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.
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2012
Friday, September 16, 2011
3 Elements of Personal Prayer
*updates might be a bit infrequent, as I've returned to school again*
Over summer I started reading some Quran, and I realized that there are 3 things we need to be doing on a regular basis
1) Being grateful to Allah (SWT)
2) Praising Allah (SWT)
3) Seeking forgiveness from Allah (SWT)
Being grateful
In the Mohsin Khan translation of the Quran, the word "grateful" appears 22 times. Yeah I know some of those times are in explanations (Mohsin likes his parenthetical explanations) but still, it started to stand out:
O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship. (2:172)
....Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allah [i.e. to say Takbir (Allahu Akbar; Allah is the Most Great] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. (2:185)
Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah; and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful. (3:144)
And on and on. So one ought to pepper their days with "Alhumdlillah's", over little things like the light turning green, or not so little things like not tripping over your socks and plunging headfirst down the stairs and into Azrael's open arms.
2) Praising Allah (SWT)
Now a quick search of "praise" in the Quran doesn't turn up many ayat telling us to praise Allah, but we do get a bunch of Ayat reminding us how Allah (SWT) is "worthy of all praise". This also falls under the "keep a remembering tongue" category of stuff we ought to be doing. Personally, I find this one a little tricky. I can't toss out a "subhanAllah" at a magnificent sunset or upon reading about how bees can boil a hornet when defending their hive. It's not that I'm proud, it's just that when I say it, I feel like I'm saying it just to show off...it feels very unnatural. So, I do it the good old fashioned robotic way, with TECHNOLOGY! :D I whip out my iPhone and iSubha app and go to town after my prayers.
3) Seeking forgivness
Of all the 3, this is probably the one we should be doing the most. Getting rewards is fine and dandy, but we're just hindering ourselves by not asking forgiveness. We could think of asking forgiveness like earning reward in that we're no longer using our good deeds to nullify bad ones since the bad ones are being taken out entirely. The key element in seeking forgiveness however, is regret. We need to truly regret what we did and not want to do it again. We might do it again, but that's okay sinccne and it gets hard to ask for forgiveness when sometimes we can pretty much bet the farm we'll do it again, still, we live in hope.
I found this on a forum (http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?258973-When-does-Allah-stop-forgiving-a-person-who-keeps-repeating-the-same-sin)
Al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that his Lord said: “My slave commits sin, then he says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ …”
Which is reassuring (but not an excuse to keep sinning, mind you)
In summary though, these 3 practices are just ways of making sure we have all our bases covered.
Over summer I started reading some Quran, and I realized that there are 3 things we need to be doing on a regular basis
1) Being grateful to Allah (SWT)
2) Praising Allah (SWT)
3) Seeking forgiveness from Allah (SWT)
Being grateful
In the Mohsin Khan translation of the Quran, the word "grateful" appears 22 times. Yeah I know some of those times are in explanations (Mohsin likes his parenthetical explanations) but still, it started to stand out:
O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship. (2:172)
....Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allah [i.e. to say Takbir (Allahu Akbar; Allah is the Most Great] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. (2:185)
Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah; and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful. (3:144)
And on and on. So one ought to pepper their days with "Alhumdlillah's", over little things like the light turning green, or not so little things like not tripping over your socks and plunging headfirst down the stairs and into Azrael's open arms.
2) Praising Allah (SWT)
Now a quick search of "praise" in the Quran doesn't turn up many ayat telling us to praise Allah, but we do get a bunch of Ayat reminding us how Allah (SWT) is "worthy of all praise". This also falls under the "keep a remembering tongue" category of stuff we ought to be doing. Personally, I find this one a little tricky. I can't toss out a "subhanAllah" at a magnificent sunset or upon reading about how bees can boil a hornet when defending their hive. It's not that I'm proud, it's just that when I say it, I feel like I'm saying it just to show off...it feels very unnatural. So, I do it the good old fashioned robotic way, with TECHNOLOGY! :D I whip out my iPhone and iSubha app and go to town after my prayers.
3) Seeking forgivness
Of all the 3, this is probably the one we should be doing the most. Getting rewards is fine and dandy, but we're just hindering ourselves by not asking forgiveness. We could think of asking forgiveness like earning reward in that we're no longer using our good deeds to nullify bad ones since the bad ones are being taken out entirely. The key element in seeking forgiveness however, is regret. We need to truly regret what we did and not want to do it again. We might do it again, but that's okay sinccne and it gets hard to ask for forgiveness when sometimes we can pretty much bet the farm we'll do it again, still, we live in hope.
I found this on a forum (http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?258973-When-does-Allah-stop-forgiving-a-person-who-keeps-repeating-the-same-sin)
Al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that his Lord said: “My slave commits sin, then he says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ …”
Which is reassuring (but not an excuse to keep sinning, mind you)
In summary though, these 3 practices are just ways of making sure we have all our bases covered.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Missing Prayers
You'd think that with (at the very least) about an hour and a half to do it, you wouldn't be able to miss any prayers. 10 minute wuduu, 7 minute prayer (I take it slow and steady, sue me :P) that leaves you with, what?, nearly an hour and 15 minutes to a) find a sink, and b) find a place to pray, how hard can that be?
But, thanks to our good (HAH!) man (HAH!) Satan, the inevitable happens and we find ourselves missing our prayers. What does this mean? What do we do? Well, let's find out.
There are a few ways to find yourself with a missed prayer:
1) You slept through the prayer.
This is easy to deal with. You simply pray when you wake up:
In Fiqh Us-Sunna, Supererogatory Prayer, pg 99, we find the author quoting a hadith that says:
"There is no negligence while one is asleep but forgetfulness occurs when one is awake. If one of you forgets the prayer or sleeps through its time, then he should perform the salah when he recalls it."
In a nutshell: sleep through the prayer? Pray it when you wake up.
Now you have to make an effort of course, it doesn't make much sense to say: go to bed without planning to wake up and pray, then just pray when you wake up. That's the same as intentionally missing a prayer because you are intending to sleep through it.
2) You've forgotten the salah
You're still in the clear, it was an accident, accidents happen. The ruling is the same as for sleeping through it, just do the prayer when you remember.
Here's one issue though, you've lost your prayer by sleeping through it, or forgetting it, and it's now time for the next prayer. What do you do? Do you do the prayer you missed, or the current prayer?
On pages 100 to 101 of the Supererogatory Prayer book of Fiqh Us Sunnah, there's a great big messy rationalization that some guy (Ibn Hamza) went through to try and explain the sin of intentionally missing a prayer. Near the beginning, however, he says:
"Abu Hanifah, Malik, and Ash-Shafi'i say that he can make up the prayer after its time has expired, and Malik and Abu Hanifah even say that if a person intentionally misses a prayer or a few prayers, then he is to make up those prayers before he prays the present salah, even if he has missed all five prayers and should, while making them up, miss the present salah. They say that if he missed more than five prayers, he is to begin by praying the salah whose time is present (and then he is to make up the prayers he missed)."
Also, take a look at this link: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Islamonline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546664
this guy had the same question, and the Imam gave the same answer.
4) You delayed the prayer
The way I see it, there are only 2 prayers you can TRULY lose; Asr and Isha. You see, we are actually allowed to combine duhur with Asr, and Maghrib with Isha (according to Fiqh Us-Sunnah "Due to some pressing need"). If you're going to miss duhur, you can combine it with Asr, and if you're going to miss Mugharib, you can combine it with Isha, but if you're going to miss Asr or Isha, there's nothing to save you.
Page 118 of Fiqh Us-Sunnah, Supererogatory Prayer:
Imam Muslim has said "The Messenger of Allah (SWT) combined the Zuhr and Asr and then the Maghrib and Isha in Madinah without there being any danger or rain." Ibn Abbas was asked: "What did he desire by that action?" He replied: "He did not want any hardship for his ummah."
There, now you don't have any excuse!
Although every time I do this, I can't help but feel a LITTLE cheap....:S
But what happens if you do miss it. You've left your prayer, and now it's gone. Never coming back, and you can almost hear the devil cackling as he runs away. Well buddy, you're pretty much hooped: the majority of the scholars believe that it is a sin and the missed salah must be made up. MADE up, not repeated:
"By law, there is no way for one who leaves a salah intentionally to make its qadah. He may, however, resort to increasing his voluntary and supererogatory acts."- Ibn Taimiyyah
Ibn Hamza then says "Concerning one who leaves a salah intentionally until its time expires, he will never be able to make up for that salah. Such a person should turn to Allah and ask His forgiveness and increase his good deeds and nawafil in order to increase his weight (of good) on the Day of Resurrection."
Then there's the quote I mentioned earlier about re-praying the lost prayers in order. But Ibn Hamza quotes the Quran saying "Woe unto the worshippers who are heedless of their prayers," (Quran 107:5) and "And then there succeeded them a later generation who wasted the prayers and followed their own lusts, but they will meet with destruction."(Quran 19:59). And said that if you can intentionally miss it and make it up, why will is it mentioned with affliction and transgression? And then it gets all complicated. SO......
My recommendation to you is to:
a) do the prayer you left (it can't hurt)
b) ask for God's Forgiveness
c) do good deeds to try and outweigh the sin
d) DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
But, thanks to our good (HAH!) man (HAH!) Satan, the inevitable happens and we find ourselves missing our prayers. What does this mean? What do we do? Well, let's find out.
There are a few ways to find yourself with a missed prayer:
1) You slept through the prayer.
This is easy to deal with. You simply pray when you wake up:
In Fiqh Us-Sunna, Supererogatory Prayer, pg 99, we find the author quoting a hadith that says:
"There is no negligence while one is asleep but forgetfulness occurs when one is awake. If one of you forgets the prayer or sleeps through its time, then he should perform the salah when he recalls it."
In a nutshell: sleep through the prayer? Pray it when you wake up.
Now you have to make an effort of course, it doesn't make much sense to say: go to bed without planning to wake up and pray, then just pray when you wake up. That's the same as intentionally missing a prayer because you are intending to sleep through it.
2) You've forgotten the salah
You're still in the clear, it was an accident, accidents happen. The ruling is the same as for sleeping through it, just do the prayer when you remember.
Here's one issue though, you've lost your prayer by sleeping through it, or forgetting it, and it's now time for the next prayer. What do you do? Do you do the prayer you missed, or the current prayer?
On pages 100 to 101 of the Supererogatory Prayer book of Fiqh Us Sunnah, there's a great big messy rationalization that some guy (Ibn Hamza) went through to try and explain the sin of intentionally missing a prayer. Near the beginning, however, he says:
"Abu Hanifah, Malik, and Ash-Shafi'i say that he can make up the prayer after its time has expired, and Malik and Abu Hanifah even say that if a person intentionally misses a prayer or a few prayers, then he is to make up those prayers before he prays the present salah, even if he has missed all five prayers and should, while making them up, miss the present salah. They say that if he missed more than five prayers, he is to begin by praying the salah whose time is present (and then he is to make up the prayers he missed)."
Also, take a look at this link: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Islamonline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546664
this guy had the same question, and the Imam gave the same answer.
3) You fell unconscious and missed the prayer
This one's even EASIER. You don't even have to make it up! (Don't even think about it: INTENDING to make yourself fall unconscious to get out of prayer counts as intending to miss the prayer). This refers to the good old fashioned pass-out, due to hunger, heat, illness, whatever. One second your awake enjoying a good chat, next thing you know you're waking up with everyone standing over you with concerned faces.
From Fiqh Us Sunnah, Supererogatory Prayer, page 99:
If one falls unconscious, then he need not repeat the salah, unless he regains his consciousness with enough time to purify himself and perform the salah within it's proper time.
Abdurrazzaq relates from Nafi' that Ibn Umar once fell sick and become unconscious and missed the prayer. When he regained his consciousness, he did not make up the missed prayer.
4) You delayed the prayer
The way I see it, there are only 2 prayers you can TRULY lose; Asr and Isha. You see, we are actually allowed to combine duhur with Asr, and Maghrib with Isha (according to Fiqh Us-Sunnah "Due to some pressing need"). If you're going to miss duhur, you can combine it with Asr, and if you're going to miss Mugharib, you can combine it with Isha, but if you're going to miss Asr or Isha, there's nothing to save you.
Page 118 of Fiqh Us-Sunnah, Supererogatory Prayer:
Imam Muslim has said "The Messenger of Allah (SWT) combined the Zuhr and Asr and then the Maghrib and Isha in Madinah without there being any danger or rain." Ibn Abbas was asked: "What did he desire by that action?" He replied: "He did not want any hardship for his ummah."
There, now you don't have any excuse!
Although every time I do this, I can't help but feel a LITTLE cheap....:S
But what happens if you do miss it. You've left your prayer, and now it's gone. Never coming back, and you can almost hear the devil cackling as he runs away. Well buddy, you're pretty much hooped: the majority of the scholars believe that it is a sin and the missed salah must be made up. MADE up, not repeated:
"By law, there is no way for one who leaves a salah intentionally to make its qadah. He may, however, resort to increasing his voluntary and supererogatory acts."- Ibn Taimiyyah
Ibn Hamza then says "Concerning one who leaves a salah intentionally until its time expires, he will never be able to make up for that salah. Such a person should turn to Allah and ask His forgiveness and increase his good deeds and nawafil in order to increase his weight (of good) on the Day of Resurrection."
Then there's the quote I mentioned earlier about re-praying the lost prayers in order. But Ibn Hamza quotes the Quran saying "Woe unto the worshippers who are heedless of their prayers," (Quran 107:5) and "And then there succeeded them a later generation who wasted the prayers and followed their own lusts, but they will meet with destruction."(Quran 19:59). And said that if you can intentionally miss it and make it up, why will is it mentioned with affliction and transgression? And then it gets all complicated. SO......
My recommendation to you is to:
a) do the prayer you left (it can't hurt)
b) ask for God's Forgiveness
c) do good deeds to try and outweigh the sin
d) DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Athan, a Brief Guide
It's inevitable, one day we're each going to find ourselves in a situation where we have to give the athan (the "get ready to pray" call to prayer) and maybe even the iqamah (the "time to pray" call to prayer). And while we've probably heard it a thousand times, are you ready to give it? Do you know the intricacies and differences between the words? You know how we love our poetry and things sound the same. Anyway, here is a primer on what to say during the Athan and Iqamah, and what to say as a hearer of them!
Black: What the Muezzin Says
Blue: What you say (Same, obviously means that you say the same thing that the Muezzin did)
Green: A translation of more uncommon words.
The athan:
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
Ashadu-an la-illaha illAllah: Same
Ashadu-an la-illaha illAllah: Same
Ashadu-an a-Mohammaden rasul-Allah: Same
Ashadu-an a-Mohammaden rasul-Allah: Same
Hayala salat: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala salat: "la howla wala qawta illa billa","there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala falah: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala falah: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
La illaha illAllah: Same
Now, fajr's is a little different:
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
Ashadu-an la-illaha illAllah: Same
Ashadu-an la-illaha illAllah: Same
Ashadu-an a-Mohammaden rasul-Allah: Same
Ashadu-an a-Mohammaden rasul-Allah: Same
Hayala salat: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala salat: "la howla wala qawta illa billa","there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala falah: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala falah: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
As-salatu khayru min an-nawm, "Prayer is better than sleep": Same
As-salatu khayru min an-nawm, "Prayer is better than sleep": SameAllahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
La illaha illAllah: Same
Now that the athan's been called, you can recite the following duas:
"O Allah, Lord of this perfect call and of the prayer which is established for all time, grant Muhammad the wasila and excellency and raise him up in a praise-worthy position which you have promised." (from Bukhari, and recitation of that will assure you of the Prophet (SAW)'s intercession)
Also pray for prosperity in religion and worldly affairs:
"O Allah, I ask of You for Your pleasure and pardon and for my comfort in this world and in the hereafter and in my family and in my belongings."
And for some good old fashioned forgiveness:
"I testify that there is no God but Allah, alone, who has no partner, and that Muhammad (SAW) is His servant and messenger; I am satisfied with Allah as Lord, with Muhammad (SAW) as messenger, and with Islam as religion" (Muslim, Ma'ariful Hadith)
The iqamah is very similar to the athan, but has a few key differences. It is usually recited just a little bit faster, and has some different words.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
Ashadu-an la-illaha illAllah: Same
Ashadu-an a-Mohammaden rasul-Allah: Same
Hayala salat: "la howla wala qawta illa billa","there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Hayala falah: "la howla wala qawta illa billa", "there is no might and no power except in Allah"
Qad qama tis-salat "Prayer has begun": "Aqamaha Allah wa adamaha"***
Qad qama tis-salat "Prayer has begun": "Aqamaha Allah wa adamaha"***
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar: Same
La illaha illAllah: Same
This phrase "Aqamaha Allah wa adamaha" is starred because it may or may not be used. I transliterated it from the book " The Ways of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)" by Dr. Muhammad Abdul Hai Aarfi. But, according to
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503548986&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FPrintFatwaE
it is from a weak chain, so I don't know anymore. Also, I don't know what it means, sorry.
Also, sadly, some of the information was from Wikipedia (it's a sad day when I have to use wikipedia for religious information, but it was basic stuff, so it should be pretty reliable) Other information can be found in "The Ways of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)" by Dr. Muhammad Abdul Hai Aarfi, and if you do a search for Athan, and Iqama most of the results you'll get are youtube videos with recordings.
**If I made a mistake somewhere, PLEASE point it out.
Monday, December 13, 2010
9th and 10th of Muharram
Early Post! :D
This 15th and 16th (by my watch) are the 9th and 10th of Muharram, and you know what that means! FASTING!!! Just google 9th and 10th of Muharram, if you don't believe me. Anyway, here's some proof for fasting on the 10th (the 9th was a bit of an afterthought towards the end of Prophet Muhammad SAW's life):
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: When the Prophet came to Medina, he found (the Jews) fasting on the day of 'Ashura' (i.e. 10th of muharram). They used to say: "This is a great day on which Allah saved Moses and drowned the folk of Pharaoh. Moses observed the fast on this day, as a sign of gratitude to Allah." The Prophet said, "I am closer to Moses than they." So, he observed the fast (on that day) and ordered the Muslims to fast on it. (Bukhari, Book #55, Hadith #609)
So what's in it for you? Well, how about a heaping plateful of FORGIVENESS!!
"...He (Prophet Muhammad SAW) was asked about fasting on the day of 'Ashura (10th of muharram), whereupon be said: It expiates the sins of the preceding year. (Imam Muslim said that in this hadith there is a) narration of Imam Shu'ba that he was asked about fasting on Monday and Thursday, but we (Imam Muslim) did not mention Thursday for we found it as an error (in reporting)." (Muslim, Book #006, Hadith #2603)
What's interesting though, is that a bunch of other stuff happened on this day. So MUCH stuff actually, over such a long period too....
(from: http://www.sunnah.org/ibadaat/fasting/ashura.htm who in turn got it from: Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq, Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani)
On this day in History:
1) Allah (SWT) accepted the repentance of Prophet Adam (AS) after his exile from Paradise;
2) Allah (SWT) saved Sayyidina Noah (AS) and his companions in the ark;
3) Allah (SWT) extinguished the fire in which Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was thrown by Nimrod
4) Allah (SWT) spoke directly to Prophet Musa (AS) and gave him the Commandments.
5) Prophet Ayyub (AS) was restored to health (from leprosy);
6) Prophet Yusuf (AS) was reunited with his father Ya’qub (AS);
7) Prophet Yunus (AS) was taken out from the belly of the fish;
8) The sea was divided as the nation of israel was delivered from captivity and Pharoah’s army was destroyed.
9) The kingdom of Sulaiman (AS) was restored;
10) Prophet Isa (AS) was raised to Jannah; and
11) Al- Imam Husayn (RA) (the Holy Nabi’s, Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim, grandson) achieved the honor of Martyrdom.
I've also read stuff about the Day of Qiyama (judgement day) starting on Ashura (no quotes though, sorry). I WAS going to say " I bet it'll be on this day that Dajjal comes too!" but if you look at all these events, they're all happy events. Saving, restoring, healing, forgiving....Dajjal's arrival doesn't fit with that....so, I'm guessing Jesus (AS) is gonna come back on this day then!
Happy Fasting! :D
This 15th and 16th (by my watch) are the 9th and 10th of Muharram, and you know what that means! FASTING!!! Just google 9th and 10th of Muharram, if you don't believe me. Anyway, here's some proof for fasting on the 10th (the 9th was a bit of an afterthought towards the end of Prophet Muhammad SAW's life):
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: When the Prophet came to Medina, he found (the Jews) fasting on the day of 'Ashura' (i.e. 10th of muharram). They used to say: "This is a great day on which Allah saved Moses and drowned the folk of Pharaoh. Moses observed the fast on this day, as a sign of gratitude to Allah." The Prophet said, "I am closer to Moses than they." So, he observed the fast (on that day) and ordered the Muslims to fast on it. (Bukhari, Book #55, Hadith #609)
So what's in it for you? Well, how about a heaping plateful of FORGIVENESS!!
"...He (Prophet Muhammad SAW) was asked about fasting on the day of 'Ashura (10th of muharram), whereupon be said: It expiates the sins of the preceding year. (Imam Muslim said that in this hadith there is a) narration of Imam Shu'ba that he was asked about fasting on Monday and Thursday, but we (Imam Muslim) did not mention Thursday for we found it as an error (in reporting)." (Muslim, Book #006, Hadith #2603)
What's interesting though, is that a bunch of other stuff happened on this day. So MUCH stuff actually, over such a long period too....
(from: http://www.sunnah.org/ibadaat/fasting/ashura.htm who in turn got it from: Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq, Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani)
On this day in History:
1) Allah (SWT) accepted the repentance of Prophet Adam (AS) after his exile from Paradise;
2) Allah (SWT) saved Sayyidina Noah (AS) and his companions in the ark;
3) Allah (SWT) extinguished the fire in which Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was thrown by Nimrod
4) Allah (SWT) spoke directly to Prophet Musa (AS) and gave him the Commandments.
5) Prophet Ayyub (AS) was restored to health (from leprosy);
6) Prophet Yusuf (AS) was reunited with his father Ya’qub (AS);
7) Prophet Yunus (AS) was taken out from the belly of the fish;
8) The sea was divided as the nation of israel was delivered from captivity and Pharoah’s army was destroyed.
9) The kingdom of Sulaiman (AS) was restored;
10) Prophet Isa (AS) was raised to Jannah; and
11) Al- Imam Husayn (RA) (the Holy Nabi’s, Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim, grandson) achieved the honor of Martyrdom.
I've also read stuff about the Day of Qiyama (judgement day) starting on Ashura (no quotes though, sorry). I WAS going to say " I bet it'll be on this day that Dajjal comes too!" but if you look at all these events, they're all happy events. Saving, restoring, healing, forgiving....Dajjal's arrival doesn't fit with that....so, I'm guessing Jesus (AS) is gonna come back on this day then!
Happy Fasting! :D
Friday, April 30, 2010
One of My Favourite Hadiths:
Anas (radhiallahu anhu) said that he heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) say: “Allah the Exalted said: “O son of Adam! As long as you invoke Me and plead to Me, I will forgive you whatever you have committed, and I will not make much of it. O son of Adam! If your evil deeds reach the borders of the sky, and then you ask Me for forgiveness, I will forgive you. O son of Adam! If you bring forth the earth full of errors, then you meet Me while you do not associate anything (or anyone) with Me, I will bring forth for you its full forgiveness.” [At-Tirmidhee (Shaikh Albanee rendered it as Hasan)]
Friday, April 9, 2010
Friday
Friday's Super Prayer:
After the sun rises up to one bow's distance or more, make full ablution
2 rakaas, with faith, hoping for good reward
God will write for you 200 hundred rewards, and remove 200 sins.
4 rakaas
God will open for you in Paradise 800 doors and forgive all your sins.
12 rakaas
1200 merits will be written, 1200 sins will be erased, and 1200 doors will be opened for you in Paradise.
4 rakaa's, in the Masjid after Jumaa prayer,
Recite in each rakaa:
- Al Fatiha 50 times
- Al Ikhlas 50 times
You will not die until you see your place in Paradise, or your place in Paradise is shown to you.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday
Wednesday's Super Prayer:
12 rakaa's after rising on a Wednesday
Recite in each rakaa:
- Fatiha
- Ayatul Kursi
- Surat Al-ikhlas 3 times
- Surat Al-falaq 3 times
- Surat An-nas 3 times
A proclaimer will proclaim near the Throne: "O servant of God, your actions have been accepted and your future sins forgiven. Punishment of the Resurrection Day will be lifted up from you and you will be given the actions of a Prophet on that day".
Okay, I know this one sounds a wee bit out there, and if I read it on some random website I'd be skeptical, but this was from a reliable source! Seriously, "Ihya ulum id-din" by Al Ghazzali, the man was known as "The Alchemist of Happiness" and he's world famous; he wouldn't pull our leg like that.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Tuesday
Tuesday's Super Prayer:
10 rakaa's in the early part of Tuesday
Recite in each rakaa:
- Al fatiha
- Ayatul Kursi
- Surat Al Ikhlas
Now, the exact text was "...with Fatiha and Ayatul Kursi and Ikhlas three times in each rak'at..." so I don't know if that means just Ikhlas 3 times, or Fatiha, Ayatul Kursi AND Ikhlas all 3 times each.
Your faults will not be written for seventy days, and if you happen to die on the last day (i.e the seventieth day) you'll die a martyr and your sins for seventy years will be forgiven.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Monday
Monday's super prayer:
2 Rakaa's in the early part of Monday
Recite in each rakaa:
- Al Fatiha
- Ayatul Kursi
- Surat Ikhlas
- Surat Al Falaq
- Surat An Nas
Upon completion of the salat (i.e after salams)
- Istighfar 12 times (ask forgiveness 12 times.)
- Darud 12 times
- Darud or Darood, also known as Salawat is to send blessings upon prophet Muhammad (SAW). I've read a LOT of things about this, most of which I don't understand, so I think this will suffice:
- Allahumma salli `ala Muhammadin, wa `ala aali Muhammadin, kama sallaita `ala aali Ibrahima, innaka Hamidum Majid. Allahumma barik `ala Muhammadin, wa `ala aali Muhammadin, kama barakta `ala aali Ibrahima, innaka Hamidum Majid
- O Allah, exalt the mention of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as you exalted the family of Ibrahim. You are Praised and Glorious. O Allah, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as You blessed the family of Ibrahim. You are Praised and Glorious.
Allah (SWT) will forgive all your sins
12 Rakaa's
Recite in each Rakaa:
- Al Fatiha
- Ayatul Kursi
Upon completion of the salat (i.e after salams)
- Surat Al Ikhlas 12 times
- Istighfar 12 times (as forgiveness 12 times)
You will be told on Judgement Day: "O son (or daughter I assume) of so and so, rise up and take rewards from God." The first reward that you will get is one thousand clothes to wear (the book says dresses though) and a crown for your head, then you will be told to enter Paradise. Then one lac (1 lac or lakh = 100,000) angels will greet you and each angel will have one present and they will accompany you and carry you to one thousand palaces of light. ONE THOUSAND PALACES OF LIGHT!!! LIGHT!!! :D
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Salat to End All Salat: Sunday
I was reading in The Book of Religious Learnings (Ihya Ulum-Id-Din) and I came across some salat that make Tahajjud look like a mere "Bismillah". These are the most intense prayers I've ever heard of, and they yield some of the biggest rewards I've too.
**I'm not making this up. This book is very well known, and the author says these prayers an on the authority of the Prophet (SAW) himself.
Also, I don't know if these rukaa (i.e if the prayer calls for something like 12 rukaa) are all in one big prayer, or if it's broken up into groups of 2 or what. Although, I'd imagine that they should be done in groups of 2 rukaa's. Since, any time we have to do some funny number like that, we do it in 2's, like for night prayer, or taraweeh.
Sunday
4 Rakaa's
Recite in each rakaa:
- Al-Fatiha (as usual)
- Amanar Rasul: 2:285-286 In the Quran
- 285) Amana alrrasoolu bima onzila ilayhi min rabbihi waalmuminoona kullun amana biAllahi wamalaikatihi wakutubihi warusulihi la nufarriqu bayna ahadin min rusulihi waqaloo samiAAna waataAAna ghufranaka rabbana wailayka almaseeru
- 286) La yukallifu Allahu nafsan illa wusAAaha laha ma kasabat waAAalayha ma iktasabat rabbana la tuakhithna in naseena aw akhtana rabbana wala tahmil AAalayna isran kama hamaltahu AAala allatheena min qablina rabbana wala tuhammilna ma la taqata lana bihi waoAAfu AAanna waighfir lana wairhamna anta mawlana faonsurna AAala alqawmi alkafireena
- 285) The Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. (They say), "We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers" - and they say, "We hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your Forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all)."
- 286) Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned. "Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us (Jews and Christians); our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maula (Patron, Supporter and Protector, etc.) and give us victory over the disbelieving people. "
Innumerable merits will be written for you like the number of Christian males and females.
Come back next week for Monday's Prayer!
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