Archive for March, 2006

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Q : Who are the Sabians ?

March 21, 2006 at 1:26 am · Filed under Other Religions And Sects, Other

The word saabi⿿ (Sabian) is derived from the verb saba⿿a which refers to the action of leaving one religion and entering another. There is a difference of opinion over the identity of the Sabians.At-Tabari said: al-saabi⿿oon is the plural of saabi⿿, which means one who has changed his religion, such as an apostate from Islam who has left his religion, or anyone who leaves the religion that he used to follow and joined another.
Al-Shaafa⿿i (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: They are a kind of Christian. 

Hatem: “Imam ash-Shafe’ee’s explanation is probably because the Sabians known in Iraq claim to follow Prophet Yahya (John). The Sabians who exist now in Iraq believe in baptism and they also revere the stars.”

Sufyaan Ath ⿿ Thawri said that Layth bin Abu Sulaym said that Mujaahid said: They are a people who come between the Majus, the Jews and the Christians. They do not have a specific religion. (At tabari 2:146)
In Tafseer Shaybaan it is narrated that Qataadah said: The Sabians are a people who worship the angels.

Ibn al-Qayyim said that this is an ancient nation which existed before the Jews and Christians and they were of different types: Sabians who were haneefs (monotheists) and Sabians who were mushrikoon (polytheists). They did not reject the Prophets or regard it as obligatory to follow them. In their view, whoever followed (the Prophets) is blessed and saved, and whoever follows a path similar to that of the Prophets by virtue of his own reasoning is also blessed and saved, even if he did not follow the Prophets in specific terms. In their view the call of the Prophets was true but there was no one specific route to salvation. They believed that the universe had a Creator and Sustainer, Who is Wise and above any resemblance to created beings, but many of them, or most of them, said: we are unable to reach Him without intermediaries, so we have to approach Him through the mediation of spiritual and holy who are pure and free of any physical elements and who are above place and time, rather they are created pure and holy.
Then he said: This is some of what was narrated by the scholar who studied religion and philosophy about the religion of the Sabians, and is based on what had come down to them. But among this nation are some who believe in Allaah and His names and attributes, His angels and Messengers and the Last Day; and among them are disbelievers. There are some who took from the religion of the Messengers whatever suited their own reasoning and ideas of what is good, so they followed it and were content with it.
Basically, they took what they thought was good from other religions, and they did not take the people of one religion as friends and others as enemies; they did not favour one religion over another. In their view all religions served some purpose in this world, so there was no sense in their fighting one another, rather the good things in each were to be adopted so as to perfect the human condition. Hence they were called saabi⿿een because they refrained from following any one particular religion. Hence more than one of the salaf (pious predecessors ⿿ companions of the Prophet and those who followed their way) said: They are not Jews or Christians or Magians.

Hatem: ” They were mentioned in the Quran in the following verses:

Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. 2/62
Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. 5/69
Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians, Christians, Magians, and Polytheists,- Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment: for Allah is witness of all things. 22/17

What we need to know is that they are a nation that existed, and Allah will decree their fate on the day of judgment.

What has to be clear is that the ones who are saved in these verses are those who believed in Allah as he wished. Allah said:

“Those who deny Allah and His apostles, and (those who) wish to separate Allah from His apostles, saying: “We believe in some but reject others”: And (those who) wish to take a course midway,- They are in truth (equally) unbelievers; and we have prepared for unbelievers a humiliating punishment.” 4/150-151.
Thus, you are not a believer until you believe in Allah and his Messengers without exceptions. That clearly and most certainly includes the last and best of all of them, our most beloved, Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and give him peace).”

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Q : Where did the hadiths come from ?

March 12, 2006 at 2:23 am · Filed under Sunnah

Hadeeths (plural for hadeeth) are the sayings, actions and approvals of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. The Hadeeths were not written down during the time of the Prophet so as to not mix it with the Qur’an, which was being written at that time. But the companions of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam used to take great care in memorizing the hadith. Anas ibn Malik RA said that they used to sit with the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and listen to him. Once the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam left, they used to memorize and review what they learned. Abu Huraira RA who spent much of his time with the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to split his night into three portions: First to review all the hadeeth he learnt that day, second to sleep and the third for qiyam-ul-layl.
As for the writing of hadeeths it started during the life of the prophet r and reached its peak during the early half of the 3rd century A.H.
In Musnad Ahmad 6510 the Prophet r was asked by Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-’As if he should write everything the Prophet says, and he r replied: “Write (everything) for by him in whose hands is my soul, nothing comes out of me but the truth”
Not only that, their actions were based on the sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, which the next generation saw and learned from. They taught the next generation from what they learned from the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and that’s how the Hadeeths were transformed. Each generation would memorize the Hadeeths and transfer them to the next (orally and in writing). By the second half of the third century almost all the hadeeths were documented in writing.
 When people started to corrupt the hadeeths, sciences of hadeeth were developed by the scholars and the authentic Hadeeths were sorted out from the non authentic through a method of verification of reports known in the history to be particular to Islam. That is unlike all other religions which didn’t have that method, and they never talk about chains of narrators, in fact many of the books of the bible itself have unknown authors[i].

You can learn more about some of the great scholars who compiled hadeeth by clicking here.
To learn more about hadeeth: click here


[i] Who is the Author of God’s Book?
   

The Books of the Bible
           Author
      Genesis
 One of the “five books of Moses”
      Exodus
 Generally credited to Moses
      Leviticus
 Generally credited to Moses
      Numbers
 Generally credited to Moses
      Deuteronomy
 Generally credited to Moses
      Joshua Major part credited to Joshua
      Judges
 Possibly Samuel
       Ruth
 Not definite, perhaps Samuel
       First Samuel
 Unknown
       Second Samuel
 Unknown
       First Kings
 Unknown
       Second Kings Unknown
       First Chronicles
 Unknown, probably collected and edited by Ezra
       Second Chronicles
 Likely collected and edited by Ezra
       Ezra
 Probably written or edited by Ezra
       Esther
 Unknown
       Job
 Unknown
       Psalms
 Principally, David; there are other writers
       Ecclesiastes
 Commonly assigned to Solomon
       Isaiah
 Mainly credited to Isaiah; parts may have been written by others
       Jonah
 Unknown
       Habakkuk
 Unknown

 Cited from Collins’ RSV , 1971: pp 12-17
 

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Q : Why do we pray fajr ?

March 12, 2006 at 2:20 am · Filed under Belief

• First and foremost, it is a command from Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). Even though Allah knows that the time of sunrise changes, He commanded us to wake up for Fajr, so in it is a hikmah (wisdom). We might not understand the hikmah but we take everything from Allah as good and obey His commands.
• There is a hardship involved but the reward is great as well: Abu Hurairah (RA) reported: The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “No salaat is more burdensome to the hypocrites than the fajr (dawn) prayer and the ‘isha’ (night) prayer; and if they knew their merits, they would come to them even if they had to crawl to do so.”[Sahih Bukhari and Muslim]
• The time following the fajr prayer is full of blessings. The Qur’an says: “…innal qur’aanal fajre kaana mashhooda.” Surah Al Isra […verily the recitation of the fajr is witnessed (by angels)]. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “O Allah! Bless my Ummah in its early rising!” and whenever he despatched an expedition or an army he sent them after the fajr salaah.
• Praying Fajr is better than praying the whole night.
‘Umar RA once learnt that a person had stayed awake the night for the tahajjud salaah, causing him to miss the fajr congregation. He remarked that the man had exchanged the greater good for the lesser.

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