The Summary of ^Abdullah al-Harariyy
Ensuring the Personal Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion
Introduction
The Summary of ^Abdullah al-Harariyy Ensuring the Personal Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion:
Is a summary of most of the Obligatory Knowledge every accountable person is obligated to know. This comprises the Obligatory Knowledge pertaining to belief, issues from Purification (Taharah) up to Pilgrimage (Hajj), and some rules of dealings according to the school (madhhab) of Imam ash-Shafi^iyy. The sins of the heart and of other organs, such as the tongue, are also included.
The original book was written by the Hadramiyy faqih (scholar): ^Abdullah Ibn Husayn Ibn Tahir. Many precious issues were added to the book; what was mentioned about Sufism was omitted. Some sentences were changed in such a way that it would not change the subject. In a few cases the author mentioned what some Shafi^iyy scholars, like al-Bulqiniyy, preponderated in an effort to expose what was weak in the original book. One must pay due attention to this Obligatory Knowledge in order to have one’s deeds accepted.
Chapter 1 The Meaning of the Testification of Faith (The Two Shahadahs)
It is obligatory upon the accountable persons to embrace the Religion of Islam, to remain steadfast to it, and to comply with what is obligatory upon them of its rules, i.e., every accountable person must be Muslim, stay Muslim, and follow the rules of Islam. Among what one must know, believe in, and utter immediately if one was a blasphemer, or else in the prayer, is the Testification of Faith, which is:
(ASHHADU ALLA ILAHA ILLALLAH, WA ASHHADU ANNA MUHAMMADAR-RASULULLAH, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.)
The meaning of ASHHADU ALLA ILAHA ILLALLAH is: “I know, I believe, and I declare that nothing deserves to be worshipped except Allah, Who is One (Wahid), Indivisible (‘Ahad), without a beginning (‘Awwal), Eternal (Qadim), Alive (Hayy), without an end (Qayyum), Everlasting (Da’im), the Creator (Khaliq), the Sustainer (Raziq), Knowledgeable (^Alim), Powerful (Qadir), the One Who does whatever He wills, i.e., whatever Allah willed to be shall be and whatever Allah did not will to be shall not be, the One Who without His protection no one can evade sinning, and without His help no one has the strength to obey Him, Who is attributed with all proper perfection and is clear of all imperfection. There is nothing like Him, and He is attributed with Hearing and Sight.”
Allah exists without a beginning and everything else exists with a beginning; He is the Creator and everything else is a creation. Every creation that exists, be it among entities or deeds, from the fine dust to the Ceiling of Paradise (^Arsh1), and every movement, rest, intention, and thought of the slaves is created by Allah. Hence, no one other than Allah–be it nature or reason–creates any thing. Things become existent by Allah’s eternal Will, Power, and Knowledge as mentioned in the Qur’an:
Surat al-Furqan, Ayah 2 means: [Allah created everything]. He raised all the creation from the state of non-existence into the state of existence. No one creates with this meaning of creating except Allah.
Surat Fatir, Ayah 3 means: [No one is the Creator except Allah]. An-Nasafiyy said: “If a person hit glass with a stone and broke it, then the acts of hitting and breaking and the state of being broken were created by Allah. The slave only acquires the act. Allah is the only One Who creates.
Surat al Baqarah, Ayah 286 means: [Every self will be rewarded by Allah for the good deeds it acquired and will be accountable for the sins it acquired].
The Speech (Kalam2) of Allah is without a beginning like all of His other attributes, because He, the Exalted, is unlike all the creations in the Self (dhat), Attributes, and Actions. Subhanahu wa ta^ala, He is greatly clear of all what the blasphemers say.
Summing up what has been mentioned before, it is affirmed that Allah, ta^ala, has thirteen attributes which were mentioned repeatedly in the Qur’an, either explicitly or implicitly. These are: Existence (al-Wujud), Oneness (al-Wahdaniyyah), Eternity (al-Qidam, i.e., al-‘Azaliyyah), Everlastingness (al-Baqa’), Non-neediness of others, (al-Qiyamu bin-Nafs), Power (al-Qudrah), Will (al-‘Iradah), Knowledge (al-^Ilm), Hearing (as-Sam^), Sight (al-Basar), Life (al-Hayah), Speech (al-Kalam), and Non-resemblance to the creation (-al-Mukhalafatu lil-hawadith). Since these attributes were mentioned many times in the Qur’an and hadith, the scholars said knowing them is a personal obligation (fard ^ayn).
Since eternity is confirmed to the Self (dhat) of Allah, His attributes are eternal, because a created attribute entails that the attributed self is created.
The meaning of ASHHADU ANNA MUHAMMADAR-RASULULLAH is: “I know, I believe, and I declare that Muhammad, the son of ^Abdullah, who is the son of ^Abdul-Muttalib, who is the son of Hashim, who is the son of ^Abdu-Manaf, from the tribe of Quraysh, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is the slave of Allah and His Messenger to all the creation. One must believe he was born in Makkah and sent as a Messenger therein; he immigrated to al-Madinah and was buried therein; and he was truthful in everything he told about and conveyed from Allah. Among what the Prophet informed us is: the torture in the grave and the enjoyment therein; the questioning of the two angels, Munkar and Nakir; Resurrection (Ba^th); Assembly (Hashr); the Day of Judgement (Qiyamah); Presentation of the deeds (Hisab); Reward (Thawab); Punishment (^Adhab); the Balance (Mizan); Hellfire (Nar); the Bridge (Sirat); the Basin (Hawd); the Intercession (Shafa^ah); Paradise (Jannah); seeing Allah, ta^ala, with the eye in the Hereafter, without Him having a form or being in a place or a direction–different from the way a creation is seen; the dwelling forever in Paradise or Hellfire; the belief in Allah’s Angels, Messengers, Books, and Destiny (Qadar1)–both good and evil; and that Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is the last of the prophets and the best of all the children of Adam.”
Moreover, it is obligatory to believe every prophet of Allah must be attributed with truthfulness, trustworthiness, and intelligence. Consequently, lying, dishonesty, vileness, stupidity, and dullness are impossible to be among their attributes. They must be attributed with impeccability of blasphemy, enormous sins (kaba’ir), and the small, mean sins before and after Prophethood. On the other hand, they are not impeccable of committing other small sins, although they are immediately guided to repent before others imitate them. Prophethood was not bestowed upon the brothers of Yusuf, who, excluding Binyamin, committed the mean deeds mentioned in the Qur’an. The Asbat are the descendants of those brothers who were chosen for prophethood.
Chapter 2 Types of Apostasy (Riddah)
It is obligatory upon every Muslim to preserve his faith in Islam and protect it against whatever invalidates, abolishes, and interrupts it, namely, apostasy (riddah); we seek refuge with Allah, ta^ala, from it.
The meaning of what an-Nawawiyy and others said is: “Apostasy an abhorrent type of blasphemy.” In this age it has become common to speak carelessly to the extent some people utter words which turn them out of Islam, and they do not deem such words sinful despite them being blasphemous. This is asserted by the saying of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam: <<A person may utter a word he thinks harmless, which results in his falling the depth of seventy years into Hellfire.>> This hadith was related by at-Tirmidhiyy who classified it as a hasan1 hadith. A hadith related by al-Bukhariyy and Muslim has a similar meaning. This hadith is evidence it is not a condition for a person to commit blasphemy that he must have learned the judgment per se or that he must have liked or believed the meaning of the uttered blasphemous words–as falsely stated in the book called Fiqh-us-Sunnah. It is also not a condition for falling into blasphemy that one is not angry when uttering blasphemy. Imam an-Nawawiyy said: “If a man was angry with his child or slave and hit him severely, then another person asked him, ‘How could you do this? Aren’t you a Muslim?’ and to that his deliberate answer was ‘No,’ he blasphemed.” This was said by Hanafiyy scholars as well as others.
An-Nawawiyy and other scholars among the four schools (madhhabs), classified apostasy into three categories: beliefs in the heart, actions committed by different parts of the body, and sayings with the tongue. Each category of apostasy is divided into many subdivisions.
1) Examples of the first category of apostasy, i.e., the beliefs in the heart, are:
* having the doubt in Allah, His Messenger, the Qur’an, the Day of Judgment, Paradise, Hell, Reward, Punishment, or similar matters upon which there has been scholarly consensus (ijma^1);
* believing the world is eternal by kind and elements or by kind only;
* renouncing one of the attributes of Allah, ta^ala, known by ijma^ He is attributed with–such as knowing about everything;
* ascribing to Him what is known by ijma^ does not befit Him–such as being a body;
* legitimating what is commonly known among the Muslims to be unlawful (haram)–such as adultery and fornication (zina), sodomy (liwat), killing (qatl), stealing (sariqah), and taking money of others by force (ghasb);
* deeming unlawful (haram) what is commonly known among the Muslims to be lawful (halal)–such as selling and marriage;
* renouncing the obligation of the matters commonly known among the Muslims to be obligatory–such as the five prayers or one prostration of them, Zakah, Fasting (Sawm), Pilgrimage (Hajj), and Ablution (Wudu’);
* deeming obligatory the matters commonly known among the Muslims not to be obligatory;
* renouncing the legitimacy of what all Muslims know is legitimate;
* intending to blaspheme in the future;
* intending to do any of the aforementioned;
* hesitating whether or not to blaspheme–but not the mere involuntary thought of it;
* denying the companionship of our master Abu Bakr, may Allah raise his rank;
* denying the Message of he who is recognized by all Muslims as a messenger or a prophet;
* renouncing, just to be stubborn, a letter of the Qur’an which is known by all Muslims to be of it;
* adding, just to be stubborn, a letter to the Qur’an which is known by all Muslims not to be of it;
* belying a messenger or blemishing his attributes;
* making a messenger’s name diminutive with the purpose of degrading him;
* believing in the possibility of the prophethood of someone after our Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.
2)The second category of apostasy, i.e., the apostasy of actions committed by different parts of the body, includes prostrating to an idol or the sun, or prostrating to any other creation with the purpose of worshipping it.
3) The third category of apostasy, i.e., the apostasy of sayings uttered with the tongue, are very numerous and uncounted. Some examples are:
* to say to a Muslim: ‘O blasphemer’, ‘O Jew’, ‘O Christian’, or ‘O you without religion’, meaning the religion of the addressed person is blasphemy, Judaism, Christianity, or not a religion–but not with the purpose of likening him to those non-Muslims in behavior;
* to mock one of the names of Allah, ta^ala, His Promise, or His Threat, by someone who is aware these have been attributed to Him, subhanahu;
* to say: ‘If Allah ordered me with such a thing I would not do it’–out of belittlement or out of stubbornness which is showing that Allah does not deserve to be obeyed even though one believes He does;
* to say: ‘If the Qiblah were changed to another direction I would not pray towards it’–out of belittlement or out of stubbornness which is to show that it is not an obligation to face the Qiblah in prayer although one believes it is;
* to say: ‘If Allah gave me Paradise I would not enter it’–out of belittlement or out of stubbornness, i.e., refusing to glorify Paradise although one knows glorifying it is part of the Religion;
* to say: ‘If Allah punished me for leaving out prayers despite my sickness He would wrong me’;
* to say: ‘Something happened without the will of Allah’;
* to say: ‘If prophets, angels, or all Muslims testified before me about something I would not accept from them’;
* to say: ‘I will not do that even if it is a recommended matter (sunnah)’–with the purpose of mockery;
* to say: ‘If someone were a prophet I would not believe in him’;
* to say: ‘What is this law (Shar^)?’ when a scholar gives a religious judgement–with the purpose of belittling the judgement of the Islamic law;
* to belittle the status of knowledge by saying: ‘May Allah’s damn be upon every religious scholar’;
* to say: ‘I do not acknowledge Allah, the angels, the Prophet, the Qur’an, the Islamic law (Shar^), or Islam;
* to say: ‘I do not know the judgment’–with the purpose of mocking the judgment revealed by Allah;
* to say Ayah 34, Surat an-Naba’ after one has filled a cup:
This ayah refers to a cup full to the brim with the drinks of Paradise;
* to say Ayah 20, Surat an-Naba’ after one has emptied a drink:
This ayah refers to mountains that will vanish on the Judgment Day as if they were a mirage;
* to say Ayah 30, Surat al Mutaffifin upon weighing or measuring:
This ayah refers to some people cheating in measuring and weighing;
* to say Ayah 47, Surat al-Kahf when seeing a crowd:
which refers to the Judgment Day when the people will be assembled without any of them left out–with the intention of belittling the meaning of these ayat, and likewise whenever the Qur’an is used for that purpose. If it is used in such situations for other than that purpose, one does not blaspheme; however, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “This is not far from being unlawful (haram).”;
* to cuss a prophet or an angel;
* to say: ‘I would be a pimp if I performed prayer’;
* to say: ‘I have not gained any good since I have performed prayer’;
* to say: ‘Prayer is not good for me’–with the purpose of mockery;
* to say to a Muslim: ‘I am your enemy and the enemy of your Prophet’;
* to say to a descendent of the Prophet (Sharif): ‘I am your enemy and the enemy of your grandfather’–meaning the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam;
* to say anything similar to those aforementioned, abhorrent, and ugly words.
A large number of faqihs,(A faqih is the one who is authoritatively knowledgeable in the Religion.) like the Hanafiyy faqih, Badr-ar-Rashid, who lived close to the eighth Hijriyy Century, and Qadi ^Iyad, may Allah, ta^ala, have mercy upon them, enumerated many blasphemous words one needs to know, because whoever does not know evil is more likely to fall into it.
The rule is: any belief, action, or saying which belittles Allah, His Books, His Messengers, His Angels, His Rites, the well-known practices of His Religion, His Rules, His Promise, or His Threat is blasphemy. Hence, the human being must use caution with the utmost effort to avoid blasphemy.
Chapter 3 Repentance of the Apostate from Islam Murtadd)
It is obligatory upon the apostate from Islam (murtadd) to return to Islam immediately by uttering the Testification of Faith and leaving off whatever caused apostasy (riddah). Moreover, it is obligatory upon him to regret having done that and to intend not to return to committing anything like it. If one does not quit the blasphemy by uttering the Testification of Faith, he must be ordered to do so. If he does not reembrace Islam, the caliph will have him killed. The caliph will rely on the testimony of two upright (^adl) male witnesses or upon the person’s own admittance of committing blasphemy. This is done in compliance with the hadith related by al-Bukhariyy, which means: <<Kill whoever leaves Islam.>> One’s Fast (Sawm), Dry Purification (Tayammum), and marriage before the first sexual intercourse are invalidated as a result of apostasy, as is one’s marriage after the first sexual intercourse if one did not return to Islam within the post marital waiting period (^iddah). The marriage contract of an apostate–male or female–is not valid with a Muslim or a non-Muslim. It is unlawful (haram) to eat from what the apostate slaughters; the apostate does not inherit; his wealth is not inherited; he is not prayed for, washed, shrouded, or buried in Islamic cemeteries; and his money1 will be in the Muslim treasury (fay’).
Chapter 4 Commanding the Obligatory (Ma^ruf) and Forbidding the Unlawful (Munkar)
Every accountable person is obligated to perform all what Allah made obligatory upon him. One must satisfy their integrals (rukns2) and their conditions (sharts3) and one must avoid their invalidators. If one sees another leaving out any of these obligations or performing them incorrectly, one must order him to perform them correctly and force him to do so if able. One must denounce that negligence or misperformance in one’s heart when one cannot force or order its change. This is the least that is required if one was unable to change the unlawful by hand or by tongue.
It is obligatory to leave out all the unlawful matters, forbid whoever commits them, and if able, force him not to commit them, or else one must reject that action in one’s own heart. The unlawful (haram) is what Allah threatened its committer with punishment and promised its avoider with reward, and the obligatory is its opposite.
Table of Contents
——————————————————————————–
Purification and Prayers
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Times of Prayer (Salah)
It is obligatory to perform five prayers throughout the day and the night. These are:
* The Noon Prayer (Dhuhr). (Four (4) rak^ahs): Its time begins when the sun has declined westward from the middle of the sky and remains until the length of the shadow of an object becomes equal to that of the object per se, in addition to the length of the shadow of that object when the sun was at its zenith.
* The Mid-afternoon Prayer (^Asr). (Four (4) rak^ahs): Its time begins after Dhuhr ends, and remains until sunset.
* The Sunset Prayer (Maghrib). (Three (3) rak^ahs): Its time begins after sunset, i.e., when ^Asr ends, and remains until the disappearance of the redness in the western horizon.
* The Nightfall Prayer (^Isha’). (Four (4) rak^ahs): Its time begins when Maghrib time ends and remains until the appearance of the true dawn (Fajr Sadiq).
* The Dawn Prayer (Subh). (Two (2) rak^ahs): Its time begins after ^Isha’ time and remains until sunrise (Shuruq).
These obligatory prayers must be performed in their due times by every Muslim who is pubescent, sane, and pure. Without an excuse, it is unlawful to perform these prayers ahead of their times or to delay performing these prayers until after their times have passed. If something prohibitive, such as menses, occurs after a time which was enough to perform the prayer, then one must make up that missed prayer. In the case of incontinence of urine, if the prohibitive thing occurs after a time which was enough to perform the prayer and its purification (taharah), then one must make up that missed prayer. If, on the other hand, the prohibitive thing terminates and time enough to say ‘Allahu akbar’ is left, then one must make up that prayer and the one before it if they are combinable; so if the prohibitive thing terminates before sunset while there is enough time to say ‘Allahu akbar’, then both ^Asr and Dhuhr must be prayed. If it terminates before Fajr begins while there is time enough to say ‘Allahu akbar’, then both ^Isha’ and Maghrib must be prayed.
Chapter 2 Obligations of the Guardians
It is obligatory upon the guardian of a child who reached the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz) to order him to perform prayer, to teach him the rules of prayer after he has completed seven lunar years, and to hit him for not performing prayer after ten lunar years of age. The same is done in the case of fasting–if the child can bear fasting. Moreover, the guardian must teach the child what is obligatory and what is unlawful of the basic beliefs and rules, the rewardability of the toothstick (siwak), and congregational prayers (jama^ah); and must order him accordingly. It is obligatory upon every Muslim to order his family to perform prayer. It is obligatory on the Muslim rulers to kill the person who out of laziness does not pray, if he does not repent; the judgment of such a person is that he is a Muslim. It is obligatory on every Muslim to order his family and everyone else he is able to order with prayers if they do not pray.
Chapter 3 Ablution (Wudu’)
Ablution (Wudu’) is one of the conditions of prayer.
Integrals of Ablution (Wudu’):
The integrals of ablution are six:
1. To have the intention of purification (taharah) for prayer–or any equivalent intention–when the water first touches the face, according to Imam ash-Shafi^iyy. However, according to Imam Malik, it is enough if the intention preceded washing the face by a short time;
2. To wash the whole face, from the normal hairline to the chin and from one ear to the other including the hair and skin, but not the inner part of the man’s beard when the hair therein is thick;
3. To wash the hands and the forearms up to and including the elbows and what is on them;4. To wet wipe the head or part of it–even if it is only one hair–within the boundary of the head;
5. To wash the feet with the ankles included, or else to wet wipe the footgear (khuff) when the conditions of the footgear are fulfilled;
6. To observe the aforementioned order.
Invalidators of Ablution (Wudu’): Ablution is invalidated by:
1. The emission of anything from the eliminatory outlets, except maniyy;1
2. Touching the penis, vagina, or anus of a human with the inside part of the bare hand;
3. Touching the skin of the marriageable woman who attained to an age at which she is normally desired;
4. Losing consciousness, except if one is sleeping with his buttocks firmly seated.
Chapter 4 Cleaning Oneself after Defecation and Urination (Istinja’)
Istinja’ is obligatory after the emission of any wet material from the eliminatory outlets, except maniyy. Istinja’ is performed with water by rinsing the soiled area until it becomes pure, or else one must wipe the soiled area thrice or more until the area is clean (although a trace that can only be removed with water may be left), with an uprooting, pure, solid, and unrespectable material such as a stone or paper. Istinja’ may be performed in this way even if water is present provided the wet filth (najasah) is not displaced or dried before cleaning it or else water must be used.
Chapter 5 The Purificatory Bath (Ghusl)
Among the conditions of prayer is purification from the state of major ritual impurity (hadath akbar) by performing the purificatory bath. Dry purification (tayammum) is performed when one cannot perform ghusl. One is required to perform the purificatory bath after any of these five things occur:
1. The emission of maniyy;
2. Sexual intercourse;
3. Termination of menses (hayd);
4. Termination of postpartum bleeding (nifas);
5. Childbirth.
Integrals of the Purificatory Bath (Ghusl)
The integrals of the purificatory bath are two:
1. To have the intention to clear oneself of the state of major ritual impurity (hadath akbar) or a similar intention;
2. To wash the whole body with water, including the skin and the hair even if it is thick.
Chapter 6 Conditions of Purification (Taharah)
The conditions of purification (taharah) are:
1. To be Muslim;
2. To be at the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz);
3. To remove anything which prevents water from reaching the part to be washed;
4. To let the water flow on the part to be washed;
5. To use purifying water, i.e., water that has not changed by being mixed with a pure material, such as milk or ink, from which the water can be shielded. If the water changes because of its mixing with something in such a way that it is not called water anymore, then this water is not good for purification. However, if the water changes because of its mixing with things which are in its original place or its pathway or the like, and from which this water cannot be easily shielded, then this does not affect the purifying property of this water. Moreover, the water must not have changed because of its contact with a najas-filth even if the change was inappreciable. If the water was less than two qullahs,1 an unexempted najas-filth must not have contacted it even if it does not change the water, and it must not have been used already in clearing someone of a ritual impurity (hadath), and it must not have been used to remove a najas-filth.
Chapter 7 Dry Purification (Tayammum)
If one needs to pray but he is in a state of ritual impurity (hadath), and one cannot find water or would be harmed upon using it, one performs dry purification (tayammum). Tayammum is performed after the time of prayer sets in and after the unexempted najas-filth is removed. Tayammum is performed by using unmixed soil, which is purifying and dusty. One strikes the soil with the inside part of the hands and makes the intention of performing tayammum while transferring the dust of the soil from the ground until it is wiped on part of the face. One wipes the entire face and then strikes the soil a second time to wipe the hands and forearms.
Chapter 8 Prohibitions While in a State of Ritual Impurity (Hadath)
The one who invalidated his wudu’ is prohibited to perform prayer, circumambulate the Ka^bah, and to carry or touch the Book of the Qur’an (Mushaf). However, the child who has reached the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz) and is studying in the Book of the Qur’an is allowed to carry it and touch it without wudu’.
It is unlawful for the person who emitted maniyy (junub) to do the aforementioned, and also to recite the Qur’an, or stay in a mosque.
It is unlawful for the menstruating and postpartum-bleeding women to do all the aforementioned actions, to fast before the cessation of bleeding, and to allow the husband or the master to enjoy the area between their navel and knees before they have performed the purificatory bath (ghusl). Some scholars said anything other than sexual intercourse is allowed.
Chapter 9 Removing Najas-Filth
Among the conditions of prayer is to be clear of najas-filth in one’s body, clothes, place of prayer, and what one carries in prayer, such as a bottle carried in one’s pocket. If a najas-filth contacts one or what one carries, one’s prayer is invalidated unless the najas-filth is dry and one throws it away immediately, or it is an exempted najas-filth like the blood of one’s wound. One must remove an unexempted najas-filth with purifying water by removing the najas-filth and its properties, i.e., the taste, color, and odor.
The najas-filth without discernible characteristics (najasah hukmiyyah) is the najas-filth the color, taste, or odor of which cannot be detected, and it is removed by pouring water on it. The najas-filth of a dog or a pig is removed by washing the najas-filthy area seven times–one of which should be mixed with purifying soil. The washes which remove the physical presence of the najas-filth are deemed one wash even if they were numerous. In the case of using little water for removing the najas-filth, i.e., less than two qullahs, it is required to pour the water on the najas-filth. However, putting a najas-filth in an amount of water which is two qullahs or more will not make the water najas-filthy unless it changes it.
Chapter 10 Additional Conditions of Prayer
Among the conditions of prayer are:
1. To be Muslim;
2. The setting in of the prayer time;
3. To direct one’s chest towards the Qiblah;
4. To be at the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz), i.e., at the age which the child understands when addressed and answers when asked;
5. To know this prayer is obligatory;
6. Not to deem any of the integrals of the prayer recommended (sunnah);
7. To cover the whole body of the free woman, i.e., to conceal the skin and hair and its color, except for the face and hands, and to cover the area between the navel and the knees of the male and of the female slave from all sides except from underneath.
Chapter 11 Invalidators of Prayer
Prayer is invalidated by:
1. Uttering even two letters or one meaningful letter unless one forgets and it is little;
2. Performing many moves, which according to some scholars are as many as what would last for the duration of one rak^ah. According to other scholars three consecutive moves invalidate the prayer. The first saying, however, has a stronger evidence;
3. Performing an excessive move;
4. Adding an extra integral which involves action;
5. Performing one move with the purpose of playing;
6. Eating and drinking except if one forgets and it is little;
7. Intending to interrupt prayer;
8. Making an intention to interrupt prayer contingent on the occurrence of an incident;
9. Hesitating about interrupting prayer;
10. The completion of an integral while the doubt about one’s intention of the opening saying of Allahu akbar (taharrum) is still persisting or doubting for a long time about this intention.
Chapter 12 Conditions for the Rewardability of Prayer
In addition to what has been mentioned, prayer is rewardable by Allah, subhanah, if the following are satisfied:
1. One performs the prayer seeking Allah’s reward only;
2. One’s food, clothing, and place of prayer are lawful;
3. One’s heart has feared Allah for at least a moment during the prayer.
One’s prayer is valid but no reward is granted if these three conditions are not met.
Chapter 13 Integrals of Prayer
The integrals of prayer are seventeen:
1. To have the intention in the heart of performing the prayer and of its obligation when obligatory, and to specify the prayer which is performed for a particular reason or time;
2. To say ‘Allahu akbar’ loud enough to hear oneself, as is required in every verbal integral;
3. To stand (qiyam) for the obligatory prayer, when able;
4. To recite the Fatihah, including and doubling the letters that should be doubled, in order and succession without lengthy interruption, articulating its letters properly, and avoiding any error (lahn) whether or not it breaches the meaning. An error which does not breach the meaning is unlawful, but it does not invalidate the prayer unless done intentionally;
5. To bow until one’s palms could reach one’s knees (ruku^);
6. To remain motionless in ruku^ for the duration of saying ‘subhan-Allah’ (tuma’ninah);
7. To straighten up after ruku^ (‘i^tidal);
8. To remain motionless for the duration of saying ‘subhan-Allah’;
9. To prostrate twice by putting all or part of one’s uncovered forehead on one’s praying ground, with one’s lower body (buttocks) higher than one’s upper part, and putting part of one’s knees, the inside of one’s hands and the bottom of one’s toes on the ground;
10. To have tuma’ninah in prostration;
11. To sit between the two prostrations;
12. To have tuma’ninah in this sitting;
13. To sit for saying the last tashahhud, as-Salatu ^alan-Nabiyy, and the closing salam;
14. To say the last tashahhud; one says:
The minimum tashahhud is:
15. To say as-Salatu ^alan-Nabiyy, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. The minimum is:
16. To say the closing salam. The minimum is:
17. To observe the order. To intentionally perform the integrals of prayer out of order invalidates the prayer. An example is if one intentionally prostrated before one’s ruku^. If one forgets an integral, one must return to that integral unless one has reached that same integral (or what is after it in the next or subsequent rak^ah). In such a case, what was performed in-between is canceled. An example is if one did not remember leaving out ruku^ except after having performed ruku^ or prostration of the subsequent rak^ah. In such a case what is between the missing ruku^ and the performed ruku^ is canceled, and what is after this performed ruku^ is the continuation of the rak^ah.
Chapter 14 The Congregational Prayer (Jama^ah) and the Friday Prayer (Jumu^ah)
The Congregational Prayer (Jama^ah) is a communal obligation (fard kifayah) upon the free, residing, pubescent, and unexcused males.
In the Friday Prayer (Jumu^ah), to pray in congregation (jama^ah) is a personal obligation (fard ^ayn) upon the free, pubescent, and unexcused male inhabitants if they were forty and living in buildings, not tents.
The Friday Prayer is also obligatory upon the men who intend to stay in the town of Jumu^ah for four whole days, not counting the two days of entry and exit, and upon those who reside out of the town but can hear the resounding call of a person who is standing at its edge closest to him.
Conditions of the Friday Prayer (Jumu^ah)
The conditions of the Friday Prayer are:
1. The setting in of Dhuhr prayer time;
2. The aforementioned forty inhabitants must hear the two speeches (khutbahs) during the time for Dhuhr prayer and before praying the Jumu^ah Prayer;
3. The Jumu^ah Prayer must be performed in congregation by the aforementioned forty inhabitants;
4. Another Jumu^ah Prayer must not be performed simultaneously in the same town. If the opening Allahu akbar (tahrimah) of one prayer preceded that of another, the former would be valid and the latter would be invalid. This is true if the people were able to meet in one place. If it was hard for them to meet in one place, then both Jumu^ah prayers would be valid–the former and the latter.
Integrals of the Two Speeches (Khutbahs)
The speaker must observe the following integrals of the two speeches:
1. Praising Allah (hamdullah) in both speeches;
2. Performing Salat ^ala an-Nabiyy, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, in both speeches;
3. Commanding the audience to be God-fearing (taqwa) in both speeches;
4. Reciting an ayah which has a complete meaning in either of the two speeches;
5. Saying a supplication (du^a’) for the believers in the second speech.
Conditions of the Two Speeches
The conditions of the two speeches are:
1. Purification from both states of ritual impurity and from najas-filth on the body, clothes, place and what is carried by the speaker;
2. To cover the unlawful nakedness (^awrah);
3. To stand;
4. To sit between the two speeches;
5. To observe the succession without lengthy interruption between the integrals of the two speeches, and between the two speeches and the prayer;
6. To say the integrals of the two speeches in Arabic.
Following the Imam in Prayer
Everyone who follows an imam while performing prayer–the Jumu^ah Prayer or other prayers–must fulfill the following obligations:
1. Not be ahead of one’s imam in the standing position or in saying the opening Allahu akbar. The prayer of the follower (ma’mum) is invalid if he says his opening Allahu akbar during that of the imam. Simultaneity with the imam in other parts of the prayer is disliked (makruh), with the exception of saying: “Amin”;
It is unlawful (haram) for the ma’mum to precede the imam by one integral action. One’s prayer is invalidated by inexcusably preceding the imam by two consecutive integral actions which are both long or one is long and the other is short. Similarly, the ma’mum invalidates his prayer if he lags behind the imam by two integral actions without an excuse, and by more than three long integral actions despite an excuse. If the ma’mum stays behind to finish the Fatihah and during this time the imam has finished his ruku^ and two prostrations, and has sat for the tashahhud or stood up, then the ma’mum must stop reciting the Fatihah and be in unison with his imam. In addition to this, the ma’mum must perform a rak^ah after the closing salam of the imam. However, if the ma’mum finishes reciting the Fatihah before the imam has sat for the tashahhud or stood up for another rak^ah, then the ma’mum follows his own order until he catches up with the imam.
2. Know the movement of one’s imam;
3. Be with one’s imam in a mosque (masjid), or else within 300 cubits;
4. Not have any barrier between one (the ma’mum) and the imam which prevents one (the ma’mum) from reaching the imam;
5. Have the format of one’s prayer agree with the format of the imam’s prayer. For example, it is invalid for the performer of the daily obligatory prayer to follow the performer of the Funeral Prayer (Salat-al-Janazah);
6. Not disagree enormously with the imam in a recommended act (sunnah), like the sitting for the first tashahhud. If the imam does it or leaves it, then the ma’mum does it with the imam or stands up with him;
7. Have the intention to follow the imam while saying the opening Allahu akbar in the Jumu^ah Prayer, and in other prayers, before following the imam. If the ma’mum was performing the Jumu^ah Prayer without having the intention to follow the imam within the opening Allahu akbar, his prayer would be invalid. In other than the Jumu^ah Prayer, the intention to follow the imam must be in the heart before following the imam in his moves. Following the imam in his moves without the intention to follow invalidates the ma’mum’s prayer. However, if one’s moves agree with the imam’s moves accidentally and unintentionally, one does not invalidate one’s prayer. To sum up this matter: If one followed the imam’s moves on purpose without an intention to pray in congregation (jama^ah), then one would invalidate his prayer whether he waited for a long or short time. However, if one waited for a long time but did not follow the imam’s moves, his prayer would not be invalidated.
It is obligatory upon the imam to intend to lead the prayer in the Jumu^ah Prayer and the repeated prayer, but it is recommended (sunnah) to do that in other prayers. The repeated prayer is the prayer one reperforms after having prayed it alone because he found a person to pray jama^ah with him, or he has already prayed jama^ah but wants another person to earn the reward of jama^ah.
Chapter 15 The Funeral (Janazah)
Washing, shrouding, praying for, and burying the dead Muslim is a communal obligation (fard kifayah) if he was born alive. Shrouding and burial are obligatory for a member of the People of the Book who is a subject of the Islamic State (dhimmiyy). Moreover, washing, shrouding, and burial are obligatory for a stillborn Muslim. The Funeral Prayer is not performed for a dhimmiyy or the stillborn Muslim. Whoever dies as a result of fighting the blasphemers will be shrouded in his battle clothes. If the battle clothes are not enough, more material will be added. He will be buried, but not washed; and the Funeral Prayer will not be performed for him.
Washing and Shrouding the Dead
The minimum obligatory washing of the dead is to remove the najas-filth and to use purifying water to wash the dead’s whole skin and hair, even if the hair was thick.
The minimum obligatory shroud is that which covers the whole body. Three wraps are used for the one who died with an inheritance exceeding his debts provided he did not leave a will advising not to wrap him three times.
The Funeral Prayer (Salat al-Janazah)
The minimum obligatory prayer for the dead is:
1. To intend to perform the obligatory Funeral Prayer for that dead person in particular, as one is saying the opening ‘Allahu akbar’.
2. To stand while performing the Funeral Prayer, if one is able;
3. To recite the Fatihah;
4. To say Allahu akbar;
5. To say Allahumma salli ^ala Muhammad;
6. To say Allahu akbar;
7. To supplicate Allah to forgive and have mercy on that dead Muslim;
8. To say Allahu akbar;
9. To say the closing salam.
The one who performs the Funeral Prayer must satisfy the conditions and avoid the invalidators of prayer.
Burial of the Dead
The minimum obligatory burial of the dead requires a hole dug in the ground which prevents the smell from rising and protects the body of the dead person from wild animals. It is recommended (sunnah) to have the grave as deep as a man’s height with his arms extended overhead and to widen the grave. The chest of the dead must be directed towards the Qiblah. It is unlawful (haram) to bury the dead in a mausoleum.
Table of Contents
——————————————————————————–
Zakah
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Items Subject to Zakah
It is obligatory for one to pay Zakah on:
1. Camels, cattle, sheep and goats;
2. Dates, raisins, and staple crops;
3. Gold, silver, the gold and silver ores, and the golden and silver treasure-troves (rikaz);
4. Trade articles;
5. The Fitr.
Chapter 2 Zakah on Animals
The first quotum (nisab) of camels is five (5). The first quotum of cattle is thirty (30). The first quotum of sheep and goats is forty (40). No Zakah is due before having that first quotum. Once the quotum is established, a lunar year must lapse on it. The animals must have been grazed by the owner or any person authorized by him in a pasture not owned by anyone; and they must not be working animals. Animals which are put to work, like plow animals, are not subject to Zakah.
The obligatory Zakah for the first quotum of camels is a she-sheep which lost its baby teeth. The obligatory Zakah for the first quotum of sheep or goats is a she-sheep which lost its baby teeth or a two-year old she-goat. The obligatory Zakah for the first quotum of cattle is a one-year old bullock.
If one’s animals exceed that first quotum, it is one’s obligation to learn the amount of Zakah Allah has ordained one to pay on these animals.
Chapter 1 Items Subject to Zakah
It is obligatory for one to pay Zakah on:
1. Camels, cattle, sheep and goats;
2. Dates, raisins, and staple crops;
3. Gold, silver, the gold and silver ores, and the golden and silver treasure-troves (rikaz);
4. Trade articles;
5. The Fitr.
Chapter 3 Zakah on Dates, Raisins, and Staple Crops
The first quotum of dates, raisins, and staple crops is five (5) wasqs which are equivalent to three-hundred sa^s,1 according to the sa^ of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, whose measure is kept in al-Hijaz. Crops of the same type harvested in the same year are to be combined to check if a quotum is formed. Crops of different types are not required to be combined, like barley with wheat. Zakah is due upon:
1. The ripeness of the fruits i.e., when they are ready to be eaten; hence, no Zakah is due on unripe grapes or dates;
2. The hardening of the seeds of the crops.
The due Zakah is one-tenth of the harvest if one did not irrigate, and half of that if one irrigated at an expense. Proportionate Zakah is due upon what exceeds a quotum. No Zakah is due on what is less than a quotum. One can volunteer paying on what is less than a quotum, however.
Chapter 4 Zakah on Gold and Silver, Gold and Silver Ores, and Golden and Silver Treasure-Troves (Rikaz)
The quotum of gold is twenty dinars,2 and the quotum of silver is two-hundred dirhams.3 After a lunar year has passed on the gold and silver, the due Zakah is one-fortieth of those amounts, and proportionate Zakah is due upon what exceeds the quotum. When gold and silver are extracted from the place where they were originally created, one-fortieth is the due Zakah. When gold or silver is found as a treasure-trove (rikaz), one-fifth is due. In these two cases the Zakah must be paid immediately.
Chapter 5 Zakah on Trade Articles
The quotum of trade articles is the quotum of whichever they were bought with of gold and silver, and the Zakah is due at the end of the lunar year. The due Zakah is one-fortieth of the market value of these trade articles. Regarding the quotum and the Zakah due when the conditions of mixing have been satisfied, the mixed money of two or more persons is the same as that of one person.
Chapter 6 Zakah of Fitr
The Zakah of Fitr is due on every Muslim who is alive part of Ramadan and part of Shawwal. The due Zakah for each is a sa^ of the most common staple food of that country. It is an obligation upon the Muslim to pay the due Zakah for himself and his Muslim dependents if on the day of the Feast of Fitr (^Id-ul-Fitr) and the night after it he has enough to meet his debts, clothing, lodging, and sustenance, and the sustenance of those whom he must support.
Chapter 7 Recipients of Zakah
For all types of Zakah, the intention is obligatory upon setting one’s Zakah aside. Zakah must be paid to the Muslims among the eight categories of people deserving of Zakah, who are in the town where the money is. The eight categories deserving of Zakah are:
1. Those who are poor who earn less than half their basic needs (al-fuqara’);
2. Those who are poor who earn half but less than all their basic needs (al-masakin);
3. The Zakah workers who are assigned by the caliph (al-^amilun ^alayha);
4. The new converts to Islam whose hearts are to be reconciled (al-mu’allafatu qulubuhum);
5. The slaves who are short in satisfying their contract for purchasing their freedom from their owners (ar-riqab);
6. Those who are unable to pay their debts (al-gharimun);
7. The volunteer fighters (fi sabilillah);
8. The travellers who do not have enough to enable them to reach their destination (ibn-us-sabil).
It is neither permissible nor valid to pay Zakah to other than those eight types of people specifically mentioned; that is why it is not valid to pay Zakah for every charitable project.
Go back to Table of Contents
——————————————————————————–
Fasting
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Who Must Fast
Every accountable Muslim is obligated to fast the month of Ramadan. The fast of a menstruating or postpartum-bleeding woman is not valid; however, they have to make up the missed days.
Even if fasting is not tedious, it is permissible for the traveler of a shortening distance (qasr) not to fast. Breaking the fast is permissible for the sick person, the pregnant woman, and the nursing woman who cannot bear the hardship of fasting. However, making up the missed days is obligatory.
Chapter 2 Integrals of Fasting (Siyam)
It is obligatory :
1. Each night to make the intention to fast the following day;
2. To abstain from sexual intercourse, masturbation, and inserting anything with a volume into the head or the body cavity through an open inlet, excluding one’s pure, tahir saliva while inside the mouth.
One’s fasting is valid as long as one does not become insane, even if it were for a moment, and if one does not lose consciousness the whole day, i.e., from dawn until sunset.
Chapter 3 Days on which Fasting is Unlawful
It is invalid to fast the day of the Feast of Fitr (^Id-ul-Fitr), the day of the Feast of Adha (^Id-ul-‘Adha), and the three days after the day of Adha (Tashriq). It is also invalid to fast the last half of Sha^ban, and the day of doubt except if one joins the fasting of these with those before them or if one is fasting for an expiation (kaffarah), make-up (qada’), vow (nadhr), or habitual practice (wird), like the one who usually fasts Mondays and Thursdays.
Invalidating the fast of one day of Ramadan by engaging in sexual intercourse without an excuse is sinful. One must make it up immediately, and one must fulfill an expiation of dhihar. The expiation of dhihar is to free a Muslim slave; if one is unable he fasts two consecutive lunar months; and if one is unable he feeds sixty poor Muslims. To feed sixty poor Muslims means to give every one of them a mudd of wheat or another grain–whichever is the most common staple food in that town. The mudd is the fill of two cupped, average-sized hands.
Go back to Table of Contents
——————————————————————————–
Marriage and Dealing Contracts
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Knowledge Before Action
Allah commanded us with things, and we must comply with what He commanded. Every accountable Muslim has the obligation not to engage in anything until he knows what Allah ordained as lawful or unlawful about it. Allah made the selling (bay^) lawful and the usurious gain (riba) unlawful. The Islamic law (Shar^) defined the selling with the definite article to indicate the lawfulness of only the selling which satisfied the integrals and conditions and not any selling per se. One must learn the aforementioned if one wants to sell or buy or else one will consume the usurious gain (riba), whether or not one wanted to do so.
The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: <<The truthful tradesperson shall be assembled on the Resurrection Day with the prophets, the highly-ranked righteous Muslims (siddiqun), and the martyrs.>> This is because of what this person faces when struggling with himself and his desires, in subduing his self to conduct contracts according to the Islamic law. The threat of Allah to punish those who violate His Laws is known.
Among the remaining contracts are: the renting of things and hiring people’s services (ijarah), trading with another person’s money for profit sharing (qirad), putting up collateral (rahn), commissioning another to do something (wakalah), deposits for safekeeping (wadi^ah), lending something for use (^ariyyah), partnership (sharikah), and tending (watering, weeding, etc.) grapes or dates for part of the crop (musaqah). One must also observe their conditions and integrals.
Chapter 2 Marriage Contract
One must be exceptionally cautious in verifying the conditions and integrals of the marriage contract for fear of what will result if any of these were not satisfied. The Honorable Qur’an referred to this by the saying of Allah in Surat Tahrim, Ayah 6:
which means: [O you who believed, protect yourselves and your families from Hellfire which is fueled by people and stones.] ^Ata’ Ibn Abi Rabah, may Allah raise his rank, explained this ayah as: [To learn how to perform the prayer and fasting, how to sell and buy, and how to marry and divorce.]
Chapter 3 Usurious Gain (Riba)
It is unlawful (haram) to do, consume, take, write down, or be a witness to usurious gain (riba). The riba comprises the following:
1. Selling gold for silver and silver for gold, gold for gold; or silver for silver–whether coined or not, made into jewelry, the ore itself, or other than that–with the condition of postponing the payment;
2. Selling the aforementioned items with the buyer or seller leaving one another before exchanging the payments;
3. Selling gold for gold or silver for silver with inequality in weight;
4. In the case of selling food for other food: It is not lawful to sell one type of food for another, such as wheat for barley, if one includes the condition of postponing the payment or if the buyer or seller leave one another before exchanging payments. In the case of similar types of food, such as wheat for wheat, one must avoid the aforementioned two conditions along with inequality. Hence, it is not lawful to sell barley for barley if there is inequality in volume, or the condition of postponing the payment is included, or the buyer and seller leave one another before exchanging payment.
Chapter 4 Some Rules of Selling (Bay^)
It is unlawful (haram) to sell:
1. What one has not received;
2. Meat for living animals;
3. The debt for another, such as for one to sell what “Zayd” owes him to “^Amr” for a price to be paid after a month.
4. What one does not own or is not authorized to sell;
5. What one did not see. According to a saying of ash-Shafi^iyy, if the merchandise was described, then this selling would be allowed;
6. What cannot be delivered;
7. What has no benefit;
8. What is not owned by one, such as the free person and unowned land;
9. The unknown;
10. The najas-filthy materials, such as blood;
11. Every intoxicant;
12. Unlawful articles, such as the tunbur, (a musical instrument which resembles the lute);
13. The lawful (halal) and pure article to whom you know will disobey Allah with it, like selling grapes to the one who will make alcohol out of them and a weapon to the one who will assault people with it;
14. Intoxicating substances;
15. The defective article without showing its defects.
The selling by and to the non-accountable is invalid, so the selling by the insane and non-pubescent is invalid. According to the school (madhhab) of Imam Ahmad, the selling by and to the child who attained the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz) is allowed (if permitted by his guardian).
According to some scholars, it is also invalid to sell anything without exchanging an appropriate verbal format from both parties. According to others, the mutual consent of both parties is enough.
* Useful information:
* It is invalid to divide the inheritance of a deceased person or to sell the inheritance until the debts and the will have been fulfilled. Something may be sold to pay off a debt or fulfill the will. The expenses of performing Hajj and ^Umrah on behalf of the deceased must be taken out if the Hajj and ^Umrah were obligatory on him and he did not perform them. The inheritance is like a collateral held for that purpose. This is similar to the case of a slave who stole an amount of one-sixth of a dirham (daniq); selling him is invalid until what is due on him has been paid–unless the creditor gives permission to sell him.
* After establishing the price, it is unlawful (haram) for one to weaken the desire of the buyer or the seller with the purpose of selling to the buyer or buying from the seller. If this act is done after the contract has been conducted and during the period of choice of canceling the sale, it is more sinful.
* It is unlawful (haram) to buy food when it is expensive and needed in order to hoard it and sell it later for a higher price.
* It is unlawful (haram) to bid a higher price for an article in order to deceive another.
* It is unlawful (haram) to separate the female slave from her child before the child is at the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz).
* It is unlawful (haram) to lie, cheat, or betray in measuring articles by volume, weight, arm length, or count.
* It is unlawful (haram) to lend money to the buyer with the condition to sell him cotton, for example, at a higher price for the sake of the loan. It is unlawful (haram) to lend money to the tailor or any other hired person with the condition to hire that person for less than the going rate for the sake of that loan. It is unlawful (haram) to lend money to the farmers with the condition the farmers sell the loaners their harvest at a slightly lower price.
Many other dealings of the people of this time, are also unlawful (haram) i.e., they are Islamically illegal. Hence, the one who seeks the reward from Allah, subhanah, and his safety in the Hereafter and in this life, must learn what is lawful (halal) and what is unlawful (haram) from a scholar who is pious, sincere, and caring for his Religion. Seeking the lawful (halal) is obligatory upon every Muslim.
Chapter 5 Supporting Dependents, Including One’s Wife
The one who is solvent is obligated to support his poor parents and grandparents even if they were able to earn their living. He is also obligated to support his descendants, i.e., his children and grandchildren who are poor and cannot earn their living or who are non-pubescent or who are unable to earn their living because of some ailment.
The husband is obligated to support his wife and pay her marriage payment (mahr). If he divorces his wife without a reason from her, he must give her a gift (mut^ah).
The owner of slaves and animals must support them, must not charge them with more work than they can bear, and must not beat them unjustly.
Chapter 6 Obligations of the Wife
The wife is obligated to obey her husband in allowing him to enjoy her body except in what is not lawful. Without her husband’s permission, she cannot fast the optional fasting or leave his house.
Go back to Table of Contents
——————————————————————————–
Obligations and Sins
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Obligations of the Heart
Among the obligations of the heart are:
1. To have the belief in Allah and what He revealed;
2. To have the belief in the Messenger of Allah and what he conveyed;
3. To have the sincerity (ikhlas), which is to do the good deeds for the sake of Allah only and not for the sake of people;
4. To regret sinning;
5. To rely on Allah;
6. To fear Allah so as to perform one’s obligations and refrain from the unlawful things;
7. To subjugate oneself to Allah and refrain from objecting to Him;
8. To exalt the rites of Allah;
9. To be thankful to Allah for His endowments by not using them in disobedience;
10. To be patient in performing what Allah made obligatory;
11. To be patient in refraining from what Allah, ta^ala, made unlawful;
12. To be patient with what Allah afflicted one;
13. To hate the Devil;
14. To hate sins;
15. To love Allah, His Speech (Kalam), His Messenger, the Companions and the Al of the Prophet, and the righteous Muslims.
Chapter 2 Sins of the Heart
Among the sins of the heart are:
1. The insincerity in performing the good deeds (riya’), i.e., to do the good deeds for the sake of the people–to be praised by them–and this nullifies their reward;
2. Priding oneself in obeying Allah (^ujb), and deeming one’s worship was by one’s own ability–forgetting the grace of Allah;
3. The doubt in Allah;
4. Feeling safe from the punishment of Allah;
5. Despairing of Allah’s mercy;
6. Having arrogance (kibr) towards the slaves of Allah, which is to reject the truth said by someone or to look down on the people;
7. Have enmity in the heart for a Muslim–if he acted in accordance with this and did not hate it;
8. Envy, i.e., to hate and feel bitter about the endowment on a Muslim and act in accordance with this feeling;
9. Reminding a person of the charity given to him with the purpose of breaking his heart, like to say to the receiver of the charity: “Did I not give you a so-and-so on such and such a day?” This nullifies the reward;
10. Persisting on sinning;
11. Believing that Allah shall not forgive him;
12. Thinking ill of Muslims;
13. Denying the qadar;
14. Being happy with a sin done by oneself or others;
15. Betraying someone, even a blasphemer, such as to kill him after promising him safety;
16. Harming a Muslim deceptively;
17. Hating the Companions, the Al of the Prophet, and the righteous Muslims;
18. Being a miser in paying what Allah made obligatory (bukhl);
19. Abstaining from paying what Allah made obligatory (shuhh);
20. Having a strong desire to be rich in a bad, sinful manner (hirs);
21. Breaching the rules of glorification regarding the things Allah made glorified (istihanah);
22. Belittling what Allah rendered great, as in status and consequence, be it obedience, disobedience, the Qur’an, Islamic knowledge, Paradise, or Hellfire.
Chapter 3 Sins of the Abdomen
Among the sins of the abdomen are:
1. To consume the money of usurious gain (riba);
2. To consume the money of taxes on trade (maks);
3. To consume the money of others taken from them by force;
4. To consume the money from stealing;
5. To consume everything taken through a deal unlawful by the Islamic law (Shar^);
6. To consume alcohol. The punishment of the drinker who is free is forty lashes and the slave receives one-half of the punishment. The caliph may add to that as a disciplinary action (ta^zir);
7. To consume whatever is intoxicating, najas-filthy, and revolting;
8. To consume the money of the orphan;
9. To consume the money of the waqfs1 in a way contrary to the condition set by the one who established it;
10. To consume what was not given out of one’s good will, but out of shyness.
Chapter 4 Sins of the Eye
Among the sins of the eye are:
1. For men to look at the faces and hands of marriageable women with desire and at other parts of their bodies with or without desire, and similarly, for the women to look between the navel and the knees of marriageable men with or without desire and to look at other parts of their bodies with desire;
2. To look at the unlawful nakedness (^awrat);
3. For a man or woman in private to needlessly uncover his/her private parts. However, the non-marriageable person or the person of the same sex may see other than what is between the navel and the knee if it is without desire;
4. To look down on a Muslim;
5. To look into someone else’s house without his permission or to look at something he kept hidden.
Chapter 5 Sins of the Tongue
Among the sins of the tongue are:
1. To commit gossip (ghibah) i.e., to say something true about a Muslim in his absence that he hates to be said;
2. Talebearing between two or more Muslims to stir up trouble between them (namimah);
3. Stirring up trouble without passing words between others–even if it is goading animals to fight each other (tahrish);
4. To lie, i.e., to say what is different from the truth;
5. To commit perjury, i.e., to solemnly swear to a lie;
6. Every word which attributes adultery or fornication (zina) to a person or to one of his relatives either explicitly or implicitly with that intention. The punishment for he who is free is eighty lashes; the slave receives one-half of that;
7. To cuss the Companions;
8. To give false testimony;
9. To procrastinate paying one’s debt when it is due and one is able;
10. To curse, mock, or utter what harms a Muslim;
11. To lie about Allah and His Messenger;
12. To make a false claim;
13. To divorce one’s wife while she is menstruating or during a period of purity (tuhr) in which he had sexual intercourse with her (bid^iyy divorce);
14. To utter the dhihar, which is to say to one’s wife: “I now do not copulate with you just as I do not copulate with my mother.” If one does not divorce immediately after uttering this, he is obliged to perform an expiation (kaffarah) which is to free a Muslim slave who has no defects; if unable, to fast two consecutive lunar months; and if unable, to feed sixty poor Muslims sixty mudds.
15. To commit mistakes when reciting the Qur’an whether or not those mistakes change the meaning;
16. For the one who is solvent to beg;
17. To utter a vow (nadhr) with the purpose of depriving the inheritor;
18. To neglect leaving a will which states one’s debts or trusts to others no one other than oneself knows;
19. To attribute oneself to other than one’s own father or liberator, such as to say: “So and so liberated me,” naming as his liberator someone other than the one who liberated him;
20. To propose to a woman after she is already engaged to another Muslim;
21. To give an Islamic legal opinion (fatwa) without knowledge;
22. To teach or to seek harmful knowledge without an Islamically valid reason;
23. To judge by other than the Law of Allah;
24. To wail and to lament the good attributes of the deceased as if he is hearing;
25 To utter words which encourage one to do the unlawful or discourage one from doing the obligatory;
26. To utter words which defame Islam, one of the prophets or scholars, the Qur’an, or any of the rites of Allah;
27. To play flutes;
28. To refrain from commanding the obligations (ma^ruf) and forbidding the unlawful (munkar) without an excuse;
29. To withhold the Obligatory Knowledge from the one who requests it;
30. To laugh because a Muslim passed gas or to laugh at a Muslim to degrade him;
31. To withhold testimony;
32. To neglect returning the Islamic salutation which is as-salamu ^alaykum;
33. For the one with the intention to be in a state of pilgrimage (muhrim) of the Hajj or ^Umrah or the one involved in the obligatory fast to give an arousing kiss intentionally;
34. To kiss those whom one is not allowed to kiss.
Chapter 6 Sins of the Ear
Among the sins of the ear are:
1. To listen to the conversation others meant to hide;
2. To listen to the flute, lute, and/or the rest of the unlawful sounds;
3. To listen to gossip about a Muslim that he hates to be said (ghibah), talebearing to stir up enmity among Muslims (namimah), and/or the like. One is not sinful if he hears this involuntarily and hates it, but if he is able, then he must renounce it.
Chapter 7 Sins of the Hands
Among the sins of the hands are:
1. To stint when measuring by volume, weight, or arm;
2. To steal; If one stole the equivalent of one-quarter of a dinar from its secured place, one’s right hand would be amputated; if one stole again, the left foot would be amputated, then one’s left hand, then one’s right foot.
3. To loot;
4. To take the money of others by force;
5. To take the traders tax (maks);
6. To misappropriate the spoils of war (ghulul);
7. To kill; An expiation (kaffarah) is always due for killing, i.e., to free a Muslim slave who has no defects; if unable, one fasts two consecutive lunar months. Deliberate killing is punishable by death, except if the heirs of the killed person forgive the killer for an indemnity (diyah) or for free. In the case of killing by mistake or by mistake in a deliberate injury the due indemnity (diyah) is one-hundred camels for the free, male Muslim and half of that for the free, female Muslim. The indemnity (diyah) varies with the way the killing took place.
8. To beat a person unjustly;
9. To take and to give a bribe;
10. To burn an animal, unless there was no other way to avoid its harm;
11. To dismember an animal;
12. To play with the die or anything which contains gambling, including children’s games;
13. To play unlawful musical instruments like the lute, rabab, flute, and instruments with strings;
14. To intentionally touch the marriageable woman without a barrier or to touch her lustfully with a barrier even if the person in this case is a non-marriageable kin or of the same sex;
15. To depict that which has a soul;
16. To refrain from paying one’s Zakah or part of one’s Zakah after it is due when one is able to pay it, or to pay an invalid Zakah, or to give the Zakah to those who do not deserve it;
17. To refuse to pay an employee his salary;
18. Without an excuse, to refuse to give the starving what fulfills his hunger and to refrain from saving a drowning person;
19. To write what is prohibited to say;
20. To betray, which is opposite to sincere advice, and this includes deeds, sayings, or conditions.
Chapter 8 Sins of the Private Parts
Among the sins of the private parts are:
1. To commit adultery or fornication, i.e., to insert the glans penis into the vagina;
2. To commit sodomy, i.e., to insert the glans penis into the anus; The penalty for the free sodomite is the same as the adulterer and fornicator. However, the penalty for the sodomitee is one-hundred lashes and one lunar year in exile; the slave receives half of this penalty.
3. For one to commit bestiality, i.e., to have sexual intercourse with animals, even if one owns them;
4. To masturbate by the hand of other than one’s wife or female slave;
5. To copulate with the woman having menstrual or postpartum bleeding, or to copulate with the woman whose menstruation or postpartum bleeding had terminated but she did not perform her purificatory bathing (Ghusl) yet, or it was performed without the proper intention, or without any of its conditions being satisfied;
6. To disclose one’s unlawful nakedness (^awrah) in front of those who are prohibited from looking at it, or to disclose one’s unlawful nakedness (^awrah) while alone for no reason;
7. To face the Qiblah or turn one’s back to it while urinating or defecating without placing a barrier in front of one which is two-thirds of a cubit or more high and not more than three cubits away, or if the barrier was less than two-thirds of a cubit high, except if the place of urination and defecation was prepared for that purpose, such as the toilet seat; In this prepared place, it is allowed to face or turn one’s back to the Qiblah.
8. To urinate or defecate on a grave;
9. To urinate in a mosque–even if it was done in a container–and to urinate on the exalted;
10. To neglect circumcision until after becoming pubescent. This is allowed according to Imam Malik, however.
Chapter 9 Sins of the Foot
Among the sins of the foot are:
1. To walk towards committing a sin, such as walking to the ruler to inflict harm on a Muslim or the like or to walk to kill a Muslim unrightfully;
2. The unexcusable escaping of the slave, the wife, or he who owes a right to others from what is incumbent upon him–be it punishment, debt, obligatory spending, kindness to the parents, or raising the children;
3. To walk arrogantly with a strutting gait;
4. To step over the shoulders of people except for the purpose of filling a gap;
5. To pass in front of the person performing prayer if the conditions of the barrier placed in front of one’s prayer place (sutrah) were fulfilled;
6. To extend the leg towards the Book of the Qur’an if it is not raised;
7. Every walking towards committing an unlawful matter;
8. Every abandonment of an obligation.
Chapter 10 Sins of the Body
Among the sins of the body are:
1. To treat one’s father and mother with what harms them;
2. To flee the battlefield;
3. Severing the obligatory ties of kinship;
4. To inflict an apparent harm upon the neighbor, even if he is a blasphemer as long as he has a granted safety;
5. To dye the hair with black; Some scholars said it is allowed if it does not result in cheating or tricking.
6. For men to imitate women or women to imitate men in the clothing specific to the gender of the opposite sex and in other matters;
7. To wear the dress lower than the ankle bones out of vanity;
8. For a man to needlessly dye his hands and feet with henna;
9. To interrupt the obligatory worship without an excuse;
10. To interrupt the optional Hajj and ^Umrah;
11. To imitate the believer mockingly;
12. To spy on the people pursuing their defects;
13. To tattoo;
14. To shun a Muslim for more than three days without an Islamically valid reason;
15. To sit with an innovator or committer of enormous sins (fasiq) to entertain him in his sinning;
16. For a man to wear gold, silver, silk, or what is mostly silk–with the exception of a silver ring;
17. To be with the marriageable woman when a third person whom one would be shy in front of–either male or female–is not present (khalwah);
18. For a woman to travel without a non-marriageable male and the like;
19. To coerce a free person;
20. To have enmity with a highly ranked pious righteous Muslim (waliyy);
21. To help others to sin;
22. To circulate counterfeit money;
23. To use and to have golden and silver utensils;
24. To neglect an obligation, to do an obligation leaving out one of its integrals or conditions, or to intentionally commit an invalidator while performing an obligation;
25. To leave out the Friday Prayer (Jumu^ah) when it is one’s obligation, even if one prayed Dhuhr;
26. For the inhabitants of a place to leave out praying the obligatory prayers in congregation;
27. To defer one’s obligations until the time is over without an excuse;
28. To hunt with something that kills the animal by its weight, such as a stone;
29. To use an animal as a shooting target;
30. For the woman who is in a post marital-waiting period for death (mu^taddah) not to refrain during that period from adornment in clothing and other, wearing perfumes, and inexcusably leaving the home;
31. To stain the mosque with a najas-filth or to make it dirty even with something pure (tahir);
32. To delay performing Hajj until death, while able to perform it when alive;
33. To take a loan without the ability to pay it back, without informing the lender;
34. To refuse to grant more time for the one who is unable to pay his debt;
35. To spend money in disobedience;
36. To belittle the book of the Qur’an and every Islamic Knowledge and to enable the child who has not reached an age of mental discrimination (non-mumayyiz) to carry the Mushaf;
37. To change property line markers, i.e., to unjustly change the markers between one’s own property and that of others;
38. To use the street in that which is unlawful;
39. To use a borrowed thing in other than what one is permitted, to keep a borrowed thing longer than permitted, or to lend a borrowed thing to someone else without permission;
40. To prevent others from using what is permissible–such as the meadow, or the collection of fire-wood from the unowned land, or the extraction of salt, gold, silver, and other resources from their unowned origin, i.e., to appropriate those resources and prevent people from grazing their animals, or using drinking water from a self-replenishing source;
41. To use the lost and found article (luqatah) before satisfying the conditions of notification;
42. To sit in a place where disobedience is being committed without an excuse;
43. Sponging in banquets, i.e., to enter without permission or be admitted out of shyness;
44. To commit inequity among the wives in terms of obligatory spending and overnight turns; The preference in attraction to one wife over another and in the heartly loving is not a sin.
45. For a woman to go out with the intention to pass by men to tempt them;
46. Sorcery;
47. To rebel against the caliph, like those who rebelled against ^Aliyy and fought him; Al-Bayhaqiyy said: “All who fought ^Aliyy were aggressors.” Ash-Shafi^iyy said the same, even though some of the best Companions were among those aggressors. The waliyy is not impeccable of committing a sin, even if it is an enormous sin; however, he repents of it.
48. To accept taking care of an orphan or a mosque, or to act as a judge and the like knowing that one will be unable to perform the task appropriately;
49. To shelter an unjust person, i.e., to protect him from those who want to obtain their right from him;
50. To terrorize Muslims;
51. To waylay; Depending on the committed crime, the waylayer’s punishment is either a disciplinary action (ta^zir), or cutting the right hand and the left foot, or killing him, or killing him and hanging his body on a pole.
52. To neglect fulfilling the vow (nadhr);
53. To continue fasting for two or more days without eating or drinking anything;
54. To occupy someone else’s seat in a street or the like, to harmfully crowd him, or to take his turn.
Chapter 11 Repentance
The immediate repentance of sins is obligatory upon every accountable person and comprises: regretting, quitting, and intending not to return to them. If the sin is leaving out an obligation one makes it up, and if the sin involves a right to a human, one must satisfy it or seek the person’s satisfaction.
——————————————————————————–
Pilgrimage (Hajj)
——————————————————————————–
Chapter 1 Who Must Perform Pilgrimage (Hajj)
Performing Hajj and ^Umrah once in a lifetime is obligatory upon the Muslim who is free, accountable, and can afford to reach Makkah and return to his homeplace. This includes that one has in excess of his debts, appropriate lodging and clothing, and what he is obligated to spend on those whom he must support from his departure until his return.
Chapter 2 Integrals of Pilgrimage (Rukns of Hajj)
The integrals of Hajj are:
1. To have the intention to be in a state of pilgrimage (Ihram), i.e., to say in one’s heart: “I now enter into the actions of Hajj” or the like;
2. To be at ^Arafah sometime between the start of Dhuhr on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah and the dawn (fajr) of the following day.
3. To circumambulate the Ka^bah (tawaf);
4. To walk between the mounts of as-Safa and al-Marwah seven times from one border line to the other;
5. Cutting the hair by shaving or trimming (halq or taqsir);
6. The order in most of the integrals.
All of these are integrals of ^Umrah except to be at ^Arafah. These integrals have requisites (wajibs) and conditions that must be observed.
Among the conditions of tawaf is to circumambulate the Ka^bah seven times starting at the Black Stone and back to it while keeping one’s left shoulder towards the Ka^bah without facing or turning one’s back to it; to cover the unlawful nakedness (^awrah); and to be pure.
Chapter 3 What is Unlawful During Hajj
It is unlawful for the one who has intended to enter into the actions of pilgrimage (Hajj or ^Umrah):
1. To wear perfumes;
2. To anoint the head or beard with oil, melted grease, or melted honey wax;
3. To remove fingernails, toenails, and hair;
4. To perform sexual intercourse or its inviting actions;
5. To conduct marriage and if done, the marriage is invalid;
6. To hunt any Islamically edible wild animal;
7. In the case of a man: to cover the head or wear clothes that are sewn, felted, or the like, to surround the body ;
8. In the case of a woman: to cover the face and to wear gloves.
The one who does any of these unlawful matters has sinned. An expiation (fidyah) is obligatory for committing these matters with the exception of conducting marriage and looking lustfully. In the case of sexual intercourse; one’s Hajj is invalidated, but one is obligated to complete this invalidated Hajj and re-perform it immediately, i.e., the one who invalidates one’s Hajj by performing sexual intercourse continues with the Hajj, does not interrupt it, then makes it up in the coming year if he is able.
Chapter 4 Requisites of Pilgrimage (Wajibs of Hajj)
It is a requisite for the one who has intended to enter into the actions of pilgrimage (Hajj or ^Umrah):
1. To have the intention of ihram before crossing the site prescribed for it (miqat). The miqat is the place the Messenger of Allah specified as the starting site of the intention of ihram such as the land called Dhul-Hulayfah for the people of al-Madinah and those who take the same route to Makkah;
2. To stay at night in Muzdalifah and Mina during Hajj. This is according to a saying of ash-Shafi^iyy. However, it is not a requisite according to another saying of ash-Shafi^iyy;
3. To throw pebbles at the station of Jamrat-ul-^Aqabah on the day of the Feast of Adha (^Id-ul-‘Adha);
4. To throw pebbles at the three stations of jamrahs during the days of Tashriq;
5. To perform the farewell circumambulation before leaving Makkah (tawaf-ul-wada^) according to a saying in the school (madhhab) of ash-Shafi^iyy.
The one who does not fulfill these six matters does not invalidate one’s Hajj, although one is sinful and must perform an expiation (fidyah). This is different from the one who does not perform an integral, because if one leaves out an integral of Hajj then one’s Hajj is not valid and slaughtering an animal will not compensate for it.
It is unlawful for one whether or not he is in a state of ihram to hunt the animals of Makkah and al-Madinah, or to cut or pick their plants. If this was done in Makkah, then the obligation of performing the expiation (fidyah) is added. There is no expiation (fidyah) due for hunting the animals or cutting the plants in al-Madinah, i.e., the area between Mount ^Ayr and Mount Thawr.
And Allah Knows Best