The Caller Footsteps

February 9, 2013 – 11:29 am

 

“There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.” [33:21].

No matter what stage of life we are going through, or whatever roles we are trying to fill: be it be as father, husband, son, friend, leader and others, we will always find guidance in the life of our beloved Prophet(peace be upon him). One such area of guidance is for the da’ee – people who call muslims and non muslims alike to the path of the Allah. In this paper, we will see glimpses of the best methodology, examples and guidelines for a da’ee from the Meccan era of the Seerah. Here are the 10 lessons:

1. A Da’ee should teach the basics and work on the Emaan first:


Most of the verses revealed in the Meccan era dealt with issues of Tauheed: oneness of Allah, concept of worship, day of judgment, accountability etc. Later in the Medinan era, the detailed rulings were revealed.
This was done so that the new Muslims could have their hearts fully attached to the deen so that when the time came to implement a command of Allaah, they did it with no hesitation. Aisha (RA) commented “…If the first thing to be revealed was: ‘Do not drink alcoholic drinks.’ people would have said, ‘We will never leave alcoholic drinks,’ and …” [Bhukari]
People are more accepting of something if it doesn’t come in and demand a change in lifestyle immediately to something on the opposite side of the spectrum.
When we call people to Islam, we should focus on similar topics. We shouldn’t get into get into arguments about specific controversial rulings of Islam like polygamy, hijab, pork and wine. Similarly, when we teach our fellow Muslims, we should focus on purifying their hearts and increasing their Emaan, as opposed to “do this, this is halal, this is haram, don’t do this..” and so on.

2. A Da’ee focuses on creating a team of dedicated people:

Prophet (peace be upon him) did secret Daawah for three years. Also the pledge of Aqaba was done in secret. He established core group of Ansars first in medina and then told Muslims to migrate to Medina.
If you want to start an organization or dawah project, do not go out in the open and call people until you have established a strong core group. Go to people you know will sacrifice their time and effort. Also, try to start with the people around you. They know you best so they will be most likely to believe and help you. Even if the leader of the call is harmed, his followers will continue the obligation of calling others.

3. Da’ee makes use of all available resources even Non Muslims and other organizations:

Non Muslims are different in how each one of them deals with Muslims – we cannot simply say all are good or all are bad. People like Abu Talib, who gave protection to the Prophet (SAW) ,and Hisham bin Amr (who was instrumental in lifting the ban and boycott from Banu Hashim), played a key role in their support of the Muslims.
We should take advantage of the legal system and the environment we are living in. These days, da’ees should work with non profit and NGO organizations to fight against the bans, discrimination, and injustices against the Muslims.

4. Da’ee should always remember that guidance is from Allah:

The stern enemies of Islam, Umar (RA) and Abu Sufyan and others, enter Islam, and yet the strong supporter of the Prophet (SAW), his own uncle, Abu Talib died as a disbeliever. This clearly shows that the guidance is only from Allah. The caller to Deen, gives the message and then leaves the rest to Allah. If the person is not guided, then da’ee is not sad and is content with the decree of Allah.

5. Da’ee should focus on inviting the leaders, people in authority and those masses look upto:

When the Prophet (PBUH) arrived in Taaif, he went straight to the leaders. Generally, when giving dawah somewhere, one should meet with the leaders of the place because, with their support, the message will be passed along to their people.  In our times, we should try to give the message of Islam to movie stars, sports players, pop starts and other popular personalities. People look up to them and if they accept Islam, others would be more inclined to do so as well.

InshaAllah, we will continue with the remaining Five lessons in our next post.

References:

  • The Quran: Saheeh International, AbulWasim Publishing House 1997
  • Rajab Isaam, Arees Institute BA Program,USA: Class of 2009
  • Yahya Abdulbary, Course: The Shepherd’s Path, NY, US: Almaghrib Institute.
  • Dr As-Sibaaie Mustafa, The Life of Prophet Muhammad Highlights and Lessons, Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House 2004
  • Abdullah Daud, Course: Seerah 101, Islamic Online University
By Student of Knowledge | Posted in Gems, Hadith, Islam, Seerah | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Imam Bukhari’s Teachers: Four Legends

October 1, 2012 – 10:16 am

Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, studied from over 1000 teachers. The best of them were also the greatest scholars of his time. This is an important point: in the previous generation, four scholars lived who were stars of hadith sciences. Imam Bukhari not only studied under all four of these masters of hadith sciences, but he became the main student or protege of all four scholars.

As teachers, in that time, each teacher would teach many students. Over time, one would rise up as the top student, the one who the teacher considered his protege; the one who would continue his teachers into the subsequent generation. It’s a rare feat for a protege to be the main student of more than one teacher; especially in this case, when all four lived in different cities.

These four teachers are:

  1. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (founder of the Hanbali madhab)
  2. Yahya ibn Ma’een
  3. Ali ibn Al-Madini
  4. Ishaaq ibn Rahwayh

When Imam Ahmed met Imam Bukhari while the latter was in his twenties, and praised him greatly; the other three scholars are much more important, because they met Imam Bukhari when he was older, and spent much more time with him. Imam Bukhari wrote his prototype (Saheeh Bukhari v1.0) and showed it to the latter three shuyookh in order for them to give him critical feedback.

Realize that Imam Bukhari did not compile Saheeh Bukhari on his own; it represents a product of the greatest scholars of hadith of his time. He wrote a manuscript for each of them, each of which is a giant and a legend and his teacher.

Once they provided feedback, he collected all their feedback and incorporated it — so much so that, he tells his teachers, “if any of them objected to any hadith in my collection, I didn’t argue, I just removed it.” And he demanded the highest grade of ahadith, nothing less.

Also, Imam Bukhari narrated his saheeh to approximately 90,000 students over a span of 40 years. Remember, he lived before the printing press; he would narrate in front of his students, who would inscribe this information in their notes. And as authors tend to do, he would change certain things. He would change a hadith here or there (replace it with a similar hadith from a different chain, for example), shuffle around the order, tweak his chapter headings, and so on — thus creating muliple versions of Saheeh Bukhari.

We consider his main student to be Muhammad ibn Yusuf Al-Firabi; he was from the last batch of Imam Bukhari’s students, and he lived a long life; his represents the most authentic version of Saheeh Bukhari, and the version we read today.

What lessons can you derive from this piece of history? Post them in the comments and share it with us.

References:

  • Collector’s Edition: Sahih al-Bukhari. By Yasir Qadhi. 2012.
By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Hadith | Tagged , | Comments (3)

A Legend in the Making: Imam Bukhari’s Early Life

September 28, 2012 – 3:41 pm

Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, is now a well-known scholar because of his saheeh collection of ahadith. It took him years to finish. But, this was not the beginning of his fame; in fact, the Muslims and scholars saw, from an early time, his intellectual strength and capability; he achieved fame well before he completed his most famous book.

Now, let us breeze through some details about the early life of this great scholar.

A Mistake in the Chain: Age 11

Imam Bukhari began to sit in circles of knowledge early — as early as eleven years of age. To sit in these circles, you need to first memorize the Qur’an; so we know he memorized it quite early in his life.

In those early days of Islam, the society and culture was still very much based out of oral tradition — people would memorize and narrate more than they would write. At that time, for a teacher to appear with written notes would be an embarrassment; teachers always taught from memory.

As Imam Bukhari sat in class, the teacher made a mistake in the name of one narrator of the chain. Imam Bukhari pointed this out. His teacher, embarrassed, consulted his notes; and sure enough, found that he made a mistake in the name of the narrator.

Even from age 11, Imam Bukhari accumulated fame; not just as a parrot memorizer of information, but as an analytical mind. We see here that he thought critically about the chain of narration (which is how he found the mistake.)

Labayka Allahumma Labayk: Age 16

At age 16, Imam Bukhari’s mother took him and his older brother for Hajj. Upon his arrival in Mecca, Imam Bukhari loved the city — not just the ‘ibaadah, the rites of Hajj and umrah, but the knowledge.

The greatest centers of Islamic learning during his time included Mecca and Medina. Hajj is something you do once in a lifetime. The trip itself takes several months; you might never come again. Scholars normally stayed a minimum of five to six months, if not several years, before returning home. And scholars congregate from around the world, every year, to these two cities.

Halaqaat (teaching circles) of knowledge abounded everywhere, with scholars from Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, etc. and all over the world, all exchanging and trading knowledge. It was normal to spend 4-5 years there before returning home.

So what does this mean for Imam Bukhari? As a student of knowledge, Mecca became one of the best places you can visit. You don’t have to travel to seek knowledge — scholars come to you, in Mecca and Medinah. The international scholarship mesmerized Imam Bukhari.

He begged his mother to allow him to stay, and seeing his excitement, she agreed; his older brother accompanied her home. (This is how we know he has an older brother — from this incident; he has no known other siblings.)

Also, Allah blessed Imam Bukhari’s mother with wealth; she could afford to not have her son work. This enabled him to study the deen full time; he only returned home at the end of his life.

His First Book: Age 18

At age 18 (the age we normally finish high school and start university), Imam Bukhari completed his first book, entitled “Qadaayah As-Sahaba” (rulings of the sahaba). Other books followed; by age 19, he wrote At-Tareekh Al-Kabeer, one of the most important books on the science of hadith until today; he completed all nine volumes by age 19.

At-Tareekh Al-Kabeer literally translates to “The Big History.” History, to Imam Bukhari, included the names of narrators of hadith. This nine volume compendium documents the names of every single narrator of hadith from the time of rasulullah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) to Imam Bukhari’s time.

That’s a lot. And this is one of the most advanced sciences within the science of hadith, called “Ilm Al-Rijaal” (knowledge of men). In Medinah U, they study this topic in a full class. Imam Bukhari, at age 18-19, wrote a foundational book in his field; we still use that book as a reference today — even scholars in their sixties and seventies, use 18-year-old Bukhari’s book to figure out who narrators are.

Slowly but surely, his fame and aptitude spread. And no doubt, Allah blessed him with many blessings, including his aptitude in memorization; he had a very clear, strong, photographic memory — as we mentioned in the story of his test in Baghdad. He would read a page once, and memorize it, immediately.

That summarizes the early life of Imam Bukhari. He also travelled extensively during his early years; he sought knowledge in Mecca and Medinah, as well as Baghdad, Kufa, Egypt, and other major cities and major learning centres.

And that summarizes the early life of Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah.

Lessons from Imam Bukhari’s early life:

  • Invest in youth development. Youth can change the world.
  • Encourage youth to be creative and explore interesting ideas.
  • Let youth develop in areas they find interesting and are passionate about.
  • Be humble as a teacher; you are not above your students are not above rectifying you.
  • As a teacher, allow students to speak with confidence, and express arguments that differ with yours
  • Post your own gems and lessons in the comments!

References:

  • Collector’s Edition: Sahih al-Bukhari. By Yasir Qadhi. 2012.
By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Islam | Comments (0)

Imam Bukhari’s Memory in the Test of Baghdad

September 25, 2012 – 12:05 pm

Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, was tested a few times in his life. One of the early tests, which really showcases the powerful memory that Allah blessed him with, occurred as follows.

While in his twenties, imam Bukhari’s fame spread over much of the Muslim world — something rare in the time before internet, before email, before YouTube, our modern era where news travels almost instantenously.

As he arrived in Baghdad, word of his arrival spread, and the scholars of Baghdad devised a test for imam Bukhari — to prove to the world that he’s not that good.

During that time, to learn ahadith, you travel to the scholars of ahadith, sit in their halaqaat, and listen. They dictate ahadith to you. If a scholar comes from far, he brings exotic ahadith that nobody heard before; all the students (and other scholars) benefit from learning it from him.

Also, as a student of knowledge, someone who studies ahadith for a while, you quickly learn the “usual” or common ahadith that go around; such as the first hadith in Bukhari, that actions are by intentions.

Instead of exotic ahadith, the ten scholars each decide to narrate ten common ahadith each — but with a twist. Instead of narrating the hadith normally, with the chain, they would swap chains of authentic ahadith.

This is a very delicate point of the science. Most of the introduction to the science of hadith deals with features that weaken a hadith, and most of those features have to do with narrators in the chain. In this case, they took 100 authentic ahadith, each with an authentic chain, and transplanted the chain to a different hadith.

On the surface, it appears that they’re honouring imam Bukhari, by inviting him to their circles to learn and teach. But really, they had a more sinsiter motive.

Imam Bukhari arrives. The first scholar steps up and narrates his first hadith with a different chain. Imam Bukhari says, “Maa 3indiy,” (“I don’t have it” or “I don’t know it”). And again for the second hadith. And the third. And all ten.

The students start wondering. Imam Bukhari doesn’t know these basic ahadith?

The second scholar steps up, and the same scene repeats. And the third, and fourth, all the way to the tenth.

At this point, the students are very confused. These are all simple, straight-forward (appearing) ahadith.

Imam Bukhari figured it out. So his turn to speak arrives. He tells the first scholar: “you narrated the first hadith with chain this-and-that. The correct chain is this.” And he corrects the first hadith. And the second. And the tenth; all the way to the last of the 100.

And everyone in the masjid of Baghdad, the key center of learning of ‘ilm at that time, sees this occur in front of them.

Ibn Hajar (rahimahullah) comments: “It’s not surprising that Imam Bukhari saw through their chain-swapping, for he is a master; nor is him knowing the correct isnad that surprising, because he’s memorized these hadith in the past.

“But what’s really interesting is that he memorized the 100 ahadith, with chains, the first time he heard them, and narrated them back in the same order.”

It’s very clear that Allah blessed him with a photographic memory.

And thus, imam Bukhari’s popularity and reputation only grew, and he soared through the first test.

What lessons can you extract from this story to apply to your life? Please post a comment and share it with us.

References:

  • Collector’s Edition: Sahih al-Bukhari. By Yasir Qadhi. 2012.
By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Hadith | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

Books Anyone Can Read in Saheeh Al-Bukhari

September 19, 2012 – 12:29 pm

We all know Imam Bukhari’s status as a scholar of hadith. Unquestionably, he is among the best scholars of hadith. This contributed heavily to his ability to produce a book like Saheeh Al-Bukhari.

What is less well known about Imam Bukhari, though, are his other two specialities: aqeedah (which we will inshaAllah discuss another time), and fiqh. Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah, was a master of fiqh, and a mujtahid.

Additionally, Imam Bukhari assumes that any reader of his book will be at least a hafidh of Qur’an. For example, in his book of tafseer, he mentions things which, at their apparent level, do not have anything to do with the surah he links it to. This is because he wrote it understanding that you can zip backward and forward through the Qur’an, because you’ve memorized it. And in doing so, you should be able to more easily grasp the references.

This plays into the average Muslim, today, reading Saheeh Al-Bukhari. You may run into ahadith which seem curious, strange, or perhaps appear to be downright incorrect.

Don’t despair. Again, Sahih Bukhari was intended for students of knowledge and scholars. When in doubt, speak to your local imam to clear up any misunderstandings you may have. Study the explanation of Saheeh Al-Bukhari; Ibn Hajar’s is excellent (albeit unavailable in English).

All of this, put together, means something: it’s hard to just read ahadith in Bukhari and grasp them. Especially when it comes to fiqh, it can be tricky or confusing; you can’t just read it and start applying the hadith.

What should we do?

For sure, there are some books in Bukhari that are easy to read and understand, and highly beneficial, even for non-scholars. That is, books that are easy for us laypeople to read without much background information.

Which books does Shaykh Yasir recommend?

  • Book 81: To Make the Heart Soft (Du’a, Heart Softeners) (كتاب الرقاق): Read this first. A very nice book of reminders to tenderize hearts.
  • Book 59: The Beginning of Creation (كتاب بدء الخلق): Narrations about the beginning of creation, the creation of the universe, and more topics along these lines.
  • Book 60: Prophets (كتاب أحاديث الأنبياء): Stories and details and biographies about the lives of the prophets, may Allah be pleased with all of them, from Adam to Rasulullah.
  • Book 61-64: Seerah: Various topics ranging from the lineage of rasulullah to his companions, to seerah and battles he participated in.
  • Book 78: Good Manners and Conduct (كتاب الأدب): How to deal with others; how to have good khuluq, something which is very praiseworthy and comes with a very high reward in the Hereafter.

Go ahead and read these books, ponder on them, apply them, and benefit from them. You can find all these, and more, at Sunnah.com’s Digitization of Saheeh Bukhari.

May Allah allow us all to understand, appreciate, and benefit from this great scholar and his works (ameen).

References:

  • Collector’s Edition: Sahih al-Bukhari. By Yasir Qadhi. 2012.
By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Hadith | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Significance of Seven in Arab Culture

September 17, 2012 – 12:25 pm

One of the things we need to understand about Arabic culutre is the significance of the number “seven.” This boils over into our understanding of ahadith.

First, a strong disclaimer: Islam has nothing to do with numerology — that is, the study and assignment of arbitrary numbers to the value of letters of the Arabic alphabet — such as the popular “786″ which represents “bismillah.”

Nor should numbers be interpreted symbolically or otherwise, unless there is a very good, strong reason for doing so — such as with number seven.

Now that that’s out of the way: the number seven appears alone, and in multiples (70, 700, 70k, etc.) in several ahadith.

Let’s take a quick browse. For example, this famous hadith which comes to play in aqeedah mentions the number 73:

Narrated AbuHurayrah:
The Prophet () said: The Jews were split up into seventy-one or seventy-two sects; and the Christians were split up into seventy one or seventy-two sects; and my community will be split up into seventy-three sects. (Sunan Abu Dawud)

Other hadith mention 70,000:

Ibn Mas’ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
Messenger of Allah said, “Hell will be brought on that Day (the Day of Resurrection) with seventy bridles (leashes); and with every bridle will be seventy thousand angels, pulling it.” (Saheeh Muslim)

In these cases, and cases where the number seven is listed (seven itself or a multiple of seven — 70, 700, 7000, 70,000, etc.), the number seven signifies a large quantity — a lot. It does not literally mean 70 or 70k; it can mean a large number.

And Allah knows best. If you search books of hadith for the number seven and its multiples, you will actually find this occur in a lot of ahadith. So keep this in the back of your mind when you read.

References:

  • Collector’s Edition: Sahih al-Bukhari. By Yasir Qadhi. 2012.
By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Tafseer | Tagged | Comments (1)

Week 10 – Manners of Sneezing and Yawning

January 28, 2012 – 11:30 am

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

This is the continuation of the series, that focuses on implementing sunnah in our lives. In the last post, we talked about the manners of sleeping. In this post, we will look at the Sunnahs of sneezing and yawning:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning; so if anyone of you sneezes and then praises Allah, every Muslim who hears him (praising Allah) has to say Tashmit to him. But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to stop it, for when anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him." [Bhukari: English reference: Vol. 8, Book 73, Hadith 245. Arabic reference : Book 78, Hadith 6298]

Click here to show evidences/reference links

Sneezing:

Manners of Yawning:

Tip of the Week:

"You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” Anthony Robbins. All of us probably know many of these manners of sneezing and yawning but the problem is that we don't practice what we know. Make it your goal that for the next seven days, you will practice what you learnt in this post!

Action Item:

  1. Share this post on social networks.
  2. Review the old posts in the series

References:

Previous Post in this Series:

By Student of Knowledge | Posted in Articles, Gems, Hadith, Islam, Seerah | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

And of His signs is your sleep by night….

November 8, 2011 – 5:19 pm

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

This is the continuation of the series, that focuses on implementing sunnah in our lives. In the last post, we talked about the etiquette of eating. In this post, we will look at the Sunnahs of going to sleep

Click here to show evidences/reference links


What to recite before going to sleep:

Etiquette of going to sleep:

Tip of the Week:

“For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.” Change your attitude. Instead of saying that “I will or I should implement these things”, make it “I must do it” and make it consistent!

Action Item:

  1. Share this post on social networks.
  2. Review the old posts in the series

References:

Previous Post in this Series:

 

By Student of Knowledge | Posted in Islam | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

O Boy – Ya Ghulam!

October 10, 2011 – 5:20 pm

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

This is the continuation of the series, that focuses on implementing sunnah in our lives.

Here is the sunnah items, we will be focusing on in this week:

Click here to show evidences/reference links

Sunnah’s of Eating:

After Eating:

Tip of the Week:

Go through the list again and for each item, ask yourself “Do I follow this sunnah most of time , or some of the time, rarely or not at all” and then act accordingly.

Action Item:

  1. Share this post on Facebook.

References:

Previous Post in this Series:

By Student of Knowledge | Posted in Ibadah, Islam, Seerah | Tagged , | Comments (7)

A Siwaak a Day

September 17, 2011 – 12:35 pm

This is the continuation of the series, that focuses on implementing sunnah in our lives. I hope everyone had emaan rushed Ramadhan and you were able to apply the things we learned in this series.

Here is the sunnah items, we will be focusing on in this week:

Using Siwak:

Action Item:

  1. Buy Siwak and start using it

References:

Previous Post in this Series:


    By Student of Knowledge | Posted in Gems, Islam, Seerah | Tagged , , | Comments (2)