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One would agree that from the most unfortunate things possible is to be the rightful recipient of some good news – a present maybe, a gift of money, a bequest etc – but then one remains unaware of this fact, or doesn’t pay attention to all the phone calls informing him of such glad tidings.

So there’s your present waiting for you, and you’re not really aware to its full worth or value – no-one else is going to claim it on your behalf and if you knew its real significance, you’d never leave it to waste!

Yet the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told us, as narrated by al-Imâm al-Bayhaqî, that:

“Sha’bân is a month between Rajab and Ramadhân, much neglected by people. In it, the actions of all servants are raised to the Lord of the Worlds; I love that my actions are not presented except that I am fasting.”

Here is a man, the wisest and most eager of creation to obtain all possible good, who saw this blessed month of Sha’bân very differently to many of us. He, peace be upon him, would never leave it to waste, rather he would be seen fasting almost the entire month of Sha’bân, only ever surpassed by the fasting of the whole of Ramadhân.

So why exactly is that?

There are numerous authentic reports that detail how the majority of Sha’bân was spent by our beloved Prophet in a state of fasting; a state which heightens our God-consciousness, makes us aware of our desires and the need for their control, makes us aware of the problems and difficulties of so many poor people around the world when we feel those pangs of hunger. The fasting one becomes very mindful of their tongue and how they abuse by it, their eyes and how they deviate from purity, their hearts and how much filth enters it without wilful control.

All in all, there is nothing more conducive to sincerely worshipping our Master, the Lord of the Worlds than doing so whilst fasting.

But doesn’t that occur whenever someone is fasting? Why then the month of Sha’bân?

With Ramadhân just around the corner, where many of us really do ‘make it or break it’ for the rest of the year due to the quality of our ‘ibâdah (worship) in it, it becomes paramount to prepare properly for this once in a lifetime opportunity. After all, do you know whether you’ll ever be lucky enough to greet another one? Weren’t the Sahâbah (Companions) described by Ma’lâ bin Fadhl as those people who spent six months of the year asking Allâh to accept their ‘ibâdah of their previous Ramadhân and the next six months asking just to be allowed to reach the next one?

So often do many of us think we can just turn up to the show in Ramadhân, take a seat and watch the game, see the team win and go home happy at the end. What a huge mistake.

Spending thirty odd days of Ramadhân refraining from food and drink from morning to night isn’t the second pillar of Islam known as Siyâm. No – I think people might be getting a bit confused there don’t you? That’s just a hungry and thirsty person, someone who in reality, has just wasted his time.

Rather as the Prophet, peace be upon him, advised us, we need to avoid all the well-known slips of the tongue, eyes, heart and really just our desires in general in order to be one who fulfils the conditions of Ramadhân. We need to make sure that we adorn our fasting with all other possible extra good actions such as praying extra nawâfil (voluntary prayers), giving charity, re-establishing family ties, increasing our social and da’wah (presenting Islam to non-Muslims) work, displaying generosity to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, extra dhikr (remembrance), memorisation of the Qur’ân etc. Surely that is the whole point here – that we fast so as to be more aware of our actions and that they are presented to Allâh, the Most High, in their best possible light.

Only with such a high quality day of fasting can we really have hoped to achieve the desired consequence – that all our previous sins are forgiven and that we enter His Garden with His pleasure, if Allâh wills it.

But don’t think such a day is easy to come by. Rather it is the exception although it shouldn’t be like that. Hence the greatness of Sha’bân, that blessed opportunity to see whether we can make the mark, the mock exam before the impending finals, the last practice in front of the mirror before the key interview – although each practice is important itself, mistakes that are made here are blessed ones if they are learned from and not repeated at the key moment.

This has to be our aim in the remaining days of Sha’bân. Try and make it a real and sincere practice effort for Ramadhân which is only a few weeks away – keep a note of all your external and internal actions during the day whilst you refrain from food and drink and be horrified at the amount of rubbish we espouse from our bodies on a daily basis. It’s going to be a major wake-up call and all praise is due to Allâh for that – I would rather that I’m rudely awoken today than be found in a drunken stupor during Laylat’l-Qadr (the Night of Power) …

Don’t you want to take full advantage of Ramadhân when it comes? Don’t you want to profit whilst the doors of Heaven are thrown wide open, the doors of Hell are slammed shut and our greatest detractors of all, the devils, are firmly chained up? Which believer doesn’t welcome those open doors and which sinner of us doesn’t sigh with relief at the taming of the Fire – if but just for a small moment?

For as the poet said,

“Whoever is shown mercy in Ramadhân is marhûm (blessed, receiver of mercy), whoever prohibits for himself its good is mahrûm (devoid of blessing and good) and whoever doesn’t take provision and sustenance from it is malûm (has no-one to blame but himself).”

So at this ‘neglected time’, when the majority of our friends, family and community are not paying attention to what could be gained, where the environment is not conducive to steeling one’s resolve and focus on that which is good, where people are concentrating on ‘enjoying’ themselves as much as possible before the ‘hardships’ of Ramadhân – during this time, let us strive to perfect ourselves now and learn from our mistakes whilst we prepare for the ‘Big One’, so as to really achieve the objective behind fasting and indeed life itself – to become those who are constantly aware of Allâh (al-Muttaqûn). How on Earth can we possibly achieve this if we just dive into Ramadhân without a care in the world, not having conditioned our bodies, physically and spiritually in Sha’bân? How can we work on preserving our energy during Ramadhân, not simply to last till Sunset, but to pray all the extra sunnah available if we don’t try and test ourselves now? How will we know the looseness of our eyes if we don’t catch the eyes out now? How will we ever realise how much we gossip and backbite during Ramadhân when we don’t try refraining ourselves from the rafath (filth) and fisq (evil) during our fasts today?

Surely, the fact that we can perfect ourselves and reach the true goal during Ramadhân simply by exerting ourselves now during Sha’bân is a compelling argument for why the Companions observed that when they saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, fasting at this time, they thought he’d never eat again – may Allâh bless him, give him eternal peace and reward him with the very greatest of rewards!

Last, but certainly not least, for those who look for bargains and the like at such times (and who wouldn’t considering how miskeen to our Lord we all are!), there is another super jackpot moment in this blessed month. If all the obvious benefits were not enough, we also have a special night in which forgiveness is on a unique limited offer for the Believers.

In a much disputed hasan narration collected by ibn Hibbân, one of many other weak ahâdîth, it is reported that on the authority of Mu’âdh ibn Jabal, may Allâh be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

“Allâh looks to His creation on the middle night of Sha’bân and forgives all of His creation, except for the one who ascribes partners to Him and the one who holds malice against others.”

Which one of us isn’t in need of this special moment of forgiveness? Yes, Allâh, the Most High, descends in the last third of every night offering salvation to us but here is another special moment for us to profit from, not restricted by the length of the night and specifically chosen by Sayyidina Mustapha, peace be upon him, to strive for.

Let us use this night to beseech our Lord for His bounty and pardon, prioritising our good deeds. After all, this is a night of forgiveness so what else better to do but to seek it! But at the same time, let us not put our hopes into just this one night but use these many sanctified days ahead to do exactly that – get ahead.

Al-Imâm ibn al-Jawzi, may Allâh have mercy upon him, was once asked:

“Is it better for me to make tasbîh (glorification of Allah) or to make istighfâr (seek forgiveness)?” He replied, “The dirty robe is more in need of soap than perfume.”

Hasan, may Allâh be pleased with him, once said:

“Increase in making istighfâr for you’ll never know when His Mercy will next descend.”

Indeed. So let us be aware of these blessed times in our times of need – let us pay attention to that which is neglected and make our Sha’bân and Ramadhân our sources of salvation.

A few hours ago we received the sad news that Shaykh ‘Abdullāh b. Jibrīn has passed away in hospital in Riyadh from his recent illness.

Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji‘ūn.

May Allah jalla wa ‘alā have mercy upon the Shaykh, illuminate his grave and grant him the best of Paradise, amīn.

And so another giant is taken and another barrier between ourselves and the anger of our Lord has fallen. To Allah we complain alone of our weakness and sins.

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم”ولنبلونكم بشيء من الخوف والجوع ونقص من الأموال والأنفس والثمرات وبشر الصابرين * الذين إذا أصابتهم مصيبة قالوا إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون * أولئك عليهم صلوات من ربهم ورحمة وأولئك هم المهتدون”

انتقل إلى رحمة الله تعالى شيخنا وإمامنا ووالدنا الشيخ عبدالله بن عبدالرحمن ابن جبرين في الساعة الثانية من بعد ظهر اليوم الاثنين 20/7/1430هـ وسيصلى عليه ظهر غد الثلاثاء 21/7/1430هـ في جامع الإمام تركي بن عبدالله (الجامع الكبير) بالرياض.نسأل الله أن يتغمده برحمته وأن يجزيه عن المسلمين خير الجزاء وأن يجعله مع السفرة الكرام البررة في الفردوس الأعلى من الجنة إنه ولي ذلك والقادر عليه.وإنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

مكتب الشيخ عبدالله الجبرين الاثنين 20/7/1430هـ

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I was recently fortunate enough to enjoy the company of the tireless Desmond Tutu during a session on post-conflict resolution. An interesting anecdote he mentioned was his experiences with a few Muslim communities undergoing oppression or other difficulties. He noted their hospitality, constant smiling and optimism and interestingly their propensity to have a laugh and a joke at their situations despite often terrible tragedy.

Actually all Muslims will be able to relate to this. We spend an awful amount of time laughing at ourselves and our deficiencies. Sure, much of our situation is no laughing matter particularly with the loss of so much innocent life around the world but a true observation is still a true observation however bizarre it might seem.

Tutu was referring to much of the African scene in particular Sudan and Somalia. But yesterday was the turn of the NWFP Pathans.

During a large gathering of Pathans from the much troubled region of Swat and surrounding areas, we reminisced together over the last few years “back home” and it was fascinating to reflect on key stages of the fitnah as it developed with the “Taliban”.

You see, the Pathans of Pakistan are generally a very simple and straightforward people. They don’t have many needs and they are orthodox and conservative by nature. When it comes to “Allah and His Messenger said…” then they are instantly obedient. Some might get lazy with respect to application and practice but very few Pathans will try to use their ‘aql and overcome the texts as is the wont of the modernists today. This is reflected in the fact that up to now, percentage wise, the Pathans suffer minimal liberalist and modernist deviations in religion compared to their counterparts. But on the flip side, they suffer a high percentage of problems due to the other end of the scale: extremism.

Many Maulvis and Mujahideen have taken advantage of this favourable state of circumstances. For the basic Pathan, hospitality of the stranger is a must, even if he be an enemy. Much money is spent supporting Jihad, supporting the families of those widowed or orphaned in war, and for students studying Islam in the local Madaris. Clearly, this is a dream situation for those extreme deviants and terrorists amongst us, abusing the sincerity of the locals and destroying the good name of the people of Jihad and the teachers of Islam in the Masajid.

During the gathering – a mixture of British Pathans, those who have recently returned from holiday and those who have been successful in fleeing the region – we recounted how these very Taliban who were slicing the throats of locals and our family members opposed to their ideology were the very same ones who we would be sending freshly cooked naan to every evening over the last few years when the call from the Taliban was for straightforward Shari‘ah in the region – something which all the locals were generally delighted to have – and not the declaration of takfeer and the shedding of innocent blood it has turned into now.

One who has just returned from the region talked about how his life savings have been lost as his house was taken over by the Taliban. The women and children of the house were kicked out and told to find other accommodation as a Taliban commander moved in with his own family to the main section, and then had the guest quarters of the house converted into a makeshift hospital for Taliban fighters, complete with ambulances and even forcing an elderly Babu of the village to tend to the injured which he was happy to do.

Word quickly reached the army of this new location and then in typical Pakistani fashion they came and bombed the entire house out of existence killing all the occupants, the injured, the helpers, the local villagers in the surrounding houses and leaving just the burning ambulances in the courtyards.

He started laughing. “Kasmai, we complain about American missiles being off-target but you should see our boys!”

He then stopped and there was silence. A few more people give their own stories of how their houses and valuables have been destroyed either by the Taliban or the Army in the last few months. My own father chipped in: our guest quarters have been destroyed, our water tank has been broken, our windows shattered, all by the army and their gunships. As for the Taliban then they’re trying to force their way into our cellar and want us to get rid of all our onions so that they can use it as a store-room! Cue the laughter again.

One said to my father, “Hold on, while we all used to sacrifice cows and sheep for them when they’d come through the village, wasn’t it you who actually sacrificed a camel for them back then?!” Cue the laughter again. And I’m talking hysterics.

One exclaimed how his house was taken yesterday by the Taliban. “How much are you charging him in rent?” I asked. Cue laughter.

Another said, “My brother called yesterday and said that things were not good. The Taliban are going around the houses and demanding two naans per household. We gave them six of course!” Cue laughter.

Then another one piped up, “Did you hear about the five Taliban the villagers caught in Kanju township? The ones who “halal-ed” so n’ so a few weeks before? Well by Allah, they were all found, killed and hung up in the main street and their bodies have remained there because no-one wants to bury these criminals. Who do these dogs think they are?! We respected them, looked after them, supported them and they repay us by cutting our necks?! What do they think? That after all this dies down, will any one of them be left alive? That we won’t take “Badla”? We will pursue them for generations!”

Silence. Nods of agreement. Serious and stern looks on the faces of everyone there. Then, my father gives me that special look.

“So who wants tea and who wants juice then?” I asked.

Tears. Laughter. Just another day.