As you know, we cannot just accept a hadith from anyone–this is our deen! If anyone could just say what they wanted, we would have nothing left of the true, pure message of Allah.

The scholars have analyzed the biographies of every narrator of hadith. They compile information on when he was born, and where, his kunya, his tribe, who he met, what his character was, what other people narrated about him … piles and piles of information.

And in the analysis of the chain of narrators–those individuals who transmit a hadith from one to another, from Rasulullah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) to a collector (like Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, etc.)–there are certain types of narrators that, if they are present in the chain, they automatically make the hadith da’eef.

Because they cannot be trusted.

Who are these people, and what are their characteristics? You might be surprised!

1. Major Sinners. Anyone who commited a major sin (backbiting? Listening to music? Zina? Cheating? Stealing?) is discounted. Only people known for good, upright, moral character and conduct pass through.
2. Liars. Anyone who lies is discounted.
3. Accused Liars. Anyone who was accused of lying is discounted. Why? Throws some doubt on their character–maybe they did it, maybe not. Cannot be trusted.
4. The Weak. Anyone whom a scholar met and said that he’s weak, or he’s not good, or his memory is not strong, automatically discounts a hadith.
5. Known Fabricators. Some people are known to fabricate (invent) hadith, either by observation of scholars, or by their own admission (such as Nuh ibn Abi Maryam). They disqualify a hadith.
6. The Unknown. Anyone whom the scholars do not know for sure if he’s a strong or weak narrator, disqualifies the hadith. Why? Maybe he’s weak! We don’t know! We know he narrated a hadith, and maybe a couple of people met him; but nobody commented to say he’s a strong narrator; so we don’t know!

Subhanallah, if you look at that list–especially the first three items–you will realize that the majority of Muslims today would disqualify ahadith that they narrate. I’m not talking about shuyookh, I mean the people you deal with day-to-day–yourself, your family, your friends.

Subhanallah, that’s how particular and picky the scholars of hadith were to preserve our deen! May Allah accept all their efforts and make us among the righteous people (ameen).

Action Steps:

• Reflect on these criteria. Ask yourself, seriously: would I be cause for ahadith to be disqualified from being saheeh?
• Make du’a for the scholars, especially the scholars of hadith. They’ve done a hard, difficult, long, thankless job; only Allah knows how much they did. Ask Him to reward them insha’Allah ameen. (Just raise your hands and do it right now, it just takes a few seconds.)

Wallahu ‘alam.

Lecture: Introduction to Mustalah-Hadeeth by shaykh Suhaib Hasan Abdul-Ghaffaar. Available free from http://islamlecture.com/mustalah.htm.

(Ok, for the answer to the last question, read and learn about the science of hadith. In a sentence: Scholars have devised an extremely rigorous process to determine which hadith are authentic, and which are not. You wouldn’t want to spend your whole life following a “hadith,” only to find out it really wasn’t legit, do you?)

A mursal hadith is a hadith where the chain only goes up to a tabi’ee. (So the hadith goes: X narrated, from Y, from Z, … from such-and-such a tabi’een.) Tabi’een are the generation after the companions–they are the sons and daughters and followers of Islam who came after the sahaba. Most hadith continue–the tabi’ee will narrate from a sahaba, who will narrate directly from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

So mursal ahadith are ahadith where the chain cuts off at the tab’iee level; it doesn’t go directly to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

And why is this important? Because a tabi’ee can narrate from another tabi’ee! It doesn’t necessarily mean that they heard it directly from a sahaba, who heard it from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

So the ruling on mursal ahadith? They are considered as da’eef ahadith. All the same rulings apply.

For example, in the issue of “does laughing in salaah break your wudoo?,” imam Abu Hanifa says yes, and cites a mursal hadith as his proof. The majority of scholars disagree, and insha’Allah this is the correct opinion–why?

Because the hadith is mursal (i.e. da’eef), and it contradicts shari’ah principles–why would it break your wudoo inside salaah, but not if you laugh outside salaah? (And these are not the only proofs; only a taste of the discussion.)

Wallahu ‘alam.

Abdul-Bary Yahya. Lecture. AlMaghrib. The Purification Act. University of Toronto, Toronto. November 2006.

There are 6-8 billion people on the face of the earth. That’s 6 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000. That’s a lot of people! Can you imagine learning 6 names? Or 60? Or 6000? But Allah knows their names–all 6,000,000,000 of them. And He knows everything they’re going to do today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after THAT.

And the day after THAT. In fact, every day, up to the end of their life. If they live ~63 years, that’s about 23,000 days. Multiplied by 6 billion people, that’s a lot of days!

And that’s just humans! Allah knows every creature on the face of the earth–every squirrel running in a tree, every bird soaring in the air, every fish, worm, turtle, squid, octopus, and even things we don’t know about, in the ocean! Wow! How many is that? A lot!

What about weather? Every snowflake is unique! How many snowflakes do you get in a snowstorm? Billions! Each created, crafted uniquely; each flying through a particular path and landing in a particular place. How many times does it rain or snow all over the world in a day? A lot!

Not to mention He knows every plant–every leaf of every plant or petal of every flower; every root of every tree!

Translation: And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record. [Surah Al-An'aam, verse 59]

This is Allah! This is our Lord–Al-’Aleem and Al-Khabeer! Subhanallah!

And subhanallah, Allah’s knowledge is even more than this. Check out these two verses:

Translation: If you could but see when they are made to stand before the Fire and will say, “Oh, would that we could be returned [to life on earth] and not deny the signs of our Lord and be among the believers.” But what they concealed before has [now] appeared to them. And even if they were returned, they would return to that which they were forbidden; and indeed, they are liars. [Surah Al-An'aam, verses 27-28]

What does this have to do with Allah’s knowledge? And why is Allah calling them liars? Because Allah knows everything that WOULD happen, if it DID happen, and how it would happen!

What does that mean? It means Allah knows, if they sent them back, what they would do–down to every second, down to every atom that moves, He knows. He could send them back–and He knows that if He did, they wouldn’t do what they said–they would just deny Allah again!

Subhanallah! Can anyone know what Allah knows? No! So can anyone be as wise as Allah? No! Because wisdom comes from knowledge, and nobody can match Allah’s knowledge!

Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Light Upon Light: Fundamentals of Faith 102. Metro Toronto Convention Center, July 2007.

Ar-Rahman: The Entirely Merciful, Ar-Raheem: The Especially Merciful

Both of the names Rahman and Raheem come from the root Ra-ha-meem (ر ح م), these names are similar so they require a parallel explanation. What is Rahmah? Rahmah is mercy. In the dictionary it means: compassion, kindness and gentleness. Also when a person is kind, compassionate and tenderhearted towards the other. So Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem: The One who has a lot of Rahmah, The One who shows a lot of rahmah, He expresses a lot of Rahmah. There are two Names of Allah with the same root, to emphasize that Allah is really the MOST Merciful, there is no one else who is more merciful than Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.

Ar-Rahman is structure of fa’laan, Ar-Raheem is structure of fa’eel. They both have mubaalaghah (intensification). What is the difference? Rahman has more mubaalagah (intensification) than Raheem. So ar Rahmaan indicates the One who has extensive and great mercy. Who is Ar Raheem then? He is the One who has extensive and great mercy but He expresses it on the ones whom He chooses. So Ar-Rahman extends to all of His creation including disbelievers, and Ar-Raheem extends to Allah’s special mercy only for the believers.

Examples from the Qur’an

20: 5->Ar Rahman ‘alal ‘arsh istawaa’. The Most Merciful, upon the throne He rose. He established His throne and showed Mercy towards all His creation.

55:1-5->  Ar Rahman, Who is He? ‘alamal Qur’an, He taught the Qur’an,  khalaqal insaan and He created mankind. This mercy is not just for the believers, but for everyone (insaan).

Raheem only to the believers: 33:43-> wa kaana bil mu’mineena raheema. One who is especially merciful to the believers.

2:37-> Innahu huwa at-Tawwaabur Raheem. Indeed He is the Greatest Acceptor of Repentance, the especially Merciful. Tawwaab is for those who turn to Allah, ie the believers.

Combinations of these Names:

These Names appear many times together. First example, the basmalah, and second verse of Fatihah. They appear together to express a lot of Mercy, Allah is the One who is  THE MOST Merciful.

When we look at Ar-Raheem, it appears with other Names:

At-Tawwaabur Raheem, Ar-Raoufur Raheem, Ghafoorur Raheem, Al-Azeezur Raheem (surah Shu’ara). Remember His mercy, but also remember His might.

Ar-Rahman

Appeared many times in surah Maryam and Furqan. Why so many times? These surahs were makkee surahs and they were introductions to the deen, so one of the first ways of how Allah Introduces Himself is by which attribute? The attribute of Rahmah, which is why the Qur’an opens up with these Attributes as well (Basmalah and Faatihah). Why, what’s so important about them? First of all, when people learn about Allah, they shouldn’t learn He is the One who puts them into hellfire but that Allah is Ready to accept people and forgive people. This is why messengers are basheerun (giver of glad tidings) and natheer (warner). Of the first ways to introduce Allah ta’ala in da’wah is by His Mercy. Specifically for the believers, they should remember His Mercy then they should abstain from wrong actions. Think: ‘If Allah is SO Merciful to me, why should I disobey Him and do wrong? Allah is so Rahman and I am so disobedient.’ The siffah (characteristic) of Rahman and Raheem remind the believers that they should remain firm on Allah’s Obedience. Allah is So Merciful, So kind towards you, so why won’t you obey Him?

A Hadeeth in Bukhari states: “Verily Allah created Mercy. The day He created it, He made it into one hundred parts. He withheld with Him ninety-nine parts, and sent its one part to all His creatures.” Allah has saved the 99 parts for His true believers on the day of judgment, that is when Allah will be ar Raheem. Allah will say to the disbelievers: do not even speak to Me, remain in hell-fire (23:108). Why? Because they do not deserve the rahmah of Allah.   So if a person does not not benefit from His Mercy in this world, they do not receive in the aakhirah. To benefit is not to just receive it in this world, but to accept the guidance and stay away from disobedience.

How to Receive Allah’s Special Mercy?

Ismul Jalaalah, The Grand Name: Allah الله. This is Allah’s Personal Name. His Identifying Name. This Name only belongs to Allah, no one else can have besides Allah. Allah is the Title, the Name, of the One True Ilaah. The Name of Allah, you cannot play around with: there is no plural, there is no feminine. The Name Allah appears over 3000 times in the Qur’an.

When we mentioned the Name “Allah” linguistically, we don’t say “the word Allah” or “the Name Allah” because it is not appropriate. It is only for Allah ta’ala, so we say: Lafdhul Jalaalah, لفظ الجلالة، the word that is Grand.

There are 4 opinions of the linguistic meaning of lafdhul Jalaalah:

1. The first opinion is that it is Allah’s Proper Name and it is not derived from any root, any noun, and has no meaning to it. It is just a Name that has no meaning to it, and this opinion is the minority opinion.
2. The second opinion is that it comes from hamza-laam-ha, and the verb from the root is a-li-ha ََََاَلِهَ and it means to astonish, surprise and amaze someone. So Allah, from aliha, is the One who Astonishes and Amazes His Creation. How? Firstly through His Attributes, when you know about Allah, you are amazed. He is Ar Rahmaan (The All Merciful), and yet Al Azeez (The Mighty) and yet Al Jabbaar (The Compellor) all at the same time, it’s amazing! When you know about the Names and Attributes, you are astonished and impressed. Another way how Allah amazes us is through His creation, all that He has created. When we learn about a bird or an ant, we are amazed and we say SubhanAllah (How Perfect is Allah and Far from any imperfection!), because Allah is truly Amazing and He Amazes His creation. Also, He amazes through His Decisions, Words, Rulings, Actions and Planning for us. When things don’t work out the way we planned, or we see great coincidences, we think: how did this happen?! It is Allah, He amazes us by His words and decisions for us. When we practice the ahkaam (rulings), we realize how much benefit there is in them. So truly He is the One who should be submitted too.
3. The third opinion is that it is from the same root, hamza laam ha, and the noun is al-la-ha اَلَهَ with a fathah (not li, with a kasrah, as the second opinion) and alaha means to worship, be humble and show dedication to someone. The noun would be ma’looh. Allah is Ma’looh: One who is shown dedication too, One who everyone is humble too, One who is worshipped. Everyone is humble to Allah, and on the Day of Judgment the Mulk (Sovereignty) is only for Allah ta’ala. We also learn from this that Allah is the Only One we should show humbleness too, we should be ‘ebaad, servants, to Allah. In surah Furqaan ayah 43, Allah tells us: أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَـٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ ara ayta man ittakhatha ilaahahu hawaahu, have you seen the one who takes his desires as his ilaah? This ayah shows us the meaning of taking something as your ilaah, God. It meant that they gave their desires the utmost priority and everything else became unimportant and secondary. Their ilaah is the one whom the person never turns down. It became what they loved and feared the most. Allah is the One we should love most, fear most and give the most importance too. According to some linguists (ibn Manthoor of Sibawyh) this opinion is the strongest. Furthermore, when you attach ‘al’ with aliha and alaha, it becomes al-Ilaah, and that becomes Allah. According to this definition this translation would be: The One Only Worthy of worship, Allah is the Only One worthy of worship. Notice: even His Name has tawheed in it, so how can there be other beings attached to Allah?!
4. The last opinion is that this word is from wow-laam-ha, the noun wilaah وِلَه comes. (the way you write ilaah, write a wow instead of hamzah/alif) Wilaah then turns to ilaah (based on an Arabic grammar rule), so wilaah means to turn to for protection. So Allah is the One Whom everyone turns to for help and protection. The One whose help and assistance is sought by the creation. This teaches us in times of difficulty and hardship, we turn to Allah azza wa jal, because the Name of Allah is the One whom ppl turn to for help and worship.

Review of the 4 opinions:

i.      There is no meaning, just a Proper Name

ii.      From aliha meaning to astonish and amazes, so Allah is the One who Astonishes the creation by His attributes, His creation, His Planning and His Rulings.

iii.      Allah is from alaha, so Allah is Ma’looh, One who is Worshipped.

iv.      Fourth opinion is from wilaah, so Allah means the One whom everyone turns to for help.

اسم الله الاعظم-Ismul Allahil A’tham: mentioned in hadeeth in Sunan Tirmidhi (saheeh): “To Allah belongs a Grand Name (Ismul A’tham), that, if you make du’a with it, it will be responded to. And if you plead or request with it, it shall be answered.” Several opinions on what this Name is, read Yasir Qadhi’s explanation here. Majority of the scholars say it is the Name “Allah” itself, that this is His Greatest Name. When a person makes duaa through this Name, it will be responded too.

wa Allahu ta’ala alam.

Reference: Ta’leem Al Qur’an course for women: Asma ul Husna class.

We know that Allah ta’ala Name’s Ar-Raheem is specifically for the believers, so how is it that one can receive this special Mercy from ar Raheem?

• Obedience to Allah and His Messenger. “and obey Allah and His Messenger so that you all may receive Mercy.” [3:132]
• Taqwa of Allah ta’ala, fear and consciousness of Allah. “And this is a book, We have sent it down as one blessed, so follow it and fear Allah so that you all may receive Mercy.” [6:155]  Similarly Allah says: “and My Mercy encompasses all things, so soon I will write it for those who have taqwa.” [7:156]
• Doing ihsaan (utmost good) towards Allah and the creation. “Indeed the Mercy of Allah is near to those who do utmost good.” [7:156]
• Praying four rak’aat before ‘Asr prayer. The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: “May Allah have mercy on one who prays 4 raka’aat before the ‘Asr Prayer.” Narrated by at-Tirmidhi no. 395 and he declared it a hassan, Al-Albany rated the Hadith as hassan in Sahih al-Jami’ No. 3493.
• Listening to the Qur’an attentively and remaining silent. “And when the Quran is recited, listen to it with attention, that you may receive Mercy.” [7:204]
• Having rahmah towards the creation of Allah. A hadith in Musnad Ahmad states, “Show mercy so that you may be shown mercy, forgive and Allah will forgive you.” There is another hadith narrated in Sunan Abi Dawood that states, “The merciful will be give mercy by the Most Merciful. Have mercy to those on earth and the one in the heavens will have mercy upon you.”  Also Allah ta’ala says in the Qur’an, Do you not love that Allah should forgive you?  [24:22] So if you want mercy, you want knowledge of the Qur’an, you want Jannah, you want Guidance? Show mercy to others.

May Allah ta’ala shower His mercy upon us, Ameen.

Asalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu,

First and foremost, Ramadan Kareem! May Allah azza wa jal give us all the opportunity to take advantage of this blessed month and to make it a means of us attaining His Paradise. Ameen.

Due to Ramadan, I’ve found myself to be quite busy. Nonetheless, I do apologize for not having written anything for the past few makes. Please forgive me for my shortcomings.

The last few posts we were discussing the explanation of Surah Ikhlas. We got through the first two verses and we explained that Allah azza wa jal has the Most Beautiful and Perfect Names. Of these Names that He attributes to Himself is al-Ahad. We mentioned that a concise meaning of this name is that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is One and Only and He is Unique in His Lordship, His rights to be worshiped, and His Names and Attributes. Thus, it is the primary goal of the Muslim to make Allah unique in everything He does and to never ascribe partners with Him, Subhana because this would be contradictory to His Name al-Ahad. We also discussed that Allah azza wa jal is as-Samad. He is self-sufficient from any need and that includes our worship towards Him. He is not in need of it rather He is deserving of this worship and beyond that the worship we do towards Him is only of our benefit.

To continue, we will discuss the third verse of this beautiful surah:

This verse is a continuation in explaining the extent to which Allah azza wa jal is al-Ahad. Many religions falsely represent God in human form by either giving Him human characteristics or human form.

(لَمْ يَلِدْ)

Allah does not give birth because there is nothing similar to Him, Subhana. A child made from protions (sperm and ovum) of the bodies of its parents which is why it is similar to its parents in form and characteristics. Now, If Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala

Allah tabaraka wa ta’ala has rejected offspring from the general perspective that it is not befitting, since that would reduce Him to the status of His creatures. Allah says: were to give birth, there would then be another God besides Him, something which He has already negated for Himself.

Translation: And whoever is blinded from remembrance of Ar-Rahman, we appoint for him a qareen, and he is to him a companion. [Surah Az-Zukhruf, verse 36]

Why is this important? You should know that you have an enemy; someone who’s always watching you, taking notes on you, recording what you do; his goal is to mislead you and misguide you and drag you into the Hellfire. That’s his full-time job, no vacation time and no breaks! Subhanallah! The Prophet says:

Translation: The Messenger of Allah once told his companions: Everyone of you has been assigned a companion from the Jinn. They asked: Even you, O Messenger of Allah! He replied: Yes, except that Allah has helped me against him, fa aslam. Now he only tells me to do good. [Saheeh Muslim]

What does fa aslam mean? Scholars give it two meanings. One meaning is that the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) qareen became Muslim. Imam Nawawi and other scholars say, it means the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) was protected from his qareen.

Does this mean we, too, can make du’a and give da’wah to our qareen and try to make him or her Muslim? Unfortunately, scholars say it’s specific to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

So what’s the conclusion? Know you have an enemy. Recognize it. And struggle against it; because the one who has an enemy and struggles and overcomes him is better then one who has no enemy and is just “ok.” Think about it! For every waswasa you turn away, you get a hassanah. For every sin you change your mind on, Allah credits you a good deed. For every sin you commit, you can repent, and scholars say the one who sins and repents is better than the one who never sinned.

So brighten up! Allah appointed you a qareen, yes; but this is a great and wonderful opportunity for you to attain mountains of deeds! Allahu akbar!

May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) allow us to overcome our qareens and become people of Jannah, ameen!

Waleed Basyouni. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Rays of Faith.

The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said:

Translation: Indeed, Allah has 99 names (one hundred minus one); whoever memorizes them will enter Jannah. [Saheeh Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim]

This hadith is talking about the elite 99 names of Allah. Although all of Allah’s names are husna, some of them stand out above others.

So which names are the elite 99? Virtually every single scholar of Islam has a different opinion on this. And realize that the common version that we know–like the one in this nasheed–is da’eef.

Why is it da’eef? It comes from the same hadith as we stated above–except at, at some point, one narrator added “And this is what I think those names are.” So it’s someone’s opinion.

And realize that most of the names they’ve mentioned there are ok–but some are definitely negative (which goes against Allah’s names being husna), and some are definitely not Allah’s names.

But the good thing is, about 80-90% of the names there are ok. And even among the scholars of Islam, they agree on the vast majority of which names are THE elite 99–but they differ in a few names.

And why is this important to know–aside from for tawassul? Because this is your key to jannah! Another wording of this hadith, instead of using hadifha (to memorize, to protect), uses the word “hisaa” (with saad). The root word has something to do with intelligence and intellect; the meaning is that whoever knows and acts upon these names will enter Jannah.

Having said all that–if these 99 names are so important, why didn’t Allah just tell us which are His 99 names?

But think about it–if He (سبحانه وتعالى) told us–would anyone bother with the other names? Probably not. Would anyone try to investigate the meanings of and learn the names? Not really–we’d just have a common list of names passed around, and nobody would do more than memorize.

Instead, by not telling us, He (سبحانه وتعالى) has created a situation like Laylatul-Qadr. Nobody knows when Laylatutl-Qadr is, except Allah–so people strive the last ten days of Ramadan, doing extra nawafil acts, in the hopes that it’s Laylatul-Qadr.

And these elite 99 names are like that–you have to work hard, and strive above and beyond just learning 99, if you want to know them for sure.

So learn these names–with their meanings! Subhanallah, nothing will increase your eman quite like this will.

To start you off, you can check our List of Allah’s Names post, and also check God Names, a site that details 99 names, with a great explanation of meaning.

May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) help us to learn and memorize and act upon His 99 names, and become those of Jannah by it–ameen ya rabbi!

Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Light Upon Light: Fundamentals of Faith 102. Metro Toronto Convention Center, July 2007.

Rays of Faith is an AlMaghrib Institute course taught by Waleed Basyouni. Rays of Faith focuses on the pillars of Emaan: belief in the Angels, the Books, the Prophets, the Day of Judgment, and the Divine Decree (Qadr wa Qadaa’). This course will also go over the creation and realm of Jinns. These matters to us, are matters of the unseen but why is it so important? Because the most important characteristic of a believer is that they believe in the unseen (think of Suratul Baqarah, verse 3), so to believe in the unseen is the base of our eman.

Among the many benefits of this class, the most important is to soften our hearts with eman and to its pillars. Sufyan ath-Thawri would teach about the hereafter as if Hell-fire and Jannah were right before you. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: it was like he went to the Hereafter and back when he would teach about it. Among other benefits: it provides clear information about the unseen world, it teaches us how to deal with matters of the unseen, to be satisfied with the Decree of Allah, and it give ways to prepare for the REAL life–the next one.

When learning ‘Aqeedah, there are many issues of weak narrations and baseless statements, however this class only teaches what is found in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, as the early scholars reviewed Aqeedah only as what Allah and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said.

This course is very detailed, and as shaykh Waleed said: the more details we know, the more we strengthen our faith. So don’t be surprised at the size of the binder!

Ibn Taymiyyah said: the foundation of anything is correct belief (aqeedah).

• Al-Qantarah
• AlMaghrib
• Qareen
• Rays of Faith

• Aqeedah

Waleed Basyouni. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Rays of Faith.