When Giving Sadaqa.( What not to do)

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh
Many of us have the habit of asking the poor to pray for us after giving them our sadaqa. Do you know that our mother Aisha may Allah be pleased with her used to hate that!! Why?
Allah says in surat Al Insaan what can be translated as: And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive,76:8

Meaning even the captive who comes to kill you and you hold them captive, you must feed them.
Then Allah continues in the following ayah saying what can be translated as: "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah . We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9
Meaning we do not wish from you any reward (like Dua’a) or gratitude (A thank you). So when you give sadaqa do not ask the poor person to pray for you, this is a very important matter my dear sister and brother and if you have been doing it, you must stop.
Our mother Aisha may Allah be pleased with her used to send the messengers with sadaqaat (money as charity) to different locations and when the messengers come back, she used to ask them, what did they pray for me? The messengers would say, they prayed for you such and such, she will say I will pray for them the same so the reward remains with Allah!! Why is that?
Because when the poor person prays for you, they have already rewarded you for your kindness and good deed!.
So for example If I gave a poor person $20 and told them: “ pray for me to be cured, and pray for my children and my husband” this means if this person prays for me then they have already rewarded me. The question, is this the reward I was looking for?
That is why Allah said in the above ayah: "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah . We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9
So when you give that sadaqa, you give it for the sake of Allah and Allah will reward you for it and you and I know that no human can reward us better than the Most Generous Subhanahu wa Ta’alah
If the poor person prayed for you without you asking that is fine but you do not give a $50 and say please pray for me to get married, get a job, have children…etc.
Give the sadaqa. What do you want? Nothing, “We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9”
Sadly, many of us do not realize this. We give and say do not forget to pray for me.

Give the sadaqa and the reward is from Allah, if the poor person prayed for you, that’s fine and if they didn’t then the reward remains with Allah.

Al Man'n

Assalam Aleikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuhu

I want to cover today a very fatal mistake most of us fall into. We commit it because we do not know the gravity of it and what will it cost us!!!
I know that you and I always try to strive to help others and do good so that we can get the reward for those deeds but some of us lose all the reward by doing a very simple action.. Sometimes we do this action without thinking……what is it?
It is what we call in Arabic Al Man’n
Al Man’n means, giving something to the person then saying: I gave you, or telling someone I did this and that for you and look at how you are paying me?!! Phrases like this which many of us use especially when someone hurts you after you being good to them.
Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَى كَالَّذِي يُنْفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْداً لا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ) (البقرة:264)
Translation:
O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His example is like that of a [large] smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare. They are unable [to keep] anything of what they have earned. And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people. 2:264
The minute you utter that word my dear sister and brother, you have lost all the deeds you did for that person no matter how big or many they are. This is very common with us, especially with our families and friends. When we do good to someone, we say: I did this and that and I gave them and look at how they are treating me ??!!
Why my dear sister and brother? Why waste all your efforts and your deeds? Look back into your life and see how many deeds you have wasted by committing Man’n?
Let me ask you; Who are you giving?
You need to understand that when you give, you are giving Allah from the provisions of Allah!!!
When you give something, you are not giving it to the person, but your sadaqa or your charity falls on the hands of Allah first before it falls on the hands of the needy so have manners with Allah and look at how you are giving!! When you did what you did, did you do it for the sake of Allah or because you expected a pay back in return?
The Prophet peace be upon him said:
وعن أبي ذر رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: " ثلاثة لا يكلمهم الله يوم القيامة ولا ينظر إليهم، ولا يزكيهم ولهم عذاب أليم" قال: فقرأها رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ثلاث مرار. قال أبو ذر: خابوا وخسروا من هم يا رسول الله؟ قال: المسبل، والمنان، والمنفق سلعته بالحلف الكاذب" ((رواه مسلم)).
Translation:
Abi Thar may Allah pleased with him said, the Prophet peace be upon him said: There are three types of people to whom Allah (swt ) will not speak and neither will he bless them and for them is a severe torment” Abu thar said : The Prophet peace be upon him repeated it three times. I said: They are the losers Oh Messenger of Allah, who are they? The Prophet peace be upon him said: The Musbil (the man who lets his garment too long on the floor, The mannan (the one who gives and reminds those he gave) and the one who swears lying to sell his product. (Narrated Muslim)
Man’n is even worse when it is done to a relative or a family member, like a brother or a cousin or an uncle…etc.
You say: I did this and that for them and look at what they did to me or you say I covered for them and they exposed me and other phrases similar to this, disclosing the good you did.
The minute you open your mouth and say what you did, you should know that everything you did is down the drain and you simply got nothing from it. You might even suffer from it on the Day of Judgment as per the above hadith. So be careful my dear sister and brother, this is a big deal. Control your tongue and watch out what you say. One word could cost you a great amount of good deed and might make Allah angry with you.
Do good for the sake of Allah and hide it as much as you can because you only expect the reward from Allah and not from any human being.
The Prophet peace be upon him exaggerated in the hadith when he said your left hand should not know what your right hand has given!! This was to emphasis on the importance of hiding your good deeds and your charity.
May Allah grant us tawfeeq (success) to do good for others and avoid Man’n

RIZQ (PROVISION)

Asalaam Aleikum Warahmatullahi Wabatakatuhu.

Suffering from lack of Rizq (provision)!

This is for you my sister and brother who have less rizq (provision) or money or you are struggling to survive in this world. May be you are asking yourself, why me?
May be you are thinking in your mind, what have I done wrong?
May be you look at those who have wealth and wonder, why not me?
And may be you think I am worshiping Allah more than them but why Allah is not granting me like them?

I have the answers to all your questions but before I start I want you to first read these following ahadith which are all authentic.

ʿĀʾisha (ra) said: “Verily, we, the family of Muḥammad ﷺ, would go an entire month without lighting a fire. It was only dates and water.”
Anas (ra) said: “One time the Prophet ﷺ was brought dates and I saw him eating them while leaning on something because of the severity of his hunger.”3

Ibn ʿAbbās (ra) said: “The Prophet ﷺ and his family would go to sleep while hungry for several nights because they could not find anything to eat for dinner. And most of their bread was from barley.”
Sahl ibn Sʿad (ra) was asked: “Did the Prophet ﷺ eat white flour?” Sahl said, “The Prophet ﷺ did not see white flour until he met God.”
Who is this we are talking about?

He is the best of the creation of Allah peace be upon him, he is the beloved messenger of Allah, the one whom Allah chose among all human beings to represent Him and spread His words and the one whom the door of Jannah will not open to anyone before him!!
This should answer all your questions and worries, there is no need for me to say anything more.

My dear brother and sister if your rizq is less then rest assured that Allah has chosen you like He has chosen your beloved Prophet peace be upon him. If there was khair (good) in having more rizq, Allah would have given it to Mohammad peace be upon him.
Allah has chosen you and restricted your provision not because He is angry with you or because He wants to punish you and He confirmed that clearly in surat Al Mulk….

Allah says what can be translated as: And as for man, when his Lord tries him and [thus] is generous to him and favors him, he says, "My Lord has honored me."89:15
But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he says, "My Lord has humiliated me." 89:16
Allah responds after these two ayat and says what can be translated as: No! 89:17

So your calculation is wrong and your thoughts are wrong!!

Allah knows each and every one of us and He knows that some of us need to be restricted to be closer to Him and be a better believer. Be happy and content my dear sister and brother and know if it was khair (good) for you to have more provision, Allah would have given it to you.
Some of us when having more rizq, we sin more and we forget Allah, we forget where we are going, we forget to thank Him, we say it by mouth but no actions. WAllahi it is a harder test if you have more but you just do not realize. The shaytaan blinds you and makes you live only the moment and worry about only what you need.

Go back to Allah and strengthen your iman and be proud that you are chosen just like your beloved Prophet peace be upon him. Use it to your benefit like he did, use it to gain Jannah be ethniLLAH and remember this is not the eternal life, this is just a test and you are passing a way.

May Allah grant us success to pass our tests and attain Jannah Ameen.

HOW TO DEFEAT THE SHAYTAAN DURING PRAYERS

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh
How many times did you start praying and the shaytaan started whispering to you all sorts of things?
How many rewards did the shaytaan snatch from you during prayer then walked away laughing?
Yes the shaytaan looks at your prayer with so much desire and jealousy. He wants to spoil it for you as much as he possible!!  The problem is that we follow him, he tells you think of this and you start thinking then he tells you switch to this and you follow him, suddenly you hear the imam saying Salam and you don’t even know what you were saying or how many units you prayed.
Let’s admit that we lost many battles against the shaytaan but we don’t want to continue losing and instead we want to put a limit to this evil thieve.Today I will do my best in shaa Allah to help you stop the shaitaan from stealing your rewards while you are not looking.
What happens in Salah (Prayer?)
When you stand to pray the shaytaan feels so jealous because you are standing in the best position and you get to speak to Allah and please him which he failed to do.  He will put all his hard work and effort to spoil it for you.  This is something you must understand before you start praying. You are entering a battle between you and him, either you win or he wins.
What is ironic is that he gives you the best solutions for your problems during prayer.  You could be thinking of a solution all day and nothing comes up but you stand up to pray and there it is. Why? Because he has been saving those solutions for the battle of prayer, the minute you stand to pray he starts showing you all these solutions to your problems sometimes to even older problems so he can win the battle against you.You need to understand that the shaytaan has a goal and that is to steal your prayer. Our mother Aisha may Allah be pleased with her narrated: I asked Allah's Apostle about looking hither and thither in prayer. He replied, "It is a way of stealing by which Satan takes away (a portion) from the prayer of a person." Sahih Al Bukhari
The enemy of Allaah, vowed to mislead and tempt the sons of Adam and said:
Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left [al-Araaf 7:17, interpretation of the meaning],What we need to realize that the reward recorded for Salah is in proportion to the degree of khushoo, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: A slave may pray and have nothing recorded for it except a tenth of it, or a ninth, or an eighth, or a seventh, or a sixth, or a fifth, or a quarter, or a third, or a half. (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; Saheeh al-Jaami, 1626).
So if you concentrate in one raka (Unit) you will get the reward for that one Rakah and if you didn’t concentrate on any of the rakas then you get nothing. The Khalifah Omar Ibn Al Khattab said: a man may become old while he is in Islam and may he did not complete a single prayer LeLLAH….how? Because he has been praying all his life without concentration and lost all his prayers. Only the parts of his prayer where he focused and concentrated properly will be of any avail to him. It was reported that Ibn Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: You will only have from your prayer that which you focused on.
This is so scary..Can you imagine how much effort you are spending which could all go to waste??? So what to do?
Let me start by giving you a simple example that will make the picture easier to understand. If I come to you and tell you, please hold on to these gold coins and make sure you take good care of them and watch them for a period of time so no one steals them…….you then hold on to those coins and watch them carefully…….but after a short while you start feeling sleepy and you doze off………A thieve comes and steals as much as they can while you are not looking. You then wake up and start paying attention again for a short while and you fall asleep again and the thieve keeps coming back and snatching from you every time you fall asleep ….this is exactly what happens in prayer.
Some of us will come out of their prayer with one rakah or may be two and others may come out with nothing and loses the value of prayer which the Prophet peace be upon him told us about when he used to call Bilal and say: (Arihna beha ya Bilal) “O Bilal; call for (the start of) Prayer; relieve us by it (the Prayer).”[13]
Ibnul Qayyem said about those who leave the prayer with nothing: they leave the salah with all their load, sadness and worries exactly as they first entered the salah. The Salah did not relieve them. Salah relieves those who pray with complete concentration and when they are done they leave while they feel so light, energetic and happy Subhana Allah.It was narrated that: When the slave stands up to pray Allah faces him and when he starts with concentration Allah tells the angels to lift the (Hujoub, plural of Hijaab ) covers, but if his heart turns away and starts thinking of something else, Allah says to the angels (Arkhou-haa) bring down the covers. Ibnul Qayyem said: once the covers are brought down, the Shaytaan enters and starts showing you the matters of this dunia (life) as if you are looking at a mirror. But if the person goes to Allah with his heart and complete concentration, the shaytaan cannot break into that hijaab or barrier between him and Allah. Ibnul Qayyem says: the Shaytaan enters when the hijab or cover falls off. But when the person tries again to concentrate the shaytaan runs away and the hijab is brought back up and so forth…..That is how he fights you during salah, the minute you dose off, he tries to get from you as much as he can.
Allah says what can be translated as: And when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate (61:05)
I know you will ask me, how I can concentrate with my heart!!? What do I need to do to keep him away.
Before I answer you let me ask you a question: if every time you pass a certain road you find a huge dog who is ready to attack you, what will you do?
Some may say: I will hit him with a rock, others may say I will try to fight him with anything I am carrying but that would not be wise.  The best thing to do is to ask the owner of the dog to keep his dog away from you so you can pass the road safely.It is exactly the same thing Subhana Allah with the Shaytaan. Allah says what can be translated as: And if an evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah . Indeed, He is Hearing and Knowing (7:200)
And in Salah we have a special way to seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytaan which the Prophet peace be upon him taught us.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us the following methods of combatting the wiles of Shaytaan and getting rid of his waswaas: Abul-Aas (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that he said, O Messenger of Allaah, the Shaytaan interrupts me when I pray, and I get confused in my recitation.The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, That is a shaytaan whose name is Khanzab. If you sense his presence, seek refuge with Allaah from him, and spit [dry spitting] towards your left three times. [Abul-Aas] said:I did that and Allaah took him away from me.(Reported by Muslim, no. 2203)Another important way which can help you is to take a minute before you start your prayer and think of the reward and what you want to achieve. Think that you are going to stand before Allah and that you will beat the Shaytaan and you will not let him take one single reward from you.
The Shaytaan tried to fight us and steal our rewards many times before but from today no more. We will by the grace of Allah be stronger and fight him back.
Inspired by my favorite Sheikh, Mushari Al Kharraz

Change Dust Into Gold This Ramadan.

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh

Today I want to talk to you about a beautiful and easy way to get lots and lots of reward …. Let’s try and implement it in the last ten days of Ramadan and then continue after Ramadan In shaa Allah. With this, your reward meter will never stop for the whole day including the night while you are sleeping!!

So are you interested? If yes keep reading

This act will change the dust into Gold

It is the trade or the business of the Olma’a (scholars)

I know by now you just want to know what it is…..be patient, I will tell you 

You can change all the permissible acts in your life into reward and hasanaat. So you simply do the same acts you do every day but your turn them from being (Mubaahh) permissible to being (Mustahab) favorable and whoever does that for sure will be at the highest level. Allah SWT says: (Say, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?") 39:9

The Question: How can I change the Mubahaat (permissible acts) to Mustahabaat (favorable acts)?

The answer: You can do that through what is called the smart neyyah….. How?

When you want to do a permissible act make sure to have a neyya to do it to get closer to Allah, e.g. If you want to eat, have a neyya that you are eating to become strong and to focus on your prayers because if you don’t eat you will not be able to have concentration in your prayer.

You are going to sleep any way, why waste 7 or 8 hours of sleep without any reward!!? Have a neyya that you are going to sleep so that you rest and wake up for the prayer of fajr and focus in your athkaar because if you don’t sleep you will simply not be able to focus. 

Even if you are getting into your car to drive, have an intention that you will drive properly and you will have high manners towards others as a means of dawah if they are none Muslim and as a means of Ihsaan if they are Muslim and you are doing this for the sake of Allah. 

That is why the neyya is called the “Trade of the Abrar” the trade of the smart people because they turn what does not have hasanaat (reward) to hasanaat (reward), they change the dust into gold…through neyyah, how amazing is that!!?

The best part of all this is that to have a neyyah is so simple, it does not need any physical effort. Have you ever seen someone telling you: I am so tired today I did too much neyyah (intention)!!? Of course not so even if we increase our neyyah we will not end up with a muscle strain or a back pain…. It is so simple

But after all this do you know what is so odd? Even though the neyya is so simple but most people forget it….. So what is the solution? 

The solution is tawfeeq (success) from Allah SWT. Pray to him ask him to give you tawfeeq and believe me if he sees you serious in wanting to get closer to him, he will take you by the hand to him, he will make it so easy for you to do all sorts of ibadaat and he will help you with the neyya in all your acts in shaa Allah. Allah SWT says in Qura’an: (And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.) 29:69

I know some may say: why all this?, why complicate things?….. I will respond: If you don’t want it, don’t do it but also don’t stop others from doing what can increase their rewards. The believers are in levels and everyone gets as much as they work for. Allah SWT says: (They are [varying] degrees in the sight of Allah , and Allah is Seeing of whatever they do) 3:163

Now that we have learnt how to change the Mubahaat (permissible) to Mustahabaat (Favorable), I know some of you will say: I don’t know what kind of neyyah I should do for my daily acts to change the permissible into favorable!!

Ok I will help you and give you some useful examples which you can learn from. 

If you want to go to work, don’t just have the neyyah you are going to work so your salary doesn’t get deducted…. Instead have the neyya that you are going to work to protect your family from haram and to serve your country and serve the Muslims and the people and make their lives easier… this way your work will have lots of rewards instead of it just being permissible…..so can you picture 8 hours of reward every day plus your salary!!? Subhana Allah Al Kareem

This means you need to contemplate before you do any action. If you want to go to the kitchen to cook, take a second and think about it and why you are doing it. I am going to cook for my family as a means of Ihsaan to help them be strong and do their worship. 
You want to do the laundry for your husband and children, take a second and think about it and why you are doing it. That is why the scholars said to think and contemplate about the mercies and blessings of Allah for one hour is better than doing Qeyaam (praying) the whole night. You are doing so many acts during the day which you can gain reward from. Even if it’s an act which you enjoy, what is the harm of making it for the sake of Allah.

In your studies, have the neyya that you are studying to please your parents and to benefit the Muslims with your knowledge and that way all the days and years of your study will be filled with rewards in shaa Allah.

If you want to play football, don’t just have the neyya to have fun but also add to your neyya to play with manners and to make your friends happy and to strengthen your body to have a better concentration in your ibadaat (forms of worship).

I hope these examples would help you get the point

Some people may say: even if I try I don’t feel like I am doing it for the sake of Allah because I am going to do the act any way so I feel that my neyya is not sincere…. What can I do?

The answer: For you to know that your neyya is sincere is very simple….. Your neyya must be in line with your act…. How?.... I will give you a simple example, let’s say someone wants to turn their act of eating into reward with the neyyah that it is to make them strong and help them concentrate in their prayers, but that same person ends up eating so much until they can’t breathe so instead of the food being a reason to concentrate it becomes the reason to not concentrate…. Here we will tell this person that your neyya was not sincere.

Another example, If the person has the neyya to go to work to help the people and then when they are at work, they slack and don’t take their job seriously and lie and ask the customers to come back another time…. Then we tell this person, your neyya is not sincere.

And the person who has a neyya to sleep to be able wake up for fajr end up sleeping at 2AM…. We will tell them that your neyya was not sincere because by sleeping at 2AM you won’t be able to wake up for fajr all along and if you do you won’t be able to concentrate.

So the issue is not only to have the neyya but also to be sincere in it.

Now lets try and live this Golden day tomorrow in shaa Allah and turn all our acts into reward so our 24 hours a day will all be filled with reward and our meter will never stop. I want you to come back here and report to us how you did and how it felt the end of the day tomorrow in shaa Allah. And we continue from there until it becomes a habit in shaa Allah. 

Let’s get that reward meter to never stop and lets start our golden days

Qiyamul Lail

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh

Do you want to be from Eibadul Rahmaan (the servants of the most merciful) and win the highest level of Jannah (Paradise)?

I am sure you are thinking “of course, is that even a question”!!?

Allah Ta’alah says:
وَعِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ الَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ هَوْناً وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَاما))
وَالَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمْ سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا

What can be translated as: ( And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace,
And those who spend [part of] the night to their Lord prostrating and standing [in prayer] ) 25:63-64

Those who spend part of the night prostrating to their lord means those who pray Qeyamulail.

What is Qeyamulail (or the prayer of the night)?

Qeyamulail is an honor given by Allah to those who serve his deen, do good in this dunia and worship him with sincerity. Not just anyone gets to do Qeyamulail!!

I will give you a simple example in our daily life to help you realize: if you have a son or a daughter, they will not get to meet the president of the country unless they do exceptionally well in their studies or sports compared to the rest of the students within the area, city or country. Wa LeLLAHUL mathal Al A’lah.

So Qeyamulail is like an honorary grade. This person who served Allah and their deen during the day, Allah wakes them up at night to meet and connect with him as an honor and a reward for their hard work. Subhana Allah, can you feel the tranquility of that!!?

If you were looking to apply for a job in one of the companies or ministries and you heard that the CEO or the Minister walks on the beach every morning at 6 AM. I am sure you will go and buy yourself some sports shoes and outfit, even though you have never played sports before and may be your belly is one meter away from you!!! But you will do that and you will go walking on the beach at 6 AM…..why!!? Because you have a need and you will do anything to achieve it. We do this with humans, what about the lord of the humans!!? Aren’t we supposed to do more with him?

I am not saying we have to be like the companions of the Prophet PBUH who used to pray the whole night or half of it. We do not have to be like Ata’a ibn Rabah who used to wake up third of the night and sometimes half of it. We do not have to be like Imam Abi hanifa who used to pray fajr with the wudu of isha for forty years. We do not have to be like all those because our iman is still weak. Let us work in conjunction with our iman. 

Qeyamul Lail starts from only two Rak3ahs any time of the night, the beginning of the night (after Isha), the middle or the end just before athaan of fajr. You can do more than the two raka’as if you wish, of course if you increase the reward will also increase. But if you pray just two raka3as and one Rak3a witr, that is considered as Qeyam and when Allah SWT calls on the day of Judgment for those who used to pray Qeyamul Lail you will be one of them insha Allah. 

The best time for Qeyamulail is the last part of the night just before fajr, because Allah SWT descends to the lowest heaven every night. As the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Our Lord descends to the lowest heaven every night when the last third of the night remains, and He says, ‘Who will call upon Me, that I may answer him? Who will ask of Me, that I may give him? Who will ask Me for forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”

Sadly most of us are either sleeping at that time or in a wedding listening to Music and dancing or committing other sins waleyathu biLLAH . We are missing alot of Khair.

After learning all this, let’s not waste these chances any more.

Let’s have a plan for Qeyamulail:

For my brothers, let us start praying isha in Jama’ah (congregation) and fajr in Jama’ah. The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said: "One who performs `Isha' prayer in congregation, is as if he has performed Salat for half of the night. And one who performs the Fajr prayer in congregation, is as if he has performed Salat the whole night.''
[Muslim] 

He (peace and blessing be upon him) also said, “If people knew the reward in praying Fajr and Isha in congregation, they would go to the mosque even if they had to crawl.” [Bukhari & Muslim]

For my brothers and sisters, let’s set up our alarms half an hour before the athaan of fajr, just half an hour….what shall we do in this half an hour?

Use the first 15 minutes to read Qura’an so your heart will open up, and the next 15 minutes pray two rakas and witr or four raka’s. 
Continue with this plan for three months or even six months then increase it to 45 minutes instead of half an hour. Use 15 min. for Quran, 15 min. for Istighfaar and 15 min. for salah. Continue like that for another year and then make it one hour. Use 15 min. for Quran, 15 min. Istighfaar, 15 min salah ala rasoul, and 15 min. for salah.

Once you get used to this, you will find yourself waking up without an alarm and you will see so much khair in your life. You will have noor in your face, you will have a better concentration and will function more efficiently. Subhana Allah.


Qeyamulail is the only form of worship which is completely away from Reya’a because you do it late at night when everyone is asleep just you and your lord. The companions of the Prophet PBUH used to walk on their toes not to make anyone feel them praying Qeyamulail. Make it as your secret between you and Allah.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is prayer at night.” Narrated by Muslim, 1163

So let’s strive to not miss Qeyamul Lail even if it’s only 2 raka3a. May Allah grant us tawfeeq and help us achieve this honor Ameen.

Tarawih Prayers

It is prescribed to offer the night prayers in Ramadaan in

congregation or individually, but it is better to do it in congregation than to

do it individually for men. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon

him) led his companions in offering these prayers in congregation on several

nights. As for women it is best to pray at home but if the woman says I feel I

cannot concentrate when I pray at home or I feel lazy then she can pray in the

masjid. The Prophet peace be upon him said: the prayer of the woman in her

house is better than the Masjid

It is proven in al-Saheehayn that the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him) led his companions in prayer (Taraweeh) for

several nights, then on the third or fourth night he did not come out to them.

When morning came he said: “Nothing prevented me from coming out to you except

the fact that I feared that it would be made obligatory for you.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1129. According to the version

narrated by Muslim (761): “But I feared that night prayers would be made

obligatory for you and you would not be able to do them.”

The number of Rakas:

The best is what the Prophet peace be upon him used to pray

which is 11 rakas or 13 rakas. It was reported in the Sahih that Aisha may

Allah be pleased with her was asked how was the prayer of the Prophet at night

in Ramadan and she said: He never did more than 11 in Ramadan or any other

time) so this shows that 11 rakas is the best and you can do 13 also as per the

hadith of Ibn Abbas that the Prophet peace be upon him prayed 13 rakas.

But if it’s prayed as 23 rakas that is fine also because the

Prophet peace be upon him did not specify a certain number for the night

prayer. The Prophet peace be upon him was asked about the prayer of the night

in Sahih Al Bukhari: and he said: The pray of the night Mathna Mathna (in twos)

and if you fear the time of fajr then pray one and that should be your witr for

the day.

What to read?

It is better when reciting in Taraweeh to complete the

Qur’aan once. This may be understood from the reports in al-Saheehayn which

state that Jibreel used to study the Qur'aan with the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him) in Ramadaan, and review it with him.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz said (15/325):

It may be understood from this that if the imam recites the

entire Qur’aan to the congregation during Ramadaan, this is a kind of this

studying together, because this lets them benefit from hearing the entire

Qur’aan. Hence Imam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) used to like to

complete the Qur’aan with those whom he led in prayer, and this is akin to what

the salaf did, namely liking to hear the entire Qur’aan. But this does not mean

that he should rush and not be deliberate in his recitation, and not seek to be

focused and calm, rather seeking these things is better than seeking to

complete it.

Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 11/331-333

If you do not memories the Quran you are allowed to hold the

Mus-haf and pray but you need to limit your movement as much as possible.