2 cultures – 2 different goals for Taraweeh

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah

I hope everyone is taking much advantage of this month of Ramadhaan as they should be. I, for one, am not doing as much as I should be during the daytime before Taraweeh.. may Allah put barakah in our time so we are able to do more good inshaAllah during the day as well.

So this post is about Taraweeh specifically and how 2 different cultures have two totally different goals it seems for Taraweeh…

It seems like any masjid that you go to, you will either find them to be on one side of the fence or the other…

On one side you have the DESI masjid.. their primary goal is to finish the Qur’aan by the 27th night for the most part… and they are used to reciting in such a hasty manner that even the Arab brothers don’t understand what is being recited, and thus they can not contemplate upon the words of the Qur’aan.

Allah tells us in the Qur’aan to recite the Qur’aan with tarteel… but most of the DESI Imaams do not seem to follow this in the month of Ramadhaan and tarteel goes out the window…

So to recap: the goal at the DESI masjid is to finish the Qur’aan by the 27th night, even if that means reciting it at super fast speeds so even the brothers who are able to follow and understand the Qur’aan are not able to do that… obviously it doesn’t help that usually, the person reciting does not even know what he is reciting.. which makes their goal easier to be achieved.

And then on the other side of the fence, we have the Arab masaajid and the masaajid that are upon the Sunnah or close to the Sunnah. At these masaajid, it seems that the goal is different. Their goal is to recite the Qur’aan properly so that it is comprehended by the listeners and so that it affects the hearts. It just feels so good to pray Taraweeh in these masaajid because the essence of Taraweeh is understood better here than the DESI masaajid.

Not to be sarcastic, but it just seems like they want another reason to hand out sweets and eat “gulab jaman” (for the non-desis, this is a type of delicious sweet.. looks like a brown small ball.. if you have never tried one, I suggest you try it on ‘Eid)   {smile}

I’m sharing below an audio clip of a Qari at one of the masaajid where the Taraweeh is performed with the correct goal in mind. Alhamdulillah, it has a strong effect on the heart when Islaam is followed properly and the instructions of the Qur’aan are followed properly mashaAllah.

We ask Allah that He gives us the tawfeeq to do more ibaadah during the remaining month of Ramadhaan and helps us to catch Laylatul Qadr. Ameen.

Audio clip from Taraweeh at Al-Minhaal Academy in South Plainfield NJ

Important Disclaimer from admin staff of TheClearSunnah Blog: We do not endorse or are making tazkiyah (praise) of any particular academies or any of its members. We do not recommend anyone unless we know what the senior scholars and the elders of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah have mentioned about them.

Share your comments below on this topic. What are your feelings on how the Qur’aan is recited in Taraweeh?

Did anyone try to see the moon locally in USA?

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

Wondering if anyone had the opportunity to go and see the moon either yesterday or tonight before maghrib.

A brother and I went to a high location to try to spot the moon yesterday but were not able to see it. QadarAllah (It was the decree of Allah)

The local community here in Groton CT goes by the calculation method so they had already announced the ‘Eid will be today, Tuesday August 30, 2011.

Another brother informed me that the moon was sighted in Chili around 1am EST in South America. However, seems like it was a single occurrence and hence it was not given weight due to lack of other reports.

But today when we went to see the moon before maghrib, we were able to see it alhamdulillah with the naked eye. I had two other witnesses who also saw the moon with me and it was clearly the first day of the lunar month. The time was around 7:38 EST when we saw the moon. It looked exactly like it is shown in the chart below for the first of the lunar month.

The chart below confirms that the new moon will be sighted in the Northern Hemisphere today, August 30, 2011.

Source: http://www.moonconnection.com/moon-august-2011.phtml

Here are some pictures I took with my phone but you can not see the moon in here. It was hard enough to see with the naked eye so its not visible in the pictures.

Here is a raw picture…..

Conclusion: I have decided, along with the 2 other brothers who saw the moon, that we will make up the day inshaAllah because we clearly made ‘Eid one day in advance. This was clear from the shape of the moon that we saw before Maghrib time, Tuesday, August 30 2011.

Comments are welcome on the issue.

BarakAllahu feekum

Best Investment Ever

Bismillaah

Allâh says (what means), “The night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months (i.e. worshipping Allâh in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months, i.e. 83 years and 4 months).” (Al-Qadr 97:3)

“The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the Way of Allâh, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn); it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allâh gives manifold increase to whom He pleases. And Allâh is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All-Knower.” (Al-Baqarah 2:261)

Just imagine the returns if you give 1 Dinar or 1$ sincerely in the way of Allâh on laylatul qadr! Suppose you give 1$ every night in these last 10 nights of Ramadhaan you would have spent 10$. And the returns are much more than:-

1*7*100*1000*30 + 9*7*100 = 21,006,300  (Yes in words that’s much more than 21 million!!!)

The more you’ll give with ikhlaas (sincerity) the more you’ll get. Verily, Allâh never breaks His Promise.” (Aali Imran 3:9).

source:- https://theclearsunnah.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/best-investment-ever/

BaarakAllaahu feekum. Please share with others. WAllaahu ‘aalam.

Ramadhaan outside of the US so far

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

I pray to Allah that everyone is taking full advantage of this blessed month of Ramadhaan. For verily, it could surely be our last.

Wanted to share a few quick things about spending Ramadhaan outside of the US and wanted to hear your comments also.

Spending the first 10 days of Ramadhaan in Pakistan.. It’s really a different feeling here. Especially at the time of each prayer. The moment you start walking towards the masjid, you see so many people mashaAllah going to the masjid for the congregational prayer. At least where I reside in CT, you hardly notice any difference except for ‘isha and taraweeh.

Breaking iftaar with the whole family is also more special because there are 10 minutes between the time of adhaan and the iqamah. So we eat what we can in that time and then the men start walking to the masjid.

Walking to the masjid is really tremendous. Not only do you get reward as mentioned in the following hadith but its also good for the health of the body mashaAllah.

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “He who purifies (performs Wudu’) himself in his house and then walks to one of the houses of Allah (mosque) for performing an obligatory Salat, one step of his will wipe out his sins and another step will elevate his rank (in Jannah).”
[Muslim].

However, its a little frustrating to see the opposition to the Sunnah. Just today, at the masjid for ‘isha, I saw a person in the row who was standing on his own prayer rug and both people on either side weren’t stepping on the prayer rug to close the gaps. There was easily room for one more person on either side.

It’s really nice however, to see so many people in the masjid for all the prayers. Makes you feel like this is a special month.

May Allah guide the rulers of the Muslim lands and guide the Muslims to Tawheed and the authentic Sunnah and away from acts of shirk, innovation and blind following of the madhabs. Ameen.

What have been your experiences of Ramadhaan outside of the US in Muslim countries? Go ahead and share. BarakAllahu feekum

Islamic Audio Translated Lectures

Are you looking for an authentic site from where to download Islamic audio lectures which are translated into English?

Then visit: http://en.miraath.net/content/miraath-audio-section

Currently the following are all downloadable series of lectures (translated) avaliable @ http://www.miraath.net in their translated section:

An Explanation on Hajj – Shaykh Ubayd al-Jaabiree

Book of Fasting – Lulu wal Marjan – Shaykh Ubayd al-Jaabiree

Characteristics of the Prophet (2008) ­ صلى اللهُ عليه وسَلَّم – Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab al-Aqeel

Characteristics of the Prophet (2009) ­ صلى اللهُ عليه وسَلَّم – Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab al-Aqeel

Characteristics of Wudu (ablutions) – Shaykh Arafat bin Hasan al-Muhammadi

Cleanliness and Purification – Shaykh Abdullaah bin Mar?aee

Learning ‘Aqeedah – Through Hajj – Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab al-Aqeel

Learning Aqeedah from Hajj – Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab al-Aqeel

Lessons from the Biography of the Prophet – (صلى اللهُ عليه وسَلَّم) – Shaykh Hani bin Baraik

Mannerisms of companionship, brotherhood and living amongst people – Shaykh Abdullaah Mar’ai bin Barayk.mp3

Manhaj as-Salikeen (Path of the Wayfarer) – Shaykh Ahmad Baazmool

Merits of the Quran and Tafsir of Surah al-Qadr – Shaykh Adil Mansoor

Sahih Bukhari – Book of Faith – Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab al-Aqeel

Tafsir of Quran – Shaykh Hani bin Baraik

Tafsir of Quran Part 30 – Introduction – Shaykh Hani bin Baraik

The Authentic Aqeedah (Belief) – Muhammad bin Ghalib al-Amri

Umdat al-Fiqh – Chapter on Breaking the Fast in Ramadan – Shaykh Ubayd al-Jaabiree

Umdat al-Fiqh – Chapter on Fasting – Shaykh Ubayd al-Jaabiree

http://en.miraath.net/content/miraath-audio-section

Ramadhaan is coming up. InshaAllah, my plan is to download their Ramadhaan lessons and listen to it while I do other activities like exercise, driving, etc to get the most benefit from this upcoming blessing month.

For the Ramadhaan lectures, visit the lectures given by Shaykh Ubyad al Jabiree hafidahullah: http://en.miraath.net/content/shaykh-ubayd-bin-abdullah-al-jabri-trles

Islamic Games for Ramadhaan

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

It’s been quite long since I’ve posted anything. After shaykh Salim’s visit, things have been quite busy with family members visiting and preparation for Ramadhaan.

Now that I have a smartphone, it’ll be much easier to review and reply to comments and make quick short posts inshaAllah. The cell phone technology is amazing subhanAllah and it’s mind boggling what we are capable of just with a cell phone. Anywayz that’s a side topic 😉

I have been tasked by my local masjid to come up with some games for the teens/kids for the weekends in ramadhaan. Not just the last 10 days but even before that.

So I wanted to reach out to all of you if you have seen any successful games where they not just learn something beneficial in the deen but also have fun learning it.

I will be preparing an Islamic jeopardy game with different categories. Once it’s complete I’ll post the file here so others can use it as well.

If anyone has any ideas, please share.

BarakAllahu feekum. 🙂