Sat 13 Jan 2018
✏️ Authentic Adhkār from the Qur’an & Sunnah:
Lesson 3: Gatherings of Knowledge, making plentiful remembrance and the dangers of Negligence
- Those who sit in the gatherings of remembrance will have safety and security on the day of Judgement
- Wasting time with vain gatherings and negligence will only be a means of regret on the day of Judgement
- Gatherings of the remembrance of Allah are gatherings were peace and tranquillity descend therein:
- It was narrated that Abu Hurairah and Abu Sa’eed (may Allah be pleased with them) bore witness that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “No people sit in a gathering remembering Allah, But the angels surround them, mercy covers them, tranquillity descends upon them and Allah remembers them before those who are with Him.” [Reported by Ibn Mājah]
- NOTE: this is not the same as Sufi gatherings where they chant repeatedly and turn off the lights etc. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and his Sahabah did NOT do any of these types of acts
- Gatherings of knowledge are a great cause for the protection of the tongue (e.g. from backbiting and other evil speech)
- Know that if a person does not use his tongue in the remembrance of Allah (goodness), then one is more likely to use it for evil
- The Remembrance is from the most purifying of actions and from the best of actions with Allāh subhaanahu wata’aalaa
- Narration of Abū Dardā (may Allah be pleased with him): The Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said “Shall I not inform you of the best of your actions, and the purest of it with your Lord, and the one which will raise you in levels the most, and that which is better for you than spending in charity with gold and silver and better than meeting you enemy and striking their necks and they strike your necks?” they said “Yes, O messenger of Allāh! Inform us”, He (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said “The remembrance of Allāh” [Reported by At-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah and Al-Hākim and others]
- Ibn Rajab mentioned that there are many texts which indicate the higher virtue of the remembrance of Allah over and above giving in charity and other actions
- Narration about Abū Dardā (may Allah be pleased with him)
- How Shaykh Ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him) would make dua whilst waiting
- Narration of Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him)
- Note: The above point about how the remembrance of Allah can be superior to some acts such as charity does NOT mean that charity or other acts of worship should be belittled or stopped, these are tremendous acts of worship. The point is to show how great remembering Allah is when one knows the value of acts of worship such as charity
Section: Benefit of making the remembrance of Allah plentifully
- Allah Says: “O you who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance.” [33:41]
- Many people neglect the specified remembrances (e.g. the ones at specific times)
- For example, what are the specific remembrances made after the prayer?
- How many different types of duās do you know and practice? E.g. when going to sleep, waking up, eating, when wearing new clothes etc.
Section: The dispraise of becoming negligent in the remembrance of Allāh
- Allāh mentions dispraise in multiple places of the Qur’an about the one who is negligent of his remembrance
- You cannot perfect your remembrance of Allah without removing the negligence
- Allah says: “And remember your Lord by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and with fear and without loudness in words in the mornings, and in the afternoons and be not of those who are neglectful.” [7:205]
- NOTE: In the above ayah from Surah A’raaf Allah (in a single verse) encourages us to both remember him and also warns us of being negligent
- Who are the negligent?
- Allah Says: “O you who believe! Fear Allah and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what you do” [59:18]
- “And be not like those who forgot Allah (i.e. became disobedient to Allah) and He caused them to forget their ownselves, (let them to forget to do righteous deeds). Those are the Fasiqun (rebellious, disobedient to Allah).” [59:19]
- Those who are negligent are deprived from the goodness of this life and the next
- Negligence is a disease, if it overcomes a person then such a person will not engage in the remembrance of Allah and obedience to him and this brings them closer to Shaitaan (the devil)
- Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “The similitude of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not remember Him, is like that of the living and the dead.” [Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
- Shaykh Al-Fawzaan mentioned do not make your homes like graveyards
- In the graveyards worship such as prayer and reading the Qur’an are not done, and so the above advice means do not make your home absent or void of performing worship such as prayer and reciting the Qur’an
- Hadith of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “Do not make your houses graves, and do not make my grave a place of festivity. But invoke blessings on me, for your blessings reach me wherever you may be”. [Reported by Abu Dāwuud]
- Ibn Taymiyyah said “do not make your homes like graves” means do not make them absent of prayers and recitation
- NOTE: What the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) advised us with (i.e. don’t make your homes like graves) is the opposite of what the Christians do, since they perform worship at the graves and leave their homes void and empty. In this regard, the Sufis have followed the Christians when they perform worship at the grave (and sometimes even worshipping the inhabitants of the graves by asking them for favours or making supplication to them) or building a mosque over a grave or even placing a grave into a masjid
- QUESTION: Is the grave of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) currently inside the Prophet’s mosque? Where was the house of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)? How did the Mosque of the Prophet grow in Madinah and in which direction? what were the circumstances of its expansion?
- ISSUE: if you happen to be near the Prophet’s graveyard and you wanted to make dua, should you do it there? What did the Salaf (pious predecessors) say about doing this?
- Q&A:
- What should one do if he/she is in a haraam environment? e.g. where there is music
- What if this haraam environment is at work? What if you don’t have choice e.g. train?
- If one makes Duā in such a haraam environment, does he/she get more reward?
- What about making Duā BUT NOT KNOWING THE MEANING?
- What about if one is combining prayers, should he make remembrance in between them?
Next week insha Allāh: Mannerism of how to perform the remembrance of Allah then the Qur’an