ARTICLES

It is sunnat ^[1] also to reconcile those who are cross with one another; to visit one’s relatives and brothers-in-Islam, and to give them presents. Finally, it is sunnat for men to visit graves.

[It is stated as follows in hadith-i sharifs: ^[2] “Man takes to those who do them favours,” and “Give presents to one another and you will love one another.” The most valuable and the most useful present is a smiling face and honeyed words. You should always treat everybody with a smiling face and soft words, whether they are friends or enemies, Muslims or disbelievers, unless they are bid’at holders. You should not quarrel with anybody. Quarreling will mar friendship. It will aggravate hostilities. You should not become angry with anybody. A hadith-i sharif admonishes: “Do not become angry!” At times of fitna ^[3] , mischief, when you see people worshipping a cow, feed straw to the cow lest you should anger them.

GLOSSARY

[1] sunnat: i) act, thing that was, though not commanded by Allahu ta’ala, done and liked by the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam) as an ‘ibada (there is thawab if done, but no sin if omitted, yet it causes sin if continually omitted and disbelief if disliked; the Sunna; i) (with fard) all the sunnas as a whole; ii) (with the Book or Qur’an al-karim) the Hadith ash-sharif; iii) (alone) fiqh, Islam.
[2] hadith (sharif): i) a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).; al-Hadith ash-sharif: all the hadiths as a whole; ii) ‘ilm al-hadith; iii) Books of the hadith ash-sharif. iv) Al-hadith al-qudsi, as-sahih, al-hasan: kinds of hadiths (for which, see Endless Bliss, II).
[3] fitna: the widespreading of statements and actions that harm Muslims and Islam. : disunion among Muslims.

‘Iyd ^[1] means bayram. Those days are called ‘Iyd because every year Muslims’ sins are forgiven in the month of Ramadan and on the Arafa Day and their joy and felicity come back on those days. If the first day of ‘Iyd is a Friday, both the salat of ‘Iyd and the salat of Friday will be performed according to the Hanafi Madhhab ^[2] . They are performed in their appointed times. If there is a janaza (funeral) on the morning of the ‘Iyd the salat of ‘Iyd is performed first. The salat of janaza is performed after that because the salat of ‘Iyd is wajib ^[3] for everybody. However, the salat of janaza is to be performed before the khutba ^[4] of the ‘Iyd.

It is written in the book Ni’met-i Islam: “It is sunnat to do the following things on the ‘Iyd days: to get up early; to make a ghusl ^[5] ; to clean the teeth with miswak to put on perfume [without alcohol]; to put on new and clean clothes; to show that you are happy; to eat sweetmeat before the prayer of the ‘Iyd of Fitr; to eat dates; to eat an odd number of them; for one who performs the qurban, to eat first the meat of qurban; to perform morning prayer in the masjid ^[6] of one’s quarter and to go a large mosque for the ‘Iyd prayer; to wear a ring on that day; to go to the mosque early and to go on foot; to say the ‘Iyd takbirs ^[7] softly on the ‘Iyd of Fitr and loudly on the ‘Iyd of Adha; to take a different route on one’s way back [from the mosque]. This is because the places where one offers one’s ibadat ^[8] and the routes that one takes when going for ‘ibadat will stand as witnesses on the Day of Judgement; to welcome the Believers [Muslims] with a smiling face and by saying ‘Salamun ‘alaykum’; to give alms generously to the poor [and to give help to those who are working to disseminate true Islam]; to give the sadaqa-i fitr before the ‘Iyd prayer.”

GLOSSARY

[1] iyd: one of the two Islamic festivals.
[2] madhhab: all of what a profound ‘alim of (especially) Fiqh (usually one of the four-Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali) or iman (one of the two, namely Ash-ari, Maturidi) communicated.
[3] wajib: (act, thing) never omitted by the Prophet, so almost as compulsory as fard and not to be omitted. Wajib al-wujud: Being whose existence is indispensable and nonexistence is impossible.
[4] khutba: the preaching delievered at mosque; the homily delivered at the pulpit by the imam at Jum’a and ‘Iyd prayers ( at the prayers of Friday and of Islamic festivals), which must be read in Arabic all over the world (sinful if read in another language).
[5] ghusl: ablution of the whole body as defined in fiqh.
[6] masjid: mosque; al-Masjid al-Haram: the great mosque in Mekka; al-Masjid ash-sharif (as-Sa’ada, an-Nabi): the mosque in Medina, built in the time of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam) and later enlarged several times, in which his grave is.
[7] takbir: the word Allahu akbar, means: Allahu ta’ala is the greatest.
[8] ibadat: pl. of ‘ibada

The Muslims of our time abandon the fard ^[1] and give their utmost to supererogatory worships; they value doing supererogatory worships [e.g. reading mawlid ^[2] , sitting together with men and women, building mosques, giving alms and doing favours], while they deem it unnecessary and unimportant to do the fard [e.g. performing the five times of salat each day; fasting in the month of Ramadan; giving zakat ^[3] ; giving ‘ushr ^[4] ; paying one’s debts, learning what halal and haram ^[5] is; girls and women covering up their heads, hair, arms, and legs; not listening to the words of those men on the radio or television who are the enemies of our religion and who try to corrupt our beliefs and good morals.]

Nevertheless, they do not understand that to give one cent of zakat to the proper people (declared in the Qur’an) is more blessed than giving thousands of dollars as alms. To give zakat is to do Allah’s command. But alms and favours are mostly intended to earn fame, reverence and the sensual desires of the nafs ^[6] .

When one does the fard, hypocrisy or ostentation do not get mixed with the action. But there is a lot of ostentation in supererogatory worships. It is for this reason that zakat should be given publicly. In this way one will be safe from being slandered. The supererogatory alms should be given secretly, which will increase the probability that it will be accepted [by Allah]. In short, to be safe from the harm of the world, there is no other way than doing the rules of the Shari’at ^[7] . Those who cannot cease from worldly pleasures completely should relinquish them at least supposedly, that is, they should think of themselves as having forsaken the world. And for doing this, one should adapt one’s every action and each word to the Shari’at.

GLOSSARY

[1] fard: an act or thing that is commanded by Allahu ta’ala in the Qur’an al-karim. Fard (or fard) means (any behaviour or thought or belief which is) obligatory. Islam’s open commandments are called fard (pl. faraid).
[2] mawlid: the Prophet’s birthday; writings that tell of the superiorities and excellences of the Prophet.
[3] zakat: (fard duty of giving annually) certain amount of certain kinds of property to certain kinds of people, by which the remaining property becomes purified and blessed and the Muslim who gives it protects himself against being (called) a miser. See chapter 1 in Endless Bliss V.
[4] ushr: a kind of zakat.
[5] haram: an action, word or thought prohibited by Allahu ta’ala.
[6] nafs: a force in man which wants him to harm himself religiously; an-nafs al-ammara. A negative force within man prompting him to do evil. (Nafs-i ammara). Nafs is ammara by creation, that is, it always wishes evil and harmful deeds to be done. It is reluctant to obey the Shari’at. The nafs of a man who obeys the Shari’at and makes progress in the way of tasawwuf becomes mutmainna. It wishes to obey the Shari’at.
[7] Shari’at: (pl. of Shari’a) i) rules and commandments as a whole of the religion. ii) religion.

Ibni ‘Abidin wrote in Radd-ul mukhtar:

It is sunnat-i muakkada ^[1] to use a miswak when performing an ablution. A hadith-i sharif ^[2] declares: “The salat which is performed after using a miswak is seventy-fold superior to the salat without a miswak. “ A miswak must be straight, as wide as the second small finger, and a span long. The miswak is derived from a branch of the erak (peelo) tree growing in Arabia. [Shaving it about two centimetres from the straight end, you keep this part in water for a couple of hours. When you crush it, it will open like a brush. ] When the erak tree cannot be found, a miswak can be made from an olive branch. You should not make it from a pomegranate branch. If an erak or olive tree cannot be found or if one does not have teeth, the sunnat ^[3] must be carried out with one’s fingers. The miswak has more than thirty advantages, which are written in Tahtawi’s Hashiyatu Maraq al-falah. Firstly, it causes one to die with iman ^[4] in one’s last breath. It is makruh ^[5] for men to chew gum without any ‘udhr (strong necessity), even when they are not fasting. Women must use chewing gum when they are not fasting instead of a miswak by intending to do the sunnat.

GLOSSARY

[1] Sunnat-i muakkada / Sunnat-i huda: Emphatic, practised regularly by our blessed Prophet. They are the shi’âr (symptoms) of the Islamic religion. [That is, they are peculiar to Islam; they do not exist in other religions.] Sunnat-i huda are like i’tikaf in a mosque, calling the azan or iqamat, and performing salat in jama’at. They are the characteristic traits of Islam, properties peculiar to this Ummat. [It is written in Ibni Abidin, at the end of the last volume that circumcision of children is also a sunnat of this kind.] The rawatib, that is, the muakkad sunnats of three of the fard five daily prayers are of this kind, too.
[2] hadith (sharif): i) a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).; al-Hadith ash-sharif: all the hadiths as a whole; ii) ‘ilm al-hadith; iii) Books of the hadith ash-sharif. iv) Al-hadith al-qudsi, as-sahih, al-hasan: kinds of hadiths (for which, see Endless Bliss, II).
[3] sunnat: i) act, thing that was, though not commanded by Allahu ta’ala, done and liked by the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam) as an ‘ibada (there is thawab if done, but no sin if omitted, yet it causes sin if continually omitted and disbelief if disliked; the Sunna; i) (with fard) all the sunnas as a whole; ii) (with the Book or Qur’an al-karim) the Hadith ash-sharif; iii) (alone) fiqh, Islam.
[4] iman: faith, belief, beliefs of Islam; kalam, i’tiqad.
[5] makruh: (act, thing) improper, disliked and abstained by the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam); makruh tahrima: prohibited with much stress.

Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani ^[1] says in the 69th letter of the second volume of his Maktubat:

Recently, most people have been slack in performing salat. They have been slighting the tumaninat ^[2] and the ta’dil-i arkan ^[3] . For this reason, I have to warn you, my beloved ones, about this matter. Listen well! Our Prophet ‘sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’ declared: “The worst thief is the person who steals from his own salat. “ When he was asked, “O Rasulallah! How can a person steal from his own salat?” he said, “By not doing the ruku ^[4] and sajda ^[5] of the salat properly. “ At some other time he declared: “Allahu ta’ala does not accept the salat of a person who does not bring his waist into its proper position and remain so for a while in ruku and sajda. “ Once, upon seeing a person not doing the ruku and the sajda properly while performing salat, our Prophet ‘sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’ said, “Aren’t you afraid you may die in some other religion than Hadrat ^[6] Muhammad’s ‘alaihissalatu wassalam’ religion because you perform your prayers of salat in this manner?” Once again, he said, “When performing salat, if you do not straighten up your body completely after the ruku’, if your each limb does not rest at its position for a while when you are standing, your salat will not be complete. “ Once again, he said, “Unless you sit upright between the two sajdas your salat will remain incomplete. “ One day, upon seeing someone not observing the rules and rukns ^[7] of salat, not standing upright after the ruku’ and not sitting between the sajdas, our Prophet ‘sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’ said, “If you go on performing your prayers of salat in this manner, on the Day of Resurrection you will not be said to be of my Ummat ^[8] . “ At some other time he said, “If you go on in this manner and die, you shall not have died in the religion of Muhammad (alaihissalam). “

GLOSSARY

[1] imam: i) profound ‘alim; founder of a madhhab; ii) leader in congregational salat; iii) caliph.
[2] tumaninat: see first and second fascicles of Endless Bliss.
[3] ta’dil al-arkan: keeping the body motionless for a while after becoming calm during and between the various acts in salat.
[4] ruku: bowing during the prayer of namaz.
[5] sajda Sajda, (plural, sujud), Prostration to Allah u Ta’ala in the direction of the Kaaba at Makkah. A Muslim is to praise Allah u Ta’ala and glorify him. The position involves having the forehead, nose, both hands, knees and all toes touching the ground together
[6] Hadrat: title of respect used before the names of great people like and Islamic scholars.
[7] rukn The fards in namaz are called rukn. Recitation of an ayat, the ruku’, the two sajdas and sitting in the last rak’at are each a rukn.
[8] umma(t) followers of Muhammad (‘alaihi ‘s-salam); the community, body of believers, of a prophet.