Uthaimeen: A Person Will Be According to What He Becomes Accustomed To

Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “It is fitting that a person be serious and resolute when he performs an action, carrying it out with strength and without slackness or laziness, in opposition to the actions of some people, where you will find that they face the actions [that they have to carry out] with weakness, negligence and laziness.  And a person will be according to that which he becomes accustomed to, if he becomes accustomed to being firm-willed and having strength and not abandoning an action in the future then he will become resolute in his actions and will reach what he hopes for.”

Tafseer Surah as-Saafaat, p. 212.

Giving Precedence to Others Over Yourself in Those Things Which Are Obligatory

Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “Giving precedence to others over yourself in those things which are obligatory is not allowed. For example, if a person only has enough water for himself with which to perform ablution and there is another person with him who needs water, he is not to give the water to the other person, the other person should do tayammum.  Because this is giving precedence to others over yourself in those things which are obligatory, and giving such precedence to others over yourself is haraam.’

Ash-Sharh al-Mumti’, vol. 15, p. 40.

Can Someone Reach the Limits of Knowledge?

Sa’d ad-Duwaad said, “One of Ibn Baaz’s students asked him whether a person can reach the limits of knowledge.  So he said, ‘No, by Allaah, if the Companions were alive they would have carried on seeking knowledge until death and if the Shaikh of Islaam [Ibn Taymiyyah] was alive he would have continued to seek knowledge.  And he [i.e., Ibn Baaz], may Allaah have mercy on him, used to find pleasure in his books, [i.e.,] when they were read to him [him being blind].’”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 175.

Ibn Baaz and the Man who Said He Saw the Prophet In a Dream

Dr. Muhammad ibn Sa’d ash-Shuwai’ir said, “A man came who wanted to meet his eminence the Shaikh during one of his regular open sittings after maghrib, so we said to him, ‘You want to speak to him in the sitting?’  He said, ‘No, in private.’ When we told the Shaikh, he said, ‘Let him come.’  He did so and said to the Shaikh, ‘I saw a dream.’  So Shaikh Ibn Baaz said, ‘And what was it?’

He said, ‘I saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and so said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allaah!  I have a problem!’  So he said, ‘Ask Shaikh Ibn Baaz and he will solve it for you!”

So Shaikh Ibn Baaz said, ‘Write this problem down for us, and what is it [anyway]?’ So the man said, ‘My problem is that I don’t have a residency permit [iqaamah] and I want one and I want you to find work for me!’

So the Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, started laughing and said, ‘Bring a reference from someone, we fear that you did not really see the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.’

So the Shaikh did not reject him despite his lie and deception, and that man never did come back because he never found anyone who would attest to his lie.”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 171.

Update: Hans Wehr and Lane’s Lexicon Dictionary Search Can Be Downloaded So You Can Work Offline

Those of you who may need to use the dictionary search facility mentioned in the previous post whilst offline will be pleased to know that you can download the whole thing and do precisely that.  The file is about 600MB, once you’ve downloaded it, unzip it, and then from your browser, click: Open File, and locate the file called: “index” in the directory that you downloaded. It should then open up and you can work offline, walhamdulillaah.

Here is the link to download the whole thing:

http://ia700803.us.archive.org/2/items/ArabicAlmanac/Arabic_Almanac.zip

Very Useful Resource: Search Hans-Wehr and Lane’s Lexicon at the Same Time

Here’s a truly remarkable resource for those who regularly need to use Arabic-English dictionaries. On this page you can search both Hans-Wehr’s dictionary and Lane’s Lexicon at the same time.  What is most useful is the fact that you can type in the base root of the word you’re looking for in Arabic and it will show you the word in Hans-Wehr first and if you scroll down it will then show you where the same word occurs in Lane’s Lexicon.

Check it out:

http://ejtaal.net/m/aa/#HW=489,LL=4_283,LS=2,HA=380

King Faisal, Ibn Baaz and the Mansion

Dr. Naasir ibn Misfir az-Zahrani said, “One of these well-known, captivating stories about his eminence [Ibn Baaz] occurred in Medinah al-Munawwarah when he was the President of the Islamic University.  King Faisal, may Allaah have mercy on him, visited him and ordered that a mansion/villa be built for his eminence which would be commensurate with his scholarly, religious and social standing.  After it was built they came to the Shaikh to transfer the deeds to his name, but he refused and [instead] said that, ‘The villa will stay registered in the name of the President of the Islamic University, whoever becomes the head of the university, the villa will be his residence.’”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 143.

Uthaimeen: Guard strictly [the practice] of always inspecting/investigating your heart …

Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “Guard strictly [the practice] of always inspecting/investigating your heart.  For it may have the sickness of doubts or the sickness of desires, and everything–and all praise is for Allaah–has a cure.  So the Noble Quraan is a cure for doubts and desires.”

Ash-Sharh al-Mumti, vol. 4, p. 22.

Uthaimeen Asked: Do I Have to Tell My First Wife I’m Getting Married Again?

Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, was asked, “I want to get married to a second wife, is it permissible for me to marry again secretly without telling my first?”

So he said, “It is permissible for you to marry again and not tell your wife about it but the nikaah must be in the open and something announced [i.e., not secret], because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ordered that saying, “Announce the nikaah.”  And when you do what Allaah and His Messenger have ordered by announcing the nikaah, then Allaah the Most High will make your wife pleased with you when she finds out.”

Fataawaa Nurun-ala-Darb.

Ibn Baaz Joking

Fahd al-Bakraan said, “A funny situation which showed his humbleness and joviality, may Allaah have mercy on him, was when we were with his eminence [i.e., Ibn Baaz], may Allaah have mercy on him, and another one of the major scholars.

We were coming out of the Office for Religious Verdicts in [the city of] Taif, so his eminence, may Allaah have mercy on him, was joking with that other Shaikh, saying, ‘O Shaikh so and so, are you still only with one?’ i.e., only one wife?  That Shaikh replied saying, ‘Yes.’  So Shaikh Ibn Baaz said, ‘Why haven’t you taken more than one … you scared of her?’ and the Shaikh started laughing and so did we.

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 132.