by Khawlah Bint Yahya
‘What is your favourite Surah of the Quran’, I asked.
‘I think Surah az-Zumar,’ my friend replied. ‘Because it contains the moment the doors of Jannah open…’
Two months ago we stood there with raised hands begging for Forgiveness. We emptied our pockets for those in need. We asked Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for everything we could think of. And that was Ramadhan.
Your 10 Day Imaan Boot Camp
The first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, the ten most blessed days of the whole year, sometimes come and pass by without Muslims knowing it. Just a count down to Eid. Don’t you miss that strength of faith you felt in Ramadhan? I do.
These first blessed days of Dhul Hijjah, the Month of Pilgrimage, are an ultimate chance Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gives you and me. To turn to Him and set things straight. Just see it as your ‘10 Day Imaan Boot Camp’ and give it your all.
That is why today I want to share an ayah with you, which has to do with: DEEDS!
It is a treasure hidden in Surah Ad-Dukhaan. An ayah which means the world if you learn to understand it.
Did you know that the Heaven and the Earth cry?
Allah, the Almighty, says:
“How many were the gardens and springs they left behind and corn-fields and noble buildings, and wealth, wherein they had taken such delight.. Thus (was their end)! And We made other people inherit (those things). And neither heaven nor earth shed a tear over them: nor were they given a respite (again).” Surah ad-Dukhaan, ayah 25-29
فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَآءُ وَالاٌّرْضُ
The heaven and the earth didn’t shed a tear over them.
A man once came to Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and asked:
“Do the heavens and the earth weep for anybody?” He replied: `Yes, there is no one who does not have a gate in the heavens through which his provision comes down and his good deeds ascend. When the believer dies, that gate is closed; it misses him and weeps for him, and the place of prayer on earth where he used to pray and remember Allah also weeps for him. But the people of Fir`awn left no trace of righteousness on the earth and they had no good deeds that ascended to Allah, so the heavens and the earth did not weep for them.”’ From Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Two types of People: who are you?
Isn’t that amazing?
These two immense creations, the Heaven and the Earth, cry for people like you and me!
So, there are two types of people:
- The one with no good deeds going up of the heavens and with no places on the earth which he or she used to worship Allah. So the heavens and the earth do not notice their loss when they die.
- The one with righteous deeds ascending through the gates of heavens and places of the earth where he or she was worshiping Allah, so much so that the heavens and earth cry when he or she passes away. Grieving because they miss all these beautiful deeds.
Look at these people mentioned in the preceding ayah; they had all the comforts of life, eating whatever they wanted, wearing whatever they liked. Then all of that was taken away in one single morning and they departed from this world! The Angel of Death doesn’t wait for any one.
These very days the simplest deeds are being multiplied. Whether you are a busy man, woman, parent or student, there is something to reap for everyone!
The Prophet (PBUH) said, “There is no deed that is better in the sight of Allah or more greatly rewarded than a good deed done in the (first) ten days of Al-Adha”.
Here are 5 popular good deeds with an ‘extra’:
(Remember the Sabiqoon? Be the first and foremost in deeds!)
1. Fast. All nine days and especially the ‘Day of Arafah’
The Prophet said: “Anyone who fasts for one day for Allah’s pleasure, Allah will keep his face away from the Hell fire for (a distance covered by a journey of) seventy years.” Bukhari, Muslim
The Prophet said: “Fasting the Day of ‘Arafah, ninth Dhul-Hijjah*, is an expiation for (all the sins of) the previous year and expiation for (all the sins of) the coming year.” Muslim
* this year October 25
2. Dhikr. Revive the sunnah!
The Prophet said: “There are no days on which good deeds are greater or more beloved to Allah than on these ten days, so recite much Tahleel (saying Laa ilaaha ill-Allah), Takbeer (saying Allahu Akbar) and Tahmeed (saying Alhamdu Lillaah).” Ahmad
Ibn ‘Umar and Abu Hurayrah used to go out in the marketplace during the first ten days of Dhul-Hijja, reciting Takbeer, and the people would recite Takbeer when they heard them. Bukhari
Takbeer during the first then days is an almost forgotten Sunnah. So say it in your home, on the street and every place where it is permitted to remember Allah. Imagine you go to the supermarket and you see another brother or sister and you say: ‘Assalaamu ‘alaykum, Allahu Akbar!’ You get the point.
Revive the Sunnah and earn great rewards for doing so.
The Prophet said: “Whoever revives an aspect of my Sunnah that is forgotten after my death, he will have a reward equivalent to that of the people who follow him, without it detracting in the least from their reward.” Tirmidhi
3. Return to the Quran. Open it and start reading.
Open the Quran, not just because reciting is a good deed. Open the Quran because you want to know how you should act. Which decisions you should make. That is what the Quran is for. To show you who you are.
4. Increase in doing ALL good deeds
So, you are not going on Hajj, that doesn’t mean you can sit still! Busy yourself with any and every possible good deed. Every sincere act will bring you closer to Him. Remember to do an act of worship out of love and never as a ‘checklist.’
5. Thank Him.
Did you know that one of the biggest forms of worshiping Allah is to thank Him? Alhamdulillah you can say Alhamdulillah!
Now ask yourself the question..
Will the Heavens and the Earth cry for ME?
Deeds are your money on the Day of Judgement, make sure you collect plenty now.
– Khawlah bint Yahya
THE AYAH JOURNAL, Qur’an & Productivity is a global project with the exciting goal to inspire every Muslim worldwide to open the Qur’an every day, pick one ayah and apply it to your own life by making acting on the ayah your mission for the day. Let’s bring back the message of the Qur’an to our daily life! Check www.ayahjournal.com and www.facebook.com/ayahjournal for vibrant Qur’an & Productivity tips.
Masha Allah beautifully written. May Allah reward you for this effort.
Great writing , may Allah give us jannatul Ferdaus.
Masha Allah,,may Allah reward you for this and May Allah guide us to the right path.Ameen
Jazak Allah !!!
Subhan Allah Algamdulilah Allaho Akber
SubhanAllah Alhamdulilah Allaho AKber
Jazak Allaho khairan
Well written and beautifully narrated. Keep posting..
JazakALLah SubhanAllah Alhamdulilah Allaho Akbar
JazakAllah SubhanAllah Alhamdulilah AllahoAkbar
Masha’allah beautifully narrated.
Alhamdullilah, Allah-hu-Akbar, Subhan-Allah !!! Thank you ‘Understand Quran’ team for this nice article.
Masha Allah may Allah bless you n all the Muslims .it’s really nicely written n wel understood.. I nearly got goosebumps reading this.. Subhanallah
Toyyib, Beautiful; May Allah make it away for us to the paradise and forgives us our shortcomings.
thanks very useful
I appriciate her efforts to write such a wonderfull thoughts about Quran massage. Hope she will get rewards from Allah (ST ). Ameen .
Allah-hu-Akbar,Allah-hu-Akbar,Allah-hu-Akbar,
Subhan-Allah
InshaAllah I will
thankyou
JazakAllah sister for such a heartfelt article and May Allah include us among those for whom, earth and heaven will cry. Ameen.
Salam dear sister. May Allah reward you abundantly for the wonderful reminder and may he make it easy and possible for us to always do good so that the heavens and earth will cry for us, amin.
Bissalam.
assalamu alaikum, may Allah reward u all. InshaAllah am a science student in senior secondary school. I want to send you one of my article if u find it good, then i have no option than to write more to surport the Deen of Allah. Because everybody must answer that question to Allah. (when you see my Deen falling what did you do?) ma salam
Wa alikaum salaam.
Dear brother, if you wish to submit articles we welcome you to send them to: author@understandquran.com.
Insha’Allah I will Tank you
Thank you so much Sister for writing such a nice article. ‘Will the Heavens and the Earth Cry for You?’ this title itself filled my heart even before I read it. Excellent piece of writing!! Jazakallahu Khayran!!
Laa ilaaha ill-Allah, Allahu Akbar and Alhamdu Lillaah
Salam sis. It’s a wonderfull reminder at appropriate time. When I start to read initially I thought it’s a big mail and i’m not going to read fully. When the things are break up to small small paras and I’am unable to stop until the narration ends. I felt like want to read some more. I took few hadees from your essay for my daily publish called Hadith of the day. Jazakallah. May Allah accept all our good deeds. Aameen
My ALLAH bless you and give peace to all Muslim’s country which having fitner at this moment like Syria Afghanistan,Iraq
Assalamu aleikum va rahmatullahi va barokatuh, Allah Akbar, djazakallahu hairan, Subhanallah Alhamdullillah, La ilaha illallah, va allah akbar.
The Prophet said: “Fasting the Day of ‘Arafah, ninth Dhul-Hijjah*, is an expiation for (all the sins of) the previous year and expiation for (all the sins of) the coming year.” Muslim
Many quote the hadith above, but I have not been able to trace it yet. Rather I have found that our Prophet (s) did not fast on the day of Arafat. Clink on the link below to read the ahadiths in Bukhari –
http://www.searchtruth.com/searchHadith.php?keyword=fasting+arafat&translator=1&search=1&book=&start=0&records_display=10&search_word=all
Assalamualikum brother
Sahih Bukhari
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 31:
Narrated Aisha:
During the Pre-lslamic Period of ignorance the Quraish used to observe fasting on the day of ‘Ashura’, and the Prophet himself used to observe fasting on it too. But when he came to Medina, he fasted on that day and ordered the Muslims to fast on it. When (the order of compulsory fasting in ) Ramadan was revealed, fasting in Ramadan became an obligation, and fasting on ‘Ashura’ was given up, and who ever wished to fast (on it) did so, and whoever did not wish to fast on it, did not fast.
Sahih Bukhari
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 202:
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
When the Prophet arrived at Medina, the Jews were observing the fast on ‘Ashura’ (10th of Muharram) and they said, “This is the day when Moses became victorious over Pharaoh,” On that, the Prophet said to his companions, “You (Muslims) have more right to celebrate Moses’ victory than they have, so observe the fast on this day.”
Maashallah , beautifully written . Apt title for the content .
Jazzak Allah, for writing such beautiful reminder..may Allah, the Almighty, give you multitude of ajr..
Dear sister Nabila, salaam!
I appreciated your attempt to answer my inquiry, but I think you have mistaken “Arafah, ninth Dhul-Hijjah” with “Ashura’, 10th of Muharram”. Wassalaam.
Jazakallahu kheyr… beautifully written and explained.
We got the real values of this ten days by this article. Insha -Allah those who read this will follow it. Ameen
MASHA ALLAH…… JAZAKALLAHU KHAIR AL-JAZA
Alhamdu lillah.JAK
May Allah (swt) blessed and give us sakinah….
A Question:
If we join jamat in Ruku’, we have to pray that rak’ah again?? OR
How does one catch up with a rak’ah?
Suppose the congregation prayer has started in the mosque. I became little late for the prayers. When the Imam goes for the Ruku and we joined the Jamat should we count that rakat as we have not recited surah Al-Fatihah
Praise be to Allaah.
Whoever catches up with the imam when he is bowing, and bows with him, that is regarded as a rak’ah for him, according to the view of the majority of scholars, even if he did not recite al-Faatihah. This is indicated by the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (750) from Abu Bakrah, that he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was bowing and he bowed with him, before he reached the row. He mentioned that to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he said: “May Allaah make you more keen but do not do it again.”
It was narrated in a saheeh report that Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Whoever does not catch up with the imam when he is bowing has not caught up with that rak’ah.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 2/262.
Ibn ‘Umar said: “Whoever catches up with the imam when he is bowing and bows before the imam raises his head, has caught up with that rak’ah.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani, op. cit., 2/263.
Similar reports were narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, Zayd ibn Thaabit and ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Zubayr. See Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 2/264.
Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Majmoo’, 4/112: What we have mentioned about catching up with the rak’ah by catching up with rukoo’ (bowing) is the correct view, as stated by al-Shaafa’i. It was also the view of the majority of our companions and the majority of scholars. It is the apparent meaning of the ahaadeeth and all people are unanimously agreed upon it. There is another view, which is very weak, which suggests that it does not count.
It says in ‘Awn al-Ma’bood (3/102): Note that the majority of imams are of the view that whoever catches up with the imam when he is bowing and joins him in the prayer is regarded as having caught up with that rak’ah, even if he did not recite anything. A group was of the view that whoever catches up with the imam when he is bowing has not caught up with that rak’ah. This was the view of Abu Hurayrah. Al-Bukhaari narrated this concerning reciting behind the imam from all of those who were of the view that it is obligatory to recite behind the imam. This view was also favoured by Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Sibghi and other Shaafa’i muhadditheen. Shaykh Taqiy al-Deen al-Subki among the later scholars regarded this as a strong view, and al-Muqbili regarded it as more likely to be correct. End quote.
The view that is more likely to be correct is the view of the majority, because of the hadeeths and reports quoted above.
And Allaah knows best.