Fawāids |Qur'ān | Authentic Sunnah

Author: أبو زكريا عيسى الألباني

The Night Prayer – Part 1: The difference between tarawīh, tahajjud, qiyām al-layl

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The night prayer or salāt al-layl refers to the voluntary night prayer whose time extends from after ‘ishā prayer until fajr (dawn). Other names of the night prayer include: (Lisān al-‘Arab, taken from Qiyām and Tarawīh of Al-Albānī, prepared by Muhammad Jibaly, pg. 7) Shaykh Ibn Bāz (may Allāh have mercy…
Read more: The Night Prayer – Part 1: The difference between tarawīh, tahajjud, qiyām al-layl
Ramadān Series: Part 7 – The Night Prayer; what is it, the virtues, the timing, the no. of rak’ah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The meaning of ‘night prayer’ The night prayer or salāt al-layl refers to the voluntary night prayer whose time extends from after ‘ishā prayer until fajr (dawn). Other names of the night prayer include: (Lisān ul-arab) Shaykh Ibn Bāz (may Allāh have mercy on him) was asked: What is the difference…
Read more: Ramadān Series: Part 7 – The Night Prayer; what is it, the virtues, the timing, the no. of rak’ah
Explanation of “Whoever commits laghā then he has no Jumu’ah…”

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Hadīth 1. The prophet (ﷺ) said: وَمَنْ لَغَا وَتَخَطَّى رِقَابَ النَّاسِ كَانَتْ لَهُ ظُهْرًا He who indulges in laghā (an evil act) or steps over the necks of people (in the mosque), that (Friday) will be for him like the noon (Dhuhr) prayer. (Abū Dawūd 347. Declared Hasan by Al-Albānī) Hadīth…
Read more: Explanation of “Whoever commits laghā then he has no Jumu’ah…”
Weak hadīth: Do not sleep after ‘Asr

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Hadīth: من نام بعد العصر فاختلس عقله فلا يلومن إلا نفسه Whoever sleeps after ‘Asr and loses his mind, let him blame no one but himself. Shaykh Al-Albānī says: Weak. It was included by Ibn Hibbān in “al-Du’afā wal-Mujrahīn” (1/283) on the authority of Khālid bin Al-Qāsim, on the authority of…
Read more: Weak hadīth: Do not sleep after ‘Asr
Is it permissible to rely on astronomical calculations for beginning of ramadān

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Imām Ibn Kathīr said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, «إِنَّا أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ لَا نَكْتُبُ وَلَا نَحْسِبُ، الشَّهْرُ هكَذَا وَهكَذَا وَهكَذَا» We are an Ummi nation, neither writing nor calculating. The (lunar) month is like this, this and this (i.e. thirty or twenty-nine days). (Musnad Imām Ahmad 5017, 5137. And al-Fath of Ibn…
Read more: Is it permissible to rely on astronomical calculations for beginning of ramadān
‘Umar commands the people to pray 11 rak’ah for tarawīh

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The prophet (ﷺ) said: “Verily he among you who lives long after me will see great discord, so you must hold to my Sunnah and to the Sunnah of the Khulafā ar-Rāshidīn (the rightly guided caliphs) after me (i.e. Abu Bakr, Umar, ‘Uthmān, ‘Alī). Cling to it firmly [literally: with your…
Read more: ‘Umar commands the people to pray 11 rak’ah for tarawīh
The encouragement to take sahūr

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The Prophet (ﷺ) said: تَسَحَّرُوا فَإِنَّ فِي السَّحُورِ بَرَكَةً Take Sahūr for within Sahūr there is a blessing. (Sahīh, Targhīb wa Tarhīb of Al-Albānī 1063) The Prophet (ﷺ) said: فَصْلُ مَا بَيْنَ صِيَامِنَا وَصِيَامِ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أَكْلَةُ السَّحَرِ The difference between our fasting and that of the People of the Book…
Read more: The encouragement to take sahūr
Are the narrations of tarawīh consisting of 20 rak’ah authentic?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Report 1) Ibn ‘Abbās narrated: “Allāhs messenger (ﷺ) used to pray in ramadān twenty rak’ah and witr“. Ibn Hajr said: this has a weak isnād, furthermore it contradicts the hadīth of ‘Āishah in the two Sahīhs (Muslim and Bukhārī). And she is more knowledgeable of the prophets (ﷺ) condition at night…
Read more: Are the narrations of tarawīh consisting of 20 rak’ah authentic?
Explanation of the hadīth: “Do not fast a day or two prior to Ramadān” & fasting the day of doubt

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The prophet (ﷺ) said: لاَ يَتَقَدَّمَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ رَمَضَانَ بِصَوْمِ يَوْمٍ أَوْ يَوْمَيْنِ، إِلاَّ أَنْ يَكُونَ رَجُلٌ كَانَ يَصُومُ صَوْمَهُ فَلْيَصُمْ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ None of you should fast a day or two before the month of Ramadān unless he has the habit of fasting (and if his fasting coincides with that day)…
Read more: Explanation of the hadīth: “Do not fast a day or two prior to Ramadān” & fasting the day of doubt
Explanation of the hadīth: “when half of Sha’bān remains then do not fast”

إِذَا بَقِيَ نِصْفٌ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ فَلاَ تَصُومُوا Abū Hurairah narrated:The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “When a half of Sha’bān remains then do not fast“. (Al-Tirmidhī 738. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī) Shaykh Bin Bāz said: As for the Hadīth that prohibits fasting after the middle of Sha’bān, it is Sahīh, as graded by the knowledgeable…
Read more: Explanation of the hadīth: “when half of Sha’bān remains then do not fast”