A Cure for Music

:-*Keyword - Posts under 'Quran'

Rasulullah (s.a.w.) said: "Hewho does not read the Qur'aan in a
melodious voice is not from us." (Bukhari Vol. 2 Pg 1123. Abu Da'ud
Vol. 1 Pg 207)
To recite the Qu'raan in a melodious voice is mustahab and has been
encouraged in many ahaadith. Thus Rasulullah (s.a.w.) said: "Adorn the
Qur'aan with your voices." (Bukhari Vol. 2 Pg 1126)
The narration of Haakim's Mustadrak and Daarimi's Sunan have the
following addition: "… because a beautiful voice increases the beauty
of the Qur'aan."
Rasulullah (s.a.w.) said: " Allah does not listen as attentively to
anything as He listens to a Nabi reciting the Qur'aan in a melodious
voice." (Bukhari Vol. 2 Pg 1115)
Hadhrat Abu Moosa Ash'ari(r.a.) a famous Sahabi, used to recite the
Qur'aan in a very beautiful tone. Rasulullah (s.a.w.) praised him
saying that he had been blessed with "a flute from the flutes of
Dawood." (Bukhari Vol. 2 Pg 755)
Note: The word 'mizmar' (flute) has not been used in its literal
meaning. Hadhrat Dawood (a.s.) used to recite the Zabur in an
extremely beautiful voice. Thus his voice has been described as a
flute in the Hadith.
The question however is that the word used in the Hadith for 'reading
in a melodious voice' is that of 'taghanni'. The literal translation
of this word is 'to sing'. On the contrary we have been prohibited in
the Hadith to sing and read the Qur'aan. Althoughit is understandable
that the word 'taghanni' has been used figuratively, why has a simpler
or moreclearer word not been used?
A similar question was posed to the famous Muhaddith, Ibn al-Arabi
(r.a.) to which he replied: "The Arabs used to sing when they mounted
their camels, when they sat in their assemblies and in most of their
conditions. Thus when the Qur'aan was revealed, Rasulullah (s.a.w.)
desired that the Qur'aan should be their habit rather than singing."
(Sharh-us-Sunnah Vol. 4 Pg 486)
In other words, the Arabs were so infatuated with singing that singing
and music was found in basically every aspect of their lives. Thus
when the Qur'aan was revealed, Rasulullah (s.a.w.) desired that their
habit of singing be substituted by the recitation of the Qur'aan. This
explanation may be substantiated by the following Hadith narrated by
Hadhrat Zaid Ibn Arqam(r.a.): "While Nabi (s.a.w.) was walking through
an alley in Medina, he passed a youth that was singing. Nabi (s.a.w.)
said to him: 'Woe to you, O youth. Whydo you not recite the Qur'aan in
a melodious voice?" (Ahkaam-ul-Qur'aan of Mufti Muhammad Shafe).
Note: The word 'taghanni' has been used in this Hadith as well. Hafiz
Ibn Hajr (r.a.) quotes from Ibn-Ambari that it means to take pleasure
and delight just as the singers take pleasure in music. Thus the word
music (taghanni) has been used because the same pleasureis experienced
(i.e. when reciting the Qur'aan) as is experienced when listening to
music. (Fath-ul-Bari Vol. 9 Pg 62)
It is for this reason that Hafiz Ibn Qayyim (r.a.) and Allamah Anwar
Shah Kashmir (r.a.) have regarded excessive recitation of the Qur'aan
asan excellent cure for music.
Hadhrat Shah Saheb explains: "When a man forms a habit of music it
overpowers him until he isunable to refrain from it. That is why you
will see the singer always humming to himself. Thus Nabi (s.a.w.) has
taught him that the means for refraining from music is that he make
the Qur'aan his hum and music until the Qur'aan overpowers him just as
music had overpowered him." (Faiz-ul-Bari Vol. 4 Pg 269)
CONCLUSION
Let alone Muslims, even non-Muslims often marvel at the sweetness and
beauty of the Qur'aan, its rhythm, choice of words etc. This sweetness
is further enhanced by reciting the Qur'aan in a sweet voice as
mentioned in the Hadith. In the light of the above, it may be
concluded that excessive reading and listening to the Qur'aan is an
excellent cure for the ailment of music.

How the Qur’an was Compiled

:-*Keyword - Posts under 'Quran'

QUESTION:
I wanted to know was the entire Qur'an compiled before the Prophet's
death or after by the khalifas. What I mean by compiled is the
ordering of the surahs. Before the Prophet's death ( Allah bless him &
give him peace), did the sahabas know that the #1 surah is fatiha and
#2 is suratul baqara and so forth? Or was this order established by
the khalifas like during Uthman (Allah be pleased with him) time?
ANSWER:
Assalamu alaykum
In the name of Allah the inspirer of truth
The order of the verses in each chapter of the Qur'an was divinely
inspired, eventhough they were revealed portion by portion as the need
arose over a 23 year period.
The Messenger of Allah (upon him be peace) would instruct the scribes
to place each verse in its proper place as they were revealed.
It is related by Imam Ahmad and the authors of the Sunans on the
authority of Uthman radhiyallahu anhu, "When a chapter was revealed of
the Qur'an that had a number of verses, the Messenger of Allah would
call one of the scribes and say, "Place these verses in the chapter
which states such and such…" Hence, from this and other narrations it
is understoodthat not only was the arrangement of the verses divinely
inspired, so were the chapters according to many scholars. (Fath
al-Bari, Bab ta'lif al-Qur'an).
Although there is agreement concerning the arrangement of the verses
being divinely inspired, there is a difference of opinion concerning
the order of the chapters. The stronger opinion seems to be that the
arrangement of many chapters was alsodivinely inspired, althoughsome
chapters were placed through the ijtihad [inference] of the
Companions. For instance, it is reported that the Companions placed
Surat al-Tawba after Surat al-Anfal, through their own deliberation,
as they did not have any information concerning this from the
Messenger (upon him be peace).
A good English work on the sciences of the Qur'an is, Approach to the
Qur'anicSciences by Shaykh Mufti Taqi Uthmani . An abridgedversion of
it is found in thebeginning of the Ma`arif al-Qur'an [a Qur'anic
tafsir in Urdu, which is available in English translation as well].
Well worth reading.

How to return salaams to one who offers his hand in greeting during the khutbah

If the imaam is preaching and someone greets you and offers his hand,
what is the ruling?
Praise be to Allaah.
Gesture to him if it is the time of the khutbah, and put your hand in
his, without speaking, because the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded usto listen to the khutbah.
He said, "If you say to your companion on Friday, 'Listen!' when the
imaam is preaching, then you have engaged in idle speech." (Narrated
by al-Bukhaari, al-Jumu'ah, 882; Muslim, al-Jumu'ah, 1404. Agreed
upon).
He described his enjoiningsomething good as being "idle speech"
(laghw) at the time of the khutbah, so how about other kinds of
speech? And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said, according to a saheeh hadeeth, "Whoever plays with the pebbles
(on the ground) has engaged in idle speech (laghw)." (Narrated by
Muslim, al-Jumu'ah, 1419)
At Jumu'ah prayers, the believer should listen to the khutbah and be
humble and solemn, he should beware of playing with pebbles on the
ground or anything else. If someone greets him he should gesture to
him without speaking. If he puts his hand in his when he offers his
hand, without speaking, that is OK, as stated above. He should tell
him after the khutbah that he should not have done that, and that
which is prescribed if one comes in when the imaam is preaching is to
pray two rak'ahs to "greetthe mosque" and not to say salaams to anyone
until after the khutbah has ended. If he sneezes he should praise
Allaah (say "al-hamdu Lillah") to himself without speaking out loud.

Employees whose work means that they have tocontinue working at thetime of Jumu’ah

Key word - {*Friday Prayers:-}
- - -

Some sensitive jobs require the constant presence of an employee,
including at the times of obligatory prayers and Jumu'ah (Friday)
prayers. Should these employees leave their work and go and pray, or
should they stay on the job?
Praise be to Allaah.
The basic principle is that Jumu'ah prayer is obligatory upon
individuals, because Allaah says (interpretationof the meaning):
"O you who believe (Muslims)! When the call is proclaimed for the
Salaah (prayer) on Friday (Jumu'ah prayer), come tothe remembrance of
Allaah [Jumu'ah religious talk (Khutbah) and Salaah (prayer)] and
leave off business (and every other thing). That is better for you if
you did but know!"
[al-Jumu'ah 62:9]
And Imam Ahmad narrated from Ibn Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said
concerning some people who were failing to attend Jumu'ah prayers:
"Ihad thought to tell a man to lead the people in prayer, then I would
burn down the houses of men who fail to attend Jumu'ah prayers."
(Ahmad, 1/402; Muslim, 1/452). Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah and
Ibn 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them) that they heard the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say
from the minbar: "There are peoplewho should stop neglecting Jumu'ah,
or else Allaah will put a seal on their hearts, then they will surely
be among the negligent." And there is consensus among the scholars on
this point (that Jumu'ah is obligatory). But if a person for whom
Jumu'ahis obligatory has a legitimate shar'i excuse – such as one who
is directly responsible for a matter of national security and
protecting the interests of the ummah, and he is required to do that
job at the time of Jumu'ah, such as those who are in charge of
security, traffic, wireless and telephone communications, etc, those
whose shift happens to be at the timeof the second call to Jumu'ah
prayers or the time of a prayer in congregation – then such people are
excused for not praying Jumu'ah or prayers in congregation, because of
the general meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
"So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can"
[al-Taghaabun 64:16]
And the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "Whatever I forbid you to do, avoid it, and whateverI
command you to do, do as much of it as you can." Moreover, such a
person has no less an excuse thanone who is excused because he fears
for his life or his wealth etc., whothe scholars have said is excused
for not praying Jumu'ah or prayers in congregation so long as the
reason is present. But the obligation to pray Zuhr still stands, and
he must pray it on time; whenever he can pray in congregation he is
obliged to do that, as is the case with all the five daily obligatory
prayers.