Sam's space

Darulfatwa brings a course to you starting this sunday and running each sunday in RamaDaan about the rules of prayer and fasting.

And to encourage the seekers of knowledge to memorize, darulfatwa has announced prizes:

The one who memorises the text and comes first wins $1000, second prize is $750, and third prize is $500. 

The course will be held on sundays 9am-12pm in Al Amanah College bankstown in either Arabic or English - whichever you choose. For more details please call 97933330.

Hope to see you there in shaa' Allaah uniting to do something good and encouraging others in shaa' Allaah.

Invite your family.

My regards,

Samia. 

Lack of knowledge is an open gate for terrorist ideologies to spread.

 

When terrorists bomb innocent people, killing both Muslims and non-Muslims, ignorance causes some to attribute these actions to Islam.

 

Muslims who learn their Religion do not become terrorists. Rather it is the ignorant who get sucked into the traps of terrorists that are looking for recruits.

 

 

Commit yourselves to acquiring the knowledge of the religion as this knowledge is an important element for the sustainability of Islam.

 

Know that those who neglect it will be lost and misguided, similar to a leaf blown right and left by the wind, ignorantly following any speaker who appeals to them even when he makes false statements about Islam.

 

 

Imam ^Aliyy may Allah raise his rank said:

 

“People are of three types (i.e. in regards to the knowledge of the religion).

 

“First are the practicing scholars (i.e. those who have great knowledge of Islam and are implementing that knowledge).

 

"The second are those who are on the path of success and are acquiring the knowledge as well as implementing it for the purpose of being saved from the torture of Hellfire.

 

"The third type of people is the rabble, who do not have the knowledge and they do not put any effort to acquire it in the proper manner, rather they follow any speaker who appeals to them even when he makes false statements about Islam”.

 

 

 To be in a state of taharah, one uses water to perform wudu’ and ghusl. However, one may need to perform taharah, yet not find water, or may have water but will be harmed if one uses it. In these cases, the person performs dry purification (tayammum), as the author said:

 

        If one needs to pray, but one is in the state of ritual impurity (hadath), and one cannot find water or will be harmed upon using it, one performs dry purification (tayammum).

 

          Explanation: From the author’s saying “one performs tayammum if one cannot find water” it is understood that if one performs dry purification (tayammum) because one does not have water, one’s tayammum is invalid, unless one first has sought the water. So, one must first seek the water—then, if one does not find it, one performs the dry purification. Also, one performs tayammum instead of using water to perform taharah if using water harms one. So, if using water to perform taharah will cause one’s death, or damage an organ, or lengthen the recovery time from an illness, or cause a disfigurement in any of one’s apparent body parts, like the hands or the face, then one performs tayammum—even if one has water.

 

        There is a specific procedure that is applied for one to be considered as one who did not find water. For example, the traveler who cannot find water is the person who neither has water with him, nor do his companions have water with them, or they have water which they want to sell to him at a higher price than the norm, or he has just enough water to keep him alive so that he does not die of thirst, or he has just enough to keep his animal alive. If this person is in a land where he is certain there is no water within the distance of half a farsakh (9000 cubits, approximately 4 km or 3 US miles), he may perform tayammum. If he knows that there is water close to him (i.e., ½ a farsakh or less), it is an obligation on him to fetch the water.

 

        If the person is in an unfamiliar land, i.e., he does not know whether or not there is water nearby, he must seek the water. To seek the water means for a person to physically look for the water, either by walking in the four directions for a distance that if he shouted for help, his companions would hear him, (about 300 cubits in each direction), or, if he was in a flat land and can see as far as that distance, he would look in each direction for the water. If he does either of these and does not find water, he is considered as one who sought the water and did not find it. Hence, he can perform tayammum.

 

          Tayammum is performed after the time of the prayer, per se, sets in

 

Explanation: The person who wants to perform tayammum for a prayer must do so after the time of that prayer has begun. So if a person makes tayammum before the time of Dhuhr sets in to perform the Dhuhr Prayer, his tayammum is not valid. He must perform the tayammum for the Dhuhr Prayer after the sun declines from the center of the sky towards the west.

 

and after the unexempted najas-filth is removed.

 

Explanation: If able, one must remove any unexempted najas-filth on one’s body before performing tayammum. If one had an unexempted najas-filth on one’s body and had only a small amount of water—sufficient either to remove the unexempted najas-filth or to perform wudu’, one should use the water to remove the najas-filth, and then, if one did not have enough water left to perform wudu’, one would perform tayammum. If one had an unexempted najas-filth on one’s body and had no water at all, then one must attempt to lighten this najas-filth in some way before performing tayammum. If one was unable, one would perform the tayammum with the najas-filth still on oneself.

 

Tayammum is performed by using unmixed soil, which is purifying and dusty.

 

Explanation: Tayammum is valid only when performed using the dusty soil, i.e., soil that contains fine dust. Hence, it is not valid to make tayammum using a rock. Also, it is not valid to use the beach sand as soil, because these sand particles do not contain fine dust particles. It is not valid to use the dust particles that gather on the house furniture, for example, to perform tayammum, unless that dust was the fine dust of soil.

 

It is invalid to use a najas-filthy soil to perform tayammum or soil mixed with another pure (tahir) material, such as ashes. As well, it is invalid to reuse the soil which was previously used in performing tayammum. For example, if one were to collect the soil which had fallen from the face after using it to wipe the face, one cannot reuse that to wipe one’s arms or to perform a separate tayammum.

One strikes the soil with the inside part of the hands, then makes and maintains the intention of performing tayammum while transferring the dust of the soil from the ground until it is wiped on part of the face. One wipes the entire face and then strikes the soil a second time to wipe the hands and forearms.

 

Explanation: Performing tayammum involves transferring the soil (maintaining the intention during the transfer) and wiping the specific body parts. One strikes the soil with the inner side of one’s hands with the fingers spread. Then one lifts one’s hands up to begin transferring the soil to wipe one’s face. During the entire time of transferring the soil, from when one first lifts one’s hands from the first strike of the soil, until one wipes the first part of one’s face, one must hold the intention of performing tayammum. Hence, if one’s intention was interrupted between the time of the beginning of the transfer until the wiping of the first part of the face, the intention is invalid and by consequence, the tayammum is invalid. However, holding the intention for the entire duration of the transfer is a case of difference in opinion; some scholars, like Imam Malik, said if the intention was interrupted in the process of transfer, it would not affect the validity of the tayammum.

 

With the fine soil-dust from the first strike, one wipes the whole face, the boundaries of which were previously defined. (It is not a condition that the soil reaches to the skin under the beard of the man, even if it was thin, because this involves a hardship.) Then one strikes the soil a second time to transfer (its dust) to wipe the forearms and elbows. One wipes the entire forearm, up to and including the elbow—that same area washed in wudu’—using the soil on the inner side of the left hand to wipe the right arm, and the soil on the inner part of the right hand to wipe the left arm.

 

It is invalid to wipe both the face and the hands with just one strike of the soil. It is invalid to use one tayammum to pray two obligatory prayers. Each obligatory prayer needs a separate tayammum—even if that obligatory prayer was a make-up. One may pray as many optional prayers as one wants with one tayammum.

 

The Purificatory Bath (Ghusl)

Among the conditions of prayer is purification from the state of major ritual impurity (Hadath akbar) by performing the purificatory bath (ghusl).

Dry purification (tayammum) is performed when one cannot perform ghusl.

Purification is a condition for the validity of prayers. Just as one who is in the state of minor ritual impurity (Hadath aSghar) must clear oneself of that state for the prayers by performing wuDoo’ or the dry purification (tayammum) when unable to use water, the one who is in a state of major ritual impurity must clear oneself of that state for the validity of the prayer.

To purify oneself from the major ritual impurity (Hadath akbar) one performs the purificatory bath (ghusl). When one cannot perform the purificatory bath, one instead performs the dry purification (tayammum) using soil to enable one to pray (although performing tayammum does not purify one from the state of major ritual impurity).

One is required to perform the purificatory bath after any of these five (5) matters occurs:

1.The emission of maniyy;
2.Sexual intercourse;
3.Termination of menses (HayD);
4.Termination of postpartum bleeding (nifaas);
5.Childbirth.

The occurrence of any one of these five matters causes the person to be in a state of major ritual impurity and obligates the person to purify himself from that state for the validity of his prayer. The occurrence of other than these five matters does not make the purificatory bath (ghusl) an obligation on one.

Washing the dead Muslim is not a matter pertaining to purifying him from the state of major ritual impurity. Moreover, performing this ghusl is not an obligation on the dead person himself, because he is no longer accountable. Rather, this ghusl is performed for him out of honouring him. Performing the ghusl for the dead Muslim is a collective obligation on the Muslim community.


The emission of maniyy and sexual intercourse are matters common between the man and the woman, i.e., if either of these matters occurs to the man or the woman, then the ghusl becomes an obligation on them. There are three matters specific to the woman that cause her to be in a state of major ritual impurity and require, once they terminate, a purificatory bath (ghusl) to clear herself of this state. They are:

3. menses (HayD);
4. postpartum bleeding (nifaas);
5. childbirth.

The purificatory bath (ghusl) becomes an obligation on the woman when her menses or post partum bleeding terminates. That is, when the blood of the menses stops (terminating the menses) or the blood that exits after delivery stops (terminating the postpartum bleeding period—even from a caesarean birth), then it becomes obligatory on the woman to perform the purificatory bath (ghusl) in order for her to pray.

The menses is defined as the usual blood that exits from the womb of the woman, neither as a result of illness, nor as a result of childbirth. The minimum time of the menses is the duration of a day and a night, i.e., twenty-four (24) hours of bleeding. So, if the duration of the bleeding adds up to less than twenty-four (24) hours, it is not considered blood of the menses. The maximum period is fifteen (15) days. So, bleeding which continues past fifteen (15) days is not considered blood of the menses.

The postpartum blood is the blood that comes out of the woman after delivery, because of delivery. It may last for only a moment. The maximum bleeding period after delivery is sixty (60) days. Bleeding after that time is not considered a postpartum bleeding, i.e., the blood of nifaas. Also, if the woman bleeds while giving birth, it is not considered the blood of nifaas.

Giving birth renders ghusl obligatory on the woman, whether or not she delivered at term or before, and whether or not she delivered a live or dead child. If the woman delivers and does not bleed afterwards, she still must perform ghusl for the prayers. Since the child originally developed from the combination of the maniyys of the man and the woman, its exit is similar to the exit of maniyy, which requires ghusl.

 

Integrals of the Purificatory Bath

 

The integrals of the purificatory bath are two (2):

 

1. To have the intention to clear oneself of the state of major ritual impurity (Hadath akbar), or a similar intention;

 

2. To wash the whole body with water, including the skin and the hair, even if the hair is thick.