Bid’ah This! Bid’ah That!

What is bid’ah? We used to translate the word with innovation in religion; everything newly introduced into the religion. Since this beautiful religion is based on Qur’an and Sunnah, that means everything outside Qur’an and Sunnah is bid’ah.

There is a hadith from shahih al Bukhari,

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari: who was one of those who used to write the Divine Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra’ were killed). ‘Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, ‘Umar has come to me and said, The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra’ (those who know the Qur’an by heart) at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur’an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur’an.” Abu Bakr added, “I said to ‘Umar, ‘How can I do something which Allah’s Apostle has not done?‘ ‘Umar said (to me), ‘By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.‘ So ‘Umar kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as ‘Umar.” (Zaid bin Thabit added:) Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking. me). “You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness): and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah’s Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur’an and collect it (in one manuscript). ” By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur’an. I said to both of them, “How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?” Abu Bakr said, “By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr and Umar. So I started locating Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuzaima two Verses of Surat-at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else, (and they were):– “Verily there has come to you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty He (Muhammad) is ardently anxious over you (to be rightly guided)” (9.128) The manuscript on which the Quran was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with ‘Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, Umar’s daughter.

That means, the Qur’an in form of books we are holding nowadays are not found in the time of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam. So what is bid’ah? Forget the translation into ‘innovation’, we as muslims must really understand what is the criteria for something to be called as bid’ah. So, please read  THIS ARTICLE. I hope this can help us to understand more about bid’ah.

Wallahu alam bishawab.

Admiration

♥ Beautifully different ♥

Salam, Ria

I admire this man so much. He is good looking, smart, good, and very religious. He does so much to community, he (mentioned the name of this man) is amazing! Is it alright to admire people that much? ~ A

Waalaikum salam, A.

I don’t see why admiring someone is a problem. Specially the ones we admire done nothing against the teachings of Islam (that we know of 🙂 ). What I would love to remind us (specially myself first) will be, we should truly admire people for the quality of their work and personality, not just their physical appearance (well, if they are good looking, it’s a very nice bonus 😳 ). So many people admire others for their physical appearance while ignoring that they do drugs, neglecting their children, abusing animals, etc. You understand me, right? 😀

Some people just stand out and be different by their creativity, wisdom, intelligence, and positivity. Nothing wrong with being attracted to that, make dua for them to be estiqamah and for yourself to be able to have some of the quality.

We should be grateful that our hearts are softened to sincerely acknowledged other people’s posivity, for the quality of their work and personality. I’m sure you found many people who hates just about everyone no matter how amazing they are! Just crazy! 😯 Note that, by admiring people, then the doors of our new adventures to upgrade our qualities are then open widely.

Your admiration is the sign that your heart is attracted to greater things than yourselves and actually want to imitate the greatness to be found in you. Don’t be too hard on yourselves. 😀

Don’t stop admiring, and learn to be better by their example. Let the beauty we love become what we do.  Much love! ♥

Patience is . . .

Hi, Ria. Assalaamualaikum..

I watched the video and I understand. Basically patience is actually for human beings t live in peace. But some people, like me, explode easily specially to my husband. We just don’t have it in us.
What do you think? – L

Wa alaikum salam warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh..

Hi, L, I actually scheduled a post about admiration tonight 🙂 but reading your comment today on The Mission post, made me smile and I truly feel that I can relate to you. 

I used to explode easily, I just didn’t care and lashed out to everyone that I dislike. I felt exactly like you, some people just don’t have it, patience is like something really far from me. But then, by time, I realize to be angry and to explode are different things. In some cases, angry is just inevitable, but to explode…. that’s a different case 🙂

Let me tell you some scenarios 😀

When you drive a car and suddenly there’s somebody driving so fast and blow his horn unendingly and just slip fast through your car. Will you be angry and scream some awful things? Sure, and you have the reason to 🙂
But when you think… that probably, this man is driving so fast to take her pregnant bleeding wife to the hospital, will you be angry? I don’t think so.

When you were in a restaurant, this lady just put her right leg on your way and you tripped. Will you lash out and scratch her face with your long nails? Hmm, probably 😀
But, when you see her sitting with her other 5 friends, they were eating their steaks, holding their forks and knives, will you be scratching her or say, “It’s alright but please next time be careful and I will also watch my step” ? 🙂 That’s probably will save you from trouble 🙂

When your husband came home, just go straight into his desk and open his laptop, continuing his work, will you be upset? Will you be ignorant and don’t cook him dinner? Well, it’s understandable 😀
But, when you think, that probably he is in the middle of a project that he has to finish soon. Probably because he is THAT busy because he is trying to keep his job and provide for you and your child? Will you still be upset, or make him coffee? 😀

When you are on the queue line to the cashier, and a woman just cut your line and stand in front of you. Will you stab her on the back with the knife you just bought, spend the rest of your lives in jail? Or tell her, “Hey miss, you should stand behind me” 😀

See, dear L… Patience is not at all eliminating anger. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay not to like what people do. But patience is to choose to be graceful and respectable even when we’re emotional. Sometimes, people just act unacceptable, but we don’t have to lower our dignity and act the way they do. Patience is a choice. It’s about making the right move even when we’re so emotional.

Sometimes,when we’re angry, we really have the right to be angry.. but.. nothing can be the justification for us to be rude. Angry and rudeness are different. To be able to do the right thing even when we’re angry… that’s maturity.

And remember, L, “… Allah loves those who have patience.” (3 : 146)

I hope this can help you 🙂 Much love! ♥

Whip Our Hijab Back and Forth??

image source

Some questions regarding M.U.S.I.C..

Dear Rialive,

What do you think about music?
Do you think music halal or haram?
What kind of music do you like?
Where do you stand on music? <<<< This is a good question.

Answer :

First of all, why is my thought on music being haram and halal matters? It doesn’t matter at all. If you want to know the religious point of view on music, you can ask the scholars near you. You can ask all the reasons why they permit or prohibit it. Scholars have different opinions about this and (wallahy) I don’t have enough qualification to say anything against any of the opinions. If I said it’s haram, that means I am saying I know better from professors graduated from some leading Islamic universities, or the other way around. So I’m not going to explain about fatwa, I already made it clear that this is not a fatwa blog. But I will answer the questions about my personal opinion regarding music.

For my early readers, you would know that I had a category concerning music, the category had been inactive since early December 2010 so I deleted it. Why is it inactive? Simple. I don’t listen to music anymore. Not even what they call islamic nasheeds, I don’t listen to them. Well, okay, you might think to stop reading this because I begin to sound like an extremist 😀 No, please continue and understand why I choose to stop listen to music, it is all very logical.

Dear readers, I grew up with music. I felt like I couldn’t live without it and I felt like my life will be empty if I don’t have music in my life. I used to have a music page with thousands of fans throughout the world on facebook, yes, thousands of fans. I was involved with one of the biggest university rock music festivals in my country. So yes, I did love music very much. Specially with the random thesis that fools people explaining that person who loves the genre of music that I like is.. you know.. kinda smart 😉

Honestly, I heard about many scholars putting music as haram (prohibited) years ago. But then I looked for other opinions and I found it, music is permissible as long as it doesn’t promote sinful actions. My friends giving me options of so called islamic music, some groups, and some cute guys promoting dhikr… it was so boring. From a person who listened to Metallica switching to Raihan (a group from Malaysia) was truly a struggle, and it didn’t work. So what did I do? I sorted out my music collection, to make me listen to only what I thought to be ‘acceptable’. It was another struggle On the way, I also found some islamic music groups that I like, until now, I just don’t listen to them anymore — doesn’t mean I hate them —

Until one night, I don’t know what hit me. When I was sorting songs from an album by Avenged Sevenfold, I was thinking, this is just music, why putting so much effort to make it permissible for me to listen to it? This thing distracts me from my concentration. And if I was sad, listening to music will boost up my spirit, for a while, but prayer and dhikr will solve it. If I was angry, listening to Linkin’ Park will make me even angrier and it is not good. If I was happy, I will be so jumpy, and music distract me from being grateful. I memorize the lyrics too much, they are not even in my own language, I wish I had used my memory space to memorize Qur’an and Hadith. That night I felt like an idiot, I was so embarrassed. Then, in a few clicks I deleted over 12 GB of my music files. Few clicks and I have more space to put other useful files.

So be honest, people. Do music really necessary? Doesn’t matter if it’s halal or haram, we can debate this until the end of time, the opinions are both there. But, for our own good, be honest to your own self, is it really worth it?  Our lips are easier reciting the words from our favorite songs than Qur’an. We memorize the history of our favorite musicians better than we understand the life of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Is it seriously worth it? Is music really THAT important? And then for the so called islamic music. Is listening to them really help us on our remembrance of Allah and understand the deen better? Or only the cute face of Maher Zein? Or the upbeat tempo by Native Deen? Imagine, doing dhikr while nodding our heads to the tempo of music, sounds stupid? Then imagine  THIS : whipping our hijab, or niqab, or beard back and forth to the music and reciting takbeer and tahmid. RIDICULOUS!!

And the best thing is, it’s been months for me not to listen to music. No signs of nausea, fever, shivering, or other disturbing withdrawal symptoms 😀 . So, if you trust me, I’m telling you now, giving up the addiction to music is the easiest EVER! And you will not miss it even one second! What will you do with your mp3 player or Ipod? Find some lectures and Qur’an mp3. It’s better. I think my music jihad is going pretty well…. What about you? Wanna start? Ask yourself is music really THAT important?

Questions From Readers

Some questions don’t need long answers but I got lazy to answer them. Today I don’t work, so I look at the ‘unapproved’ comments to reply some. Ooops don’t be scared, no names will be published and the ones who wished to be answered by mail (not fiqh matters) and I had not answer, have patience and try the recommended people that I sent through your mail, if they answer  you please let me know 😀

Most of this questions started with “salam alaikum” and “I love your blog”, etc. etc. So, wa alaikum salam and jazakumullah khair. Some questions need similar answer, I just put them in one paragraph.

Question :
So, you mean we can’t ask shaikhs about fiqh?
Answer :
It’s not what I meant, some shaikhs are very good sometimes  (most of the times) and you may ask them, alhamdulillah. What I want to underline is, don’t ask random people. Even though they look nice like me 😀

Question :
What do you think about the dhikr majlis led by Arifin Ilham? ESQ by Ary Ginanjar? Some says the hadith is weak.
Answer :
If you ask me what I think, alhamdulillah Arifin Ilham and Ary Ginanjar found a method that can attract people to say the names of Allah subhana wa taala. This majlis also teach people to be clean, go to masjid, read Qur’an, etc. So, no worries, as long as it doesn’t teach anything against the religion. These men have done amazing job. May Allah subhana wa taala reward them good and grant them long life to continue their amazing job on reviving the ummah. Amin.

Question :
Do you have Jamaah Tabligh, Hizbut Tahrir, Ikhwanul Muslimin, in your country? I don’t like them. What should I do?
Answer :
If you don’t like them, don’t follow their majlis, but NEVER judge them when you don’t know what the actions based on, what they are fighting for, and what their visions is. If you also want to learn about them, find THEIR IMAMS and ask them NICELY, not the excited participants who only come once in a while to clap hands or say mashaAllah. Find information to the right source.
And please, respect them all, and love them all, they are fighting for the ummah with their organized da’wa. And yes we have them here, and most of them (who is actively involved in their da’wa, not the participants) have very good akhlaq and have noble visions for ummah. Alhamdulillah.

Question :
What do you think about fat shaikhs? No beard shaikhs? ‘jeans’ shaikhs?
Answer :
I think they are cute 😀
No, I’m just joking. It is just appearance. Alhamdulillah there are now many many shaikhs out there trying to make their best on da’wa. Let’s focus on their works rather than their outer looks.
Some people are just fat by nature. Like me, I can eat everything but I will still be slim (alhamdulillah), but some people will get fat only by drinking water. Right?
Some people just don’t have much hair. Like my little brother once wanted to grow beard and he ended up with only 3 sad hair on his face. I am serious, some people just genetically can’t have beard. (like me LOL)
Jeans are not haram 😀

Question :
I have problems. I hate praying in masjid because there is always a man telling me that I pray wrongly (where I put my hands), how I sit in the middle of rakaah, etc.
Answer :
First of all, alhamdulillah, you are a practicing muslim. The people who do that to you is only want to make da’wa, so just say “jazakallah”. As long as you follow somebody trustable regarding the way your salah, then you should continue what you used to do.
I hope you don’t put your hand on your head, or making ninja moves on salah 😀
Some says put hands beside you, below the chest, or on the chest, there are hadiths to justify it. I am not qualified to tell you one hadith is better than the others, because my Islamic teacher told me, every narration end up to the sahaba so it’s like trying to prove them wrong. Wallahu alam.
Alhamdulillah, you pray. We should focus on 80% of muslims out there who don’t pray.

Question :
Some says we can’t pray tahajjud with alarm to wake us up. Is it true?
Answer :
I never found any literature regarding that  matter. But I do alarm, and I also have tahajjud miscall group. My islamic teacher says it is fine and I trust him.

Question :
Are you a salafi? Are you a sufi? You focused too much on love.
Answer :
How do you categorize people as salafi, sufi, etc? Please don’t ask me such questions.

Question :
I have a problem with my life partner. They got cold. What advice can you give me?
Answer :
(Wallahy I am SO not the right person to be asked this)
Alhamdulillah you are concerned about your marriage life and want to make it  better. I suggest you to go and find marriage counselor.
What I want you to think about  is, most people are ignoring their partner’s youth and then end up complaining when suddenly their partners grow old and no longer attractive. Have balance and appreciate the loved ones sent by Allah subhana wa taala to you to enriched your lives.
I think my advice is pretty cool 😀 Yikes!

Question :
In the day of judgement, we will face Allah and will get hisab, and also there will be scales of our deeds. Also the sun will be very close. I can’t imagine it.
Answer :
Is there anyone telling you to imagine it? If so, don’t listen to them. Wallahy, the day of judgement is a promise made by Allah subhana wa taala. Don’t imagine the things that we will just going to find out anyway. Focus on reality, don’t analize ghaib matters too deep, because (I’m not joking) you can go crazy.

You see, mostly some questions are about asking about somebody else. When you involved in a group to strengthen your iman and actively making da’wa, alhamdulillah. There is nothing wrong about it. What is wrong is : when you begin to find reasons to think that the group you are involving is the most righteous one and others are wrong. We should stop it. Centuries have gone by for us fighting over issues that can be solved only by respecting each other.

I respect all of you who tries to find proof that this or that group is wrong, but honestly, I don’t watch the links you sent me. I don’t want to hear a ‘shaikh’ screaming and say this jamaah is wrong, that jamaah is wrong. No! First of all I don’t like screaming beardies on my laptop screen (they freak me out), secondly, we believe in laa ilaha illallah. What differs one group to the other is only the way they make da’wa. So no, stop sending me links.

Alhamdulillah, there are many well organized da’wa group or majlis out there, lead by scholars from leading Islamic universities. They gather the ummah in one organization and make them understand the deen better. These scholars, these serious da’ee, they invest their time, money, emotions, energy, striving to build a strong ummah. The get thristy, sweating, and leaving their families to make the best for this ummah. What about us? Probably we attend the meeting once in a while. Got goosebumps from the khutba, crying over some nasheeds, and then we go home, the excitement will go away for 3 days. But, then we sit in front of the screen trying to find proof and confirmation that we are better than this and that, that is WRONG. I will never get tired of saying this, respect the scholars (no matter how you hate their style or appearance). They are the warriors of this deen.

None of the da’wa organizations should fight. They are partners. Of course they will make mistakes, but who doesn’t? If they start to preach that 5 daily prayer  are not compulsory, or changing the qibla to New Zealand because Mecca is too crowded already, then let’s fight them, I’ll fight with you. Stop sending me links of screaming beardies proving some groups are wrong. Stop fighting, we are one body. Focus on similarities not differences.

Anyway, I made special mail for my blog, so please send your critics (with nice words, please) and questions to that mail (see the side bar). And if you trust me for your problems you might want to trust my recommendation on which scholar you need to ask regarding that matter. Wallahu alam. Much love ♥