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Grateful to the Messenger of Allah
Author : An Article by the Secretary General Dr. Ahmad Al-Hassanat
Date Added : 09-10-2022

Grateful to the Messenger of Allah

 

Although more than a thousand years have passed over the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), we still love him, feel that we are living his era, and celebrate his birth anniversary, which revives the meanings of his love in our hearts. Dwelling upon his great blessings conferred upon us indicates that he is the most entitled to be thanked and our situation with him resembles that of his companions (PBUT). Mu'awiyah, (may Allah be pleased with him,) said: "The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) went out to a circle - meaning, of his Companions - and said: 'What are you doing?' They said: 'We have come together to pray to Allah and praise Him for guiding us to His religion, and blessing us with you.' He said: 'I ask you, by Allah, is that the only reason?' They said: 'By Allah, we have not come together for any other reason.' He said: 'I am not asking you to swear to an oath because of any suspicion; rather Jibril (PBUH) came to me and told me that Allah, The Mighty and Sublime, is boasting of you to the angels.' [Transmitted by Nas`ei].

It is our duty to constantly show gratefulness to Allah The Almighty for having sent the Messenger (PBUH) and that he came to guide us to the way of Allah and the straight path. The evidence on this is that Allah Says (What means): "O Prophet! Truly We have sent thee as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad Tidings, and Warner,- And as one who invites to God’s (grace) by His leave, and as a lamp spreading light." [Al-Ahzab/45-46]. He was sent to deliver us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of faith.

Had it not been for the Messenger of Allah, we wouldn`t have known Allah. This was the reason for safety in this world and the next life, and this applies to those who believed in him and those who didn`t. Sa`eid Bin Jubair reported from Ibn Abbas who said that the verse: "We haven`t sent thee o Mohammed save as mercy to all creatures," indicates the person who believed in Allah and the Messenger attains mercy in this world and the next life and the person who didn`t believe in them is relieved from the punishment that used to befall earlier nations in this world ." [Transmitted in Al-Sharee`ah by Al-Ajiri].

We are also grateful to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) for having brought good morals after the good was mixed with the bad and some encroached upon the other. He (PBUH) came to distinguish the good from the bad and sift these morals between strictness and negligence. He (PBUH) said: "I was sent to perfect good character." [Mowatta` Malik]. With silence in the court, Jafar Bin Abu Talib stood up and addressed the king Abyssinia in the following words:

“O King! we were plunged in the depth of ignorance and barbarism; we adored idols,

we lived in unchastity,,we ate the dead bodies, and we spoke abominations, we disregarded every feeling of humanity, and the duties of hospitality and neighborhood were neglected; we knew no law but that of the strong, when Allah raised among us a man, of whose birth, truthfulness, honesty, and purity we were aware; and he called to the Oneness of Allah ,

and taught us not to associate anything with Him.

 

However, this wasn`t as easy as it may seem since calling to Allah was a tall order; not merely delivering speeches. Rather, many relentless efforts were exerted and sacrifices offered. It was narrated that Anas bin Malik said: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'I have been tortured for the sake of Allah as no one else has, and I have suffered fear for the sake of Allah as no one else has. I have spent three days when Bilal and I had no food that any living being could eat but that which could be concealed in the armpit of Bilal." [Mosanaf Ibn Abi Shaibah].

He (PBUH) was patient and endured harm, siege, hunger, thirst, was accused of madness, false allegations were made against his wife Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) and was forced out of the land that he loved most. It has been narrated on the authority of `A'isha, the wife of the Prophet (PBUH), who said to the Messenger of Allah (may peace he upon him): Messenger of Allah, has there come upon you a day more terrible than the day of Uhud. He said: I have experienced from thy people and the hardest treatment I met from them was what I received from them on the day of `Aqaba. I betook myself to Ibn `Abd Yalil b. `Abd Kulal with the purpose of inviting him to Islam, but he did not respond to me as I desired. So I departed with signs of (deep) distress on my face. I did not recover until I reached Qarn al-Tha`alib. Where I raised my head, lo! near me was a cloud which had cast its shadow on me. I looked and lo! there was in it the angel Jibril who called out to me and said: God, the Honoured and Glorious, has heard what thy people have said to thee, and how they have reacted to thy call. And He has sent to thee the angel in charge of the mountains so that thou mayest order him what thou wishest (him to do) with regard to them. The angel in charge of the mountains (then) called out to me, greeted me and said: Muhammad, God has listened to what thy people have said to thee. I am the angel in charge of the mountains, and thy Lord has sent me to thee so that thou mayest order me what thou wishest. If thou wishest that I should bring together the two mountains that stand opposite to each other at the extremities of Mecca to crush them in between, (I would do that). But the Messenger of Allah (may peace he upon him) said to him: I rather hope that God will produce from their descendants such persons as will worship Allah, the One, and will not ascribe partners to Him." [Moslim].

 

We are also grateful to the Prophet for having made us brothers and united our hearts after we were on each other's throats.

 

Allah The Almighty Says (What means): "for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren…" [Al-Imran/103]. He also Says (What means): "O my Lord! they have indeed led astray many among mankind; He then who follows my (ways) is of me, and he that disobeys me,- but Thou art indeed Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful." [Ibrahim/ 36]. 'Isa (Jesus) (PBUH) said (What means): "If Thou dost punish them, they are Thy servant: If Thou dost forgive them, Thou art the Exalted in power, the Wise." [Al-Ma`idah/118]. 'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'as (May Allah be pleased with them) reported:

The Prophet (PBUH) recited the Words of Allah, The Exalted, and the Glorious, about Ibrahim (PBUH) who said: "O my Rubb! They have led astray many among mankind. But whosoever follows me, he verily, is of me". (14:36) and those of 'Isa (Jesus) (PBUH) who said: "If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, verily, You, only You, are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise". (5:118). Then he (PBUH) raised up his hands and said, "O Allah! My Ummah, my Ummah," and wept; Allah, The Exalted, said (What means): "O Jibril (Gabriel)! Go to Muhammad (PBUH) and ask him: 'What makes you weep?" So Jibril came to him and asked him (the reason of his weeping) and the Messenger of Allah informed him what he had said (though Allah knew it well). Upon this Allah said: "Jibril, go to Muhammad (PBUH) and say: 'Verily, We will please you with regard to your Ummah and will never displease you". [Moslim].

 

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (PBUH) as saying:

"The similitude of mine and that of my Umma is that of a person who lit fire and there began to fall into it insects and moths. And I am there to hold you back, but you plunge into it."

 

How could we be ungrateful to the Messenger (PBUH) while he keeps asking Allah to forgive us even after he departed this world? He (PBUH) said: "Both my life and death are good for you. Even after my death, your deeds are shown to me. If they are good, I thanked Allah. If they are bad, I asked Him to forgive you." [Musnad Al-Bazzar].

 

How could we be ungrateful to the Messenger (PBUH) while on the Day of Resurrection, everyone tries to save himself or herself but he says: "O Allah! My Ummah, my Ummah."

 

We are grateful for his being the Messenger of Allah and for the fact that Allah has honored us to be from his Ummah that lives in accordance with his righteous methodology.

 

Every blessing Allah bestowed upon us is because of the Messenger (PBUH). In this regard, Al-Shafi`I says ?(What means): "Every blessing, revealed or concealed, is because of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)."

 

Thank you Messenger of Allah.

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

What are the Sunnahs and etiquettes related to the slaughtering of an animal?

 

 
In the Name of Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
1-Avoid terrifying the animal before it is slaughtered.
 
2-Do not slaughter the animal in front of others of its kind.
 
3-Offer water to the animal before the sacrifice.
 
4-Sharpen the knife thoroughly prior to slaughtering to ensure the cut is made as quickly and cleanly as possible. This is in accordance with the statement of our Master, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Indeed, Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, has prescribed excellence (Ihsan) in all things. So when you kill, kill well; and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each of you sharpen his blade, and let him put his sacrificial animal at ease." (Narrated by Muslim)
 
Do not begin skinning the carcass until you are absolutely certain that the animal has completely passed away.
 
Slaughter cattle, sheep, and goats while they are lying down on their left side, facing the Qiblah (direction of prayer). Leave the right leg untied so the animal can move it, helping it rest more easily during its final moments. For camels, however, the preferred method (Nahr) is to slaughter them while they are standing up, with their left knee tied. And Allah the Almighty Knows Best.

What should I do in order to wake up for Fajr (dawn) prayer?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds                                                                                                                                                                What should I do in order to wake up for Fajr (dawn) prayer? Answer: Some of the acts that aid in offering Fajr prayer are: 1- Going to bed early. 2-  Willingness to wake up. 3- Reciting Al-Korsi verse from Chapter Al-Baqarah. 4- Taking refuge in Allah from the cursed devil, and making ablution immediatley after being awake, but it is preferable to ask someone to help in this regard to perform the Fajr prayer. And Allah Knows Best.

When does the time for Udhiyah begin?

 
In the Name of Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
The permissible timeframe for Udhiyah (sacrificial offering) begins on the day of Eid al-Adha—the 10th of Dhul-Hijjah—once the sun has risen and a period of time sufficient to perform two brief prayer units (Rak'ahs) and two short sermons (Khutbahs) has passed. This window remains open until the sun sets on the final day of Tashreeq, which is the 13th of Dhul-Hijjah.
 
Our Master, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), said: "Every valley of Mina is a place of sacrifice, and slaughtering may be done throughout all the days of Tashreeq." (Narrated by Al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Hibban)
 
The days of Tashreeq refer to the 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhul-Hijjah.
 
The most virtuous time to perform the sacrifice is immediately after concluding the Eid prayer, based on the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "The first thing we do on this day of ours is to pray, then we return and offer our sacrifice. Whoever does that has acted in accordance with our Sunnah (tradition), and whoever slaughters before that, it is merely meat he has provided for his family; it has nothing to do with the ritual sacrifice." (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
 
What is meant here is an estimation of time rather than the actual performance of the prayer itself, as our Master, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), used to offer the Eid al-Adha prayer immediately after sunrise.
 
The sacrifice is valid if performed at any time during these designated days, whether by day or by night, though slaughtering at night is considered disliked (Makruh). And Allah the Almighty 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.

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