Articles

World Interfaith Harmony Week
Author : His Grace Shiekh Abdulkareem Al-Khasawneh
Date Added : 29-03-2022

World Interfaith Harmony Week

 

By Grand Mufti,

Sheikh AbdulKareem Al-Khasawneh

 

Grand Mufti`s Statement during the Celebration of the World Interfaith Harmony Week

 

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may the blessings of Allah be upon our Master the Hashemite Arab Prophet and upon all his companions and whoever followed their path till the Day of Judgment:

On this blessed day, we celebrate "The World Interfaith Harmony Week" that was launched by His Majesty King Abdullah II in the first week of February to be an annual season to harvest the good and blessed fruits of the tree he had planted; under whose shades the world took shelter to enjoy peace and security. Religious thinkers and believers have watered and took care of this tree. Being the tree of love and harmony, it wouldn`t produce but good, peace, and stability for the whole world; spread love, and eliminated hatred and animosity. This is particularly true since it was planted by pure Hashemite hands that draw their blessings and strength from their direct connection to the Prophet Mohammad who was sent as mercy to all creations. Allah says (What means): "And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)." [al-Anbiya' 21:107].

Muslims and Christians of this blessed country (Jordan) have always been and always will be a unique model of human brotherhood, harmony, and peaceful coexistence. Through their national belonging and religious doctrine, adherents of both faiths strive to preserve Jordan, and instill values of citizenship in its citizens. In their noble quest to build Jordan, they united under the flag of the Hashemites to which they have pledged allegiance and swore loyalty. Thus, this flag was embraced by hearts before pledges, and protected by souls before weapons,. This is because it is blessed and has spread justice and all that is good to the people of Jordan. Enlightened by the following verse : " We have honoured the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of our creation." A-Isra`, 70}, this flag sought to preserve the honor and dignity of all Jordanians as human beings. By doing so, it established the relationship between Jordanians on the basis of equal rights and obligations. This concept is based on a key principle of Islamic Law reflected in the following verse: "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you." {Al-Hujurat, 13}.

This blessed Week came to present to the whole world the true universal message of Islam, which calls for spreading love and harmony between people. This fact is the true, divine, eternal constitution governing the relationship between Muslims and followers of other faiths regardless of time, place, or circumstances. A fact and a law so precious that it should be written with letters from light and lines from gold, and will be alive in the Muslim nation`s conscience and doctrine till the Day of Judgment. It is manifested in the following verse: "God forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for God loveth those who are just." {Al-Mumtahinah, 8}. This verse is pretty clear in determining that the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is based on a great matter: showing kindness to others before justice and showing love to them to be rewarded with the love of Allah. Dear respectable audience, behold how Almighty Allah addressed non-Muslims with the kindest of words that bring hearts together: "O people of the Book!" and "Those who have received the scripture." This is used in about sixty places throughout the Noble Quran, and this form of address shows a great deal of respect and appreciation to the addressees, because attributing the Book to a nation means attributing science and knowledge to it.

Accordingly, being a nation of goodness; as described by Allah, and moderation; as chosen by Allah, it is the responsibility of the Muslim nation to complete the mission of the Prophets and Messengers, and to be the last building block of human civilization. All of this dictates that the Muslim nation leaves no stone unturned to spread goodness, love, and harmony amongst people, and establish ties between them based on harmony and knowing each other; of course in light of the divine rules derived from the Quran and the guidance of the Chosen One; Prophet Mohammad (Peace and blessings be upon him). This task was undertaken by the Hashemite family emanating from their religious and national responsibility to portray the correct and luminous image of Islam to stop the extremists, terrorists, and sedition mongers from hijacking Islam and abusing the faith through exaggeration and strictness. The result, as witnessed by the whole world, a wave of terrorist and extremist acts in the name of Islam undermining world peace and security, in addition to destroying societies and countries.

Thanks to Allah and the tight ties amongst the Jordanians, we managed to overcome that wave of extremist and Takfiri groups. Holding fast to our true religion, Hashemite flag, and peaceful coexistence gave no room for such groups.

We ask Allah to bless our country with peace and security under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II, and to bless the whole world with permanent love, peace, and harmony, as Allah loves and pleases. And all praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.

 

 

 

 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Who is the one deemed "able" (al-qādir), for whom the uḍḥiyah (sacrificial offering) is sunnah?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The one who is deemed "able" (al-qādir) [to perform the uḍḥiyah, i.e., the sacrifice] is someone who possesses wealth sufficient to acquire the sacrificial animal, over and above what is needed to cover his own living expenses and the living expenses of his wife and children — or of anyone else whose financial support (nafaqah) is legally obligatory upon him — for the day of ‘Eid and the three days of Tashrīq [that follow it], since this is the designated time period for the sacrifice. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

"If the fidyah becomes obligatory upon a pregnant or nursing woman because she broke her fast out of fear for her child, is it obligatory from her own wealth, or from her husband's wealth?"

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The fidyah (ransom/compensation payment for breaking the fast) is obligatory from the wife's own wealth, and is not obligatory upon the husband unless he voluntarily chooses to pay it on her behalf.
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vol.2/P.174): "If the two [the pregnant woman and the nursing mother] fear for the child alone — such as a pregnant woman fearing miscarriage, or a nursing mother fearing that her milk supply would decrease, thereby endangering the child — then both the qaḍā' (making up the missed fast) and the fidyah become obligatory upon them, to be paid from their own wealth." And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

What is the ruling on performing the night prayer (*qiyām al-layl*) between the first and second adhān of Fajr? And which is better: delaying the prayer until shortly before the Fajr adhān, or performing it earlier than that?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The time for night prayer (qiyām al-layl) begins after the Maghrib prayer and lasts until the second adhān of Fajr. The best time for it is the last third of the night, and best of all are the fourth and fifth sixths of the night. If the night is divided into two halves, the latter half is better.
Whoever intends to pray at night is encouraged to delay the Witr until he has prayed the night prayer. If he knows that he will not wake up, it is better for him to pray and perform Witr before sleeping, so that he does not miss both the night prayer and the Witr.
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vpl.1/p.462): “I say: The voluntary prayer of the night, that is, the absolute voluntary prayer (al-nafl al-muṭlaq), is better than the absolute voluntary prayer of the day, because of the report in Muslim: ‘The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is the night prayer.’ In another narration of his: ‘In the night there is an hour that no Muslim man meets while asking Allah for any good of this world and the next except that He gives it to him, and that is every night.’ It is also because the night is a time of heedlessness. I restricted the voluntary prayer to the absolute kind following the commentator, although what the ḥadīth and the underlying meaning require is that the night rawātib be preferred over the day rawātib, since the jurists preferred the two rakʿahs of Fajr over everything except Witr. The middle of the night is better than its two ends if it is divided into thirds, because heedlessness is greatest then and worship is hardest. If he wishes to pray during some third, the best is the fourth and fifth sixths, based on the ḥadīth in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: ‘The most beloved prayer to Allah the Exalted is the prayer of Dāwūd: he would sleep half the night, stand for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth.’ Then the latter part is better than the first if he divides it into two halves, because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ‘And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness’ [al-Dhāriyāt: 18], and the report of the two Shaykhs: ‘Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends,’ meaning His command descends, ‘to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who calls upon Me, that I may answer him? Who asks of Me, that I may give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”
It is also stated in ʿUmdat al-Sālik (p. 60): “It is better to perform it [the Witr] immediately after the sunnah of ʿIshāʾ, unless he has tahajjud, in which case it is better to delay it so that he performs Witr after it. If he performs Witr and then wishes to pray tahajjud, he prays two rakʿahs at a time and does not repeat the Witr, nor does he need to cancel it with a single rakʿah before the tahajjud. It is recommended that he not deliberately pray after it.”
Qiyām al-layl is a term applied to any prayer performed at night. Tahajjud, on the other hand, refers to the night prayer that follows sleep, whether it is prayed after Maghrib or after ʿIshāʾ, or the prayer performed after ʿIshāʾ without sleep. On this basis, the Witr is also called tahajjud, since it is only prayed after ʿIshāʾ.
It is stated in al-Majmūʿ (Vol.4/p.84): “The sound position, as stated in al-Umm and al-Mukhtaṣar, is that the Witr is called tahajjud.”
It is stated in Nihāyat al-Zayn (Vol.1/p.114): “Among the absolute voluntary prayers is qiyām al-layl. If it is performed after sleep, even during the time of Maghrib and after having prayed ʿIshāʾ early (taqdīman), it is called tahajjud.”
And it is stated in Ḥāshiyat al-Bujayrimī ʿalā al-Khaṭīb (Vol.1/p.418): “His statement: ‘(the night prayer)’: the genitive construction (iḍāfah) carries the sense of fī, meaning a prayer in the night. His statement: ‘(it would be more fitting)’: the reason it is more fitting is that the night prayer includes both tahajjud and other prayers.” And Allah Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on forgiving a tenant next month's rent, with the intention of counting it toward zakāh al-māl?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It does not fulfill the obligation to count the rent owed on a house, or a portion of it, in lieu of zakāh. Rather, it is necessary to first transfer ownership of the zakāh amount to the poor person directly; only afterward may he be asked to pay the rent [from that money].
It is stated in ‘Umdat as-Sālik (p. 112): "If someone gives [money] to a poor person, stipulating that the recipient return it to him in payment of a debt owed to him, or says, 'I am making what you owe me into zakāh, so take it [as such]' — this is not valid. But if he gives it to him with the [unstated] intention that the recipient will use it to repay him, or says, 'Repay what you owe me, so that I may [then separately] give it to you as zakāh,' or the debtor himself says, 'Give it to me, so that I may [then] repay you with it' — this is valid, and there is no binding obligation for the recipient to actually fulfill this [informal understanding]."
We would also remind [the reader] of the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ: "The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim: he does not wrong him, nor does he abandon him [to harm]. Whoever attends to the needs of his brother, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will attend to his needs. Whoever relieves a Muslim of a hardship, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will relieve him of one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection. And whoever conceals [the faults of] a Muslim, Allah will conceal him on the Day of Resurrection." (Agreed upon). And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.