Aqaaid

Authenticity of a dua to be recited on Aashuraa

Q: There was a message going around on Aashurah day that read as follows: Zainul Aabideen is reported to have said that whoever reads the following duaa between sunrise and sunset on Aashurah will not die the following year, meaning this is a guarantee for his life for a year. And if a person is to die co incidentallly he will not read this duaa. And there was a long duaa mentioned after. Is there any authenticity to this?

Meaning of "Allah is above the clouds"

Q: I read this Hadith:

“O Allaah’s Messenger! Where was our Lord before He created the heavens and earth?” He (salallaahu `alaihi wasallam) responded: “He was above the [white] clouds – no air was under him, no air was above him, and He created His Throne upon the water.”

Is it correct that we don’t have to take the first part (He was above the (white) clouds) literally because attributing a direction to Allah is kufr?

Reading the Bible and other scriptures

Q: I accidentally read a few verses of the Bible, now I read that we are not allowed to read the Books of the other religions because we might disbelieve in what we must believe in and vice versa. So I was stricken with waswasa. I got really confused while reading them, so I said I neither confirm nor deny these verses and also I neither confirm nor deny if these are in the Quran. Now if those verses and whatever’s mentioned in that really in our religion, will I have committed kufr? What should I do? 

Were the Sabeans Muslims?

Q: I read this on the internet about the Sabeans: In brief, they did not reject the Prophets or regard it as obligatory to follow them. In their view, whoever followed (the Prophets) is blessed and saved, and whoever follows a path similar to that of the Prophets by virtue of his own reasoning is also blessed and saved, even if he did not follow the Prophets in specific terms. In their view, the call of the Prophets was true but there was no one specific route to salvation. Isn’t it all kufr? Also was a specific prophet sent to them?