BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE  

🖋The Advice of Imām ibn al-Qayyim

Your life at the present muʿmīnt is in between the past and the future. So what has preceded can be rectified by tawbah (repentance), nadam (regret) and istighfār (seeking Allāh’s forgiveness). This is something that will neither tire you nor cause you to toil as you would with strenuous labour. Rather it is an action of the heart.

As regards the future [then it can be corrected by] withholding yourself from sins. This abandonment is merely the leaving of something and to be at ease from it. This is also not an action of the limbs, which requires you to strive and toil. Rather this is a firm resolve and intention of the heart – which will give rest to your body, heart and thoughts.

So as for what has preceded, then you rectify it with repentance and as for the future – then you rectify it with firm resolve and intention. Neither of these involves any hardship or exertion of the limbs.

But then your attention must be directed to your life in the present – the time between the two times. If you waste it, then you have wasted the opportunity to be of the fortunate and saved ones. If you look after it, having rectified the two times – what is before and after it, as we have said – then you will be successful and achieve rest, delight and everlasting bliss. However, looking after it is harder than that which comes before and after it, since guarding it involves keeping to that which is most befitting and beneficial for your soul, and that which will bring it success and well-being. 

The Advice of Ibn al-Qayyim by troid.org

[Source: al-al-Fawāʾid (p. 515-152)]

Striving Slave of Allah: Fasting on Behalf of the Deceased Person

Striving Slave of Allah: Fasting on Behalf of the Deceased Person: Q: Is it permissible to fast on behalf of a deceased person, if he did not fast Ramadan in his life time though he paid Kaffarah (expiation...

Ruling on the Fasting of the Woman who is in the State of Istihadah

Ruling on the fasting of the woman who is in a state of Istihadah 

Q: Is it lawful for the woman who is in a state of Istihadah to have intercourse with her husband? 

A: Istihadah means suffering from abnormal vaginal bleeding outside of menstrual or postpartum bleeding. The woman who is in a state of Istihadah takes the same ruling of the Tahir (ritually pure) woman, i.e. she can pray, fast, and have intercourse with her husband. However, she should make Wudu' (ablution) before every Salah (Prayer) like those who suffer from continuous minor ritual impurity, such as urine and breaking wind. Moreover, she should place pads or anything else [at the place of bleeding] to protect her body and clothes. There are many Sahih (authentic) Hadiths from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) to the same effect. 

[Majmoo'al-Fataawa Ibn Baaz, Vol.: 15; pg. 195]

              

Fasting on Behalf of the Deceased Person

Q: Is it permissible to fast on behalf of a deceased person, if he did not fast Ramadan in his life time though he paid Kaffarah (expiation) before his death? 

A: His relatives may fast on his behalf if he was a Muslim offering his prayer as the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “If anyone dies while he had to make up for some days missed of the obligatory fasting, his heir should fast on his behalf.” Agreed upon by Al-Bukhari and Muslim. But if he did not fast out of inability, senility, or illness that is not expected to be cured, he will not have to fast and the food he fed the needy would be enough if he fed them for all the days he missed

but if he did not offer prayer, then it would not be accepted from a person to make up for these days as abandoning prayer deliberately is Kufr (disbelief) as viewed by scholars to be the correct opinion, as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “That which differentiates us from the disbelievers and hypocrites is our performance of Salah. He who abandons it becomes a disbeliever.” Related by Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhy, Al-Nasa'y and Ibn Majah with an authentic chain of narration from Buraydah ibn Al-Hasib (رضي الله عنه).The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) also said: “The peak of the matter is Islam; the pillar is Salah; and its topmost part is Jihad (Fighting/Struggling in the Cause of Allah).” Related by Imam Ahmad and Al-Tirmidhy with an authentic chain of narration from Mu'adh ibn Jabal (رضي الله عنه).The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) also says: “What makes one a disbeliever and a polytheist is abandoning prayers.” Reported by Imam Muslim in his Sahih on the authority of Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah (رضی اللہ عنھم).There are many Hadiths in this regard. May Allah guide all Muslims to what pleases Allah and assists them to do what Allah makes obligatory on them such as prayer and other things in the way that He likes. Truly, He is All-Hearer, Ever Near (to all things). 

[Majmoo’al-Fataawa Ibn Baaz, Vol. 15; pp. 361 – 362]

A Person who Abandon Salah and Sawm (Shaykh Ibn Baz) Rahimahullaah

Q.i What is the opinion of our revered Shaykh regarding a person who deliberately neither offers Salah nor observes fasting. Yet after Allah granted him guidance and he returned to Allah and wept for his extravagance, he kept observing Salah and fasting and all other acts of worship. Is he to be commanded to make up for the Salah and fasting that he missed or do repentance? Will asking Allah's forgiveness be sufficient for him? 

A: A person who abandons Salah and Sawm and then sincerely repents to Allah, is not obliged to make up for what he missed because abandoning Salah is a major Kufr that takes a person out of Islam even if a person abandons it without denying its obligation, according to the preponderant opinion of the two main views of the scholars on this issue. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: “Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease (from disbelief), their past will be forgiven.” [Surah Al-Anfal, 8: 38]

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) also said: “Islam wipes out all that has gone before it (previous misdeeds).” Repentance wipes out all that has gone before it (previous misdeeds). There are many proofs in this regard including Allah's (سبحانه وتعالى) saying: “And verily, I am indeed forgiving to him who repents, believes (in My Oneness, and associates none in worship with Me) and does righteous good deeds, and then remains constant in doing them, (till his death).” [Surah Ta¬Ha, 20: 82] Allah (سبحانه) also says: “O you who believe! Turn to Allâh with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will expiate from you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise)” [Surah Al-Tahrim, 66: 8]

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) also says: “Whoever repents from sins is like a sinless person.”

A repentant should do many righteous deeds after his repentance. He should also frequently ask Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) to make him steadfast on the truth and to grant him a good end. May Allah grant us success! 

[Majmoo’al-Fataawa Ibn Baaz, Vol. 15; pp. 359 - 360]