We praise someone under two circumstances: for the excellent attributes they possess, or for the deeds they perform towards us, such that we feel gratitude towards them. [1]
The only one who deserves praise in all these levels is the Creator of excellence, the Perfect Being who showers us with abundant favors again and again!
Translation: All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. [Surah Al-Fatiha, verse 2]
Every specific Islamic rule originates from a law maker. Here, we investigate who can say, in Islam, that something is the law.
Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), Lord of the Worlds, is the law maker. None can dispute His laws. What’s the proof? In Surah Yusuf Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:
Translation: the command is for none but Allah: He hath commanded that ye worship none but Him: that is the right deen, but most men understand not. [Surah Yunus, verse 40]
Last month before summer ends, we let the days go by or wrap up summer courses before it all starts over again! To get that degree, we consistently keep up with projects, homework, study for tests, etc. And sure enough, most of us accomplish this ‘goal’ within the time we aimed for.
But do we have similar goals for learning the deen? It might be something we admired–and perhaps desired–but never really worked for. It is not a shock to find most of us spent our youth and failed to reach any significant levels of acheivement with respect to our knowledge of Islam–which is supposed to be our way of life. Do we prepare to pass this life’s test even remotely at the same level as we do for our duniya education and goals? How regularly do we study the Qur’an or the Arabic language?
On the authority of Abu al-‘Abbas Sahl bin Sa’d al-Sa’idi (رضي الله عنه) who said:
A man came to the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, direct me to an act which if I do it, [will cause] Allah to love me and people to love me.” He (صلي الله عليه وسلم) answered: “Be indifferent to the world and Allah will love you; be indifferent to what people possess and they will love you.”
Learning Arabic? Trying to memorize the Qur’an? Then inshaAllah you’ll find this Yahoo Groups beneficial: Qur’anic Word of the Day.
Every day, the administrator sends out a word–Arabic and english–as well as references to two ayat in the Qur’an that contain the word (transliteration and translation). Very beneficial mashaAllah.
Also, for those new to Yahoo! Groups, they’re like public mailing lists. You can configure your settings so you receive an email daily, or a digest weekly, or no email (and you browse from the site). The QWOTD list contains archives, so you can check out digests dating back to January 2006.
Allah says, in Surah Al-An’aam:
Translation: And it is He Who produces gardens trellised and untrellised, and datepalms, and crops of different shape and taste (its fruits and its seeds) and olives, and pomegranates, similar (in kind) and different (in taste). Eat of their fruit when they ripen, but pay the due thereof (i.e. zakaah) on the day of its harvest, and waste not by extravagance. Verily, He likes not Al-Musrifun (those who waste by extravagance), [Surah Al-An’aam, verse 141]1
The following is an explaination on zakaah as it applies to business. In short, it’s 2.5% of marketable items.
Narrated Samurah ibn Jundub: The Mesenger of Allah used to order us to pay the sadaqah (zakaah) on what (goods) we prepared for trade. [Abu Dawud 9/1557]1
“Goods from what we prepared for trade” means business inventory. So if someone owns a clothing store full of leather jackets, they pay zakaah on all the jackets not sold after a year.
The following is a beautiful little speech by Shaykh Abdullah Adhami, entitled “A Wife”. Read it inshallah ta’ala and benefit from it. Props to Beautiful Islam for the original.
By getting married you are not just getting a wife, you are getting your whole world. From now until the rest of your days your wife will be your partner, your companion, and your best friend.She will share your moments, your days, and your years. She will share your joys and sorrows, your successes and failures, your dreams and your fears. When you are ill, she will take the best care of you; when you need help, she will do all she can for you.When you have a secret, she will keep it. When you need advice, she will give you the best advice. She will always be with you: when you wake up in the morning the first thing your eyes will see will be hers; during the day, she will be with you, if for a moment she is not with you by her physical body, she will be thinking of you, praying for you with all her heart, mind, and soul; when you go to sleep at night, the last thing your eyes will see will be her; and when you are asleep you will still see her in your dreams. In short, she will be your whole world and you will be her whole world.The best description that I personally have ever read describing the closeness of the spouses to each other is the Qur’anic verse which says: “they are your garments and you are their garments” [Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 187]1.
Zakaah is paid on assets–things that bring in money. This is important, because it means zakaah is not on things you use–like your only car, or your house. More on that next post inshallah ta’ala.
There are three requirements before zakaah becomes due:
Nisaab works like this: if you have a glass with a capacity of 500ml of water, you can fill it with 300ml, 400ml, 499ml of water, and nothing happens. But once you hit 500ml, it spills over. Like that, once you reach the nisaab, zakaah is due–but not before that.
So if hawl was hypothetically $1500, and you had it for eight months, then bought a $300 couch and dropped your savings to $1200, then cashed your paycheque two days later and brought it back up past $1500, the hawl would be due one year from the date you cashed the cheque. (Note: it is the Shafi’ee madhab specifically that states that the nisaab must be maintained throughout the year and restarts if it drops below the nisaab. Allah knows best about other opinions.)
(Note that there are two exceptions to the hawl:
May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) give us a proper understanding of this pivotal second pillar of Islam. I suggest you read (and memorize) that hadith, it’s key to multiple aspects of zakaah fiqh.
What is Tawassul? Linguistically, it means that which brings you closer to an object. The Arabic is tawassul (توسّل) or wasiylah (وسيلة). Islamically, it means any good deed that brings you closer to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى)–so every single good deed can be called tawassul–though scholars use it specifically to mean things that increase our chances of having our du’a accepted.
The Qur’an and Sunnah only sanction four types of tawassal (with a difference of opinion on the fifth). These are the only acceptable types of tawassul. They are: