Letters to the Editor

Q: My question is this: how do I know that Allah (swt) is accepting my Salah? Is there any way to know that Allah (swt) is accepting my Salah or not? Hope you got the question.

Bilal Hassan Khan,
On Email

YMD

We do not have any report of any of the Companions asking the Prophet (saws) this question. Perhaps, this is because they were aware that it was not Salah alone, or any other ritual, but one’s entire deeds whose acceptance, or rejection, was at stake.

The first step towards checking would be for you to sit down before a knowledgeable person and read your Prayer out: Is your Prayer faultless? A defective Prayer, as constructed by the Fuqaha,’ indicating what is/ are Fard and what are Wajibaat, is not likely to be accepted.

Next, you may check whether your Prayers are now getting longer, deeper, and whether you wish to return to the mosque as soon as possible, after the last Prayer – than you would do sometime back earlier. If yes, then your previous Prayers would have been accepted.

In the meantime, you need to check whether your Salah is accompanied by Sadaqaat or not. It is known that Allah (swt) will not accept one without the other. If Salah is offered but not Zakah, then, Salah is not accepted. If Zakah is offered but not Salah, then, Zakah is not accepted.

You may also note that when the Qur’an mentioned Zakah and Salah together, then, Zakah was in the sense of that which would purify the heart, and not that Zakah which becomes Wajib after a certain amount is saved up for a year. Therefore, Salah and Sadaqaat will have be offered together to be acceptable.

We could be presenting a detailed article on this topic, Allah willing, in one of our future issues.

Q: My name is Rafiq Ahmed and I have been an avid reader of YMD since 2012. This magazine has been doing a commendable service to Ummah on many aspects of Islam. May Allah (swt) reward you abundantly for your efforts in this noble cause. I have two questions. Request your answers in the light of Shariah and Sunnah.

Nowadays, many Muslims are frequently travelling for Umrah. They are travelling many times, not just once. Is it okay to go on Umrah when Hajj is not performed? My question is because Hajj is mandatory on the one who is financially capable. The Prophet performed Hajj only once in his lifetime.

Is it right to be doing Umrah before Hajj and doing it many times?

YMD

Most scholars have disapproved that one may perform `Umrah if he has not performed Hajj despite having the opportunity to attempt Hajj. After all, combining Hajj and `Umrah is a possibility. To perform `Umrah ignoring Hajj, is strongly undesirable, if not prohibitable.

As for `Umrah after `Umrah, the most powerful hadith about it is the Sahih report preserved by Ahmad and others which says: “One `Umrah to another `Umrah is expiational of sins committed in between.” Nonetheless, it is not reported of the Salaf that they attempted `Umrah every now and then.

With the prevalence of extreme poverty and inhuman living conditions in the slums and ghettoes in Indian cities, a large chunk of whose inhabitants is Muslim, it is not advisable for someone to perform `Umrah after `Umrah, with the cost running into five figures. According to some scholars, even Hajj can be postponed, if the same sums are required to feed the poorest.

We are aware of the trend today among some of the well-to-do Muslims performing `Umrah every year, once or twice, with the entire family in their retinue. This sounds like Islamic vacation-trips. Some of them think that, instead of vacation-trips to other lands, why not to the Holy lands?

Well, they are, perhaps, unaware that vacation-trips themselves – of our times – are haram, no matter the destination. Imam Ghazali has allowed a short trip to the nearest picnic spot as a change from rigors of devotions.

The wealthy face several dangers. For example:

1. The questioning on the Day of Judgment as to how did they earn the wealth, and how did they spend it.
2. Did they earn it at the cost of spiritual development through a thorough study of Islam and its demands?
3. Did they ever protest at the Capitalistic economic system which makes the rich richer and the poor, poorer?
4. Did they feel pain at the prevailing system of distribution of wealth, causing unbridgeable disparity of wealth, creating the super-wealthy and the appallingly penny-broke?

The Prophet said, “He who saw an (Islamically) disagreeable thing should remove it by force, if not with his tongue, but, if not, reject it in his heart, and that’s the weakest of faith.” That is, if there is no rejection at heart, the man is not a believer. So, the wealthy must check: is the present abject poverty painful to him or not? An unbeliever’s Hajj and `Umrah are not accepted by the Lord. Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, people of every faith are convinced that today’s economic system is an evil. Will the Muslims shrug away their responsibility and escape questioning?

If these wealthy people were to gather together – a thousand of them – pool their money, and adopt 1000 families from the slums, to feed and educate them, it would be a virtue that may bring back to them rewards of this world and the next. If pooling together of 1000 sponsors fails, then, let it be a single sponsor of a single family: one may not sin, because a large number is sinning.

They need to realize that Allah (swt) and His creations go together, that His creations are extremely dear to Him, and that pleasing them is to please Him. According to a hadith, the people are Allah’s family. Do they expect to please Allah (swt), while His family is being crushed to mash and is squealing in their neighborhood?

Q: Few Muslim families perform ‘Bismillah Khwani’ when their children start reading Bismillah. Is there any ruling on validity of such ceremony as per Sunnah/ Shariah? Any instance of the Sahabah doing such ceremony?

Rafiq Ahmed,
On Email

YMD

So long as such a function remains on a low-scale, there is no harm in conducting it on the day the child learns the first few words. A few friends and the neighbors are invited and some tea-biscuits are served – no more.

Q: Do the Jinn interfere in our lives? Can they enter our body and take control over it? I have heard people say things like, “a Jinn has entered his/her body,” etc. I also see that womenfolk, especially, are more prone to it. I happened to see some examples in my native place and surroundings which have made me wonder as to whether I should believe it or not!

Sabir Yaragudri,
On Email

YMD

The Jinn is a creation originally made of fire. There are the good of them and the evil of them. The mischievous of them do seem to be able to harm the weakest of humans. But it must be remembered that not all of them have that power to harm, and not all of the humans can be their victims. Shaytan is a Jinn. He is in every home. But he is not able to harm the people. The Qur’an has taught us how their evil can be avoided. Recite the last Surah of the Qur’an.

The evil of the Jinn run away from Adhan. They cannot settle in homes around the mosques. If they do, five times a day they have to run away, they and their homefolk, and come back. They cannot withstand Qur’anic recitation. Non-Muslims who hate the Adhan, and want not it to be said, must be informed that the Adhan chases away the evil Jinn who may cause more harm to them than to Muslims. Recitation of Surah al-Baqarah and the Ayah al-Kursyy is fire for them.

These could be some of the reasons why the Jinn do not inhabit towns, apart from the fact that their food resources are not in cities. They prefer to live away, far from disturbances caused by the humans, and go out to live in deserts, forests and on mountains.

The Qur’an has assured us about any harm from them. It said, “He (Shaytan) has no power over those who have believed, and have trust in Allah.” (Al-Nahl, 99)

The conclusion, therefore, is that if you hear lots of Muslims being bewitched, harmed, or attacked by the Jinn, then there could be two reasons:

1. Either they are only outwardly Believers, but inwardly unbelievers, or are hypocrites.
2. Or they suffer from some psychological/ psychiatric/ mental ailments, but attribute their abnormal behavior to the Jinn.

Q: We are a Jama’ah in Turkey; this Jama’ah is on the way of Tauhid with the method of the Prophet (saws). They imprisoned our Sheikh Alparslan Kuytul. Can you help us deliver this Message to all Muslims? But now our work bears fruits and more and more people are becoming aware of the movement. The Turkish government has closed our buildings. They try to force our brothers to sign a false statement saying we are armed and we misuse funds. The brothers refuse to sign and the process is dragged on at length. Dear brothers and sisters, please denounce this injustice and announce it on your side.

Sofiane Bouhadeb,
On Email

YMD

We sympathize with every Muslim persecuted, in fact, every individual persecuted or done wrong: whether Christian, Jew, Hindu or an atheist. However, we do not denounce anyone, or any party, without having heard from the individual or the party, explaining what their position is.

Q: Hi, I am eighteen years old. How should a Muslim satisfy his sexuality without …bation?

Harish W A S,
On Email

YMD

Einstein had a child before he got married to the same woman several years later. But that is not a solution to your problem in Islam. What is your solution? Answer: get married. Now, that may sound weird and impractical. But it is not. You need to, as they say, come out of the box, but rather your prison.

Your need is legitimate. But if the society does not acknowledge it and offer its own solution, then, you need to rebel. After all, the youth of today has rebelled against many social practices. You may announce to your homefolk that you intend to get married. If they refuse to co-operate, go ahead and get married all by yourself.

Getting married only after you can afford housing for yourself and wife is a pipe-dream today; when two to three families are living in a single room in many places. Nor is it necessary that your wife joins you – in a home: yours or hers. Get married without such a facility. But rather live apart, meeting her, perhaps, once in a while in, let us say, a cheap hotel until both can earn enough to have a home for yourselves.

If you do not have the courage to attempt that, then, is this world that of the faint-hearted?

Q: This has reference to a previous issue in which you have replied to the question Masjid and Mussalla. The answer is very informative, interesting and useful. Here, very few people including so-called Ulemas knew about this, because we never heard what you have mentioned in the reply.

My request to you is this: kindly write this reply in an article form and elaborate if possible and do it (often) so that people know and take right decisions at right time and avoid unnecessary quarrels taking place in mosques at a large scale.

Sheik Ismail Pasha,
On Email

YMD

Perhaps, surprising to you, but not to us, that the mawlawi class does not know rulings about mosques.

As for an article in detail on the topic, we shall try and find time for it, but in the meanwhile, you may assure yourself, that the mosque-attending people are looking for pretexts to quarrel over one issue or another.

Q: I work in a library in the United States that receives your periodical. While glancing through the pages I felt compelled to write. Why? I am sure you’ve gotten emails like this before, but you really must know, your magazine is utter trash, filth, and backwards. Even for a magazine that promotes non-violence, what you DO promote does nothing to convince us that your culture is not backwards and barbaric. You generalize western attitudes towards women and morality, cherry-pick instances of western depravity, and defend your culture while, unwittingly, displaying your intolerance and foolishness. The fact that you are giving advice to people and guiding children is shameful. That you discourage music and sex, two of the oldest and most natural forms of life and expression, betrays insecurity rather than wisdom.

You say western civilization is on the verge of collapse. From the standpoint of the people who live here, this is not only wrong, but laughable. It is understandable, however, that you preach this. Activists of all oppressive religions use it to control their followers, who have never experienced anything else.

As an outsider, I beg you and your Muslim brothers and sisters, stop preaching intolerance and denying humanity! Stop looking to the past, and progress towards the more tolerant future. And, most of all, please stop being intimidated of progress, of science, of women, of culture and of life! It does nothing but keep people stupid and what is worse, ignorant of their stupidity.

I have no hope that this will make you change your mind, but intolerance and ignorance is something worth speaking out against. Your work does nothing but promote misunderstanding and tension. I hope your readers will one day embrace life and lay down the fears you have instilled in them.

Shame on you.

A.C.,
On Email

YMD

We regret we received this mail quite some time back, but it remained hidden somewhere. At all events, here are some quick answers:

Culture: Yours and ours, both cultures now are Western. The difference is in degrees alone.

Cherry-picking: A few decades back, it could have been the case. But no more. Rape, murder and violence now occupy almost quarter of space in newspapers. They are happening at such a scale that it could grow into an epidemic. Listen, this is a single day’s news:

* In Germany, a man urinates intentionally from above on a boat passing through the bridge. Several people jump and hit their heads on the low-level bridge, getting hurt and are rushed to hospitals.
* A teenage pupil pushes a lady school teacher before a bus.
* Officials arrest a gang of 36 men and three women in Bradford for abusing girls of Leeds.
* A man is pushed out of a running train.

This is from Britain. The situation of crime is much worse in your great country. The number of murders is only 18,000 per year: more than they were killing the Iraqis every year.

No, sir; today you don’t have to be cherry-picking now.

Music and Sex: Yes, we are guilty of preventing the spread of these evils.

Collapse: According to thinkers in your country, by now, the Western Civilization is not on the verge of collapse. The collapse has begun. Noam Chomsky’s written statement is that USA is a terrorist state.

Embracing Life: Muslims, in general, leaving out a few, have already embraced life. Like the Westerners, they have adopted the worship of a single god: the Dollar. Indeed, critically looking, Muslims appear to be more faithful to this new deity than the Western people.

Shame on you: Rather, shame on us all.