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Your home is a blessing. Are you making good use of it? Many of our homes are full of shortcomings and neglect of our deen, so it’s time to take action and ask: how can I fill my home with productivity and emaan?

In this week’s central ayah Allah ‘azza wa jall reminds us: And Allah has made for you in your homes an abode . . . [Quran, 16:80]

Let’s learn tips from the Quran and sunnah on how to reform our homes, inshaa’Allah!

3 reasons why you should put your house in order

First let’s get motivated on why the home plays a vital role in this life and especially the next:

1. It is a place to protect yourself and your family from the Hellfire.

There are many motives mentioned in the Quran and ahadeeth why your house is so important for you. Firstly, it is the main place to protect youself and your family from the fire of Hell by making your house a place of worship and encouragement of doing good deeds. Allah says: O you who believe!  Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (Hell) whose fuel  is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and)  severe, who disobey not, (from executing) the Commands they receive  from Allah, but do that which they are commanded. [Quran, 66:6]

2. It is a great responsibility for the head of the household.
Secondly, there’s a great responsibility for the head of the household on the Day of Judgement. The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: Allah will ask every shepherd about that which was entrusted to his care, whether he took care of it or neglected it, and He will even ask a man about his family. [Ibn Hibbaan, Saheeh]

3. It is way to protect yourself and keep your evil away from people.

Uqbah ibn Amir asked the Prophet: How can salvation be achieved?  He replied: Control your tongue, keep to your house, and weep over your sins. [At-Tirmidhi] A reflection point is to connect the controlling of your tongue to keeping to your house; the home is not only a place to protect yourself from the fitan (tribulations) of the outside world, but also a way to keep your own evil away from others!

Tips on how reform your home

1. Prayer first.
Prayer is the first thing you will be asked about on the Day of Judgement and the first thing you should establish in your house.

The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: The house in which remembrance of Allah is made and the house in which Allah is not remembered are like the living and the dead. [Muslim]

Is your house a place where the angels are writing down backbiting, swearing, display between relatives or neighbours who are not mahram and even where music and indecent tv programs are being played? The first step is to make your house a qiblah— a place of prayer!

The sahaabah used to be keen to  pray at home, apart from the fard or obligatory prayers (which they  prayed in congregation in the mosque). With regard to men the Prophet said: The best of prayer is a man’s prayer in his house– apart from the prescribed prayers. [Al-Bukhaari] And: A man’s voluntary  prayers in his house will bring more reward than his voluntary  prayers at other people’s places, just as his obligatory prayers with the people are better than his obligatory prayers alone. [ Ibn Abi Shaybah, saheeh al-Jaami’]

For women it is even better to pray in her house than in the mosque! Umm Humayd, may Allah be pleased with her, came to the Prophet and said: O Messenger of Allah, I love to pray with you. He said: I know that you love to pray with me, but praying in your house is better for you than praying in your courtyard, and praying in your courtyard is better for you than praying in the mosque of your people, and praying in the mosque of your people is better for you than praying in my mosque.  So she ordered that a prayer-place be built for her in the furthest and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed there until she met Allah (i.e., until she died). [Ahmad, Saheeh]

“Her house” refers to the room in which the woman is and “her courtyard” to the central part of the house to which all the doors are open, like the hallway.  What a blessing that your house gives you the opportunity to fulfil this beautiful advice of the Prophet himself!

Tip: play the adhaan in your house if you live in a place where there is no public adhaan. It will greatly enhance an atmosphere of emaan in your house, help you to pray on time, and have a great effect on the children, inshaa’Allah!

 2. Revive the sunan of the house.
Have you noticed how many ways of the Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam you can revive in your home? For example, the sunan of eating, drinking, sleeping, purifying yourself, and getting dressed all take place in your house! Now, there are specific sunan that are related directly  to the house. Let’s learn some and revive them, inshaa’Allah:

a) Sunnah of entering your house.
When you enter your house say:  بِسْـمِ اللهِ وَلَجْنـا، وَبِسْـمِ اللهِ خَـرَجْنـا، وَعَلـى رَبِّنـا تَوَكّلْـنا.
Bismillaahi walajnaa, wa bismillaahi kharajnaa, wa ‘alaa rabbinaa tawakkalnaa- in the name of Allah we enter and in the name of Allah we leave and on our Lord we rely.
[Abu Dawood]

b) Sunnah of leaving your house.
The Prophet said: If a man goes out of his  house and says: بِسْمِ اللهِ ، تَوَكَّلْـتُ عَلى اللهِ وَلا حَوْلَ وَلا قُـوَّةَ إِلاّ بِالله.
Bismillaahi, tawakkaltu `alaa-llaahi, wa laa hawla wa laa  quwwata illaa billaah – in the name of Allah, I put my trust in Allah, and there is no help and no strength except in Allah-  it will  be said to him: this will take care of you, you are guided, you have  what you need and you are protected. The shaytan will stay away from him, and another shaytan will say to him: what can you do with  a man who is guided, provided for and protected?
[Abu  Dawood, At-Tirmidhi]

c) Bless your household by saying salaam.
Saying the salaam when you enter your house is mustahabb (recommended). Anas ibn Malik said: The Messenger of Allah ) said to me: O my son, when you enter upon your family and say salaam, it will be a blessing for you and the members of your household. [At-Tirmidhi, hasan] And Allah ‘azza wa jall says: But when you enter the houses, greet one another with a greeting from Allaah (i.e. say: As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum — peace be on you), blessed and good. [Quran, 24:61]

d) Use the siwaak when you enter your house.
`Aa’ishah said: When the Messenger of Allah entered his house, the first thing  he would do was use siwaak. [Muslim]

e) Recite Surah al-Baqarah in your house.
The Messenger of Allah said: Do not make your houses into graves. The shaytan flees from (and in another variation: does not enter)  a  house in which surah al-Baqarah is recited. [Muslim, Al-Haakim]

f) Recite the last two ayaat of Surah al-Baqarah for three nights.
The Prophet said: Allah wrote a document two thousand years  before He created the heavens and the earth, which is kept near the  Throne, and He revealed two aayaat of it with which He concluded surah al-Baqarah. If they are recited in a house for three  consecutive nights, the shaytan will not approach it. [Ahmad]

To be continued inshaa’Allah!

May Allah ‘azza wa jall enable all of us to apply this knowledge, ameen.

Praying you will benefit,

Khawlah bint Yahya – United Kingdom.

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