Some Violations of Invocation - II

1. Innovations in supplication.The Prophetsaid:"Whoever innovates
something in the religion that is not in it, his innovation will be
rejected."It is impermissible to innovate a certain way for invocation
and adhere to it or ask others to adhere to it. Some of these
innovations are:
•Collective invocation. Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeensaid, "Among the mistakes
that are committed by some pilgrims during Tawaaf )circumambulation(
is that they gather and assign a leader to lead them in Tawaaf and
dictate them invocation loudly and the entire group repeats after him.
Their voices get loud and chaos prevails. This distracts the rest of
the people performing Tawaaf and they lose track of what they are
saying. This drives away humbleness and harms the slaves of Allaah in
that safe place."
•Specifying some places or some times with certain invocations. It is
impermissible to specify a certain place or time with a certain
invocation unless there is a Sharee'ah )Islamic legislation( text for
this. The opinions of the scholars regarding the impermissibility of
specifying certain invocations for each turn in Tawaaf
)circumambulation( or Sa'y )going between As-Safa and Al-Marwah( were
previously mentioned. Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd said, "Any one who
innovates any thing in Thikr and specified invocation that is not in
it deeming it as an act to be followed, will bear sin from four
perspectives:
1.Abandoning what is prescribed.
2.Modifying or correcting legislation.
3.Preferring what was not legislated.
4.Misleading people into thinking the permissibility of what he has done."
2.Obliviousness of the heart.Many people invoke Allaah The Almighty
with an oblivious heart as their mind is busy with other matters or
they do not contemplate the words that they are saying.
Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyahsaid, "The origin of invocation is the
heart and the tongue is a follower of it. Thus, the one who
concentrates on correcting his tongue weakens his heart. This is why
the desperate one invokes Allaah with his heart with an invocation
that is not previously formulated. This is experienced by every
believer in his heart. Invocation may be in Arabic or any other
language as Allaah The Almighty knows the intention of the invoker
even if he does not correct his tongue, as Allaah knows the sounds of
voices however different the languages and the needs are."
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said, "One of the mistakes that some of those
who perform Tawaaf make, is that they take the written invocations and
say them without knowing their meanings. These invocations may include
mistakes done by the publisher that change the meaning totally and
turn it to be supplication against the person. Hence, he may
supplicate against himself without knowing that he is doing so. We
have heard many such strange stories."
3.Being impatient with the answer.Abu Hurayrahnarrated that the
Prophetsaid: "The invocation of anyone of you is granted )by Allaah(
if he does not show impatience )by saying, 'I invoked Allaah but my
request has not been granted.'" ]Al-Bukhaari and Muslim[
It is the duty of Muslims to invoke Allaah The Almighty a lot and ask
Him to accept their invocation. They should utilize the possible means
for the acceptance of invocation while applying the etiquettes of
invoking Allaah The Almighty and observing the times during which
invocation is accepted. Muslims should repent to Allaah The Almighty
and abandon sins and acts of disobedience, and ask Allaah The Almighty
for forgiveness as the one who keeps trying would ultimately achieve
his aim. 'Urwah bin Az-Zubayrused to maintain his daily invocations
just as he maintained reciting his daily quota of the Quran. Muwarriq
Al-'Ijli said, "I invoked my Lord for something for twenty years and
it was not achieved, but I did not feel desperate."
It was reported that Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin 'Ali and Adh-Dhahhaak
said that there were forty years between the invocation and its
acceptance in the verse in which Allaah The Almighty says )what
means(:}]Allaah[ said, "Your supplication has been answered."{]Quran
10:89[
Pilgrims should know that they have the honor of the place, time and
deed as they are in the most honorable place on earth, and on the best
days and the most loved by Allaah The Almighty. Moreover, they are
performing one of the most honorable and elevated deeds, so they
should seize this great opportunity to invoke Allaah The Almighty,
resort and submit to Him as they do not know whether they would have
this chance once more or not.

Some Violations of Invocation - I

The one who invokes Allaah The Almighty should avoid some matters that
Muslims were ordered to avoid during invoking Allaah The Almighty
according to Sharee'ah )Islamic legislation( texts. Some of these
matters are:
1. Invoking any other than Allaah The Almighty.This is one of the
greatest violations as invoking any other than Allaah is major Shirk
)polytheism( that Allaah The Almighty does not forgive the slave for,
if he dies without repenting. Shaykh-ul-Islam, Ibn Taymiyyahand others
said that whoever makes mediators between himself and Allaah The
Almighty whom he invokes is considered a disbeliever by consensus.
Ibn Al-Qayyimsaid, "One of the types of major Shirk is to invoke the
dead and seek their help. This is the origin of Shirk in the world as
the dead can neither bring harm nor benefit to his own self or to any
one who seeks his help or asks for his intercession. This is done out
of ignorance of the one who should intercede and the One before whom
this intercession is made for him."
Shaykh Ahmad bin 'Eesa said, "It was established that invocation
combines many types of worship such as submitting one's face to the
one who is invoked, relying on him as well as submission and humbling
oneself. Whoever submits his face to any other than Allaah is a
polytheist whether he acknowledged it or not."
Despite the danger of this matter, you find people who belong to Islam
yet they invoke other than Allaah The Almighty. Those people might say
while they are at the sacred mosque or while performing Tawaaf
)circumambulation(: "O Muhammad!", "O 'Ali!", "O Husayn!", "Madad
Madad Ya Badawi!", "O 'Abd Al-Qaadir!" or "O 'Aydaroos!" These forms
of invocations are among the forms of invoking other than Allaah The
Almighty. Muslims should avoid invoking any other than Allaah The
Almighty in order to preserve their religion and Tawheed )Islamic
Monotheism(. They should also disapprove of the ones who invoke other
than Allaah The Almighty.
2.Supplicating Allaah The Almighty by means of prophets or righteous
people is one of the Bid'ahs that many Muslims commit.When invoking
Allaah The Almighty, some Muslims say, "O Allaah! I invoke you by
means of the status of your Prophet Muhammad," or "By means of the
status of your righteous slaves." This form of invocation is
innovated, as it did not take place at the time of the Prophetthe
rightly guided Caliphs or the righteous predecessors. Shaykh-ul-Islam
Ibn Taymiyyahsaid that invoking Allaah The Almighty by means of the
status of the dead is a Bid'ah according to the consensus of Muslims.
Shaykh Ibn Baazsaid,
"There is one type that is called Tawassul )intercession(, which is
invoking Allaah by means of the status of the Prophetor by his right
or self. For instance, one might say, 'O Allaah! I invoke you by means
of your Prophet, or by his status, or by means of the status of your
prophets or their right, or by means of the status of the righteous
people and so forth. This is Bid'ah )innovation( and leads to Shirk
)polytheism(. Invoking Allaah by means of any other is impermissible
whether this was by means of the Prophetor by any other person, as
Allaah The Almighty did not legislate this and acts of worship are
determined by Sharee'ah )Islamic legislation( texts with no room for
human reasoning."
Thus, there are other kinds of lawful Tawassul that are permissible
because of being proved by Sharee'ah texts. These are:
•Tawassul through the Names, Attributes and Deeds of Allaah.
•Tawassul through one's good deeds.
•Tawassul through the invocation of the righteous people.
3.Transgressing in invocation. Allaah The Almighty says )what
means(:}Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He does
not like transgressors.{]Quran 7:55[ Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn
Taymiyyahsaid, "Transgression may occur by the multiplicity of
expressions or meanings." Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd said, "This includes
forbiddance of any type of transgression in invocation and among what
is included here is the innovation in supplication either with regard
to time, place, quantity or way of performance."
'Abdullaah bin Mughaffalsaid that he heard his son saying, "O Allaah!
I ask you to grant me the white palace on the right side of Paradise."
He said to him, "O son! Ask Allaah to grant you Paradise and seek
refuge with Him from Hell as I heard the Prophetsaying:"There will be
people in this Ummah who transgress in purification and
invocation."]Abu Daawood and Ibn Maajah[
One of the sons of Sa'd bin Abi Waqaassaid, "My father heard me
saying: 'O Allaah! I ask you to Grant me Paradise, its bliss, its
delight and such and such, and I seek refuge with you from Hell, its
chains and shackles and such and such.' Thus, he told me, 'O son! I
heard the Prophetsaying:'There will be people who transgress in
invocation.'Be wary of being one of them. If you were given Paradise,
you will be granted it along with all the good therein and if you were
saved from Hell you will be saved from it and all the evils therein."
]Abu Daawood[
Among the transgression in invocation are the following:
•Detailing in invocation
•Invoking Allaah The Almighty for a sin or for severing of kinship ties.
•Making invocation conditional like saying, "O Allaah! Forgive me if You wish".
•Exclusion in invocation. An example of this is what a Bedouin said,
"O Allaah! Have mercy upon me and Muhammad, and do not have mercy upon
any other one."
•Invoking Allaah The Almighty for something that is predetermined.
•Exaggeration in making rhyme in invocation.
•Exaggeration in raising the voice with invocation.

Dought & clear, - Sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) when he is mentioned in obligatory and naafil prayers.

If a person recites a verse whilst praying in which there is mention
of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him), should you
send blessings upon him because of mentioning him, or is sending
blessings upon him not among the actions of prayer except at the
appropriate point in the Tashahhud, so it should only be done then and
not at any other point?.
Praise be to Allaah.
In the obligatory prayer, that should not be done, because there is no
report of that from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon
him). But in the naafil prayer, there is nothing wrong with it,
because when he (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) prayed
tahajjud at night, he would pause at every verse in which Allaah was
glorified and glorify Him, and at every verse that mentioned seeking
refuge with Allaah and seek refuge with Him, and at every verse that
mentioned asking and ask of Him. Sending blessings upon him (blessings
and peace of Allaah be upon him) falls into the same category.
And Allaah is the source of strength.

Dought & clear, - Commentary on the hadeeth, “No one who has an atom’s weight offaith in his heart will enter Hell”

I have heard that no one who has an atom's weight of faith in his
heart will enter Hell, and that the one who has an atom's weight of
arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise. Is this true?
Praise be to Allah.
What is indicated by the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and the
consensus of the early generations of this ummah is that no one who
has an atom's weight of faith in his heart will abide in Hell for
eternity. If a Muslim who was a sinner died without repenting from his
sin, then his case will be decided by Allah: if He wills He will
pardon him, and if He wills He will punish him, but he will not abide
in Hell forever in any case.
Al-Bukhaari (44) and Muslim (193) narrated from Anas that the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever says Laa
ilaaha ill-Allah and has in his heart goodness the weight of a grain
of barley will be brought out of Hell, then whoever says Laa ilaaha
ill-Allah and has in his heart goodness the weight of a grain of wheat
will be brought out of Hell, then whoever says Laa ilaaha ill-Allah
and has in his heart goodness the weight of an atom (or a small ant)
will be brought out of Hell."
This idea is repeated in other hadeeths, the wording of which is similar.
With regard to your saying that no one who has an atom's weight of
faith in his heart will enter Hell, this is also proven, but some of
the scholars interpret it as meaning that such a one will not enter it
as the disbelievers do, i.e., he will not abide therein for eternity,
although he will may enter it. Thus this hadeeth may be reconciled
with the many texts that say that some of the sinners among the
believers will enter Hell even though they have faith in their hearts,
then they will be brought out by means of intercession and so on.
At-Tirmidhi (1999), Abu Dawood (4091) and Ibn Maajah (59) narrated
from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood that the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said:"No one will enter Paradise in whose heart is
an atom's weight of arrogance and no one will enter Hell in whose
heart is an atom's weight of faith." A man said: What if I like my
clothes to look nice and my shoes to look nice? He said: "Verily Allah
loves beauty; rather arrogance means rejecting the truth and looking
down on people."
Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Tirmidhi.
Imam at-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after quoting
this hadeeth: Some of the scholars said, commenting on this hadeeth,
that no one who has an atom's weight of faith in his heart will enter
Hell; the only meaning is that they will not abide in the Fire
forever. This was narrated from Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri from the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who said: "Everyone in
whose heart there is an atom's weight of faith will be brought out of
Hell." More than one of the Taabi'een interpreted the verse
(interpretation of the meaning), "Our Lord! Verily, whomever You admit
to the Fire, indeed, You have disgraced him" [Aal 'Imraan 3:192] as
meaning: whomever You cause to abide forever in the Fire, indeed, You
have disgraced him. End quote.
With regard to the second sentence, in which you say, "that the one
who has an atom's weight ofarrogancein his heart will enter Paradise",
this is also proven, as in the hadeeth quoted above. It was quoted by
Muslim (91), with this sentence only, from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood from
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who said:"No
one will enter Paradise in whose heart is an atom's weight of
arrogance." A man said: What if a man likes his clothes to look nice
and his shoes to look nice? He said: "Verily Allah is Beautiful and
loves beauty; arrogance means rejecting the truth and looking down on
people."
What this hadeeth means is that no one will enter Paradise without
being exposed to the possibility of requital or punishment; he may be
punished or he may be pardoned, unlike the obedient believer who is
free of this major sin, who will enter Paradise without being exposed
to the possibility of entering Hell.
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said inSharh Muslim: Rather
the apparent meaning is that which was favoured by al-Qaadi 'Iyaad and
other scholars, which is that he will not enter Paradise without
bringing him to account and punishing him if He wills, or He may let
him off. Rather it is inevitable that all of those who affirm the
Oneness of Allah will enter Paradise, either initially or later on,
after some of those who committed major sins and died whilst
persisting in them have been punished. And it was said that he will
not enter Paradise with the pious in the first group to enter.
End quote.
To sum up:
What you asked about is the text of one or two saheeh hadeeths, the
meaning of which is as we have said. It is not correct for anyone to
imagine that it is impossible for the one who has an atom's weight of
faith in his heart to enter Hell no matter what major sins he has
committed, and he should not imagine that it is impossible for the
Muslim in whose heart there is an atom's weight of arrogance to enter
Paradise, no matter how great his faith.
Two groups of people did not understand these texts corectly, the
Khaarijis and the Murji'ah. The Khaarijis focused only on the texts
that contain the warning, such as the second hadeeth, and the Mujri'ah
focused only on the texts that contain the promise, such as the first
hadeeth. But Allah guided Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah to the correct
view, which reconciles between the texts.
And Allah knows best.