Why do we often see such lavish iftar tables during Ramadan, and isn’t it exhausting for the women of the house who spend the whole day cooking instead of focusing on worship? What is the real purpose of Ramadan, and what message are we giving the new generation?

The virtue of the last ten nights of Ramadan
فضل العشر الأواخر من رمضان https://youtu.be/kpVVIhn_dKE?si=VEgBfFzxN12hNjcv

Ibn Rajab said: "The one who misses the planting season cannot expect to reap the harvest." Ramadan is almost over. The last ten nights are the harvest season. Everything you've planted this month - the discipline, the prayers, the hunger - it all culminates now. Don't let the harvest pass you by.

🔥 Fortunetellers at your doorsteps:

Avoid apps or websites which pop up on Facebook and other social media saying : ❝ what is your destiny?❞ or ❝what you will be in the next ten years!❞

This is like approaching the fortunetellers which is Haraam.

🔥 Simply inquiring a fortuneteller (even if it is for fun) without believing in him will nullify our prayers for 40 days and believing in him is Major Kufr.

🌴🌴🌴

📕Allaah’s Messenger [sal-Allaahu alaihi wa sallam] said:

❝He who visits a diviner (Arraaf) and asks him about anything, his prayers extending to forty nights will not be accepted.❞

📚[Saheeh Muslim (5540)]

💢💢💢

📕Allaah’s Messenger [sal-Allaahu `alaihi wa sallam] also said:

❝If anyone goes to a fortuneteller and believes in what he says, he has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad.❞

📚[Sunan Ibn Maajan (639) and the wordings are his, Sunan al-Tirmidhee (135), and Sunan Abu Dawood (3904) and graded as “Saheeh” by Shaikh al-Albaanee. In Sunan Abu Dawood, the wordings are: ❝he has nothing to do with what has been sent down to Muhammad ﷺ.❞]

🌴🌴🌴

🎓The Lajna said:

❝This means that those who go to fortunetellers to ask them anything, their Salaah shall not be accepted for forty nights but in case that they also believe them, then they are Kaafir.❞

📚[Faatawa Lajna (1/621)]

According to the Salafi fiqh position, Zakat al-Fitr must be given as food, not money, following the practice of the companions.

The evidence is the hadith of
Abdullah ibn Umar who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ obligated Zakat al-Fitr as one saʿ of dates or one saʿ of barley upon every Muslim, free or slave, male or female, young or old.

Amount for one person

📏 1 Saʿ of food

1 Saʿ ≈ about 2.5 – 3 kg (5–6.5 lbs) of staple food such as:
• Dates
• Barley
• Wheat
• Rice
• Raisins
• Corn or other staple food of the land

Example for 1 person

Give about 3 kg (around 6 pounds) of a staple food.

When to give it
• Best time: 1–2 days before Eid
• Latest time: before the Eid prayer

If it is given after the Eid prayer, it becomes regular charity, not Zakat al-Fitr.

Who you must pay for

You pay for:
• Yourself
• Anyone you are financially responsible for (children, dependents)

⸻

Since you are in Atlanta, many people give a bag of rice (about 5–6 lbs) per person to fulfill the Sunnah amount.
Food Type
Approximate Amount
Rice
6 lbs (about 2.7 kg)
Dates
6 lbs
Barley
6 lbs
Raisins
6 lbs
Wheat
6 lbs
Corn / maize
6 lbs

This is based on the hadith reported by Abdullah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ obligated one Saʿ of food.

Who Receives It

It should go to poor Muslims so they can eat on the day of Eid.

Best Time to Give
• 1–2 days before Eid
• Allowed during the last part of Ramadan
• Must be before the Eid prayer

Intention

Make the intention in your heart that it is Zakat al-Fitr for yourself (or the person you are paying for).

Example

If you are giving for one person, you could give:
• 1 bag of rice (about 6 pounds) to a poor Muslim.

From the many blessings of Ramadān is that one increases in their love for the Qur'ān, whether by increasing in its recitation, increasing in pondering over its meanings, or increasing in listening to it.

And Allāh has blessed us with many reciters who recite the Qur’ān beautifully.

So it saddens the hearts to see how some Muslims turn towards these so-called "Islamic" anāsheed and these so-called "anāsheed artists," establishing gatherings and concerts that cause many to neglect the Qur'ān and abandon it. And even worse, those who lend their ears to that which corrupts the hearts- music.

أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَىٰ بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ.
"Would you exchange that which is better for that which is inferior?"
[Sūrah al-Baqarah, verse no.61]

وَلَا تَتَبَدَّلُوا الْخَبِيثَ بِالطَّيِّبِ
"And do not exchange the impure for the pure."
[Qur’ān: Sūrah an-Nisā, verse no.2]

May Allāh make the Qur'ān the spring of our hearts, the light of our chests, the banisher of our worries and sadness, and the reliever of our anxieties.

https://x.com/i/status/2031256752583299350

Insignificance of this world:

The purpose of our creation is to worship Allaah, so don’t make this world our only focus:

Narrated Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه: that the Prophet ﷺ said: ❝Allaah تعالى says: {O son of Aadam, devote yourself to my worship. I will fill your heart with contentment and alleviate your poverty. If you do not do this, I will fill your heart with (worldly) pursuits and will not alleviate your poverty.}❞

[Musnad of Imaam Ahmad (8696), Tirmidhee (2466), Ibn Maajah (4107). and graded as “Hasan” by Shaikh al-Albaanee in al-Saheehah (1359). The wordings are of Ibn Maajah]

•۩۞۩•

﴿مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الْآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ﴾

{Whosoever desires (with his deeds) the reward of the Hereafter, We give him increase in his reward, and whosoever desires the reward of this world (with his deeds), We give him thereof (what is written for him), and he has no portion in the Hereafter.} [Surah al-Shooraa (42): 20]

Anas ibn Maalik رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: ❝If anyone’s intention is to seek the Hereafter Allaah will place his sufficiency in his heart and order (take care of) his affairs and the world will come to him submissively; but if anyone’s intention is to seek worldly good, Allaah will place poverty before him and disorder his affairs, and only so much of it as has been decreed for him will come to him.❞

[Tirmidhee (2473) and graded as “Hasan” by Shaikh al-Albaanee in al-Saheehah (949)]

•۩۞۩•

Zaid bin Thaabit رضي الله عنه said that the Prophet ﷺ said: ❝Whoever is focused only on this world, Allaah will confound his affairs and make him fear poverty constantly, and he will not get anything of this world except what has been decreed for him. Whoever is focused on the Hereafter, Allaah will settle his affairs for him and make him feel content with his lot and his provision and the worldly gains will undoubtedly come to him.❞

[Sunan Ibn Maajah (4105) and graded as “Saheeh” by Shaikh al-Albaanee]

THE RULINGS OF I'TIKĀF

ALLĀH said:

وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
And do not have sexual relations with them (your wives) while you are in I'tikāf in the Masjids.

Ali bin Abu Talhah reported that Ibn Abbas said, "This Ayah is about the man who stays in I'tikāf at the mosque during Ramadān or other months, ALLĀH prohibited him from touching (having sexual intercourse with) women, during the night or day, until he finishes his I'tikāf."

Ad-Dahhak said, "Formerly, the man who practiced I'tikāf would go out of the mosque and, if he wished, would have sexual intercourse (with his wife). ALLĀH then said:

وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
And do not have sexual relations with them (your wives) while you are in I'tikāf in the Masjids.

meaning, 'Do not touch your wives as long as you are in I'tikāf, whether you were in the mosque or outside of it'."

It is also the opinion of Mujahid, Qatadah and several other scholars, that; the Muslims used to have sexual intercourse with the wife while in I'tikāf if they departed the mosque until the Ayah was revealed.

Ibn Abu Hatim commented, "It was reported that Ibn Mas’ud, Muhammad bin Ka'b, Mujahid, Ata Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi, Ar-Rabi bin Anas and Muqatil said that the Ayah means,

'Do not touch the wife while in I'tikāf."'

What Ibn Abu Hatim reported from these people is the agreed upon practice among the scholars.

Those who are in I'tikāf are not allowed to have sexual intercourse as long as they are still in I'tikāf in the mosque. If one has to leave the mosque to attend to a need, such as to relieve the call of nature or to eat, he is not allowed to kiss or embrace his wife or to busy himself with other than his I'tikāf. He is not even allowed to visit ailing persons, but he can merely ask about their condition while passing by.

I'tikāf has several other rulings that are explained in the books (of Fiqh), and we have mentioned several of these rulings at the end of our book on Siyam (Fasting), all praise is due to ALLĀH.

Furthermore, the scholars of Fiqh used to follow their explanation of the rules for fasting with the explanation of the rules for I'tikāf, as this is the way these acts of worship were mentioned in the Qur'ān.

By mentioning I'tikāf after fasting, ALLĀH draws attention to practicing I'tikāf during the month of the fast, especially the last part of the month. The Sunnah of ALLĀH's Messenger is that he used to perform I'tikāf during the last ten nights of the month of Ramadān until he died.

Afterwards, the Prophet's wives used to perform I'tikāf as the Two Sahihs recorded from Aishah the Mother of the believers.

It is reported in the Two Sahihs that;

Safiyyah, the daughter of Huyai, went to ALLĀH's Messenger to visit him in the mosque while he was in Itikaf.

She had a talk with him for a while, then she got up in order to return home. The Prophet accompanied her back home, as it was night. Her house was at Usamah bin Zayd's house on the edge of Al-Madinah.

While they were walking, two Ansari men met them and passed by them in a hurry, for they were shy to bother the Prophet while he was walking with his wife. He told them:

"Do not run away! She is (my wife) Safiyyah bint Huyai."

Both of them said, "All praise is due to ALLĀH, How dare we think of any evil? O ALLĀH's Messenger!"

The Prophet said (to them):

"Shaytān reaches everywhere in the human body, that the blood reaches. I was afraid lest Shaytān might suggest an evil thought in your minds."

Imam Ash-Shafii commented, "ALLĀH's Messenger sought to teach his Ummah to instantly eliminate any evil thought, so that they do not fall into the prohibited. They (the two Ansari men) had more fear of ALLĀH than to think evil of the Prophet. ALLĀH knows best."

{Tafsi‌r Ibn Kathīr}

#ibnkathir #baqarah (2:187)

🚨*You Might Be Missing Laylatul Qadr Every Year Because of This One Mistake*

Many Muslims have grown up hearing one simple advice:
“Look for Laylatul Qadr on the odd nights.” And yes, there are authentic narrations mentioning the odd nights of the last ten. But here is the question that many people never stop to think about:

How exactly do we determine which nights are the odd ones?
Do we count the odd nights based on what has already passed in Ramadan?
Or do we count them based on what remains of the month?

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
> “Seek it in the ninth remaining, the seventh remaining, and the fifth remaining.”
– Sahih Al-Bukhari.

Because of this wording, the scholars explained that sometimes the “oddness” is counted by what remains of the month, not only by the calendar dates we usually label as odd.
The great scholar Ibn Taymiyyah explained that Laylatul Qadr is in the last ten nights and occurs in the odd nights, but the oddness may be calculated in two ways:

By counting what has passed,
or by counting what remains.
And if the month completes 30 days, the nights described in the hadith as “remaining” can actually correspond to nights that many people normally treat as even dates. For example, the 22nd night may correspond to the ninth remaining. The 24th night may correspond to the seventh remaining. The 26th night may correspond to the fifth remaining. Meaning someone who only focuses on 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 could unknowingly skip a night that might actually be Laylatul Qadr.

There is another reality as well.
Different countries sometimes begin Ramadan on different days. One country may be observing the 21st night, while another is still on the 20th. So which one is truly the odd night?
Only Allah knows with certainty.

This is why the Prophet ﷺ gave a broader guidance:

*“Seek it in the last ten nights.”*
Not five nights. Ten nights!

Now think about this carefully. If someone told you:
“Behind one of ten doors is a treasure beyond imagination.” Would you open only five doors and ignore the rest? Or would you open all ten until you find the treasure?

Now ask yourself something honestly. If someone told you that for ₦30,000… £30… or $30, you could:
Have your sins erased.
Have your Duʿa answered.
Fix a problem that has weighed on your heart for years.
Repair that marriage.
Receive a breakthrough you have been begging Allah for.

Most people would pay instantly without hesitation.
But Allah is offering something far greater.

And He is not asking you for money.
Instead of ₦30,000… imagine offering something else.
Just 3 hours of sincere worship each night.
Three hours of standing before Allah.
Three hours of Duʿa and tears.
Three hours of Sujood and quiet conversation with your Lord.

Across the 10 nights of the last ten. That is only 30 hours in total.
Thirty hours…
For a night that Allah says is better than more than 83 years of worship.

Thirty hours that could change your life in this world.

Thirty hours that could transform your hereafter forever.

So don’t gamble with Laylatul Qadr.

Don’t search for it in only five nights.
Open all ten doors.

Because the one who sincerely searches through every night of the last ten…Will never miss Laylatul Qadr. 🌙

👣 *@TheNaasirInstitute*
#Ramadan
#1447

The Islamic Ruling on Magic and Magicians
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (Hafidhahullah)

The seventh kind of apostasy is magic, the practice of magicians. It is two types: genuine and illusionary.

The first type, genuine magic, consists of the magician blowing on tied knots, murmuring phrases and words over them, seeking assistance from the devils within these words, the hanging of charms, and writing the names of devils on talismans. This is what genuine magic is, and it is something that has an effect on the targeted person, either by him being killed, becoming sick, or his mind being affected.

The second type, illusionary magic, is when things are manipulated in a way that causes someone to think that what he sees is actually that way, while it is not true. A man is made to think that the magician has done the following things:

* He turned a rock turned into an animal;

* He killed someone and then brought him back to life, by cutting his head off and then replacing it;

* He pulled a car along by his hair or teeth;

* A car ran him over and did not harm him;

* He entered into a fire;

* He ate fire;

* He stabbed himself with some piece of iron;

* He stabbed himself in the eye with an iron skewer;

* Or that he ate a piece of glass.

All of these are kinds of fake tricks that have no truth in them, and they are like the magic of Fir'awn's magicians. Allah, the Most High, has said:

"He (Moosaa) was made to believe from their magic
that they (the magicians' sticks) were (snakes) moving about." [4]

And Allah, the Most High, has said:

"They put magic on the eyes of the people
and sought to frighten them." [5]

This is illusionary magic [6]. They call it al-qamrah, a trick that the magician does to the people's eyes. When the qamrah wears off, things return to their normal states.

Magic is disbelief, and the proof is the statement of Allah, the Most High:

"However, the devils disbelieved, teaching the people magic." [7]

Both learning and teaching magic are disbelief in Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. It is also one of the kinds of apostasy. The magician is an apostate. If he was first a believer and then practiced magic, then he has apostated from the Religion of Islam [8]. He is to be killed without requesting him to repent according to some of the scholars, since if he repented openly, he is known as a person who deceives the people, and the knowledge of magic would still remain in his heart even after he has repented.

The proof is His Statement: "And they
(the two who taught magic) did not teach
anyone before first saying, 'We are merely
a tribulation, so do not disbelieve.' " [7]
Allah the Majestic and Exalted sent down two angels from the heavens, teaching the people magic, as a trial and a test for the people [9]. When they came to those who desired to learn magic, they advised them, saying to them:

"We are merely a tribulation, so do not disbelieve." [7]

Meaning: "Do not learn magic." So this proves that learning magic is disbelief.

This article was taken from BAKKAHnet (www.bakkah.net)

FOOTNOTES

[1] From the TROID publication: Things that Nullify One's Islam by Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abdil-Wahhaab, explained by Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan. Click here for information about ordering the book.

[2] As-sarf and al-'atf: Two different types of magic that involve turning people against each other (as-sarf) and causing them to love each other (al-'atf)

[3] The words in the box are from Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abdil-Wahhaab, and what follows is Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan's explanation.

[4] A translation of the meaning of Soorah Taa-Haa (20):66

[5] A translation of the meaning of Soorah al-A'raaf (7):116

[6] Even illusionary magic can be considered disbelief in Allah. Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, may Allaah preserve him, says in his book, Duroos fee Sharh Nawaaqidh al-Islam (p.146-147):

Jundub ibn Ka'b, the Companion, killed a magician in the presence of one of the governors of Banee Umayyah. He came and found the magician playing games in front of the governor, pretending to kill a person and then bring him back to life by cutting off his head and then replacing it. This is a kind of illusionary magic. He was trying to convince the people that he was killing him and then putting his head back upon his shoulders. He did not actually do anything, he was only tricking the people with an illusion. So Jundub went up to him and struck him with his sword until he chopped his head off, and said, "If he was truthful, then let him bring himself back to life."

Translator's note: Ibn 'Abdil-Barr (may Allaah have Mercy on him) mentioned that the governor was al-Waleed ibn 'Uqbah (may Allaah be pleased with him), and that he arrested Jundub for this action and wrote to the khaleefah 'Uthmaan ibn 'Affaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) about what happened. 'Uthmaan then ordered him to be released and he was. (Alistee'aab, p.113)

[7] A translation of the meaning of Soorah al-Baqarah (2):102

[8] Shaykh Saalih discusses the impermissibility of using magic to cure magic and refutes the claim that Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have Mercy on him) allowed it. See: Question #32 in Appendix I: Questions and Answers (of the published version).

[9] Shaykh Saalih was asked, "How is it that the angels taught magic when teaching magic is a form of disbelief?" For his answer, refer to Question #31 in Appendix I: Questions and Answers (of the published version).

Source: http://www.bakkah.net/articles/islam-magic-magicians.htm
https://abdurrahman.org/category/islam/magic/