Author: Editor

QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh, is there a specific prayer recited for Ramadan or the last ten days? Aminu Kabiru, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam. Tirmidhee and others report: `A’ishah asked: “O Messenger of Allaah! If I was to know which night is the night of qadr, what should I say therein?” He answered: “Say: ‘O Allaah! Verily, You are One who Pardons (`Afuww) and You love pardoning (`afw), so pardon (`afw) me!’” Al-`Afuww is a Name of Allaah. It is often translated to mean the One who pardons or forgives. `Afuww comes from `afw. `Afw linguistically means to…

MANCHESTER City will face Liverpool in a blockbuster FA Cup quarter-final, while quadruple-chasing Arsenal travel to Southampton. Monday’s draw for the last eight also handed Chelsea a home tie against League One giant-killers Port Vale, who stunned Sunderland with a 1-0 win in the fifth round on Sunday. West Ham or Brentford, who meet on Monday, will host Leeds in the other quarter-final. But it is City’s latest showdown with rivals Liverpool that is the stand-out tie of the round. Pep Guardiola’s side have already beaten Liverpool twice this season, winning 3-0 in Manchester in November and earning a 2-1…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has said that he expects the war on Iran to be over “very soon” after dubbing the past 10 days of war, which have wrought devastation on Iran, a “short-term excursion”. Addressing the media in Doral, Florida, Trump claimed that the US and Israel had struck 5,000 targets since the war began on February 28, when Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Trump spoke as Iran’s hardliners staged a show of loyalty to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – the former supreme leader’s son – whose appointment was confirmed on Sunday amid US-Israeli…

WASHINGTON has advised non-essential staff to leave its consulate near the southern Turkish city of Adana near a key NATO base and ordered US citizens to leave “southeast Turkey”, the US embassy to Ankara said Monday. Since the US-Israeli attacks began on February 28, Iran has retaliated with missile and drone strikes across the Middle East in a bid to hit US assets. So far, Turkey appears to have been spared, despite the fact that US troops are stationed at several of its bases. One is Incirlik air base, an important NATO facility that has been used by US troops…

GHANA has called on the Commonwealth to condemn Friday’s missile attack on its United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon which injured four of its soldiers. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa did not say who was responsible when speaking at a Commonwealth meeting on Sunday but said the bombing was “an attack on every principle that the UN Charter exists to defend”. Israel has been striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after the Iranian-backed Shia group said it launched rockets and drones at the Israeli city of Haifa last week to avenge the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All…

GUINEA’s main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo has said that “direct resistance” to the country’s coup leader–turned–president is now the only remaining path to change, after the authorities dissolved 40 political parties. The authorities accused the parties of not complying with the law – a charge they have rejected. The move comes two months after former junta head Mamady Doumbouya was sworn-in as president, following an election that saw some key challengers barred from running. Doumbouya, who came to power in 2021 after overthrowing Condé, has been accused of cracking down on democratic freedoms. Among the parties dissolved were the…

Multiple Questions From Our Social Media Pages: QUESTION: Who Must Fast? ANSWER: Fasting is compulsory for those who are mentally and physically fit, past the age of puberty, in a settled situation (not travelling), and are sure fasting is unlikely to cause real physical or mental injury. QUESTION: Why do Muslims fast? ANSWER: Fasting is common in many religions. The Quran, the reveled text in Islam, says in chapter 2 verse 183, “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who were before you, in order that you may learn piety and God…

SPANISH football powerhouse FC Barcelona is reportedly preparing a move for Nigerian international striker Victor Osimhen as the Catalan club begins plans to strengthen its attacking line ahead of the next transfer window. The development comes amid growing speculation that the reigning La Liga champions are considering Osimhen as a potential replacement for veteran striker Robert Lewandowski, whose contract with the Spanish giants is expected to expire at the end of the current season. According to reports by The Athletic, Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, is keen on bringing the prolific Nigerian forward to Camp Nou during the summer transfer window…

AT least two people have been killed after a projectile fell on a residential location in Saudi Arabia‘s Al-Kharj city, Saudi authorities reported, as Iranian counterattacks on Gulf nations hosting US military assets entered a second week. The Saudi civil defence said in a post on X on Sunday, without mentioning Iran, that an unspecified “military projectile” had hit a residential area in Al-Kharj, killing two foreign nationals – one Indian and one Bangladeshi – and injuring 12 people. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had said earlier that it had targeted radar systems in locations including Al-Kharj governorate, which…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has again promised to exert influence over who is selected as Iran’s next Supreme Leader, saying that, without Washington’s approval, whoever is picked for the role is “not going to last long”. The statement on Sunday came hours before Iranian state media reported the Assembly of Experts had selected a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the hours after the US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28. Trump did not immediately responded to the younger Khamenei’s selection, but broadly said earlier that…

SENEGAL’s former president Macky Sall is seeking one of the most coveted positions on the international scene: Secretary-General of the United Nations. But his opponents at home have started speaking out against his candidacy, accusing his government of repression. Opponents of former Senegalese president Macky Sall, including those who say they are victims of repression by his administration, opposed his UN secretary-general candidacy Friday, accusing him of violence and economic crimes. Sall, who served as president from 2012 to 2024, is accused of having repressed violent political demonstrations that resulted in dozens of deaths during his last years in office.…

SOUTH Africa embarked on a mass vaccination of cattle on Friday to stem an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that threatens meat, dairy and livestock supplies and exports. The outbreak, which started intensifying late last year and has rapidly spread across the country’s livestock industry, has already affected more than 297,000 cattle and resulted in over 120,000 animals being culled as farmers try to contain the spread. The outbreak threatens mass shortages of meat, job losses and millions of dollars in lost revenue as countries including China and Zambia ban South African meat exports. Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen on Friday launched…

QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. There are clothes which are of a design called “cloche”. Some of them are for women and are very loose, and their sleeves are also long and wide, as in the case of dira‘s and jilbaabs. Is it permissible for women to wear them? Also, is it permissible to wear tight sleeves among other women and mahrams? Suwaiba Nasir, Kaduna – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. It is permissible for a woman to wear whatever clothes she wants so long as that is not imitating men or kaafir women, or uncovering the ‘awrah in…

EBERECHI Eze scored the winning goal as Arsenal were tested but overcame a spirited Mansfield Town to move into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The hosts, who are just five points clear above the relegation zone in League One, heaped pressure on the Premier League leaders before Noni Madueke gave Arsenal the lead just before half-time. Madueke had earlier forced Mansfield goalkeeper Liam Roberts into a save before the England winger curled the ball into the top corner after Gabriel Martinelli teed him up at the edge of the box. But this was not the routine win many expected…

A FATHER and his daughter have been killed in an Israeli drone attack in central Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as Palestinians continue to suffer amid worldwide attention on the United States-Israeli war on Iran. The two were killed early on Saturday. In a separate attack later in the day in Khan Younis, another person was killed and a young girl wounded, according to Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground. Israeli forces continue carrying out air strikes, artillery shelling, and naval bombardment on Gaza on a daily basis, despite an October 11 “ceasefire” as Israel continues its ongoing genocide. Suffering in…

A MEMBER of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Saturday that the body would meet within a day to choose the country’s next supreme leader, Iranian media reported. “With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” said Hossein Mozafari, one of the assembly’s 88 members, cited by the Fars news agency. The statement came a week after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack. Mozafari also urged Iranians to “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” as the assembly hasdnot yet convened for a session. Meanwhile,…

AT least 23 people have been killed in flash flooding in Nairobi, police said Saturday, as search and rescue operations continued amid widespread devastation. Torrential rains lashed the Kenyan capital late Friday, turning major streets into rivers and flooding thousands of homes and businesses. Rescue teams were still pulling out bodies and rescuing trapped residents on Saturday, while AFP reporters saw heavily damaged roads and infrastructure from the city’s vast slums to upmarket areas like Parklands. “The river banks broke as the rains continued and cars were swept off and water flowed into our shops destroying property for many people,”…

GUINEA dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president. Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred. Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations”. The decree also stripped them of control of their assets. Included are Guinea’s three main political parties — the Union of Democratic Forces…

PRESIDENT Donald Trump threatened to escalate the bombing of Iran on Saturday as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that he would never surrender, despite a fresh blitz of US and Israeli air strikes that set a Tehran airport ablaze. Israel confirmed some of the biggest raids since the aerial bombardment of Iran began last Saturday, with a military academy, an underground command centre and a missile storage facility named as targets. Pre-dawn AFP photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, one of two that serve the capital. “Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump posted…

QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. As Fasting draws to an end, what is your message for us all? Mustapha Noor, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. Many people misunderstand the true nature of fasting, and they make it an occasion for eating and drinking, making special sweets and staying up late at night and watching shows on satellite TV. They make such preparations long before Ramadan, lest they miss out on some food bargains before food prices go up. They prepare by buying food, preparing drinks and looking at the satellite TV guide so they can choose which…