4.14. MARRIAGE (concluded)

God says

Verily those who [falsely, and without repentance,] accuse chaste women who may have been unthinkingly careless but have remained true to their faith*, shall be rejected [from God’s grace] in this world as well as in the life to come: and awesome suffering awaits them on the Day when their own tongues and hands and feet will bear witness against them by [recalling] all that they did! -- Q.24: 23,24 
*Lit., “chaste, unmindful [or “careless”] believing women”, I.e., virtuous woman who thoughtlessly expose themselves to situations on which a slanderous construction may be put.

And among His wonders is this: He creates mates for you of your own kind*, so that you might incline towards them, and He engenders love and tenderness between you: in this, behold, there are messages for people who think!
*I.e., “from among yourselves.” -- Q.30.21


Prophet said                

“Most blessed marriage is the one that gives the least trouble”*  -- H: Bukhari. N: Bibi Ayesha.
  *Much emphasis in Islam is on ease and simplicity; forbidden is excess and the show-off. Ostentatious style of the affluent causes distress to many who become its victim in matter of weddings, for instance. They try hard, somehow, to be pretentious even though they cannot afford it.

The affluent should seriously consider to go for high rewards, instead, and divert their resources in the service of the helpless, the needy. “One who strives for the widows and the poor is like one who struggles in the way of God”, said the Prophet, “I shall regard him as one who stands up (for prayer) without rest and as one who fasts without break” * – H: Bukhari, Muslim and other compilations. N: Abu Hurairah

4.14. MARRIAGE (to be continued)

God says

…..And consort with your wives on a footing of kindness and equity; if you take dislike to them it may well be that you dislike something which God might yet make a source of abundant good. -- Q.4: 19  

And unto those with whom you desire to enjoy marriage, you shall give the dowers (Mahr) due to them; Q.4:24

Men shall take full care of women with the bounties that God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard their intimacy which God has [ordained] to be guarded. -- Q.4: 34  


Prophet said                

“For two mutual lovers, you will find nothing like marriage” -- H: Ibn Majah. N: Ibn Abbas.

“Having married, a man has indeed made his religion half perfect. Let him then obey God (and get perfected) the remaining half.” - H: Bukhari. N: Anas.

“Fear God regarding women. Verily you have married them with God’s trust…’’ -- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Jabir-b-Abdullah.

4.13. FALSE TESTIMONY / HIDING OF EVIDENCE

God says

….And the witnesses must not refuse ( to give evidence) whenever they are called upon… Q.2:282 

….And do not conceal what you have witnessed -- for he, who conceals it, is sinful at heart; and God has full knowledge of all that you do. -- Q.2:283

O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all fairness and justice; and never let hatred of anyone lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. And remain conscious of God: indeed, God is aware of all that you do. -- Q.5:8

Prophet said

After the morning  prayer the messenger of God stood up and said: “False evidence has been equaled to setting up a partner with God.” He repeated it three times. – H: Abu Daud, Ibn Majah, Ahmed and Tirmizi. N: Khuriam-b-Fatek.

“While arguing in front of me one of you may be more eloquent and forceful.  Even if I decide in his favor and give him, thus, an (unauthorized) portion from his brothers property, let him not take it because, then, he will be receiving a piece of fire.” -- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Umme salamah*

4.12. JUSTICE AND FAIRPLAY (concluded)

God says

O you who believe! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to truth in all fairness and justice;  -- Q.5:8

Indeed [even aforetime] did We send Our messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and [thus gave you] a balance [wherewith to weigh right and wrong]  so that men may conduct themselves with all fairness and justice.  

-- Q.57:25

Prophet said

“(among the foremost under the shade of God on the Resurrection day there will be   also those) who do justice to people like they would do to themselves.’ -- H: Ahmed, Baihaqi. N: Bibi Ayesha.

In this topic, including last Friday, the verses as well as Prophet’s sayings instruct to bear “witness to truth with all fairness and justice,” i.e.,

not only in the court of law, but in any given situation, when assigned the responsibility to judge between two parties.

4.11. JUSTICE AND FAIRPLAY (to be continued)

God says

O you who believe! Be ever steadfast in upholding justice, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinfolk.  Whether the person concern be rich or poor, God’s claim takes precedence over (the claim of) any of them.*  Do not then follow your own desires lest you swerve from justice: for it you distort (the truth), Behold, God is indeed aware of all that you do! -- Q.4:135
  *I.e., “do not allow the fact that a man is rich to prejudice you in his favour or against him, and do not, out of misplaced compassion, favour the poor man at the expense of truth.
Be ever steadfast in upholding justice when you witness or judge between two parties in any given situation or whether in a court of law.


Prophet said

“No judge shall pass a decree between two men while he is angry” -- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Abu Bakrah.

“God is with a judge so long as he is just” -- H: Tirmiz, Ibn Majah. Narrator: Abdullah.b.Abi Aufa.

“In order to pass judgment when a judge strives hard and decides justly there are two rewards for him; but in case he commits mistake though he strive for right decision, there is one reward” -- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Abdullah-b-Amr and Abu Hurairah.

4.10. RUK’U & SAJDAH

 
 
God says

Celebrate your Sustainer’s limitless glory and be of those who prostrate themselves (before Him) in adoration. -- Q.15:98

O you who believe! Bow down and prostrate yourselves, and worship your Sustainer’s (only) … Q.22:77

“Did We not grant you a life long enough so that whoever was willing to reflect could bethink of himself?*….” Q.35:37
*According to Ibn-i-Abbas and other scholars “long life” means the age of 60 years. Imams: Hasan, Kalabi and Masrooq have taken it as 40 years. In Madina it is said that when a person reached the age of 40 years, he used to dedicate himself to prayer.






Prophet said

“Perform the bowings and prostrations (properly). By God, I certainly see you from my back.”* -- H: Bukhari and Muslim.
*One of the miracles of the Prophet.

“When one bows down (in Ruk’u) and says at least thrice SUBHANA RABBI-YAL AZ’ EEM (glory be to my Lord, the Great) his bowing becomes perfect.  And when he prostrates (sajdah) and says at least three times SUBHANA RABBI-YAL  A’ALA (glory be to my Lord, Most High) his prostration becomes perfect” - H: Tirmuzi, Ibn Daud & Ibn Majah. N: ‘Auon-b-Abdullah from Ibn Masud.

“A servant (of God) becomes nearest to God while he is in prostration” -- H: Muslim.  N: Abu Hurairah.

 

The Prophet often recited: “SUBHANALLAH  WA  BIHAMDIHI, ASTAGHFIRULLAH  WA  AATUBO  ELAYH” (Holly is Allah and His is all praise: I seek forgiveness of Allah and turn to Him in repentance).

Bibi Ayesha asked him: “Messenger of Allah! I hear you recite often “SUBHANALLAH  WA  BIHAMDIHI, ASTAGHFIRULLAH  WA  AATUBO  ELAYH” .

According to the Prophet, so was the command in Surah Nasr: “When God’s help comes, and victory, and thou seest people enter God’s religion in hosts, extol thy Sustainer’s limitless glory, and praise Him, and seek His forgiveness, for, behold, He is ever an acceptor of repentance” (110:3Q.)

4.10. LAST 11 VERSES OF 3RD SURAH

In The Name Of God, The Ever Graceful, The Most Gracious.

God says

(190) Verily in the creation of heavens and the earth, and in the succession of night and day there are indeed messages for all who are endowed with insight, (191) [and] who remember God when they stand, and when they sit, and when they lie down to sleep, and [thus] reflect on the creation of the Heaven and the earth: “O our Lord! Thou hast not created [aught of] this without meaning and purpose.  Limitless art Thou in thy glory! Keep us safe, then, from suffering through fire! (For your convenience the verses are continued below) 
(192) “O our Lord!  Whomsoever Thou shalt commit to the fire, him, verily, wilt Thou have brought to [spiritual] disgrace in [this world]; and such evildoer will have none to help them. (193) “O our Lord! Behold, we heard a voice call (us) unto faith, ‘Believe in your Lord!’- and so we came to believe.  O our Lord! Forgive us, then, our sins, and efface our bad deeds; and let us die the death of truly virtuous! (194) “And, o our Lord, grant us that which Thou hast promised us through Thy apostles, and disgrace us not on Resurrection Day!  Verily, Thou never failest to fulfil Thy promise!”
(195) And thus does their Lord answers their prayer: “I shall not lose sight of the labour of any of you who labours [in My way], be it man or women: each of you is an issue of [hence equal to] the other. Therefore, as for those who forsake the domain of evil, and are driven from their homelands, and suffer hurt in My cause, and fight [for it], and are slain- I shall most certainly efface their bad deeds, and shall most certainly bring them into gardens through which running waters flow, as a reward from God: for with God is the most beauteous of rewards.
(196) Let it not deceive thee that those who are bent on denying the truth seem to be able to do as they please on earth:
(197) it is [but] a brief enjoyment, with hell thereafter as their goal -- and how vile a resting place! (198) whereas those who remain conscious of their Lord shall have gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide: a ready welcome from God. And that which is with God is best for truly virtuous.
(199) And, behold, among the followers of earlier revelation there are indeed such as [truly] believe in God, and that which has been bestowed from on high upon you as well as in that which has been bestowed upon them.  Standing in awe of God, they do not barter away God’s messages for a trifling gain.  They shall have their reward with their Lord- For, Behold, God is swift is reckoning!
(200) O you who have attained to faith!  Be patient in adversity, and vie in patience with one another, and be ever ready [to do what is right], and remain conscious of God, so that  you might attain to a happy state! -- Q.3:190-200.

 

Prophet said

1.    Usman-b-Affan said, “Whoever would recite the last verses of Al-Imran any night, reward of the whole night prayer would be written for him” -- H: Darmi.  (Mu’aarif-ul-Hadees).

2.    When the Messenger of God got up for Tahajjud prayer at night he would first recite these verses. -- (M’aaruf-ul-Hadees)