Tuesday 29 January 2013

Islam is the best: The Most Generous of Mankind

Islam is the best: The Most Generous of Mankind: The Most Generous of Mankind The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was the most generous and kindest of humanity. He used to give all he had du...

The Most Generous of Mankind

The Most Generous of Mankind



The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was the most generous and kindest of humanity. He used to give all he had during the Ramadan while He was with the Gabriel (AS). In every Ramadan night, Gabriel (AS) came to Him and taught Him the Qur’an.

Gabriel (AS) said:“The apostle of Allah was more generous than the winds that bring abundance.”(Muslim, Fadail, 12, 2308)

A person who has no property should not be greedy but have content. A person who has property should not be stingy but have generosity.

GETTING RID OF TWO GOLD COINS

Bilal al-Habashi narrates:
I used to follow the accounts of the Apostle of Allah. When a poor person asked help from Him, He used to command me and if we had no money in hand, we used to borrow from someone and meet the demand of that poor person. One day, a rich pagan who was aware of this and assumed to have sympathy for the Prophet Muhammad said to me:

“-If you need a loan of money, do not go anywhere, let me lend you all the money you need." Therefore, we trusted his promise and good will and did so. Our debt increased considerably. And the rich pagan showed his real intention. When he came by in the market, he shouted at me:
"O nigger!"
I said, -"What happened".
He asked -"Do you know how many days have left for the beginning of the new month?"
I answered -"I know, little time left".
He said: -"When the new month comes, you will see. That day I will take you hostage for my receivables and make you a slave again.”

I was hurt too much by this threat. I went to the Apostle of Allah immediately and told him about the situation. He also became upset. However, he relied on Allah and started to search for a solution soon.

I left out and went home but that night, it was not possible for me to sleep due to my grief. At the time of the morning prayer, I was told that the Apostle of Allah was calling me. I immediately went there. His face was smiling. He said by pointing out to the four camels standing at the door, which were full of goods:
-“Good news o Bilal!.. These have recently come from the prince of Fadak as a gift.” Let us sell them and pay our debts.”

I immediately performed His command. After paying all our debts especially the debt to that pagan, I informed him about the situation. He asked me:
-"Is there anything remained?"
I said–“Yes, O apostle of Allah! Two gold coins remained!"
He said: -"Get rid of those two gold coins, too. I will not go home unless you give them to the poor."

At that moment, he was sitting in the mosque. Although I searched for all Medina, till the evening of the next day, I could not find the real poor people that I could give those two gold coins to. Finally, I spent them by shopping for the two poor passengers who had just come to Medina. And by going to the mosque, I informed the apostle of Allah about the situation. Then, he praised Allah; finally he went to home after two days of waiting. (1)


WHAT A NICE SWEATER

One day a Muslim woman gave him a sweater that she had knitted herself as a gift. The apostle of Allah was sitting with his new sweater on him among his friends in the mosque. One of His friends liked that sweater so much and by taking courage from the well-known generosity of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and asked;

“O apostle of Allah! What a nice sweater it is! Will you please give it to me as a gift?”The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) took off his sweater and gave it to him without saying anything and showing any disaffection. (2)


THE WEDDING DINNER

One of his friends was getting married. However, there was nothing to offer in the wedding dinner, which was a custom. The prophet Muhammad, (PBUH) who was informed about the situation, gave all the flour in his house to him as a gift. Nothing remained in his house for eating. (3)


ALL THE MILK BELONGS TO THE GUEST

A guest from afar was spending the night in the house of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). There was only some goat milk for the dinner. The guest drank all of it. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his family spent the night hungry since there remained nothing for them. They did not complain. (4)


I HAVE BEEN COMMANDED TO DO

One day a poor immigrant Arab came to Him. He asked Him to give something to him. However, that day, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had no goods or money.

-"Now I have nothing to give to you. Go and buy what you need in the name of me. Then I will pay the debt."

The poor person got happy and left. However, the friends near him had been upset because he was compelling himself so much. One of them stood up:

-“O apostle of Allah! This person had come two or three times before; he asked something from you and you gave him. Now you have nothing to give. Allah does not lay a burden on you that you cannot cope with!”

He disliked what he had heard. Then, another friend stood up and talked:

-“O Apostle of Allah! Give as much as you wish! Do not fear that Allah, who is the owner of arsh (throne), will make you poor!”

A smile wreathed across His face. He let His words be heard by everybody:

-That is what I have been commanded to do. (5)


WE HAVE IT ALL

Hz. Aisha (RA) narrates: One day we slaughtered a sheep and distributed all of its meat except a single buttock. The apostle of Allah asked,

“What have you done with the sheep?” I said to Him that we have distributed all of it except a single buttock.

He said “O Aisha; it seems that we have it all except a buttock.” (6)


THE CAMEL FEAST

Nuayman the son of Amr, was one of the most joking friends of Him. However, his jokes were not liked by everybody. One day, he slaughtered the camel of an immigrant Arab who entered the mosque to perform prayers... The Arab started to cry and shout upon seeing his camel slaughtered on the ground. The people gathered around for the noise and said to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

-"O Apostle of Allah! The only person that can do this is Nuayman."Nuayman was found and confessed his guilt. When he was asked "why?", he turned to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and said with a shy smile:

-"O apostle of Allah!" "I had thought that you would pay the price of the camel anyway and I wanted to have a feast all together." (7)


PAID OFF THE DEBT TWICE

He had borrowed one hundred and twenty kilograms of grain from somebody. When the debtee needed money, he came and asked for the debt. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave the equivalent of his debt as one hundred and twenty kilograms. Then, he gave another one hundred and twenty kilograms as a gift because he had helped him when was in need. (8)

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Ruling on celebrating the birthday of the Prophet


Praise be to Allaah the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions.

The commands mentioned in the Qur’aan and Sunnah to follow the laws of Allaah and His Messenger, and the prohibitions on introducing innovations into the religion are quite clear. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say (O Muhammad to mankind): ‘If you (really) love Allaah, then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’aan and the Sunnah), Allaah will love you and forgive you your sins’”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:31]

“Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord (the Qur’aan and Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah), and follow not any Awliyaa’ (protectors and helpers who order you to associate partners in worship with Allaah), besides Him (Allaah). Little do you remember!”
[al-A’raaf 7:3]

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The most truthful of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, and the most evil of things are those which are newly-invented.” And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates anything in this matter of ours (i.e., Islam), that is not part of it will have it rejected.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 2697; Muslim, no. 1718). According to a version narrated by Muslim, “Whoever doe anything that is not in accordance with this matter of ours (i.e., Islam), will have it rejected.”

Among the reprehensible innovations that people have invented is the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the month of Rabee’ al-Awwal. They celebrate this occasion in various ways:

Some of them simply make it an occasion to gather and read the story of the Mawlid, then they present speeches and qaseedahs (odes) for this occasion.

Some of them make food and sweets etc., and offer them to the people present.

Some of them hold these celebrations in the mosques, and some of them hold them in their houses.

Some people do not limit themselves to the actions mentioned above; they include in these gatherings haraam and reprehensible things, such as free mixing of men and women, dancing and singing, or committing actions of shirk such as seeking the help of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), calling upon him, seeking his support against their enemies and so on.


Celebrating the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is forbidden and is to be rejected for a number of reasons:

1 – it is not part of the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or of the khaleefahs who succeeded him. Since this is the case, then it is a forbidden innovation.“This day, I have perfected your religion for you” [al-Maa'idah 5:3] because he is adding something extra and claiming that it is a part of the religion, but the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not bring this.

2 – Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is an imitation of the Christians, because they celebrate the birth of the Messiah (peace be upon him). Imitating them is extremely haraam.  The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them” (narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawood, 4/314). And he said, “Be different from the mushrikeen” (narrated by Muslim, 1/222, no. 259)

3 –  celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is also a means that leads to exaggeration and excess in venerating him, which even goes as far as calling upon him (making du’aa’ to him) and seeking his help, instead of calling upon Allaah,The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade going to extremes in praising him, as he said: “Do not extol as the Christians extolled the son of Maryam. For I am just His slave, so say, the slave of Allaah and His Messenger” (narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4/142, no. 3445; al-Fath, 6/551)

4 – Observing the innovation of the Prophet’s birthday opens the door to other kinds of bid’ah and being distracted by them from the Sunnah.

Sunday 6 January 2013

Idea on what is backbiting ,slander and malicious gossip?



The Muslim has to guard his tongue and avoid things that have been forbidden. Among these forbidden things which people take often lightly are gheebah (backbiting), buhtaan (slander) and nameemah (malicious gossip).

Gheebah or backbiting means speaking about a Muslim in his absence and saying things that he would not like to have spread around or mentioned. Buhtaan or slander means saying things about a Muslim that are not true, or in other words telling lies about him. Nameemah or malicious gossip means telling one person what another said in order to cause trouble between them.

There is a great deal of evidence to show that these actions are haraam. It will suffice for us to mention just a few of them in order to demonstrate that they are haraam.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful”

[al-Hujuraat 49:12]

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?” They said, “Allaah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Saying something about your brother that he dislikes.” It was said, “What if what I say about my brother is true?” He said, “If what you say is true then you have backbitten about him, and if it is not true, then you have slandered him.”

Narrated by Muslim, 2589

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) passed by two graves and said, “They are being punished, but they are not being punished for anything that was difficult to avoid. One of them used to walk about spreading malicious gossip (nameemah), and the other used not to take precautions to avoid getting urine on himself when he urinated.” Then he called for a green branch, which he split in two and planted a piece on each grave, and said, “May their torment be reduced so long as these do not dry out.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 213; Muslim, 292

For a person to say of another, “He cannot control his tongue (or he has a loose tongue)” is undoubtedly one of those things that a person would dislike to have said about him. If it is true, then it is gheebah (backbiting), and if it is not true then it is buhtaan (slander).

Everyone who does any kind of backbiting, slander or malicious gossip has to repent and pray for forgiveness, and that is between him and Allaah. If he knows that any of his words reached the person about whom he was speaking, then he should go to him and ask him to forgive him. But if he does not know, then he should not tell him; rather he should pray for forgiveness for him and make du’aa’ for him, and speak well of him in his absence just as he spoke against him. Similarly, if he knows that telling him will provoke more enmity, then it is sufficient to make du’aa’ for him, speak well of him and pray for forgiveness for him.

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother with regard to his honour or anything else, let him seek his forgiveness today, before there will be no dinar and no dirham, and if he has any good deeds to his credit they will be taken from him in a manner commensurate with the wrong he did, and if he has no good deeds, then some of his counterpart’s bad deeds will be taken and added to his burden.”


Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2317.
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