Proof God is Unlike Any Creation (RT 22/6/08)

Risalah Tauhid 22 June 2008

4th Dalil – Proof That God Unlike Anything Created

If God resembled anything created, then God is also created. Imagine an entity (A) that is similar to another (B) from one aspect - x. It would just be possible that A is also similar to B from another aspect (y).
Thus we conclude that God is clear from resembling any of entity created.
The Dalil Naqli is the following ayat from al-Qur’an:

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

Nothing is similar to Him.

5th Dalil – Proof That God Stands by Himself

We bring forward 2 cases:

1. To disprove that God is in need of space or host to stand on His own.
If God needed a space or a host, then He is just an attribute (sifat) without being. This is impossible since we have already established that God exists in being. He is an entity that has Sifats Ma’ani: He lives, He is powerful, He wills, He has knowledge, He hears, He sees, and He talks.

2. To disprove that God is in need of a helper or creator.
If He needed something else to cause Him into being, then He is new or created. This is false, and we have discussed it with proofs of Uncreated (Qidam) and Everlasting (Baqa’).

God stands by Himself and “absolutely” self-sufficient. He is in no need of space to establish Himself, and He does not need something else to come into existence.

Some of God’s creations are also self-sufficient, but they are “relatively” self-sufficient since they need a Creator.

Dalil Naqli that God stands by Himself is the ayat from al-Qur’an:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَا لَمِينَ
(عنكبوت اية 6)

Truly Allah is free from need of the worlds.

(al-Ankabut -6)

Said Ustaz Zakaria:

• We put our hope in Allah to help us, but we always give best effort and work to achieve what we need. This we call ‘tajrid’ or ‘raja’’.
• Past ulama made a habit of reciting Surah al-Waqi’ah morning and afternoon. In the fields, they worked no harder than common folks, but they would later reap better harvests. Some could get any kind of fruit they wished, even those out of season.

Wallahu a'lam

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Proof God is Everlasting (RT 8/6/08)

Risalah Tauhid 8 June 2008

Continuing with Proof that God is Uncreated (Qidam)

If God had been created, then the creator must have been created also - by another creator. This predicament is called Tasalsul or ‘chained’ – Hassan created Hussin, who created Muhsin, who created Khalid, who created Jamal, who created Fulan and so on. It is unacceptable that an object is created by another object, which itself is a product of some infinite creator.

Since we have proven that Dur and Tasalsul are a fallacy, here we conclude that God is indeed uncreated.

3rd Dalil – Proof That God is Everlasting (Baqa’)

God has to be everlasting. If we deny that, we might as well deny that God is uncreated.

If God could ever die off, that brings a notion of "existence time frame". Outside this timeframe, God did not exist. At an arbitrary point of time, God may or may not exist.

Ask yourself, at the very moment God ceased to exist, who took the responsibility to create and renew everything else? And who took that same responsibility afterwards? Did God recreate Himself so that He can create and renew things? This brings back notion of Dur and Tasalsul – which has been rejected.

Dalil naqli is the ayat al-Qur’an:

كُلُّ مَن عَلَيهَ فَان وَ يَبقَى وَجهُ رَبِّكَ ذُوالجَلاَلِ وَ الاءِكرَامِ
(الرحمن اية 26-27)

Everything on the face of the earth will perish, while your God (O Muhammad)
will be everlasting in His full glory and splendor.

(Surah Ar-Rahman ayat 26-27)

Wallahu a'lam

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Hadith #86-88, Abdullah Ibn Umar 17/5/08

Hadith lesson by Sheikh Mohd Nuruddin Marbu Al-Banjari Al-Makki at Masjid USJ9 Subang Jaya on 17/5/08 (Ahadith #86-88)

Compilation of Hadith as Narrated by 10 of the Sahabahs.
Narration of Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) (continued).

Hadith#86: Status of a Faithful Muslim.

عن إبن عمر - رضي الله عنهما - قال: رأيت رسول الله (ص) يطوف بالكعبة ويقول: ما أطيبك وأطيب ريحك ما أعظمك وأعظم حرمتك والذي نفس محمد بيده لحرمة المؤمن أعظم عند الله حرمةً منك: ماله ودمه وأن تظُنَّ به إلا خيرا

(رواه إبن ماجه)

From Ibn Umar (ra): I saw Rasulullah (saw) circling (tawaf ) the Ka’bah, and he said (to the Ka’bah):

Such fragrance you emit! Such greatness you have! So high your status! But by Allah that holds control over Muhammad, Allah put higher regard to a believer (faithful muslim) than to you. He also put high regard on the believer’s property and his blood. So refrain from holding suspicion against another believer.

(as narrated by Imam Ibn Majah rh).

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Hadith#87: Socializing with People.

عن إبن عمر - رضي الله عنهما - قال: قال رسول الله (ص): المؤمن الذي يُخالط الناس، ويصبر على أذاهم أعظم أجرًا من المؤمن الذي لا يُخالط الناس، ولا يصبر على أذاهم

(رواه البخاري و أحمد والترمذي)

From Ibn Umar (ra):

Rasulullah (saw) has said: A believer who mixes with people, and have patience over their offensive behavior, is rewarded more than another believer who does not mix with people and could not tolerate their offense.

(as narrated by Imams Al-Bukhari, at-Tirmidzi rh).

Explained Sh. Nuruddin:

• Sometimes we benefit from people who are rude to us.
• Usually it is better to isolate oneself before doing zikr to prevent people intruding our communication with Allah.
• Whenever there is safety risk, it is better to get away from people.

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Hadith #88: Injustice is Darkness.

عن إبن عمر - رضي الله عنهما - قال: قال رسول الله (ص): أيها الناس، اتَّقو الظُّلم، فإنه ظلمات يوم القيامة

(رواه أحمد و عبد بن حميد)

From Ibn Umar (ra):

Rasulullah (saw) said: O people! Be afraid of being unjust, because.injustice (zalim) would show itself as darkness (zulumaat) at the Day of Rising.

(as narrated by Imams Ahmad and ‘Abdu bin Humaid rh).

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Wallahu a'lam

Perfect Solah – Time, Qiblah, Niat (MM 22/6/08)

Munyatul Musolli 22nd June 2008

Elaborating on points for perfection of solah:

4th point – Keeping Solah in Prescribed Time
To keep solah within its time is further broken down into 3:

1. With your eyes, you can see the sun, moon, or stars so that you can deduce the correct time.
2. With your ears you can hear the azan calling.
3. With your heart you keep reminding yourself of the appointed time.
   

5th point – Facing the Qiblah
3 considerations for perfection:

1. Your chest faces direction of the Ka’bah.
2. Your heart faces Allah.
3. Your body keep focus, be humble, and feel inferior.
   

6th point – Niat
3 considerations for perfection:

1. You be mindful the type of solah you’re performing.
2. You keep in mind that you’re standing in front of Allah, and He sees you. So you stand still and calm.
3. You are aware that Allah knows what in your heart, so you must cut off worldly business from your mind.

Said Ustaz Zakaria:

• If you have difficulty to determine the correct time due to bad weather, lack of clock etc, it is all right to use fair judgment (dzon).
• To set your heart facing Allah, you need to train it with wirid that has ‘higher’ connection. How do you know your wirid has that connection? 1- Good silsilah (chain of transmission) 2- Your heart trembles on hearing God’s name.
• Our tariqah – Ahmadiyyah Idrisiyyah - demands consistent theoretical learning and practice. Attend both lessons and majlis zikir regularly, hopefully the warid sticks.
  Ulama say that the better time to become close to Allah (muraqobah) is in between recitations in solah.
• Put your heart where your mouth is. Don’t recite things you’re not conscious of like you’re possessed by some evil spirit.
• Iqamah sounds the last warning: Be careful, you’re about to face Allah.
  Be steadfast in your effort, may God reward you His Way as mentioned in the Qur’an:
  أَلَّذِينَ جَهَدُوْا فِينَا لَنَهدِيَنَّهُم سُبُلَنَا

Wallahu a'lam

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Perfection of Solah (MM 8/6/08)

Munyatul Musolli 8th June 2008

Continuing with points for perfection of solah:

The 3rd point is wearing proper clothes to cover during solah. Allah said:

خذو زينتكم عند كل مسجد

Put on adornment (dress) when you are at places of worship.

The 4th point is to perform solah within prescribed time.
The 5th point is to face the direction of Ka’bah.
The 6th point is to set the intention (niat). Said Rasulullah (saw):

إنما لاءعمال باالنيات

Truly every deed is accompanied with niat.

The 7th point is takbiratul-ihram (Saying “Allahu akbar”). Rasulullah (saw) said:

تحريمها التكبير وتحليلها التسليم

Takbir makes it illegal, and salam makes it legal.

The 8th point is standing up in solah. Allah said:

وقوموا لله قانتين

And stand up before Allah in full piety.

The 9th point is reciting the Qur’an.
The 10th point is bowing (ruku’).
The 11th point is prostrating (sujud) twice.
The 12th point is sitting for tasyahhud.

1st point - Knowledge (‘Ilm)
Knowledge about solah is broken down into 3 aspects:

1. Ability to identify which element is compulsory (fardu) and which is encouraged (sunnah). Solah is not valid if the correct method is not followed.
2. Knowledge on ablution (wudhu’) to identify which element is compulsory, and which is encouraged.
3. Ability to spot tricks played by syaitan. With this knowledge we can evade syaitan trying to veer us away from Allah.
   

2nd point - Ablution
3 considerations to ensure a perfect ablution:

1. Clean the heart from evil, hatred and loathing.
2. Clean the body from sin.
3. Wash parts of body with prudent use of water.

3rd point – Proper dress
Before dressing up for solah consider the following:

1. Whether the dress is obtained from legitimate sources (halal).
2. Whether the cloth is clean.
3. Whether the dress conforms with sunnah and devoid of arrogance, show-off or pride.
   

Ustaz Zakaria added:

• When washing clothes to be used for solah, make sure do it according to syara’ such as sprinkling water from the top and let the water drip away from the bottom.
• Before washing from public faucet, make sure you sprinkle water at the outlet to ensure water purity.
• Better pray at masjid or surau since impurities (najis) found on the floors are excusable (lizard dropping etc). Compare this to floor at home spotted with remnant of children urine and excrement (babies without diaper).
• You face the direction of Ka’bah (qiblah) even before raising the takbiratul-ihram.
• Step out to masjid or surau even before azan sounds, not after solah commences.
• If you are convinced certain element of solah is obligatory when it is only encouraged, then your solah becomes invalid.
• It is valid to perform solah behind an angel (malaikat) (even though we can never ascertain their gender).

Wallahu a'lam

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Terms and What They Mean #3

Reference table #3 to assist you with the words. Next time you need to refer, just click on "Glossary of Terms" label to the right.

TERM	OTHER FORMS OF SPELLING	MEANING
(as)		Alaihi salam. Arabic salutation after mentioning any of the Nabis (beside Muhammad), meaning 'upon him peace'. Sometimes also used for the angel 'Jibril'.
(ra)		Radiallahu 'anh. Arabic salutation after mentioning a companion of Prophet Muhammad. Sometimes also used after prominent ulama. Means 'Allah is pleased with him/her'.
(rh)		Rahimullahu 'alaih. Arabic salutation after mentioning a deceased muslim. Sometimes reserved for ulama and selected people only. Means 'may Allah's mercy be upon him'.
(saw)		Sollallahu alaihi wasallam. Arabic salutation after mentioning the name of Prophet Muhammad, meaning 'Allah's greetings and peace upon him'.
Barakah		Benefit or blessing transmitted from those closer to Allah.
Faqih		A person knowledgable in Fiqh.
Fiqh	Fekah	Islamic ruling or law. Together with Tauhid and Tasawwuf form 3 branches of Islamic knowledge that each Muslim is required to learn.
Iftirasy		The method of sitting during non-final tasyahhuds, where both legs are folded backwards and supports the posterior.
Ilm	Ilm, Ilmu	Knowledge.
Isra' and Mi'raj		The miraculous event when Allah made Prophet Muhammad travel from Mecca to Jerusalem, then to the heavens, then back to Mecca, all in a matter of minutes. Allah gave order to Prophet Muhammad to perform solah 5 times a day.
Khalaf		Muslims of later generation than the 'Salaf'.
Malaikah	Malaikat	Angels. The leader is named Jibril.
Maqam	Makam	Spritual status. In another meaning, maqam refers to grave.
Martabat		Status
Maryam		Mary, mother of Nabi Isa (as).
Nabi		A person selected by Allah to become His messenger.There are hundred of thousand of them, started with Adam, and ended with Muhammad.
Rasul		A person selected by Allah to become His messenger. His responsibility is wider than a Nabi's. To be explained in future lessons if God wills. Out of hundred thousand Nabis, only 313 of them are ranked as Rasuls (Adam and Muhammad included).
Sahabah		Literally 'friends' or 'companions'. Most of the time, this refers to contemporaries of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
Salaf		The pious and knowledgable generation of Muslims within 300 years of the death of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
Sayyidina	Saidina	Literally means 'our master' or 'our leader'. 'Sayyidina Muhammad' would mean 'Our leader Prophet Muhammad'.
Syaikh	Sheikh	Master or teacher. Usually reserved for the very pious ones. In Malaysia, they are called 'Tuan Guru', in Indonesia 'Kiyai' or 'Syiah', in Southern Thailand 'Baba', in Phillipines 'Maulana'.
Tafsir	Tafseer	Literally means 'explanation'. Usually refers to the explanation (or exegesis) of Al-Quran.
Tasawwuf	Tasauf, Sufism	Science of cleansing the heart from flawed characters. Together with Tauhid and Fiqh form 3 branches of Islamic knowledge that each Muslim is required to learn.
Waqaf	Wakaf	Charity. Money or materials set aside for the needy.
Wudu'	Wudu	Ablution. Cleaning the face, hands, forehead, and feet before performing solah or touching the Quran.
Yaqin	Yakin, Yaqeen	True conviction. With confidence.

Wallahu a'lam