Date: February 27, 2015
Who is Allah? What an awful question. Right? You are feeling peace inside your soul. Inside your mind. Then, who is creating this peace? Here is your answer. Allah is the most compassionate strength in you, creates the peace in you. You are always confident in your personality. This is Allah’s grace upon you. This strength and peace help you to speak up and act as a wonderful human being. Expect less and less from others and more and more from Allah. Allah is the best teacher in the universe for your grief and happiness.
"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."
Sunan Ibn Mājah
"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"
Sahih Bukhari
Earth and moon while rotating around their own axes rotate in their own orbits around sun and earth, respectively. In doing so there comes a time when moon orbits in between sun and the earth that blocks a part to complete visibility of sun from earth. This blockage of sun is simply called as solar eclipse. This year on August 21, 2017 partial to total solar eclipse will last about three hours in USA. In Greater Washington Area partial solar eclipse could be observed between 1:17 to 4:01 PM. For details please refer to NASA (https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov) or other online resources. Hadith relative to Kusoof us Shams (Solar Eclipse) It so happened that on a day of a solar eclipse our beloved Prophet Mohammad, SAW, lost his young son Ibrahim. And the people thought that the solar eclipse took place due to the death of Ibrahim. This thinking was carried from the days of Jahilia in Arabia. The Prophet, SAW immediately denied such notion by saying: "The sun and the moon are two signs of the signs of Allah, SWT; they do not eclipse on the death or life of anyone. So, when you see the eclipse, remember Allah, SWT, raise His Praise, His Greatness (say Takbir), pray, and give charity." (Narrated by the Prophet's wife Ayesha, RAA). He then, himself observed prayers and supplication that was joined by some companions. Salatul Kusoof us Shams (Solar Eclipse) Prayer It is generally accepted among the scholars of Islam that the two rakah Sunna that Prophet, SAW observed is Sunnah (stressed) and must be observed by every Muslim and Muslimah. There are two ways to observe this prayer as described below: 1. Pray two rakat sunnah as usual following the standard procedure but recite long Surahs (longest in first rakah) in both rakah after Surah Fatiha. Observe each action lot longer than usual prayers by increased Tasbeeh. 2. Pray two rakat sunnah with two added ruku (one in each rakah). In the first rakah after reciting Surah Fatiha and a long Surah (recommended is equal to Surah Baqara) then go into long ruku and stay there lot longer than the standard ruku. Then go back to standing position, recite again Surah Fatiha and a long Surah (shorter than the one recited in first), follow with a long ruku and then complete the standing and two long prostrations. This completes the first rakah with two ruku. Folllow the second rakah with two ruku and two sujood as first. 3. After completion of the prayers supplicate whole heatedly asking Allah, SWT's help in affairs of ourselves, our beloved ones, our community, our nation as a whole. Ask His direct protection from all the evils and ills of this world and our own selves. 4. This prayer should be observed covering the whole solar eclipse time, if possible. But, neither before nor after the eclipse time. 5. If an obligatory prayer time is close then Kusoof should be delayed and observed after the obligatory prayer. 6. It could be prayed in congregation in a mosque (preferred) or individually in a mosque or home.
Read MoreExcitement When a tried and tested product jumps into the 21st century, you can't help but feel excited about it. This is the exact emotion I'm feeling as I test drive the Alim.org website. I saw some of the familiar (from the 90s!) and lots that was new. But there is so much to explore, that I've only touched the surface. So I thought to myself...why not share my experiences of Alim.org as I Iearn more about the site? The Rundown Before I jump into specifics though, I think it would be useful to understand in layman's terms what the site is all about. Very simply....Qur'an, hadith, Islamic history, and much much more...all in a social network platform. Essentially, you have a plethora of Islamic information at your fingertips that you can discuss...ask questions about. So you may be thinking..."The web is full of such information. What makes Alim.org so unique?" A few things at least... 1. A one-stop powerful shop on the web that allows you to go beyond just Qur'anic recitations and hadith narrations to searches and comparisions and tafsir and transliteration and historical accounts and subject indexes and and...should I go on? Where else do you get ALL of that in one site?? 2. I do have to go on though...because I haven't even mentioned the most unique part! Alim.org is the first Islamic knowledge-based website of its kind to open its doors to social networking. Where else can you read a surah and then comment on it, ask a question about it, or share it easily with others? Right here, at Alim.org...that's where. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences. There's so much to see and talk about it! Till then, happy Alim.org surfing to all of you. :-) Wa'salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah
Read MoreHere is an incident story that a couple experienced rude behavior from a girl in hijab. Once the author’s mom was traveling to Pakistan. Her husband dropped her at the airport and they were in the counter for some check-in processes. There was a girl in hijab at the counter that was very rude to him. They had a difficult situation there that the girl played a very rude behavior and somehow they managed to unpack, repack and sort all the things in the baggage. The girl in hijab had a barking tone until she checked-in for the journey. The moral of this incident is that, we all are human beings and we shouldn’t be so rude to others. When you work in a job, you should serve your customers or clients with great hospitality. Your mental pressures or personal hatreds should not present at the job place. Be calm and helpful to others so that Allah would reward you for these good deeds.
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