And it is He Who makes the night a covering for you, and the sleep (as) a repose, and makes the day Nushur (i.e. getting up and going about here and there for daily work, after one's sleep at night, or like resurrection after one's death).
And it is He Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy (rain); and We send down pure water from the sky.
That We may give life thereby to a dead land, and We give to drink thereof many of the cattle and men that We had created.
And indeed We have distributed it (rain or water) amongst them in order that they may remember (the Grace of Allah,) but most men (refuse to accept the Truth or Faith and) accept nothing but disbelief or ingratitude.
{Holy Qur'an Surat: 25 Al-Furqan Verses# 47-48-49-50}
Abu Yahya Suhain bin Sinan (Radi Allahu anhu) reported that Allah's Messenger (SalAllahu alaihi wasallam) said,
"How wonderful is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything and this applies only to a believer.
If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him."
[Muslim]
As Taken from Riyad-us-Saliheen
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said,"A rider should greet a pedestrian; a pedestrian should greet one who is sitting; and a small group should greet a large group (of people)."[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
The narration in Al-Bukhari adds: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The young should greet the elderly."
Commentary: The greeting of As-Salamu Alaikum should be uttered according to the prescribed way. It is the situations under reference and not the grades which will be taken into consideration in this respect. |
| 133/857 - Riyad Us-Saliheen (Gardens of the Righteous) |
Five before Five
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
All praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the Prophets and Messengers
The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said:
"Take benefit of five before five:
your youth before your old age,
your health before your sickness,
your wealth before your poverty,
your free-time before your preoccupation,
and your life before your death."
(Hakim)
Youth before old age
One of the things that most people take for granted is their youth. When people are young, they are full of energy and are capable of doing so many things for the sake of Allah Ta'ala, but often we see that this energy is wasted in one way or another.
When people lose their youth, they inevitably find it harder to do those deeds and acts of worship that they found somewhat easier to do at a younger age. With old age, people find it harder to keep fard (obligatory) fasts, they may not be able perform wudhu properly or to pray properly, and they may not have the energy to recite the Qur'an very often.
It is common to hear young people claim that they will start 'practising' Islam when they get older. We should always be mindful of the fact that 'older' may never come round for us. We have no guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, let alone be alive to see our pensions, or our grandchildren. And even if we are blessed with a long life, how can we be sure that we have the health – physical and mental – to practise Islam? On top of all this, we should remember that people do not just magically become 'good' overnight; often, we find that bad habits are hard to shift – what if we can't get rid of our bad habits when we get old?
Health before sickness
As with our youth, we often take for granted our health. We are advised to take advantage of our good health before we are overcome with illness or disability. What we often don't realise is that our health is a blessing from Allah Ta'ala. When we are in good health, we take it for granted and don't always appreciate what we have. It is only when we fall ill that we realise what a great thing we had and how we let it go to waste by not doing as much 'ibadah (worship) as we know we could – and should – have done.
Wealth before poverty
Wealth is another blessing granted to us by Allah. Wealth in this context does not necessarily mean that we have large amounts of savings, or the fact that we can afford a huge house, a top-of-the-range car and a state-of-the-art media system. The simpler things such as a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our fridges make us amongst the world's wealthiest people – a fact that we, more often than not, seem to overlook, particularly when we see people that have a lot more worldly possessions than we do. There are millions of people in the world today that don't even have a drop of clean water to drink, and they don't know where their next meal will be coming from. These are the people that we need to be helping with our wealth. Even a small donation can go a long way.
We should give as much as we can in the way of Allah, and we are assured of the rewards for doing so by Allah:
'The likeness of those who spend their money for Allah's sake, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn), it grows seven ears, every single ear has a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (increases the reward) for whom He wills, and Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All Knower'.
(Al-Baqarah: 261)
Free time before preoccupation
Islam always encourages us to make the most of our time, and to spend as much of it as possible in the way of Allah. We should utilise the time we have available to do as much good as we can, because before we know it, this time will have passed. As mentioned above, we should use the time we have in our youth to do as much in the way of Allah as possible, because as time passes, as well as having to contend with old age and all that entails, we will inevitably have a lot more things to worry about, like jobs, homes and families – things that most of us at this present moment aren't necessarily worried about. If we think that finding the time to practise Islam is difficult now, what will we do when life really starts to pick up pace? There is nothing wrong with getting married and having a family, but we should appreciate the relative freedom that we have now, and spend as much of it as we can on good deeds.
The concept of time is so important in Islam that Allah swears by it in the Qur'an:
'By Time. Verily Man is in loss, except such as have faith and do good deeds, and in the mutual teaching of truth, of patience and constancy.'
(Surah Al-'Asr)
In line with the above aayaat (verses), we have to discipline ourselves by giving value to the importance of time. We should be prompt in doing good deeds, which will increase our faith and subsequently enable us to gain Allah's pleasure and mercy.
Life before death
The last thing that we have been advised to take advantage of is our life before our death. Every night when we go to sleep, we enter a state where our soul leaves us. When we wake up, it is only because Allah has blessed us by returning our souls and granting us the opportunity to worship Him for at least one more day. Upon waking up in the morning, the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) used to say (and we are also encouraged to do the same):
'Praise be to Allah who gave me life after death, and to Him is the final return.'
(Bukhari)
Often we do not fully appreciate how great a blessing it is to be given another chance. We become relaxed about death, and we don't fully comprehend or appreciate that at some point – and only Allah Ta'ala knows when – our life will be taken away from us for good, leaving no second chance, no opportunity to make up for the wrongs we have done, and no turning back time. We must not forget what a mercy life is. We should savour every moment and use it to our best advantage. This means pleasing Allah in order to achieve our ultimate goal – Jannah.
I'll end with a final hadith that I feel sums up the importance of all these issues:
'A man shall be asked concerning five things on the Day of Resurrection: concerning his life, how he spent it; concerning his youth, how he grew old; concerning his wealth, how he acquired it and how he spent it; and what he did with the knowledge he had.'
(Tirmidhi)
I pray that Allah Ta'ala grant us the tawfiq to make the most of all that He has blessed us with, and that He accepts all our efforts Insha'Allah.
A Sin May Lead To Paradise : Imam ibn al-Qayyim
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim remarks, "If Allah wants good for His servant, He facilitates for him the means of repentance, remorse, submissiveness, need; provides him with assistance, and resort; ease for him means of imploring and supplication and open his eyes for collecting as much of good deeds as possible; the very sin he committed would be the threshold for bringing mercy till the point where the enemy of Allah (i.e. Shaytaan) says, "I wish I had left him and didn't risk trapping him." This explains the statement of some of the Salaf, " Indeed the servant could commit a sin, which will eventually lead to paradise and could observe a good deed which will lead to hell-fire. The audience wondered, "How could it be? He dispelled their wonder and replied, "On one hand, one could commit a sin but still didn't brush it off the memory; the sin is ever-present before the eyes which evokes various emotions of fear, dread, apprehension, remorse, even weeping, and extreme embarrassment before Allah. The person, at this moment, hangs his/her head with a broken heart for Allah. Ultimately, this very sin will be one's ticket to happiness and success; it will be more beneficial than many acts of worship due to its pleasant consequences that conclude one's journey to paradise. On the other hand, one could make a good deed but insists on bragging and showing off about it, and keeps voicing it loudly: I did so and so repeatedly. Deep conceit and arrogance will gradually infiltrate to this person's character if this attitude were to be maintained which will lead eventually to self-destruction. However, if Allah wills goodness for this person, He will afflict him with an ordeal that brings him to the knees, bents his neck, and extracts a feeling of shame out of him, but if Allah wills otherwise, He will abandon him until this conceit and arrogance eat him up; this abandonment marks the beginning of one's destruction All the notably wise people unanimously agree that the core of success underlies in Allah's support whereas destruction follows Allah's abandonment to the individual. Whomever Allah wills good for, means of humility, resort, need to Allah will be eased for such individual. In addition, an evolving sense of spotting one's errors, oppression and ignorance will be developed as well as a growing recognition of Allah's bounties, generosity, mercy, and benevolence will be gained." [Al-Wabel as-Sayyib: Page: 8] Translated by: Abdullah Ibrahim Omran al-Misri.
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http://abdurrahman.org/character/a-sin-may-lead-to-paradise.html
Women Wearing Tight-Fitting Clothes Around Relatives or Other Women : Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan
Question: (The questioner) says: Noble Shaykh, may Allaah grant you success, what is the ruling on the women wearing tight clothing in front of the woman's relatives, similarly (wearing them) in front of other women at get-togethers? Answer: It is not permissible for the woman to wear tight clothing in front of women, nor in front of relatives, nor in front of strangers. She is to wear loose fitting garments that do not display any of her body parts. That is, if she fears the Fire. As for if she does not fear the Fire then she can do whatever she wants. The Fire is in front of her (i.e., it awaits her). Translated by Raha ibn Donald Batts
http://mtws.posthaven.com Other Beneficial Resourcses: | | | | |
http://abdurrahman.org/women/women-wearing-tight-fitting-clothes.html
Some of the virtues of Ayyam al-Beed
There are three days of 13, 14 and 15 of lunar month which are called "Al-Ayyam-ul-Beed"
Jareer ibn 'Abdullaah (radiAllaahu 'anhu) narrated that the Prophet (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "Fasting three days of each month is fasting for a lifetime, and ayyam al-beed are the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth." (Narrated by al-Nasaa'i (2420); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, (1040).
Abu Dharr (radiAllaahu 'anhu) said: The Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said to me: 'If you fast any part of the month, then fast the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth." (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, (761); al-Nasaa'i, (2424); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, (1038)).
The Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: Shall I not tell you of something that will take away the evil (hardness) of the heart? Fasting three days of each month. (an- Nisaa'i 2/2386)
All Praise belongs to Allaah, may His peace and blessings be upon our final Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his family, his companions and all those who follow his guidance.
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This world does not really please as much as it hurts,
it pleases for a short time but,
it leads to longer agonies and wider sadness.
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