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Name
Afsar khursheid
-
Profession
Question
What do you suggest young Muslims (about 20 or so years of age) can do to enjoy themselves on eid without having to be tied down to family visits?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah SWT. May he send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
My dear brother, Eid is a day of celebration and festivity, it is important that our family is a part of this day as well as being able to spend some time with our friends.
What I would encourage you all to do is to plan activities that may bring the families together and help them to enjoy the day as well.
In Toronto, we are working on a day here that is filled with activities that are appropriate for children, teenagers, young Muslims and adults as well. Other than that, you can try to find suitable environments where there is a halal atmosphere and spend a portion of the day together so you can balance between family and friends.
May Allah bless you this Eid and make it a day you will fondly remember!
And Allah knows best.
Name
Mohsen
-
Profession
Question
my brother and i have been more active in our community this past year and it's brought us closer together. i want to get my friends to come along and take part in community work on eid but i find the response quite disapointing. my brother and i have been working with homeless people and trying to get them some things they need and even just befriending them. what do you suggest to get people more interested in the world around them instead of their own fun only?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
In a hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (paraphrase) he says that the one who hurries to feed the widows and look after the orphans is like a mujahid on the path of Allah.
It is difficult sometimes to reason with some and help them see the benefit of helping others. Unfortunately because we have become so disconnected from reality by the illusion of our own lives and possessions.
However, I suggest being patient with them and trying to find a balance. Offer to spend some of the day with them and you and your brother plan to do what you are going to with the homeless. In the mean time make the time that you will do each close to each other (e.g. work with homeless at 1pm and hang out with them at 3pm) and then ask them to come help you for about an hour before.
Tell them if they do it, they will be rewarded by Allah this Eid AND/OR just appeal to them personally and tell them you are in a bind and really need their help for about an hour. In this way, they will come to help and insha Allah once they do it once, they will realise the benefits.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Muslim
-
Profession
Question
On the first day of eid i usually go with my family to visit relatives and friends but after that my parents don't mind if i go out with friends on the second and third days. but i'm at a loss this year. i don't just want to hang out with my friends - i want to do something special and make good use of the time. any suggestions?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
Masha Allah this is a very good question, sometimes in spending time with our friends we simply waste the time in idle chat and useless endeavours.
At the same time, we do not want to isolate ourselves from our friends and family.
One suggestion would be to give some of your time this Eid to go and feed some of the homeless, poor people in your area. If there is a shelter or a food bank, spend a couple hours there and encourage others of your friends and family to do it with you. You can also look for a need in the wider community and try to fulfill that need be it distributing blankets to the homeless, planning an event for your community or hosting an eid celebration.
It will be an amazing way to spend a part of your Eid, one that is beneficial to the community and ultimately to your relationship with Allah SWT.
And Allah knows best
Name
Khalid
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
How do you organize for multi-cultural Eid activities? What do you make them more engaging and less disappointed?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
My dear brother you raise an important point.
On Eid day, it is better that the smaller centers close and ALL (as many as possible) Muslims gather in one central location to pray, celebrate and give thanks together.
It is true that people tend to congregate around mosques similar to them in culture. Sometimes this is out of necessity, sometimes it is a coping mechanism of a minority in a society other times; it is because they have been excluded by those who have more power in the Muslim community.
We should be trying to work and bring our community together in these days. As for planning multicultural events on the day here are some quick points:
1) try to find a khateeb (speaker) who would be acceptable to as many people as possible. NOT everyone will agree so choose someone who is middle ground and balanced through shura (consultation) and in the end, just focus on doing the event.
2) plan events that will be needed by everyone such as children activities, activities for teens and families. In Toronto some of the things we have planned at one central location here include: competitions, clowns, arts and crafts and loot bags for children, rock/wall climbing, basketball tournaments as well as basketball tournaments as well as Xbox/Gamecube tournament, a gyroscope, a 32 foot super slide, paintball gallery, bouncing castles and a variety of shows, movies, a petting zoo, a huge bazaar and there will be multiple draws for prizes throughout the day. You don't have to do everything here but choose things that all people will be able to access.
3) remember those who cannot afford and try to have contingency plans in place so that all will be able to attend and participate.
4) Work with other like minded youth and adults to get it to happen. When you take the lead, the community will follow insha'Allah.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Hamida Sokar
-
Profession
student
Question
Where should you do the Eid party for the youth, in the masjid or hall? A lot of youth are scared of the masjid and we might lose lots of them?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
My dear sister,
It would be ideal if you have a mosque big enough to do it there. However if you cannot because they youth are scared and you do it in a hall with the objective of calming their fears and insha'Allah eventually being able to connect their hearts to Allah and Islam and provide them with a halal alternative, there is no harm whatsoever in doing it at a hall.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Abdullah
-
Profession
Question
What type of activities have you been involved in and what direction do you think we need to focus on in terms of planning EID events for our communities?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
Alhamdulillah over the years I have been involved in numerous types of Eid celebrations. When the community was smaller, we would rent a community centre and have drums and music, get the families together to all bring food and get some toys for the children and do small things like loot bags, movies etc and just enjoy each others' company.
As the community has grown we have looked at different things. I work with the Muslim Association of Canada and a part of what we are doing in Toronto is to provide a day of celebration for the 300 000 strong community. Ultimately in the end, we hope that more and more families will come and spend the entire day at the Eid celebrations.
It is better that the community comes to one large centre to celebrate the day together. So we have focused on trying to provide a variety of activities that will cater to numerous ages from children to adults and each year we try to build on what we did the year before through personal evaluations and community feedback.
In terms of direction, we see this as eventually becoming a great celebration within the wider Toronto area that can include our wider community as well.
For more information you can check out www.gtaeid.com
And Allah knows best.
Name
Atef Siddiq
-
Profession
Question
Some people usually complain to us that we use English as our main language and they think we are damaging the Arabic language. I do not agree with this software programs....now that we have the Eid coming and we will have a party for the youth...some say we should speak Englsih, some say Urdu, and few go for Arabic. We only have about 5 people who do not know Arabic...what should we do?
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the One to Whom we will all return. May Allah send His peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his family, companions and those who follow them until the day of Judgement.
My dear brother, the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is to speak in the language of the people. People who insist we speak in Arabic do so because they confuse method with purpose. The purpose of the khutbah and 'Eid celebrations is to remind people of Allah and to give thanks to Allah for His many favours to us. The language it is conveyed in is the method to achieve this objective.
It is specifically why Imam Abu Hanifah gave the dispensation that a new Muslim who does not know Arabic can pray in their own language until they learn the Arabic and then they must pray in Arabic. Prayer though has been legislated in Arabic. This is the language of the Quran. Many times people in our community are so focused on Arabic that they lose their children in the process because they grow up not really understanding what they are hearing OR being able to relate what they hear to their own lives.
As for all other things, it should and must be done in the language of the community. If you are located in North America or any of the Western countries, the language on 'Eid day should be primarily English with the exception of the prayer and some elements of the khutbah which must be done in Arabic.
And Allah knows best.
Name
abdhurrahman
- Maldives
Profession
asst,manager/admin
Question
As-Salamu `alaykum wa Rahmatullah, I want to be a very good person but I can't achieve my aim. I feel I want to be good, I pray regularly, I read Qur'an some time. Please tell me what I have to do to increase my iman?
Answer
My dear brother, may Allah SWT bless you for seeking knowledge by which you can turn to Him in complete submission. While we should never overlook our sins and mistakes and know that we will be held accountable to Allah for them, we should also never despair of the mercy of Allah.
It is difficult to know exactly what the situation is since you did not elaborate but I will give you some general advice by Allah's permission.
To begin with iman in its very nature rises and falls. There was once a situation of a companion who went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) complaining of feeling like a hypocrite because when he was around the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) he would feel strong and when he was on his own he would feel weaker. When complaining of this to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained to him the nature of iman.
It may be that you are being too critical of yourself, finding fault in everything you do OR perhaps are not praying all your salat OR may have become steeped in committing a particular sin. There could be many other reasons for this feeling. For now, you have to do what is required, do your best, make du'a' and do good deeds and then Allah will take care of the rest but it requires patience.
For any sins, that we may commit, Allah in His infinite mercy, has provided a way for us to turn to Him and seek His forgiveness. It is because Allah knows that we as humans at times may slip and commit mistakes. It is we who are always in need of Allah and Allah in turn is always ready to hear the prayer of those who call upon Him. I will give you some general advice about repentance or tawbah so that by Allah’s will perhaps it will be of use to you and others even beyond this situation.
Allah SWT reminds us in the Qur’an in Sura Az Zummar vs 53-54: “Say: O my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins for He is Oft-forgiving, most Merciful. Turn you, to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His will….” ( I would encourage you to read Sura Az Zummar verses 53-59 in totality.)
Then there is the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the authority of Anas ibn Malik: “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul: If you committed sins to the extent that your sins filled what is between the heavens and the earth, Allah would forgive you after seeking His forgiveness. By Him in Whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, if you did not commit sins, Allah would replace you by other people who would commit sins. Then, Allah forgives them after seeking His forgiveness.” (Related by imam Ahmad)
According to Imam An Nawawi – Repentance is obligatory for every sin. When a person’s disobedience is between him and Allah, then he needs to fulfill the following conditions:
1) Refrain from committing the sin in the future
2) Regret having done it (which you have even after so many years)
3) Resolve never to commit it again.
(General note: If the sin is connected to the rights of another person then there is one other condition – they should return whatever was taken or repair what was done.) This is not your case from what you have said.
I would advise you to make ghusl or wudu and make the intention of making tawbah and then contemplate these conditions and commit yourself to them. Then pray two rakaats and ask Allah to forgive you for the mistakes of your past and to guide you to actions and the path that are most pleasing to Him.
Sometimes when people have become steeped in committing a sin, they may sincerely make repentance and find themselves slipping back into those sins, if this is the case with you then you should immediately repent again and try harder to stay away from those sins. Other times, it may be because they have not really addressed the issues that led them to these sins to begin with. In this case, they may need the skill and assistance of a counselor to help them resolve it. In your case, try your best to rely on Allah and seek help from a trusted Muslim or religious leader whom you trust. When you make du'a', talk to Allah and call on Him by His beautiful names and ask Him for His guidance and assistance.
The fact that you are concerned is a good thing, but once you make your repentance, you must have hope in Allah SWT. Remember that Allah is, as we expect of Him. If we expect Allah’s forgiveness and mercy and we do our best – then expect that Allah will forgive our sins and be merciful to us. And generally it is always a good thing to make istighfar continually throughout the day (asking for forgiveness of our sins). This was a common practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
In another hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “One who has repented of a sin is like one who did not sin.”
Also take the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and follow a bad deed with a good one. It is the nature of this deen that it does not enter the heart of a believer without making him/her feel the need to try and continually improve or change the conditions of the people around them. So find something, it may be small or big. However small and consistent is better than something done “once in a while”. Focus on having a clear intention of doing this for the sake of Allah. In your case, as you stabilize yourself, try to increase your performance of sunnah and nafl prayers as this will help you tremendously. BUT DO NOT begin by trying to do all. Remember ONE PRAYER AT A TIME.
Through repentance and then good deeds insha'Allah, you will improve your station before Allah.
May Allah continue to guide and bless you always.
And Allah knows best
Name
afaaq
- Pakistan
Profession
student
Question
As-Salamu `alaykum, I have two questions: 1) How should a husband wish Eid to his wife? 2) Is it allowed to do intercourse on Eid? Eid Mubark.
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah Lord of the Worlds, may He send His peace and blessings upon uswatun hasana (the most perfect example) Muhammad pbuh and those who follow him until the Day of Judgement.
1) A husband can wish his wife "Eid Mubarak" by saying this to her, hugging/kissing her. Buying her gift/s is also acceptable at Eid (and at any other time). He should also increase his kindness to her and try to ease whatever work/burdens she may have as a form of sadaqa to her before Allah SWT. Taking her with you to the mosque for the Eid prayer and to visit relatives or spend the day with the community. This is keeping in mind the hadith that says "the best of you is he who is best to his wife/family."
2) Yes intercourse with your wife is allowed on this day and is only prohibited during the day when fasting in Ramadan and during her menstrual cycle as this is a time of ease and rest for her.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Salim
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
As-salaam 'Alaykum, I have a question on behalf of my wife. She is on her 5th day of menstruation, they normally last her 6-7 days. Today is the 25th day of Ramadan, and she would like to take part in fasting and prayers on the 27th day of Ramadan. How many days after her menstruation starts can she not pray or fast?
Please advice. As-salaam 'Alaykum.
Answer
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May He send His peace and blessings on Muhammad and those who follow him until the day of Judgement.
My dear brother, it is admirable that your wife wants to fast and take part in the prayers at night, but it is important to remember that our body has a right over us as well. If her cycle is usually 6-7 days then she should wait the regular length of time before making ghusl and resuming fasting and prayer.
It may be her anxiety over the belief that the 27th night is the night of Lailatul Qadr, however the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never specified what date the Night of Power will fall on and instead we are encouraged to search for it on the odd nights of the last ten nights. So every odd night is potentially Lailatul Qadr. Allah alone knows best in this regard.
It is also important for her to remember that Allah is not unjust; in fact Allah is the Most Just. Thus it would be wrong to think that a woman on her cycle would get less reward than someone who is praying regularly.
Allah will bless everyone by the best of their intentions and for struggling to do their best within their particular circumstance. So she can still sit and listen to Qur'an and lectures, recite Qur'an word by word according to some scholars (as opposed to full recitation), she can make dhikr, du'a', make sujud and make dua in her sujud, give charity, increase her good deeds at home, to the neighbours and community, study and learn more about Allah and Islam. All of these are opportunities for her to benefit from Lailatul Qadr and the last ten days of Ramadan.
We pray Allah SWT blesses you both and enters you and all those who asked questions into the gates of Jannatul Firdaws through your constant desire to seek His pleasure in your thoughts, hearts and deeds.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Editor
-
Profession
Answer
Finally, we would like to thank Jeewan Chanicka for taking the time to answer the questions of Islamonline viewers today, and we also thank all those who participated in this dialogue. We apologize for not being able to accommodate all the questions within the time allocated to this session. If you feel your question is very important, feel free to contact us at EngLivedialogue@islamonline.net and we will try our best to answer your question. We request our readers to join us in upcoming sessions.
Name
Khalid
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
the mosque i go to with my family is actually a turkish mosque. we live in the UK and i find that most Muslims center around the mosque that caters to their own ethnic background. is this wrong? sometimes i wish the Muslims could just get together in one huge place and get to know each other. is it really so impossible? do you think there is anything i can do? (I'm 17)
Answer
I combined both the answer to this and the last question in one. Insha Allah I have answered what you wanted to know in a proper manner.
