Obedient Angel
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 | Subject: What It Means to Be Moderate  Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:11 am | |
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Keeping to the Minimum in Worship - A Bad Idea
By: Sheikh `Alî A. al-Jumu`ah
Allah created us to worship Him. That is our true purpose in life. In spite of this, the religious duties that Allah has imposed upon us are few indeed. They are enumerated in the following hadith:
Talhah b. `Ubayd Allah relates that once a man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) from Najd with a great bush of hair on his head. We could hear the loudness of his voice but could not understand what he was saying. He approached the Prophet (peace be upon him) and asked him about Islam.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Offer five prayers in the day and night.”
The man asked: “Do I have to pray something else?”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “No, unless you volunteer.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Fast the month of Ramadan.” The man asked: “Do I have to fast something else?”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “No, unless you volunteer.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) told him about paying Zakâh.
The man asked: “Do I have to pay out something else?”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “No, unless you volunteer.”
The man left saying: “By Allah, I will do no more nor less than this.”
Then the Prophet (peace be upon him said): He will find salvation if he is telling the truth.”
This is an authentic hadîth related in Sahîh Muslim. Its meaning is valid and will remain valid up to the Day of Judgment. Anyone abiding by this hadîth will be fulfilling all of the requirements of worship needed for one who hopes to be admitted into Paradise.
However, it is worth mentioning that this comes in the context of a person who witnesses that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and eschews sin and iniquity. What the hadīth is telling us is that such a person will not be neglecting an obligatory act of worship as long as he or she carries out what is enumerated. There will be no sin or blame on such a person for failing to perform any additional act of devotion.
This hadîth, in fact, enumerates the essential pillars of Islam, and abandoning of any of them is a major sin and denying their obligatory nature is an act tantamount to disbelief.
If a person abandons any of these essential religious duties -- or perpetrates any sinful acts --then that person’s faith will be reduced and that person will be a sinner. However, if he or she repents truly, Allah is forgiving. As for someone who dies while persisting in what is wrong, then that person is subject to Allah’s will – Allah in His mercy might forgive that person, or He might in justice punish that Person.
Allah says: “Allah does not forgive (the sin of) associating other gods with Him, but He forgives any other sins for whom He pleases.”
Moreover, the duties enumerated in the above-mentioned hadîth will not be acceptable and valid for a person to enter Paradise unless two conditions are met.
The first is sincerity, which is the most important; as the Muslim should perform every deed having in mind that it is done solely for the sake of Allah’s pleasure. Allah says: “And they have been commanded no more than this; to worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion being true (in faith)”. The person should never seek any praise from people or aim to have good reputation among them but look forward for the rewarding from Allah only.
The second condition is that these works should be in compliance with Islamic teachings as established by the Qur’ân and Sunnah. Otherwise, such worship will be rejected and will not entitle the person to enter Paradise.
Our Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates in this matter of ours something that is not part of it, it well be rejected.” [Sahih al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]
Finally, we should remind ourselves that the duties enumerated in the above-mentioned hadîth may be compromised by a person’s failure to performing them in a way that is satisfactory.
Voluntary deeds will compensate for any deficiencies in the performance of these duties, and the performance of such voluntary duties will entitle the obligatory deeds for the acceptance of Allah. The voluntary prayers are thus a complementary part of the obligatory prayers. This is even more the case for prayers that are sunnah mu`akkadah.
Likewise, voluntary fasting compensates for deficiencies in our performance of our obligatory fasts. Voluntary charity covers any deficiency in our Zakâh and the same in case for `Umrah and Hajj.
Moreover, when a Muslim performs voluntary works, it gives him a higher rank in Paradise and the more righteous deeds a person performs, the closer he becomes to Allah.
Though a person will not be held accountable except for the duties that he failed to perform and the sins that he commits, he must realize that he cannot help but fall short of the mark.
The mother of the believers, `Aishah, was asked a similar question and replied by saying: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, you will not be held accountable except for your duties. But you commit wrong day and night and the wrong will be expiated by repentance and praying to Allah for forgiveness and increasing in good deeds.”
Allah says: “And establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night for those things that are good remove those that are evil. This is a reminder for the mindful”.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Fear Allah wherever you are and follow a bad deed with a good one, for it will remove it, and treat people kindly.”
We all need to go far beyond the bare minimum of what is prescribed for us. We should rather strive to engage in as many righteous deeds as possible.
http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-421-4064.htm
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What It Means to Be Moderate
By: Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen
Moderation in religion means that one does not exaggerate and go beyond the limit set by Allaah, and that one does not neglect it and fall short of the limit set by Allaah.
Moderation in religion means following the example of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam). Exaggeration means trying to do more than he did, and negligence means not reaching that level.
For example, a man says, “I want to spend all night in prayer (qiyaam al-layl), and never sleep all my life, because prayer is one of the best acts of worship, so I want to spend the entire night in prayer.” We say, this is going to extremes in the religion of Allaah, and this is not right. Something like this happened at the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam), when a group of men got together and one of them said, “I will pray at night and never sleep.” Another said, “I will fast and never break my fast.” The third one said, “I will never marry women.” News of that reached the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) and he said, “What is wrong with people who say such and such? I fast and I break my fast. I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever overlooks my Sunnah does not belong to me.” These people had gone to extremes in religion, and so the Messenger (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) disowned them, because they overlooked his Sunnah which includes fasting and not fasting, praying at night and sleeping, and marrying women.
The one who is falling short is one who says, “I do not need to do voluntary (naafil) actions, so I will not do them. I will only do the fard actions. He may even be falling short in the fard actions, so this person is lacking.
The moderate person is one who follows the path of the Messenger (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) and his rightly-guided successors (al-Khulafaa’ al-Raashidoon).
Another example: three men are faced with an immoral man. One of them says, “I will not greet this immoral man and I will boycott him, keep away from him and not speak to him.”
The second one says, “I will go with this immoral man, greet him and smile at him. I will invite him to my place and accept his invitation. He is just like any righteous man to me.”
The third one says, “I hate this immoral man for his immoral actions, but I love him for his faith. I will not boycott him unless doing so is in his best interests. If there is nothing to be gained by boycotting him, and if that will only increase him in his immorality, then I will not boycott him.”
We say that the first man is going to extremes, the second is negligent and the third is moderate.
The same applies to all other acts of worship and dealings with others. People vary between extremism, negligence and moderation.
A third example: A man is a prisoner of his wife, who directs him as she wishes and he does not stop her from committing sin, or urge her to do good. She has taken over his reason and has become the one who is in charge of him.
Another man treats his wife in a harsh, arrogant and high-handed manner. He does not care about her and regards her as less than a servant.
A third man is moderate in his dealings with his wife, as Allaah and His Messenger commanded.
“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect) to what is reasonable” [al-Baqarah 2 – interpretation of the meaning]
[The Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallaam) said:] “Let no believing man hate a believing woman. If he dislikes one of her characteristics he will be pleased with another.”
This last man is the one who is moderate. The second one is extreme in his dealings with his wife, and the first is falling short.
The same applies to all other deeds and acts of worship.
[Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Rasaa’il li Fadeelat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen, vol. 1, p. 42]
[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWGDIcMJhYg&feature=related[/youtube]
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