The Accessible Conspectus: Prayer

April 23, 2019May 22, 2015 by Musa Furber

This is the fourth installment from a series of posts aimed at making The Ultimate Conspectus accessible to readers who have never read fiqh before.

2 Prayer

The original meaning of the word “ṣalāt” is supplication (“dūʿa”). Its technical meaning in the books of fiqh is a set of actions and utterances that begins with saying, “Allāhu akbar,” and ends with saying, “al-salāmu ʿalaykum,” performed according to specific conditions.

The textual foundation for the obligation to pray comes from the Quran and Sunnah. Allah Most High says, “…Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times,” [Q4:104.] The Prophet ﷺ said, “Islam is based on five pillars: testifying that there is no deity except for Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, establishing prayer, offering zakāt, performing Ḥajj, and fasting Ramaḍān.” Prayer is also mentioned in the well-known hadith where Jibril (peace be upon him) came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked about the practices and beliefs of Islam (islām and īmān), and about its perfection (iḥsān) and the signs of the Final Hour (ʿalmāt al-ṣāʿah). When asked about Islam, he ﷺ mentioned prayer and the remaining five pillars.

Marriage #iḥsānology – collection 9

April 23, 2019March 9, 2015 by Musa Furber

This is the ninth collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. There are other collections. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection focuses on beneficence and excellence related to marriage.

I usually break #iḥsānology material into 140 character chunks and then post topical collections here on the blog. Sharing these smaller chunks facilitates their spread through social media, especially when I want to buffer them out and then trickle them out over several days. Usually this is fine since most chunks are useful on their own and not harmful when read individually. While the same can be said about most of the marriage-related #iḥsānology material, I am concerned with the wisdom of breaking it up into chunks given the overall lack of familiarity with Islamic law relate to marriage, and general sensitivities pertaining to spousal relations. But I am likewise concerned with hiding parts of legitimate Islamic scholarship just because some people may find it offensive. (I do not consider honesty and scholarly integrity luxuries. But that’s something for another day.)

These are some of the reasons why majority of the marriage-related #iḥsānology material is being presented in a single blog post instead of spread out over many chunks.

All of the following entries come from section 387 of the book.

Endowment, Gift & Inheritance #iḥsānology – collection 8

April 23, 2019March 9, 2015 by Musa Furber

This is the eight collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. There are other collections. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection focuses on beneficence and excellence related to endowments, gifts, and inheritance.

Transaction & property #iḥsānology – collection 7

April 23, 2019March 5, 2015 by Musa Furber

This is the seventh collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. There are other collections. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection focuses on beneficence and excellence related to transactions and property.

Animal #iḥsānology – collection 6

April 23, 2019November 10, 2014 by Musa Furber

This is the sixth collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. There are other collections. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection focuses on beneficence and excellence towards animals.

Why #iḥsānology?

April 23, 2019July 15, 2014 by Musa Furber

The #iḥsānology updates are short summaries of content from Shajarat al-maʿārif, one of Al-ʿIzz bin ʿAbd al-Salām’s many practical guides to implementing belief, law, and excellence. The book has 868 …

#iḥsānology – collection 5

April 23, 2019July 5, 2014 by Musa Furber

This is the fifth collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. See week 1 for more details; see also week 2, weeks 3–4, and collection 4 for earlier collections. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection covers from 1 May 2014 through mid-July. Most of the entries iḥsān in general, and iḥsān mentioned in books of fiqh.

General #iḥsānology: beneficence, goodness, and badness

April 23, 2019May 4, 2014 by Musa Furber

The fourth chapter of Shajarat al-Maʿārif concerns iḥsān in general. The chapter begins with a section on iḥsān that is confined to its actor and iḥsān that extends to others. This section gives definitions and examples of what he means by iḥsān, maṣlahah and mafsadah. Al-ʿIzz writes:

#iḥsānology – collection 4

April 23, 2019May 4, 2014 by Musa Furber

This is the fourth collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. See week 1 for more details; see also week 2 and weeks 3–4. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection covers from 12 April 2014 through to 1 May 2014. Most of the entries here concern prohibitions related to excellence in inward matters, such as intentions, attitudes, and perspectives.

#iḥsānology collected – weeks 3-4

April 23, 2019April 12, 2014 by Musa Furber

This is the third collection of short summaries of content from Shajarat al-Maʿārif which I post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. See week 1 for more details; see also week 2. The numbers at the end of entries refer to the item number in the printed text in order to facilitate its reference.

This collection covers from 1 April 2014 through to 12 April 2014. Most of the entries here concern injunctions related to excellence in inward matters, such as intentions, attitudes, and perspectives.