Dought & clear - , A fabricated hadeeth about the reward for charity given on behalf of the deceased being presented to him on a platter of light.

How sound is this hadeeth: "If you offer supplication for the
deceased, the angel will enter upon him with a platter of light and
will say: 'This is a gift to you from your brother or relative So and
and so,' and he will rejoice thereat"?.
Praise be to Allaah.
This hadeeth is fabricated. It was narrated by at-Tabaraani in
al-Mu'jam al-Awsat (6504): Muhammad ibn Dawood ibn Aslam as-Sadafi
told us, 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdillahal-Munkadiri told us, Muhammad ibn
Ismaa'eel ibn Abi Fudayksaid: I heard Abu Muhammad ash-Shaami narrate
that he heard Abu Hurayrah say that heheard Anas ibn Maalik say: I
heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) say: "There is no household of whom one person dies and they give
charity on his behalf after his death, but Jibreel (peace be upon him)
will present it to him on a platter of light. He will stand at the
edgeof the grave and say: 'O occupant of the deep grave, this is a
gift given to you by your family, so accept it.' Then he will enter
upon him, and he will rejoice thereat and be of good cheer, and his
neighbours who were not given anythingwill be sad."
At-Tabaraani said after quoting it: This hadeeth was not narrated from
Anas except via this isnaad, which was narrated only by Ibn Abi
Fudayk.
Al-Haythami (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It was narrated by at-Tabaraani in al-Awsat;its isnaad includes Abu
Muhammad ash-Shaami, of whom al-Azdi said: He is a liar.
End quote from Majma' az-Zawaa'id, 3/139
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned it in
as-Silsilah ad-Da'eefah (486) and said: It is fabricated … The problem
with this hadeeth is that it is narrated by Abu Muhammad ash-Shaami.
Adh-Dhahabi said: He narrated odd hadeeths from some of the Taabi'een.
Al-Azdi said: He is a liar.
This is how it appears in al-Lisaan; it is as if what they meant by
munkar hadeeth was this report. End quote.
So it is not permissible toattribute these words to the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or to narrate it from him
except for the purpose of explaining its status and to warn against
narrating it, because theProphet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: "Whoever narrates a hadeeth from me thinking that it is a
lie is one of the liars." Narrated by Muslim in the Introduction to
his Saheeh (1/7).
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This hadeeth contains a stern warning against lying and indicates that
whoever thinks it most likely that what he is narrating is false but
stillnarrates it is a liar. How can he not be a liar when he is
telling you ofsomething that did not happen? End quote.
In the same chapter there is another hadeethwhich says: "The dead
person in his grave is like the drowning person who calls for help,
hoping for a supplication to reach him from his father or mother or
brother or friend, and when it reaches him it will be dearer to him
than this world and everything in it. Allah will cause to reach the
inhabitants of the graves gifts like mountains as a result of the
supplication of the inhabitant of houses (i.e., the living). And the
gift of the living to the dead is prayers for forgiveness."
This was quoted by Shaykh al-Albaani in as-Silsilah ad-Da'eefah (799).
He said: (It is) munkar jiddan (very odd). End quote.
With regard to the hadeeth which says: "When you offer supplication
for the dead, the angel enters upon him with a platter of light…", we
could not find any such report from the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) whether this version or the first version. So it
is not permissible to attribute that to the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) just as it is not permissible to quote it,
even if it is not attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him), because the matterof al-barzakh is one of the
matters of the unseen, and it is not permissible to indulge intalking
about it without knowledge.
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear - , Ruling on the Muslims celebrating at the time of Christmas and decorating their homes with balloons.

What do you say to Muslims in the United Kingdom who celebrate at
Christmas time by holding dinner parties intheir houses on Christmas
or afterwards, for their Muslim families,such as preparing roast
turkey and the other dishes of the traditional Christmas dinner, and
they adorn their houses with balloons and paper chains, and they do
the "secret Santa" tradition, whereby each relative brings a gift for
one of the people present and these gifts are brought to the party to
be given to the one for whom he bought it, without the recipient
knowing who he is. ["Secret Santa" is anew, growing custom among
non-Muslims who celebrate Christmas,and is in accordance with their
belief in the myth of Santa Claus].
Is this action regarded ashalaal or haraam, if no one is attending
this party except Muslims (relatives and family members)?.
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no doubt that what is mentioned of celebrations is haraam,
because it is an imitationof the kuffaar. It is well known that the
Muslims do not have any festival apart from Eid al-Fitr andEid
al-Adha, and the weekly "Eid" which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumu'ah).
Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is either of two
things: either it is aninnovation (bid'ah), if it is celebrated as a
means of drawing close to Allah, such as celebratingthe Prophet's
Birthday (Mawlid); or it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is
celebrated as a tradition and not as an act of worship, because
introducing innovated festivals is the action of the people of the
Book who we are commandedto differ from. So how about if it is a
celebration of one of their actual festivals?
Decorating the house with balloons at this time is obviously joining
in with the kuffaar and celebrating their festival.
What the Muslim is required to do is not to single out these days for
any kind of celebration, decorating or adornment, or special foods,
otherwise he will be joining the kuffaar intheir festivals, which is
something that is undoubtedly haraam.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Similarly it
is forbidden for the Muslims to imitate the kuffaar by holding parties
on these occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets or
other foods, or taking time off work and so on,because the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a
people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book
Iqtida' al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al-Jaheem: Imitating
them on some of their festivals implies that oneis happy with the
falsehood they are following, and that could make them (the
non-Muslims) take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in
faith. End quote.
Those who do any of these things are sinning,whether they do it to go
along with them, or to be friendly towards them, or because they feel
too shy (to refuse to join in) or any other reason, because it is a
kind of compromising the religion of Allah to please others, and it is
a means of lifting the spirits of the kuffaar andmaking them proud of
their religion,
End quote from Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 3/44
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked
about a Muslim who makes the food of the Christians on Nawrooz
(Persian New Year) and on all their occasions such as Epiphany and
other feastdays, and who sells themthings to help them celebrate their
festivals. Is it permissible for the Muslims to do any of these things
or not?
He replied: Praise be to Allah. It is not permissible for the Muslims
to imitate them in any way that is unique to their festivals, whether
it be food, clothes, bathing, lightingfires or refraining from usual
work or worship, and so on. And it is not permissible to give a feast
or to exchange gifts or to sell things thathelp them to celebrate
their festivals, or to let children and others play the games that are
played on their festivals, or to adorn oneself or put up decorations.
In general, (Muslims) are not allowed to single outthe festivals of
the kuffaar for any of these rituals or customs. Rather the day of
their festivals is just an ordinary day for the Muslims, and they
shouldnot single it out for any activity that is part of what the
kuffaar do on these days.
End quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/487; Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 25/329

Islamic Stories - , Ali's Sacrifice

"There! I found the moon," exclaimed six year old Ali to his father.
"Where?" asked Ali�s tenyear old brother, Abdullah.
"See that big tree? Its right next to it," replied Ali.
The boys were trying to sight the new moon for the beginning of the
Islamic month of Zulhijjah. Eid would be ten days from the day they
saw the new moon.
"Oh, I see it now," said Abdullah.
"Daddy, can we go tomorrow to buy a goat?" asked Ali.
"Sure, we�ll go tomorrow after the Zuhrprayer," replied their father.
The next day, all of the boys got in to the car with their father.
They were going to the neighboring hills to buy a goat to slaughter on
the day of Eid in commemoration of whatProphet Ibrahim (Abraham),
alayhi salam, did.
"We�re going to bring the goat home this time," said their father,"so
you will have to takecare of it and feed it. You can also play with
it."
"Yahoo! I�ll take care of it," said Ali, "I�ll even teach it tricks!"
The boys and their father finally found a goat and took it home. The
next day, Ali woke up early long before the time he used to wake up.
He washed and dressed, then went outside to play with the goat. His
brothers Usmanand Abdullah were already outside playing with the goat.
"Assalamu alaikum," they said together.
"Wa-alaikum as salam," replied Ali.
"We have decided that we will take turns to feed the goat. Everyone
will take care of the goatfor one day. You can be the first one to
feed him," said Abdullah.
"Okay," said Ali, "where is the food?"
"Right here," replied Abdullah, pointing to thefood hidden in a corner.
"Make sure, you give him enough water and hay," said Usman.
Ali then called the goat. The goat came to him obediently and ate the
food. Then he drank a little water.
The boys kept on taking turns until the Eid day. Many times they took
it for walks around their neighborhood. One time, as Abdullah was
getting out of his house to go for the Maghrib prayer, the goat
followed him. Abdullah then had to force the goat back into the
backyard, which the goat resisted very much. The boys started liking
the goat very much.
After the Eid prayer, on the Eid day, the family returned home. It was
time to slaughter the goat.
"D-d-daddy, why are yougoing to k-k-kill the goat?" asked Ali, who was
nearly crying, as his father sharpened his knife.
"We have to kill him, because Allah has ordered us to," came thereply,
"Every Eid-ul-Adha,Muslims all over the world, who can afford,
slaughter a goat, sheep, lamb, cow, or camel. Prophet Ibrahim, alayhi
salam, was ordered by Allah to slaughter his sonas a test. He was
about to do that because it wasAllah�s order, but then Allah provided
him with a ram to slaughter, and Ibrahim, alayhi salam, slaughtered
that. As a commemoration of that great sacrifice, Muslims are asked to
slaughter an animal. You will also be slaughtering an animal when you
grow up."
Ali did not reply but rather watched his father as he slaughtered the
goat. Then he ran into the house, because he could not stand watching
the goat die.
Abdullah went after him and explained everything to him again that his
father had said before. Ali finally understood, but he still seemed
sad.
The boys then helped their father in doing the rest of the work. As he
kept thinking about it, Ali realized he had just learned the
word"sacrifice" now: you giveup something you love for a higher
purpose. He had become happy now because he knew they had killed the
goat because Allah had commanded them to do so. Then he skipped into
his house and started helping his mother clear up the meat.

Islamic Stories - , We are extremly rich, yet we don't know it

Once a person came to a Shaikh (Islamic scholar) and complained to him
about his own poverty, saying that he was in great distress and
wouldprefer death to such a life. The Shaikh said to him, "Are you
willing to have your eyes taken out in exchange for ten thousand
Dirhams (silvercoins)." He replied"Certainly not." The Shaikh said
"Would you like to have your tongueplucked out and get ten thousand
Dirhams in return?" The man said,"Of course not." The Shaikh said,
"Would you agree to having both your hands and feet cut off in return
for twenty thousand Dirhams." The man said that he would not. The
Shaikh asked"Are you willing to be made a mad man and get ten thousand
Dirhams in return?" The man said that he was not willing. At this, the
Shaikh said to him, "Are you not ashamed of yourself? You admit that
Allah Ta'ala has granted you so many precious gifts, the value
whereof, in your own estimation, exceeds fifty thousand Dirhams
(counting only afew gifts, by way of illustration) and yet you
complain of poverty!"
Source: "Fadhail-e-Sadaqaa Part II", translated by Prof. AbdulKarim.
The value of the above mentioned gifts can be fully understood when we
lose them. Let us be more thankful to our Lord.