Why do we pay zakat-ul-fitr?
Why do we pay zakat-ul-fitr at the end of Ramadan; why should it be paid to the poor before the salah of Eid- ul- fitr?
Answer
Zakat-ul-fitr is a cleansing opportunity from Allah (swt) for the minor sins committed during the month of Ramadan. It must be paid before the salah of eid-ul-fitr because it is at the time of eid-ul-fitr, also known as yawm-al- jaiza (day of reward) that we receive the certificate of Ramadan; and Allah (swt) will not grant the certificate until we pay our zakat-ul-fitr on time. Failing to pay the zakat on time and paying it later will qualify it as a regular charity, not mandatory zakat-ul-fitr and we will be held accountable by Allah (swt) for not paying zakat-ul-fitr.
The vigilance of Iman requires us to be carefully calculate zakat-ul-fitr and zakat-ul-maal and pay extra in order to make sure that we do not fall short of required amount.
The two most beautiful practices people can carry out during Ramadan are:
* spending a lot in the way of Allah (swt), and
* being quite and away from people, in seclusion or I'tikaf.
I'tikaf is the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad SAW and he used to do it during the last ten nights of Ramadan. For the men it is in the masaajid but the best way for women to perform I'tikaf is at their homes away from the family. The purpose of this is to detach our hearts from any worldly concern and focus all our energies in developing our connection with Allah SWT.
Nobody In His Whole Life Is Blind From Seeing And Being...
In your series, From Darkness to Light, in the first Session you said that:
"Nobody in his whole life is blind from seeing and being benefited from the creator" can you explain how this is so when one is not aware of the creator or disbelieves in his existance?
Answer:
Assalaam alaikum sister,
If you listen to me carefully, you will understand... the water, the food, the sky, the mountain, the trees, the beauty, the air, and we can keep going on and on. All are bounties from Allah to us. We believe or not. The creator has showered us with His provisions and ability to benefit and enjoy from His creations. And this is why, the person who does not believe in the Creator, he denies all the gifts and he cannot thank or show gratitude to the giver...the Creator, Almighty. By this way, no human being can say, I did not receive any bounty from the Creator.
By this way, this bounty can be witness to us or against us.
This is why, we have to thank Allah all the time for the all the bounty he showers us with.
wa salam alaikum,
Daee Ahmed Moait
How Do I Gain "Ihsan With Allah"
In My Day To Day Activities?
Keep listening, keep learning, keep reflecting and the more you get close to Allah, the more you will love Him. The more you will love Allah swt, the more you will try to please Allah swt. I cannot answer this question to you in a few sentences, it is a journey that must be achieved. My advice to you is to take one series at a time and reflect on each, little by little; and begin implementing it in your life.
May Allah swt accept you and give you the quality of Muhsineen. Ameen.
What Do I Want From The Creator?
Many things I want forgiveness, mercy, closeness, I want him to be pleased with me, I want him in this life, I want him in the moment of death, I want him on the day of judgement, I want him, I need him…I need my creator…all the time.
My father can die, my mother can die…everybody can be paralyzed in different times..who can give me cure…of my sickness…who can guide me…Who can take care of me…Who can give me vision and understanding, It is only allah…nobody can give it to u…Even who can allow you to understand and comprehend. Who can open your heart? Who can correct your manner and your behavior? Only Allah and this is why when you embrace islam, you go to a cycle of sincerity
According to you sincerity, Allah will open. If you are in the state of lie, you will find yourself where you are and you are not moving anywhere you will be moving backward. By this way, if I find out my manner is the same and going down, I’m a liar. If I’m really sincere, my behavior will change.
Dont say it s me, this is the way I’m, what do you want from me? This is the way the creator created me, they are a liar, they are arrogant, because Allah created us with default personality and manner and he gave us the recipe and medication how to cure that you take the medication and recipe little by little you are a different person. Do you know what is that? It is iman…the real iman is moulding you towards Allah.
Now from the quality of the animal to the quality of the angel. You used to be angry, now you are calm. You used to have a bad tongue now you have good tongue, you used to have No patience now you have patience, you never had quality now you have quality, you used to lie now you’ll be honest..
No matter what you want Allah will give you according to your sincerity, truth and honesty. By this way I need my creator…
Why Do We Have To Worship The Creator?
The "WHY" is very important because if we do not know why we worship the creator very soon the young generation will be facing with all kinds of questions, which will generate doubts about everything they have once they enter into a college environment etc. So by the time they finish college, they have no Islam. This is rampant in America and many parts of Europe and so on… There is no difference. This is also the case in high school.
If we believe that as humans we belong to the creator then we have to worship Him. Worship is the status of action that connects us to the creator and it is a sign of obedience to Him. We need to feed our soul, gain happiness, love, tranquility, peace, contentment, security and insurance. The only way we can find all of this and more will be with the creator. The more we establish a connection with the creator, the more He will feed us of what we need. It is basically a relationship and Allah (s.w.t) kept it this way because he knows that the more we connect with him by worship and obedience the more he will feed us with what we want.
What about guidance, light, vision and understanding?
All this will be given to us, but only when we connect ourselves to Him, worship Him and show Him gratitude and thanks and a meeting between our creator and us.
We need Him, we need to talk to Hwe need to talk to him im about our problems because He is the only one who can solve it for us. If we want to complain, He is the only one we can complain to and correct our bad manner if we really want it.
So ultimately worship is something WE NEED, it is not for the sake of my mother or father or any one else for that matter.
Literally, Islam means submission to the will of the creator.
When children are asked why they are Muslims, the answer is usually on the lines of; my father said so, my mother is a Muslim etc... Is this the answer?
In relation to this, I'd like to share something that really benefited me, something unique and I never found anyone else do the same.
My father (may Allah give mercy in his grave) came up to me when I had reached the age of puberty and told me: "I gave you a Muslim name, taught you the many Islamic rituals and prayers, taught you the basics of Islam but imaan is not something that can be inherited.
This is something you have to find out and struggle for by yourself because I cannot do it for you. It is up to you now. You can be a Muslim or you can be whatever you want. I will be here for you to answer your questions but the struggle has to come from you because YOU have to embrace Islam. I cannot embrace Islam for you or push you to embrace it".
The point I want to make here is that this is the dilemma facing the youth of today.
Whether they are Americans, non-Americans or from over seas etc. Our Youth Never Embraced Islam By Themselves!
Once(last year) when I was at a gathering during the month of Ramadan I asked everybody to meet me the following week after taking a shower (ghusl) with the intention of embracing Islam again. Even as adults, we never embraced Islam. We just inherited it. Embracing and Inheriting are two different things and this is a misunderstanding among us today.
There is a huge difference between inheriting and embracing Islam. That is why we have to go about it in the right format.
The right format is to firstly familiarize ourselves about the main concepts of iman (faith).
What makes us Muslims?
To be a Muslim we have to believe in the seven pillars of faith. There is a big difference between the pillars of faith and the pillars of Islam.
The pillars of Islam are something that we struggle and build up over the passage of time. Meanwhile it is mandatory for one to have the pillars of faith inculcated in their hearts even before one becomes Muslim.
So when somebody comes to us and we want give them dawah (Invitation to Islam) the first thing we need to talk to them about is
- The first pillar of faith, i.e. belief in the creator. He, who has no partner, is neither male nor female and He is ALLAH.
- The second pillar - To believe in all the books sent down by Allah and all the messengers including Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). This does not include the Bible as it is not the Injeel given to Jesus (Isa a.s). In Hebrew the bible (beeblu) can be translated as Holy Book and that's all it is; a holy book hence it is not the book of Allah. If it indeed was the book of Allah, we all will not be Muslim, as we will be following the teachings of Jesus.
- The third pillar – It is to believe in the kingdom of the Angels, who are neither males nor females. It is not how they have been described in churches i.e., a female's body with two wings. We believe in them but we have limited knowledge of what they look like. This is another matter. And the kingdom of the Angels belongs to the creator, Allah.
- The fourth pillar - The Day Of Judgment or the last day
- The fifth pillar - Destiny, good and bad, whatever we like or dislike
- The sixth pillar - Paradise and Hellfire
- The seventh pillar – It is the Life after death when we will be resurrected.
These are the pillars of faith. If somebody has belief in these pillars without any doubt, he can be a Muslim in no time. If the person is a Christian or a non-Muslim, he has to deny whatever he believed in the past.
Now what about us as Muslims? Or suppose - to - be Muslim?
We are males or females who have reached the age of puberty, coming from a family where the parents are Muslims. What should we do?
We should go to our children and ask them if they really want to be a Muslim and why they want to be Muslim.
