Living On The Edge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Often we find Muslims don't give matters of religion the attention it deserves. They are living on the edge.

In all our actions we have a decision to make. What governs our decision is Allah. So, we ask ourselves--is this action going to be pleasing to Allah; is this action going to be for me or against me in the Hereafter?

The halal is clear and the haram is clear. What about the doubtful matters?

On the authority of Abu `Abdillah an-Nu`maan the son of Bashir, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

That which is lawful (halal) is clear and that which is unlawful (haram) is clear, and between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters [eventually] falls into that which is unlawful, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allaah's sanctuary is His prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh, which, if it be whole, all the body is whole, and which, if it is diseased, all of [the body] is diseased. Truly, it is the heart.

[Bukhari and Muslim.]

This hadith is laying the foundations for what our decision must be built upon when faced with making a decision. It helps us achieve piety and love of Allah.

We are not to be like the shepherd who goes to the boundary of his land and lets his sheep graze from there and says everything will be okay because it is very hard to tell the sheep where to stop grazing. So you need to keep the sheep away from the boundary because if they graze from your neighbor’s land, then you have committed a sin.

So, we should never approach the boundaries of Allah Most High as it will be very difficult to stop going over into the prohibition. If we are near the boundary, we will be like sheep which don’t know right from wrong and risk committing sin.

Al-Hasan said,

The pious remained at a state of piety to the level that they left a lot of halal out of fear of falling into haram.

Sufyan Al-Thawri said,

They were called pious because they stayed away from what others do not stay away from.

Abdullah ibn Umar said,

I wish to put a barrier of halal between me and the haram, and I do not break that barrier.

Sufyan bin ‘Uyayinah said,

A slave does not attain the reality of Iman (Faith) until he puts between him and the haram a barrier of halal, and he leave sins and what is doubtful of it.

Other righteous predecessors said,

We used to leave seventy doors of halal out of fear of falling into haram.

The great companion, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said,

What do you want from approaching what is doubtful when there are 4000 non doubtful matters.

He said the number 4000 as an exaggeration and not referring to something specific, but is telling us that the non doubtful matters are many, so why do we go for the doubtful matters?

It is not difficult to stay away from doubtful matters if we have scrupulousness and it is easier when you are around scrupulous people.

So choose your friends wisely as the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that "a person is upon the religion of his friend."

Don't live on the edge. It is not a safe place. Don't do things that may lead to haram, even if a mufti said it is okay. We should be aware of the many things that are controversial (though they were never controversial in the time of the Companions and the generations that followed) such as, music, free gender interaction and mixing, Islamic dress code, woman traveling without mahram/close relative, etc. If you don't know, ask those who know. Our actions should err on the side of caution and leave what is doubtful.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

You do not leave something for the sake of Allah, except that Allah will replace that thing for you with something that is better than it.

(Reported in Ahmad).

May Allah grant us tawfiq and bring us close to Him. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

The Liquid Of Life

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Conserve water. It is the liquid of life. Without it we won't be able to survive for very long.

أَوَلَمْ يَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَـٰهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ حَىٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٣٠

Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe? (30)

[Qur'an Al-Anbiya' 21:30]

وَٱللَّـهُ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَحْيَا بِهِ ٱلْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَآ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ ﴿٦٥

And Allah has sent down rain from the sky and given life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who listen. (65)

[Qur'an Nahl 16:65]

وَتَرَى ٱلْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا ٱلْمَآءَ ٱهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنۢبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍۭ بَهِيجٍ ﴿٥

...And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind. (5)

[Qur'an Hajj 22:5]

Many people waste water. It is wasting if you use something beyond need whether it be religious or non-religious need. Everyone knows wasting water is bad but many do not truly understand why. In addition to a higher water bill, leaving a faucet on while making wudu', brushing teeth, taking long showers and allowing broken sprinklers to leak hundreds of gallons can all have major consequences for the environment.

Excessive water consumption requires increased withdrawals from surface water sources like lakes and rivers -- which also increases energy demand for processes to treat the water and render it potable, and in turn produces more harmful byproducts from power plants. Additionally, when wasted water runoff from over-watering fields and landscapes flows across the ground, it accumulates litter, debris, sediment, salts and other pollutants as it travels, eventually making its way into water sources, and thus into the drinking water supply. Nutrients that are gathered along with the other pollutants and returned to the water supply are detrimental to aquatic habitats when they occur in excess and become concentrated. (wasting water)

One should be conscious not to use water beyond one's need. When making wudu' (ablution) or doing ghusl (ritual bath), avoid using too much water even if you have abundant water supply.

إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ

...Surely He (Allah) loves not the wasters.

[Qur'an Al-An'am 6:141]

Allah says,

وَآتِ ذَا الْقُرْبَىٰ حَقَّهُ وَالْمِسْكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَلَا تُبَذِّرْ تَبْذِيرًا ﴿٢٦﴾ إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ ۖ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورً‌ا ﴿٢٧

And give the relative his right, and [also] the poor and the traveler, and do not spend wastefully. Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.

[Qur'an Al-Isra 17:26-27]

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbids wasting water even when it is available in abundance, saying:

Do not waste water, even if you perform your ablution on the banks of an abundantly-flowing river.

Ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas while he was making wudu’ and said, "How extravagant you are!" He replied, "Is there extravagant in wudu’" The Prophet replied, "Yes and even if you are making wudu’ from a floating river."

May Allah protect us from being wasteful. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

related archive:

Preserve the Beauty and Harmony of the Environment

Save The Fish

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Until I Love Him

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The very purpose of life is to become of those who are close to Allah and beloved to Him. To be able to worship the Creator is a tremendous blessing from Him.

How does one draw close to Allah. It is mentioned in the famous hadith Qudsi in Bukhari:

...My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than what I have made obligatory upon him,...

Allah has prescribed on us a general regular devotions (awrad) which is the obligatory worship. This is the first step to draw closer to Allah. You have the daily awrad--pray 5 times daily again and again, yearly awrad such as fast in Ramadhan every year, pay zakat every year, and hajj once in a lifetime. This is the minimum awrad that we must do.

Then Allah said,

and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works until I love him...

Somebody who wants to come close to Allah, i.e. somebody who wants to be among the Sabiqun as mentioned in Surah Waqi'ah, does not stop at the obligatory awrad.

وَالسَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ ﴿١٠﴾ أُولَـٰئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ﴿١١

And the forerunners, the forerunners - (10) Those are the ones brought near [to Allah] (11)

[Qur'an Al-Waqi'ah 56:10-11]

He performs the recommended and voluntary acts, such as sunnah prayers before and after obligatory prayers, sunnah fasting, sending blessings upon the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, istighfar, reciting the Qur'an, giving charity, acquiring sacred knowledge, invocation (dhikr) or reflection (fikr), etc.

The wird is a means to draw closer to Allah. So we should be doing the wird everyday.

Whoever has no wird is a qird (monkey). --Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf.

There is a reward in this life for doing the regular acts of worship. By doing the acts, there is change that happens. With the change, there is knowledge that descend the heart and this is very pleasant. But the real reward is in the next life which outshines everything in this life.

To do a good job in worshiping Allah requires planning. For example, if one plans to pray Tahajjud or Fajr, he should not leave it by chance that he will wake up and feel fresh if he wakes up. He should take a few steps before going to sleep, for example, set an alarm clock, take wudu' and pray 2 raka'a, maybe recite Surah Waqi'ah, make intention to wake up for the worship, go to sleep early, etc. This planning is done out of the spirit of slavehood, not out of greed of wanting something from Allah.

The proper manner is always to focus at what one has to do rather than what one expects to receive because the slave does not expect anything but just does his duty. Allah, the All-Generous Master has promised and He doesn't break His promise. He will fulfill His promise whenever He decides to do it. Our duty is to keep doing what we have to do, day in and day out.

May Allah give us tawfiq. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Excited About A Vacation?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

You are excited about a vacation you have been waiting for or perhaps you have an important business trip in another city. You have been packing all day. Your flight is at 6 a.m. You make sure you get up to catch that flight. You calculate how much time you need to get ready--do last minute packing, shower, get dressed, get something to eat, get to the airport, check in, go through security and boarding. This would mean, perhaps waking up at 2 or 3 a.m. You set your alarm to make sure you wake up and not miss this important flight. You might decide to just stay up!

Are we this excited, this prepared, this conscious about getting up for tahajjud (night vigil) and fajr (dawn) prayers? If the answer is "No", "O Well", or the like, this is not a good sign especially if you sleep through fajr. It means you got a problem. Your priority is wrong. You don't have the right attitude towards prayer. You need to change and now.

Prayer is something big. Bigger than any other known human projects. When prayer time comes, you pray. Everything else can wait--your PHD project/thesis can wait, the shopping can wait, the oil change can wait, the boss can wait, the judge can wait, the pet walking can wait, cooking can wait, the food on the table can wait. But your prayer cannot wait.

Like if you missed your flight, you might be able to catch another flight, but it is not the same--You have missed the fun or business deals which you could have enjoyed had you not missed your flight and arrived at your destination on time. You cannot make up the lost opportunity ever.

حَـٰفِظُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلصَّلَوَٰتِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ٱلْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا۟ لِلَّـهِ قَـٰنِتِينَ ﴿٢٣

Guard strictly your (habit of) prayers, especially the Middle Prayer; and stand before God in a devout (frame of mind).

[Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:238]

If you want to wake up for fajr (and tahajjud), you can wake up. Nothing should stop you. You do whatever it takes to wake up, just as you did to make sure you don't miss your flight.

Our lives change at least 5 times a day, with our 5 daily prayers, and it is a wonderful change. Do more if you want Allah to love you.

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَوُا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ﴿٢٧٧

Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds and establish prayer and give zakah will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (277)

[Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:277]

إِنَّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ فِى جَنَّـٰتٍ وَعُيُونٍ ﴿١٥﴾ ءَاخِذِينَ مَآ ءَاتَىٰهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَبْلَ ذَٰلِكَ مُحْسِنِينَ ﴿١٦﴾ كَانُوا۟ قَلِيلًا مِّنَ ٱلَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ ﴿١٧﴾ وَبِٱلْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ ﴿١٨﴾ وَفِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّ لِّلسَّآئِلِ وَٱلْمَحْرُومِ ﴿١٩﴾

Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and springs, (15) Accepting what their Lord has given them. Indeed, they were before that doers of good. (16) They used to sleep but little of the night, (17) And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness, (18) And from their properties was [given] the right of the [needy] petitioner and the deprived. (19) And on the earth are signs for the certain [in faith]

[Qur'an adh-dhariyat 51:15-19]

I once had to do a last minute filing of a court document to appeal a case to a higher court. It has to be filed that day or we would be barred from the appeal. The courthouse was about 70 miles away and there was just enough time to get to the courthouse in normal traffic. As I was going out the door, I realized that I had not prayed the dhuhr prayer (afternoon prayer) yet and since I was under a time crunch, I decided to pray dhuhr at the courthouse after I finished filing the document. Then a thought came to me that Allah might become angry with me and cause a traffic jam or accident along my way that would cause me to miss the deadline for filing the papers after all. So, without hesitation, I prayed dhuhr first and then drove to the courthouse. The rush hour already started several miles before the courthouse and I was swamped with all kinds of thoughts. It would be a miracle if I could get to file the papers. AlHamdulillah, I arrived at the door of the filing office just as the clerk was pulling the second door to close the office. It was about 15 minutes after closing time. Normally, they don't wait a minute past closing time to lock the door but for some reason that day they were delayed. SubhanAllah.

May Allah grant us steadfastness in prayers and righteous works. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

If It Is Not True, It Is A Lie

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

You see people lie left and right as if it is nothing and to some, lying has become a career.

Lying is to inform of a matter contrary to reality. If this is accidental, it is overlooked, but if it is intentional then it is a clear sin that must be avoided at all costs. It is equally considered a lie whether one is serious or joking. A person should do his utmost to stick to the truth in all of his words, even if he fears it will take him to his destruction.

If it is not true, it is a lie. Someone who lies has one of the four characteristics of a hypocrite.

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

Whoever has (the following) four characters will be a hypocrite, and whoever has one of the following four characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy until he gives it up. These are: (1 ) Whenever he talks, he tells a lie; (2) whenever he makes a promise, he breaks it; (3) whenever he makes a covenant he proves treacherous; (4) and whenever he quarrels, he behaves impudently in an evil insulting manner.

[Bukhari]

Allah Almighty says,

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ جَامِعُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ فِي جَهَنَّمَ جَمِيعًا ....

...Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together.

[Qur'an An-Nisa 4:140]

Abdullah bin Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

It is incumbent upon you to always be truthful, for truthfulness guides to absolute piety and piety leads to Paradise. A man who always tells the truth and pursues the truth is written with Allah as a truthful one. Refrain from lying, for lying guides to sinfulness and sinfulness leads to Hellfire. A man continues to tell lies and pursues lies until he is written with Allah as a liar.

[Bukhari and Muslim]

Truthfulness is a great virtue of Islam. So Muslims should not lie even if the truth hurts. If you lie, you are giving a green light to your children to lie as well. You are their great example. What if they lie to you?

It is important that our children learn that lying has consequences, one of which is curfew or grounded (or lose one or more privileges, etc). Promote honesty and uphold truth in your family and be there to catch your loved ones with loving arms and mercy if you ever caught them lying.

It is reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

No father can give his children a better gift than good manners.

[Tirmidhi]

It is reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

It is not permissible to lie except in three: a man lying to his wife to please her, a lie in war, and a lie to rectify between people.

(Tirmidhi)

Scholars conclude: If one desires to attain a praiseworthy goal which one can attain through lying and through speaking the truth, then lying is unlawful. If one can only acquire it by lying, then it is permissible if attaining the goal is permissible, and obligatory if attaining the goal is obligatory. Thus, if one sees someone innocent hiding from an oppressor who wants to harm him, lying is obligatory; and whenever the objective of a war, or rectifying between people and winning the heart of someone hurt by another, or pleasing one’s spouse is not possible except through lying then it is permissible.

May Allah make us among the truthful and increase us in taqwa and iman. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam