Continuation of my Contentions Series.
Link to Sheykh Abd al Hakim Murad’s Contentions part 1
47. The dietary laws are an opportunity to fast.
The dietary laws we ‘struggle’ with include: not eating pork, not consuming alcohol, eating Zabihah, etc. Often, we may begin discussing with others, ‘why’ we follow these dietary restrictions.
I’m a firm adherent to the concept that trying to explain the ‘why’ of a command which has come from Allah, Most High is near sacrilegious. This is quite clear when one has a very clear sense of tauheed, since one can understand that to attempt to fit God’s purpose into a neat little box of human rationality is literally impossible. It either involves elevating our minds to the level of the Divine, or bringing down the Divine’s level to our own. Both of which are concepts that I am not too keen on.
What the Sheykh does here is give us an additional perspective. Why do we fast? Like I discussed in the Ramadan posts, we are fasting to follow His Command, and by doing so earn favor from Allah. Although we all love Ramadan for all of its opportunities to gather blessings and forgiveness, we should also realize that some of our standard dietary laws also exist as a form of fasting.
We say “no” to that cheeseburger, not because there is some deep social consequence to eating it, but because, in a way, we are always fasting now, in this life. We are fasting from certain things to earn the same type of favor and blessings that we try to achieve when we fast from food completely.
The way that the Sheykh is reminding us to look at dietary laws is not as a chain of restrictions, but rather a chain of opportunities.
Alhamdulillah, there is a new set of contentions, Contentions 9, by Sheykh Abdal Hakim Murad.
The fact that I am nearing the half way mark for Contentions 1 is kind of discouraging as it has taken some time to get to this point. I also don’t want to make this solely a ‘contentions’ blog so I try to talk about other things as well.
It does seem that I’ll have to pick up the pace on the contentions, maybe doing 2 a day instead of 1. Inshahallah, we will see 
Continuation of my Contentions Series.
Link to Sheykh Abd al Hakim Murad’s Contentions part 1
46. In the measure that we accept the Prayer it is accepted by God.
Interpretation:
I was a bit put-off by the use of the term “In the measure that”. For me, the best way to understand it was “In as much as”, so to be more simpler version of the Contention might mean:
“Prayer is accepted by God as much as we accept the Prayer”
Certainly, from the outward fiqhi sense, if we meet our obligations the prayer should be accepted.
So how can we ‘accept the Prayer’, and what does it mean to ‘measure’ our acceptance of it? It seems that this is not ‘acceptance’ in its external meaning, but rather ‘acceptance’ similar to how one might accept their destiny: it has different levels.
I think this comes down to the spirit of Salat, where we start to come to terms with our understanding of the ritual prayer.
While Salat is a uniquely distinguishing factor for all the Muslims, each Muslim approaches prayer very differently.
For some, Salat is something generally ignored, practiced occasionally due to social circumstance. For others, it is accepted as a practiced burden. And yet for others it is a unique opportunity to have an intimate relationship with God. I am sure there are even more categories than that, but this is a good way to begin.
What the Sheykh seems to be saying is that it is helpful to consider how you view your prayer in determining the worth of that prayer in the sight of Allah, Most High.
In other words, if you view prayer as a burden to be fullfilled, well, it may just be that your reward will be handed to you with the same consideration, just fullfilling a contract of obligation and reward. On the other hand, if you treat prayer as something special, well you may find you are specially treated as well.
I can say with confidence that the Sunnipath classes on the Essentials of Hanafi Fiqh have been extremely helpful for me to develop my own relationship with Salat. Knowing many of the details of fiqh of Salat help in creating a sincere understanding on how to fullfill the obligation, and how to take it a step further from obligation to opportunity (and beyond).
The “Spirit of the Sunnah” Sunnipath class may be even better in this regard!
45. Salat is the zakat of time.
Salat – Muslim ritual prayer
Zakat- Muslim ritual, yearly charity
Interpretation:
Pretty straightforward, in my opinion. Zakat is a form of sacrifice, a sacrifice of ones wealth for charity, for the sake of God.
Salat, is in the same way, a sacrifice from ones time, for the sake of God.
—
Update: I thought this comment deserved a bump onto the main text.
Abu’l `Ula al-Hindi writes:
The root of zakat is purification prayer is the purification of the moments of ones life
Prayer prevents lewdity and wrong
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
Contentions 1 (48)
Definition:
pretext: something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason
Interpretation:
Masha’allah!
We all know today the movement dedicated to the belittlement of the ulema of Ahl ul Sunnah Wa’l Jamma’. Frankly, many Muslims today continue to be unaware of the names of the greatest of scholars of our history.
Sure, it certainly is an appealing argument of theirs. “Why do you pray as you do? I have a hadith here which says this, or a hadith here which says that. Now, come, pray like me and forget what your father taught you, and what his father taught him.”
This is invariably followed by quoting some ayat directed towards the kuffar and applying it to Muslims. These are ayats which we are all familiar with, which deride the Kuffar for blindly following in their father’s footsteps.
This is an interesting tactic, and it works -so- very well.
That is, until one begins to contemplate on a few matters. First and foremost, a Muslim father’s, and his father’s father source of knowledge is directly available. And quite unlike the Kuffar, it is firmly grounded in Quran and Sunnah, regardless of whatever hadith the reformers have found and interpreted to support their personal opinion.
If one cares to study and determine it, the sources of fiqh are quite detailed in their explanations on all aspects of religious ritual and beyond. These detailed fiqh manuals which the knowledgable ulema taught to our forefathers still exist to this day. While these books may not be easily accessible to you, and the author’s names unmentioned in your household, nevertheless they exist and existed… Fortunately for us, these sciences continue today with those who spend their lives in the ulema’s tradition of excellence.
The key point that I derive from this Contention is that the usage of text’s (Quran, Hadith), in this above manner, without the context of the sciences and knowledge of the great personalities within the study of Sacred Knowledge, becomes merely a means to conceal one’s own personal desires and agenda under the cloak of religion.
The second part is under quotes, though I could not find the direct reference to it. If anyone can help me with that it would be appreciated.
The quote reinforces the idea expressed by the previous sentence since it associates knowledge, not with the source texts, but with the people have the capacity to memorize, understand, and apply the source texts.