What is your favorite Surah or Hadith

[amlhabibi2000]

What is your favorite Surah or Hadith?

I have a few and will return to post them a little later.

[macmuslim]

The Farewell Khutba

All praise is due to Allah, so we praise Him, and seek His pardon and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guideth aright, there is none to lead him astray; and there is none to guide him aright whom Allah leads astray. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him. His is the Sovereignty and to Him is due all praise. He grants life and causes death and is Powerful over everything. There is no God but Allah, the One; He fulfilled His promise and helped His servant and He alone routed the confederates.

O people, listen to my words! for I do not know whether we shall meet again and perform Hajj after this year.

O ye People! Allah says: O people we created you from one male and one female and made you into tribes and nations, so that you are known to one another. Verily in the sight of Allah, the most honored amongst you is the one who is the most God-fearing. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except in piety. All mankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay.

Behold! Every claim of privilege whether that of blood or property, is under my feet except that of the custody of Allah’s House and supplying of waters to the pilgrimage.

O people of Quraysh! Do not appear with the burden of the world around your necks, whereas other people may appear (before their Lord) with the rewards of the Hereafter. In that case I shall avail you naught against Allah.

Behold! All practices of the days of Ignorance are now under my feet. The blood revenges of the days of Ignorance are remitted. And the first claim on blood I abolish is that of Ibne Rabi’ah bin Al-Harith who was nursed in Bani Sa’d and who was killed by the Hudhayls. All interest and usurious dues accruing from the age of Ignorance stand wiped out. And the first amount of interest that I remit is that which Abbas bin Abdul Mutallib had to receive. Verily, it is being remitted entirely.

O people! Verily your blood, your property and your honor are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, as the sacred inviolability of this day of yours, this month of yours, and this very town (of yours). Verily, you will soon meet your Lord and you will be held accountable for your deeds.

O people! Verily, you have got certain rights over your women - and your women have certain rights over you. It is your right upon them that they must not allow anybody save you to come to your bed and admit none to enter your homes whom you do not like but with your permission. And it is for them not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorized by Allah to separate them from your beds and chastise them, but not severely, and if they refrain, then clothe and feed them properly.

Behold! It is not permissible for a woman to give anything from the wealth of her husband to anyone but with his consent.

Treat the women kindly, since they are your helpers and are not in a position to manage their affairs themselves. Fear Allah concerning them, for verily you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful unto you by words of Allah.

O people! Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, has ordained to everyone his due share (of inheritance). Hence there is no need (of special) testament for a heir (departing from the rules laid down by the Shari’ah).

The child belongs to the marriage-bed and the violator of wedlock shall be stoned. And reckoning of their deeds rests with Allah.

He who attributes his ancestry to other than his father or claims his clientship to other than his master, the curse of Allah is upon him.

All debts must be repaid, all borrowed property must be returned, gifts should be reciprocated and a surety must make good the loss to the assured.

Beware! No one committing a crime is responsible for it but himself. Neither the child is responsible for the crime of his father, nor the father is responsible for the crime of his child.

Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself gives willingly. So do not wrong yourselves.

And your slaves! see that you feed them with such food as you eat yourselves, and clothe them with the clothes as you yourselves wear.

Beware that you go not astray after me and strike one another’s necks. He who (amongst you) has any trust with him, he must return it to its owner.
If a mangled black slave is appointed your Amir, listen to him, and obey him provided he executes the Ordinance of the Book of Allah amongst you.
O people! There is no Prophet to come after me and there would be no Ummah to form after you.

Verily I have left amongst you that which would never lead you astray, the Book of Allah, and the Sunnah of His Messenger, which if you hold fast, you shall never be misled. And beware of transgressing the limits set in the matters of Deen, for it is transgression of (the proper bounds of) Deen, that brought destruction to many people before you.

Verily the Satan is disappointed at ever being worshipped in this land of yours, but if obedience in anything (short of worship is expected that is): he will be pleased in matters you may be disposed to think insignificant, so beware of him in the matters of your Deen.

Behold! worship your Lord; offer prayers five times a day; observe fast in the month of Ramazan; pay readily the Zakat (poor-due) on your property; and perform pilgrimage to the House of God and obey your rulers and you will be admitted to the Paradise of your Lord.

O people! Postponement is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another year) that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. And verily the time hath adopted the shape of the day when Allah hath created the heavens and the earth. And Lo! The number of months with Allah is twelve months. Four of them are sacred. Three are consecutive months (Shawwal, Zeeqadh and Zil-Hijja) and the Rajab, in between the months of Jumadius sani and Sha’aban.
Let him that is present, convey it unto him who is absent. For many people to whom the message is conveyed may be more mindful of it than the audience.

And if you were asked about me, what would you say?



They answered: We bear witness that you have conveyed the trust (of Deen) and discharged your ministry of apostlehood and looked to our welfare.

Thereupon Allah’s Messenger ( - may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) lifted his forefinger towards the sky and then pointing towards the people said:

O Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.
O Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.
O Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.

[macmuslim]

Surah al Kafirun

Say: Oh you who deny/disbelieve
I do not worship what you worship
and all of you do not worship what I worship

I will not worship what you worship
and all of you will not worship what worship

To you is your religion, and to me is my religion.

This surah was revealed in Makka.
The kufaar (disbelievers) had petitioned Muhammed pbuh that they would incorporate or mix the beliefs of Islam with their own false deities, ie as a compromise to please all parties. Muhammed pbuh rejected this, and Allah swt affirmed this by revealing a decisive surah like this to reject the idea of mixing or diluting the religion by clarifying the incompatibility...........

Does this ring any bells with anyone? Allah swt forbidding the mixing of religions?

[Tayeb]

Holy Qur'an Surah Luqman (31) verse 27:

YUSUFALI:
And if all the trees on earth were pens and the ocean (were ink), with seven oceans behind it to add to its (supply), yet would not the words of Allah be exhausted (in the writing): for Allah is Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom.

PICKTHAL:
And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it, (were ink), the words of Allah could not be exhausted. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.

SHAKIR:
And were every tree that is in the earth (made into) pens and the sea (to supply it with ink), with seven more seas to increase it, the words of Allah would not come to an end; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.

[Om_Mohammed]

Assalaamu alaikum ya muslimeen.

Greetings and good day to all.

I have refrained from joining in on this thread until now, basically because I wanted to see the beginning responses from some others.

Several years ago, my husband invited Sh. Abdulrahman As-Sudeis to our region, and he honored the invitation. He stayed with us in our home, and in the morning, he led the fajr prayer.

MashaAllah...his voice literally resounded in the whole town!! Many ppl were calling up my husband all day long, asking him if it were true that As-Sudeis was staying here.

Anyways, the next night, as my husband and his brothers and our sons were enjoying their evening surrounding the sheikh and talking simple talk with him, I sent one of my sons with a request to the sheikh, that if he were to please lead the fajr prayer again the following morning, would he please recite surat-ar-rahman??

I was soon happy to receive an answer in the affirmative from the sheikh via my son.

I went to sleep...hardly able to sleep...in anticipation of hearing the sheikh's beautiful voice resounding throughout our town in the morning reciting beautifully surat-ar-rahman.

But I was dissapointedly surprised to hear him recite surat-al-waaqiah.

When my husband returned from the salat a bit late that morning, he came to me and expressed that the sheikh sends to me his salaam, and expresses his sorrow at not fulfilling my request.

And he (the sheikh) also sent to me the message in reminding me that the Quran is not like any oral musical performance, where you can or should request the recitation of this or that sura in preference of any other. He mentioned that the Quran is in it's entirety the Word of Allah, the message from Allah to mankind. Each and every surah has it's own beauty and importance equal to all the rest of the Quran. And other than what Allah or His messenger has mentioned, no part of the Quran is superior to any other. Each verse has equal importance and beauty as the rest.

So...I took a hard lesson learnt. Not to prefer any portion of the Quran over any other portion.

Each surah has it's own beauty and importance and vitality in it's own rite.

When I read this or that surah, I think that this is the ultimate thing...and then I go on to read yet another verse or another surah, and I find that it is equal to or surpasses the previous.

SubhanAllah.

As for the ahadith, it is those ahadith that remind us of the ultimate vastness and unending mercy of Allah which are most inspiring to me. We are reminded lovingly and strongly of the unending mercy of Allah. As long as we are to seek out for that mercy, He is so merciful as to grant it to us.

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The prayers...I love each and every prayer time. The fajr is important to start the day on the right footing with Allah and the rest of creation.

The dhuhr prayer is an excellent break in the middle of the working day. To return to Allah in prayer and seeking forgiveness.

The asr is a new beginning in the afternoon, before the sun sets.

And the maghreb...oh, the maghreb. The setting of the sun. The completion of one day. And the realization of the reminder that time goes by, and we cannot return the chances again. Maghreb was the first prayer I prayed as a new muslim. Alhamdulillah.

And then the isha prayer. the prayer as the night wears on, and before going to sleep at night. returning to Allah in pennance and submission yet once again...asking His forgiveness, asking of His guidance.

And then the clock rolls around once again...to the morning. And a new day begins.

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(added on a bit here to what was asked for...but just felt like sharing that).

Om Mohammed.

[Tayeb]

Wa-alaikum-as-salaam Sr Om Mohammed:

Indeed Sh. Abdulrahman As-Sudeis was right. We ought not have any preference of this or that sura over any other. I'd correct myself and say tha tthis dura I mentioned is truly inspiring to me. We may use the verses of the Holy Qur'an to seek guidance and inspiration.

Let me explain the circunstances when I first heard this verse from Surah Luqman. I was mere 7 years old and I had just learnt to read the Holy Qur'an in arabic, and was giving my first steps in portuguese language literacy. This was the time when my late father bought me a copy of translation of the Holy Qur'an by Bento de Castro, who translated the Qur'an from english version of Pickthall. Bento de Castro, a non-Muslim, gave an interview to a radio station on his translation. He quoted the verse to justify his work. It was truly inspiring indeed!

Ma'a-salaama,

[Om_Mohammed]

Assalaamu alaikum.

Br. Tayeb...please do forgive me if I came off sounding as repremanding to u in presenting any surah u find particularly inspiring or interesting for any reason.

That is one of the main points of the Quran itself...to give us inspiration and guidance in the right direction.

Different surahs, and even different verses of any given surah, can and do give us inspiration and guidance of differing nature.

Take S. Al-Fatihah, for instance. It is the culmination of the whole Quran into only seven verses. Very short, yet very complete and concise.

S. Al-Kafirun...is quite an insipiring sura in opposing the disbelievers.

And S. Al-Ikhlaas is a strong inspirational sura reminding us of the tawheed (one-ness) of Allah.

In my request to Sh. Al-Sudeis, I was asking for him to recite S. Al-Rahman, because I love the beautiful musical cadence of that surah, as well as the many meanings wrapped up within it's beautiful cadence which is unmatched throughout the Quran. But he purposefully denied my request in order to teach me an important lesson. And I thank him for that.

We must take the whole Quran as a total message of beauty and meaning, each verse having it's equal status in meaning and beauty to the others.

And it is simply this point that I am trying to get across to Anne Marie...that it is not for us to select and choose any favorite section of the Quran. We must take it all with equal enthusiasm and acceptance.

As we go through the Quran from one verse to another, one surah to another, each one matches the other with beauty and importance.

may Allah be so gracious to make us of those who the Quran is a means of protection and defense for us, and not against us.

And may we also be so blessed as to have the Quran be our companion in the lonely darkness of the grave.

Om Mohammed.

[lubna]

But I was dissapointedly surprised to hear him recite surat-al-waaqiah.

Om Mohammed.
Assalamoalykum all

i need a bit more clarification from sis om muhammad, as shaikh sudais is not here so i cant ask him anyhting.....:) unless you give me his phone number sis....:)

how did shaikh came to decide on surah al waqiah?
did he do a draw, or did he choose himslef, in that case he chose to recite what he wanted. so why not something that you wanted?

so how about the hadeeth where prophet muhammad SAW told us to read surah al kahaf on the day of jummah,
''hazrat abu saeed khudri RA narrates that prophet muhammad SAw said,whoever reads surah kahaf on the day of jumah, a noor will stay shining for him between the two jumahs'' (Nisaaee)

and also reciting surah kahaf keep one safe from the fitnah of dajjal.and prophet muhammad SAw read surah kahaf on fridays.

narrated by aby huraira RA prophet muhammad SAW said,'' whoever reads surah dukhan on the night of jummah, 70,000 angels pray for his forgiveness and his sins are forgiven'' ( tarmidi)

source: Adab-e zindagi by maulana muhammad yousaf islahi.

isnt it picking and choosing some surahs for some days....if as you said they dont have any individual significance then why the stress on one particular surah ?

here is another example of the the favourit surah of the shabah RA,was surah Asr.and so is mine Alhumdulillah.

narrated by abu mazeena darmi RA in Tabrani in muajamul awsat
and in Baihaqi in shubul eemaan,
'' among the ashabe rasool SAW when ever any two of them met together, they would not depart until they recited surah Asr to eachother, then they would say salam to eachother and leave''

here are some more reason for me liking this surah which is part of the quraan that i adore

hafiz ibn katheer wrote in his tafseer that imam shafi Ra said,
'' if people only ponder and reflect only on this one particular surah of the Quraan, it will be sufficient for their hidayah and guidance''

another saying of imam shafee RA written by mufti muhammad abduhu in his tafseer of juz Amma is,
''if there was nothinf else than surah Asr in the Quraan then it would have been sufficient for peoples guidance''

these two qoutes show how important this surah was in the eyes of imam shafee RA.

source: Nijat ki raah, surah Asr ki roshni main, by dr. Israr Ahmad( i.e way to salvation,in the light of surah Asr,by Dr. israr Ahmad )

so in my humble opinion liking one surah doesnt mean we are discriminating against the rest of the surahs naudubllah! but rather every surah has its own significance. and we are merely mentioning one significance at a time.

similarly ,surah Akhlas is called the greatest surah of the Quraan.
surah yaseen is called the heart of the Quraan.

you can praise the beauty of the whole rainbow and still have one favourit colour out of it, cant you? it is still within and part of the rainbow........

these are just my thoughts, and i am learning too and hence can question even shaikh sudais, no offence intended....:)

may Allah guide us all to the truth Ameen.
wassalam
lubna

[macmuslim]

A beautiful hadith from Bukhari mash'Allah

On the authority of Hadrat Anas. He says:
"A man from among the Ansar led the Prayers in the Quba Mosque. His practice was that in every rak`ah he first recited Surah Al Ikhlaas and then would join another Surah to it.
The people objected to it and said to him:"Don't you think that Surah Ikhlas is by itself enough? Why do you join another Surah to it? You should either recite only this surah, or should leave it and recite some other Surah".
He said: "I cannot leave it, I would rather give up leadership in the Prayer, if you so desired." (The man loved the surah so much mash'Allah.)
The people did not approve that another man be appointed leader instead of him.
At last, the matter was brought before the Holy Prophet pbuh. He asked the man, "What prevents you from conceding what your companions desire? What makes you recite this particular Surah in every rak`ah?"
The man replied: "I have great love for it."The Holy Prophet remarked: "Your this love for this Surah has earned you entry into Paradise."

Subhanallah! From the Prophet himself, pbuh.

[macmuslim]

And there's more.........

‘Aa’ishah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sent a man in charge of a small military campaign, and when he recited Qur’aan whilst leading his companions in prayer, he would always end with Qul huwa Allaahu ahad. When they came back, (his companions) mentioned that to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who told them to ask him why he did that. So they asked him, and he said, “Because it is a description of the Most Merciful, and I love to recite it.” The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Tell him that Allaah loves him.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 6827)

Ahmad reported from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri that a man said, “O Messenger of Allaah, I have a neighbour who prays at night and he only ever recites ‘Qul huwa Allaahu ahad’” – as if he did not think much of this.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said
“By the One in Whose hand is my soul, it is equivalent to one-third of the Qur’aan.” (al-Musnad, 10965)

[Om_Mohammed]

Assalaamu alaikum.

OK, sis, to hopefully clarify myself a bit.

First of all, I believe that I mentioned this in my first post, but perhaps I went over it, and if so, then please do forgive me.

But, it was something like: unless Allah or His Apostle have obviously stated any special importance about a particular sura or ayah, then otherwise all of the Quran has equal importance and beauty within it's range of variation.

By that I mean that...there are some surahs and some ayas, as I am sure that most of us know, have been given mention by the prophet(SAAW) as having special importance or meaning.

As you have pointed out, the importance of the recitation of s. Al-Kahf on fridays. As the prophet(SAAW) has been quoted to mention in ahadith, those who read it on Friday, will be in a special light from that Friday till the next Friday. etc.

And then there is a special status given to s. Al-Ikhlaas. reading it or reciting it is equal to reading a third of the Quran. As well as some of the other benefits of reading it.

Surat-al-Fatihah is also given special status and importance. As well as ayat-al-kursi.

Point being here...that certain surahs and ayas have been given certain or special importance or notice.

As concerns Sh. Sudeis, I did not ask him how he came to recite that particular sura that day. I assume that it was his own choice for some odd reason. If you will notice, it is a sura of similar length as Ar-Rahman, and I also believe it is of similar tone of meaning (of sorts) because it falls into this particular category section of the Quran. (hard to explain what I am trying to get at here). But perhaps he chose that sura because of some of these reasonings. I don't know.

Anyways, he purposefully rejected my request to point out to me (and I assume anyone else whom I may inform of this incidence), that we are not to go about requesting the imam to recite this or that for the prayer, as do people make requests to musical performers. I think that was his point in mind.

I can recall one incident when the prophet(SAAW) particularly requested one of his companions to recite a particular sura for him to listen to. And the companion was surprised, asking him(SAAW) that he should wish to listen to someone else recite, when it was he(SAAW) who recited so perfectly, being taught himself(SAAW) directly from angel Jibreel? And the prophet(SAAW) answered to him that he loved to hear the recitations from the voice of another from time to time.

So, with this one instance, we have proof that there is no harm in asking someone to recite this or that for us to listen to.

But the sh. was trying to make a point that it is not proper to request of the imam ahead of the prayer, to recite this or that surah for the prayer.

And I can understand his reasoning. As I mentioned before, in trying to make a distinct differentiation from the practices of those who make request upon musical performers to perform a peice for the public. And I respect his decision and preference in that instance.

Although I was admittedly dissapointed at the time of not hearing Ar-Rahman that morning. But it was a beautiful recitation all the same.

One comment that the sheikh made in his response to me in the morning after the prayer was...'is there anything wrong with this surah (al-waaqiah)?' meaning...it is beautiful as well, as is Ar-Rahman. Pushing home the point that all of the Quran is beautiful to listen to, and has equal meaning and guidance. Each surah, and each verse, has it's own special beauty and meaning. We must pay attention to all of it.

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Don't know if this will satisfactorily answer your questions, sis...but I hope it explains some.

Om Mohammed.

[Tayeb]

Assalamu-alaikum:

If I may intervene I feel the question of choosing a verse or chapter is quite subtle.

I fully agree with sr Om Mohammed that "perhaps what sh. (Sudeis) was trying to make a point that it is not proper to request of the imam ahead of the prayer, to recite this or that surah for the prayer".

I request that the matter lay to rest here and no further debate is carried out on this matter.

Members can continue to post their favourite passages of the Holy Qur'an and ahadith if they wish so.

I personally take the whole message of the Holy Qur'an in equal importance, although I read my favourite passages regularly. I reuglarly read sura Yasin for my passed-away relatives.

Ma'a-salaama,