A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Miswri ( r.a. ) wrote, in ‘Umdat as-Salik , “The four Sunni schools of Islamic law; Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali; are identical in approximately 75 percent of their legal conclusions, while the remaining questions, variances within a single family of exegetes of the Qur’an and prophetic sunnah , are traceable to methodological differences in understanding or authentication of the primary textual evidence, differing viewpoints sometimes reflected in even a single school.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted and adapted from the classic manual of Shafi’i madzhab , “The Reliance of the Traveller & Tools of the Worshipper”, from Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Miswri ( r.a. ), from the section on i'itikaf , spiritual retreat.   It is sunnah , at any time, to make spiritual retreat, i’itikaf , in the mosque.  I’itikaf is especially recommended in Ramadhan, particularly in the last ten days of it, seeking Laylat al-Qadr .  Indicating its excellence, the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said, “He who prays on Laylat al-Qadr in faith and expectation of its reward will be forgiven his previous sins.”   Laylat al-Qadr could be on any night of Ramadhan, or any other month of the year, according to some.  It probably occurs within the last ten nights, more likely on the odd numbered ones, remembering that the night of an Islamic date comes before the day of that date, the 21 st and 23 rd o...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted and adapted from the classic manual of Shafi’i madzhab , “The Reliance of the Traveller & Tools of the Worshipper”, from Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Miswri ( r.a. ), from the section on fasting.   The month of the fast is the best of months, and it is one of the distinctive features of this ummah ; that is, as now practised, a fact not contradicted by the Word of Allah ( s.w.t. ):   سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ (١٨٣)   O you who believe!   Fasting is Prescribed to you as it was Prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint. ― (Surah al-Baqarah:183)   The resemblance is interpreted as referring to fasting without other qualification, not to its amount and time.   Fasting in Ramadhan is one of the pillars of Isla...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following was extracted from al-Maqasid , Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi’s ( r.a. ) “Manual of Islam”; and Umdat as-Salik wa ‘Uddat an-Nasik , “The Reliance of the Traveller” by Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Miswri ( r.a. ).   Imam an-Nawawi ( r.a. ) defined the rules of taswawwuf in this manner.  He stated that the basic rules of the way of taswawwuf are five.  They are being God-fearing privately and publicly, living according to the sunnah in word and deed, indifferences to the acceptance or rejection of others, satisfaction with Allah ( s.w.t. ) in scarcity and plenty, and turning to Allah ( s.w.t. ) in joy or affliction.   He then mentioned the attainment of these basic rules.  Divine cognisance is attained by scrupulousness and uprightness.  Following the sunnah is attained through caution and good character.  Indifference to other's acceptance or rejection ...