Allah Says: My Mercy Prevails Over My Wrath!

 

First of all, we need to understand what we mean by “humanly quality” and what we mean by “divine quality.” I hope you understand the Quranic idea that humankind is Allah’s khalifah (vicegerent) on earth. This means, among other things, that Allah has endowed man with some of His own qualities, but within limits.

Allah’s Forgiveness Has No Limits

Some of the qualities like mercy or kindness that we call “human” are given to humankind by Allah, and these same qualities are present in its fullness in Allah. For this reason, a comparison between human kindness, for instance, and divine kindness (though it is incommensurable) is possible for our understanding.

In the Quran, we read of Allah as “Al-Wadud” (the Loving) what means:

{And He is the Oft-Forgiving and Loving} (Al-Buruj 85:14)

You can see that for all practical purposes, Allah’s love is His mercy that is freely given to His creatures.

Allah says what means,

{Say: O My slaves (humankind) who have been prodigal to their own hurt! Despair not of the mercy of Allah Who forgives all sins. Lo! He is the Forgiving, the Merciful} (Az-Zumar 39:53)

The idea is that those who do wrong are hurting themselves, however, Allah’s forgiveness has no limits and the only condition is that we should repent and pray for His Mercy.

The Quran tells us of the angels praying for the believers:

{Our Lord, You comprehend all things in mercy and knowledge. So, forgive those who repent and follow Your way and save them from the torment of the Blazing Fire} (Ghafir 40:7)

Prophet of Mercy

The infinite mercy of Allah the Most Compassionate, the Most Forgiving, manifested itself when Allah sent His messengers and revealed to them His books. And He has guaranteed His special mercy to those who are willing to accept His guidance:

{O humankind! There has come to you a good advice from your Lord and a healing for that (disease) which is in your breasts — a guidance and a mercy for the believers} (Yunus 10:57)

And to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) Allah said what means:

{And We have sent you not (O Muhammad), but as a mercy for all} (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:107)

Allah’s mercy is bestowed on all His creatures and is seen in everything around us — in the water we drink, in the air we breathe, in the sunshine we enjoy, and so on. Allah says: {Your Lord has inscribed for Himself (the rule of) mercy} (Al-An`am 6:54)

{And My Mercy embraces all things} (Al-A`raf 7:156)

The Prophet said:

“When Allah created the creatures, He wrote in the Book, which is with Him over His Throne: “Verily, My Mercy prevailed over My Wrath.” (Al-Bukhari)

He also said:

“Allah has divided mercy into 100 parts, and He retained with Him 99 parts, and sent down to earth 1 part. Through this one part creatures deal with one another with compassion, so much so that an animal lifts its hoof over its young lest it should hurt it.” (Al-Bukhari)

Show Mercy

In fact, the two attributes of Allah, Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim, which mean “The Most Gracious” and “The Most Merciful” respectively are probably the most repeated ones, as they are mentioned again and again in different verses as well as at the beginning of 113 chapters of the Qur’an: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”

Prophet Muhammad said:

“Those who show mercy to their fellow beings will be shown mercy by the Merciful Lord. So, show mercy to those on the earth, and He Who is in the heaven will show mercy to you.” (At-Tirmidhi)

The Prophet also said:

Allah ordered the appointed angels over you that the good and the bad deeds be written, and He then showed how to write. If someone intends to do a good deed and he does not do it, then Allah will write for him a full good deed, and if he intends to do a good deed and actually did it, then Allah will write for him its reward equal from 10 to 700 times to many more times. And If someone intends to do a bad deed and he does not do it, then Allah will write for him a full good deed (in his account) with Him, and if he intends to do a bad deed and actually did it, then Allah will write for him one bad deed. (Al-Bukhari)

There is another famous hadith where the Prophet is reported to have said,

Allah, the Almighty, says, ‘Whosoever does a good deed, will have a reward 10 times like it and I add more, and whosoever does an evil, will have the punishment like it or I will forgive him, and whosoever approaches Me by one span, I will approach him by one cubit, and whosoever approaches Me by one cubit, I approach him by one fathom, and whosoever comes to Me walking, I go to him running, and whosoever meets Me with an earth-load of sins without associating anything with Me, I meet him with forgiveness like that.’ (Muslim)

It is Allah’s infinite compassion and mercy to His obedient servants that is expressed in the above two hadiths.

A Mother’s Mercy

`Umar ibn Al-Khattab said: Some captives were brought to the Messenger of Allah and there was a woman among them whose breasts were full of milk. Suddenly, this woman saw an infant in the midst of the captives. She took hold of it, brought it into her bosom, and started nursing it. The Prophet then told the Companions, “Do you think that this woman would throw her child in the fire?” We said, “No, By Allah she would not, if she is able not to.” He then said, “Allah the Exalted is more merciful with His slave than this woman with her child.” (Al-Bukhari)

Here, the Prophet clearly tells us that the mercy of Allah is far greater than the mercy of a mother for her child. This comparison is made by the Prophet to make the idea of Allah’s boundless mercy as clear to ordinary humans as they can comprehend.

This example makes it clear that it is permissible for us to illustrate by way of examples and comparisons what one cannot make others easily understand by way of reasoning, just as the Prophet did in the above case. As it was impossible to describe the immensity of Allah’s mercy, he cited the example of a mother’s mercy for her child.

And what is more, the word for mercy (rahmah) is derived from the root r-h-m, which means a mother’s womb. The complete protection provided to the unborn baby in the womb is symbolic of Allah’s own mercy. Therefore, a comparison between the mother’s mercy and Allah’s mercy is quite in order.

To say that Allah’s love for us is “70 times (meaning a great number of times) greater than a mother’s” is the kind of common expression used to give an idea of the inexplicably huge difference between Allah’s love and a mother’s love.

First, there is no element of shirk in it, as the speaker highlights the immense difference between the Creator and the creature. Second, it is the Prophet who used this comparison and obviously there cannot be any element of shirk in it.

(From Ask About Islam archive)

About Professor Shahul Hameed

Professor Shahul Hameed is an Islamic consultant. He also held the position of the President of the Kerala Islamic Mission, Calicut, India. He is the author of three books on Islam published in the Malayalam language. His books are on comparative religion, the status of women, and science and human values.

-aboutislam.net

BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION – AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

 

Many people wonder about the theory of biological evolution – the theory that living species on Earth today are descended from others in the past, and that the present diversity of living species we see is a result of descent with modification over the course of numerous generations.

Muslims also wonder about one of the main processes that evolutionary theory proposes to explain how evolution takes place – the process of natural selection.  This is the idea that the individuals within a populations of living organism vary in their individual traits – they are not exactly alike – and that the organisms which are most successful at leaving descendants will pass on their unique traits to the next generation at the expense of the traits possessed by less successful organisms in the population, thereby contributing to a long-term gradual change in the suite of traits found within the population.

To start with, it is not our intention in this article to discuss the scientific implications of evolutionary theory.  We wish to explore the issue from the perspective of Islamic teachings.

We must ask:

Does the theory of evolution – and likewise the theory of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution – conform to Islamic teachings or conflict with them?

Is a Muslim allowed to believe in evolution as a scientific theory as long as he or she accepts that God is behind it?

Is a Muslim allowed to believe in human evolution?  If not, how can we explain the fossils of upright, bipedal, tool-using apes with large brains that have been discovered?

We wish to re-emphasize that our concern here is not with examining the scientific merits of the theory of evolution.  What we want to know is what Islamic teachings have to say about the idea.  Whether evolution is true or false scientifically is another matter altogether.

When we look at the sources of Islam – the Quran and Sunnah – we see that, with respect to human beings living on the Earth today, they are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

God also says:

“O mankind!  We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another.  Verily, the most honorable of you with God is the one who is the most God-fearing.” (Quran 49:13)

The Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, identified the "male" mentioned in this verse as being Adam.  He said:

“Human beings are the children of Adam and Adam was created from Earth.  God says: ‘O mankind!  We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another.  Verily, the most honorable of you with God is the one who is the most God-fearing’.” (Al-Tirmidhî)

We also see that God created Adam directly without the agency of parents.

God says:

“The similitude of Jesus before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: ‘Be’ and he was.” (Quran 3:59]

We also know that Eve was created from Adam without the agency of parents.

In the Quran, God states clearly:

“O mankind!  Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.” (Quran 4:1)

Therefore, the Quran tells us that Adam and his wife were the father and mother of all human beings living on the Earth today.  We know about this by way of direct revelation from God.

The direct creation of Adam (peace be upon him) can neither be confirmed nor denied by science in any way.  This is because the creation of Adam (peace be upon him) was a unique and singular historical event.  It is a matter of the Unseen and something that science does not have the power to confirm or deny.  As a matter of the Unseen, we believe it because God informs us about it.  We say the same for the miracles mentioned in the Quran.  Miraculous events, by their very nature, do not conform to scientific laws and their occurrence can neither be confirmed nor denied by science.

What about other living things, besides the human beings living on the Earth today?  What about plants, animals, fungi, and the like?

When we turn our attention to this question, we find that the Quran and Sunnah do not tell us much about the flora and fauna that was present on the Earth before or at the time of Adam and Eve’s arrived upon it.  The sacred texts also do not tell us how long ago Adam and Eve arrived upon the Earth.  Therefore, these are things we cannot ascertain from the sacred texts.

The only thing that the Quran and Sunnah require us to believe about the living things on Earth today is that God created them in whatever manner He decided to create them.

God says:

“God is the Creator of all things and over all things He has authority.” (Quran 39:62)

Indeed, God states specifically that He created all life forms:

“And We made from water all living things.” (Quran 21:30)

We know that “God does what He pleases.” God can create His creatures in any manner that He chooses.

Therefore, with respect to other living things, the Quran and Sunnah neither confirm nor deny the theory of biological evolution or the process referred to as natural selection.  The question of evolution remains purely a matter of scientific enquiry.  The theory of evolution must stand or fall on its own scientific merits – and that means the physical evidence that either confirms the theory or conflicts with it.

The role of science is only to observe and describe the patterns that God places in His creation.  If scientific observation shows a pattern in the evolution of species over time that can be described as natural selection, this is not in itself unbelief.  It is only unbelief for a person to think that this evolution took place on its own, and not as a creation of God.  A Muslim who accepts evolution or natural selection as a valid scientific theory must know that the theory is merely an explanation of one of the many observed patterns in God’s creation.

As for the fossil remains of bipedal apes and the tools and artifacts associated with those remains, their existence poses no problem for Islamic teachings.  There is nothing in the Quran and Sunnah that either affirms or denies that upright, brainy, tool using apes ever existed or evolved from other apelike ancestors.  Such animals may very well have existed on Earth before Adam’s arrival upon it.  All we can draw from the Quran and Sunnah is that even if those animals once existed, they were not the forefathers of Adam (peace be upon him). - islamreligion.com

Examples of equality in Islam

 

First Example

Abu Tharr, may Allah be pleased with him, somehow got angry with the freed slave of Abu Bakr, Bilaal of Abyssinia, may Allah be pleased with them both. Both of them were Companions of the Prophet . The altercation became prolonged and Abu Tharr, may Allah be pleased with him, in his fury called Bilaal, may Allah be pleased with him, a "son of a black skinned mother". Bilaal complained to the Prophet  who addressed Abu Tharr, may Allah be pleased with him, saying: "Did you call him a name reviling his mother? It appears that you still retain vestiges of Jaahiliyyah (the period of ignorance before Islam.)"

Abu Tharr, may Allah be pleased with him, failed to understand the word Jaahiliyyah and took it to signify some sort of sexual immorality, and meekly questioned in surprise, "At this ripe age, O Prophet of Allah?" The Prophet  said in reply: "Yes, you are his brother." Abu Tharr, may Allah be pleased with him, became ashamed and repentant, and - out of extreme repentance and humility - requested Bilaal, may Allah be pleased with him, to tread on his face with his feet.

Second Example

When a woman of the Bani Makhzoom tribe called Faatimah was found guilty of theft, she was brought to the Prophet  to be judged according to Sharee'ah Law. The Quraysh tribe tried to intercede not to punish the woman and after deliberation, sent Usaamah bin Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, for intercession since he was very much a favourite of the Prophet . When he talked to the Prophet  the Prophet  became very angry and said to Usaamah, may Allah be pleased with him: "Do you (attempt to) intercede in the matters of the limits prescribed by God?" Then he gathered the people and said to them: "The people before you who met their doom, discriminated between the elite and the common-folk in the dispensation of justice for crimes like theft. The high-placed were spared while the weaker elements of society were readily punished. By Allah! Had Faatimah the daughter of Muhammad committed this theft, then I would have amputated her hand for it also!"

Third Example

Qays bin Mutatiyah, a hypocrite, came to a gathering where Salmaan al-Faarisi (the Persian), Suhayb Ar-Roomi (the Roman), and Bilaal Al-Habashi (the Abyssinian) were present. He remarked tauntingly: "'Aws and Khazraj have rendered some service to this person (the Prophet ) but I fail to understand what these people (Bilaal, Suhayb and Salmaan) have done (to deserve this honour)." Mu'aath bin Jabal was in that gathering, and he caught hold of him by his neck, dragged him to the Prophet  and told him what the hypocrite had uttered. The Prophet  became angry and went to the mosque and gave a sermon, stating in it: "O people! Always remember that your Lord and Cherisher is one and your supreme ancestor is one, and your faith is also one and the same."

Fourth Example

'Adiyy bin Haatim, may Allah be pleased with him, went to Madeenah before embracing Islam and found the Companions sitting around the Prophet . 'Adiyy was inspired with awe when he witnessed their reverence for him. Meanwhile, a humble woman came to the Prophet  and asked to see him in private. The Prophet  got up and at some distance from the gathering talked to her, and returned when he finished. 'Adiyy was very much touched by this inconceivable concept of philanthropy and, eventually, embraced Islam.

Fifth Example

When the Prophet  conquered Makkah, those who had driven him out and fought with him were brought before him vanquished. Even then, he called them to the same thing, to Islam. Standing at the gate of the Ka'bah he said: "O people of Quraysh! Allah has, this day, put an end to your pride of the Jaahiliyyah (ignorance) and also the pride of your ancestry. Keep in mind! All men are from Aadam, and Aadam was fashioned out of clay." On this occasion he recited the verse which means: "O Mankind! Indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you..." [Quran: 49:13]

Sixth Example
'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was a glorious caliph. He was sympathetic to the weak, firm in his stand by the truth. He used to go without food to feed others, and kept himself deprived to give to others. He used to go from door to door asking people about their conditions of living, etc.

Seventh Example

When a caravan came to Madeenah, 'Umar and 'Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Awf, may Allah be pleased with them, stood guard for the caravan. During that night, 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, heard a baby's cry. He approached the mother and said to her: "Fear Allah and look after your child carefully."

Then he went back to his own position. Once again he heard the baby crying, and went over to the mother yet again and gave her the same advice. Later, during the last part of the night the child cried once more. 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, came to the mother and said: "Woe to you! You appear not to be a good mother. How is it that your child can not sleep peacefully during the night?"

The woman, little suspecting that she was speaking to the Ameer of the believers, said in reply: "May Allah bless you, you have pestered me several times during the night. I want to wean it forcefully (before time,) but the child is intractable." 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked her: "Why wean it forcefully?" She said in reply: "Because 'Umar grants allowance only for such children that have been weaned."

'Umar, may Allah be pleased with her, asked her: "How old is your child?" She told him it was only a few months old. 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked the woman not to be hasty in weaning her child. Then he led the dawn prayer in such a state that his weeping made his recital of the Quran inaudible and unintelligible. At the end of the prayer he said: "'Umar is ruined! He has killed the children of the believers!" Thereupon, he ordered the crier to proclaim in the town of Madeenah that the mothers should not wean their children only for the sake of the allowance for their children. From now on, every child, suckling or weaned, was to receive a stipend.

Eighth Example

One of the unique incidents relating to sympathy and equality in the history of mankind is that 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, came by one night. It was usual for him to go out during the nights to see with his own eyes the conditions under which the people were living. One night, he heard somebody crying in a nearby tent, at whose door was standing a man. 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, greeted him and asked him who he was.

He said in reply that he was a Bedouin who had come to Madeenah to ask the Ameer of the believers for help. Then 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked him about the crying and wailing inside the tent. The Bedouin tried to evade this question, saying that since it did not concern him he should not interest himself in it and go his way.

However, on the insistence of 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, he told him that his wife was in labour and had no one to help her with the delivery. 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, returned to his home and asked his wife, Umm-Kulthoom bint 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with her, whether she was interested in the reward from Allah which He might have brought her way. He asked her to take with her the requisites of a newborn and the delivered mother and also some provisions for food.

He took all those things from her and started, Umm-Kulthoom following him. When they came to the Bedouin's tent, 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, sent his wife inside. He himself sat with the husband and, lighting a fire, started cooking food with the provisions he had brought with him. The Bedouin was still unaware that he was sitting beside a great man of the world.

Then the child was delivered and Umm-Kulthoom, may Allah be pleased with her, called him from inside the tent, addressing him as Ameer Al-Mu'mineen, and asked him to congratulate his friend on the birth of his child. The Bedouin on hearing her words became conscious of the fact that he had been with the head of the Islamic state all this time and had been rude to him, and was awe-struck and began receding from 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.

But 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, reassured him and asked him to keep sitting where he was, unceremoniously. He asked Umm-Kulthoom to offer the mother the food that he had cooked while he offered some to her husband saying, "Partake of it, you have been kept up the whole night and have been inconvenienced."

Here we must also mention that 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, is not an isolated example presented as a perfect and affectionate person by the Islamic civilisation. The lives of Abu Bakr, 'Uthmaan and 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with them all, were also moulded in the mould of perfect humanity, brimming over with mercy and affection.

Similar were the lives of 'Umar bin 'Abdul Azeez, Salahuddeen Ayyoobi, and many other big personages, legists and leaders who also present countless immortal examples. They are in themselves brilliant evidence in favour of this glorious civilisation from every aspect. - islamweb.net

Why Do We Sleep?

 

Allah Almighty mentions to us in His Holy Book, the Qur’an: {And it is He who has made the night for you as clothing and sleep [a means for] rest and has made the day a resurrection.} (Surat Al-Furqan 25:47).

According to the above Qur’anic verse, sleep is an important issue, and it’s also one of the signs of Allah’s greatness and mercy, drawing attention also to its beneficial effects.

So also is the Prophetic Sunnah, through its many teachings and instructions, stressing the importance of sleep in Islam. 

Why do we sleep, and how does the modern science view this natural process? 

Did our modern lifestyle ruin our vital biological process of sleeping? Did the 21^st century change our sleeping habits?

Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist: He studies the sleep cycles of the brain. And he asks: What do we know about sleep? Not a lot, it turns out, for something we do with one-third of our lives.

Foster studies sleep and its role in our lives, examining how our perception of light influences our sleep-wake rhythms.

Much as your ear does double duty (balance plus hearing), Foster posits that the eye has two jobs: creating vision, but also — as a completely separate function — managing our perception of light and dark, providing the clues that our circadian rhythms need to regulate sleep-wake cycles.

Eye Photoreceptors

He and his team at the University of Oxford are exploring a third kind of photoreceptor in the eye: not a rod or a cone but a photosensitive retinal ganglion cell (pRGC) that detects light/dark and feeds that information to the circadian system.

As Foster explains: “Embedded within our genes, and almost all life on Earth, are the instructions for a biological clock that marks the passage of approximately 24 hours.”

Light and dark help us synchronize this inner clock with the outside world. The research on light perception hits home as we age — faced with fading vision, we also risk disrupted sleep cycles, which have very serious consequences, including lack of concentration, depression and cognitive decline.

The more we learn about how our eyes and bodies create our sleep cycles, the more seriously we can begin to take sleep as a therapy.

“Even in animals and people in whom the rods and cones used for vision have been completely destroyed and who are otherwise totally visually blind, the pRGCs can still detect light to shift the circadian clock.” — Russell Foster, in the Guardian

In another talk, Foster also shares three popular theories about why we sleep, busts some myths about how much sleep we need at different ages — and hints at some bold new uses of sleep as a predictor of mental health.

(Courtesy of TED)

Muslims laid the foundation of physical science

 

It is an undeniable historical fact that before the advent of Islam, the pursuit of Science was condemned as heresy. One does not have to go far to seek the reason for this. At that time, most people could not think in the abstract and they looked upon the elements of Nature (the subject that Science concerns itself with) as sacred objects, possessing supernatural powers. They made idols symbolizing different elements and worshipped them as gods and goddesses, either for protection from evil or for attainment of certain objects. It was in this way that a pantheon was created and the sun, moon, stars, air, water, animals, and even trees and stones, were deified and adored.

It was not unnatural that in such circumstances, any deviation from the prevailing belief in their sanctity should have been branded as sacrilege, and any attempt at a critical examination of their potentiality, for good or evil, stigmatized as profanity. Thus, all that was useful in the heavens and the earth remained altogether unexplored, and for thousands of years man did not realise the sublime utility of the forces of Nature. It was reserved for the untutored son of the desert to open man's eye to the wonderland of Nature by bringing down her elements from the high pedestal of divinity on which they had been placed, to the position of servants of mankind.

The subservience of natural elements to man

The Quran says (what means):

“And He has made subservient to you the night and the day and the sun and moon and the stars are made subservient by His commandment; most surely there are signs in this for people to ponder...” [Quran 16:12]

Thus were the gods of the pre-Islamic people reduced by one stroke to the status of man's servants. For the first time in the history of the world, the Holy Quran declared in unmistakable language that the main purpose for which all objects -- from the mightiest sun to the most insignificant atom -- were created was to minister to man's needs. Everything in the Universe being intended for his use, man has been commanded to use his faculties to investigate their intrinsic properties -- in other words, to cultivate every branch of Science in order to discover the Divine that designed him and the world around him.

In the Quran, man was declared the vicegerent on earth by the Lord of the Universe and everything in it was subservient to him. Thus, the Quran gave a tremendous impetus to the development of scientific research. In fact, the foundation of modern Science was thus laid by acquainting man with the real nature of the forces and laws of Nature and by teaching him how to harness them for the service of human beings.

The initiation of the conquest of Nature leading to the utilisation of its forces for the benefit of humanity is, indeed, one of the greatest blessings Islam has conferred upon mankind.

The Quran clearly indicated the way in which to reduce Nature to human service by contemplation and observation of four kinds, viz., Tafaqquh, Tadabbur, Tafakkur and Ta’aqqul (learning, pondering, contemplation, and meditation). By means of Tafaqquh (learning) a correct idea of things and their different features can be arrived at; by Tadabbur (pondering) the knowledge of        how to utilize them properly can be acquired, Tafakkur (contemplation) teaches the ways by which things have come into existence while Ta'aqqul (meditation) gives the knowledge which enables man to make the right use of different things in everyday life.

It was the meditations indicated by Tafakkur and Ta'aqqul that actuated different kinds of scientific research among the early Muslims. This is how the Quran placed in the hands of man the key to the treasures of Nature and Divine Revelation came to show him the way to material progress. Everything in the Universe having been intended for the use of man, it was a virtuous act for him to conduct research into the realms of Nature in order to discover the utility of its various components. Thus the first principle of progress — the exploration and subsequent utilization of the forces of Nature to serve the needs of mankind and help him realize the Greatness of his Creator— became an article of faith with the Muslims, and impelled them to engage in scientific research.

From: A Simple Guide to Islam’s Contribution to Science and Civilisation

-islamweb.net

What Is the Hour of Answering Duaa on Friday?

 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

1- Some scholars maintain that the hour of answering du`aa’ on Friday lasts from after `Asr until the sun sets.

2- Other scholars maintain that it lasts from the time when the imam sits on the pulpit to deliver the khutbah (sermon) on Friday until he finishes the Prayer.

---

In answer to your question, we cite what Sheikh Abdul-`Aziz ibn Baz, the late Mufti of Saudi Arabia, said,

Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned Friday and said, “On this day there is an hour when no Muslim slave stands and prays and asks Allah for something, but Allah will give it to him,” (Ibn Majah) and he gestured with his hand to indicate that whatever he asks for, is as nothing to Allah.

When is the hour of response on Friday?

There are two opinions concerning the hour of response (sa`at al-ijabah) on Friday which are likely to be correct:

The first is that it lasts from after Asr until the sun sets, for those who sit and wait for Maghrib, whether in the mosque or at home, making duaa (supplication) to their Lord, whether they are men or women; whoever does that is more deserving of seeing a response to his or her duaa.

The second is that it lasts from the time when the imam sits on the pulpit to deliver the khutbah (sermon) on Friday until he finishes the Prayer.

These two times are more likely to be the times of response on Friday, because of the sound hadiths which indicate that. The hour of response may also be sought at other times of the day; the bounty of Allah is great.

Among the moments when response may come to a duaa in all Prayers, obligatory and nafl alike, is the moment of sujud (prostration), because the Prophet PBUH) said, “The closest that a person may be to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so say a great deal of duaa in prostration (sujud).” (Muslim)

Muslim also narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both father and son) that the Prophet (PBUH) said, “As for ruku (bowing), proclaim the greatness of your Lord in ruku and strive in duaa, for you will be more deserving of being responded to.”

Allah Almighty knows best.

Source: Excerpted with slight editorial modifications from, www.islamqa.info

What is the purpose of life

 

By Khaalid Yaseen

Khalid Yaseen delivered this lecture in Saudi Arabia, and later that night, 43 people accepted Islam. That should tell you how powerful the message in the lecture was.

 

All praise be to Allah and may Allah exalt the mention of His messenger, Muhammad.

 

 

The information which I wish to share with you may seem a bit extensive, but when you consider the capacity of the human brain and the capacity that it can store, I am sure that a few pages in tonight's talk will not overburden you.

 

I am honored to have this opportunity and I would like to begin by saying that all of you have an equal responsibility. That responsibility is to listen with an open heart and an open mind. In a world filled with prejudice and cultural conditioning, it is very hard to be able to find people to take a moment to think about life objectively and try to arrive at the truth about this world and the real purpose of our lives.

 

Unfortunately, when you ask most people the question: "What is the purpose of life?" (such a fundamental and important question), they will not tell you what they have concluded through observation or analytical reasoning. Rather, in most cases, they will simply tell you what someone else said, or they will tell you what is "commonly presumed" by others, i.e., What my father said purpose of life is, what the minister of my church said the purpose of life is, what my teacher in school said, what my friend said, etc. If I ask anyone about the purpose of eating or why do we eat, everyone will say [in one word or another] that it is for nutritional purposes, because nutrition sustains life. If I ask anyone why they work, they will say because it's a necessity in order to support themselves and to provide for the needs of their families. If I ask anyone why they sleep, why they wash, why they dress, etc., they will answer with appropriate answers, for these are common necessities for all human beings. We can follow this line of questioning with a hundred questions and receive the same or similar answers from anyone in any language from any place in the world. Then I ask you the question: Why, when we ask the question, "What is the goal and purpose of life?" that we get many different answers? It is because people are confused; they don't really know. They are stumbling in the dark, and rather than say, "I don't know"; they just offer any answer they have been programmed to give. Think about it. Is our purpose in this world simply to eat, sleep, dress, work, acquire some material things and enjoy ourselves? Is this our purpose? Why are we born? What is the object of our existence? What is the wisdom behind the creation of man and this tremendous universe?

 

Think about those questions. Some people argue that there is no proof of any diving origin; no proof that there is a god and there is no proof that this universe has come about through any divine purpose. There are people who argue this way, and they say that perhaps this world came about by chance. A big bang, and this great world [with all its orchestration] just came together. They argue that life doesn't have any definite purpose, and that there is nothing that can prove [either through logic or science] that there is a god, or a purpose or any divine reason behind this world.

 

Here I would like to mention a few verses from the Noble Quran that address this subject. We seek the protection of Allah from every evil thing. Allah mentions to us in the Noble Quran (what means): "And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is over all things competent. Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], "Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire.." [Quran 3: 189-191]

 

Now here in these verses, Allah draws our attention to the creation of the heavens and earth, the alternation of the night and the day, the creation of the universe. He calls our attention to their creation and their precision, and mentions those who contemplate the wonders of creation and realize that this was not created for any foolish purpose, [that Allah is exalted above doing such a thing] and they seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of Hell. Truly, when you see the design of all that Allah created, you realize it is very powerful and very precise. Something very powerful and very precise; something beyond your own calculation and imagination, cannot be foolish. It cannot be just "thrown together".

 

There are many examples of things that happen by chance. Let me offer one situation. If you took ten colored marbles, then numbered them one to ten and you put them inside a bag. Next, you shook that bag to mix them up. Then, closing your eyes and reaching into the bag, you tried to pull out the marbles in order-1 to 10. What is the chance of pulling out the marbles in order? Do you know what the chances are? It is twenty six million to one (26,000,000 to 1). And this is something within our ability to do. So now I ask you, what is the chance that the heavens and the earth just came together as they are [with the exact precision and orchestration in their existence]?

 

My dear respected brothers and sisters, we have to ask ourselves a further question. When you see a bridge, a building or an automobile, you automatically consider the person or company that constructed it. When you see a large ship, an airplane, a rocket, a satellite; you also think about how incredible it is. [You know by its design who the maker is.] When you see a super international airport, nuclear plant or an orbiting space station you have to be thoroughly impressed with the engineering dynamics that are involved. Yet, these are just things that are manufactured by human beings. So what about the human body with its massive and intricate control systems? Think about it. Think about the brain: how it thinks, functions, analyzes, retrieves and stores information, as well as distinguishes and categorizes information in a millionth of a second, all of this constantly. Think about the brain for a moment. (And don't forget the fact that you are using your brain to consider itself!) This is the brain that made the automobile, the rocket ships, the boats, and so on. Think about the brain and who made that! Think about the heart. Think about how it pumps continuously for sixty or seventy years [taking in and discharging blood throughout the body] maintaining steady precision throughout the life of the person. Think about the kidneys and the liver and the various functions they perform. The purifying instruments of the body that perform hundreds of chemical analyses simultaneously and also control the level of toxicity in the content of the body. All of these are done automatically. Think about your eyes, the human cameras, that adjust, focus, interpret, evaluate, and discern color automatically, naturally receiving and adjusting to light and distance. Think about it-Who created them? Who has mastered their design and function? Who plans and regulates their function? Human beings do this? No, of course not. What about this universe? Think about this. This earth is one planet in our solar system, and our solar system is one [of possible many] solar systems. Our galaxy, The Milky Way, is one of the galaxies. There are one hundred million galaxies in the universe. They are all in order and they are all precise. They are not colliding with each other. They are not conflicting with on another. They are swimming along in an orbit that has been set for them. Did human beings set that into motion and are human beings maintaining that precision? No, of course not. Think about the oceans, the fish, the insects, the birds, the plants, bacteria, and chemical elements that have not yet been discovered and cannot be detected even with the most sophisticated instruments. Yet each of them has a law that they follow. Did all of this synchronization, balance, harmony, variation, design, maintenance, operation and infinite numeration happen all by chance? Do these things function perfectly and perpetually also by chance? No, of course not. That would be totally illogical and foolish. In the least, it indicates that however it came to exist-it exists beyond the realm of human capability. We will all agree to that. The Being, The Almighty Power, God, The Creator who has the knowledge to design and proportion crated all of this and is responsible for maintaining it. HE is the only one that deserves praise and gratitude.

 

If I were to give each one of you one hundred dollars for no reason, you would at least say thank you. What about your eyes, your kidneys, your brain, your children, and your life: Who gave you all of that? Is He not worthy of praise and thanks? Is He not worthy of your worship and recognition?

 

My brothers and sisters, in a nutshell, this is the goal and purpose of this life. Allah Says to us in the Noble Quran (what means): "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." [Quran 51: 56] This is what he Almighty said. Our purpose in this life is to recognize The Creator, to be grateful to Him, to worship Him, to surrender ourselves to Him and to obey the laws that He has determined for us. It means worship is our purpose in life. Whatever we do in the course of that worship, [i.e., the eating, the sleeping, the dressing, the working, the enjoying,] between birth and death is consequential and subject to His orders. But the main reason for our creation is worship. I don't think anyone who is analytical or scientific will have much of an argument with that purpose. They may have some other reason with themselves-but that is something they have to deal with between themselves and Almighty God. - islamweb.net

Being Thankful to Allah…Why It Matters

 

Each day in our salah, we repeatedly make one humble request to Allah, our Creator and Sustainer:

{Guide us the Straight Way.} (Al-Fatihah 1:4)

It is only by seeking and staying on the Straight Way, that we can ever hope to attain true salvation and success.

What then must we do to ensure that Allah accepts and grants our Prayer? The Qur’an explains:

{Whosoever holds on to Allah, he has already been guided onto a Straight Way.} (Aal `Imran 3:101)

What exactly is i`tisambillah or ‘holding onto Allah’?

How do we develop a close attachment to and a close relationship with Allah?

Let us explore the answers to these questions by reflecting upon the characteristics needed to ‘hold onto Allah’ and thus be among those who are shown the Sirat al-Mustaqim or the Straight Way.

Gratefulness

The first characteristic is being ever grateful and thankful to Allah for everything that you possess including your wealth, health, status, intellectual abilities and life.

You should recognize that your very existence and your continuing sustenance are dependent on Allah. Whatever praise is due, therefore, it is due to Him alone, for nobody has the power or the resources to give you anything except by His will. His bounties and blessings are countless. Allah says:

{Is, then, He who creates comparable to any that cannot create? Will you not, then, take heed?

And should you try to count Allah’s blessings, you could never compute them. Allah is, indeed, All forgiving, All compassionate; and Allah knows all that you keep secret as well as all that you bring into the open.} (An-Nahl 16:17-19)

That is what Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) stated, as narrated in the Qur’an:

{It is He who has created me, and so it is He who guides me;

it is He who gives me to eat and drink, and whenever I am sick it is He who heals me;

and it is He who makes me die and then will bring me to life.

And upon Him, l pin my hope that He would forgive my sins on the Day of Judgment.} (Ash-Shu`araa’ 26:77-82)

In many places in the Qur’an, Allah compares the terms shukr and kufr. (al-Baqara 2:152, Luqman 31: 12). Iman implies shukr or gratefulness as opposed to kufr or ungratefulness.

An unbeliever is ungrateful to the Being who has given him everything, whereas a mu’min or a believer is one who is ever thankful for all that Allah has given him, for he recognizes that his Lord is Merciful and Loving. (Hud 11:90).

Iman, therefore, requires due praise and thanks to Allah. If you are ungrateful, Allah is unaffected. If you become grateful, then you have taken the first step towards becoming a true believer.

In every moment and in every situation we see our Creator and Sustainer actively involved. He has not retired from this world. He is on His throne creating, distributing and administering everything.

Allah the Almighty governs and sustains all in the Universe. Not even a leaf can fall without His knowledge, His permission and His command. The Qur’an declares:

{He knows all that enters the earth and all that emerges therefrom, and that which comes down from the sky and all that ascends therein; and He is with you wherever you may be.} (Al-Hadid 57: 4)

Everything that happens to us – even events that we may consider to be personal afflictions or natural disasters- are from Him. So even in times of calamity and distress, there will be some good for us, provided we respond appropriately. The Prophet said:

“How wonderful is the case of a believer! There is good for him in whatever happens to him -and none, apart from him, enjoys this [blessing.] If he receives some bounty, he is grateful to Allah and this bounty brings good to him. And if some adversity befalls him, he is patient, and this affliction, too, brings good to him.” (Muslim)

Look again at the Qur’an, you will see that the very first introduction to Allah is Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. (Al-Fatihah 1:1) Allah Himself is saying that He is the Most Merciful, He is the Most Compassionate. He shows and gives mercy to all, even those who continue to be ungrateful and rebellious towards Him:

{Allah is full of bounty to the people, but most people do not give thanks.} (Al-Baqarah 2: 243)

Reflect upon your own life and you will find innumerable occasions when Allah’s ‘hand’ has been holding you and helping you. So often, we subconsciously use the expression ‘thank God for this and that’, without realizing the full implications of our words.

The Qur’an even reminded the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that in his early life, Allah’s ‘hand’ was holding him and guiding him:

{Did He not find you an orphan and gave you shelter [and care]? And He found you wandering and He gave you guidance. And He found you in need and made you independent. Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness, nor repulse him who asks.} (Ad-Duha 93: 6-10)

This exhortation is not only for the Prophet but for all people. From the moment that we open our eyes in this world until the moment our souls leave our bodies, and even beyond, Allah’s mercy, compassion and protection remain with us.

Continuously remind yourself then that your entire existence is dependent on Him. He is your Lord and Sustainer. He is nourishing and sustaining all that exists.

From morning until evening, your tongue must be moist with continuous praise of Allah. In return, Allah has promised increased rahmah or mercy for you:

{If you are grateful, I will surely give you more and more.} (Ibrahim 14:7)

This is the cornerstone of your faith and the Islamic way of life. If you learn this first lesson, you will begin the process of ‘holding onto Allah’. And whoever is grateful, he is only grateful for the benefit of his own self (Luqman 31:12), for surely if it was not for the grace of God on you and His mercy, you would have been among the losers. (Al-Baqarah 2:64).

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 References

Take with some modifications from the author’s In the Early Hours.

- aboutislam.net