Massoud Vahedi

If you are not following Sh. Asif Hirani on Facebook, you are seriously missing out! His posts are full of jewels and gems. May Allah preserve him.

Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab: An Epitome of Sincerity and Humility One of Ibn Rajab's students narrated: "We once attended a gathering led by our Shaykh after the morning prayer, where he analyzed a peculiar legal issue in an extremely detailed and fine-tuned manner, such that he enumerated the views of the scholars and jurists regarding it and evaluated its applications and extensions in related legal areas (takhrij)...this presentation caused us to become amazed of his prowess, memory, and excellent skills in legal deduction. Then on that same day we – along with our Shaykh – were invited to a gathering that was led by many of the major scholars and judges [of that time]...it so happened that the very same legal issue was brought up in this gathering, and none of these judges and scholars were able to analyze it well. We wished that he [Ibn Rajab] would speak so that his primacy over them would become evident. But throughout their discussion, our Shaykh remained silent. After we left, we recalled to the Shaykh how he remained silent. In response he said: 'This gathering [with the judges and scholars] was held for the sake of this world, but my gathering with you is held for [the sake of Allah and] the Hereafter.'" Shaykh Salih Al Shaykh commented on this story by stating: "Humility is the hallmark of success, while pretentiousness is the hallmark of failure." What was wrong with the gathering of the scholars? It was likely not held with the sincere intention of attaining benefit and benefitting others, and instead the attendees wanted to display their knowledge to their peers and engage in argumentation. When Ibn Rajab noticed this, he disengaged from the discussion and remained silent.

Sunnah vs. Hadith ‘Abdurrahman Ibn Mahdi said: “Al-Awza'i is an Imam when it comes to the Sunnah, but not in Hadith. Sufyan [ibn Uyaynah] is an imam in Hadith, but not in the Sunnah. Malik is an imam in both [the Sunnah and Hadith].” —————————————————————————— By this he meant that Imam Malik was skilled in both knowing hadiths - in their transmitted and authentic form - and which ones are actable and which ones are not (i.e. which hadiths are normative and legally relavant). Al-Awza'i had a strong juristic acumen and was on the mark in many legal issues, but he seemed to over rely on weak hadiths and use them as foundational proofs in areas where they were not relavant. Sufyan was a great hadith memorizer and could appraise a hadith's authenticity, but he did not have the juristic skill or acumen of Imam Malik and other Imams to identify which hadiths are actable and which ones are not.

"Be the hero who is unsung on Earth, praised in the Heavens." - Dr. Suheil Laher

"Every single hadith that the narrator al-Harith al-A'war is alone in narrating from 'Ali radiya Allahu 'anhu is rejected and worthless [with respect to its authenticity]." - Sh. Ibrahim ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Sallum

Majd al-Dīn al-Fīrūzābādī said: "The chapters (collecting narrations) concerning the virtues of Jerusalem, the Rock (Sakhrah), 'Asqalan, Qazwin, al-Andalus, and Damascus do not contain any authentic hadith. The only exceptions for this are the hadith, 'Journeys are not undertaken except towards three masjids,' and the hadith, 'He (peace be upon him) was asked concerning the first masjid that was set on the Earth. He (peace be upon him) said: "It was al-Masjid al-Haram." It was said, "Then what?" He (peace be upon him) said: "Then al-Masjid al-Aqsa."'" - Sifr al-Saʿādah

Scholar preaching Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat: "There is no such thing as Dar al-Islam or Dar al-Harb in the modern world, it's all just one human civilization. We need to think of the world as one village." Same scholar preaching Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat: "We allow interest-based transactions in the West because of the Hanafi position that allows dealing with Riba in Dar al-Harb. And the West is considered Dar al-Harb..."

"It is reported that in the latter parts of his life, Imam Ahmad used to frequently recite Surat al-Kahf as mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in Manaqib al-Imam [Ahmad]. The secret behind that - and Allah knows best - is that the Prophet peace be upon him said: 'You will be tried in your graves [in a manner which will be] like or near the fitnah of Masih al-Dajjal.' It is well-known that whoever memorizes from the first ten verses of Surat al-Kahf, they will be protected from the fitnah of the Dajjal. So if the fitnah of the grave is like the fitnah of the Dajjal or near it, and a person frequently reads from Surat al-Kahf, then perhaps Allah will protect them from this great fitnah [of the grave as well]." - Shaykh Fahd al-Mutairi

"Knowledge does not benefit you automatically. You must purify your hearts, O brothers! You are jealous of so-and-so, sensitive with another person, have issues with a third person, and so on, and yet you still want to benefit from your knowledge? How is this possible, my brother?! Ibn Rajab said: 'Knowledge is a [divinely decreed] light that penetrates the heart of the [righteous] servant.' But your heart is *full of* envy, malice, and annoyance towards some of your Muslims. We seek Allah's refuge from His wrath! How can this heart full of jealousy and malice towards one peers and contemporaries - from the believers and fellow students of knowledge - have this light? That is not how things are done! As the poem goes: 'That is not the way camels are led [to drink], O Sa'd!' You want knowledge? Purify your heart! Purify it, my brother. Purify it from what? From malice, hatred, envy, animosity, and severing family relations. You mention such and such fact you've learnt or say, 'I have memorized this book,' but towards where are you actually heading if you have the above problems? Imam Ahmad used to say: 'Do not increase the number of proofs against yourself!' The foundation of knowledge is the fear of Allah Most High. Don't accumulate the number of proofs against yourself by learning and memorizing all these issues, yet you lack this foundation." - Sh. 'Abd al-Mannan Muhammad 'Abd Allah Maqbul

"The online Da'wah scene would instantly improve if half of the speakers involved became full-time Uber drivers and the other half took mandatory therapy sessions." –– one of my friends

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin changed his position on a number of legal issues. Quite a few of these changes relate to the chapter of Haydh, and are interesting to note: 1) he used to consider the Kudrah before the Haydh to assume the ruling of Haydh if it was accompanied with contextual indicators (such as pain and cramps), but then he abandoned this position and said that Haydh is only the blood, and the Kudrah coming before it is disregarded. 2) He first opined that Nifas has no maximum time period, but then he left this position and said that its maximum is 40 days. 3) He first held the view that the Mustahadah should make Wudu at the time of every Salah, but then he left this view, saying that her purification is not invalidated by their state, as long as none of the other customary invalidators of Wudu occur.

Imam al-Ghazali said: "The most foolish of people are the ones most convinced of their own intellectual acumen, whereas the truly intelligent are distinguished by self-scrutiny and a consistent willingness to seek the counsel of learned scholars."

"The number of people who are able to say the Shahadah at the point of death are very few. Perhaps I mentioned previously a story, and there is nothing to prevent one from mentioning it again, since it is a necessary spiritual reminder for all of us. I asked a noble doctor who works at a university hospital: How many people have you witnessed at their deathbed [in your work experience]? He mentioned a number that was close to 1700. I said: Of those 1700, how many of them did you see utter the Shahadah [before dying]? He said: Maybe four or five. La ilaha illallah! La ilaha illallah! This is because - and we ask from Allah well-being ('afiyah), a good end, and being able to say it at the end of life - many people are busy with their world, don't take these things seriously, and hope to keep living even at that point, and fear that if they say it at that stage they will die, so they refrain from saying it. And perhaps many of them were heedless of this during their lives, so they are not given tawfiq to say it. One is not facilitated in saying it in this place unless one who constantly says it, remembers it, and bears it in their mind at all times; this is the one who remembers it and says it ... Then later on I re-examined this issue with the doctor. He said: the number of deaths [from the original 1700] have now increased. I asked: what about the number of people who say the Shahadah? He said: They did not increase. La ilaha illallah! I said to him: Brother, what do they say to you [when dying]? He stayed silent for a while, and then said: Some of them say insults, some of them curse, and some of them say the most disgusting of words. We ask Allah for our well-being and security. For this reason, let a person accustom his tongue in saying the kalimah at all times, for it is not an easy thing to say at all [at the point of death]." - Dr. Mansur al-'Idi

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz stated: “Whoever turns his religion into a matter of disputation will inevitably be prone to frequent changes in his position.”

Sulayman 'alayhi al-Salam is reported to have said: "If speech is silver, then silence is gold.”

Why Arabic Syntax Matters In Surat al-Buruj (verses 14-15), Allah says: ( وهو الغفورُ الودودُ * ذو العرشِ المجيدُ) The word al-Majid (lit. Glorious) could actually be read in two ways: al-Majidu (المجيدُ), or al-Majidi (المجيدِ), which are known as the nominative (al-raf') and genitive (al-jarr) states respectively. If the word al-Majid is read in the nominative state, then it will be read here as denoting an attribute of Allah: "He is the Lord of the Throne, and [He is] the Most Glorious." But if it is read in the genitive state, then it will be an attribute of the Throne: "He is the Lord of the Glorious Throne." Both of these readings are valid (see Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 14/313). Note how this difference in syntax plays a role in Qur'anic translations. Abdel Haleem picks the nominative reading, while Pickthall adopts the genitive reading (The Glorious referring to Allah vs. the Throne).