Names and Attributes of Allah,- "Questions about Allaah'sdescending" .

'No one asks more aboutmy servants thatn myself. Who is asking me, so
I can give to him? Who is calling uon me, so I can answer him? who is
seeking my forgiveness, so I can forgive him?'". I got two questions
about this hadith.
Does Allah descend to the lowest heavnes, or to the earth. There is
another hadith saying that Allah comes in the shadow of the clouds and
some animals know it except for jinn and mankind. I am confused, does
Allah descend to the lowest heavens and animals sense it or he
descends to earth?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: The matters that you have asked about are matters of the
Unseen which man cannot know except via Revelation – i.e., the Qur'aan
and Sunnah. Undoubtedly the divine descent ends at the lowest heaven,
and Allaah does not descend to the earth, as the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated: "Our Lord descends to the
lowest heaven," he did not say: to the earth.
Secondly: With regard towhat you mentioned about Allaah coming in the
shade of the clouds, and that some animals recognize that, after
researching in the available books of hadeeth, and studying the words
of the scholars of deep knowledge who spoke of the issue of the
descent of the Lord – may He be exalted – to the lowest heaven, we did
not find anything to indicate that any such thing can be proven. What
we have to do is toaffirm that which was affirmed by the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), which is that
Allaah descends to the lowest heaven, and that He descends in a manner
that befits Him, and we refer knowledge of anything other than thatto
the One Who knows it, may He be exalted and glorified, for He is the
All-Knowing, All-Wise.
But it states in the Holy Qur'aan that when Allaah comes on the Day of
Resurrection to pass judgement, He will comein the shade of the
clouds, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Do they then wait for anything other than thatAllaah should come to
them in the shadows of the clouds and the angels? (Then) the case
would be already judged. And to Allaah return all matters (for
decision)"
[al-Baqarah 2:210]
But this will happen on the Day of Resurrection.
And it should be noted that there is no contradiction at all between
our belief that Allaah is above all things and that He is the Exalted,
the Almighty, and our belief that He descends to the lowest heaven,
for the highnessof Allaah is one of His essential attributes which
cannot alter or change – i.e., it cannot be other than it is described
at any time – so there is no contradiction between them, firstly,
because thetexts refer to both of them (i.e., His descending and His
highness), and the texts cannot say anything thatis impossible as is
well known; and secondly, because there is nothinglike unto Allaah in
all His attributes, so His descending is not like the descening of any
of His creatures so that one could say that it contradicts the idea of
His being exalted.

Do not kill your time

The Quran and Sunnah both emphasize the importance of time in the life
of a Muslim. Allaahswears in the beginning of many Soorahs (chapters)
by time or moments in time, for example Allaah Says (what means): " By
the dawn and the ten nights (i.e. the first ten days of the month
ofThul-Hijjah)..." [Quran 89: 1-2]
And also Says (what means): "By the night when it covers, and by the
day when it appears..." [Quran 92:1]
And also Says (what means): " By the morning brightness and by the
night when it covers with darkness..." [Quran 93:1]
And also Says (what means): "By the time..." [Quran 103:1]
When Allaah swears by something of His creation, it directs our
attention to the benefit of that thing. The Prophet further emphasized
the value of time in many authentic Hadeeths. For example, Mu'aath bin
Jabal related that the Prophet said: "The slave will not go forward on
the Day of Judgment until he is asked four questions: about his age
and how he spent it, about his youth and how he used it, about his
wealth and how he acquired it and spent it, and about his knowledge
and what he did with it."
Youth is considered the peak stage in human life, because young people
have the capacity and energy to accomplish many good deeds, but when
they get older, they cannot do as much. These are stages of
development as mentioned in the Quran, for example in Soorah Ar-Room
(The Romans), Allaah Says (what means): " Allaah is He Who created you
in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then
after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair ..." [Quran 30:54]
If we do not use our time effectively for something good, then we will
definitely use it for something bad, which destroys our rewards and
our lives. For example, if you do not make Thikr (mentioning Allaah
and praising Him), then you will be saying something else, perhaps
backbiting or perhaps talking about your children, your work, your
neighbors, your friends or your enemies. What counts for you is using
the time for something useful, doing good deeds and saying good
things.
Try to make a short revision at the end of each day about what you did
during that day. Ask yourself: What did I do today? What did I do that
was bad today? Make repentance for the bad things that you have done
and said, sincerely determining not to repeat such things. With the
good, determine to do it again, do it more often and do it in a better
way.
Our lives are judged according to what we did, not according to how
many years we lived. We know that life is very short, and at the end
of it comes death. We do not know when we are going to die, so we have
to make sure that we do many good deeds before we pass into the next
life and we are unable to return to repent from our bad deeds, or to
do more good deeds. Time passes very quickly as Allaah Says (what
means): "The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried
(in this world) except an afternoon and a morning." [Quran 79:46]
And also Says (what means): " And on the Day when He shall gather
(resurrect) them together,(it will be) as if they had not stayed (in
the life of this world and graves, etc) but an hour of a day." [Quran
10:45]
Time is very precious and if it passes, you cannot make use of
itagain. If yesterday passed without the performance of gooddeeds,
then it is gone; you cannotreclaim any benefit from yesterday's time.
For example, if you came to travel from one city to another and you
found that the airplane that you were supposed to travel on has
alreadyleft, do you think that it will be back to pick you up? Or if
you were traveling by train and you missed the train, do you think
that the train will reverse to come back to get you?
When it is time for a person to die, he may ask for more time to do
good deeds, as Allaah Says (what means): "Therein they will cry: 'Our
Lord! Bring us out, we shall do righteous good deeds, not what we used
to do.' (Allaah will reply): 'Did We not give you long enough lives so
that whosoever would receive admonition could receive it, and the
warner came to you? So tasteyou (the evil of your deeds). For the
wrongdoers, etc, there is no helper." [Quran 35:37]
We say that we are so busy with our work and our children, but Allaah
warns us against this saying (what means): " O you who believe! Let
not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance
of Allaah. And whoever does that, then they are the losers. And spend
(in charity) of that which We have provided for you before death comes
to one of you and he says: 'My Lord! If only you would give me respite
for a little while (i.e. return to the worldly life), then I should
give sadaqah (i.e. Zakaah) of my wealth, and beamong the righteous
(i.e. perform Hajj). And Allaah grants respite to none when his
appointed time (death) comes. And Allaah is All-Aware of what you do."
[Quran 63: 9-11]
Many people before us used their time effectively by performing good
deeds, teaching, doing something for the benefit of the Muslims, their
families and their relatives, or by advising others to be good, and
calling others to Allaah and Islam, etc. They considered every day
that passed which they did not use effectivelyfor the sake of Allaah
as denying the favors of Allaah.
Today we have those who "kill time." These people gather to talk about
things that are not related to Islam or the Muslims' affairs; they
play around or talk about others. These people are not killing time,
but they are committing slow suicide becausethey are killing their
time -- and their time is their lives! So they are slowly killing
themselves and after they die, what good deeds have they done?
The Prophet said: " There are two favors (or bounties) of Allaah's
bounties, and in them many people are cheated (or deceived): health
and free time."
People underestimate the value of these two favors, and thus, they are
cheated. This is like a person who has a house that he wants to sell.
Someone comes and offers him 50,000 dollars for it. He isn't sure of
its value, so he hesitates. Finally, he agrees and sells it for that
amount. Later he finds out that his house was actually worth a million
dollars. Imagine how cheated he feels; imagine that feeling that if he
had only known beforehand what it was really worth, he could have
gotten more!
It is the same with our time. We underestimate its great value, and
then when it is gone, we feelthat we have been cheated because we
didn't get everything out of it that we could have. But just as the
one who sold his house below its value cannot get it back and sell it
at its true value,we also cannot go back and do more with the time
that is already gone. At the end of our lives, we will not be able to
go back and live our lives over again and we will not be given more
time to do good deeds, to try to make up for the time we wasted.
So we must organize our time wisely, being very careful about what we
use it for. We must treat the free time that we have, in which we
could do good deedsas a precious resource, guarding it against waste
or misuse.

Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me

Anas reported that: "Three men came to the houses of the wives of the
Prophet and askedhow his worship was. When they were informed, they
considered their own worship to be insignificant and said: 'Where are
we in comparison to the Prophet when Allaah has forgiven his past and
future sins?' One of them said: 'As for me, I shall offer prayer all
night long.' Another said: 'I shall observe fasting perpetually, never
to break it.' Another said: 'I shall abstain from women and will never
marry.' The Prophet then came to them and said: "Are you the people
who said such things? I swear By Allaah that I fear Allaah more than
you do, and I am most obedient and dutiful among you to Him, but
still, I observe fasting (sometimes) and break it (at others); I
perform (optional) prayer (at night sometimes) and sleep at night (at
others); I also marry. So whoever turns away from my Sunnah (i.e., my
way) is not from me." [Al-Bukhaari &Muslim]
Anas also reported: "A few of the companions ofthe Prophet inquired
from his wives about his worship when he would be alone. When they
found out, one of them said: 'I shall abstain from women and will
never marry.' Another said: 'I shall never eat meat.' Another said: 'I
will always offer the night prayer and shall never sleep.' Later, the
Prophet ascended the pulpit, praised and thanked Allaah, and then
said: "Whyare some people saying such things? I perform (optional
night)prayers (sometimes) and sleep at night (at others); I observe
fasting (sometimes) and break it (at others); and I marry. So whoever
turns away from my Sunnah (i.e., way) is not from me."
'A few of the companions' in the narration means that there were
between three to nine of them, and their asking: 'Where are we in
comparison to the Prophet when Allaah has forgiven his past and future
sins?' means that since they didnot have this assurance that He had,
then it followed that they wouldhave to exert more effortin order to
try to attain it;however, he explainedto them that one may do the
things that these menwished to refrain from and still be fearful of
Allaah and obtain a greatreward.
The second narration of this story includes different things that the
companions stated that they will abstain from, which proves that they
were more than three in number.
Also, the speech of the Prophet in the first narration reflects that
he spoke to them directly, whereas the second one indicates thathe
spoke generally, without directing his speech to them in particular.
It may be that he first spoke to everybody in the congregation and
explained that such abstention is impermissible, and then spoke to the
men concerned in private, addressing them personally so as not to
expose their identity to others, which may have caused them
embarrassment.
The fact that the Prophet took an oath was in order to show these men
that despite him being forgiven by Allaah, he did not do what they
planned to do, which was to exaggerate in their worship, and that
reward from Allaah couldbe attained without such exaggeration; this is
because he who is moderate in his worship is more likely to
continuewhereas those who exaggerate will eventually become too weak
to continue and give up.
His saying: "…my Sunnah…" did not refer to the Islaamic categorization
which refers to recommended acts ratherthan obligatory ones. Rather,
it refers to his complete manner in life and his approach to every
matter. He instructed them that the one who worships in anyway other
than his is not from him, meaning, that he does not follow him; here,
he was alluding to the methods that monks have, who innovated extreme
ways of worship for which they have been dispraised by Allaah.
The one who worships ina way other than that of the Prophet has not
left the fold of Islam if he did it in ignorance or was mistaken in
his interpretation of the Sunnah, but if he does it due to wishing to
deliberately shun the way of the Prophet and thinks that his way and
method is better, then he has committed an act of disbelief.
The following are some of many benefits that we can extract from this narration:
· The recommendation of imitating the ways of one's seniors and
following in their footsteps, and that if one is unable to find out
about their way of doing things by means of inquiring from men, thenit
is permitted to inquire from women, provided that nobody will be
subjected to temptation.
· The virtue of marriage and an encouragement of it.
· One may do righteous deeds openly and inform others about them,
provided he feels secure from thereby becoming arrogant.
· Deeds that are Islamically permitted maybecome recommended, disliked
or prohibited, according to one's intention.
· Imaam At-Tabari said: "This narration refutes the claim of those who
forbid eating lawful foods and wearing permissible clothing, claiming
that it is better to use harsh clothing and refrain from eating good
food." But, Imaam Ibn Hajar added to this saying: "The fact of the
matter is that the one who gets himself accustomed to always consuming
fine things (i.e., food and clothing) may become too habituated to
them and therefore cannot live without them, and consequently, when he
is deprived from them, he maycommit prohibitions in order to attain
what he is accustomed to. On the other hand, refraining from them from
the perspective of prohibiting them for oneself contradicts the saying
of Allaah inthe thirty-second verse of Soorah Al-A'raaf (which means):
"Say: 'Who has forbidden the adornment of [i.e., from] Allaah which He
has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of
provision?..." [Quran 7: 32]
· The good deeds that arecontinuous are the dearest to Allaah, even if
they are few.
· The method of the Prophet is the very best one, whereby he would
sometimes eat in order to preserve his strength, and fast at other
times; he would also sleep at night sometimes in order to have the
strength to prayat night on other occasions; also, he would marry in
order to fulfil his desires, save himself from following his lusts,
maintain his chastity, andincreasing the number ofMuslims.
· A warning against exaggeration in the matters of the religion
because this leads to one stopping the deeds that he is performing.
Also, one who exaggerates in acts of worship will eventually become
apathetic, which may cause him to stop his obligatory acts of worship
and not only theoptional ones that he performs. Also, one who only
performs the obligatory deeds is also in great danger; if he loses
interest, he may abandon worship altogether; so the best way is to be
moderate.
· Finally, There is an indication in this narration that knowing
Allaah and His rights and commandments is of a higher rank than simply
worshipping Him without it, and that the deeds of the heart are
essential for practicing servitude to Allaah.

Abusing the environment: an Islamic perspective

Islam expresses great concern for the environment. A number of verses
in the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad have addressed this
issue. Islam's solution to environmental problems lies in man's
adaptation of its guidance. Allaah has stated that He made all the
material objects on earth for man's use, not for his abuse.
Allaah Almighty has not prevented humankind from enjoying a luxurious
standard of living, but this should notbe maintained by damaging and
abusing natural resources. This is clearly stated in a number of
verses in the Quran. Allaah says (what means): "But seek, through that
which Allah has given you, the home of the Hereafter; and (yet), do
not forget your share of the world. And do good as Allah has done good
to you. And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed, Allah does not
like corruptors." [Quran 28:77]
The Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad contains instructions for
Muslims to preserve the environment, which includes not cutting down
trees unnecessarily. In this respect, Prophet Muhammad pointed out
that there are benefits in planting trees,which will last until the
Day of Judgment. This is illustrated in the saying of the Noble
Prophet : "If the Hour is imminent and anyone of you has a palm shoot
(to plant) in his hand and is able to plant it before the Hour
strikes, then he should doso and he will be rewarded for that action."
Allaah has ordained severe punishments for those who damage and abuse
natural resources. He says (what means): "Eat and drink from the
provision of Allaah, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading
corruption." [Quran 2:60]
"Corruption has appeared throughout theland and sea by (reason of)
what the hands of people have earned, so He (i.e. Allaah) may let them
taste part of (the consequences of) what they have done that perhaps
they will return (to righteousness)." [Quran 30:41]
Ibn Mas'ood reports,"While we were on a journey with Allaah's
Messenger he went a short distance from where we had encamped. There
we sawa small bird with two of its chicks and caught them. The bird
was fluttering when the Prophet came back, so he asked, 'Who has
distressed it by taking its chicks ?' Then he asked us to return the
chicks. There we also sawan anthill and burnt it out. When the Prophet
saw that, he asked, 'Who has burnt it?' When we informed him that we
had done it, he said, 'Onlythe Lord of fire has the right to punish
with fire.'
Allaah says in the Quran (what means): "And there is no creature on
(or within) the earth or a bird that flies with its wings except that
they are nations (communities) like you." [Quran 6:38]
We infer from the Prophet's statement and this Qur'anic verse that
allliving things are partnersto man in existence and they deserve our
respect. We must be merciful toward animals and strive to ensure the
preservation of different species.
Islam forbids wasting water and using it without benefit. The
preservation of water forthe nourishment of humankind, animal life,
bird life and vegetation is a practice that gains Allaah's pleasure.
In his article "Islam and the Environment," Arafat El Ashi, director
of the Muslim World League in Canada, [www.al-muslim.org]
writes,"Human life is sacred in the sight of Islam. No oneis permitted
to take the life of another person except as life-for-life."
Under Islam, El Ashi states, "It [is] incumbent on every Muslim to
contribute his/her share in improving greenery. Muslims should be
active in growing more trees for the benefit of all people." Even
during battle, Muslims are required to avoid cuttingdown trees that
are useful to people.
Humankind's stewardship of the earth entails a profound
responsibility. Other living species, as mentioned above, are also
considered by Allaah to be "communities". Creation itself, in its
boundless diversity and complexity, may be thought of as a vast
universe of "signs" of Allaah's Power, Wisdom, Beneficence and
Majesty. The responsibility of humankind is to keep Allaah's creation
undistorted. The environment is a trust presented by Allaah to
humankind and its abuseis a misuse of Allaah's trust.