Asceticism is the Way to be Loved - I

Asceticism, or Zuhd, is to abandon the desire for something for the
sake of something which is better, and to abandon the comfort of this
world for the sake of that of the Hereafter. It also means that the
heart should not desire anything that one does not possess. Knowing
that this worldly life is temporary and will eventually come to an end
helps the slave of Allaah to be this way.
Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}Know that the life of this
world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one
another and competition in increase of wealth and children - like the
example of rain whose ]resulting[ plant growth pleases the tillers;
then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes
]scattered[ debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and
forgiveness from Allaah and approval. And what is the worldly life
except the enjoyment of delusion.{]Quran 57:20[ Allaah The Almighty
has called this life the "enjoyment of delusion" and has forbidden us
from being deceived by it. He has also informed us of the evil end of
those who are deceived by this worldly life, He warns us of being
considered with the same recompense that they deserved for what they
committed and has dispraised whoever is satisfied or feels secure
therein. He has dispraised such people because He knows that after
this worldly life is an abode which is greater and more honored: the
home of final settlement.
In addition, the slave of Allaah the Almighty knows that his
asceticism in this worldly life will not prevent him from receiving
what was decreed for him and his keenness on it does not bring him
what was not decreed for him. When the slave of Allaah The Almighty is
certain of this fact, he will abandon the inclination to things that
do not bring benefit in the Hereafter. However, being ascetic towards
things that bring benefit in the Hereafter is not a religious act and
its doer is addressed in the verse in which Allaah The Almighty Says
)what means(:}O you who have believed, do not prohibit the good things
which Allaah has made lawful to you and do not transgress. Indeed,
Allaah does not like transgressors.{]Quran 5:87[
The Essence of Asceticism
Asceticism in this worldly life does not mean that one should reject
it, as Sulaymaan )Solomon( and Daawood )David(, may Allaah exalt their
mention, were the most ascetic men of their time while they had
considerable wealth, kingship and a number of wives. The Prophetwas
the most ascetic person ever, yet he had nine wives. 'Ali ibn Abi
Taalib, 'Abdur-Rahmaan ibn 'Awf, Az-Zubayr and 'Uthmaanand many others
were ascetic people while they were wealthy. Imaam Ahmad was asked,
"Can a rich person be ascetic?" He answered, "Yes, if he does not
rejoice with the increase of his wealth or grieve over its decrease."
Al-Hasansaid, "Asceticism does not mean wasting wealth or making what
is lawful unlawful; rather, it is to have confidence in what is in the
Hand of Allaah more than what is in one's own hand, and ]it is also[
that one's condition at the time of a calamity and that under normal
circumstances is alike; and to have the same attitude towards the one
who praises you and the one who dispraises you for the sake of the
truth." This is true asceticism, therefore, a slave of Allaah The
Almighty might be the richest person, yet he is of the most ascetic
because his heart is not attached to this worldly life. On the other
hand, another slave of Allaah The Almighty may be the poorest of
people, but he is not an ascetic at all because his heart clings to
this worldly life.
Kinds of Asceticism
Asceticism with regards to abstaining from what is unlawful is an
individual obligation, and abandoning suspicious matters is obligatory
if it is a strong suspicion; however, if it is weak, abandoning the
suspicious matter is merely recommended. There is asceticism with
regards to abandoning speech, looking, inquiring, meeting and other
things that are not required or called for. Also, there is asceticism
regarding people and asceticism regarding one's own self when one
sacrifices himself in the cause of Allaah The Almighty. The
comprehensive asceticism is being ascetic in everything except in
things that are with Allaah The Almighty and being ascetic in
everything that keeps him away from Him. The best kind of asceticism
is one that is concealed, and the most difficult kind is in things
that are lawful.
Virtues of Asceticism
In many verses, Allaah The Almighty praises asceticism and dispraises
any inclination to worldly life, as He the Almighty Says )what means(:
•}And they rejoice in the worldly life, while the worldly life is not,
compared to the Hereafter, except ]brief[ enjoyment.{]Quran 13:26[
•}The example of ]this[ worldly life is but like rain which We have
sent down from the sky that the plants of the earth absorb - ]those[
from which men and livestock eat - until, when the earth has taken on
its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have
capability over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day,
and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday.
Thus do We explain in detail the signs for a people who give
thought.{]Quran 10:24[
•}In order that you not despair over what has eluded you and not exult
]in pride[ over what He has given you. And Allaah does not like
everyone self-deluded and boastful -{]Quran 57:23[
Also, Allaah The Almighty relates the story of the believing man of
the family of Fir'awn )Pharaoh(, where He Says )what means(:}O my
people, this worldly life is only ]temporary[ enjoyment, and indeed,
the Hereafter - that is the home of ]permanent[ settlement.{]Quran
40:39[
Ibn Mas'oodnarrated that the Messenger of Allaahsaid:"I forbade you to
visit graves, but you may now visit them as this would make you
ascetic towards this worldly life and remind you of the
Hereafter."Sahl ibn Sa'd As-Saa'idisaid, "A man came to the Prophetand
said, 'O Messenger of Allaah, guide me to an action which, if I do it,
Allaah will love me and the people will also love me.' The
Prophetsaid:'Be ascetic in this worldly life and Allaah would love
you. Be ascetic towards what is in the hands of others ]meaning, do
not desire what is in their possession[ and they would love you.'"Sahl
ibn Sa'd As-Saa'idialso said, "The Prophetsaid:'Were this worldly life
worth even the wing of a mosquito in the sight of Allaah, He would not
have given even a drink of water to a disbeliever in this worldly
life.'"
The Prophets Were the most Ascetic of People
The Prophets and Messengers are examples for people in their
asceticism in this worldly life and inclination to the Hereafter, as
Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}They are the ones whom Allaah
has guided, so from their guidance take an example.{]Quran 6:90[
Anyone who reads the biography of the Prophetwould know how he would
patch up his own garment, mend his shoes and milk his sheep. Also, he
never quenched his hunger, even with barley bread, for two consecutive
days until he died, and would even pass whole days without eating, not
even finding degraded dates to eat. Also, in the Battle of Al-Ahzaab,
he became so hungry that he tied a rock on his stomach, and three
months would pass and he and his family would not light a fire in
their house in order to cook; their only sustenance would be dates and
water. Hewould say:"O Allaah, there is no true life except that of the
Hereafter, so forgive the Ansaar and the Muhaajiroon."'Aa'ishahsaid,
"The bedding of the Messenger of Allaahwas a piece of tanned skin
stuffed with palm fibers." She once bought out a patched-up upper
garment and a thick lower garment and said, "The Messenger of
Allaahdied wearing these two."

Asceticism is the Way to be Loved - II

The Righteous Follow the Way of the Prophets
The righteous follow the way of the Prophetas he was the model
example. 'Alisaid, "All goodness is for those who are ascetic in this
worldly life and those who incline to the Hereafter. They are those
who took the land as their rug, its dust as their mattress, its water
as their perfume, the Quran as their slogan, and supplication as their
garment. They completely renounced the worldly life."
Abu Ad-Dardaa'wrote a letter to some of his friends, saying, "I advise
you to fear Allaah, to be ascetic in this worldly life, and to desire
what is with Allaah. If you do so, Allaah will love you for your
desire for what is with Him, and people will love you for leaving
their worldly lives for them. As-Salaamu Alaykum."
'Urwah ibn Az-Zubayrreported that the Mother of the Believers,
'Aa'ishahonce received eighty thousand Dirhams from Mu'aawiyahand by
that evening she did not have even a single Dirham left. Her maid said
to her, "Should you not have bought a Dirham's worth of meat for us?"
She replied, "If you had reminded me, I would have done."
Ibn Mas'oodsaid, "The worldly life is the home of those who have no
home and the wealth of those who have no wealth. The one who has no
knowledge accumulates in it."
When 'Umarreached Ash-Shaam )greater Syria(, his soldiers met him
while he was wearing a lower garment, a pair of leather socks and a
turban. He was pulling along his riding animal and walking in puddles.
The soldiers said to him, "O commander of the believers, Will the
soldiers and patriarchs of Ash-Shaam meet you while you are in this
state?" He replied, "We are people whom Allaah has honored by Islam,
so we will not seek honor in anything else."
A man visited Abu Tharrand looked around at his house and said, "O Abu
Tharr, I do not see any belongings or furniture in your house!" He
replied, "We have another house ]i.e., his house in Paradise[ to which
we send our good belongings." He added, "The owner of the house ]i.e.,
Allaah[ will not leave us in this house."
'Amr ibn Al-'Aassaid in a sermon that he delivered in Egypt, "What a
huge difference there is between your way and the guidance of your
Prophet! He was the most ascetic of people in this worldly life while
you are the most inclining of people towards it."
'Alisaid, "I married Faatimah while we had no bedding but the skin of
a ram that we would sleep on at night and place the fodder for the
camel on it during the day. I had no one to serve me but her, and she
would get so exhausted that her forelock would fall on the edge of the
bowl when she kneaded."
When Mu'aath ibn Jabalwas about to die, he said, "O Allaah, You know
that I did not love this worldly life and longevity in it for the sake
of digging rivers or planting trees ]i.e., the sustenance in this
worldly life[. Rather, ]I wanted it[ for the sake of fasting during
the day, performing voluntary prayers at night, and attending the
assemblies of remembering Allaah, despite them being crowded."
Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbalmentioned that the best person from the
generation that succeeded that of the Companions of the Prophetin
terms of knowledge was Sa'eed ibn Al-Musayyibbut the finest in general
was 'Uways Al-Qarni. 'Uwayswould say, "Take death as a pillow when you
go to sleep and put it before your eyes when you are awake."
Maalik ibn Dinaarsaid, "A person intends to marry the most beautiful
woman in the district, so she says to him. 'I want garments made of
wool', then she takes away his religion."
Many of the righteous predecessors would refuse to take lawful money
that was offered to them and would say, "We will not take it lest it
ruins our religion."
Hammaad ibn Salamahwould open his shop, and if he earned just two
Dirhams, he would close it.
Sa'eed ibn Al-Musayyibwould trade in oil, and after his death he left
four hundred Dinaars, saying, "I left them to protect my honor and
religion."
Sufyaan Ath-Thawrisaid, "Asceticism in this worldly life is to not
have the hope of a long life, rather it is to eat rough food or wear
rough clothes."
Ash-Shaafi'ialso dispraised this worldly life and being attached to it.
Abu Sulaymaan Ad-Daaraaniwould say, "All that distracts you from
Allaah The Almighty, whether family, wealth or children, is a
misfortune."
People Far Better than Us were Deprived of the Pleasures of this Worldly Life
It is enough to know that being ascetic is a part of taking the
Prophetand his companions as examples. This act is perfect reliance
upon Allaah The Almighty and instills contentment in the heart, which
in turn leads to the comfort of this worldly life and the happiness of
the Hereafter. The ascetic person is loved by Allaah The Almighty and
by other people. Therefore, if you have possessions, praise Allaah The
Almighty and do not let your heart be attached to the worldly life.
Likewise, if you are poor, be patient, for people who were better than
you were deprived of the pleasures of this worldly life. Our
Prophetwould sleep on a mat such that its marks appeared on his body,
and he died while there was no provision on the shelf of
'Aa'ishahexcept a handful of barley that she would eat from. If one
were to enter the rooms of his wives, his head would touch the
ceiling. 'Umar ibn Al-Khattaabthe caliph of the Muslims, once
delivered a sermon wearing a garment that had twelve patches.
These people were not deprived of the pleasures of this worldly life
because of their abasement in the sight of Allaah The Almighty, rather
because of the abasement of the worldly life in His sight, which does
not even equal the weight of a wing of a mosquito; and the two
voluntary units of prayer before Fajr prayer are better than this
worldly life and what it contains. In order for one not to despair
over what has eluded him, he should not exult in pride over what
Allaah The Almighty has given him. The believer does not become
disappointed over being disgraced in it nor compete with others over
its glory, as he has his own concern and they have other concerns.
Be the slave of Allaah The Almighty at times of hardship and ease, and
at times of activity and suffering. Whether the worldly life
approaches you or turns away from you, its approaching is refraining
and its turning away is approaching. The basic rule is that it
approaches you with what you dislike, and when it approaches you with
what you like, this is an exception.

The garments of Taqwa: What are you afraid of?

There is a famous story about an emperor. This emperor was cruel and
unjust to his people, so a tailor decided to play a trick on him. He
went to the king and offered to make for him the finest clothes ever.
But instead of making a suit for him, he just pretended to make a
suit, and fooled the emperor into thinking that he was working hard by
taking a long time.
Eventually after a long period of waiting, he gave the emperor a
handful of air and told him that it is the best set of clothes ever
made. In fact, the tailor told him that the clothes are so fine to the
point that the wearer doesn't even feel that he is wearing them.
Blinded by his own arrogance and not wanting to appear dumb in the
eyes of the tailor, the emperor immediately showed happiness with the
'new suit' and ordered a parade to take place in the town so that he
could show his subjects his new appearance. Of course, everyone was
too scared to tell this tyrant that he was actually naked. Instead,
they salute and flatter him—all except for one boy. He was too young
to know of social convention or to have fear of tyranny, thus he
pointed out to the truth and said what others could not dare to
express. Amazingly, this act, at least for that moment, made the fear
change its place. Fear so overwhelmed the emperor he became
astonished, dumb founded. His surprised subjects, on the other hand,
easily slid out of their worries, ridiculed him and laughed so hard at
what he gotten himself into.
While this emperor seemed to have been blinded by his own arrogance,
the reality showed us that he was, in fact, blinded by his own fears;
and his people, whose opinions he feared, were also held back by their
own fears—reality showed his arrogance not to be a sign of strength,
but one of weakness. This situation represents a community paralyzed
out of weakness and fear, all because of an attitude that had gotten
used to the status quo.
This very old story is of particular significance to the time we live
in. We live in a time when there are so many pressures to conform to
the images in the media and the lifestyles of our non-Muslim peers.
Sometimes we are startled to find that we have even started to imitate
the same type of foul language and habits in our own free time. Maybe
we used to worry about being around alcohol when our colleagues
enjoyed it, but have become used to their customs. Maybe we wear tight
or revealing clothes )both men and women( because not doing so would
make one unfashionable. Maybe we find ourselves scared to make a
change in society, against the expectations of the community or even
the world around us. All this comes from a type of fear. A fear to
seek truth even when falsehood prevails and even when it might lead to
difficult answers. I am talking about a fear which prevents us from
asking questions about why people's attitudes are the way they are,
and makes some people desperately feel like we are living in
isolation, even though we have more gadgets that connect us than ever
before. I am talking about a fear to emulate the great scholars and
scientists of Islam's past. These men were pioneers in the worldly and
the intellectual planes—men who loved knowledge for the service of
God. I think we are afraid to strive like them. And there is no reason
to be afraid.
Fear comes from human vulnerability. If I were to place a Quranic
moment, where human vulnerability is first mentioned, it would be in
Chapter 7 verse 20. In this verse, Satan affects Aadam and Eve with a
psychological trick, which makes them feel a need to cover their
bodies with clothes; whereas they had felt no such need before, and
Allaah had not told them to make clothes for themselves. What
happened?
Satan had pledged to attack them )and eventually their progeny(,
Allaah Says on the tongue of the devil )what means(:}Then I will come
to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and
on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful ]to
You[.{]Quran 7:17[—from every angle of observation, in order to find
out what makes us tick and learn how to push our buttons. Satan became
familiar with human weakness and bodily imperfection, and manifested
it to Aadam and Eve. So when we came to this earth, we came in a state
of vulnerability, fully aware of our more carnal desires. This is one
of the bases of our being tested.
And what did Allaah do then? Allaah promised us when we came to earth
of the knowledge of how to make clothing and beautiful adornments, but
He Almighty told us that:}But the clothing of righteousness — that is
best.{]Quran 7:26[ The use of normal clothes by human beings serves to
cover their nakedness and vulnerability to others. But what is the
clothing of righteousness with respect to our relationship to God?
Righteousness is the means by which we surpass that fear of others'
physical nakedness; it is similar to the 'nakedness' we feel when we
are in danger of being seen. Righteousness, therefore, brings us from
Dunya-consciousness to God-consciousness. Righteousness is about
caring for and embracing the ever-seeing and ever-nurturing vision of
God. But in another dimension, righteousness is a kind of fear
itself... because Allaah made us into creatures who become happy, sad,
and fearful, so righteousness, in this sense, is a means and an end,
of and for, the human faculty of fear. Our fear should not be wasted
solely on roller-coasters, scary movies, or other people's opinions
and actions. Our faculty of fear is for Ibadah )worship(, which will
transform our fear into something much higher and more suited towards
our lofty purpose—the Amanah )trust( that God has placed on the human
being.
Allaah mentioned this when Satan tried to deceive us )our parents,
actually( and lead us )them( astray. Also, it is helpless to try to
defeat him on our own; Allaah Says )what means(:}Indeed, he sees you,
he and his tribe, from where you do not see them.{]Quran 7:27[ So we
come under psychological attack that will play on all of our
subconscious desires and potentials )this is a huge realm of modern
psychology—the study of the subconscious(. Consider what goes on today
all around us. We are bombarded by millions of messages that tell us
to manifest our hidden desires through infinite means, which vary from
"scandalously sexy" people to "sinfully indulgent" chocolate. The sad
thing, however, is that people, since the time of Freud, have
succumbed to this on a widely popular scale. A quick look at how
people appreciate their existence and what they think of the purpose
of life reveals the reality that many do not admit the need to
religion or accept its existence because, to them, people are animals
who seek out wealth, power and sexual gratification. It is true that a
good portion of this may he attributed to the fact that people have
rejected God and His message, but a larger portion is definitely due
to their denial of the Garments of Taqwa )righteousness(—thus all they
are left with is human nakedness and human imperfection.
Allaah tells us that the devil has such deep psychological insight
into us, and he is always trying to deceive us all the time, and that,
indeed, is the constant companion to those who choose to let
themselves be led away from Allaah: Allaah Says )what means(:}Indeed,
We have made the devils allies to those who do not believe.{]Quran
7:27[ When we carelessly )or aimlessly( walk around in a culture which
does not see and seek the Garments of Taqwa and which does not shield
itself from its own desires and weaknesses, we are in fact setting
ourselves up for failure because we are, as such, walking targets and
easy prey for the devil. Immersing ourselves in this sort of
environment and literally trying to make it on our own, while
surrounded by material delights, materialistic visions and diminishing
spiritual perceptions, we are actually facing the danger of deceiving
ourselves into disbelief in the Unseen. We have to be careful because
thinking that certain improper behavior can benefit us and knowingly
seeking the company of those whose hearts are dead, are sure signs
which indicate that we may have already crossed the limit. Those who
are at that point, are in fact living in fear of this Dunya )worldly
life(. Simply, they are busy trying to stitch useless fig leaves
together for themselves, but are settling on second best—they have
lost the Garments of Righteousness.
If we soul-search and look into what it is that we fear the most, we
will find a similar collection of items: money, job, public opinion,
etc. There is nothing wrong with any of these things as long as we
establish a hierarchy with Taqwa of Allaah at the top and as a guiding
light. Even if we do not really understand this at the moment, or at
any moment, it is of vital importance to clearly
recognize—intellectually and—practically this hierarchy. When we do,
we will see a real result in our attitudes. If we do it often, it
could become a reoccurring remembrance of Allaah, which in turn,
becomes a chance for us to put Allaah before harmful action—because
this hierarchy will come to mind. If we repeat it often, we will find
it easier to realize our weaknesses as human beings, to believe in
ourselves and in our noble human dignity. Doing it often will
guarantee a covering shield and a protection, which Allaah has
designated for the believers and desired for them to seek from Him and
have it.
Eventually, this will turn into a solid character that will help us
increase our Taqwa, which once we do, will help us naturally
recognize, read and maintain Allaah's boundaries. Thus secure peace
and happiness. Not only in this world, but also, and more importantly,
when we reach the life-to-come. There, we will find that our Garments
of Taqwa in this earth have become for us, in Jannah )Paradise(, the
basis of the fine silk, gold and pearls of everlasting eternity which
Allaah, the Most Mighty and Magnificent, will swathe us in.
It was only the innocent child who pointed out to the tyrant emperor's
folly because of his connection to his Fitrah outside of the realm of
human convention, which the Prophethad told us that it distorts our
true selves. Let us step down from our thrones of heedlessness and
delusion, embrace this purity, the Fitrah, which God has put within
us, and cherish it until we die and rise up again.

Dought & clear, - He is asking about the cost of the fidyah for removing hair

What is the cost, in riyals, of the fidyah for removing hair or
clipping the nails (when in ihram)?
Praise be to Allah.
Things that are forbidden when in ihram include removing hair from the
head or body and clipping the nails. For each of these a fidyah must
be offered. The individual has the choice between sacrificing a sheep;
feeding six poor persons, giving each poor person half a saa'; or
fasting for three days. That is because Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"and do not shave your heads until the Hady reaches the place of
sacrifice. And whosoever of you is ill or has an ailment in his scalp
(necessitating shaving), he must pay a Fidyah (ransom) of either
observing Saum (fasts) (three days) or giving Sadaqah (charity -
feeding six poor persons) or offering sacrifice (one sheep)"
[al-Baqarah 2:196].
And because of the hadeeth of Ka'b ibn 'Ajrah (may Allah be pleased
with him). When he needed to shave his head whilst in ihram, the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to him: "Shave
your head, and fast for three days, or feed six poor persons, or offer
a sacrifice."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4190; Muslim, 1201
It is not permissible to offer the fidyah in the form of cash, and it
is not valid to do so, because that is not mentioned in the texts.
Rather it must be given in the form of food, as enjoined by the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
If the question is about removing something from the hair or nails
after the month of Dhu'l-Hijjah has begun, in the case of one who
wants to offer a sacrifice but is not in a state of ihram for Hajj or
'Umrah, in this case even though it is haraam, no fidyah is required;
rather he has to pray for forgiveness and repent.

Dought & clear, - His wife is breastfeeding; should he delay Hajj until next year?

I intended to do Hajj this year, but my wife is breastfeeding, so I
decided to delay Hajj until next year, in sha Allah. Please note that
my financial situation is good, praise be to Allah. Do I have to do
anything?
Praise be to Allah.
If you have already done the obligatory Hajj, then you have the choice
with regard to a voluntary Hajj between doing it this year or delaying
it until next year, because of what you mentioned about being busy
with your family or wanting to stay with them and so on. In that case
you can choose not to do it at all, because it is voluntary and not
obligatory.
But if the question is about the obligatory Hajj, then it depends.
There are two scholarly views, one of which is when one becomes able
to afford it, Hajj becomes obligatory and must be performed in the
same year; the other view says that it may be delayed. However, the
more correct view is that it becomes obligatory with immediate effect
and must be performed in the same year. The one who can afford
provisions and a means of transportation is obliged to do Hajj, and it
is not permissible for him to delay it. Please see question no. 41702
Based on that, if your leaving your wife will not cause her or the
child any harm, then you must do Hajj this year and you do not have
the option of delaying it in the hope that your family could go with
you. But if your wife has enough money to do Hajj, or you can pay the
expenses of Hajj for her, and it will not harm her or her baby if she
goes to Hajj, or she can leave the baby with someone who can look
after him, then she is obliged to go for Hajj. Otherwise, it is
permissible for her to delay it.
The point is that Hajj may be obligatory for the husband but not for
the wife, depending on whether the conditions are met or there are any
impediments. So the husband should not delay his obligatory Hajj
because of wanting to take his wife with him for Hajj.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked the
following question: My wife has not yet done the obligatory Hajj, and
we have a baby who is four months old and he is being breastfed by his
mother. Should she do Hajj or stay with her baby? And is it better, if
she goes for Hajj, to take pills in order to stop menses, or not?
Please advise us, may Allah bless you.
He replied: If the baby will not be affected or harmed by her leaving
him, in that he can be breastfed by someone other than his mother, and
there is someone who can look after him properly, then there is
nothing wrong with her doing Hajj, especially if it is the obligatory
Hajj. But if there is any fear for the child, then it is not
permissible for her to do Hajj even if it is the obligatory Hajj,
because the breastfeeding mother is permitted to not observe the
obligatory fast if she fears for her child. So how can it not be
permissible for her to postpone Hajj if she fears for her child? If
she fears for her child, then what she must do is stay, then when he
is older she can do Hajj next year. There is no blame on her if she
stays home and does not do Hajj, because in this case she is not
obliged to do Hajj immediately.
With regard to using pills during Hajj or 'Umrah, there is nothing
wrong with that, because this is a need. But it is essential to
consult a doctor, because the pills may be harmful and may cause her
harm.
End quote fromal-Liqa' ash-Shahri, 10/25
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear, - He came from Egypt to Jeddah for work during Hajj season, then he was given permission todo Hajj, so he entered ihram from Jeddah

I am from Egypt, and I went to Jeddah for work during Hajj season.
After spending twenty days in Jeddah my work ended, and I was given
permission to do Hajj, so I intended to do Hajj from that time, and I
entered ihram for 'Umrah from Jeddah, intending to do Hajj tamattu'
(in which one enters ihram for 'Umrah, exits ihram after 'Umrah, then
enters ihram again for Hajj on 8th Dhu'l-Hijjah). Is this correct, or
do I have to go back to the miqaat of the people of Egypt?
Praise be to Allah.
If a person wants to do Hajj or 'Umrah, and he is outside the miqaat
boundary, he has to enter ihram from the miqaat. However, if his place
of residence is within the miqaat boundary, such as the people of
Jedah, then he may enter ihram from his place of residence, because of
the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (1524) and Muslim (1181) from Ibn
'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) defined the miqaat of the
people of Madinah as Dhu'l-Hulayfah; that of the people of Shaam
(Syria) as al-Juhfah; that of the people of Najd as Qarn al-Manaazil;
and that of the people of Yemen as Yalamlam. They are for them and for
others who come through them with the intention of performing Hajj and
'Umrah; and whoever is living within these boundaries (can enter
ihram) from the place where he starts, and the people of Makkah can
enter ihram from Makkah.
The words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him),
"and whoever is living within those boundaries (can enter ihram) from
the place he starts" mean: he can enter ihram from the place where he
is. As you did not form the intention to do Hajj until after you
finished your work, at which time you were in Jeddah, then you may
enter ihram from the place where you are, and you do not have to go to
the miqaat.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: I was
sent (to Makkah) by my company during Hajj season and I travelled with
the group as far as Mina, then I decided to ask my work for permission
to perform Hajj. Should I go to the miqaat and enter ihram from there,
or can I enter ihram from the place where I am?
He replied: You can enter ihram for Hajj from the place where you are,
because when you passed the miqaat, you did not know whether you would
be given permission or not, so you had not decided to do Hajj. So for
example, if they gave you permission in Mina, then enter ihram from
Mina; if they gave you permission in 'Arafah, enter ihram from
'Arafah.
End quote fromLiqa' al-Baab al-Maftooh, 89/20
He was also asked: In sha Allah, I am intending to do 'umrah on the
day of Hajj, and I am assigned to do some tasks during Hajj season. He
said: If my work allows me, and it is most likely that work will not
say no. But we say there is a 10% chance that they may say no, as a
precaution. He has passed the miqaat now; does he have to go back in
order to enter ihram from the miqaat?
He replied: No. If the man has been given some tasks to do and does
not know whether he will be given permission or not, he does not have
to enter ihram from the miqaat. Then if he is given permission, he may
enter ihram from the place in which he was given permission.
End quote fromLiqa' al-Baab al-Maftooh, 178/18.
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear, - If he does Hajj on behalf of his deceased brother, will that be expiation for him?

If Hajj is expiation for all the pilgrim's sins, can we say by analogy
with that that it will, by Allah's leave, be an expiation for my
brother (may Allah have mercy on him)? I am intending to do Hajj on
his behalf, in sha Allah, and to give the reward of that to him,
sincerely for the sake of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Please note that I have done Hajj previously on my own behalf, praise
be to Allah.
Praise be to Allah.
The saheeh evidence indicates that Hajj is very important and that it
expiates sins, and that the one who does it goes back (free of sin) as
on the day his mother bore him. But does that include both major and
minor sins, or only minor sins? There is a difference of scholarly
opinion concerning that; the majority of scholars are of the view that
Hajj only expiates minor sins and that in the case of major sins, it
is essential to repent from them specifically. Please see the answer
to question no. 34359
Secondly:
It is permissible for an individual to perform Hajj on behalf of his
brother who has died and did not perform the obligatory Hajj for
himself, and the reward for the Hajj will go to the one on whose
behalf it was performed. The one who performs the Hajj will have a
similar reward, according to some scholars, such as the one who said
that he will have a great reward, but it will not be like the reward
of the one on whose behalf Hajj was performed. See the answer to
question no. 111407and 111794
Undoubtedly Hajj on behalf of another is regarded as an act of
kindness and upholding ties of kinship, hence it is hoped that the one
who does it will have a great reward."Is there any reward for good
other than good?" [ar-Rahmaan 55:60].
As the reward of the Hajj will go to the deceased, there is the hope
that it will be expiation for his sins, for Allah's grace is immense
and His mercy encompasses all things.
We ask Allah to help and guide you.
And Allah knows best.

A Sign in the Qur’an

In the Qur'an, there are certain indications that in Allah's sight,
there is no past or future and that, for Him, time is a single moment.
Events that lie are in the future for us are related in the Qur'an as
if they were long past. This is because Allah has already created the
past and the future as one single moment. For this reason, he speaks
of a future event of as having already come to an end. But because we
cannot perceive it, we think of it as lyig in the future. For example,
in the verses that describe the account human beings will give to
Allah in the Hereafter, this is related as an event that is long over:
And the trumpet is blown, and all who are in the heavens and all who
are in the Earth swoon away, save him whom Allah willeth. Then it is
blown a second time, and behold them standing waiting! And the Earth
shineth with the light of her Lord, and the Book is set up, and the
prophets and the witnesses are brought, and it is judged between them
with truth, and they are not wronged . . . And those who do not
believe are driven unto Hell in troops . . . And those who keep their
duty to their Lord are driven unto the Garden in troops . . . .(Surat
az-Zumar, 68-73)
Some other verses on this subject are:
And every soul came, along with it a driver and a witness.(Surat al-Qaf, 21)
And the heaven is cloven asunder, so that on that day it is
frail.(Surat al-Haqqa, 16)
And because they were patient and constant, He rewarded them with a
Garden and [garments of] silk. Reclining in the [Garden] on raised
thrones, they saw there neither the sun's [excessive heat] nor
excessive cold.(Surat al-Insan, 12-13)
And Hell is placed in full view for [all] to see.(Surat an-Naziat, 36)
But on this Day the believers laugh at the unbelievers.(Surat al-Mutaffifin, 34)
And the Sinful saw the fire and apprehended that they have to fall
therein: no means did they find to turn away therefrom.(Surat al-Kahf,
53)
As you can see, occurrences that are going to take place after our
deaths (from our point of view) are related as already experienced and
past events in the Qur'an. Allah is not bound by the relative time
frame that we are confined in. Allah has willed these things in
timelessness: people have already performed them and all these events
have been lived through and ended. It is imparted in the verse below
that every event, be it big or small, is within the knowledge of Allah
and recorded in a book:
In whatever business thou may be, and whatever portion you may be
reciting from the Qur'an, and whatever deed you [mankind] may be
doing, We are witnesses thereof when you are deeply engrossed therein.
Nor is hidden from your Lord [so much as] the weight of an atom on the
Earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these
things but are recorded in a clear record.(Surah Yunus, 61)
When a person who submits to Allah realizes that he is ill, he puts
all his trust in Allah knowing that this ailment is his fate. His
knowledge that Allah has created the illness as his destiny enables
him to realize that it will turn out for the good. And knowing that he
will get better if it is in his future to recover, he will be swift to
see a doctor, watch his diet and take some medicine. But he never
forgets that despite his going to a doctor, effecting the treatment
and taking his prescription, whether of not he will recover are all in
Allah's hands. He knows that all these events are in Allah's memory
and were prepared for him even before he was born.
In the Qur'an, Allah tells us that everything that happens to a person
is written in a book before it happens:
Nothing occurs, either in the Earth or in yourselves, without its
being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for
Allah. That is so that you will not be grieved about the things that
pass you by or exult about the things that come to you. Allah does not
love any vain or boastful man.(Surat al-Hadid: 22-23)
The Important of Submitting to Fate
This fact—that the past and the future are already created and exist
and have happened in Allah's sight—reveals to us a very important
truth: Everyone is absolutely ruled by fate. And just as we cannot
alter our past, we cannot change our future. Like your past, your
future has already happened. Everything that will happen to you in the
future—what you will eat, when and where you will eat it, who you will
speak to, how much money you will make, the illnesses you will suffer
from, how, when and where you will die—all that is determined and
unalterable. These things already exist in Allah's sight and in His
memories. But this information is not present in your memory.
For this reason, anyone who is saddened and upset by things that have
happened to him and gets angry worrying about the future is worrying
in vain. Because the future that he fears and frets about has already
happened. No matter what anyone does, he cannot change this fact.
At this point, we must also state that we must avoid a wrong
understanding of fate. Some people believe that whatever lies in their
fate is preordained, that it will happen regardless, and there's
nothing they can do about it. But such an attitude leads to a
distorted idea of fate. It is true, everything that happens to us is
determined in our fate. Before anything happens to us, it has already
happened in Allah's sight and all the details are kept in Allah's
sight in a book entitled Lawh-i Mahfuz. But Allah gives to all of us
the impression that we can change things that happen and that we do
act according to our own choices.
For example, when a person feels thirsty, he does not wait to see if
it is in his fate to drink water. Rather, he simply gets up, takes a
glass of water and drinks it. Doing this, he feels that he is acting
according to his own will and desire. In reality, both the glass and
how much water he will drink are determined in his fate. But
throughout his life, he has the sense that everything he does is by
his own free will.
There is a difference between the person who submits to Allah and the
fate He has created for him and the person who does not. The one who
submits knows that everything he does is according to Allah's will; he
knows this, despite his sense that he is doing these things himself.
The ignorant individual mistakenly believes that he does everything
through his own power and his own intelligence.
A person who believes in fate never sinks into desperation in the face
of adversity. On the contrary, his trust in Allah only increases, and
he feels contentment in his submission to Him. Allah has determined
beforehand everything that happens to us; therefore, He has commanded
(Surat al-Hadid: 23) that we not be saddened by adversity and that we
not be unmindful of the blessings He gives us. . . . Allah's command
is a pre-ordained decree. (Surat al-Ahzab: 38)
A Journey in Time
Scientific research into the nature of time agrees with statements in
the Qur'an. One of these points of agreement is that time is a concept
formed by our perceptions. Given the fact that Allah gives us all our
perceptions, it is certainly possible—with His permission—for a person
to perceive forward and backward in time.
To understand this idea more easily, imagine time as a film strip. If
we imagine the film running backwards, the actors would appear travel
from their future into their past. Or we cut a frame or two from the
end to near the beginning of the picture, a character in the film
would experience a moment in the future. So, in our world, our
perception of time is no different. If He wills, Allah may reorder our
perceptions, and we could travel into the past or the future.
This very possibility is mentioned in many verses of the Qur'an: We
are told that a person chosen by Allah could live in a different
dimension. For example, the Qur'an tells us that Allah kept a
community of believers called the Companions of the Cave in a deep
sleep for more than three centuries. When He woke them up, they had no
idea how long they had slept and believed that only a very short
period of time had elapsed:
Then We draw [[a veil]] over their ears, for a number of years, in the
Cave, [so that they heard not]. Then We raised them up that We might
know which of the two parties would best calculate the time that they
had tarried.(Surat al-Kahf, 11-12)
Such [being their state], we raised them up [from sleep], that they
might question each other. Said one of them, "How long have you stayed
[here].....?" They said, "We have stayed [perhaps] a day, or part of a
day." [At length,] they [all] said, "Allah [alone] knows best how long
you have stayed here....."(Surat al-Kahf, 19)
As we see from these verses, the time before the Companions of the
Cave fell asleep and the moment when they woke up were vastly
different.
Allah tells us of a similar situation. In verse 259 of Surat
al-Baqara, we hear of a man visiting a deserted city. Allah left this
man dead for a hundred years and later resurrected him. But the man
thought he has been there for a day or less. And within the space of
that century, the man's food did not spoil and his donkey still
remained in the same place. There are the relevant verses:
Or [take] the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins
to its roofs. He said: "Oh! how shall Allah bring it [ever] to life,
after [this] its death?" but Allah caused him to die for a hundred
years, then raised him up [again]. He said: "How long did you tarry
[thus]?" He said: [Perhaps] a day or part of a day." He said: "Nay,
you have tarried thus a hundred years; but look at your food and your
drink; they show no signs of age; and look at your donkey: And that We
may make of you a sign unto the people, Look further at the bones, how
We bring them together and clothe them with flesh." When this was
shown clearly to him, he said: "I know that Allah has power over all
things."(Surat al-Baqara, 259)

Lawh-i Mahfuz and the reality of timelessness: Our livesare composed of a single moment

A day with your Lord is equivalent to a thousand years in the way you
count.(Surat al-Hajj, 47)
What we call time is actually a way of comparing one moment with
another. For example, it we strike an object, it makes a certain
sound. If we strike the same object again a bit later, it will make a
similar sound. You probably think that there's an interval between the
first and the second sound—an interval called "time." However, when
you hear that second sound, the first one is only a record in your
brain and an item in your memory. By comparing the sound you recall
with the moment you hear it again, you form the concept of time.
Without making this comparison, you would have no concept of time.
In the same way, a person who enters a room and sees someone sitting
in an armchair in that room makes a comparison. The moments of seeing
the person in the armchair, opening the door and walking into the
center of the room are only data in his mind. The concept of time
arises when he compares the sight of person in the armchair with these
"previous" data.
The Formation of the Concept of Time
Today, it is scientifically accepted that time is a concept born of
our habit of arranging the changes and movements of objects in a
definite serial progression. Were it not for the human memory, the
brain could not make such interpretations, and the concept of time
would not arise. In his book The Possible and the Actual, Francois
Jacob, a Nobel Prize winner in Genetics, refers to the importance of
the concept of being invariably formed with reference to an organized
series:
Films played backwards make it possible for us to imagine a world in
which time flows backwards. A world in which milk separates itself
from the coffee and jumps out of the cup to reach the milk-pan; a
world in which light rays are emitted from the walls to be collected
in a trap (gravity center) instead of gushing out from a light source;
a world in which a stone slopes to the palm of a man by the
astonishing cooperation of innumerable drops of water which enable the
stone to jump out of water. Yet, in such a world in which time has
such opposite features, the processes of our brain and the way our
memory compiles information, would similarly be functioning backwards.
The same is true for the past and future and the world will appear to
us exactly as it currently appears.
Because our brains are accustomed to arranging things in a certain
series, we assume that the world operates as Jacob describes—and that
time always flows forward. However, this is a decision the brain
makes—"from inside," as it were—and is therefore totally relative.
Indeed, we can never know how time flows, or even if it flows at all.
This is because time is not an absolute, "outside" reality, but just a
subjective concept. You may, for example, think you have fallen
asleep in your armchair for merely a moment, when your watch tells you
that hours have passed.
The General Theory of Relativity
The idea that time is a concept was substantiated by the noted
physicist, Albert Einstein, in his book General Theory of Relativity.
Lincoln Barnett, in his book The Universe and Dr. Einstein, writes
these words:
The subjectivity of time is best explained in Einstein's own words.
"The experiences of an individual," he says, "appear to us arranged in
a series of events; in this series the single events which we remember
appear to be ordered according to the criterion of 'earlier' and
'later'. There exists, therefore, for the individual, an I-time, or
subjective time. This in itself is not measurable. I can, indeed,
associate numbers with the events, in such a way that a greater number
is associated with the later event than with an earlier one."
Einstein himself pointed out (as quoted in Barnett's book): "Space and
time are forms of intuition, which can no more be divorced from
consciousness than can our concepts of colour, shape, or size."
According to the General Theory of Relativity, time is not absolute;
apart from the series of events according to which we measure it, it
has no independent existence. Since time is based on perception, it
depends entirely on the perceiver and is therefore relative.
The speed at which time flows differs according to the references we
use to measure it, because there is no natural clock in the human body
to indicate precisely how fast time passes. As Lincoln Barnett wrote:
"Just as there is no such thing as colour without an eye to discern
it, so an instant or an hour or a day is nothing without an event to
mark it."
The Relativity of Time in the Qur'an
The relativity of time is plainly experienced in dreams. Although what
we see in our dreams seems to last for hours, in fact, it only lasts
for a few minutes, and even a few seconds.
The conclusion to which we are led by the findings of modern science
is that time is not an absolute fact as supposed by materialists, but
only a relative perception. What is most interesting is that this
fact, undiscovered until the 20th century by science, was revealed to
mankind in the Qur'an fourteen centuries ago. There are various
references in the Qur'an to the relativity of time.
It is possible to see in many verses of the Qur'an the scientifically
proven fact that time is a psychological perception dependent on
events, setting, and conditions. For instance, a person's entire life
is a very short time, as we are informed in the Qur'an:
On the Day when He will call you, you will answer His Call with words
of His Praise and Obedience, and you will think that you have stayed
in this world but a little while!(Surat al-Isra': 52)
And on the Day when He shall gather them together, it will seem to
them as if they had not tarried on Earth longer than an hour of a day:
they will recognize each other.(Surah Yunus: 45)
Some verses indicate that people perceive time differently and that
sometimes people can perceive a very short period as a very lengthy
one. The following conversation of people held during their judgment
in the hereafter is a good example of this:
He will say: "What number of years did you stay on Earth?" They will
say: "We stayed a day or part of a day, but ask those who keep
account." He will say: "Brief indeed was your sojourn, if you had only
known!"(Surat al-Mu'minun: 112-114)
In some other verses. Allah states that time may flow at different
paces in different settings:
. . . Truly, a day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years
of your reckoning.(Surat al-Hajj: 47)
The angels and the spirit ascend to Him in a day the measure of which
is like fifty thousand years.(Surat al-Ma'arij: 4)
He rules all affairs from the heavens to the Earth: in the end all
will ascend to Him in a single day, the measure of which is a thousand
years by your reckoning.(Surat as-Sajda: 5)
These verses are clear expressions of the relativity of time. That
this finding, which was only recently understood by scientists in the
20th century, was communicated to man 1,400 years ago in the Qur'an is
an indication of the revelation of the Qur'an by Allah, Who
encompasses the whole of time and space.
The Relativity of Time Explains the Reality of Fate
As we see from the account of the relativity of time and the verses
that refer to it, time is not a concrete concept, but one that varies
depending on perceptions. For example, a space of time conceived by us
as millions of years long is one moment in Allah's sight. A period of
50 thousand years for us is only a day for Gabriel and the angels.
This reality is very important for an understanding of the idea of
fate. Fate is the idea that Allah created every single event, past,
present, and future in "a single moment." This means that every event,
from the creation of the universe until doomsday, has already occurred
and ended in Allah's sight. A significant number of people cannot
grasp the reality of fate. They cannot understand how Allah can know
events that have not yet happened, or how past and future events have
already happened in Allah's sight. From our point of view, things that
have not happened are events which have not occurred. This is because
we live our lives in relation to the time that Allah has created, and
we could not know anything without the information in our memories.
Because we dwell in the testing place of this world, Allah has not
given us memories of the things we call "future" events. Consequently,
we cannot know what the future holds.
But Allah is not bound to time or space; it is He who has already
created all these things from nothing. For this reason, past, present
and future are all the same to Allah. From His point of view,
everything has already occurred; He does not need to wait to see the
result of an action. The beginning and the end of an event are both
experienced in His sight in a single moment. For example, Allah
already knew what kind of end awaited Pharaoh even before sending
Moses to him, even before Moses was born and even before Egypt became
a kingdom; and all these events including the end of Pharaoh were
experienced in a single moment in the sight of Allah. Besides, for
Allah there is no such thing as remembering the past; past and future
are always present to Allah; everything exists in the same moment.

The truth about the holocaust

While elaborating on our views about Jews and Judaism, we need to make
special emphasis on the cruel genocide of European Jews by the Nazis
during World War II.
The Policy of Cruelty Pursued by Nazis
Jewish inmates in Buchenwald, hungry, sick and traumatized under Nazi
persecution.Right after Nazis came to power in 1933, they started to
pursue a ruthless policy of isolating and then removing the factors in
the German society they found to be "harmful". The primary target of
Nazi mass executions was the disabled and people with genetic
disorders. Influenced by the thesis of "eugenics" developed by the
German biologist Ernst Haeckel, Nazis regarded these people as
parasites harmful to the gene structure of the German society and thus
employed the most ruthless methods against these miserable people. The
handicapped and those with genetic diseases were first rounded up in
"sterilisation camps", sterilised and then began to be killed by the
secret order of Hitler.
Meanwhile, Nazis were also subjecting the opponents of the regime to
inhumane oppression. Many people with leftist or liberal stance, a lot
of priests and clergymen were arrested only because of their ideas and
were forced to work to death under severe conditions in Dachau camp,
which was established at a location close to Munich.
Another group that was oppressed by the Nazis were the Jews in the
country. The Jewish nation, who were tried to be presented as "the
source of all evil on earth" and "parasites that harmed the German
blood" by the Nazi ideologists like Hitler and Rosenberg, were
subjected to an ever-increasing oppression. The stores owned by Jews
were boycotted, feelings of hatred and enmity were instilled in the
German people against Jews and the rights of Jews were restricted by
laws.
Murders and Torture in Concentration Camps
In the meantime, first the Jews in Germany and Austria, then the Jews
all over the Nazi occupied lands during the World War II were sent to
concentration camps. However, not only the Jews but also people from
different ethnical and religious identities such as gypsies, Slavs,
Russian captives were sent to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka,
Belzec, Chelmno camps, most of which were located in Poland and were
forced to work under very hard conditions in German war industry.
However, the Nazi cruelty went far beyond the point of making people
work as slaves. Jews and other captives were transported to Auschwitz
and other concentration camps in locked wagons and during these long
travels, a lot of old and weak people lost their lives out of hunger,
thirst and crowd. People who arrived to the camps by trains were
treated as animals and those who showed a minor resistance were
executed before the very eyes of their families or children. In these
camps, many families disunited.
Jewish children in Auschwitz, 1944.The sadist Nazi officers showed no
mercy and pity to captives; for years, these captives led their lives
as slaves under the arbitrary Nazi insults, threats and torture. These
innocent people were used as guinea pigs. For instance, Mengele, the
notorious doctor of Auschwitz, is known to have carried out horrible
tests on adults and children chosen among the inmates to explore the
limits of human body. In bitter cold in winter, people soaked in icy
water were used to observe how many minutes a person could survive
before freezing. Mengele is known to have carried out anaesthesia-free
operations on inmates; he amputated their legs, arms or even stomachs
without anaesthesia. The cruelest experiments of Mengele were the ones
carried out on twin inmates. Mengele isolated all twins from other
inmates and conducted tests on them to observe the influence of
genetic factors. However, his methods were incredibly cruel. By
injecting their blood to one another, he traced the reactions of the
twins; in most cases one of the twins or in some cases both of them,
suffered severe pain and high fever. For instance, to see whether
eye-colour could change by genetic factors, he injected ink to their
eyes. These experiments resulted in unbearable pain and often in
blindness. He injected microbes of various diseases to little children
to measure their resistance to them. Many innocent children suffered
great pain and torture in the hands of this Nazi monster, became
disabled or lost their lives.
Millions of innocent people lost their lives in concentration camps
due to the systematic Nazi murders by means of gassing, shooting, and
torture of any kind. Among Jews were also gypsies, Slavs, Russians,
war captives, and anti-Nazi Germans.
The Nazi brutality explained above briefly is an undeniable and
explicit fact of history. Every person of conscience denounces Nazis
who are responsible for this cruelty.
However, there is another aspect of the issue that needs to be considered:
Those who were oppressed by the Nazi cruelty are not only the inmates
of concentration camps. They are not only Jews as well. The World War
II cost the lives of some 55 million people. Only the number of Soviet
citizens who lost their lives during the war was about 25 million.
Dozens of different nations and ethnical groups were subjected to the
torture and cruelty of the Nazis and their fascist allies. Therefore,
it would not be right to demand a special political compensation in
the name of a single nation due to the sufferings of the World War II.
The fact that Jews were oppressed by Nazis cannot be used to justify
and legitimise the cruelty inflicted on other nations (on
Palestinians, for instance) by some Jews.
We place particular stress on these two issues, because the State of
Israel and atheist Zionism, its official ideology, have been engaging
in a misleading propaganda about these two issues for the last 50
years. They instil in the minds of people that the sole nation that
was oppressed during the World War II was the Jews and that for this
reason, people must see the cruelty inflicted by Jews on Palestinians
as excusable.
Jews Who Oppose the Exploitation of the Holocaust
Millions of innocent people were slaughtered by the III. Reich. Jews
and many other victims from different nations were buried in mass
graves.In recent years, this fact about the Holocaust has been
expressed by Jews themselves. Esther Benbassa, the director of the
Contemporary Jewish History Department of Ecole Pratique des Hautes
Etudes in France, wrote in Liberation on September 1, 2000 that "the
Jewish Holocaust has been turned into a religion" and added: "Putting
oneself in the status of a victim secures every Jew against criticisms
and thus also Israel against criticisms."
An important work that stresses the fact that the concept of the
Jewish Holocaust has become a political and economic means of
propaganda is, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation
of Jewish Suffering, by historian Norman G. Finkelstein, a Jewish
himself, from New York University. In his book published in 2000,
Finkelstein, whose grandmother was also an inmate in Nazi
concentration camps, explains that the concept of the Holocaust is
being utterly exploited both by Israel and the Western Jewish
organisations. As we know, international courts held in the wake of
the World War II convicted Nazis of the crimes committed against Jews
and charged them to pay huge amounts of compensation to them. For
decades, Germany has been paying this compensation, which is expressed
in billions of dollars, to Israel and other Jews living in different
countries. Not only Germany but also other European countries,
Switzerland for instance, and even the Eastern European countries that
failed to help Jews during the Nazi occupation were several times
charged with paying compensation to Jews oppressed by the Nazis.
Finkelstein, in his book, "The Holocaust Industry", states that these
huge sums of money taken from Germany and similar governments were
channelled to irreligious, Godless Zionist organisations rather than
the Jews who were subjected to oppression during the war.
For instance, in recent years the Jewish organisations demanded a new
compensation from Germany in return for the "service of Jews who were
forced to work as slave-workers in Nazi camps". The number of Jews who
were reported to take benefit from this payment was stated to be
135,000. However, relying on official statistics, Finkelstein declares
that the number of living Jews who were forced to work in Nazi camps
is not more than 14,000-18,000. The huge difference will be channelled
to the atheist Zionist organisations under the guise of
"compensation".(1)
Finkelstein also clearly expresses that in order to form and keep the
Holocaust industry alive, Jewish organisations and, in some cases,
some Jewish people commit numerous "frauds". According to the author:
"Articulating the key Holocaust dogmas, much of the literature on
Hitler's Final Solution is worthless as scholarship. Indeed, the field
of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud."(2)
Conclusion
What has been related so far leads us to the following conclusion:
Jews were subjected to a horrible genocide during the World War II by
the Nazis. Millions of Jews -together with other people of different
nations- became the target of Nazi brutality. We denounce this
violence and want that neither Jews nor anyone from any other nation
ever receive such hostile and cruel treatment.
However, using the fact of the Holocaust with the purpose of
legitimising the crimes committed by atheist Zionism and the State of
Israel against humanity, or in the words of the Jewish author
Finkelstein, "exploiting" them, is rather wrong. History witnessed
numerous genocides or massacres carried out against many nations. We
must curse all of them and pay equal respect to the victims of all
these nations.
Footnotes:
1-Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, Verso Press, New
York, 2000. s. 126
2-Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, s. 55

All philosophies constructed on the basis of matter is collapsed

In the early 20th century, scientists discovered something new: that
matter was not as we had imagined it to be. Matter was not solid.
Matter had no colors. It gave off no smells, sounds or image. Matter
was simply energy. The chair you sit in, the table you lean on, the
house you live in, your dogs, the people around you, buildings, space,
stars—in short, the whole material world exists as a form of energy.
In the face of this unexpected discovery, all philosophies constructed
on the basis of matter therefore suffered a scientific collapse.
Science revealed the proof of something inside the human body but not
belonging to it, something that perceived the entire physical world,
but was not itself physical: the human soul.
The soul could not be explained in any way in terms of materialist
claims. Darwinism, which produced countless fictitious tales regarding
the imaginary evolution of species, remained silent in the face of the
existence of the soul. Because the soul was not matter, it was a
metaphysical concept. And metaphysics was something that materialists
were completely unable to accept, because metaphysics did away with
all the unconscious events, coincidences and random processes that
they had deified. Metaphysics submitted evidence of a conscious
creation, in other words, of the existence of Allah (God). That, in
any case, was why materialists had been denying the existence of the
soul ever since the days of Ancient Greece.
This struggle, which had persisted since Ancient Greece right up to
the present, now became meaningless because there is an entity that
makes a human being human, that lets you say, This is me. That, in
other words, is your soul: It exists, and it belongs to Allah. Science
definitively proved that the human soul observed all things as they
were presented to it and that there could be no reference to any
reality beyond these perceived images. To put it another way, it
openly declared that the only absolute Entity was Allah.
This proof by science is of importance in convincing minds that deify
materialist philosophy. In fact, though, all who possess reflection
and intellect are aware that they possess a sublime soul. Anyone who
can reason at all will understand that it is the soul that rejoices,
thinks, decides, judges, experiences joy and excitement, loves, shows
compassion, gets anxious, enjoys the taste of an apple, takes pleasure
from listening to music, builds planes, raises skyscrapers and
constructs laboratories in which it examines itself.
If human beings are possessed of souls, they cannot have been created
haphazardly. There is a purpose behind their presence in this world.
All people bear a soul that belongs to Allah and are being tested in
this lifetime, after which they will be held responsible for all their
thoughts and deeds. There is no randomness or aimlessness in life.
There are no chance events, as Darwinists maintain. Everything has
been created by the will of Allah to become part of the tests to which
we are subjected. In this life, which will end in death, the only
thing that will be left behind is the body. The soul, on the other
hand, will live for all eternity in the Hereafter, which is its true
abode.
These are great glad tidings for anyone who realizes he has a soul and
is able to appreciate its Creator. Darwinists, however, will continue
to refuse this reality with all their means and maintain that they do
not possess a soul. They will continue to refuse to accept that they
will one day enter the presence of Almighty Allah, Whose existence
they denied throughout the course of their lives. They will continue
to regard themselves as randomly formed collections of atoms and will
keep on dismissing the miraculous human consciousness that has
discovered DNA, investigated the structure of the atom and has been
amazed by the innermost workings of the cell.
The human soul is a terrible dilemma for Darwin and the supporters who
came after him. It is the basic evidence which they cannot explain,
which they cannot refute and cannot resolve. Allah has vanquished them
by providing proof, of a scientific kind that they cannot deny: the
insubstantiality of matter. In the face of this, any objections to the
soul's existence they may come up with are invalid and meaningless.
In His verses in the Qur'an, Allah tells us:
Who could be further astray than those who call on other things
besides Allah, which will not respond to them until the Day of
Resurrection and which are unaware of their prayers? When humanity is
gathered together, they will be their enemies and will reject their
worship. (Surat al-Ahqaf, 5-6)
Darwinists and materialists need to realize that the only absolute
Entity is Allah. Confronted by this truth, all hollow, empty
deceptions and superstitious faiths fall into an insuperable quandary.
Allah has enfolded all things with His Sublime Might. All things
belong to Him and are under His control. Denying creation and the
existence of the soul cannot alter these facts one iota.
The world that the soul perceives is merely an illusion, a phantom and
the sole absolute Entity Who rules the entire universe is Allah, Ruler
and Lord of the Earth and sky. Henceforth, those with unclouded minds
who understand this fact will look at the world from a different
perspective and realize that Allah is their only savior. In order to
attain salvation in the Hereafter, their true life, people need to
behave in the light of that understanding.

Story, - Taking The Risk

Hi. I'm Samvie. First of all, I hate falling in love. I hate having
feelings to someone. I just hate it. Maybe it's the fact that I always
end up alone while all of my friends are having their 'happiness'.
Maybe it's because of my past experiences where-in guys that I would
like back then didn't liked me back. And well most of the times I
don't see the way love work with anybody.
My problem is, I get attached easily.
Now I'm in college and I lost faith in finding the man of my dreams,
but there's this one guy. There's this guy I see everyday at school,
and when I walk pass by at him, he usually stares at me and I notice
it. Every single time I go to school and I see him there, with his
buddies, and he noticing me.
One year had passed since then.
One time in an social networking site, I posted random thought about
bands that I liked and he responds to me (telling me he liked those
too) and then I realized we have so many things in common. Later on he
keeps on sending me messages online, chatting with me, first one to
say hi and I really can't help thinking if he likes me. Or maybe I'm
just hoping that he do. Cause nobody ever did that to me. Nobody
stares at me like that when I happen to walk by at the hallway of our
school, nobody likes the same stuff I do, nobody else sees me and even
tries to communicate with me.
I know this is pure crap but it's bothering me for days. I know this
is just all my thoughts and they're not true at all. Maybe he just
wants to be friends and the story all ends like that. The thing is
I've developed a crush on him ever since the moment I saw him. And the
feeling's getting deeper each day.
I wish I could prevent myself because I don't want to risk anymore. I
don't wanna get hurt anymore.

Story, - Secret Love

I met my love in orkut.The day we chat for the very first time, we
exchanged phone numbers. He called me and then on we started speaking
everyday after getting tired of work. It was so good to be with him
over the phone and i never knew how long our conversation goes. I met
him for the first time and then i fall in love with him. spending my
time with him was like i came to know him much better and i discovered
a whole new love for him. His romantic, true and of course handsome.
But all that in between us is his religion.I am hindu and his Muslim.
I really hate that thing. I never said i love him but i love him so
much. I always have him as my hubby but fate where will it take me i
never know. Still i am in contact with him but never let him know that
i love him so much.I am afraid of rejection and can't handle it. I
always pray to god. Want him desperately in my life.
I wish a miracle to happen and he find me as his love too.

Fathwa, - Child's best interests should determine who takes custody of it

Question
My question is regarding the custody of a child when the parents
divorced. I have recently asked for a release from my husband while
being pregnant. I am having difficulty understanding the custody
situation in the issue that comes with divorce. The man that I married
came from Yemen for medical reasons and during this time he took me as
his third wife. When I asked for the release, the only question that
went through my mind was the custody of my daughter. He has told me
that he has more right to take her because he lives in a Muslim
country while I live here in America. At first I was very troubled by
this and became emotional on this matter and turned to Allah for help.
Over time I have came to the conclusion that it may actually be best
to have my daughter raised in an Islamic society at a very young age.
Being a revert I understand how difficult it is to adapt to new things
and to forget the old and I would never want my children to be in a
time of difficult decision if I can help it. My ex-husband has told me
that he would not take her from me until maybe the age of two... once
more the emotional roller coaster arrives. It's a bit different if he
lived down the road but seeing as though he is in another country and
he hardly has the money to send his family back to visit their family
it worries me about the heart ache I may endure from raising a child
for two years to have her just leave in one day. He has not talked to
me about financial support during this time because his solution is
simply to let her go to him and I personally do not have the money
myself to take care of two children )one from a previous relationship(
With this a new question arrives. Is it permissible for me to give my
child to him at an earlier age )say six months( can he deny the child
or is it an obligation for him to take her even without me getting
remarried? I want what is best for my child, and I know that he is a
very good father and I hold nothing
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that
Muhammadis His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you should know that it is not permissible for a wife to
ask her husband for divorce except in certain cases that we clarified
in Fatwa 131953. Even if we assume that a wife has a sound reason to
ask for divorce from her husband, she should not hasten to it, as the
benefit might not always be in divorce; rather, she should be patient
as much as she can, especially if they have children.
If divorce takes place, the mother has the right to custody of her
children as long as she does not remarry as clarified in Fatwa 82128.
If she remarries, custody moves to the female who is more deserving of
the custody of the child among the female relatives according to the
order mentioned by the jurists, which we clarified in Fatwa 84618.
On the other hand, the majority of the scholars are of the view that
if one of the parents travels to another location to live and settle
there, the custody is for the father. The father is even more entitled
to custody if he is moving to a Muslim country as it is dangerous to
the religion of the children to reside in a non-Muslim country where
there are many causes for temptation, in addition to the freedom that
has no limits. For more benefit on the danger of residing in a
non-Muslim country to the upbringing of Muslim children, please refer
to Fatwa 179175.
However, some scholars differentiated in this regard between an infant
who is still breastfeeding and other children. They are of the view
that the infant should not be taken away from his mother since he
needs her care; this is due to the harm that is inflicted on the
infant and his mother by taking him away from her, and because Islam
has taken into consideration the interests of the child. After
mentioning the statements of the scholars in this regard,Ibn
Al-Qayyimsaid in Zaad Al-Ma'aad: "All these statements are not based
upon evidence that comforts the heart as you see; the correct view is
to look into the matter and consider the interests of the child and
what is best for him, either keeping him where he already resides or
moving him to another location. It is what is more beneficial for him
and what better protects him that should be taken into account, and
residing in the same location or moving to another one has no effect."
As regards your question whether or not your husband has the right to
refuse custody, then the answer to this question is based on the
following issue over which the scholars differed: Is custody the right
of the custodian or the right of the child?Ibn Al-Qayyimsaid: "The
jurists differed in opinion over custody; is it a right for the
custodian or a duty upon him? There are two opinions in this regard
according to the Maaliki and Hanbali Schools of Jurisprudence;
accordingly, can the one who has the right of custody renounce it?
There are two opinions in this regard."
In any case, the father is obligated to spend on the child whether the
child is in his custody or in its mother's custody.
Finally, we advise you to try to reach a mutual understanding with
your husband about what is better for your daughter and opting for
what is best for her and renouncing your right for the benefit of your
daughter. But if there is a dispute, then it is better to take the
matter to an authority that is specialized in studying the matters of
the Muslims like the Islamic Centers. This is of course if we assume
that divorce has taken place, otherwise if it is possible to reconcile
and continue the marital relationship, then this is more appropriate
as we have already mentioned.
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - When teeth bleeding necessitates washing mouth

Question
salaam aleikoum dear shaykh, Many times when I use a stick to clean my
teeth in the car they bleed, then i get veru distressed because blood
is najis. Can I get rid of this blood by spitting it out and then it's
taahir/clean or it it required that I first go to a bathroom and clean
it with water to not extend the najasah with is in my mouth? jazaka
Allahu gairan. wassalamoe aleikoum
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
If the blood is much and flows in a way that it is difficult for you
to wash it whenever it bleeds, then it is sufficient for you to spit
it and you are not required to wash it; otherwise, wash it because the
basic ruling is that it is obligatory to wash the mouth from impurity
as stated in Mughni Al-Muhtaaj: "The mouth should be washed from
impurity."
Asnaa Al-Mataalib which is one of the Shaafi'i books reads:
"Al-Athra'i said that it is likely that whoever suffers a lot from gum
bleeding, to the extent that it always or often occurs, he is excused
due to having what is difficult for him to avoid, and it is sufficient
for him to spit it, and its remnants are also pardoned, and he is not
obliged to wash the blood all day because it is assumed that the gum
always bleeds or bleeds from time to another and it may increase if he
washes it." ]End quote[
Similarly, Fat-h Al-'Aliyy Al-Maalik which is one of the Maaliki books
reads: ")I have received this question:( "What is your opinion
regarding the one whose gums or teeth bleed uncontrollably, is it
obligatory on him to spit it? Is he commanded to wash blood from his
mouth? Or if he swallows it while he is fasting, will that break his
fasting or what is the solution? Please, answer us." I have answered
that question saying: "All perfect praise be to Allaah and peace and
blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allaah. If
that bleeding is abundant and does not stop, then it will be pardoned
and one will not be ordered to spit it or wash it."" ]End quote[
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - Marriage of a Muslim man to an apostate woman is invalid

Question
Assalam alaykum. There is a muslim lady who got married with a
christian, and that lady became christian too, and they have 3
children. There is a muslim man who want to take her from that
christian man and marry her in order to persuade her to come back to
islam. If that lady acceptes to come back to islam and get married
with that muslim man, so is that allowed in Islam? THANKS
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
Marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man is invalid according to
the consensus of Muslim scholars. Also, the marriage of a Muslim man
to an apostate woman is invalid.Ibn Qudaamahsaid: "It is prohibited to
marry an apostate woman, no matter what religion she adopts; because
it is not proved for her the ruling of the people of the religion to
which she converted by one's approval of her doing so. Based on this,
it is not lawful for him to marry her with greater reason." ]Al-Mughni
7/131[
Accordingly, it is not permissible for that Muslim man to marry that
apostate woman unless she repents, returns to Islam, separates from
her non-Muslim husband, and her waiting period ends or it becomes
clear that she is not pregnant from him. If that man hopes that she
would return to Islam, he should strive hard to call her to Islam
through some righteous Muslim women and not to handle that matter
himself.Allaah Knows best.

Hope is the Elixir of Life

Please join us in mediating on what motivates a farmer to work hard
and sweat. It is the hope of harvesting. What urges a merchant to
travel, adventure and leave his people and home? It is the hope of
getting revenues. What encourages a student to study hard and remain
awake for hours? It is the hope for success. What motivates a soldier
to fight desperately and endure the hardships of war patiently? It is
the hope for victory. What makes a patient like bitter medicine? It is
his hope for health. What calls a believer to disobey his desires and
obey his Lord? It is the hope of winning the Pleasure and Paradise of
Allaah The Almighty.
Hope, then, is a motivating power that makes one feel delighted when
working, that provides the stimulus for struggling for the sake of
duty and which enlivens body and soul. This power encourages lazy
people to work hard and urges hardworking people to remain as such. It
also stimulates the failing person to try repeatedly until he
succeeds, and encourages the successful person to double his efforts
to be more successful. The hope which we are talking about here is the
opposite of despair; it carries meanings of cheerfulness and good
thoughts. Despair is the demolishing tool that destroys the work
motive in man's soul and weakens the sources of strength in his body.
Therefore, Ibn Mas'oodsaid, "Destruction lies in two things: despair
and conceit." Imaam Al-Ghazaalisaid, "They were mentioned together
because happiness cannot be obtained except through endeavor, hard
work, and diligence; a despairing person neither seeks nor endeavors,
because what he hopes for is impossible in his eyes."
Faith Infuses Hope in the Soul
Faith infuses hope in the soul and defends it against despair and
sorrow. A faithful person believes that everything is at the hands of
Allaah The Almighty. Accordingly, he thinks good of his Lord and
aspires for His reward taking into consideration the Sacred Hadeeth in
which Allaah The Almighty Says: "I am as My slave thinks I am…"
How can despair sneak into a believer's heart while he reads the
Quranic verses )which mean(:
}And despair not of relief from Allaah. Indeed, no one despairs of
relief from Allaah except the disbelieving people."{]Quran 12:87[
}And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except for those
astray?{]Quran 15:56[
If a servant is a real believer, he will never despair; rather, he
will be always cheerful, satisfied, and looking forward to what is
better in all cases and under all circumstances. The Prophetsaid: "How
wondrous is the case of a believer! There is good for him in
everything. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to
Allaah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he
endures patiently and that is good for him." How, then, could a true
believer despair while he is promised of goodness in all
circumstances?
His true faith makes him feel that Allaah The Almighty is with him and
that He will support and protect him, consequently:
If he gets sick, he would hope for recovery and reward. Allaah the
Almighty says )what means(:}And when I am ill, it is He who cures
me.{]Quran 26:80[
If he commits a sin, he would repent to Allaah The Almighty
immediately in the hope that Allaah The Exalted would forgive and have
mercy upon him. In such a case, he would keep the following Quranic
verse in his mind )which
If he suffers distress or hardship, he would be certain that this
would end soon since Allaah the Almighty Said )what means(:}For
indeed, with hardship ]will be[ ease. Indeed, with hardship ]will be[
ease.{]Quran 94:5,6[ Of course, one
A believer always has great hope for the mercy, relief, and support of
Allaah The Almighty. This is because he does not count on material
means only, but also believes that these means have a Creator in Whose
Hand is the dominion of all things, and when He decrees a matter, He
only Says to it, "Kun )i.e. Be(," and it is. Hence, a believer's heart
is filled with trust in Allaah The Almighty and hope for gaining His
Mercy. This is exactly what the disbelievers lack, thus we see them
commit suicide and suffer many psychological diseases. We ask Allaah
to protect us against this.
How Difficult Life Would be Without Hope
Hope is necessary for achieving progress in all fields. Without hope,
civilizations would not have been built and science and technology
would never have progressed. Without hope, nations would have never
overcome times of distress and no call for reforming a society would
have been made. In the past, a sage said, "Without hope, none would
have built a building or planted a plant."
Hence, O believer, think good of your Lord, hope for gaining His
reward and support. If you suffer a distress or hardship, be patient
and be sure that wherever there is a difficulty, certainly there would
be ease. So, be patient and courageous, seek support from Allaah The
Almighty, and do not lose heart!

The Absolute Submission

Allaah Says )what means(: }And it is not ]possible[ for one to die
except by permission of Allaah at a decree determined..{ ]Quran 3:145[
The eternity we all wish for, Muslim or Non-Muslim, is everlasting
life in Heaven, Paradise, the Garden of Eden, the Blue Yonder,
whatever you want to call it, with its beauty, splendor, ease, and
closeness to the Divine Light of our Creator, but who is willing to
make sure that the lilt of their voice is recognized when they are
lying amongst white sheets with tubes fixed, cloudy eyes staring,
barely able to lift a finger to make the Shahadah, doctors and nurses
rushing around in their futile dealings, all those involved anxiously
awaiting the inevitable moment.
Which beliefs will bring you comfort at that intersection of life and
extinction? The belief that this is it and there is no more? Can you
really reconcile your fleeting lifetime to this thought, and not feel
that your life had no meaning? We are warned that if we are not ready
for death, if our connection to this lifetime is too strong, that at
that precise moment when we need Allaah, we might end up pushing Him
away in blinding fright, clawing at the shreds of lifetime we recall
in our stupor of death. This scenario could result in an eternity; I
will say it again, an eternity of punishment in Hell }definition -
)i-tur-ni-tee( adj 1. infinite time, past or future 2. the endless
period of life after death{. You know, fire hotter than any 70 fires
in the lifetime, smoke, ash, boiling fluids to drink... alright,
alright, I'll leave the rest to your lively imagination.
My point is, who will you call upon and expect an answer? How can you
call on Allaah when He doesn't recognize the sound of your voice? How
late is too late?
To feed my ever-constant yearning for tidbits on our earthly
departure, I stayed up recently, way past my bedtime, to watch a
documentary about death. They showed a series of people who were close
to death, young and old, and how the living around them reacted to
their slow weaning off of this life. There was a current of palpable
dread coming through the TV directly into my living room as the
families surrounded their loved ones, struggling with their own
mortality. The patients' faces were white, frozen, mouth drooping
open, with no strength left, the muscles no longer willing to obey the
commands of the brain to pull the jaw closed, unaware of the clamor
around them, stripped bare, as all is peeled away at death. It was
then that I realized that these valiant attempts to heal were for the
living, and that those passing on were fighting a whole different
battle. They looked calm on the outside, but we are told that they are
in turmoil, agony, at the time of death.
Where is the line between living and dying? Does the spirit know
before the body does? Let's stop right now to see how fine a line this
is. Take a minute and hold your hand over your mouth and nose, letting
no air in or out. Okay, now hold it...hold it... hold it.... there,
now breathe—ahhh that wonderful elixir of existence. That was a small
taste of death; the simple, but complex tightrope we walk every day.
The fact that we have life speaks to something vivid that must fade,
like calico patterns left to bleach in the sun. No one wants to die;
Allaah chooses who lives and dies and this is written before we are
born. The critical point is not when, but how you die. Will it be the
good, peaceful death, being eased out of your shell like a drop of
water from a jug, eager to meet your Lord, or the reluctant passage
out, being yanked, kicking and screaming, like a swatch of wool being
pulled from a thorny branch, in paralyzing fear of Divine retribution?
I know which one I am going to work for in the time allotted to me.
In my very early years as a Muslim, I had a brother die in his sleep.
He was only 50 years old at the time; and, unaware of his imminent
fate, went to bed and never woke up. That sobering event had a
profound effect on me, and put me on a quest to learn all I could
about the "destroyer of pleasures." After that time, I never missed my
prayers before sleep. Whether Allaah gives us a long illness with
purification and a chance to make amends, or He takes us suddenly like
my brother, we need to be ready. I realized then that no matter who
you are or what you own, at that precise moment of death, it is
between you and your Lord. We have all heard the Prophetic saying that
three things follow you to your grave; your family, your possessions,
and your deeds. The first two come back, leaving only your deeds to
speak to how you lived your life, but do we really internalize this
and live it every moment? Ask anyone who has had a car accident how
quickly lives can change—it's an instant, and we must be ready with
good works and remembrance of Allaah waiting for us in our personal
`Ethereal Bank'.
For Muslims born into the religion, this will be your reality also.
You are not immune to the trappings of death and its suffering and
there are no guarantees on that day. For converts to this beautiful
religion, do you want your non-Muslim families making your decisions
for you at that moment, or the strength of your Lord lovingly watching
over you because He knew your pleading voice in the lifetime. For
non-Muslims, the Mercy of our Creator is given to all on Earth until
death, and then it is reserved for those who believed and called on
Him at all times.
If these words caused a ripple in the folds of your heart, then take
time right now to connect to the Merciful, the Compassionate One... He
is waiting for you.