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Mohamad Akmal Bin Rozman
10th May 2002
Seri Manjung,Perak
CFS IIUM GAMBANG
Engineering student
Contact:
akmalrozman219@gmail.com

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Seeking Knowledge

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Hadith Jibril

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Hadits Arbain Nawawi Ke 2: Islam, Iman dan Ihsan

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This paper presents the three levels of religious practice in Islam as expressed in the famous ḥadith of Gabriel: 1) Islām (outward submission to the will of Allah), 2) Īmān (faith), and 3) Iḥsān (spiritual excellence). Texts from the Qur'an, Sunnah, and classical scholarly works are cited to distinguish these three levels of religion ( dīn) from each other. The purpose of this knowledge is to lay out the big picture before the worshipper, the highest religious goals in Islam, what the author refers to as the "spiritual mountain." This includes a broad awareness of the Islamic disciplines: Qur'an, Tafsīr, Tajwīd, Ḥadith, Sīrah, ʿAqīdah, Sharīʿah, Fiqh, and purification of the soul or spirituality. The prophetic method of self-improvement and habit formation will lastly be presented as the primary means to achieve stronger faith and spiritual excellence.

Human beings were created with an internal drive to seek out purpose and to live for something greater than themselves. Many people have the misfortune of living for the sake of something in the world, devoting their lives to the transient, worshipping created objects instead of the Creator. They do not acknowledge where they came from, why they are here, and where they will end up after their inevitable death. Lost and without guidance, they stumble through life until the Reality confronts them.

But many of them want direction in their lives and conviction in the knowledge of the Hereafter. They only need to be shown the path, the universal and primordial religion revealed to the Prophets and Messengers, Islam, peaceful surrender to the Will of the Creator.

In Islam, we have a clear conception of why we were created, what constitutes righteous living, and what happens after death. Moreover, Islam is not simply a set of rules and beliefs, but also contains the seeds of constant self-improvement. We have been taught how to grow closer and closer to the Creator, to become excellent worshippers and moral leaders, to the point that our individual will and the eternal Will of the Creator become perfectly aligned. This is known to us as the station of Iḥsān, religious excellence, the very top of the spiritual mountain.

The three levels of our religion were revealed to the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ in the famous hadith about his encounter with the Angel Gabriel, upon him be peace. Gabriel came to the Prophet ﷺ while he was surrounded by his companions and he said, "O Muḥammad, tell me about Islam." The Prophet ﷺ said:

Islam is to testify there is no true god but Allah and Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish prayer, to give charity, to fast the month of Ramadan, and to perform the Hajj pilgrimage to the House if one can find a way.

Gabriel said, "You have spoken truthfully," and then he said, "Tell me about faith." The Prophet ﷺ said:

Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in the Divine Decree ( al-qadr), both its good and its evil.

Gabriel said, "You have spoken truthfully, so tell me about excellence." The Prophet ﷺ said:

This narration lays out the journey before us, from religious infancy to spiritual maturity: surrender, faith, and excellence. When each of these terms is used in isolation, they refer to the totality of faith. When they are contrasted, they each have a specific meaning. Imām Ibn Taymiyyah explains the hadith, writing:

The hadith of Gabriel clarifies that Islam is built upon five pillars, which is Islam itself. It is not based upon anything other than its foundation. Rather, the Prophet ﷺ designated three degrees of the religion. The pinnacle is excellence ( al-iḥsān), its middle is faith ( al-īmān), and its base is Islam. Thus, every good-doer ( muḥsin) is a believer and every believer is Muslim, but not every believer is a good-doer and not every Muslim is a believer.

As believers, our ultimate goal should be to practice much more than the basics. Rather, we should aspire to climb the figurative mountain, to graduate from the lowest levels to the highest levels of faith, in pursuit of the loftiest station in Paradise, Jannat al-Firdaws.

Yet the journey to the Hereafter must always begin at the beginning. None of us exit the womb praying five times a day or knowing our creed. We all have to take that first step. Every Muslim must start with the basics and move forward into faith. Allah has likened faith development to the development of a seed that becomes a large tree producing fruit.

Allah said:

Islam: Following the basics

The very first priority for a new Muslim, or a newly awakened Muslim, is to learn the basic practices of Islam-its five pillars-starting most importantly with understanding the meaning of the declaration of faith ("There is no God but Allah, and Muḥammad is His Messenger") and the six articles of faith. After this theological foundation is established, it is essential to begin performing the daily prayers and the rest of the pillars of Islam as applicable. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Everything else in Islam is built upon the five pillars. No Muslim can advance spiritually unless they adhere to these basic religious practices. Imām Ibn Rajab comments on this tradition, writing:

The parable of the five pillars is a concrete way for us to understand priorities in an Islamic framework. The scholars have divided all outward actions into five categories: obligatory ( farḍ or wājib), recommended ( mustaḥabb or mandūb), permissible ( ḥalāl or mubāḥ), discouraged ( makrūh), and forbidden ( ḥarām). It makes sense that our first order of business is to practice the obligations and avoid the prohibitions (which is like setting the foundation of the house), then move on to practicing recommended acts and avoiding discouraged acts, which is like decorating the house or adding fixtures.

Adhering to the pillars of Islam does not necessarily make one a believer in good standing with Allah. Islam provides us guidance on both outward and inward deeds, rituals and spirituality. When some nomad Arabs came to the Prophet ﷺ, they declared themselves to be believers, but Allah knew that their hearts had not yet internalized the faith.

Allah said:

On one occasion, the Prophet ﷺ was distributing charity and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ said to him, "O Messenger of Allah, give it to this man, for he is a believer." The Prophet said, "Or merely a Muslim." Saʿd said it three times and the Prophet repeated it three times, "Or merely a Muslim." The Prophet ﷺ also addressed a group of Muslims, saying:

As clarified in these traditions and many others, the outward components of Islam are only the beginning of our journey to the Hereafter. Not only must our limbs submit to the will of the Creator; our hearts must submit to Him as well. A man once asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what is Islam?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "That you surrender your heart to Allah and that Muslims are safe from your tongue and hand."

The greatest Muslims in our history were not content with limiting their spiritual potential to outward deeds. In fact, the first of the righteous Caliphs was distinguished not by his external worship, but because of something inside him. According to Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Muzanī, "Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was not better than people because of an abundance of fasting and prayer. Rather, he was only favored over them because of something that settled in his heart."

It is the true and actualized faith, internalized and fully absorbed, that propels a Muslim to the peak of righteousness in this world and the highest parts of Paradise in the Hereafter.

Having understood what Islam requires of us in matters of ritual worship, our next step is to understand faith as it was revealed to us in the Qur'an and Sunnah and as it was understood by our righteous predecessors. Faith is based upon belief in the six articles of Faith, but this is not blind belief, as many people incorrectly assume. Readers may need to set aside any preconceived notions that the English word 'faith' might imply. Rather, faith in Islam is an action. As Allah said, "Give glad tidings to those who have faith and do righteous deeds, that they will have gardens beneath which rivers flow." The phrase "those who have faith and do righteous deeds" occurs over and over throughout the Qur'an. Faith is inseparable from the deeds of the heart and the deeds of the body, as the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah does not look at your appearance or wealth, but rather he looks at your hearts and actions."

For this reason, the scholars defined iman in terms of both inward and outward action. Ibn Taymiyyah explains the definition for us, "It is understood that īmān is [actually] affirmation and not simply belief ( al-taṣdīq). Affirmation includes both the heart's statement, which is belief, and the heart's action, which is compliance." The statement of the heart means to really believe in what you profess with your tongue, and the actions of the heart are the internal mechanisms of worship, such as one's ultimate fear, love, hope, reliance, and penitence. In another place, Ibn Taymiyyah writes that faith "is not merely belief in His existence and His attributes, as is shared by the believer and unbeliever alike." Even Satan believes in Allah's existence, but that does not make him a believer. It was only after he arrogantly disobeyed his Creator that "he became one of the unbelievers." It was not the sin per se that made him an unbeliever, as we are all sinners, but rather it was his stubborn and remorseless refusal to repent and obey the commands of his Lord.

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī gives us an even more detailed definition of faith:

As such, the parable of faith is that of a piece of clothing, which one wears or takes off at any given time. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Verily, the faith of one of you will wear out within him, just as a shirt becomes worn out, so ask Allah to renew faith in your hearts." And ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه said, "The parable of faith is that of a shirt. You may not be wearing it and then you put it on, or you may be wearing it and then you take it off." Faith must be constantly renewed by actions such as prayer, fasting, seeking Islamic knowledge, and remembrance. This is why Muʿādh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه used to say to his companions, "Come and sit with us. We will have faith for a while." That is, they would perform the actions of faith together as a means to increase their faith.

From another perspective, there are aspects of faith that do not change, because Allah Himself is Eternal and Unchanging. Most importantly, Allah is One and there is no object worthy of worship except for Him. Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz, a commentator on the popular classical creed of Imām al-Taḥāwī, defines monotheism ( al-tawhīd) in Islam:

In other words, there are three aspects to monotheism: the Oneness of Names and Attributes ( tawḥīd al-asmāʾ wa-al-sifāt), the Oneness of Lordship ( tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah), and the Oneness of Divinity ( tawḥīd al-ilāhiyyah). These are not mutually exclusive categories; they overlap. To affirm the name Allah ("the God") is to affirm His Divinity. To affirm the name al-Khāliq ("the Creator") is to affirm His Lordship, and so on. From the all-encompassing principle of monotheism, the scholars have delineated the most important beliefs in the discipline known as ʿAqīdah, creedal theology.

As aspiring believers, then, we come to know Allah by studying His Names and Attributes as they are revealed in the Qur'an. In a particularly meaningful passage, Allah reveals several of His Names to us:

He is Allah, besides whom there is no God, the Sovereign, the Holy, the Pure, the Faithful, the Overseer, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Superior. Glory be to Allah above what they associate with Him.

And the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah has ninety-nine names and whoever preserves them will enter Paradise." By these Names, we recognize our Creator and worship Him correctly. Shaykh al-Saʿdī comments on this tradition, writing, "Whoever memorizes them, understands their meanings, believes in them, and worships Allah by them, he (or she) will enter Paradise." Studying these Names, learning them by heart, and observing their manifestations in the world is an essential method of increasing our faith. Great scholars, like Imām al-Ghazālī, would produce treatises on the Names of Allah, explaining not only their meanings but also how to act upon them.

Our faith in the Creator must include the means by which He has communicated His will to us: faith in the Messengers and their Books. Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ is the last in a long line of Prophets, including well-known figures such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, peace be upon them all. However, as the Books of earlier Prophets were obfuscated, lost to history, or changed by their latter followers, Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ is distinguished among them as the bearer of the Noble Qur'an, the literal words of Allah.

The importance of the Qur'an in Islam cannot be overstated. It is the direct connection between the worshipper and the Creator, a divine discourse speaking to you, the reader, from the Lord of the universe. It is a prophetic miracle in its substantive content, which laid the foundation for a great world civilization. It is also a linguistic miracle in that the very method of reciting the Qur'an, known as al-tajwīd, has the ability to stir hearts and increase faith; the miracle of the Qur'an can be experienced by all who study it. Even if believers do not yet have the knowledge to experience the Qur'an, they should know that its miraculous nature is an article of faith for a very good reason.

Imām al-Taḥāwī رحمه الله writes in his famous creed:

New, or newly awakened, Muslims who do not know the Qur'anic language have yet to experience the miracle, but this is also how the companions of the Prophet ﷺ learned Islam. First, they learned faith, then they learned the Qur'an. Jundub ibn ʿAbdullah رضي الله عنه said, "We learned faith before we learned the Qur'an, then we learned the Qur'an and it strengthened our faith." One must first connect their heart to the Creator, then connect their heart to His words.

Reciting the Qur'an, in both its outward form ( al-tajwīd) and inward meanings ( al-tafsīr), is how a believer can take his or her faith to the next level, as Allah said, "Do they not ponder over the Qur'an? If it had come from another besides Allah, they would have found many contradictions in it." The beauty of its enlightening words, the wisdom of its rulings, the natural simplicity of its theology, everything about the Qur'an provides a spiritual experience like no other.

We were not present when the sea was parted for Moses عليه السلام, nor when the dead were raised for Jesus عليه السلام, but each one of us can study the Qur'an and experience this miracle firsthand. As such, the Prophet ﷺ said, "There were none among the prophets but that he was given unique signs to instill faith in humanity. Verily, I have been given the revelation that Allah has inspired in me, so I hope to have the most followers on the Day of Resurrection." The miracle of the Qur'an is timeless and accessible, unlike the miracles of all other Prophets.

Complementing the miracle of the Qur'an is the authentic prophetic tradition, the Sunnah, the sayings and deeds of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. Allah said, "It is He who has sent a Messenger to the unlettered from among themselves, reciting to them His verses, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom." According to the great exegete among the tābiʿīn, Qatādah ibn Diʿāmah, the "Wisdom" in this verse, and others like it, means the prophetic tradition, the Sunnah. The Sunnah is contained in rigorously preserved oral traditions ( ḥadīth or plural aḥādīth). Believers learn the practical application of the Qur'an, such as the details of prayer, everyday habits, and morality from the Sunnah, as put by the wife of the Prophet, ʿĀishah, "Have you not read the Qur'an? The character of the Prophet of Allah was the Qur'an."

The two source-texts of divine revelation, the Qur'an and Sunnah, together make up the Sharīʿah, the religious path. The term Sharīʿah has been misunderstood, confused, and abused by anti-Islam media and even by some Muslims. As with all technical terminology, we need to precisely define what we mean by the word Sharīʿah from its usage in Islam's source-texts. Allah said, "Thus We have placed you upon an ordained path ( sharīʿah), so follow it and do not follow the whims of those without knowledge." Al-Ṭabarī explained the linguistic meaning of Sharīʿah in this verse as a way ( ṭarīqah), a tradition ( sunnah), and a method ( minhāj). The technical definition of the term by later scholars is comprehensive, consisting of three branches inclusive of the entire religion: rules ( āḥkām), beliefs ( ʿaqāid), and morals ( akhlāq). Moreover, the moral foundations of the Sharīʿah are the virtues and values of mercy ( raḥmah), integrity ( istiqāmah), God-consciousness ( taqwá), gratitude ( shukr), patience ( ṣabr), honesty ( ṣidq), justice ( ʿadl), temperance ( ʿiffah), fidelity ( wafāʾ), and tolerance ( samāḥah). The religion in its fullest sense is contrasted in the verse with whims and base desires ( ahwāʾ). That is, true faith is about conforming our personal desires to the Sharīʿah, not changing the Sharīʿah to fit our personal desires, as the Prophet ﷺ said, "None of you has true faith until his desires comply with what I have brought." With this broader picture in mind, a believer is ready to study the Sharīʿah with the hope of being blessed by its guidance.

However, it is encouraged for believers to study the Sharīʿah, Islam's source-texts, within the theoretical framework of one of the interpretive schools established by the four Imāms: Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, Al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. The early scholar Ibn Wahb would say, "Were it not for Mālik and Al-Layth (two Imāms of fiqh), I would have been ruined. I used to think that everything narrated about the Prophet ﷺ should be acted upon." This concern still holds true today, since many of the anti-Islam arguments that permeate the internet are nothing more than citing Qur'anic verses and hadith out of context. And since fiqh is essential for interpreting hadith, many scholars recommended studying fiqh according to one of the orthodox schools, while others maintain that one does not need to limit oneself to one school as long as their practice of the Sunnah draws upon the inherited guidance of fiqh.

The authentic hadith and the Sunnah (plural Sunan) they express also fit into a broader narrative known as the Sīrah, the prophetic biography. Believers keen to increase their faith ought to study the Prophet's ﷺ biography, the social context within which he preached the message of One God, the hardships he and his followers overcame, and the magnanimity they showed to their enemies. Even many non-Muslims who investigate the life of the Prophet ﷺ with curiosity and fairness cannot help but be amazed by his faith.

Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader best-known for his successful nonviolent campaign to achieve independence from British imperial rule, was an admirer of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. Gandhi wrote in one of his letters:

Indeed, the biography of the Prophet ﷺ is yet another sign for the believers. The classical jurist Ibn Hazm used to say, "If there were no other miracles besides his biography, it would be enough."

Another important practice to increase our faith, and this is especially important for those who cannot yet read the Qur'an, is to ponder over the wonders of creation and witness the miracles of the Creator in nature. Allah said:

Believers who think about their own existence can only logically conclude that the creation has a Creator, who created it for a wise purpose. When asked to justify belief in God, the early Muslims, like the Qur'an, found evidence in the many signs in creation. Imām al-Shafi'i رحمه الله, for instance, was asked about the existence of the Creator and he replied, "The leaves of a berry bush all have one taste. Worms eat it and produce silk. Bees eat it and produce honey. Goats, camels, and cows eat it and produce droppings and dung. Deer eat it and produce musk. Yet, all of these come from one thing." If one really thinks about this particular natural miracle-that many different creatures eat the same plant but produce different substances useful to humankind-the necessary conclusion is that it was made to be this way.

Once we have established our relationship with our Creator, His Messenger, and His Book, we then need to turn our attention towards how the believers are described in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and act accordingly. Allah said:

These verses and many others describe the believers by various virtues and good deeds, such as praying, giving charity, being patient, and restraining their anger. Speaking on the verses of this type, Shaykh al-Saʿdī writes:

Whoever fulfills these characteristics is a true believer. Included in that are the establishment of obligations, both outwardly and inwardly, and avoidance of what is forbidden and discouraged... These verses are explicit in that faith includes theological beliefs, morals, outward and inward actions. Based on this, it increases by the increases in these characteristics and their actualization, and it decreases when they are decreased.

As proven in many verses and traditions, faith is inseparable from moral character, dignified manners, and good behavior towards others. The topic of morals ( al-akhlāq) and manners ( al-ādāb) greatly concerned the early Muslims, who compiled hundreds of prophetic traditions about it and authored extended treatises on it. The classical scholar Ibn al-Qayyim went so far as to say, "The religion itself is good character, so whoever surpasses you in good character has surpassed you in religion." In this statement are the two dimensions of the religion: good behavior towards Allah (including correct theological beliefs, sincere and correct acts of worship), and good behavior to the creation (including giving charity, being kind, and showing mercy). Both of these aspects-the rights of Allah ( huqūq Allah) and the rights of His servants ( huqūq al-ʾibād)-are intrinsically linked. Whoever is deficient in one aspect will be deficient in the other.

The summation of how our behavior should be towards our fellow human beings and creatures is found in the theological maxim, "The recompense for deeds is of the same type" ( al-jazāʾ min jins al-ʿamal). Put differently, Allah will treat you how you treat others. In this regard, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Love for people what you love for yourself and you will be a believer. Behave well with your neighbors and you will be a Muslim." A true believer imagines himself in the shoes of his neighbors; he naturally empathizes with them and shows compassion for them. This is known as the "ethics of reciprocity," a concept deeply rooted in Islamic texts.

Ibn al-Qayyim expresses the essence of this principle, writing:

Shaykh al-Saʿdī concurs, writing, "The recompense is commensurate with the deeds. As one is good to the servants of Allah and approaches them with benevolence-as much as one can-Allah will be good to him with all types of good."

To recap, faith is defined as both conviction and action. It increases or decreases depending on our deeds. Believers can increase their faith by studying the Qur'an, studying the Sunnah, reading the biography of the Prophet ﷺ, and reflecting deeply on the miracles of nature. Believers must also try to live up to the description of the believers in the Qur'an and Sunnah, upholding justice, showing compassion, and generally behaving with the same moral standard that they expect from other believers.

The next level of faith, Iḥsān, involves achieving excellence in all characteristics of the faith: worshipping Allah sincerely and correctly, seeking knowledge, purifying the heart from spiritual diseases, and treating others how we like to be treated.

Excellence ( Iḥsān): Doing our best in Islam

Having grasped the major components of faith-the six articles, the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the Sīrah, the Fiqh, and moral values-the believer can clearly view the path ahead, the figurative mountain to be climbed. The top of this mountain was described by the Prophet ﷺ as worshipping Allah as if you can see Him in front of you. Muʿādh ibn Jabal once asked, "O Messenger of Allah, instruct me." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Worship Allah as if you can see Him and prepare yourself for death." In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ taught Muʿādh to say this supplication, "O Allah, help me to remember You, to give thanks to You, and to worship You in the best manner."

Worshipping Allah as if you see Him means to strive for excellence in worship and in all of our deeds. Imām al-Nawawī explains the meaning of this phrase, writing:

This statement is among the comprehensive sayings ( jawāmiʿ al-kalim) brought by the Prophet ﷺ. If one of us is able to worship as if he sees his Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, he would never abandon any good thing he can do, such as being humble, reverent, behaving well, and taking care to combine outward and inward aspects completely, in the best possible manner.

We all tend to be more modest and shy to do wrong in public, rather than in private. It is easier to disobey your parents when they are not looking over you, or to disobey a teacher when their back is turned. In a similar way, we feel more shame in doing wrong when we have the conviction that Allah is watching our every deed, even what we do in the innermost part of our being, our hearts. But unlike our parents or teachers, Allah is always aware of what we are doing and is more deserving of our obedience, as the Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah is more worthy of your modesty than people."

Islam teaches us to perform all of our good deeds-prayer, charity, fasting, or any beneficial activity we do-as best as we possibly can, as if Allah were right in front of us. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Verily, Allah has prescribed excellence in everything. If you have to kill, kill in the best manner. If you have to slaughter, slaughter in the best manner. Let one of you sharpen his knife, so his animal is spared of suffering." In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you make a judgment, be just. If you have to kill, kill in the best manner. Verily, Allah Almighty is Excellent and He loves excellence." Of course, doing our best means both outwardly and inwardly.

From the external perspective, we are often presented with a range of options in a given situation. In fiqh terms, we may have a choice between doing something that is recommended or merely permissible. In this regard, Allah said, "Give glad tidings to My servants who listen to the word and follow the best of it." For instance, when we are wronged, we can choose between legal retaliation or forgiveness for the offender. Al-Samarqandī comments on this verse, writing, "It is said that they listen to the Qur'an and they follow the best in it, such as in the choice between retaliation and pardon, one chooses to pardon, as in His saying, 'If you are patient, it is better for the patient.'" There are many recommended sunan actions we can choose to practice or not, just as one could choose to decorate his house (his faith founded upon the five pillars of Islam) or not. Moreover, sometimes we are presented with two benefits or two harms, in which we need to consider the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils. Ibn Taymiyyah said, "The intelligent one is not one who knows good and evil, but rather only one who can recognize the better of two goods or the worse of two evils." In this way, identifying and implementing the better action within an appropriate framework of fiqh is part of striving for excellence in our worship and deeds.

From the internal perspective, we must purify our hearts from all kinds of spiritual diseases, such as hypocrisy, arrogance, worldliness, envy, and malice. Allah tells us that no one will be safe on the Day of Judgment except for "one who comes to Allah with a pure heart." The heart (in the spiritual sense, not the physical heart) is the basis for all other voluntary actions. If the heart is truly pure of sinful dispositions, the rest of our deeds will be correct. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Verily, in the body is a piece of flesh which, if sound, the entire body is sound, and if corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart."

However, it is important to acknowledge that excellence, or iḥsān, does not necessarily mean perfection. We were not created to be perfect, as the Prophet ﷺsaid, "All of the children of Adam are sinners, and the best sinners are those who repent." We will make mistakes and we will commit sins, but part of excellence is to fulfill the conditions of sincere repentance. For this reason, Allah tells us to "be mindful of Allah as much as you are able." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "When I prohibit something, avoid it. When I command you to do something, do it as much as you are able." Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, which means iḥsān may not look exactly the same for each and every believer. We have all inherited different means, so excellence is to do our very best with what we have.

How do we get there? Systematic spiritual advancement

The ultimate goal is to bring all the inward and outward components of faith together in the best possible manner, according to the means provided to us by Allah. How can we advance to higher states of faith in a systematic way? The prophetic method was revealed in the Messenger of Allah's ﷺ description of the "allies" of Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

This tradition describes the process by which faith is strengthened and states of excellence are attained. The correct place to start improving is by fulfilling our obligations ( al-farāʾiḍ) to Allah and His creatures as best as we can-prayer, charity, fasting, performing the Hajj pilgrimage if possible, and respecting the basic limits of permission and prohibitions ( halāl and harām). Once we have established these duties-the pillars of Islam-we can begin adding extra good works ( al-nawāfil), which correspond to the fiqh categories of Sunnah and recommendation. In this way, we establish good habits and, slowly but surely, add more good habits to our routine.

Many times the companions would come to the Prophet ﷺ and ask him about extra good works they could incorporate into their daily lives. For example, Abū Hurayrah said:

My dear friend, the Prophet ﷺ, advised me to do three deeds and I will never abandon them until I die: to fast three days of every month, to perform the forenoon prayer, and to sleep after performing the witr prayer.

Abū Hurayrah was told to work these three practices into his routine. On another occasion, Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه the first of the righteous Caliphs, said, "O Messenger of Allah, command me with something to say in the mornings and evenings." The Prophet ﷺ said:

When a good habit is firmly established, then one can add another small good habit to his or her practice. Quality in worship, or charity, is more important than quantity. That is why the Prophet ﷺ said, "Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are those done regularly even if they are small." It is also why the Prophet ﷺ would prescribe various recommended actions to his companions. In his wisdom, he knew what they were capable of doing, so he did not prescribe the same routine to everyone who asked him. Rather, he discouraged Muslims from taking on more practices than they could reasonably sustain, saying, "Verily, the religion is easy and no one burdens himself in religion but that it overwhelms him." And he said to ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAmr, "O ʿAbdullah, do not be like a man who would stand for prayer at night but later abandoned his night prayer." By this slow, but steady, incremental method, a believer grows closer to Allah and the state of excellence.

Building up outward habits, however, must be accompanied by efforts to purify our hearts and souls of spiritual diseases. This requires mindful introspection, which for many can be uncomfortable since none of us likes to think of ourselves as flawed or "bad" people. But we need to overcome this barrier of the ego, to seek out our own personal faults so that they can be systematically corrected. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه used to say, "May Allah have mercy on the one who shows me my faults." And Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah رحمه الله said, "No man fails to recognize the defects in his own soul but that he is the greatest of fools." It was said, "O Abū Wāthilah, what is your defect?" Iyās said, "Speaking too much." Believers need to be aware of their own soul's capacity to incline to evil, to wage jihād against it ( jihād al-nafs), as well as to know the methods by which Satan deludes believers into an arrogant sense of self-righteousness.

And this is the price of Paradise, to consume bitter medicine in pursuit of excellence. Every spiritual disease involves a cure that at first is bitter, but in time will lead to the sweetness of faith in this life and the next, as the Prophet ﷺ said, "The sweetness of the world is bitterness in the Hereafter, and the bitterness of the world is sweetness in the Hereafter."

The three levels of religion in Islam begin with its outward components, followed by improving upon its inward components, and reaching its peak when the inward and outward states of the worshipper are fully actualized. These three levels are not mutually exclusive; they overlap in important ways. A new Muslim at the beginning of their faith-journey still needs to work on their spiritual interior until they achieve purity of heart, or excellence, as much as they can. In this state of spiritual excellence, one's free will coincides with the Will of Allah, such that one becomes the tool through which Allah sends His blessings and mercy to His creatures. The worshipper achieves this state by knowledge and implementation of Islam's source-texts and its primary scholarly disciplines ( Qur'an, Tafsīr, Tajwīd, Ḥadith, Sīrah, ʿAqīdah, Sharīʿah, Fiqh, and purification of the soul or spirituality).

Like climbing a mountain, the worshipper starts at the bottom or lowest level, then improves by gradually adding acts of worship and good habits to their daily routines, and using introspection to pinpoint the diseases in their heart (such as arrogance, greed, malice, and envy) and applying the cures to such diseases as prescribed by the scholars.
Success comes from Allah, and Allah knows best.

3 Sūrat Ibrāhīm 14:24-25.

4 Ibn Qudāmah, Mukhtaṣar Minhāj al-Qāṣidīn (Dimashq: Maktabat Dār al-Bayān, 1978), 1:365.

5 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Bayrūt: Dār Ṭawq al-Najjāh, 2002), 1:11 #8.

7 Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt 49:14.

11 al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, Nawādir al-Uṣūl fī Maʻrifat Aḥādīth al-Rasūl (Bayrūt: Dār al-Jīl, 1992), 1:148-149..

12 Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:25.

13 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 4:1986 #2564.

14 Ibn Taymīyah, Majmū' al-Fatāwà (al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah: Majmaʻ al-Malik Fahd li-Ṭibāʻat al-Muṣḥaf al-Sharīf, 1995), 7:638.

15 Ibn Taymīyah, Majmū' al-Fatāwà, 7:558.

16 Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:34.

17 'Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Sa'dī, Al-Tawḍīḥ wal-Bayān li-Shajarat al-Īmān (al-Qāhirah: Dār al-Minhāj, 2002), 1:41-42.

18 Sūrat al-Tawbah 9:124.

20 Ibn Ḥajar al-'Asqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ al-Bukhārī (Bayrūt: Dār al-Maʻrifah, 1959), 12:61.

21 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 1:10.

22 al-Ṭaḥāwī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, and 'Alī ibn 'Alī Ibn Abī al-'Izz, Sharḥ Al-'Aqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwīyah (Bayrūt: Mu'assasat al-Risālah, 1997), 1:24.

23 Sūrat al-Ḥashr 59:23-24.

25 al-Sa'dī, Al-Tawḍīḥ wal-Bayān li-Shajarat al-Īmān, 1:71-72.

27 al-Ṭaḥāwī and Ibn Abī al-'Izz, Sharḥ Al-'Aqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwīyah, 1:172.

29 Sūrat al-Nisā' 4:82.

30 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 6:182 #4981,

31 Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:23.

32 Sūrat al-Jumu'ah 62:2.

33 al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʻ al-Bayān 'an Ta'wīl al-Qur'an (Bayrūt: Mu'assasat al-Risālah, 2000), 23:373.

34 For more information on the authentication of Hadith, see Muntasir Zaman, "Can We Trust Hadith Literature? Understanding the Processes of Transmission and Preservation." Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. October 30, 2018. https://yaqeeninstitute.org/muntasir-zaman/can-we-trust-hadith-literature-understanding-the-process-of-transmission-and-preservation/

35 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:512 #746.

36 Sūrat al-Jāthiyah 45:18.

37 al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʻ al-Bayān 'an Ta'wīl al-Qur'an, 22:70 verse 45:18.

38 Al-Mawsū'at al-Fiqhīyah (al-Kuwayt: Dawlat al-Kuwayt, Wizārat al-Awqāf wa-al-Shu'ūn al-Islāmīyah, 1986),

1:16.

39 Ma'lamat Zāyid lil-Qawā'id al-Fiqhīyah wa Uṣūlīyah (Abu Dhabi: Zayed Charitable Foundation, 2013), 3:49.

41 al-Dhahabī, Siyar A'lām al-Nubalā' (al-Qāhirah: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2006), 7:211.

42 Mahatma Gandhi, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (New Delhi, India: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1960), 29:133. https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-29.pdf

43 Ibn Ḥazm, Al-Fiṣal fī al-Milal wal-Ahwāʼ wal-Niḥal (Miṣr: Maṭba'at Muḥammad 'Ali Ṣabīḥ wa Awlāduh, 1928), 2:73.

44 Sūrat Āli 'Imrān 3:190-191.

45 Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qur'an al-'Aẓīm. (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 1998), 1:106 verse 2:21.

46 For more information on this topic, see Justin Parrott, "The Case for Allah's Existence in the Qur'an and Sunnah." Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. February 27, 2017. https://yaqeeninstitute.org/justin-parrott/the-case-for-allahs-existence-in-the-quran-and-sunnah/

47 Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:177.

48 al-Sa'dī, Al-Tawḍīḥ wal-Bayān li-Shajarat al-Īmān, 1:52.

49 For more information on this topic, see Justin Parrott, "Can a 'Good Muslim' Be a 'Bad Person'? Aligning Faith and Character." Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. July 3, 2019. https://yaqeeninstitute.org/justin-parrott/can-a-good-muslim-be-a-bad-person-aligning-faith-and-character/

50 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah, Madārij al-Sālikīn Bayna Manāzil Īyāka Na'budu wa Īyāka Nasta'īn (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻArabī, 1996), 2:294.

52 For more information on this topic, see Justin Parrott, "The Golden Rule in Islam: Ethics of Reciprocity in Islamic Traditions." MRes dissertation for the University of Wales. Spring 2018. https://archive.nyu.edu/bitstream/2451/43458/2/The%20Golden%20Rule%20in%20Islam_FINAL.pdf

53 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah, Iʻlām al-Muwaqqiʻīn 'an Rabb al-'ālamīn (Bayrut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʻIlmiyah, 1991), 1:150.

54 al-Sa'dī, Al-Tawḍīḥ wal-Bayān li-Shajarat al-Īmān, 1:78-79.

57 al-Nawawī, Sharḥ al-Nawawī 'alá Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Bayrūt: Dār Iḥyā' al-Turāth al-'Arabī, 1972), 1:157-158.

59 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 3:1948 #1955.

61 Sūrat al-Zumar 39:17-18.

62 al-Samarqandī, Tafsīr al-Samarqandī al-Musammá Baḥr al-'Ulūm (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmīyah, 1993), 3:181 verse 39:18; Sūrat al-Naḥl 16:126.

63 Ibn Taymīyah, Majmū' al-Fatāwà, 20:54.

64 Sūrat al-Shu'arā' 26:89.

65 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 1:20 #52.

66 al-Thaʻlabī. Al-Kashf wal-Bayān ʻan Tafsīr al-Qur'an (Bayrut: Dār Iḥyā' al-Turāth al-'Arabī, 2002), 1:144.

68 Sūrat al-Taghābun 64:16.

69 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 9:94 #7288.

70 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 8:105 #6502.

71 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 2:58 #1178.

73 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:515 #141.

75 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 1:16 #39.

76 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 2:54 #1152.

77 al-Dārimī, Sunan al-Dārimī (al-Riyāḍ: Dār al-Mughnī, 2000), 1:506 #675.

78 Ibn 'Asākir, Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq (Bayrūt: Dār al-Fikr, 1995), 10:34.

79 For more information on this topic, see Zohair Abdul-Rahman and Justin Parrott, "Devil in the Details: An Analysis of the Dark Side of the Self." Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. January 24, 2019. https://yaqeeninstitute.org/zohair/devil-in-the-details-an-analysis-of-the-dark-side-of-the-self/

81 Al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā' 'Ulūm al-Dīn (Bayrūt: Dār al-Maʻrifah, 1980), 3:199.

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Islām, Īmān, Iḥsān: Climbing the Spiritual Mountain | Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research

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This paper presents the three levels of religious practice in Islam as expressed in the famous ḥadith of Gabriel: 1) Islām (outward submission to the will of Allah), 2) Īmān (faith), and 3) Iḥsān (spiritual excellence). Texts from the Qur'an, Sunnah, and classical scholarly works are cited to distinguish these three levels of religion ( dīn) from each other.

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The Influence of Islam, Iman and Ihsan Towards Self Well-being

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The Influence of Islam, Iman and Ihsan Towards Self Well-being

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-Complete my studies in UIA
-Have good memories in UIA
-Be a muslim who practice islam way of life

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Iman

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Branches of Faith - Pt.1 - Blessings and Benefits of this hadith - Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi

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Translation of Sahih Muslim, Book : 1 Book 1, Number 0001:

It is narrated on the authority of Yahya b. Ya'mur that the first man who discussed about Qadr(Divine Decree) in Basra was Ma'bad al-Juhani. I along with Humaid b. 'Abdur-Rahman Himyari set out for prilgrimage or for 'Umrah and said: Should it so happen that we come into contact with one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) we shall ask him a bout what is talked about Taqdir (Division Decree). Accidentally we came across Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, while he was entering the mosque. My companion and I surrounded him. One of us (stood) on his right and the other stood on his left. I expected that my companion would authorize me to speak. I therefore said: Abu Abdur Rahman! there have appeared some people in our land who recite the Holy Qur'an and pursue knowledge. And then after talking about their affairs, added: They (such people) claim that there is no such thing as Divine Decree and events are not predestined. He (Abdullah ibn Umar) said: When you happen to meet such people tell them that I have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with me. And verily they are in no way responsible for my (belief). Abdullah ibn Umar swore by Him (the Lord) (and said): If any one of them (who does not believe in the Divine Decree) had with him gold equal to the bulk of (the mountain) Uhud and then, it (in the way of Allah), Allah would not accept it unless he affirmed his faith in Divine Decree. He further said: My father, Umar ibn al-Khattab, told me: One day we were sitting in the company of Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) when there appeared before us a man dressed in pure white clothes, his hair extraordinarily black. There were no signs of travel on him. None amongst us recognized him. At last he sat with the Apostle (peace be upon him) He knelt before him placed his palms on his thighs and said: Muhammad, inform me about al-Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Al-Islam implies that you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and you establish prayer, pay Zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan, and perform pilgrimage to the (House) if you are solvent enough (to bear the expense of) the journey. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: It amazed us that he would put the question and then he would himself verify the truth. He (the inquirer) said: Inform me about Iman (faith). He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Apostles, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (the inquirer) again said: Inform me about al-Ihsan (performance of good deeds). He (the Holy Prophet) said: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, for though you don't see Him, He, verily, sees you. He (the enquirer) again said: Inform me about the hour (of the Doom). He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: One who is asked knows no more than the one who is inquiring (about it). He (the inquirer) said: Tell me some of its indications. He (the Holy Prophet) said: That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and master, that you will find barefooted, destitute goat-herds vying with one another in the construction of magnificent buildings. He (the narrator, Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: Then he (the inquirer) went on his way but I stayed with him (the Holy Prophet) for a long while. He then, said to me: Umar, do you know who this inquirer was? I replied: Allah and His Apostle knows best. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He was Gabriel (the angel). He came to you in order to instruct you in matters of religion.

Book 1, Number 0002:

It is narrated on the authority of Yahya b. Ya'mur that when Ma'bad discussed the problem pertaining to Divine Decree, we refuted that. He (the narrator) said: I and Humaid b. Abdur-Rahman Himyari argued. And they carried on the conversation about the purport of the hadith related by Kahmas and its chain of transmission too, and there is some variation of words.

Book 1, Number 0003:

It is narrated on the authority of Yahya b. Ya'mur and Humaid b. 'Abdur-Rahman that they said: We met Abdullah b. 'Umar and we discussed about the Divine Decree, and what they talked about it and he narrated the hadith that has been transmitted by 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Apostle (may peace be upon him). There is a slight variation in that.

Chapter 2 : WHAT IS IMAN AND WHAT ARE ITS CHARACTERISTICS
Book 1, Number 0004:

Abu Huraira reported: One day the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) appeared before the public that a man came to him and said: Prophet of Allah, (tell me) what is Iman. Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, His angels, His Books, His meeting, His Messengers and that you affirm your faith in the Resurrection hereafter. He (again) said: Messenger of Allah, (tell me) what does al-Islam signify. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Al-Islam signifies that you worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him and you establish obligatory prayer and you pay the obligatory poor-rate (Zakat) and you observe the fast of Ramadan. He (the inquirer) again said: Messenger of Allah, what does al-Ihsan imply ? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, and in case you fail to see Him, then observe prayer (with this idea in your mind) that (at least) He is seeing you. He (the inquirer ) again said: Messenger of Allah, when would there be the hour (of Doom) ? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: The one who is asked about it is no better informed than the inquirer. I, however, narrate some of its signs (and these are): when the slave-girl will give birth to he master, when the naked, barefooted would become the chiefs of the people - these are some of the signs of (Doom). (Moreover) when the shepherds of the black (camels) would exult themselves in buildings, this is one of the signs of (Doom). (Doom) is one of the five (happenings wrapped in the unseen) which no one knows but Allah. Then he (the Messenger of Allah) recited (the verse) : "Verily Allah! with Him alone is the knowledge of the hour and He it is Who sends (down the rain) and knows that which is in the wombs and no person knows whatsoever he shall earn tomorrow, and a person knows not in whatsoever land he shall die. Verily Allah is Knowing, Aware . He (the narrator, Abu Huraira) said: Then the person turned back and went away. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Bring that man back to me. They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet present there) went to bring him back, but they saw nothing there. Upon this the Messenger of Allah remarked : he was Gabriel, who came to teach the people their religion.

Book 1, Number 0005:

This hadith is narrated to us on the authority of Muhammad b. 'Abdullah b. Numair, on the authority of Muhammad b. Bishr, on the authority of Abd Hayyan al-Taymi with the exception that in this narration (instead of the words (Iza Waladat al'amah rabbaha), the words are (Iza Waladat al'amah Ba'laha), i,e, when slave-girl gives birth to her master.

Book 1, Number 0006:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Ask me (about matters pertaining to religion), but they (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) were too much overawed out of profound respect for him to ask him (anything). In the meanwhile a man came there, and sat near his knees and said: Messenger of Allah, what al-lslam is?-to which he (the Holy Prophet)replied: You must not associate anything with Allah, and establish prayer, pay the poor-rate (Zakat) and observe (the fasts) of Ramadan. He said : You (have) told the truth. He (again) said: Messenger of Allah, what al-Iman (the faith) is? He (the Holy Prophet) said: That you affirm your faith in Allah, His angels, His Books, His meeting, His Apostles, and that you believe in Resurrection and that you believe in Qadr (Divine Decree) in all its entirety, He (the inquirer) said: You (have) told the truth. He (again) said: Messenger of Allah, what al-Ihsan is? Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) said: (Al-Ihsan implies) that you fear Allah as if you are seeing Him, and though you see Him not, verily He is seeing you. He (the inquirer) said: You(have) told the truth. He (the inquirer) said: When there would be the hour (of Doom)? (Upon this) he (the HolyProphet said:The one who is being asked about it is no better informed than the inquirer himself. I,however,narrate some of its signs (and these are):when you see a slave(woman)giving birth to her master - that is one of the signs of (Doom); when you see barefooted, naked, deaf and dumb (ignorant and foolish persons) as the rulers of the earth - that is one of the signs of the Doom. And when you see the shepherds of black camels exult in buildings - that is one of the signs of Doom. The (Doom) is one of the five things (wrapped) in the unseen. No one knows them except Allah. Then(the Holy Prophet) recited (the folowing verse): "Verily Allah ! with Him alone is the knowledge of the hour and He it is Who sends down the rain and knows that which is in the wombs and no person knows whatsoever he shall earn on morrow and a person knows not in whatsoever land he shall die. Verily Allah is Knowing,Aware. He (the narrator, Abu Huraira) said: Then the person stood up an (made his way). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Bring him back to me. He was searched for, but they (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) could not find him. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) thereupon said: He was Gabriel and he wanted to teach you (things pertaining to religion) when you did not ask (them yourselves).

Chapter 3 : ON PRAYER (SALAT) WHICH IS ONE OF THE PILLARS OF ISLAM
Book 1, Number 0007:

It is reported on the authority of Talha b. 'Ubaidullah that a person with dishevelled hair, one of the people of Nejd, came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). We heard the humming of his voice but could not fully discern what he had been saying, till he came nigh to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). It was then (disclosed to us) that he was asking questions pertaining to Islam. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Five prayers during the day and the night. (Upon this he said: Am I obliged to say any other (prayer) besides these? He (the Holy Prophet,) said: No, but whatever you observe voluntarily, out of your own free will, and the fasts of Ramadan. The inquirer said: Am I obliged to do anything else besides this? He (the Holy Prophet) said: No, but whatever you do out of your own free will. And the Messenger of Allah told him about the Zakat (poor-rate). The inquirer said: Am I obliged to pay anything else besides this ? He (the Holy Prophet) said: No, but whatever you pay voluntarily out of your own free will. The man turned back and was saying: I would neither make any addition to this, nor will decrease anything out of it. The Prophet remarked: He is successful, if he is true to what he affirms.

Book 1, Number 0008:

Another hadith, the like of which has been narrated by Malik (b. Anas) (and mentioned above) is also reported by Talha b. 'Ubaidullah, with the only variation that the Holy Prophet remarked: By his father, he shall succeed if he were true (to what he professed), or: By his father, he would enter heaven if he were true (to what he professed).

Chapter 4 : PERTAINING TO FAITH IN ALLAH
Book 1, Number 0009:

It is reported on the authority of Anas b. Malik that he said: We were forbidden that we should ask anything (without the genuine need) from the Holy Prophet. It, therefore, pleased us that an intelligent person from the dwellers of the desert should come and asked him (the Holy Prophet) and we should listen to it. A man from the dwellers of the desert came (to the Holy Prophet) and said: Muhammad, your messenger came to us and told us your assertion that verily Allah had sent you (as a prophet). He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He told the truth. He (the bedouin) said: Who created the heaven? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Allah. He (the bedouin again) said: Who created the earth? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Allah. He (the bedouin again) said: Who raised these mountains and who created in them whatever is created there? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Allah. Upon this he (the bedouin) remarked: By Him Who created the heaven and created the earth and raised mountains thereupon, has Allah (in fact) sent you? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. He (the bedouin) said: Your messenger also told us that five prayers (had been made) obligatory for us during the day and the night. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He told you the truth. He (the bedouin) said: By Him Who sent you, is it Allah Who ordered you about this (i.e. prayers)? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. He (the bedouin) said: Your messenger told us that Zakat had been made obligatory in our riches. He (the Holy Prophet) said. He has told the truth. He (the bedouin) said: By Him Who sent you (as a prophet), is it Allah Who ordered you about it (Zakat)? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. He (the bedouin) said: Your messenger told us that it had been made obligatory for us to fast every year during the month of Ramadan. He (the Holy Prophet) said: He has told the truth. He (the bedouin) said: By Him Who sent you (as a prophet), is it Allah Who ordered you about it (the fasts of Ramadan)? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. He (the bedouin) said: Your messenger also told us that pilgrimage (Hajj) to the House (of Ka'bah) had been made obligatory for him who is able to undertake the journey to it. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. The narrator said that he (the bedouin) set off (at the conclusion of this answer, but at the time of his departure) remarked:'By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I would neither make any addition to them nor would I diminish anything out of them. Upon this the Holy Prophet remarked: If he were true (to what he said) he must enter Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0010:

It is narrated on the authority of Thabit that Anas said: We were forbidden in the Holy Qur'an that we should ask about anything from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and then Anas reported the hadith in similar words.

Chapter 5 : CONCERNING IMAN BY WHICH A PERSON WOULD ENTER HEAVEN
Book 1, Number 0011:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Ayyub Ansari that once during the journey of the Holy Prophet (may peace of Allah be upon him) a bedouin appeared before him and caught hold of the nosestring of his she-camel and then said, Messenger of Allah (or Muhammad), inform me about that which takes me near to Paradise and draws me away from the Fire (of Hell). He (the narrator) said: The Prophet (may peace be upon him) stopped for a while and cast a glance upon his companions and then said: He was afforded a good opportunity (or he had been guided well). He (the Holy Prophet) addressing the bedouin said: (Repeat) whatever you have uttered. He (the bedouin) repeated that. Upon this the Apostle (may peace be upon him) remarked: The deed which can draw you near to Paradise and take you away from Hell is, that you worship Allah and associate none with Him, and you establish prayer and pay Zakat, and do good to your kin. After having uttered these words, the Holy Prophet asked the bedouin to release the nosestring of his she-camel.

Book 1, Number 0012:

This hadith is transmitted by Muhammad b. Hatim on the authority of Abu Ayyub Ansari.

Book 1, Number 0013:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Ayyub that a man came to the Prophet (may peace be upon him) and said: Direct me to a deed which draws me near to Paradise and takes me away from the Fire (of Hell). Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) said: You worship Allah and never associate anything with Him, establish prayer, and pay Zakat, and do good to your kin. When he turned his back, the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked : If he adheres to what he has been ordered to do, he would enter Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0014:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that a bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, direct me to a deed by which I may be entitled to enter Paradise. Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) remarked: You worship Allah and never associate anything with Him, establish the obligatory prayer, and pay the Zakat which is incumbent upon you, and observe the fast of Ramadan. He (the bedouin) said: By Him in Whose hand is my life, I will never add anything to it, nor will I diminish anything from it. When he (the bedouin) turned his back, the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: He who is pleased to see a man from the dwellers of Paradise should catch a glimpse of him.

Book 1, Number 0015:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that Nu'man b. Qaufal came to the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) and said: Would I enter Paradise if I say the obligatory prayers and deny myself that which is forbidden and treat that as lawful what has been made permissible (by the Shari'ah) ? The Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) replied in the affirmative.

Book 1, Number 0016:

A similar hadith is narrated on Jabir's authority in which the following words are added: I will do nothing more.

Book 1, Number 0017:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that a man once said to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him): Shall I enter Paradise in case I say the obligatory prayers, observe the (fasts) of Ramadan and treat that as lawful which has been made permissible (by the Shari'ah) and deny myself that what is forbidden, and make no addition to it? He (the Holy Prophet) replied in the affirmative. He (the inquirer) said: By Allah, I would add nothing to it.

Chapter 6 : CONCERNING THE SAYING OF THE APOSTLE: ISLAM IS FOUNDED ON FIVE (FUNDAMENTS)
Book 1, Number 0018:

It is narrated on the authority of ('Abdullah) son of Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Holy Prophet (may peace of Allah be upon him) said: (The superstructure of) al-Islam is raised on five (pillars), i.e. the oneness of Allah, the establishment of prayer, payment of Zakat, the, fast of Ramadan, Pilgrimage (to Mecca).
A person said (to 'Abdullah b. Umar the narrator): Which of the two precedes the other-Pilgrimage or the fasts of Rarnadan? Upon this he (the narrator) replied: No (it is not the Pilgrimage first) but the fasts of Ramadan precede the Pilgrimage.

Book 1, Number 0019:

It is narrated on the authority of ('Abdullah) son of 'Umar, that the Holy Prophet (may peace of Allah be upon him) said: (The superstructure of) al-Islam is raised on five (pillars), i.e. Allah (alone) should be worshipped, and (all other gods) beside Him should be (categorically) denied. Establishment of prayer, the payment of Zakat, Pilgrimage to the House, and the fast of Ramadan (are the other obligatory acts besides the belief in the oneness of Allah and denial of all other gods).

Book 1, Number 0020:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah son of 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: (The superstructure of) al-Islam is raised on five (pillars), testifying (the fact) that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is His bondsman and messenger, and the establishment of prayer, payment of Zakat, Pilgrimage to the House (Ka'ba) and the fast of Ramadan.

Book 1, Number 0021:

It is reported on the authority of Ta'us that a man said to 'Abdullah son of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). Why don't you carry out a military expedition? Upon which he replied: I heard the messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: Verily, al-Islam is founded on five (pillars): testifying the fact that there is no god but Allah, establishment of prayer, payment of Zakat, fast of Ramadan and Pilgrimage to the House.

Chapter 7 : RELATING TO THE COMMAND FOR BELIEF IN ALLAH AND HIS PROPHET AND THE LAWS OF ISLAM AND INVITING (PEOPLE TO) THEM
Book 1, Number 0022:

It is narrated on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that a delegation of Abdul Qais came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, verily ours is a tribe of Rabi'a and there stand between you and us the unbelievers of Mudar and we find no freedom to come to you except in the sacred month. Direct us to an act which we should ourselves perform and invite those who live beside us. Upon this the Prophet remarked: I command you to do four things and prohibit you against four acts. (The four deeds which you are commanded to do are): Faith in Allah, and then he explained it for them and said: Testifying the fact. that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, performance of prayer, payment of Zakat, that you pay Khums (one-fifth) of the booty fallen to your lot, and I prohibit you to use round gourd, wine jars, wooden pots or skins for wine. Khalaf b. Hisham has made this addition in his narration: Testifying the fact that there is no god but Allah, and then he with his finger pointed out the oneness of the Lord.

Book 1, Number 0023:

Abu Jamra reported: I was an interpreter between Ibn Abbas and the people, that a woman happened to come there and asked about nabidh or the pitcher of wine. He replied: A delegation of the people of 'Abdul-Qais came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He (the Holy Prophet) asked the delegation or the people (of the delegation about their identity). They replied that they belonged to the tribe of Rabi'a. He (the Holy Prophet) welcomed the people or the delegation which were neither humiliated nor put to shame. They (the members of the delegation) said: Messenger of Allah, we come to you from a far-off distance and there lives between you and us a tribe of the unbelievers of Mudar and , therefore, it is not possible for us to come to you except in the sacred months. Thus direct us to a clear command, about which we should inform people beside us and by which we may enter heaven. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: I command you to do four deeds and forbid you to do four (acts), and added : I direct you to affirm belief in Allah alone, and then asked them: Do you know what belief in Allah really implies ? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. The Prophet said: It implies testimony to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, establishment of prayer, payment of Zakat, fast of Ramadan, that you pay one-fifth of the booty (fallen to your lot) and I forbid you to use gourd, wine jar, or a receptacle for wine. Shu'ba sometimes narrated the word naqir (wooden pot) and sometimes narrated it as muqayyar. The Holy Prophet also said : Keep it in your mind and inform those who have been left behind.

Book 1, Number 0024:

There is another hadith narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas (the contents of which are similar to the one) narrated by Shu'ba in which the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: I forbid you to prepare nabidh in a gourd, hollowed block of wood, a varnished jar or receptacle. Ibn Mu'adh made this addition on the authority of his father that the Messenger of Allah said to Ashajj, of the tribe of 'Abdul-Qais: You possess two qualities which are liked by Allah: insight and deliberateness.

Book 1, Number 0025:

It is reported on the authority of Qatada that one among the delegates of the 'Abdul-Qais tribe narrated this tradition to him. Sa'id said that Qatada had mentioned the name of Abu Nadra on the authority of Abu Sa'id Khudri who narrated this tradition: That people from the- tribe of 'Abdul-Qais came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, we belong to the tribe of Rabi'a and there live between you and us the unbelievers of the Mudar tribe and we find it impossible to come to you except in the sacred months; direct us to a deed which we must communicate to those who have been left behind us and by doing which we may enter heaven. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I enjoin upon you four (things) and forbid you to do four (things): worship Allah and associate none with Him, establish prayer, pay Zakat, and observe the fast of Ramadan, and pay the fifth part out of the booty. And I prohibit you from four (things): dry gourds, green-coloured jars, hollowed stumps of palm-trees, and receptacles. They (the members of the delegation) said: Do you know what al-naqir is? He replied: Yes, it is a stump which you hollow out and in which you throw small dates.Sa'id said: He (the Holy Prophet) used the word tamar (dates). (The Holy Prophet then added): Then you sprinkle water over it and when its ebullition subsides, you drink it (and you are so intoxicated) that one amongst you, or one amongst them (the other members of your tribe, who were not present there) strikes his cousin with the sword. He (the narrator) said: There was a man amongst us who had sustained injury on this very account due to (intoxication), and he told that he tried to conceal it out of shame from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). I, however, inquired from the Messenger of Allah (it we discard those utensils which you have forbidden us to use), then what type of vessels should be used for drink? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: In the waterskin the mouths of which are tied (with a string). They (again) said: Prophet of Allah, our land abounds in rats and water-skins cannot remain preserved. The holy Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: (Drink in water-skins) even if these arenibbled by rats. And then (addressing) al-Ashajj of 'Abdul-Qais he said: Verily, you possess two such qualities which Allah loves: insight and deliberateness.

Book 1, Number 0026:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Said al-Khudri that when the delegation of the tribe of Abdul-Qais came to the Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him), (its members) said: Apostle of Allah, may God enable us to lay down our lives for you, which beverage is good for us? He (the Prophet) said: (Not to speak of beverages, I would lay stress) that you should not drink in the wine jars. They said: Apostle of Allah, may God enable us to lay down our lives for you, do you know what al-naqir is? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Yes, it is a stump which you hollow out in the middle, and added : Do not use gourd or receptacle (for drink). Use water-skin the mouth of which is tied with a thong (for this purpose).

Chapter 8 : CALLING PEOPLE TO TESTIFICATIONS AND THE CANONS OF ISLAM
Book 1, Number 0027:

It is reported on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that Mu'adh said: The Messenger of Allah sent me (as a governor of Yemen) and (at the time of departure) instructed me thus: You will soon find yourself in a community one among the people of the Book, so first call them to testify that there is no god but Allah, that I (Muhammad) am the messenger of Allah, and if they accept this, then tell them Allah has enjoined upon them five prayers during the day and the night and if they accept it, then tell them that Allah has made Zakat obligatory for them that it should be collected from the rich and distributed among the poor, and if they agree to it don't pick up (as a share of Zakat) the best of their wealths. Beware of the supplication of the oppressed for there is no barrier between him and Allah.

Book 1, Number 0028:

It is narrated on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) sent Mu'adh towards Yemen (as governor) he said to him: Verily you would reach a community of the people of the Book, the very first thing to which you should call them is the worship of Allah, may His Glory be Magnificent, and when they become fully aware of Allah, instruct them that He has enjoined five prayers on them during the day and the night, and when the begin observing it, then instruct them that verily Allah has made Zakat obligatory for them which would be collected from the wealthy amongst them and distributed to their needy ones, and when they submit to it, then collect it from them and avoid (the temptation) of selecting the best (items) of their riches.

Chapter 9 : COMMAND FOR FIGHTING AGAINST THE PEOPLE SO LONG AS THEY DO NOT PROFESS THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS MESSENGER
Book 1, Number 0029:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) breathed his last and Abu Bakr was appointed as his successor (Caliph), those amongst the Arabs who wanted to become apostates became apostates. 'Umar b. Khattab said to Abu Bakr: Why would you fight against the people, when the Messenger of Allah declared : I have been directed to fight against people so long as they do not say: There is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was granted full protection of his property and life on my behalf except for a right? His (other) affairs rest with Allah. Upon this Abu Bakr said: By Allah, I would definitely fight against him who severed prayer from Zakat, for it is the obligation upon the rich. By Allah, I would fight against them even to secure the cord (used for hobbling the feet of a camel) which they used to give to the Messenger of Allah (as zakat) but now they have withheld it. Umar b. Khattab remarked: By Allah, I found nothing but the fact that Allah had opened the heart of Abu Bakr for (perceiving the justification of) fighting (against those who refused to pay Zakat) and I fully recognized that the (stand of Abu Bakr) was right.

Book 1, Number 0030:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah.

Book 1, Number 0031:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that he heard the Messenger of Allah say: I have been commanded to fight against people, till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and believe in me (that) I am the messenger (from the Lord) and in all that I have brought. And when they do it, their blood and riches are guaranteed protection on my behalf except where it is justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.

Book 1, Number 0032:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded that I should fight against people till they declare that there is no god but Allah, and when they profess it that there is no god but Allah, their blood and riches are guaranteed protection on my behalf except where it is justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah, and then he (the Holy Prophet) recited (this verse of the Holy Qur'an): "Thou art not over them a warden" (lxxxviii, 22).

Book 1, Number 0033:

It has been narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay Zakat and if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf except when justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.

Book 1, Number 0034:

It Is narrated on the authority of Abu Malik: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: He who professed that there is no god but Allah and made a denial of everything which the people worship beside Allah, his property and blood became inviolable, an their affairs rest with Allah.

Book 1, Number 0035:

Abu Malik narrated on the authority of his father that he heard the Apostle (may peace be upon him) say: He who held belief in the unity of Allah, and then narrated what has been stated above.

Chapter 10 : HE WHO ACCEPTS ISLAM AT THE DEATH-BED, BEFORE THE ACTUAL AGONY OF DEATH, IS A MUSLIM IT IS FORBIDDEN TO SUPPLICATE BLESSINGS FOR THE POLYTHEISTS. HE WHO DIES AS A POLYTHEIST IS ONE AMONG THE DENIZENS OF HELL AND NO MEANS WOULD BE EFFECTIVE ENOUGH TO GET HIM OUT OF THAT
Book 1, Number 0036:

It is reported by Sa'id b. Musayyib who narrated it on the authority of his father (Musayyib b. Hazm) that when Abu Talib was about to die, the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) came to him and found with him Abu Jahl ('Amr b. Hisham) and 'Abdullah b. Abi Umayya ibn al-Mughirah. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: My uncle, you just make a profession that there is no god but Allah, and I will bear testimony before Allah (of your being a believer), Abu Jahl and 'Abdullah b. Abi Umayya addressing him said: Abu Talib, would you abandon the religion of 'Abdul-Muttalib? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) constantly requested him (to accept his offer),and(on the other hand) was repeated the same statement (of Abu Jahl and 'Abdullah b. Abi Umayya) till Abu Talib gave his final decision and be stuck to the religion of 'Abdul-Muttalib and refused to profess that there is no god but Allah. Upon this the Messenger of Allah remarked: By Allah, I will persistently beg pardon for you till I am forbidden to do so (by God), It was then that Allah, the Magnificent and the Glorious, revealed this verse:

"It is not meet for the Prophet and for those who believe that they should beg pardon for the polytheists, even though they were their kith and kin, after it had been made known to them that they were the denizens of Hell" (ix. 113)

And it was said to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him):

"Verily thou canst not guide to the right path whom thou lovest. And it is Allah Who guideth whom He will, and He knoweth best who are the guided"(xxviii, 56).

Book 1, Number 0037:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said to his uncle at the time of his death: Make a profession of it that there is no god but Allah and I will bear testimony (of your being a Muslim) on the Day of judgment. But he (Abu Talib) refused to do so. Then Allah revealed this verse:

"Verily thou canst not guide to the right path whom thou lovest. And it is Allah Who guideth whom He will and He knoweth best who are the guided" (xxviii. 56).

Book 1, Number 0038:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said to his uncle (at the time of his death):Make a profession of it that there is no god but Allah and I will bear testimony (of your being a Muslim) on the Day of judgment. He (Abu Talib) said: Were it not the fear of the Quraysh blaming me (and) saying that it was the fear of (approaching death) that induced me to do so, I would have certainly delighted your eyes. It was then that Allah revealed:

"Verily thou canst not guide to the right path whom thou lovest. And it is Allah Who guideth whom He will and He knoweth best who are the guided" (xxviii-56).

Chapter 11 : HE WHO MEETS HIS LORD WITH IMPLICIT FAITH WOULD ENTER HEAVEN AND FIRE WOULD BE FORBIDDEN HARM HIM
Book 1, Number 0039:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Uthman that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said. He who died knowing (fully well) that there is no god but Allah entered Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0040:

It is narrated on the authority of Humran that he heard Uthman saying this: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) uttering these words (as stated above).

Book 1, Number 0041:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira: We were accompanying the Apostle (may peace be upon him) in a march (towards Tabuk). He (the narrator) said: The provisions with the people were almost depleted. He (the narrator) said: (And the situation became so critical) that they (the men of the army) decided to slaughter some of their camels. He (the narrator) said: Upon this Umar said: Messenger of Allah, I wish that you should pool together what has been left out of the provisions with the people and then invoke (the blessings of) Allah upon it. He (the narrator) said: He (the Holy Prophet) did it accordingly. He (the narrator) said: The one who had wheat in his possession came there with wheat. He who had dates with him came there with dates. And Mujahid said: He who possessed stones of dates came there with stones. I (the narrator) said: What did they do with the date-stones. They said: They (the people) sucked them and then drank water over them. He (the narrator said): He (the Holy Prophet) invoked the blessings (of Allah) upon them (provisions). He (the narrator) said: (And there was such a miraculous increase in the stocks) that the people replenished their provisions fully. He (the narrator) said: At that time he (the Holy Prophet) said: I bear testimony to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and I am His messenger. The bondsman who would meet Allah without entertaining any doubt about these (two fundamentals) would enter heaven.

Book 1, Number 0042:

It is narrated either on the authority of Abu Huraira or that of Abu Sa'id Khudri. The narrator A'mash has narrated this hadith with a little bit of doubt (about the name of the very first narrator who was in direct contact with the Holy Prophet. He was either Abu Huraira or Abu Sa'id Khudri. Both are equally reliable transmitters of the traditions). He (the narrator) said: During the time of Tabuk expedition, the (provisions) ran short and the men (of the army) suffered starvation; they said: Messenger of Allah, would you permit us to slay our camels? We would eat them and use their fat. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Do as you please. He (the narrator) said: Then 'Umar came there and said: Messenger of Allah, if you do that (if you give your consent and the men begin to slay their camels), the riding animals would become short. But (I would suggest you to) summon them along with the provisions left with them Then invoke Allah's blessings on them (different items of the provisions) It is hoped Allah shall bless them. The Messenger of Allah replied in the affirmative. (the narrator) said: He called for a leather mat to be used as a table cloth and spread it out. Then he called people along with the remaining portions of their provisions. He (the narrator) said: Someone was coming with handful of mote, another was coming with a handful of dates, still another was coming with a portion of bread, till small quantities of these things were collected on the table cloth. He (the narrator said): Then the messenger of Allah invoked blessing (on them) and said: Fill your utensils with these provisions. He (the narrator) said: They filled their vessel to the brim with them, and no one amongst the army (which comprised of 30,000 persons) was left even with a single empty vessel. He (the narrator) aid: They ate to their fill, and there was still a surplus. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked: I bear testimony that there is no god but Allah and I am the messenger of Allah. The man who meets his Lord without harboring any doubt about these two (truths) would never be kept away from Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0043:

It is narrated on the authority of Ubadah b. Samit that the messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed : He who said: "There is no god but Allah, He is One and there is no associate with Him, that Muhammad is his servant and His messenger, that Christ is servant and the son of His slave-girl and he (Christ) His word which He communicated to Mary and is His Spirit, that Paradise is a fact and Hell is a fact," Allah would make him (he who affirms these truths enter Paradise through any one of its eight doors which he would like.

Book 1, Number 0044:

It is narrated on the authority of Umar b. Hani with the same chain of transmitters with the exception of these words: Allah would make him (he who affirms these truths) enter Paradise through one of the eight doors which he would like.

Book 1, Number 0045:

It is narrated on the authority of Sunabihi that he went to Ubada b. Samit when he was about to die. I burst into tears. Upon this he said to me: Allow me some time (so that I may talk with you). Why do you weep? By Allah , if I am asked to bear witness, I would certainly testify for you (that you are a believer). Should I be asked to intercede, I would certainly intercede for you, and if I have the power, I would certainly do good to you, and then observed: By Allah, never did I hear anything from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) which could have been a source of benefit to you and then not conveyed it to you except this single hadith. That I intend to narrate to you today, since I am going to breathe my last. I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: He who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, Allah would prohibit the fire of Hell for him.

Book 1, Number 0046:

It is narrated on the authority of Mu'adh b. Jabal: I was riding behind the Prophet (may peace be upon him) and there was nothing between him and me but the rear part of the saddle, when he said: Mu'adh b.Jabal : To which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of Allah ! He moved along for a few minutes, when again he said: Mu'adh b. Jabal : To which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of Allah ! He then again moved along for a few minutes and said: Mu'adh b. Jabal : To which I replied . At your beck and call, and at your pleasure. Messenger of Allah He,(the Holy Prophet) said: Do you know what right has Allah upon His servants? I said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Verily the right of Allah over His servants is that they should worship Him, not associating anything with Him. He (the Holy Prophet) with Mu'adh behind him, moved along for a few minutes and said: Mu'adh b. Jabal: To which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of Allah ! He (the Holy Prophet) said: Do you know what rights have servants upon Allah in case they do it (i.e. they worship Allah without associating anything with Him)? I (Mu'adh b. Jabal) replied: Allah and His Messenger know best. (Upon this) he (the Holy Prophet) remarked: That He would not torment them (with the fire of Hell).

Book 1, Number 0047:

It is narrated on the authority of Mu'adh b. Jabal that he observed: I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) on an ass known as 'Ufair. He (Mu'adh) observed: He (the Holy Prophet) said: Mu'adh, do you know what right has Allah over His bondsmen and what right have His bondsmen over Him ? Mu'adh added: I replied: Allah and his Messenger know best. Upon this he(the Holy Prophet remarked: The right of Allah over His bondsmen is that they should worship Allah and should not associate anything with Him, and the right of His bondsmen over Allah, Glorious and Sublime, is that He does not punish him who associates not anything with Him. He (Mu'adh) added: I said to the Messenger of Allah: Should I then give the tidings to the people? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Do not tell them this good news, for they would trust in it alone.

Book 1, Number 0048:

It is narrated on the authority of Mu'adh b. Jabal that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Mu'adh, do you know the right of Allah over His bondsmen? He (Mu'adh) said: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Messenger of Allah) said: That Allah alone should be worshipped and nothing should be associated with Him. He (the Holy Prophet) said: What right have they (bondsmen) upon Him in case they do it? He (Mu'adh) said: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Holy Prophet) said: That He would not punish them.

Book 1, Number 0049:

It is narrated on the authority of Aswad b. Hilal that he heard Mu'adh say this: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) called, me and I replied to him. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Do you know the right of Allah upon the people ? and then followed the hadith (mentioned above).

Book 1, Number 0050:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira: We were sitting around the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him). Abu Bakr and Umar were also there among the audience. In the meanwhile the Messenger of Allah got up and left us, He delayed in coming back to us, which caused anxiety that he might be attacked by some enemy when we were not with him; so being alarmed we got up. I was the first to be alarmed. I, therefore, went out to look for the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) and came to a garden belonging to the Banu an-Najjar, a section of the Ansar went round it looking for a gate but failed to find one. Seeing a rabi' (i.e. streamlet) flowing into the garden from a well outside, drew myself together, like a fox, and slinked into (the place) where God's Messenger was. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Is it Abu Huraira? I (Abu Huraira) replied: Yes, Messenger of Allah. He (the Holy Prophet) said: What is the matter with you? replied: You were amongst us but got up and went away and delayed for a time, so fearing that you might be attacked by some enemy when we were not with you, we became alarmed. I was the first to be alarmed. So when I came to this garden, I drew myself together as a fox does, and these people are following me. He addressed me as Abu Huraira and gave me his sandals and said: Take away these sandals of mine, and when you meet anyone outside this garden who testifies that there is no god but Allah, being assured of it in his heart, gladden him by announcing that he shall go to Paradise. Now the first one I met was Umar. He asked: What are these sandals, Abu Huraira? I replied: These are the sandals of the Messenger of Allah with which he has sent me to gladden anyone I meet who testifies that there is no god but Allah, being assured of it in his heart, with the announcement that he would go to Paradise. Thereupon 'Umar struck me on the breast and I fell on my back. He then said: Go back, Abu Huraira, So I returned to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), and was about to break into tears. 'Umar followed me closely and there he was behind me. The Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be on him) said: What is the matter with you, Abu Huraira? I said: I happened to meet 'Umar and conveyed to him the message with which you sent me. He struck me on my breast which made me fall down upon my back and ordered me to go back. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: What prompted you to do this, 'Umar? He said: Messenger of Allah, my mother and father be sacrificed to thee, did you send Abu Huraira with your sandals to gladden anyone he met and who testified that there is no god but Allah, and being assured of it in his heart, with the tidings that he would go to Paradise? He said: Yes. Umar said: Please do it not, for I am afraid that people will trust in it alone; let them go on doing (good) deeds. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Well, let them.

Book 1, Number 0051:

It is reported on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Prophet of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) addressed Mu'adh b. Jabal as he was riding behind him to which he replied: At thy beck and call, and at thy pleasure, Messenger of Allah. He again called out: Mu'adh, to which he (again) replied: At thy beck and call, and at thy pleasure. He (the Holy Prophet) addressed him (again): Mu'adh, to which he replied: At thy beck and call, and at thy pleasure, Messenger of Allah. Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) observed: If anyone testifies (sincerely from his heart) that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His bondsman and His messenger, Allah immuned him from Hell. He (Mu'adh) said: Messenger of Allah, should I not then inform people of it, so that they may be of good cheer? He replied: Then they would trust in it alone. Mu'adh told about it at the time of his death, to avoid sinning.

Book 1, Number 0052:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Itban b. Malik that he came to Medina and said: Something had gone wrong with my eyesight. I, therefore, sent (a message to the Holy Prophet): Verily it is my ardent desire that you should kindly grace my house with your presence and observe prayer there so, that I should make that corner a place of worship.He said: The Prophet (may peace be upon him) came there,and those amongst the Companions whom Allah willed also accompanied him. He entered (my place) and offered prayer at my residence and his Companions began to talk amongst themselves (and this conversation centered round hypocrites), and then the conspicuous one, Malik b. Dukhshum was made the target and they wished that he (the Holy Prophet) should curse him and he should die or he should meet some calamity. In the meanwhile the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) completed his prayer and said: Does Malik b. Dukhshum not testify the fact that there is no god but Allah and verily I am the messenger of Allah. They replied: He makes a profession of it (no doubt) but does not do it out of (sincere) heart. He (the Holy Prophet) said: He who testifies that there is no god but Allah and I am the messenger of Allah would not enter Hell or its (flames) would not consume him. Anas said: This hadith impressed me very much and I told my son to write it down.

Book 1, Number 0053:

It is narrated on the authority of Anas that 'Itban b. Malik told him that he became blind. He sent a message to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) that he should come and mark a place of worship for him. Thereupon came the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and his people and then there was a discussion among them about a man who was known as Malik b. Dukhshum, and subsequently the narrator described the hadith of Sulaiman b. Mughira as stated above.

Chapter 12 : HE RELISHED THE FLAVOR OF IMAN WHO WAS PLEASED WITH ALLAH AS HIS LORD
Book 1, Number 0054:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abbas b. 'Abdul-Muttalib that he heard the Messenger of Allah saying: He relished the flavor of faith (Iman) who became the book of faith pleased with Allah as Lord, with al-Islam as the code of life and with Muhammad as the Messenger (of Allah).

Chapter 13 : CONCERNING THE BRANCHES OF IMAN
Book 1, Number 0055:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: Iman has over seventy branches, and modesty is a branch of Iman.

Book 1, Number 0056:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Faith has over seventy branches or over sixty branches, the most excellent of which is the declaration that there is no god but Allah, and the humblest of which is the, removal of what is injurious from the path: and modesty is the branch of faith.

Book 1, Number 0057:

Salim reported on the authority of his father that the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) heard a man instruction his brother about modesty. Upon this the Prophet remarked: Modesty is an ingredient of Iman (faith).

Book 1, Number 0058:

Zuhri has narrated this hadith with the addition of these words: He (the Holy Prophet) happened to pass by a mass of Ansar who was instructing his brother (about modesty).

Book 1, Number 0059:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Imran b. Husain that the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Modesty brings forth nothing but goodness. Bushair b. Ka'b said: It is recorded in the books of wisdom, there lies sobriety in it and calmness of mind in it, Imran said: I am narrating to you the tradition of the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) and you talk of your books.

Book 1, Number 0060:

It is narrated on the authority of Qatada. We were sitting with 'Imran b. Husain in a company and Bushair ibn Ka'b was also amongst us. 'Imran narrated to us that on a certain occasion the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Modesty is a virtue through and through, or said: Modesty is a goodness complete. Upon this Bushair ibn Ka'b said: Verily we find in certain books or books of (wisdom) that it is God-inspired peace of mind or sobriety for the sake of Allah and there is also a weakness in it. Imran was so much enraged that his eyes became red and he said: I am narrating to you the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and you are contradicting it. He (the narrator) said: Imran reported the hadith, He (the narrator) said: Bushair repeated,(the same thing). Imran was enraged. He (the narrator) said: We asserted: Verily Bushair is one amongst us. Abu Nujaid ! There is nothing wrong, with him (Bushair).

Book 1, Number 0061:

Ishaq b. Ibrahim narrates this hadith of the Holy Prophet on the authority of Imran b. Husain, like the one narrated by Hammad b. Zaid.

Chapter 14 : CONCERNING THE COMPREHENSIVE ATTRIBUTES OF ISLAM
Book 1, Number 0062:

It is narrated on the authority of Sufyan b. 'Abdulla al-Thaqafi that he said: I asked the Messenger of Allah to tell me about Islam a thing which might dispense with the necessity of my asking anybody after you. In the hadith of Abu Usama the (words) are: other than you. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: Say I affirm my faith in Allah and then remain steadfast to it.

Chapter 15 : CONCERNING THE EMINENCE OF ISLAM AND OF THE AFFAIRS WHICH ARE EXCELLENT
Book 1, Number 0063:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. 'Amr that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) which of the merits (is superior) in Islam. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: That you provide food and extend greetings to one whom you know or do not know.

Book 1, Number 0064:

'Abdullah b. Amr b. al-As is reported to have said: Verily a person asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) who amongst the Muslims was better. Upon this (the Holy Prophet) remarked: From whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe.

Book 1, Number 0065:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that he heard the (Holy Prophet) say: A Muslim is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslim's are safe.

Book 1, Number 0066:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Musa Ash'ari : I asked the Messenger of Allah which (attribute) of Islam is more excellent. Upon this he remarked: One in which the Muslims are safe, protected from the tongue and hand of (other Muslims). Ibrahim b. Sa'id al-Jauhari has narrated this hadith with the same words in addition to these. The Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) was asked as to who amongst the Muslims is better, and the rest of the hadith was narrated like this.

Chapter 16 : CONCERNING THE ATTRIBUTES BY WHICH ONE GETS THE RELISH OF IMAN
Book 1, Number 0067:

It is reported on the authority of Anas that the Prophet of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him ) said: There are three qualities for which anyone who is characterised by them will relish the sweetness of faith: he to whom Allah and His Messenger are dearer than all else; he who loves a man for Allah's sake alone; and he who has as great an abhorrence of returning to unbelief after Allah has rescued him from it as he has of being cast into Hell.

Book 1, Number 0068:

It is reported on the authority of Anas that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: There are three qualities for which any one who is characterised by them will relish the savour of faith: that he loves man and he does not love him but for Allah's sake alone; he is to whom Allah and His Messenger are dearer than all else; he who prefers to be thrown into fire than to return to unbelief after Allah has rescued him out of it.

Book 1, Number 0069:

A similar hadith has been reported on the authority of Anas (with another chain of transmitters) with the exception of these words: that he again becomes a Jew or a Christian.

Chapter 17 : IT IS OBLIGATORY TO LOVE THE PROPHET MORE THAN THE MEMBERS OF ONE'S HOUSEHOLD: ONE'S CHILD, FATHER OR EVEN THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY
Book 1, Number 0070:

It is reported on the authority of Anas that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: No bondsman believes, and, in the hadith narrated by Abdul Warith, no person believes, till I am dearer to him than the members of his household, his wealth and the whole of mankind.

Book 1, Number 0071:

It is reported on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah said: None of you is a believer till I am dearer to him than his child, his father and the whole of mankind.

Chapter 18 : CONCERNING THE FACT THAT IT IS ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF IMAN THAT ONE SHOULD LIKE THE SAME THING FOR ONE'S BROTHER-IN-ISLAM AS ONE LIKES FOR ONE'S SELF
Book 1, Number 0072:

It is arrested on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: one amongst you believes (truly) till one likes for his brother or for his neighbour that which he loves for himself.

Book 1, Number 0073:

It is narrated on the authority of Anas that the Prophet (may peace blessings be upon him) observed: By Him in whose Hand is my life, no, bondsman (truly) believes till he likes for his neighbour, or he (the Holy Prophet) said: for his brother, whatever he likes for himself.

Chapter 19 : CONCERNING THE PROHIBITION TO HARM NEIGHBOUR
Book 1, Number 0074:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessing be upon him) observed: He will not enter Paradise whose neighbour is not secure from his wrongful conduct.

Chapter 20 : CONCERNING EXHORTATION TO ACCORD HONOUR AND RESPECT TO THE NEIGHBOUR AND TO THE GUEST AND OBLIGATION TO OBSERVE SILENCE EXCEPT IN GOODNESS, AND ALL THESE QUALITIES COME WITHIN THE ORBIT OF IMAN
Book 1, Number 0075:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should either utter good words or better keep silence; and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should treat his neighbour with kindness and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to his guest.

Book 1, Number 0076:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: He who believes in Allah and the Last Day does not harm is neighbour, and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day shows hospitality to his guest and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day speaks good or remains silent.

Book 1, Number 0077:

Another hadith similar to one narrated (above) by Abu Husain is also reported by Abu Huraira with the exception of these words: He (the Prophet) said: He should do good to the neighbour.

Book 1, Number 0078:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Shuraih al-Khuzai' that the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) observed: He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should do good to his neighbour and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to the guest and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should either speak good or better remain silent.

Chapter 21 : CONCERNING THE FACTS THAT INTERDICTION AGAINST ABOMINABLE IS A PART OF FAITH, THAT FAITH INCREASES AND DIMINISHES; ENJOINING THAT WHICH IS GOOD AND FORBIDDING THAT WHICH IS ABOMINABLE ARE OBLIGATORY (ACTS)
Book 1, Number 0079:

It is narrated on the authority of Tariq b. Shihab: It was Marwan who initiated (the practice) of delivering khutbah (address) before the prayer on the 'Id day. A man stood up and said: Prayer should precede khutbah. He (Marwan) remarked, This (practice) has been done away with. Upon this Abu Sa'id remarked: This man has performed (his duty) laid on him. I heard the Messenger of Allah as saying: He who amongst you sees something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith.

Book 1, Number 0080:

The same hadith of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) has been reported by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri in connection with the story of Marwan.

Book 1, Number 0081:

It is narrated on the authority 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Never a Prophet had been sent before me by Allah towards his nation who had not among his people (his) disciples and companions who followed his ways and obeyed his command. Then there came after them their successors who said whatever they did not practise, and practised whatever they were not commanded to do. He who strove against them with his hand was a believer: he who strove against them with his tongue was a believer, and he who strove against them with his heart was a believer and beyond that there is no faith even to the extent of a mustard seed. Abu Rafi' said: I narrated this hadith to 'Abdullah b. 'Umar; he contradicted me. There happened to come 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud who stayed at Qanat, and 'Abdullah b 'Umar wanted me to accompany him for visiting him(as 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud was ailing), so I went along with him and as we sat (before him) I asked Ibn Mas'ud about this hadith. He narrated it in the same way as I narrated it to Ibn 'Umar.

Book 1, Number 0082:

The same hadith has been transmitted by another chain of narrators on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud who observed: Never was there one among the prophets who had had not disciples who followed his direction and followed his ways. The remaining part of the hadith is like that as narrated by Salih but the arrival of Ibn Mas'ud and the meeting of Ibn 'Umar with him is not mentioned.

Chapter 22 : PRECEDENCE OF THE BELIEVERS OVER ONE ANOTHER AND THE SUPERIORITY OF THE PEOPLE OF YEMEN IN THIS RESPECT
Book 1, Number 0083:

It is narrated on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud that the Apostle of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) pointed towards Yemen with his hand and said: Verily Iman is towards this side, and harshness and callousness of the hearts is found amongst the rude owners of the camels who drive them behind their tails (to the direction)where emerge the two horns of Satan, they are the tribes of Rabi'a and Mudar.

Book 1, Number 0084:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah observed: There have come the people of Yemen; they are tender of hearts, the belief is that of the Yemenites, the understanding (of the faith) is that of the Yemenites and sagacity is that of the Yemenites.

Book 1, Number 0085:

Abu Huraira reported the same hadith which is transmitted to us by another chain of transmitters, e.g. Muhammad b. al-Muthanna, Ishaq b. Yusuf Azraq, Ibn 'Aun, etc.

Book 1, Number 0086:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: There came to you the people from Yemen; they are tender of hearts and mild of feelings, the understanding is Yemenite, the sagacity is Yemenite.

Book 1, Number 0087:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) remarked: The summit of unbelief is towards the East and the pride and conceitedness is found among the owners of horses and camels who are rude and uncivil, people of the tents, and tranquillity is found among those who rear goats and sheep.

Book 1, Number 0088:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: The belief is among the Yemenites, and the unbelief is towards the East, and tranquillity is among those who rear goats and sheep, and pride and simulation is among the uncivil and rude owners of horses and camels.

Book 1, Number 0089:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira: I heard the Messenger of Allah saying this: Pride and conceitedness is found among the uncivil owners of the camels and tranquillity is found among the owners of sheep and goats.

Book 1, Number 0090:

The same hadith has been narrated by Zuhri with the same chain of authorities with the addition: The belief is among the Yemenites, the sagacity is that of the Yemenites.

Book 1, Number 0091:

Abu Huraira said: I heard the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) saying: There came the people of Yemen, they are tender of feelings and meek of hearts. The belief is that of the Yemenites, the sagacity is that of the Yemenites, the tranquillity is among the owners of goats and sheep, and pride and conceitedness is among the uncivil owners of the camels, the people of the tents in the direction of sunrise.

Book 1, Number 0092:

It is reporter on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: There came the people of Yemen who are soft of hearts, tender in feelings: the belief is that of the Yemenites, the sagacity is that of the Yemenites and the summit of unbelief is towards the East.

Book 1, Number 0093:

Qutaiba b. Sa'id and Zubair b. Harb say: Jarir narrated this on the authority of A'mash with the same chain of narrators (as mentioned above).

Book 1, Number 0094:

Shu'ba narrated the hadith as reported by Jarir with the same chain of narrators with this addition : Pride and conceitedness is among the owners of the camels and tranquillity and sobriety is found amongst the owners of sheep.

Book 1, Number 0095:

It is reported on the authority of Jabir b. Abdullah that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and, blessings be upon him) observed: The callousness of heart and sternness is in the East and faith is among the people of the Hijaz.

Chapter 23 : CONCERNING THE FACT THAT NO ONE WILL ENTER PARADISE EXCEPT BELIEVERS, THAT LOVE FOR BELIEVERS IS (A CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF) FAITH AND GIVING CURRENCY TO (THE PRACTICE OF PAYING SALUTATION BY SAYING) AS-SALAMU'ALAIKUM (PEACE BE UPON YOU) IS THE MEANS TO ACHIEVE IT (FAITH)
Book 1, Number 0096:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessing be upon him) observed: You shall not enter Paradise so long as you do not affirm belief (in all those things which are the articles of faith) and you will not believe as long as you do not love one another. Should I not direct you to a thing which, if you do, will foster love amongst you: (i.e.) give currency to (the practice of paying salutation to one another by saying) as-salamu alaikum.

Book 1, Number 0097:

Zuhair b. Harb said: Jarir reported on the authority of A'mash with this chain of transmitters that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: By him in Whose hand is my life, you shall not enter Paradise unless you believe. The rest of the hadith is the same as narrated by Abd Mu'awiya and Waki'.

Chapter 24 : DIN IS SINCERITY AND GOOD-WILL
Book 1, Number 0098:

It is narrated on the authority of Tamim ad-Dari that the Apostle of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Al-Din is a name of sincerity and well wishing . Upon this we said: For whom? He replied: For Allah, His Book, His Messenger and for the leaders and the general Muslims.

Book 1, Number 0099:

Muhammad b. Hatim and others narrate the same hadith of the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him) on the authority of Tamim ad-Dari.

Book 1, Number 0100:

Umayya b. Bistam narrates the same hadith of the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) on the authority of Tamim ad-Dari.

Book 1, Number 0101:

It is narrated on the authority of Jarir that he observed I gave pledge of allegiance to the Messenger of Allah(may peace and blessings be upon him) on the observance of prayer, payment of Zakat, and sincerity and well-wishing for every Muslim.

Book 1, Number 0102:

Sufyan narrated on the authority of Ziyad b. 'Ilaqa that he heard Jarir b. 'Abdullah saying: I pledged allegiance to the Apostle of Allah may peace and blessings be upon him) on sincerity and well-wishing for every Muslim.

Book 1, Number 0103:

It is narrated on the authority of Jarir that he observed: I owed allegiance to the Apostle of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) on hearing ( is commands) and obeying (them) and the Prophet) instructed me (to act) as lay in my power, and sincerity and goodwill for every Muslim.

Chapter 25 : CONCERNING DIMINUTION OF BELIEF DUE TO SINS AND ITS SEPARATION FROM THE SINNER: NEGATION OF THE EXCELLENCE OF IMAN AT THE TIME OF COMMITTING SIN
Book 1, Number 0104:

Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah observed : The fornicator who fornicates is not a believer so long as he commits it and no thief who steals is a believer as long as he commits theft, and no drunkard who drinks wine is a believer as long as he drinks it. 'Abdul-Malik b. Abi Bakr' narrated this on the authority of Abu Bakr b. Abdur-Rahman b. Harith and then said: Abu Huraira made this addition : No plunderer who plunders a valuable thing that attracts the attention of people is a believer so long as he commits this act.

Book 1, Number 0105:

'Abdul-Malik b. Shu'aib narrated this hadith on the authority of Abu Huraira that he observed: The Messenger of Allah said that a fornicator does not fornicate, and then narrated the hadith like this, and he also made mention of plundering too, but did not mention of a thin having value. Ibn Shihab said: Sa'id b. al-Musayyib and Abu Salama narrated this hadith on the authority of Abu Huraira a hadith like that of Abu Bakr with the exception of (the mention) of plundering.

Book 1, Number 0106:

Muhammad b. Mihran narrates this hadith on the authority of Abu Huraira and made mention of plundering but did not talk of (a thing) having value.

Book 1, Number 0107:

Imam Muslim has reported this hadith by Hasan b. 'Ali al-Halwani and other traditions.

Book 1, Number 0108:

It is reported on the authority of Qutaiba b. Sa'id who reported on the authority of Abu Huraira the hadith like that narrated from Zuhri with this exception that in the hadith narrated by 'Ala ' and Safwan b. Sulaim there is no mention of: People raise there eyes towards him, and in the hadith narrated by Hammam: The believers raise their eyes towards him, and such like words, so long as he plunders (is not) a believer, and these words were added: And no exploiter who makes an exploitation is a believer as long as he exploits It; therefore avoid and shun (these evils).

Book 1, Number 0109:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira: A fornicator who fornicates is not a believer as long as he commits fornication, and no one who steals is a believer as long as he commits theft, and no one who drinks wine is a believer as long as he drinks it, and repentance may be accepted after that.

Book 1, Number 0110:

Muhammad b. Rafi', Abdur-Razzaq, Sufyan, A'mash narrated this hadith like one narrated by Shu'ba, on the authority of Abu Huraira tracing, it (right to the Holy Prophet).

Chapter 26 : CONCERNING THE PECULIARITIES OF A HYPOCRITE
Book 1, Number 0111:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. 'Amr that the Prophet observed: Four characteristics made anyone who possessed them, a sheer hypocrite; anyone who possessed one of them possessed a characteristic of hypocrisy till be abandons it: when he talked he lied, when he made a covenant he acted treacherously, and when he quarreled he deviated from the truth.

Book 1, Number 0112:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Three are the signs of a hypocrite: when he spoke he told a lie, when he made a promise he acted treacherously against it, when he was trusted he betrayed.

Book 1, Number 0113:

Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: There are three characteristics of a hypocrite: when he spoke he told a lie, when he made promise he acted treacherously, and when he was trusted he betrayed.

Book 1, Number 0114:

'Uqba b. Mukarram al-'Ami reported that he heard 'Ala' b. 'Abdur-Rahman narrating this hadith with this chain of transmitters and he said: Three are the signs of a hypocrite, even if he observed fast and prayed and asserted that he was a Muslim.

Book 1, Number 0115:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) made observations like them embodied in the hadith narrated by Yahya b. Muhammad on the authority of 'Ala', and added to it: even if he observed fast and prayed and asserted that he was a Muslim.

Chapter 27 : THE CONDITION OF THE FAITH OF ONE WHO CALLS HIS BROTHER MUSLIM AN UNBELIEVER
Book 1, Number 0116:

It is reported on the authority of Ibn 'Umar that the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: When a man calls his brother an unbeliever, it returns (at least) to one of them.

Book 1, Number 0117:

It is reported on the authority of Ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Any person who called his brother: or unbeliever (has in fact done an act by which this unbelief) would return to one of them. If it were so, as he asserted (then the unbelief of man was confirmed but if it was not true), then it returned to him (to the man who labeled it on his brother Muslim).

Chapter 28 : THE CONDITION OF THE FAITH OF ONE WHO KNOWINGLY DENIES HIS TRUE PARENTAGE
Book 1, Number 0118:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Dharr that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) saying: No person who claimed knowingly anyone else as his father besides(his own)committed nothing but infidelity, and he who made a claim of anything, which (in fact) did not belong to him, is not amongst us; he should make his abode in Fire, and he who labeled anyone with unbelief or called him the enemy of Allah, and he was in fact not so, it rebounded on him.

Book 1, Number 0119:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Do not detest your fathers; he who detested his father committed infidelity.

Book 1, Number 0120:

It is reported on the authority of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas: Both of my ears heard the Messenger of Allah saying this: He who claimed the fatherhood of anyone else besides his real father knowingly (committed a great sin);Paradise is forbidden to him. Abu Bakra asserted that he too heard it from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him ).

Book 1, Number 0121:

Sa'd and Abu Bakra each one of them said: My ears heard and my hearing preserved it that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) observed: He who claimed for another one his fatherhood besides his own father knowingly that he was not his father-to him Paradise is forbidden.

Chapter 29 : ABUSING A MUSLIM IS AN OUTRAGE AND FIGHTING AGAINST HIM IS UNBELIEF
Book 1, Number 0122:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Abusing a Muslim is an outrage and fighting against him is unbelief. Zubaid said: I asked Abu Wa'il: Did you hear it from Abdullah narrating if from the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him)? He replied: Yes. But there is mention of the talk between Zubaid and Abu Wa'il in the hadith narrated by Shu'ba.

Book 1, Number 0123:

Abu Bakr b. Abu Shaiba narrated a hadith like this from the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him) on the authority of Abdullah.

Chapter 30 : DON'T BECOME UNBELIEVERS AFTER ME BY STRIKING THE NECKS OF 0NE ANOTHER
Book 1, Number 0124:

It is narrated on the authority of Jarir b. 'Abdullah that the Apostle of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) asked him on the occasion of the Farewell Pilgrimage to make the people silent and then said: Do not return to unbelief after me by striking the necks of one another.

Book 1, Number 0125:

Abdullah b. Mu'adh narrated from the Apostle(may peace and blessings be upon him) a hadith like this on the authority on Ibn Umar.

Book 1, Number 0126:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Umar that the Apostle(may peace and blessings be upon him) observed on the occasion of the Farewell Pilgrimage Woe unto you distress unto you! Don't turn back as unbelievers after me by striking the necks of one another.

Book 1, Number 0127:

Harmala b. Yahya, Abdullah b. Wahb, Umar b. Muhammad, Ibn Umar narrated like the hadith reported by Shu'ba on the authority of Waqid.

Chapter 31 : THE USE OF THE WORD "UNBELIEF" IN CASE OF SLANDERING (ANYONE) OR ONE'S LINEAGE, AND LAMENTATION
Book 1, Number 0128:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Two (things) are found among men which are tantamount to unbelief: slandering one's lineage and lamentation on the dead.

Chapter 32 : CALLING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE AS INFIDEL
Book 1, Number 0129:

It is narrated on the authority of Jarir that he heard (the Holy Prophet) saying, The slave who fled from his master committed an act of infidelity as long as he would not return to him. Mansur observed: By God, this hadith was narrated from the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him), but I do not like that this should be narrated on my authority here in Basra.

Book 1, Number 0130:

It is narrated on the authority of Jarir that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: The slave who fled from his master, responsibility with regard to him was absolved.

Book 1, Number 0131:

Jarir b. Abdullah reported it from the Holy Prophet: When the slave runs away from his master, his prayer is not accepted.

Chapter 33 : THE UNBELIEF OF ONE WHO SAID: WE GOT RAINFALL BY THE MOVEMENT (OF THE STARS)
Book 1, Number 0132:

It is narrated on the authority of Zaid b. Khalid al-Juhani: The Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) led the morning prayer at Hudaybiya. There were some marks of the rainfall during the night. At the conclusion of prayer he turned towards people and observed: Do you know what your Lord has said? They replied: Allah and His Messenger know best. Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He (Allah) said: Some of My bondsmen entered the morning as My believers and some as unbelievers. He who said: We have had a rainfall due to the Blessing and Mercy of Allah, he is My believer and a disbeliever of stars, and who said: We have had a rainfall due to the rising of such and such (star) disbelieved Me and affirmed his faith in the stars.

Book 1, Number 0133:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Don't you know what your Lord said? He observed: I have never endowed My bondsmen with a favor, but a section amongst them disbelieved it and said: Stars, it was due to the stars.

Book 1, Number 0134:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessing be upon him) observed: Allah does not shower His blessings from the heaven that in the morning a group of men disbelieve it (to be a blessing from Allah). Allah sends down rain, but they (the disbelievers) say: Such and such star (is responsible for that).

Book 1, Number 0135:

It is reported on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that there was (once) a downpour during the life of the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him Upon this the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him) observed: Some people entered the morning with gratitude and some with ingratitude (to Allah). Those who entered with gratitude said: This is the blessing of Allah, and those who entered with ingratitude said: Such and such asterism was right. It was upon this that the verse was revealed:

I swear by the setting of the stars to the end and make your provision that you should disbelieve it.

Chapter 34 : THE LOVE OF ANSAR (HELPERS) AND 'ALI (MAY ALLAH BE PLEASED WITH ALL OF THEM) IS (AN INGREDIENT) OF IMAN AND (ONE OF) ITS SIGNS, AND HATRED AGAINST THEM IS A SIGN OF DISSEMBLANCE
Book 1, Number 0136:

It is reported on the authority of Anas that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings Be upon him) observed: The sign of a hypocrite is the hatred against the Ansar and the sign of a believer is the love for the Ansar.

Book 1, Number 0137:

It is narrated on the authority of Anas that the Apostle(may peace and blessings be upon him) said: The love of the Ansar is the sign of faith and hatred against them is the sign of dissemblance.

Book 1, Number 0138:

Al-Bara reported it from the Apostle(may peace and blessing be upon him) that he observed with regard to the Ansar, None but the believer loves them, none but the hypocrite hates them. He who loved them loved Allah and he who hated them hated Allah. I (the narrator) said: Did you hear this hadith from al-Bara'? He said: To me, he narrated it.

Book 1, Number 0139:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: A person who believes in Allah and the Last Day never nurses a grudge against the Ansar.

Book 1, Number 0140:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Sa'id Khudri that the Messenger of Allah observed: The person who believes in Allah and the Last Day never nurses a grudge against the Ansar.

Book 1, Number 0141:

Zirr reported: 'Ali observed: By Him Who split up the seed and created something living, the Apostle(may peace and blessings be upon him) gave me a promise that no one but a believer would love me, and none but a hypocrite would nurse grudge against me.

Chapter 35 : DIMINUTION OF IMAN BY FAILING IN SUBMISSION AND THE USE OF THE WORD "KUFR" FOR THINGS BESIDES UNBELIEF OF ALLAH, FOR EXAMPLE UNGRATEFULNESS AND INGRATITUDE
Book 1, Number 0142:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger of Allah observed: O womenfolk, you should give charity and ask much forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell. A wise lady among them said: Why is it, Messenger of Allah, that our folk is in bulk in Hell ? Upon this the Holy Prophet observed: You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. I have seen none lacking in common sense and failing in religion but (at the same time) robbing the wisdom of the wise, besides you. Upon this the woman remarked: What is wrong with our common sense and with religion? He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Your lack of common sense (can be well judged from the fact) that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion. This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Tahir with this chain of transmitters.

Book 1, Number 0143:

A hadith like this as narrated by Ibn 'Umar has also been transmitted by Abu Huraira.

Chapter 36 : APPLICATION OF THE WORD "KUFR" TO ONE WHO NEGLECTS PRAYER
Book 1, Number 0144:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that when, the son of Adam recites the Ayat of Sajdah (prostration) and then falls down in prostration, the Satan goes into seclusion and weeps and says: Alas, and in the narration of Abu Kuraib the words are: Woe unto me, the son of Adam was commanded to prostrate, and he prostrated and Paradise was entitled to him and I was commanded to prostrate, but I refused and am doomed to Hell.

Book 1, Number 0145:

A'mash narrated this hadith with the same chain of transmitters, with this change of words that he (the Satan) said: I disobeyed and I am doomed to Hell.

Book 1, Number 0146:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that he heard the Apostle (may peace and blessings be upon him) saying. Verily between man and between polytheism and unbelief is the negligence of prayer.

Book 1, Number 0147:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Zubair that he heard Jabir b. 'Abdullah saying. I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observing this: Between man and polytheism and unbelief is the abandonment of salat.

Chapter 37 : BELIEF IN ALLAH IS THE BEST OF DEEDS
Book 1, Number 0148:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah was asked about the best of deeds. He observed: Belief in Allah. He (the inquirer) said: What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Jihad (struggle to the utmost) in the cause of Allah. He (the inquirer) again said: What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Pilgrimage accepted into the grace of the Lord. In the. tradition narrated on the authority of Muhammad b. Ja'far (the words are) that he (the Holy Prophet) said: Belief in Allah and His Messenger. Muhammad b. Rafi and 'Abd b. Humaid, 'Abdur-Razzaq and Ma'mar and Zuhri have narrated a hadith like this on the authority of the same chain of transmitters.

Book 1, Number 0149:

Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause. I again asked: Who is the slave whose emancipation is the best ? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: One who is valuable for his master and whose price is high. I said: If I can't afford to do it? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Help an artisan or make anything for the unskilled (labourer). I (Abu Dharr) said: Messenger of Allah, you see that I am helpless in doing some of these deeds. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Desist from doing mischief to the people. That is the charity of your person on your behalf.

Book 1, Number 0150:

Muhammad b. Abu Rafi' narrated the hadith on the authority of Abu Dharr with a slight difference.

Book 1, Number 0151:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that he observed. I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) which deed was the best. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Prayer at its appointed hour. I (again) said: Then what? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Kindness to the parents. I (again) said: Then what? He replied: Earnest endeavour (Jihad) in the cause of Allah. And I would have not ceased asking more questions but out of regard (for his feelings).

Book 1, Number 0152:

'Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds (takes one) nearer to Paradise ? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Prayer at its proper time, I said: What next, Messenger of Allah? He replied: Kindness to the parents. I said: What next? He replied: Jihad in the cause of Allah.

Book 1, Number 0153:

It was heard from Abu 'Amr Shaibani that, pointing towards the house of Abdullah, he said: The owner of this house told me that he asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him): Which of the deeds are liked by Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Prayer at its proper time. I (again) said: What next ? He replied: Then goodness to the parents. I (again) said: What then? He replied: Then Jihad in the cause of Allah. He ('Abdullah) said: This is what I was told (by the Holy Prophet). Had I questioned further, he would have made additions for me.

Book 1, Number 0154:

This hadith has been transmitted by Muhammad b. Bashshar, Muhammad b. Ja'far Shu'ba with this chain of narrators, with the addition that he pointed towards the house of 'Abdullah, but he did not mention his name for us.

Book 1, Number 0155:

It is reported on the authority of 'Abdullah that the Apostle of Allah observed: The best of' the deeds or deed is the (observance of) prayer at its proper time and kindness to the parents.

Chapter 38 : POLYTHEISM IS THE MOST SHAMEFUL OF SINS AND THE MENTIONING OF THE GRAVEST SIN NEXT TO IT
Book 1, Number 0156:

'Abdullah reported: I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him): Which sin is the gravest in the eye of Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you associate a partner with Allah (despite the fact) that He has created you. He (the reporter) said: I told him (the, Holy Prophet) : Verily it is indeed grave. He (the reporter) said: I asked him what the next (gravest sin) was. He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you kill your child out of fear that he shall join you in food. He (the reporter)said: I asked (him) what the next (gravest sin)was. He (the Holy Prophet) observed : Then (the next gravest sin) is that you commit adultery with the wife of your neighbour.

Book 1, Number 0157:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Mas'ud that a man said: Messenger of Allah, which offence is the most grievous in the eye of Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you associate a partner with Allah (despite the fact) that He created you. He (the man) said: What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you kill your child out of fear that he would join you in food. He (the inquirer) said (again): What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you commit adultery with the wife of your neighbour. And the Almighty and Exalted Lord testified it (with this verse) :

All those who call not unto another god along with Allah, and slay not any soul which Allah has forbidden, except in the cause of justice, nor commit fornication, and he who does this shall meet a requital of sin (xxv. 68).

Chapter 39 : MAJOR SINS AND THE GRAVEST AMONG THESE
Book 1, Number 0158:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdur-Rahman b. Abu Bakra that his father said: We were in the company of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) that he observed: Should I not inform you about the most grievous of the grave sins? (The Holy Prophet) repeated it three times, and then said: Associating anyone with Allah, disobedience to parents, false testimony or false utterance. The Holy Prophet was reclining, then he sat up, and he repeated it so many times that we wished that he should become silent.

Book 1, Number 0159:

Anas narrated from the Apostle (may peace be upon him) about the major sins. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Associating anyone with Allah, disobedience to parents, killing a person and false utterance.

Book 1, Number 0160:

Ubaidullah b. Abu Bakr said: I heard Anas b. Malik saying: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) talked about the major sins, or he was asked about the major sins. Upon this he observed: Associating anyone with Allah, killing of a person, disobedience to parents. He (the Holy Prophet further) said: Should I not inform you about the gravest of the major sins, and (in this connection) observed: False utterance or false testimony. Shu'ba said . It was most probably "false testimony".

Book 1, Number 0161:

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: Avoid the seven noxious things. It was said (by the hearers): What are they, Messenger of Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Associating anything with Allah, magic, killing of one whom God has declared inviolate without a just cause, consuming the property of an orphan, and consuming of usury,turning back when the army advances, and slandering chaste women who are believers, but unwary.

Book 1, Number 0162:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Amr b. al-'As that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: Abusing one's parents is one of the major sins. They (the hearers) said: Messenger of Allah, does a man abuse his parents too? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Yes, one abuses the father of another man, who in turn abuses his father. One abuses his mother and he in turn abuses his (the former's) mother.

Book 1, Number 0163:

This hadith has also been transmitted on the authority of Sa'd b. Ibrahim with this chain of narrators.

Chapter 40 : FORBIDDANCE OF PRIDE
Book 1, Number 0164:

It Is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him), observed: He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise. A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people.

Book 1, Number 0165:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: None shall enter the Fire (of Hell) who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of Iman and none shall enter Paradise who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride.

Book 1, Number 0166:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who as in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.

Chapter 41 : HE WHO DIES ASSOCIATING NONE WITH ALLAH WOULD ENTER PARADISE AND HE WHO DIES AS A POLYTHEIST WOULD ENTER THE FIRE OF HELL
Book 1, Number 0167:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Mas'ud that Waki told (him) that the Messenger of Allah had observed and Ibn Numair asserted: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) saying: He who dies associating anything with Allah would enter the Fire (of Hell). 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud said: I say that he who died without associating anything with Allah entered Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0168:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that a man came to the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, what are the two things quite unavoidable? He replied: He who dies without associating anyone with Allah would (necessarily) enter Paradise and he who dies associating anything with Allah would enter the (Fire of) Hell.

Book 1, Number 0169:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Abdullah: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) saying: He who met Allah without associating anything with Allah entered Paradise and he who met Him associating (anything) with Him entered Fire.

Book 1, Number 0170:

The same hadith has been narrated by Ishaq b. Mansur on the authority of Jabir with another chain of transmitters.

Book 1, Number 0171:

I heard Abu Dharr narrating it from the Apostle (may peace be upon him) that he observed: Gabriel came to me and gave me the tidings: Verily he who died amongst your Ummah without associating anything with Allah would enter Paradise. I (the narrator) said: Even if he committed adultery and theft. He (the Holy Prophet) said: (Yes), even if he committed adultery and theft.

Book 1, Number 0172:

Abu Dharr reported,: I came to the Apostle (may peace be upon him ) and he was asleep with a white mantle over him. I again came, he was still asleep, I came again and he had awakened. I sat by his side and (the Holy Prophet) observed: There is none among the bondsmen who affirmed his faith in La illaha ill-Allah there is no God but Allah) and died in this state and did not enter Paradise. I (Abu Dharr) said: Even if he committed adultery and theft? He (the Holy Prophet) replied : (Yes) even though he committed adultery and theft. I (again said) : Even if he committed adultery and theft ? He replied : (Yes) even though he committed adultery and theft. (Th Holy Prophet repeated it three times) and said for the fourth time: In defiance of Abu Dharr. Abu Dharr then went out and he repeated (these words): In defiance of Abu Dharr.

Chapter 42 : PROHIBITION OF THE KILLING OF AN INFIDEL AFTER HE SAYS: "THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH"
Book 1, Number 0173:

It is narrated on the authority of Miqdad b. Aswad that he said. Messenger of Allah, you just see (here is a point) : If I encountered a person amongst the infidels (in the battlefield) and he attacked me and struck me and cut off one of my hands with the sword. Then he (in order to protect himself from me) took shelter of a tree and said: I become Muslim for Allah's sake. Messenger of Allah, can I kill him after he had uttered this? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Do not kill him. I (the narrator) said: Messenger of Allah , he cut off my hand and uttered this after amputating it; should I then kill him? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Don't kill him , for I you kill him, verily he would be in a position where you had been before killing him and verily you would be in a position where he had been before uttering (kalima).

Book 1, Number 0174:

The same hadith has been transmitted by the same chain of narrators. The hadith transmitted by Auza'i and Ibn Juraij contains these words: I embraced Islam for Allah's sake. and in the hadith narrated by Ma'mar the words are: I knelt down to kill him, that he said; There is no god but Allah.

Book 1, Number 0175:

It is narrated by Miqdad, and he was an ally of B. Zuhra and was of those who participated in the Battle of Badr along with the Messenger of Allah, that he said: Messenger of Allah, here is a point: If I happened to encounter a person amongst the infidels (in the battle). Then he narrated a hadith similar to the one transmitted by Laith.

Book 1, Number 0176:

It is narrated on the authority of Usama b. Zaid that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) sent us in a raiding party. We raided Huraqat of Juhaina in the morning. I caught hold of a man and he said: There is no god but Allah, I attacked him with a spear. It once occurred to me and I talked about it to the Apostle (may peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Did he profess "There is no god but Allah," and even then you killed him? I said: Messenger of Allah, he made a profession of it out of the fear of the weapon. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Did you tear his heart in order to find out whether it had professed or not ? And he went on repeating it to me till I wished I had embraced Islam that day. Sa'd said: By Allah, I would never kill any Muslim so long as a person with a heavy belly, i.e., Usama, would not kill. Upon this a person remarked: Did Allah not say this: And fight them until there is no more mischief and religion is wholly for Allah ? Sa'd said: We fought so that there should be no mischief, but you and your companions wish to fight so that there should be mischief.

Book 1, Number 0177:

It is narrated on the authority of Usama b. Zaid: The Messenger of Allah may peace be upon him) sent us to Huraqat, a tribe of Juhaina. We attacked that tribe early in the morning and defeated them and I and a man from the Ansar caught hold of a person (of the defeated tribe). When we overcame him, he said: There is no god but Allah. At that moment the Ansari spared him, but I attacked him with my spear and killed him. The news had already reached the Apostle (peace be upon him), so when we came back he (the Apostle) said to me: Usama, did you kill him after he had made the profession: There is no god but Allah? I said. Messenger of Allah, he did it only as a shelter. The Holy Prophet observed: Did you kill him after he had made the profession that there is no god but Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) went on repeating this to me till I wished I had not embraced Islam before that day.

Book 1, Number 0178:

It is narrated by Safwan b. Muhriz that Jundab b. 'Abdullah al-Bajali during the stormy days of Ibn Zubair sent a message to 'As'as b. Salama: Gather some men of your family so that I should talk to them. He ('As'as) sent a messenger to them (to the members of his family). When they had assembled, Jundab came there with a yellow hooded cloak on him, He said: Talk what you were busy in talking. The talk went on by turns, till there came his (Jundab's) turn. He took off the hooded cloak from his head and said: I have come to you with no other intention but to narrate to you a hadith of your Apostle: Verily the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) sent a squad of the Muslims to a tribe of the polytheists. Both the armies confronted one another. There was a man among the army of polytheists who (was so dashing that), whenever he intended to kill a man from among the Muslims, he killed him. Amongst the Muslims too was a man looking forward to (an opportunity of) his (the polytheist's) unmindfulness. He (the narrator) said: We talked that he was Usama b, Zaid. When he raised his sword, he (the soldier of the polytheists) uttered: "There is no god but Allah," but he (Usama b. Zaid) killed him. When the messenger of the glad tidings came to the Apostle (may peace be upon him) he asked him (about the events of the battle) and he informed him about the man (Usama) and what he had done He (the Prophet of Allah) called for him and asked him why he had killed him. He (Usama) said: Messenger of Allah, he struck the Muslims and killed such and such of them. And he even named some of them. (He continued): I attacked him and when he saw the sword he said: There is no god but Allah. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Did you kill him? He (Usama) replied in the affirmative. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: What would you do with: "There is no god but Allah," when he would come (before you) on the Day of Judgment ? He (Usama) said: Messenger of Allah, beg pardon for me (from your Lord). He (the Holy Prophet) said: What would you do with: "There is no god but Allah" when he would come (before you) on the Day of Judgment? He (the Holy Prophet) added nothing to it but kept saying: What would you do with: "There is no god but Allah," when he would come (before you) on the Day of Judgment?

Chapter 43 : THE UTTERANCE OF THE APOSTLE (MAY PEACE BE UPON HIM): HE WHO TAKES,UP ARMS AGAINST US IS NOT OF US (I.E. HE CEASES TO RE A MUSLIM)
Book 1, Number 0179:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Umar who narrates from the Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him) who said: He who took up arms against us is not of us.

Book 1, Number 0180:

Iyas b. Salama narrated from his father that the Apostle (may peace be upon him) observed: He who draws the sword against us is not of us.

Book 1, Number 0181:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Musa Ash'ari: He who took up arms against us is not of us.

Chapter 44 : THE UTTERANCE OF THE APOSTLE (PEACE BE UPON HIM): HE WHO ACTED DISHONESTLY TOWARDS US IS NOT OF US (I.E. HE IS NOT TO BE COUNTED AMONGST MUSLIMS)
Book 1, Number 0182:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who took up arms against us is not of us and he who acted dishonestly towards us is not of us.

Book 1, Number 0183:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) happened to pass by a heap of eatables (corn). He thrust his hand in that (heap) and his fingers were moistened. He said to the owner of that heap of eatables (corn): What is this? He replied: Messenger of Allah, these have been drenched by rainfall. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: Why did you not place this (the drenched part of the heap) over other eatables so that the people could see it ? He who deceives is not of me (is not my follower).

Chapter 45 : BEATING OF THE CHEEKS, TEARING OF THE FRONT OPENING OF THE SHIRT, AND CALLING THE CALLS OF THE JAHILIYA (IGNORANCE) ARE FORBIDDEN
Book 1, Number 0184:

It is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Holy Prophet observed: He is not one of us (one among the Ummah of Islam) who beat the cheeks or tore the front opening of the shirt or uttered the slogans of (the days of) Jahiliya (ignorance). Ibn Numair and Abu Bakr said (instead of the word "au"(or) it is "wa" [and] the words are) and tore and uttered (the slogans) of Jahiliya without "alif".

Book 1, Number 0185:

This hadith has been narrated by A'mash with the same chain of narrators and the transmitters said: He tore and called.

Book 1, Number 0186:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Burda b. Abu Musa that Abu Musa was afflicted with grave pain and he became unconscious and his head was in the lap of a lady of his household. One of the women of his household walled. He (Abu Musa) was unable (because of weakness) to say anything to her. But when he was a bit recovered he said: I have no concern with one with whom the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) has no concern, Verily the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) has no concern with that woman who wails loudly, shaves her hair and tears (her garment in grief).

Book 1, Number 0187:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Burda that Abu Musa fell unconscious and his wife Umm Abdullah came there and wailed loudly. When he felt relief he said: Don't you know?-and narrated to her: Verily the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I have no concern with one who shaved her hair, lamented loudly and tore (her clothes in grief).

Book 1, Number 0188:

This hadith is narrated on the authority of Abu Musa with this change only: That (the Holy Prophet) did not say that he had no concern but said: He is not one of us.

Chapter 46 : SERIOUS PROHIBITION OF TALE-CARRYING
Book 1, Number 0189:

It is reported from Hudhaifa that news reached him (the Holy Prophet) that a certain man carried tales. Upon this Hudhaifa remarked: I heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) saying: The tale-bearer shall not enter Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0190:

It is reported on the authority of Hammam b, al-Harith that a man used to carry tales to the governor. We were sitting in the mosque. the people said: He is one who carries tales to the governor. He (the narrator) said: Then he came and sat with us. Thereupon Hudhaifa remarked: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) saying: The beater of false tales would never enter heaven.

Book 1, Number 0191:

It is narrated on the authority of Hammam b. al-Harith: We were sitting with Hudhaifa in the mosque. A man came and sat along with us. It was said to Hudhaifa that he was the man who carried tales to the ruler. Hudhaifa remarked with the intention of conveying to him: I have heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) saying: The tale-bearer will not enter Paradise.

Chapter 47 : SERIOUS PROHIBITION OF LETTING DOWN THE LOWER GARMENT, OF LAYING OBLIGATION, OF SELLING GOODS BY FALSE OATHS, AND DESCRIPTION OF THOSE THREE- (PERSONS) WITH WHOM ALLAH WOULD NOT SPEAK ON THE DAY OF RESURRECTION, NOR WOULD HE SEE T0WARDS THEM NOR WOULD ABSOLVE THEM, AND FOR THEM IS A PAINFUL CHASTISEMENT
Book 1, Number 0192:

It is narrated o the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (may ace he upon him) observed: Three are the (persons) with whom Allah would neither speak on the Day of Resurrection, nor would look at them nor would absolve the and there is a painful chastisement for them. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) repeated it three times. Abu Dharr remarked: They failed and they lost; who are these persons, Messenger of Allah? Upon this he (the Holy) Prophet) observed: They are: the dragger of lower garment, the recounter of obligation the seller of goods by false oath.

Book 1, Number 0193:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr who narrates that the Prophet (may peace be upon him) observed: Three are the persons with whom Allah would not speak on the Day of Resurrection: the bestower of gift who does not give anything but by laying obligation on him, the seller of goods who sells them by taking false oath and one who hangs low his lower garment.

Book 1, Number 0194:

Bishr b. Khalid has narrated this hadith on the authority of Sulaiman with the same chain of transmitters with this addition: Allah shall neither speak nor look at nor absolve then, and there is a tormenting punishment for them.

Book 1, Number 0195:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: Three (are the persons) with whom Allah would neither speak, nor would He absolve them on the Day of Resurrection. Abu Mu'awiya added: He would not look at them and there is grievous torment for them: the aged adulterer, the liar king and the proud destitute.

Book 1, Number 0196:

Abu Huraira narrated on the authority of Abu Bakr that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Three are the persons with whom Allah would neither speak on the Day of Resurrection, nor would He look towards them, nor would purify them (from sins), and there would be a tormenting chastisement for them: a person who in the waterless desert has more water (than his need) and he refuses to give it to the traveller and a person who sold a commodity to another person in the afternoon and took an oath of Allah that he had bought it at such and such price and he (the buyer) accepted it to be true though it was not a fact, and a person who pledged allegiance to the Imam but for the sake of the world (material gains). And if the Imam bestowed on him (something) out of that (worldly riches) he stood by his allegiance and if he did not give him, he did not fulfil the allegiance.

Book 1, Number 0197:

The same hadith has been transmitted by another chain of transmitters with the exception of these words: He offered for sale a commodity to another person.

Book 1, Number 0198:

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that he (the Apostle of Allah)observed: Three are the persons with whom Allah would neither speak (on the Day of Resurrection) nor would He look at them, and there would be a painful chastisement for them, a person who took an oath on the goods of a Muslim in the afternoon and then broke it. The rest of the hadith is the same as narrated by A'mash.

Chapter 48 : SUICIDE IS THE GRAVEST SIN
Book 1, Number 0199:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who killed himself with steel (weapon) would be the eternal denizen of the Fire of Hell and he would have that weapon in his hand and would be thrusting that in his stomach for ever and ever, he who drank poison and killed himself would sip that in the Fire of Hell where he is doomed for ever and ever; and he who killed himself by falling from (the top of) a mountain would constantly fall in the Fire of Hell and would live there for ever and ever.

Book 1, Number 0200:

This hadith has been narrated by another chain of transmitters.

Book 1, Number 0201:

Thabit b. Dahhak reported that he pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) under the Tree, and verily the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who took an oath of a religion other than Islam, in the state of being a liar, would became so, as he professed. He who killed himself with a thing would be tormented on the Day of Resurrection with that very thing. One is not obliged to offer votive offering of a thing which is not in his possession.

Book 1, Number 0202:

It is narrated on the authority of Thabit b. al-Dahhak that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) observes: None is obliged to give votive offering (of a thing) which is not in his possession and the cursing of a believer is tantamount to killing him, and he who killed himself with a thing in this world would be tormented with that (very thing) on the Day of Resurrection, and he who made a false claim to increase(his wealth), Allah would make no addition but that of paucity, and he who perjured would earn the wrath of God

Book 1, Number 0203:

It is narrated on the authority of Thabit b. Dahhak that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: He who took deliberately a false oath on a religion other than Islam would become that which he had professed. And he who killed himself with anything Allah would torment him with that in the Fire of Hell.

Book 1, Number 0204:

In the hadith narrated by Shu'ba the words are: Verily the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: He who took an oath on a religion other than Islam as a liar would become so as he said, and he who slaughtered himself with a thing would be slaughtered with that on the Day of Resurrection.

Book 1, Number 0205:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira: We participated in the Battle of Hunain along with the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He (the Holy Prophet) said about a man who claimed to be a Muslim that he was one of the denizens of the Fire (of Hell). When we were in the thick of the battle that man fought desperately and was wounded. It was said: Messenger of Allah, the person whom you at first called as the denizen of Fire fought desperately and died. Upon this the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked: He was doomed to the Fire (of Hell). Some men were on the verge of doubt (about his fate) when it was said that he was not dead but fatally wounded. When it was night he could not stand the (pain of his) wound and killed himself. The Apostle (may peace be upon him) was informed of that. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Allah is Great, I bear testimony to the fact that I am the servant of Allah and His messenger. He then commanded Bilal to announce to the people that none but a Muslim would enter Paradise. Verily Allah helps this faith even by a sinful person.

Book 1, Number 0206:

It is reported on the authority of Sahl b. Sa'd al-Sa'idi that there was an encounter between the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and the polytheists, and they fought (against one another). At the conclusion of the battle the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) bent his steps towards his army and they (the enemies) bent their steps towards their army. And there was a person (his name was Quzman and he was one of the hypocrites) among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) who did not spare a detached (fighter of the enemy) but pursued and killed him with the sword. They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) said: None served us better today than this man Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked: Verily he is one of the denizens of Fire. One of the people (Muslims) said: I will constantly shadow him. Then this man went out along with him. He halted whenever he halted, and ran along with him whenever he ran. He (the narrator) said: The man was seriously injured. He (could not stand the pain) and hastened his own death. He placed the blade of the sword on the ground with the tip between his chest and then pressed himself against the sword and killed himself. Then the man (following him) went to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: I bear testimony that verily thou art the Messenger of Allah, He (the Holy Prophet) said: What is the matter? He replied: The person about whom you just mentioned that he was one among the denizens of Fire and the people were surprised (at this) and I said to them that I would bring (the news about him) and consequently I went out in search of him till I (found him ) to be very seriously injured. He hastened his death. He placed the blade of the sword upon the ground and its tip between his chest and then pressed himself against that and killed himself. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked: A person performs the deeds which to the people appear to be the deeds befitting the dweller of Paradise, but he is in fact one of the denizens of Hell. And verily a person does an act which in the eyes of public is one which is done by the denizens of Hell, but the person is one among the dwellers of Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0207:

It is reported on the authority of Hasan: A person belonging to the people of the past suffered from a boil, when it pained him, he drew out an arrow from the quiver and pierced it. And the bleeding did not stop till he died. Your Lord said: I forbade his entrance into Paradise. Then he (Hasan) stretched his hand towards the mosque and said: By God, Jundab transmitted this hadith to me from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) in this very mosque.

Book 1, Number 0208:

It is reported on the authority of Hasan: Jundab b. 'Abdullah al-Bajali narrated this hadith in this mosque which we can neither forget and at the same time we have no apprehension that Jundab could attribute a lie to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He (the Holy Prophet) observed: A person belonging to the people of the past suffered from a boil, and then the rest of the hadith was narrated.

Chapter 49 : STRICT FORBIDDANCE OF ACTING DISHONESTLY IN RESPECT OF THE SPOILS OR BOOTY. THE BELIEVERS ALONE WOULD ENTER PARADISE
Book 1, Number 0209:

It is narrated on the authority of 'Umar b. Khattab that when it was the day of Khaibar a party of Companions of the Apostle (may peace be upon him) came there and said: So and so is a martyr, till they happened to pass by a man and said: So and so is a martyr. Upon this the Messenger of Allah remarked: Nay, not so verily I have seen him in the Fire for the garment or cloak that he had stolen from the booty, Then the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Umar son of Khattab, go and announce to the people that none but the believers shall enter Paradise. He ('Umar b. Khattab) narrated: I went out and proclaimed: Verily none but the believers would enter Paradise.

Book 1, Number 0210:

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira: We went to Khaibar along with the Apostle (may peace be upon him) and Allah granted us victory. We plundered neither gold nor silver but laid our hands on goods, corn and clothes, and then bent our stops to a valley; along with the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) there was a slave who was presented to him by one Rifa'a b. Zaid of the family of Judham, a tribe of Dubayb. When we got down into the valley the slave of the Messenger of Allah stood up and began to unpack the saddle-bag and was suddenly struck by a (stray) arrow which proved fatal. We said: There is a greeting for him, Messenger of Allah, as he is a martyr. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) remarked: Nay, not so. By Him in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad, the small garment which he stole from the booty on the day of Khaibar but which did not (legitimately) fall to his lot is burning like the Fire (of Hell) on him. The people were greatly perturbed (on hearing this). A person came there with a lace or two laces and said: Messenger of Allah, I found (them) on the day of Khaibar. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: This is a lace of fire or two laces of fire.

Chapter 50 : ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF THE FACT THAT HE WHO KILLS HIMSELF DOES NOT BECOME UNBELIEVER
Book 1, Number 0211:

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that Tufail son of Amr al-Dausi came to the Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Do you need strong, fortified protection? The tribe of Daus had a fort in the pre-Islamic days. The Apostle (may peace be upon him) declined this offer, since it (the privilege of protecting the Holy Prophet) had already been reserved for the Ansar. When the Apostle(may peace be upon him) migrated to Medina, Tufail son of Amr also migrated to that place, and there also migrated along with him a man of his tribe. But the climate of Medina did not suit him, and he fell sick. He felt very uneasy. So he took hold of an iron head of an arrow and cut his finger-joints. The blood streamed forth from his hands, till he died. Tufail son of Amr saw him in a dream. His state was good and he saw him with his hands wrapped. He (Tufail) said to him: What treatment did your Allah accord to you? He replied. Allah granted me pardon for my migration to the Apostle(may peace be upon him): He (Tufail) again said: What is this that I see you wrapping up your hands? He replied: I was told (by Allah): We would not set right anything of yours which you damaged yourself. Tufail narrated this (dream) to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). Upon this he prayed: O Allah I grant pardon even to his hands.

--Continued on next page. Click here--

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SAHIH MUSLIM, BOOK 1: The Book of Faith (KITAB AL-IMAN) (part I)

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Reason and Rationality in the Quran

In this long and well written article, Dr Ibrahim Kalin, based on his thorough study of the history of philosophy, analyzes the categories of reason and rationality within the Islamic intellectual context as it was shaped by the foundational theory underlying the Qur'an and as developed by the Islamic theological and intellectual tradition. Dr Kalin argues that far from being a self-standing entity, reason functions within a larger context of meaning and existence, intelligibility, and moral thinking. He shows clearly how the Quranic perspective of rationality moves us beyond the internal workings of a single, disengaged mind and places us with a larger context of ontological significance.
Note of the editor
This article by Dr Ibrahim Kalin was presented during the second seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Baptism site, hosted by the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan in November 21-23, 2011. The Forum is one of the fruits of the 'A Common Word' initiative, which was launched in 2007 and which seeks to promote Muslim-Christian dialogue (see https://ACommonWord.com). The article was first published as a booklet in MABDA N° 12, English Monograph Series -ISBN: 978-9957-428-48-8. © 2012 The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan. We thank Dr Kalin for having permitted republishing on our web portal.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Modern Context: The Enlightenment Reason
3. Ratio and Intellectus
4. The Ontological Ground of Qur'anic Rationality
5. Reason and Thinking in Context
6. The Vocabulary of Thinking in the Qur'an
7. Reason, Heart and the Human Conscience
8. Reason, Existence and the Universe
9. Rationality and Morality
10. Rationality as Coherence
11. Conclusion: Is Return to Reason Still Possible?

* * *

This paper is based on a simple argument: far from being a self-standing entity, reason functions within a larger context of existence, intelligibility and moral thinking. It articulates as much as discloses the reality of things. Rationality arises within a context of meaning and significance that goes beyond the internal workings of the individual human mind. As a situated and engaged reality, reason by itself is neither a principle nor ground of knowledge, truth or rationality because our epistemic encounter with the world takes place in a wider context of ontological relations and significance. Furthermore, the conceptual and linguistic affiliates of the word 'aql, which make up a long list of interrelated epistemic terms, present a matrix of thinking wider than calculative and discursive rationality can account for. The Qur'an treats reason and rationality in such a wider context of thinking.

Any notion of rationality that can properly be called 'Islamic' operates in the context of what I call the metaphysics of creation, which states that the world has been created by an intelligent God for a purpose. It begins with the premise that the world has a beginning and end and that "all shall perish except His [God's] Face" (al-Qasas 28:88). The beginning ( al-mabda') and the end or "return" to God ( al-ma'ad) lays out a scope and horizon for our rational deliberations and moral choices. Like the universe, human beings have been created for a purpose whose fulfillment is not possible within the confines of a subjectivist ontology of human reason. The work of reason takes place against the backdrop of an ontology of rationality that links human beings to other human beings on the one hand, and to God and the universe on the other.

Figure 1: Dr. Ibrahim Kalin (the third from the right) during the World Muslim-Catholic Forum held in the Vatican in March 2008. ( Source).

As God's intelligent work, the world of creation reflects His creative power. Given that God creates optimally and always for a purpose, the universe has an order and intelligibility built into it. Truth, when properly accessed, is the 'disclosure' of this intrinsic order and intelligibility, which God as the Creator has bestowed upon existence. When reason investigates natural phenomena and the universe, it seeks out this order and intelligibility in them because without order, structure and intelligibility we cannot know anything. To name something, without which we cannot perceive the world, means giving it a proper place and signification in the order of things. A non-subjectivist ontology of reason, which the Qur'an advocates, construes rationality as disclosing the principles of intelligibility derived from the intrinsic qualities of the order of existence. 'Rationality as intelligibility' is thus markedly different from the current notions of instrumental rationality, which reduces the function of reason, the most fundamental trait of being human, to making logical use of available means to reach our stated ends [1].

Rationality is then a function of existence and thinking and takes place in a communicative and intersubjective context. To say that something is intelligible means that it has a certain order and structure by which we can understand it. It also means that since it is intelligible, it can be communicated to others through language and rational arguments. This intersubjective context of rationality, which the Qur'an emphasizes on various occasions, places reason and rationality above the solitary work of a solipsistic and disengaged mind. Just as we humans are part of a larger reality, our thinking functions within a larger context of intelligibility. Using the plural form, the Qur'an explains its verses to a "tribe, nation or community (qawm) who thinks" and chastises "those who do not use their reason" (see for instance, al-Baqara 2:164; al-Ma'idah 5:58; al-Ra'd 13:4; al-Nahl 16:12). From disclosing the intrinsic intelligibility of things to intercultural relations, rationality emerges in a network of relations and connections that go beyond the internal procedures of the human mind.

Subsuming reason within a larger context of existence goes against the main thrust of modern rationalism. Ever since the European Enlightenment adapted its 'baptism of reason' against the alleged irrationality of the Middle Ages, reason has declared its independence and developed a view of itself as the ultimate arche and ens realissimum of reality. In an age in which rationality is measured by quantifiable properties and computerized decisions, the ontological foundations of reason have radically changed, and highly idealized and eventually inhuman forms of rationality have been identified as the basis of human intelligence. In contrast to the notion of rationality as computerization, however, our most unique human quality called reason, the very quality that distinguishes us from the rest of creation and clearly privileges us over them (al-Isra' 17:70), functions essentially and primarily in a qualitative and axiological context. Charges of 'irrationality' and dogmatism have been launched against Islam in part because the concept of rationality as developed in the Islamic intellectual tradition contravenes the main thrust of modern and postmodern notions of rationality that have arisen in the West since the 17th and 18th centuries.

Motivated by religious zeal, most medieval Christians considered Islam to be against reason and saw it as grounded in blind faith, ignorance, violence and worldly pleasures. The Muslim faith attracted many followers, it was argued, not because it offered convincing arguments but because it appealed to their flesh, the lowest part of the human being.

Furthermore, Islam endorsed violence on non-Muslims to convert them because it could not have produced rational arguments to convince the non-believer. Use of violence and declaration of Jihad against non-Muslims showed how irrational Islam was and how Islamic faith went against the nature of things. Not surprisingly, charges of unreason and violence have survived to the modern period. Today, radically anti-Islamic and Islamophobic voices cite similar arguments to depict Islam and Muslims as irrational and violent. History, though, has its own acts of balancing. Some medieval critics of Christianity such as Peter Bayle and Henry Stubbe defended Islam as a faith closer to reason than the Catholic Church. They praised the simplicity of Islamic faith against the complexities of Christian theology and rituals and admired the advanced state of Islamic civilization. While people like Roger Bacon claimed that the Muslim philosophers Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina had produced their philosophical edifice despite Islam, not because of it, and pretended to be Muslims outwardly to avoid the persecution of an intolerant religion, the anti-Catholic thinkers of the Middle Aes believed that Islam tolerated rational thinking and scientific inquiry more than others [2].

The secular critics consider Islam as essentially incompatible with the secular-humanist ethos of modernity and thus in conflict with the supposedly rational-scientific basis of modern culture. They also point to the discrepancies between traditional religions and the modern concepts of human rights, equality and freedom. The Enlightenment reason claims autonomy and self-sufficiency and rejects any outside authority such as history, tradition or religion. It does not reject religion in toto but subjects it to the scrutiny of the individual human reason. It draws boundaries for religious belief and denies any role or authority to religion outside them.

Like the medieval critics, the secular critics of Islam link unreason and violence and allege that "Islamic terrorism" is a result of the irrational nature of the Islamic faith. The radical Orientalists add other things to the list: the oppression of women, violation of minority rights, freedom of press, even poverty, corruption, etc. are all somehow related to the Islamic tradition which did not allow free thinking and oppressed free inquiry, dissent and pluralism. Needless to say, this is a caricature of the Iislamic tradition and based on political considerations rather than a sound analysis of historical facts. Much of the current debate about Islam, reason, rationality and science in popular circles in the West is shaped by such simplistic yet powerful views.
2. The Modern Context: The Enlightenment Reason
Modernity via the Enlightenment has claimed superiority over other traditions and non-Western cultures because of its claim to ground things in reason and thus create a primarily, if not purely, rational order. In contrast to the supposedly fideistic claims of Christianity, the enlightenment philosophes sought to justify everything on the basis of what Descartes called "clear and distinct ideas". The question to which Kant responded with his famous essay in 1784 summed up the relevance of reason and rationality for how we were to live in the post-Medieval world: do we live in an enlightened age? Kant believed his generation lived in an "age of enlightenment" rather than in an "enlightened age". The subtle difference between the two is not to be taken lightly. An enlightened age is one in which the defining elements of culture, society and politics follow the principle of reason. This is presumably a mature state of humanism and rationality, a world in which reason has defeated the forces of anti-reason. By contrast, an age of enlightenment is one in which the battle for the soul of humanity continues and the forces of reason fight ignorance and darkness. It refers to a process of gradual maturity and rationality, a goal towards which humanity as a whole moves. Since the reign of reason has begun, the end of history is within our reach - an end that is certain to come when the light of reason dawns upon all humanity including non-Europeans.

Figure 2: Front cover of Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mulla Sadra on Existence, Intellect, and Intuition by Ibrahim Kalin (Oxford University Press, USA, 2010).

Kant defined enlightenment as "man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another". Man's immaturity has created much of the oppression and ignorance that has shaped human history. Kant characterizes the essence of the Enlightenment as the "courage to think" for oneself freely. "Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own reason! That's the motto of enlightenment" [3].

From academic circles to populist politics, the debate about the Enlightenment reason has now become a debate about the alleged lack of rationality and humanity in Islam. In his preface to his brilliant History of the Enlightenment, Louis Dupre, "stunned by the attacks on September 11, 2001", wondered "if there was any purpose in writing about the Enlightenment at a time that so brutally seemed to announce the end of its values and ideals". Dupre does not mean to declare Islamic culture "unenlightened". But he notes that "Islam never had to go through a prolonged period of critically examining the validity of its spiritual vision, as the West did during the eighteenth century" [4]. Dupre does not explain why Islam needs to revisit the "validity of its spiritual vision" but he clearly echoes an increasingly common view about the so-called "Islamic reformation". There have been other more alarming voices calling for an 'Islamic enlightenment' to save Muslims from backwardness and the world from an irrational and dangerous religion.

It is a common mistake to assume that reason has been the exclusive property of the Enlightenment thinking since the 18th century. Traditional societies have accorded reason an important place in theology, law, politics, ethics, art and other areas of human life. The Islamic intellectual tradition, for instance, has produced an immense literature on reason, rationality, logic, thinking, contemplation, scientific inquiry, and so on. From Sunni and Shiite theology to Peripatetic philosophy and Sufism, the classical works are filled with chapters on the nobility of reason, virtues of knowledge and the spiritual blessings of using one's reason properly. The notions of reason and rationality that have developed in this tradition, however, are radically different from their modern counterparts. Traditional societies have seen reason as part of a larger reality and placed them within the wider context of existence and meaning. In order to function properly, reason has to accept its place within an order of things that is larger than the knowing subject. As I shall discuss below, the Qur'an considers human reason as part of a larger reality whose meaning cannot be encapsulated and disclosed by logical analysis, conceptual abstraction or rational discourse alone. The timeless wisdom is that reality is always more than our epistemic constructions of it.

As a mark of modernity, reason has been constructed as a self-regulating principle and the arbiter of truth from the mathematical and physical sciences to social and political orders. One modern tribute to it reads as follows: "The virtue of Rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge, one's only judge of values and one's only guide to action" [5]. But in reality, this rarefied view of reason, so passionately defended by academic philosophers, positivists and the self-proclaimed Enlightenment rationalists, has never worked as expected. Nor has it delivered what it promised, i.e., free individuals, rational society, universal equality, scientific culture, reason-bound politics or economic justice. This in itself calls for a deep reflection about the reasonableness of the Enlightenment project of pure reason. At any rate, elements of 'anti-reason' seem to have crept into the new world order promised by the Enlightenment, and the modern capitalist society with its evasive impersonalism, crude individualism and structural violence, is a far cry from a rational social order.

Ever since the triumph of scientism in the late 19th and early 20th century, reason as logic and rational inquiry has been hailed as a trait of modernity not because we want to grasp the reality of things in the Greek sense of the term but because a purely rational order is believed to enable us to have full control over the world. The instrumental rationality that defines our value schemes, educational systems, political orders and daily lives provides handy justification for control, predictability and dominion and gives a largely false sense of security, satisfaction and fulfillment [6]. It asserts that things are important because they have a use-value for us. The 'rational' is the 'useful'. Things have no longer intrinsic intelligibility or 'rationality'; they have only use-value which we are free to use in any way we want.

Reason in the modern period has oscillated between the two extremes of logical positivism and radical historicism. The former view, represented by the Vienna Circle and its followers, has construed reason as an absolute and timeless principle unaffected by history, custom or such human frailties as emotion and desire. Rationality simply means proving that our concepts correspond to facts. It means drawing conclusions which fit the facts at hand. In this sense, rationality is essentially 'logical consistency' and finds its purest expression in formal logic and scientific method [7]. No other criteria count as a basis for rationality, and the value of everything from religion to art and education must be judged according to the logical and scientific dictates of this a-historic reason. Thus the values by which we are to live must be derived from the facts of nature which we must investigate through rational inquiry and logical analysis. All else is to be rejected as metaphysical nonsense. Reduced to a function of reasoning as formal logic, existence, too, is reduced to a logical term with no meaning and force outside logical-linguistic constructions [8].

The second view, represented by the waves of postmodernism and constructivism since the 1960s, deconstructed reason to the point of turning it into a by-product of social-historical processes. Like all other human traits and enterprises, reason is a historically constructed notion whose meaning and function varies from one social setting to another. Rationality means applying the human capacity for thinking to different problem-solving situations. It has meaning only in the context of specific issues, problems or research questions. Depending on the different types of human needs, rationality takes on new meanings and new functions. The defenders of this bounded view of reason insist that this is not to belittle the significance of reason or propose an irrational way of doing things. Rather, it is to admit the limitations of human reason. In this sense, rationality does not necessarily mean drawing conclusions that fit the facts. There are cases where the "anything goes" principle is more useful and functional than some abstract and mathematical notion of reason [9].

The concept of reason has had a different trajectory in the Islamic tradition and avoided the extremes of positivist absolutism and radical relativism. The reason that emerged within the islamic Weltanschauung proposed a different mode of thinking about existence, the universe, the human state and God. It was seen as part of a larger reality rather than a self-regulating principle and self-standing tool. As I shall discuss below, it is this integrated and wholesale view of reality that underlies the Quranic mode of thinking about reason and rationality.
3. Ratio and Intellectus
Before moving further, a word of clarification is in order for the reason-intellect bifurcation that has come about as a result of a major philosophical transformation in the history of Western metaphysics. I shall not venture into this history as it requires a detailed treatment. It should be briefly pointed out, however, that ratio and intellectus came to designate two separate ways of looking at reality in the late Middle Ages and ever since then the two terms have taken different paths. Ratio has been used for logical analysis, abstraction, deduction, drawing conclusions, and other logical functions of reason. In this broad sense, ratio primarily constituted the basis of scientific knowledge and claimed precision and certainty. By contrast, intellectus came to designate intuitive and sapiential knowledge, which was now fully decoupled from rational investigation and logical analysis. By implication, it was seen as lacking a solid foundation like ratio because it spoke of such subjective terms as intuition, imagination, illumination but not proofs, evidence, and demonstration.

Figure 3: The Arabic version of Dr Kalin's booklet Reason and Rationality in the Qur'an published in English, French and Arabic (Amman, 2012).

Had it not been for the later fallout between rationalist naturalism and mystical thought in the Western tradition, this may have been nothing more than a heuristic distinction. As a matter of fact, the Thomistic tradition maintained a relationship of complementarity between ratio and intellectus and held that they were not opposed to one another but addressed to different aspects of the same reality [10]. But as later history shows, the two terms were employed to represent two substantially different ways of understanding the world and making moral judgments. Ratio became the main instrument of natural sciences, which by now had divested nature of all of its intrinsic intelligibility and symbolic significance, and developed a separate modus operandi. The further estrangement of ratio from intellectus meant that 'rational analysis' was no longer to unveil the built-in intelligibility of things, their symbolic significance, or their spiritual value.

Rationality created a new domain of truth for itself and bade farewell to our holistic experience of reality. Rationalism, coupled with naturalism and positivism, sought to reduce reality to the analytical competencies of the human mind and identified quantitative-calculative thinking as the only reliable way of knowing the reality of things. Even though contemporary Christian theologians have insisted that both ratio and intellectus together make up a proper process of knowing, the bifurcation of discursive and intuitive modes of thinking has played a key role in the secularization of the modern world-picture and the profanization of nature. Such a distinction has never occurred in the Islamic tradition. The word 'aql means both reason and intellect in the two senses discussed above. 'Aql is innately capable of performing the two functions of logical analysis and intuitive knowing without a contradiction. Furthermore, it is the same 'aql that guides our will in our moral choices. It is true that in the later Islamic intellectual tradition, the philosophers have introduced a general distinction between "rational investigation" (bahth) and "taste" (dhawq), i.e., realized knowledge. The two modes of thinking, however, complement each other and help us uncover the multilayered structure of reality, which, after all, demands a multidimensional yet integrated approach. In the words of Mulla Sadra who epitomizes this tradition, "true demonstration does not contradict witnessing based on unveiling (al-shuhud al-kashfi)" [11].

When Muslims state, largely under the pressure of modern rationalism and out of inferiority complex against the West, that "Islam is the religion of reason/intellect", what they mean is not that the Islamic faith, or any faith for that matter, can be reduced to human reason. Such a claim would turn faith into an empirical statement or logical proposition. Faith, by definition, must have a dimension that goes beyond reason; otherwise there would be no need for Divine revelation and the Prophets. What is beyond reason, however, does not mean anti-reason; it means supra-rational, that which transcends the cognitive competencies of the human reason. Supra-rational is not irrational because reason can admit what lies beyond its capacities. Such an admission is not illogical because it states not ignorance, agnosticism or blind faith but a self-reflective acknowledgment of limits. Reason cannot think without certain rules and principles. Freedom is not the abolishment of all limits and rules but the exercise of reason in conjunction with virtue [12].

What is unique and even astounding about human reason is that it can set its own limits to what it can and cannot know. The self-delimitation of reason is a rational act and points to the larger context of existence and intelligibility within which it functions. This is what al-Ghazali attempted with his critique of Peripatetic philosophy whereby he critically tried to draw the limits of speculative reason in the field of pure metaphysics which he believed belonged to the "invisible world" ('alam al-ghayb). Committing himself to a similar task but working with different premises, Kant, too, sought to lay out the limits of reason in his Critique of Pure Reason: "Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is not able to answer" [13].
4. The Ontological Ground of Qur'anic Rationality
Long before the Greek philosophical texts were translated into Arabic, Muslims had an encounter with the concept of reason/intellect as outlined in the Qur'an and the Hadith. In sharp contrast to the period of the Jahiliyyah, "ignorance", Islam represented the era of faith, knowledge, reason, justice and freedom all at once. Entering Islam meant leaving the mental and social habits of the age of ignorance, polytheism, injustice and immorality. It meant establishing a new socio-political order based on reason, justice, equality and virtue. It also required a new ontology of reason to overcome polytheistic logic and moral cynicism. And this was possible only by introducing a new Weltanschauung and a new mode of thinking.

In order to understand the place of reason and rationality in the Qur'an and the later Islamic intellectual tradition, we thus need to explore the new ontological ground of reason and the mode of thinking which the Qur'an introduced and did so through stories, implorations, deductions, syllogisms, commands, warnings, praises, and promises of reward and punishment. The rich repertoire of logical deductions and moral exhortations which we find in the Qur'an and the Hadith purport to awaken our conscience so that we can begin to use our sensate and rational faculties in a manner that befits our state of existence. The Qur'an says: "And indeed We have put forth for men in this Quran every kind of similitude in order that they may remember" (al-Zumar 39:27). The mathal, translated here as similitude, refers to metaphors and parables by which a fundamental message is conveyed - a message which may otherwise remain inaccessible to the human mind. But since no parable is devoid of cognitive content, this is an appeal both to reason and imagination so that we may "remember" what is essential.

The path of thinking which we find in the Qur'an is not comprised of assembling of facts; nor is it a pietistic enumeration of commands and prohibitions. Rather, it is a whole-some undertaking that requires setting upon an intellectual, moral and spiritual journey. It encompasses all of our being and overcomes such dualities as the sensate versus the rational, the material versus the spiritual, the individual versus the universe, nature versus culture, and so on. The integrated mode of thinking which the Qur'an embodies in its unique style reflects the nature of reality, which is interdependent and multilayered. It urges us to see the interconnectedness of things and how one thing leads to the other in the great chain of being.

The Qur'anic mode of thinking is then primarily not descriptive but prescriptive. The Qur'an does not simply describe things as facts or information; its suggestive stories, striking metaphors and vivid descriptions of God's creation and interventions in history are meant to change the way we see things and our place in the world. it seeks to transform the human conscience so that we can live a life based on justified faith and virtue [14]. Once this conscience is awoken and brought up to reckon with the reality of things, everything falls in place: our reason, thinking, sense organs, seeing, hearing, perceiving and moral judgments begin to come together. Reason and rationality arise within this larger context of integrated thinking and moral discernment. Far from being a principle and ground of truth by itself, reason functions within the larger context of our being in the world and the human responses we give to reality.

Owing its existence to something larger than what is purely human, reason cannot know God in the sense of 'encapsulating' Him because as a finite being, it cannot encircle that which is infinite. God cannot be known empirically because empirical knowledge entails limit, position, relation, relativity, etc., none of which applies to God. God can be known through reason/intelligence to the extent to which the Absolute and the infinite can be intuited, grasped and represented through formal propositions, concepts, and metaphors. To expect reason to do more than that would be to transgress its own limits. If reason, like other components of reality, is part of the order of existence and not the whole of it, then it can never fully encapsulate the whole of reality. But this in no way diminishes or undermines its significance. By contrast, God is the absolute reality that encapsulates everything. He is al-Muhit, the One who encompasses everything. Thus the Qur'an says that "Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted" (al-An'am 6:103).

Like love, charity, wisdom, spirituality and art, rationality is a fundamental human response to the call of reality. It enables us to disclose the intelligible structure of the order of existence. It invites us to overcome our corporeal existence and connect with the world of nature in primarily rational and moral terms. It urges us to establish a socio-political order based on virtue, justice and freedom. The Qur'an presents a view of the human person according to which our humanity is formed by 'rationality' ('aql, nutq) and those other traits that are equally central to our task to give a meaningful response to reality. In an ontological sense, this means recognizing the reality of things as they are and see them as a "trust" (amanah) from God. The human response to the Divine call of protecting His trust is to become His "vicegerent" (khalifah) on earth and thus submit to God, which is the literal meaning of Islam. In the formal religious language, this submission is called 'ibadah, worship, the supreme human act that transcends the limitations of human existence and binds us to the Absolute and the Infinite.

In this regard, the Qur'anic mode of thinking is not empirical or rationalist, historical or systematic, apodictic or pedagogical, analytical or descriptive. It is none of them and all of them at once. It combines conceptual analysis with moral judgment, empirical observation with spiritual guidance, historical narrative with eschatological expectation, and abstraction with imperative command. The Qur'an is primarily a "guidance" (hidayah) for mankind (al-Baqarah 2:2) and seeks to lead us from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light, from injustice and oppression to freedom. The Qur'anic rationality thus extends from the empirical and conceptual to the moral and the spiritual. Being rational means rejecting oppression and injustice and embracing the Divine call for justice. The Prophet of Islam has defined 'intelligent person' (al-kayyis) as one who "controls his ego and prepares for the afterlife" (Tirmidhi, al-Qiyamah, 25). In Islamic law and theology, a person must be 'sane' or 'intelligent' ('aqil) in order to be responsible for his/her actions because there is no religious responsibility (taklif) without having sanity or reason ('aql).

In the Islamic tradition, this forms the basis of the moral ontology of reason and rationality and establishes a strong connection between intelligence, rationality, faith and virtue. According to Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 857), reason is "a disposition that is known through its deeds" [15]. It acts as a principle of moral action and seeks to bring us closer to the Divine. If a person is really intelligent, reasons al-Muhasibi, he will seek to secure his salvation in this world and in the hereafter, for which he must use his reason properly. By basing his analysis on the "nobility of reason", which is the title of his work, al-Muhasibi wants to show the unique character of human reason for establishing a justified faith and a virtuous life. A proper use of reason, illuminated by faith, leads to rational thinking and moral behavior. By the same token, faith articulated and corroborated by reason has depth and certainty. The 14th century philosopher Haydar Amuli sees perfect harmony between faith and reason and compares religion (al-shar') and reason to the body and the spirit. Just as the spirit cannot function without the body, the body cannot find meaning, life and wholeness without the spirit. Thus "neither religion dispenses with reason nor reason with religion. Raghib al-Isfahani, quoted by Amuli, states in strikingly unambiguous terms that "reason can never find the right path without religion and religion can never have clarity without reason" [16]. Logic and transcendence thus work together to reveal the nature of things and realize our humanity. But this can happen only when we see human reason working in a larger context of thinking and contemplation.
5. Reason and Thinking in Context
The verb 'a-q-l, to intellect or to use one's reason, literally means to hold, to protect and to guard. Reason is that by which we protect ourselves from falsehood, error and evil-doing. Thus ma'qal means 'fortress'. This is the same meaning conveyed in the english phrase "intelligent person". This basic meaning of reason is not to be taken lightly, for it underlies the essential component of thinking and contemplation as the proper human response to the call of reality. In contrast to attempts to reduce reason and rationality to logical competency and procedural ratiocination, reason as a principle of truth and as an instrument of knowledge represents an encounter with the reality of things.

Thinking is not simply to enumerate the physical properties of things or the logical relations of concepts. It is more than a mere mental representation of things because, as Muslim philosophers insist, mental abstraction gives us only a picture of reality. Like all mental abstractions, this picture is frozen and can never fully measure up to the reality itself.

Abstract concepts are essential for rational thinking and the formation of ideas. Thinking, however, requires more than abstraction and use of concepts. It takes place in a context of encounter with reality and puts us in a relationship with something larger than us. It means seeing, observing, listening, hearing, reflecting, contemplating, and drawing the appropriate practical and moral conclusions. It means responding to what we encounter. It involves rational analysis but also moral commitment. In its deepest sense, thinking prevents us from seeing things as a means to an end. it challenges instrumental rationality on both ontological and spiritual grounds. As I shall discuss shortly, if the world has been created by God, then it cannot be reduced to utility. It has a substantive meaning and value independent of us.

In principle, there is nothing essentially wrong with the idea that we attain a degree of rationality by following rules and procedures. Following a rule can certainly counts as rational act and comes handy in our daily lives, scientific explorations, economic decisions, political lives, etc. But while it has its uses, instrumental rationality moves at the surface of human subjectivity and does not necessarily relate us to reality. Following a rule is no guarantee for a rational outcome. We may follow a procedure and arrive at certain conclusions. The outcome, though, can be the most irrational thing and even a catastrophe. Like many autocracies, the Nazis, for instance, had a rule-bound, procedurally 'rational' governance of Germany. But their instrumentalist approach to religion, history, science and politics destroyed the very meaning of being human. The content and substance of what we do must also have a rational basis.

The Qur'an subscribes to a substantive view of rationality by asserting that not only our instruments and procedures but also our fundamental notions and concepts should be properly rational and conform to the reality of things. The substantive view of rationality follows from the intrinsic intelligibility of existence as God's creation. Every rational act on our part is an act of conforming to the principle of reason built into the nature of things. Whatever violates this principle lands us in the realm of the irrational.

Substantive rationality is also supported by the anthropology of reason itself. Most Muslim thinkers hold that reason responds to empirical data and abstract notions through its own innate qualities. Far from being a hypothetical tabula rasa, reason reflects the fundamental traits of existence of which it is a part. Raghib al-Isfahani divides reason into two: 'aql matbu', "innate reason", and 'aql masmu', "acquired reason". Masmu' literally means that which is heard, referring to things learnt by hearing from others. It roughly corresponds to experience and refers to the context of human relations. Innate reason refers to our in-born ability to grasp the intelligible order and truth of things. It is through innate reason that we inhabit an intelligible world. Acquired reason is what we learn by 'hearing' from others and refers to the context of social relations and linguistic forms with which we name things.

The two are intertwined but 'innate reason' takes precedence over 'acquired reason'. Isfahani, who attributes this division to imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, says that just as the light of the sun has no use when the eye is blinded, acquired reason can do no good when innate reason is corrupted [17]. Reason then works two-ways: in its innate form, it works from inside and out. It encounters and witnesses the visible world through its inborn qualities. This is part of fitrah, the fundamental human nature, which is our window to the world of existence and thus must be protected in order to 'see' right [18]. In its acquired form, reason moves from outside to inside and takes in bits and pieces of empirical data and impressions from the outside world. It is the combination of the two, the inner and the outer, that gives us a fuller picture of the function of reason vis-à-vis reality. This fundamental function of reason, however, always takes place within a larger context of ontological significance and epistemic competency [19].

The most fundamental function of reason/intellect is to act as a mirror to reflect the intrinsic meaning and order of things. in performing this task, the intellect has a special relationship with the Divine because it emanates from the Divine nature. What the intellect discovers as order, necessity and intelligibility in the universe is a reflection of God's own Nature and Will. Mulla Sadra provides a vivid description of this aspect of the intellect:

The intellect, since there is no veil between it and the the First Truth [God], can witness by itself the essence of the Truth [God] ... there is no veiling between the two ... [God] can certainly manifest itself to the intellect and the manifestation here takes place through the lucid [unveiling] of [God's] essence. There is no aspect or quality added to the Divine and another being added to [the intellect]. The essence of the intellect is like a polished mirror on which the form of the Truth shines. on the mirror itself, there is no existential entity except the reflected form, and the reflected form is nothing but the form related to the Truth. Therefore in the essence of the intellect there is nothing other than the form of the Truth and its theophany. There are no two things here: the existence of the intellect and the manifestation of the Truth upon it because one being cannot have to existences. By the same token, two [distinct] forms cannot emanate from God in one single manner. Because of this, the sages ('urafa') have said that God does not manifest [Himself ] twice in the same form. Thus it is known that the existence of the intellect is nothing but a manifestation of God the exalted through His Form on the intellect; and the form of God's essence is itself his own essence, not something added to Him [20].
6. The Vocabulary of Thinking in the Qur'an
The Qur'an uses a number of terms that are closely related to reason/intellect and thinking. Tafakkur, "thinking", qalb, "heart", fu'ad, "inner heart", and lubb, literally "seed" meaning "essential heart", are among these terms and each corresponds to a different aspect of the act of perceiving, thinking and reflecting. There are also other terms which fall within the same semantic field of 'aql: 'ilm, "knowledge"; fahm, "understanding"; fiqh, "perceiving/understanding"; idrak, "grasping"; shu'ur, "consciousness"; burhan, "demonstration"; hujjah, "evidence"; bayyinah, "clear evidence"; sultan, "over-whelming evidence", furqan, "discernment"; tadabbur, "contemplation"; nutq, "talking/ thinking"; hukm, "judgment"; hikmah, "wisdom"; and dhikr, "remembrance/ invocation".

The Qur'anic usage of these terms, whose full exposition requires a separate study, establishes a context of integrated thinking in which our encounter with reality unveils different aspects of the all-inclusive reality of existence. More importantly, it leads to a mode of thinking that combines empirical observation, rational analysis, moral judgment and spiritual refinement.

This rich vocabulary points to the wholeness of perceiving and thinking. in contrast to categorical distinctions between sensate perception and conceptual analysis, our natural or 'first-order' encounter with things takes place as a unitary experience. in perceiving things, our sense organs and reason work together. The sharp distinctions between sensate qualities, which correspond to the physical-material world, and intellectual notions, which correspond to the world of the mind, are reflections of the Cartesian bifurcation between res extensa and res cogitans and hardly give us an accurate description of the actual act of perceiving and understanding. These categories belong to the 'second-order' reflection upon reality whereby we make distinctions between subject and object, the knower and the known, the perceiver and the perceived, mental and material, etc. Our first-order encounter with the world takes place in a different context.

The wholeness of our epistemic experience of things stems from the wholeness of existence. Knowing as encounter means that we stand before our object of knowledge. This puts us in a special relationship with the reality of things in that we respond to it through our epistemic faculties rather than create its meaning in a a self-referential way. This meaning of knowing through reason is reflected in one of the root meanings of the word 'aql, which is to tie, to link, to relate. Reason ties us to the truth and thus opens up a new horizon beyond the ordinary chain of causes. In a horizontal way, the human reason moves between and across facts and concepts and links them to one another. In a vertical way, it links what is below to what is higher. The Qur'an insists on the convergence of the two axes of causality: horizontal, which regulates the world of physical causes, and vertical, which introduces the 'Divine command' (amr) into the natural realm. There is no contradiction between the two but they follow different rules. The day and night follow each other as part of the natural order in which we live and there is no breaking of this rule. But also "when God wants something to happen, He says to it "be" and it is" (Yasin 36:82). Each realm of existence requires a different type of thinking.

The elaborate vocabulary of sensing, reasoning and thinking which the Qur'an employs is necessitated by the nature of reality itself. A multilayered and multidimensional reality cannot be perceived by a single cognitive method. It requires a larger toolset of conceptual abilities. At this point, the Qur'an speaks of 'alam al-ghayb, "the world of the invisible" and 'alam al-shahadah, "the world of the visible". The invisible world refers to that realm of existence known to God alone. God has given intimations of this world but no comprehensive knowledge of it has been made available.

While not accessible to the human experience, the invisible world guides our encounter with the world of visible existence and thus functions as a signpost for our conceptual analyses and moral judgments. In a metaphysical and moral sense, it regulates the affairs of the visible world in which we live. What is striking about the Qur'anic notion of the 'visible world' is that a proper perception of it is based on an experience of 'witnessing' (mushahadah), which is different from looking and seeing. Witnessing means standing before that which presents itself. It entails looking and seeing but also attending to. it is more like the experience of looking at a landscape and having a gestalt perception of it. In contemplating a landscape, we move between parts and whole and each time discover a new relationship.

In this sense, our encounter with the reality of things is a rational and conceptual process but takes place within a larger context of intelligibility and significance that goes beyond purely logical and discursive thinking. Concepts, which are not created in vacuum, correspond to different aspects of reality and emerge in our encounter with reality, which the Qur'an describes as " bearing witness to the truth". Thus we 'see' the light, 'touch' the wood, 'smell' the rose, 'taste' the cherry, 'perceive' the dimension, 'think of' the infinitude, 'have consciousness of' the nearness of the water, 'discern' between a thing and its shadow, 'understand' a command, 'respond' to a call, 'submit' to truth, 'accept' the evidence, 'contemplate' the meaning of life, and so on. Each of these epistemic acts says something about our mental and conceptual abilities with which we understand the world. But more importantly, they correspond to something outside us and expand the horizon of our subjectivity.
7. Reason, Heart and the Human Conscience
This is comparable to the unitary experience of reality like a moving landscape rather than a particular frame taken out of it for dissection. The Qur'an identifies the heart (al-qalb) as the proper locus of the unitary experience of reality. This is where perceptual experience, conceptual thinking and moral judgment blend together. Given the sentimentalization of the 'heart' since the Cartesian turn in Western philosophy, it should be noted that the Qur'an assigns a clearly epistemic and intellectual function to the heart. The verses that mention the heart refer to our deep conscience by which we see reality as a whole. It combines rational thinking and moral judgment. The heart, when clean and properly guided, presides over other epistemic faculties and enlightens them about the truth. Heart and reason function as a conduit for gaining insight into the reality of things and how we should relate ourselves to it. It is in this context that the Arabic linguists have identified 'aql and qalb as being synonymous [21].

The goal of thinking through 'aql and qalb is to disclose and inhabit the intelligible order from which particular beings in the universe derive their meaning. Muslim thinkers see no contradiction between reason and heart, rational thinking and contemplation, logic and transcendence. One of the major figures of the Kalam tradition, Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi begins his famous work al-Muqabasat with a prayer to God to grant him "through His Grace and Generosity the spirit of the heart through the light of the intellect (ruh al-qalb bi-nur al-'aql)" [22].

This is not surprising if we understand how our empirical and conceptual engagement with things works. Possessing sense organs is no guarantee for perceiving things properly because the senses are subsumed under a higher epistemic principle. After all, it is our reason that makes sense of what our sense organs perceive as a raw experience. We may have an eye with which to see but may see things in a distorted manner because of, say, a nervous breakdown [23].

We may have two ears but may fail to hear because we may deliberately chose not to hear certain things. We may have a sharp mind but may not arrive at the right conclusion in, say, a legal dispute because our desire to win the case may take over our judgment. Our sensate faculties thus function within a larger context of conceptual, emotional and moral conditions. The process of arriving at the truth of something entails a unitary experience and involves sensate, cognitive, psychological and moral principles and considerations. Al-Ghazali, following the tradition before him and basing his analysis on the Hadith, describes sense organs as "the soldiers of the heart" and says that "the heart is like the king and the soldiers are like its servants and aids" [24]. Even the physically sound functioning of the sense organs depends on the soundness and cleanliness of the heart.

The human person is endowed with reason and thus can have access to the reality of things. But his reason and judgment can be clouded by his ego and carnal desires. He may thus lose his ability for discernment and can delude himself into thinking that he knows and forgets the stubborn and commanding nature of the ego. Against this, the Qur'an warns:
Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be a guardian over him? {43} Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are only like cattle; nay, they are even farther astray from the Path. {44} (al-Furqan 25:43-44).
Animals serve the purpose for which they have been created. But those who have been created to worship God take their own ego as their master and worship themselves even though they have been given clear signs. This is where their 'hearing' and 'reasoning' comes to no avail [25]. The Qur'an goes further and challenges those who claim to see and hear when in fact their conscience has been blinded:
And among them are those who listen to you. But can you cause the deaf to hear, although they will not use reason? {42} And among them are those who look at you. But can you guide the blind although they will not [attempt to] see? {43} Indeed, God does not wrong the people at all, but it is the people who are wronging themselves. {44} (Yunus 10:42-44). And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless. {179} (al-A'raf 7:179).
This suggests that having sense organs is no guarantee to perceive the truth. Empirical knowledge by itself cannot reveal the truth of things. The heart and the sense organs, which are the "soldiers of the heart", must all be sound:
We made for them hearing and vision and hearts. But their hearing and vision and hearts availed them not from anything [of the punishment] when they were [continually] rejecting God's signs; and they were enveloped by what they used to ridicule." {26} (al-Ahqaf 46:26).
The failure of seeing, hearing, etc., does not stem from a biological imperfection but from the closure of the mind and the heart to the truth. According to Ibn Kathir, this is a result of the fact that one does not " benefit from these organs which God has created as a cause for guidance" [26]. In some respects, this is comparable to the vain effort to explain colors to the blind. The ontological disconnect that separates the visually blind from the experience of colors makes the discourse about colors impossible. But a greater illness is the illusion that we think we see things because we have eyes when in fact we do not see [27]. The Qur'an insists that 'seeing' as witnessing the truth requires a higher principle of intelligibility than bodily hearing and seeing:
Indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they have turned their backs retreating. {80} Nor can you lead the blind out of their error, you can only make to hear those who believe in Our proofs/signs, and those who have submitted [themselves to God]. {81} (al-Naml 27:80-81).
Having sound sensate organs is then not enough; they need to be guided by intelligence and wisdom. As Plato says in Phaedrus 250, "sight is the most piercing of our bodily senses; though not by that is wisdom seen". The heart must be uncorrupted and untainted in order to function properly. Quoting the Qur'an and the Prophet of Islam, al-Tirmidhi (d. 910) concludes, in an important work on the heart attributed to him, that the "soundness of sensate organs is possible through the soundness of heart; their corruption comes with the corruption of the heart" [28]. Thus al-sadr ("the chest"), al-qalb ("the heart), al-fu'ad ("the inner heart"), and al-lubb ("the innermost intellect"), which al-Tirmidhi analyzes with great perspicacity, do not function as separate organs but rather provide a cognitive and spiritual context for our experience of the truth. A famous saying of the Prophet of Islam sums up this view of the heart and its relation to other faculties and sense organs: "Verily, there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is good, the whole body is good and if it is corrupted the whole body is corrupted. It is the heart." As the proper locus of tasdiq, 'confirmation' or 'corroboration', the heart gathers together sensate and conceptual knowledge and provides a unitary experience of reality.

The Qur'an thus insists on the total soundness and integrity of our sensate, psychological and mental faculties in order for us to know, and advices us to "travel on earth". Travelling or journeying means to look at the entire landscape of existence and history in order to put things in perspective:
So have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts." {46} (al-Hajj 22:46)
Once the heart is blinded, all else is skewed and darkened. A similar danger is to act on zann, subjective opinion or conjecture, without sound evidence and firm foundation. Reason cannot accept conjecture as truth. Whether we conduct a scientific research or investigate the grounds of religious faith, we need more than conjecture on which to build our truth-claims. The same principle applies to human relations and moral attitude (see al-hujurat 49:12). Truth, not conjecture must be the basis of justification for faith:
Say, "Are there of your 'partners' any who guides to the truth?" Say, "God guides to the truth. So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed or he who guides not unless he is guided? Then what is [wrong] with you -how do you judge? {35} And most of them follow nothing but conjecture. Certainly, conjecture can be of no avail against the truth. Surely, God is All-Aware of what they do." {36} (Yunus 10:35-36; also al-An'am 6:116).
As the presiding principle of sensate and cognitive faculties, the heart provides 'evidence' (al-burhan) and gives 'certainty' (al-yaqin). But this is contingent upon keeping the heart functioning properly in conjunction with reason and the soul to ensure certainty, integrity and tranquility "in the kingdom of the corporeal body of the human person" (mamlakat al-badan al-insan) [29]. According to the spiritual anthropology of the Qur'an, one must constantly work on his heart, mind and conscience, and guard himself against falsehood. When a person persistently mistakes falsehood for truth and bases his judgment on pure conjecture and selfish desires, then he develops a certain habit of mind and loses his ability to distinguish between truth and error. When this happens, which is not rare given the enormous power of desires on reason, his heart becomes "sealed" and loses his conscience. Thus the phrase "God has sealed their hearts" should be understood not in a fatalistic manner whereby God has already ordained certain people to disbelief. This interpretation would go against the thrust of the Qur'anic message. Rather, when one keeps committing the same intellectual and moral mistake and does not repent, he develops a certain habit of misusing his reason, and God leaves those who deliberately persist on wrongdoing. A number of verses describe this closure of the heart/mind/conscience as a total loss of direction in both the intellectual and moral senses of the term:
Indeed, those who disbelieve - it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them - they will not believe. {6} God has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing , and over their vision is a veil. And for them is a great punishment. {7} (al-Baqara 2:6-7). And among them are those who listen to you, but We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And if they should see every sign, they will not believe in it. Even when they come to you arguing with you, those who disbelieve say, "This is not but legends of the former peoples." {25} (al-An'am 6:25). The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [God] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of ] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving. {44} And when you recite the Quran, We put between you and those who believe not in the Hereafter, an invisible veil. {45} And We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And when you mention your Lord alone in the Qur'an, they turn back in aversion. {46} (al-Isra' 17:44-46). When the hypocrites come to you, [O Muhammad], they say, "We testify that you are the Messenger of God." And God knows that you are His Messenger, and God testifies that the hypocrites are liars. {1} They have taken their oaths as a cover, so they averted [people] from the way of God. Indeed, it was evil that they were doing. {2} That is because they believed, and then they disbelieved; so their hearts were sealed over, and they do not understand. {3} (al-Munafiqun 63:1-3).
By contrast, those whose heart and conscience have been illuminated with the light of faith find peace and repose in the remembrance of God. This 'finding' is not something sentimental or imaginative; it touches the core of our existence and links us to God on the one hand, and to the reality of things on the other. It guides our thinking and acting in the world and saturates our lives with meaning. Thus the Qur'an says:
Those who believe and whose hearts find repose in the remembrance of God, verily, in the remembrance of do hearts find rest. {28} (al-Ra'd 13:28).
It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is God Knowing and Wise. {4} (al-Fath 48:4).

In short, our conscience must be in the right place in order for our reason to function properly.
8. Reason, Existence and the Universe
The wholesale encounter with reality is a key component of the Quranic vocabulary of thinking and stems from the essential relationship between reason and existence. The word existence (al-wujud) is not used in the Qur'an. But the conceptual framework within which the world of creation is presented points to an order of existence in which God's creative act is disclosed. As the ground of all that exists, existence is a gift of Divine creation and derives its sustenance from God. In this sense, existence is the face of the Divine looking to the world of creation ('alam al-khalq). The created order displays various modalities of existence, which discloses and particularizes itself into specific forms. While these forms or 'shares of existence' possess different qualities, they are united by the underlying reality of existence. The Qur'anic phrase kull, "everything" and "all", frequently used in the cosmological verses, refers to this aspect of existence: everything is interrelated to one another by virtue of the fact that they are created by the same God who, as we mentioned, is al-muhit, the 'one who encompasses everything'.

It is in this context that reason finds its proper relationship with existence. Existence is intrinsically intelligible because God creates optimally and what He creates has meaning, purpose and intelligibility built into it [30]. The following verse combines the purpose of creation, thinking and praying:
Do they not contemplate within themselves? God has not created the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term. And indeed, many of the people, in [the matter of] the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers. {8} Have they not traveled through the earth and observed how was the end of those before them? They were greater than them in power, and they plowed the earth and built it up more than they have built it up, and their messengers came to them with clear evidences. And God would not ever have wronged them, but they were wronging themselves. {9} (al-Rum 30:8-9).
God creates with wisdom (hikmah), purpose (ghayah) and Providence ('inayah). As the ultimate source of all existence and intelligibility, God bestows these qualities on His creation and saturates the order of creation with meaning and purpose. The celebrated saying that "the first thing God has created is intellect (al-'aql)" should be understood in this context. The 'intellect' here refers to the universal principles of truth, order and intelligibility which God has built into the nature of things. The intellect is the first thing God has created because God creates things according to a certain order and principle. Thus "the intellect is the closest thing to the Divine" [31]. In contrast to modern subjectivism, meaning is not simply a property of the mind. Just as knowledge cannot be reduced to the internal workings of the mind, as is the case with Descartes, meaning cannot be written off, a la Galileo, as a 'secondary quality' superimposed by the mind upon things either. Since meaning is not created but articulated and appropriated by the mind, its essence lies outside my mental constructions of it.

The moral import of this premise is clear: having a meaning and purpose in a non-subjective manner entails a tremendous sense of responsibility. Admitting that we, like the universe, have been created for a purpose means accepting a moral responsibility beyond ourselves. The Qur'an addresses the human person directly to make this point:
Do you then think that We have created you without a purpose and that you will not be returned to Us? The True Sovereign is too exalted above that. {115} (Al-Mu'minun 23:115) Does man think that he will be left wandering [at his own whim]? {36} (al-Qiyama 75:36)
As far as the universe is concerned, God creates things and the laws by which they exist. These laws, called sunnat Allah, the "wants of God", sustain the principles of order, harmony and continuity in the universe. It is the function of the human reason to discover these universal principles and intrinsic qualities. By applying itself to these principles, the intellect participates in the intelligible order of existence. Reason is able to discover these intrinsic modes of intelligibility because they are the intelligible principles built into the nature of reality. We can rationally and scientifically analyze the physical universe because it lends itself to such investigation in the first place. The Qur'an finds no contradiction between studying the universe as a natural phenomenon and seeing it as the supreme miracle of God.

The entire universe is an ayah, a "sign" for man from God and points to something beyond itself. The Qur'an uses the same word, ayah, to refer to its verses as well as "God's signs" ( ayat Allah) in the universe, which can be compared to what the Latins have called vestigia Dei. The multiple meanings of ayah confirm the profound connections between God's verses in the scripture and His signs in the world of creation: both come from God; both are sacred; both are to be treated with utmost care; both require commitment. God's signs in the two senses are directly related to reason and rationality because they are addressed to the human reason so that man can understand the reality of things (theoretical reason) and pursue virtue and happiness (practical reason). Such a basic and 'material' fact as counting years and keeping time is indeed a "sign" for those who ponder over the order and regularity of the universe:
It is He who made the sun a shining light and the moon a light [ for you] and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time]. God has not created this except in truth. He details the signs (ayat) for a people who know. {5} Indeed, in the alternation of the night and the day and [in] what God has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for a people who fear God. {6} (Yunus 10:5-6).
God presents these signs to humans so that they can use their reason and derive the logical conclusion from them, which is to believe in God. Every sign in the Qur'an and the universe invites a response from the side of the human being. As Izutsu points out, humans can read these signs properly and "confirm" (tasdiq) their truth. Or, they fail to use their reason, succumb to their desires and thus "reject" (takdhib) their truth. While the first response leads to sincere faith with certainty, the second lands us in disbelief (kufr) and denial [32]. Misreading God's "clear signs" disconnects us from the reality, and can imperil salvation: "And they will say: 'Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!' " (al-Mulk 67:10). Only those who can really use their reason can understand the true meaning of "signs" and act accordingly: "We have made clear to you the signs if you shall use your reason", the Qur'an says (Aal imran 3:118).

Those who use their reason can begin to decipher the non-linguistic language of the universe and understand how it submits to God. This deeper wisdom helps us see the difference between the one who is blind and the one who sees. The Qur'an is forceful in asserting that denying God and taking partners unto Him goes against the nature of things and violates the principle of reason:
And unto God Alone falls in prostration whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons. {15} Say: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "(It is) God." Say: "Have you then taken (for worship) protectors other than Him, such as have no power either for benefit or for harm to themselves?" Say: "Is the blind equal to the one who sees? Or darkness equal to light? Or do they assign to God partners who created the like of His creation, so that the creation (which they made and His creation) seemed alike to them." Say: "God is the Creator of all things, He is the One, the Irresistible". {16} (al-Ra'd 13:15-16)
Once this is clarified, observation, logical analysis, contemplation and praying join together:
And to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and God is over all things competent. {189} Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. {190} Who remember God while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], "Our Lord, You did not create this in vain; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire. {191} Our Lord, indeed whoever You admit to the Fire - You have disgraced him, and for the wrongdoers there are no helpers. {192} Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying ], 'Believe in your Lord,' and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous. {193} Our Lord, and grant us what You promised us through Your messengers and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, You do not fail in [Your] promise." {194} (Aal Imran 3:189-194).
According to the Qur'an, the creation of the universe by God is so reasonable and self-evident that reason, unhindered by irrational causes, immediately recognizes it. This grasping of the truth through intuition (hads) underlies much of our empirical and conceptual knowledge. Those who recognize the truth when they see it do in fact use their reason in the most proper way. The Qur'an uses the phrase ulu-'l-albab, "those who have deep understanding of things" to distinguish them from those who are merely interested in being smart. Albab, plural of lubb, meaning the essence and core of something, refers to a deeper perception of the reality of things which we understand through our reason. According to Ibn Kathir, ulu-'l-albab refers to those "complete and perspicacious intellects which perceive the reality of things in their apparent reality" [33]. Qurtubi describes them as those who "use their reason in contemplating proofs" [34]. Once reason is put to proper use, it obtains new degrees of understanding, and the categorical distinctions between reasoning, contemplating and praying evaporate. This is when one begins to obtain certainty (al-yaqin), which leaves no doubt about the truth of something standing before us. At this point, the Qur'an puts so much emphasis on the self-evident and clear nature of the truth that it forbids forcing people into converting to Islam. Instead, they should be able to see the truth by themselves:
There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in God, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And God is All-Hearer, All-Knower. {256} (Al-Baqarah 2:256).
The 'language of the universe' is revealed to human reason in the form of strict orders, laws, principles, patterns but also powerful symbols, parables and metaphors. The Qur'an sees no contradiction between strict rules of logic, which come from nothing but God's own Nature, and the symbolism of creation. The Qur'an invites us to discover the perfect order God has created in the universe. The order and regularity that come with this is a proof for the existence of an intelligent Creator. But we are also expected to grasp the symbolic language of the universe and how it praises God at every moment.
The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts Him by His praise, but you do not understand (tafqahuna) their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving. {44} (al-Isra' 17:44) [35].
A reductionist and rationalist approach, which dwarfs our cognitive capacities and atrophies our imaginative powers, prevents us from understanding the non-discursive language of the universe. The world of creation has a constant conversation with its Creator because it is a 'Muslim' (Al-Imran 3:83), i.e., that which surrenders to God. The humans share this quality with nature with one fundamental difference: they have free will (iradah) and must chose faith over disbelief, truth over falsehood, and virtue over vice [36].

A person who has perfected his sense of discernment can intuit and grasp the universe praising God. This intuitive and 'imaginative' thinking is not outside the ken of reason because reason, as I have been arguing, can accommodate non-formal articulations of the truth and understand the non-discursive insights we gain in our encounter with reality.
9. Rationality and Morality
The same intuitive thinking is at work in our moral choices. Since moral principles are self-evident in most cases, we know how we need to act in such situations. But is it enough to have a self-evident argument to be able to act virtuously?

Given the driving force of human emotions, even the correct use of reason alone cannot be sufficient to always make the right moral choices. The reason is that we have to combine reason and will, the two distinguishing features of being human, in order to act on what we believe. In contrast to Descartes who called the human person a "machine who thinks", we are also beings who will. Here 'will' does not simply designate choosing one option or the other. It refers to our ability to make a choice from among available possibilities. But in an axiological sense, it means choosing truth over falsehood and good over evil. Reason and rationality in the broad sense discussed above guide our choices and form the content of our moral behavior. Rationality and morality thus go hand in hand because we are rational animals and moral beings at the same time.

In the Qur'an, this point is registered in the relationship between using reason and having a moral and spiritual awareness of God. The word taqwa, usually translated as consciousness and fear of God, literally means to protect and guard oneself against danger. In the Tradition, it refers to "protecting the soul from what afflicts it" [37]. As explained in the Hadith, taqwa means having the majestic presence of God in one's heart by which to protect oneself against everything false, evil and ugly. In this sense, the conceptual meanings of 'aql and taqwa converge: they both refer to our conscious effort to protect ourselves against the inhuman and immoral consequences of evildoing, injustice and oppression. Thus "the intelligent person is the one who has consciousness (taqwa) of his Lord and who reckons with his soul" [38].

This principle underlies the rational basis of choosing goodness over evil and virtue over vice. Reason has no problem with accepting 'consciousness of God' (taqwa) as a moral and spiritual principle because it guides our moral choices. It is only by combining intelligibility, meaning and will that we fulfill our humanity as 'rational animals'. Moral choices make sense not because simply they are our free choices but because they let us participate in the intelligible order of existence and thus enable us to go beyond ourselves and reach out to a larger reality.

According to the Islamic ethical tradition, upholding justice makes sense because justice ('adl) means "putting things in their proper place". Likewise, opposing injustice is reasonable because injustice (zulm) means "putting things out of their place", i.e., destroying the order which gives meaning to things. An act is rational when it conforms to the reality of something and pays due attention to its proper place. It then makes perfect sense to protect oneself against the destructive forces of selfishness and evil-doing; acting otherwise contradicts the basis of our humanity. Summing up these points, Ibn Miskawayh says: "... since justice consists indeed giving to the right person what ought to be given in the right way, it would be inconceivable that men should not owe God, exalted is He, who granted us all these immense goods, an obligation which they should fulfill" [39].

We can then conclude that it is rational to be moral. By the same token, immorality is irrational because it goes against our self-interest and violates the order of things, which, in turn, causes us harm. The Qur'anic treatment of moral choices and how they are made within the larger context of existence establishes rationality as a key component of moral behavior. But the reverse is also true: rationality, carried to its full capacity, results in moral behavior and extends to other human beings, the universe and eventually God. According to the Qur'an, human beings have been granted reason to discern between right and wrong on the one hand, and good and evil on the other. In terms of both true knowledge and moral behavior, we use reason to make the right choices. The famous controversy among Muslim theologians over whether we know things to be true and good because they are intrinsically so or because God has created them in that way is irrelevant here. The key point is that correct thinking and moral behavior complement each other and thus reject any dichotomy between reason, rationality, belief and morality. Thus Ibn Hazm says that "knowledge has a decisive role in the implementation of virtues... knowledge has a share in each and every virtue and ignorance in each and every vice" [40].

In a similar vein, Ibn Miskawayh identifies "the intelligent man" as one who seeks "virtue in his rational soul, examine the imperfections of this soul in particular, and strives to remedy them to the extent of his capacity and effort" [41].
10. Rationality as Coherence
The move from reason and rationality to moral behavior and back is a recurrent theme in the Qur'an and forms the basis of the Islamic ethical tradition. Reason, when properly cultivated, leads to moral action; moral behavior, in turn, nurtures reason. The Qur'an considers this simple syllogism to be self-evident because it is a contradiction to accept something as right and true and then not act accordingly. So is hypocrisy: "Do you order other people to be righteous and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Will you, then, not reason?" (al-Baqara 2:44). The Qur'an condemns hypocrisy as much as disbelief and in some cases more so because hypocrisy, besides being a failure of the human will, breaks the logical connection between reason and morality and thus lands us in incoherence. "O you who have believe, why do you say what you do not do? {2} It is most hateful in the sight of God that you say that which you do not do." {3} (al-Saf 61:2-3).

The same principle of coherence applies to belief in God. The cosmological verses in the Qur'an, which give vivid descriptions of how God has created the universe and the human being, make a strong case for rationality as coherence because all of them without exception speak to the human reason to make the logical connection between a universe so miraculously ordered and well-functioning and the belief in the Creator who created it. Those who take partners unto God, while believing in His existence, contradict themselves. Believing in God and not heeding His guidance presents a clear case of incoherence.

The following verses, while emphasizing God's infinite mercy in creating and caring for the humankind, challenge the internal inconsistency of taking partners unto God (shirk), which is the greatest sin, and declares it to be utter irrationality. Those who think, ponder and use their reason have no difficulty in recognizing God as he deserves to be recognized.
And who other than Him created the heavens and the earth and sent down for you water from the sky, whereby We cause to grow lush orchards; for it is not up to you to cause their threes to grow! Is there, then, a god besides God? Yet these are the people who ascribe partners to Him. {60} And who other than Him made the earth a firm abode [ for you], and set rivers traversing through it, and put firm mountains therein and sealed off one sea from the other? Is there, then, a god besides God? Indeed, most of them do not know. {61} And who other than Him responds to the distressed one when he calls Him and He relieves him of the distress and Who has made you [mankind] His vicegerents on earth? Is there, then, a god besides God? - little do you reflect! {62} And Who other than Him guides you in the darkness of the land and the sea? And who sends forth winds heralding His mercy? Is there, then, a god besides God? Far exalted be He above what they associate with Him! {63} And who other than Him brings forth His creation and then recreates it? And who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? Is there, then, a god besides God? Say [O Muhammad!]: Bring your proof if you are right [in associating others with God]. {64} (Al-Naml 27:60-64).
These verses reveal a strongly argumentative approach and underlie the Qur'an's insistence on coherence as a basis for a proper discourse about the relationship between man and God on the one hand, God and the universe on the other. rationality as coherence means that we draw the correct conclusions from the correct premises. Considering the continuity of our ontological and moral presuppositions, this suggests that our empirical observations about the universe lead to their logical conclusion in a theistic context, i.e., accepting God as God and acting accordingly. The Qur'an makes profuse use of this procedural notion of rationality and applies it to cosmological, theological and legal issues. in its numerous confrontations with the Meccan pagans, the Qur'an challenges them to think for themselves and see if their misguided thinking about God makes any sense. A rationally coherent notion of God and the universe can be obtained through correct thinking if we can use our reason cogently to read the signs in the "visible world".
11. Conclusion: Is Return to Reason Still Possible?
As I have argued so far, rationality as intelligibility moves us beyond the internal workings of a single, disengaged mind and places us within a larger context of ontological significance. The metaphysics of creation establishes the Qur'anic notion of substantive rationality derived from the intrinsic intelligibility of the realm of existence. Knowledge as the disclosure of the inherent order and structure of things rejects instrumentalist and subjectivist rationality and instead sets up a context of intelligibility in which our reason and thinking function as a response to the call of reality. The ontological ground of reason enables it to participate in the intelligible order of existence and thus makes it a situated and contextualized reality. Furthermore, reason is also an inter-subjective principle and does not function in a solipsistic environment.

As a book of revelation and guidance, the Qur'an treats human reason and thinking in this larger context of the created order of existence. While having full confidence in uncorrupted reason, it warns against ontological reductionism, epistemological hubris and moral egotism. Reason is a God-given gift with which we access the reality of things. But it is unreasonable to claim that reason alone can give us meaning and freedom. One also needs spiritual guidance through which reason is to be illuminated. The heart as our deep conscience guarantees that procedural rationality, which we employ in our daily dealings, does not trump other types of reasoning and thinking. Reason nourished by faith gains a deeper insight into the reality of things because it can set its own limits and finds its proper place in the "circle of existence" (da'irat al-wujud). Faith articulated by reason and communicated through language can bring about certainty (al-yaqin), which the Qur'an deems essential for our mental and spiritual integrity (al-An'am 6:75; al-Takathur 102:5-7). Recovering the Qur'anic path of thinking and the traditional meaning of 'aql is an urgent task for the contemporary Muslim world. This is a task that extends to such diverse fields as law, education, art, science and politics and certainly not limited to the interests and aspirations of Muslim nations alone. The erosion of the principle of reason in late modernity has hurt human aspirations globally to create a world based on reason, justice and equality. The vacuum created by the failure of the enlightenment reason has been filled with the new forces of global hyper-capitalism, culture of nihilism and narcissism, and scientistic hubris. As the main terms of reference of the new global order, productivity, profit and efficiency now define what it means to live a rational life both individually and communally. The current world order creates new definitions of rationality and reasonableness through an increasingly sophisticated system of public discourse, mass education, technological innovation, instant communication and the hourly creation of countless virtual worlds, all of which give the appearance that our search for meaning has ended and that we as rational and free human beings have finally created a purely human world free from unjustified beliefs and transcendent illusions.

Philosophically speaking, the inherent contradiction of rationalism is that it assumes its own ontological ground and reproduces reality in such a way as to justify a self-referential notion of human reason. Neither reality nor reason, however, warrants a self-grounding reason. Reason by nature and function operates with terms and tools both within and outside itself. As a principle of 'tying together', 'gathering' and 'protecting', reason always reaches out beyond itself and connects us with the larger reality of existence and human language. Pure rationalism ends up in radical solipsism and thus contradicts reason.

Reason as a self-grounded principle cannot move us beyond the current state of humanity; it only reinforces and reproduces its metaphysical fallacies. A humanity so deeply enclosed upon itself to be the master of the universe while not taking the moral responsibility that comes with such a claim has created a world in which the principle of reason has disappeared, subjective consciousness has been absolutized, and a profound alienation between the human person and his work has set in. The more we reduce everything to utility and maximize the use-value of whatever happens to be around us, the more we lose the chance to retain the meaning of logos as connecting different orders of reality and protecting ourselves from error.

A new concept of reason is thus needed to recover the meaning of the human person as a 'being who thinks' (haywan natiq), i.e., who sees, hears, listens, encounters, responds, reacts, contemplates, and engages in other acts of human intelligence and will and never loses sight of the larger reality of which he/she is a part. Such a recovery is possible but it requires a re-assessment of the key notions and values with which we operate today. Reason as tying together, connecting and protecting will re-emerge only when we remember that reason is not about the human person or his interests or even his reasoning but rather about existence and beings, their meaning, relations and connections, and about the ways in which we respond to the call of reality.
Say: [Know] then, that the final evidence [of all truth] rests with God alone. {149} (al-An'am 6:149). End Notes
[1] Cf. Milton K. Munitz, The Question of Reality (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 124.

[2] See my "Roots of Misconception: Euro-American Perceptions of Islam Before and After September 11th" in Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition, Joseph Lumbard (ed.) (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2009, 2nd edition), pp. 149-193.

[3] Kant, "What is Enlightenment?" in Kant on History, ed. Lewis White Beck, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1963), p. 3.

[4] Louis Dupre, The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), Preface, ix.

[5] Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (New American Library 1964), p. 25.

[6] For a view of modernity as control and predictibility, see Albert Borgmann, Crossing the Postmodern Divide (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).

[7] Cf. Charles Taylor, "Rationality " in his Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Volume 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 134.

[8] Heidegger rejects this impowerished meaning of 'logos' as 'discourse' or 'analysis' without an ontological ground. Instead, he tries to recover the original Greek meaning of logos as 'gathering' and 'togetherness'. See his An Introduction to Metaphysics, tr. R. Manheim, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1959), pp. 120-135.

[9] Paul Feyerabend, who in his Against the Method (1975) took upon himself to debunk the absolutist claims of positivist science, is probably the most famous proponent of the second view. Richard Rorty 's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979) provides another constructivist critique of the Enlightenment project of pure reason. Rorty's alternative is a sort of reason dissolved into human drama. For a discussion of the trails of modern reason in Western philosophy in the 20th century, see Stephen Toulmin, Return to Reason (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).

[10] See Denys Turner, Faith, Reason and the Existence of God (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), especially pp. 75-88.

[11] Mulla Sadra, al-Hikmat al-muta'aliyah f i'l-asfar al-'aqliyyat al-arba'ah, (Beirut: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi, 1981) I, 2, p. 315. Sadra goes on to say: "The difference between the sciences based on theory and the sciences based on vision, is like the difference between someone who knows the definition of sweetness and someone who has actually tasted sweetness; and someone who understands the definition of health and power and someone who is actually healthy and powerful." Commentary on the Chapter al-Waqi'ah, Tafsir, Vol. 7, p. 10. For more on this, see my Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mulla Sadra On Existence, Intellect and Intuition, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 217-221.

[12] What Kant has to say about this is worth quoting in full: "If reason will not subject itself to the law it gives itself, it will have to bow under the yoke of the law which others impose on it, for without any law whatsoever nothing, not even the greatest nonsense, can play its hand for very long. Thus the inevitable consequence of declared lawlessness in thinking (an emancipation from restrictions of reason) is that freedom to think is finally lost." Kant, "What is Orientation in Thinking?", trans. L. W. Beck in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Writings on Moral Philosophy (Chicago, 1949), p. 304.

[13] Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith (London, 1933), p. A viii.

[14] Cf. Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur'an (Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1994), p. 22.

[15] Harith al-Muhasibi, Sharaf al-'aql wa mahiyyatuhu, ed. M. A. 'Ata (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah), 1982, p. 19.

[16] Haydar Amuli, Jami' al-esrar wa manba' al-anwar, ed. By Henry Corbin and Osman Yahia (Tehran: Department d'iranologie de l'institut franco-iranien de recherche, 1968), pp. 372-3.

[17] Raghib al-Isfahani, al-Mufradat fi gharib al-qur'an (Istanbul: Kahraman Yayinlari, 1986), p. 511. Both Harith al-Muhasibi and al-Ghazali refer to this two-fold definition of reason; see al-Muhasibi, Sharaf al-'aql, p. 20.

[18] Al-Farabi identifies this as one of the six meanings of 'aql; see al-Fararabi, Risalah fi-'l-'aql, ed. Maurice Bouyges (Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, 1983), pp. 8-9.

[19] The later philosophical tradition has developed an elaborate epistemology and anthropology of reason which includes 'aql hayulani or 'aql bi-'l-quwwah, the material or potential intellect, 'aql bi-'l-fi'l, the actualized intellect, 'aql mustafad, the acquired intellect, and finally 'aql fa'al, the active intellect. Since I cannot discuss these later interpretations here, I will only refer to the foundational texts by the philosophers. For al-Kindi's discussion and classification of 'aql, which is the first among the philosophers, see his Risalah fi-'l-'aql ('On the Intellect'), ed. Jean Jolivet in L'Intellect selon Kindi (Leiden, Holland: E. J. Brill, 1971). Al-Farabi fully develops al-Kindi's initial exploration in his various works; see especially Risalah fi-'l-'aql. Ibn Sina discusses 'aql and its types and functions in his various works including the Shifa' and Najat but also al-Mabda' wa-'l-ma'ad. For an extensive survey of their views against the Greek background, see Davidson, Herbert A., Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes on Intellect: Their Cosmologies, Theories of the Active Intellect, and Theories of Human Intellect (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

[20] Mulla Sadra, Risalat al-Hashr, ed. with Persian translation by M. Khwajawi (Tehran: Intisharat-i Mawlawi, 1998), pp. 85-6.

* Dr Ibrahim Kalin is currently Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey and is a fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington, USA.

[21] Ibn al-Manzur, Lisan al-'Arab, entries on 'aql and qalb (Beirut: no date) Vol. I. p. 687 and Vol. XI, pp. 458-9.

[22] Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, al-Muqabasat, ed. H. Sandubo (Tunisia: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1991), p. 7.

[23] Compare this with what Zarathustra says to the people who show no interest in what he has to say: "Must one first shatter their ears to teach them to hear with their eyes?", F. Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, tr. R. J. Hollingdale (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961), p. 45.

[24] Al-Ghazali, Rawdat al-talibin wa 'umdat al-salikin, in Majmu'at Rasa'il al-Imam al-Ghazali (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah, 1994), p. 32.

[25] Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-qur'an al-'azim, (Beirut: Dar al-Ma'rifah, 2006), p. 1141.

[26] Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, p. 659.

[27] Cf. Martin Heidegger, What is Called Thinking?, tr. J. G. Gray (New York: Harper Books, 1968), p. 165.

[28] Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Bayan al-farq bayn al-sadr wa'l-qalb wa'l-fu'ad wa'l-lubb, (Amman: al-Markaz al-Maliki li' l-Buhuth wa' l-Dirasat al-Islamiyyah, 2009), p. 15. For the English translation of al-Tirmidhi's work see Nicholas Heer, trans., "A Treatise on the Heart," in Three Early Sufi Texts, trans. Nicholas Heer et al., Revised Edition (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2009).

[29] This evocative phrase by Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d. 1762), one of the greatest scholars of the sub-continent of India, also sums up the integrative approach of classical Muslim thinkers towards the human person. See his Hujjat al-Allah al-balighah (Cairo: Dar al-Turath, nd.), Vol. II, p. 89.

[30] This premise is also the basis of the argument that this is the best of all possible worlds which God could create. For this version of the "ahsan al-nizam" argument, see my "Mulla Sadra on Theodicy and the Best of All Possible Worlds", Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, 18:2 (2007), pp. 183-201.

[31] Muhammad 'Ali al-Tahanawi, Kashshaf istilahat al-funun (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah), Vol. 3, Kashshaf, III, p. 307.

[32] Toshihiko Izutsu, God and Man in the Qur'an: The Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung (Tokyo: The Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1964), pp. 136-7.

[33] Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, p. 334.

[34] Abu Abdallah al-Qurtubi, al-Jami' li-ahkam al-qur'an (Beirut: Dar Ibn Hazm, 2004), Vol I, p. 780.

[35] This and similar verses underlie the commonly held view in the Islamic tradition that the entire universe is alive and that "everything has soul". See Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, p. 932. Mulla Sadra holds that "all animal, plant and inanimate natures have knowledge and consciousness by themselves, through the necessities of their essences, and their particular effects on account of their partaking of existence because existence is identical with light and manifestation. Existence is therefore united with the qualities of the perfection of existence in knowledge, power, volition, life, and the like. "Ajwibat al-masa'il al-kashaniyyah in Majmu'ayi rasa'il-i falsafi-yi Sadr al-Muta'allihin, ed. Hamid Naji Isfahani (Tehran: Intisharat-i Hikmat, AH 1375), p. 137. For more on the ontological vitalism of Islamic cosmology, see my Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy, pp. 229-32.

[36] Quoting a popular saying, Tahanawi describes it as follows: "God has mounted reason in the angels without carnal desire, put desires in the animals without reason, and in the children of Adam both of them. Thus whoever has his reason triumph over his carnal desires, he is better than the angels, and whoever has his carnal desires triumph over his reason, he is lower than the animals". Tahanawi, Kashshaf, Vol. 3, p. 314.

[37] Isfahani, al-Mufradat, p. 833.

[38] Tahanawi, Kashshaf, Vol. 3, p. 314.

[39] Ibn Miskawayh, The Refinement of Character (Tahdhib al-akhlaq), tr. Constantine K. Zurayk (Beirut: The American University of Beirut, 1968), p. 106.

[40] Ibn Hazm, al-Ahklaq wa'l-siyar fi mudawat al-nufus, ed. Tahir Ahmad Makki (Jeddah: Dar al-Manarah, 2007), p. 124.

[41] Ibn Miskawayh, The Refinement of Character, p. 44. Ibn Miskawayh goes on to say that "the proper food of the rational soul is knowledge, the acquisition of intelligibles, the practice of veracity in one's opinions, the acceptance of truth no matter where or with whom it may be, and the shunning of falsehood and lying whatever it may be or whence it may come".

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Reason and Rationality in the Quran - Muslim Heritage

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In this long and well written article, Dr Ibrahim Kalin, based on his thorough study of the history of philosophy, analyzes the categories of reason and rationality within the Islamic intellectual context as it was shaped by the foundational theory underlying the Qur'an and as developed by the Islamic theological and intellectual tradition.

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Islamic Cartoons For Kids | The Virtues of Salah | Omar & Hana

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Preparation for salah with khusyuk

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Modern day living has made work part of a daily (weekday) routine , solat coming almost like an afterthought . When a solat during that period is performed , it is often done with distractions in mind , making khusyuk in solat that much more challenging . In fact , this just not only applies to working , but also affects all corners of society that have many distractions in this day and age .
Khusyuk in literal terms is the focus that is put into the performing of the solat . The catalyst is from the heart , and its affects are generated throughout the entire body . A focused mind on the solat means the body will become connected and the whole thing becomes a somewhat out of body experience .
During prayer , a Muslim is literally in contact with Allah SWT , the recitations are literally straight to Him . The most essential part in getting khusyu’ is through Humility . Anything that stimulates humility will be focused from here on .
Here are 5 tips on how to attain khusyuk in solat . There are so many to give but here are the most notable. 1. Not praying when feeling sleepy
Just like how driving is dangerous when under the influence or fatigue , feeling sleepy while praying is a huge distraction . The focus needed is hampered by the constant thought of a nice bed to sleep on , energy levels are not optimum for this task .
Anas ibn Maalik said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “If any one of you feels sleepy when he is praying, he should sleep until he [is rested enough to] know what he is saying,” i.e., he should take a nap until he no longer feels drowsy. (Reported by al-Bukhari, no. 210) .
This hadith also includes fard prayers, when a person is confident that he will still have enough time to pray after taking a nap .
2. Centre of focus
Just like the first point on driving a car , there must be a centre of focus when performing a solat . All focus must stay away from outside distractions of daily living and focus solely on the actions during solat and appreciate meanings of the surahs recited .
Using the analogy of driving a car , when the centre of focus is taken off the driving aspect and losing it completely , an accident most definitely can occur with deadly consequences . Well , not having khusyuk in solat is definitely not deadly (that’s just overstating) , but remaining focused on the solat won’t hurt anything in real life . Allah is the Most Gracious in still giving health, money and time to His worshippers everyday .
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

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HOW TO CONCENTRATE IN SALAH (PRAYER) - Mufti Menk Animated

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the  virtues found in salah with khusyuk

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Hadhrat Ammar bin Yaasir (Radhiyallaho anho) narrates that he heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wa-sallam) saying: "When a person finishes his salaat, he gets one tenth, one ninth, one eighth, one seventh, one sixth, one fifth, one fourth, one third or one half of the maximum reward (according to the quality of salaat performed by him)."

This shows that the reward is given in proportion to the sincerity and devotion with which salaat is performed. So much so, that some get only one tenth of the total reward. There are others who get a reward ranging from one tenth to one half of the maximum. It is also correct to say that there are some who receive the reward in full and there are others who get no reward at all.

It is stated in a hadith that Allah has a standard for fardh salaat. An account is kept of the measure by which a salaat falls short of that standard.

It is said in the hadith that devotion in salaat .will be the first thing to be taken away from the world. A time will come when not a single person in the whole congregation will offer his salaat with proper devotion.

Hadhrat Anas (Radhiyallaho anho) narrates that he I heard the Holy Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) saying, "When a person offers his salaat at its fixed hours with proper wudhu, with humility and submission and with qiyaam, ruku and sajdah done satisfactorily, then such a salaat rises up in a bright and beautiful form and blesses the person in words: 'May Allah guard you as you have guarded me.' On the other hand, if a person is not punctual with his salaat nor does he perform wudhu, qiyaam, ruku and sajdah properly, then salaat rises up in an ugly and dark shape and curses the person saying, "May Allah ruin you as you have ruined me!" Then it is flung back like a dirty rag at the face of the person."

Lucky are those whose salaat is so perfect in all respects that this most important worship of Allah would pray for them. But what to say about the salaat which most of the people are wont? They go into sajdah direct from ruku, and they hardly lift their head from the first sajdah when they go for the second like a crow pecking at something. The curse that such a person deserves is mentioned in this hadith. When the salaat is cursing us then what else can check our downfall? This is why the condition of the Muslims is deteriorating day by day in every nook and corner of the world.

The same description is given in another hadith, with the addition that a salaat offered by a person with sincerity and devotion rises up highly illuminated, the gates of Heaven are let open for its reception, and then it intercedes (before Allah) for His devotee.

The Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) has said, "The likeness of a person not bowing fully in ruku is that of a pregnant woman aborting just before delivery."

In a hadith, it is stated, "There are many fasting persons who get nothing out of their fast except hunger and thirst, and there are many worshippers who keep a vigil but get nothing from their vigil except sleeplessness.

Hadhrat Aa'ishah (Radhiyallaho anha) narrates that she heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) saying. "Allah has decided to save (from punishment of the Hereafter) a person coming before Him who has been offering salaat five times daily at its fixed hours, with due sincerity and devotion and with proper wudhu. As regards a person who does not so come before Allah, there is no guarantee for him. He may be forgiven by Allah's special Grace or taken to task.

Once the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) came to his companions and said, "Do you know what Allah has said?" The companions replied, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He repeated the question twice and the companions made the same reply each time. Then he said, "Allah says, 'By my Greatness and My Glory. I must bring into Paradise the person offering salaat five times daily at its fixed hours. As regards the person who does not ensure his salaat, I may forgive him by My mercy or take him to task.' "

Source: Fazail-e-Amal by Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya

Vartues of Salaat - Chapter III - Quotations from the Hadith

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Hadith I Hadhrat Ammar bin Yaasir (Radhiyallaho anho) narrates that he heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wa-sallam) saying: "When a person finishes his salaat, he gets one tenth, one ninth, one eighth, one seventh, one sixth, one fifth, one fourth, one third or one half of the maximum reward (according to the quality of salaat performed by him)."

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The virtues found in sawm

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Sawm - A lot more than the Literal Meaning by Dr Zakir Naik

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The virtues found in zakh

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HOW CHARITY INCREASES YOU - Nouman Ali Khan Animated

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The Virtues Of (Sawm) Fasting

Sheikh Nada Abu Ahmad

Fasting is a protection from lusts:

1- Al Bukhari reported from the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Fasting is a shield (or a screen or a shelter). So, the person observing fasting should avoid sexual relation with his wife and should not behave foolishly and impudently, and if somebody fights with him or abuses him, he should tell him twice, 'I am fasting." The Prophet (peace be upon him) added: "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. (Allah says about the fasting person), 'He has left his food, drink and desires for My sake. The fast is for Me. So I will reward (the fasting person) for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times."

EsinIslam Ramadan Team

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2- Imam Ahmad reported from the Hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "O Ka'b 'Ujrah, fasting is a strong shield, sadaqah erases sins as water extinguishes fire, and prayer is evidence -or he said: something to draw you nearer to Allah. O Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah, people are of two types: One who purchases himself [by doing righteous deeds] and by this he shall protect himself and a person who sells himself [for Hell]."

3- Imam Ahmad also reported from the Hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The castration [things which abate sexual desires] of my nation is fasting." Fasting abates sexual desires and narrows the ways of Satan. Therefore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) described fasting for youth who have no power to marriage to rectify their manners, abate their sexual desire, and promote their behavior.

4- Al Bukhari reported from the Hadith of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)said to us: "O young people! He who can afford to marry should marry, because it will help him refrain from looking at other women, and save his private parts from looking at other women, and save his private parts from committing illegal sexual relation; and he who cannot afford to marry is advised to fast, as fasting will diminish his sexual power."

Sheikh 'Umar Al Ashqar said:

Fasting is a protection for a person from sins and faults, foul language, and bad actions, thereby a person protects himself from Hell.

Al Munawy (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) said in Faydul-Qadir: Fasting is a protection in the world from sins where it abates sexual desires because fullness brings about sexual desires and causes laziness, therefore the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "No man fills a container worse than his stomach." When a person eats to his full, his insight becomes weak, his ideas becomes distorted, laziness and sleep overcome him and stop him from worship, and his anger and sexual desires become intense and he may fall into sins.

Some Pious Predecessors said: Glad tidings are for those who abandon a present lust for an unseen encounter.

O people who observe fast, let it be known that whoever abstains from the worldly desires shall gain reward in Paradise.

Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Eat and drink at ease for that which you have sent on before you in days past!" [Surat Al Haqqah: 24].

Mujahid and others said: It was revealed concerning fasting people.

Let it be known that whoever abstains from the things which Allah forbade shall have a carnival day when he meets His Lord.

"Whoever hopes for the Meeting with Allah, then Allah's Term is surely coming." [Surat Al 'Ankabut: 5].

Fasting is a penance for sins:

Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "The men and the women who observe Saum (fast) (the obligatory fasting during the month of Ramadân, and the optional Nawâfil fasting), the men and the women who guard their chastity (from illegal sexual acts) and the men and the women who remember Allâh much with their hearts and tongues - Allâh has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward (i.e. Paradise)." [Surat Al Ahzab: 35].

1- Al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the Hadith of Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "There would (first) be turmoil for a person in regard to his family, his property, his own self, his children, his neighbors(and the sins comnaitted in their connection) would be expiated by fasting,prayer, charity,enjoining good and prohibiting evil."

Al Munawy (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) said: Turmoil for a person means error and sin or the evil he encounters.

* To his family means the greif and sad which he suffers with them or his business and neglecting their rights.
* His property means he takes money from proper or improper ways and spends it in unlawful ways of expenditure.
* His children means by loving him and engaging with him rather than focusing on legal duties.
* His neighbor means the envy, pride, and negligence they practice against a person.

Moreover, the Prophet (peace be upon him) focused on the real acts of worship such as Salah, Fasting, Zakah, and enjoing good and fobidding evil.

2- Al Bukhari and Muslim also reported: "Whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven."

3- Imam Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "The five daily Salah, and from one Friday Salah to (the next) Friday Salah, and Ramadan to Ramadan are expiation of the sins committed in between them, so long as major sins are avoided."

So, how great is that month in which sins are forgiven, evil deeds are expiated, and a person obtains the satisfaction and forgiveness of the Lord of the heavens and the earth.

4- It was reported by At-Tabarany in Al Mu'jam Al Awsat on the authority of Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Fasting on the Day of 'Arafah expiates the past and the following sins of the year." [1]

5- Imam Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Fasting the Day of 'Arafah (9th of Dhul-Hijjah) I hope from Allah that it atones the sins of the preceding and the coming year, and fasting the Day of 'Ashura' (10th of Muharram), I hope from Allah that it expiates the sins of the past year."

* It atones the sins of the past year means: The committed sins.

* And following year means that Allah (may He be Exalted) protects him from committed sins or gives rewards to equal the sins committed in that year or even atone them for real.

Therefore, the author of Al 'Uddah [Abu 'Abdullah, Al Husayn ibn Ali At-Tabary] said: There is nothing equal to fasting among the acts of worship.

[1] Sahih Al Jami': 3805.

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Giving for Allah's Sake - Nouman Ali Khan - Quran Weekly

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Virtues of Zakah in Islam

1. 1. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 1 ٰ ٰ ۡ ٰ ۡ ٰ ۡ ۡۡ ۡ ۡ ٰ ۡ ۡۡ ٰ ۡ ٰ ۡ ۡ ٰ ۡ Virtues of Zakah ّٰ ‫ا‬ َ‫ـب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ‫ح‬ ‫ـا‬َ‫ي‬ َ ‫ك‬ِ‫ب‬ٰ‫ح‬ ۡ‫ص‬ َ ‫ا‬َ‫و‬ َ ‫ِك‬‫ل‬ ٰ ‫ا‬ ٰ َ َ‫و‬ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َ ‫ل‬ۡ‫و‬ُ‫س‬َ‫ر‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ي‬ َ ‫ك‬ۡ‫ي‬ َ ‫ل‬ َ ‫ع‬ ُ‫م‬ َ َّ‫الس‬َ‫و‬ ُ‫وة‬ ٰ ‫ل‬ َّ‫لص‬ َ ‫ا‬ َ ‫ـك‬‫ِـ‬‫ل‬ ٰ ‫ا‬ ٰ َ َ‫و‬‫ـا‬‫ـ‬َ‫ي‬ َ ‫ك‬ِ‫ب‬ٰ‫ـح‬‫ـ‬ ۡ‫ص‬ َ ‫ا‬َ‫و‬ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َ‫ر‬ۡ‫ـو‬‫ـ‬ ُ ‫ن‬ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ِ‫ـب‬ َ ‫ن‬ ‫ـا‬َ‫ي‬ َ ‫ك‬ۡ‫ي‬ َ ‫ل‬ َ ‫ع‬ ُ‫م‬ َ َّ‫الس‬َ‫و‬ ُ‫وة‬ ٰ ‫ل‬ َّ‫لص‬ َ ‫ا‬ ِ‫ف‬ َ ‫ك‬ِ‫ت‬ ۡ ‫ع‬ِ ۡ ‫ا‬ َ‫ت‬َّ‫ن‬ُ‫س‬ ُ‫ت‬ۡ‫ي‬َ‫و‬ َ ‫ن‬ Translation: I have made the intention of Sunnah I'tikaaf. Whenever you enter a Masjid, make the intention of 'I'tikaaf' upon remembering it because as long as you stay in the Masjid you will keep obtaining the reward of Nafli (supererogatory) I'tikaafs, and eating, drinking and sleeping will also become permissible for you in the Masjid. Excellence of reciting Salat-'Alan-Nabi Sayyiduna Fudaalah Bin 'Ubayd       ʝ has narrated that the Beloved Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ was sitting in the Masjid, a man came and offered Salah and made Du'a saying these words: ' ُ‫ه‬ ّٰ ‫لل‬ َ ‫ا‬َّ‫م‬ۡ ِ‫ن‬ ۡ َ ‫ح‬ۡ‫ار‬َ‫و‬ ۡ ِ‫ل‬ۡ‫ِر‬‫ف‬ ۡ ‫اغ‬ ' i.e. 'O Allah ! Forgive me and have mercy upon me.' The Beloved Prophet  ٖ   ʋ     ʄ said: ' َ ‫ا‬ َ‫ت‬ ۡ ‫ل‬ِ‫ج‬ َ ‫ع‬ۡ ِ ّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ُ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ُّ‫ي‬ ' 'O the one who performed Salah, you hurried.' ' ‫ه‬ ُ ‫ل‬ ۡ ‫ه‬ َ ‫ا‬ َ‫و‬ ُ ‫ه‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ِ‫ب‬ َ ّٰ ‫ا‬ ِ‫د‬ِ ۡ ‫اح‬ َ ‫ف‬ َ ‫ت‬ۡ‫د‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ق‬ َ ‫ف‬ َ‫ت‬ۡ‫ي‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ ‫ا‬ َ ‫ِذ‬‫ا‬ٗ◌‫ه‬ ُ ‫ع‬ ۡ ‫اد‬ َّ‫م‬ ُ ‫ث‬ َّ َ َ ِ ّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬َ‫و‬ٗ◌ ', 'When you complete your Salah, first praise Allah in a manner that He deserves, and recite Salaat upon me, then make Du'a.' www.dawateislami.net

2. 2. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 2 The narrator has further said that after him another person offered Salah, then praised Allah and recited Salat upon the Beloved Prophet  ٖ   ʋ     ʄ . The Beloved Prophet ʋ     ʄ ٖ   said, ' ۡ ِ ّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ُ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ُّ‫ي‬ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫ب‬َ ُ ‫ت‬ ُ ‫ع‬ ۡ ‫د‬ ُ ‫ا‬ ' O one who offered Salah! Make Du'a; it will be answered. (Tirmizi, Kitab-ud-Da'waat, vol. 5, pp. 290, Hadis 3487) Dear Islamic brothers! It has become evident from the abovementioned narration that if a person wants his Du'a to be answered, it is compulsory for him/her to recite Salat-'Alan-Nabi before and after the Du'a. ‫ﺳﮯ‬ ‫ﮐرثت‬ ‫ﮐﺎش‬ ‫اے‬ ‫ﭘﮍﮬﯿﮟ‬ ‫ﺳﮯ‬ ‫ﺑﺎﺗﻮں‬ ‫ﮐﺎر‬ ‫ﺑﮯ‬ ‫ﺑﭽﯿﮟ‬ ‫ٰﯽ‬‫ﻟ‬‫ﻣﻮ‬ ‫ﮨﻢ‬ ‫ﭘﺎک‬ ِ‫د‬‫و‬ُ‫ر‬ُ‫د‬ ‫دم‬ ‫ﮨﺮ‬ ‫ﭘﺮ‬ ‫ﺤﺒﻮب‬َ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺮے‬ِ‫ﺗ‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ Dear Islamic brothers! Before listening to the Bayān, let's make good intentions for attaining rewards. The Beloved Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ has said, ' ۡ‫ِن‬ّ‫م‬ ٌ ۡ‫ي‬ َ ‫خ‬ ِ‫ِن‬‫م‬ ۡ ‫ؤ‬ُ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ ُ ‫ة‬َّ‫ِي‬‫ن‬‫ِه‬‫ل‬َ‫م‬ َ ‫ع‬ٖ ' The intention of a believer is better than his action. (Al-Mu'jam-ul-Kabeer, vol. 6, pp. 185, Hadees 5942) Two Madani pearls Without a good intention, no reward is granted for a good deed. The more righteous intentions one makes the greater reward he will attain. Intentions of listening to the Bayān 1. Lowering my eyes, I will listen to the Bayān attentively. 2. Instead of resting against a wall etc., I will sit in Attahiyyaat position as far as possible with the intention of showing respect for religious knowledge. www.dawateislami.net

3. 3. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 3 3. I will make room for others by folding my hands and limbs and by moving slightly. 4. If someone pushes me, I will remain patient and avoid staring, snapping, and arguing with them. 5. When I hear ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬, ‫و‬ُ‫ر‬ ُ ‫ك‬ ۡ ‫ذ‬ ُ ‫ا‬‫ا‬ ّٰ ‫ا‬ , ّٰ ‫ا‬ َ Ǔِ‫ا‬ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ُ‫ب‬ۡ‫و‬ ُ ‫ت‬, etc., I will reply loudly with the intention of gaining reward and encouraging others to also recite. 6. After the Bayān, I will approach other people by making Salām, shaking hands, and for making individual efforts upon them. ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ Intentions of delivering a Bayān 1. I also make the intention that I would deliver this speech (Bayān) in order to seek the pleasure of Allah and for reaping the rewards. 2. I will deliver my speech (Bayān) by reading from a book of an authentic Sunni scholar. 3. Allah states in the Glorious Quran: ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ٰ ۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Īmān: 'Call towards the path of your Lord with sound planning and good advice.' (Part 14, Surah An-Nahl, verse 125) Our Beloved Rasool  ٖ   ʋ     ʄ has stated: ‫ة‬َ‫ي‬ ٓ ‫ا‬ ۡ‫و‬ َ ‫ل‬َ‫و‬ ۡ ِ ّ‫ن‬ َ ‫ع‬ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُ ‫ِغ‬ ّ ‫ل‬َ‫ب‬ 'Convey from me even if it is a single verse.' (Sahih Bukhari, Hadees 4361) www.dawateislami.net

4. 4. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 4 4. I would follow these abovementioned commandments by calling people towards righteousness and will forbid them from committing evil deeds. 5. Whilst reciting poetry or speaking Arabic, English, or pronouncing difficult words, I will focus my attention on the sincerity of my heart. That is to say, I will avoid delivering my speech with the intention to impress the audience with my knowledge. 6. I will encourage the people to travel with Madani Qafilahs, to practice upon the Madani In'aamaat and to join the 'Ilaaqa'i Daura for Nayki ki Da'wat' (area visit for calling towards righteousness). 7. I will avoid laughing and prevent others from laughing as well. 8. In order to develop the habit of protecting my eyes from sins I will, as far as possible, lower my gaze. ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ The bad end of Qāroon Qāroon was the son of Yasĥar, who was the uncle of Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  . He was a very handsome man. Impressed with his charm and elegant beauty, people used to call him Munawwar. Another quality that made him prominent among the Bani Israa-eel was that he was a great scholar of the Tawrah. He was very humble in character. In return, people used to show great dignity and respect towards him. Allah blessed him with enormous and unimaginable treasure of wealth that he had appointed 40 strong and powerful men to take care and operate the keys of his treasures as it is stated in the Glorious Quran: ٰٰ ۡۡ ۡۤٓۡۡ ۡۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And We gave him so many treasures whose keys were a heavy burden for a strong group (of men). (Part 20, Surah Al-Qasas, verse 76) www.dawateislami.net

5. 5. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 5 An excess of wealth changed his attitude entirely and he became extremely arrogant. When the commandment of Zakah was revealed, he promised in front of Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  that he will pay a 1 /1000 share as a Zakah of his capital, but when he calculated his wealth and possessions, a huge amount was deductible as the Zakah money. Upon seeing all this, greed and malice overpowered him. He did not only deny Zakah but also tried to slander Sayyiduna Musa  ʄ  ʎ  and plotted an evil deed against him, influencing a woman through a lot of wealth, to lay a blame on Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  . Thereafter, right when Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  was delivering his sermon, Qāroon interrupted him and said the Bani Israa- eel have assumed that you had committed adultery with such and such a woman. Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  said: Bring that woman in front of me, therefore, she was summoned and Sayyiduna Mūsā   ʄ  ʎ  said, 'O lady, swear by Allah Who split the river, dug out ways and revealed the Tawrah; speak the truth.' She started trembling, seeing the glory and majesty of Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  and publically confessed, 'O Prophet of Allah! Qāroon enticed me to lay a blame against you by giving me a good amount of wealth.' Then, Sayyiduna Mūsā   ʄ  ʎ  prostrated with tearful eyes to thank Allah and supplicated to Allah in the state of prostration that 'O Allah , inflict your wrath and anger upon Qāroon'. Then he   said to the Bani Israa-eel that the one who is with Qāroon should stay with him and the one who is with me should separate from Qāroon. Therefore, all of the Bani Israa-eel left Qāroon, except two wicked people. Thereafter, Sayyiduna Mūsā  ʄ  ʎ  ordered the earth ' ۡ‫م‬ِ‫ه‬ۡ‫ِي‬‫ذ‬ ُ ‫خ‬ ُ ‫ض‬ َ ‫ا‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ي‬' 'O earth! Seize Qāroon straight away'. Qāroon sunk into the earth up to his knees. He   again ordered the same command to the earth and again Qāroon sank down to his waist. After witnessing this, Qāroon started crying and shrieking and started begging Sayyiduna Mūsā   for the sake of his kinship and relationship with Sayyiduna Mūsā   . But Sayyiduna Mūsā   did not give any response. Finally, he completely sank into the earth. Sayyiduna Qatadah      ʝ has said that he would continue sinking into the earth till the Hereafter. The Bani Israa-eel said, Sayyiduna Mūsā   www.dawateislami.net

6. 6. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 6 invoked a curse upon Qāroon due to his house, wealth and possession. Consequently, the house of Qāroon that was made of gold and all of his treasure were buried into the ground. (Tafseer Khaazin, vol. 3, pp. 422) The Glorious Quran has mentioned the consequence of Qāroon in this manner: ۡ ٖۡ ۡۡۡۡ ٰۡۡ ۡ ۡۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: Then We caused him and his home to sink into the earth; so he had no group to help save him from Allah; nor could he take revenge. (Part 20, Surah Al-Qasas, verse 81) Dear Islamic brothers! Have you seen the dreadful end of Qāroon over denying Zakah and due to incurring enmity towards the Blessed Prophet   of Allah . Neither his possession not his wealth benefitted him, he was even inflicted with Divine torment along with his treasures. Obligations of paying Zakah Remember that Zakah has also been made obligatory upon the Ummah of the Beloved Rasool ( ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  ) as it is stated in the Glorious Quran: ٰٰٰۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And establish (obligatory) prayer, and give Zakah. (Part 1, Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 43) Commenting on the blessed verse mentioned above, Sadr-ul-Afadil, 'Allamah Maulana Mufti Sayyid Muhammad Na'eemuddin Muradabadi ۡ   ȹۡ   has stated in Khazaain-ul-'Irfan: This verse states the obligation of Salah and Zakah. www.dawateislami.net

7. 7. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 7 Dear Islamic brothers! Zakah is also one of the essentials of Islam. The Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  has stated: Islam is based on [the following] five [principles]: 1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad ( ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  ) is the Prophet of Allah . 2. To offer the Salah 3. To pay Zakah (obligatory charity) 4. To perform Hajj (pilgrimage) 5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan. (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Imaan, vol. 1, pp. 14, Hadees 8) The importance of Zakah can be imagined through the fact that Zakah and Salah has been mentioned together 32 times in the Glorious Quran. (Rad-dul-Muhtar, Kitab-uz-Zakah, vol. 3, pp. 202) Importance of Zakah Dear Islamic brothers! No matter how economically advanced any country is, it still cannot completely eradicate poverty, and there exist people who live in a downward cycle of poverty deprivation due to various reasons. Allah has entrusted the wealthy and prosperous people with the responsibility to meet the needs of poor people. Therefore, Allah has made Zakah obligatory upon wealthy people so that they help the miserable and destitute people of society through their Zakah and for wealth to also circulate in the hands of the poor instead of restricting it to just the elite few; thus it brings a balance in the economic condition of the people living in the society. Remember! If Allah wanted, He would make everybody rich and no one would be left poor but as His Divine will, He made some people rich and others poor, so that Allah may test through rich by his wealth and the poor through his poverty as it is stated in the Glorious Quran: www.dawateislami.net

8. 8. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 8 ۡۡۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ¯ٰۡۡۡ ٰۡۡۤۡ ٰ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And it is He who has made you vicegerents (viceroys/successor) in the earth and ranked some of you high above others, in order that He may test you with what He has bestowed upon you. (Part 8, Surah Al-An'aam, verse 165) i.e., make you undergo test and trials and observe how grateful you are after gaining high status, blessings and wealth and how you treat one another. (Khazaain-ul-'Irfan, part 8, Taht-al-Ayah 165) We have learned that the world is merely a house of tests trials, so we should feel privileged to happily discharge the Divine commandments and accumulate stockpiles of reward for the Hereafter as well, as Zakah is such a worship which is full of immense benefits and virtues of this world and the Hereafter. Let us listen to 15 advantages of Zakah and make its importance firmer and stronger in our hearts. 1. Source of the completion of Imaan The first good fortune of paying Zakah, is that it is a source of the completion of Imaan. Let us listen to 2 blessed sayings of the Prophet of Rahmah, the Intercessor of the Ummah, the Owner of Jannah ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  : 1. Completion of Islam is that you pay Zakah of your possession. (Attarghib Wattarhib, Kitab-us-Sadaqat, vol. 1, pp. 301, Hadees 12) 2. The one who has Imaan upon Allah and His Rasool (    ʄٖ   ʋ   ), it is necessary for him to pay Zakah of his possession. (Al-Mu'jam-ul-Kabeer, vol. 12, pp. 324, Hadees 13561) ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ www.dawateislami.net

9. 9. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 9 2. Showering of Divine mercy The second good fortune for paying Zakah is that it is a source of Divine blessings and mercy as it is stated in Glorious Quran: ۡ ۡۡۡۡۡۡۡ ٰۡ ٰٰۡۡۡۡۚ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And My mercy encompasses all things; so I shall soon destine favours for those who fear and pay the obligatory charity. (Part 9, Surah Al-A'raaf, verse 156) ‫اﭘﻨﯽ‬‫رﺣﻤﺖ‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫اﭘﻨﯽ‬‫ﻄﺎ‬َ‫ﻋ‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫ﻣﯿﺮے‬ٰ‫ﻟ‬‫ﻣﻮ‬‫ﯽ‬‫ُﻮ‬‫ﺗ‬‫َﯿﺮ‬‫ﺧ‬‫ات‬‫دﯾﺪے‬ ‫ﻻج‬‫رﮐﮫ‬‫ﻣﯿﺮے‬‫َﺳ‬‫د‬ِ‫ﺖ‬‫ُﻋﺎ‬‫د‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫ﻣﯿﺮے‬‫ٰﯽ‬‫ﻟ‬‫ﻣﻮ‬‫ُﻮ‬‫ﺗ‬‫ات‬‫ﺮ‬‫َﯿ‬‫ﺧ‬‫دﯾﺪے‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ 3. Acquisition of asceticism and piety The third excellence of paying Zakah is that it is a source of attaining piety as the Glorious Quran has mentioned in the third verse of Surah Al-Baqarah, regarding one of the signs of pious people: ۡ ٰ ۡۡ ۡۙ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And spend in Our cause from what We have bestowed upon them. (Part 1, Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 3) 4. Way to success The fourth excellence of paying Zakah is that one is included in the list of successful people as one of the blessed virtues of successful people is paying Zakah: www.dawateislami.net

10. 10. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 10 ۡۡۡ ۡۡۙۡ ۡ ۡۡۡ ٰ ۙۡۡ ٰۡۡۡۙۡۡۡ ٰ ۙ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: Successful indeed are the believers those who humbly cry in their prayers and who do not incline towards indecent matters and who pay the (obligatory) charity. (Part 18, Surah Al-Mu`minoon, verse 1 to 4) 5. Deserving of Divine Help The fifth excellence of paying Zakah is that Allah helps the one who pays Zakah as it is stated in Glorious Quran: ٰ ۡ ۡ ٰ ۡۡۡۡ ٰ ۡ ٰ ۡ ٰۡ ٰۡ ۡ ۡۡۡۡ ۡ ٰۡۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And indeed Allah will assist the one who helps His religion; indeed surely Allah is Almighty, Dominant. The people who, if We give them control in the land, would keep the prayer established and pay charity and enjoin virtue and forbid from evil; and for Allah only is the result of all works. (Part 17, Surah Al-Hajj, verse 40, 41) 6. Pouring happiness into the hearts of Muslims The sixth excellence is that Zakah meets the needs of the poor people and they become overjoyed. Remember that to be source of Muslim's happiness brings great reward. The Revered and Renowned Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has www.dawateislami.net

11. 11. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 11 stated: In the sight of Allah , the greatest deed after performing the obligatory acts is to pour happiness into the heart of Muslim. (Al-Mu'jam-ul-Kabeer, vol. 11, pp. 59, Hadees 11079) ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ 7. Beauty of an Islamic society The seventh virtue is that paying Zakah is a beauty of the Islamic society as the rich person provides courage to the poor Muslim by paying Zakah so he may lead his life with respect and honour; furthermore, the hearts of poor people remain immune from malice and jealousy because he knows that he has a right in the wealth of wealthy Muslims. So, he also prays for blessings in the wealth, possession and children of his fellow Muslims. The Beloved and Blessed Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'Indeed a true believer to a true believer is the similitude of a building, strengthening one another.' (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 1, pp. 181, Hadees 481) 8. Strong brotherhood The eighth advantage is that Zakah plays a pivotal role in developing a strong brotherhood amongst Muslims leading to the fostering of unity in the Islamic society and Muslims become the testimony of following the blessed saying of the Beloved Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  by their mutual cooperation affection: The similitude of Muslims is like one body in regard to mutual friendship, affection and feelings of attachment; when any limb is hurt, the whole body hurts, because of sleeplessness and fever.' (Sahih Muslim, pp. 1396, Hadees 2586) 9. Zakah purifies possession of wealth The ninth excellence of paying Zakah is that, it purifies the possession of wealth as it is mentioned, Sayyiduna Anas Bin Maalik      ʝ narrated, the Noblest Prophet ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  has stated, 'Pay Zakah out of your possession of wealth, it will purify you.' (Musnad Imam Ahmad, vol. 4, pp. 274, Hadees 1239) www.dawateislami.net

12. 12. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 12 10. Getting rid of evil qualities The tenth excellence is that Zakah not only purifies the possession of wealth but also bestows purity to one's inner-self as well. It also rids us of evil qualities like greed and miserliness, as the Glorious Quran condemns the miser: ۤ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡۡ ۡ ٖ ۡ ۡ ٰ ٰ ٰۡۡ ٰٖۡۡۡ ۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And never must those who act miserly upon what Allah has bestowed upon them of His grace, think that it is good for them; in fact it is harmful for them; soon what they had withheld will be collars round their necks on the Day of Resurrection. (Part 4, Surah Aal-e-'Imran, verse 180) ‫ﻣﺠﮭﮯ‬‫ﻣﺎل‬‫و‬‫دوﻟﺖ‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫َﺖ‬‫ﻓ‬‫آ‬‫ﻧﮯ‬‫ا‬‫ﺮ‬‫ﮔﮭﯿ‬‫ﭽﺎ‬َ‫ﺑ‬‫ﯾﺎ‬‫ٰﮩﯽ‬‫ﻟ‬ِ‫ا‬‫ﭽﺎ‬َ‫ﺑ‬‫ٰﮩﯽ‬‫ﻟ‬ِ‫ا‬ ‫ﯾﺎ‬ ‫ﻧﮧ‬‫دے‬‫ﺟﺎہ‬‫و‬‫ﺖ‬َ‫ﻤ‬‫ﺸ‬َ‫ﺣ‬‫ﻧﮧ‬‫دوﻟﺖ‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫َرث‬‫ﮐ‬‫ت‬‫َﺪاﺋﮯ‬‫ﮔ‬‫ﻣﺪﯾﻨﮧ‬‫ﺑﻨﺎ‬‫ﯾﺎ‬‫ٰﮩﯽ‬‫ﻟ‬ِ‫ا‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ 11. Virtues in possession of wealth The eleventh excellence is that Zakah does not reduce wealth, instead it increases in the world and the Hereafter. Allah says in Glorious Quran: ۤۡ ۡ ٰۡۡۡۡۡۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And whatever you spend in the way of Allah, He will recompense you with more. And He is the best of the providers. (Part 22, Surah Sabaa, verse 39) www.dawateislami.net

13. 13. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 13 And it is stated in another verse: ۡۡ ٰۡۡۡۡۡۡۡۡ ۡ ٰ ٰٰۡۡ ۡ ۡ ٰۡۡۡۡۡ ۡۤۡ ۡۤۡ ۡ ۡۡۡۡۡ ۡۡۡ ۡ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: The example of those who spend their wealth in Allah's way is similar to that of a grain which has sprouted seven stalks and in each stalk is a hundred grains; and Allah may increase it still more than this, for whomever He wills; and Allah is Most Able, All Knowing. Those who spend their wealth in Allah's way and thereafter do not express favour nor cause injury (hurt the recipient's feelings), their reward is with their Lord; there shall be no fear upon them nor shall they grieve. (Part 3, Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 261-262) Dear Islamic brothers! We have learned that one should happily pay Zakah, knowing this fact that Allah will grant him a better recompense. The Holy Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'Sadaqah does not cause reduction in wealth.' (Al-Mu'jam-ul-Awsat, vol. 1, pp. 619, Hadees 2270) Apparently, by giving Zakah, wealth seems to be reduced, but in fact, it continues increasing like a tree that gives a strange look after pruning, but it brings about its growth. Hakeem-ul-Ummat, Mufti Ahmad Yar Khan   ȹ  has stated, 'The one who pays Zakah, will find his Zakah increasing each year, it is a proven experience that the farmer disperses all his grains over the field, it apparently seems that he returns with empty sacks of grains, but in fact, he will ultimately be filling them in abundance. However, the grains stockpiled in sacks at homes deteriorate due to attacks by weevils or mice etc. Or it implies that wealth spent as a Sadaqah in the way of Allah will result in increase www.dawateislami.net

14. 14. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 14  ˠȹ , and continue growing - when you keep filling up a well the volume will continue increasing. (Mirat-ul-Manajih, vol. 3, pp. 93) 12. Protection from the evil of wealth The twelfth excellence of Zakah is that whoever pays the Zakah becomes safe from the evil of wealth. The Greatest and Holiest Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'Whoever pays the Zakah of his wealth, indeed the evil effect of it will be removed from him.' (Al-Mu'jam-ul-Awsat, vol. 1, pp. 431, Hadees 1579) 13. Cause of protection of wealth The thirteenth excellence of Zakah is that it is a cause of protection of wealth as the Blessed and Beloved Rasool ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'Protect your wealth in a strong fort by paying its Zakah and treat your sick with charity'. (Maraseel Abi Dawood, pp. 8) 14. Fulfilling the needs The fourteenth excellence of Zakah is that Allah will fulfil the need of Zakah payers. Listen to two blessed sayings in this connection: 1. Whoever relieves one's poverty, Allah will relieve him in the world and Hereafter. (Sahih Muslim, pp. 1447, Hadees 2699) 2. Whoever removes worldly trouble, Allah will remove his trouble on the Day of Judgment. (Sunan-ut-Tirmizi, vol. 3,pp. 115) 15. Blessings and invocations The fifteenth excellence is that one seeks Du'as of the poor which help him attain the Divine blessings as the Prophet of Rahmah, the Intercessor of the Ummah, the Owner of Jannah ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'You gain no Divine help and livelihood except through the blessings and Du'as of the poor.' (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 2, pp. 280, Hadees 2896) ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ www.dawateislami.net

15. 15. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 15 Introduction of the book 'Faizan-e-Zakaat' Dear Islamic brothers! The virtues excellences, you have heard of Zakah, are taken from the book called 'Faizan-e-Zakaat', a publication of Maktaba-tul- Madinah - the publishing department of Dawat-e-Islami - with some amendments; this 149-page book contains the importance virtues of paying Zakah as well as the disadvantages harms of not paying it. Included are many Shar'ee rulings. In addition to this, Sadaqah-e-Fitr and the virtues of 'Ushr are added in a very simple manner, for the public to understand it easily and to gain maximum benefit from it. Buy this book and besides reading it yourself, also present it to other Muslims as Langar-e-Rasaail (giving away booklets to others). This book can also be read online: www.dawateislami.net, or downloaded for free. ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ Passion of the Sahabah Kiram  ʝȹ    Sayyiduna Ubay Bin Ka'b      ʝ narrated: Once the Blessed and Beloved Rasool ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  sent me to collect Zakah. I visited a man. When he had collected his possession of camels, I found that a one year old she-camel was due upon him. I said to him, 'Your payment is a one year old she-camel, for it is the Zakah of these camels to be paid by you.' He said, 'A year old she camel will not be of any use, it is not worthy of milking and riding. Here is another she-camel which is strong and fat. So take it.' I said to him, 'I will not take any thing for which I have not been commanded; however, the Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  is close by. If you like, go to the blessed court of the Noblest Prophet ʋ     ʄٖ    , and present it to him yourself. If he ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  accepts it from you, I will accept it; if he rejects it, I will reject it.' He said, 'I shall do this.' He accompanied me and took the she-camel with him. We approached the blessed court of the Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  . He humbly said to the Beloved Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  , 'O Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  , your messenger came to me to collect Zakah of my possessions. I swear by Allah , never before have I this privilege that you or your messenger saw my possessions before. I gathered all my camels, and www.dawateislami.net

16. 16. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 16 he estimated that a one year she-camel would be payable by me but it does not produce milk nor is it worth riding. So I presented to him a young and healthy she-camel for the acceptance of Zakah but he refused to take her. O Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  I have brought her in your blessed court, accept it.' The Beloved Rasool ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  said, 'That is what is due upon you; however, if you want to give a young camel at your will, Allah will give a reward to you for it. We accept her from you.' He humbly said, 'O Beloved Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  that she-camel is here, I have brought her. So accept her.' The Beloved and Blessed Rasool ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  then ordered to take it, and he ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  prayed for blessing upon his possession. (Sunan Abu Dawood, vol. 2, pp. 148, Hadees 1583) Dear Islamic brothers! Have you observed the great and deep passion of the blessed Sahabah  ʝȹ    that they would present the most excellent and would deem it a privilege for them, but alas on the other hand, this is our condition that a majority of people do not completely pay their Zakah, let alone paying Zakah happily. Remember that the Holy Quran conveys a severe warning for those who do not pay Zakah, as it is stated: ۡۡۡۡ ۡ ٰۡۡۡۡۡۡۙ Translation from Kanz-ul-Imaan: And those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah's way - so give them the glad tidings of a painful punishment. (Part 10, Surah At-Taubah, verse 34) Listen to two blessed sayings of the Beloved Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  containing warnings for those who do not pay Zakah: 1. The first three persons who will enter Hell; one of them will be that rich man who does not fulfil the right (Zakah) of Allah . www.dawateislami.net

17. 17. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 17 2. If any person is an owner of gold or silver and he does not fulfil its right (i.e., Zakah) what is due upon him, when the Day of Resurrection would come, plates of fire would be spread for him; which would then be heated in the fire of Hell and his sides, his forehead and his back would be branded with them. Whenever these cool down, the process is repeated during a day the extent of which would be fifty thousand years, until judgment is pronounced among bondsmen, and he would see his path whether leading him to Heaven or Hell. (Sahih Muslim, pp. 491, Hadees 987) ‫ر‬َ‫ڈ‬‫ﻟﮓ‬‫رﮨﺎ‬‫ﮨﮯ‬‫آہ‬!‫ﻢ‬ّ‫ﻨ‬‫ﺟﮩ‬‫ﮐﯽ‬‫آگ‬‫ﺳﮯ‬‫ﺑﺨﺸﺶ‬‫ﮐﺎ‬‫ﻣﺠﮫ‬‫ﮐﻮ‬‫َہ‬‫د‬‫ﮋ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬‫ﻨﺎ‬ ُ‫ﺳ‬‫ﯾﺠﺌﮯ‬ِ‫د‬‫ﻮر‬ ُ‫ﻀ‬ُ‫ﺣ‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ Dear Islamic brothers! Undoubtedly, Allah is All Wise and His no work is void of any wisdom. Whatever the laws and commandments, He revealed upon his bondsmen, all are brimming with wisdom, though our inefficient wisdom fail to approach and understand the Divine wisdom. Zakah is also such obligation in which Allah encompasses numerous Divine wisdom. Let's listen to some out of them. Divine wisdom behind paying Zakah 1. Generosity is a virtue of the human being and stinginess is a defect. Something so beautiful like paying Zakah has been bestowed to the Muslims, by Islam, so that the quality of generosity is instilled in humans and the most disgusting defect like miserliness should be destroyed from his personality. 2. Like in a system of any state, a portion of our earnings is due to the government in the form of tax, and this same tax is used for our own interests i.e., national administration management. Beyond any comparison, Allah is the Supreme Being, granting us wealth, riches, blessings and all other bounties, and Zakah is the right of Allah which is spent on our poor people. www.dawateislami.net

18. 18. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 18 3. If Allah wanted, He would make everyone rich by granting them wealth, but it is His Divine Will that He made some of His bondsmen rich and others poor and made Zakah due upon the rich people so that the passion of mutual cooperation, love and affection may develop amongst them and all enjoy the blessings of Allah and express gratitude towards Allah . 4. The obligation of Zakah is not something strange, if we ponder by looking around us, we would learn that the reality of Zakah exists everywhere, such as: The pulp of fruit is for a human but the peels are for animals, grain of corn is for the human and the chaff is for animals, the flour of wheat is for humans and the husk is for animals. It is obligatory to clip the nails and cut the hair in case of exceeding the principles of Shari'ah as these acts are the Zakah of the human body i.e., additional things. Disease is the Zakah of health, trouble is a Zakah of comfort, Salahs are Zakah of worldly business etc. 5. Every person upon whom Zakah is obligatory, if he makes it incumbent upon himself, then Muslims will not be in need of others' support assistance. Muslims will fulfil the needs of Muslims and no one will have to beg. (Rasaail Na'eemiyyah, pp. 298) So, instead of, stashing wealth away in our safes (i.e. banks), spend in the way of Allah in the form of Zakah and Sadaqaat, otherwise, believe in this fact that not paying Zakah may bring about economic crises in the world and painful torment in Hell. Numerous disadvantages and harms have been reported for not paying Zakah, some of them are as follows: Destruction of possession Destruction of possessions is a result of not paying Zakah. Let's listen to two blessed sayings of the Beloved Rasool ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  in this context: 1. Whatever possession lost at a dry place or in the water is destroyed due to not paying Zakah. (Majma'-uz-Zawaaid, vol. 3, pp. 200, Hadees 4335) www.dawateislami.net

19. 19. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 19 2. Zakah will destroy the possession in which it is included. (Shu'ab-ul-Imaan, vol. 3, pp. 273, Hadees 3522) Commenting on the abovementioned blessed Hadees, Sadr-ush-Shari'ah, Badr-ut-Tariqah, Mufti Muhammad Amjad 'Ali A'zami   ȹ ۡ has stated: Out of this blessed Hadees, some blessed scholars have reached the conclusion that Zakah became obligatory and if it was not paid and obviously it is included in his wealth or possession then this Haraam will destroy that Halaal and Imam Ahmad ( ʋ      ) has stated that this blessed Hadees has implied that, 'If a wealthy person takes Zakah then it will destroy his wealth as Zakah is for the poor and the destitute.' Both these conclusions are correct. (Bahar-e-Shari'at, vol. 1, pp. 281) Wealth will become Divine retribution The one who does not pay Zakah, the possession of his wealth will become Divine Retribution on the Day of Judgement as the Prophet of Rahmah, the Intercessor of the Ummah ٖ   ʋ      ʄ  has stated: Whoever is made wealthy by Allah and does not pay the Zakah of his wealth, then on the Day of Resurrection his wealth will be made like a baldheaded snake with two black spots on his head. The snake will then wrap itself around his neck and bite his cheeks and say, 'I am your wealth, I am your treasure.' (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-uz-Zakah, vol. 1, pp. 474, Hadees 1403) Harshness of Accountability The one who does not pay Zakah will suffer a severity in accountability as it is stated: The poor would not suffer the state of nakedness and hunger but due to the rich, listen, Allah will call such rich people to severe account and will inflict them with painful torment. (Majma'-uz-Zawaaid, vol. 3, pp. 197, Hadees 4324) Spectacles of torments Shaykh-e-Tareeqat, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, 'Allamah Maulana Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadiri Razavi has written on page 405 of the 1st volume of his world-renowned book 'Faizan-e-Sunnat': www.dawateislami.net

20. 20. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 20 Dear Islamic brothers! Remember! As there are many rewards for the one who gives Zakah, there are also severe punishments for those who do not. Describing the punishments stated in the Glorious Quran and blessed Hadees, A'la Hadrat, Imām-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, reviver of the Sunnah, the eradicator of Bid'ah, scholar of Shari'ah, guide of Tareeqah, 'Allāmah Maulānā Al-Hāj Al-Hāfiz Al-Qārī Ash-Shāh Imām Ahmad Razā Khān     has stated: The summary is that the Zakah due on gold and silver which was not paid, will be heated on the Day of Judgement. The foreheads, sides and backs of those who did not discharge their Zakah will then be branded with this scorching gold and silver. A burning stone from Hell will be placed on his head and breast which will pierce the breast and emerge from the shoulders. When placed on the shoulders, it will pierce through the bones and emerge from the breast. It will then pierce the back and emerge from the side. It will then pierce the nape and emerge from the forehead. On the Day of Judgement, Zakah which was due on wealth, if it was not given then that wealth will transform into a fierce snake and will chase after the person who had not paid its Zakah. That person will try to stop the snake with his hand, but the snake will chew his hand and will then wrap itself around his neck. Then taking that person's mouth into its mouth, the snake will chew his mouth, saying 'I am your wealth', 'I am your treasure.' It will then chew the whole body.' َ‫ِي‬‫ع‬ ۡ ‫ال‬َ‫و‬ِ‫ب‬ ُ ‫اذ‬ ۡ ‫ي‬ِ‫م‬ َ ‫ل‬ٰ‫ع‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ ِ ّ‫ب‬َ‫ر‬ ِ ّٰ ‫ا‬ (Fatawa Razawiyyah, vol. 10, pp. 153) Warning the one not giving Zakah, A'la Hadrat, Imām Ahmad Razā Khān     has further stated the frightening torture of the Day of Judgement in these words: O dear! Do you think that these sayings of Allah and His Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ are of no importance? Do you consider these punishments easy to bear on a 50,000 years long Day of Judgement? Heat a coin in the fire of this world and brand your body with it. There is no comparison between the fire (of this world) and the blazing flames (of Hell); between a small coin and the wealth accumulated during one's whole life; between the temporary pain in this world and the thousand years' everlasting pain in the Hereafter; between branding with a small coin and bone piercing punishment. May Allah guide the Muslims! (Fatawa Razawiyyah, vol. 10, pp. 175) www.dawateislami.net

21. 21. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 21 Dear Islamic brothers! Join the righteous environment of Dawat-e-Islami, ȹ ˠ   ; you will learn the rulings of Shari'ah regarding Zakah and Sadaqah and your inspiration passion for acting upon will keep growing. ٰ ‫ا‬ِ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ي‬ِ ّ ِ‫ب‬َّ‫ال‬ِ‫ه‬‫ا‬َ ِ‫ب‬ َ ۡ ‫ا‬ِ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ي‬ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ َ ‫ل‬ َ ‫ع‬ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ِ‫ه‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ل‬ ٰ ‫ا‬َ‫و‬ٖ‫م‬ َّ ‫ل‬َ‫س‬َ‫و‬ Summary of the Bayan (speech) Dear Islamic brothers! Have you heard that those people who do not pay Zakah are in a great loss that they would not only suffer loss in the world but will also fall in the painful torment in the Hereafter. The incident of Qāroon is a great warning, that one who was bestowed with enormous and unimaginable wealth, but on the occasion of paying Zakah, his love for wealth prevented him from paying his Zakah and thus he fell prey to Divine torment while making an evil attempt to slander Sayyiduna Musa  ʄ  ʎ  , he then sank into earth along with his mighty house and treasure and will continue sinking into the earth till the Hereafter. Zakah is a source of the completion of Imaan. Divine blessings shower upon those who pay their Zakah; by paying Zakah, one attains success in piety, self- discipline and simplicity. Zakah promotes and fosters Islamic fraternity and brotherhood; furthermore, wealth is protected remains safe, it becomes purified and blessings shower upon the possessions of wealth. The payer of Zakah protects himself from evil effects and he gains the Du'as of the poor and elderly people. May Allah grant us the privilege of paying the Zakah of our wealth and to always spend in the way of Allah . ٰ ‫ا‬ِ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ي‬‫ا‬َ ِ‫ب‬ِ ّ ِ‫ب‬َّ‫ال‬ِ‫ه‬ َ ۡ ‫ا‬ِ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ي‬ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ َ ‫ل‬ َ ‫ع‬ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ِ‫ه‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ل‬ ٰ ‫ا‬َ‫و‬ٖ‫م‬ َّ ‫ل‬َ‫س‬َ‫و‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ Introduction of Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat  ȹ ! Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat, an important department, running under the platform of Dawat-e-Islami, is progressing by leaps and bounds. Respected www.dawateislami.net

22. 22. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 22 Muftis and Islamic brothers associated with Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat, are actively providing Shar'ee guidance through issuing Fataawa (edicts), answering letters messages via emails, WhatsApp, the website, phone calls, broadcasting Internationally on Madani Channel, holding Madani Mashwarahs (consultative meetings), writing books scrutinizing and answering queries face to face. Let us listen about Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat. Several Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat have been established in different parts of Pakistan where Dawat-e-Islami's Muftis and scholars of the Ahl-e-Sunnat are busy providing Muslims with Shar'ee guidance. Till this Bayan, more than 650 queries a month are replied to (including emails), issued by 11 branches of Dar-ul-Ifta Ahl-e-Sunnat situated in different cities of Pakistan. Most of these Fataawa are issued in printed form. Up until now, more than one hundred thousand edicts (Fataawa) have been issued. More than 4000 questions are answered (via voice recordings) through the Dar-ul-Ifta link which exists on Dawat-e-Islami's website, and monthly approximately 800 questions are answered through the Dar-ul-Ifta Email address (darulifta@dawateislami.net), furthermore, 10000 questions are answered through national and international phone calls from all over the world. ȹ   a WhatsApp number has also been set up from the 10 Jumadal Aūla, 1436 (2 March 2015). In addition to this, thousands of Islamic brothers receive solutions to their problems via phone or by visiting Dar-ul-Ifta in person in order to deal with their issues in conformity with the Shari'ah. ȹ   ! Further efforts are underway. Take part in the 12 Madani activities Dear Islamic brothers! Participate in the 12 Zayli Madani activities of Dawat-e- Islami with full commitment for propagating the call towards righteousness. One of these Madani activities is called 'Chowk Dars' (Dars at a busy square). Remember! In Chowk Dars, 'Ilm-e-Deen (Islamic teachings) are conveyed and similarly, Chowk Dars is a brilliant source of ' ٌ‫ر‬ۡ‫م‬ َ ‫ا‬ِ‫ف‬ۡ‫و‬ُ‫ر‬ۡ‫ع‬َ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ِ‫ب‬ٌ ۡ ‫ه‬ َ ‫ن‬َ‫و‬ِ‫ن‬َ‫ع‬‫ر‬ َ ‫ك‬ۡ‫ن‬ُ‫م‬ ۡ ‫ال‬ ' and it brings countless excellences. www.dawateislami.net

23. 23. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 23 The Noble Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated, 'The one who imparts any Islamic teaching which establishes a Sunnah or it becomes a cause of preventing disbelief, that person is a Jannati [dweller of Heaven].' (Hilya-tul-Awliya, Hadees 14466) Reward of one year's worship for each word Hujjat-ul-Islam Sayyiduna Imam Abu Haamid Muhammad Bin Muhammad Bin Muhammad Ghazali ۡ   ȹ     ۡ has narrated: Sayyiduna Musa  ʄ      ʎ once humbly asked Allah , 'O Allah ! What is the reward for the one enjoining his brother to do good deeds and preventing him from evils?' Allah said, 'I write the reward of one year's worship for each word of his and I feel Haya (shyness) in causing him the torment of Hell.' (Mukashafa-tul-Quloob, pp. 48) ȹ   ! In Chowk Dars too, people are called towards righteousness and are forbidden from evils; if we also participate in Chowk Dars, we would also attain the excellence of the blessed Hadees based on calling towards righteousness ȹ ˠ   . Therefore, let's make an intention of delivering listening to Chowk Dars,  ȹ ˠ . Let's listen to a Madani Bahār (parable) for your persuasion motivation: How I gave up taking drugs An Islamic brother who lives in Hyderabad (Bāb-ul-Islam, Sindh) has stated: I was a drug addict and did not offer Salah. My family was very worried and concerned about me. Luckily, I was blessed with the privilege of attending the three day Sunnah-Inspiring global Ijtimā' of Dawat-e-Islami held in the plains of Sahrā-e-Madīnah, Madīna-tul-Awliyā, Multan in 1426 A.H., 2005. During the Ijtimā', I made the intention to perform I'tikāf in Faizān-e-Madīnah. So I came to Bāb-ul-Madīnah and gained the privilege of observing I'tikāf for the last 10 days of Ramadan (1426 A.H. 2005). No doubt, the three day Ijtimā' of Multan had its effect on me but the blessings of collective I'tikāf cannot be expressed in words! www.dawateislami.net

24. 24. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 24 Truly speaking, it completely transformed the state of my heart. I repented sincerely of my sins, grew my beard and instantly started to wear a green turban. When I returned to Hyderabad after the I'tikāf my family and neighbours were surprised to see me with a beard and a green turban. ȹ   ! I stopped taking drugs. Now I make efforts to spread the Madanī work of Dawat-e-Islami. My daughter has enrolled in a Shari'ah course in one of the branches of Jāmi'a-tul-Madīnah of Dawat-e-Islami and my two Madanī sons are memorising the Holy Quran in Madrasa-tul-Madīnah. Dear Islamic brothers! In conclusion, I take this opportunity to mention the excellence of a Sunnah as well as some Sunan and manners. The Prophet of Rahmah, the Intercessor of the Ummah ʄʋٖ has said, 'He who loves my Sunnah, loves me, and he who loves me will be with me in Paradise.' (Ibn 'Asakir, vol. 9, pp. 343) ‫ﺳﯿﻨﮧ‬‫ﺗﺮی‬‫ﺖ‬‫ﱠ‬‫ﻨ‬ ُ‫ﺳ‬‫ﮐﺎ‬‫ﻣﺪﯾﻨﮧ‬‫ﺑﻨﮯ‬‫آﻗﺎ‬‫ﺖ‬‫ﱠ‬‫ﻨ‬‫ﺟ‬‫ﻣﯿﮟ‬‫ﭘﮍوﺳﯽ‬‫ﻣﺠﮭﮯ‬‫ﺗﻢ‬‫اﭘﻨﺎ‬‫ﺑﻨﺎﻧﺎ‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ Putting kohl: 4 Madani pearls 1. In Sunan Ibn Majah, there is a narration that, 'The best kohl (Surmah) among all is Ismid as it strengthens the eyesight and grows the eyelashes.' (Sunan Ibn-e-Mājaĥ, p. 115 vol. 4, Ḥadiš 3497) 1. Kohl powder made from other stones can also be used. It is, however, Makruh (disliked) for a man to use black kohl with the intention of makeup but if that is not the intention, it is not Makruh. (Fatāwā 'Ālamgiri, pp. 359, vol. 5) 2. It is Sunnah to use antimony (kohl/Surmah) before sleeping. (Mirā-tul Manājīh, p. 180, vol. 6) www.dawateislami.net

25. 25. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 25 3. Here is the summary of the three narrated methods of using kohl. Apply thrice to each eye (put the kohl applier in the kohl bottle each time for a new application). Apply thrice in the right eye and twice in the left. Apply twice to each eye and on the last application, enter the applier into the container then use that same applier to equally put it in both eyes. (Shu'abul Īmān, pp. 218-219 vol. 5) To learn various Sunan, obtain the following books, Bahar-e-Shari'at volume 16 comprising of 312 pages and Sunnatayn aur Ādaab, comprising of 120 pages, both published by Maktaba-tul-Madinah, the publishing department of Dawat-e-Islami. One of the best ways to learn Sunan is to travel in the Madani Qafilahs of Dawat-e-Islami with the lovers of the Beloved Prophet. ‫ﮐﻮ‬ ‫ﻣﺠﮫ‬‫ر‬َ‫و‬‫ﺮ‬َ‫ﭘ‬ ‫رﮨﻮں‬ ‫ﮐﺮﺗﺎ‬ ‫ﺳﻔﺮ‬ ‫دے‬ ‫ﺬﺑﮧ‬َ‫ﺟ‬ِ‫د‬‫ﮔﺎر‬‫ﺑﺎر‬ ‫ﺑﺎر‬ ‫ﻣﯿﮟ‬ ‫ﻗﺎﻓﻠﮯ‬ ‫ﮐﮯ‬ ‫ﺖ‬‫ﱠ‬‫ﯿ‬‫ﺗﺮﺑ‬ ‫ﮐﯽ‬ ‫ﻮں‬‫ﱠ‬‫ﺘ‬‫ﻨ‬ ُ‫ﺳ‬ ‫ب‬ۡ‫ي‬ِ‫ب‬َ ۡ ‫ال‬ َ َ ‫ا‬ۡ‫و‬ ُّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬‫د‬َّ‫م‬ َ ُ ‫م‬ ٰ َ ٰ Ǔ‫ا‬َ‫ع‬ َ ‫ت‬ ُ ّٰ ‫ا‬ َّ ‫ل‬ َ‫ص‬ The Salawaat-'Alan-Nabi that are recited in the Sunnah-Inspiring weekly Ijtima' (congregation) of Dawat-e-Islami: 1. The Salat-'Alan-Nabi for the night preceding Friday ِ‫ـﺐ‬‫ـ‬ْ‫ﻴ‬ِʏَ‫ﺤ‬ْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ ِّ ِّʗُ ْ‫اﻻ‬ ِّ ِ‫ﱮ‬‫ـ‬َّʮ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ ٍ‫ﺪ‬‫َـ‬ّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻧ‬ِ‫ﺪ‬ِّ‫ـﻴ‬َ‫ﺳ‬ ٰʄ‫ـ‬َʋ ْ‫ك‬ِ‫ـﺎر‬َ‫ﺑ‬َ‫و‬ ْ‫ﻢ‬ِّ‫ﻠ‬‫ـ‬َ‫ﺳ‬َ‫و‬ ِّ‫ﻞ‬‫ـ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ َّ‫ـﻢ‬ُ‫ﻬ‬ّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫ﻟ‬َ‫ا‬ ِ‫ہ‬‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﺠ‬ْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ ِ‫ﻢ‬ْ‫ﻴ‬ِ‫ﻈ‬َ‫ْﻌ‬‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ِ‫ر‬ ْ‫َﺪ‬‫ﻘ‬ْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ ِ‫ﺎﱃ‬َ‫ْﻌ‬‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ْ‫ﻢ‬ِّ‫ﻠ‬َ‫ﺳ‬َ‫و‬ ٖɟِ‫ﺒ‬ْ‫ﺤ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬َ‫و‬ ٖɟِ‫ﻟ‬ٰ‫ا‬ ٰʄَʋَ‫و‬ www.dawateislami.net

26. 26. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 26 The saints of Islam have quoted that whoever recites this Salat-'Alan-Nabi at least once on the night preceding Friday [the night between Thursday and Friday] on a regular basis will be blessed with the vision of the Beloved and Blessed Prophet   ٖ   ʋ     ʄ at the time of death, as well as at the time of his burial into the grave, to the extent that he will see the Noble Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ lowering him into the grave with his own merciful hands. (Afzal-us-Salawat 'ala Sayyid-is-Sadat, pp. 151) 2. All sins forgiven ْ‫ﻢ‬ِّ‫ﻠ‬َ‫ﺳ‬َ‫و‬ ٖɟِ‫ﻟ‬ٰ‫ا‬ ٰʄَʋَّ‫و‬ ٍ‫ﺪ‬َّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻧ‬ َ‫ﻻ‬ْ‫ﻮ‬َ‫ﻣ‬ َ‫و‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻧ‬ ِ‫ﺪ‬ِّ‫ﻴ‬َ‫ﺳ‬ ٰʄَʋ ِّ‫ﻞ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ َّ‫ﻢ‬ُ‫ﻬ‬ّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫ﻟ‬َ‫ا‬ It is narrated by Sayyiduna Anas       ʝ that the Beloved and Blessed Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ has stated, 'Whoever recites this Salat upon me whilst standing, then prior to his sitting back; and if he recites it whilst sitting, then before he stands back, his sins will be forgiven.' (ibid, pp. 65) 3. 70 Portals of mercy َʋ ُɟّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫اﻟ‬ َّʄ َ‫ﺻ‬ٍ‫ﺪ‬َّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ٰʄ Whoever recites this Salat-'Alan-Nabi, 70 portals of mercy are opened for him. (Al-Qaul-ul-Badi', pp. 277) 4. Good deeds for 1000 days ٗɟُ‫ﻠ‬ْ‫ﻫ‬َ‫ا‬ َ‫ﻮ‬ُ‫ﻫ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ا‬ً‫َﺪ‬ّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َّ‫ﻨ‬َ‫ﻋ‬ ُɟّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫اﻟ‬ ‫ی‬َ‫ﺰ‬َ‫ﺟ‬ It is narrated by Sayyiduna Ibn ''Abbās  ʝ    that the Noble and Blessed Prophet   ٖ   ʋ      ʄ has stated, 'For the reciter of above supplication, seventy angels write good deeds (in his account) for 1000 days.' (Majma'-uz-Zawaid, pp. 254, vol. 10, Hadees 17305) www.dawateislami.net

27. 27. Virtues of Zakah Translated into English by Majlis-e-Tarajim (Dawat-e-Islami) 27 5. The reward of 600,000 Salawat-'Alan-Nabi َ‫د‬َ‫ﺪ‬َʋ ٍ‫ﺪ‬َّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻧ‬ِ‫ﺪ‬ِّ‫ﻴ‬َ‫ﺳ‬ ٰʄَʋ ِّ‫ﻞ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ َّ‫ﻢ‬ُ‫ﻬ‬ّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫ﻟ‬َ‫ا‬ ِɟّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫اﻟ‬ ِ‫ْﻚ‬‫ﻠ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ِ‫ام‬َ‫و‬ َ‫ﺪ‬ِ‫ﺑ‬ًۢ‫ﺔ‬َ‫ﻤ‬ِ‫ﺋ‬ۤ‫ا‬َ‫د‬ ً‫ة‬ َ‫ﻼ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ ِɟّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫اﻟ‬ ِ‫ْﻢ‬‫ﻠ‬ِʋ ْ ِ‫ﰱ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻣ‬ Shaykh Ahmad Sawi ۡ   ȹ   ۡ   reports from some saints of Islam that the one reciting this Salat-'Alan-Nabi once receives the reward of reciting Salat- 'Alan-Nabi 600,000 times. (Afzal-us-Salawat 'alaSayyid-is-Sadat, pp. 149) 6. Nearness to the Distinguished Prophet ِّ‫ﻞ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ َّ‫ﻢ‬ُ‫ﻬ‬ّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫ﻟ‬َ‫ا‬ٗɟَ‫ﻟ‬ ٰʝ‫ﺮ‬َ‫ﺗ‬ َ‫و‬ ُّ‫ﺐ‬ِ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﺗ‬ ‫ﺎ‬َ‫َﻤ‬‫ﮐ‬ ٍ‫ﺪ‬َّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬ ٰʄَʋ One day somebody came [to the blessed court of the Beloved and Blessed Prophet  ٖ   ʋ     ʄ ], and the Holy Prophet  ٖ   ʋ     ʄ made him sit in between himself and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq      ʝ . The respected companions     ȹ   ʝ were surprised as to who that honoured person was. When he had left, the Holy Prophet     ʄ  ٖ   ʋ  said, 'When he recites Salat upon me, he does so in these words.' (Al-Qaul-ul-Badi', pp. 125) 7. Durood-e-Shafa'at َّ‫ﻢ‬ُɡّٰ‫ﻠ‬‫ﻟ‬َ‫ا‬ِّ‫ﻞ‬ َ‫ﺻ‬ٰʄَʋٍ‫ﺪ‬َّ‫ﻤ‬َ‫ﺤ‬ُ‫ﻣ‬َّ‫و‬ْ‫ﻧ‬َ‫ا‬ْ‫ﻟ‬ِ‫ﺰ‬ُɟْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ْ‫ﻘ‬َ‫ﻤ‬ْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ َ‫ﺪ‬َ‫ﻌ‬َ‫ب‬َّ‫َﺮ‬‫ﻘ‬ُ‫ﻤ‬ْ‫ﻨ‬ِ‫ﻋ‬َ‫ﺪ‬َ‫ك‬ْ‫ﻮ‬َ‫ﻳ‬َ‫م‬ْ‫ﻟ‬‫ا‬ِ‫ﺔ‬َ‫ﻣ‬‫ﺎ‬َ‫ﻴ‬ِ‫ﻘ‬ The Greatest and Holiest Prophet ٖ   ʋ     ʄ  has stated: The one who recites this Salat upon me, my intercession will become obligatory for him. (Attarghib Wattarhib, vol. 2, pp. 329, Hadees 31) www.dawateislami.net

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the virtues found in hajj umrah

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By Editorial Staff

The Arabic word 'Hajj' literally means to repair to, betake oneself or set off for a place. In the technical usage of the term, it means to repair to the Sacred House in Makka and perform the rites of the Pilgrimage. Allah says,

"Thus Hajj-Pilgrimage to the (Sacred) House (in Makkah) is owed to God, as an obligation upon all people who are able to attain a way to it. And as to those who disbelieve (this, know), then, (that) God is, indeed, self-sufficient, without (any need for any of His creation in) all the worlds." (Quran 3:97)

This verse highlights the obligation of Hajj for every Muslim who meets the requirements of observing it. Observing it more than once is voluntary.

The `Umrah, Lesser Pilgrimage

In the Arabic language, `Umrah means a visit. It means in Islamic law to visit the Sacred House in Makka to perform the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage. Allah says,

"So complete the Hajj -Pilgrimage and the `Umrah-Lesser Pilgrimage solely for (the sake of) God." (Quran 2:196)

The difference between the Hajj and the `Umrah

Unlike the `Umrah, the Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam. It differs from the `Umrah in the legal ruling, the rites and the time of performance. As for the legal ruling, the Hajj is obligatory for once in a lifetime and for every Muslim who can afford it, namely, the person has enough money and health to make it, whereas the `Umrah is non-mandatory. Secondly, there are a few differences concerning the actions of both rites. The most important one is standing on 'Arafat which the Hajj cannot be complete without observing this pillar on the 9 th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the lunar year. Thirdly, the hajj can only be performed at a particular time of the year on specific days of Dhul-Hijjah, whereas the `Umrah may be performed at any time of the year.

The virtues of the Hajj and the `Umrah

1. Hajj is one of the best acts of worship. To be accepted, it must be observed sincerely and with the intention of seeking only Allah's pleasure. Moreover, it must be performed properly based on the rulings derived from the Quran and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The questioner then asked, "What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, "To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause." The questioner again asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied, "To perform Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) 'Mabrur, (which is accepted by Allah)." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

2. There is a great reward for the observance of this great pillar. Observing `Umrah also expiates sins. However, what is meant by sins in the following hadith is minor sins. As for major sins, they require sincere repentance. In addition, the sins that are related to people's rights require a person to give those people their rights back. That's why sincere repentance and to free oneself from acts of injustice are highly recommended before setting off for Makka.

Abu Hurairah (RAA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah said, "The performance of `Umrah is an expiation for all the sins committed (between this `Umrah and the previous one), and the reward for Hajj Mabrur (the one accepted by Allah or the one which was performed without doing any wrong) is nothing save Paradise." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

3. If the pilgrim succeeds in staying away from sinning, mischief or doing any wrong during Hajj, he or she will have his or her sins forgiven. Millions of Muslims gather together in one place where they are tested to show how well they can treat each other. This sheds light on the ethical aspect of hajj which promotes good manners, peace, tolerance and cooperation among Muslims.

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Whoever performs Hajj (pilgrimage) and does not have sexual relations (with his wife), nor commits sin, nor disputes unjustly (during Hajj), then he returns from Hajj as pure and free from sins as on the day on which his mother gave birth to him." (Al-Bukhari)

4. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) encouraged Muslims to perform hajj and `Umrah because of the great benefits brought to the pilgrim in this life and Afterlife. In addition to the forgiveness of sins, the hajj and `Umrah are also legal means of alleviating poverty.

Ibn 'abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'Perform Hajj and 'Umrah consecutively; for they remove poverty and sin as the bellows removes impurity from iron." (It is a hasan (good) hadith related by Al-Nasa'i)

5. For Muslim women, Hajj is a substitute for Jihad as it is not obligatory for them. In fact, this shows the facilitation and moderation of Islamic teachings.

'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported:

I said: "O Messenger of Allah! We consider Jihad as the best deed, should we not then go for Jihad?" The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The best Jihad for you women is Hajj Mabrur (i.e., one accepted by Allah)." (Al-Bukhari)

6. It is known that the blessed month of Ramadan is one of the best months. This may be the reason why observing `Umrah in it has a greater reward.

Ibn 'Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "(The performance of) `Umrah during Ramadan is equivalent to Hajj (i.e. in reward)." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Finally, Hajj and `Umrah have a lot of other benefits and virtues because there are other acts of worship included while performing them. These include performing prayer, fasting, giving to charity, remembrance of Allah, making du'aa (supplication), etc. There are also social benefits as these kinds of worship help solve problems like racism. In fact, a lot of differences disappear there as all people dress the same and observe a lot of acts of worship collectively and at the same time.

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By Editorial Staff The Arabic word 'Hajj' literally means to repair to, betake oneself or set off for a place. In the technical usage of the term, it means to repair to the Sacred House in Makka and perform the rites of the Pilgrimage.

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Miracles Of Tawaf (Circumambulating Around The Ka'bah)

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Why we need to be HUMBLE