★ Must-know
📌 What is known by reason is divided into what must be, what cannot be, and what may either be or not be.
📌 The first duty of someone able to reflect is to know Allah and His messengers through proofs, including their necessary, impossible, and possible attributes.
Allah is absolutely independent, completely different from creation, beyond worldly sight and the human mind, and one in His essence, qualities, and actions.
Allah's affirmed attributes include:
Allah can do every possible thing and can also leave possible things undone.
The noble messengers are honest, convey the message, possess intelligence, and obey Allah; lying, concealing, incapacity, and disobedience are impossible for them.
The testimony of faith is that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Last Prophet and Messenger.
Further detail
The Guiding Helper is based on a metered poem by Sidi Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn `Ashir, born in Spain and raised in Fès, Morocco, about seven hundred years ago.
The poem has three books on (Ibn `Ashir):
The poem's book on beliefs draws on The Mother of Proofs for the Tenets of Belief by Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sunusi al-Husayni; its book on law draws on The Concise Text by Khalil Ibn Ishaq ibn Yaqub; and its book on spirituality draws on The Letter of Qushayri by Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri.
Knowledge by testing uncovers links between things, but Allah brings about their effects and can break those links.
📌 After learning about Allah and His messengers, a person must learn the din from an authentic source in order to worship Allah as prescribed.
★ Must-know
The pillars of Islam are: testimony, prayer, almsgiving from surplus wealth, fasting in Ramadan when healthy, making the journey to Makkah once in a lifetime
Iman includes belief in Allah, His books, messengers, angels, death, the two questioning angels, the world between death and afterlife, resurrection, judgment and weighing of deeds, the record of deeds, the bridge over Hellfire, the Prophet's river and lake, Paradise, Hell, and destiny.
Further detail
★ Must-know
Further detail
📌 Wajib acts are either individual duties that each person must perform or collective duties that are fulfilled by some members of a group.
Sunnahs are a category of mandub and, like wajib acts, may be duties for each person or for a group.
The levels of mandub are:
Wajib requires action; mandub rewards it, while mubah leaves action and omission neutral.
★ Must-know
Animal saliva, mucus, and sweat are pure, and the urine and feces of animals whose meat is eaten, including cows, goats, sheep, and rabbits, are pure.
Impure things include:
📌 Water whose color, smell, or taste is changed by red powder, milk, mustard, white vinegar, or lemon juice cannot be used for purification, though it can still be used for other tasks.
The seven obligatory acts of ablution are:
Ablution is broken by urination, solid waste, flatulence, post-urinary emission, or pre-semen discharge; after pre-semen discharge, the private part must also be washed, but a bath is not required.
Ejaculation requires purification by bathing whether or not it was pleasurable, and penetration also requires a bath.
Without ablution, a person may not:
📌 After menstruation or post-natal bleeding ends, a woman must bathe for purification; intercourse is prohibited until then.
📌 Dry ablution is permitted when water is unavailable or expected to cause harm, using dirt, rock, stone, or another substance from the earth.
Further detail
📌 The ruling against using changed water does not apply to changes that are difficult to avoid or caused by natural substances such as sulphur, salt, or moss.
📌 Water that becomes changed after an impure substance falls into it should be discarded.
🔄 The described ablution proceeds through:
The seven sunnahs of ablution are:
Recommended refinements include: saying Bismillah, using a pure location, conserving water, placing containers on the right, washing parts two or three times, using a toothstick, starting with the right limbs, maintaining the sunnah order with obligatory acts, beginning head-wiping at the front, wiping between the toes
★ Must-know
The five prayers are:
Subh begins at dawn; Dhuhr begins after noon; Asr begins when the post-noon shadow becomes longer than the object; Maghrib follows sunset; and Isha' begins when the red glow disappears.
The first time for Subh lasts from dawn until the stars still gleam, Dhuhr until the post-noon shadow becomes taller than the object, Asr until the sun turns yellow, Maghrib soon after sunset, and Isha' until the first third of the night ends.
Prayer begins with purification, purity, clothing, facing the Ka`bah, and intention; the worshipper then says the opening takbir, recites al-Fatihah and Quran, bows, rises, prostrates twice with a sitting between, and completes the unit standing or sitting as appropriate.
Subh has two units, Maghrib has three, and Dhuhr, Asr, and Isha' have four units each.
Further detail
Asr until sunset, and for Maghrib and Isha' until dawn.📌 The second prayer time is for people whose intellect was absent, who fainted, slept, forgot, could not obtain water or a stone, or had bleeding lasting until that time; most others do wrong by waiting for it.
📌 Quran is recited only in the first pair of units, while al-Fatihah is recited in every unit; sitting occurs in the second and fourth units and in the third unit of Maghrib.
📌 Women cover their hair in public and during prayer, with only the face and hands left uncovered; boys cover from below the navel to above the knees in public and prayer.
Stand, bow, rise, prostrate, sit, prostrate again.
★ Must-know
The four necessary conditions are:
The sixteen obligatory prayer actions include standing, the opening takbir with intention, standing for al-Fatihah, bowing, rising from bowing, prostrating, sitting between prostrations, sitting for salam, keeping the prescribed order, and maintaining straight postures with a brief pause.
Further detail
Forgetting or inability to meet the first, third, or fourth prayer condition does not invalidate the prayer; praying in the wrong direction by mistake remains valid, and repeating is recommended when possible within the second time.
Followers begin and finish their actions after the imam, intend to pray behind him, and the imam must intend leadership when joining prayers, praying in fear or on Friday, or joining from the rear.
Every worshipper performs the obligatory actions except that followers are exempted from reciting al-Fatihah.
Standing is obligatory in obligatory prayers but optional in recommended prayers; someone unable to stand may pray seated, and someone unable to bow or prostrate may stand and gesture, with a stronger gesture for prostration.
Someone unable to recite al-Fatihah in Arabic should pray behind another person and remain quiet or learn it; someone unable to speak should do what they can, and a person expecting a nosebleed to continue until the prayer time ends may pray while bleeding.
★ Must-know
📌 Missing fewer than three sunnahs does not affect prayer validity; missing three or more may be corrected with two prostrations of forgetfulness, and correcting the omission of one or two is recommended but not required.
📌 A traveller more than forty-eight miles, about eighty kilometres, from home may shorten a four-unit prayer if the traveller does not stay more than four days, counting from departure until return to the town border.
Further detail
Prayer sunnahs include reciting Quran after al-Fatihah while standing in the first two units, reciting softly in daytime prayers and the third and fourth units at night, and reciting aloud at dawn and in the first two units at night.
Sunnahs include saying takbir at posture changes, saying Sami`a l-lahu li man hamidah when rising from bowing except for followers, and sitting for greetings and testification.
For prostration of forgetfulness due to the cited sunnahs, at least two missed takbirs or tahmids before prostration are required; Quran recitation after al-Fatihah counts as three sunnahs: its recitation, volume, and standing for it. - Ibn Juzayy
Other sunnahs include: placing an object in front to prevent people passing, the call to commence, remaining silent during the imam's recitation, prostrating on hands, toes, and knees, using the greetings and testification taught by `Umar, blessing the Prophet, saying the first salam aloud, adding a second salam for the imam, remaining briefly in each posture
Group prayer for two or more men is sunnah, and women may pray behind men but not behind women.
Calling people to prayer by adhan is a strong sunnah for a group seeking more people for an obligatory prayer whose time has arrived.
While travelling on land, a person may join the two daytime prayers or the two nighttime prayers when hurrying because time is tight, praying the pair in either the first prayer's or second prayer's time according to the planned stop.
★ Must-know
📌 Missing a stressed sunnah calls for two prostrations before salam; accidentally adding actions or words calls for two prostrations after salam, and doing both calls for prostrations before salam.
Further detail
During prostration, the hands touch the ground before the knees and leave it last when rising; the worshipper says “Subhana Rabbiya l-A‘la” three times, with fingers facing the qiblah.
It is disliked in obligatory prayers to say “Bismillah” or “A‘udhu bi l-lah,” recite Quran while bowing or prostrating, or ask Allah for things while reciting or bowing.
Other disliked prayer acts include:
The forgetfulness prostration consists of saying “Allahu Akbar,” prostrating, sitting upright, saying “Allahu Akbar,” prostrating again, sitting up, testifying, and ending with salam.
A missed stressed sunnah is compensated before salam; an accidental addition is compensated after salam.
★ Must-know
📌 For Friday prayer, the obligation applies to able, free men who are not travelling or ill and are within four miles of the mosque; at least twelve men must attend and hear the sermon.
Further detail
Witr is prayed after ‘Isha’ and consists of one unit, completed with the ordinary prayer actions and a final sitting, testimony, blessing of the Prophet, and salam.
The ‘Id prayer is performed in a group before noon: after the opening, six takbirs are said without a gap and without raising the hands, followed by al-Fatihah and Quran; in the second standing, five more takbirs are said before completing the prayer normally.
Friday prayer is performed after high noon and before sunset, and those who perform it are excused from Dhuhr that day.
In the described fear prayer, half the group prays behind the imam while the other half guards; after the first half completes its portion and leaves, the second half joins the imam, then makes up the portion missed.
📌 If enemies are present and congregational prayer is impossible, each person prays alone, even while facing the troops.
★ Must-know
A deceased person is washed by pouring water and rubbing from head to feet, preferably three times—once with soap, once with clear water, and once with perfumed water—then dried and wrapped in enough simple shrouding cloth to cover the body.
The funeral prayer is performed facing the qiblah with four takbirs, a whispered supplication after each, and one salam; it has no bowing or prostration, and the hands are raised only once to shoulder height.
Further detail
📌 Men wash deceased men and women wash deceased women, but spouses may wash one another.
📌 A grave must be deep enough to prevent animals from smelling the corpse; an L-shaped grave is preferred in hard earth, while a simple trench may be used in soft earth.
📌 Slapping cheeks, ripping pockets, and wailing are unlawful at a death, but crying is permitted.
Wash, shroud, pray, then bury.
★ Must-know
📌 Money zakat is 2.5% of liquid assets when their value reaches the price of 85 grams of gold and is held for one year.
📌 Zakat al-Fitr is obligatory after Ramadan on able, free Muslim men from dawn, for themselves and their wife, poor parents, daughter, and son; the amount is two dry litres of staple food per person.
Further detail
Zakat-bearing crops listed are wheat, barley, millet, rice, corn, peas, lentils, beans, sesame, safflower, red radish seeds, olive oil, dates, and grapes.
Zakat may be given to the poor, those in debt, stranded travellers, those fighting for Allah’s cause, zakat collectors and managers, and new Muslims and non-Muslims whose hearts are sought; all recipients except the last-mentioned category must be Muslim.
Zakat al-Fitr may be given from two days before ‘Id until after ‘Id, and a missed payment remains due for the rest of the payer’s life.
★ Must-know
📌 Ramadan fasting is obligatory for sane, healthy Muslims who are not travelling; women must also be free from bleeding throughout the day, otherwise they make up the fast.
📌 A fasting person intends at night to abstain from eating, drinking, sending food down the throat, intercourse, and masturbation from dawn until sunset, and must intend the type of fast.
Further detail
In Ramadan, deliberately eating or drinking, abandoning the fast intention, or engaging in intercourse or causing ejaculation requires fasting two consecutive months or feeding 60 poor people; the stated exceptions include illness, old age, breastfeeding, pregnancy, coercion, extreme hunger or thirst, and travel, with missed fasts made up except for the elderly.
Missed Ramadan fasts should be made up before the next Ramadan; if delayed until after it, one poor person must also be fed for each missed day, and the fasts still have to be made up.
Fasting is prohibited on the two ‘Id days and on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhu l-Hijjah.
I‘tikaf is invalidated by acts that break the fast, caressing or kissing, or leaving the mosque without need; eating or drinking at night is permitted, and accidental or forced eating or drinking does not invalidate it.
★ Must-know
Before passing the appointed station, men wear two unsewn sheets and low-cut footwear, remove other clothes, and leave the head uncovered; women remain in their clothes with face and hands uncovered, and both perform two recommended units before intending Hajj or ‘Umrah and reciting the talbiyah.
Tawaf consists of circling the Ka‘bah seven times with the House on the left, beginning and ending at the Black Stone, saying takbir there, and praying two units afterward.
Sa‘y proceeds between Safa and Marwah for seven legs; men may run in the valley between the two green markers, and the rites at Marwah repeat those performed at Safa.
Further detail
📌 After completing the seven legs, a person performing only ‘Umrah cuts the hair and ends consecration, whereas a person performing Hajj remains consecrated and continues the pilgrimage.
On the eighth of Dhu l-Hijjah, pilgrims travel from Makkah to Mina near Dhuhr and pray Dhuhr, ‘Asr, Maghrib, ‘Isha’, and Subh there, shortening the four-unit prayers to two.
On the ninth of Dhu l-Hijjah, pilgrims go to ‘Arafah after sunrise, stop talbiyah on reaching the mosque at Nimrah, hear two sermons after noon, and shorten and join Dhuhr and ‘Asr.
Enter consecration, circle the House, travel between Safa and Marwah.
★ Must-know
After the ninth-day prayers, pilgrims stand at `Arafah facing the qiblah, bless the Prophet, declare Allah’s oneness, and ask Allah for favors until sunset.
After sunset, pilgrims leave Arafah without praying and travel to Muzdalifah, where they join the night prayers, praying two units for Isha and three for Maghrib.
🔄 The dawn sequence is:
On the eleventh and twelfth days, pilgrims stone each of three pillars with seven pebbles, beginning with the smallest; on the twelfth they may leave before sunset or stay another day.
Further detail
Arafah → Muzdalifah → Mina → Kabah
★ Must-know
Hajj is obligatory once in a lifetime for sane, able men and women, and a woman must travel with her husband, a male relative, or a protective group.
The four essentials of Hajj are:
📌 Caressing and kissing are unlawful while sacred, and intercourse invalidates Hajj or `Umrah and requires repeating it the next year; after stoning the largest pillar, the other restrictions no longer require atonement.
Further detail
📌 Circumambulation requires purity, prayer-appropriate covering, keeping the House on the left, seven circuits beginning at the Stone, staying outside the circular wall, and avoiding long breaks except when prayer begins.
The five appointed points for entering sacredness depend on the pilgrim’s route; passing one’s appointed point while unsacred requires sacrificing a sheep for the poor.
While sacred, a person must not use perfume or oil, kill lice, remove dirty skin, cut nails or hair, or hunt land creatures except dangerous ones such as scorpions, rats, ravens, hawks, attacking dogs, and snakes.
📌 Men while sacred may not cover their heads or faces or wear sewn clothes, watches, wristbands, or rings; women may not wear gloves or a face veil, while a belt for carrying money is permitted.
📌 For specified violations of sacred restrictions, the text gives the options of sacrificing a sheep, feeding six poor people, or fasting three days; killing a creature requires ransom according to its size.
Essential acts make Hajj valid; wajib acts are compensated by sacrifice when omitted.
★ Must-know
📌 Breaking a promise is wrong, and swearing by Allah to do something and then failing to do it requires expiation by feeding ten poor people, clothing them, or fasting three days.
Further detail
📌 For `Umrah, a pilgrim must leave the sacred area and re-enter it in sacredness before proceeding with the rites.
bah, visit the Prophet’s Mosque, pray two units, greet the Prophet, and greet Abu Bakr on his right and Umar on his left.📌 A land animal with flowing blood is lawful only if its two veins and windpipe are cut while it is alive, and hunting prey must be invoked over with “Bismillah” and verified as killed by the hunter’s weapon.
On a newborn’s seventh day, it is sunnah to sacrifice one sheep for either a boy or a girl, and it is mandub to shave the baby’s hair and choose a good name.
The personal practices listed include keeping a moderate beard and trimmed moustache for men, removing armpit and under-belly hair, trimming nails, and observing that circumcision is sunnah and advised for boys and men but not required for converts.
★ Must-know
Marriage may be wajib, mandub, makruh, haram, or mubah: it is wajib when a person fears wrongdoing and can meet support obligations, mandub when able without that fear, makruh when rights may not be fulfilled, haram when unable and not fearing wrongdoing, and mubah otherwise.
The stated marriage essentials are a groom, bride, eligible guardian, agreed payment of at least one gram of gold, customary exchange of marriage words, and agreement by both sides; written contracts and two witnesses are mandub.
The text describes divorce as three separate pronouncements in successive periods of purity without intercourse in the period of the first pronouncement; before the third pronouncement the husband may resume the marriage, but after the third the couple must separate.
Further detail
Muslim women may marry only Muslim men, while Muslim men may marry Muslim, Jewish, or Christian women; a person must not be alone in closed quarters with an unrelated woman.
Divorce may be wajib, mandub, makruh, haram, or mubah; it is wajib after four consecutive months without vaginal intercourse following a husband’s oath, and haram when the wife is menstruating.
A pregnant woman’s divorce is not finalized until childbirth or miscarriage, and a woman may not remarry until three pure states have passed after divorce or four lunar months and ten nights after her husband’s death.
The text assigns child-raising responsibility in this order: mother, maternal grandmother, sister, paternal grandmother, father, paternal grandmothers, child’s sister, paternal aunt, brother’s daughter, sister’s daughter, brother, entrusted persons, and inheritors without fixed shares.
★ Must-know
A deceased person’s obligations, including burial costs, debts, and bequests, are paid from the estate before the residual wealth is divided among eligible relatives according to fixed shares.
The fixed inheritance fractions are:
The text prohibits cheating, deception, selling unlawful goods or goods one does not possess, hiding defects, stealing, gambling, bribery, and interest, while describing most other ways of earning money as lawful.
The text presents the path to Allah as first repenting and resolving not to return to sin, guarding the senses and body, avoiding harmful thoughts and heart-diseases such as envy and conceit, and then cultivating worship, remembrance, patience, gratitude, trust, love, and contentment.
Further detail
📌 If fixed inheritance fractions total more than one, the denominator is increased so the shares add to one; if no one is entitled to the residual wealth, it goes to a collective welfare bank or, if none exists, to inheritors or charities.
📌 A bequest may be made to someone outside the inheriting body, including a non-Muslim or institution, and may not exceed one-third of the estate.
📌 The text advises correcting wrongdoing only when doing so is not expected to produce a worse wrong, respecting adults’ privacy, obeying a qualified Islamic ruler, and avoiding killing non-combatants or fleeing battle.
The text recommends staying with a knowledgeable spiritual teacher who reminds the student of Allah and helps avoid pitfalls on the path.
The text attributes much of its teaching to Bin `Ashir, described as a Spanish scholar of his age.
The Five Legal Rulings
| Ruling | Doing it | Leaving it |
|---|---|---|
| Wajib | Required; rewarded | Risks punishment |
| Mandub | Expected reward | No punishment |
| Mubah | No reward or punishment | No reward or punishment |
| Makruh | No punishment | Rewarded |
| Haram | Risks punishment | Rewarded |
Take a 58-question practice quiz on The Guiding Helper: Belief and Worship, with every answer explained.
1. A person learns one fact through reasoning, another by testing it, and a third through revelation and definition. How are these ways of knowing distinguished?
2. A claim is classified as something that may either be true or not be true. Which category of what is known by reason does it belong to?
Memorize the key concepts of The Guiding Helper: Belief and Worship with 94 flashcards.
By what means are statements known?
By reason, testing, revelation, or definition.
What three categories divide what is known by reason?
What must be, what cannot be, and what may be or not be.
When does a person become responsible, and what indicates maturity?
Upon attaining sanity and maturity, indicated by the listed signs or age eighteen.
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