Sun 13 Oct 2019

Lesson 39: Hadith 25 & 26

Hadith 25

• Again, Abu Dharr-may Allah be pleased with him – said: Some among the Companions of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said to the Prophet (ﷺ) :”O Messenger of Allah, the wealthy have gotten tremendous rewards; they perform the prayers as we do, observe the fast as we do and they give charity from their excess wealth.” He said: “Has not Allah granted you what to give in charity! Certainly, every Tasbih (saying: Subhān Allāh – meaning Glorious is Allah) is charity, every Takbir (saying: Allahu Akbar meaning – Allah is the Greatest) is charity, every Tahmid (saying: Alhamdulillāh – meaning All praise is for Allah) is charity, every Tahleel (saying: Lā ilāha illAllāh – meaning there is no god worthy of worship except Allah) is charity, commanding good is charity, and forbidding evil is charity, and your cohabiting with your wives is charity”. They said: “O Messenger of Allah, will anyone fulfil his (sexual) desire and get rewarded from that?” He said: “If he were to fulfil it through illicit means, would he have sinned? Likewise, if he fulfilled it through legitimate means, he would have the reward.” [Muslim]
• The explanation of this hadith is split into 4 parts

Part 1: The companions of the Prophet were the most keen of people in attaining good

• They would race with each other in goodness
• The way the companions thought about wealth and wealthy people
• The way we think about wealth in these modern times and how this is not good

Part 2: The two forms of Charity

• The different forms of charity which the Prophet (ﷺ) directed the companions towards can be split into two forms
  • The form of charity which benefits the person himself, what is this?
  • The charity in which both you and others can benefit, what are some examples? Does it have to be related to money?

Part 3: Mubaah (Permitted actions)

• What are examples of permitted actions
• If a person engages in these actions with a righteous intention then he or she will be rewarded for it

Part 4: Summary of benefits

• 1. The keenness of the companions
• 2. Charity is not limited to wealth
• 3. Encouragement to make tasbeeh, tahleel and tahmeed
• 4. The one who is unable to carry out an act of obedience, then he should increase in those acts for which he does have the ability
• 5. Encouragement to Command good and forbid evil 
• 6. A person fulfilling his carnal desires with a righteous intention is a charity upon himself
• 7. A person rechecking with a scholar concerning what was said in order to verify it
• 8. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) made qiyaas-al-‘aqs (analytical deduction)

Hadith 26

• Abu Hurayrah – may Allah be pleased with him – said: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: “Every joint in man has upon it charity every day the sun rises: Administering justice between any two is charity, assisting a man to mount his ride or helping him raise his effects upon it is charity. A nice word is charity, and every step you take going to (perform) the Prayer is charity, and removing harmful things from the way is charity.” [Al-Bukhari] [Muslim]
• The explanation of this hadith is split into 3 parts

Part 1: The joints of the human being

• The Prophet (ﷺ), in another Hadith, informed us that we have 360 joints
• We believe in this regardless of what is said by others
• If there is any doubt, then we do not cast it upon the statements of the Prophet (ﷺ), rather we question what is said by anyone contradicting him e.g. a scientist etc
• The Prophet (ﷺ) was not a scientist, we do not say we follow him because of research etc, rather we believe in him because what he says came directly from Allah, the one who created the human anatomy, the earth and the heavens and everything that exists
• The problem of some Muslim who, having studied under the system of the atheists etc, who then cast doubt upon the statements of Allah, our creator, and his Messenegr (ﷺ). Such a person has low self esteem before the non-Muslims.
• The contradiction of some modern scientists who blindly follow their predecessors and claim to have superior knowledge whilst they know very little
• The Human being should humble himself
• The blessing of our joints and our body as a whole
• Moving anecdote
• Health is a crown upon the head of the healthy, but only the sick can see it
• We should be grateful to our Creator
• The charity due is in the form of two rak’ah that are to be prayed in the forenoon prayer (Duha), what is the wisdom behind this?

Sat 12 Oct 2019

Read by Abu Muadh Taqweem

• Exaggeration and excessiveness in the rights of the righteous people
  The plots of shaytan and how deceives people into shirk
  What is picture making and why is it prohibited?
  Q&A

Sun 6 Oct 2019
Hadith 24 (Part 2) & 25
Read by Abu Arwa Ali

Hadith 24

• Abu Dharr Al-Ghifārī – may Allah be pleased with him -said: the Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned from what he narrates from his Lord the Mighty and Sublime- that He said: “O my servants, I have restrained Myself from oppression, and have made it prohibited amongst you; so, do not oppress one another. O my servants, all of you lack guidance except whom I guide: so, seek guidance of me and I shall guide you. O my servants, you are all hungry except whom I feed; so, seek food of me and I shall feed you. O my servants, you are all naked except whom I clothe; seek clothing of me and I shall clothe you. O my servants, you err in the night and day, and I forgive all sins; so, seek forgiveness of me and I shall forgive you. O my servants, you all are incapable of bringing harm to Me such that you may harm Me and you are incapable of benefitting Me such that you may provide Me benefit. O my servants were the first of you and the last of you; the men of you and the jinn of you to be as the heart of the most pious one amongst you; that will not increase anything of My kingdom. O my servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the men of you and the jinn of you to be as the heart of the worst one amongst you; that will not reduce anything from My kingdom. O my servants were the first of you and the last of you; the men of you and the jinn of you to stand on a plain and you all supplicate to me and I grant everyone what he has asked; that will not reduce anything from what I have except what reduces from the sea if a needle is dipped in it. O my servants, it is but your actions; I keep record of them for you, and then, I will recompense you with it as is due. So, whoever finds good should give thanks and praise to Allah; and whoever finds other than that, let him blame no one but himself.” [Muslim] 
• The explanation of this hadith is split into  10 parts
• We did parts 1-5 last lesson

Part 6: “O My slaves, you will never attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and you will never attain benefiting Me so as to benefit Me”

• Regardless of what we do in terms of performing good deeds, then Allah does not benefit from this in any way
• Rather it is we who benefit by praying, fasting and giving in charity
• Allah is perfect and free from any need
• And if we are disobedient to Allah and we commit sins, then Allah is not harmed by this
• Rather it is we who harm ourselves when we commit sins
• What does Allah say in the Qur’an about this?

Part 7: “O My slaves, if the first of you and the last of you, and the human of you and the jinn of you, had the most pious heart of any man amongst you, that would not increase My Kingdom in anything. O My slaves, if the first of you and the last of you, and the human of you and the jinn of you, had the most evil heart of any man amongst you, then this would not decrease My Kingdom in anything”

• This statement of Allah, subhaanahu wa ta’aalaa, clarifies to us the perfect Kingdom of Allah and that He, the Most High, is the Most Perfect in his Ownership of creation
• Only something which is imperfect can be increased upon or improved, hence the Kingdom of Allah is perfect and He is completely free from any needs

Part 8: “O My slaves, if the first of you and the last of you, and the human of you and the jinn of you, were all to stand together in one open ground and ask of Me, and I were to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what is with Me, except what is decreased of the ocean when a needle is dipped into it”

• The significance of this statement
• How free Allah is from any need and how needy and impoverished we are before Him

Part 9:”O My slaves, it is only your deeds that I account for you, and then recompense you for. So whoever finds good, then let him praise Allah, and whoever finds other than that, then let him blame none but himself”

• In this world, we are responsible for performing what we have been commanded by Allah and to stay away from what He has prohibited
• Guidance has been provided
• Allah will not take you into account because of how you look, or how intelligent or unintelligent you are, or how healthy or unhealthy you are
• Rather, Allah will take us unto account for those actions which occurred due to our own free will
• Whoever finds good, then let him praise Allah, and whoever finds other than that, then let him blame no one but himself

Part 10: Summary of Benefits

• 1. A Hadith Qudsi is one in which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) relays speech from Allah, the Most High, in meaning and actual word. And the Hadith Qudsi will have within it a first-person pronoun which relates back to Allah, The Most High
• 2. Allah has made oppression forbidden upon Himself, and thus he has the Perfect quality of the Opposite (Justice) 
• 3. Allah has made it forbidden to oppress each other and ourselves 
• 4. We have learnt about the severe need that the slaves have in asking Allah for all of our matters
• 5. Allah loves for His slaves to ask Him
• 6. The perfect Kingdom of Allah and that we cannot benefit or harm Allah, rather the benefit or harm of our actions go back to ourselves
• 7. No person is free of sin, and we must turn to Allah in repentance and seek His Forgiveness
• 8. Piety and Evildoing occur within the heart
• 9. Allah’s Kingdom does not increase by us being obedient to Him nor does it decrease by us being disobedient to him
• 10. How Allah is Perfect in His being free of all needs and how perfect his Kingdom is
• 11. Encouragement to do righteous deeds 
• 12. The one who is granted success in traversing upon the straight path will attain happiness in this life and the afterlife and that occurs by the favour of Allah, The Most High
• 13. The one who is negligent and commits evil will attain unhappiness and loss and will have no one to blame except himself

Hadith 25

Sat 5th Oct 2019

Lesson 10: The issue of the graves and the Danger of Exaggeration

Recap of previous lesson

• The 7 different ways in which the Prophet (ﷺ) warned against Shirk and cut off its avenues. There are a total of 8 points, the 8th point is below

The issue of the graves

• The statement of Ibn Al Qayyim on the people of innovation with regards to the graves and how this completely contradicts the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ)
• Common Innovations in our times regarding the graves:
  • Is it permissible to pray in the graveyards (other than Janaazah)? 
  • What about taking the graves as places of worship? 
  • What about places lights or lanterns at the graves?
  • What did the Prophet (ﷺ) say about making the graves a place of constant or repetitive visitation?
  • Is it permissible to use headstones or make shrines with fences? Or rather should the graves be more flat?
  • Can someone beautify a grave or write upon it? What about writing Qur’an on the grave?
• The danger of innovating things in the religion
• Contradicting the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) is a cause of weakness and loss of honour of the Muslim Ummah
• The importance of sticking to the Qur’an and Sunnah and abandoning innovation and contradictions to the religion

The state of the Ummah

• Ibn Al-Qayyim mentioned these above innovations several hundred years ago and the state of the Ummah has become even worse in this regard
• If you attempt to correct innovations, some people of innovation will say “you are not the majority” and they may even claim that the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) (i.e. to stay away from these innovations) is not the correct path!
• the shaytan will whisper to them that they are doing this out of love for the Prophet (ﷺ) and that to not carry out these innovations will be a disrespect for the awliya

The Eight Point: Exaggerating in the Right of the Prophet (ﷺ)

• This is the eighth point that may lead to shirk and the Prophet (ﷺ) warned against this
• The Prophet (ﷺ) is the best of creation and he has elevated rights, however we do not go above these rights
• However some Muslims go beyond these rights and this can lead to shirk
• The Prophet (ﷺ) himself forbade us from excessively praising him, why?
• The story of Nūh (may peace be upon him)
• What kind of excessive claims do the people of innovation make about the Prophet (ﷺ)
• Rather what is required is that we do not go into exaggeration, and at the same time we do not fall into negligence
• What does Allah say in the Qur’an?
  • “All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has sent down to His slave (Muhammad (ﷺ) ) the Book (the Quran), and has not placed therein any crookedness.” (Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) verse 1)
  • There are many other examples which show us that the Prophet (ﷺ) has a raised and elevated station, and that he is the slave of Allah
  • e.g. Read Surah Al-Isra (The Journey by Night) verses 89-93
• The exaggeration and blatant shirk some Sufi poems e.g. the burda and how this completely opposes what the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came with
• What does it mean to love the Prophet (ﷺ)?