Three Types of Sleep

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحمٰن الرَّحيمِ

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

(أَوهُم قَآئِلُون (الاعراف:4 

Or while they slept for their afternoon rest.(7:4)

لقد اهتم (رأفت) بمعنى كلمة (قائلون) الواردة في الآية الكريمة أَوهُم قَآئِلُون فكُتب هذا البحث لمناسبة استفساره عنها، ولئلا يعطل قلمه الالماسي، بما يصيبه من انحلال في الجسم بسبب نومه بعد صلاة الفجر كالآخرين معه في السجن

This was written in connection with Re’fet being curious and asking about the word ‘qa’ilun – slept for their afternoon rest – in the verse,  “Or while they slept for their afternoon rest” and to prevent his diamond-like pen becoming idle in prison, and lethargic, as a result of sleeping after the morning prayer like the others.

:النوم على انواع ثلاثة

Sleep is of three sorts:

الاول:  الغيلولة

وهي النوم بعد الفجر حتى انتهاء وقت الكراهة. هذا النوم مخالف للسنة المطهرة؛ اذ يورث نقصان الرزق، وزوال بركته، كما هو وارد في الحديث الشريف. حيث ان افضل وقت لتهيئة مقدمات السعي لكسب الرزق هو في الجو اللطيف، عقب الفجر، ولكن بعد مضيه يطرأ على الانسان خمول وانحلال، مما يضرّ بسعيه في ذلك اليوم، وبدوره يضر بالرزق، كما يسبب زوال بركته، وقد ثبت هذا بتجارب كثيرة

The First is Ghaylula. 

This is from pre-dawn to forty minutes or so after the sun has  risen,  the time when prayer  is lawful but reprehensible. Sleep  at this time is contrary to the Practices of the Prophet (UWBP), since according to Hadiths, it leads to a decrease in  livelihood and its being unfruitful. The most appropriate time for preparing to earn one’s living is when it is cool. One is overcome by lethargy when this  has  passed.  It  has  been  established  by  many  experiences  that  this  is  both detrimental to the day’s labour and indirectly to one’s livelihood, and is the cause of unfruitfulness.

الثاني: الفيلولة

وهي النوم بعد صلاة العصر حتى المغرب، هذا النوم يسبب نقصان العمر، أي: يتناقص عمر الانسان مادياً في اليوم الذي يشوّب بالنوم المورث للغفلة؛ اذ يبدو ذلك اليوم قصيراً ناقصاً مثلما يكون قضاء وقت العصر بالنوم في حكم عدم رؤية نتائج معنوية لذلك اليوم، تلك النتائج التي تتظاهر على الاغلب في ذلك الوقت. فيكون الانسان كأنه لم يعش ذلك اليوم

The Second  is Faylula. 

This is from the afternoon prayer till sunset. Sleep at this time leads to a diminution of life, that is, it makes life that day shorter and pass in a state  of  semi-sleep  and  drowsiness,  thus  causing  a  physical  deficiency  to  life. Moreover,  immaterially, since most of the day’s results, material and immaterial, become  apparent  after  the afternoon prayer, to pass that  time in sleep  as though prevents the results being reaped and the day becomes as though unlived.

الثالث: القيلولة وهي سنة نبوية شريفة

ويبدأ وقتها من الضحى الى ما بعد الظهر بقليل، ومع كون هذا النوم من السنة المطهرة فانه يعين على قيام الليل، وقد رسخ هذه السنة النبوية ما اعتاد عليه اهل الجزيرة العربية من تعطيل نسبي للاعمال عند اشتداد الحر من الظهر حسب محيطهم. وهذا النوم يطيل العمر ويزيد الرزق؛ لان نصف ساعة من القيلولة يعادل ساعتين من نوم الليل، أي انه يزيد عمر يومه ساعة ونصف الساعة. وينقذ ساعة ونصف الساعة ايضاً من النوم الذي هو صنو الموت، ويحييها بتزييد وقت عمله كسباً للرزق، فيطيل زمن السعي والعمل

The Third is Qaylula, which is in accord with the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices.

It is from mid-morning to just past noon. Such sleep is Sunna since it allows a person to rise at night to pray. So too it is the custom in the Arabian Peninsula to rest from work at noon  when it  is  intensely hot, corroborating this practice of the Prophet (UWBP). This sleep  augments both life and sustenance. For half an hour’s Qaylula sleep is the equivalent of two hours’ sleep at night. This means it adds one and a half hours’ to a person’s life every day. It  saves one and a half hours from the hand of sleep, the brother of death, and gives it life, increasing the time of working for one’s livelihood.

سعيد النورسي

Said Nursi

Celebrating Eid-ul Adha by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

O my lazy soul! Like the soldier in the previous comparison was received into the royal presence as a pure favour, the reality of the five daily prayers, which are like a sort of Ascension, are a being received into the presence of the All-Glorious One of Beauty, the Beauteous One of Glory, Who is the True Object of Worship, as an instance of pure mercy. Declaring "God is Most Great!", it is to traverse the two worlds either in fact, or in the imagination, or by intention, be divested of the restrictions of materiality, pass to a universal degree of worship or a shadow or form of universality, and being honoured with a sort of presence, it is to manifest the address of "You alone do we worship!" (everyone according to his own capacity); it is a most elevated attainment. The repetition of "God is Most Great! God is Most Great!" in the actions of the prayers indicates rising through the degrees of spiritual progress, and ascending from minor particulars to universal spheres, and is a concise title of the perfections of Divine sublimity which are beyond our knowledge. It is as if each "God is Most Great!" indicates traversing a step in the Ascension. To attain to a shadow or a ray of this reality of the prayers either in fact, or by intention, or with the imagination, is a great happiness.

The frequent declaring of "God is Most Great!" during the Hajj is for the above reason. For the blessed Hajj is worship at a universal level for everyone. Just as on a special day like a festival a soldier goes to the king's celebrations like a General in the sphere of General, and receives his favours, in the same way, a Hajji, no matter how lowly, is turned towards his Sustainer under the title Mighty Sustainer of every region of the earth, like a saint who has traversed all the degrees. He is honoured with universal worship. For sure, the universal degrees of dominicality opened with the key of the Hajj, and the horizons of the tremendousness of Godhead which are visible to his eye through its telescope, and the spheres of worship which gradually unfold to his heart and imagination through its observances, and the heat, wonder, awe, and dread of dominicality caused by the levels of sublimity and last stage of manifestation, can only be quietened by "God is Most Great! God is Most Great!", and those observed or imagined unfolded degrees can only be proclaimed by it. After the Hajj, this meaning is found in various exalted and universal degrees in the Festival{'Eid) Prayers, the prayers for rain, and those recited at solar and lunar eclipses, and in prayers performed as a congregation. Thus, the importance of the marks and observances of Islam, also even if of the category of Sunna, lies in this reason.

Glory be unto the One Who has placed His treasuries between the Kaf and the Nun.

فَسُبْحَانَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ مَلَكُوتُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْ‌جَعُونَ 

So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things, and to Him will you all be brought back (36:83)

 سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ

Glory be unto You, we have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise (2:32)

رَ‌بَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِن نَّسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا * رَ‌بَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا

بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَ‌حْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْوَهَّابُ

O our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! (2:286) * O our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us Mercy from Your presence, for You are the Granter of bounties without measure (3:8)

And grant blessings and peace to Your Most Noble Messenger, the manifester of Your Greatest Name, and to his Family, and Companions, and brothers, and followers. Amen. O Most Merciful of the Merciful!

- 4th Ray of 16th Word

Ayaq bah

Sudah beberapa minggu (atau bulan?) negara jiran, Thailand masih dilanda banjir. Salah satu kawasan yang paling terjejas teruk ialah Ayutthaya, ibu negara lama kerajaan Siam.

Bulan Mei tahun ini, dalam program Global Outreach Program (GORP) aku berpeluang melawat Ayutthaya yang menjadi salah satu tapak warisan sejarah UNESCO kerana banyaknya monumen-monumen sejarah terutamanya wat atau kuil Buddha binaan kerajaan Siam lama. Di sana, antara tempat yang dikunjungi ialah Istana Raja Thai (Bang Pa-in) yang dibuka untuk umum, Masjid Ku Cho Fa dan pasar terapung 'tiruan'. [(Catatan penuh salah seorang peserta GORP tentang kunjungan ke Ayuttaya boleh dibaca di sini) rasa malas hendak menulis secara terperinci bila sudah ada orang yang sedia menulis, hehe]

Bila melihat dan membaca berita di media massa tentang banjir besar di Ayutthaya, aku terfikir bagaimanalah keadaan di tempat-tempat yang kunjungi ini. Terjejaskah istana-istana yang sangat-sangat cantik di Bang Pa-In? Apa pula khabar saudara-saudara muslim ahli jemaah Masjid Ku Cho Fa? Kalau tidak silap, setelah negeri-negeri di Selatan Thai, Ayutthaya merupakan negeri terbanyak yang didiami oleh orang Islam. Itu tidaklah menghairankan, kerana sejak kurun ke-16 Ayutthya yang ketika itu menjadi ibu negara Siam telah dikunjungi oleh peniaga-peniaga Islam terutamanya dari Parsi (untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut sejarah hubungan diplomatik bolehlah membaca makalah-makalah tulisan Professor Dr. Muhammad Ismail Marcinkowski.)

Setelah menenggelamkan Ayutthaya, air bah itu kemudiannya mengalir ke ibu negara Thailand sekarang ini, Bangkok. Sehingga kini, seperti yang dilaporkan, keadaan banjir di sana masih tidak dapat dipulihkan. Itulah serba sedikit mengenai banjir di negara jiran. Kita di Malaysia ini terutamanya negeri-negeri di utara dan pantai timur tanah air pun turut terancam dengan musibah banjir ini. Jika benar seperti yang diramalkan Jabatan Metereologi, hujan bawaan angin monsun timur laut yang bermula bulan ini akan mengandungi lebih 40 peratus berbanding taburan hujan monsun yang sama sebelum ini. Maka, diramalkanlah, negeri-negeri seperti Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu dan Pahang akan dilanda banjir yang lebih teruk.

Jadi, apa kesimpulannya? Barangkali, bolehlah kita merenung betapa kerapnya bencana-bencana alam yang berlaku di akhir zaman ini seperti yang dirumuskan dalam ayat 41 Surah Ar-Rum. Mungkin juga pepatah sediakan payung sebelum hujan boleh menjadi kesimpulan entri ini terutamanya kepada diriku yang insha' ALlah akan mula berkhidmat di utara tanah air 10 November ini, hehe.

Nota: Ayaq bah = air banjir