Hadees

29 Ramadan - Establishment of Al-Qayrawaan, one of theoldest and most
important Islamic cities, which marked the beginning of the
Islamic/Arabic civilizationin the Islamic West. Its founder was 'Uqbah
Ibn Naafi', the great conqueror 48 A.H.

Dought & clear - The station of praise and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood) is intercession; it does not refer to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sitting on the Throne

How sound is Imam Mujaahid's commentary on the verse in which Allah
says (interpretation of the meaning): "It may be that your Lord will
raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)"
[al-Isra' 17:79]? He says that Allah, may He be exalted, will seat
Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with Him on His
Kursiy (footstool) or that his Lord will seat Muhammad the Messenger
of Allah on the Throne with Him.
Praise be to Allah.
The issue of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
being seated on the Throne was and still is a cause of debate and
argument. Before discussing whether these words are sound or not, we
should point out a number of things:
Firstly:
With regard to affirmation of the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) being seated on the Throne, there is no acceptable
hadeeth witha sound isnaad from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him). The foundation on which the belief of Ahl
as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah is based isthat whatever matters ofthe unseen
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said nothing
about remain matters belonging to theunseen and it is not permissible
to indulge indiscussion of them by way of certainty and faith.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The hadeeth about the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) sitting on the Throne was narrated by a number of people via many
marfoo' isnaads (i.e., attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him)), but all of them aremawdoo' (fabricated).
End quote fromDar' Ta'aarud al-'Aql wa'n-Naql, 3/19
Adh-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
No text concerning the issue of our Prophet sitting on the Throne is
proven; there is a waahin (worthless) report concerning this matter.
End quote fromal-'Uluw,2/1081, no. 422
Secondly:
Interpreting the Holy Qur'an on the basis of what is narrated in the
saheeh Sunnah is more appropriate than adopting the interpretation of
any of the Taabi'een – even if he was as knowledgeable as Mujaahid
(may Allah have mercy on him) – especially when we know that there is
a report from Mujaahid himself that explains thisverse in a manner
that isin accordance with the saheeh hadeeths and texts, as we shall
see below.
It was narrated from Ka'b ibn Maalik that the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "The people will be
resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, and my ummah and I will be on
a hill. My Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, will give me a green
suit to wear, then permissionwill be given to me and Ishall say
whatever Allah wills I should say, and that is the station of praise
and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood)." Narrated by Ahmad inal-Musnad,
25/60, Mu'sasat ar-Risaalah edn.
The editors of this edition (ofMusnad Ahmad) said: Its isnaad is
saheeh according to the conditions of Muslim;its men are thiqaat
(trustworthy), the men of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim),
apart from Yazeed ibn 'Abd Rabbihi – who is az-Zubaydi al-Homsi – who
was one of the men of Muslim; and 'Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn 'Abdullah ibn
Ka'b ibn Maalik – they differed as to whether he heard from his
grandfather, but the correct view is that he did hear from him. End
quote.
Another of the saheeh mawqoof reports is that narrated from Ibn 'Umar
(may Allah be pleased with him): "On the Day of Resurrection, the
people will be divided into groups. Each group will follow their
Prophet,saying: O So and so, intercede (for us), until the matter of
intercession will come tothe Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him). That is the day on which Allah will raise him to the
station of praise and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood). Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 4718. He included it in a chapter entitled"It may be that
your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and
glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79]. Al-Bukhaari favoured this interpretation of
theverse. The interpretationof this verse as referring to the greater
intercession is the only view referred to by al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer
inTafseer al-Qur'an al-'Azeem, 5/103. He narrated it from many ofthe
Sahaabah and Taabi'een. Ibn Jareer at-Tabari said concerning that: It
is the view of most of thecommentators.
This is the most appropriate interpretation of this verse.
Thirdly:
The fact that some of thescholars quoted Mujaahid's words without
objection does not mean that they are of the same view; rather that
comes under the heading of being too lenient when quoting reports that
speak of thevirtues (of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)).
Abu Muhammad narrated from Bashshaar, that 'Abdullah ibn Ahmad said,
concerning his father:
He would be asked about a particular hadeeth and he would say: This
was narrated bySo and so – a man whomhe would name. But if he was
asked about a da'eef hadeeth, he would say: Cross it out. He was asked
about the hadeeth of Mujaahid and he classed it as da'eef. He said: O
my father, Should I cross it out? He said: No; this is a hadeeth that
speaks of some virtue (of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)), so take it as it is, and do not cross it out. End quote.
Narrated inIbtaal at-Ta'weelaat, p. 489
This report indicates the reason why the report ofMujaahid became
well-known, which is that some of the leading scholars of hadeeth,
such as Imam Ahmad, did not say anything about this report. So some of
the scholars thought that this meant that they accepted its content
and believed it. So it was said that it is one of the reports that
were accepted.
In fact that is not the case. Many of the scholars clearly stated that
these words that were spoken by Mujaahid were not sound.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This is the view of the people of knowledge regarding the
interpretation of the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):"It may be that your Lord will raise
you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)" [al-Isra'
17:79]as referring to intercession.
It was narrated from Mujaahid that the station of praise and glory
(al-maqaam al-mahmood) means that He will seat him with Him on the
Throne on the Day of Resurrection; in their view this is a wrong
interpretation of this verse.
The view of the majority of scholars among the Sahaabah, Taabi'een and
those who came after them is that the station of praise and glory is
the station at which he will intercede for his ummah. There is a
report from Mujaahid that says something similar to the view of
themajority, so it becomes consensus on the interpretation of this
verse among those who have knowledge of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from Warqa', from Ibn Abi Nujayh, from
Mujaahid, that he said concerning the verse,"It may be that your Lord
will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)"
[al-Isra' 17:79]: (This refers to) the intercession of Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
End quote fromat-Tamheed, 19/63-64
Imam adh-Dhahabi (mayAllah have mercy on him) said:
One of the oddest and most objectionable ideasis that which was
narrated from Mujaahid concerning the interpretation of the verse in
which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):"It may be that your
Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and
glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79], that he said: He will seat him with Him on
the Throne. End quote fromMizaan al-I'tidaal, 3/439
He also said (may Allah have mercy on him):
The interpretation that Mujaahid gave of this verse, as we have quoted
above, was rejected by some of the scholars. Al-Mirwadhi put a great
deal of effortinto supporting this view (of Mujaahid), and he compiled
a book concerning the matter, and he narrated the view of Mujaahid via
Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, 'Ata ibn as-Saa'ib, Abu Yahya Qattaat and
Jaabiribn Yazeed. … So see, may Allah protect you from following whims
and desires, how this scholar of hadeeth went to extremes in his
support for Mujaahid, which caused him to accept this odd and
objectionable report.
End quote fromal-'Uluw,2/1081-1090, no. 422-426
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
One of the things that indicate that is the fact that it is proven
inas-Sihaahthat the station of praise and glory is intercession that
will be granted only to our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him).
It is astounding that some of the earlier scholars supported this
report from Mujaahid, aswas narrated by adh-Dhahabi from more than one
of them. Indeed, one of the hadeeth scholars went to extremes and
said: If someone swore an oath of threefold divorce to say that Allah
will seat Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on the
Throne, and he were to consult me, I would say to him: You are right
andhave spoken the truth!
It is such extreme views (on the part of those who affirmed the divine
attributes) that led thosewho deny the divine attributes to persist in
their way and to cast aspersions upon Ahl as-Sunnah who affirm the
divine attributes, and accuse them of likening Allah to His creation
and describing Him in physical terms. But in fact, the path of truth
lay between these two extremes.
May Allah have mercy on a man who believed what was narrated in saheeh
reports from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) concerning the divine attributes and other matters in a true
sense and in a manner that is befitting to Allah, may He be exalted,
and they did not accept concerning that matter anything that was not
narrated from him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in a
saheeh report, such as this hadeeth [i.e., the hadeeth, "… and He will
seat me on the Throne…"], let alone any report such as this one.
End quote fromas-Silsilah ad-Da'eefah, 865
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) also said:
The narration of da'eef hadeeths from some hadeeth scholars is
something for which their opponents criticise them, even though they
(their opponents) may say things even worse than that, as was
explained by Shaykh al-Islam.
One of the most famous of those who criticised them (Ahl as-Sunnah)
forthat in the modern era, and took it as proof of their (alleged)
foolishness and misguidance, is Shaykh al-Kawthari who is known for
his extreme hostility towards Ahl as-Sunnah and the scholars of
hadeeth, and for his accusing them of likening Allah to His creation
and thinking of Him in physical terms. Bydoing that he has wronged
them and fabricated lies against them.
But – as a matter of fact – he sometimes found in some of the hadeeths
and reports that they narrated material on which he could base his
false accusations, such asthe hadeeth that is narrated in the
commentaries on the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted,"It may be
that your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise
and glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79], according to which he said "… and He
will seat me on the Throne…"
In fact the true interpretation of the station of praise and glory,
beyond any shadow of a doubt, is intercession. This is whatwas classed
as saheeh byImam Ibn Jareer in hisTafseer, then by al-Qurtubi; this is
the only view mentioned by al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer who did not mention
any other view, and he quoted hadeeths to support that.
In fact this is what is proven from Mujaahid himself via two isnaads
from him, as quoted by Ibn Jareer.
That report from him does not have any reliable isnaad. Adh-Dhahabi
stated that it was narrated from Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, 'Ata' ibn
as-Saa'ib, Abu Yahya al-Qattaat and Jaabir ibn Yazeed. The first two
were confused and the last two were da'eef; in fact the last one
(Jaabir ibn Yazeed) is matrook (i.e., his hadeeths are not accepted)
and he was accused (of dishonesty).… To sum up, these wordsof
Mujaahid, even if theyare narrated soundly from him, cannot be adopted
as part of our religion and belief, so long as there is no
corroborating evidence for it from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
End quote fromMukhtasar al-'Uluw, 14-20
Thus it is clear that the correct interpretation of the station of
praise and glory is that it is the station of intercession, and it is
not as mentioned in this reportfrom Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on
him).
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear - Description of Eid prayer

What is the description of the Eid prayer?
Praise be to Allaah.
The Eid prayer is one where the imam attendsand leads the people in
praying two rak'ahs. 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "The
prayer of al-Fitr is two rak'ahs and the prayer of al-Adha is two
rak'ahs, complete and not shortened, on the tongue of your Prophet,
and the one who fabricates lies is doomed." Narrated by al-Nasaa'i,
1420 and Ibn Khuzaymah. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani inSaheeh
al-Nasaa'i.
It was narrated that Abu Sa'eed said: The Messenger of Allaah SAWS
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to come out on the
day of al-Fitr and al-Adha to the prayer place, and the first thing he
would do was to offer the prayer. Narrated by al-Bukhaari,956
In the first rak'ah he should say Takbeerat al-ihraam (say "Allaahu
akbar" to start the prayer), after which he should say six or seven
more takbeers, because of the hadeeth of 'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be
pleased with her), "The takbeer of al-Fitr and al-Adha is seven
takbeers in the first rak'ah and five takbeers in the second, apart
from the takbeer of rukoo'." Narrated by AbuDawood and classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani inIrwa' al-Ghaleel, 639.
Then he should recite al-Faatihah, and recite Soorat Qaf in the first
rak'ah. In the second rak'ah he should stand up saying takbeer, and
when he has stood up completely he should saytakbeer five times, and
recite Soorat al-Faatihahthen Soorat al-Qamr. TheProphet(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to recitethese two soorahs
during the two Eids. Or ifhe wishes he can recite Soorat al-A'la in
the first rak'ah and Soorat al-Ghaashiyah in the second, because it
was narrated that the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) used to reciteal-A'la and al-Ghaashiyahin the Eid prayer.
The imam should revive the Sunnah be reciting these soorahs so that
theMuslims will become familiar with the Sunnah.
After the prayer, the imam should address thepeople. Part of the
khutbah should be addressed specifically to the women, telling themof
the things that they should do and warning them against the things
that they should avoid, as the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) used to do.
SeeFataawa Arkaan al-Islamby Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him), p. 398;Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah,
8/300-316).
The prayer comes beforethe khutbah
One of the rulings of Eid is that the prayer comes before the khutbah,
because of the hadeeth of Jaabir ibn 'Abd-Allaah who said, The
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came out on the day
of al-Fitr and started with the prayer before the khutbah. Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 958; Muslim,885.
Another indication that the khutbah comes after the prayer is the
hadeeth of Abu Sa'eed (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: The
Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to
come out to the prayer place on the day of al-Fitr and al-Adha, and
the first thing he would start with was theprayer, then he would go
and stand facing the people, while the peoplewere sitting in their
rows, and he would preach to them and advise them and command them.
If he wanted to send out a military expedition he would do so and if
he wanted to tell the people to do something he would do so, then he
would leave.
Abu Sa'eed said: The people continued to do that until I went out with
Marwaan – who was the governor of Madeenah – on Eid al-Adha or Eid
al-Fitr, and when we came to the prayer-place, there was a minbar that
had been built by Katheer ibn al-Salt. When Marwaan wanted to ascend
it before he prayed, I grabbed his garment and he pushed me away and
climbed upand delivered the khutbah before the prayer. I said, "You
have changed it by Allaah."
He said, "O Abu Sa'eed, what you knew has gone."
I said, "What I know, by Allaah, is better than what I do not know."
He said, "The people willnot sit and listen to us after the prayer, so
we did it before the prayer."Narrated by al-Bukhaari,956.

Dought & clear - Does the consensus of the people of Madinah constitute shar‘i proof?

I have heard that Imam Maalik used to regard the consensus of the
people of Madinah as binding proof. Is this correct? If that is the
case, then is it regarded as binding proof for the entire ummah?
Praise be to Allah.
Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was highly focused on the
actions of the people of Madinah and regarded that as proof in the
religion of Allah and thatit was not permissible to go against their
jamaa'ah. He wrote to al-Layth ibn Sa'd (may Allah have mercy on him)
saying:
"The people should follow the example of the people of Madinah. The
Hijrah (migration of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him)) was to Madinah; in that city Qur'an was revealed, what is halaal
was declared to be halaal and what is haraam was declared to be
haraam. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) lived among them and they were present when Revelation came down.
He commanded them and they obeyed him; heshowed them the way and they
followed him, until Allah took his soul and chose for him that which
is with Him. May peace and blessings and mercy of Allah be upon him.
Then after him came those among his ummahwho most closely followed his
way of those who were appointed to positions of authority after him.
Whatever knowledge they had of what was revealed to him, they
implemented it, and whatever they did not have knowledge of, theyasked
about it and discussed it with others, then they based their
conclusion on the strongest opinion that they were able to reach and
they were very closeto the time of the Prophet (sa). If someone
differed with them, or someone else had stronger and sounder evidence,
they would give up their opinion and follow the other. Then the
Taabi'een cameafter them and followed in their footsteps.
If a certain practice was widely followed in Madinah, I [Imam Maalik]
do not think anyone has the right to differ from it, because ofwhat
they have inherited and their unique situation that no one else can
claim to have. If any other city claimed that this practice originated
in their city, and that they grew up with it and it was the practice
of their predecessors, there could be no certainty that this practice
is sound and they cannot make the same claims as the people of
Madinah.
End quote fromTarteeb al-Madaarikby al-Qaadi 'Iyaad, 1/10
Secondly:
What Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was referring to was
the practice of the people of Madinah that they handed down from one
generation to another, and their old practices from the time of the
Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with him), that were followedby the
people who cameafter them. As for their practices after that time and
their differences with the people of othercities with regard to issues
that could only be worked out on the basis of ijtihaad, Imam Maalik
did not regard that as evidence that it is not permissible to differ
from; rather at best it might support an argument. However, the later
Maalikis differed from him on this matter.
Al-Qaadi 'Abd al-Wahhaab ibn 'Ali al-Maaliki (may Allah have mercy on
him) said:The consensus of the people of Madinah based on what they
narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
constitutes proof that it is haraam to go against. As for their
consensus on matters that were worked out bymeans of ijtihaad, there
is a difference of scholarly opinion as to whether it constitutes
evidence. The correct opinion in our view is that we may regard it as
more likely to be correct than other views, but it is not haraam to
differ from it.
End quote fromal-Ma'oona 'ala Madhhab'Aalim al-Madinah, 2/607
Al-Baaji (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
That is because Maalik relied on the views and practices of the people
of Madinah, and regarded them as proof if these practices were based
on narrations, such as the issue of the adhaan, not reciting the
phrase "Bismillah ir-Rahmaan ir-Raheem" out loud in the prayer, the
issue of the saa' (a unit of measurement), not giving zakaah on
vegetables, and other issues that were learned from narrations and
reports and were widelypractised in Madinah in a manner that could not
be hidden, and was transmitted in such a way that it became binding
proof and left no excuse.
End quote fromIhkaam al-Fusool, 1/468
He also said (1/488):
With regard to what they reached by means of ijtihaad and working it
out, there is no difference between the views of the scholars of
Madinah and the views of other scholars, that the strongest view is
that which is based on the strongest evidence. Hence Maalik differed
with the people of Madinah concerning a number of issues.
This is the view of Maalikconcerning this matter, and it is also the
view of some of our companions, such as AbuBakr al-Abhari and others.
It is also the viewof Abu Bakr, Ibn al-Qassaar and Abu Tamaam, and it
is the correct view.
A number of those who followed the Maaliki madhhab but did not examine
this issue fully thought that the consensus of the people of Madinah
constituted proof even in issues that are based on ijtihaad. End
quote.
Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The practice of the people of Madinah that was based on
narrationsconstitutes proof according to the consensus of the Muslims,
as Maalik said to Abu Yoosuf, when he asked him about the saa'and the
mudd (units of measurement), and Maalik instructed the people of
Madinah to bring out their saa's, andthey told him that they had
learned this from their predecessors. Maalik said: Do you thinkthey
are lying, O Abu Yoosuf? He said: No, by Allah they are not lying.
And Allah knows best.