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Mistakes made on Eid

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:34:46 PDT

Praise be to Allaah.

As Eid is approaching, we would like to point out some things that some people do out of ignorance of the laws of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). These include the following:

1 – The belief of some that it is prescribed to spend the night of Eid in worship.

Some people believe that it is prescribed to spend the night of Eid in worship. This is a kind of innovation (bid’ah) that is not proven from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Rather it was narrated in a da’eef (weak) hadeeth which says, “Whoever stays up on the night of Eid, his heart will not die on the day when hearts die.” This hadeeth is not saheeh. It was narrated via two isnaads, one of which is mawdoo’ (fabricated) and the other is da’eef jiddan (very weak). See Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth al-Da’eefah wa’l-Mawdoo’ah by al-Albaani, 520, 521.

It is not prescribed to single out the night of Eid to pray qiyaam to the exclusion of all other nights, unlike the one whose habit it is to pray qiyaam, in which case there is nothing wrong with him praying qiyaam on the night of Eid.

2 – Visiting graves on the two Eid days.

This is contrary to the purpose of Eid which is to express joy and happiness, and it goes against the teaching of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the actions of the salaf. It comes under the general meaning of the Prophet’s prohibition on visiting graves on a specific day and making that like a festival, as the scholars stated.

See Ahkaam al-Janaa’iz wa Bida’uha by al-Albaani, p. 219, 258.

3 – Forsaking the jamaa’ah and sleeping late and missing the prayer.

Unfortunately you see some of the Muslims missing the prayer and forsaking the jamaa’ah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The covenant that stands between us and them is the prayer; whoever forsakes it is a kaafir.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2621; al-Nasaa’i, 463; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.

And he said: “The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the ‘Isha’ and Fajr prayers. If they knew (what goodness) there is in them, they would come to them even if they had to crawl. I had thought of ordering the call to prayer to be given, then I would tell a man to lead the people in prayer, then I would go, taking some men with me carrying bundles of wood, to people who do not attend the prayer, and would burn their houses down around them.” Narrated by Muslim, 651.

4 – Women mixing with men in the prayer place, the streets and elsewhere, and crowding together with men in those places.

This is a source of great fitnah (temptation) and serious danger. Both women and men should be warned against that, and the necessary means should be taken to prevent that as much as possible. Men and youth should not leave the prayer place or the mosque until after the women have dispersed completely.

5 – Some women going out wearing perfume and makeup, and without veils.

This is a problem which is widespread, and many people take this matter lightly. Allaah is the One Whose help we seek. Some women – may Allaah guide them – even dress up in their finest clothes and put on the best perfume when they go to the mosque to pray Taraaweeh or go to the Eid prayers, etc. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Any woman who puts on perfume and passes by people so that they can smell her fragrance, is an adulteress.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 5126; al-Tirmidhi, 2783; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, 2019.

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen. People with whips like the tails of cattle with which they beat the people, and women who are clothed yet naked, going astray and leading others astray, with their heads looking like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance may be detected from such and such a distance.” Narrated by Muslim, 2128.

The guardians of women must fear Allaah with regard to those who are under their care, and fulfil the duty of protecting and maintaining that Allaah has enjoined upon them, because,

“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allaah has made one of them to excel the other”

[al-Nisa’ 4:34 – interpretation of the meaning]

So they must guide them and show them that which will lead to their salvation and their safety in this world and in the Hereafter, by means of keeping away from that which Allaah has forbidden and striving for that which will bring them closer to Allaah.

6 – Listening to singing and haraam things.

Among the evil things that are widespread in these times is music and singing. They have become very widespread and people take this matter lightly. It is on TV and radio, in cars, homes and marketplaces. There is no power and no strength except with Allaah. Even cell phones are not free of this evil. There are companies which compete in putting the latest music on the ringers of their cell phones, and in this way music has even reached the mosques, may Allaah protect us… This is a great problem and a great evil whereby music is heard in the houses of Allaah. See question no. 34217. This confirms the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “There will be among my ummah people who will regard adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments as permissible.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari.

The Muslim has to fear Allaah and realize that the blessing of Allaah means that he is obliged to give thanks to Him. It is not gratitude for the Muslim to disobey his Lord, when He is the One Who has bestowed this blessing upon him.

One of the righteous passed by some people who were engaged in idle entertainment on the day of Eid and said to them, “If you did well in Ramadaan, this is not the way to give thanks for that. If you did badly in Ramadaan, this is not the way that the one who did badly should behave.”

And Allaah knows best.

From Islam Q&A

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During this Ramadhan do not let the sweetness of our deeds vansh into the night, leaving only emptiness. When one contemplates the texts on fasting, its wisdom and goals in Shariah, and

Ramadan Month of the Qur'an

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The first part of this is based on an extract from Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's Lata'if al-Ma'arif (pp. 179-182), quoted by Fahd bin Sulaiman in Kayf Nastafeed min Ramadan (pp. 48-50). The advice given in this article is all the more important now that we are in the last ten nights of Ramadan. Imam Bukhari reports from 'Aishah that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would tighten his waist-cloth (i.e. detach himself from his wives), spend the night in worship and awake his family, during the last ten nights of Ramadan. Ramadan is nearly over, so make the most of this precious opportunity!

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Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

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Praise be to Allaah Who has created Time and has made some times better than others, some months and days and nights better than others, when rewards are multiplied many times, as a mercy towards His slaves. This encourages them to do more righteous deeds and makes them more eager to worship Him, so that the Muslim renews his efforts to gain a greater share of reward, prepare himself for death and supply himself in readiness for the Day of Judgement.

This season of worship brings many benefits, such as the opportunity to correct one’s faults and make up for any shortcomings or anything that one might have missed. Every one of these special occasions involves some kind of worship through which the slaves may draw closer to Allaah, and some kind of blessing though which Allaah bestows His favour and mercy upon whomsoever He will. The happy person is the one who makes the most of these special months, days and hours and draws nearer to his Lord during these times through acts of worship; he will most likely be touched by the blessing of Allaah and will feel the joy of knowing that he is safe from the flames of Hell. (Ibn Rajab, al-Lataa’if, p.8)

The Muslim must understand the value of his life, increase his worship of Allaah and persist in doing good deeds until the moment of death. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

"And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty." [al-Hijr 15:99] The mufassireen (commentators) said: "‘The certainty’ means death."

Among the special seasons of worship are the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, which Allaah has preferred over all the other days of the year. Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allaah than these ten days." The people asked, "Not even jihaad for the sake of Allaah?" He said, "Not even jihaad for the sake of Allaah, except in the case of a man who went out to fight giving himself and his wealth up for the cause, and came back with nothing." (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 2/457).

Hajj: its virtues and benefits

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:00:00 PDT

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Udhiyah (sacrifice)

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Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:00:00 PDT

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Innovative Excuses

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It is with much thought and debate amongst ourselves that we write this article. We understand the hostile reaction that it may cause, but we feel that there are sufficient, and important reasons for putting pen to paper about this subject. Over the past year or so we have been continually criticised by the local hierarchy, who have accused us of being "Wahabis", "followers of Arabs", "modernist Muslims" and of misleading the youth. It is with this constant criticism in mind that we write this article, in order to set the record straight.