Hadith

“There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.” [33:21].

No matter what stage of life we are going through, or whatever roles we are trying to fill: be it be as father, husband, son, friend, leader and others, we will always find guidance in the life of our beloved Prophet(peace be upon him). One such area of guidance is for the da’ee – people who call muslims and non muslims alike to the path of the Allah. In this paper, we will see glimpses of the best methodology, examples and guidelines for a da’ee from the Meccan era of the Seerah. Here are the 10 lessons:

Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, studied from over 1000 teachers. The best of them were also the greatest scholars of his time. This is an important point: in the previous generation, four scholars lived who were stars of hadith sciences. Imam Bukhari not only studied under all four of these masters of hadith sciences, but he became the main student or protege of all four scholars.

As teachers, in that time, each teacher would teach many students. Over time, one would rise up as the top student, the one who the teacher considered his protege; the one who would continue his teachers into the subsequent generation. It’s a rare feat for a protege to be the main student of more than one teacher; especially in this case, when all four lived in different cities.

Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, was tested a few times in his life. One of the early tests, which really showcases the powerful memory that Allah blessed him with, occurred as follows.

While in his twenties, imam Bukhari’s fame spread over much of the Muslim world — something rare in the time before internet, before email, before YouTube, our modern era where news travels almost instantenously.

As he arrived in Baghdad, word of his arrival spread, and the scholars of Baghdad devised a test for imam Bukhari — to prove to the world that he’s not that good.

We all know Imam Bukhari’s status as a scholar of hadith. Unquestionably, he is among the best scholars of hadith. This contributed heavily to his ability to produce a book like Saheeh Al-Bukhari.

What is less well known about Imam Bukhari, though, are his other two specialities: aqeedah (which we will inshaAllah discuss another time), and fiqh. Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, was a master of fiqh, and a mujtahid.

Additionally, Imam Bukhari assumes that any reader of his book will be at least a hafidh of Qur’an. For example, in his book of tafseer, he mentions things which, at their apparent level, do not have anything to do with the surah he links it to. This is because he wrote it understanding that you can zip backward and forward through the Qur’an, because you’ve memorized it. And in doing so, you should be able to more easily grasp the references.

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

This is the continuation of the series, that focuses on implementing sunnah in our lives. In the last post, we talked about the manners of sleeping. In this post, we will look at the Sunnahs of sneezing and yawning:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning; so if anyone of you sneezes and then praises Allah, every Muslim who hears him (praising Allah) has to say Tashmit to him. But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to stop it, for when anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him.” [Bhukari: English reference: Vol. 8, Book 73, Hadith 245. Arabic reference : Book 78, Hadith 6298]

Here is the sunnah items, we will be focusing on in this week:

Making Dua:

• Raise your hands
• Glorify and praise Allah, in the beginning and at the end
• Send salutations on Prophet (May Allah Peace and Blessing be on him) in the beginning and at the end
• Cry while making dua

Adhaan:

• Respond to it (see the first dua here)
• Make salutation on the prophet (May Allah Peace and Blessing be on him)
• Make dua (last one on this page)

Breakfast:

Last week, we focus on the sunnah of making ablution and coming out of the washroom. Here is the sunnah for this week:

After the fard salahs:

• After slautation, say Allahu Akbar in loud voice
• Say “Astagfirullah” thrice in low voice
• Recite “Ayat Kursi”
• Read the morning and evening supplications after farjar and asar prayers (Another Link)
• Recite other Adhkars and Supplications
• Pray the two rakahs of ishraq after the fajar prayer (The Messenger of Allah [SAWS] said, “Whoever prays the dawn prayer (fajr) in a group and then sits and does dhikr until the sun rises, then prays two rakas, shall have the like of the reward of a hajj and an umra.”)

Tip of the Week:

I hope that you had an awesome productive last week, applying and implementing the Sunnah Items, we discussed in the last post. Here is the sunnah for this week:

On Coming Out of Washroom:

• Exit with Right Foot first
• Say the dua

Making Ablution:

• Say Bismillah
• Do the Mishwaak
• Run water through the fingers
• Put water in the nose
• Say the Sahada after finishing
• Say the dua
• Pray 2 rakahs of tayatul whudoo

Tip of the Week:

Last week, we started a new series. The goal of the series is to learn and implement the sunnah in our lives. We started with the sunnah of our beloved Prophet (May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) on waking up. I hope all of you have been practicing that sunnah. Here is the sunnah for this week:

Entering the Washroom:

• Enter with slippers/shoes
• Make the dua
• Enter with Left foot

After Entering the Washroom:

Allah Subhannallah, tells us in the Quran:

لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّـهِ أُسْوَةٌ

حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّـهَ وَ

وَذَكَرَ اللَّـهَ كَثِيرًا

Translation:

There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.[Surah Al-Ahzab, verses 21]

The oxford dictionary defines the word ‘role model‘ as “A person looked to by others as an example to be imitated.” Indeed, our beloved prophet, has left us with the best examples, to be emulated. Take any part of your life, be it be eating, drinking, walking, sleeping, and you will find the best example in the life of our Prophet. He remembered Allah all the time.