By Shaykh Fazl al-Rahman al-’Azami
Translation edited by Ibn Rashid Ahmad Qasmi
The virtues of the day of ‘Ashura, its importance and the reason for its significance have already come to your knowledge. The reason is that Musa (peace of Allah be on him) and the Bani Isra’il were rescued from Fir’awn and his army on this day. As a token of gratitude, Musa fasted on this day. In emulation, Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) also fasted on this day and instructed the Muslims to do the same. While the compulsion to fast on this day has been waived, the fast has still been retained in the Shari’ah as an optional but highly commendable deed. It is perhaps because of this same incident that people are encouraged to spend freely on their families on this day. Allah knows best.
Is it commendable to spend freely on one’s family during the day of ‘Ashura (10th of Muharram) or not? There is a group of ‘ulama who are of the opinion that this practice is unfounded. They maintain that the hadith substantiating this practice is unreliable. However, this standpoint of theirs is neither sound nor rational. It is a case of swaying to extremities. Judicious muhaddithin (hadith scholars) are of the opinion that the hadith in this regard is reliable. This practice is therefore commendable. ‘Allamah al-Sakhawi (Allah have mercy on him) has approved of this hadith in his book Al-Maqasid al-Hasanah.
Narrated by Muhammad bin Abu Bakr al-Thaqafi; While we were going from Mina to ‘Arafat, I asked Anas bin Malik (Allah be pleased with him), about talbiyah, “How did you use to say talbiyah in the company of the Prophet of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace)?” Anas said: “People used to say talbiyah and their saying was not objected to and they used to say takbir and that was not objected to either.” (al-Tajrid al-Sarih, hadith 535)
Narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas (Allah be pleased with him); the Messenger or Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Dhu ‘l-Hijjah).” Then some companions of the Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Not even jihad?” He replied, “Not even jihad, except that of a man who does it by putting himself and his property in danger (for Allah’s sake) and does not return with any of those things.” (al-Tajrid al-Sarih, hadith 534)
Because the lifespan of this ummah compared to the other ummahs is short, Allāh, through His grace has specified a night in which the reward for His worship is multiplied up to more than a thousand months. However Allāh has kept its exact date concealed from the people so that they will exert themselves in searching for this blessed night. This results in them acquiring even more reward. Laylatul Qadr is most likely to occur on one of the odd nights of the last 10 nights of Ramadān i.e. the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th night. It is even more likely to occur on the 27th night.
I’tikaf means: to remain in the musjid with the intention of i’tikaf. One may only leave the musjid to fulfil those needs that cannot be fulfilled inside the musjid, e.g. to go to the toilet, to make wudhu, to take a wâjib ghusl (obligatory bath) etc.
Many ahadith have been narrated extolling the virtue of the 15th of Sha’ban. Amongst them is the narration of Mu’adh ibn Jabal (Allah be pleased with him) that Rasulullah (sallallahuálaihu wasallam) said, “Allah turns to his entire creation on the fifteenth night of Sha’ban and forgives all of them except one who ascribes partners to Him and one who harbors enmity in his heart.” This hadith has been recorded by Imam Tabrani in his Mu’jam al-Awsat (hadith no. 6776) and Mu’jam al-Kabir (20:108-109).
