Salat al-Istikhara:
When a Muslim faces an important issue and is confused about whether to do it or not, he should perform Istikhara. After performing Istikhara, it is not necessary that the indication comes in a dream; rather, he should do whatever his heart feels at ease with.
Dua of Istikhara:
اللهم إني أستخيرك بعلمك، وأستقدرك بقدرتك. وأسألك من فضلك العظيم، فإنك تقدر ولا أقدر وتعلم ولا أعلم ، وأنت علام الغيوب اللهم إن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر خير لي فى ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمرى أو قال: عاجل أمرى وأجله، فاقدره لي ويسره لي ثم بارك لي فيه، اللهم وإن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر شر فى في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمرى أو قال : عاجل أمرى واجله، فاصرفه عنى واصرفني عنه واقدر لي الخير حيث كان ثم ارضني به . (بخاری)
O Allah! I ask You for goodness through Your knowledge, and I seek power from You through Your power, and I ask You from Your great bounty, for You have power and I do not have power, and You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of all the unseen. O Allah! If You know that indeed this matter is good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and my end, then decree it for me and make it easy for me, then bless me in it. And if You know that indeed this matter is bad for me in my religion, my livelihood, and my end, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and decree for me what is good wherever it may be, then make me pleased with it.
Salat al-Kusuf wal-Khusuf (Prayer during Solar or Lunar Eclipse):
It is narrated from Abdullah bin Abbas رضي الله عنه that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم, a solar eclipse occurred. The Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم performed a long prayer in congregation.
① The Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم recited the Quran equivalent to Surah Al-Baqarah.
② Then he performed a long bowing (ruku).
③ Then he stood for a long time, meaning he recited for a long time.
④ Then he performed a shorter bowing than the first one.
⑤ Then he performed two prostrations (sujood).
⑥ Then he stood up and remained standing for a long time.
⑦ Then he performed a long bowing.
⑧ Then he stood and recited.
⑨ Then he went into bowing.
⑩ Then he performed two prostrations and after the Tashahhud, he ended the prayer with Salam.
(This means in two rak’ahs of prayer, in each rak’ah there are two bowings and two standings)
Salat al-Istisqa:
The prayer performed during times of drought or famine.
✿ Salat al-Istisqa is a two-rak’ah prayer.
✿ The Imam will recite aloud.
✿ It is to be performed in an open field or Eidgah.
✿ It is narrated from Anas رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم did not raise his hands in any supplication except for Salat al-Istisqa. The Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم raised both hands, extended them until the armpits were visible.
✿ The time is immediately after sunrise.
✿ First, the Imam will lead two rak’ahs of prayer, then face the Qiblah and either turn the cloak inside out or turn the hands to make supplication.
✿ Salat al-Istisqa will be performed without Adhan and Iqamah.
✿ After the two rak’ahs, a sermon and supplication will be made.
Salat al-Ishraq or Salat al-Awwabin:
It is narrated from Abu Dharr رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم said:
It is obligatory upon every person to give charity in exchange for every joint (movement). So every Tahmid (saying Alhamdulillah) is charity, every Tahleel (saying La ilaha illallah) is charity, every Takbeer (saying Allahu Akbar) is charity, enjoining good and forbidding evil is charity, and all of these are sufficient with the two rak’ahs of Ishraq prayer.
✿ The number of rak’ahs for Ishraq is either four or eight.
✿ The time for Salat al-Ishraq is after sunrise.
Salat al-Awwabin:
Zain bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to the people of Quba and saw them praying Duha prayer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
اوابین . (meaning those who turn to Allah very frequently) pray at the time when the sun has risen high enough that the feet of the camel calves begin to burn.
The voluntary prayers offered between Maghrib and Isha, called Salat al-Awwabin, have a weak narration:
صلاة الأوابين اذا رمضت الفصال من الضحى.
This is also called Salat al-Ishraq, which is prayed immediately after sunrise. Nasiruddin al-Albani classified this narration as Hasan (good). This is the true Salat al-Awwabin, not the voluntary prayers prayed after Maghrib, because the hadith about prayers after Maghrib is a mursal (disconnected) and weak narration.
Sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) related to the dead and death:
① The thing that removes pleasures is death; therefore, remember death frequently.
② Advise your deceased to لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللہ.
③ When a Muslim man dies and forty people participate in his funeral prayer who have not associated partners with Allah, Allah accepts their intercession (prayer for forgiveness) on behalf of that deceased.
Prayers of Salat al-Janazah:
① Surah Al-Fatiha (the first recitation).
② The Ibrahimic prayer (Durood Sharif) (second Takbeer).
③ Third Takbeer:
✿اللهم اغفر لحينا وميتنا، وصغيرنا وكبيرنا، وذكرنا وأنثانا، وشاهدنا وغائبنا، اللهم من أحييته منا فأحيه على الإسلام، ومن توفيته منا فتوفه على الإيمان، اللهم لا تحرمنا أجره، ولا تفتنا بعده
O Allah! Forgive our living and our dead, our present and our absent, our young and our old, our males and our females. O Allah! Whom You keep alive from among us, keep him alive upon Islam, and whom You cause to die from among us, cause him to die upon faith. O Allah! Do not deprive us of his reward and do not let us fall into trial after him.
اللهم اغفر له، وارحمه وعافه واعف عنه، واكرم نزله، ووسع مدخله واغسله بالماء والثلج والبرد. ونقه من الخطايا كما نقيت الثوب الأبيض من الدنس، وأبدله دارا خيرا من داره، وأهلا خيرا من أهله.
(After the fourth Takbeer, give Salam without reciting anything further).
O Allah! Forgive him and have mercy on him and grant him well-being and pardon him and honor his hospitality and expand his grave and wash him with water, snow, and hail and cleanse him of sins as a white garment is cleansed of dirt and give him a better home than this home and better family than his family.
Be cautious about performing the funeral prayer for a polytheist and an innovator because Allah, the Lord of Glory, has forbidden performing the funeral prayer for a polytheist. You cannot even supplicate for their forgiveness. The Prophet ﷺ said at the death of his beloved uncle Abu Talib that he would pray for his forgiveness until he was stopped. Then the verse of the Quran was revealed, stating that it is not appropriate for the Prophet ﷺ and the believers to pray for the forgiveness of polytheists, even if they are relatives, when it has become clear that they are destined for Hell.
اِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِیْ مَنْ اَحْبَبْتَ
(O Prophet) You cannot guide whom you like.
The Noble Prophet ﷺ said:
They were not granted permission to pray for forgiveness for their noble mother, but they were allowed to visit the grave. Now, no ignorant person should say that Abu Talib was a polytheist, so seeking forgiveness for him is forbidden. Abu Talib and other polytheists adhered to the Abrahamic religion. They performed Umrah, circumambulated the Kaaba, offered Salah and Hajj, served the pilgrims; their only fault was that they used Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat as intercessors and means to Allah. These Al-Lat, Manat, and Al-Uzza were not idols but righteous servants of Allah. After their death, people made statues of them. Similarly, today’s Muslim polytheists call upon their self-created deities and offer sacrifices to them, making them intercessors with Allah.
Decoration of Mosques:
✿ The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
I have not been commanded to decorate the mosque.
✿ Umar Farooq رضي الله عنه rebuilt the Prophet’s Mosque ﷺ during his caliphate and said that I am rebuilding the mosque to protect it from rain, and he forbade coloring the mosque.
✿ When you begin to decorate and adorn your mosques and embellish your Mushaf (Quran), destruction will begin to descend upon you.
✿ It is narrated from Ali رضي الله عنه that when people start decorating mosques, their deeds will become corrupt.
Walid bin Abdul Malik introduced the innovation of decorating mosques, and in today’s era this evil has turned into a good, and people build mosques with beautiful designs and patterns. This has two types of harms:
① Extravagance and wastefulness fall under the category of sin. Such magnificent mosques, whereas by saving that money mosques could be built in areas where there are none.
② Writing one’s name can also fall under the category of showing off and ostentation, and this is an extremely dangerous act. Because ostentation is a minor form of shirk.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
One of the signs of the Day of Judgment is people boasting about mosques.
Statement on Prohibited Prayers (Innovations of the People of Bid’ah)
Fifteenth of Sha’ban (Night of Bara’at):
On this night, the people of innovation perform nawafil (supererogatory prayers) and fast. There is no authentic hadith to prove this; the narration in Ibn Majah about fasting on the fifteenth of Sha’ban has been declared very weak by the hadith scholars.
Making up Missed Prayers (Qada-e-Umri):
Meaning, the prayers you miss, this is an innovation of the people of bid’ah. You can only make up missed prayers after waking up from sleep or regaining consciousness from unconsciousness.
Salat al-Raghaib:
The people of bid’ah perform this prayer. Imam Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This prayer is an innovation and detestable; may Allah destroy and ruin those who establish and innovate it.
Salat al-Tasbih:
Salat al-Tasbih is not proven from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Regarding the narration about Salat al-Tasbih, Imam Ahmad states that it is not authentic. Imam Ahmad considered this prayer to be a fabrication. Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, and Imam Shafi’i did not even mention this prayer. If it were such an important act of worship, it would have at least been established from one of the Imams. Therefore, it is an innovation.
Number of Rak’ahs:
The innovators pray 17 rak’ahs of Isha, which is not proven from any weak or authentic hadith, and they sit for nawafil in every prayer. These nawafil are not proven from any hadith, and praying while sitting reduces the reward by half, and they peck like crows. This is because more time is required for seventy rak’ahs.
Before every prayer, they make intention in their own languages.
They consider raising the hands (Raf’ al-Yadain) to be an innovation, whereas raising the hands is proven from a very large number of hadiths (approximately 210).
