Morals and Manners in Islam

Here are a few morals and manners that we, as Muslims should follow at all times. And as i said in my previous post, the best way to remember something is to act upon it and permanently take it into your life.

Kindness & Gentleness:

1) Speaking should be loud enough to be audible to the one addressed, never louder.
2) Bad or objectionable language should be avoided.
3) Laughter should not be characterized by loud or unpleasant sounds.
4) Weeping should be restrained and polite, not hysterically loud or abandoned.
5) Eating and drinking should be done at a gentle, dignified pace.
6) It is proper for a Muslim to restrain his anger, keeping himself within the bounds of courtesy.
7) Parents should give their children beautiful, meaningful name, and avoid names indicating difficulty and sadness.
8) Smiling at other people when meeting is recommended.
9) Looking pleasantly at others while conversing with then is required as polite conduct.
10) It is necessary that a Muslim be gentle when criticizing others for something they might have done.

Following these rules given forth by the Qur'an and Sunnah will help you get closer to Allah (SWT).

And Allah knows best.

Book: 'Morals and Manners in Islam'     
Author: Marwan Ibrahim Al-Kaysi
http://www.al-hidaayah.co.uk/morals-and-manners-in-islam-by-marwan-ibrahim-alkaysi.ir?cName=books-general

The Preservation

As-salaam mu-‘Alaykum

Today I would like to start off by telling you four responsibilities Allah (SWT) gave to all the Prophets.

1)    Recite to them the scriptures

This order is telling the Prophets who were given scriptures to spread the message and recite the verses to the people.

2)    Purify them

When Allah says ‘Purify them’ what is He specifically talking about? Do we have to wash our clothes or have baths to become pure? This specific command is ordering the Prophets to spiritually cleanse the people’s soul. What do we mean by this? In the heart there are many diseases that make us dirty and vulnerable to Shaytaan. To mention a few: jealousy, envying others, pride, arrogance, hate and many more. So when Allah says ‘Purify them’ He wants us to get rid of these diseases and the way we can do this is by reciting the Qur’an.

3)    Teach them the book

What does ‘Teach them the book’ mean? The Prophets were entrusted with a job to 

guide us in accordance to the scriptures. Their responsibility was to interpret the scriptures and teach us the morals behind the divine revelation.

4)    Teach them wisdom

To understand this we must first know the definition of wisdom. The basic definition is to act upon knowledge. The Prophets were given the responsibility to teach us wisdom which means they told us how to act and make the correct decisions. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) taught us wisdom from the Qur’an for example how we should treat our parents, or how we can get closer to Allah (SWT).

The Qur’an needs Hadiths. The Qur’an gives us orders, for example that those who believe should pray five times a day and worship none other than Allah, but Hadiths tell specific actions that tell us how to fulfil the order from the Qur’an. For example in the Qur’an it says “establish prayer” but the Hadith tells us how we establish prayer, the actions we take to establish prayer.

The Qur’an is also known as the “spoken revelation” which means that which is meant to be recited, whereas the Hadith is also referred to as “unspoken revelation” which is something that isn’t recited, but there is still a lot of reward in reciting Hadiths.

If you have forgotten what a Hadith is then a basic definition would be a saying and the actions of the Prophet (SAW) in which he did not disapprove.

So how now, after 1400 years have the Hadiths still been preserved? In the Prophet (SAW)’s period there were a lot of Sahaba (people that saw the Prophet and died as a Muslim) who memorised the sayings and actions of the Prophet and after he (SAW) died these Hadiths were passed on and eventually documented, this is what we call a chain of narration.

The most recognised narrator is Abu Hurairah (RA), he embraced Islam towards the last few years of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)'s life. He desperately wanted to memorise Hadiths but his memory wasn't strong. He later went to the Prophet (SAW) and asked for the Prophet to make du'a for him, the Prophet then hugged him tightly and made du'a to Allah to give Abu Hurairah the ability to preserve Hadiths and to expand his memory. Abu Huraira went of to narrate approximately 5374 Hadiths, and was also named 'The Prophet's Shadow' because where ever the Prophet (SAW) went he would walk behind him, learning the sayings of the Prophet (SAW). There are three main ways to remember Hadiths, these are: Memorisation, Practice and Documentation. The Sahaba memorised thousands of Hadiths which they acted upon and eventually shared the knowledge for it to be documented.

And Allah knows best.

Thank you for reading. More posts soon to come In sha Allah.  

The Edge Worshippers

Juz 17: Surah Hajj 22: Ayah 11

“And of the people is he who worships Allah on an edge. If he is touched by good, he is reassured by it; but if he is struck by trial, he turns on his face [to the other direction]. He has lost [this] world and the Hereafter. That is what is the manifest loss.”

The word ‘harf’ literally means edge, this means his eeman isn’t quite there but isn’t completely off either. Then Allah says, when something good happens to him, he is satisfied and if a trail hits him, he turns back on his face. This is talking about a person who is committed to Islam so long as it is convenient. Something good happens you’re happy, Alhamdulillah; something bad occurs, you then start questioning why this is happening to you. “It’s not fair”, “who need religion?”, “I deserve better” etc. You start getting this aggressive attitude that wasn’t there before. Allah (SWT) says, that little religion you had anyway, it didn’t amount to anything, this kind of person lost the dunya and the akhira. These people on the edge, that only turn to Allah when convenient, for them is a manifest loss, the dunya and the akhira.

Allah (SWT) uses a word that is hardly used, ‘dhalika huwa al-khusranu al-mubinu.’ This means that it is the ultimate, ultimate, ultimate loss.

In other words, even in good times where he’s showed good signs of faith, it didn’t amount to anything. If you feel this way, like you only turn back to Allah (SWT) when convenient, then you should turn to Allah and ask for ‘Thabaat’ which is firmness of the heart, so that you’re able to maintain the strength of faith in your heart.

And Allah knows best.

Why do we learn Hadiths?

As-salaam mu-'Alaykum (peace be upon you)

Welcome to my blog. In this blog I will be posting various Islamic posts, most of which I have learnt during a course I have taken up at a weekend class at Azhar Academy. For more information about the Azhar Academy courses feel free to e-mail me with questions. Let’s get straight onto the topics.

Hadiths:

A question we always ask ourselves is why we do learn Hadiths? What is the main purpose behind reading the sayings and actions of our beloved Prophet (SAW)? Well I can tell you that we learn Hadiths to get closer to the Prophet (SAW) and learn about his practices and hopefully we ourselves can act upon his teachings. There is an ayah (verse) in the Holy Qur’an where Allah (SWT) says, Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (3:31) This ayah shows us the reward in learning about the Prophet (SAW) and following his good character, the way we do this is by reading Hadiths and acting upon it.

Hadiths of the Prophet (SAW) covers everything. Whenever you’re in depression or need medical help of some sort, or if you just want general guidance then the authentic Hadiths of the Prophet (SAW) provide the answer. Hadiths are a guide for Muslims, From A-Z, everything is covered, it's just like a manual guide, for example when you buy a microwave there's a manual guide that directs you with the set-up to get it functioning properly; similarly Hadiths are like a manual guide for our soul directing us to the straight path of Jannah.

What we should take note on is that the Prophet (SAW) never spoke out of his own desires. Everything was from Allah (SWT) and he (SAW) spread the message.

-The Qur’an is specific words to the Prophet (SAW)

-Hadiths are revelation paraphrased to make Hadiths.

There are many others ayahs where Allah (SWT) tells us the importance of taking Hadiths into our lives. The reason I mention this is because there are certain groups who reject Hadiths such as the Ahlil-Quran, who only take the word of the Qur’an when Allah clearly says in Surah Al-Hashr (the exile) (Chapter 59) ayah number 7, "And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, leave it. And fear Allah: truly Allah is severe in punishment." This ayah of the Qur’an clearly shows us that Allah commands us to follow the Prophet (SAW) and accept what he gives us and abstain from what he disapproves of and the only way we can do that is by learning Hadiths and acting upon it. The Ahlil Qur’an reject the Qur’an as they believe that it was something that only a man said but Allah clearly says in the Qur’an to accept Hadiths which are the saying and actions of the beloved Prophet (SAW) himself.

And Allah knows best.

I hope that this post has helped you understand the purpose and importance of Hadiths. Thank you for reading, more posts will be up soon In sha Allah (if Allah wills).

As-salaam mu-'Alaykum (peace be upon you)