AZAAN ,( THE MIRACLE OF AZAAN)

THE MIRACLE OF AZAAN

Amazing as it sounds, but fortunately, for the Muslims of the world, it is an established fact.

Have a look at a map of the world

And you will find Indonesia on the eastern side of the earth. The major cities of Indonesia are Java, Sumatra , Borneo and Saibil. As soon as dawn breaks on the eastern side of Saibil, at approximately 5:30 am local time, Fajar Azaan begins. Thousands of Muazzins in Indonesia begin reciting the Azaan. The process advances towards West Indonesia . One and a half hours after the Azaan has been completed in Saibil, it echoes in Jakarta .. Sumatra then follows suit and before this auspicious process of calling Azaan ends in Indonesia, it has already begun in Malaysia ..

Burma is next in line, and within an hour of its beginning in Jakarta, it reaches Dacca, the capital city of Bangladesh . After Bangladesh , it has already prevailed in western India , from Calcutta to Srinagar. It then advances towards Bombay and the environment of entire India resounds with this proclamation. Srinagar and Sialkot (a north city in Pakistan ) have the same timing for Azaan. The time difference between Sialkot , Quetta , and Karachi is forty minutes, and within this time, Fajar Azaan is heard throughout Pakistan, before it ends there, it has already begun in Afghanistan and Muscat.

The time difference between Muscat and Baghdad is one hour. Azaan resounds during this one hour in the environments of Hijaaz-e-Muqaddas (Holy cities of Makkah and Madinah), Yemen , United Arab Emirates , Kuwait and Iraq.

The time difference between Baghdad and Alexandria in Egypt is again one hour. Azaan continues to resound in Syria, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan during this hour. The time difference between eastern and western Turkey is one and a half hours, and during this Alexandria and Tripoli (capital of Libya ) are located at one hour's difference. The process of calling Azaan thus continues throughout the whole of Africa . Therefore, the proclamation of the Tawheed" and "Risaalat" that had begun in Indonesia reaches the Eastern Shore of the Atlantic Ocean after nine and half hours.

Prior to the Aazaan reaching the shores of the Atlantic , the process of "Zohar Azaan" has already started in east Indonesia , and before it reaches Dacca , Asr Azaan" has started. This has hardly reached Jakarta one and half hours later, the time of "Maghrib" becomes due, and no sooner has "Maghrib" time reached Sumatra , the time for calling "Isha Aazaan" has commenced in Saibil! When the Muazzins of Indonesia are calling out "Fajar Azaan", the African Muazzins are calling the Azaan for Isha.

If we were to ponder over this phenomenon thoughtfully, we would conclude the amazing fact that there is not even a single moment when hundreds of thousands of Muazzins around the world are not reciting the Azaan on the surface of this earth. SUBHANALLAH !!!

Even as you read this material right now, you can be sure the Azaan is being called out somewhere !

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Fasting on the Day of Arafah

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"Four things the Messenger of Allah never neglected: Observing fast on the day of 'ashura, 'Arafat, three days every month, and offering fajr sunnah prayers early in the morning." [Muslim]Audio  Fasting on the Day of Arafah        ShareThis The ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah (the 12th and final month of the Islamic calendar) is the day of 'Arafah. It is the day when pilgrims stand on the plain of 'Arafah to pray. On this day, Muslims all over the world who do not witness the annual hajj should spend the day in fasting, in preparation for the three days festivity following 'Eid ul-Adha (the celebration marking the end of the hajj commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness of sacrifice). Abu Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: "Fasting on the day of 'Arafah absolves the sins for two years: the previous year and the coming year, and fasting on 'ashura, (the tenth day of Muharram) atones for the sins of previous years." [Reported by all except al-Bukhari and Tirmidh]  In another saying the Prophet's wife Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: "Four things the Messenger of Allah never neglected: Observing fast on the day of 'ashura, 'Arafat, three days every month, and offering fajr sunnah prayers early in the morning." [Muslim] These statements are proof that fasting on the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah, the day before 'Eid ul-Adha was a lifelong practice of the Prophet, peace be upon him, as his wife reported. There are some reports that fasting is prohibited on the day of 'Arafah. However, it must be understood that this refers to a person performing the hajj. If a person is on the hajj, there is no fast for him or her on the day of 'Arafah. That is undoubtedly a blessing for him because of the hardships of the pilgrimage. In a saying reported by Umm al-Fadl, may Allah be pleased with her, she said: "The companions doubted whether the Prophet was fasting on 'Arafah or not. She decided to prove to them that he was not, so she said, 'I sent to him milk, which he drank while he was delivering the khutbah (sermon) on 'Arafah.' " [Recorded by al-Bukhari] Prohibiting the pilgrims from fasting on these days is a great mercy for them, for fasting will exert undue hardship on the person performing the hajj, while they are primarily concerned with their pilgrimage. Above all, the pilgrim would not be fasting anyway because he is travelling.

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Training Yourself

Truly from the blessings of Allah is that, before I became Muslim, several experiences in my childhood served as such beautiful and potent early morning wake-up training. Unbeknownst to me at the time, these habits cultivated early in life would later be utilized for waking up for fajr prayer.

Training Yourself to Wake Up in the Early Morning & Fajr Prayer

Last June, Muslim Matters asked the following poll question: Did you pray fajr this morning? More than 600 people responded, with more than one-third saying they did not.

Truly from the blessings of Allāh is that before I became Muslim, several experiences in my childhood served as such beautiful and potent early morning wakeup training. Unbeknowst to me at the time, these habits cultivated early in life would later be utilized for waking up for fajr prayer. Thus, within Islam, I've not found much difficulty waking up for the early morning prayer,māshā'Allāh tabarak'Allāh.

Hot chocolate in my pink bunny rabbit bottle

Among my earliest memories of life in upstate New York was of my father grading his students' exam essay blue books in the early morning hours. My dad would wake up around 2 or 3am to resume the monumental task of grading stacks and stacks of blue books. He would warm up hot water in the kettle on the stove and I would wake up with the whistling of the kettle. Even then, I was somewhat of a light sleeper, I would wake up, crawl out of bed in my footsie pajamas and go join him in the kitchen. While he made himself some tea or coffee, he would make me some hot chocolate and pour it into my beloved pink bunny rabbit bottle. I can't remember how old I was but I clearly younger than four as I had not yet started kindergarten. I would drink my bottle of hot chocolate and then wander back to my room to sleep until morning.

Find a job that requires you to rise early

Growing up, my siblings and I shared a paper route. I was the youngest and joined my siblings in delivering newspapers when I was 8 or 9 years old in the third grade and continued for another five years until I found a more lucrative and less taxing babysitting job just before high school. Our father would wake us up at 4:30am or earlier every single day, 365 days a year, in winter and summer, spring and fall, during the school year, in any weather no matter how adverse, through snow, blizzards, and rain the newspapers had to be delivered. When all four of us kids worked the route, we had one rest day off every third day but soon it was just my sister Chika and I and so we worked the route daily without breaks except for the occasional summer or winter vacation.

Even after I stopped working the paper route, I often still continued to wake up at 3:30-4:30am to listen to international news on the BBC or Deutsche Welle (DW) or a French broadcast on the local public radio station. I think we find it easy to wake up for worldly matters from work to early morning flights to watching international sporting events because we attach an immediate tangible benefit to that task. Earning money, the thrill of competition, and with airplane flights the pain, hassle, and cost of missing a flight helps ensure we do our best to make the flight on time. For me, the ṣalāh is a retreat, precious moments of peace and calming tranquility amidst the storms and stress of daily life. And I fully believe that matters are made easier for me by virtue of the ṣalāh and other acts of worship.

Increase in the Fear of Allāh

I mentioned this story, a couple weeks ago, here. I remember once shortly after I converted, I stayed up quite late into the night, which was not at all unusual, filled with that new convert zeal and engrossed in reading and learning about my newfound religion. Either I forgot to set my alarm or did not hear it, and I woke up for the first time in a state of complete fear and panic in brightness of the morning. I quickly rushed to make my ablutions so that I could offer my fajrprayer. I prayed hurriedly and then checked the time and to my amazement saw that I had not missed the ṣalāh and was still within the timing before sunrise. But I did not feel relieved. I had cried while making my ablutions and while praying and even after I completed the prayer fearful of the consequences of missing a single ṣalāh in Islam. Such innocence and hopefully sincerity, one can only look back in silent wonder at that time period so eager, earnest, and blissfully unaware of what lay in store on this journey of submission.

At that time, I remembered a hadith where the companions had overslept for a prayer and they looked upward toward the heavens fearful that destruction might rain down upon them for this singular act of disobedience and I too fearfully looked upward. Thankfully, Allāh is Most Merciful and I didn't miss that ṣalāh and Allāh has made it easy for me to guard the prayer since then,māshā'Allāh tabarak'Allāh. May we be from amongst those who guard the ṣalāh in our lives. Āmīn.

Driving or Walking to Fajr in a Mosque

I did not learn to drive until after I became Muslim and among the chief motivating factors pushing me to learn was my desire to attend the mosque for prayer because where I lived, public transportation would not be able to get me to the mosques in the area, especially not forfajr or isha prayer. Soon after I purchased my first car, I think the very next day, I woke up early, googled the directions and was off to begin visiting various mosques for fajr prayer. I loved those quiet early morning drives and loved the feeling of praying in congregation in the mosque listening attentively to the imām recite verses from the Qurʾān. Sometimes, usually on the weekend there would be a short lecture after the ṣalāh and soon it became my habit to frequently pray in the mosque especially for fajr and isha prayers.

Even happier was the year I lived within walking distance to a mosque. I would walk in the dark to the ṣalāh, often I was the only woman there but occasionally I met some other sisters who would become my dear and expected fajr companions. Now, I still live relatively close to a mosque but it's become like a man-cave not very welcoming to sisters and so I miss those feelings of praying in congregation. One of the beautiful things about making a commitment to pray in the mosque is that it requires you to organize your day in such a way that you must plan to leave with enough time to reach the mosque before the ṣalāh so that you neither delay nor miss the prayer.

Once when I prayed fajr at the Prince George's Muslim Association (PGMA) in Lanham, Maryland, I was the only woman in the pink musalla, the men were in a separate musalla, and I heard a loud crashing noise. A piece of the ceiling had come down due to heavy rains over the previous few days. I thought about the khushu (humilty and concentration) mentioned concerning some Muslims from the early generations, who would not be distracted from their prayer even as they were afflicted by some harm or the building began to collapse around them. May we increase in our khushu. After the ṣalāh, I ventured into the no-woman's land of the main prayer hall to let someone know about the situation. (pictures of the ceiling tile here)

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Salah is My Real Life

by HADI MUBEE

                THE                  Muslim who has been given true hikmah (wisdom) is the one who rushes his life to get back to hissalah, instead of rushing his salah to get back to his 'life'.
If you want to live a truly fulfilling and mature life, expand your real life, expand your real world; the moments you spend inside salah. This dunya (worldly life) is a useless dream world, and the moments we spend inside salah are our only waking moments, the only ones that are real, that remain, that matter. So what kind of insane person ignores reality and gives priority to empty and futile moments of sleep?

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These thoughts were inspired by these beautiful and eye-opening quotes by two beloved teachers:

If you ever find yourself rushing through salat to make it to another engagement, it’s time to reorganize your priorities. [Yasir Qadhi]

If you don’t try to wake up for Fajr, there is really no benefit in you waking up at all. [Yasir Qadhi]

Strive for the Hereafter according to how long you shall remain there, and strive for this world according to how long you shall remain here. [Yasir Qadhi]

On that Day, we will see the true reality. On that Day, we will realize that two rak`at(units) of prayer were greater than everything in the heavens and the earth. We will realize the priceless check that was left on our doorstep every night as we slept. There will come a day when we would give up everything under the sky just to come back and pray those two rak`at. [Yasmin Mogahed]

Salah is something we squeeze into our day, when we find time—if that. Our ‘lives’ don’t revolve around salah. Salah revolves around our ‘lives.’ If we’re in class, salah is an afterthought. If we’re at the mall, the Macy’s sale is more urgent. Something is seriously wrong when we put aside the very purpose of our existence in order to watch a basketball game. [Yasmin Mogahed]

Reflecting upon this incident scholars have explained that the process of going from fifty to five was a deliberate one, intended to teach us the true place salah should hold in our lives. Imagine for a moment actually praying fifty times a day. Would we be able to do anything else but pray? No. And that’s the point. What greater way than that to illustrate our life’s true purpose? As if to say, salah is our real life; all the rest that we fill our day with…just motions. [Yasmin Mogahed]

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