Supplication from the Quran and Sunnah" (GREAT book by the way).

The negative qualities however, are that the search option is more of an index page than a word search, and the home screen doesn't include every section of the book. It has "When waking up", "When leaving home", "Going to the masjid" for instance, but doesn't have a button for more random ones like making Wuduu, or in times of fear. I suppose that's okay though; they did put "Dua Throughout the Day" at the top of the home screen, and you can always add those to favourites.

If anyone knows of a better app, I'd like to hear about it! :D

Supplication after Recitation

Before this weeks post, I would like to mention that uni is starting to tighten it's grip around my throat and I've run out of buffer articles. I'm going to try my best to keep updating every friday, but if I miss a day, don't crucify me. haha, crucify. Religious humor. ANYWAY.


I was browsing through the book "The Ways of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)" by Arif Billah, Dr. Muhamad Abdul Hai Aarfi (GREAT book by the way, I recommend it) when I came upon a section titled:


Du'a (supplication) at the Time of Completing the Recitation of the Quran Receives an Answer


It goes on to say that it is reported in traditions that a special mercy of Allah (SWT) descends at the time when one completes the recitation of the Quran, and that it was the usual practice of the companions that, upon completion of Quranic Recitation, they would sit and pray together. Sayyidina Hasan (RA) would even go and bring his family members to join him in prayer. 


So I figured, hey! That sounds like a good idea! And started reciting. I read it out loud, from transliterated arabic (i.e english lettering of the arabic pronunciation), but you'll probably get a more points if you read it in arabic from arabic text. I finished in about 30 days (new high score! Actually, only high score. I've never actually read it front to back in any language before). Upon completion, I sat down and made my supplications. I finished it so quickly, because I had something very specific in mind that I wanted to ask for, and in case you were wondering, yes, my supplication did get answered. :P

My Favourite Islamic Iphone Apps

I don't know whether or not there are versions of these apps for other platforms, so you'll probably have to check.

Salat Times: Guidedways Ipray: Prayer times and Qiblah Compass ($3.99)

This is a very sleek and polished app. It has the salat times for Fajr, Ishraaq, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, and even Qiyam (which, might I add, was a feature I recommended ;) ) You can see the prayer times up to 5 days ahead, as well as the phase of the moon, Qibla direction (from sun, moon and north), and dates of islamic events (Year start, Ashoora, Ramadan, Lailat-ul-Qadr, Eid ul-Fitr, Hajj days, Arafah, and Eid-ul-Adha). There are plenty of cities built in, and it will even use the Iphone's gps to determine your location. You can adjust the hijra date and even individual prayer times, mail the days or month's prayer times. Plus there are a few nice themes to choose from!

There is a free, lite version available. The only real differences are that it will not use the iPhone's built in compass to show you the Qibla direction (you'll have to get the angle from north, then open the compass app), and if memory serves, it won't let you adjust individual prayer times. And I think the number of notifications the app can send you regarding prayer times is less in the lite version. I recommend buying the full version, it's worth it to have the Qibla direction shown to you within the app, and adjust individual prayer times. 

Quran: Guidedways IQuran Pro (4.99)

This is an excellent Quran reader, you can choose from many languages (multiple english ones too, including Shakir, Mohsin Khan, Yusuf Ali, Pickthal, and Mohd Asad) including a Transliteration! You can also select from a bunch of different reciters for any audio that you've downloaded (Sheikh Husary, Mishary Rahsed Al-Afasy, Saood & Shuraim, Abu Bakr Ash-Shatree, Abdul Basit, and Ghamdi) and you can download all or individual Surats as you like! There's the brilliant option to add notes, and bookmarks, plus you can search through the translation you're reading! Now, I have found some mistransliterations here and there, but I notified the developers and they're fixing it. My only real gripe with this app (apart from it's relatively steep price) is it's transliteration. It's very good, except that you have to guess s's, h's, t's, and th's because they don't differentiate between ث and ظ and ذ, or ت and ط, or ح and ه, or ص and س. The only thing they give you are ع's which are shown as two capital A's next to each other. But perhaps they'll fix this in a future update ;).

Hadith: Adaptive Solution's Daily Hadith (free)

This is a very simple app; every day it will download a new hadith from their website, complete with a little blurb about it. The hadith's get saved to your device for viewing later. You can bookmark your favourite hadith's, as well as email them to friends. 

Honorable mention goes to Thaer Ali's Hadith Al Bukhari, it's the complete collection of Sahih Bukhari in a single app, for only $0.99. You can bookmark hadith's and email them, you can even search. The search however, is VERY slow, but it is digging through a massive book...still, it's irritating in a hurry, especially if it doesn't turn up anything. If anyone knows a better one, please let me know! :D

Dua: Thaer Ali's IDua ($0.99)

This is essentially a digital version of the very popular Fortification of the Muslim through Remembrance and supplication from the Quraan and the Sunnah book compiled and referenced by Sa'eed Ibn Ali Ibn Wahf Al-Qahtaani. Unfortunately, there's no option to search, bookmark, or email. And the back button, will only take you to the previous dua, not the title or last screen (which we're so used to thanks to internet browser layout :P). Still, it's my favourite because of it's coverage. If you want to try before you buy, simply find the paper version! :P

Thikr: Guidedways Isubha ($1.99)

A very sleek looking (like all their apps actually) app, that will give you a list of common Tasbeeh's, then let you push a little counter that will show how many you've made. It will make a noise and vibrate whenever you've done 33, 66, or 100, and it has a very nice little animation or prayer beads that appear every time you count. It includes a session counter, a total tasbeeh counter, as well as session and total timers. You can password protect your statistics so no one can see them, as well as pause and resume sessions. Unfortunately, the tasbeeh's are written in arabic, so you'll need to know a little arabic to read them, but you can add your own ones in english! I don't know how high it will count though, hopefully I'll find out soon! :D

Additional:

Thaer Ali's Hadith Qudsi (free): a collection of hadith in an app similar to his Idua app.

Magnicode's Qwords ($6.99, but there's a free lite version): a good idea, but not perfectly executed, this app will teach you the most common words in the Quran. It will display the english translation, the arabic word and an ayat in which it appears. It will also speak the word for you. Unfortunately, navigation is a little difficult, so try the lite version before dropping some cash for it. 

Aman Akbar's Allah's 99 Names (free): I had a hard time finding a decent app for God's 99 names. All I really wanted was a massive list of the names, with english translation. This one is just that (a random button would have been nice though) It displays the name in a beautiful painting, with transliteration and translation below. 

Know any other good apps? Or better versions of Apps that I have? Let me know in the comments! :D

The Witr Prayer

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Allah is single (witr) and loves what is single, so observe the witr, you who follow the Qur'an.  (Book #8, Hadith #1411)

Narrated Kharijah ibn Hudhafah al-Adawi: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came out to us and said: Allah the Exalted has given you an extra prayer which is better for you then the red camels (i.e. high breed camels). This is the witr which Allah has appointed for you between the night prayer and the daybreak.  (Book #8, Hadith #1413)

Witr itself, means "odd", and it is an odd number of rakaas.

The time of Witr: After Isha, but before Fajr, and if you plan on doing other night prayers (i.e Tahajjud,) then witr should be done after those.

The Number of Rakaa':

First of all, whatever you do, don't do a replica of Maghrib. 

Imam al-Hakim in his book named al-Mustadrak and Imam Ibn Hibban in his Book Sahih Ibn Hibban that the Prophet (SAW) said: "Do not perform three Rakah of Witr resembling to the Maghrib prayer. But you can perform five, seven or eleven Rakah of Witr or more".

Second, you can only do ONE witr prayer. If you want to pray some more after doing witr, go right ahead, but DON'T make another witr. 

Okay, so what CAN you do?

You can do any odd number of Rakaa, but the numbers most mentioned are:

1) One

2) Three

3) Five 

4) Seven 

5) Nine

6) Eleven

7) Thirteen

So HOW do you do it?

First of all, in witr, Quran is recited in every rukaa.

The main event in Witr, that makes it a bit different from your other prayers, is the Qunut (a special dua). Qunut is done in the last rukaa, after the Quranic Recitation, but before bowing and is as follows:

QUNUT

1) Raise your hands and make takbir (say: "Allahu akbar")

2) Fold your arms like usual

3) Recite the Qunut:

"O Allah, guide me aright among those You guide aright,

and grant me health and pardon among those You grant health and pardon.

And care for me among those You care for

And bless me in what You have given

and protect me from the evil of what You have predestined.

You alone decrees, and none decrees against You.

He is not abased whom You befriend.

Blessed are You, O Lord and You are Most High.

And Allah's blessings be on (His) Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

4) Raise your hands and make takbir (say: "Allahu Akbar")

The Number of Rakaa's:

For ONE rakaa':

This is actually a bit misleading, since while Fiqh us Sunnah says the Prophet (SAW) did one Rakaa' of witr, the following hadith shows that it was the necessary Rakaa' to make HIS PREVIOUS NIGHT PRAYERS odd:

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar : The Prophet said, "Night prayer is offered as two Rakat followed by two Rakat and so on, and if you want to finish it, pray only one Raka which will be witr for all the previous Rakat." Al-Qasim said, "Since we attained the age of puberty we have seen some people offering a three-Rakat prayer as witr and all that is permissible. I hope there will be no harm in it."  (Book #16, Hadith #107)

For THREE rakaas:

You have 2 options:

1) Do a 2 rukaa'd night prayer, then a single rukaa'd witr as before.

2) Do a three rukaa'd witr, in which tashahhud is done only in the last rakaa, followed by taslim (salams)

For ANY OTHER ODD NUMBER of rakaa's:

You have 3 options:

1) Do many 2 rukaa'd night prayers, then do a one rukaa'd witr, so by the time you've finished this witr you'll have done the necessary number of rukaas. So, for example, 5 rukaas would be : 2 rukaa'd night prayer, 2 rukaa'd night prayer, one rukaa'd witr.

2) Do an odd numbered rukaa'd prayer, with two tashahuds: one in the second last rukaa, and one in the last rukaa, then taslim (salams).

3) Do an odd numbered rukaa'd prayer, with only one tashahud done in the last rukaa, then taslim (salams).

What to recite during witr:

Recite whatever you like, but it is preferred, that in the first three rukaa's to recite:

Rukaa one: Al-A'la

Rukaa two: Al-Kafirun

Rukaa three: Al Ikhlas, Al Falaq, and An Nas.

What to recite after Witr:

Glory be to the Master, the Holy

Glory be to the Master, the Holy

Glory be to the Master, the Holy

Lord of the angels and the spirits

O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger.

And I seek refuge in Your granting well being from Your punishment.

And I seek refuge in You from You.

I cannot reckon Your praise: You are as You have praised Yourself.

Sources: Fiqh us-Sunnah by As Sayyid Sabiq

go to searchtruth.com and look up witr. You'll get a bunch of hadith confirming everything I've said :)