Personal, - Social evils that are destroying Muslim communities - II

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Severing ties with kinfolk: The most important of kinfolk are one's parents, and yet we find many people dealing with them in an inappropriate manner or even severing ties with them altogether. As for those who do try to fulfil the needs of their parents, many of them do it begrudgingly, while expressing discontent or complaining that it is a burden upon them. This is in spite of the fact that Allaah The Almighty commands us to not say even the least expression of discontent in this regard, saying )what means(:}“…Say not to them ]so much as[ 'Uff,' and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word.”{]Quran, 17’: 23[
The mother of Huthayl bin Hafsah, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said,
“He would collect wood during the summer and peel off the outer layer of bark himself. Then, when winter would come, he would come to me whilst I was praying, light a brazier )in my room( and place the peeled wood in it, as this does not give harmful smoke. He would do so just so that I would be warm during prayer. He would do so even though we had a servant who could do the job. Whenever I thought of stopping him and commanding him to return to his family, I would remember why he was doing it, and thus I would allow him to continue."
Why was he doing this himself despite him having a servant who could have done it for him? It was nothing but a reflection of his full dutifulness towards his mother.
This type of nobility is not limited to ones parents; rather, one should be kind to all his relatives and even his fellow Muslims.
Wasting time: The issue of wasting time is a very important one indeed. We must be careful about it and hold ourselves to account regarding it because we spend much of our time uselessly instead of spending it in acts of obedience to Allaah, as it should be utilised. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}“And it is He who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude.”{]Quran, 25: 62[
Therefore, time was created so that we would fill it with acts of obedience to Allaah, The Almighty but many people do the exact opposite of this. The Salaf )righteous predecessors(, may Allaah have mercy upon them, were very keen to make use of every second of their time. Al-Hasan, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said, “I have met some people who were stingier with their time than they were with their wealth.”
People nowadays waste their times in games, late nights, socializing, watching television and in vain talk. They may even go as far as doing so at the expense of their religious obligations, such as their daily prayers, and so on.
Wasting wealth:Many men cave in under pressure from their wives and children and therefore spend extravagantly, but when they are asked to spend in charity, one would find that they are so stingy that if they were to pull out two bills to give in charity, one would invariably return to his pocket. However, if this same person were to go to a restaurant, he would have no problem in spending multiples of this amount.
Allaah The Almighty will ask us about our wealth because we were informed as such by the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam. Abu Barzah, may Allaah be pleased with him, reported, “The Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said:“Man's feet will not move on the Day of Resurrection before he is asked about his life and how he consumed it, his knowledge and what did he do with it, his wealth and how he earned it and how he disposed of it, and about his body and how he wore it out.”"]At-Tirmithi[
This does not imply that people do not spend generously or that there are no people who do any of the abovementioned matters correctly. The purpose of highlighting these points is to serve as a reminder for Muslims – at both the individual and community level – so that we realize the importance of these matters and hold ourselves to account with respect to them, as there are many of us who are failing to do so.









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Personal, - Hijab is Obligatory: Evidences from the Quranand Sunnah

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Wearing the Hijaab )Islamic covering( is a great act of worship and one of the most important obligations in Islam, as Allaah The Almighty has ordained it in His Book and has forbidden its opposite, which is uncovering and dressing improperly. The Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, commanded it in his Sunnah )tradition( and forbade its opposite. Moreover, it is the consensus of the Muslim scholars throughout the ages that the Hijaab is mandatory. Therefore, claiming that this act of worship )i.e., the Hijaab( was only obligatory in a certain period of history is baseless and the burden of proof is upon those who make this baseless claim.
As for the proof of the obligation of Hijaab in Islam, the following evidences clearly prove the obligatory nature of the Hijaab, and silence anyone who claims that it is an inherited tradition, or that it was only obligatory for the early Muslims.
Evidences from the Quran:
•}"And tell the believing women to reduce ]some[ of their vision and guard their private parts and not display their adornment except that which ]ordinarily[ appears thereof and to draw their head covers over their chests and not to display their adornments ]i.e., beauty[ except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers, their brother's sons, their sister's sons, their women, that which their right hands possess ]i.e., slaves[, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allaah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.''{]Quran, 24: 30[
'Aa'ishah, may Allaah be pleased with her, said,
"May Allaah have mercy upon the early women of Muhaajireen )the emigrants who came from Makkah(! When Allaah revealed )what means(:}"And tell the believing women to reduce ]some[ of their vision and guard their private parts and not display their adornment except that which ]ordinarily[ appears thereof and to draw their head covers over their chests and not to display their adornments ]i.e., beauty[ except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers, their brother's sons, their sister's sons, their women, that which their right hands possess ]i.e., slaves[, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allaah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed "{]Quran, 24: 30[ they tore a part of their garments and drew it down over their heads to cover themselves." ]Al-Bukhaari[
•}"And women of post-menstrual age who have no desire for marriage – there is no blame upon them for putting aside their outer garments ]but[ not displaying adornment. But to modestly refrain ]from that[ is better for them. And Allaah is Hearing and Knowing."{]Quran, 24: 60[.
•}"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves ]part[ of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allaah Forgiving and Merciful."{]Quran, 33: 59[
•}"And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves )adornments( like that of the times of Jaahiliyyah )i.e., the pre-Islamic era(."{]Quran, 33: 33[
Evidences from the Sunnah:
1. 'Aa'ishah, may Allaah be pleased with her, narrated that 'Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, said to the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, "'O Messenger of Allaah! Why don’t you command your wives to cover themselves?' Then Allaah revealed the verse which obligates Hijaab." ]Al-Bukhaari and Muslim[.
2. Ibn 'Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said:"On the Day of Resurrection, Allaah will not look at the one who drags his garment )below his ankles( out of pride."Umm Salamah, may Allaah be pleased with her, therefore asked, "What should women do with their dresses?" He, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, replied:"They should only lower it a hand-span )below the ankles(."She then replied, "But then their feet would be uncovered )while walking(." So he, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said:"Then they should lower it by an arm's length."]Abu Daawood and Tirmithi[










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Dought & clear, - Was Maa’iz married?

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Was Ma'iz ibn Malik married or unmarried and if he was a bachelor, why was he stoned? I ask this because I have read that he was not married and was stoned for persistent fornication. However, there are other ahadith about "a man from Bani Aslam" which match the case of Ma'iz (who was from the Aslam) in every detail but do not give the name of the man. Was this man Ma'iz?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The ahaadeeth which tell the story of Maa’iz (may Allaah be pleased with him) and are narrated inal-Saheehaynwere narrated through numerous isnaads. In some of them his name is given as Maa’iz, and in these it does not say that he was married. And in some he is mentioned by the name of his tribe – “a man from Aslam” – and in these it says that he was married.
The context of the ahaadeeth is the same which makes us certain that they are speaking of the same story, which is the story of Maa’iz (may Allaah be pleased with him) and that he was married. This is stated in the text of one hadeeth which is narrated by al-Bayhaqi as we shall see below. There follow some of the reports:
According to the version narrated by Muslim, they took Maa’iz to the Harrah, and this report states his name. According to a version narrated by al-Bukhaari, they stoned a man from (the tribe of) Aslam – and Maa’iz was a man from the tribe of Aslam as we shall see in the hadeeth from Abu Sa’eed below – so they took him to the Harrah. We also draw your attention to the similarity between the two hadeeth which both say that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) turned away from him four times, etc. This makes us certain that the two hadeeths are telling the story of the same man. Based on that, it says in the report narrated by al-Bukhaari that he was married. The two reports are as follows:
(a) Muslim (1694) narrated:
From Abu Sa’eed: that a man called Maa’iz ibn Maalik came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: “I have committed adultery. Carry out (the hadd punishment) on me.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ignored him several times, then he asked his people (about him). They said: “We do not know of anything wrong with him, except that he has committed some crime and he thinks that he will not be able to relieve himself of its burden unless the hadd punishment is carried out on him.” So he went back to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he commanded us to stone him. So we took him out to Baqee’ al-Gharqad and we did not tie him up or dig a hole for him. We stoned him with bones, clods and pebbles. He ran away and we ran after him until he came to ‘Arad al-Harrah (a place in Madeenah), where he stopped, and we stoned him with the rocks of the Harrah until he stopped moving (i.e., died).
(b) The report narrated by al-Bukhaari (4969):
It was narrated from Jaabir that a man from (the tribe of) Aslam came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was in the mosque and he said, “I have committed adultery.” The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) turned his face away from him. The man came to that side to which the Prophet had turned his face, and testified against himself four times. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "Are you mad? Are you married?" He said, "Yes.” So he commanded that he be stoned in the Musalla (Eid prayer place). When the stones troubled him, he ran away, until he was caught in al-Harrah and killed.
And it was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: A man from (the tribe of Aslam) came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was in the mosque and called him. He said, “O Messenger of Allaah, This man has committed zina,” meaning himself. [The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] turned his face away from him. The man came to that side to which the Prophet had turned his face, and said, "O Messenger of Allaah, this man has committed zina." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) turned his face to the other side, and the man came to that side, and said the same thing. When he had testified against himself four times, the Prophet called him and said, "Are you mad?" He said, "No." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "Take him away and stone him to death." And he was married. When the stones troubled him, he ran away, but we caught up with him at al-Harrah and stoned him to death (there)."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4970
This is also stated clearly inSunan al-Bayhaqi:
It was narrated from Jaabir from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): a man from (the tribe of) Aslam testified against himself four times in his presence, admitting zina, so he ordered that he be stoned, as he was married. He said: they said that that was Maa’iz.
Sunan al-Bayhaqi al-Kubra, 8/218
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar stated inFath al-Baarithat these ahaadeeth tell the story of one man, namely Maa’iz (may Allaah be pleased with him).
The phrase “a man from Aslam” means a man from the famous tribe of Banu Aslam. The name of this man was Maa’iz ibn Maalik as we shall see below; he was named as such by Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him).
Al-Haafiz also said:
The hadeeth which says that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stoned Maa’iz, who was married, appears inal-Saheehaynfrom Abu Hurayrah. He said to him: “Are you married?” and he said, “Yes.” This was also narrated by al-Bukhaari from Jaabir.
Al-Diraayah fi Takhreej Ahaadeeth al-Hidaayah, 2/96.
These ahaadeeth when taken together make us certain that when Maa’iz was stoned, he was married.
Maa’iz was not stoned because he frequently committed the sin of zina; there is no evidence to indicate that Maa’iz was one of those who frequently commit zina.
The previously-married person who commits zina deserves to be stoned, whether he got married and divorced, or his wife passed away, or he is still married.
There is no difference between one who commits zina once and one who commits this sin repeatedly. Whoever has been previously married must be stoned. In the case of one who has not been previously married, the hadd punishment is one hundred lashes and exile for one year.
And Allaah knows best.








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