Levels of prayer

Jazakum Allah khairan to the sister who forwarded this:

Ibn al-Qayyim [may Allah have mercy on him] said:

And mankind, with regard to their performance of prayer are in five levels:

The First: The level of the one who is negligent and wrongs his soul: He is the one who falls short in performing wudoo properly, performing the prayer upon its time and within its specified limits, and in fulfilling its essential pillars.

The Second: The one who guards his prayers upon their proper times and within their specified limits, fulfills their essential pillars and performs his wudoo with care. However, his striving (in achieving the above) is wasted due whisperings in his prayer so he is taken away by thoughts and ideas.

The Third: The one who guards his prayers within the specified limits, fulfills their essential pillars and strives with himself to repel the whisperings, thoughts and ideas. He is busy struggling against his enemy (Shaytan) so that he does not steal from the prayer. On account of this he is engaged in (both) prayer and jihad.

The Fourth: The one who stands for the prayer, completes and perfects its due rights, its essential pillars, performs it within its specified limits and his heart becomes engrossed in safeguarding its rights and specified limits, so that nothing is wasted from it. His whole concern is directed towards its establishment, its completion and its perfection, as it should be. His heart is immersed in the prayer and in enslavement to his Lord the Exalted.

The Fifth: The one who stands for the prayer like the one mentioned above. However, on top of this, he has taken and placed his heart in front of his Lord (عز وجل), looking towards Him with his heart with anticipation, (his heart) filled with His love and His might, as if he sees and witnesses Allah. The whisperings, thoughts and ideas have vanished and the coverings which are between him and his Lord are raised. What is between this person and others with respect to the prayer, is superior and greater than what is between the heavens and the earth. This person is busy with his Lord (عز وجل), delighted with Him.

The First type will be punished, the second type will be held to account, the third will have his sins and shortcomings expiated, the fourth will be rewarded and the fifth will be close to his Lord, because he will receive the portion of the one who makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye. Whoever makes his prayer,the delight and pleasure of his eye, will have the nearness to his Lord (عز وجل) made the delight and pleasure of his eye in the hereafter. He will also be made a pleasure to the eye in this world since whoever makes Allah the pleasure of his eye in this world, every other eye will become delighted and pleased with him.

So, what level are you?

Source: Excerpted from Ibn al-Qayyim's book al-Wabil al-Sayyib

Original post on Ilm Fruits

Quran in Numbers

I could not find the number of times Jihad is mentioned, or things that are violent. But this is a good point of reference for Muslims, being the Month of Ramadan, that PRAYER is a critical feature in our religion. We- reminding myself first- take advantage of prayer and delay it or altogether accept that God is merciful and will forgive us. But this negligence is at a high price. Without prayer there is no faith. It is a manifestation of us being Muslim, it sets our lifestyle. It is the core of what makes a Muslim Muslim and it is the way we stay connected to the Most High.

The Qur’an is divided into 30 parts or Juz and into 114 chapters or Surahs.

Each surah contains a number of verses or ayat ranging from 2 to 286.

92 surahs were revealed at Mecca – 22 at Madinah.

It has 6, 616 verses; 77, 934 words; and 323, 760 alphabets.

750 ayats deal with scientific matters.

160 verses contain the word ‘ilm’ or knowledge.

25 of the prophets are mentioned by name.

At 70 times or more people are asked to pray.

At least 90 times or more people are ordered to pray.

At 150 times people are called upon to give charity.

Prophet Moses is mentioned most frequently.

Prophet Muhammad is mentioned by name 4 times. At 11 times he is addressed as ‘O Messenger” and 23 times as “messenger”.

The phrase “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” is mentioned twice.

Can A Women Lead A Purely Female Congregation?

Various Opinions from the Imams of the 4 schools of thought:

Imam Abu Hanifah: If a lady leads the salāh of a purely female congregation, then salāh will be correct. It is however makrooh tahrimi for women to form their own congregation.

(Hidayah vl.1,pg.305; Bada'i-us Sanai vl.1,pg.157)

Imam Malik: A lady can in no circumstance be the Imam even if the congregation be entirely female. The salāh of even a lady behind a female imām is invalid.

(Bulghatus Salik vl.1, pg.146; Ashalul Madarik, vl.1,pg.241)

Imam Shafi`i: A lady can be the imam of a purely female congregation. In fact it is mustahab for them to form their own congregation.

(Al Mughni vl.12,pg.199; Bada-i vl.1,pg. 157)

Imam Ahmad: The salāh of a lady behind a lady imām is permissible. There is however difference of opinion regarding women forming their own congregation (behind a female imam).

(Al Mughni l.12, pg.199)

Firefox > Internet Explorer

As much time as we spend online these days, we need something to remind us to stay on top of our prayer times.. whether it's our parents, a good friend or our neighborhood firefox browser. Besides the handy dandy technological advances of Firefox, there are some very cool Muslim friendly add-ons (what are add-ons?) that you can use to remind you to un-glue your self from your screen and get to your prayers. Maybe one of these days Internet Explorer can learn from it's advanced competitor how to be more Muslim friendly. Maybe.

Muslim Friendly Firefox Add-On #1: Fzami

I'm not quite sure why the creator of this add-on named it Fzami but this add-on allows you to display the prayer times for all 5 prayers or the next prayer at the bottom of your browser. Installs with a very clean look and you can adjust the time for your local city without taking up space on your desktop! (The list of prayer times shown in the picture below only appears when you place your mouse on the prayer times at the bottom of your browser).

(( Download Fzami Here ))

Muslim Friendly Firefox Add-On #2: Azan Times!

This add-on is also used for Prayer reminders except it has a count down system. This means that it will tell you the hours, minutes and even seconds until the next prayer! (The list of prayer times shown in the picture below only appears when you place your mouse on the prayer times at the bottom of your browser). I like this one a lot because it makes it easy to plan your day around your prayers.

(( Download Azan Times! Here ))

Note: Both add-ons use Islamic Finder to calculate prayer times so you are free to choose various methods of prayer calculation.

in sha' Allah there will be more Muslim friendly add-ons coming soon - keep it up Firefox!!

..and Internet Explorer, step it up!!