A forgotten Sunnah: Dates

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ ‏ نِعْمَ سَحُورُ الْمُؤْمِنِ التَّمْرُ

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Awesome is the meal of dates shortly before dawn for the believer.

Reference: http://sunnah.com/abudawud/14/33

2- Is your duaa accepted?

وإذا سألك عبادي عني فإني قريب أجيب دعوة الداع إذا دعان فليستجيبوا لي وليؤمنوا بي لعلهم يرشدون

And when My slaves ask you concerning Me, then I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocation of the supplicant whenever he calls Me. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.[2:186]

• The first person is used to say that Allah will respond. Usually a king directly responds if it is crucial. Imagine that Allah, the Lord of the heavens and the earth is specifically responding to your duaa.
• The singular is used and not the plural. Benefit: Allah will respond to every single duaa.
• The caller is not specified. It does not matter who you are; as long as you call Allah sincerely, He will respond.
• Means whenever you call. Which king is willing to do this: listen to you all the time and respond to you all the time!
• This is a conditional sentence (جملة شرطية). The expected sequence is the condition (شرط) and then the consequence (جواب الشرط). Here the consequence comes before the condition. Benefit: 1. Response is guaranteed. 2. It will come quickly.
  
• Another affirmation: Prophet SAW said that whoever wakes up and recites this [click at 2] and then makes duaa, Allah will accept their duaa (Bukhari).

1- Is your duaa accepted?

وإذا سألك عبادي عني فإني قريب أجيب دعوة الداع إذا دعان فليستجيبوا لي وليؤمنوا بي لعلهم يرشدون

And when My slaves ask you concerning Me, then I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.[2:186]

• This ayah is about making duaa to Allah. Duaa is a verbal noun which means to call out.
• The ayah begins with when and not if. The former implies it will happen and the later implies it may happen. Conclusion: If you are a slave of Allah, you will have this question and will look for the answer.
• One of the greatest honours a person can have is that they are a slave of Allah. Action: You can reach this high station by simply making duaa to Allah constantly.
• Allah SWT said my slaves and not Our slaves or the believers… Whenever Allah refers to Himself in the first person, it is either extreme mercy or extreme punishment.
• Whenever a question is posed  it is followed with Qul– say. Here, the Qul has been omitted. Benefits: 1. Shows the closeness of Allah to those making duaa. 2. There can be no intermediary between us and Allah, when we make duaa.
• Inaa is used to remove doubt that a person may have that Allah may not hear their plea.
  
• Means close. Hence one should not raise their voice, and instead should whisper; this shows ones certainty that Allah hears all and responds to all.

3- What I follow

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ

O you who have believed, eat from the good things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah if it is [indeed] Him that you worship. [2:172]

• In the previous ayats, Allah SWT invited mankind to follow the Shariah, and they rejected it. Now, Allah addresses the believers.
• This word includes that which is good for the body, soul and intellent [Ibn Tammiyah].
  
• After eating what should we do? Thank Allah! Prophet SAW said, whoever recites this duaa [click 180] after eating, Allah will forgive his sins [At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawood; authentic].
  
• How do we thank Allah? By worshipping Him (our energy — i.e. food — should be used for this). This is as sign of a sincere acknolwedgement of the blessings of  Allah.

How to protect children

I recently met a new brother at the Masjid. As I was exiting, I saw his son wearing something on his neck. I inquired about it and he replied, “it is a Taweez for protection”. I located Hisnul Muslim in the Masjid and referred the brother to the following:

The Prophet SAW used to seek Allah’s protection for Al-Hasan and Al-Husain by saying:

أُعِيذُكُمَا بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّةِ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ وَهَامَّةٍ وَمِنْ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لامَّةٍ

U’eethukumaa bikalimaatil-laahit-taammati min kulli shaytaanin wa haammatin, wa min kulli ‘aynin laammatin.

I seek protection for you in the Perfect Words of Allah from every devil and every beast, and from every envious blameworthy eye.

I was very happy to see the child later on without the talisman.

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