COORDINATION OR CORRUPTION?

“I have told my wife that I would realise money that would afford the family a pot of soup. Therefore, I must return home with some cool cash today. Mama, how much is this? #1000? No, no, no! #1000 cannot fill up a pot. You have to put something.”

“Who dropped this ‘figo’? Who put down this #500? Add it up with something. ‘Figo ko le ra alubarika!’”

“Everyone, raise your hand. Raise it properly and say these prayers after me… Now, the first person to touch my hand with money will never bury his child this year.” As if he was death Angel’s landlord, and like zombies, people rowdily trooped out to receive the fictitious blessing from the sanctimonious parrot.

The above were loosely, verbosely uttered by one compeer-cleric at a nikaah ceremony I recently graced. I nearly took a walk from the midst of the officiating imams occupying the front seats, but my love for the would-be couple and the fundamental role I was to play therein actually glued me perseveringly. My friends and I were therefore, left with no option than laugh out the cry, for it was a monumental display of loss of dignity.

Any novice seeking to experience the true beauty of Islam should avoid attending the childbirth or nikaah ceremony conducted by some (not all) clerics. Such an encounter, except if ‘Islamically’ laid out, can make him hastily conclude that the religion is unbeautiful and unbefitting of a civilised person; whereas what scares him away is just a mere misrepresentation by some enthusiasts of rapacity and celebrators of ignominy.

We can’t dispute the reality that clerics are not well cared for by muslims, especially the mosque executives who conceitedly stand in their wheel of progress. They either do not consider the imam and other clerics worthy of being salaried, or the monthly remuneration is too meagre to fulfil basic needs. The matter varies from mosque to mosque. The omen may be due to financial impotence of the mosque or the insensitivity of the executives to the cravings of the spiritual leader(s).

Clerics have become objects of ridicule. People don’t want to attend their sittings any longer. Why? Because they will be financially drained. DJs do interrupt their talk with music because they have stayed too long. While clerics were still talking, DJ was intermittently chipping in music to interrupt and disorganise their flow of communication. I can’t imagine that it could be that worse – that clerics would be turned into objects of free ride and ridicule. Some attendees even summon the courage to tell them it is enough. We’ve heard cases where the microphone was clutched from the clerics asking them to stop wasting time. Chai! What an unforgettable disgrace!

Clerics sit down at ceremonies without recourse to solah. Dhuhr, they don’t pray. Asr, they don’t consider visiting the mosque. This major sin they commit all in the name of money making. I guess this forms the reason they are not revered, since they’ve got no reverence for their Creator, too.

What about clerics fighting in the open over the sharing formulae of the amount realised at a ceremony? That is the peak of a calamitous shame that could ever befall any spiritual figure, yet they are hell bent. They seem to have made a covenant never to change their ways despite soiling their image and reducing them to zero.

It is high time clerical job became institutionalised. Clerics should earn salaries, allowances, stipends, honoraria etc. to put an end to this show of organised shame. Each mosque should have a monetary package for its imam and other clerics. Madaaris (Islamic/Arabic schools) should only be free if there are sponsors from whom the mudarrisuun (teachers) will be remunerated, else, parents should be mandated to pay.

By
Sanni Kay. Yusuf

RULLING ON HANGING VERSES OF THE QUR’AN ON WALLS

Q. When visiting muslims, I noticed that many of them put verses of the Qur’an on the walls or pictures with the names Allah and Mohammed. I know a lot of muslims think that it is good to do so because it will protect them and their house. Personally, I consider it a form of shirk or superstition. Is there any ruling on that subject?

Praise be to Allaah.

Hanging plaques and cloths containing aayaat of the Qur’aan in homes, schools, social clubs and places of business, involves a number of reservations and prohibitions according to Islam, such as the following:

1. In most cases, hanging such things on the wall is done for purposes of decoration and adornment, as the aayaat etc. are written in calligraphy and colourful brocade. This is an inappropriate use of the Qur’aan, as it was revealed to guide people and to be read regularly. The Qur’aan was not revealed to decorate walls, but to guide mankind.

2. Some people hang up such things for “blessing” – which is a form of bid‘ah. The blessing as described in Islam comes from reading or reciting the Qur’aan, not from hanging it up or placing it on shelves or turning it into artwork and three-dimensional images.

3. This is contrary to the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Rightly-Guided Khaleefahs (al-Khulafaa’ al-Raashidoon), may Allaah be pleased with them, who never did such a thing. The best way is to follow them, not to introduce bid‘ah. History tells us that in places such as Andalusia, Turkey, etc., the adornment of houses and mosques with ornate carvings of aayaat only happened at times when the Muslims were weak and humiliated.

4. Hanging up such pictures or plaques could lead to shirk, because some people think that these things are amulets that will protect the house and its people from evil and disease. This is shirk and is haraam, because the One Who really offers protection is Allaah, may He be glorified, and one of the means of gaining His protection is sincere recitation of the Qur’an and du‘aa’s taught in the Qur’aan and Sunnah.

5. There is the risk that the Qur’aan may be used, in such cases, as a means of promoting one’s business or increasing one’s earnings. The Qur’aan should be protected from being used for such purposes. It is well-known that the production and sale of these pictures and plaques involves a great deal of extravagance and wasting money.

6. Many of these plaques are painted with real gold, which makes using them and hanging them up even more haraam.

7. Many of these plaques involve a kind of carelessness, because the letters are twisted into complex designs that are of no benefit to anyone because they are barely legible. Sometimes words are fashioned into the shape of a bird or a man prostrating, and similarly forbidden pictures of animate beings.

8. Ayaat and soorahs of the Qur’aan are exposed to misuse and abuse by this practice. For example, when moving house, they are piled up with the rest of the furniture and belongings, and other objects may be placed on top of them. This also happens when they are taken down so that the wall may be painted or cleaned.

9. Some Muslims whose observance of Islam is lacking put these plaques and pictures up so that they can feel that they are doing something religious, in order to reduce their feelings of guilt – in spite of the fact that this practice does not help them in any way.

All in all, we must close the doors of evil and follow the leaders of guidance of the early centuries of Islam, whose people the Prophet (peace be upon him) testified were the best of the Muslims in faith and practice. If someone were to say, “We are not going to abuse it or make it a decoration or exaggerate about it, we only want to remind people (about their religion) in our gatherings”, our response would be: if we look at real life, will we find that this is what actually happens? Do people really remember Allah? Do they even read these aayaat when they raise their heads?

What really happens is the opposite: people go against the words hanging over their heads, they still tell lies, engage in gossip, make fun of others and do and say evil things. Even if we assume that there are some who do benefit from these plaques etc., the fact is that they are very few, and this does not change the hukm (Islamic ruling) on the matter.

The Muslims must turn to the Book of Allaah, read it and recite it, and act in accordance with it. We ask Allaah to make the Qur’aan a light of guidance for us, and a means of removing our grief and anxiety. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.

credits: Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

BIRTH OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD PART 2

Below is the link to part 1

Birth of prophet Muhammad. Part 1

BIRTH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD PART1

PART 2 Continues…

It was from the customs of the Quraysh, that the Arab would take them and live with them outside of Makkah until they grow up. The Arab would do this as a form of Rizq – provision to earn a wage, however they would not accept payment for breastfeeding, they considered this rude. So they would take the children without agreeing on or determining a wage, but it was customary for them to be paid later as a form of gratitude and honour. The breastfeeding women of Bani Sa’ad arrived. Among them was Halima Asa’diya and her husband Al-Harith. They were also looking for an infant to take. They were in a very poor state, and Halima had an infant boy whom she was breastfeeding already. She says that ‘Due to our state of poverty I didn’t even have enough milk for my child’ but she was in search of a child out of anticipation for the wage to be paid later on. She came to Makkah riding on a very weak female donkey, which as a result of its weakness it would delay the group of riders. The women would say to her, ‘O Halima, hurry it up, you have delayed us’ and she would try to hurry up the donkey but it would be unable to walk any faster. They finally got to Makkah, and started searching for the infants. Amina would offer them her child (peace be upon him), but once they would realize that he is an orphan they would refuse him. All of the breastfeeding woman refused him. Halima searched and searched for an infant but did not find one, so she left. While her and her husband were sitting outside Makkah, her husband Al-Harith said, ‘We are going back without an infant whereas all your friends are returning with an infant, how about we return and take the orphan child lest that we take from his blessings.’ So they agreed. Halima went and took Muhammed(peace be upon him) and the blessing began.

The first blessing was that the state of the donkey changed. On the way back this donkey was now ahead of the rest and Halima was trying to hold it back. The other women asked her, ‘O Halima, is this the same donkey that you came on?’ She replied ‘Yes’ and they were bewildered. Also, her breastmilk became ample, wherein she would feed her infant and then feed Muhammed (peace be upon him) until they were both full. They returned to their home in Banu Sa’ad. They had a widowed camel which they had lost all hope in, but subhan’Allah the camel began to increase in weight, and her mammary glands began to get full with milk. They were astonished, how? Also the sheep that they owned began increasing in weight and number very quickly, whereas everyone else’s sheep where not putting on weight. So the people would say to the shepards, ‘Take the sheep to graze where Halima’s sheep graze’. They would reply, ‘By Allah our sheep graze with them, but without the same benefit’. This is from the blessing of the Prophet(peace be upon him).

Life went on normally, and the Prophet was now two years old. Halima says about him, that he grew quickly in a way that most kids don’t grow. She says when he was a child of two years, he looked as if he was a child of six years old. Furthermore, he would speak fus’ha Arabic when he was only two years old. This is from the honor of Allah to the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). After two years, the custom is that the kids are returned to Makkah and there parents decide to either keep their children or to return them to the desert environment for a little while longer. Halima kept persisting on returning Muhammed (peace be upon him) with her, until she finally convinced his mother Amina. So the Prophet returned with Halima.

Halima says that after a few months an incident took place. The Prophet peace be upon him had brothers and sisters from Halima. One day his brother (who used to breastfeed with him) ran to his parents Halima and Al-Harith frightened. He said ‘My Qurayshi brother is unconcious’, They said, ‘what is wrong with him?’ He replied, ‘Two men came to him wearing white clothes and hit him’. So Halima and Al-Harith became really concerned and they ran to the Prophet (peace be upon him). They found him, his face having changed and in a state of great fear. They said, ‘What happened to you?’ He said, ‘Two men came to me wearing white clothes. They then hit me causing me to fall to the ground, they then opened up my chest and removed my heart, and washed it in a vessel of gold with the water of zamzam, and they removed from it a black clot and threw it away. They then said, this is the chance of shaytan with you, and they filled my heart with wisdom’. They then returned his heart to its place and closed up his chest and stitched it up. This hadith is sahih. The Prophet (peace be upon him) uncovered his shirt and the marks of the stitching were still present. Here Halima got really scared, so she said to her husband ‘Maybe they are from the Jinn, let us return the child to his mother’. So they returned Muhammed to his mother Amina. She said ‘What happened, you were so keen to keep him with you?’ They said, ‘We were afraid if something happens to him, we thought it would be better that we return him while he is fine’. She said, ‘No by Allah, something happened’. She kept at them until they told her about the incident. She said, ‘Were you afraid for him from the Jinn?’ They said ‘Yes’. She said, “No by Allah, I had seen when giving birth to him a man calling me in a dream and requesting me to say, ‘u’iithuhu bilahil-wahid min shari kuli hasid’ which means ‘I seek for him, refuge in Allah the One from the evil of every envier’ by Allah evil will not touch him”. Amina then left them after giving them ikraam.

When the Prophet (peace be upon him)was six years old, Amina passed away, so he became an orphan of the mother and father. His uncle now took him up and a new stage of the Prophets (peace be upon him) life then began.

Credits : Islamway.net

BIRTH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD PART1

When Abdullah, the father of the Prophet (peace be upon him) grew up Abdul-Muttalib decided that he should get married. So he then got married to Amina Bint Wahb. She is also from Bani Abdi Manaf and hence from the Quraysh who are from the decendants of Ismaeel. So the Prophet (peace be upon him) is from the most respected and honourable lineage. Aminas’ mother was from Yathrib and Amina lived in Yathrib. Abdul-Mutallib hence took his son and got him married to Amina in Yathrib. They returned thereafter to Makkah. Amina got pregnant and after a few months into her pregnancy Abdullah passed away, the father of the Prophet(peace be upon him). He became an orphan before he was even born.

When the time came close to the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him), his mother saw a dream that she gave birth to a boy and with this boy a magnificient emergence of light spread out and enveloped the earth until it reached Busra in al-Sham. She also saw herself in the dream saying ‘u’iithuhu bilahil-wahid min shari kuli hasid’ which means ‘I seek for him, refuge in Allah the One from the evil of every envier’.

On a Monday, the 12th of Rabee’ al-Awwal (based on the strongest opinion) during the year that became known as the ‘Year of the Elephant’, 50 days after the incident of the Elephant, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was born. And with his birth, a number of interesting and extraordinary incidents occurred. We recall them, keeping in mind that the greatness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is not in these incidents, but simply that it is from the signs and glad tidings of his arrival. His greatness is not in his birth, but rather it is within the message and teachings that he brought to mankind.

Hassan Ibn Thabit, (the poet of the Prophet peace be upon him) who was in Madina when he was seven years old, says about the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that, ‘One day when I was seven years old, I was with or at the place of the Jews in their suburb, and there was a rabbi from the Jews who was sitting high on top of a house and was calling out ‘O Jewish people, today the star of Ahmad has emerged or appeared, and it does not appear except with his arrival’.

From amongst the signs also was that his mother while she carried him during her pregnancy, it was a pregnancy with no hardships or discomfort. Even though the norm is that pregnancy brings with it hardship. Allah says about the pregnant woman, ‘She carried him with hardship and she bore him (gave birth to him) with hardship’.

Furthermore, from the extraordinary incidents reported, was that when he was born, he came out supporting himself with his hands, and he raised his head to the sky. He was born Makhtun (circumcised) and Masrur (his umbilical cord was cut off). His birth was made easy.

When his mother gave birth to him, the good news reached Abdul-Mutallib, who was overjoyed by the news. And when he heard about the way he was born, circumcised, umbilical cord cut off, and supporting his body with his hands, his joy and happiness increased, and he said, ‘By Allah, verily for this son of mine there is an important matter’. He took Muhammed (peace be upon him) before he was even named, into the Ka’bah and raised him and thanked Allah for his birth.

As for naming him Muhammed, there is a story behind it. Abdul-Mutallib was on a journey in al-Sham with three of his companions. Along the way they met with a group of rabbi Jews. The Jews asked, ‘From where did you come?’ They replied ‘We are from Makkah’. So one of the rabbis said to them ‘That from your country a Prophet will emerge’. They asked, ‘What is the name of this Prophet?’ He replied ‘His name will be Muhammed’. Until then, the name Muhammed was not used by the Arabs. These four companions, when they returned, each one of them decided to name any of their new offspring Muhammed. Abdul-Mutallib could not have anymore children, so he wanted to name the first child that would be born to any of his children Muhammed. And so it happened to be the Prophet (peace be upon him) and so he named him Muhammed.

Another sign that happened when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was born, was that Qisras’ palace shook and fourteen of its shurta (pillars) collapsed. Also, the fire of the Majoos (which they worship) got extinguished. Furthermore, with the earthquake that hit the palace of Qisra, they had a boat which was holy to them called ‘buhayrat sa’waa’, the earth opened up under the boat and enveloped it, so the boat of sa’waa disappeared. This caused great fear to overcome Qisra, so he gathered the kuhan (sorcerers) and munajimeen (astrologists) and some of them had contact with the jinn. Allah informs us that the jinn used to eavesdrop on the talk in the heavens, “And verily we used to sit there in stations, to (steal) a hearing, but any who listens now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush” (S 72: V 9). The Jinn would then report what they heard to the Kuhan. Qisra questioned the kuhan, some of them replied that these incidents are due to the birth of a Prophet. Furthermore, they were asked about the fourteen pillars that had collapsed. They said, ‘There remains from the rulers of Faris fourteen kings then the reign of Faris will come to an end.’ Qisra said, ‘Fourteen kings, that is still along time away’. After his death, the leaders of Faris fought each other for his rule, so in four years ten people ruled over Faris. These were all indications to the disintegration of Faris. These were all signs bearing glad tidings for the arrival of the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him).

It was from the customs of Quraysh, that if an infant was born they would not raise him up in Makkah for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that Makkah has a high influx of people coming for Hajj, and some of them would stay in Makkah for a long time thereafter, so they mix with the people. And the children that would be raised up in Makkah, there Arabic Fus’ha (classical Arabic) would not be 100% (as eloquent) because they would get influenced by these people remaining after hajj. So the people of Quraysh used to prefer that there kids were raised outside of Quraysh, until they get used to the Arabic fus’ha, then they would return with a solid foundation in their language. A further reason, is that they wanted their kids to be raised in the desert so that they get used to living a rough life. Kids raised in the city become lenient, and soft. The third reason was because it is a city and there is a continual influx of people, diseases would be brought in, compared to the desert which is clean and free of diseases. It is rare to hear of diseased Arabs living in the desert. So for these reasons they would prefer that there kids were raised outside of Makkah.

Credits : Islamway.net

BIRTH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH) PART 2

THE BIRTH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD PART 2