SA Lock-Down

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29 Rajab 1441 / 25 March 2020

O Ummah Of SA!

Let’s Prepare Ourselves As Muslims For The Lock-down

Hazrat Uqbah Bin Aamir (Radhiyallahu anhu) reported to have said to Nabi (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), “Yaa Rasool of Allah, what is the means to salvation (Najaat)?”

Beautifully, Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) replied:

أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ لِسَانَكَ وَلْيَسَعْكَ بَيْتُكَ وَابْكِ عَلَى خَطِيئَتِكَ

Translation: “Control your tongue; let your house suffice for you; cry over your sins.” (Tirmizi)

Three simple points are highlighted by Rasoolullah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) in the above Hadith Shareef. By pondering over the three points, one will conclude that they can be accomplished in an optimum way, when one’s interactions with the outside world is limited. And in a lockdown, it is an ideal time and opportunity to work hard in achieving all three points which will be easy to practice upon – Insha Allah. Keep the words of this Hadith in mind; we will discuss and explain it in another article, Insha Allah.

Currently, the talk among our people is ‘are you ready for the lockdown?’ By asking this, they mean preparedness in terms of having sufficient supplies of essentials (food, etc.) which may see us through the 21 days of lockdown.

As Muslims, we should not ignore to prepare ourselves Islamically. These 21 days of lockdown can be either wasted and be as toilet paper which is then thrown away in the trash having no value to it, or these days can become valuable and be like that ‘stone’ which is taken for cleaning and polishing and turns out to be a valuable, precious, expensive, shining diamond! It all depends on how we spend these 21 days of lockdown!

To some it may be normal working days (yes, from home) as technology can be used to carry on with work from anywhere in the world. But to many others, these 21 days will be absolutely free days. May Allah Ta’ala make us value these days and night, Aameen.

Herewith, Alhamdulillah, we have penned down several points to keep in mind the Islamic values in the next coming days, weeks and months.

The days of lockdown: We know the Government has intended to have a 21 day lockdown. Looking at the Islamic dates in which we will be in a lockdown, the following should be remembered:

1. Sha’baan: With Rajab slipping pass us – many of us never even realise it –we should make up for the loss of the valuable time of Rajab which we may have missed, in Sha’baan. The Du’a of Nabi (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) taught to us at the beginning of Rajab includes the month of Sha’baan as well which proves that Sha’baan is also an extremely important month to prepare for Ramadhaan. If we don’t prepare ourselves in Sha’baan for Ramadhaan, then when will we? Lockdown in Sha’baan is an ideal time to prepare for Ramadhaan.
2. 15^th Night of Sha’baan: In the lockdown period, we will come across this great night of the 15^th Sha’baan. There are too many important things which happen on this night. Since it will be lockdown and we will be at home, engage in a healthy portion of this night in Ibaadat. Thikrullah, Istighfaar, Durood Shareef, Du’a, Nafl Salaah and Tilaawat which are the common Ibaadaat one can do. Take advantage of our time at home with these Ibaadaat on this night.
3. 15^th Day of Sha’baan: Fasting on this day is the demand of the love for being an Ummati of the Ummah of Rasulullah (Sallalalhu alaihi wasallam).

Yes, Salafis who are actually Jaahils debate and disagree with the holiness of the 15^th night of Sha’baan. Leave them as they are nothing but buffoons who themselves don’t want to please Allah and want others also not to please their Allah.

With the above in mind, may each one maximize in our own Ibaadat to prepare ourselves to meet our Allah. May Allah Ta’ala make the coming days of lockdown easy for each one of us and remove the virus from our shores, Aameen.

Insha Allah, we will try to prepare a timetable indicating how Muslims should spend our 21 days in lockdown. We also intend listing the do’s and don’ts discussing the common sins we should abstain from and the acts of Thawaab to look forward to while at home, in the lockdown. May Allah Ta’ala make it a means of ourselves firstly as well as all our readers to benefit from the intended articles, Aameen.