All about the sacred month RAJAB

 

There are four Sacred Islamic Months that Allah has mentioned in the Qur'aan, i.e. Dhul-Qi`dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab; and what more can one be honored with then to reach one of these Sacred Months, while we are healthy and alive in this world, and so as we have reached Rajab, let us know all about it.
These Sacred Months have been mentioned by Allah, stating:

“Verily, the number of months with Allah is twelve months (in a year), so was it ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are Sacred (i.e. the 1st, the 7th, the 11th and the 12th months of the Islamic calendar). That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein.” [9:36] 

And within the Sunnah its been narrated from Abu Bakrah (ra) that the Prophet (saws) said: 
“The year is twelve months, of which four are sacred: three consecutive months, Dhu’l-Qa’dah, Dhu’l-Hijjah and Muharram, and Rajab Mudar which comes between Jumaada and Sha’baan.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] 

These Islamic Months are meant to be Sacred due to two main reasons:
1- Because initiating any fight therein is forbidden, unless initiated by the enemy themselves,
2- Because transgression of the sacred limits therein is worse than at any other time.
And for these reasons, committing sins during these Sacred Months is more forbidden than in general, as Allah said: 
“...wrong not yourselves therein...” [9:36] 
Imam Al-Sa’di further explains this part of the Ayah (p. 373): 
'In the phrase “...wrong not yourselves therein...”, the pronoun may be understood as referring to twelve months. Allah states that He has made them a measure of time for His slaves, which they may use for worshipping Him, and thank Allah for His blessings, and they serve the interests of His slaves, so beware of wronging yourselves therein.
The pronoun may also be understood as referring to the four sacred months, and this forbids them to wrong themselves in those months in particular, as well as it being forbidden to do wrong at all times, because it is more forbidden at this time, but it is worse at this time than at others.' 

So Glad Tidings (Tuba) to the Strangers (al-Ghurabah)...

Despite all the trials and temptations we see and the appearance of falsehood everywhere, indeed:

"Allah is predominant over His affair but most of the people do not know."

Despite all we see of people’s hastiness to fulfill their (evil) desires and their laziness towards acts of obedience, indeed, from between those people are a group whom Allah has chosen and selected and He protected them from the fitan (trials) when they preserved the commandments of Allah.

Those people are the strangers and they are the people who I wanted to console with my words. On the report of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ood who said, “The Messenger of Allah (saws) said, ‘Islam began as something strange and will revert to being strange as it began, so give glad tidings to the strangers.’ It was said to him, ‘and who are they,'” Listen, may Allah bless you. “‘And it was said, ‘and who are they yā Rasoolullah?’ He said, ‘those who correct what the people have corrupted.'” - Those who correct what people have corrupted – classed as authentic by al-Albani.

Reflect, may Allah bless you, on the saying of the Prophet (saws) “Yushlihoon” (those who correct), and he did not say Saalihoon (righteous ones) for being righteous in and of itself is not enough. Another of their characteristics is that they are zealous people who call to Allah and reform others, they do not despair or give up to the corrupt reality. And because they are few in between people they were named al-Ghurabah.

The people of Islam in between people are strangers and the believers in between the people of Islam are strangers and the people of Knowledge in between the believers are strangers and the people of Sunnah, who distinguish it from desires and innovation are strangers in between the people of Knowledge and they call to the Sunnah and are patient against the harm of the opposition. They are the most sever people in strangeness but they are the true people of Allah and there is no strangeness upon them.

The Signs of Fear of Allah; its Reasons; its Fruits & some Poem

Taken from Imam Ghazali, Imam Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Rajab Hanbali

 

The Signs of Fear:

 

Know! Dear Muslim brothers and sisters. We can find out whether we fear Allah or are oblivious of him through some simple tests. Here are some of them:

 

The tongue informs us: if we talk evil, backbite and engage in frivolous gossip, it shows that there is very little concern. We should engage our tongues in the remembrance of Allah, in the recitation of the Quran and in circles of knowledge.

In the heart we should expel hatred, enmity and jealousy and replace them with well-wishing and care for Muslims.

We should be careful of what we put in our stomachs.

Our eyes should not wander off to look at haram objects.

Our feet should not walk towards haram places.

We should not extend our hands for haram purposes.

We should be concerned in our good deeds that we don’t perform them for anyone else except Allah.

 

The Reasons For Fearing Allah:

 

Save your Neck from THE Punishment !

The Prophet (saws) said: “…Every person starts his day as a vendor of his soul, either freeing it or causing its ruin.” [Muslim]

The Prophet (saws) said: “All men go out early in the morning and sell themselves, thereby setting themselves free or destroying themselves.”

Allah says:

"And (by) the soul and He who proportioned it. And inspired it (with discernment of) its wickedness and its righteousness, He has succeeded who purifies it, And he has failed who instills it (with corruption)."

[Ash-Shams:7-10]

The person who purifies himself through obeying Allah will be prosperous and the person who corrupts himself by disobeying him is a failure. Acts of worship purify the soul while sins corrupt it.

The Hadith indicates that each person may save or ruin himself. The person who obeys Allah has sold himself to Allah and he has set his soul free from the torment of the Hell. The person who disobeys Allah destroys himself by committing sins which cause Allah’s wrath and punishment.

Allah says:

"Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties (in exchange) for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed. (It is) a true promise (binding) upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment."

[At-Tawbah:111]

Allah also says:

"And of the people is he who sells himself, seeking means to the approval of Allah . And Allah is kind to (His) servants."

[Al-Baqarah:207]

Fifteen examples of Supplications immediately answered by Allah!!

The Messenger of Allah (saws) related that Allah Said:
“…if he calls upon Me, I answer him, and if he asks of Me, I will give him…” (Hadith Qudsi)

Ibn Rajab commented:

“…This means that this person who is beloved and close to Allah has a special status with Allah such that if he asks Allah for something, He gives it to him, and if he seeks refuge with Allah from anything, He protects him from that thing, and if he calls upon Him, He answers him. So, he ends up becoming from those whose supplications are answered due to his honor with Allah.

And many from the righteous early generations were known to have their supplications answered.

It is related in the ‘Sahih’ that ar-Rubay’ bint an-Nadr broke a tooth of a slave. So, they offered compensation, and they refused. They asked for pardon, and they refused. The Messenger of Allah was then going to implement the rule of retaliation between them. Anas bin an-Nadr said: “The tooth of ar-Rubay’ will be broken? By the One who has sent you with the truth, her tooth will not be broken.” So, the people were pleased and took the compensation. The Messenger of Allah then said: “Indeed, from the slaves of Allah are those who, if they make an oath upon Allah, He fulfills it.”

…And Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reported with his chain that an-Nu’man bin Qawfal said on the day of Uhud: “O Allah, I swear that I will be killed and enter Paradise.” So, he was killed, and the Prophet said: “Indeed, Nu’man made an oath upon Allah, and He fulfilled that oath.”

 

"Woe to such Knowledge that..."

Know that craving after status and position inevitably causes great harm before its attainment due to the striving necessary to attain it, and also afterwards due to the person’s strong desire to hold onto it which produces injustice, haughtiness and other evils. Abu Bakr al-Ajurri, who was one of the wise Scholars and teachers at the start of the fourth century, wrote a treatise about the manners and the sentiments of the Scholars and it is one of the best works on this topic. One who studies it will know from it the way of the Scholars of the Salaf, and will know the innovated ways contrary to their way.

So he describes the evil scholar at length, from this description is that, “He has become infatuated with love of this world, and with praise, honor and position with the people of this world. He uses knowledge as an adornment just as a beautiful woman adorns herself with jewelry for this world, but he does not adorn his knowledge with action upon it.” He then mentions a lengthy speech and then says, “So these characteristics and their like predominate in the heart of one who does not benefit from knowledge, so whilst he carries these attributes his soul will come to have love of status and position – so that he loves to sit with kings and the sons of this world. Then he loves to share in their opulent lifestyle, sharing their lavish attire, their comfortable transport, servants, fine clothing, delicate bedding and delicious food. He will love that people throng to his door, that his saying is listened to, and that he is obeyed – and he can only attain the latter by becoming a judge (qadi) – so he seeks to become one. Then he is unable to attain it except at the expense of his Deen, so he debases himself to the rulers and their helpers, serving them himself and giving them his wealth as a tribute. He remains silent when he sees their evil actions after entering their palaces and homes. Then on top of this he may praise their evil actions and declare them good due to some false interpretation in order to raise his position with them.

So when he has accustomed himself to doing this over a long period of time and falsehood has taken root in him – then they appoint him to the position of judge (qadi) and in so doing slaughter him without a knife.” (Alluding to the saying of the Prophet (saws), “He who is appointed as a judge has been killed without a knife,” [Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and at-Tirmidhi who declared it hasan]

A Sincerity To The Enemy ?!?

All praises belong to Allah, Rabbul ‘Alamin, may salawat and salam be showered upon Rasulullah, his family, his sahabahs, as well as the people who follow them well until the Day of Judgement.

Wa ba’du:

In these sheets of paper, I would like to express my sincerity to anyone who reads it from among those who claim to be Muslim, who either consciously or unconsciously, have fallen into disbelief (kufr), idolatry (shirk) and the obvious nullifiers of one's Islam, especially those from among the enforcers of the man-made laws or those who give their loyalty to that man-made laws, with the hope that they become aware of what exactly it is they are doing, then pull themselves out of it and quit it for the sake of attaining the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala and be prevented from abiding in hell.

The proof of my sincerity is that, I do not ask for any reward or payment – except the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala – from you all, in fact I could even be treated badly by some of you guys, as a result of this paper which could offend you, but I pray that some of you may open your hearts to it, to understand and practice it. And in any case, it is not appropriate for you to be angry with me because, is it appropriate for someone to get angry at the person who tells him that there is dirt on his body? He should be grateful to him instead.

Know that the main matter, the primary capital of one's Islam and the very first duty that Allah enjoins upon mankind, to learn and practice before Salat, zakat, sawm, hajj and other ibaadah, is to be kafir towards the thaghut and to purify the tawheed towards Allah Ta’ala. And that is the purpose of creation, the purpose of the missions of the Messengers and the revelation of His Books,