Fasting on the Day of Arafah
July 29, 2020 § Leave a comment
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Fasting on the day of ʿArafah is an expiation for the preceding year and the following year.” Muslim.
Ibn Baaz on Hajj—His Response when Told Not to Eat with The Poor and Needy
October 3, 2014 § Leave a comment
“There was no difference in his eyes between the rich and the poor, the noble and the lowly, an ambassador or minister, for they would all gather at his table, and everyone who ate with His Eminence would be looking here and there at the people’s faces due to the variety [of people present] and their differing languages, ranks and colours—so you would have an Arab, a foreigner, a black person, a white one, someone close, and another distant [and so on].
One time someone who knew the Shaikh said to him, ‘O Shaikh! Some of these people don’t know the manners of how to eat properly, and it’s not right/easy to sit with them, so if it would please you to sit away from them and put yourself at ease from them.’
So His Eminence, the Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him said, ‘I’m the one who put the food out for them, and they came to me, my comfort is in eating with them, and the Prophet ﷺ used to eat with his Companions and the poor until the day he died, and I have an example in him, and I will carry on like this until I die—and whoever can’t handle that and doesn’t want to sit with them, I excuse him and he can go to someone else.’
And the amazing thing was that the affairs of this clearly large number of people would become organised, and the area allotted to them would suffice them, and the transport allocated for them would take them, their food would be arranged, as would their drinks, their sleep, their ablution, prayer, leaving, coming—and the secret to that, and Allaah knows best, is the correctness of this man’s, this Imaam’s intention, and that is what is apparent and Allaah is the One who knows the [inner] reality.”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, pp. 101-102.
The Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah on Hajj—Ibn Baaz and His Love of the Poor and Needy
October 3, 2014 § Leave a comment
“His Eminence would welcome the poor and would not be pleased that any harm come to them, he would not stand until he had asked, ‘Have they finished [eating]?’ fearing that if he did so he may have ended up rushing them, and he would always ask his attendants, ‘Hopefully they weren’t short of anything? I hope the food that was put out was enough for them? How many serving dishes were laid out?’ So when it was said to him that it was enough and that there was [even] some left over, he would say, ‘Laa ilaaha illallaah,’ and would be pleased, saying, ‘Look for some [more] of the needy, and give them the remaining food.’
And I never heard him say a harsh or crude word, in fact, he would show joy to the poor and needy even though some of them would crowd him, and maybe take meat or fruit from in front of him, and the Shaikh wouldn’t say a word and would not stand up until it was said to him, ‘They have finished eating.’
And when they had finished, they would raise their hands supplicating for His Eminence, and part of what they would say was, ‘We ask Allaah to allow you to eat from the fruits of Paradise, may Allaah forgive you and your parents.’
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, p. 101.
Everyone Wanting to Sit and Eat with Ibn Baaz on Hajj
October 2, 2014 § Leave a comment
“The number of serving dishes that would normally be put out would be between forty to forty five, sometimes fifty. And when the food would be served, the guests would compete to sit at the Shaikh’s table even though it was no different to anyone else’s, they only did so to be close to His Eminence, crowding around him, and when told to move away or when prevented from swarming around him, they would say, ‘We love to be able to eat along with His Eminence, the Shaikh, we want to see him and hear what he says and take comfort in being near him,’ and they would say, ‘Have mercy on us, you always see him, this is our chance.’
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, p. 100.
Ibn Baaz and His Guests on Hajj
October 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
“His Eminence [Ibn Baaz] used to try his utmost to take the feelings of his guests into consideration, he used to ask about them a great deal, would give many recommendations concerning them, and on numerous occasions would say to those working with him, ‘Have mercy on them, if they had found other people to go to they wouldn’t have come to you.”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, p. 100.
Ibn Baaz Teaching Patience
October 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
“[During Hajj] the Shaikh’s attendants used to be unable to bear the large number of people coming, the confined space, and the fear of embarrassing anyone, suffering severely because of that, since they wanted to accommodate the desire of the Shaikh and his approach in receiving people and not turning any of them away, and between upholding the rights of the delegates coming to see him in that confined space and among those huge numbers.
So if we said to His Eminence, ‘O Shaikh! Everyone wants to do Hajj with you, whether those resident here or those coming from abroad, and you know that the cars aren’t enough and that the area allocated to you isn’t enough,’ he would say, ‘Allaahul-Musta’aan. It’s only for some hours and then everything is over. Have patience, and hope for the reward from Allaaah, be happy about the ample reward, and what do you know—maybe we will not do Hajj after this year of ours, things will soon become easy and everything will end well.’
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, p. 100.
Ibn Baaz and the People Doing Hajj with Him
October 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
“And every Hajj it was from Shaikh Ibn Baaz’s habit that large numbers of men and women would perform Hajj along with him, most of whom were poor and non-Saudis, so he would say to everyone who asked His Excellency to be able to perform Hajj with him or who asked someone to ask him on their behalf, “Hayaahullaah,” and he wouldn’t ask about who would be going with him, nor how many they were in number, nor about how tight or not the places were.
The number of pilgrims doing Hajj with His Excellency and who would accompany him in his camp and the place where he would stay during Hajj would be about 800.
And the number of men and women for whom food would be provided in Mina and ’Arafah would range from 800 to 1000 pilgrims. But that is not what is surprising, what is surprising is the fact that food which was meant for 500 people would be enough for them all, but the blessing in his food was evident for all to see, the ones who saw that can testify to it, every time the numbers increased we thought it would not be enough for them, yet despite that it would and some of it would be left over. The number of people who would have lunch with him in Makkah was between 3 and 400. And I don’t know of a time when the food given to them didn’t suffice.”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, pp. 99-100.
Ibn Baaz During Hajj, Hundreds of People Around Him and the Fruit …
February 10, 2014 § Leave a comment
“In ’Arafah during 1418AH/1998CE he was sitting at the place of prayer and hundreds of people were around him. Some cut fruit was brought to him because during the Hajj rituals it was his habit that most of the time he would only eat fruit and dates and laban. So when it was put before him he said, ‘Have all those present been given the same thing [too]?’ They replied, ‘No.’ So he said, ‘Take it away,’ and became angry.”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz Ibn Baaz, p. 130.
’Uthaimeen and The Russian Pilgrims
February 7, 2014 § Leave a comment
“This incident was mentioned by one of the members of the Da’wah and Guidance Office in Jeddah. During Hajj in the year 1417AH/1996CE he was with Shaikh Ibn ’Uthaimeen at King ’Abdul-’Aziz Airport in Jeddah. The Shaikh would stand amongst the pilgrims arriving for Hajj carrying out his obligation of da’wah and teaching. He was then surprised by the arrival of some pilgrims who had come from one of the Soviet Republics, so the Shaikh wanted to speak to them and asked whether they had a translator. The group guide who was a Russian came forward but he did not know that the Shaikh [standing before him] was Shaikh ’Uthaimeen.
Once he had finished translating, the guide asked, ‘Who is this Shaikh?’ ‘That is Ibn ’Uthaimeen,’ he was told. [Upon hearing that] he hugged the Shaikh, kissing him and crying. And then he took the microphone and told the entire group of pilgrims that this is Shaikh ’Uthaimeen, and so tears started flowing from them all, and the guide kept calling out with the mic at the top of his voice, repeating the name of Shaikh Ibn ’Uthaimeen. And the individuals in the group started to give salaam to the Shaikh and kiss him [on his forehead].
The guide [then] said to the Shaikh, ‘These are your students. They used to read your books in the cellars underground during Communist rule.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 38.
Uthaimeen asked Whether Someone on Hajj Can Use ZamZam Water to Perform Ablution
October 13, 2013 § Leave a comment
Shaikh ’Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, was asked, “If a person going on Hajj only has some ZamZam water with him when the time for prayer becomes due, can he perform wudoo [ablution] with it or should he perform tayammum [dry ablution] because ZamZam water is blessed and should only be drunk?”
He replied, “In a hadith from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about ZamZam it is mentioned that, ‘The water of ZamZam is for whatever it is drunk for,’ but it has been said that from its blessings is that a person can purify himself with it for prayer, so it is permissible for him to perform ablution with it and there is no harm in that, and it is not permissible for him to turn away from that to tayammum as long as there is water present.”
Fataawaa Nurun-’Alad-Darb, CD.
Uthaimeen on The Obligation of Performing Hajj As Soon as One is Able To
October 2, 2013 § Leave a comment
Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “What is correct is that it is obligatory to carry out Hajj immediately if the conditions to make it obligatory [on a person] have been met, the proof is His Statement, the Most High, ‘And [due] to Allaah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House,’ [Aali-’Imraan 3:97] and [also] due to the hadith of Abu Hurairah, ‘Indeed Allaah has prescribed Hajj for you, so perform it.’ And the principle regarding an [imperative] order is that it be carried out immediately and that is why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became angry during the Ghazwah of Hudaibiyyah when he ordered them [i.e., the Companions] to come out of the state of Ihraam but they stalled [in carrying out the order], and [an order should be carried out straight away] because a person does not know what will befall him and because Allaah ordered us to race towards goodness and delaying doing so goes against what He commanded.”
Ash-Sharh al-Mumti’, vol. 7, p. 13.
Uthaimeen Asked About Performing Hajj on Behalf of Deceased Parents
October 2, 2013 § Leave a comment
Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, was asked, “My mother and father passed away when I was little and, bearing in mind that they were poor, I don’t know whether they performed Hajj or not, so what should I do?” He replied, “There is no Hajj on your parents in such a state and there is no deficiency in their religion which they are to be blamed for, and that is because Hajj is only obligatory on the person who is able to carry it out, due to Allaah’s Statement, the Most High, ‘And [due] to Allaah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House, for whoever is able to find a way thereto.’ [Aali-’Imraan 3:97]
But if you do want to perform Hajj or ’Umrah on their behalf, then start firstly with your mother and secondly, your father.”
Fataawaa Nurun-’ala-Darb, CD.
Ibn Baaz’s Sincerity and the Number of Times He Performed Hajj
December 29, 2011 § Leave a comment
Shaikh Abdul-Muhsin ibn Hamad al-Abbaad al-Badr said about Shaikh Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him:
“And I also remember that when he went to Qasim in 1385ah to get married there, I was with the Shaikhs who went along with him. On the way there we were passing through a valley [and I recall it was one] which had trees and half way through the day a solar eclipse occurred. So he led us in the eclipse prayer in that valley, may Allaah have mercy on him.”
“And I remember one year when I was at the Islamic University of Medinah I entered the Prophet’s Mosque with him after they had called the adhaan for the midday prayer, and I was next to him.
So he prayed four rak’ahs and I prayed two.
And it is known that the supererogatory prayers [Sunan ar-Raatibah] are ten in number and that praying twelve is more complete. So when I gave salaam he turned towards me and said, “You only prayed two rak’ahs.” I said, “Yes.” So he said, “Praying twelve is more complete and greater in excellence.”
“… and he performed Hajj forty-seven times, may Allaah have mercy on him …”
Ash-Shaikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullaah ibn Baaz, Numudhij minar-Ra’iyyil-Awal, pp. 20-22.
Gifts of Knowledge 