4a] Ramadan Reflections on Surat al-Fatihah, the Grand Opening

4a]
I ask Allah to grant all of us Imaan (faith), Taqwa and a deeper
understanding of the Qur'an. Ameen.

4] Ramadan Reflections on Surat al-Fatihah, the Grand Opening

4]
This year, I am enjoying the benefits of praying Tarawih (night
prayers of Ramadan) behind Mufti Ismail Menk and listening to his
powerful Tafseer (explanation of the Quran)afterwards. On the opening
night, Mufti Menkbrought up an issue which always amazes me,the unique
method in which the Qur'an begins. This made me reflect on the opening
pages of the Qur'an.
Surah Al-Fatiha and the first three pages of Surah Baqarah are an
amazing and unique method of starting a book. Perhaps, it is because
we recite Surah Fatiha everyday, multiple times, that manyof us do not
take these verses seriously. Yet, the reason this Surah is emphasized
so much is because it is the most important chapter of the Qur'an. It
is Faatihatul Kitaab (The opening chapter of the book), Sab'aMathaani
(the seven oft-repeated verses 15:87) and Ummul Kitaab (the essence of
the book 13:39). It is the Surah thatwhen recited, Allah repliesto
each verse. It is the most important du'a that we can make.
The first half of Surah Fatiha is a declaration of Tawheed (Oneness of
Allah) in all of its forms: tawheed of Rububiyyah (Lordship) "All
praise to Allah, the Rabb (Lord) of the universe," (1:1), tawheed of
Asma Wa Sifaat (names and attributes) "Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Master of the Day of Judgement," (1:2-3) and tawheed of Ibaadah
(worship), "You alone weworship and you alone we ask for help." (1:4)
The second half of Surah Fatiha is the most important du'a a person
could ever make, "Guide us to the straight path!" (1:5) The Surah then
explains what is the staight path and what is not. The straight path
is that which was shown to us and followed by those whom Allah has
favoured,which Allah explains in another verse, "whoever obeys Allah
and His messenger, then they will be with those whom Allah has
favoured from the prophets, truthful, matyrs and righteous." (4:69)
This verse refutes the claim by some people that you can find your own
way towards Paradise without following the people of the past. True
salvation lies in following the Salaf As-Saliheen (The
righteouspredecessors) and their understanding and practice of the
Qur'an.
An old illuminated manuscript of the Quran
Allah then shows us two types of misguidance. Thefirst form of
misguidance is to earn Allah's wrath byknowingly rejecting the truth
and the other form is to go astray by choosing to remain ignorant. So
we need to realize that choosing to remain ignorant can not excuse us
for our sins and deviations, and if we knowingly reject the truth, we
will be cursed by Allah. The only option left is to seek the truth and
ask Allah to guide us to the straight path.
Answers in Surat Al-Baqarah
Amazingly, the very next Surah begins by answering this du'a for
guidance. "This is the book in which there is no doubt! It is a
guidance for those who are God-conscious." (2:2)Three things are
interesting about this verse. Firstly, show me one other book which
begins by declaring its own perfection. No human author would
darereaders from the beginning by making the claim that there is
nothing doubtful in his book, this immidiately makes skeptics look for
mistakes. The Qur'an, being the perfect word of Allah, begins with
this challenge, a unique and powerful starting point.
Allah then explains to us that this Qur'an is the answer to our du'a
(prayer) for guidance but the condition is that we approach this
Qur'an with Taqwa (God-consciousness). This is why not everyone
benefits from reciting the Qur'an. Allah warns us on the next page to
not be from those who only recite ritually or with an evil intention
as "it is the same whether you warnthem or not, they will never
believe." (2:6) This verse is aimed primarily to those who choose to
reject Islam, but like all verses we need to apply itto ourselves and
make sure we do not possess any of the qualities that Allah dislikes.
The first three pages of Surah Baqarah describe three types of people
in terms of belief and relationship with Allah. Allah goes into detail
describing those who have Taqwa and attain success, then briefly
mentions those who choose to disbelieve, and finally He mentions in
even more detail, the hypocrites. It is for us to study these verses
and put into the practice the qualities of the successful while being
careful to guard ourselves from possessing the qualities ofthe
disbelievers or hypocrites.
After all of this, Allah mentions the first commandment in the Qur'an,
the most important commandmentand the benefit of obeying it. Allah
says, "O mankind, worship your Lord who created you and those before
you sothat you may attain Taqwa." (2:21) The first and most important
commandment is to uphold Tawheed by worshipping Allah alone as it is
through this that we can attain Taqwa and through Taqwa that we can
attain guidance from the Qur'an.:->

Hour of Accepted Dua on Jumuah

Rasulullah ( Allah bless him& give him peace) said:
"There is such an hour on Friday that if any Muslim makes dua in it,
his dua will definitely be accepted."
[Bukhari, Muslim]
The ulama have differed inspecifying that hour whichhas been mentioned
in theHadith. Shaykh Abdul Haq Muhaddith Dehlawi rahmatullahialayh has
mentioned 40 different opinions in his book Sharh Sifrus Sa'aadah.
However, from among all these opinions he has given preference to two
opinions:
(1) That time is from the commencement of the khutbah till the end of
the salaat,
(2) That time is towards the end of the day.
A big group of ulama havegiven preference to this second opinion and
there are many Ahadith which support this opinion. Shaykh Dehlawi
rahmatullahialayh says that this narration is correct that Hadrat
Fatimah radiallahuanha used to order her maid on Fridays to inform her
when the day is about to end so that she could occupy herself in
making zikr and duas . (Ash'atulLama'aat)

The holy line of Prophet Muhammad(saas): Sayyids

Sayyid is the title given in Islamic culture to people descended from
Hassan (ra), grandson of our Prophet (saas) through hisdaughter Fatima
(ra). Individuals descended from Husayn (ra), the Prophet's (saas)
other grandson, are known as sharifs.
The Arabic word "sayyid" corresponds to the Englishwords "lord, chief,
or leader." In the Hadith, the term is used in the sense of "tribal
chief or eminent members of a community." Sayyids are also known as
"habib," "emir," or "mir" in variousIslamic lands. The great Islamic
scholars Imam al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhisay that this title was
firstused by the Prophet (saas) in reference to Hassan (ra). Rasul
al-Akram says that when sitting on the pulpit one day, he pointed to
Hassan (ra) in one of the rows and said: "This [grand]son of mine is a
sayyid. It is tobe hoped that through him Allah will establish peace
between two Muslim sects." (al-Bukhari, Sulh, 9; Fada'il al-Ashab, 22;
Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31) In another hadith, our Prophet (saas) said:
"Hassan and Husayn are the two sayyids of the young people of
Paradise." (Tirmidhi, Manasik, 31)
Prophet Muhammad (saas) also imparted the glad tidings that the
blessed Mahdi (as), who will appear in the End Times and who is
awaitedwith great joy and expectation by all Muslims, will also be
descended from him:
"We are the sayyids of the people of Paradise, the sons of Abd
al-Muttalib. Me, Hamza, Ali, Jaffar, Hassan, Husayn, and the Mahdi."
(Ibn Majah, 34)
Muslims Have Always Treated the Sayyids with Great Love and Respect
Muslims have always extended the love and affection they feel for the
Prophet (saas) to the sayyids. Due to their deep love for Prophet's
(saas) family, Muslims have always held the descendants of his
grandchildren in the highest regard. Sayyids have enjoyed a privileged
position in worldly treatment in almost all Islamic countries, and
efforts have been made tobestow various advantages on them.
The most obvious proof ofthis is how, in the past, special bodies were
concerned with their affairs and that the person at the head of these
institutions (the naqib al-ashraf) was regarded as having one ofthe
highest ranks.
How Did the Sayyids Spread to Different Lands?
In the age of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, Muslims traveled to
many lands to spread the message of Islamic moral precepts. These
missionary journeys intensified considerably during the time of Umar
(ra) and Uthman (ra). There were many sayyids among those who set out
to spread the Qur'an's moral values to humanity.They generally settled
in the regions to which they traveled and assimilated with the local
inhabitants.
However, like other Muslim emigrants, the great majority of the
sayyids who emigrated left Arabia because of the strict policies of
the Umayyads, who assumed power after the age of theFour Rightly
Guided Caliphs.
Following the martyrdom of Hassan (ra) and Husayn (ra), their
migration accelerated still further, toplaces within the Islamic
state's borders of the time: the Maghreb (Morocco), the Caucasus,
Transoxiana, Khurasan, Tabaristan, and Yemen. Thanks to this
migration, many dynasties were founded, such as the Idrisids in
Morocco, the Sulaymanis in Yemen and the Zaydis, in Iran.
Many sayyids took up residence in the Mongol and Turkish states and
assimilated with the local peoples. Sometimes they even took their
places among the founders of other states, such as the Nogay dynasty,
which established itself in the Caucasus.
The Sayyids Also Migrated to Turkey
As the sole heir of the Ottoman Empire, the longest-lived and largest
Turkish Islamic state, Turkey is one of the countries most
intensivelysettled by sayyids. Today, they live in many parts of the
country, but especiallyin Ankara, Siirt, Sanliurfa, Erzurum, Elazig,
Erzincan, Adana, and Igdir. The majority of them settled in Anatolia
during the firstsayyid migrations. However, the migratory trend to
Turkish lands continued.
During the Ottoman-Russian and Russian-Caucasian wars in particular,
many sayyids living among the Caucasians migrated and settled in
central Anatolia.Among them was the family of Ömer Bey, the
grandfather of Harun Yahya, whose works inspire the subject matter of
our magazine.
The origins of Beslen Arslan Kasayev, Ömer Bey's grandfather, go
backto the Nogay dynasty. This family is also known as the
Arslanogullari (the sons of Arslan) and is one of the twenty-one
sayyid families whose names appear in a document prepared for the
Caucasus governorship in 1827. In 1902, the family left the Caucasus
and settled in Bala, a town in Ankara province. (*)
Sayyid families were known to and recognized by the people in the
regions where they lived. These families constituteda community,
recognizingand acting as guarantors for one another, ...