Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Al-Ankabut (The Spider)
Chapter 29: Verse 3 (Partial)

God's Justice
"Allah will most certainly ascertain those who spoke the truth and those who lied."

When one reads this verse, a likely question that arises is: since God knows fully what everyone's conduct will be, what is the point in testing him? The answer is that as long as a person does not commit a certain action, irrespective of his ability to do so, the dictates of justice require that he should neither be rewarded nor punished. One person might be potentially trustworthy and another potentially untrustworthy. However, unless they act in one manner or the other, it is discordant with God's justice to reward or punish them only on the basis of His knowledge of those actions that will take place in the future.

God, no doubt, has knowledge of both the past and the future, yet this does not have a bearing on the manner in which He will dispense justice. He does not punish anyone simply because he is inclined to steal or because he is likely to steal in the future. Rather, His punishment is contingent upon the person actually stealing. By the same token, God does not bestow His rewards on someone just because they will grow into excellent believers or as excellent fighters in God's cause. On the contrary, this person too only earns his reward by dint of his actually having sincere faith and striving in God's cause.

Source:
"Towards Understanding the Quran" - Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi, Vol. 8, pp. 7-8

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Broken Vow

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who took an oath and (later on) found another thing better than that, he should do that which is better, and expiate for the vow (broken by him). [Muslim]

The expiation for breaking an oath consists of options in the order in which Allah mentioned them in the Quran (Maidah 5: 89):

1. Feeding ten poor person with the average kind of food that one feeds his family, or
2. Clothing them, or
3. Freeing a slave.
The one who does one of these things has fulfilled his duty and done what was required of him. If he is unable to do any of these three things, then he moves to the option of fasting, and he must fast three days. 

The quantity of food that must be given to each poor person is roughly 1.5 kilograms (1/2 sâ`) of food. The total would be roughly 15 kilograms of food. Clothing a person is what is sufficient for a person to wear to prayer.

There is no country in the world without needy or poor people. Even in a wealthy country, a person who is poor and hungry is still poor and hungry. However, if it is difficult to distribute the food, or there is a fear of giving it to people who are not deserving, then one may appoint someone more experienced – like a charitable organization – to distribute the food on his behalf. One may even give that agency money to purchase the food or clothing on his behalf and then distribute it to the poor.

One may distribute this food or clothing in another country. At times, this may be the better option, especially when there is a famine or natural disaster somewhere in the world where people desperately need assistance.

On the other hand, it would not be good for the one expiating for the broken oath to decide to carry out that expiation in some poorer country as a means of saving money, since the cost of food in his or her own country – and consequently the cost of feeding the poor – is much higher than elsewhere.

Source:
Islam-QA.com
IslamToday.com

Blindspot!

Have you noticed that each year, Ramadan goes by faster and faster? This blessed month can’t be left to become a blur in our memories. It has to be more than that time of the year we squeeze in fasting amongst the other things we do daily.

One way to make the most of Ramadan is to plan and prepare ourselves beforehand. Here are few resources that will help us prepare for Ramadan:

SoundVision.com's page on Ramadan
Tips and articles to make the planning easy for the entire family.

MuslimVille.com Ramadan Activities
Make it cool for kids.

IslamOnline.Net Ramadan 1428
Still useful.

Young Muslims Brochure
Ramadan: A Time for Revival or Survival? [read, download]
Ramadan: Un moment pour la renaissance ou la survie? [lire, download]