The month of Sha’baan - I

Sha’baan is the name of the (eighth) month, and it is so called because in this month the Arabs used to disperse (tasha’aba) in search of water, or it was said that they dispersed to carry out raids and forays. Or it was said that it is so called because it sha’aba (branches out or emerges) i.e., it appears between the months of Rajab and Ramadhaan.

‘Aa’ishah said: “The Messenger used to fast until we thought he would never break his fast, and not fast until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of Allaah fasting for an entire month except in Ramadhaan, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Sha’baan.” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

It was reported in the books of the Imaams Al-Bukhaari and Muslim that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “The Messenger of Allaah did not fast any entire month apart from Ramadhaan.”

Ibn ‘Abbaas regarded it as disliked to fast any entire month apart from Ramadhaan. Ibn Hajar said: “He observed more voluntary fasts in Sha’baan than in any other month, and he used to fast most of Sha’baan.”

Usaamah Ibn Zayd said: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allaah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Sha’baan.’ He said: ‘That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadhaan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of the Worlds. I like for my deeds to be lifted up when I am fasting.’” [An-Nasaa'ee]

Ibn Rajab said: “Fasting in Sha’baan is better than fasting in the Sacred Months, and the best of voluntary fasts are those that are (observed in the months) closest to Ramadhaan, before or after. The status of these fasts is like that of Al-Sunan Al-Rawaatib (optional prayers which the Prophet continued to perform all the time) which are done before and after obligatory prayers and which make up for any shortfall in the number of obligatory prayers. The same applies to fasts observed before and after Ramadhaan. Just as Al-Sunan Al-Rawaatib are better than other kinds of voluntary prayers, so fasts observed (in the months) before and after Ramadhaan are better than fasts at other times.

The phrase “Sha’baan is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadaan” indicates that because it comes between two important months, the sacred month of Rajab and the month of Ramadhaan, people are preoccupied with those two months and they do not pay attention to Sha’baan. Many people think that fasting in Rajab is better than fasting in Sha’baan, because Rajab is one of the Sacred Months, but this is not the case.

In the narration quoted above there is an indication that even though certain times, places and people may be commonly thought to posses a particular virtue, there may be others that are better than them.

It also indicates that it is commendable to make good use of the times when people tend to be negligent, by doing acts of worship. A group of the Salaf (predecessors) used to fill the time between Maghrib (sunset) and ‘Ishaa’ (evening) with prayer, saying that it was a time when many people were negligent. Another example is the remembrance of Allaah (Thikr) in the marketplace, because this means one is remembering Him in a place where people tend to be negligent. There are a number of benefits that come from making good use of times when people are often negligent, and using these times for worship, including the following:

Doing righteous deeds at times when people are distracted and negligent is more difficult. One of the indications of how virtuous a deed is, is how difficult it is: if everyone is doing a certain action, it is easy, but if most people are negligent, this makes it more difficult for those who do remember Allaah.

The Prophet said: “Worship at times of tribulation (Fitnah) is like Hijrah to me.” [Muslim] The phrase “worship at times of tribulation” refers to times of upheavals and trials, when people follow their own desires, and those who adhere to Islam are doing something difficult.

The scholars differed as to the reasons why the Prophet fasted so much in Sha’baan. Their various opinions were as follows:

That he had been unable to fast three days out of every month because he was travelling or for some other reason, so he made them all up together in Sha’baan. When the Prophet began to do some voluntary action, he would persist in it, and if he missed it, he would make it up later.
It was said that his wives used to make up the days that they missed of Ramadhaan in Sha’baan, so he used to fast because of that. This is the opposite of what was reported from ‘Aa’ishah that she used to delay making up days that she had missed in Ramadhaan until Sha’baan because she was too busy with the Messenger of Allaah to fast.
It was said that it was because this is a month which people do not pay attention to. This is the most correct view, because of the narration quoted above, in which he says: “That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadhaan.” [An-Nasaa'ee]
When Sha’baan began, if the Prophet still had some voluntary fasts outstanding that he had not fasted, he would make them up during Sha’baan so that his voluntary fasts would be complete before Ramadhaan came. Similarly, if he had missed some Sunnah prayers or he had missed Qiyaam Al-Layl (the optional night prayer), he would make it up. ‘Aa’ishah used to make the most of this opportunity to make up any obligatory Ramadhaan fasts that she had missed because of menstruation; during other months she was too busy with the Prophet to fast.

Narrating unverified stories in the path of Da'wah

Narrating unverified stories in the path of Da'wah



Question: What is the ruling regarding narrating stories I have heard, but am unaware as to their authenticity, in the path of da'wah to some people, and likewise narrating stories which I know are fabricated (lies)? And what is the ruling regarding narrating a hadeeth whilst I do not know whether it is authentic or weak?



Response: It is not permissible for a person, a storyteller or one who gives advice, to narrate a hadeeth and attribute it to the Messenger (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) whilst he does not know if it is authentic. And it is (also) not permissible for him to narrate a hadeeth whilst he knows it to be weak. However, if he narrates a weak hadeeth to reveal it's weakness and warn the people from it, then that is obligatory.



Likewise, he should not narrate stories which he assumes are worthy (of being narrated) without checking (their authenticity), and he should not narrate stories which he knows are fabricated, because that is being dishonest and deceiving the people.



Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen

as-Sahwah al-Islaamiyyah - Question 5, Page 105



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Published: 2 May 2005

Science: Contributions from Islam

Quran: Comments by Top Scientists

Evolution? Creation?

"Big Bang" - BUSTED!

"The heavens and the earth were ordered rightly, and were made subservient to man, including the sun, the moon, the stars, and day and night. Every heavenly body moves in an orbit assigned to it by God and never digresses, making the universe an orderly cosmos whose life and existence, diminution and expansion, are totally determined by the Creator."[Noble Quran 30:22]

These references, and the injunctions to learn, inspired the early Muslim scholars to study the heavens. They integrated the earlier works of the Indians, Persians and Greeks into a new synthesis.

Ptolemy's Almagest (the title as we know it today is actually Arabic) was translated, studied and criticized. Many new stars were discovered, as we see in their Arabic names - Algol, Deneb, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran. Astronomical tables were compiled, among them the Toledan tables, which were used by Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler.

Also compiled were almanacs - another Arabic term. Other terms from Arabic are zenith, nadir, Aledo, azimuth.

Muslim astronomers were the first to establish observatories, like the one built at Mugharah by Hulagu, the son of Genghis Khan, in Persia, and they invented instruments such as the quadrant and astrolabe, which led to advances not only in astronomy but in oceanic navigation, contributing to the European age of exploration.



Geography

Muslim scholars paid great attention to geography. In fact, the Muslims' great concern for geography originated with their religion.

The Quran encourages people to travel throughout the earth to see God's signs and patterns everywhere. Islam also requires each Muslim to have at least enough knowledge of geography to know the direction of the Qiblah (the position of the Ka'bah in Makkah) in order to pray five times a day.

Muslims were also used to taking long journeys to conduct trade as well as to make the Hajj and spread their religion. The far-flung Islamic empire enabled scholar-explorers to compile large amounts of geographical and climatic information from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Among the most famous names in the field of geography, even in the West, are Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Batuta, renowned for their written accounts of their extensive explorations.

In 1166, Al-Idrisi, the well-known Muslim scholar who served the Sicilian court, produced very accurate maps, including a world map with all the continents and their mountains, rivers and famous cities. Al-Muqdishi was the first geographer to produce accurate maps in color.

Spain was ruled by Muslims under the banner of Islam for over 700 years. By the 15th century of the Gregorian calendar the ruler-ship of Islam had been seated in Spain and Muslims had established centers of learning which commanded respect all over the known world at that time. There were no "Dark Ages" such the rest of Europe experienced for the Muslims in Spain and those who lived there with them. In January of 1492 Muslim Spain capitulated to Catholic Rome under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. By July of the same year, Muslims were instrumental in helping navigate Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean South of Florida.

It was, moreover, with the help of Muslim navigators and their inventions that Magellan was able to traverse the Cape of Good Hope, and Da Gamma and Columbus had Muslim navigators on board their ships.



Humanity

Seeking knowledge is obligatory in Islam for every Muslim, man and woman. The main sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophet Muhammad's traditions), encourage Muslims to seek knowledge and be scholars, since this is the best way for people to know Allah (God), to appreciate His wondrous creations and be thankful for them.

Muslims have always been eager to seek knowledge, both religious and secular, and within a few years of Muhammad's mission, a great civilization sprang up and flourished. The outcome is shown in the spread of Islamic universities; Al-Zaytunah in Tunis, and Al-Azhar in Cairo go back more than 1,000 years and are the oldest existing universities in the world. Indeed, they were the models for the first European universities, such as Bologna, Heidelberg, and the Sorbonne. Even the familiar academic cap and gown originated at Al-Azhar University.

Muslims made great advances in many different fields, such as geography, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, architecture, linguistics and astronomy. Algebra and the Arabic numerals were introduced to the world by Muslim scholars. The astrolabe, the quadrant, and other navigational devices and maps were developed by Muslim scholars and played an important role in world progress, most notably in Europe's age of exploration.

Muslim scholars studied the ancient civilizations from Greece and Rome to China and India. The works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid and others were translated into Arabic. Muslim scholars and scientists then added their own creative ideas, discoveries and inventions, and finally transmitted this new knowledge to Europe, leading directly to the Renaissance. Many scientific and medical treatises, having been translated into Latin, were standard text and reference books as late as the 17th and 18th centuries.



Mathematics

Muslim mathematicians excelled in geometry, as can be seen in their graphic arts, and it was the great Al-Biruni (who excelled also in the fields of natural history, even geology and mineralogy) who established trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Other Muslim mathematicians made significant progress in number theory.

It is interesting to note that Islam so strongly urges mankind to study and explore the universe. For example, the Noble Quran states:

"We (Allah) will show you (mankind) Our signs/patterns in the horizons/universe and in yourselves until you are convinced that the revelation is the truth."[Noble Quran 41:53]

This invitation to explore and search made Muslims interested in astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, and the other sciences, and they had a very clear and firm understanding of the correspondences among geometry, mathematics, and astronomy.

The Muslims invented the symbol for zero (The word "cipher" comes from Arabic sifr), and they organized the numbers into the decimal system - base 10. Additionally, they invented the symbol to express an unknown quantity, i.e. variables like x.

The first great Muslim mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi, invented the subject of algebra (al-Jabr), which was further developed by others, most notably Umar Khayyam. Al-Khawarizmi's work, in Latin translation, brought the Arabic numerals along with the mathematics to Europe, through Spain. The word "algorithm" is derived from his name.



Medicine

In Islam, the human body is a source of appreciation, as it is created by Almighty Allah (God). How it functions, how to keep it clean and safe, how to prevent diseases from attacking it or cure those diseases, have been important issues for Muslims.

Ibn Sina (d. 1037), better known to the West as Avicenna, was perhaps the greatest physician until the modern era. His famous book, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, remained a standard textbook even in Europe, for over 700 years. Ibn Sina's work is still studied and built upon in the East.

Prophet Muhammad himself urged people to "take medicines for your diseases", as people at that time were reluctant to do so. He also said,

"God created no illness, except that He has established for it a cure, except for old age. When the antidote is applied, the patient will recover with the permission of God."

Since the religion did not forbid it, Muslim scholars used human cadavers to study anatomy and physiology and to help their students understand how the body functions. This empirical study enabled surgery to develop very quickly.

Al-Razi, known in the West as Rhazes, the famous physician and scientist, (d. 932) was one of the greatest physicians in the world in the Middle Ages. He stressed empirical observation and clinical medicine and was unrivalled as a diagnostician. He also wrote a treatise on hygiene in hospitals. Kahaf Abul-Qasim Al-Sahabi was a very famous surgeon in the eleventh century, known in Europe for his work, Concession (Kitab al-Tasrif).

Other significant contributions were made in pharmacology, such as Ibn Sina's Kitab al-Shifa' (Book of Healing), and in public health. Every major city in the Islamic world had a number of excellent hospitals, some of them teaching hospitals, and many of them were specialized for particular diseases, including mental and emotional. The Ottomans were particularly noted for their building of hospitals and for the high level of hygiene practiced in them.