‘Adab Shar’eeyah [Lesson 003]
Reading time: 21 - 34 minutes
I being with the Name of Allaah, the most Merciful, the One Who bestows Mercy
‘Adab Shar’eeyah [Lesson 003]
Imaam Abuz-Zubair Saleem [LKIC]
If you want to attend this class, then please check out the following page for more details inshaaAllaah:
Free Islaamic Courses Around London
Read Lesson 002 notes/transcript here.
Comments on last week’s poll/survey regarding this course… Those who do not listen to/read the notes, I encourage you, for your own benefit, that you start listening to the MP3s that are available online. Only one hour of your time from 168 hours a week! A very beneficial, crucial and lively course, taught by a “modernist Imaam in shirts and trousers”. Don’t miss out, even if you listen to it on the bus/train journey to university. SubhaanAllaah, the amount of people that literally waste hours just sitting in a train listening to music or just day dreaming, it’s kraayzee ! Moisten your tongue with the remembrance of Allaah, read a book (not some nonsense fictional goosebumps book; Islaamic book) or listen to something beneficial (not elton john’s jingle bells, but Islaamic knowledge). Thank and praise Allaah by using the eyes and ears He gave you to read and listen to that which will bring you closer to Him.
Last week we covered the meaning of the Basmalah and this week we will cover the Hamd inshaa’Allaah.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Qawi begins by saying, “With your prolific praise, O Owner of Honour, I desire to begin, a limitless praise with which you are pleased.”
This is how the author begins his poem and his not initiating the poem with Basmalah has been discussed in the previous lesson.
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) would begin all his khutbas by praising Allaah (especially Khutbat al-Haajah) and we also begin the circle by praising Allaah today.
A number of hadeeth scholars, such as Imaam al-Nisaa’i (may Allaah have mercy on him), have reported Khutbah al-Haajah. Al-Nisaa’i reported that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us Khutbat al-Haajah: Al-hamdu Lillaahi nasta’eenahu wa nastaghfiruhu, wa na’oodhu billaahi min shuroori anfusinaa wa sayi’aati a’maalinaa. Man yahdih Illaahu falaa mudilla lahu wa man yudlil falaa haadiya lahu. Wa ashhadu an laa ilaaha ill-Allaah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhu wa rasooluhu (Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger). Then he recited the following three aayaat (interpretation of the meaning): ‘Yaa ayyuha’lladheena aamanu-ttaqu’Llaaha haqqa tuqaatihi wa laa tamootunna illaa wa antum muslimoon (O you who believe! Fear Allaah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allaah.)’ [Aal ‘Imraan 3:102], ‘Yaa ayyuha’n-naas uttaqu rabbakum alladhi khalaqakum min nafsin waahidatin wa khalaqa minhaa zawjahaa wa baththa minhumaa rijaalan katheeran wa nisaa’an wa’ttaqu-Llaah alladhi tasaa’aloona bihi wa’l-arhaama inna Allaaha kaana ‘alaykum raqeeban (O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person, and from him He created his wife, and from them both He created many men and women, and fear Allaah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) Surely, Allaah is Ever an All-Watcher over you).’ [al-Nisaa’ 4:1], ‘Yaa ayyahu’lladheena aamanu-ttaqu’Llaaha wa qooloo qawlan sadeedan (O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth).’ [al-Ahzaab 33:70].” (Sunan al-Nisaa’i: Kitaab al-Jumu’ah, Baab kayfiyyah al-khutbah). The hadeeth scholar Shaykh Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani devoted a chapter to it in which he compiled all its isnaads and commented on it.
[Not from the 'Adab Shar'eeyah class]
The Qur’aan itself starts by praising Allaah. The first Soorah in the Qur’aan is begins with the praising of Allaah - ”al-hamdulillaahi Rabbi’l-’Alaameen” (praise be to the Lord of al-’Aalaamen - all that exists).
So obviously following Allaah in His Book and following Allaah’s messenger in his khutbahs, the author of this book and all other authors begin their works with the Basmalah and Hamd.
Allaah mentions the beginning of His creation in the Qur’aan and He says:
All praises and thanks be to Allâh, Who (Alone) created the heavens and the earth, and originated the darkness and the light, yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord.
[al-An'aam (006:001)]
So at the beginning of all that exists there is the praise of Allaah and we are told that at the end of the World, it will be said Alhamdulillaah.
And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne (of Allâh) from all round, glorifying the praises of their Lord (Allâh). And they (all the creatures) will be judged with truth, and it will be said: All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”
[az-Zumar (039:075)]
The Arabic word “Hamd” means praise. It is a very often repeated phrase amongst the Muslims (i.e. replying with an Alhamdulillaah when asked about ones wellbeing). Unfortunately not many Muslims realize the depth of what they are saying.
When one places Alhamdulillaahi in a context that they realize how important it is, such that Allaah began His Book with Hamd, the Prophet began his khutbahs with Hamd, the entire creation began with the Hamd and the entire creation will end with the Hamd (of Allaah).
The name of the messenger of Allaah - Muhammad - (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) is derived from Hamd. Muhammad means someone who is immensely praiseworthy.
What does it mean when a person praises someone? A person praises someone when he recognises the person to be good and sees good qualities in that person, for which the person should be praised.
A person who says Alhamdulillaah all the time, but he/she does not recognize the favours of Allaah upon him/her. He/she does not recognise Allaah with His Names and Attributes, what He is and what He is not. He/she does not recognize his/her Lord and thus does not recognise the depth of the phrase that he/she says with his/her mouth - Alhamdulillaah!
How can praise someone, the quality of whom you do not know?
Imaam Ghazzali says: “Allaah is praised by Himself since eternity and He is praised by the creation for so long as the creation continues and that is also till eternity.”
After the Day of Judgement, people will go into Hellfire or Paradise and those two places continue to remain for eternity and will continue to say Alhamdulillaah for eternity.
Ibn al-Qayyim also makes a few points regarding Alhamdulillaah, when talking about Soorat al-Faatiha and he says, “Allaah begins the Qur’aan by praising Himself and He praises Himself for the fact that He is the Lord of everything that exists.”
As discussed in the previous lesson the meanings of ar-Rahmaan and ar-Raheem; it is as if Allaah praises Himself for being the Lord of all of creation and for being ar-Rahmaan and ar-Raheem - the Owner of Mercy and the Giver of Mercy.
All praise be to Allaah for being the Sovereign of the Day of Judgement. Allaah is also praised for His ‘Uloohiyyah (You Alone do we worship, and You Alone do we ask for help). So Allaah is praised for His ‘Uloohiyyah, Ruboobiyyah, Rahmaaniyyah and so on.
Al-Hamd is very close to the word Shukr, which means “thanks”.
What is the difference between Hamd and Shukr?
In one sense Hamd - glorification/praise - is general and Shukr is specific. For instance, if you recognise that a person does something good that he is a good person and praise him, but if that person does you a favour then you thank him; you don’t just praise him. This is one difference between Hamd and Shukr.
In another sense, Shukr is very general and Hamd is very specific.
Hamd can only be done with speech, with your tongue. Shukr can not only be done through ones tongue but also through ones limbs, ones actions. So the more Allaah gives you, you give from that charity and zakaah as thanks to Allaah, without saying a word. The more opporunities Allaah gives you to do good deeds, and you do them, you are thanking Allaah through your actions, without saying a word.
This is the second differenece between Hamd and Shukr.
The virtues of al-Faatihah from the Sunnah:
The messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The most beloved words to Allaah are four: SubhaanAllaah, Wa’l-hamdulillaah, Wa laa ‘ilaaha ‘illa-Allaah and Wa-Allaahu ‘Akbar (Glorified is Allaah, praise is for Allaah, there is none worthy of worship but Allaah, Allaah is the Greater).”
[Muslim]
On the authority of Abu Malik Al-Harith bin Asim Al-Ashari said that the messenger of Allah said:
“Purity is half of faith. alhamdu-lillah [Praise be to Allah] fills the scales, and subhana-Allah [How far is Allah from every imperfection] and alhamdu-lillah [Praise be to Allah] fill that which is between heaven and earth. Prayer is light; charity is a proof; patience is illumination; and the Quran is an argument for or against you. Everyone starts his day and is a vendor of his soul, either freeing it or bringing about its ruin.”
[Muslim]
It is known from the incident of the Sahaabi who was praying behind the Prophet and as the Prophet was praying, the sahaabi sneezed and upon sneezing he said, “Alhamdulillaah, hamdan katheeran tayyiban mubaarakan feeh” (All praise be to Allaah, many good and blessed praise), during the Salaah. So after the prayer the Prophet said, “Who was the one who spoke during the Salaah?” No one responded as they felt they done something wrong. Then he repeated the question. The sahaabi said, “I did O messenger of Allaah”. The Prophet asked him, “What did you say?”. The sahaabi repeated what he had said. The prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said, “By the One Who has my soul in His Hand, angels were rushing to write it down and competing with each other to see who can take it to Allaah first. Reported by at-Tirmidhi and he graded it ‘Hasan’.
This is something that happened in the time of the Prophet and something he endorsed.
[Anyone after the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) cannot bring something like this into the religion of al-Islaam as it cannot get the trademark seal of approvement from the messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him)!]
When we eat and drink, we say, “Alhamdulillaahillaadhee at’amanaa wa-saqaanaa wa-ja’alnaa mina’l-muslimeen” (all praise be to Allaah, Who fed us, gave us something to drink, and made us of the Muslims).
[There are other different, authentic du'aa' to be recited after eating with different wordings]
So even when we eat, these are the etiquettes we are taught by the messenger of Allaah, to praise and thank Allaah.
A lot of people unfortunately believe that Hamd is something you do, when Allaah gives you something good, which is in fact Shukr and not Hamd!
Hamd for Allaah is at all times, no matter whether He gives you bounties, He gives you favours or He doesn’t. He is praiseworthy before you were even born, let alone before He favoured you with a mother and father and before He favoured you so much in life! He is praiseworthy regardless of your existence; so He is praiseworthy nevertheless.
If you really look at the true believers, they praise Allaah at the time of hardship, when they are facing hardships, when they are facing calamities, when things cannot get worse, they turn their calamities into blessings by saying Alhamdulillaah.
This is sort of a “magical” word, that you can turn a calamity into a blessing by saying “Alhamdulillaah”, unlike a lot of people who say that you can turn haraam into halaal by saying, “Bismillaah”!
The true believers, whenever faced by a calamity, they will consider it to be a blessing from Allaah.
Take a look at Shaikh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah; he was imprisoned many times in his life. First he was imprisoned in Damascus, then in Egypt, then he was brought back to Damascus, then he was brought back to Damascus, then he issued his verdict on Talaaq and then he was arrested again, then he was arrested for other reasons towards the end of his life, because he stood up for the truth, he spoke out against the bid’ahs of his age, very openly and he did not “fear the blame of the blamers”. He was not a very hot-headed young person writing all these books and refuting people when he was 20 years old. He done this when he was 50-60 years old and he was writing all this literature and he would get on people’s nerves by writing literature which he cannot refute and the fact that it gets published. Even in Egypt when they imprisioned him, one thing they could not do was to take his pen and paper away. He left behind so much literature for us and now the way it has been revived, it has been such an eye opener to the academia and so many people in this world and our century, despite of all the efforts geared against Ibn Taymiyyah such that he had to die in prison.
Not only that, one of the last letters he wrote, he wrote with coal, because by that time his pen and paper had been taken away to prevent him writing any further. He had written against one of the grave-worshippers of that time, a Maaliki Qaadhi, and when that came out, the Qaadhi got mad at the fact that despite being caged up, Ibn Taymiyyah still managed to publish his work to the people. So all his pens, paper and literature were taken away from him. The prisons of that time were also not like the prisons we have today in England. The prisons in the Muslim world in the medieval times had no concept of cleanliness, such that in some of his letters Ibn Taymiyyah complained about how the prisons in the Muslim world were maintained, as he was a prisoner himself!
So in that letter, Ibn Taymiyyah wrote:
“That we are by the praise of Allaah and all thanks to Him, enjoying the great blessings of Allaah that increase every single day, that Allaah every single day causes one blessing to give birth to many other blessings and the fact that Allaah took all that I had written out of prison and got all my books and pens confiscated, that was the greatest of Allaah’s blessings on me. I was really eagre to get something I had written out (of prison so the people can read), and these people hated the fact that I wrote al-Ikhnaa’eeyah and it was out for people to read. So Allaah used them in a way that they could not recognies, by getting them to confiscate all my literature and taking them out of the prison so people can read what I am writing. We are indeed enjoying the greatest blessings of Allaah that cannot be counted and all praise be to Allaah, abundant, good and blessed praise. Whatever Allaah decreed, there is good in it, Mercy from Allaah and great Wisdom. (Then Ibn Taymiyyah wrote the Words of Allaah) ‘Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allaah, but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself…’ A person should always thank Allaah and praise Him in whatever state he is in, and always seek Allaah’s forgiveness for his sins, because a person when he gives thanks to Allaah, it incurs more of Allaah’s blessings upon him, and no matter what Allaah decrees for a believer, it is best for him. (Then he recites the hadith) ‘… he is blessed with prosperity, he thanks Allaah, thus there is a good for him in it, and if he is afflicted, he endures it patiently and there is good for him in that…’”
A person in such a state, it would be the end of his career, it is as if he would be blinded and his hands chopped off. Yet he considered it to be one of the greatest blessings upon him. It does not appear to be from someone incarcerated in prison, in his deathbed.
The messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said:
How wonderful is the case of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except the believer. If he is blessed with prosperity, he thanks Allaah, thus there is a good for him in it, and if he is afflicted, he endures it patiently and there is good for him in that.”
[Muslim]
“Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allâh, but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself. And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) as a Messenger to mankind, and Allâh is Sufficient as a Witness.”
[an-Nisaa' (004:079)]
Sayyid Qutb (may Allaah have mercy on him), when he was in court and they read out his death sentence to him, that he is going to be executed, he said, “Alhamdulillaah. This is something I had been preparing for the last fifteen years.”
Shahaadah in Arabic refers to martyrdom and a degree (i.e. graduation) as well.
This is how a true believer really understands Alhamdulillaah (when faced with calamities).
Narrated Aboo Moosaa, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said: When a child of a servant of Allaah dies, Allaah inquires His angels: Have you taken into custody the soul of the child of My servant? They answer: Yes. Then He inquires: Have you taken into custody the soul of the flower of his heart? They answer: Yes. Then He inquires: Then what did My servant say? They answer: He praised You and affirmed: To Allaah we belong and to Him we shall and return. Thereupon Allaah says: Build for My servant a mansion in Paradise and name it “The House of Praise.”
[at-Tirmidhi]
Can a person praise Allaah enough?
No!
There are some people who say that there is a particular syntax for the best Hamd one can offer to Allaah: “Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of all that exists, with a praise that is equal to all of His favours upon us and a praise that also suffices for further favours of Allaah upon us”. So we praise Allaah for any favours Allaah has given to us and any He will give to us in the future.
Imaam as-Saffarini mentions in his commentary that a question of this nature was given to Ibn al-Qayyim and he refuted this notion from various angles. He says, “As far as the sanaad is concerned, we have a person called Aboo Nasr at-Tammam narrating all the way from Aadam (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him)!”
So Ibn al-Qayyim’s point is that if he was narrating from the messenger of Allaah, the best of the children of Aadam, we would not accept it from him, becuase Allaah knows how many people are missing between him and the Prophet in the chain of transmission, so how about the number of people missing between him and Aadam!
In terms of the meaning, some of the jurists had a fiqhi issue based on this topic. They said, “A person swears by Allaah that he will praise Allaah with the most comprehensive praise. The way in which he can fulfill his vow is by reciting this.”
The truth of the matter is that the vow cannot be fulfilled.
A person will never ever be able to praise Allaah enough.
Imaam Ahmad narrates in his book az-Zuhd, from al-Hasan, who said, “Dawood (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said, “O Allaah, if every single hair on my body had two tongues glorifying you night and day and for all the rest of the time, I wouldn’t have been able to give thanks for all the blessings!”
In another narration by al-Mughirah ibn ‘Utbah, he said that “Allaah said: Work O family of Dawood for very few of my servants are thankful. Dawood said: How can I be able to thank You, when You are the One Who grants me favours and then You give me the ability to thank You and then You continue to give me favours upon favours. All the favours are from you O Lord. How can I then be able to completely thank you? And Allaah says in respones: Only now you have understood Me, O Dawood.”
as-Saffarini says, “A servant can never be satisified with thanking Allaah enough for the most insignificant of His bounties except by acknolwedging hisinability to thank Him enough.”
How do we praise and thank Allaah?
1) By acknowledging what He is, His rights; acknowledging the Lordship of Allaah over the rest of His creation; acknowleding His right to be worshipped alone, His Names and Attributes, which is why the people who do not worship Him Alone are called kuffaar.
Kuffaar comes from the singular word kaafir. Kaafir comes from the word kafaarah, which means “to cover up”. Another meaning of the word is “kufraan”, which means “to be ungrateful”.
This is why a kaafir is ungrateful. Eemaan is Shukr, the opposite of kufraan. To thank Allaah is eemaan and its opposite is kufr, which is to be ungrateful of Allaah. A person who is worshipping Allaah is thanking Him, and a person who is worshipping others besides Allaah, he is not thanking him rather he is being ungrateful to Him.
If a person does a good deed to a brother and he goes and thanks someone else instead. This person will feel bad, that I am the one doing the deed and he is thanking someone else! I will not do any good to you if you do not recognise my favours onto you.
2) Another way is a person can praise thank Allaah is by thanking and praising Him verbally, knowing and udnerstanding the meaning of Alhamdulillaah.
3) By truly loving Allaah one thanks Him ,not just pretending to love Him. When a person truly loves Allaah, he follows the Sunnah of His messenger. As Allaah says:
Say (O Muhammad to mankind): “If you (really) love Allâh then follow me (i.e. accept Islâmic Monotheism, follow the Qur’ân and the Sunnah), Allâh will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
[Aal 'Imraan (003:031)]
4) Fearing His punishment and hoping for His reward.
5) Acting in accordance to His Commands. To seek His Pleasure and not the pleasure or approval of anyone else.
One of the best ways of showing gratitude of Allaah is to place all that you have been given by Allaah at His service.
So if you have a business, and you have money coming in and you have savings, you spend that in the Path of Allaah. This is better than lipservice, and saying Alhamdulillaah whilst holding the money into your pockets. A better way of thanking Allaah is whatever penny you get, you give it away.
This is how the companions used to live. Some of these companions were put as governors over large areas of lands, countries, and the news would reach the Khaleefah that these governors had nothing to eat and hardly anything to wear. When the Khaleefah would hear about this, he would send money to the governor money to help him on a personal level. When the money reaches the governor, they would consider the money to be a trial from Allaah and they would distribute the wealth amongst the people. This is how they would treat wealth, it will come and it will go, to the extent that some of them will die without leaving much behind for their kids.
They were constantly conscious of the fact that since Allaah has given they a blessing, they are answerable to Allaah for every single blessing. The only way they can be responsible for each of those blessing, is by spending from that blessing.
If Allaah has given you knowledge, then as a responsibility to that knowledge you have to give some of that knwoledge to others, otherwise Allaah will take the baraakah away from that knowledge and your knowledge will suffer.
Exactly with wealth, if Allaah has given him wealth and he does not give in charity some of that wealth, Allaah will take away the baraakah from that wealth, because he doesn’t purify his wealth by giving sadaaqah out of it, because he doesn’t thank Allaah.
Each time Allaah opens up a door of favour to you, He is also opening up a door of worship to you as well.
So if you get a new job/payrise/promotion, then that means Allaah wants you to do more for His Cause. Don’t think it if is for free and you will not be held accoountable for it.
Not only that the moment you thank Allaah, you should thank Allaah for allowing you to thank Him!
Allaah gives so much favours upon people and they do not even have eemaan, let alone thinking about thanking Him. The fact that He made you a Muslim and gave you a conscious to think about thanking Him, is enough for you to thank Him even more!
This is exactly what we say after we eat… “all praise be to Allaaah Who… … made us of the Muslims”.
So if one is given strength by Allaah, he should use that strength in the Path of Allaah. If he is given a skill by Allaah, he should put it to the service of Islaam (i.e. computing, finance, medicine, engineering, fundraising etc.). Apply that skill with a Masjid, or with an Islaamic organization.
This is one of the best, practical ways of thanking Allaah.
The practical way to thank Allaah for this circle, this class, is to implement what one learns.
[Jokes in the class: Is this all you read the post for? Jokes !? You kidding me? No joke for you today.]
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If you want to listen to the audio clip then you can find it on the LKIC site inshaaAllaah. I don’t think you can download it though… yet.
http://www.lewishamislamiccentre.com/media/adab
MashaAllaah. Wa JazakAllaahu Khair. May Allaah give us the ability to implement what we learn, and be amongst those that are His few thankful slave, aameen.