The Sacred Relics

When the caliphate passed to the Ottoman Empire, the sacred
relics,consisting of items belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (saas)
and his followers were brought to Istanbul. Since 1517, the relics
have been kept with the great care in the "Hırka-i Saadet" section of
Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
These sacred objects are preserved in a special chamber constructed
within Topkapı Palace by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. With its finely
worked inlaid door, four windows and three recessed cases, thischamber
is one of the finest examples of Ottoman art.
Some of the sacred relics, which have been preserved with the utmost
care, are as follows:
The Blessed Mantle
The mantle given by the Prophet Muhammad (saas) to Veysel Karani is
regarded as the most important of the sacred relics. Some of the
Ottoman caliphs were accompanied by the Blessed Mantle on their
travels.
The Blessed Mantle has recently been restored with the very greatest care.
The Holy Tooth of the Prophet Muhammad (saas)
Part of a tooth belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (saas) that was
broken during the Battle of Uhud. It is kept in a cylindrical box,
framed in gold and covered in rubies and emeralds.
The Holy Banner
The banner of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), made from almostentirely
black woolen cloth. Due to its fragile state, it was placed on top of
a green fabric. It has never been opened in any battle since the time
of our Prophet (saas).
The Holy Hair from the Beard of the Prophet Muhammad (saas)
Several hairs from the beard of our Prophet (saas) are kept in the
Hırka-i Saadet section. These are preserved in gold-framed glass boxes
and jewel cases.
The Holy Footprints
Four footprints belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (saas) are preserved
in a recessed case in the Hırka-i Saadet section.
The Holy Seal
The seal of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), which was also was used by
the early caliphs.
The Holy Letters
The letters belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (saas). A Frenchman
discovered them in 1850 inside the cover of a Gospel in the library of
a monastery in Egypt. Onceit was established that it had belonged to
our Prophet (saas), it was given to Sultan Abdulmajid.
The Holy Swords
The swords of the Prophet Muhammad (saas). Only two of the swords in
the Hırka-i Saadet section belongedto the Prophet Muhammad (saas). One
of these belonged to theProphet David (pbuh) and the other to the
people of the Prophet Muhammad (saas).
The Keys of the Kaaba
The replaced keys of the Kaaba are also among the sacred relics. Made
of iron and covered in silver and gold inlay, they were for a long
time preserved in Davutpaşa during the time of the Ottoman Empire.
The Holy Qur'an of Hazrat Uthman (ra)
Pages of the Qur'an collected during the time of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra),
were sent to provinces in book form during the time of Hazrat Uthman
(ra). The Qur'an that was being read when Hazrat Uthman (ra) was
martyred is now among the sacred relics in Topkapı Palace.
These sacred relics have been protected and preserved with the utmost
care since Ottoman times.
One example of the importance the Ottoman sultans attached to the
sacred relics is the ceremony performed by the sultan for them on the
15th day of every month of Ramadan. As the day approached, the chest
containing the long wide sleeved mantle of the Prophet Muhammad
(saas) was carried to the Revan section, every part of which was
cleansed, the walls washed with rose water and perfumed with musk.
The Qur'an has been recited in the Hırka-i Saadet chamber in
veneration of the relics of the Prophet Muhammad (saas) for hundreds
of years. This fine tradition was initiated by Sultan Selim the Stern.
Forty scholars who had memorized theQur'an, including Sultan Selim,
recited the Qur'an beside the sacred relics, "for the victory of good
and the expulsion of affliction." This tradition was restored in
October 1996.
One of the reasons for the great care shown by the Ottoman sultans is
that they knew they were merely guardians of these sacred relics, and
that they really belong to Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), who will emergefrom
Istanbul.
Our Prophet (saas) describes in great detail in the hadiths how Hazrat
Mahdi (pbuh) willappear together with the sacred relics. For example,
one hadith tellsus that:
Nuaym bin Hammad related from Abu Jaferi that; "Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)
will appear in theevening together with the banner, mantle, sword,
signs, radiance and beauty of our Prophet (saas)."
Another hadith describeshow Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will appear with the
sacred relics as follows:
As for the signs, he (Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh)) will have the mantle, sword
and banner of theMessenger of Allah. That banner that has never been
unfurled since the death of the Prophet (saas), and will never be
opened until the comingof Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh).
Out of respect for our Prophet (saas), no state, including the Ottoman
Empire, has ever unfurled the banner although it was carried in
battles and ceremonies. The banner,and other blessed relics that have
thus been preserved for 1,400 years, will be unfurled when the moral
values of Islam rule the world with the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh),
insha'Allah

--

- - - - -

And Allah Knows the Best!

- - - - -

Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Dought & clear - Visiting the Prophet’s Mosque .

If the pilgrim performing Hajj or 'Umrah wants to visit theProphet's
Mosque, should he form the intention of visiting the mosque or of
visiting thegrave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him)? And what is the etiquette of visiting the Prophet's
Mosque?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
"If the pilgrim wants to visit the Prophet's Mosque before or after
Hajj, he should have the intention of visiting the mosque, not the
grave, because travelling to a place for the purpose of worship does
not include visiting graves, rather it includes only the three
mosques: al-Masjid al-Haraam (the Sacred Mosque in Makkah), al-Masjid
al-Nabawi (the Prophet'sMosque in Madeenah) and al-Masjid al-Aqsa (in
Jerusalem), as it says in the hadeeth which was narrated from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who said:
"Nojourney should be undertaken to any mosque except three: al-Masjid
al-Haraam, this mosque of mine and al-Masjid al-Aqsa." Narrated by
al-Bukhaari,1189: Muslim, 1397.
When he reaches the Prophet's Mosque, he should enter with his right
foot first and say, "Bismillaah wa'l-salaatu wa'l-salaam 'ala
Rasoolillaah. Allaahumma ighfir li dhunoobi waftah li abwaab
rahmatika. A'oodhu Billaah il-'azeem wa bi wajhihi'l-kareem wa bi
sultaanihi'l-qadeem min al-shaytaan il-rajeem (In the name of Allaah,
and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allaah. O Allaah,
forgive my sins and open to me the gates of Your mercy. I seek refuge
in Allaah the Almighty and in His noble Face and in His eternal Power,
from the accursed Shaytaan)." Then he should pray as he likes.
It is better for him to pray in al-Rawdah whichis the area between the
minbar of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
the room in which is his grave, because this area is one of the
gardens (riyaadh, sing. rawdah) of Paradise. When he has prayed and
wants tovisit the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), he should stand in front of it in a dignified manner and
say, "Assalaamu 'alayka ayyuha'l-Nabiyyu wa rahmat-Allaahi wa
barakaatuhu. Allaahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aali Muhammad kama
salayta 'ala Ibraaheem wa 'ala aali Ibraaheem, innaka hameedun majeed;
Allaahumma baarik 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aali Muhammad kama baarakta
'ala Ibraaheem wa 'ala aali Ibraaheem, innaka hameedun majeed. Ashhadu
annaka Rasool-Allaah haqqan wa annaka qad balaghta al-risaalah wa
adayta al-amaanah wa nasahta al-ummah wa jaahadta fillaahi haqqa
jihaadihi. Fa jazaka Allaahu 'an ummatika afdal ma jaza nabiyyan 'an
ummatihi (Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allaah, and
His blessings. O Allaah, send prayers upon Muhammad and upon the
family of Muhammad, as You sent prayers upon Ibraaheemand the family
of Ibraaheem, verily You are Worthy of Praise, Fullof Glory. O Allaah,
send blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You
sent blessings upon Ibraaheem and the family of Ibraaheem, verily You
are Worthy of Praise, Full of Glory. I bear witness that you are
indeed the Messenger of Allaah, thatyou conveyed the message and
fulfilled thetrust, and advised the ummah and strove truly for the
sake of Allaah. May Allaah reward you on behalf of your ummah better
than any Prophet is rewarded on behalf of his nation)."
Then he should move a little to his right and send salaams upon Abu
Bakr al-Siddeeq and pray that Allaah be pleased with him.
Then he should move a little further to his right and send salaams
upon 'Umar ibn al-Khattab andpray that Allaah be pleased with him. If
he makes du'aa' for Abu Bakr and 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with
them) in an appropriate manner, that is good.
It is not permissible for anyone to seek to draw closer to Allaah by
touching the hujrah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) or by circumambulating it, or by facing it whilst making
du'aa'. Rather heshould turn to face the qiblah, because drawingcloser
to Allaah can only be done by means of that which Allaah and His
Messenger have prescribed. Acts of worship are based on following not
on innovation.
Women should not visit the grave of the Prophet(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) or any other grave, because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed women who visit graves.
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and classed as hasan by al-Albaani inSaheeh
al-Tirmidhi, 843. Rather a woman should pray and send blessings upon
the Prophet (peaceand blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the place
where she is, and that will reach the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) no matter where she is. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Send blessings upon me, for
your blessings will reach me no matter where youare." And he said,
"Allaahhas angels who travel about throughout the land, conveying to
me the salaams of my ummah." Narrated by al-Nasaa'i, 1282; classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa'i, 1215.
Only men should visit al-Baqee', which is the graveyard of Madeenah.
They should say: "Al-salaamu 'alaykum ahlal-diyaar min al-mu'mineen
wa'l-muslimeen, wa innaa in sha Allaah bikum laahiqoon. Yarham Allaah
al-mustaqdimeena mina wa minkum wa'l-musta'khireen. Nas'al Allaah lana
wa lakum al-'aafiyah. Allaahumma la tahrimna ajrahum wa la taftinna
ba'dahum waghfir lana wa lahum (Peace be upon you, O dwellers of these
abodes, believers and Muslims. We will, when Allaah wills, join you.
May Allaah have mercy on those who were first (to die) and those who
were last. We ask Allaah to grant salvation to us and you. O Allaah,
deprive us not of reward (similar to theirs) and lead us not astray
after they are gone; forgive us and them)."
If he then wants to go toMount Uhud and remember what happened there
to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his
companions in that battle of jihad, trials andmartyrdom, and send
salaams upon the shuhada' (martyrs) there, such as Hamzah ibn 'Abd
al-Muttalib, the paternal uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), there is nothing wrong with that, because that is
a kind of travelling through the land as enjoined (in Islam) [cf.
al-Nahl 16:36]. And Allaah knows best.

Dought & clear - She left instructions to deprive her oldest son ofhis inheritance because she had helped him to get married with her money.

A woman died and left behind some money andsome gold. Before she died,
she left instructions that her oldest son should not be given any of
her wealth, because she had helped him get married with her money, and
she said:It is enough that I helped him get married; divide the money
and gold among yourselves and do not give anything to my oldest son,
because he has taken his share. Should we execute her will or give her
oldest son his share? Should we divide the wealth now or wait until
the younger sons grow up? Because currently they are still minors.
Also, the grown up sons and daughters are asking for it to be divided
now. What is thesolution?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
This will that gives instructions to deprive the oldest son of
inheritance is not permissible and is not valid, because it is
transgressing the limits set by Allah and is harming one of the heirs.
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): "…
after payment of any bequestsor debts, so that no harm is done to
anyone." [an-Nisa' 4:12].
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his Tafseer: i.e.,
so that his bequest will be based on justice and not on harming,
unfairness or wrongdoing by depriving one of the heirs or detracting
from his share, or giving morethan Allah has decreed should be his
share. Whoever tries to do that is like one who has opposed Allah and
His wisdom and division of the estate. End quote.
Hence Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Causing harm
in bequests is a major sin.
Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath: This was narrated by Sa'eed ibn Mansoor in
a mawqoof report with a saheeh isnaad. It was also narrated by
an-Nasaa'i and its men are thiqaat (trustworthy).
The mother's getting herson married is a righteous deed and she is not
obliged to give to the rest of his siblings the equivalent of what she
gave to him; rather if any of them need to get married during her
lifetime, she should get him married. What somepeople do, if they get
one of their sons married off, is to bequeath money to the rest of
them, thinking that this is fair, and something like this is what has
happened in the case of the woman asked about here; she wanted to
deprive her son of his share of the estate, thinking that this was
fair.
But Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:It is not
permissible for aperson to favour some of his children over others
except between male and female; he can give the male double what he
gives to the female, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: "Fear Allah and treat your children fairly." So if
someone gives one of his sons onehundred dirhams, he should give the
others one hundred dirhams each, and he should givethe daughters fifty
dirhams, or take back the money that he gave to the first son. What we
have mentioned here does not apply to obligatory maintenance;when it
comes to obligatory maintenance he should give each of them what he
needs. If itso happens that one of his sons needs to get married, he
should get him married and give him the mahr if the son cannot pay the
mahr, and in this case he does not have to give the others the same as
he gave to this one who needed to get married and he paid for the
mahr, because getting sons married is part of maintenance. I would
also like to point out something that some people do out of ignorance:
when a man has sons who have reached the age of marriage, he gets them
married, and if he has other sons who are still young, he leaves a
bequest in his will givingthem something like what he spent to get
theadult sons married. This is haraam and is not permissible, because
thisis a bequest to an heir, and making a bequest toan heir is haraam.
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "Allah
has given each one who has rights his rights, and there is no bequest
to anheir." So if he says: I am bequeathing this money to them because
I got their brothers married with a similar amount, we say: if the
younger ones reach the age of marriage before you die,then get them
married as you got their brothersmarried, but if they do not reach
that age (before you die), you arenot obliged to get them married.
End quote from Fataawa Islamiyyah, 3/30
To sum up: it is not permissible for a person to bequeath to the rest
of his sons money for them to get married, or to deprive those whom he
previously got married of all or part of their inheritance, because
that is transgressing the limits set by Allah, may He be exalted, and
is causing harm by means of one's bequest.
What must be done is to divide the estate among all the heirs, each
one taking the share allocated to him by sharee'ah.
Secondly:
With regard to the request of some of the heirs for the estate to
bedivided, this is their right and you should respond to that. As for
those who are still minors, their share should be kept for them and
what they need for their maintenance should be taken from it. Then
when they grow up and become mature, they may be given what remains of
their wealth, because Allah, may He beexalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning):
"And try orphans (as regards their intelligence) until they reach the
age of marriage; if then you find sound judgement inthem, release
their property to them, but consume it not wastefully, and hastily
fearing that they should grow up, and whoever amongst guardians is
rich, he should take no wages, but if he is poor, let him have for
himself what is just and reasonable (according tohis work). And when
yourelease their property to them, take witness in their presence; and
Allahis All-Sufficient in taking account"
[an-Nisa' 4:6].
And Allah knows best.

--

- - - - -

And Allah Knows the Best!

- - - - -

Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Islamic Stories - The Shaikh who brought back a pigeonto life

A friend of mine told me this story: When I was young I had a shaikh,
one of the greatest human beings I have ever known. I had met him
quite by accident. He lived in a small shack in a poor neighborhood.I
had to deliver some medicine for my father's pharmacy. Once inside
this man's quarters I realized I was in the presence of someone quite
unusual. For one thing, he possessed the relics of several great
shaikhs of different orders. The day I met him he was having a
conversation with two other young men about my own age. Their names
were Metin and Refik. After hearing theirconversation I began to lose
interest in the things that had occupiedme. I wanted only to attend
these conversations. The three of us were learning so much that we
wished that more and more people could also hear these conversations.
We begged our sheikh to allow the size of our circle to increase. One
day we were attending the prayers at a great mosque. It was the feast
of Ashura, the twelfth of Muharram. We were just leaving the mosque
when our teacher paused on the steps because he noticed that a pigeon
had just dropped dead from the sky. He picked up the poor bird, which
was totally lifeless, held it tenderly in his hands, breated a long
Huuuuuuu...and the birdcame back to life and flew off into the sky.
Well, this act did not go unnoticed and before long there were many
people intersted in our shaikh. Many of them asked to attend his
conversations and our circle grew.
It was not long before we found that we had very little time with our
beloved shaikh. He was too busy to see us, attending to the needs of
so many people. Then one day, while doing thenight prayer after our
zhikr, our shaikh let out a loud and smelly fart. People were
astounded that this holy man could do such a thing. In a short period
of time most of them had lost their faith in him and our circle
returned to nearly the size it had been originally. One night when
just the three of us were sitting together, our shaikh remarked: "You
see my sons, those who come because of a pigeon, leave because of a
fart!"