Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
To explain this, I need to fast forward this a few years past my first year. This is a super long post,please stick around till the closing credits. JazakAlllah Khair
So we were in the midst of exams,stressing like crazy. We are given permission to stay up till later than the usual to study and when you walk into the mess and the boarding,you’re hit with the symphony of Quran,Hadith,Tafseer,explanations,different opinions etc etc and in different languages. It is absolutely amazing. Of course at that time it didn’t feel amazing because you’re stressed out to the max.
So it was somewhere before the 15th of Sha’baan and I walk into the mess late at night after getting some biscuits from my room for my tea break. Some guys were so into their kitabs that even if you dropped something on them, they wouldn’t have flinched. SubhanAllah. Some guys were stretching their backs and arms,trying to get rid of the tiredness while their eyes reddened with exhaustion and some were on a break like me, refuelling and wondering why did studying always make you feel like a hungry lion? While there was another group who had no sign of stress and flipped through their books,laughing and joking while least interested in learning. May Allah Ta’aala forgive us.
Those of us on “eat break” automatically gathered in a circle.
Ayub; “Bismillahi wa alaa barakatillah” (Why do we forget to say this when we snack?)
Zameer; “15th of Sha’baan is coming up next week,I don’t know why the asaatizah scheduled heavy papers for us the next day. I’m going to be whacked from staying up”
Ramzi; “Zameer…we shouldn’t talk of our nafl ibaadah akhi…keep it between you and Allah”
Zameer; “I didn’t mean it like that Ramzizi, they will have a programme in the musjid and that ends late and then we obviously have to make our own personal ibadat”
Ramzi; “True,true, ighfirli”
Suhaib; “All papers are ‘heavy’ for you Zameer,it’s Aqeedat Tahaawi,it’s not heavy mate”
Ayub; “You’re finding it heavy? Need me to help you brush up? Just let me know. I Love that kitab!”
Me; “me too, it’s almost like poetry!”
They look at me funny. Sigh.
Ramzi; “It is brilliant in its science of Aqeedah(Beliefs) for the ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah”
Zakir; “ I don’t think we have to stay up on the 15th night…there is nothing to prove it is a “big night” That hadith isn’t even found in Bukhari or Muslim,why kill youself when you not going to get all that you Think a hadith promised”
A hush fell over the group.
Zakir was someone who was always questioning,debating and ridiculing the Aimma and asking for (daleel)proofs and although he didn’t claim to be “salafi” it was thought he was.
Ramzi breaks the silence. “I think you are doing yourself disservice my brother if you restrict yourself to only Bukhari and Muslim as your only source. Millions of Muslims,thousands of Muhadditheen (narrators and reserachers of Hadith) and we accept Only Two kitabs as authentic? Are we saying that everyone elses effort is a lie? It is wrong? Made up? , the Muhadittitheen who gave their Lives for Deen,who had more connection to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’aala in a day than we in our whole lives,are liars and fabricators? They were so close to Nabi SAW in action and we are so far ,yet we find it so easy na’am? To say daeef ,daeef,daeef”(weak narration)
Everyone was stunned. In all our time,we had never heard an outburst from Ramzi.
But Ramzi was not done. “Even If it was a weak hadith, it is the 15th of Sha’baan,halfway to Ramadhan, why should we not prepare ourselves? Why? So we can make ourselves feel nice about the wrong we do? What is there if we sit in ibaadah? Even if with just a niyyah to get closer to Allah, it is a night of taubah,to seek true forgiveness. In taraweeh, the salafis say 8 rakaats BUT WHAT DO THEY DO IN THE REMAINING TIME? WHAT? IBADAT?? Why always so ready to debate but not ready to make ibadat Alone!”
Nabeel chipping in here.
My problem with Salafis is this. I have the greatest respect for the True scholars who are “salafi” because their knowledge is intense and immense. Some of the greatest heroes of our time were/are Salafi But I will say this, it is not for the masses to be Salafi. Why? Because you Do not have the indepth knowledge of Deen to take chances like that on a uniform code given to us for the sake of ease by the 4 Imaams;
Imaam Abu Hanifa AR,Imaam Shafi AR,Imaam Ahmed Bin Hambal AR,Imaam Malik AR.
Today’s Salafi scholar and daee is busy,very busy prepping his important Youtube video of Da’wah or printing his glossy pamphlet for his seminars,updating his social account pics and (the sisters are not going to like this) ,joking with his students.Female students. See a problem in that picture?
Now I am not taking my paintbrush and doing a general paint but I have family who have attended the lessons of scholars who follow Taqleed and those that don’t and I am sad to say, it is amongst those that follow Taqleed, where Hijab is observed More stringently and so are the commands of hijab. Joking and laughing and being informal for a Shaikh to his female students,is wrong! It rips away the nur of the lessons. It makes a mockery of the Divine words you’re teaching Shaikh. Having access to your Shaikh anytime,is not right.
Not every scholar is like this and not every muqallid scholar is good. No ways.
Why does our Shaikh pull off his hat that announced he is a Muslim for years because he can’t find the hadith in Bukhari about a hat nevermind he found it everywhere else? But will never wear an Amaamah(turban) coz that’s so IndoPak style you know? Nevermind that wearing a turban is in the authentic ahadith? Why does our Shaikh suffer an inferiority complez and pulls on a suit jacket over his kurta? The Salafi look for conventions,seminars,weddings and other places he needs to look important. Does he feel the dressing of Nabi SAW is not good enough that he had to add on a western look to feel smarter?
Ah,let’s not forget,the salafi scholar Has to look tip top. It’s in the curriculum.
My main problem with Salafism is the glaring lack of Ruhaniyat. Spirituality. Let me break it down for you. Too much of show business,too much time debating authenticity,not enough time in actual ibaadah,too much time discarding portions of Deen and not enough in actual dawah where its not through a medium of a seminar or webinar. Too much time window dressing and not enough time away from the glare of the public eye. Contemplation in solitude,as Nabi SAW did.
You scream and shout and abuse the 4 Imaams and mock us for our following them. You claim to follow pristine Deen and to practise it as Nabi SAW did and the Sahaba RA and you follow no one else,so you say.
But you quote Ibn Taymiyah,Albaani and Bin Baaaz left ,right and centre. Seeking reassurance for your choices from their works. Does it not come down to the same thing you accuse us of?
Phew. I’m steamed out.
Once again,some of the greatest men I know of are Salafi. But they are close to the sunnah in the way they walk,talk,dress,eat. With their amaamahs and pants mid calf,dressed as my Nabi SAW did. These men are devout worshippers,modest and observe hijab not only with their eyes but their hearts. I Salute them and love them.
In the above,I refer to the current day, camera friendly Shuyookh who do as I have described. Not those that are trying their best to be like their predecessors in the truest and best sense.
Back to the “eat break”
Ayub; “What is amazing is that we have ahadith on a person’s wudhu been broken by merely touching a female and other narrations from Aisha Siddiqa RA where Nabi SAW kissed her and proceeded to lead the salaah? So how do we reconcile this? Is our wudhu intact or not? when we feel like,then its broken and when its not convenient for us,then we don’t make it.”
Ramzi; “ Exactly Ayub, Imaam Abu Hanifa took the stance that the wudhu is valid and Imaam Shaafi AR said it will be broken in that case,what do those who scorn the Aimma say?Do what you want?”
May Allah guide us all in these trying times Ameen,myself first.
The Authenticity of Laylatul Baraa’ah
The 15th night of Sha’baan is known as Laylatul Baraa’ah or the Night of Emancipation.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam has stated:
“Allah Ta’ala looks upon all His creation on the middle Night of Sha’baan and forgives them all, except the one who associates partners with Him or the one who has hatred in his heart (against a Muslim).” (Authenticated as Saheeh in Saheeh ibn Hibban)
There are those who cast doubts about the significance of this night. They would be wise to consider the words of Ibn Taymiya and Albaani, whom they consider as Imaams.
Ibn Taymiya writes in his Al-Fataawal Kubra, “As for the middle night of Sha’baan, indeed it holds virtue.”
Albaani when discussing the Ahadith regarding the 15th night of Sha’baan writes, “In essence, the Hadith, considering the different narrations, is Saheeh (rigorously authenticated) without any doubt.” He further says that those who deny the virtue of this night, then it is due to their haste in passing rulings and the absence of effort in researching the Ahadith. (Silsilatul Ahadithis Sahihah)
The 15th night of Sha’baan is indeed an auspicious night. It is a night of forgiveness and mercy. Let us be of those fortunate ones who maximise the benefits of this night and thereby welcome Ramadhan spiritually rejuvenated.
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