Dr Umar Abdullah Faruq

Dr Umar Abdullah Faruq

Dr Umar Abdullah Faruq

Sheikh Ramadan Al-Bouti

Habib Umar ibn Hafiz

Sheikh Ramadan Al-Bouti

Dr Umar Abdullah Faruq

Dr Umar Abdullah Farooq

Sheikh Jihad Brown

The Disputations

Part forty three

1. Recite ayah Al kursi with intention of protection when scared or generally

2. There was a student who was punished because he did not accept a local teacher. So he was unable to find anyone to study with...
Respect the teacher or lose out big time!

3. The best syllabus in the world means naught without a teacher to teach it

4. Every Murid of the shadhali order will see the benefit of the use of the plural form in imam Shadhalis duas

5. Re death of a wali
People often do not recognise awliya because they are different to them. This can cause hate or mistrust, of course without basis.
We are losing more awliya day by day and the scary thing is; that they are not being replaced.
People often ask about the awliya and how one can reach Allah. Problem is that people cannot benefit from seen knowledge, so how can they benefit from unseen knowledge? So this is the reason their hearts, awliya, are taken because we do not recognise them and cannot benefit from them.

6. Don't take knowledge from unsocial media

7. I have come to the conclusion that we are heading towards the end of time, where ignorance not knowledge spreads. So people recognise clothing and feelings not knowledge. So ignorant 'speakers' are promoted and the knowledgeable are discarded. This is a sign of ignorance that someone is more famous because someone with knowledge is misunderstood. Also people can relate to ignorance and feeling but not knowledge, so beware fame being the basis for their scholarship!

8. One of the students of sh Muhammad Al hashim r was asked what he learnt, he said, 'in all things there is goodness'

9. The prophetic standard was to encourage sinners and people towards good action and change. Not to make them feel guilty

10. You really are one of the sheep when you do not question the errors of your leader

11. Smart parents don't give their kids smart phones

12. Think about all the times that your needs were fulfilled without dua. Grateful

13. It's an act of hypocrisy to honour a foreign ahl al bayt from your people when you won't even open your front door to those that live locally

14. Being proud about being part of any spiritual path is like being proud of taking a course of medicine or being proud that you go to a particular hospital. The proud are stuck unable to make any progress. You amply the nafs by proud of anything even your murshid.

15. Many years ago, my friends and I visited a teacher. We sat down on the floor and asked him for advice. He lowered his head and said he had no advice to give. At the time I thought wow how humble he is but I don't think that now. When a teacher is asked for something, he has to give it. I was a critical juncture of my learning so I needed it at the time. I did not need his fake humbleness. He knew nothing so could not say anything. Beware because there are more fake teachers than real ones...

16. A fake teacher gives you opinions not knowledge

17. Two types of day of judgment

1. When creation will be judged by God   2. Your death

18. Part of good parenting is sometimes saying no to things that will harm your child

19. Most students need to learn how to be students rather than dream about being a scholar

20. There are two ways that events can be understood and our reactions to them.
The worldly and other worldly
When a murder of a child occurs we understand two things
1. We have to bring him to justice and if that does not occur then the murdered child will get justice on the day of judgment
2. The child dies and has no reckoning so in sha Allah they will enter paradise
One side is evil that is in the world but the afterlife is good.

21. Do not look forward to a future in the past - move on

Shekh Jihad Brown

Sheikh Samir Al-Nass

Sheikh Jihad Brown

The Disputations

Part forty two

1. Virtue is vice and vice is virtue but do you have the skills to see thru lies?

2. He (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, "do not busy your hearts by remembering the world." Bayhaqi

3. What others have is the decree of Allah for them so do not dislike the decree of Allah the Exalted.

4. A seekers sincerity is tested by being tried in what distracts them from Allah; until they overcome it, will they progress.

5. Don't sell me your evil; I am not buying

6. Parents who buy bikes for their kids should also buy helmets and protection. Unless you and the kids already have brain damage!?!?

7. The abused becomes the abuser, if they stay long enough

8. If the religious person does not try harder in Ramadan then they have not benefited from it.

9. When you backbite or slander someone online the sin is there until deleted. something you said could be still earning sin years on.

10. A person's faith or disbelief is not your choice, it's theirs

11. Shoving anything down people throats never works. Give people options let them decide for themselves. In faith and action

12. Remember that the world is a prison, wretched and awful. So your heart does not become attached to it. Remember that there has to be injustice in the world for the innocent to have recourse on the day of judgment

13. Unless you see actual filth then you cannot assume that there is filth everywhere. Just wash your hands after you have used public transport and chill

14. Its haram for blokes to wear tight fitted clothes too.

15. What's a wabunni ? It's a sunni who teaches books that he has no ijaza in. Wahabi style!!!

16. Moon sighting have two opinions: global = hanafi, local = shafi. A third opinion which is outside these two, what are those guys over there doing? So the third opinion is outside the four madhabs, and please note morroco is NOT the closest muslim country, Albania is. Albania is in Europe okay! Follow the local masjid that follows the local sighting because global is not reliable.

17. Sidi Ali Al Jamal (May Allah show him mercy) said, "the reward is commensurate to the difficulty."

18. I'm sorry to say this but I am really against this over sexualising of hijabi women. It goes against what it stands for. And yes ladies hijab is not just a head covering, so if you have a face-full of make up, that's not hijab either!

19. People serve their groups and interests when they should serving Allah and His deen

20. There is reward found in struggle like pearls in the ocean. They are not found easily...

21. Check things out before reacting means acting in measured manner to avoid hastiness

Should we follow the Saudi moon sighting for Ramadan and Eid/'Id?

This is something that is being discussed by many people now. Why aren't we following Saudi and why are we not fasting together?

Unity argument

This is perhaps the most vocal argument of them all. We should have unity and all do the same things. This is perhaps the weakest argument because what people want is conformity and not unity. Unity is being together and respecting differences. Conformity is when everyone agrees which is akin to communist thought.

Caliphs used to decide

Also note in a time gone by the caliph of the region would declare 'Id so there was an official announcement and therefore no need for carrier bags at twenty paces! The moon sighting would be made the judge would inform the caliph and the annoucement would be made. 

In the UK, the Muslims follow their group or sect rather than recognising authority. In other Muslim countries, they follow the governments. Therefore, there is no problem in those countries and it is a localised problem.

How was it explained in hadith?

‏صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ فَإِنْ غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاقْدُرُوا ثَلاَثِينَ"‏

"Fast when you see it [the moon] break when you it, if it cloudy then complete thirty days."

Bukhari

The hadith makes everything clear on the 29th night at Maghrib if you can see the moon the next day is Eid and if not then you complete 30 days and the day is Eid. It is that simple but because we have complicated things then Eid could be 4 days based upon both opinions.

Imam Ibn Hummam said book Fath Al-Qadir, “The manifest of the school of Imam Abu Hanifah is that when the sighting is evident in a place, then all the people around them must fast. As such, fasting upon the people of the east will be binding through the sighting of the people of the west”.

"Whoever witnesses the month should fast." Quran: 2:185.

The witness is linked to seeing and this has a link to witnessing the moon.

Hanafi and Witnesses

In Labab fi Sharh Al-Kitab, commonly known as Quduri, by Imam Al-Ghunaymi Al-Maydani said, "If one person sees the moon of Ramadan then he fasts even if the imam rejects it. When there is an obstruction in the sky then one testimony is [can be] accepted of one just persons testification, in seeing the moon be they: man, woman, slave or free. If there is no obstruction then testimony is not accepted until a great deal amount [of people] see it for knowledge to be confirmed by it." (p.155-156)

The great deal of people has no exact number but it has to be without doubt for the Qadi to accept so this has to be considered the same as mass transmission in hadith. So around seventy would be agreeable or just a number that would be undeniable. But two witnesses when there is no obstruction is not acceptable.

It needs one upright witness according to most Hanafi books and if the sky is clear then if it is unclear then the Shafi madhab said the day after is Eid (Reliance of the traveller p281 i1.8).

A Qadi of an area would be sufficient. (Rad al-Mukhtar by Imam Haskafi p.145)

In Fatawa Tatakhaniyyah p.93, he says that Abu Hanifah accepts the testimony of two witnesses but permitted one person. 

Tahfah Al-Mulk by Zayn Al-Din Al-Razi said that one just witness is accepted to begin and the end of the month needs two witnesses. (p.137 -8) Hidayah p.252.

Imam Tahawi said the veracity of the witness is not considered but this was already unacceptable by Abu Hanifah.

Rejection of astronomical data

The following scholars reject the usage of astronomical data for the moon to be seen. In other words using that data and not moon sighting to declare Eid. This could also be considered to include following calanders because that is not based upon sighting rather calculations.

The following scholars reject the usage of astronomical data:

Al-Subki Al-Shafi in Fataawa al-Subki vol.1 pg.209

al-Jassas al-Hanafi Ahkām in al-Qur’ān 1/280

al-Baji al-Maliki in Al-Muntaqa Sharh al-Muwata 2/38.

Ibn Rushd al-Maliki in Bidāyah al-Mujtahid 1/283-284.

Ibn Taymiyyah Majmu’ in al-Fatāwa 25/132-133

Ibn ‘Abidin Al-Hanafi  in Hashiyah Ibn ‘Abidin 2/387.

Sheikh Hisham Burhani p.51 A believers guide to fasting.

Sidi Ahmed Zarruq and Ahmed Ad-Dardir, both Malikis, Ibn Nujaym, Sahib Al-Hidayah, Imam Al-Suhrbulai, Imam Hilwani, and Imam Sarakhsi all reject the use of astronomical data.

Some scholars have said that if the calculations match the moon sighting by the eye then we can use it and if it does not then we reject it.

Moroccan moon sighting?

Following the moon sighting in Morocco has become an issue, because it was agreed as a comprise between following local and global sighting. Albania is the closest Muslim country and this is ignored. It is true that Morocco is on the same latitude but it is too far for it to be considered. The main reason for not following this moon sighting; because it is not a classical opinion rather it is a new one based on weak reasoning. 

Imam Zayla'i allowed it but Kamal ibn Hammam said it was more precautionary to take the relied upon opinion. (Rad al-Mukhtar by Imam Haskafi p.145). The more precautionary position is that we do not accept testimony from other countries. Imam Shafi also agrees (Nur Al-Idah p320) but this might not be the standard position of the Shafi school.

In Fatawa Tatakhaniyyah p.95 confirms that a vision of the moon in one area is not necessary on another area. Similar is confirmed in the Hashiya Al-Tahtawi on Nur Al-Idah P.657.

These are also two evidences that confirm that following a sighting in another country other than the one the person is in, is not accepted.

How is decided in the UK

Local masjid committee decide when it is 'Id/Eid. Based on one of the four methods explained which does work out to be global or local.

There are times in which the date to end fasting is different.

Calculations and sighting

The two classical opinions are local moon sighting and global sighting. The global sighting is the opinion of Abu Hanifah and the local is Imam Muhammad and Imam Shafi.

The modern opinions are based on calendars and what has so and so country declared?

The Saudi calendar is 30-32 years forward so there are bound to be errors. Majlus Al-Qadhaa a’Alaa set the Saudi calendar years in advance.

Reasons not to follow Saudi moon sighting

1. Saudi reject fellowship -mufti Menk and other Wahabi clerics reject the notion that people should be following them. 

2. Invalid method - we are unaware if they are following the calendar or valid sightings.

3. Blind following - how do you its right? Just because you like Wahabi's you think, they are right and everyone else is wrong. This is also believe their group is right over everyone else.

4. Innovation - no Quran and no hadith that explicitly say that you should follow the Saudi moon sighting.

5. The calendars are 30 -32 years in advance.

6. Errors made - in 16 years of observing the notices about Eid they have made an error just about every year.

We can use our local sighting here but what about when we are on Hajj? 

Well, this is an interesting question because we have no choice but to use the Saudi government sighting. Some say this lacks consistency to use a different sighting in the UK.

In the UK, we have the choice and at Hajj, we have no choice. 

Therefore, it is not about consistency rather it is about being compelled. Rules of Islamic law can change dependent on circumstances, so if one has no food but pork and he eats what he needs to survive. It is the same principle here, we can choose the local sighting but when performing Hajj one has no choice. Just like making prostration on the back on the person in front of you is allowable at Hajj but that would not be permitted elsewhere.

So we can follow the local sighting in the UK and use their sighting when at Hajj. As I am sure that the local authorities will not allow you to make Hajj on a different day.

Which sighting will we use?

We have proven that Saudi global sighting is not reliable and looking for Moroccan sighting is not accepted. This leaves us with local sighting. If we follow the local sighting then this should bring more unity.
 

Know that some Hanafi groups go with Saudi sighting and many Arabs will also follow it. Therefore, when there is no acceptable method for the global opinion we must follow the second which is the local sighting.

Can the sighting be declared before the sighting?

For Ramadan the moon must be sighted before the moon is declared. But for Eid/'Id al-Idha the start of month decides the date. So as soon as the first of Dhu Hijjah is declared then we can work out that ten days later is Eid. Nevertheless, this cannot be used for Ramadan; end or beginning.

Is it such a major problem?

Even if we start on different days the most we miss fasting together is one or two days. One at the start and one at the end of the month. Most of the month we are fasting together.

We should just accept the fact we are fasting on different days and not harm the other for fasting on the 'wrong' day. We will always have differences and that will never change but there are bigger fish to fry in our time. In Western countries there are myriad of social issues that need to be addressed as well as fighting for the truth by nullifying the voice of fools. Rather than saying the least we should do is fast together, in reality we do all fast together with the exception of a day or two.

Please do not make it an issue in your families or work places, just let it go and move on.