TREASURY OF BLESSED KNOWLEDGE
TREASURY OF BLESSED KNOWLEDGE
Can I be photographed and have photographs in the house?
The story about this chest and images is detailed in the books named earlier. Those interested can read it. Today, one has only to hint at an image of the Prophet ﷺ, because people who negate the image immediately begin to go crazy. I will add a little more to what has been said. I saw and also have photographs of such theologians and Sufis as Muḥammad Bukhari (Sheikh Bahauddin), Imam al-Ghazali, Muhiddin 'Arabi, Jalaladdin Rumi, Abdul-Qadir Gilani, Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, Khalid Shah, Mahmud–afandi, Jamaluddin Kumukhi, Fatakhuddin shazili, Amad Talali, 'Abdurahman Sughuri, Sharafuddin Kikuni, Abdullah-haji from Gimri together with the murids, Shu'aib Bagini, Najmuddin from Gozo, Uzunhaji and others along with a large number of other people. May Allah ﷻ exalt their degree and level and may we receive their grace! These are photos that I searched for, found and really love. Pictures of Marx, Engels, Lenin and the like disgust me, even if I see them accidentally. I never took these pictures in my hands, they were never in my house and they were of no use to me. I did not have time to talk so much about photography and I did not need this conversation. I was compelled to write about this by ignorant people, hard as a stone, who smoke and from time to time, raise their glasses, not caring much about prayer and fasting and the disputes of some “ulama” about the photograph of Sayfulla-qadi, which hangs in my house.
In the end, they are in agreement that photographs are allowed, but then again they try to be stubborn, arguing that they should not be hung on the walls. I will hang the photographs of those Sufis who have known Allah ﷻ (arifun) and the awliya whom I love and, if I want, I will remove them and this is permissible. If not, then why are portraits of Saudi kings and princes, dead or alive, hung on the walls? But at the same time, you will not see a single monument in Saudi Arabia. Does not that at least show the difference between sculpture and photography? You always want to see the face of your beloved person. And one who says the opposite is not telling the truth. Why did the prophet Adam want to see images of all the prophets even before they were born? And why, after he asked about it, did the Almighty ﷻ not tell him that it was forbidden?
In our village, a person had a book "Fiqh us sunnah", written by his hand. Between the pages of this book, I personally saw photographs of the Wahhabi leaders Muhammad Abdo and Rashid Rida. Why did these photographs become permissible for Wahhabis, when there are no people who find fault with photographs more than they do?
Astaġhfirullah! May Allah ﷻ forgive us all!
Is it obligatory or desirable to perform the welcome prayer at the entrance to the mosque? Are there mosques in which this prayer is prohibited?
Performing the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer in the mosque is optional but desirable every time you enter it. The order of its commission is as follows. Entering the mosque without sitting down, you should pray. If you sit down deliberately without praying, then the time for its completion passes, and you will be considered as not showing respect for the mosque. The intention for the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer is as follows, “I intend to perform two raka’at of the tahiyat ul-masjid sunna prayer for the sake of Almighty Allah. Allahu akbar!" If one of the desirable prayers is performed in the mosque, be it az-zuha, ishraq or aw-wabin, then in this case it is also considered to be following the sunna in the mosque and replaces the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer. In one intention, such desirable prayers as tahiyat ul-masjid, prayer after ablution, az-zuha and then the performance of two raka’at prayers can be mentioned. In this case, the believer will receive a reward for all his prayers.
In short, the purpose of this conversation is to prevent a person entering the mosque from sitting down until he has prayed. The mosque is the House of Allah ﷻ. In order for the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer to be able to be performed in the mosque, it must be free of someone else's ownership and transferred by the owner for this purpose (waqf) or redeemed from him. It must be said that in the mosques that we are building today on public lands (harim), the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer will not be considered as such. But this does not mean that a person entering a mosque should sit down without performing any prayer. He simply does not intend to pray tahiyat ul-masjid, but performs any other desirable prayer, for example, az-zuha, ishrak or aw-wabin - or he compensates for any of the obligatory prayers. At the time of the obligatory prayer, it is necessary to perform it. Whatever prayer he performs along with the obligatory one, will replace the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer. Remember this!
Our big old mosque, which was flooded along with our village Chirkei, had one corner in which theologians forbade the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer. Patal-haji spoke about this. The reason was that during the construction of the mosque, this corner ended up being on public land, therefore, according to the madhab of Imam al-Shafi'i-i, it was impossible to perform the tahiyat ul-masjid prayer in this corner. You can read in the corresponding books what is said about this in other madhab. Allah ﷻ Omniscient, may He help.
Is it allowed for a person who does not observe the obligatory prayer to enter into a Muslim marriage (nikah) and is it possible to perform a memorial prayer for him after his death?
Prayer is an indispensable pillar of religion. One who does not perform it has no religion. Good deeds, glorifed by the Sharia, such as charity, assistance, truthfulness, avoidance of gossip, sober lifestyle, etc., can be performed by both believers and unbelievers. But prayer separates Islam from unbelief. A person who does not pray is in his mind like an animal. Why? Because, like a person, an animal is capable of obtaining a means of subsistence. Judge for yourself: a beast, released into the wild, knows where to look for grass, quench his thirst, where to lie down on a soft spot, and if it gets colder, where to hide. So much for existence. Religion is what distinguishes man from animal!
Now to the question of whether it is possible for a person who does not pray to conclude nikah. The key of Islam is the sincere recitation of both parts of the shahada, while the observance of all other precepts of religion is the perfection of faith. To accuse a person or his parents of unbelief, it is necessary that they verbally renounce Islam or prayer. At the same time, there must also be righteous (‘adil) witnesses, if not we cannot call such people unfaithful. According to the Sharia, a person who abandoned prayer deliberately (denying the need for it) requires repentance (at-tauba) and and recompense. If a person refuses to repent, he is sentenced to death, is not buried in a Muslim cemetery and a funeral prayer (janaza) is not performed for him. If a person deliberately misses a prayer, without denying the need to perform it, then this person is also sentenced to death but buried in a Muslim cemetery, performing all the funeral rites in accordance with the Sharia.
To be continued…
