In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

A Voice of the MusliM uMMAh

'READ'

3 Sha’baan 1428 August 17, 2007

Vol. 19 No. 8

IslamIc concept of prophethoodmaulana sayyid abul hasan ali nadvi

Asmâ-ul-Husnâ : Allâh’s beautiful names and attributes al-mUtaKaBBIr the sUpreme

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In This Issue... The Mystery of Moonsighting .............2 The Four Great Imams .........................6 Etiquettes of the Masajid .....................7 Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq ................. 10 Ramadhân ..........................................11

the only Way to Guidance

The concluding verses of Surah As-Saffât which contradict the er-roneous beliefs of the polytheists,

read: “Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Majesty, from that which they attribute (unto Him). And peace be unto those sent (to warn). And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds!” [Q. XXXVII: 180-82]

These three verses, it would be seen, refer to the essential privity between the undefiled concept of God’s attributes and prophethood. Repudiating the blemished view of Godhood held by the polytheists, these Quranic verses immediately deal out peace and blessings to the prophets since they constitute the inter-medium for transmitting correct knowledge about the Absolute and Infinite Being, the

Lord of the worlds, Who alone deserves all the praises. Setting forth the sublime spirituality of the prophets of God, Sheikh Mujaddid Alf Thani writes in a letter, “The prophets are the best of creation, possessing the most precious wealth of knowledge. The highest lap of the mystic’s ascent is the beginning of prophetic journey of spirit. The mystics can never reflect the prophetic qualities. ‘Duteous proximity’ is all that the mystics can achieve by following the prophets; for, the former cannot hope of attaining the least merit of the latter, not even as much as a drop in the ocean.” [Maktûbât Imâm Rabbânî, Vol. I, Letters No. 87-88 and 123] Another mystic possessing remarkable intuitive vision and spiritual integrity was Makhdûm Yahyâ Manerî who had, even before Mujaddid Alf Thani, thrown light on the higher reaches of prophethood and the prophets. In one of his letters he writes: “Not having the large heartedness of the prophets, the saints cannot confer the same benefit on mankind as the prophets do. The prophets are really so greathearted that their absorption in the thought of God Almighty

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Editorial

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the mYsterY of moon-sIGhtInG

Many Muslims are taking a keen inter-est in ‘moon-sighting’ to resolve their

differences about the Islamic dates. We quote from the Quran and the books of Ahadith, open the books of Fiqh and Fatawa, call the ‘Alim’ or the country of our choice, and when the time comes we argue with those who do not accept the dates of our choice. What is often ignored in these discussions are some basic questions:1. What is an Islamic day/date, and when does it begin?2. Is the Hilal of the Quran, Sunnah and Fiqh the ‘New Moon’ of the astronomer?3. How accurately can we calculate and predict the visibility of a crescent?Islamic day and date: An Islamic day/date begins at sunset and ends at the following sunset. The Islamic month begins from the first day/date deter-mined by the ‘crescent’ seen after sunset and ends with the next month’s crescent. Logically, the Hilal (a crescent seen after sunset) is the only criterion for an Islamic lunar calendar. This is based on a decree from Allah.

They ask you about the crescents. Tell (them) they are for fixing time for men and

the Hajj. (2:198) For centuries the Muslims followed the simple rule of going out on the 29th evening and watching for the crescent. If it was seen, then well and good; if not, then the month was completed to 30 days. This was based on explicit instructions from the Messenger of Allah .

Abu-Hurayrah said that Allah’s Mes-senger (peace be upon him) said: When-ever you sight the crescent (of the month of Ramadan) observe fast, and when you sight it (the crescent of Shawwal) break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then observe fast for thirty days. (Sahih Muslim Hadith 2378; Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 3: 133)

The statement of the Prophet “Start fasting on seeing the crescent (of Ra-madhan), and stop fasting on seeing the crescent (of Shawwal)”. And Ammar said,”Whoever fasts on a doubtful day is disobeying Abu-l-Qasim”. (Sahih Bukhari Vol. 3 chapter 11)

Every town and city went by its sighting despite the discussions among the Fuqaha (scholars) about the validity of ‘Ikhtilaf-e Matali’. The ‘nation cult’ was not yet bred into the Muslim psyche and the means were not there yet to ‘enforce’ it. By the middle of this century the radio news told us when the Ramadhan and the Eidain were celebrated in nearby towns and countries. Then, tele-phone, television and other means of instant

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is published monthly by con-necticut council of masajid, Islamic center of hamden, Islamic center of connecticut, Islamic center of new haven, faran club, United muslim masjid, Islamic society of Western connecticut, and Islamic center of new london.

http://ccm-inc.org/iqramaIlInG address:

connecticut council of masajidp.o. Box 4456, hamden, ct 06514

Tel: (203) 562-2757

edItorIal commItteeSister Aisha Sayed Alam (Cheshire)

Dr. Abdul Hamid (Hamden)Sister Bonnie Lynn Hamid (Hamden)

Dr. Shujaat Ali Khan (New York)

Layout/Website ............ Brother Nadeem Abdul Hamid

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communication developed, so now we can know when our home village, thousands of miles away is starting or ending a month. However, they have created several seri-ous problems which we have been unable to resolve for the last 25 years. We blame others for creating disunity among the Muslims without ourselves knowing the basics of moon-sighting. Had the Ulama and the experts in moon-sighting talked to each other we could have solved some of the issues long ago. Had the Ulama remain united under one banner the problem would have never arisen.let us look at some of the facts:1. The earth is not flat.2. The moon disappears at the end of every lunar month, and is seen after sunset one or two evenings later.3. The moon takes the same 24 hours as the sun to be visible over the globe.4. The moon’s crescent is seen in a parabola, and not at a longitude, north-south, like the sun.5. The moon’s crescent first becomes visible from a different place on earth every month. This place changes east-west and north- south every month. There is no ‘meridian’ and no lunar dateline.6. The moon’s crescent may be seen west, north/south-west of the initial place of sighting. 7. The moon’s crescent is always visible on the 30th day in a clear sky. If it is not seen then the count of 30 is wrong.

Visibility calculations Ever since humans started using the moon’s phases for counting the days of the month, they have wanted to check the ac-curacy of the witnesses. The Babylonians, the Jews, the Hindus, the Greeks, and many others learned to calculate the ‘new moon’ (conjunction) long ago, but had to guess the sightabilty of the crescent’. The Jew-ish calendar makers solved the problem by

ignoring the decree of Allah to them. They were to start and end their times also by the visible new moon. (see 1 Samuel 20:5; 1 Samuel 20:18; 1 Samuel 20:24; 2 Kings 4:23; Psalm 81:3; Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:1; Ezekiel 46:6; Amos 8:5; Colossians 2:16). They stopped sanctifying both the new moon (i.e. visible new moon) and the following days. The Jewish calendar has been ‘fixed’ for all locations on the earth since at least the fourth century C.E. It is based on an invisible “new moon”. When the Messenger of Allah came to Medina he found the Jews following their lunar calendar, which was similar to the Arab calendars except that the month started on the basis of the new moon at Jerusalem, and not the visible crescent in Medina. He fasted the first ‘Ashura’ according to the date fixed by the Jewish calendar centuries ago. Later it became clear that the Jewish calendar fixed the first date of the lunar month on a day when the moon’s crescent was not visible in Medina. Instead of asking the Muslims to depend on the Jewish calendar for the Islamic

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does not stand in the way of rendering ser-vice to humanity nor their altruistic zeal for human beings distracts their attention from God.” [Maktûbât She Sadi, letter No. 112] Comparing the saints and prophets in the same letter he says, “A breath of the proph-ets outweighs the entire life of the saints.... In clarity and purity of spirit and in virtue and sanctity the entire bodily frame of the prophets is like the head and heart of a saint intoxicated with the love of God. There is thus a great difference between the two, for the former find entrance to the place which, for the latter, remains the goal of their heart’s ambition.” [Ibid.]

failure of the Greek philosophers This is the reason why the efforts of all those persons are doomed to failure who try to attain cognizance of God’s nature and attributes in any way different from that shown by the prophets. Everyone who depends on his own intellect, reason and wisdom to discover the relationship between this world and the Ultimate Being, power and knowledge and the will and pleasure of God, fails miserably in spite of his nimble-ness and deep insight in other branches of learning. His ultimate achievement is nothing save untruth and misconception. Such a man really reciprocates the dictum of God—

“Lo! ye are those who argue about that whereof ye have some knowledge: Why then argue ye concerning that whereof ye have no knowledge? Allah knoweth. Ye know not!” [Q. III : 66]

The ancient Greek metaphysical thought and its precursors, the great philosophers and thinkers of the ancient times, who had made their mark in the fields of poetry, math-ematics, geometry, physics, astronomy and cosmology were deceived by their sharpness of intellect and fire of genius. They allowed themselves to be misled by the self-delu-sion that they would likewise succeed in unravelling the mystery of God’s nature and

attributes. But, what was the result of ran-sacking their brains on these questions? Their thoughts and suppositions and metaphysics present a claptrap of fallacious, illogical and unwarranted quibbling which has been aptly described by Imam Ghazali as follows: “…obscure reflections overcast with dark-ness. If a man were even to dream of such nonsensical things, he would be adjudged to have a loose screw.” [Tahafat al-falâsafah, p. 30] Imam Ghazali’s another comment on the metaphysical thought of the Greek philoso-phers is that— “I fail to understand how even a raving mad can be satisfied with this sort of thought, but what should one think of those wise men who keep themselves engaged in hair-splitting of each of these concepts.” [Ibid, p., 32] Sheikh-ul-Islam Ibn Taimiyah was another critic of Greek philosophers. Referring to their crazy metaphysical ideas he says, “Let those endowed with understanding ponder over the speculations of these philosophers who, deluded by their self-conceit, discard the teachings of the prophets but talk like deranged persons in intellectualising their mental impressions. They reject known facts by lame and impotent conclusions but accept suppositions obviously illogical and unfounded through specious reasoning.” [Muâfiqah Sarâyeh al-Ma’qool] At another place Ibn Taimiyah writes: “When an educated person closely studies Aristotelian metaphysics, he reaches the conclusion that there was none more ignorant of the gnosis of God than these philosophers. He is even more amazed to see certain per-sons trying to compare Greek metaphysics with the teachings and knowledge obtained through the prophets. Such comparisons are no better than an effort to establish anal-ogy between a blacksmith and an angel or between a petty landlord and an Emperor.” [Ar-Radd `Alal-Mantaqiyin, p. 395] Mujaddid Alf Thani also expresses similar views about the incompetence of human in-

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to Be continued

English translation by Mohiuddin Ahmad, published by the Academy of Islamic Research and Publica-

tions, Nadwatul-Ulema, Lucknow, India, 1979. Reprinted with permission.

tellect to apprehend the Absolute Reality. He writes in a letter to Sheikh Ahmad Farooqi, “If human intelligence had the capacity to solve this problem, the Greek philosophers placing trust in it would not have been mis-led to the dark alleys of ignorance. They would have been even more cognizant of the Supreme Being, but the fact is that they are the most blockheaded people who had taken God as a Being impotent and inoperative.” [Maktûbât Imâm Rabbânî, Letter 2, p. 33] He proceeds further to say in the same letter that “it is strange that there are certain people who call these dolts wise men and consider them to be the precursors of philosophy. The greater portion of their reasoning in regard to metaphysics is patently wrong and opposed to that contained in the Scripture and the Sunnah. How can such persons be

called intellectuals and philosophers when the sum total of their researches is nothing but vacuous ignorantness? Of course, they can be humorously called wise men as a blind is sometimes jocularly given the name of sharp-eyed.” [Ibid.] Verily, such are those who have been thus specified in the Qur’ân:

“Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned.” [Q. XLIII: 19]

“I made them not witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor their own creation: nor choose I misleaders for (My) helpers.” [Q. XVIII: 51]

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support the effort of da’wah and ta’leem!Donate to !

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And whomsoever Allah wishes good for, He gives him understanding of Deen…

the four Great Imaams

A Brief HistoryNadeem Abdul Hamid

Imaam ahmad ibn hanbal -

Born in Baghdaad in 164 H., Imaam Abu ‘Abdullah Ahmad ibn Muhammad

ibn Hanbal ibn Hilaal ibn As’ad ibn Idrees ash-Shaybaani ( ) also suffered the loss of his father a short while after his birth. He reports that he never saw his father nor grandfather and that his mother brought him up. After acquiring basic Islamic education, he began studying hadeeth as a young adult. For sixteen years he traveled through Kufa, Basra, Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, Damascus, Morocco, Persia and Khurasan. He memorized 100,000 ahaadeeth, thirty thousand of which are recorded in his monu-mental and popular work, al-Musnad. He was one of the greatest students of Imaam Shaafi’i ( ) and out of respect for his teacher, he would never give a legal opinion as long as Shaafi’i ( ) was in ‘Iraaq. His school of thought was based mainly upon the Qur’an, hadeeth and ijmaa with little recourse to qiyaas. Among his students were two of his sons, Saalih and ‘Abdullah, and Imaam Muhammad ibn Ismaa’eel al-Bukhaari ( ). Besides his Musnad, he was the author of numerous other works. Like other pious scholars before him, Imaam Ahmad ( ) bore harsh torture and imprisonment rather than bowing to the desires of the corrupt leaders. He refused to give up defending the belief of Ahlus-Sunnah that the Qur’an is the uncreated, eternal word

of Allah. For this, the khaleefa imprisoned him for over two years. He died at 77 years of age in 241 H. and over 600,000 people attended his Janaaza prayers. For one week such prayers were held at his grave, the last of the four great mujtahid Imaams of Islam.1*

Truly to Allah we belong,And to Him we return.

We ask Allah that He keeps us guided upon the Straight Path- the path of Islam- the path of the Prophet ( ) which was illu-minated by these four scholars and preserved and propagated by their students and all the ‘ulamaa-ul-haqq up till today. Aameen.

references “The Four Great Imaams” Compiled by students of Jameatul Imam Muhammad Za-karia, UK. Publication No. 4. [http://www.inter-islam.org]. Biographical Notes of The Reliance of the Traveler. Nuh Ha Mim Keller. (Amana Publications, Maryland) Dars-e-Tirmidhi. (Urdu) Maulana Mu-hammad Taqi ‘Uthmaani. (Maktaba Darul-‘Uloom, Karachi) Introduction of Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar. (Beirut 1997) Ihyaa ‘Uloom ad-Deen. Imaam Ghazaali. Vol. 1

noteThe reader is kindly requested to please forward any corrections or suggestions for improvement to the publisher.

1 * Among the scholars of the Hanaabilah are the names of Haafiz al-Muqaddasi, Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Quddaamah and Haafiz Ibn Rajab

.

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The Definition and Ruling of Masjid-e-Dirâr

“Masjid-e-Dirâr” was originally that masjid which was constructed by the

munâfiqîn (hypocrites) for the purpose of splitting and causing adversity in the congregation of the masjid at Qubâ (a place near Madînah). By splitting up the congregation, they hoped to cause rifts in the brotherhood of the Muslims. Also, the hypocrites would gather in that masjid and make taunting remarks of the Prophet ( ). The noble Qur’ân gave the ruling regarding that masjid, saying: “Never stand in there ever.” [9:108] Meaning, do not ever pray in such a masjid. It is thus important that when building a new masjid the Muslims be sure that their intention is not to create discord or rift in an existing congregation and that there is no arrogance or haughtiness. Otherwise all the reward will be wasted and it will resemble the masjid-e-dirâr of the hypocrites. (See the supplement for discussion on this.) Tafsîr Kash shâf records that when Allâh gave victories to the Muslims at the hand of Hadrat ‘Umar ( ), he gave them the order to build masâjid in each community. However, he directed that no masjid should be built which would cause harm or adversity to another masjid, i.e. would not cause a rift in the congregation. mas’alah: If in a single masjid there are serious differences between the worshippers and in order to stop the quarreling one group builds a second masjid, then that does not come under the definition of masjid-e-dirâr. mas’alah: If there are quarrels in a single masjid between muqallidîn (those who adhere to the madhâhib of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamâ’ah) and ghayr muqallidîn (those

who reject the madhâhib) and one group establishes a second masjid, this will also not come under the definition of masjid-e-dirâr. mas’alah: A masjid exists in a locality but some people, due to the fact that they are engaged in their businesses, are not able to attend the jamâ’at there: in this case, if they build another masjid right next to their places of work, then this also is not masjid-e-dirâr as long as the intention is not to diminish the congregation of the original masjid. However, it is still much better to pray in the older masjid.

[Majmû’at-ul-Fatâwâ] And Allâh Ta’âlâ knows best of that which is correct.

The eidgah (eid Prayer ground)

We have previously mentioned that with regard to the continuity of rows, the Eidgah has the same ruling as the masjid. That is, if the rows are not continuous, the following of the imâm is still valid. Other than this ruling, the Eidgah does not come under most of the rulings of the masjid. For example, those in need of ghusl or women in their period (hayd) or bleeding of childbirth (nifâs) are allowed to enter the Eid prayer ground.

Translated into English by Nadeem Abdul Hamid from the Urdu book published by Darul Ishaat, Karachi.

etiquettes ofthe masâjidMufti Muhammad Shafi

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DAY FAJR SHURUQ ZUHR ASR———— MAGRIB ISHA DWN SUNRISE Shafi’i Hanafi SNSET NGHT

Your (real) friend can be only Allâh;

and His mes-senger and those who

believe-- who establish

prayer and pay the poor due and bow

down (in worship).

And whoso turns (for

friendship) to Allâh and His messen-

ger and those who believe: lo! the party of Allâh, they are the victo-

rious.(5:55-56)

LUNAR DATES

I f you need prayer t im-ings for your town, p lease send us a self-addressed stamped #10 envelope.

prayer times are for the new haven area and are based on 18° for fajr and Isha. check local newspapers for your local time difference.

August17 4:19 6:03 12:56 4:45 5:47 7:48 9:3218 4:20 6:04 12:55 4:44 5:46 7:47 9:3019 4:22 6:05 12:55 4:43 5:45 7:45 9:2820 4:23 6:06 12:55 4:43 5:44 7:44 9:2621 4:24 6:07 12:55 4:42 5:43 7:42 9:2422 4:26 6:08 12:54 4:41 5:42 7:41 9:2223 4:27 6:09 12:54 4:40 5:41 7:39 9:2024 4:29 6:10 12:54 4:39 5:39 7:37 9:1825 4:30 6:11 12:54 4:39 5:38 7:36 9:1626 4:32 6:12 12:53 4:38 5:37 7:34 9:1427 4:33 6:13 12:53 4:37 5:36 7:33 9:1228 4:34 6:14 12:53 4:36 5:35 7:31 9:1029 4:36 6:15 12:53 4:35 5:34 7:30 9:0830 4:37 6:16 12:52 4:34 5:32 7:28 9:0631 4:38 6:17 12:52 4:33 5:31 7:26 9:04

september1 4:40 6:18 12:52 4:32 5:30 7:25 9:022 4:41 6:19 12:51 4:31 5:29 7:23 9:003 4:42 6:20 12:51 4:30 5:27 7:21 8:584 4:44 6:21 12:51 4:29 5:26 7:20 8:565 4:45 6:22 12:50 4:28 5:25 7:18 8:546 4:46 6:23 12:50 4:27 5:23 7:16 8:527 4:48 6:24 12:50 4:26 5:22 7:15 8:508 4:49 6:25 12:49 4:25 5:21 7:13 8:489 4:50 6:26 12:49 4:24 5:19 7:11 8:4710 4:51 6:27 12:49 4:23 5:18 7:10 8:4511 4:53 6:28 12:48 4:22 5:17 7:08 8:4312 4:54 6:29 12:48 4:21 5:15 7:06 8:4113 4:55 6:30 12:48 4:20 5:14 7:05 8:3914 4:56 6:31 12:47 4:19 5:12 7:03 8:3715 4:58 6:32 12:47 4:18 5:11 7:01 8:3516 4:59 6:33 12:46 4:17 5:10 6:59 8:3317 5:00 6:34 12:46 4:15 5:08 6:58 8:3118 5:01 6:35 12:46 4:14 5:07 6:56 8:2919 5:02 6:36 12:45 4:13 5:05 6:54 8:2720 5:04 6:37 12:45 4:12 5:04 6:52 8:2521 5:05 6:38 12:45 4:11 5:02 6:51 8:2422 5:06 6:39 12:44 4:10 5:01 6:49 8:2223 5:07 6:40 12:44 4:08 5:00 6:47 8:2024 5:08 6:41 12:44 4:07 4:58 6:46 8:1825 5:09 6:42 12:43 4:06 4:57 6:44 8:1626 5:11 6:43 12:43 4:05 4:55 6:42 8:1427 5:12 6:44 12:43 4:04 4:54 6:40 8:1328 5:13 6:45 12:42 4:02 4:52 6:39 8:1129 5:14 6:46 12:42 4:01 4:51 6:37 8:0930 5:15 6:47 12:42 4:00 4:49 6:35 8:07

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aUG-sep praYer tImes, neW haVen

sha’Baan

ramadan

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reGUlar masJId actIVItIes and JUm’a praYer tImes

BerlIn masJId1781 Berlin Hwy., Berlin, CT 06037, (860) 829-6411Juma’ prayer time 1:15 pmcontact: Dr. Ali Antar (860) 582-1002

masJId an-noor1300 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport, CT (203)579-2211

Juma’ prayer time 1:30 pmcontact: Br. M. Faisal Shamshad (203) 372-2928

UnIVersItY of BrIdGeportChristan Hall, Park Ave. Bridgeport, CT.

Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pm

masJId daar-Ul-ehsaan 739 Terryville Av., Bristol, CT 06010. (860) 585-9742Juma’ prayer time 1:30 pmcontact: Br. Muhammed Akhtar Ali (860)589-4512.

IslamIc socIetY of WesternconnectIcUt, danBUrY

388 Main St, Danbury, CT 06810. (203) 744-1328Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Br. Asif Akhtar (203)746-7530

QadarIYa commUnItY ser. ctr.(JamIa masJId mUstafa ) e.

htfd.20 Church St, East Hartford, CT 06108 (860)282-0786Juma’ prayer time 1:30 pmcontact: Br. Sajid Bhura (860)830-4453

IslamIc center of hamden60 Connolly Parkway, Wilbur Cross Commons, Unit

17-212, Hamden, CT 06514 (203) 562-2757Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmfriday dars 8:00 - 11:00 pmmadrasah: every sunday 9:55am - 1:30 pm mon-thurs afternoons, 5:00 - 7:00 pmcommunity dinner 1st sunday of each month. contact: Dr. Abdul Hamid (203) 562-2757

Icfc masJId (JamIa Karam)57 Pepper St, Monroe. CT06468 (203)261-6222Juma’ prayer time 1:15 pmcontact: Br. Ahmed Reza (203) 746-0683

masJId al-Islam624 George St. New Haven, CT (203)777-4008Juma’ prayer time 1:15 pmcontact: Br. Jimmy Jones (203) 865-5805IslamIc center of neW london16 Fort St, Groton, CT 06340, (860) 405-8006Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Br. Imran Ahmed (860) 691-8015

al-madanY IslamIc center of norWalK

4 Elton Court, Norwalk, CT 06851 (203)852-0847Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Syed Hussain Qadri. (203) 852-0847.

stamford IslamIc center10 Outlook St. stamford, CT 06902 (203)975-2642

Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Hafiz Haqqani Mian Qadri (203) 975-2642

IslamIc socIetY of stamford82 Harbor Dr, Stamford, CT 06902

Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Hafiz AbdulSalam Sumra (203) 255-4327

UnIted mUslIm masJId (masJId rahman)

132 Prospect Ct. Waterbury, CT. 06704 (203)756-6365 Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmContact Br. Majeed Sharif. (203) 879-7230.

West haVen masJId2 Pruden St., West haven, CT 06516, (203) 933-5799Juma’ prayer time 1:00 pmcontact: Br. Mohammad Taroua (203) 287-7561.

madIna masJId1 Madina Drive, Windsor, CT 06095, (860) 249-0112Juma’ prayer time 1:30 pmcontact: Muhamed M. Haidara 860-655-9042Madina Academy:Full time School (860)524-9700IslamIc socIetY of Western

massachUsetts337 Amostown Rd. W. Springfield, MA01105

(413)788-7546 Juma’ prayer time 1:15 pmcontact: Dr. Mohammad Ali Hazratji(860)749-8859.

Visit the Connecticut Council of Masajid website:

http://ccm-inc.org

Surah Maryam 19:61-62

...Gardens of Eternity, those which ((Allah)) Most Gracious has promised to His servants in the Unseen: for His promise must (necessarily) come to pass.

They will not there hear any vain discourse, but only salutations of Peace: And they will have therein their sustenance, morning and evening.

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THE CHILDREN’S CORNER

My Lord! Increase MeIn Knowledge

aBU BaKr as-sIddIQ the fIrst calIph

Almost immediately after the death of the Prophet , the Ansar held an

urgent meeting in the hall known as Thaqifa Bani Sa’ida to discuss who would assume the leadership of the Muslim ummah. One of the chiefs, Sa’d bin ‘Ubaida , gave a speech in which he expressed the opinion that someone from the Ansar should be the Caliph (the Messenger’s deputy) because the Ansar provided protection to the Prophet

and his followers when their own tribe persecuted them and drove them into exile. The Ansar also had participated in all the battles which led to the spread of Islam over almost all of Arabia. Therefore, one of them had a right to become the successor of the Prophet . There was enthusiastic support for Sa’d’s position among the audience. Meanwhile, Abu Bakr , ‘Umar and Abu ‘Ubaida learned of this meeting and arrived upon the scene. Abu Bakr ad-dressed the assembly. While acknowledging the many services of the Ansar, he pointed out how the Makkans who had first accepted the Prophet and had stood by him through all sorts of trials and difficulties, and had left their homeland for the sake of Allah, had gained a great distinction in worship-ping Allah and serving His Messenger . And, since they were the companions and the relatives of the Prophet , they had the strongest claim to the Caliphate. They were also the most likely to be accepted by all the tribes of Arabia, because of the Quraish’s unique position amongst all the Arab tribes. This speech greatly moved the Ansar. Several of the men spoke up in favor of Abu Bakr’s opinion. Bashir bin Sa’d , one of the Ansar, said, “O Ansar! No doubt we have secured a position of superiority in render-ing valuable services to the cause of Islam, but we have done so to please our Master

. We should not demand worldly honor

as a reward for our services. We must re-alize that the emigrants have the strongest claim on his successorship. I swear that Al-lah will never see me quarrelling with our brethren-in-faith on this issue. Fear Allah and have no dispute with them.” Abu Bakr then proposed the names of ‘Umar and Abu ‘Ubaida as candi-dates, but both those men deferred to Abu Bakr , pointing out how he had been the second of the two in the cave, and how he had been designated the Imam during the Prophet’s last days. They then became the first to pledge their oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr , the first Caliph of Islam, and they were followed by the Ansar. The following day, before Fajr prayer, ‘Umar urged everyone present to pledge their allegiance to Abu Bakr and with one voice they all swore their loyalty to him. Abu Bakr gave another of his short but very famous speeches, which set the standards for Muslim leaders of all times. In the speech he said, “I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me; and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if Allah will; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if Allah will. Obey me so long as I obey Al-lah and His Messenger . But if I disobey Allah and his Messenger , ye owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, Allah have mercy upon you!”

Bonnie l. hamid

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Ramadhân - Oh you who believe! Fasting is

prescribed for you, just as it was pre-scribed for those before you, that you may guard against evil… [al-Qur’ân 2:183]

The month of Ramadân is that in which the Qur’ân was sent down: a guidance for mankind and clear proofs of guidance and the criterion (of right and wrong)…[al-Qur’ân 2:185]

The virtues of fasting and other activi-ties during the month of Ramadân are

enough to fill an entire volume. In this ar-ticle we will try, by the mercy of Allâh, to summarize some important points. A good book to study during Ramadân is Virtues of Ramadhân by Shaikhul-Hadîth Maulana Mohammad Zakariyya Kandhalvi (rahima-hu-allâh). The month of Ramadân is a most blessed month, in which the reward for performing a nafl will be as the reward of a fard in any other time of the year; and the reward for performing a fard will be as the reward of seventy fard in any other time of the year. It is a month of patience, whose reward is Jannah. It is the month of sympathy for one’s fellowmen. Whoever provides food to someone to break their fast, he will have forgiveness for his sins and freedom from the fire of Jahannam (Hell). The first of this month brings Allâh’s Mercy; the middle brings His Forgiveness and the end brings emancipation from the Hellfire. In this month the devils are chained and confined, as a result of which evil is diminished. In this month, the Qur’ân was sent down from al-Lawh-ul-Mahfûz (the Protected Tab-let) to the Samâ-ud-Dunyâ (heaven of the earth), from where it was revealed bit by bit over a span of twenty-three years. During this month every Muslim should endeavor to read the Qur’ân at least once

from cover to cover. Our great and pious predecessors and scholars such as Imâm Shâfi’ and Imâm Abu Hanîfah (rahima-hum-allâh) used to complete the reading of the entire Qur’ân 60 times over in this month. Hazrat Jibra’îl (alayhis-salâm) used to recite or listen to the recitation of the entire Qur’ân by our Nabi Muham-mad ( - sallallâhu-alayhi-wa-sallam) in the month of Ramadân. Also during this month, Rasûlullâh advised us to make much dhikr and istighfâr. [Virtues of Ra-madhân]

Sighting the Moon It is wâjib kifâyah to look for the moon on the night of the 29th of Sha’bân. If some people from the locality do this, the obliga-tion is removed from the entire community. If no one goes to sight the moon, it will be a sin upon the entire community. If the sky is not clear, then the witness of a single up-right, mature, intelligent Muslim is suffi-cient. If the sky is clear, then it is necessary that a large group of people should bear witness to the sighting such that there can be no doubt in the report. If the moon is not sighted, then 30 days of Sha’bân are to be completed. [Rahnama-e-Mudarrisîn Ml. Muhammad Tâhir Rahîmi, Multan, Paki-stan; Noorul-Eidâh Imâm Shurunbulâli; Bahishti Zewar]

Du’â (Supplication) Upon Sighting the moon of ramadân

Allâhumma ahillahû ‘alaynâ bil-yumni wal-îmâni; was-salâmati wal-islâmi; wat-tawfeeqi li mâ tuhibbu wa tardâ; rabbî wa rabbukal-lâh. Oh Allâh! Let the moon appear over us with blessing and Imân; with peace and Is-lâm; with the ability for us to practice that which You love and which pleases You. (O moon): Your Lord and my Lord is Allâh.

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Intention for the fast It is necessary to make intention for the validity of the fast. The intention may be expressed in the heart, but it is much more preferable to recite the following statement of intention verbally before the beginning of the dawn:

Wa bi sawmi ghadin-nawaytu min shahri ramadân. -- I have the intention of observing a fast of the month of Ramadân tomorrow.

Prayer at Time of Breaking the Fast (If-târ) It is sunnat to make iftâr immediately af-ter sunset and not to delay. The iftâr should not be so long that the Maghrib prayer is delayed or missed. There are several rec-ommended du’â at the time of iftâr. Among them,

Allâhumma innî laka sumtu; wa bika âmantu; wa ‘alayka tawakkaltu; wa ‘alâ rizqika aftartu. -- Oh Allâh! Truly for You did I fast, and in You do I believe and upon You do I place my trust, and with Your pro-vision have I broken the fast.

Warning With regard to fasting, the Prophet has left an important warning which we must endeavor to heed: “Many are those who fast but whose fast brings them only hunger and thirst; and many are those who pray at night, but whose prayer only results in sleeplessness.” Abstaining from carnal pleasures is not the only condition of the fast. The fast is also meant to strengthen the spiritual and moral character of the Muslim. Thus, all actions of the hands, feet, eyes, ears, and especially the tongue, must be kept in strict accordance with the

Sharî’ah. The Prophet repeatedly em-phasized the avoidance of lying, backbit-ing, gossip, cheating, swearing, obscene, and useless talk while fasting. All these ac-tions can ruin the fast. May Allâh guide us and help us.

Tarâweeh Rasûlullâh said: “The one who ob-serves the Tarâweeh prayer at night during Ramadân with complete faith and devo-tion, only for the sake of the reward of the Hereafter, will have all his previous sins forgiven by Allâh.” [Agreed upon] The Tarâweeh prayer starts from the evening that the moon of Ramadân is sighted up till (but not including) the night of ‘Eid. Imâm Nawawi (rahimahu-allâh) has writ-ten about this prayer:

Know that the Tarâweeh prayer is a sunnah by the consensus of the schol-ars and it is 20 rak’ât with tasleem between every two. And the prayer is performed just like all other prayers, with rukû’, sujûd, etc. As for the recitation, the correct way which has been expressed by most of the scholars and acted upon by the people is that the entire Qur’ân should be completed in the Tarâweeh of this month. Every night, about one juz (1/30th of the Qur’ân) should be recit-ed. It is preferable that the recitation be at a steady pace and not be longer than a juz every night, so that the people

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are not put to hardship. And especially avoid the baseless innovation of recit-ing the entire Sûrah al-An’âm in one rak’ah of the 7th of Ramadân, think-ing that it was revealed all at once… [Kitâbul-Adhkâr, Imâm Nawawi]

As mentioned above, the Tarâweeh is performed in units of two rak’ât. After every four units, a short pause is observed during which one may rest quietly or recite supplications such as the following tas-beeh:

Subhâna dhil-mulki wal-malakût. Sub-hâna dhil ‘izzati wal-‘azmati wal-haybati wal-qudrati wal-kibriyâ’i wal-jabarût. Subhânal-malikil-hayyil-ladhî lâ yanâmu wa lâ yamût. Subbûhun quddûsun rabbunâ wa rabbul-malâ’ikati war-rûh. Allâhumma ajirnâ minan-nâri; Yâ mujîru; Yâ mujîru; Yâ mujîr. Glorified is the Owner of the Kingdom of earth and heaven; Glorified is the Possess-or of Honour, Magnificence, Awe, Power, Greatness and Omnipotence; Glorified is the Sovereign, the Living, Who neither sleeps nor dies; Exceedingly glorified and sanctified is our Lord and the Lord of the angels and the Spirit (Jibreel); Oh Allâh! Save us from the Fire: Oh Mighty Savior, Oh Mighty Savior, Oh Mighty Savior! (During Ramadân only, the 3 rak’ât of Witr prayer is also performed in congrega-tion after the Tarâweeh.)

Laylatul-Qadr Among the nights of Ramadân, the “Night of Power,” Laylatul-Qadr, is a night of extremely great blessing. The virtues and reward of good actions on this night are multiplied by 1000 months, as men-tioned in the Qur’ân itself. Laylatul-Qadr most probably occurs on one of the odd nights of the last ten nights of the month. It is recommended to search for it and in-volve oneself in extra worship and recita-tion of the Qur’ân. The best du’â to make on that night is:

Allâhumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul-‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni. --- Oh Allâh! You are the One who grants pardon for sins; You love to pardon; So pardon me. (This supplication is related in a famous hadîth by Hadrat Â’ishah radhiyallâhu-anha)

I’tikâf The practice of remaining in the masjid for a certain period of time, with intention of doing so, is called I’tikâf. It is sunnat mu’akkadah ‘alal-kifâyah (upon a com-munity) to perform I’tikâf in the last ten days of Ramadân. If even one person from a particular locality remains in the masjid then the sunnah is fulfilled on behalf of the community. But if no one performs this duty, then the entire community is sinful for having neglected to fulfill a sunnah. The purpose of this seclusion is that the heart should get attached to Allâh and that one should remain in a constant state of His re-membrance, with no distraction of worldly affairs. The detailed rulings of I’tikâf may be found in various Islamic books, such as Bahishti Zewar (Ml. Ashraf Ali Thanvi) or Kitâbus-Sawm (Mufti A.H.Elias). Note, I’tikâf can only be performed in an estab-lished masjid by men, and is performed by women in the room of the house where they say their prayers.

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In this section we acknowledge the mail that we have received. If you sent

us a self addressed stamped envelope then you already have or will as soon as pos-sible receive a response. However, if your request was beyond our present capabili-ties, we seek your indulgence and prayers that may Allâh give us the taufeeq in future to address your request or need adequately. Kufi caps are not always available, requests are filled when possible. We thank the fol-lowing Muslims for writing to us and sup-porting .

continued from page 1�‘Eid Rasûlullâh said: “The heart of the per-son who remains awake (in worship) dur-ing the night of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr and ‘Eid-ul-Adhâ will not be dead on the Day when the hearts will be dead.” [Tabrâni] The night preceding the day of ‘Eid is an auspicious occasion which should be observed with reverence and worship. The greatest re-ward of doing so, mentioned above, is that the hearts will not be smitten with terror and fear on the Day of Judgment when the upheavals of that Day will be so fearsome that men will appear to be intoxicated.

fastInGfear of Allâh;abstinence from Sin;steadfastness on Shari’ah;tolerance in Difficulty;Integrity in Dealing;nobility in Character;Gratefulness for Allâh’s favors.

Abdul Hakeem Muhammad, FLAnthony Alkinson, PAAbdullahi Mustafa Ali, CAAdrian Aziz, CTAkeem Muhammad, FLAliyah Mahmoud, MAAmjad Alqam, NYAnthony E. Tolliver, DEAnthony Ralph, NYAnthony Shorter, CABertie Thomas, FLBrian Sweeney, NCBrigadier Ridley, DECasarez Reynaldo, UTChanles Payne, FLCharles D. Coleman, Sr. FLCharles Epps, FLCourtney Burke, GAD’andre Sweet, GADavid Tilman, VADeron Harris, GADerrick Jones, NVDerrick Laffitte, GADredrick Ashley, FLEl-amin Shabazz, FLFred Washington, FLGeorge Lesane, NCGerald Fenwood, NJGlenn Messer, NCJack Harrison, UTJames Stallwater, FLJeremiah Postemice, FLJesse Washington, CAJohn Larace, MAJohn R. Nashid, GAJohnny Ray Barr, TXJoseph Wag, NCKamil Ifriqi, DEKelvin W. Kates, VAKhalil Abdul-Wali, VALamonte Moore, FL

Larkland Harris, FLRafael Jacobs, CTLuquan Melvin, NCMarcus Foster, GAMarcus Wilson, NYMark Barbary, FLMawin F. McConnell, NCMichael A Robinson, NCMichael Career, NCMichael Coonce, UTMichael Sanyika Scott, GAMohammed Saleh, CTMoussa Magassa, NYPatrick O. Parker, Sr. VAReginald Todd, GARichard Morales, CTRonaza Bunn, NCRonnie L. Jones, FLSalahuddin H. Shahid, GASamuel Groote, FLSeneca Davis, NCSolomon Lollis, FLStephen James, FLSteven D. Stafford, NCTavish Murray, FLTremayne Chapman, DEWilliam Abdullah Mus-tafa, NCWilliam Sears, FL

Madrasa-Tun-noorhamden, ct

ramadhan Break: Sep 10--Oct 25, 2007 Insha-Allah, (depending on moon-sight-ing) Ramadhan begins on Sep 14 and ends on Oct 13. Eid-ul-Fitr would be on Sunday, Oct 14.first day of fall session: Sunday October 28, 2007

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continued from page �dates he asked them to rely on their eyes. As the crescent moon was always visible on the 30th day, he asked the Muslims to look for it on the 29th to be sure that the month began on the correct date.

shahadah In the beginning the ‘shahadah’ of one or two individuals was enough to declare the start of a lunar month. The claims were from within a town and the decision was for a small area. As the Ahadith make it very clear, the Muslim jurists from among the Sahaba and tabi’in rejected every attempt to extend the visibility from a town to another town (Ibn Abbas, Salim and Ikrama, etc.). As the mistakes and false Shahadah increased, the Muslim jurists increased the Nisab (the number of people who should witness) from one or two to 50 (Imam Abu Yusuf), a group from each mosque in the town, 500 in the city of Balakh, and 1500 in Bukhara. Their concern was to begin the fasting and to celebrate Eidain on the correct dates.

the new moon The Muslim ‘muwaqqits’ and astronomers continued their search during the last 1400 years for an accurate formula of predicting the moon’s visibility, without much success. Only the invisible ‘New Moon’ could be cal-culated very accurately. The Muslim Ulama faced a puzzling situation as the means of communication improved. They tried their best to determine the Ramadhan and Eidain dates on the basis of ‘Shahadah’. But often Ramadhan started on two or three different dates and Eidain were celebrated on three or four days.

Unity of dates In the 1940s and 1950s the Muslim coun-tries ‘came out’ of the Western dominance politically. ‘UNITY OF THE MUSLIM UMMAH” was a very attractive slogan. How to achieve this elusive unity? The calendar became one issue.

With radio telescopes and other scientific advances, the crescent’s visibility was no longer a matter of scientific inquiry. With-out realizing the complexities of a lunar visibility and the global lunar calendar, and impressed by the accuracy of the calcula-tions for the invisible “new moon”, some Muslim astronomers and ulama suggested an easy way out. Why shouldn’t the Muslims adopt the ‘new moon’ for their calendar? In other words, why should we not follow the Jews? In their opinion, it would solve all the problems. The New Moon date could be accurately calculated, there would be no need to haggle over the false claims of moon-sighting, and Muslims, like Jews, would not have to go out and look for the crescent. But they neglected the most obvious fact. The ‘new moon’ of the Jews is not the crescent of Abu-l-Qasim .

confusion Muslims are now spread to all corners of the globe. They live in countries spread from Indonesia to Morocco but also in New Zealand and Australia, Japan, China and Mongolia, Russia and South Africa, Europe and North America. On the one hand, they wish to be ‘united’, and on the other, follow the letter and spirit of the Quran and the Sunnah. When they try to ‘see the crescent’, as the Quran and the Sunnah require, they find that the Ramadhan and Eidain crescents are ‘NOT SEEN EVERYWHERE ON THE SAME DAY/DATE’. Despite the efforts to unite the Muslim Ummah on a single crite-rion, the dates of Ramadhan and Eidain differ by as much as three or four days. In Europe and North America, where the largest number of ‘highly educated’ Muslims are now living, this chaos is intolerable. But nobody is sure how to get out of this difficulty. 1. 1f we try to see the crescent (for example, in Frankfurt, London, Chicago, Miami or Los Angeles) we find that the visibility often differs from place to place and month to month. continued on page 16

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Important Islamic daysashUra’ (Fast on 9th and 10th, or 10th and 11th of Muharram.)maUlUd-Un-naBI Birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Rabiul Awwal) - death of the prophet (12 Rabiul Awwal).Isra and mIraJ (The anniversary of the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad to Jerusalem & his Ascension then to Heaven)(27 Rajab).nesfU shaBaan (Shub-e-Barat)(middle of the month of Shabaan)(night between 14 &15).BeGInnInG of the month of ramadân.laIla tUl Qader (NIGHT OF VALUE) A night during the last 10 days of Ramadân. eId Ul-fItr (1st. Shawwal) WaQfatU-arafat (Pilgrims assemble on Arafat Plain, Makkah)(9 Zul-Hijj).eId Ul-adha (Feast of sacrifice)(10 Zul-Hijj).

is issued on the 3rd friday of each month. Issn # 1062-2756

continued from page 15

2. If we follow the ‘news’ from our home country we find that: a) the news of ‘sighting’ very often is not and cannot be correct, b) various countries differ about Ramadhan and Eidain dates, c) some countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Morocco which officially arrange for crescent observation are always one or two days behind the Middle Eastern states, d) some countries are always one or two days ahead of the ‘sighted crescent’, and e) others follow the Jewish method of calcula-tions with some modifications, and substitute the city of their choice for Jerusalem. This is done so that no one can accuse them of following the Jews. When all we wish to follow ends up in ‘disunity’, we try to search for the causes of it. The answer is simple.

Allah’s Messenger said: Never did a people make an innovation but there was withdrawn from them the equal measure of Sun-nah. Adhering to Sunnah is better than making innovations. Trans-mitted by Ahmad. Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 187 Narrated by Ghudayf ibn al-Harith ath-Thumali

Acknowledgments: We are thankful to Committee for Crescent Obser-vation, Ithaca, NY, for much of the information in this editorial.