QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. Is there a specific prayer recited for Ramadan or the last ten days? Aminu Kabiru, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. Tirmidhee and others report: `A’isha asked: “O Messenger of Allah! If I was to know which night is the night of qadr, what should I say therein?” He answered: “Say: ‘O Allah! Verily, You are One who Pardons (`Afuww) and You love pardoning (`afw), so pardon (`afw) me!’” Al-`Afuww is a Name of Allah. It is often translated to mean the One who pardons or forgives. `Afuww comes from `afw. `Afw linguistically…
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THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco two weeks before the competition was billed to kick off, citing what it described as “certain unforeseen circumstances” for the rescheduling. Initially scheduled to take place from March 17 to April 3, the tournament, which doubles as the qualifying phase for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, will now be held from July 25 to August 16, 2026, CAF explained in a statement on Wednesday. The new date positions the competition shortly after the 2026 men’s World Cup. CAF said the…
IRAN’s semi-official Fars News Agency has reported that overnight attacks on Bahrain’s capital, Manama, targeted the Financial Harbour Towers commercial complex, the location of the Israeli embassy in the city. The first week of the United States-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on nations hosting US forces and assets has engulfed the region and beyond into a broader conflict. The Reuters news agency reported Friday that an Iranian drone was intercepted and destroyed in the vicinity of the complex. Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the…
US President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son he said he found unacceptable. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro. Trump told the news outlet that the United States would likely return to war within five years without a…
MORE than 200 people, including 70 children, have been killed after a landslide caused a collapse in a mining area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government says. The landslide struck Rubaya, the country’s biggest source of coltan – an ore vital in the electronics industry – in the rebel-controlled east on Tuesday following heavy rains. In a statement, the mines ministry blamed the tragedy on M23 rebels and said they were allowing illegal mining without proper safety standards. The M23 are yet to comment but a source in Rubaya told the BBC the collapse was…
NIGER Republic’s ruling junta said Thursday it had cancelled three gold mining companies’ concessions and denied a licence extension to a British oil company, accusing them of failing to respect their obligations. The west African country, a uranium, gold and oil producer, has been ruled since a 2023 coup by a military government that has asserted its sovereignty over natural resources. The government said in a statement it had cancelled concessions awarded between 2017 and 2020 to three gold mining and processing companies: Comini, Afrior and Ecomine. The three “have not honoured” their commitments, notably to pay taxes, provide an…
QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. Is it permissible to pray in a room when there is someone else in the same room who is watching television, if that person is watching it at a low volume and the program being shown does not contain anything but people who are dressed decently? Sadiya AbduRahman, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. It is makrooh to pray in a place where the worshipper will be distracted from his prayer. And undoubtedly the television is one of the greatest distractions to people; if a man prays in a place where the television…
GERMAN Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have rekindled their interest in Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen, with head coach Vincent Kompany considering the Nigerian as a potential replacement for Harry Kane, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. Bayern Munich are still in talks to renew Kane’s contract amid interest from Barcelona and clubs in the Premier League. Kane may only be in his third season with Bayern, but he has already cemented himself as one of the club’s best strikers, with a return of 130 goals from 133 competitive matches. With no offer on the table yet, the club sees Osimhen as the most…
UNITED States President, Donald Trump, has said he is unconcerned about whether Iran national football team participates in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, amid growing uncertainty surrounding the country’s involvement in the tournament. Trump made the remark in an interview with Politico on Tuesday, saying, “I really don’t care,” if Iran takes part in the competition. “I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes,” he stated. Questions have emerged over Iran’s participation following rising tensions in the Middle East and concerns about whether Iranian officials and supporters would be allowed entry into the United States,…
A CEREMONY commemorating Iran’s late leader Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran has been postponed, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, days after he was assassinated along with family members in joint air strikes by Israel and the United States. The news agency quoted an official citing logistical issues for the delay, including requests from people in different provinces to attend the ceremony. Funeral arrangements are ongoing and are expected to draw huge crowds, and, with them, the potential threat of US-Israeli attacks on a gathering of mass mourning. Some 10 million people attended Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s funeral in…
A RUSSIAN tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) has sunk in the Mediterranean between Libya and Malta, as Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking the vessel. The Libyan port authority said the tanker was hit by “sudden explosions followed by a massive fire, which ultimately led to its complete sinking” on Tuesday night north of the port of Sirte, Libya. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of attacking the gas carrier. “This is a terrorist attack. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of thing,” Russia’s Putin told a reporter from Russian state television on Wednesday, accusing Kyiv of…
COMPUTER tablet screens glow inside a row of partitioned booths at a new-style Ethiopian police station. There is no commotion. There is no front desk, no bench of anxiously waiting civilians, no officer calling out names. It is a pilot project of what is being called a “smart” – or unmanned – police station in the Bole district of the capital, Addis Ababa, is the latest chapter in Ethiopia’s bid to catch up with the digital revolution. A large monitor on the wall cycles through welcome messages as well as images of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. But at the moment…
THE UK government will stop issuing study visas to people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan from this month, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said, as well as stopping skilled work visas to Afghans. The Home Office said the action was being taken due to what it said was widespread visa abuse. According to official figures, people from the four countries were the most likely to make an asylum claim after originally coming to the UK to study. “The government is clamping down on visa abuse so the UK can maintain its ability and proud tradition of helping those genuinely…
QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum, Ya Sheikh. People often say, ‘Ramadan Kareem’. So what is the ruling concerning this phrase? Saminu Labaran Inuwa, Gombe – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. Shaykh Uthaymeen [rahimahullaah] said : The ruling concerning this is, this phrase Ramadan Kareem is not correct, and the only phrase that should be said is Ramadan Mubarak or what resembles that. Because Ramadan is not the one that gives such that it can be called generous (Kareem), rather it is only Allah the Exalted that put virtue in it and made it a virtuous month and made the time period…
CAPTAIN and forward for Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo, has left Saudi Arabia for Madrid, Spain, following escalating tensions in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes in Iran. According to the Daily Mail on Tuesday, the 41-year-old departed Riyadh late at night aboard his £61 million ($81 million) Bombardier Global Express 6500 private jet. His reported departure follows regional strikes. The US embassy in Riyadh was hit by two drones overnight, and Iranian state media reported that a command and staff building in Bahrain had also been destroyed. “Riyadh, where Ronaldo lives with his partner Georgina Rodriguez and their five children, has…
US President Donald Trump has said his administration’s war against Iran “successfully knocked out” the country’s air force and navy. “We’re doing very well,” Trump said on Tuesday, during a news conference at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before their meeting. “They have no navy; it’s been knocked out. They have no air force; it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection – that’s been knocked out,” Trump said. Trump’s comments came on the fourth day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran as Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz and continued its retaliatory missile and drone attacks…
THE airline and tourism industries are scrambling to deal with the fallout from the escalating US and Israeli air war against Iran, while governments have rushed to bring stranded travellers home from the Middle East following the cancellation of more than 20,000 flights over a handful of days. Major Gulf hubs, including Dubai, the world’s busiest international airport, remained closed or severely restricted for a fourth day on Tuesday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. According to Flightradar24, some 21,300 flights have been cancelled at seven major airports, including Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, since the strikes started. The…
THREE people have been detained in Belgium as part of a probe into possible crimes against humanity and war crimes in Cameroon linked to the country’s secessionist rebellion, Belgian prosecutors say. They are suspected to be leaders of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), a militia fighting for the independence of Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions in what is a mainly French-speaking nation. “Money is reportedly being raised for the armed struggle and for the purchase of arms and ammunition, and instructions for attacks… are said to be given from Belgium,” the federal prosecutor’s office said. The UN says more than 6,500…
THE US has imposed sanctions on the Rwandan army and four of its senior commanders, accusing them of fuelling the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fighting has persisted despite a US-brokered peace deal in December between the Congolese and Rwandan governments aimed at ending the long-running conflict in eastern DR Congo. The US treasury department accused the Rwandan army of undermining the peace deal by training, equipping and fighting alongside the M23 rebel group. Rwanda swiftly rejected the accusations, saying the sanctions had unfairly targeted one side and “misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the…
QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum, Ya Sheikh. I embraced Islam recently without my parent’s knowledge. If they knew they would be very angry and would cut off my study allowance for university. Hence I tried to keep the matter secret. But on the third day of Ramadan, I had no choice but to go to a meeting at the University, and after I arrived I found out that they had prepared dinner that happened to be one and a half hours before Maghrib. The problem was not my refusing to eat with them; rather the problem was that my parents were also…