وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِ نَافِلَةً لَّكَ عَسَىٰ أَن يَبْعَثَكَ رَبُّكَ مَقَامًا مَّحْمُودًا

'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin al-'As (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) reported: Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to me,

“O Abdullah! Do not be like so-and-so. He used to get up at night for voluntary prayer but abandoned it later.”

[al-Bukhari and Muslim, Riyadh as-Saliheen, 154]

A person is rewarded for his striving, for his difficult moments, for his long silence. He is rewarded for his trust and confidence in Allah. No matter how impossible his situation seems, he remains fully confident that everything will turn out well.

قال الشيخ ابن عثيمين رحمه الله:
Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

« أنت الآن في مهلة؛ اغتنم الوقت، واجعل لنفسك حزباً من كتاب الله عز وجل، واجعل لنفسك وقتاً للعمل الصالح. »
“You are now in a period of respite; so seize the time, assign for yourself a regular portion from the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and set aside time for righteous deeds.”

قُم في آخر الليل، ولو نصف ساعة قبل الفجر، ناجِ ربك، ادعه؛ فإنه تعالى ينزل إلى السماء الدنيا فيقول: من يدعوني فأستجيب له؟ من يسألني فأعطيه؟ من يستغفرني فأغفر له؟ »
“Stand in prayer at the end of the night, even if only for half an hour before dawn. Speak privately to your Lord and call upon Him; for He, Exalted is He, descends to the lowest heaven and says: ‘Who is calling upon Me so that I may respond to him? Who is asking Me so that I may give him? Who is seeking My forgiveness so that I may forgive him?’”

شرح الكافية الشافية (٤/٣٨٠)

Sha'aban is the preparation for the Month of Ramadan!

" مَنْ أَحَبَّ الْقُرْآنَ، فَلْيُبْشِرْ "
"Glad tidings to the one who loves the Qur'an."

— Sunan ad darimi

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Question: Tomorrow is the first day of the month of Sha‘ban. What are the recommended righteous deeds in this month, and who are considered the righteous doers in it?

Answer: The Prophet ﷺ used to fast more in the month of Sha‘ban than in any other month, but he did not complete the entire month with fasting.

Question: My mother fasts every year in Sha‘ban from the first day until the fifteenth day. Is this considered an innovation (بدعة)?

Answer: No, this is a Sunnah. Increasing voluntary fasting in Sha‘ban is a Sunnah, and it was the practice of the Prophet ﷺ. Since it is before Ramadan, it is like performing voluntary fasts before the obligatory fast, just as one prays the Sunnah (رواتب) before the obligatory prayers.

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ ، أَخْبَرَنَا مَالِكٌ ، عَنْ أَبِي النَّضْرِ ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا ، قَالَتْ : كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَصُومُ ، حَتَّى نَقُولَ : لَا يُفْطِرُ ، وَيُفْطِرُ حَتَّى نَقُولَ : لَا يَصُومُ ، فَمَا رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اسْتَكْمَلَ صِيَامَ شَهْرٍ إِلَّا رَمَضَانَ ، وَمَا رَأَيْتُهُ أَكْثَرَ صِيَامًا مِنْهُ فِي شَعْبَانَ

When the Prophet ﷺ used to fast voluntarily, we would say among ourselves, “Now he will never stop fasting.” And when he would break his fast, we would say, “Now he will never fast again.” I never saw the Prophet ﷺ fast an entire month continuously except in Ramadan, and I never saw him fast more in any month than he did in Sha‘ban.

[صحيح بخاري - 1969 ]

What Turns Minor Sins into Major Sins

قال الإمام ابن قدامة المقدسي رحمه الله:

«اعلم أن العفو عن الكبيرة إذا فعلت ثم انتهت ولم يُعَاوَدْ إليها، خيرٌ من العفو عن الصغيرة إذا أصرَّ العبدُ عليها.»

Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisi رحمه الله said:

“Know that being forgiven for a major sin which was committed, then stopped, and not repeated, is better than being forgiven for a minor sin which a servant persists in.”

[Purification Of The Soul P.26| By Imam Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisi | Dar as-Sunnah Publishers]

Because persistence on a minor sin hardens the heart, weakens the sense of accountability, and slowly turns disobedience into a habit. While a major sin followed by sincere repentance brings humility, regret, and closeness to Allah.
Sometimes it is not the size of the sin that destroys a person, but the continuation of it.
A small sin with no repentance can become heavier than a major sin with true tawbah.

Sha‘ban: The Blessed Month in Which Deeds Are Raised to Allah

The month of Sha‘ban has come upon us, which is the month spreading goodness and blessings. It is a month that people often neglect, in which Rasoolullah ﷺ used to increase his worship and fasting.

Thus, Usamah bin Zaid رضي الله عنه said: I have seen you fasting in the month of Sha‘ban which you do not observe in any other month except Ramadan. So the Rasoolullah ﷺ said: This is a month between Rajab and Ramadan which people neglect. In this month, deeds are raised to Allah. Therefore, I love that my deeds be raised while I am fasting.

And in this there is an indication that the times of people's negligence should be filled with worship because this is among the deeds loved by Allah. In the same way, it is also a reminder that those who owe fasts from the previous Ramadan should hasten to make them up before the arrival of Ramadan. This is a spiritual and faith-based preparation for welcoming the month of Ramadan.

أفضلُ الصلواتِ عندَ اللهِ صلاةُ الصبحِ يومَ الجمعةِ في جماعةٍ

الراوي : عبدالله بن عمر | المحدث : الألباني | المصدر : صحيح الجامع

The best of prayers in the sight of Allah is the Fajr prayer on Friday, performed with Jama'ah.

Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta‘ala, has given superiority to some acts of worship over others, and the Prophet ﷺ has explained these virtues in their different forms. Among them is the preference of some prayers over others. This is what the Prophet ﷺ clarifies in this hadith when he says:
“The most excellent prayer in the sight of Allah,” meaning the one with the greatest reward and recompense, “is the Fajr prayer on the day of Friday when it is performed in congregation.”
This is because the Fajr prayer is the most virtuous of the five daily prayers, Friday is the most virtuous of all days, and praying in congregation is more virtuous than praying alone. This is an absolute virtue, which indicates that it is superior to every other obligatory prayer.
This hadith also shows that sometimes more than one reason comes together to make an act of worship superior.
And in it is a clear mention of the great virtue of performing the Fajr prayer with Jama'ah on the morning of Friday.

The last hour before Maghrib of Friday is a special time when du‘as are accepted, so never miss the chance to benefit from it.
Use this blessed moment to make du‘a for your worldly needs, for guidance and forgiveness, and for the well-being of the entire Ummah.
And please remember me as well in your du‘as.

The last hour of Jumu‘ah is a golden opportunity, don’t let it pass without raising your hands and turning to Allah.

Ibn Al-Qayyim Rahimahullah said:

If you notice within yourself that your time is being wasted without any benefit, then you need to pay attention to your heart. For this does not happen except because the heart has become more heedless of the remembrance of Allah.

The heart will never become completely sound until it is freed from five things:

1. From polytheism (shirk), which contradicts monotheism (Tawhid).

2. From religious innovations (bid'ah), which contradict the Sunnah.

3. From base desires (shahawat), which contradict the commands of Allah.

4. From heedlessness, which contradicts the remembrance of Allah.

5. From the desires of the soul, which contradict sincerity (ikhlās).

These five mentioned matters are barriers between a person and Allah, and each of them contains many other diseases whose number cannot be counted.

[Al-Jawab, p. 143]

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim writes:

Absolute well-being (العافية) is freedom from disbelief, sin, disobedience, heedlessness, and turning away from Allah; as well as refraining from what displeases Him and acting upon everything that Allah loves.

This is true well-being. That is why nothing more beloved to Allah has ever been asked of Him than well-being, because this word includes deliverance from every evil and from its causes.

[Shifa' al-‘Alīl (1/364)]

اللهم إنا نسألك العافية في الدنيا والآخرة

The Salaf (the righteous predecessors) used to devote themselves to specific supplications that they persistently made throughout the month of Ramadan—during prostration, after the prayers, at the time of breaking the fast, and in the pre-dawn hours.

Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) described the month of Ramadan by saying:
“There is no supplication except that it is heard, no deed except that it is raised, no good except that it is gathered, and no harm except that it is repelled.”

اللَّهُمَّ سَلِّمْنِا لرمضان، وسلم رمضان لنا، وتسلمه منا مُتَقَبَّلاً…

Why Allah [سبحان و تعالي] answers du'a of a distressed person even if he is a kaffir?

‎Allah [سبحان و تعالي] says:

‎Or ask them, “Who responds to the distressed when they cry to Him, relieving their affliction, and Who makes you successors in the earth?

Allah [سبحان و تعالي] has guaranteed the answer to the du'a of the distressed when he calls upon Him, and He informed us of this about Himself.

‎The reason for this is that extreme necessity and desperation lead a person to true reliance and sincere turning to Allah alone.

cutting the heart off from all except Allah

‎Sincerity (ikhlās) is highly valued by Allah [سبحانه وتعالى] When it is genuine, Allah accepts it whether it comes from a believer or a disbeliever, a righteous person or a sinner.

‎📕Al-Qurtubī (Tafsīr, 16/193)

The Qur’an is not tied to a specific age or time.

Sheikh Ali Al-Hudhaifi, the Imam of the Prophet’s Mosque صلى الله عليه وسلم , memorized the Qur’an after the age of thirty, and Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Akhdar, the chief of the Qur’an reciters at the Prophet’s Mosque, also memorized the Qur’an after thirty.

Rely on Allah and do not give up—whoever persists and does not stop will surely reach their goal 🤍