Let Those who have DeadHearts Rejoice - II

Reflect on the meaning of the following Hadeeth (narration). The
Prophet, , said:
"There was among the people who came before you a man who killed
ninety-nine persons. Then he asked about the most knowledgeable person
on earth, and wasdirected to a monk, so hewent to him, told him that
he had killed ninety-nine people and asked if his repentance could be
accepted. The monk said, 'No.' So, he killed him and completed one
hundred. Then he asked about the most knowledgeable person on earth
and he was directed to a scholar. He told him that he had killed one
hundred people and asked whether his repentance could be accepted. The
scholar said, 'Yes, what could possibly come between you and
repentance? Go to such-and-such land, for in it there are people who
worship Allaah. Go and worship Allaah with them, and do not go backto
your own land, for it isa bad place.'
So, the man set out, but when he was halfway there, the angel of death
came to him, and the angels of mercy and the angels of torment began
to argue over him. The angels of mercy said, 'He had repented and
headed wholeheartedly to Allaah.' The angels of torment said, 'He
never did any good thing.' An angel in human form came to them and
they asked him to decide the matter. He said, 'Measure the distance
between thetwo lands (his home town and the town he was heading for),
and to whichever of the two he is closer is the one to which he
belongs.' So they measured the distance and found that he was closer
to the townfor which he was heading, so the angels of mercy took him."
Qataadah said, "Al-Hasan mentioned that the man, while dying, turned
his chest towards that village(where he had hoped his repentance would
be accepted)." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
Scholars mentioned many benefits in this noble Hadeeth . The following
points show these benefits:
1- He killed ninety-nine persons:
Do you think that such a person had a healthy or sick heart? He killed
the monk to whom he came to ask about repentance. He was
pathologically bent upon killing. After killing the monk, he did not
experience the least feeling of regret for his action. Strangely, he
killed the monk and then went out asking about the most knowledgeable
person on earth. He was still looking for repentance. He took a
decisive decision to revive his heart. His decision was subject to
neither delay nor changewhatever the reason maybe. He was determined
torevive his dead heart.
Do you not wonder how he did not even stop for a moment after killing
the monk to say to himself, "You have been disobedient (to Allaah)
again. You have done what you used to do. Youwill never repent and
Allaah will not accept you!" He did not utter these frustrated
remarks. Rather, he moved forward looking for his goal, which was
repentance.
2- Repentance wipes out even the gravest of majorsins:
This story stands as great evidence that Allaah The Almighty accepts
repentance from a wrongdoer, even if his sins are grave. Having a
sincere intention to repent is the crucial factor here.
This is also supported by evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah .
Allaah The Almighty says (what means): } Say, "O My servants who have
transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the
Mercy of Allaah. Indeed, Allaah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He
who is theForgiving, the Merciful." { [Quran 39: 53]
Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah, , said: "By the
One in whose Hand my soul is, i fyou were not to commit sins Allaah
would remove you and replace you with people who would commit sins and
then ask for forgiveness, and He would grant them forgiveness."
[Muslim]
3- The vastness of the Mercy of Allaah and the danger of despairing of it:
The story with its several narrations indicates that the Mercy of
Allaah is vastand that it overcomes His wrath. It also indicates that
when the slave of Allaah sincerely repents to Him, not only does
Allaah The Almighty accept his repentance but He also grants him
success and guidance to the straight path. The other narrations of the
story indicate that Divine Care played a role which signifies the
vastness of the Mercy of Allaah and His Bounty on the repentant slave.
Another narration reads: "Allaah ordered the land (towards which he
was going) to come closer to him, and ordered the land (from whence he
had come), to go far away, and then He ordered the angels to measure
the distances between his body and the two towns. He was found to be
one span closer to the village (he was going to). So he was forgiven."
[Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
Ordering the town (towards which he was going) to come closer and
ordering the town (whence he had come) togo far away indicates that
Allaah The Almighty not only accepts repentance from His slaves, but
He also gives them of His bounty.
In a Hadeeth Qudsi (sacred narration), Abu Hurayrah narrated that the
Prophet, , quoted Allaah The Almighty as saying: "I am just as My
slave believes Me to be, and I am with him when He remembers Me. So if
he remembers Me within himself, I too remember him within Myself. If
he remembers Me in a group of people then I remember him in agroup
that is better than them. If he comes one span nearer to Me then I go
one cubit nearer to him; if he comes one cubit nearer to Me then I go
a distance of two outstretched arms nearerto him; and if he comes to
Me walking then I go to him running." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
Commenting on the verse, Ibn 'Abbaas said,
Allaah invites all to His Forgiveness; those who claim that the Christ
is Allaah, those who claim that the Christ is the son of Allaah, those
who claim that 'Uzayr is the son of Allaah, those who claim that
Allaah is poor, those who claim that the Hand of Allaah is tied up,
and those who say that Allaah is the third of three (Trinity). Allaah
saysto all of these (what means): } So will they not repent to Allaah
and seekHis Forgiveness? And Allaah is Forgiving and Merciful. {
[Quran 5: 74] He calls to repentance theone who says something even
worse than that, theone who says (what means): } "I am your most
exalted lord." { [Quran 79:24] and (what means): } I have not known
you to have a god other than me. { [Quran 28: 38]
Ibn 'Abbaas added, "Anyone who makes the slaves of Allaah despair
ofHis Mercy after this has rejected the Book of Allaah." ] Tafseer Ibn
Katheer [
If you think that your heart is dead and that it will never revive,
then what about the hearts of the disbelievers and atheists which are
destroyed with denial of the existence of Allaah The Almighty?
Let us try to revive our dead hearts.

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Dought & clear, - How can a seeker of knowledge make a schedule to organise his time?.

Can you advise me as to how a seeker of knowledge can make a schedule
to organise his time?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
The status of the seeker of Islamic knowledge is great in Islam.
Allah, mayHe be blessed and exalted, has praised knowledge and those
who seek it, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Say: Are those who know equal to those who know not?' It is only men
of understanding who will remember (i.e. get a lesson from Allahs
Signs and Verses)"
[az-Zumar 39:9]
"It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah"
[Faatir 35:28].
It was narrated that Humayd ibn 'Abd ar-Rahmaan said: I
heardMu'aawiyah say, when he was delivering a khutbah: I heard the
Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say:
"When Allaah wills good for a person, He deepenshis knowledge of
Islam.
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (71) and Muslim (1037).
It was narrated that 'Abu'd-Darda' said: I heard the Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: "Whoever follows
a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allaah will make easy forhim a
path to Paradise. The angels lower their wings in approval of the
seeker of knowledge, and everyone in the heavens and on earth prays
for forgiveness for the seeker of knowledge, even the fish in the sea.
The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the
superiority of the moon over all other heavenly bodies. The scholars
are the heirs of the Prophets, for the Prophets did not leave behind
dinars or dirhams, rather they left behind knowledge, so whoever takes
it has taken a great share."
Narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2682), Abu Dawood (3541) and Ibn Maajah
(223); classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Targheeb, 1/17
Islamic knowledge brings a person the good of this world and of the
Hereafter; it takes precedence over all other branches of knowledge,
especially if one's intention is pure.
See the answer to question no. 10471
Secondly:
The best thing you can spend your time on when beginning to seek
knowledge is memorising the Book of Allah, may He be glorified and
exalted. This is the best thing in which people may compete and
strive, and it is the best thing on which the seeker of knowledge may
focus his efforts.
See the answer to question no. 14035 for information on the advantages
of memorising the Book of Allah.
See the answers to questions no. 7966 and 11561 for information on the
basic principles ofmemorising the Book of Allah.
Thirdly:
One of the things that will make things easier for the seeker of
knowledge is to have many shaykhs and scholars from whom he can learn.
The quickest way to seek knowledge and the best way to attain the goal
is if Allah makes it easy for him to find one shaykh or scholar among
the scholars of the Sunnah, from whom he may acquire knowledge
directly. See the answer to question no. 22037 .
Fourthly:
With regard to organising your time, it may be as follows.
(a)
Have fixed times for regular things every day,such as a time for
sleeping, a time for meals, a time for visits, a time for gatherings,
a time for revision.
(b)
One of the things that will help you make the most of your time and
save time is to put a stopto time wasters such as sleeping, eating and
drinking too much, or meeting people except for Islamically beneficial
purposes. You should also avoid time wasters such as means of
entertainment like TV shows, soap operas, newspapers, magazines,
games, sports matches and competitions.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The seeker of knowledge must make the most of his time and avoid
wasting time. Wasting time may take the following forms:
1. Failing to review and revise what he reads
2. Sitting with his friends and engaging in idle talk in which is no benefit
3. The most harmful time waster for the seeker of knowledge is
when he has no interest except finding out aboutpeople, what they are
saying and what they are doing, with regard to a matter that does
notconcern him. This undoubtedly stems from a weakness of commitment
to Islam, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: "Part of a person's beinga good Muslim is leaving alone
that which does not concern him." Narrated by at-Tirmidhi, 2318;
classed as saheeh by al-Albaani.
Focusing on who said what and asking a lot of questions is a waste of
time. In fact it is a kind of sickness which if it affects a person –
we askAllah to keep us safe andsound – will become his main focus and
concern and he may end up showing a hostile attitude towards one who
does not deserve enmity, or he may be friendly towards one who does
not deserve friendship, because of his interest in these matters that
are distracting him from seeking knowledge, on the grounds that this
is part of supporting the truth. But that is not the case; rather this
comes under the heading of being distracted by that which does not
concern one. But if news comes to you without you seeking it or
looking for it, everyone receives news but you should notbe
preoccupied with it or focus on it, because this causes distraction
for the seeker of knowledge and may confuse him, and it opens the door
to partisanship and division amongst the ummah.
Kitaab al-'Ilm, p. 143-144
(c)
Another matter that is detrimental to the issue of organising one's
time and making the most of it is procrastination. Procrastination is
a severe disease that deprives one of many good things in this world
and in the Hereafter.
(d)
One of the best ways of succeeding in this world is to keep yourself
busy at all times with that which is best for you and most beneficial
for you in the Hereafter, as Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on
him) said:The best act of worship is to strive to please the Lord at
all times by doing that which is mostappropriate and is expected at
any particular time.
Madaarij as-Saalikeen, 1/88
(e)
Investing one's time as much as one can and notwasting a single moment
in anything thatis not an act of obedience or worship. Our early
generations (may Allah have mercy on them) set an amazingexample of
making the most of their time. All seekers of Qur'anic knowledge were
keen to study under Abu Na'eem al-Asfahaani (d. 430) and every day one
of them would have his turn and he would studywhatever he wanted with
the Shaykh until just before Zuhr. Then when he got up to go home,
another student might recite a juz' to himon the way (for him to
listen and correct), and he never showed any impatience.
Saleem ar-Raazi was a Shaafa'i. One day he went home and came back,
and he said: I recited a juz' on my way.Al-Haafiz adh-Dhahabi (may
Allah have mercy on him) said in his biography of al-Khateeb
al-Baghdaadi: The khateeb used to walk with a juz' in his hand, which
he would study.
For forty years, Ibn 'Asaakir (may Allah have mercy on him) – as his
son said – did not focus on anything except matters of knowledge, even
during his free time or when he was alone. He always had with him
books of knowledge and the Qur'an, which he would read and memorise.
They were always keen to make the most of their time by doing more
than one thing at the same time. If the penbecame blunt and he needed
to sharpen it, one of them would move his lips with remembrance of
Allah whilst fixing his pen, or he would review things that he had
memorised lest any time pass without him doing something useful.
Abu'l-Wafa' 'Ali ibn 'Aqeel (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I do
not allow myself to waste even one hour of my life; even when I am not
reading anything or reciting anything, I would think whilst I am
resting of some issues of knowledge and I will notget up until I have
come up with something I can write down.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:I know someone who
fell sick with a headacheand fever, and his book was beside his head.
When he was awake he would read, and when he fell asleep he would put
it down.
(f)
With regard to making aschedule and organisingone's time, that may be
done as follows:
1.
The program of the seeker of knowledge begins at dawn, which isthe
time for memorisation of Qur'an and hadeeth. The best time for
memorising – especially memorising Qur'an – is the time just before
dawn and after Fajr prayer, when the mind is clear and it is easier to
memorise. So the seeker of knowledgeprays in the mosque andremains
there until sunrise or afterwards, memorising and reviewing what he
has memorised. When he has finished that, he begins to memorise
textsof knowledge – the textsof hadeeth, fiqh, usool and Arabic
language.
2.
If he has a job or is in school, he goes to it. Otherwise he spends
the rest of the morning memorising and revisinguntil Zuhr, then he
takes a siesta and rests a little.
3.
As for the afternoon, it isfor studying and reading, or studying with
others, or discussion and reviewing issues of knowledge with others.
4.
After Maghrib, he attends study circles and after 'Isha' he reviews
what he has learnt or he may read a new book.
It should be noted that what we have mentioned here comes under the
heading of organising time in general terms. Each student should
organise his time according to his circumstances, whether he is
working or not, whether he is married orsingle, whether he devotes all
his time to Islamic knowledge or he has some other preoccupations, and
so on. What matters with regard to organising time is that there
should be some hours of the day and night in which he makes himself
memorise and read. People tend to want to rest and like to be somewhat
lazy, so he should train himself to work hard and be active,and he
should make himself get used to being organised and adhere to doing
acts of worship and obedience. Otherwise he will have wasted his day
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Dought & clear, - After becoming Muslim,should she ask those who were her friends in the past to remove pictures of her that they have on Network?.

A woman became Muslim and her previous non-Muslim friends (including
men) have many photos of her on Facebook. The photos are from before
she became Muslim and when she was around 15-16.
Does she need to contactall the 'owners' of the photos and explain
that she became Muslim and ask them to take the photos down? Or is it
part of what is forgiven from jahiliyah?
If she needs to try and have them taken down, should she also request
it for certain photos posted by men many years ago. If she asks them
to remove the photo, they will then revisit the photo and seeher
without hijab/jilbab..and she doesn't think that they look at those
photos anymore.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
You should understand that Islam erases everything that came before it
of sins and thatrepentance erases that which came before it.
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease(from disbelief)
their past will be forgiven"
[al-Anfaal 8:38].
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Allah, may He be exalted,says to His Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him): Tell those who have disbelieved that if they give
up what they are following of disbelief, dissent and stubbornness, and
they enter Islam, obey Allah and repent, He will forgive them what is
in the past, i.e., their disbelief, sins and mistakes. End quote.
Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 4/48
Al-Bukhaari (6921) and Muslim (120) narrated that Ibn Mas'ood (may
Allah be pleased with him) said: A man said: O Messenger of Allaah,
will we be held accountable for what we did during the Jaahiliyyah? He
said: "Whoever does good deeds in Islam will not be held accountable
for what he did during the Jaahiliyyah, but whoeverdoes evil in Islam
will be held accountable for the former and the latter."
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:What is meant by doing
good here is entering Islam both outwardly and inwardly and becoming a
Muslim in the true sense. The one who does that will be forgiven for
what he didpreviously when he was a disbeliever, according to the text
of the Holy Qur'an and the saheeh hadeeth, "Islam erases that which
came before it" (narrated by Muslim, 121), as well as according to the
consensus of the Muslims. End quote.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Just as Islam erases whatcame before it, repentance also erases what
came before it. Endquote.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 22/12
Secondly:
The one who becomes Muslim or repents from sin is only required to set
straight the consequences of previous actions that he is able to set
straight. With regard to these old pictures, the person in them will
not be brought to account for them now, in sha Allah, so long as she
has given up that haraam action. Rather all she has to do is remove
whatever she is able to remove herself.As for contacting those who
were her friends before she became Muslim and asking them to remove
the pictures, that depends on whatever will best serve the purpose and
what she thinks is most likely to be the case. If she knows that any
of them would respond to that request and respect her privacy, then
she may ask them to do that. As for those who she thinkswill most
likely not respect it or may become more stubborn or more interested
in her pictures, she should not ask them for that.
If she thinks it most likely – according to what she knows about them
– that they will not care about her pictures after she has left them,
and they will not pay any attention to them, then it is better for her
to keep quiet and let them forget about her.

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Hadees - 1399 hadith found in ' The Book of Prayers (Kitab Al-Salat) ' of Sahih Muslim.

0735
Ibn Umar reported: Whenthe Muslims came to Medina, they gathered and
sought to know the time of prayer but no one summoned them. One day
they discussed the matter, and some of them said: Use somethinglike
the bell of the Christians and some of them said: Use horn like that
of the Jews. Umar said: Why may not a be appointed who should call
(people) to prayer? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon
him)said: O Bilal, get up and summon (the people) to prayer.
0736
Anas reported: Bilal was commanded (by the Apostle of Allah) to repeat
(the phrases of) Adhan twice and once in Iqama. The narrator said:I
made a men- tion of it before Ayyub who said: Except for saying:
Qamat-is-Salat [the time for prayer has come].
0737
Anas b. Malik reported: They (the Companions) discussed that they
should know the timings of prayer by means of something recognized
byall. Some of them said that fire should be lighted or a bell should
be rung. But Bilal was ordered to repeat the phrases twice in Adhan,
and once in Iqama.
0735
Ibn Umar reported: Whenthe Muslims came to Medina, they gathered and
sought to know the time of prayer but no one summoned them. One day
they discussed the matter, and some of them said: Use somethinglike
the bell of the Christians and some of them said: Use horn like that
of the Jews. Umar said: Why may not a be appointed who should call
(people) to prayer? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon
him)said: O Bilal, get up and summon (the people) to prayer.
0736
Anas reported: Bilal was commanded (by the Apostle of Allah) to repeat
(the phrases of) Adhan twice and once in Iqama. The narrator said:I
made a men- tion of it before Ayyub who said: Except for saying:
Qamat-is-Salat [the time for prayer has come].
0737
Anas b. Malik reported: They (the Companions) discussed that they
should know the timings of prayer by means of something recognized
byall. Some of them said that fire should be lighted or a bell should
be rung. But Bilal was ordered to repeat the phrases twice in Adhan,
and once in Iqama.


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