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Jazakum Allahu khayran.
Doing homework while selling candy and sweet to survive.
Who stole the beautiful dream of this little girl? Who robbed her innocence at such an early age?
Make du’a for the children of the world.
Your comments!!!
*The Audio of the event is linked at the bottom of this post*
I started writing this piece in the last few days of October, so it relates to events from just over a month ago.
Two days ago, I was invited to give a talk on “Prophets of Islam” at the Moraine Valley Community College in Chicago Land. It was hosted by the MSA via the public educational program at the campus’s library. I liked the idea of hosting these events at the library since it was open and readily accessible to the general public.
The hosts, both the MSA and the library administration, were gracious and welcoming. Oddly enough, I was given a friendly heads-up that some people in the audience might not necessarily be there to listen, but rather to argue and debate, so that I was fully aware and prepared for such a turn of events. I politely answered jokingly with a smile, “I just moved here from Texas, so don’t worry about it. I always carry my guns on me.” Seriously though, I am used to discussions and debates like these, alhamdulillah.
In my career as an Imam and religious leader, most of my work has been in the dawah arena. It is in this area that I have had the opportunity to deal and interact with people of different faiths and at different levels of education and devotion. I have spoken in churches and temples, colleges and universities, schools and libraries and an assortment of other places. I have discussed matters of faith and religion with priests and pastors, with laymen and missionaries, and all those who are in between. I always find these discussions interesting and engaging.
Not all these discussion conclude with someone’s conversion to Islam, but for sure many people have left more enlightened than when they came first. Many have even expressed their appreciation for new insights into faith and religion that they acquired from my presentation or discussions. In my talks I encourage people to ask the most pressing questions that they have about Islam. I let them know my own limits but at the same time giving them what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to discuss the topic of Islam with someone who claims to be an adherent to it, even in a position of leadership. There have been some incidents in which people have come after a long time, on one occasion after 3 years, to give their Shahada and become Muslim. These people took their time to conduct their own research, which was triggered by a casual discussion on Islam and faith.
Back to the Moraine Valley event then, many people showed up: Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Many were there to listen to the subject of “The Prophets of Islam”, while many others just gathered there out of curiosity. The presentation went smooth, but to my surprise no one wanted to ask any questions after it. I started wondering where the hostile crowd went, but sure enough after some encouragement, people started asking few questions here and there.
There was one group that remained silent while diligently taking notes– a group of middle-aged men and women. I felt that they were church members and were attending to listen and learn. But none from the group asked any question and I was eager to engage them. After I was done talking to the people, I headed towards them and I was addressed immediately by a seemingly well-educated and eloquent lady, who asked,
“You said you believed in the original book of Jesus.”
I replied, “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Where is it then? I want read it”
To this I replied, “You tell me, where is it? I want to read it too.”
Then we delved into a discussion over the origins of the bible and the difference between versions and the original text, and many other relevant topics. At the end, I could feel that the discussion shook the lady a little bit, and her eyes were filled with tears tears.
She said,”Why has no one ever told us this before?” I didn’t really have much to say at this point except inviting her to study Islam more.
Suddenly, a man from the group told her, “So what do you want? If you’re ready, why don’t you become a Muslim?”
She said: “All what I want is peace.”
“And that is Islam,” I said.
Then I turned to the man who called out to her to become a Muslim and said to him: “What about you? Why don’t YOU become a Muslim?”
To this he raised his hands and said: “I submit to the will of God.”
I said: “Well, that is Islam too.”
We exchanged phone numbers and emails, and I wished them the best in their pursuit for the truth.
Couple of weeks later I received an email. The lady gave her shahada. Alhamdulillah.
Yaser Birjas
[audio:http://muslimmatters.org/audio/prophetsofislam_oct2709.mp3]
Download
Prophets of Islam, Yaser Birjas
Image courtesy http://www.morainevalley.edu/
Muslim jurists differed on this issue and have four opinions:
The first opinion: Jumu’ah salat is still obligatory and has to be performed on time, whether one performs Eid salat or not. And this applies for both the Imam and the congregation.
This is the position of the Hanafi, Maliki and Dhahiri schools. Ibn Qudamah in his book al-Mughni attributed this opinion to the majority of the Fuqhaa’ and Muslim Jurists.
Their evidence, according to Ibn Rushd in “Bidayatul Mujtahid” is the default ruling of Jumu’ah salat as was derived from the ayah in surat al-Jumu’ah:
“O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if ye but knew…” 62:9
The binding ruling of Jumu’ah salat was also clearly established by the many ahadith in Bukhari, Muslim and other collections of hadith, and this cannot be out ruled even if Eid falls on Friday.
Jumu’ah salat is also as obligatory as Eid salat, and performing one of them does not substitute for the other. Imam Ibn Hazam rahimahullah in his book al-Muhallaa said: “And if Eid and Falls on Friday, one should pray Eid first and then Jumu’ah. This is a must, and there is no reliable evidence to prove otherwise”. He then said: “Jumu’ah is Fard and Eid is supererogatory, and the supererogatory act does not override the Fard.”
Moreover, the scenario of Eid and Jumu’ah is similar to Eid and Dhuhr salat in any other day besides Friday. Therefore, if dhuhr is required on Eid day, then Jumu’ah which is the Fard of Friday is also required and remains obligatory.
The second opinion: Jumu’ah is still obligatory on the residents of towns and cities and those who live near (a reasonable distance) from the Masjid. As for the commuters and people who reside far from the Masjid, they are then, if attended Eid salat, exempt from coming back for Jumu’ah salat. The Imam, however, is still obligated to perform Jumu’ah.
This is the opinion of Imam ash-Shafi’ ee rahimahullah, and Imam an-Nawawi in his Majmou’ attributed it to the majority of Muslim scholars.
His evidence is the narration of Abi Ubaid, as reported in Muwatta’ Imam Malik, who said: I prayed Eid salat with Uthman ibn Affan one time. He first started with salat, and then delivered the khutbah in which he said: “This day you have two Eids coming in one day, so for the people who came form al-Awaali -the suburbs and outskirts of Madinah- whoever wishes to stay for Jumu’ah, let them stay. And whoever wishes to return home, they can leave. They have my permission.” Imam an-Nawawi rahimahullah attributed it to Bukhari.
Imam ash-Shirazi rahimahullah said: “and the people are excused from attending Jumu’ah salat in general due to extreme hardship, and requiring people (of the suburbs) to return back for Jumu’ah after they have attended Eid salat would inflict a great hardship on them.”
The third opinion: Whoever attends Eid salat is pardoned from attending Jumu’ah regardless of his place of residence, for both the Imam and the congregation. The Imam however, should still offer Jumu’ah for those who wish to attend it and perform it for those who missed Eid salat.
Dhuhr salat, in this case, should still be performed in place of Jumu’ah. This opinion, due to its clear textual evidences, is the strongest opinion of all.
It is the opinion of Imam Ahamd rahimahullah, and is the preference of shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah who attributed it to a group of the companions such as Omar, Uthman, Ibn Masoud, Ibn Abbas and others, and then said: “and there is no knowledge of any disagreement among them on this.” It is also the opinion of many of the scholars of hadith.
The evidence for this is hadith Zaid ibn Arqam who said: The Prophet prayed the Eid salat on a Friday and granted a permission regarding the praying of Jumu’ah salat and said: “If anyone wants to pray it, he may pray.” Reported by Imam Ahmad and in the books of Sunan except for at-Tirmidhi. And was ruled Sahih by Ibn Khuzayma.
In the Sunan of Abu Dawood, Abu Hurayrah narrated, the Messenger of Allah said: “In this day you have two Eids, and for whomever wishes (Eid salat) will suffice him (form attending Jumu’ah) and we shall still be prying Jumu’ah.”
Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah adds: “Moreover, if someone attends Eid salat, he had already obtained the objective of the congregation (on Friday), so he prays Dhuhr if he did not attend Jumu’ah salat, dhuhr salat will remain on time and Eid salat achieves for him the purpose of Jumu’ah congregation. Keeping the obligation of Jumu’ah (binding)on people will definitely cause hardship for them, and would ruin the purpose of Eid, and the reason it was prescribed for to show joy and happiness. Hence, if people were held back from enjoying their time ( in order to attend Jumu’ah salat) Eid will cause an adverse result and negates its purpose.”
The fourth opinion: Whoever attends Eid salat is pardoned and does not have to attend any salat after that until Asr salat, i.e. both Jumu’ah and Dhuhr will no longer be required.
This is the opinion of Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah and from the companions Ibn az-Zubair. It was also reported as one opinion of Imam Ahmad.
Abdullah ibn az-Zubair radiyallahu anahu once said: “Two Eids (Eid Day and Friday)came on one Day, so he prayed two Rak’ah early in the morning and did not add anything to after that until Asr.” Ata’ reported this to Ibn Abbas when he was in Taif, and to this he replied: “The followed the Sunnah” Reported by Abu Dawood.
In refuting this final opinion, Imam al-Khattabi rahimahullah said: “This -the act of Ibn az-Zubair- could not be understood except in the context of the opinion of those who permit performing Jumu’ah prior to the time of zawal (the beginning of the time of dhuhr when the sun starts moving out of the zenith), hence Ibn az-Zubair would have prayed Jumu’ah in place of Eid and dhuhr.”
In addition to that, Ata’ who reported the incident of ibn az-Zubair also said: “On Jumu’ah time we gathered for salat but he (Ibn az-Zubair) did not come out (to lead us)so we prayed individually.” This means that they prayed dhuhr, and there is a possibility that Ibn az-Zubair did pray dhuhr in his house as well.
And Allah knows best.
Sh. Mohammad Sulayman al-Ashqar, rahimahullah 1930-2009
Another great scholar has just past away, November 16, 2009 in Amman, Jordan
Sh. Mohammad Sulayman al-Ashqar, the author of “Zubdat at-Tafsir” the abridged version of Tafsir ash-Shawkani and the author of the Usool book “al-Waadih fee Usool al-Fiqh” among many other works of the sheikh rahmiahullah. He was the older brother of sh. Omar Sulayman al-Ashqar the author of the famous series on Aqeeda and articles of Imaan which was translated into English language and many other languages.
Sheikh Mohammad al-Ashqar was born the Burqa, near Nablus in Palestine back in the 1930s, he moved to Riyadh in the 1950s were he lived briefly and studied in the first institute was ever established for religious studies. He served as the librarian for “Dar al-Iftaa” The Office of Fatwa.
He then continued his studies in the Shari’ah College in Riyadh and became amongst the early graduates in 1956-7, then the first graduate to teach in the same college.
Among his teachers were sh. Mohammad al-Ameen ash-Shanqeeti the famous usooli (legal theorist) and Mufassir, and sh. Ibn Baz the late mufti of Saudi Arabia rahimahum Allah.
Sh. Al-Ashqar continued teaching in Riyadh until he moved to the University of Madinah in 1961 where he taught for two years before moving to Kuwait. In Kuwait the sheikh supervised the library of the ministry of Islamic affairs for twelve years while finishing his masters and Ph. D from al-Azhar university. His thesis was in the field of Usool, the legal theory of Islamic law, and was titled “The actions of the Messenger of Allah and their legal authority in establishing the law”. His study was later published and now available in Arabic language.
Sheikh al-Ashqar then joined the efforts in completing a very famous Encyclopedia of Fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, “al-Mawsoo’a al-Fiqhiyyah” sponsored by the ministry of Islamic affairs in Kuwait, a leading project to summarize and modernize the code of Islamic jurisprudence for easy access and quick reference to the different Fiqh issues according to different schools of thoughts.
He was a member of the Fatwa Counsel in Kuwait until the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Sh. Al-Ashqar then moved to Amman, Jordan were he dedicated his time for research and writing until he passed away rahimahullah.
(summarized, edited and translated from his website www.alashqar.net)
I personally met the sheikh many times when he lived in Kuwait and after he moved to Amman, Jordan.
May Allah forgive him and raise his status in Jannah, and give us all patience for the loss of another icon of ilm and knowledge.
Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi rajioon.
