A Day in Your Life – No. 3: How to do wudhu properly…

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

 [This is the series with all the lovely bathroom pics, remember?]

So where were you?

Well, currently you’re in the bathroom, dying to rush out and get some coffee.

Sorry, that’s going to have to wait. It’s time for Fajr and you need to do wudhu (ablution) first.

So, now you need to head over to the wash basin (or sink, if you prefer).

Photo courtesy of Artceram

[Why do I get the feeling that you’re still thinking about the coffee?]

So, how do you do wudhu?

Well, you do it the way the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) did it, of course.

If you’re a beginner, please read this post on my New Muslim blog.

If you want something more advanced, then try this book: The Prophet’s (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) Wudhu

Apart from doing the external actions the proper way, don’t forget to renew your intention when doing wudhu.

How can you do that? Well, one of the ways is to remember the many virtues of doing wudhu. Here’s one of them:

إذا توضأ العبد المؤمن ، فتمضمض ، خرجت الخطايا من فيه ، فإذا استنثر خرجت الخطايا من أنفه ، فإذا غسل وجهه خرجت الخطايا من وجهه ، حتى تخرج من تحت أشفار عينيه ، فإذا غسل يديه خرجت الخطايا من يديه ، حتى تخرج من تحت أظفار يديه ، فإذا مسح برأسه خرجت الخطايا من رأسه ، حتى تخرج من أذنيه ، فإذا غسل رجليه خرجت الخطايا من رجليه ، حتى تخرج من تحت أظفار رجليه ، ثم كان مشيه إلى المسجد ، وصلاته نافلة له

It was narrated from Abdullah As-Sunaabihi that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: “When the believing slave performs wudhu and rinses his mouth, his sins come out from his mouth. When he sniffs water into his nose and blows it out, his sins come out from his nose. When he washes his face, his sins come out from his face, even from beneath his eyelashes. When he washes his hands, his sins come out from his hands, even from beneath his fingernails. When he wipes his head, his sins come out from head, even from his ears. When he washes his feet, his sins come out from his feet, even from beneath his toenails. Then his walking to the masjid and his salah will earn extra merit for him.” [Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 103. Graded “sahih” by Al-Albani in Sahih Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 103]

[Note: The sins being mentioned here are minor sins and not major sins. What’s the difference? I’ll write a future post on that, insha-Allah, when I start a new series on the major sins.]

So, try to remember this hadeeth whilst you’re doing wudhu. You’ll notice a big change in your wudhu.

You could also try to use a siwak. That will get you even more rewards!

So, now that you’ve finished your nice, proper, refreshing wudhu, what next?

Well, you need to leave the bathroom and recite the required dhikr (remembrance). After that, you would recite the adhkar (remembrances) for wudhu (i.e. those recited after it).

However, that’s for the next part.

To be continued…

Seriously Short Reminder No. 25: Remember to use the siwak…

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

[Siwak = Miswak]

What’s a “siwak”, you ask?

Well, it looks like this:

Why should we use it?

Well, some of the reasons would be:

لولا أن أشق على أمتي ، أو على الناس لأمرتهم بالسواك مع كل صلاة

Narrated Abu Hurairah (radiallahu anhu): Allah’s Messenger (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said, “If I had not found it hard for my nation or the people, I would have ordered them to clean their teeth with Siwak for every prayer.” [Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume No. 2, Hadeeth No. 12]

السواك مطهرة للفم ، مرضاة للرب

Aishah (radiallahu anha) narrated that the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Siwak is a means of purification for the mouth and is pleasing to the Lord.” [Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 5. Graded “sahih” by Al-Albani in Sahih Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 5]

One should use it at the time of wudhu (ablution).

And yes, we can use it whilst fasting.

This is one of those “easy” good deeds that we can do all the time, and especially in Ramadan.

Countdown to Ramadan: Changing one habit a week – Habit No. 1 – Part 2

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

5) Steps to be taken to solve the difficulties mentioned above (contd. for Part 1)

c) Remove any hurdles that are present in waking up for Fajr.

Well, there are many hurdles that people face. Different people have different issues. 

I would like to mention one of the hurdles though (and I apologise if it sounds crude but it needs to said) and that is something that many married people (especially newlyweds) face.

Many of them delay doing the ghusl for janaabah (the full bath to remove ritual impurity) until the morning. And what happens in the morning? Well, many of them feel too lazy to wake up and so they end up oversleeping and not praying Fajr. So, I would advise such people to do the ghusl BEFORE they go to sleep.

Of course, someone might point out that the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) sometimes did ghusl before he slept and sometimes he did it after he slept which means that it is permissible both ways.

That’s right and I never said that it wasn’t. However, for those that end up oversleeping Fajr due to the ghusl issue, it is better for them to do it before they sleep.

It’s similar to the case of Witr. It’s permissible to do it before you sleep or after you wake up (before Fajr). The best time is at the end of Qiyaam Al-Layl. However, if one is generally unable to get up for Qiyaam Al-Layl then it’s better that he/she prays it before sleeping.

d) Get out of the bedroom and go to the kitchen.

And I say that as a person who loves her room and hates the kitchen…

If we stay in our rooms at this time, then all we’ll be able to see are our nice cozy beds. And after a few minutes of staring at our beds, we’ll hop back in to them.

So, what we need to do is get out of the room and go to the kitchen. [For those of you who live in studio apartments, at least try to move further away from the bed and closer to the kitchen area…]

Why go to the kitchen? Well, because it’s so uncozy (yes, a new word) and so uninviting and it’s also where the caffeine is.

Yes, I know that I said that we need to get over our caffeine addiction but first I think we need to solve the post-Fajr nap problem.

e) Keep blaming yourself the whole day and tell yourself about the amount of time you lost.

Yes, we need to feel bad for wasting so much time sleeping. If we feel bad, we’ll put in more effort to get up and stay up the next morning.

f) Start working on something important.

Have you ever noticed that when our mind is engaged in something, we forget to be sleepy?

So, working on something really important and difficult might stop us from resnoozing (yes, another new word).

Also, for those who wanted to work on the other habits, then the time right after Fajr would be the best time.

If someone spent 15 minutes reciting the Quran after Fajr, then they would also be able to cultivate a habit of reciting the Book of Allah daily.

Also, for those who want to walk daily, then you could do it for 15 minutes and you could recite the morning adhkar (remembrances) at this time.

For the brothers who pray in the masjid, you could use the time between the adhan and the iqaamah for recitation. And if you can’t stay in the masjid until the sun rises, then you could recite the morning adhkar on the way back home.

Also, if you walked or cycled to and from the masjid instead of using a car, then that would double as a form of exercise. And you’d also get lots of fresh air.

6) Suggestions for those people who might not be able to stay awake.

Okay, I think we should all understand something. When somebody makes a general suggestion, it doesn’t have to apply to everybody. A person should be able to know what works for them and what doesn’t.

So, for example, when I spoke about forming this habit, I was NOT talking to all the readers.

Why not? Because for some of them it might be more productive to go to sleep after Fajr.

For example, for those who work night shifts (like doctors), it’s not possible to ask them to stay awake in the mornings because that is their sleeping time!

Also, there might be people who suffer from insomnia. What happens if they haven’t been able to sleep the whole night? They won’t be able to function unless they get some sleep. I know this because it has happened to me frequently.

Also, there might be someone who works the entire morning and studies at night (or vice versa) and they might only get a few hours of sleep in the night as a result of this. So, this kind of person might be more productive throughout the day due to getting that extra bit of sleep.

Now, I mentioned in Part 1 that the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) asked Allah to bless his ummah in the early part of the day and that he himself never slept after Fajr.

So, someone may ask, wouldn’t sleeping after Fajr be opposing the sunnah? Well, no, because they have a valid reason.

Also, sometimes one might give up something good in order to achieve an even greater good in its place.

For example, I recall a lecturer mentioning that Abdullah ibn Masood (radiallahu anhu) used to get very tired when doing nafl (optional) fasts which left him unable to do much recitation (his strength). So he decided to stop doing that, so he could focus on reciting the Quran. So, he left one good thing for another good thing which he happened to be better at.

However, I still have some suggestions for the people mentioned above (those who need to sleep after Fajr):

a) If you work at nights, then try to pray some rakaahs of Qiyaam Al-Layl. Also, try to remember to do dua (last third of the night) and istighfar (the time before Fajr). Also, try to remember to recite the sleeping adhkar and surahs before you go to sleep.

b) Try not to sleep until you’ve recited the morning adhkar.

c) Try to stay awake remembering Allah until sunrise and then sleep after that.

I recall reading that this is what Shaikh Ibn Uthaimeen (rahimahullah) used to do and this is what most of us do when we are in itikaf.

This is because the time between Fajr and sunrise has a lot of virtue (a good time to recite the Quran and memorise it) so it would be better to stay awake during it and sleep after sunrise.

d) For those who might not get the chance to pray Dhuha later, try to stay awake 15-20 minutes past sunrise, then pray Dhuha and then go to sleep.

These are just some suggestions. If anybody has anything else that they’d like to add, then please feel free to do so.

Insha-Allah, I hope that we are all able to cultivate this habit at the end of these 3 weeks.

Seriously Short Reminder No. 16: Remember to cut your nails…

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

Apparently, the “latest fashion” is to have long nails.

[I’m not sure how one can call it the latest fashion when the animals have been doing it for centuries.]

Today, many people revel in this disgusting habit of growing their nails so long that they resemble claws. However, it is not befitting for the one who believes in Allah and the Last Day to grow his/her nails:

عشر من الفطرة : قص الشارب ، وإعفاء اللحية ، والسواك ، واستنشاق الماء ، وقص الأظفار ، وغسل البراجم ، ونتف الإبط ، وحلق العانة ، وانتقاص الماء . قال زكرياء : قال مصعب : ونسيت العاشرة . إلا أن تكون المضمضة . زاد قتيبة : قال وكيع : انتقاص الماء يعني الاستنجاء 

Aishah (radiallahu anha) reported: The Messenger of Allah (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Ten are the acts according to the fitrah (innate nature): clipping the moustache, letting the beard grow, using the tooth-stick, snuffing water in the nose, cutting the nails, washing the finger joints, plucking the hair under the armpits, shaving the pubic hair and cleaning one’s private parts with water.” The narrator said: “I have forgotten the tenth, but it may have been rinsing the mouth.” [Sahih Muslim, Hadeeth No. 502]

Also, the nails should not be left for more than forty days:

وقت لنا في قص الشارب ، وتقليم الأظفار ، ونتف الإبط ، وحلق العانة ، أن لا نترك أكثر من أربعين ليلة

Anas reported: “A time limit has been prescribed for us for clipping the moustache, cutting the nails, plucking hair under the armpits, shaving the pubic hair, that it should not be neglected far more than forty nights.” [Sahih Muslim, Hadeeth No. 497]

Oh and don’t forget about the toe nails…

[Note: Some women seem to be under the impression that one cannot cut their nails whilst menstruating. However, there is no proof to suggest that they cannot do so. Please read this fatwa.]