For example, when Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) asked one day; Muaz ibn jabal was riding on the camel of Prophet (Pbuh ) very close to him and the Prophet (Pbuh) asked him “Ya Muaz, hal tadri haq-u-lahu allal ibaad”? Oh Muad do you know what is the Haq, the right of Allah upon his servants? And Muaz (ra) was very close to Rasulallah and he could have answered this question because he was a man of imaan and a man of taqwa, he was a righteous and pious man; but his answer to Prophet (Pbuh) was “Allah wa rasoolahu alam” “Allah and his messenger know better”. The companions of Prophet (Pbuh) when they were asked such a question, they never thought to them selves that they could answer the question better than the Prophet (Pbuh), so they always returned it back to him to see what he will say. So he told him that the “The haq of Allah upon his Ibaad, is “La tushriku billahi shai aa” that they do not associate partners with Allah, that is with true almighty God”. Then he asked him another question, he said “Ya Muaz, Hal tadri haqul ibaad alalllah? “Oh Muaz, do you know the Haq, the right of servants upon Allah? Muaz again answered “Allah wa rasoolahu alam“ “Allah and his messenger know better”. And then Prophet (Pbuh) let the camel go a little further and he let Muaz think for a while and then he said “Izafaalu Allah la azzibahum“ “If they do this, that is, “La tushriku billahi shai aa”, that they do not associate any partners with Allah, then Allah will not punish them”.

The messenger of Allah said the best of my nation, the cream of my nation whom if you follow, there is no doubt of what they understood, there is no doubt of what they practice, there is no doubt of what they saw and there is no doubt of there commitment; he asked “who are they?” “Qarni, my generation, and summa yalunahum summa yalunahum and then he stopped. In another narration, he said “and after them will come another people, different people upon them will be some doubt they will do things that was not ordered or they would not do things that were ordered“. But about those three generations, the companions of Prophet (Pbuh), the tabayeen. and the at –ba –tabayeen; those men and women who were around Prophet (Pbuh), who supported, who followed, who listened, who obeyed, who  sacrificed for the messenger of Allah, they were the strangers. In a hadith reported by Muslim 2:175-176 and Ibn Maajah 2: 320, Reported by Abu Hurayrah (ra), The Prophet (Pbuh) said “Sa yao’odu li ghariban, Fatuba lighuraba Fatuba lighuraba Fatuba lighuraba” meaning “This religion, this deen, in the begining it came as a stranger (ghuraba), and it will return again as a stranger; so welcome glad tidings to the strangers (ghuraba)”.

Gharib is a person who is away from his hometown, family, relatives and friends. A gharib Muslim is a Muslim who lives in a society in which he has no friends or loved ones to understand him or to support him. He is not recognized or known in the town. He is a stranger (ghuraba). We are the strangers. Initially, Islam was strange in Makkah, the disbelievers did not know of it. The deen was strange, even the language was strange although it was the language of the Arabs but they did not know that even though they were Arabs they had not heard of these words. They knew the word zakat, but they did not know it like how Qu’ran describes it. Or for that matter, the ayahs from surah shams they did not hear anything of that kind. Even Umar bin khattab, who was a very great poet he did not understand what it meant. He asked others, how is Muhammad saying that, where is he getting that from because the language which Allah send to him was strange. This was kalam ullah and not kalam-un nas.

Prophet Muhammad, who was well known to his people he was known as Al-Ameen , Saddiq-ul- masdooq, they knew he was Muhammed ibn Abdullah and they knew he was al amen and they knew he was truthful. But when Allah sent him as a Prophet (Pbuh) and messenger and commissioned him with this Quran and ordered them to follow him and to listen to this word and to give up the idols and to obey Allah and worship Allah, they thought he was telling some thing strange and he said to them by there names, Oh Quraish! You know me if I told you that there was a army behind this mountain coming here to destroy you, would you believe me? They said yes we will believe you. Then he said “I am the messenger of Allah and you have the obligation to obey me”! Their response was that he is saying some thing strange. And so the Prophet (Pbuh) who was respected, who was trusted, who was loved, who was known by his people, even his uncles; that day he became a stranger (ghuraba). So those people who followed his message after him one by one, they were also well known whether they were slaves or free, whether they were rich or poor, whether they were black or white, whether they were Arab or non Arab, they were known, every one knew them. But one by one, when they choose to follow the Prophet (Pbuh), they too became strangers (ghuraba).

No one was more respected in Makah than Abubakr siddique. Every one knew him. But he too became a stranger. When Omar ibn khattab, the patriot among the arabs, the patriot among the Quraish, the man who was willing to kill Prophet (Pbuh) just because of his feeling of khaomiyah, he was willing to kill. But on that day, when he went to kill Prophet (Pbuh) he too became a stranger that very day. And we go on to the strangers, these are the people whom, we Muslims, the strangers today, we have to connect our selves to those strangers (ghuraba), We have to connect our children to those strangers, because it is these strangers that established this deen, they are the ones who forged their path for this deen, they are the ones who made sacrifice for this deen, they are the ones who Allah is speaking about when he says in the Quran in Surah Bayinath “These are the people “razialllahu anhum Wa razu’an”. We Muslims because we are reading the news paper, because we are educated, because we are living in the west, because we are Arabs or Pakistani or Somali or Sudanai or Moroccan or Indian, because we Muslims have our own roots, we have our own families, our own love, because we watch the television and cinema and we go to schools and our neighbors and we live in the west and we live in Australia and UK and USA and India; we develop a love, a following, a support for another group of people and they are not the strangers, they are the strangers to the deen they are not the strangers of the deen.

The Messenger of Allah said there are three characteristic who so ever has them, has tasted halawatul imaan. The first is that a person loves Allah and his Messenger more than anybody else. So Allah mentions to us after a special incident that took place. He says in Surah  Mujadilah 58: 22 “You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred.”. So what is the asbabun nusul of this ayah. One day son of Abu bakar siddique RA, he came to his father after he became a Muslim and he said him “O father, I saw you at the battle field and I could have killed you but because of my love and respect for you, I could not do it”. And Abu Bakar siddique, he said to his son, “O my son, wallahi I never saw you, but if I had seen you, I would have killed you very easily for Allah because at that time you are among the kufar.” After this incident, Allah mentions this ayah for the love that Abu Bakar showed for Allah. This is the difference.

Today many Muslims here, you have relatives who are selling haram, doing haram, who live in your house and don’t pray and you don’t care, you say assalamalaikum how are you brother and you smile with them and drink coffee with them and smoke with them and listen to music and play dominos with them and you pass by them and greet as you greet any body else; But you don’t give them any Nasiha or advice. This is because you don’t have any love in your heart for Allah and his messenger. As the prophet mentioned the first Quality of imaan is to love Allah and his messenger more than anyone else. And so if we  love Allah and his messenger and if some one lives in our house and doesn’t pray and the are  Muslims; Every single day we will argue with them, we will talk to them, we will be at times even very rough with them, if they are our sons we will grab him as the Prophet (Pbuh) mentions in a hadith that if your son reaches the age of 7,  make him pray and when he reaches age of ten and if  he is lazy you beat him up a little bit, because that amount of admonishment will get fear of his father so if he develops fear of his father, maybe by the time he reaches the age of 14, 15, or 16; he will surely develop a fear of Allah. But if he has no fear of Allah when he is ten and he doesn’t fear his father, chances are that when he is big enough 13 .14 or 16,if his father grabs him he will fight with him because now he doesn’t fear or respect his father.

So now what’s happened to the Muslim community? They are living with there fathers and they are selling alcohol and drugs and there fathers are accepting that money because they cannot say nothing because they also lost there imaan. So Allah he warned us he said “Fear Allah and look what you sent forward for yourselves or tomorrow, that your sons that your daughters, you sent them and they come back and they forgot about Allah and you forgot about Allah, you did not forget his name, they did not forgot his name, they know Allah, they will say Allah and you will say Allah but you forgot the ahkam of Allah and they forgot the ahkam of Allah and because they forgot the ahkam of Allah, Allah caused them to forget there own legacy, there own identity, there own deen and so they become trash. You know and you see the trash all over the city, Muslim trash, Muslim Trash, they are Muslims, still there is the flame of Islam in them but they are sleeping, eating in the trash and they are bringing the trash back home, you know who they are and if some of them are here today, Alhamdulillah better for you to be here than any where else. The Prophet (Pbuh) said to one of his companion Abu zar “Ittakilla haisu ma kuntum, watbi asaiyyiah bil hasanah, tamhuha, wa khaliqeennas bi khulukhin hasanin”. “If you do a bad deed, then follow it with a good one that will wipe it out.” In case of doing haram or doing kabaer you have to make Taw bah, in case of saghaeer you have to do some good action like sadqa or fasting.

Dear Brothers and sisters, these strangers (ghuraba) are Abubakar siddique, Umar bin khattab, osman bin affwan, Ali bin abu talib, musab bin omer, Salaman alfarsi. Abu dhar gheefari, Bilal ibn rabba, Abdulllah ibn omar, sad ibn abiwaqas, Suhaib bin abiwaqas, Muad ibn jabal these are the names we should teach our children, they should be the heroes of our children not Micheal Jackson not Micheal Jordan, not the foot ball players or the basket ball players or the musicians which they are listening to every day or bollywood and Hollywood actors and actresses. Al Meaghdad  ibn omer, Said ibn amaar, Hamza ibn mutalib Abdullah ibn Masood, Hudaifa ibn jamal, Ammar ibn yassir, Obaida ibn asamad.

Subhanallah, if you and I took the time to read about just fifty of the companions of the Prophet (SAWS) the tabayeen ,at-batabayeen, just read about them and we learned just one or two line about each of them and we shut the television off for two or three hours a day and in place of that we just play a tape of them every day. We give to our children best food and we give them some money and we put it on the table put the money or food or nice gift on the table and tell them, after you have finished listening to this take that money and that gift and I have some more gifts which I will give you. Do that with them everyday for ninety days, that money you spent on them, the good food that you give them and the gift you give them; is an investment because now they will listen for ninety days, your children masahallah will have  a reference in mind. But if you did not make that investment, I will guarantee you something, some one else has given them some gifts and some one else has offered them good food and some one else will offer them lot of money for some other heroes. (You can read about 70 such heroes on this website here: http://peacepropagation.com/category/biographies)

We have to make the investment in the strangers (ghuraba). Osman bin masood  , Zaid bin haris ,Jaffar bin abi talib look at these people, tell your sons about Osama ibn zaid the sixteen year old boy whom the Prophet (Pbuh) said “There is none better than him except his father, so he appointed him as the ammer of a group, when Abu bakar siddique was living , Omar was living , Osman was living , Ali ibn abu talib was living and other companions of Prophet (Pbuh) were living, they were three times his age; but the Prophet (Pbuh) took that young boy and made him the commander of the army because he thought there was no one fit for job except his father ,and who was his father, Zaid bin haris, who had memorized the Quran directly from the Prophet (Pbuh). We need to tell them who Jaffar ibn abutalib was, the commander of the first muhajjirun,  those who went to habash, the prophet  hand picked him and sent them, those people to be their commander, to be their Amir and it was jaffar who spoke to the najashi, touched his heart and later on it was Jaffar who convinced him to become a Muslim, the king of a country and we know that he  became a muslim because when the prophet came to know that he died, he stood and he made salat ul janaza for him.

O Muslims! Khalid ibn walid, Ghaiyse ibn saad ibn  obaida .omaer ibn wahab. Abuzhaar ibn darda, talaha ibn obaidullah ,tell them about abu zhaar al ghefari that man Muhammad PBUH) said “Abu zar will walk alone and Abu zaar will die alone and Abu zaar will be raised on the day of judgment  alone not because he did something wrong but because Allah distinguished him that way”. Abu zaar, who was the worst of criminals, who used to lay down traps in different places to rob people,who was known and his people were known; but yet when Abuzar became a Muslim, he was the person, the  prophet said  “The believers are like mines of gold and silver, the best of them in the Jahiliyah will become the best of them in the day of Islam if they believe, if they believe and look at abu zaar when he became a Muslim. He said “ya rasullah I will go today to the haram and I will tell them la iiiaha illal lah Muhammad rasullah”. The prophet said “don’t say that they will beat you”. He said “I don’t care and I will do it and Abu zaar went to the haram and he faced them and he told them by their names, “I am Abu zaar and I say la illah ha illlal lah Muhammad rasulllah and asked who doesn’t like it?” and they jumped on him and beat him till they knocked him down and when he got his conscious he stood again and declared shada and they beat him up and knocked him down and he continued to do that until the prophet commanded Abu zaar to leave Makah because he knew they will kill him and abu zaar left and next time he came back, he came back with his entire tribe, all of them saying la illlaha illallah Muhammad rasulllah. This was abu zaar.

On the other hands look at us Muslims, we are Muslims for 20 yrs or 50 yrs old and we have not given a single shahada in the place where we live, we did not give one, because we say my family is Muslim, my father is Muslim, my grand father is Muslim, my great great grand father is a Muslim, Mashallah, but you don’t say it to the kafir who you work with and you don’t say it to the kafir you go to school with and you don’t say it to the non Muslim who enters your store with which you do business, you don’t say it to your neighbor who is a Non Muslim what Abu zaar said that is “la  illlaha illallah Muhammad rasulllah”, you don’t share the treasure of Islam with anyone.

The prophet said “There are three things who so ever has them, has tasted the sweetness of faith. First is that person loves Allah and his messenger more than all else. Second is that he/she loves a person only for the sake of Allah, he/she loves a person not because he is my country man, not because he is my family, not because I know him very well not because we hang together, not because we watch T.V together, not because we do business together, no we love a person because what? For the sake of Allah and you hate a person for, the sake of Allah. And third, you hate going back to kufur as you hate being driven in to a fire.

So when a Muslim thinks of the act of kufr (Read What is Kufr), because here it doesn’t mean to become a kafir but it means to do an act of kufr, so when the act of kufur, when you think of it, you think the fire is next to you and some one is pushing you in to it then, you know you have imaan. But if the idea of fawahish comes in to your mind and nothing comes inside of it you don’t have imaan. If you lied to earn money, the prophet never lied to earn money. If you steal from a kafir simply because he is a kafir any ways, then you don’t have Imaan. Because the prophet never stole from the kafir because if it was legitimate to steal from the kafir, he would have taken the money that he was holding for the Quraish, it was the money which the people of Quraish had given the prophet money,  trust and even they were hating him and his message, even though they were fighting him against his message, even though they were killing and torturing his followers and even though they had plotted to come to his house and kill him, not one time did they come to him and say, give me back my money. He was holding the money for them and the reason why he left Ali ibn Abi Talib in his bed, when they came they saw that Ali(R.A) could give them the money which he was holding, which belong to them. So if it was lawful for rasullah to take some money from the kafirs because they were kafirs, that was a good time to take, it but he did not because he was al ameen.

O Muslims! We must be willing and courageous to be strangers (ghuraba), being a stranger will result in change. People will change, simply because you start to practice, you begin to pronounce, you begin to establish your self around them as a Muslim. If you work for some Non Muslim and your name is Abdul rab; you tell him your name is Robbie. You open a store, your name is Haaris and you say my name is harry because you want to have a good relationship with them and you feel that being Muslim, you cannot have good relation with them, hence you hide your identity. Then one day you wake up, and you tell them, No! My name is not harry, my name is haaris so in fact my whole name is Muhammad haaris therefore don’t call me harry any more! They would say “No! we will call you harry we don’t care otherwise, we go to another store.” so you say “go to another store, I don’t care”. This happens because you woke up and you want to respect Allah,  you want to respect Muhammad, you want to respect this deen so there will be change in the attitude. If you work with a non Muslim and because you really don’t want to disturb them and you don’t want to create any problems with them, you don’t pray Zuhur, you don’t pray Asar,  you don’t pray Jummah. And when you do this, they will say “Abdullah is a moderate Muslim, I don’t know why the rest of the Muslims are not like Abdullah, the others are extreme, they grow their beard long, they wear these cloths and they got to go on Friday and they got to be praying on the job, these are extremist; but Abdullah he is a good guy he doesn’t do all that, he is a moderate Muslim; that’s why we like him”.

Now when one day Allah gives Abdullah Hidayah, He wakes up. And when at 12:30 every body goes for lunch, they say “come abdullah, join us for lunch”, he would reply “No I am going up stairs for prayer”. They say “what’s wrong with you abdullah!” Friday comes and abdullah leaves at 11:00 am, they say “were are you going?”. He replies “I am going for jummah”. And he says Allah said “ya ayuhal lazeena amanu noori as salatu alal jummah fasal zikarullah” and he translates the meaning to them. He further says “if you want to fire me, Fire me if you want me, I will do night shift, I will do mid-night shift, I will work on holidays, I will work Saturdays, I will work Sundays, I will work double shifts, any time; But jummah is Allah’s time, See you!”.

A couple of months later he grows a full beard, and they start telling “O abdullah, what’s happened to you, you are looking like Osama bin laden, you are looking like these Qaeda guys, what’s gone in to you, you have become extremist!”. Abdullah replies “I did not become extremist, I haven’t joined any group like that, this is the sunnah of prophet if you don’t like it I don’t care”. May be they will respect Abdullah even more going forward. Until he does that, he doesn’t realize that he is thinking that may be if he just goes around with them they will like it. No! they will not be satisfied with you abdullahs, muhammads or any other Muslims, until you leave this deen. And even when you leave this deen, they will still not be satisfied with you and they will say “I know you changed your religion but you are still a Muslim”. They will still not respect you. So the only respect we should look for is the respect of Allah. You will lose some money, you will lose some association, you will lose some people and even some family members will start telling you “why are you dressing like that, why are you getting up early in the morning disturbing us?”. And when we ask our own Muslims to bring themselves on the path of Allah, they say “it is not your business”. And this is what we have become. We have become big people, we have money, we got big name, we got big money, we got big house, we got big family, we also got big kebriya and we don’t have to come to the masjid, you see, we can just stay home. The only thing we have not become is a Muslim.

We must be willing and courageous to be strangers because those who are at the masjid at fajr and those who pray and leave there houses for isha at night to get the benefit of the 27 ajar, they are strangers too. We must be willing to be strangers and when we become a stranger, it will affect our livelihood because people misunderstand you and it will some times make you doubt you’re self. Why am I losing my friends? how come my wife wants a divorce, she is telling me I have become an extremist.

There is this case of a sister, she doesn’t cover herself she wears lipstick on the street, she wears perfume and she walks with the men and her husband likes her that way. And one day she wakes up and she wears niqab, she put her full cloths on, no more lipstick, no more perfume, she is not talking to the men, she is not working any more because she understands that she needs to keep her hayah, to keep her self she stays at home and her husband tells her “what happened to you”? she says “yesterday I read an ayah from the Quran, I read a hadith from the prophet and it made me cry to think about my religion and I am not doing it  no more”. So he says “Then I don’t want you, you have become an extreme!” so now she has become a stranger! Alhamdulilah if he leaves her, we ask Allah to give her another stranger to give her some one else who is also a stranger because strangers belong with strangers. It will challenge your Imaan will challenge your commitment, the issue of deen it distinguishes father to son, it distinguishes mother to daughter, the deen came to distinguish individuals from family, to separate families from the tribes and to separate tribes from the nation on the basis of what? Deen.  The prophet said “alaeku  wadeen wa sunnatu khulfa wa rasheeden wa mehdaen wadu ilahim bin nawajir”, hold on to them your teeth not front teeth but back teeth. Belief, commitment, sacrifice, knowledge, obedience fear of Allah, consistency, courage, steadfastness, loyalty,  respect, love for each other, brotherhood, discipline, patience, support and cooperation! These are the characteristics of strangers (ghuraba).

If we listen to the ayahs whom Allah gave to them (strangers), all of these ayahs were calling them to these characteristics. Imaan, sacrifice, knowledge ,obedience, love for each other, the prophet said “the strangers have love for each other”. So Allah says in one of the hadith us qudassi that those who love each other for my sake this day I will give them shade, the day there will be no shade except my shade. Oh Muslims brothers and sisters you and I we should want to be strangers, we want to be a part of the return, the strangers and we should realize that no matter what the non Muslims do , no matter what they do to blow out and extinguish the light of Allah by blowing with there mouths meaning there television, there cinema, there news paper,there books, there radio, whatever they do against Islam, the lies, the misconception what ever they do to wipe out Islam; they will never wipe Islam because Allah will perfect his light and he will perfect it through the strangers.

We pray that Allah make you and I strangers , we pray that Allah give our sons and daughters love for the strangers (ghuraba). We ask Allah that our sons and daughters who have taken of there cloths and go out in the jahiliyah world, who are selling drugs,  who are in the clubs, who have went astray, we pray Allah that they will come back to become strangers. When the Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and when the Muslims where ever they are, when they come out for prayers in the masjid as strangers then Allah will give them back there earth, there kuwa back to them,  because Islam then will be back. You should not ask for the reward of the strangers if you are not acting like the strangers and as long as the kufaar whom you associate at your jobs, in your neighborhood as soon as they like you, it should alert you as to why they like you. If the like you because you follow Islam properly, then well and good. If not, then there are things to change in yourself.

O Muslims! One of the most powerful thing that Allah gave strangers that made us Muslims one of the most powerful thing Allah gave to the strangers was and is the issue of Dawah (illal lah). You and I have the power in our mouth, we have the power in our chest, we have the power in our mind, we have more power more than any other bomb in this entire world. Yes the kufaar, they have neutron bomb, they have the hydrogen bomb, they have the atom bomb, they got this bomb and that bomb and they will blow every thing on this earth  but Allah did not give them the bomb that will allow the heart to explode but Allah gave us that bomb to us. It is the D bomb, the dawah bomb, it is the bomb that will not explode any buildings, it is the bomb that brakes no bones, it’s the bomb that doesn’t harm any one, rather it is the bomb that penetrates minds and hearts and causes people to explode inside and become strangers. You and I carry the bomb with us every day but we are talking about another bomb, we are reacting to the other bomb because we are fearing some one else beside the Allah. Allah has told us that the Izaath is for him Maan yata shahu wa uzilu manta yashaoo it belongs to Allah.

O Muslims make dua, ask Allah, come back to the deen and your respect will come to you, come back to the deen and all your power will come back to you, ask Allah and he will answer you. Teach your children about the strangers and you yourself learn about them!

- by Imran Ali (President – PPC)

The Muslim starts his day with suhoor before Fajr prayer. It is better to delay suhoor until the latest possible time of the night.

Then after that the Muslim gets ready for Fajr prayer before the adhaan. So he does wudoo’ at home and goes out to the mosque before the adhaan.

When he enters the mosque, he prays two rak’ahs (tahiyyat al-masjid – greeting the mosque). Then he sits and keeps busy making du’aa’, or reading Qur’aan, or reciting dhikr, until the muezzin gives the call to prayer. He repeats what the muezzin says, and says the du’aa’ narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to be said after the adhaan ends. Then after that he prays two rak’ahs (the regular Sunnah of Fajr), then he occupies himself with du’aa’ and reading Qur’aan until the iqaamah for prayer is given. He is in a state of prayer so long as he is waiting for the prayer.

After offering the prayer in congregation, he recites the dhikrs that are prescribed following the salaam at the end of the prayer. After that if he wants to sit in the mosque until the sun has risen, reciting dhikr and reading Qur’aan, that is preferable, and that is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do after Fajr prayer.

Then about one-quarter of an hour after the sun has risen, if he wants he can pray Duha prayer (a minimum of two rak’ahs), and that is good. Or if he wants he can delay it until the preferred time, which is when the day has grown hotter and the sun is higher in the sky – that is better.

Then if he wants he may sleep to prepare himself for going to work, and he can intend by sleeping to strengthen himself for worship and earning a living, so that he will be rewarded for it in sha Allah. He should also follow the etiquette of sleep that is prescribed in sharee’ah, both actions and words.

Then he goes to work, and when the time for Zuhr prayer comes, he goes to the mosque early, before the adhaan or immediately after it, and he should get ready to pray beforehand. So he prays four rak’ahs with two tasleems (the regular Sunnah before Zuhr), then he keeps busy reading Qur’aan until the iqaamah for prayer is given, and he prays with the congregation, then he prays two rak’ahs (the regular Sunnah after Zuhr).

Then after the prayer he goes and finishes whatever of his work is left, until it is time to leave work. If there is a long time to go after finishing his work until the time for ‘Asr prayer, then he can rest. But if there is not enough time and he fears that if he sleeps he will miss ‘Asr prayer, then he should keep busy doing something suitable until the time for ‘Asr comes, such as going to the market to buy some things that his family needs and the like, or going straight to the mosque when he has finished his work, and staying in the mosque until he has prayed ‘Asr.

Then after ‘As, it depends on his circumstances. If he can stay in the mosque and keep busy reading Qur’aan, this is a great opportunity. But if he feels tired, then he should rest at this time so that he will be ready to pray taraaweeh at night.

Before the adhaan for Maghrib, he should get ready to break his fast, and he should do something at this time that will benefit him, whether reading Qur’aan, making du’aa’, or having a useful conversation with his wife and children.

One of the best things that he can do at this time is to take part in offering iftaar to those who are fasting, whether by bringing food to them or helping to distribute it to them and organizing that. This brings a great joy which no one knows except those who have experienced it.

After iftaar, he goes and prays in congregation in the mosque, and after the prayer he prays two rak’ahs (the regular Sunnah of Maghrib). Then he goes back home and eats whatever is available – without eating too much. Then he looks for a suitable way for himself and his family to spend this time, whether reading a book of stories, or a book on practical rulings, or a quiz, or permissible conversation, or any other useful idea that is of interest to the members of the family and will distracts them from the haraam things that appear in the media which regard this as their prime time, so you find the media transmitting their most attractive programs at that time, that may contain immoral and obscene material. Strive to turn away from that, and fear Allaah with regard to your “flock” (i.e., your family) concerning whom you will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection, so be prepared to answer the questions.

Then get ready for ‘Isha’ prayer, go to the mosque and keep busy reading Qur’aan or listening to the lesson being given in the mosque.

Then after that perform ‘Isha’ prayer, then pray two rak’ahs (the regular Sunnah of ‘Isha’), then pray taraaweeh behind the imam with humility and focus, pondering the meanings of what is recited. Do not finish until the imam finishes. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever stands (and prays) with the imam until he finishes, it will be recorded as if he spent the night in prayer.” Narrated by Abu Dawood, 1370, and others. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Salaat al-Taraaweeh, p. 15.

Then after Taraaweeh you can make a program for yourself that is suited to your circumstances and personal commitments. But you should pay attention to the following:

Keeping away from all haraam things and whatever may lead to them.

Paying attention to ensuring that your family avoid falling into any haraam thing or whatever may lead to that, in a wise manner, such as preparing a program just for them, or taking them out for leisure trips to permissible places, or keeping them away from bad friends, or looking for good friends for them.

Keeping busy with things that take priority.

Then you should try to sleep early, whilst paying attention to the etiquette of sleep as prescribed in sharee’ah, both actions and words. If you read some Qur’aan or some beneficial books before going to sleep, that is something good, especially if you have not yet completed your daily portion of Qur’aan – so do not go to sleep until you have completed it.

Then wake up before suhoor, allowing enough time to recite du’aa’, because this time – the last third of the night – is the time when Allaah descends, and Allaah has praised those who seek His forgiveness at this time, and has promised those who call upon Him at this time that He will answer them, and that He will accept the repentance of those who repent to Him at this time. So do not neglect this great opportunity.

Friday

Friday is the best day of the week, so you should have a special program of worship on this day, in which you pay attention to the following:

Coming early to Jumu’ah prayer

Staying in the mosque after ‘Asr prayer, and keeping busy with reading Qur’aan and making du’aa’ until the last hour of this day, for that is a time when du’aa’s are answered.

Make this day an opportunity for completing some of your deeds that you did not finish during the week, such as completing your weekly portion of Qur’aan, or finishing reading a book or listening to a tape and other good deeds.

The last ten days of Ramadaan

The last ten days of Ramadaan include Laylat al-Qadr which is better than a thousand months. Hence it is prescribed for a person to observe i’tikaaf (“retreat” for the purpose of worship) in the mosque during these ten days, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do, seeking Laylat al-Qadr. Whoever can observe i’tikaaf at this time, this is a great blessing from Allaah.

Whoever cannot observe i’tikaaf for the entire period should do as much as he is able to

If he is not able to do i’tikaaf at all, then he should try to spend the nights in worship. Praying qiyaam, reading Qur’aan, remembering Allaah and making du’aa’. He should prepare for that by resting during the day so that he will be able to stay up at night.

Note: This program is just a suggestion. It is a flexible schedule that each person can adapt to his own circumstances.

This program pays attention to the Sunnahs that are proven from the Prophet (Pbuh). It does not mean that everything mentioned here is an obligatory duty, rather it includes many things that are Sunnah and mustahabb.

The most beloved of actions to Allaah are those which are continuous even if they are little. At the beginning of the month a person may be keen to do acts of worship, then he may slow down. Beware of that, and strive to persist in all the actions that you do in this blessed month.

The Muslim should strive to organize his time in this blessed month so that he will not miss out on a great opportunity to do more good and righteous deeds. For example, a person should try to buy all the things that the family needs before the month begins, and he should buy day-to-day needs at times when the stores are not crowded, and visits to friends and family should be organized in such a way that they do not distract from acts of worship.

Make doing lots of acts of worship and drawing closer to Allaah your priority in this blessed month

Resolve at the beginning of the month to go to the mosque early at the times of prayer, and to complete the Book of Allaah, and to regularly pray qiyaam al-layl in this great month, and to spend (in charity) what you can of your wealth.

Make the most of the opportunity that the month of Ramadaan brings to strengthen your connection to the Book of Allaah, by utilizing the following means:

Read the verses correctly. The way to do that is to have your reading corrected by someone who knows how to read well. If you cannot do that, then by listening to tapes of expert readers.

Revise what Allaah has enabled you to memorize, and memorize some more

Read the tafseer (commentary) on the verses, either by looking up the verses you do not understand in reliable books of tafseer such as Tafseer al-Baghawi and Tafseer Ibn Katheer and Tafseer al-Sa’di, or by making a program to read a book of tafseer. Start first with the thirtieth Juz’ (section) of the Qur’aan, then mover on to the twenty-ninth juz’, and so on.

Strive to apply the commands that you read in the Book of Allaah, Inshallah.

Hope this should help you realise the correct way of spending the day during Ramadaan!

But those who fear Allah are aware of the real nature of fasting in the month of Ramadaan, so they start to prepare from Sha’baan, and some of them even start before that. Among the best ways of preparing for the month of Ramadaan are:

Repenting Sincerely

This is obligatory at all times, but because of the approach of a great and blessed month, it is even more important to hasten to repent from sins between you and your Lord, and between you and other people by giving them their rights, so that when the blessed month begins you may busy yourself with acts of worship with a clean heart and peace of mind. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And all of you beg Allaah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful” [Al-Noor 24:31]

It was narrated from al-Agharr ibn Yasaar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O people, repent to Allaah for I repent to Him one hundred times each day.” [Narrated by Muslim (2702)]

Supplicating (Du’aa’)

It was narrated from some of the salaf that they used to pray to Allaah for six months that they would live until Ramadaan, then they would pray for five months afterwards that He would accept it from them.

The Muslim should ask his Lord to let him live until Ramadaan with a strong religious commitment and good physical health, and he should ask Him to help him obey Him during the month, and ask Him to accept his good deeds from Him.

Rejoicing at the approach of the blessed month

The arrival of Ramadaan is one of the great blessings that Allaah bestows upon His Muslim slave, because Ramadaan is one of the occasions of good in which the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are closed. It is the month of the Qur’aan and of decisive battles in the history of our religion.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Say: ‘In the Bounty of Allaah, and in His Mercy (i.e. Islam and the Qur’aan); —therein let them rejoice.’ That is better than what (the wealth) they amass” [Yoonus 10:58]

Discharging the duty of any outstanding obligatory fasts

It was narrated that Abu Salamah said: I heard ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) say: I would owe fasts from the previous Ramadaan and I would not be able to make them up except in Sha’baan. [Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1849) and Muslim (1146)]

Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: From her keenness to do that in Sha’baan it may be understood that it is not permissible to delay making them up until another Ramadaan begins.  Fath al-Baari (4/191).

Seeking knowledge in order to be able to follow the rulings on fasting and to understand the virtues of Ramadaan.

Hastening to complete any tasks that may distract the Muslim from doing acts of worship.

Sitting with one’s family members – wife and children – to tell them of the rulings on fasting and encourage the young ones to fast.

Preparing some books which can be read at home or given to the imam of the mosque to read to the people during Ramadaan.

Fasting some of the month of Sha’baan in preparation for fasting Ramadaan.

It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to fast until we said: He will not break his fast, and he used not to fast until we said: He will not fast. And I never saw the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) complete a month of fasting except Ramadaan, and I never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha’baan. [Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1868) and Muslim (1156)]

It was narrated that Usaamah ibn Zayd said: I said: O Messenger of Allaah, I do not see you fasting in any month as you fast in Sha’baan? He said: “That is a month that people neglect between Rajab and Ramadaan, but it is a month in which people’s deeds are taken up to the Lord of the Worlds and I would like my deeds to be taken up when I am fasting.”

Narrated by al-Nasaa’i (2357); classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.

This hadeeth explains the wisdom behind fasting in Sha’baan, which is that it is a month in which deeds are taken up (to Allaah). Some of the scholars mentioned another reason, which is that this fasting is like Sunnah prayers offered beforehand in relation to the obligatory prayer; they prepare the soul for performing the obligatory action, and the same may be said of fasting Sha’baan before Ramadaan.

Reciting & Reading Qur’aan

Salamah ibn Kuhayl said: It was said that Sha’baan was the month of the Qur’aan readers. When Sha’baan began, ‘Amr ibn Qays would close his shop and free his time for reading Qur’aan.

Abu Bakr al-Balkhi said: The month of Rajab is the month for planting, the month of Sha’baan is the month of irrigating the crops, and the month of Ramadaan is the month of harvesting the crops.

He also said: The likeness of the month of Rajab is that of the wind, the likeness of Sha’baan is that of the clouds and the likeness of Ramadaan is that of the rain; whoever does not plant and sow in Rajab, and does not irrigate in Sha’baan, how can he reap in Ramadaan? Now Rajab has passed, so what will you do in Sha’baan if you are seeking Ramadaan? This is how your Prophet and the early generations of the ummah were in this blessed month, so what will you do?

How can we prepare for Ramadaan?

We can prepare for Ramadaan by taking stock of ourselves and recognizing our shortcomings in living up to the Shahaadatayn, or our shortcoming in fulfilling our duties, or our shortcomings in not keeping away from the desires and doubts that we may have fallen into…

We should set ourselves straight so that in Ramadaan we will have a higher degree of faith. For faith increases and decreases. It increases through obedience to Allaah and it decreases through disobedience and sin. The first act of obedience that a person should achieve is that of being a true slave of Allaah and believing that there is none that is rightfully worshipped except Allaah, so he directs all kinds of worship to Allaah and does not associate anyone else in worship with Him. Each of us should realize that whatever has befallen him could not have missed him, and whatever missed him could not have befallen him, and that everything happens by the will and decree of Allaah.

We should avoid everything that could undermine our commitment to the Shahaadatayn. This means keeping away from bid’ah (innovations) and things that have been introduced into the religion. We should also follow the principle of al-walaa’ wa’l-bara’ (loyalty and friendship vs. disavowal and enmity), by taking the believers as our friends and by regarding the kaafirs and hypocrites as enemies, and we should rejoice when the Muslims gain a victory over their enemies. We should follow the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his companions and adhere to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the way of the Rightly-Guided Khulafa’ who came after him. We should love the Sunnah and love those who adhere to it and defend it, in whatever country they are and whatever colour or nationality they are.

We should take stock of ourselves and recognize our shortcomings in doing acts of worship such as praying in congregation, remembering Allaah (dhikr), paying attention to the rights of neighbours, relatives and the Muslims, spreading the greeting of salaam, enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, urging one another to follow the truth and be patient and steadfast in doing so, being patient in avoiding evil actions and in doing good deeds, and accepting the decree of Allaah with patience.

We should take stock of ourselves and our sins and our following whims and desires. We should stop ourselves from persisting in that, whether the sin is great or small, whether it is a sin of the eye, by looking at that which Allaah has forbidden; or by listening to music; or by walking to things of which Allaah does not approve; or by using one’s hands to srike in a manner with which Allaah is not pleased; or by consuming things that Allaah has forbidden such as riba (usury) and bribes, or any other means of consuming people’s wealth unlawfully.

We should never forget that Allaah stretches forth His hand during the day to accept the repentance of those who sinned at night, and He stretches forth His hand at night to accept the repentance of those who sinned during the day. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And march forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Lord, and for Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for Al-Muttaqoon (the pious). Those who spend (in Allaah’s Cause) in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allaah loves Al-Muhsinoon (the good‑doers). And those who, when they have committed Faahishah (illegal sexual intercourse) or wronged themselves with evil, remember Allaah and ask forgiveness for their sins; — and none can forgive sins but Allaah — and do not persist in what (wrong) they have done, while they know. For such, the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing underneath (Paradise), wherein they shall abide forever. How excellent is this reward for the doers (who do righteous deeds according to Allaah’s Orders)” [Al ‘Imraan 3:133-136]

“Say: “O ‘Ibaadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily, Allaah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful” [Al-Zumar 39:53]

“And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allaah’s forgiveness, he will find Allaah Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful” [Al-Nisa’ 4:110]

By taking stock, repenting and seeking forgiveness, this is how we should welcome Ramadaan. “The smart man is the one who takes stock of himself and strives to do that which will benefit him after death, and the helpless one is the one who follows his own whims and desires and engages in wishful thinking, (assuming that Allaah will forgive him regardless of what he does and that he does not need to strive to good deeds).”

The month of Ramadaan is the month of great gains and profits. The smart trader is the one who makes the most of special occasions to increase his profits. So make the most of this month by doing lots of acts of worship, praying a great deal, reading Qur’aan, forgiving people, being kind to others and giving charity to the poor.

In the month of Ramadaan the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are shut. The devils are put in chains and a caller cries out each night, O seeker of good, proceed, O seeker of evil, desist.

So, O slaves of Allaah, be among the people of good, following the path of your righteous forebears who were guided by the Sunnah of your Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), so that we may end Ramadaan with our sins forgiven and our righteous deeds accepted.

We should note that the month of Ramadaan is the best of months.

Ibn al-Qayyim said: Another of example of that – i.e., of the differentiation between the things that Allaah has created – is the fact that the month of Ramadaan is superior to all other months, and the last ten nights are superior to the other nights.”  Zaad al-Ma’aad, 1/56

This month is superior to others in four things:

1 – In it there is the best night of the year, which is Laylat al-Qadr. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, We have sent it (this Qur’aan) down in the Night of Al‑Qadr (Decree). And what will make you know what the Night of Al‑Qadr (Decree) is? The Night of Al‑Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months (i.e. worshipping Allaah in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months, i.e. 83 years and 4 months). Therein descend the angels and the Rooh [Jibreel (Gabriel)] by Allaah’s Permission with all Decrees, (All that night), there is peace (and goodness from Allaah to His believing slaves) until the appearance of dawn” [Al-Qadar 97:1-5]

So worship on this night is better than worshipping for a thousand months.

2 – In this month was revealed the best of Books to the best of the Prophets (peace be upon them). Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’aan, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong)” [al-Baqarah 2:185]

“We sent it (this Qur’aan) down on a blessed night [(i.e. the Night of Al‑Qadr) in the month of Ramadan — the 9th month of the Islamic calendar]. Verily, We are ever warning [mankind that Our Torment will reach those who disbelieve in Our Oneness of Lordship and in Our Oneness of worship]. Therein (that night) is decreed every matter of ordainments.As a Command (or this Qur’aan or the Decree of every matter) from Us. Verily, We are ever sending (the Messengers)”
[al-Dukhaan 44:3-5]

It was narrated by Ahmad and by al-Tabaraani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer that Waathilah ibn al-Asqa’ (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The Scriptures of Ibraaheem were sent down on the first of the month of Ramadaan. The Tawraat was sent down on the sixth of Ramadaan. The Injeel was sent down on the thirteenth of Ramadaan. The Zaboor was sent down on the eighteenth of Ramadaan, and the Qur’aan was sent down on the twenty-fourth of Ramadaan.

Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1575.

3 – In this month the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are shut, and the devils are chained up.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When Ramadan comes, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are put in chains.” (Agreed upon).

Al-Nasaa’i narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When Ramadaan comes, the gates of mercy are opened and the gates of Hell are shut, and the devils are put in chains.”

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 471.

Al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Maajah and Ibn Khuzaymah narrated in one report: “When the first night of the month of Ramadaan comes, the devils and rebellious jinn are chained up and the gates of Hell are closed, and not one gate of it is opened. The gates of Paradise are opened and not one gate of it is closed. And a caller cries out: ‘O seeker of good, proceed; O seeker of evil, desist. And Allaah has those whom He redeems from the Fire, and that happens every night.”

Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 759.

If it is asked, how come we see many evil actions and sins committed in Ramadaan, for if the devils are chained up that would not happen?

The answer is that evil actions become less for those who observe the conditions and etiquette of fasting;

or that the ones who are chained up are some of the devils – namely the rebellious ones – not all of them;

or that what is meant is that evil is reduced in Ramadaan, which is a proven fact. If evil happens at this time, it is still less than at other times. Even if all of them (the devils) are chained up, that does not necessarily mean that no evil or sin will happen, because there are other causes of that besides the devils, such as evil souls, bad habits and the devils among mankind. Al-Fath, 4/145

4 – There are many kinds of worship in Ramadaan, some of which are not done at other times, such as fasting, praying qiyaam, feeding the poor, i’tikaaf, sadaqah, and reading Qur’aan.

I ask Allaah, the Exalted, the Almighty, to help us all to do that and to help us to fast and pray qiyaam, and to do acts of worship and to avoid doing evil. Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds.

Humor and joking are permitted in Islam. We learn this from several ahadith of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Abu Huraira radi allahu anhu said that the Prophet peace be upon him was told, “O Prophet of Allah, you are joking with us.” He said, “I only say what is true.” (Tirmidhi) Another Hadith relates that the Prophet would nickname Zainab bint Salama by repeatedly calling her ‘O Zuweinab’.

Other ahadith relate that the Prophet peace be upon him would play and joke with small children. Thus we see that joking is a Sunnah. Sufyan ibn Aiyna was asked, “Is joking prohibited?” He replied, “It is a Sunnah, but the point is that it must be done appropriately.” Many of the scholars agree. Umar said, “I admire a man who is like a child with his family (playful), and once he leaves them, he is more serious.” Thabit ibn Ubaid said, “Zayd ibn Thabit was one of the most humorous men in his home. Outside of his home, he was as serious as any man.” It is also related that Ibn Abbas asked some of his guests to have light and humorous conversation so that they would have a good time and not feel bored. Rabi’a said, “Virtue is made of six parts, three while in town (at the place of your home) and three while on journey. The first three are reciting the Qur’an, frequently being at the mosque, and spreading the way of Allah to other lands. The other three parts while traveling are spending, showing virtuous behavior and joking in what Allah has permitted.” Ibn Abbas said, “Joking appropriately is permissible. For the Prophet joked but he said what was true.” Al ibn Ahmad Al Faraheedi said, “People would feel imprisoned if they did not joke”

On the other hand, some of the scholars have prohibited joking and they are supported by some ahadith. It is related that the Prophet said, “Do not be vague with others and do not joke.” (Tirmidhi) Another Hadith states that the Prophet said, “Everything has a beginning and hostility begins with joking.” Ja’far ibn Muhammad said, “Beware of joking for it causes embarrassment.” Ibrahim Al Nakh’I said, “Joking shows foolishness and arrogance.” Imam ibn Abdul Bar said, “Some of the scholars denounced joking for what it causes of offenses, spite and malice between people.”

So how are we to compromise between these two views? Al Hafeth said, “What is prohibited is exaggerated or continuous joking as it distracts from worship of Allah and being serious about religious matters. This often leads to hardheartedness, envy and loss of respect. Useful joking, which aims to calm people or entertain or relieve them for a short time is permissible.”

Types of Joking

According to ibn Hayan, there are two types of joking. The first is preferred and defined as, “That which Allah has permitted, which commits no sin and does not lead to separation between people.” The second is the negative harmful kind, which is defined as, “Causes hostilities and sadness, and creates disrespect amongst people.” Outlining some of the benefits and harms of joking is beneficial in that it entertains, lifts the spirit and lightens the burdens of life, bringing people closer together. In describing this kind of joking, a man wrote, “Such humor does not hurt or criticize anyone. It leads a person from sadness to happiness, ceases the frown an allows people to relax and be themselves.” Joking defeats its purpose when it separates people, causes hostilities and envy between them.

Guidelines for Humor

• Joking should not deviate from the truth. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said, “I only say what is true.”

• Joking should not become consistent in a person’s manner, for seriousness is also a virtue. Muhammad ibn Ar Rashid said, “The issues of Islam are more serious than to be dealt with jokingly. Smiling, joking, relaxing and laughing are certainly welcome at appropriate times and places. But at times of work, seriousness is called for.

• Bad language or reference to improper topics of conversation may not be subject of jokes.

• Joking must be at the appropriate time and place. Dr Adel Shuweikh said, “Humour is most welcome after the Fajr prayer. He is supported by what has been related by Sammak ibn Harb, “I asked Jaber ibn Samra if he spent time with the Prophet and he said, “Yes, the Prophet would often not leave the mosque after the Fajr prayer until the sun rose. They would be laughing and he would be smiling.” (Muslim).

He also said, “Another time for making light was after the ‘Isha prayer. Humour is permitted with family uncles and siblings. It is more preferred if it serves the purpose of advice and guidance, or if it creates friendship and warmth between people.” It is up to the person to decide whether the time is right for humour.

Thus it can be seen that it is the topic of humor and its effects, which determine whether or not it is permissible by Islam. Imam Nawawi said, “Joking is prohibited when it is excessive and consistent. It becomes ineffective and causes the heart to harden. It distracts a person from worship of Allah and concern with religious issues. It often causes harm, envy and disrespect. If these elements are absent from a joke, then it is what is permissible by Islam. The Prophet would use humor to reach people and draw them together.”

In any case, being modest and natural will, much of the time, serve the same purpose as joking. This is useful for people whom jokes do not come naturally. It is good to always remember in mind that humor must have a purpose in order to be fruitful. Joking is like adding salt to food. It must be measured and we must remember that some people do not eat food with salt. In other words, it is in appropriate to joke with some people.

Ad-Dhahabi related that Khalaf ibn Salim said, “We were at Yazeed ibn Haroun’s and he made a joke. Ahmad ibn Hanbal cleared his throat, and Yazeed said, ‘Who cleared his throat?’ When he found out who it had been, he put his hand on his forehead and cried, ‘Why didn’t you tell me Ahmad ibn Hanbal was here so I would not joke?”

At other times, joking may cause you to lose dignity. It is said, “Do not joke with children to the extent that they lose respect for you.” Ibn Hayan said, “Whoever jokes with an inappropriate person will lose that person’s respect, even if what he is saying is true. One should be selective with whom he jokes.” Ibn Al Muqafa’ said, “One should separate his behavior between two groups of people. One group is made up of public. Here he should be serious and purposeful with every word he speaks. The other group is made up of people who are closer to him. With this group, he should be humorous and caring. Each of these behaviors will be beneficial and productive in the right place.”

Try to understand the people you deal with, in order to decide whether or not it is appropriate to joke with them. Such was the way of the Prophet, for he would not joke with all his friends. Here are a few points to keep in mind. Although it may seem common sense that we should be respectful when joking but many of us end up hurting someone’s feelings unintentionally. Humor is a great way to diffuse a bad situation, or ease an uncomfortable one but it must be used appropriately. Just as a knife is useful and necessary to prepare food, so it can cause you to bleed. Many people don’t realize it, but sarcasm is anger thinly veiled.

Points to remember

• Is this time right time to joke?

• Is this an appropriate person to joke with?

• Is this an appropriate topic to joke about?

• Is this the right place?

Also remember these points while joking

• Never criticize while joking.

• Do not impose jokes if they do not come naturally.

• Beware of excessive joking with certain individuals.

• Show respect to the person you are joking with, as the Prophet Muhammad did when he told a man he was joking with, “In the eyes of Allah you are great.”

• Monitor yourself when you are feeling humorous.

• Maintain good behavior with people who make a mistake when joking with you. Do not answer harshly or stare back.

• It is better not to joke with someone when you meet for the first time.

We must be careful to maintain a Muslim code of behaviour and never harm another human through humiliation or insensitivity. While joking we should implement all the above-mentioned points and maintain a good Muslim personality.

The dome over the grave of the Prophet (Pbuh) dates back to the seventh century AH. It was built during the reign of Sultan Qalawoon, and at first it was the colour of wood, then it became white, then blue, then green, and it has remained green until the present.

Professor ‘Ali Haafiz (may Allaah preserve him) said: There was no dome over the sacred chamber. There was in the roof of the mosque above the chamber a waist-high enclosure of brick to distinguish the location of the chamber from the rest of the mosque’s roof.

Sultaan Qalawoon al-Saalihi was the first one to build a dome over the chamber. He did that in 678 AH. It was square at the bottom and octagonal at the top, made of wood, and built on top of the pillars that surrounded the chamber. Planks of wood were nailed to it, over which plates of lead were placed, and the brick enclosure was replaced with one made of wood.

The dome was refurbished at the time of al-Naasir Hasan ibn Muhammad Qalawoon, then the leaden plates slipped, but they were fixed and refurbished at the time of al-Ashraf Sha’baan ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad in 765 AH. It fell into disrepair and was renovated at the time of Sultaan Qayit Bey in 881 AH.

The chamber and dome were burned in the fire that swept through the Prophet’s mosque in 886 AH. During the reign of Sultaan Qayit Bey the dome was rebuilt, in 887 AH, and strong pillars to support it were built in the floor of the mosque, and they were built of bricks to the correct height. After the dome had been built in the manner described above, cracks appeared in its upper part.  When it proved impossible to refurbish it,  the Sultaan Qayit Bey ordered that the upper part be demolished and rebuilt strongly using white plaster. So it was built solidly in 892 AH.

In 1253 AH, an order was issued by the Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-Hameed to paint the dome green. He was the first one to colour it green, and the colour has been renewed whenever necessary until the present.

It became known as the green dome after it was painted green. It was previously known as the white dome or the fragrant dome or the blue dome.  [Fusool min Tareekh al-Madeenah al-Munawwarah by ‘Ali Haafiz (p. 127, 128)]

Rulings thereon

The scholars, both in the past and in modern times, criticized the building of this dome and its being given a colour. All of that is because of what they know of sharee’ah closing many doors for fear of falling into shirk.

These scholars include the following:

1 – al-San’aani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Ta-theer al-I’tiqaad:

If you say: A great dome has been built over the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), costing a great deal of money, I say: This is in fact great ignorance of the situation, because this dome was not built by him (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or by his Sahaabah or by those who followed them, or by those who followed the Taabi’een, or by the scholars and imams of the ummah. Rather this dome was built over his grave (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) on the orders of one of the later kings of Egypt, namely the Sultan Qalawoon al-Saalihi who is known as King Mansoor, in 678 AH, and was mentioned in Tahqeeq al-Nasrah bi Talkhees Ma’aalim Dar al-Hijrah. These are things that were done on the orders of the state and not on the basis of shar’i evidence. End quote.

2 – The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas were asked:

There are those who take the building of the green dome over the Prophet’s grave in the Prophet’s Mosque as evidence that it is permissible to build domes over other graves, such as those of the righteous and others. Is this argument correct or what should our response to them be?

They replied: It is not correct to quote the fact that people built a dome over the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as evidence that it is permissible to build domes over the graves of the righteous dead and others, because those people’s building a dome over his grave (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was haraam and those who did it sinned thereby, because they went against what is proven in a report from Abu’l-Hayaaj al-Asadi who said: ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allaah be pleased with him) said to me: Shall I not send you on the same mission as the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sent me? Do not leave any image without erasing it or any high grave without levelling it.

And it was narrated that Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade plastering over graves, or sitting on them or building over them. Both reports were narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh. So it is not correct for anyone to quote the haraam action of some people as evidence that it is permissible to do similar haraam actions, because it is not permissible to go against the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by citing the words or actions of anyone else. And because he is the one who conveyed the command from Allaah, and he is the one who is to be obeyed, and we must beware of going against his commands, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it)” [al-Hashr 59:7].

And there are other verses which enjoin obedience to Allaah and to His Messenger. And because building up graves and erecting domes over them are means that lead to associating their occupants with Allaah, and the means that lead to shirk must be blocked. [Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Qa’ood. Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (9/83, 84)]

3 – The scholars of the Standing Committee also said:

There is no proof in the fact that a dome was set up over the Prophet’s grave for those who take it as an excuse for building domes of the graves of the awliya’ (“saints”) and righteous people, because the building of a dome over his grave was not done on his instructions and was not done by any of his companions (may Allaah be pleased with them), or by the Taabi’een, or by any of the imams of guidance in the early generations whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) testified were good. Rather it was done by people of bid’ah (innovation). It was proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours that is not part of it will have it rejected.” And it was proven that ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) said to Abu’l-Hayaaj: Shall I not send you on the same mission as the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sent me? Do not leave any image without erasing it or any high grave without levelling it. Narrated by Muslim. As it is not proven that he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) built a dome over his grave, and it is not proven from any of the leading imams; rather what is proven shows that to be an invalid action, and no Muslim should feel any attachment to the action of innovators who built a dome over the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). [Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azzez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Qa’ood, Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (2/264, 265)]

4 – Shaykh Shams al-Deen al-Afghaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

al-‘Allaamah al-Khajandi (1379 AH) said, discussing the history of the green dome that was built over the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and explaining that it is an innovation that was done by some sultans and ignorant persons who erred and made a mistake, and that it is contrary to the clear saheeh ahaadeeth and reflects ignorance of the Sunnah, and that they went to extremes and imitated the Christians who are confused and misguided:

It should be noted that until the year 678 AH, there was no dome over the chamber which contains the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), rather it was built by the king al-Zaahir al-Mansoor Qalawoon al-Saalihi in that year (678 AH), when this dome was built.

I say: He did that because he had seen in Egypt and Syria the adorned churches of the Christians, so he imitated them out of ignorance of the command and Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), as al-Waleed imitated them by adorning the mosque, as was mentioned in Wafa’ al-Wafa’.

It should be noted that undoubtedly this action of Qalawoon was contrary to the saheeh ahaadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), but ignorance is a great calamity and exaggeration in love and veneration is a real disaster, and imitation of foreigners is a fatal disease. We seek refuge with Allaah from ignorance and exaggeration and imitation of foreigners. [Juhood ‘Ulama’ al-Hanafiyyah fi Ibtaal ‘Aqaa’id al-Qubooriyyah (3/1660-1662)]

The reason why it has not been demolished

The scholars have explained the shar’i rulings concerning the building of this dome and its obvious effects on the followers of bid’ah’ who have developed an attachment to this structure and its colour, and they praise and venerate it a great deal in their poetry and writings. Now it is up to the authorities to implement these fatwas, and this is nothing to do with the scholars.

The reason why it is not demolished is so as to ward off fitnah and for fear that it may lead to chaos among the ordinary people and the ignorant. Unfortunately the ordinary people have only reached this level of veneration towards this dome because of the leadership of misguided scholars and imams of innovation. They are the ones who incite the ordinary people against the land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries and its ‘aqeedah and its manhaj. They are very upset about many actions that are in accordance with sharee’ah in our view and contrary to innovation in their view.

Whatever the case, the shar’i ruling is quite clear, and the fact that this dome has not been demolished does not mean that it is permissible to build it or any dome over any grave, no matter what grave it is.

Shaykh Saalih al-‘Usaymi (Pbuh) said:  The fact that this dome has remained for eight centuries does not mean that it has become permissible, and being silent about it does not indicate approval of it or that it is permissible. Rather the Muslim authorities should remove it and put it back as it was at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). They should remove the dome and the adornments and engravings that are found in the mosques, above all the Prophet’s Mosque, so long as that will not lead to an even greater fitnah. If it would lead to an even greater fitnah, then the ruler should postpone the matter until he finds an opportunity for that.  [Bida’ al-Quboor, Anwaa’uha wa ahkaamuha (p. 253)]

When you go to the Qur’an and you read a verse from the Qur’an and you explain that verse without having the proper knowledge, without following the proper methodology, you might be and only Allah knows, actually following your own hawaa, following your own desires, you might be following an inspiration from the Shaytaan, you might be following dhann (conjecture), which Allah speaks about in many places in the Qur’an, or it might actually be some kind of inspiration from Allah , but most likely it is not the last case. And why is it not the last case? Because as we will talk about it later, you did not follow the proper methodology of talking about the Qur’an and if you did not follow a proper methodology of talking about the Qur’an, then you have committed a sin already. Just by talking about the Qur’an, without proper knowledge, by giving interpretation of the Qur’an, without proper knowledge, without proper background, without being qualified to do so, then you’ve already committed a sin. And since you are committing a sin, it is very unlikely in most cases that Allah will bless you through that sin to give you the right interpretation of the Qur’an.

When you say that Allah means this or Allah means that in a specific verse, you are actually speaking or saying something on behalf of Allah , you are actually speaking about Allah , and if you are speaking without knowledge, without ‘ilm, this is one of the greatest sins that you could commit.

In fact, Ibn ul Qayyim said that it is the greatest sin. Ibn ul Qayyim said that speaking about Allah without `ilm is the greatest sin that you could commit. He bases it on this verse:

“Qul innamaa harrama Rabbi-l-fawaahisha maa Dhahara minhaa wa maa batan, wal-ithma wal-baghya bi ghayri-l-haqq, wa an tushrikoo bi-Llaahi maa lam yunazzil bihi sultaanaa, wa an taqoolo ala-l-Laahi maa laa talamoon.”

“Say: The things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are al-Fawaahishah (great evil sins, every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.), whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppession, joining partners (in worship) with Allah for which He has given no authority and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.” [The Noble Qur'an, 7:33]

In discussing this verse, he says, first of all there are some sins which are haraam li-dhaatihi, forbidden due to their own evil nature, and (others which are) haraam li ghairihi, which are forbidden because they lead to some evil or have some evil in them.

And he said with respect to this verse, all of these four, they are haraam in dhaatihi, they are haraam in their own essence, because of the evil in them. Continuing his discussion, he said that Allah first mentions al-fawaahishah, and he says this is the least of the sins that He mentions, after that He mentions the sins of transpasses against the truth; this is a greater sin that the first one that Allah mentioned.

And then He mentioned making shirk, and finally He mentioned saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge. He is saying that Allah is going from from the lesser to the greater. And the reason he says is that this last sin of saying about Allah without ‘ilm, which is actually what you do when you make tafseer without the proper background, without the proper methodology, he says it involves and it includes many things even more than what committing shirk involves. He says it involves and it includes:

• Ascribing something falsely to Allah
• Changing or altering the religion of Allah
• Denying what He has confirmed or
• Confirming what He has denied,
• Affirming something declaring false or
• Declaring something false as true, and it also includes
• Supporting something that Allah dislikes or opposes,
• Supporting something that Allah dislikes or opposes, and
• Liking something that Allah dislikes.

In other words, when you are speaking without ‘ilm, in the religion, in things which are related to the religion, then in fact you are changing the religion of Allah. And in fact, if you continue what he wrote – this is right from “Madaarij us Saalikeen”, 1:372-3 – you find that in fact speaking without `ilm is actually the real source of all kufr and shirk.

He said, for example, the polytheists claim what they are worshiping instead of Allah was something to take them closer to Allah, so the cause of their shirk was saying something about Allah without `ilm, something they did not know about Allah.

Similarly today, the greatest kufr that we have nowadays, among Muslims, but especially among non-Muslims, is secularism and the basis for that is saying that Allah doesn’t really care about what we do in worldly affairs, or hasn’t really given us guidance for worldly affairs, or the Deen that He sent is not meant for daily affairs; all of this is speaking about Allah without knowledge.

So in fact, it is one of the greatest sins, and Ibn ul Qayyim even included that it is in fact the greatest sin. And he also mentioned that every bid’ah, every innovation, also is based on some statement that has no support from the Qur’an and Sunnah, in other words every bid`ah also is based on some statement which is actually made without `ilm.

To think about this point even further, about just going to the Qur’an, and saying, I am a believer I am pious, I can go to the Qur’an, and read the Qur’an, and get its own meaning, if there was any people in the history of mankind who could have said that – maybe we could accept this from them – would be the Companions of the Prophet (saw), for many reasons:

• They witnessed the revelation of the Qur’an itself,
• They witnessed the events it was referring to, they were living the events that it was referring to,
• The Qur’an was revealed in their language, the language of their time,
• Allah chose them to be the Companions of the Prophet (saw),
• and he described them as the best generation.

So if anyone could actually make that claim that he has such a pure heart and such a close relationship to Allah or such a good understanding of Islaam, that he can go to the Qur’an and interpret the Qur’an simply by what his heart tells him or what they used to call ra’ee (personal opinion) – after the Soofees it became “What the heart tells you,” but originally it was called ra’ee or personal opinion, it would be the Sahaaba, but if we go to the Sahaaba we see that what they understood and what they learned from the Prophet (saw) in fact is the complete opposite. What they learned is that it is absolutely forbidden to speak about the Qur’an without proper knowledge.

And they made such statements. For example, Abu Bakr one time said, “What earth would give me place to live and what sky would shade me if I should speak about the Qur’an with my opinion or by something I do not know.” And `Umar ibn al Khattaab, he also said, “Beware of using your opinion in religious matters.” And Ibn `Abbaas, the one who the Prophet (saw) made du`aa for him to understand the Qur’an, to get the understanding of the Deen, and to be given by Allah the ta`weel or the understanding of the Qur’an, he also said, “All that there is to follow and obey is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. Whoever makes any statement after these two according to his opinion, then I do not know if you’ll find among his good deeds or among his sins.”

This is the style of Ibn `Abbaas, that he made in many statements. Meaning that even if what you did was something good, looks like something good, you will find it among your sins. And at-Tirmidhee, in his Sunan, he said it has been related from some of the people of `ilm, people of knowledge, the Sahaaba of the Prophet (saw) and others, that they that they were very strict when it came to speaking about the Qur’an without `ilm.

- By Jamal Zarabozo

Economic Crisis

With the economic crisis hitting every part of world and making everyone including politicians, leaders, superpowers, decision makers run around to handle it, it is very important to understand this situation through the Islamic point of view. This crisis is a serious calamity has many implications and is very complex, because of which so much is being written about it from different point of view. Some important Shar’i aspects needs to be highlighted to explain the reasons for this crisis:

1. The crisis is real

Many major banks and financial institutions have collapsed; international stock markets have declined, trillions of dollars have evaporated, billions have disappeared from the financial markets, many countries in the world have hit rock bottom, millions have lost their wealth, be it in the form of shares, savings or investments; the investments of the American people in the stock markets have lost  $4 trillion. This crisis has become like a tsunami, striking the economies of many countries.

2. “the roof fell down upon them”

Economy and money are the main foundation of Western society, and when they were content with that and forsook the laws of Allaah, “Allaah struck at the foundation of their building, and then the roof fell down upon them, from above them, and the torment overtook them from directions they did not perceive” [al-Nahl 16:26].

What we are seeing today of large scale destruction is about to utterly destroy them. The economic structure that they boast about and think will protect them has become the cause of their turmoil and decline. The calamity has come to them from above and from below. They thought that their financial system was perfect but from that system has come that which they never expected. “and the torment overtook them from directions they did not perceive”.

3. “Say (to them), ‘It is from yourselves (because of your evil deeds)’” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:165]

Just as calamities and disasters have known, tangible causes, they also have spiritual causes. The fact that there are tangible causes does not contradict the fact that there are spiritual causes too. Oppression, transgression, sin, disobedience to Allaah and denying the rights of others are all causes of calamities befalling people at both individual and group levels, and even at the global level on occasion, as we are seeing in this crisis which involves calamities one after another.

“Evil (sins and disobedience to Allaah) has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned (by oppression and evil deeds)” [al-Room 30:41]

“And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much” [al-Shoora 42:30]

In the saheeh hadeeth it says: “When zina (fornication, adultery) and riba (usury, interest) appear in a town, then they have brought the punishment of Allaah upon themselves.” Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’ (679).

What has befallen the people is not a problem from heaven; rather it is a calamity that has befallen them because of their sin and what their own hands have wrought.

4. Allaah gives respite but does not forget

He gave them respite whilst they were dealing in riba and consuming it doubled and multiplied (cf. Aal ‘Imraan 3:130) and waging war against Him for so many years, until He punished them with shortness of crops and destruction, as He did with Pharaoh and his people before: “And indeed We punished the people of Fir‘awn (Pharaoh) with years of drought and shortness of fruits (crops), that they might remember (take heed)” [al-A’raaf 7:130].

The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah gives respite to the wrongdoer until, when He seizes him, He will not let him off.” Then he recited (interpretation of the meaning): “Such is the Seizure of your Lord when He seizes the (population of) towns while they are doing wrong. Verily, His Seizure is painful (and) severe” [Hood 11:102]. Agreed upon.

No one should think that Allaah in His exaltedness, might and power is leaving these people to wrong others and rebel (disobey Allaah) in the earth wrongfully (cf. Yoonus 10:23), disbelieving in Him and committing every major sin, then He will not send down His wrath and punishment.

5. The destiny of falsehood is to weaken and diminish

No matter how high it rises, there will come a day when it will inevitably be brought low. This is one of the laws of Allaah that never changes. “It is Allaah’s promise that nothing rises in this world but He will bring it down.” Al-Bukhaari, 2872.

The Westerners occupied the pinnacle of the global economy, and they said: “Who is stronger than us?” so Allaah brought them down from their financial fortresses and citadels, and instilled fear in their hearts and exposed the falseness of their claims.

6. Breaking of the stick of the Western world

The woodworm of riba and haraam financial conduct has eaten away the stick on which the Western world was leaning and giving the world the impression that it was strong and standing upright, when in fact it was leaning on a stick that was rotten from the inside so when it fell it became clear to the jinn and mankind, east and west, that the structure was hollow and the foundations were rotten and cannot be saved or restored. The German Minister of Finance, Peer Steinbrueck, stated: “The world will never go back to the way it was before the crisis.”

7. Allaah declares war on riba

“O you who believe! Fear Allaah and give up what remains (due to you) from Ribaa (from now onward) if you are (really) believers. And if you do not do it, then take a notice of war from Allaah and His Messenger …” [al-Baqarah 2:278-279]

This war is being manifested today in many ways: on hearts and minds, on abundance and prosperity, on wealth and power, happiness and peace of mind. It is a war of worries and fear, destroying and crushing as a result of this abhorrent riba-based system, that is still being waged until today, consuming everything in its path. Today they are affected by depression, anxiety, frustration and nervous breakdowns as a result of the financial crisis, to such an extent that the American psychologist Nancy Molitor said: “I have never in twenty years of practising this profession seen a day like this. The levels of anxiety break all records.”

It has reached a level where murders and suicides are taking place as a result of the pressure of this crisis.

8. “Allaah will destroy Riba” [al-Baqarah 2:276]

Destruction is both tangible and intangible. It takes away the blessing of wealth so that a person does not benefit from it, or it takes away the wealth altogether, as we have heard about the evaporation of $2 trillion in five days from the American pension funds. The crisis has led to the disappearance of sixteen banks, including the IndyMac bank which was controlling assets worth $32 billion and deposits worth $19 billion. In fact bankruptcy proceedings have been brought against seven major banks in Europe. Some analysts expect more than 110 banks could be closed down, with assets reaching around $850 billion, by the middle of next year.

9. The one who deals in riba will be punished in such a way that defeats his purpose

“And that which you give in gift (to others), in order that it may increase (your wealth by expecting to get a better one in return) from other people’s property, has no increase with Allaah” [al-Room 30:39]

In the saheeh hadeeth it says: “There is no one who deals in riba a great deal (to increase his wealth) but he will end up with little (i.e., his wealth will be decreased).” Narrated by Ibn Maajah and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani.

This has been proven to people in many ways, such as the ten richest people in Britain losing $40 billion; one of the major dealers in riba lost his wealth over a period of four months at a rate of $7 million per hour; in Russia the losses incurred by businessmen have reached almost $230 billion, which represented 62% of the total wealth of the rich Russians! How deep is the regret of such people!

10. When riba and gambling come together, it is a sign of doom and destruction

One of the results of this combination is that major American banks declared bankruptcy, such as Leman Brothers, Integrity, Washington Mutual; and the largest insurance company, AIG, which paid $11 billion in compensation, collapsed and incurred the greatest losses in its 90 year history. Between 2 and 3 million Americans are faced with the risk of losing their home because they are unable to pay monthly instalments. Despite these reports, some of those in whose hearts is a disease are asking us to insure our deposits against bankruptcy!

11. The result of greed

Greed, avarice, deceit and cheating in contracts, as well as misleading people and taking advantage of their need are all factors which have a clear effect on the crisis. Some of these banks went to extremes in lending more than 60 times their actual capital, out of greed and desire for more profit. Some of their newspapers have commented on this crisis by saying: Put the blame on greed.

12. Dangers of dealing with illusionary assets

The crisis has shown a great difference between the tangible sector involving goods, services and real products, and the modern financial derivatives such as electronic money, financial bonds, credit cards which are like illusionary money, and electronic funds which do not exist anywhere except in computer memories, and which gained their value from the banks’ guarantee of them. Once trust in the banks and financial institutions is lost, their value disappears.  What will they do after the astronomical figures of billions and trillions which were dancing across the screens of the stock exchanges evaporate?

13. The free economy and failure

This crisis is the greatest evidence of the failure of the theory of the free economy and leaving the door wide open so that the individual can do what he wants, without any limit or guidelines on his economic transactions, so that wealth may grow. This led to an increase of capital for one group in society, so the balance was tipped and the class system emerged, with consequences which are contrary to the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning): “in order that it may not become a fortune used by the rich among you” [al-Hashr 59:7].

Despite the so-called freedom, we find that their solution to the problem is interference of the state, with its authority, to nationalise the banks and financial institutions and pump money into buying assets, changing the system and limiting the freedom of owners in order to protect economic institutions from collapse.

14. Decline of capitalist principles

This crisis has exposed the failure of the capitalist system and its inability to achieve financial security, balance and social and economic justice between the various groups of society. How often the West boasted of its financial system and claimed that it was the most perfect ever achieved by mankind, to such an extent that Fukuyama said: “American society is the pinnacle of human perfection and human maturity, after which there is nothing.” Today Western leaders admit the failure of their financial system, and even describe it as worn out and worthless. The French President Sarkozy even said: We need to rebuild the global financial and currency system from the roots upwards. They called a summit in which the leaders of major nations met in order to set out a new global financial system before the end of the year.

15. Where are those who were deceived by this global economic system?

Those who thought that they had betaken themselves to a powerful support (cf. Hood 11:80)? They said: The global financial system is well built and cannot have any faults… then it became clear that they were following a mirage in which there is nothing real, and that they had been deceived by false appearances that did not deserve all this praise and commendation. There was great wisdom in the delay in its fall, which served as a trial and respite for the wrongdoers and those who were deceived by them, as well as exposing the hypocrites and those who were tempted by the systems of the non-Muslims.

16. Then were they confounded with shame (cf. al-Anbiya’ 21:65)

After going through the initial impact of the financial collapse, some hypocrites and capitalists emerged to defend their worn out financial system, claiming that the problem was not in the system, rather it was in poor application of it and the lack of some restrictions, and that there was no need to change it; rather it only needed some adjustments. This is stubbornness on the part of those who are not learning anything from events.

“And never came an Ayah from among the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord to them, but they did turn away from it” [Ya-Seen 36:46]

“Say: “Behold all that is in the heavens and the earth,” but neither Ayât nor warners benefit those who believe not” [Yoonus 10:101]

17. Dangers and harm of separating the economics from Islam

For a long time the hypocrites said that it was essential to separate between economy and religion, but implicitly they were saying what the people of Shu’ayb said: “ ‘O Shu‘aib! Does your Salaat (prayer) command that we give up what our fathers used to worship, or that we give up doing what we like with our property? Verily, you are the forbearer, right‑minded!’ (They said this sarcastically)” [Hood 11:87].

What does religion have to do with people’s personal conduct and how they deal with their wealth, their political, social and economic life, their method of production and ways of distribution? The crisis has shown us that the economy, if it is removed from shar’i rulings and principles, will wander in the darkness and lead to disasters and problems.

18. Shar’i financial principles are a safety valve for the economy

Because the people overlooked these shar’i principles in their financial dealings and transgressed the sacred limits of Allaah through lending and borrowing on the basis of riba, selling debts, illusionary transactions, selling before taking possession, selling things that they did not possess, deceitful and ambiguous transactions and dealing with gambling and insurance, that led to calamity and the collapse of their companies and banks. The size of the ill-fated financial derivatives which are the cause of doom in the world is more than $600 trillion.

19. A sound foundation leads to a sound structure

“Is it then he who laid the foundation of his building on piety to Allaah and His Good Pleasure better, or he who laid the foundation of his building on the brink of an undetermined precipice ready to crumble down, so that it crumbled to pieces with him into the fire of Hell. And Allaah guides not the people who are the Zalimoon [wrongdoers]” [al-Tawbah 9:109]

There can be no economy without the light of revelation, not as the hypocrites claim that “there can be no economy without banks and no banks without riba.”

20. A golden opportunity for da’wah

What has happened is to be regarded as a great opportunity for the followers of the Islamic economic system to explain that it is the only successful system that can achieve what the world needs. Westerners themselves have begun to realise this fact. The biggest economic newspaper in Europe has called for application of Islamic law in the economic field so as to escape from the clutches of the capitalist system which is behind the economic calamity that is overwhelming the world.

One of them even wrote, wondering: “Is Wall Street ready to embrace the principles of Islamic sharia?”

Sawati Taneja, a financial expert in Europe, said: “The financial crisis in America is giving a golden opportunity to Islamic economics which is opposed to usurious transactions.”

21. Readiness of political and financial systems to accept the Islamic system

After the system was opposed to it before, a book has recently been published by the Italian researcher Loretta Napoleoni, under the title Rogue Economics, in which she points out the importance of Islamic financing and says: “The Islamic banks can become a suitable alternative to Western banks.” Some Arab banks have started to think seriously about stopping many financial dealings that have an alien Western character, such as selling debts and selling options. Unfortunately they only thought of that after the West decided to do so, following them step by step.

22. Investing in this crisis to convey the truth to people

One of the duties of Islamic financial experts is to seek out the principles of the Islamic financial system in the Qur’aan and Sunnah and present them to mankind in a complete, independent financial system, not following other systems or adopting a patchwork approach. The Islamic system is not free of riba only, and it is not limited to some rules in exclusion to others. It is not the system that offers Western products with an Islamic veneer; rather it is a complete and independent system that achieves the aims of sharia and justice in all financial transactions.

23. Manifestation of Allaah’s wisdom in legislation

It has become clear to anyone who has a mind and deep understanding that Allaah does not prescribe anything except that which is in the people’s best interests, and He does not forbid anything except that which is harmful to them in this world and in the Hereafter. This financial crisis has shown clearly the harm caused by riba and financial transgressions. Glory be to the One Who forbade it and emphasised that prohibition. It is no surprise that the editor-in-chief of Challenges magazine said: “If the people in charge of our banks had tried to respect the teachings and rulings that are mentioned in the Qur’aan, these disasters and crises would not have befallen us

24. Healing and recovery cannot be by means of that which Allaah has forbidden

The source of the money that was allocated to save the banks and rescue the financial system, as they say, was borrowing on the basis of riba or unjustly increasing taxes, or printing more currency without anything to support it, which will lead to inflation. The French newspaper Le Parisien stated that the French government would give €10.5 billion to 6 banks with interest at a rate of 8%. This is also a loan on the basis of riba from other banks and nations. What they are implicitly saying is: Treat me with that which was the cause of my illness.

25. Material strength belonging to anyone other than the believers deceives them and makes them arrogant

And it leads them to be arrogant in the land and enslave others, and it makes them forget the might of Allaah, and make them disbelieve in Him and deny His signs.

This is the serious problem that befell the people of ‘Aad:

“they were arrogant in the land without right, and they said: ‘Who is mightier than us in strength?’” [Fussilat 41:15]

How many tyrannical nations and peoples in the past and at present behave in the same manner; Allaah will destroy them as He destroyed the people of ‘Aad.  The kuffaar today have no protection against the wrath of Allaah: “Are your disbelievers (O Quraysh!) better than these [nations of Nooh (Noah), Loot (Lot), Saalih, and the people of Fir‘awn (Pharaoh), who were destroyed)]? Or have you an immunity (against Our Torment) in the Divine Scriptures?” [al-Qamar 54:43].

26. The consequences of injustice, transgression and arrogance are bad

Those who act unjustly, transgress and are arrogant in the land unlawfully are not safe from a bad end and will not prosper.

“Verily, the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers) shall never be successful” [al-An’aam 6:21]

“And those who do wrong will come to know by what overturning they will be overturned” [al-Shu’ara’ 26:227]

The strongest nation in the world today is in need of help and wants to borrow by any means, after spending in its unjust war on Iraq more than $700 billion, as some of its politicians admit. Some of their researchers have estimated that the cost of their military adventures throughout the world has reached $3 trillion.

27. The way in which Allaah deals with unjust nations is one and the same

“How many a town (community) given to wrongdoing, have We destroyed, and raised up after them another people!” [al-Anbiya’ 21:11]

“And these towns (population, ___‘Aad, Thamood) We destroyed them when they did wrong. And We appointed a fixed time for their destruction” [al-Kahf 18:59]

“And a disaster will not cease to strike those who disbelieved because of their (evil) deeds or it (i.e. the disaster) settles close to their homes, until the Promise of Allaah comes to pass. Certainly, Allaah breaks not His Promise” [al-Ra’d 13:31]

The word qaari’ah (translated above as ‘a disaster’) appears in the indefinite and is general in meaning, so it may refer to any type of disaster, such as thunderbolts and storms, or it may instil panic and fear in people’s hearts, such as financial collapses and crises. It is silent fear on the screens!

The British professor of political and economic science, John Grey, wrote an article in The Observer entitled The Tipping Point in America’s Fall from Power, in which he said: “The era of American domination has ended.” Similar claims have also been made by Russian politicians and others.

28. The bad consequences of sin affect everyone

This is apparent in the harm that has befallen all global economies and is confirmed by the words of the Secretary General of the United Nations: “The financial crisis threatens the livelihoods of billions worldwide.”

In a letter sent by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to 34,000 food safety offices throughout the world, it says: “The collapse of money markets in the world is going to lead to real famine that will affect 36 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America by the beginning of 2009.

The losses in global stock markets have reached nearly $3 trillion, and $155 billion evaporated from the Gulf stock markets in one week.

The president of the International Labour Organisation warned that around 20 million people would lose their jobs by the end of next year as the result of the crisis.

Allaah spoke the truth when He said (interpretation of the meaning): “And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong (but it may afflict all the good and the bad people), and know that Allaah is Severe in punishment” [al-Anfaal 8:25]

It is by the wisdom of Allaah that those who were at the centre of the financial earthquake have become hated in the sight of people throughout the world, as they regard them as responsible for this disaster.

29. Allaah has great wisdom in His will and decree

His decree is based on His wisdom and justice; this is the decree of the Almighty, All Knowing. Nothing happens in this universe contrary to His wisdom, for He is Most Wise, All Aware.
By His wisdom, He has made calamities and disasters a means of admonition, reminding and turning people back to Him.

“And verily, We will make them taste of the near torment (i.e. the torment in the life of this world, i.e. disasters, calamities) prior to the supreme torment (in the Hereafter), in order that they may (repent and) return (i.e. accept Islam)” [al-Sajdah 32:21]

“that He (Allaah) may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allaah, and begging His Pardon)” [al-Room 30:41]

There are some people who will turn back to Allaah because of this crisis, but there are many on whom the punishment is justified (cf. al-Hajj 22:18); they will never repent or turn to Allaah. “When Our Torment reached them, why then did they not humble themselves (believe with humility)? But their hearts became hardened, and Shaytaan (Satan) made fair‑seeming to them that which they used to do” [al-An’aam 6:43].

30. True Sovereignty belongs to Allaah

He entrusted people with this wealth; what He wills He will leave, what He wills He will take; He makes rich whom He wills and He makes poor whom He wills; He gives what He wills and He withholds what He wills. This crisis is a lesson for those who were misled and deceived, who said what Qaroon said (interpretation of the meaning): “‘This has been given to me only because of the knowledge I possess’” [al-Qasas 28:78]. They forgot that Allaah is able to seize them and take away their wealth suddenly.

31. Man is impatient and irritable

This crisis has exposed the extent of impatience and irritability that affects people as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, man (disbeliever) was created very impatient; Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; And niggardly when good touches him. Except those who are devoted to Salaah (prayers)” [al-Ma’aarij 70:19-20].

If something bad happens, he panics and despairs: “And if We give man a taste of mercy from Us, and then withdraw it from him, verily, He is despairing, ungrateful” [Hood 11:9].

This crisis has resulted in cases of suicide, murder, heart attacks, strokes, chronic diseases, nervous breakdowns, mental crises… some studies have concluded that 57% of workers in stock exchanges are affected by psychosomatic illnesses. In a statement issued by the World Health Organization it says: “The financial crisis will increase levels of mental illness worldwide.” As for the believer, his case is completely different. “How wonderful is the situation of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If something good happens to him, he gives thanks for it and that is good for him; if something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience, and that is good for him. This does not apply to anyone but the believer.” [Narrated by Muslim (2999)]

32. Man is very attached to money

This crisis is a clear example of the fact that Allaah has mentioned in the verse (interpretation of the meaning): “And you love wealth with much love” [al-Fajr 89:20].

And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Beautified for men is the love of things they covet; women, children, much of gold and silver (wealth), branded beautiful horses, cattle and well-tilled land. This is the pleasure of the present world’s life; but Allaah has the excellent return (Paradise with flowing rivers) with Him” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:14].

The effect of that was that some of those who lost their wealth committed suicide, because wealth was everything in their lives, so when they lost it, they no longer had any motive to carry on living, so they committed suicide after becoming slaves to the dinar, dirham and dollar. This is the result of the heart becoming attached to something other than Allaah.

33. Weakness of trust in Allaah with regard to one’s livelihood

This crisis has exposed the extent of anxiety about the future, as the result of fear of not being able to provide basic needs and get rid of debt and its consequences. If people believed in the words of  Allaah (interpretation of the meaning), “And no moving (living) creature is there on earth but its provision is due from Allaah” [Hood 11:6] and “Verily, Allaah is the All‑Provider, Owner of Power, the Most Strong” [al-Dhaariyaat 51:58], He would provide them with good and easily available provision as He provides for the birds.

34. In the loss of the tyrants’ wealth there is a lesson that reminds us of the attitude of the two groups towards the tyrant Qaroon

When he appeared before the people in his pomp and finery, “Those who were desirous of the life of the world, said: ‘Ah, would that we had the like of what Qaroon (Korah) has been given! Verily, he is the owner of a great fortune’”[al-Qasas 28:79].

This is what the deceived say in every era. As for the people of knowledge and faith, they say: “Woe to you! The reward of Allaah (in the Hereafter) is better for those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and this none shall attain except those who are As‑Saabiroon (the patient in following the truth)” [al-Qasas 28:80].

When Allaah caused the earth to swallow him up, the outcome was: “And those who had desired (for a position like) his position the day before, began to say: ‘Know you not that it is Allaah Who enlarges the provision or restricts it to whomsoever He pleases of His slaves. Had it not been that Allaah was Gracious to us, He could have caused the earth to swallow us up (also)! Know you not that the disbelievers will never be successful’” [al-Qasas 28:82].

35. This world does not stay the same and it will vanish. “Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish” [al-Rahman 55:26].

This world is a diminishing shadow; its pleasures will fade and its adornment is not real.

“The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing)” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:185]

“the Hereafter is better and more lasting” [al-A’laa 87:17]

“the Hereafter that is the home that will remain forever” [Ghaafir 40:39]

i.e., the Hereafter is the place of settlement, peace and tranquillity.

This world is green and sweet, and it deceives people. When the disbelievers thought that their wealth would last forever, after they had become successful in trade and industry, and had advanced in technology and invention, the Command of Allaah reached them and caught them unawares, as He says (interpretation of the meaning).

“until when the earth is clad in its adornments and is beautified, and its people think that they have all the powers of disposal over it, Our Command reaches it by night or by day and We make it like a clean-mown harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday! Thus do We explain the Ayaat [signs] in detail for the people who reflect” [Yoonus 10:24]

And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children. (It is) as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. But in the Hereafter (there is) a severe torment (for the disbelievers evildoers), and (there is) forgiveness from Allaah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the believers good‑doers). And the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment” [al-Hadeed 57:20].

36. Shortcomings of mankind in analysing and predicting crises

Some studies of future trends in the West suggested that it would continue to flourish and that the markets would continue to improve. Indeed one of the centres for the study of future trends predicted that 2009 would be a year of economic prosperity. The American Morgan Stanley Bank expected the price of a barrel of oil to reach $150, and they said: “The era of cheap oil has come to an end.” Others expected the price to reach $200 a barrel. With the advance of mathematical science and probability theories, and the invention of computers which analyse and work out very complex equations, some Westerners thought that that was enough to judge the future and know about it precisely, so they relied a great deal on the results of their research. So this crisis was a great disappointment and contrary to their expectations and studies, a shock which prompted them to admit their shortcomings and incapability, and admit that they were going to have to recalculate and adjust their predictions. Allaah spoke the truth when He said (interpretation of the meaning):

“And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given only a little” [al-Isra’ 17:85]

“They know only the outside appearance of the life of the world (i.e. the matters of their livelihood, like irrigating or sowing or reaping), and they are heedless of the Hereafter”
[al-Room 30:7]

Some of their wise men had warned of this collapse and its causes, but they paid no heed until it was too late, after it was no longer possible to avoid it.

Finally, we ask Allaah, may He be exalted, to support His religion and make His word supreme, to cause Islam and the Muslims to prevail and humiliate the hypocrites and disbelievers, to compensate with good

those Muslims who have been affected and increase their reward. May He help us all to do that which He loves and is pleased with.

“And Allaah has full power and control over His Affairs, but most of men know not” [Yoosuf 12:21].

Allah dislikes cheating and the people who do it. in the Glorious Quran, Allah has warned those who indulge in cheating of dire consequences. Allah says in Surah Al-Mutaffifeen 83: 1

“Woe to Al‑Mutaffifoon (those who give less in measure and weight). Those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, demand full measure, And when they have to give by measure or weight to (other) men, give less than due” [al-Mutaffifeen 83:1]

In this verse, Allah gives severe warning to those who cheat by giving less in weights and measures. If such kind of cheating is given this kind of warning, imagine what would be the condition of a person who steals, embezzles and withholds from the people the things that are due? No doubt, they are the ones more evil than those who cheat in weights and measures.

The Prophet of Allah, Muhammad (Pbuh), warned us of cheating and issued caution to those who do it. The Prophet (Pbuh) passed by a pile of food and put his hand into it, and his fingers touched something wet. He said, “What is this, O seller of the food?” The man said, “It got rained on, O Messenger of Allaah.” He said, “Why did you not put it (the wet part) on top of the pile so that the people could see it? He who deceives does not belong to me.” According to other reports, “He who deceives us is not one of us,” or, “He is not one of us who deceives us.” (Narrated by Muslim).

The version narrated by Al-Nawawi has wordings, “he is not one of us”, is enough warning against cheating and sufficient deterrent against indulging in this heinous sin.

We need desperately to instill this message in our hearts so that we might stir the conscience and be aware that Allaah is watching all that we do, without the need for any human supervisor.

Now that you know the dire warnings against cheating, let us examine the phenomenon of cheating:

Definition of Cheating

Al-Mannaawi said: Cheating is that which mixes bad with good.

Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said: The forbidden type of cheating is when the owner of the goods knows something which, if the would-be purchaser knew about it, he would not pay that amount of money for it.

Al-Kafawi said: Cheating causes blackness of the heart and frowning on the face, hence this word (ghish = cheating or deceit) is also used (in Arabic) to refer to hatred or enmity.

Where cheating takes place

Cheating in buying and selling:

Isn’t this a common phenomenon in the market places of Muslims! It may be in different forms like concealing faults in goods or other ways such as deceiving people about the quality of a product, or its components, quantity, weight, essential features or source. These are some of the ways in which that cheating is manifested:

• Some fruit-sellers put a lot of leaves or papers in the bottom of the basket of fruit, then they put the best fruit at the top. In this manner they deceive the purchaser and cheat him by making him think that the basket is full from top to bottom, and that all the fruit is of the same quality as that which he sees on the top.

• Some of them get food oil and mix it with perfume, with the larger proportion being of oil. Then they put it in glass bottles, and this substance smells like perfume, and they sell it for a low price.

• Some traders buy a product in a very light wrapper, then they put it in a much thicker wrapper, maybe five times thicker. Then they sell the wrapper and its contents, weighing the whole lot and charging for both the wrapper and the contents.

• Some traders do some light mending on clothes, then they sell them without explaining that they have been mended, rather they swear by Allaah that they are new – may they perish!

• Some of them may wear a garment until it loses its value, then they shorten it and put some starch in it, to make people think that it is new, and they sell it as if it is new.

• Some perfume-sellers put some products, such as saffron, near water so that they may absorb the moisture, thus increasing the weight by approximately one-third.

• Some vendors and shopkeepers make their stores very dark by using coloured lights, so that rough products will look smooth and ugly ones will look beautiful. The Shaytaan makes their evil deeds attractive to them.

• Some goldsmiths mix gold with copper and the like, then they sell it as if it is pure gold.

• Some of them buy clean second-hand gold, then they offer it for sale at the price of new without telling the purchaser that it is second-hand.

• Some vendors at car auctions put thick oil in the car engine so that the purchaser will think that it is in good condition.

• Some of them turn back the odometer, if it shows that the car has traveled a great distance, to trick the purchaser into thinking that the car has only been used a little.

• Some of them, if they have a car that they want to sell and they know that it has a hidden fault, will say to the one who wants to buy it, “Try this car if you want to buy it,” without telling him anything about it. By Allaah, this is cheating and deceit.

• Some of them describe many faults in the car which are not real, with the intention of concealing the real faults of the vehicle behind these imaginary faults. Even worse than that is when they do not mention the faults until after the sale has been made and the deposit paid, and the purchaser is not able to inspect the car and is not allowed to do so.

• Some of them, if they have a car that they want to sell, will praise it and swear by Allaah that it is good, and they will fabricate reasons why they want to sell it, but Allaah knows all secrets and that which is yet more hidden.

• Some of them agree with their friends to increase the price so that someone else will take it. This is the najsh (artificial inflation of prices) which the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade.

• Another kind of cheating in selling is when butchers inflate the animal carcass that they want to sell so that the purchaser will think that it is all meat.

• Some vendors at sheep auctions and places where chickens are sold feed the animals salt [to make them drink more and thus look fatter], so that the purchaser will think that they are fat when they are not.

• Some owners of cattle etc. tie up the teats of milking-animals a few days before selling them so that this will look like milk when it is not.

Cheating in matters of marriage

These are some of the ways in which this cheating is manifested:

• Some fathers may offer a man who comes to marry one of his daughters his youngest daughter who is still a virgin, then on the wedding night he finds out that he has been given the older, previously-married daughter. Some men can find no escape and no way out from such a marriage.

• Some fathers and guardians of women show the suitor the daughter who is beautiful, then on the wedding night he finds out that he has been given a different daughter who is ugly, but he has no choice but to accept the situation.

• Some fathers may conceal some sickness or fault that may be present in the daughter, not telling the suitor so that he may have a clear picture. Then when he goes in unto her on the wedding night he discovers the sickness or fault.

• Some fathers and guardians of women, if the suitor asks to see the woman – which is permissible so long as the conditions stipulated in Islam are met – give him permission to do so after they fill her face will all kinds of colours and dyes, i.e. “make-up”, so that she will appear beautiful to him, but if he looked at her without that mask of make-up he would not be pleased with her. Is this not cheating which leads to great corruption of the rights of both husband and wife?

• Some guardians marry off the female under their care without making the effort to find out about the suitor and how religiously committed he is or what his attitude is like. This is a kind of cheating and wrongdoing against the wife.

• Another kind of cheating in marriage is when the suitor pretends to have what he does not, to make it appear that he is a man of status and that he owns a lot of real estate and cars. He may even go to the extent of hiring a luxury car, spending hundreds of riyals, to give the impression that he owns it, when in fact he does not own anything.

• Another kind of cheating is when some people praise the suitor before the people whose daughter he wishes to marry, speaking of him in the highest terms and describing him as one who prays and is righteous, even though this suitor does not even know the way to the mosque.

Enough of this cheating and deception which destroys homes and breaks up families!

• A form of cheating done by some women – especially those who are older – is when they file their teeth to create nice-looking gaps between them, thus making an older woman look young, so that the suitor will think that she is young, then when he marries her he discovers that she is very old. The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the women who file their teeth for the purpose of beauty and alter the creation of Allaah.

Cheating in Naseehah (sincere advice)

The whole point of giving advice is to help a person meet his worldly objectives or his religious objectives. One of the mutual rights of brotherhood among the believers is to be sincere towards one another, and the hypocrites are cheats.

The believer is the mirror of his brother, so if he sees some fault in him he should correct it. Sincerity means refraining from harming the Muslims, teaching them about matters of their religion of which they are unaware, and helping them to adhere to it in word and in deed, covering their faults, filling their gaps, warding off harm from them, bringing things that will benefit them, enjoining what is good upon them and forbidding what is evil in a kind and sincere manner, showing compassion towards them, respecting their elders, being merciful towards their young, giving them good advice and choosing the appropriate time for doing so, loving for them what one loves for oneself of goodness and hating for them what one hates for oneself of disliked things.

Al-Haafiz Abu’l-Qaasim al-Tabaraani narrated with his isnaad that Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allaah al-Bajali (may Allaah be pleased with him) commanded his freed slave to buy a horse for him. So he bought him a horse for three hundred dirhams, and he brought the horse and its owner to him so that he could pay him the money. Jareer said to the owner of the horse – look at this sincerity – “Your horse is worth more than three hundred dirhams. Will you sell it for four hundred dirhams?” He said, “Yes, O Abu ‘Abd-Allaah.”

He said, “Your horse is worth more than four hundred dirhams. Will you sell it for five hundred dirhams?” He kept increasing it by one hundred each time, with the owner agreeing and Jareer saying, “Your horse is worth more than that,” until he reached eight hundred, for which price he bought it. And he said concerning that, “I gave my oath of allegiance (bay’ah) to the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that I would be sincere towards every Muslim.”

Cheating in positions of authority

It was narrated that Ma’qal ibn Yassaar al-Muzani (may Allaah be pleased with him) said during his final illness: “I heard the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘There is no person whom Allaah has put in a position of authority and he dies on the day he dies cheating those under his authority, but Allaah will forbid Paradise for him.’” This was narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim; this version was narrated by Muslim. According to one of the two versions narrated by al-Bukhaari: “There is no Muslim whom Allaah places in a position of authority over people and he is not sincere towards them, but he will not smell the fragrance of Paradise.”

This is a stern warning which includes everyone whom Allaah has placed in a position of authority, whether great or small, starting from the individuals of a royal family. Everyone must be sincere towards those who are under their authority, and not cheat or deceive them.

So an employee must be sincere in his work and do it in the manner required by sharee’ah, without cheating or deceiving anyone, and without delaying work for people. He should realize that he will stand before Allaah and that Allaah has only given him this job so that he can be sincere towards the Muslims.

Similarly a father must be sincere towards his children and not neglect their upbringing, rather he must do all that he can to save himself and his children from a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones, over which are appointed angels stern and severe (cf. al-Tahreem 66:6).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “How many people have caused misery to their own children, the apples of their eyes, in this world and in the Hereafter, by neglecting them, not disciplining them, encouraging them to follow their whims and desires, thinking that they were honouring them when they were in fact humiliating them, that they were being merciful to them when in fact they were wronging them. They have not benefited from having a child, and they have made the child lose his share in this world and in the Hereafter. If you think about the corruption of children you will see that in most cases it is because of the parents.”

(Tuhfat al-Mawlood, p. 146)

Cheating in exams

How many ways and means of cheating there are among the students! The reason for that is the lack of any religious deterrent, weakness of faith, and the lack of any sense that Allaah is always watching.

Our Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “It was narrated that the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever cheats us is not one of us.’ This includes cheating in dealing with others and cheating in exams, including English-language exams. It is not permissible for students to cheat in exams in any subject, because of the general meaning of this hadeeth and other similar reports. And Allaah is the Source of strength.”

These are some of the ways in which cheating is manifested, and there are others, for this is just a drop in the ocean,

“so that those who were to be destroyed (for their rejecting the Faith) might be destroyed after a clear evidence, and those who were to live (i.e. believers) might live after a clear evidence” [al-An’aam 8:42 – interpretation of the meaning]

To everyone who has committed some form of cheating, whether it is mentioned here or not, we say: fear Allaah and remember that the Knower of the Unseen is always watching you. Remember His punishment and torment:

“Verily, your Lord is Ever Watchful (over them)” [al-Fajr 89:14]

Realize that this world is transient and that the Reckoning will examine the smallest details; righteous deeds benefit one’s children while bad deeds adversely affect them.  Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And let those (executors and guardians) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own, if they had left weak offspring behind. So let them fear Allaah and speak right words” [al-Nisa’ 4:9]

Whoever ponders the meaning of this aayah will fear the bad effects that evil deeds may have on his children and will refrain from them lest something like this happen to them.

The harmful effects of cheating include

• Cheating is a way that leads to Hell.

• It is indicative of the mean and evil nature of a person. No one does this except one who is ignoble and does not care about his soul, so he causes it to indulge in that which will cause its doom and destruction.

• It alienates one from Allaah and from other people.

• It causes one’s du’aa’s not to be accepted.

• It causes one to be deprived of barakah (blessing) in one’s wealth and one’s life.

• It is indicative of a lack of faith.

• It is the reason that leads to being overpowered by the oppressors and kaafirs. Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said: “Because of these evil actions – i.e., cheating – that are committed by traders, workers and craftsmen, Allaah caused the oppressors to gain power over them and take their wealth and violate the sanctity of their women. Indeed, He enabled the kuffaar to gain power over them, so they took them prisoner and enslaved them, and made them taste all kinds of torment and humiliation.

Cases where the kuffaar gained power over the Muslims, taking them prisoner and confiscating their property, taking their wealth and women, have happened a great deal in recent times, because of evil deeds that traders and others have committed, cheating in many different ways, because of the enormity of these crimes, deceit and trickery by means of which they took the wealth of the Muslims in any way they could, and did not feel that Allaah is always watching them.

-By M.I.Ali

Abu Hurayrah (Ra) said: The Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) used to encourage us to pray at night in Ramadhan, without making it obligatory. Then he said, Whoever prays at night in Ramadhan out of faith and the hope of reward, all his previous sins will be forgiven. When the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) died, this is how things were (i.e., Taraaweeh was not prayed in congregation), and this is how they remained during the khilaafah of Abu Bakr (Ra), until the beginning of the khilaafah of Umar (Ra).

Amr ibn Murrah al-Juhani said: A man from Qudaa’ah came to the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) and said, O Messenger of Allaah! What do you think if I testify that there is no god except Allaah, and that you, Muhammad, are His Messenger, and I pray the five daily prayers, and fast in the month (of Ramadhan), and pray at night in Ramadhan, and pay zakaah? The Prophet (Pbuh) said: Whoever dies on that will be among the siddiqeen (those who tell the truth) and the martyrs.

Laylat al-Qadr and its timing

The best of the nights of Ramadhahan is Laylat al-Qadr, because the Prophet (Pbuh) said: Whoever prays at night during Laylat al-Qadr {and manages to catch it} out of faith and the hope of reward, all his previous sins will be forgiven.

It is the twenty-seventh night of Ramadhan, according to the most accurate opinion. Majority of the ahaadeeth state this, such as the hadeeth of Zurr ibn Hubaysh, who said: I heard Ubayy ibn Kab saying and it was said to him that Abd-Allaah ibn Masood said: Whoever follows the Sunnah will catch Laylat al-Qadr! Ubayy (Ra) said: May Allaah have mercy on him, he did not want people to take it for granted and only stay up to pray on one night. By the One besides Whom there is no other god, it is in Ramadhan he was swearing without a doubt and by Allaah, I do know which night it is. It is the night in which the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) commanded us to pray (qiyaam). It is the night the morning of which is the twenty seventh, and the sign of it is that the sun rises on that morning white and without rays.

In another report, this was attributed to the Prophet (Pbuh). (Reported by Muslim and others).

Praying qiyaam in congregation

It is permissible to pray qiyaam in congregation, which is better than praying individually, because this is what the Prophet (Pbuh) did himself and explained its virtues. Abu Dharr (Ra) said: We fasted Ramadhan with the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) and he did not lead us in qiyaam at all until there were only seven days left, when he led us in prayer until a third of the night had passed. When there were six days left, he did not lead us in qiyaam. When there were five days left, he led us in prayer until half the night had passed. I said, O Messenger of Allaah, I wish that you had continued until the end of the night. He said, If a man prays with the imam until he finishes, it will be counted as if he prayed the whole night. When there were four nights left, he did not lead us in qiyaam. When there were three nights left, he brought together his family, his wives and the people, and led us in qiyaam until we were afraid that we would miss al-falaah. I asked, What is al-falaah? he said, Suhoor. Then he did not lead us in qiyaam for the rest of the month.(Saheeh hadeeth reported by the authors of Sunan).

The reason why the Prophet (Pbuh) did not continually lead the people in praying qiyaam in congregation

Prophet (Pbuh) feared that praying in Qiyam would become obligatory and that his ummah will not be able to do it, hence he did not lead them in qiyaam for rest of the month. As stated in the hadeeth of Aaishah reported in al-Saheehayn and elsewhere. Following the death of the Prophet (Pbuh), that fear was no longer a factor, because Allaah had completed the religion. The reason for not praying qiyaam in congregation during Ramadhan no longer applied, and the previous ruling, that congregational prayer is something prescribed in Islam, remained in effect. So Umar (Ra) revived the practice, as is recorded in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and elsewhere.

Women can pray qiyaam in congregation

Women can attend the prayers too, as is stated in the hadeeth of Abu Dharr referred to above. It is also permissible to appoint an imam just for women, apart from the imam of the men. It was proven that when Umar (Ra) gathered the people to pray qiyaam, he appointed Ubayy ibn Kab to lead the men and Sulaymaan ibn Abi Hathmah to lead the women. Arfajah al-Thaqafi said: Ali ibn Abi Taalib (Ra) used to command the people to pray during the night in Ramadhan, and he would appoint an imam for the men and an imam for the women. I was the imam for the women.

This is fine in my view so long as the mosque is big enough so that they will not disturb one another.

Number of rakahs of qiyaam

The number of rakahs is eleven, and it is preferable in our opinion not to exceed this number, following the practice of the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh), because he never did more than that in his life. Aaishah (Ra) was asked about how he prayed in Ramadhan. She said, The Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) never prayed more than eleven rakahs (of qiyaam), whether during Ramadhan or any other time. He would pray four, and dont ask me how beautiful or how long they were. Then he would pray four, and don’t ask me how beautiful or how long they were. Then he would pray three. (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Muslim and others).

A person may do less than that, even if it is only one rakah of witr, because of the evidence that the Prophet (Pbuh) did this and spoke about it.

With regard to him doing it: Aaishah (Ra) was asked how many rakahs the Messenger of Allaah (Pbuh) used to pray in witr? She said, He used to pray four and three, or six and three, or ten and three. He never used to pray less than seven, or more than thirteen.(Reported by Abu Dawood, Ahmad and others).

With regard to him speaking about it, he said: Witr is true, so whoever wishes can pray five, and whoever wishes can pray three, and whoever wishes can pray one.

Reciting Quraan in qiyaam

As regards reciting from the Quraan during qiyaam, whether in Ramadhan or at other times, the Prophet (Pbuh) did not set a limit or state what was too much or too little. His recitation used to vary, sometimes it would be long, at other times short. Sometimes in every rakah he would recite the equivalent of Yaa ayyuhal-muzammil, which is twenty aayaat; sometimes he would recite the equivalent of fifty aayaat. He used to say, Whoever prays at night and reads one hundred aayaat will not be recorded as one of the negligent. According to another hadeeth: & #147;and reads two hundred aayaat, will be recorded as one of the devout and sincere believers.

When he was sick, the Prophet (Pbuh) recited the seven long soorahs in his night prayers, i.e., al-Baqarah, Aal Imraan, al-Nisaa, al-Maaidah, al-Anaam, al-Araaf and al-Tawbah.

In the account of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamaan praying behind the Prophet (Pbuh), in one rakah he recited al-Baqarah, al-Nisa and Aal Imraan, and he recited them in a slow and measured tone. It is proven with the soundest (most saheeh) of isnaads that when Umar (Ra) appointed Ubayy ibn Kab to lead the people in praying eleven rakahs in Ramadhan, Ubayy used to recite aayaat by the hundreds, so that the people behind him would be leaning on sticks because the prayers were so long, and they did not finish until just before Fajr.

It is also reported in a saheeh account that Umar called the readers during Ramadhan, and told the fastest of them to recite thirty aayaat, the moderate ones to recite twenty-five aayaat, and the slowest ones to recite twenty aayaat.

However, is a person is praying qiyaam by himself, he can make it as long as he wishes; if others agree with the imaam, he may also make it as long as he wishes. The longer it is, the better, but a person should not go to extremes and spend the whole night in qiyaam, except on rare occasions, following the example of the Prophet (Pbuh) who said: The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. If a person is praying as an imam, he should make it only as long as is easy for the people behind him, because the Prophet (Pbuh) said: If any of you leads the people in prayer, let him make it short, because among them are the young and the old, the weak, and those who have pressing needs. But if he is praying alone, let him make it as long as he likes.

The timing of qiyaam

The time for praying qiyaam is from after Isha until Fajr, because the Prophet (Pbuh) said: Allaah has added one more prayer for you, which is witr, so pray it between Salaat al-Ishaa and Salaat al-Fajr.

Praying at the end of the night is better, for those who can manage it, because the Prophet (Pbuh) said: Whoever is afraid that he will not get up at the end of the night, let him pray witr at the beginning of the night, but whoever feels that he will be able to get up at the end of the night, let him pray witr at the end of the night, for prayer at the end of the night is witnessed [by the angels], and that is better.

If it is the matter of choosing between praying in congregation at the beginning of the night and praying alone at the end of the night, it is preferable to pray with the jamaaah, because that is counted as if one had prayed the whole night through.

This is what the Sahaabah did at the time of Umar (Ra). Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Abd al-Qaari said: I went out with Umar ibn al-Khattaab to the mosque one night during Ramadhan, and saw the people scattered throughout the mosque, some praying individually, and some praying in small groups. He said, By Allaah, I think that if I gathered all of them behind one reader it would be better. So he resolved to do that, and he gathered them behind Ubayy ibn Kab. Then I went with him on another night, and the people were all praying behind their reader, and Umar said, What a good innovation this is. What they sleep and miss meaning the latter part of the night  is better than what they are doing, the people used to pray qiyaam at the beginning of the night.

Zayd ibn Wahb said: Abd-Allaah used to lead us in prayer in Ramadhan, and he used to finish at night.

The Prophet (Pbuh) forbade praying witr as three rakahs, and explained this by saying: Do not make it resemble Salaat al-Maghrib. Therefore the person who wants to pray three rakahs for witr must find a way to make it different (from Maghrib). There are two ways he can do this: either by giving salaam after the first two rakahs, which is the best way; or by not sitting after the first two rakahs (i.e., praying three rakahs non-stop). And Allaah knows best.

Recitation during three rakahs of witr

It is Sunnah to recite Sabbih ismi Rabbika al-Alaa in the first rakah, Qul Yaa ayyuhal-Kaafiroon in the second rakah, and Qul Huwa Allaahu ahad in the third rakah. Sometimes Qul aoodhu bi Rabbil-Falaq and Qul aoodhu bi Rabbil-Naas may be added as well.

It was reported in a saheeh report that the Prophet (Pbuh) once recited one hundred aayaat of Soorat al-Nisa in one rakah of witr.

Duaa al-Qunoot

A person may also humble himself before Allaah by reciting the duaa which the Prophet (Pbuh) taught to his grandson al-Hasan ibn Ali (Ra), which is:

Allaahummahdinee fiman hadayta wa aafinee fiman aafayta wa tawallanee fiman tawallayta wa baarik lee fimaa atayta wa qinee sharra maa qadayt, fa innaka taqdee wa laa yuqdaa alayk. Wa innahu laa yadhillu man waalayta wa laa yaizzu man aadayt. Tabaarakta Rabbanaa wa taaalayt. Laa majaa minka illa ilayk (O Allaah, guide me along with those whom You have guided, pardon me along with those whom You have pardoned, be an ally to me along with those whom You are an ally to, and bless for me that which You have bestowed. Protect me from the evil You have decreed for verily You decree and none can decree over You. For surety, he whom You show allegiance to is never abased and he whom You take an enemy is never honored and mighty. O our Lord, Blessed and Exalted are You. There is no refuge from You except with You).

Sometimes one may send blessings on the Prophet (Pbuh), and there is nothing wrong with adding other duaa’s that are known from the Sunnah.

There is nothing wrong with reciting Qunoot after rukoo, or with adding curses against the kuffaar, sending blessings on the Prophet (Pbuh) or praying for the Muslims in the second half of Ramadaan, because it is proven that the imaam used to do this at the time of Umar (Ra). At the end of the hadeeth of Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Ubayd al-Qaari mentioned above, it says: They used to curse the kuffaar in the middle, saying, Allaahumma qaatil al-kafarata alladheena yasuddoona an sabeelik wa yukadhdhiboona rusulak wa laa yuminoona bi wadik. Wa khaalif bayna kalimatihim wa alqi fi quloobihim al-rub wa alqi alayhim rijzaka wa adhaabak ilaah al-haqq (O Allaah, destroy the kuffaar who are trying to prevent people from following Your path, who deny Your Messengers and who do not believe in Your promise (the Day of Judgement). Make them disunited, fill their hearts with terror and send Your wrath and punishment against them, O God of Truth). Then he would send blessings on the Prophet (Pbuh), and pray for good for the Muslims as much as he could, and seek forgiveness for the believers.

After he had finished cursing the kuffaar, sending blessings on the Prophet, seeking forgiveness for the believing men and women and asking for his own needs, he would say: Allaahumma iyyaaka nabud wa laka nusalli wa najud, wa ilayka nasaa wa nahfud, wa narju rahmataka rabbanaa wa nakhaafu adhaabak al-jadd. Inna adhaabaka liman aadayta mulhaq (O Allaah, You do we worship, to You do we pray and prostrate, for Your sake we strive and toil. We place our hope in Your Mercy, O our Lord, and we fear Your mighty punishment, for Your punishment will certainly overtake the one whom You have taken as an enemy. Then he would say Allaahu akbar and go down in sujood.

What should be said at the end of witr

It is Sunnah to say at the end of witr (before or after the salaam): Allaahumma innee aoodhu bi ridaaka min sakhatika wa bi muaafaatika min aqoobatika, wa aoodhu bika minka. La uhsee thanaaan alayka, anta kamaa athnayta ala nafsik (O Allaah, I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your wrath, and in Your protection from Your punishment. I seek refuge with You from You. I cannot praise You enough, and You are as You have praised Yourself.

When he gave salaam at the end of witr, he said: Subhaan il-Malik il-Quddoos, subhaan il-Malik il-Quddoos, subhaan il-Malik il-Quddoos (Glory be to the Sovereign, the Most Holy), elongating the syllables, and raising his voice the third time.

Two rakahs after witr

A person may pray two rakahs after witr if he wishes, because it is proven that the Prophet (Pbuh) did this. Indeed, he said, This travelling is exhausting and difficult, so after any one of you prays witr, let him pray two rakahs. If he wakes up, this is fine, otherwise these two rakahs will be counted for him.

It is Sunnah to recite Idha zulzilat al-ard and Qul yaa ayyuhal-kaafiroon in these two rakahs.

[Source: From Qiyaam Ramadaan by Sheikh Naseeruddin Al-Albaani]

Following the imam until he finishes Taraaweeh

The most correct opinion is that the number of rakahs for Taraaweeh is eleven, but what If we pray in a mosque where they do 21 rakahs or 23 rakahs? Can we leave the mosque after the tenth rakah, or is it better to complete the 21 rakahs with them?

The answer to this is it is better to stay with the imam until he finishes, even if he is doing more than 11 rakahs, because it is permissible to do the extra rakahs, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever prays qiyaam with the imam until he finishes, Allaah will record it as if he prayed the whole night

(reported by al-Nisaa’i and others. Sunan al-Nisaa’i, Baab Qiyaam Shahr Ramadaan), and because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Prayer at night should be two by two (rakahs), and when dawn approaches, pray one for witr. (Reported by the seven; this version reported by al-Nisaa’i).

There is no doubt that adhering to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is better and brings more reward, so long as it is done properly and without haste, but if it is the matter of a choice between leaving the imam because of the number of rakahs or going along with the extra that he does, it is better to go along with him, because of the ahaadeeth referred to above. At the same time, you should advise the imam to follow the Sunnah.