July 2012 Volume 2, Issue 12

This is issued monthly by The FIKR-E-RAZA Organization in Cairo, Egypt

A Voice of Ah-lu-Sunnah Wal Jama’ah

The-Significance-of-Shab-e-Baraat

The Significance of Repentance

In th

is issue

A beautiful advise in the regard of Shab e Braat

Visit to the Cemetery

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Prepared by: Mohammad Imamuddin Qadri Azhari

The virtue of this night established from Ahadith is that

from the very beginning of the night Allah Ta‟ ala turns

with special mercy and attention towards the creation

and forgives those who repent and seeks forgiveness.

Every Muslim should therefore value this night. Turn

towards Allah Ta‟ ala with sincere regret and shame

over sins committed and make a promise never to re-

turn to sin again and seek forgiveness from Allah

Ta‟ala. Seek forgiveness for oneself and all Muslims,

living and deceased. Have firm hope and resolution in

the heart that Allah Ta‟ ala will surely show mercy and

forgiveness. It is understood from Ahadith that even on this great

night, some unfortunate individuals are deprived of Al-

lah‟s forgiveness. They are: 1. Idolaters 2. Those that harbor enmity against others 3. Those who consume alcohol 4. Those that disobey their parents 5. Those who wear their trousers, kurtas, lungis, etc.

below their ankles 6. Those who commit murder 7. Those that sever family ties. We should make note of the fact that wearing our

clothes below the ankles is a sin on par with kufr and

drinking alcohol. This should be an eye-opener for

those of us who are habitual in this sin. The special virtues of the night of Bara‟at are: 1. Contrary to other nights where the last third of the

night has special blessings and Allah descends to the

lowest Heaven during this section of the night, on the

night of Bara‟at the special rain of mercy and forgive-

ness of Allah Ta‟ ala begins to shower down right from

the beginning of the night and continues until dawn. 2. The sins of countless people are pardoned. As al-

ready mentioned, Allah Ta‟ala‟s descension during this

night to the lowest Heaven occurs from the very begin-

ning, unlike other nights. Furthermore, the number of

pronouncements seeking forgiveness far supersedes

those, which occur on other nights.

Fasting during the month of Sha‟baan is Sunnah and

clearly established practice of the Shariah. Fasting in

the month of Shábaan, without the stipulation of any

day, is proven from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sal-

lam. In fact, he used to fast excessively during this

month. A Hadith of Hazrat Aisha (radiyallahu anha)

wherein she describes the fast of Rasulullah (sallallahu

alayhi wa sallam) substantiates this. She says that aside

from the month of Ramadaan, he never used to fast for

an entire month. However, of the remaining months, he

would fast in Shábaan the most.

What should be done on this night? In order to obtain maximum benefit from this auspi-

cious night, one should allocate a specific portion of

the night for solitude and close communion with Allah

Ta‟ala. Fervent dua and repentance should be priority

and make the sole intention for Allah Ta‟ala‟s pleasure

and reformation of the inner self. Other observances

that may be practiced are: (a) Salaah – Salaah is one the most preferable acts to

be performed during this night. There is no particular

number of Rak‟ats but preferably it should not be less

than eight. It is also advisable that each part of the Sa-

laah like qiyam, rukoo‟ and sajdah should be longer

than normal. Also try and recite as much qiraat in sa-

laah as possible. (b) Tilawah – The recitation of the Holy Quran is an-

other form of worship that is very beneficial on this

night. After performing Salaah, or at any other time,

one should recite as much of the Holy Quran as possi-

ble. (c) Zikr – Engage ones heart in Zikr (remembrance of

Allah Ta‟ala). One should also recite abundant durood on Rasulullah,

(sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Zikr can also be recited

while walking, lying on bed and during other hours of

work or leisure. (d) Dua – The best benefit one can draw from the

blessings of this night is prayers and supplications.

Dua (supplication) itself is an „Ibadah, and Allah

Ta‟ala gives reward on each prayer along with the ful-

fillment of the supplicator‟s need. Even if the purpose

prayed for is not achieved, one cannot be deprived of

the reward of the prayer, which is, sometimes more

precious than the mundane benefits one strives for.

The prayers and supplications also strengthen one‟s

relation with Allah Ta‟ala, which is the main purpose

of all kinds and forms of worship. (e) There are some people due to circumstances will

not be able to carry out any vigorous or lengthy

Ibadah. Such people should not deprive themselves

completely of the blessings of this night. They should

attempt to fulfill the following: (i) Perform Maghrib, Esha and Fajr with congregation

in the Masjid, or at home in case of illness. (ii) Keep ones tongue wet with Zikr, in whatever con-

dition they are until they sleep. iii) Plead to Allah Ta‟ala for forgiveness and for their

other objectives. One can do so even whilst one is ly-

ing in bed. (f) Women during menstruation cannot perform sa-

laah, nor can they recite the Quran, but they can recite

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A'la Hadrat, Imam Ahmad Rida Fadil e-Bareilly

(radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) has given a beautiful

advise in this regard. This great Imam said:

"Verily the auspicious night of Shab-e-Bara'a is

drawing near when the deeds of the slave will be

presented to the Almighty Allah. I humbly sup-

plicate in the Darbar-e-Aqdas of the Almighty

Allah that through the Wasila-e-Uzma of Sayy-

iduna Rasoolullah (Salla Allahu alaihi wa Sal-

lam) He forgives the sins and transgressions of

all Muslims. Aameen."On this occasion, it

should be the duty of all Sunni Muslims to for-

give one another and to make sure that whatever

debts owed to one another is settled. The impor-

tance of Huqooq al-Ibaad cannot be over-

emphasized as this is among the pre-requisites

for proper Ibaadat. I pray that all Muslims hum-

bly remember this night and try as much as pos-

sible to perform Ibaadat and other pious deeds

so that their Record of Deeds be presented in all

dignity."Finally, I pray that the Almighty Allah

assists you and I and the Muslim Ummah wher-

ever you may be. Muslims should be aware of

sincerity and honesty in all their deeds. May Al-

mighty Allah forgive all of us. Aameen." Faqeer

Ahmad Rida Qaderi (may Allah forgive him)

Visit to the Cemetery Hadrat Ayesha Siddiqa

(radi Allahu ta'ala anha) reports: "One night,

whichwas the 15th of Shabaan, I did not find

the Beloved Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi

wa Sallam) in the house so I went in search of

him. After a longsearch, I found him in Baqiah

(the cemetery of Madinah) offering Du'a forthe

deceased and praying for their forgiveness".

(Baihaqi) A special point must be made to visit

the cemetery during this night and pray for the

deceased buried therein, as the Most Beloved

Prophet (SallaAllahu alayhi wa Sallam) is been

reported as having visited the cemetery on this

night and spending a long time therein, lament-

ing, reading and praying for the deceased.

any Zikr, tasbeeh, durood sharif and can pray to Allah

for whatever purpose they like in whatever language

they wish. They can also recite the Arabic prayers men-

tioned in the Quran or in the Hadith with the intention

of supplication (and not with the intention of recita-

tion).

(g) According to a Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi

wa sallam) visited the graveyard of Baqi‟ during this

night where he prayed for the Muslims buried there.

Hence, some of the fuqaha (jurists) are of the view that

it is mustahab (advisable) to visit the graveyard during

this night and pray for the dead. However, this act is

neither obligatory nor should it be observed regularly

as an obligatory condition they are until they sleep. iii) Plead to Allah Ta‟ala for forgiveness and for their

other objectives. One can do so even whilst one is lying

in bed. Finally,on the 13th,14th,and 15th of this month one

must fast not only to end one's AMAL NAMA with a

good deed and begin the new AMAL NAMA with a

good deed, but also because the Holy Prophethas said :

"O people,lighten and cleanse thy bidies by way of

fasting during shabaan,so that is shall be easy and

helpful to you for the fasting during ramadaan.who

so fasts three days during shabaan,all his past sins

are wiped off."

"o Allah,guides us to the right path and grant us wis-

dom to do what thou hast ordered so that we may re-

ceive thy favour."

A beautiful advise in the re-

gard of Shab e Braat

Visit to the Cemetery

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF REPENTANCE

Allah Ta'ala relents towards those who repent (make

Tawba) and He graciously bestows His Mercy upon those who turn away from sin. Hereunder we will Insha

Allah learn about the significance and necessity of re-

penting for our sins.

Hazrat Jaabir ibn Abdullah (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) nar-rates that Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) de-

livered a sermon one Friday, in the course of which he

said, “O people, repent to Allah before you die. Set about the performance of righteous works without delay,

before you are too preoccupied. Reconcile whatever dif-

ferences you have with your Lord, for then you will

prosper.”

The Beloved Rasool (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) also

said, “When Iblees was sent down to the earth he said,

“By Your Glory and by Your Majesty, I swear that I shall not cease to mislead the human being as long as he

has a breath left in his body.” The Lord then said, “By

My Glory and by My Majesty, I shall not refuse to ac-cept his repentance, as long as he has not made that gur-

gling sound with his last breath.””

Hazrat Muhammad ibn Mutrif (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh)

reports that Allah Ta'ala has said, “Woe unto the son of Adam! He commits a sin, then he begs Me for forgive-

ness, and so I forgive him.

Woe unto him! He promptly repeats the sin, then begs Me for forgiveness, and so I forgive him.

Woe unto him! He will not give up his sin, but neither

will he despair of My mercy. I call you to bear witness to the fact that I have indeed forgiven him.”

Hazrat Anas ibn Malik (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) narrates

that after the revelation of the Qur'anic Verse, “And that

you ask forgiveness of your Lord then repent to Him [Surah 11, Verse 3],”

Allah's Messenger (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) and his

Blessed Companions would pray for forgiveness a hun-dred times every day, and they used to say, “We beg

forgiveness of Allah, and we return to him in repentance

(Nastaghfirullaaha wa natubu ilaih).”

Hazrat Anas (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) also reports that a man once came to Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasal-

lam) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I am guilty of a

sin.” When Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) told him, , “You must ask forgiveness of Allah,” the

man said, “I do repent, but then I commit the same sin

all over again.”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) then said,

“However often you sin, you must always repent, so that

Shaitaan will be the one who reaches the point of sheer

exhaustion.” The man said, “O Prophet of Allah, in that case my sins are likely to be very numerous,”

to which the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) replied, “Allah's readiness to pardon is greater than your

sins.”

Hazrat Hassan Basri (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) once said,

“You must not entertain the wishful expectation of for-giveness without repentance (Tawba), nor of spiritual

reward without good work.”

As Allah Ta'ala states in the Glorious Qur'an, “And un-doubtedly, I am the Most Forgiving to him who repents

and believes and does good deeds, then remains on guid-

ance [Surah 20, Verse 82].

The ambitious desire for Divine Mercy and the Garden of

Paradise, without repentance and without devotion to pi-

ety, is therefore nothing short of folly, ignorance and de-

lusion, because repentance and devotion to piety are both stipulated in the above verse of the Holy Qur'an.

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has said, “The

true believer looks upon his sins as if he were standing at the foot of a mountain, afraid that it might topple down

upon him. As for the shameless sinner, he looks upon his

sins as if they were merely flies that had settled on his nose, so he assumes that they will buzz off as soon as he

tells them to do so.”

Once, Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said, “It

may happen that the servant of Allah commits a sin, and that sin enables him to enter the Garden of Paradise.” The

Blessed Companions then asked, “Ya Rasoolullah

(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), how can it possibly enable him to enter the Garden of Paradise?” The Beloved Ra-

sool (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) then replied, “The sin

keeps staring him in the eye, so he begs forgiveness for it.

He feels remorse over it, and repents, so it actually en-ables him to enter the Garden of Paradise!”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) also said, “I

have never seen a remedy that is more appropriate, or that takes effect more rapidly than a new good deed applied to

an old sin.” As Allah Ta'ala has stated in the Holy Qur'an,

“No doubt, good deeds obliterate evil deeds. This is ad-monition for the persons accepting admonition [Surah 11,

Verse 114].”

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said,

“When the servant of Allah commits a sin, it takes the form of a black stain inside his heart. Then, if he repents,

seeks refuge and begs for forgiveness, his heart will be

cleansed of that stain. But if he does not repent, does not resort to humble entreaty and does not beg for forgive-

ness, sin will be added to sin, and blackness to blackness,

until his heart becomes blind and he must die.”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has stated,

“Remorse is a form of repentance.” He also said, “When

someone commits a sin, then feels remorse over it, his

remorse becomes his expiation (kaffaarah) for the sin.”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has stated, “Remorse is a form of repentance.” He also said, “When

someone commits a sin, then feels remorse over it, his re-

morse becomes his expiation (kaffaarah) for the sin.”

Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) has stated, “These words were inscribed around the Heavenly

Throne (Arsh) four thousand years before Adam (Alaihis

Salaam) was created: “And undoubtedly, I am the Most Forgiving to him who repents and believes and does good

deeds, then remains on guidance.” [Surah 20, Verse 82]”

From this narration we can see the importance and signifi-cance of repenting, that the words relating to it are even

inscribed on the Arsh of Allah Ta'ala.

According to a report transmitted by Hazrat Yunus ibn

Ubaidullah (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) once said, “There is not one servant of

Allah who does not have two angels watching over him,

and the guardian angel of the right side is in command of the guardian angel of the left side. Whenever the servant

does a bad deed, the guardian angel of the left side asks his

commander, “Shall I write it down?” The guardian angel of the right side responds to this by telling him, “Leave it until

he has committed five bad deeds.” Then, when the servant

has in fact committed five bad deeds, the guardian angel of

the left side will ask again, “Shall I write them down?” This time the other angel will reply, “Leave it until he does a

good deed.” Then when the servant has in fact performed a

good deed, the guardian angel of the right side will say to his subordinate, “We have been informed that one good

deed should be multiplied by ten, so let us proceed to can-

cel five bad deeds with five good deeds, and then make

sure that five of the good deeds are definitely recorded in his favour.” At this point Shaitaan will cry out in dismay,

“When shall I ever catch up with the son of Adam?””

This Hadith is in harmony with the words of Allah, “No doubt, good deeds obliterate evil deeds. This is admonition

for the persons accepting admonition [Surah 11, Verse

114].”

In another narration Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasal-

lam) said, “If the servant of Allah does a good deed, the

guardian angel of the right side records ten good deeds in

his credit column, and if he does a bad deed, the guardian angel of the left side is ready to record it in his debit col-

umn, but before he has time to do so, the guardian angel of

the right side says, “Don't do that just yet!” He is then obliged to restrain himself for six or seven hours of the day.

During that time the servant may beg forgiveness of Allah,

in which case the angel will not record anything against him, or he may fail to beg forgiveness, in which case the

angel will record one bad deed in his debit column.”

Hazrat Ibn Abbas (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) reports that Ra-

soolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said, “When the servant repents, and when Allah relents towards him,Allah

causes that servant's angelic custodians to forget the bad

deeds he has committed.

He also causes his physical limbs and organs to forget the sinful actions they have committed. So when he

comes forth on the Day of Resurrection there will be

nothing whatsoever to bear witness against him.”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has stated, “He who repents his sin is like someone who is guiltless of

that sin even if he has repeated it seventy times in a day.”

Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) also said, “What is meant by sincere repentance is that one repents

and then does not go back to committing the sin he has

repented for.”

Hazrat Ibn Mas'ood (Radiallahu Ta'ala Anh) is reported

as having said, “When a person first examines his record

book on the Day of Resurrection, he will see his sinful

acts of disobedience inscribed in the front part, and his good deeds towards the end. But when he turns back to

the early pages of the book, he will see nothing but good

deeds recorded there.”

This is in keeping with the words of Allah, “But he who

repents and believes and does good deeds, then Allah will

change the vices of such persons with virtues. And Allah is Forgiving,

Merciful.” [Surah 25, Verse 70] The recipient of this fa-

vour will be the repentant upon whose repentance Allah

has set the seal of acceptance.

It is mentioned in the Hadith-e-Qudsi that Allah Ta'ala

has stated, “O son of Adam, even if you came to meet Me

with sins as huge as the earth itself, I would come to meet you with a correspondingly enormous measure of for-

giveness.”

From this we learn how important repentance is and how

ready Allah Ta'ala is to forgive us. Allah Ta'ala is Most Merciful and wants to forgive us. He is so Merciful that

he even wants the angels to delay recording our bad

deeds so that we may have time to repent. It is we who need to make the effort in turning to Allah Ta'ala and re-

penting for our sins. Do we not want Allah Ta'ala to be-

stow His Gracious Mercy upon us? We should take heed of the above narrations and try to repent as much as pos-

sible so that Allah Ta'ala may forgive us and convert our

sins into good deeds. Insha Allah with this practice we

will start having hatred for sins and will eventually stop committing those sins.

May Allah Ta'ala grant us the Taufeeq to continuously

repent for our sins to attain the Mercy and Forgiveness of Allah Ta'ala, Ameen.

[Compiled from Ghunyalit Taalibi Tareeqal Haqq by

Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani Radiallahu Ta‟ala

Anh]