bakhabar, february 2014

Better light a candle than curse the darkness

Monthly e-Magazine ISSN 2319-4049

http://bakhabar.biharanjuman.org/ Volume 7, Issue 02, February 2014BE AWARE, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE

COVER STORY

WHY WE MUST NOT CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS

Editorial Board

Publisher: Bihar Anjuman BaKhabar

Editorial Board: Asrarul Haque, Seraj Akram,Mohd. Allam, Ms Farhat Shakeel and Ja-hanzeb Mashhadi

Chief Editor: Ms. Asma Anjum Khan

[email protected]

“The editors and publishers are not respon-sible for the views of writers, and their viewsdo not reflect our policy or ideology in anyway. We however reserve the right to editany material submitted for publication, onaccount of public policy, or for reasons ofclarity and space. – From Publishers.” Pic-tures have been taken from available public

sources.

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Bakhabar : Fabruary 20142

INSIDE

WHY WE MUST NOT CELEBRATE BIRTH-DAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, NEW YEAR… 18

A changing perspectivefor Indian-Americans

05

Muhammad andJesus: CommonGround 23

A Plan for WomenEducation

07

Communalism

10


Islam Q&A

Salam Romi,

Thank you for your question and for contactingAsk About Islam.

It is actually very heartening that you do not evenknow what this "practicing" word means.

What Practicing MeansThe answer is very simple to understand.If you imagine, first of all, a medical doctor. He hasspent several years at university learning all aboutMedicine and he then spends more years learningabout being a doctor by being around other doctorsand watching what they do.

Some doctors then specialize by going to work in ahospital. Others join a General Practice, where theywork as a team with other doctors to cure the ills ofpatients who come to visit them. This is the kind ofdoctor most of us go to see.

Imagine, then, that our imaginary doctor joins thiskind of General Practice and works in it for years.After twenty years, say, he decides that he does notwant to be a doctor any more, but wants to open ashop selling sweets and newspapers. So he leaves hiswork of being a doctor to work in his shop.In this case we can say that this man is no longerpracticing as a doctor, even though he is one. He hasall the training and all the experience that make hima doctor, but he does not any more do any of thethings that doctors do. He is no longer a practicingdoctor.

In direct answer to your question, then, there aresome Muslims who do not practice as Muslims.They no longer do the things that Muslims do, eventhough they may have been born Muslim and havelived with Muslims all their lives.These are the people you may have come across onthe Internet. They are Muslim, but they do not prac-tice as Muslims. They do none of the things thatMuslims usually do.For example, they do not pray five times a day. Theydo not fast during Ramadan, they do not pay zakah,and so on. For whatever reason, they have stoppeddoing these things.

Not Practicing ≠ ApostasyBy calling themselves non-practicing Muslims, thesepeople still consider themselves to be Muslim, orthey would introduce themselves to you as ex-Mus-lims or they would say that they used to be Muslimor that they were once Muslim.They have not taken the actual step of rejectingIslam and renouncing it. Such former Muslims areknown as "apostates," since they have formally re-jected Islam.The non-practicing group is a different matter.The reasons why they no longer pray may be verycomplicated. It could just be laziness. It could be thebad influence of the friends they hang around with.It could be the bad example of other Muslims, whohave put them off the whole idea of Islam, even theydo not formally reject it. It could be the very subtleinfluence of television and the media, which makeother lifestyles seem more attractive and more "mod-ern" than the life of a Muslim.

Be CarefulChatting to others on the Internet or meeting othersthrough pen pal sites may seem a great way of inter-acting with others, especially in our Muslim soci-eties, where mixing between the sexes withoutproper boundaries being set is discouraged.However, we can come across a lot of unhealthy in-fluences on such sites, talking to people who mayseem very charming and very plausible in what theyhave to say, but whose ideas are quite opposed tothose of Islam.The influence they can have upon us may be verystrong, making us question our own beliefs or at-tempt to copy the way they live their lives. Just becareful.There are even people who go on these sites just todisturb the faith of others. They may be posing asyour friend, but their aim is to bring you away fromIslam.Many of us know our own limits. Some of us do not.So be very careful in chatting with people who makethe idea of not praying and not fasting seem a naturalchoice.Allah alone knows the secrets of our hearts and it isHe alone who sees the real intention of why we dothings. So, it is not for us to point fingers at others.He alone, then, is the One who will judge us accord-

Assalamualaikum. When I join some pen pal sites, some people admit as practicing Islamand some others admit as non-practicing Islam. What is the meaning of this "practicing"word? Thank you very much. As-salamualaikum. Romi


Islam Q&A

ing to the way we have lived our lives.For a Muslim not to pray it is a very serious matter.Not to fast during the month of Ramadan is very seri-ous, since it is Allah who commanded us to do this.Not to pay zakah and not to go on the pilgrimage toMakkah, just because we do not want to, are bothvery serious things.

Not Practicing = DisobedienceIn doing these things, non-practicing Muslims arewillfully disobeying the will of Almighty Allah.Choosing to drink alcohol or to eat pork meat is notwhat Muslims do.It may be "cool" to do as you wish, but in doing soyou reject what Allah has commanded for your well-being. Muslims who act this way will answer onJudgment Day for the way they have acted.It is not our place to judge anyone, since Allah is theonly judge, but it seems that there are too many non-practicing Muslims in our world. They call them-selves Muslim and they tell others that they areMuslim.

They fill in forms as Muslims and they may have"Muslim" written on their passport or ID card, butthey act in a way that gives a very bad example ofwhat Islam is like and they confuse non-Muslimsabout the real nature of Islam.

It would be better, surely, for such people to make nocomment when they are asked what their religion is,rather than to give a bad example.

How to ReactHow should we react to such non-practicing Muslims?Well, we can leave the judging to Allah, but we can dotwo things.We can, first of all, point out the fact that what they aredoing, as Muslims, is wrong. This can be done in a verysimple and gentle way and it need not involve pointingfingers.For example, the next time someone tells you that they area non-practicing Muslim, you should simply point out thatthey may act as they choose, but that Muslims pray. Therest is up to them.The other thing we can do is to give a good example,showing that obeying the commands of Almighty Allahmight present us with some difficulties or some discom-forts in this life, but that the rewards of doing so are para-dise itself.By living as good Muslims, we can tell the whole worldwhat Islam is like, even those who should know so al-ready.I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.Salam. consultant: IdrisTawfiq (http://www.onislam.net)

The Man Who Learnt What Cannot BeTaught

The Messenger of Allah (salAllahualaihiwasallam)said: “There was no Prophet who was not a shepherd.”[Bukhari]

Once upon a time, there lived in Basra an old manwhose only occupation was caring for and loving hisonly son who was a handsome young man. The oldman invested all his money on his son's education. Theyoung man went away for a few years and acquired aneducation under the great scholars of that age.

The day had arrived for the son to return from his stud-ies and the old man waited at the door for his son.When the son came and met his father, the old manlooked into his eyes and felt great disappointment.

“What have you learnt my son?” he asked.

“I have learnt everything there was to be learnt, father”he said.

“But have you learnt what cannot be taught?” askedthe father. “Go my son and learn what cannot betaught,” said the old man.

The young man went back to his master and asked himto teach him what cannot be taught.

“Go away to the mountains with these four hundredsheep and come back when they are one thousand,”said the master.

The young man went to the mountains and became ashepherd. There for the first time he encountered a si-lence. He had no one to talk to. The sheep did not un-derstand his language. In his desperation, he wouldtalk to them but they would look back at him as if tosay he was stupid. Slowly but surely he began to forgetall his worldly knowledge, his ego, his pride and he be-came quiet like the sheep and great wisdom and humil-ity came to him.

At the end of two years when the number of sheep hadgrown to one thousand, he returned to his master andfell at his feet. “Now you have learnt what cannot betaught,” said the master.

All the prophets of Allah (subhanawata’ala) spent apart of their lives as shepherds before they were taskedwith the shepherding of people.Received from [email protected]


International

I By Shaan Khan I

Home is where the heart lies, but in recentweeks, some Indian-Americans have begunquestioning their hearts and loosening ties

with their ancestral home. Like those in other immi-grant communities in the United States, Indian-Americans have been vociferous supporters of theirnative country and its foreign policies. However, therecent upheaval over the arrest of an Indian diplo-mat, Devyani Khobragade, 39, posted at the Con-sulate of India as deputy consul general, has createda defining chasm between mainland Indians and In-dian-Americans.

For mainland Indians who are disgusted and yetcomfortably habituated with the morbidly corruptjudicial system, it is hard to imagine the efficacy ofthe strictly enforced U.S. principles of rule of lawand equality before the law. In India, highly con-nected politicians and top brass bureaucrats are usu-ally sacrosanct and, most of the time, above the law.For common Indians, it is difficult to believe that anIndian attaché who has been accused of bringing amaid from India at a paltry wage of about $3.31 anhour will be arrested because she fraudulentlydrafted two separate contracts: one for the aboveamount to be paid and the other for the equivalent ofU.S. minimum wage of $9.75 to be shown on theimmigration documents.

ADVERTISEMENTIt is an accepted fact that wages are savagely low inIndia. At an hourly wage of $3.31, the Indian house-keeper Sangeeta Richard would be earning morethan many undergraduate degree-holding employeesin India at their entry-level jobs. Raising her salaryto $9.75 would literally provide her an Indian mil-lionaire status within a year of service; making thevery real dreams of underpaid and underappreciatedservice-class Indians seem as attainable as they werein the award-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire."

However, Indian central and regional governmentsare not handing out any Oscars. Joining them in in-dignation are all political parties and even commonpeople who are racing toward the speakerphones for

A changing perspective for

INDIAN-AMERICANS


International

Har MirchSeraj Akram

-Agar aap Urdu akhabar parhe tohar taraf Muslim ki mazlumiat zahir hotihe, haqiqat ki bhi he, lekin yah to 10 salpahle bhi tha, 20 sal pahle bhi, to phirham matam karke qaum ka kya bhala karrahe hain, aakhir un taklifon aur zulm keasal sabab aur uske hal par kyon nahigaur aur amal kiya jata. agar itne dino seek ek masle par bhi imandari se sababjanne aur uske hal par koshs hoti toshayed bahtu behtari ho sakti thi. kya itnitaklifain bhi sirf sunne aur sunane tak himahdud rakhna jurm nahi, ek ek fard kikya zimmedari banti he us par bhi to bathoni chahie.

- Electoin ka time aate hi SecularSecular chillane walon ki barh aa gai he,aur sath me qaum ke hamdardon ki bhikoi shumar nahi, jidhar dekhie har koqaum ke dard me halkan hua ja raha he,apne aaqaon ke khush karne ke liye harkoi apne hi dhang se qaum ki taklif kaahsas kar raha he lekin koi apna zaatimofad tark akrne ko tayyar nahi. kya itniburi halat me bhi sabhi ko ek sath baithkar sanjidgi se chunaw ke hikmat amlipar gaur o fikr aur khamoshi se us paramal karne ki koshis nahi honi chahie,abhi josh me baat karne aur phir afsoskarne ka silsila kab tak jari rahega. kyahar ilaqe me gair siasi logo ki committeebanakar sabse behtar candidate ko milkar vote dene ki koshis nahi honi chahietaki muslim ka vote ke batne se dusrefayeda na utha saken.

- Gair netaon ko election ke waqthi Secular yaad ata he aur Muslim dan-ishwar aur netaon ko qaum ki hamdardibhi isi waqt satane lagti he. kitni mu-maselat he qaum ke dushman aur dostonme.

the opportunity to express outrage against the U.S. govern-ment. So serious is the fury that government officials refusedto meet a congressional delegation in protest of this issue.The arrest of the diplomat has been called "deplorable," andthe way she was arrested in front of her children, stripsearched, swabbed for DNA, and held up with commoncriminals and drug addicts is being called a violation of theGeneva Convention, under which an envoy is given unlim-ited immunity.The story gets interesting when we find the prosecutor inNew York is President Barack Obama's recent appointeePreet Singh Bharara, an Indian-American. Defending hisstance in a statement to the press, Bharara suggested that theIndian government's attitude toward the case might be col-ored by views of class and status, which remain powerfulforces in India but are much less valid in the eyes of theAmerican legal process.

His sole motivation in this case, as in all other cases, he saidis "to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold ac-countable anyone who breaks the law — no matter whattheir societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or con-nected they are."

The majority of Indian-Americans side with Bharara, pour-ing out their overwhelming support for U.S. laws throughFacebook, Twitter, blogs and comments on the newspaperarticles.

To them, Khobragade appears to have forgotten her ownhumble beginnings in the Dalit community (once an un-touchable caste), but Indian-Americans are not forgettingwhat they found missing in the Indian judicial system. Thetrue crime is not the one being punished. Numerous U.S.politicians have been involved in high-profile cases, and per-haps Khobragade could take notice of that. The true crime isthe proposition and defense of legal partiality by the Indiangovernment.Mainland Indians must realize that times have changed forIndian-Americans. All of a sudden, for them, home awayfrom home is feeling safer, fairer and cozier. Home is stillwhere the heart lies; but this heart has chosen a differenthome for tonight.

• Shaan Khan, a freshman at Howard University, is a gradu-ate of Glenbard South High School in Glen Ellyn and a re-cipient of a Daily Herald 2012 Leadership Team honorablemention.

Originally published athttp://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140103/discuss/701039969/


Women

I Mohammad Allam I

Without the education of women no com-munity could be empowered in moderntime. The education of women is vital for

the point of view of family, society, community andnation. It is vital for the democratization of the soci-ety for which the movements around the world aregoing on.The education of women of Muslim community iscritical for the point of view of empowerment. Asper the data of the census of2011, the literacy rate of theMuslim women is 50.3, whichrose from 50.1 (2001) while themen literacy ratio is 74.9 whichrose from 67.6(2001) .The aver-age literacy rate of Muslim com-munity as per the census reportof 2011 is 67.6 which is about7.5 higher than 2001 census re-port (59.1).The national averageis 74.04 which is about 7 percenthigher than Muslim average lit-eracy rate. These data show thatthere is wider disparity betweenthe literacy rate of Muslim menand women. These data furthershow that there is major lacunaregarding the women educationin Muslim community. Couldany community be empoweredwith half of its women if illiter-ate?There are two strategies to achieve the working levelof education for empowerment. One is to go throughthe normal course of education comprising on longyears of schooling and another is to plan for them ashort term education programme to make them liter-ate and to be empowered. In case of long years, theeducation programme would not be beneficial for theinterest of the community from the point of view ofresources, empowerment and particularly the delib-erate effort by the Indian communalist to assimilatethe Muslim society into Indian identity by terminat-ing the separate Muslim identity .so the bulwarkagainst this existential threat is to strengthen the coreof the family system of Muslim society by educating

the women.To educate the women need a comprehensive plan ofaction which is not possible among the politicalminded Indian Muslims who instead of workingalone or in association use to criticize the all plan ofaction. So, the need is to start a short term plan withthe help of small existing infrastructure. The smallamount of action would bring vast changes for theempowering of the society.For the purpose of educating the women of the com-munity ,there is plan of action based on the short

term courses ranging fromone(01) month to three(03)months .which will comprise onfrom education to religion , so-cial responsibilities etc.This course may be comprisedon the six modules which are thefollowing:1-Basic Education: The pur-

pose of this module would be toenable the illiterate women toread, write and understand thelanguage to enable them to ad-vance their self study. This mod-ule should be based ona) Study of Urdu ki Qaeda, Yas-sarnal Quran, Aam Parah andQuaran Kareemb)Basic Arithmetic for homeuse like counting, Addition, Sub-traction, Multiplication and Di-vision

c) Hindi-reading and writingd) English –reading and writing

2-Home Making: In this course the womenshould be given knowledge of home managementlike cooking, decoration, room setting etc. The pur-pose of this course is to make the women to under-stand the importance of home in the life of themembers of the family and save the home from oc-curring of divorce as it has been observed that due tonegligence of home, numerous divorces occurred inthe society.

3- Social Relation: In this course the womenshould be given knowledge about the importance ofrelationship in Islamic perspectives like relationship

A Plan for Women Education


Women

between husband and wife, daughter-in-law andmother-in-law, sons, daughters, brother-in-law, betterrelation with neighbor etc.

4-Education Management: In this coursewomen should be given knowledge about the man-agement of the education of family members particu-larly about the children of the family. This moduleshould be comprised on the following:

a) Introduction of various classes of studyand how up gradation is done from class to class

b) How to help the children in the study athome

c) How to prepare the children for schood) How to help the children morallye) How to encourage the children in study f) Hoe to manage the activities of the chil-

dren at home

5-Financial budget of Home: In this course,the women should be given knowledge regarding fi-nancial management of the house like income. Theyshould be given knowledge about management of in-come, saving, expenditure etc in Islamic perspec-tives. There has been observed that a major share ofhomes of Muslims spend on those items which areless beneficial to them. While critical areas like edu-cation, health etc are in negligence. Through thiscourse, the community can check on the vast expen-diture on dowry, various types of social pomp andshows.

6-Women Health: In this course the womenshould be given information about the various as-pects of the health .It has been observed that due toignorance, the women use to come in touch of nu-merous diseases, on which a huge amount of thecommunity is spent. Both Islam and modern sciencehave emphasized the need of good health of the indi-vidual for the healthy society. A healthy communitycould empower more easily to its community.This module should be comprised on the following:a) Personal hygiene .in this course, the womenshould be given knowledge about the personal hy-giene. Information about numerous diseases ofwomen, precaution etc should be given to them.b) Home hygiene. How to make the home clean,tidy and diseases free.c) Community hygiene. In this course the womenshould be given information about the importance ofkeeping the neighboring areas neat and clean.

This plan of action for educating the women is to laythe foundation of education of coming generation.

With illiterate mother no community could be em-powered. The plan of community empowerment ofMuslim could not be successful with 50 percent ofits women illiterate. There is need to educate thewomen for greater role in empowerment of the soci-ety. They have been assigned the role of mothers,sisters and wives by Allah to make society sound andpeaceful. There is needed to make them better in per-forming their roles in the society by imparting usefuleducation.The same course could also be used in education ofilliterate men by altering the contents of the course.This is really a small plan of action but hope that itwill prove revolutionary for the community inshaAllah. Preparing of Course: Undoubtly, Bihar Anjuman isan organization of those people who are working forthe benefits of the community and nation withoutany personal interest. There are numerous personswho are expert in their fields. What it would be bet-ter if the person associated to his respective fieldcould choose the above mentioned module and pre-pare a course material for teaching and training forthe enrolled women under this programme. The ma-terial should be simple and touches the importantpoints. This material should be short and based onthe principles of Islam.

Application of plan: There is need to test this plan onthe pilot basis. RAHBAR which running numerouscoaching centers could be used to testing this plan. Acentre could be selected where this programme couldbe implemented and result could be analyzed. Aftersuccessful implementation of this programme at onecentre, could be extended to other centers or in otherareas. Educated women should be requested to workvoluntarily for this programme. The better would beto attach the women of an area to the nearest centre.While educated women who wish to work for the ed-ucation of illiterate women should be invited to leadthe plan of action.

Now let us to see how our brothers and sisters re-spond to this plan. No community could go aheaduntil and unless the members of that communitywish to do so. What Allah says "Verily Allah doesnot change the condition of a people until theychange their own condition.” (Sura Ar- Ra'd, No. 13,verse 11) and what poet of East Allama Iqbal says“Khuda ne aaj tak us qaum ki haalat nahiin badli .Na ho jisko khyaal aap apni haalat ke badalne ka”and what another poet says “ uth bandh kamar kiadarta hai phir dekh khuda kya karta hai”.


Khabron ki Khabar

Seraj Akram

Jab Arvind Kejriwal ne kuchh police walon ko sus-pend karwane ke liye 2 din anshan par baithe tosari meida chillane lagi ke sarkar ke kam kochhorkar Kejriwal dharne par baith gaye.Aur Modi Gujrat chhorkar sara hindustan ghumraha he to koi puchhne wala nahi ki gujrat ka kamkaun dekh raha he, yah he Media ki dalali.

Election ke aate he sare partion ko Secular ki fikrsatane lagi.koi inse puchhe ke Secular ke bare me itni lambilambi bat karne wale ka amli anuman kya he, kitnesecular hain apne kaamon me.

Media Aam Aadmi party ke 30 din ke kamo kapura byora dikhayaaur dusri partion ke salon ka hisab dekhna unkogawara nahi, Kejriwal ke sath hi Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh aur Rajasthan me BJP ki sarkar bani,koi uske bare nahi bolta ki itne dino me yah sarkarne kya kiya he. Aisa lagta he ke pura samaj hi ya tobe-iman ho chuka he ya be-iman ka sath de rahahe.

Mulayam ke sath aaj bhi hazaron Muslim danish-war sathMulayem ke sau se zyadah fasad me marne walenazar nahi aate, sirf Modi ke raaj me marne walehi nazar aate hain, uff is be-imani aur zameerfaroshi ki koi misal bhi he.

Rahul Gandhi ka idealism jariSarkar inki he, sabse taqatwar yah log hain, phirbhi yah idealism ki batayn hi kar raha he to kaamkya parosi desh ki sarkar karegi.

Newzealand me Indian cricket team ke har ka sil-sila jariBCCI ko chahie ki mulk ke bahr ke har jeet kerecord rakhne ka system hi khatm kar dena chahie,sirf Mulk ke andar jo khel hota he use he record merakhna chahi, mulk ke andar to apni team jit ti he,bahar ki lagatar haar ka tension kyon rakhen.

Biharanjumandelhi Chapter new help line no

753 297 4114Assalam-o-Alaikum,May this e-mail find you on "*Hidayah*"and "*Passion*" to help others.

BiharanjumanAnjuman Delhi Chapter newofficial number is +91-753-297-4114.

For any queries regarding delhi Chapter ac-tivities like AutoCAD, Microstation classes,meeting, advertising etc... please contact onabove mentioned no.Biharanjumandelhi Chapter office will be re-main open All through the week from11:00A.M to 5:00 P.M.

Best Wishes_______________________Bihar Anjuman Delhi Team

Javed A.Tanweer A.M. RashidS.A.AliAneesulAzam_________________________________________

*Email: [email protected]: www.biharanjuman.orgOffice Address: Xchange Smart, E-36,Thokar No.6, ShaheenBagh, Okhla, NewDelhi-110025. *

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In DEPTH

I By Manzoorul Haque I

The BJP calls Muslim League or MajlisMus-limeen as communal because of the wordMuslim attached to these parties. To the

larger public (read electorate), this appears a soundproposition except for the fact that it is not true.Communalism attaches in mind and not in body.Therefore to look for the seats of communalism onemust delve deeper beyond the levels of name andidentity. Stating this is not the equivalent of sayingthat a Muslim League cannot be communal but sim-ply that a Muslim League need not necessarily becommunal. By the same logic a Secular UniversalBrotherhood can also be communal and worse.

To my surprise an extremely beautiful and almostphilosophical expression of Pandit JawaharLalNehru stated in Indian context has been roundlywritten off as to carry no mention of it in public de-bates. It needs reiteration. ‘Communalism of the ma-jority can masquerade as nationalism’. Themathematics of this is that in Indian context ‘Muslimto Hindu vector is not the same asHindu to Muslim vector’. There isno isometric symmetry. Indian Mus-lims being a sharply distinguishedminority (pun, no doubt, becauseonly a sharply distinguished minor-ity can attract such extreme reprisalsas lootings and riots at the drop of ahat, from the undistinguished major-ity of Indians) can legitimately claimto be beyond the pale of Indian ma-jority. Their politics has to be defen-sive and therefore the name tag ofMuslim is perhaps necessary forthem as a self-imposedterritory/boundary which they wantto defend, and beyond which theymake no claim. It should be simplefor anyone to see that this formula-tion would be a red rag for anyonewho has extra-territorial claims;such as the masquerades of Indiannationalism. By the same logic agenuine nationalist would not be un-duly affected by the word ‘Muslim’and would see it for what it is. Yes, a

genuine nationalist which shall include even theMuslims of India, would examine the activities andutterances of the Muslim League or Muslim Majlismember(s) in totality and anything said or doneagainst the interest of the country would be subjectof enquiry and debate. But mere name-calling is notthe forte of a genuine nationalist.

We must understand that communalism lies in mind,not in body. A person calling himself double Hindumay be secular if he limits himself to himself. Sameis true for a Muslim or a Sikh or a Christian. Com-munalism commences when you start eyeing on theterritory of others. Communalism is a result of deepdishonesty. No matter a communal person is invari-ably corrupt as a matter of fact.

PS: I write this with an apology to my ‘those secularfriends’ who would not agree with my propositions,requesting them to concede that this was the bareminimum that I needed to write.

Manzoorul Haque<[email protected]>, Advo-cate, Ranchi/Patna, Author of book: ‘Not The SameAs You’

COMMUNALISM


Spiritual

(2:186) And if My servants ask you, O Prophet, con-cerning Me, tell them that I am quite near to them. Ihear and answer the prayer of the suppliant, whenhe calls to Me. So let them respond to My call andbelieve in Me. Convey this to them, O Prophet; per-haps they may be guided aright.

I By Shakeel Ashraf I

In our childhood days whenever we needed some-thing we asked our parent and got it without aprecondition. Now we are grown up. If we de-

mand something from them we may fear a rebuke,“Why don’t you earn by yourself?” Our parents havemade us capable to earn our living. They have com-pleted their role and we no more need their materialsupport. Our relationship with parent has gonethrough a real transformation. It would be a blunderto apply the same concept when it comes to our rela-tionship with Allah who is our Creator and Sustainerforever. While asking Allah for something, weshould not remain in the same perception, as we are,when we request a human being for a help. Supplica-tion is worship and worship is the purpose of cre-ation. “I have not created the jinn and the menexcept for this that they worship Me-Qura’n 51:56”.

It is important to note that Allah has promised thatone’s supplication will be answered, though [a] inthe way Allah wishes, and not how we wish and [b]when Allah wishes, and not when we wish. More-over, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him andgive him peace) taught us that supplications are an-swered in one of three ways: [1] by actually givingthe thing being asked; [2] Or by warding off a harmthat would have otherwise afflicted the person; [3]Or as gifts awaiting the person in the next life, whichis the best form of du’a being answered. [MusnadAhmad]

[Thy body knows not the secrets of thy heart, And sothy sighs reach not the heights of heaven; God is dis-gusted with bodies without souls, The living God isthe God of living souls.]

The literal meaning of the term dua is ‘to call ormore specifically to call for help’. Someone calls forhelp when he is not able to do something through hisown effort. If a lazy fellow calls for a help withoutexerting his own effort; no one would like to extendhis helping hand. In the same way it would not beappropriate to simply calling Allah for help in tem-poral things without exerting one’s own due efforts.Here I remember an episode of group interaction. Anemail with ‘masnoon duaen’ was circulated in agroup and in response, a brother asserted his postu-late in length: “amal ke beghair sirf dua se kuchnahin hota”. Who can deny the importance of amal?But it was written in a poor way that interpreted dua’in a contemptuous manner. I understand that, for afaithful servant of Allah, dua and amal are two sidesof single coin that can’t be separated. Dua and amalare two concomitant acts of a true believer. Oneshould not put them in two individual pans of aweighing balance for a comparative study of theirworth. Anyone doing so is, probably, inflicted withmaterialistic philosophy. No amount of effort cancause something to happen until Allah wills that tohappen. Whether it is effort of a momin or of akaafir; it is only Allah who makes it effective or inef-fective. This world is a ground of perpetual struggle,both moral and physical. There is permanent conflictbetween truth and falsehood. It needs an endless ef-fort of high level perfection to make truth prevailover falsehood. Such extraordinary tasks were suc-

DUA’without it we can never succed, with it we can never fail


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cessfully taken up by Allah’s Messengers, theirrighteous companions and rightly guided caliphs. Inthis age of tribulations, when a man without deepfaith observes the apparent prevalence of falsehood,he is tempted to many confusions. Undue compari-son of dua versus amal is one of them; I believe so.On the other hand, one can’t deny the presence ofother type of ignorant people in great number whoseonly tool is wishful thinking as depicted in the fol-lowing couplet.

[I can’t see what it is: is it self�deception of decep-tion of God?Having invented the excuse of fate, the Muslim hasceased to act meaningfully.]

The bottom line of my understanding lies in what isstated in the verse quoted at the start of this writing.I have this conviction- the one and only qualificationthat one’s prayer is answered by Allah is that he, too,responds to the call of Allah and believes in Him(2:186).

“Allah u’s Qaum ki halat nahin badalta jo is ke liyekosish nain karte” is a very popular quote. Sometimepeople even don’t bother to provide reference ofQuranic surah/verse. Let us recite the part of theverse (13:11); “InnAllah la yughaiyero ma beqauminhatta yughaiyeru ma be anfusehim” which is usuallytranslated as “Allah doesn’t change the condition ofa community (from good to bad) unless the commu-nity changes its characteristics (from good to bad)”.‘Good to bad’ is added in parenthesis by some trans-lations; why? This is to make the translation compat-ible with the entire context of the verse. However,‘from good to bad or bad to good’ is accepted as acomprehensive interpretation of the verse. “Allah u’sqaum ki halat nahin badalta …….” is a favoritemaxim repeated by many orators and writers, espe-cially in the subcontinent. Many a time, in debatesand arguments, it is delivered in a context that ex-hibits more of materialistic thought. After all, it is‘intention’ that matters most; and so people with dif-ferent intentions may get different directions fromthe same communication, as stated in Quran 2:26,“Allah leads stray many and guides many to the rightway by the same thing”. We love to talk aboutchanging the society without changing ourselves. ([email protected])

An individual once asked SayyidMawdudi about why many people, despite being good and pious, or appar-ently innocent, suffer severe tribulations in this worldly life. What wrong could a minor child or an infant,for example, commit so that he or she should have to suffer a fatal disease or even be murdered? Why do wesee many good people suffering severe afflictions and calamities that they apparently do not deserve?Mawdudi asked him to consider a beautiful, well-kept garden and its gardener. The garden has many kindsof plants, each requiring various types of resources and care. It is well kept and healthy since the gardenermeticulously takes care of it. He often clears the weeds and unnecessary plants that are harmful for the goodplants. He trims branches and leaves to maintain their good health. He waters his garden when needed, orwithholds water when that is harmful. It is because of such good care that his garden remains beautiful andhealthy.The weeds or plants that he removes or the leaves and branches that he trims suffer much and complain.Their instincts are reactive to their own physical needs and they have little or no understanding about theirsurroundings, let alone the rest of the garden. They complain about their immediate needs and sufferings anddo not know what is ultimately good for even themselves, much less the entire garden. Mawdudi then askedhim to compare the garden with the universe and the gardener with Allah (swt).The point was well made. The analogy, however, is simplistic, for Allah’s knowledge and wisdom is infinitecompared to the finite knowledge of a gardener, and His domain is infinitely wider and more complex than agarden. In this universe where an infinite number of laws, events, variables and factors are at work, each af-fecting others in complex ways, it is impossible for us to comprehend the full wisdom and purpose behindwhat we apparently observe.Source: http://www.welcome-back.org/topic/trials.shtml

Islamic Perspectives on Trials and Tribulations


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By Abida Rahmani

Thus we have made you [true Muslims - real believers of Islamic Monotheism, true followers of ProphetMuhammad SAW and his Sunnah (legal ways)], a (just) (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses overmankind [] and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) be a witness over you (2-143)

Islam and Muslims are labeled with extremism and terrorism now days. It has become a world wide conceptand phenomenon that Islam and practicing Muslims are against the values of modern world and its ethics;their ideas are radical and unacceptable.

This is absolutely true that Islam like the previous Ibrahimic and monotheistic religions is against all the illsand evils of society and believes in a pure, clean, pious, honest and modest society.By the grace of Almighty Allah (swt) we Muslims are blessed with a perfect religion, which is completelypreserved through Quran and Sunnah of prophet (saw). We have clear commands of sharia , how to practiceand implement our laws. It teaches us a balance way of leading our life and a balanced approach towards therest of the world.

Our prophet Muhammad (SAW) is a role model for all Muslims. He never believed in extremism and alwaysled a balanced life according to the orders of Allah (swt). Once when he visited the house of one of the com-panions, he found his wife in a bad shape and asked why she is like this? She replied that he prays all thetime and fasts every day and does not even look at me. At this prophet (SAW) said, “ if he is following me. Ifast on some days and on other days do not. I pray at a part of night and then sleep. I go to my wives. Ournafs (body & desire) has a right on us too. Therefore follow me and my Sunnah”. He never liked extremismor extremist approaches.

For those of us who are now living in foreign lands and have made it our homes, we have some good guide-lines through our religion Islam. In North America there is a big concern about home grown extremism andhome grown terrorist Muslims.

In search of keeping our kids on the right and straight path we try to associate them to Muslim groups.Those groups are some times quite radicalized and believe in violence and hatred against non Muslims.We should take care of this issue and be very watchful and cautious towards this problem and carefullywatch where our kids are hanging out and what their activities are because ultimately they are trapped intogreater and unforeseen problems.

We should try our best to be an active part of the society in many positive ways. We show mercy toward thepeople and present the correct face of Islam, and in this way we should try to clarify all that is against Islamand Muslims We should try to guide them to the religion of Allah and that we present Islam upon its correctface and call them to it night and day without tiring.Allah said:

{And who is better in speech who invites towards Allah and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of theMuslims."}[Al-Fussilat 41:33]

Extremism is not our way of Life ...Explanation of "ummate wast".


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Our calling should be upon insight, upon clear insight from the Book and the Prophetic tradition of theProphet i.e. his Sunnah, peace be upon him, so we do not attribute to Islam anything that is not from it anddo not bring into it that which was not in it, but make clear to the people, make clear to them Islam in its cor-rect and beautiful form, that has room for all people.

Cordial relations are the key factors, we maintain with our non Muslim neighbor and friends. Generally afterthe tragedy of September 11,2001 there is so much in media about Muslims and Islam .Some of the peoplejust avoid us because of that and do not wish to keep in touch. They are so much brain washed that they onlybelieve about Muslims as extremist people..The Prophet, peace be upon him, would become very happy if a disbeliever became Muslim. The Prophet,peace be upon him, visited a Jewish boy who was a neighbor of his and he advised him to enter into Islaam,and the boy pronounced the testification that there is no Lord except Allaah and Muhammad is the Messen-ger of Allaah. The boy said it and the Prophet was happy, while he was leaving the house the Prophet, peacebe upon him, said: 'All thanks is due to Allah the One who saved him by me, from the Hell-fire.'[13] So theProphet was happy for him and his Islam. Likewise the believer becomes happy for the Islam of a disbe-liever because he wants that all of the creation become Muslim and be guided. He wants good for them.

Fulfil your contracts with the Disbelievers

Here we will note a point concerning a Muslim dealing with a disbeliever, so that the Muslim does not fallinto anything that Allah and His Messenger hate: First it is upon the Muslim to complete and be true to thecontract between the Muslims and the disbelievers, because Allaah said:

{O you who believe! Fulfil (your) obligations} [Al-Maa'idah 5:1]

And Allah said:

{…And fulfil (every) ovenant. Verily, the covenant will be questioned about.} [Al-Israa' 17:34]

And Allah said:

{And fulfil the Covenant of Allâh (Bai'ah: pledge for Islâm) when you have covenanted…} [An-Nahl 16:91]

And in the opposite of this, it is Haraam – that is prohibited – for the Muslim to break his trust and, or de-ceive the disbeliever, because the Prophet said; 'for every deceiver on the Day of Judgement a banner will betied, and raised for him saying, 'this is the deception of so and so the son of so and so.'[14]And Allaah saidin the Hadeeth that is Qudsi; 'I am the opponent of three on the Day of Judgement…' and one of them is theone who broke his trust.[15]

And from what is known is that between the Muslim lands and the lands of the disbelievers are certaintrusts, pacts and truces. So the person can't enter these lands, until he agrees and abides by their laws bygoing through their embassies and getting their visas. Then at this point it is not permissible for him to de-ceive them, to be disloyal to the agreement. This is a great sin with Allaah. For this the Prophet said; 'I donot lock up the messengers (meaning those messengers of war) and I do not break the contract.'[16]"


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"Whoever breaks the contract is not upon the tradition or the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

Allah says:

“…Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whosoeversaves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind…”Qur’an 5:32

Islam... an extreme religion?

“Islamic terrorists!” “Muslim fundamentalists!” “Extremists!” “Radical Islamists!” These are just some la-bels that have been wrongly applied to Muslims and certain Muslim groups in recent years.

The media’s portrayal of Islam often misleads those whose knowledge of the religion is limited, into makingnegative assumptions about this very peaceful and tolerant way of life. The prevalence of media bias and ignorance regarding Islam can be countered by understanding Islamthrough its proper teachings. That means referring to the Qur’an and the authentic sayings of the ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him). Through the proper understanding of these teachings, one will discoverIslam to be completely against any form of extremism.When reading through the Qur’an or the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him), one must understandthe context in which the wording applies. The following verse of the Qur’an is a favorite amongst thoseseeking to mislead people about Islam:

“And kill them wherever you find them, and expel them from where they expelled you, as persecuting peopleto sway them from God’s Religion is worse than killing. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unlessthey fight you there. But if they do fight you, then slay them; This is the recompense of thedisbelievers.”Qur’an 2:191

On occasions, this verse has been dangerously trimmed down to the following:

“And kill them wherever you find them…”Qur’an 2:191The obvious question is, “Kill who?”. To answer this question, one should read the verses before and afterverse 2:191.

“And fight in the way of Allah those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does notlove those who exceed the limits.“Qur’an 2:190The above verse mentions fighting as a means of self defence (i.e. with those who fight you). The verse after2:191 is:

“But if they cease, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”Qur’an 2:192These verses were revealed at a time when the Muslims had been expelled from their homes on account oftheir faith. They endured more than ten years of persecution and eventually had to flee to a safe land.

The above verses were referring to the Arab pagans of Mecca during the Prophet’s time, who oppressed theMuslims and planned to attack them where the Muslims sought refuge.

Hence, the above verse can only be applied in such circumstances.

This example demonstrates that verses in the Qur’an should be understood in their proper context sinceverses were revealed in stages in relation to particular situations, over a period of 23 years. It is also impor-tant to note that the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic. Therefore, translations into different languages may bemisleading and/or inaccurate.There can be no doubt that Muslims (like anybody else) have a legitimate right to fight against aggression or


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when oppressed.

Islam teaches that warfare is permitted in order to preserve the wellbeing of the community or to prevent op-pression from spreading - this may be in the context of defensive or offensive warfare depending on the par-ticular situation. Islam, just like any ‘way of life’ that wants to ensure its survival, has the right to defenditself when war is declared against it. In the Qur’an (22:39) we read:

“To those against whom war is made, permission is given to fight, because they are wronged.”However, when the enemy ceases its hostility, Muslims are commanded to cease fighting.

“And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in God; surely He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.”Qur’an 8:61Abu Bakr (may God be pleased with him), Prophet Mohammad’s closest friend and first successor, spoke ofthe Islamic approach to war by highlighting the following.

In the battlefield, one should not:• commit treachery• mutilate the dead• deviate from the right path• kill a woman, child or aged man• harm or burn trees, especially the fruitful• slay the enemy’s flock, except for food• harm those who devote their life to worshipAs we read in verse 2:190, Allah commands Muslims not to go to extremes by saying, “Do not transgressthe limits.” A situation of war is no excuse to go beyond boundaries. Islam teaches the avoidance of blind re-taliation.

“And let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to righteousness.”Qur’an5:8

Islam Denounces Terrorism and Extremism

The act of inciting terror in the hearts of defenseless civilians, the wholesale destruction of buildings andproperties, the bombing and maiming of innocent men, women and children are all forbidden and detestableacts according to Islam and the Muslims. This is regardless of any type of terrorism, including western state-sponsored terrorism which has killed, injured and displaced infinitely more people than all other types of ter-rorism.

If an individual Muslim were to commit an act of terrorism, this person would be guilty of violating the lawsof the very religion they claim to follow - Islam. Would it be fair to condemn all Muslims as a result, whenthe religion itself is against such acts? Muslims follow a religion of submission to God, peace, mercy, andforgiveness. The vast majority have nothing to do with the violent events some – notably the media - haveassociated with Muslims. Islam is not a religion of extremism.

“Allah does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought youabout religion and have not driven you out of your homes. Allah loves those who are just.”Qur’an 60:8

Our dealing with the non believers is being just with them. Not oppressing them – not in their selves norfamilies nor money nor businesses nor estates. Not in anything because Allaah said:


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{O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allâh as just witnesses; and let not the enmity and hatred of othersmake you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety…} [Al-Maa'idah 5:8]

And having Ihsaan – goodness toward the disbelievers, because our Islamic legislation has come with Ihsaan– goodness toward the disbeliever because Allaah said:

{Allâh does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of reli-gion nor drove you out of your homes...} [Al-Mumtahanah 60:8]

And they also, that is the disbelievers, enter into Allaah's saying:

{Verily, Allâh enjoins Al-'Adl (i.e. justice and worshipping none but Allaah Alone) and Al-Ihsân [i.e. to be pa-tient in performing your duties to Allâh, totally for Allâh's sake and in accordance with the Sunnah (legalways) of the Prophet in a perfect manner]...} [An-Nahl 16:90]

And the Prophet's saying; 'Allaah wrote goodness upon everything, Allaah wrote Ihsaan upon every-thing.'[17] So the believer should be good towards the disbeliever, whether in calling him to Allaah and thisis the most important, or giving him money if in need, or carrying his luggage, or giving him a ride, the im-portant thing is that he is good towards him.

When the mother of 'Asmaa, the daughter of Hazrat Abu Bakr came to visit her in Al-Madeenah, and at thetime her mother was a disbeliever she asked; 'O Messenger of Allaah should I keep ties with her?' Hereplied; 'Yes keep ties with your mother.'[18]And she was one who associated partners with Allaah – that isshe was a Mushrik - a disbeliever. Allaah said:

AS a Muslim we have a huge responsibility to show the world our excellent morals, character, and dignity.We are not extremist or terrorist. We are peace loving people, believe in moderation, in a balance way of lifeand expect the same from the rest of the world.

WHy you ARE WoRRIED BRoTHERS AND SISTERS,HERE IS AN ExCELLENT DuAA, PRACTICE IT...

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoeversays every day, in the morning and the evening, Hasbi Allaah alladhilaa illaha illa huwa ‘alayhi tawwakaltu wa huwa rabb al-’arsh il-’azeem(Sufficient for me is Allaah, besides Whom there is no other god; inHim have I put my trust and He is the lLord of the mighty Throne),seven times, Allaah will suffice him with regard to what he is worriedabout, in this world and in the Hereafter.” This hadeeth was classed assaheeh by Shu’ayb al-Arna’oot in Tahqeeq Zaad al-Ma’aad (2/342).


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I Sharjeel Ahmad I

And when they meet thosewho believe, they say: "Webelieve," but when they are

alone with their Shayâtin (devils -polytheists, hypocrites, etc.), theysay: "Truly, we are with you; ver-ily, we were but mocking.”AlQuran :: Surat al-Baqara :: Verse14Islam and the Muslims are undersiege today; they are abused, de-terred, threatened, ridiculed, andlured into believing that they areorthodox. They have been underthis siege ever since, and will re-main so till the Last Day. How-ever, many of us do not amplyrealize the significance and grav-ity of this situation. While we attimes might be able to outwit theelement of siege in most of thecases, the last one – being lured tobelieve that we are orthodox – isseldom offset by prudence. Anoffshoot of this same aspect is therampant and incandescent urge toportray ourselves as unorthodoxand contemporary, at times at thecost of belying the premises ofour belief and Islam. Just imaginehow you would feel when you areridiculed in your office when youtell your colleagues, “I do not cel-

ebrate my birthday!”…A lot of people argue that there isno specific reference to celebrateor not to celebrate these occasionsin Quran and Sunnah. Quran andSunnah, for example, do not sayeither celebrate or DO NOT cele-brate them. However, before weexplore this aspect, let us first ex-plore the concept of birthdays oranniversaries and then retrospecton the aspect of celebrating themor not with reference to Quran andSunnah. I have carefully selecteda verse from Surah Baqarah as thestarting of this article; since SurahBaqarah follows a pattern of firstdescribing the believers, then dis-believers, and then the munafe-qeen. Insha Allah, I will also try tofollow a pattern to discuss this as-pect.

Birthday/Anniversary Leadingto Disbelief or Shirk

Wikipedia states the followingwith respect to how birthday cele-brations kick started – “A numberof possible superstitious originsfor customs associated with birth-day celebrations have been sug-gested. One source states that thetradition of birthday partiesstarted in Europe. It was feared

that evil spirits were particularlyattracted to people on their birth-days and to protect them, theywould be visited by friends andfamily, who would bring goodthoughts and wishes.”

I chose Wikipedia for this explo-ration since it is considered one ofthe most authentic sources for re-trieving information on contempo-rary issues. Therefore, if we are tobelieve the above citation byWikipedia, the very spirit of cele-brating/observing/practicing birth-days and anniversaries directlyleads to Shirk or disbelief. On sec-ond thoughts, some observers alsonote that the practice of celebrat-ing birthday is relatively new.“Egyptians observed birthdays,but only for their rulers. They heldparades, circuses, gladiatorialcontests, and sumptuous feasts!The Romans staged parades andchariot races to celebrate birth-days; some of which were createdfor their gods. Mere mortals werenot honored or even rememberedon the day of their birth.” Anothercitation from the same source says– “In ancient times, peopleprayed over the flames of an openfire. They believed that the smokecarried their thoughts up to the

WHy WE MuST NoT CELEBRATE BIRTHDAyS, ANNIVERSARIES, NEW yEAR…


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gods. Today, we believe, that ifyou blow out all your candles inone breath, your wish will cometrue.” [Reference: The PhraseFinder::http://www.phrases.org.uk/bul-letin_board/10/messages/836.html] Going by these citations again,the primary spirit of celebratingbirthdays and anniversaries di-rectly leads to Shirk or disbelief.

Birthday/Anniversary Leadingto Innovation or Biddah

We might at times be tempted tobelieve that birthdays are impiouscustoms started by Christians. Thefact; however, might stand outpretty differently. Wikipedia, if itis to be believed, talks about theopposite – “The early Christiansdid not celebrate Christ's birth be-cause they considered thecelebra-tion of anyone's birth to be apagan custom. … Jehovah's Wit-nesses and some Sacred Namegroups refrain from celebratingbirthdays on the basis that theyare portrayed in a negative lightin the Bible and have historicalconnections with magic, supersti-tions, and Paganism.”Wikipedia further states with ref-erence to Genesis – “Now on thethird day [yohm] it turned out tobe Pharaoh’s birthday [literally,“the day (yohm in Hebrew andYawm in Arabic) of the birth(hul•le′dheth) of Pharaoh”].” Soit is certain that Job 1:4 does notrefer to a birthday, as is unques-tionably the case at Genesis40:20. It would seem that Job’sseven sons held a family gathering(possibly a spring or harvest festi-val) and as the feasting made theweek-long circuit, each son hostedthe banquet in his own house “onhis own day.Job 3:1,3 does nottalk about a yearly birthdays cele-bration, but about the day he wasactually born. That is quite clear

from the last part of verse 3. Inthis account, Job [Prophet Ayoub,peace be upon him] is beingtested by Satan being stricken byevery sort of torture to test hisloyalty toward Jehovah God andin his sufferings he is at this point,of losing everything, is regrettinghis birth (hul•le′dheth) alto-gether.”

Going by these discussions, wemust admit that these practiceshave been inhibited in Christianityand other religions as well. Thefollowers of Judaism and Christi-anity [the Jews and Christians wesee today] have definitely trans-gressed upon the teachings oftheir religious scriptures and haveconceived innovations outsidetheir religions, as per their whimsand fancies. In terms of Islam,conceiving innovations outsidethe religion is considered as Bid-dah. We have ample resources, ev-idences, and discussions withrespect to Quran and Sunnah thattell us about the rot of innovatingin the religion:

And (remember) when We ap-pointed for Mûsa (Moses) fortynights, and (in his absence) youtook the calf (for worship), andyou were Zâlimûn (polytheists andwrong-doers, etc.) – Al Quran ::Surah Baqarah :: Verse 51

The previous verse from Surah AlBaqarah has special relevance forpeople who celebrate birthdaysand anniversaries in ignorance orarrogance, without acknowledgingthe truth about the same. In theseverses, Allah describes about thestate of the Children of Israel.When Moses [peace be upon him]went off for fasting as per Allah’sCommand, one of the people ofIsrael innovated instantly andlured the people to seek a deitysimilar to what the people of Fi-

raun had, so that they would wor-ship the same. Thereafter, theybrought a golden calf and startedworshipping it, without payingheed to the reprimanding ofProphet Harun [peace be uponhim].Let us look at some facts amongourselves. We tend to celebratethe birthday of Prophet Moham-mad [peace be upon him] as a reli-gious festival, similar toChristmas. We celebrate the firstof Moharram as the Islamic NewYear, similar to the GregorianNew Year on the first of January.We also tend to celebrate and ob-serve the ascent of Prophet Mo-hammad [peace be upon him] tothe Heavens [Shab-e-Me’raaj orShab-e-Baraat, as it is popular inIndia] with a lot of pomp and gai-ety.Let us see what the Sunnah of ourProphet [peace be upon him] hasto say about these celebrations.Al-Bayhaqi reported in his Sunanthat Anas Bin Maalik [RA] said:“When the Prophet [peace beupon him] came to Medina, thepeople had two holidays from thedays of Jahiliyyah.” He [peace beupon him] said: “When I came toyou, you had two days which youused to celebrate in Jahiliyyah.Allah has replaced them for youwith better days, the days ofslaughter (Adhaa) and the day ofFitr.”

Allah has REPLACED the cele-bration days of Jahiliyah with bet-ter days; are we then required tocontrive innovations and chose forourselves worse than what hasbeen offered to us? I am remindedof the following verses fromSurah Al Baqarah again:

“And We shaded you with cloudsand sent down on you Al-Mannaand the quails, (saying): “Eat ofthe good lawful things We have

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provided for you,” (but they re-belled). And they did not wrongUs but they wronged themselves. –Al Quran :: Surah Baqarah ::Verse 57

The Children of Israel or the fol-lowers of Prophet Moses [peacebe upon him] disliked the betterfood provided to them by Allah,and instead wished for somethinginferior in quality thereof. Do wesubscribe or endorse to the sameidea with respect to observing andcelebrating birthdays and anniver-saries?? Don’t we see this blem-ished semblance with the Childrenof Israel??!!

Celebrating Birthday/Anniver-sary Traits of Munafeqeen

Still some others wish to be LIB-ERALS with respect to followingIslamic injunctions, and do notfeel shy of celebrating birthdaysand anniversaries. By doing so,they wish to prove amply thatIslam is not an orthodox religion.Alas, Islam IS THE MOST CON-TEMPORARY religion and wayof life; however, our efforts to

prove it this way only lead to con-ceiving innovation in the religion.What is most dangerous is illumi-nated by the first citation at thebeginning of the article. The versetalks about the munafeqeen – whoare neither believers nor disbe-lievers in their façade. An impor-tant trait of munafeqeen is thatthey side with believers whenamongst them; and then side withthe disbelievers when they areamongst the disbelievers. We tendto say that we are believers; butwhen we are among the disbeliev-ers, we tend to say that we aresimilar to them – see, we celebratebirthdays, anniversaries, NewYear; we are liberals, not like theorthodox and ghettoized Muslims– at times even mocking atthem… It has also become our in-tellectual fashion and passion torevile and taunt and mock anyonewho appears orthodox or spellsorthodoxy with respect to Islam[Dr. ZakirNaik??!! Refer to Sha-keelbhai’s article Sachin Ten-dulkar and Dr. ZakirNaik: TwoGems from Mumbai]. Some final citations with respectto imitating the disbelievers; di-

rect or implicit:

1. At-Tirmidhi narrated that IbnAbbas [RA] reported that theProphet [peace be upon him]said:“He is not one of us who imi-tates other than us. Do not imitatethe Jews or the Christians.”

2. At-Tabarani and Abu Dawudnarrated that Ibn Umar and Hud-hayfah RA reported that theProphet [peace be upon him] said:“Whoever imitates a people, he isone of them.”

How strong are the wordings withrespect to imitating the people ofthe book; irrespective of the rea-sons/logic…

Let’s take this time to reflect onwhether celebrating birthdays andanniversaries is right for us; what-ever logic or reasons thereof. Ig-norance is not bliss for us, sincewe are predestined not to be igno-rant. How can we claim ignorancewhen we have Quran and Sunnahwith us??!!

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I Sameen Ahmed Khan I

The King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabiahas announced the King Faisal International Prizefor the year 2014. The recipients in the categoriesare as follows. Service to Islam: Shaikh Dr. AhmedAbou Bakr Lemu of Nigeria; Islamic Studies (Topic:Cultural Heritage of Makkah Al-Mukarrama): Pro-fessor Abdulwahab Ibrahim Abou Sulaiman of SaudiArabia; Arabic Language and Literature (Topic:Studies on Modern Arabic Novel): Dr. AbdullahIbrahim Allawi Albussabah of Iraq; Medicine(Topic: Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Fetal Diseases):Professor Yuk Ming Dennis Lo, UK/China; and Sci-ence (Topic: Mathematics) was awarded to ProfessorGerd Faltings of Germany. The prize consists of acertificate, hand-written in Diwani calligraphy, sum-marizing the laureate's work; a commemorative 24carat, 200 gram gold medal, uniquely cast for eachPrize; and a cash endowment of Saudi Riyal 750,000(about US$200,000) to be shared equally. The win-ners will receive their awards in March in a cere-mony in Riyadh under the auspices of the King ofSaudi Arabia.

The prizes are named after the third king of SaudiArabia. In the year 1976, the sons of late KingFaisal (1906-1975) established a large-scale philan-thropic organization based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,and named it as King Faisal Foundation (KFF). Oneof the activities of the KFF is the King Faisal Inter-national Prize (KFIP), to honour scholars and scien-tists, who have made the most significant advancesto benefit humanity and enrich human knowledge.The annual prizes are in five broad categories.Prizes for Arabic Literature; Islamic Studies; andServices to Islam; were first given in 1979. Scienceand Medicine were introduced in 1982 and 1983 re-spectively. Each year the selection committee desig-nates subjects or subcategories to each of the abovefive. The science subcategories cover a broad scope:physics; mathematics; chemistry; and biology by ro-tation cycle of four years. This year's awards bringthe total number of laureates to 228 distinguished in-dividuals from 41 different countries. Within threedecades the KFIP are ranked among the most presti-gious awards. Several of the KFIP Laureates in Sci-ence and Medicine have gone on to receive the

Nobel Prize.

The prize for Service to Islam has been awarded toShaikh Dr. Ahmed Abou Bakr Lemu of Nigeria.Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Lemu is a composed intellectual,a devout Muslim, and an advocate of moderation andopen-mindedness. He is a member of several inter-national Islamic organizations worldwide. His ef-forts towards education, development and call toIslam are evident from his hundreds of lectures, sem-inars and classes. He has authored several Islamicbooks and school references which fulfilled a signifi-cant part of the needs of the Nigerian communityand served as important resources for many NigerianMuslim generations, helping them to understandIslam and expand their knowledge of the Islamiccreed. He played a significant role in defendingMuslim women's rights. His efforts culminated inthe establishment of the Union of Muslim Women'ssocieties in Nigeria, promotion of peaceful co-exis-tence and fight against sectarian violence in thatcountry. He also established the Islamic Da'awa(Call) Institute to combat extremism. He wasawarded several national and international accoladesand prizes for his services of Islam.

The prize for Islamic Studies (Topic: Cultural Her-itage of Makkah Al-Mukarrama) has been awardedto Professor Abdulwahab Ibrahim Abou Sulaiman ofSaudi Arabia Abou Sulaiman, who is member of theSaudi Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, wasawarded the prize in recognition of his illustrious ac-ademic studies which monitor and document culturalexchanges between people in the Holy Haram and itssurroundings, particularly his text: Bab Al-Salamwhich portrays the issue during important historicalperiods. His studies are distinguished by objectivity,profundity and richness of resources.

The prize for Arabic Language and Literature(Topic: Studies on Modern Arabic Novel) has beenawarded to Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Allawi Albussabahof Iraq. Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Allawi Albussabahwas awarded the prize in appreciation of his distin-guished contributions to the study of the modernArabic novel. Dr. Albusabah has employed differentliterary analytical methods in his book. His thor-ough knowledge of the Arabic narrative and world

T h e K i n g F a i s a l International Prize for 2014


literary arts has enabled him to refine this complexspecialty and analyze it in a persuasive manner, andto elucidate the discourse between the Arabic narra-tive and main stream narrative in world literature.He is the Cultural Advisor at Qatar Emir's Court.

The Prize for Medicine (Topic: Non-Invasive Diag-nosis of Fetal Diseases) is awarded to Professor YukMing Dennis Lo of China, now working in UK. In1997, Lo was able to demonstrate the presence ofhigh concentrations of cell-free foetal DNA in theplasma of pregnant women, which could then besampled and tested. He elucidated the fundamentalcharacteristics of such molecules, developed thetechnologies for their analysis, conceptualised theiruse and brought non-invasive prenatal diagnosis to areality. This discovery opened up new possibilitiesfor non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, and has effec-tively reduced our reliance on previous invasive andpotentially risky, methods. Lo is the Director of LiKa Shing Institute for Health Sciences. He serves asProfessor of Medicine, Chairman and Chief of Serv-ice, Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty ofMedicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, andPrince of Wales Hospital.

This year’s Prize for Science is in the area of Mathe-matics. It has been awarded to Professor Gerd Falt-ings of Germany. The prize committee stated thatProf. Faltings “work combines ingenuity, vision andtechnical power. He has introduced stunning newtools and techniques which are now constantly usedin modern mathematics.” He is the Director at theMax-Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn.Faltings was awarded the Fields Medal (age limit isforty!) at the International Congress of Mathemati-cians in Berkeley, California, U.S., in 1986, prima-rily for his proof of the Mordell conjecture datingback to 1922. This work had been closely linkedwith the work leading to the final proof of Fermat'sLast Theorem by Andrew Wiles in 1995. The Fer-mat’s theorem had defied generations of mathemati-cians since first conjectured by Pierre de Fermat in1637. His doctoral students include the Iranian bornmathematician, Majid Hadian-Jazi (PhD 2010, nowat University of Illinois at Chicago). Prof. M SNarasimhan is the only Indian to have won the KFIPin the science category (for mathematics).

Here, it is relevant to recall the Egyptian born Amer-ican chemist Ahmed Zewail who pioneered the Fem-tosecond chemistry in the 1980’s by observing thechemical reactions (a femtosecond is a thousandth of

a billionth of a second). He was the first person toobserve the formation and breaking of chemicalbonds in real time. Ahmed Zewail was recognizedfor this by the King Faisal International Prize forScience in 1989 and the Nobel Prize for Chemistryin 1999. He received both the prizes unshared.Egypt recognized him by issuing the postage stampsin 1998 and 1999; Order of Merit in 1995; and Orderof the Grand Collar of Nile in 1999. It is to be fur-ther recalled that the Science Historian Roshdi HifniRashed received the Award in 2007 under the cate-gory of Islamic Studies for the Topic: Muslims’ Con-tribution to Pure or Applied Sciences.

The topics for the five prizes for the year 2014 areService to Islam; Islamic Studies (Topic: CulturalHeritage of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah); ArabicLanguage and Literature (Topic: Ventures towardsArabisation of Scientific and Medical Matters);Medicine (Topics: Intestinal Microflora and HumanHealth); and Science (Topic: Chemistry) respec-tively. The deadline for all nominations is Thursdaythe 2 Rajab 1435H which is first May 2014 (KingFaisal Foundation Website: http://www.kff.com/).

Main Features of the King Faisal International Prize

([email protected], http://SameenAhmed-Khan.webs.com/)Engineering Department, Salalah College of Tech-nology (SCOT), Salalah, Oman


Islam

Question: It is my understanding that Jesus never killed anyone.Is that also true of Muhammad? To me, Muhammad led a lifedevoted to God/Allah, not war.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings beupon His Messenger.First of all, we would like to thank you for the great confidence youhave in us. We hope our efforts meet your expectations.As regard your question, it is an established fact that all the Prophetsand Messengers of God (may Allah be pleased with them all) were sentas light bearers to the humanity; they all came with the purpose of up-holding the truth, maintaining justice and bringing man closer to hisLord.In accomplishing this task, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessingsbe upon him), as well as other Prophets of God, had to undergo seriesof difficulty, hardship and torment to make people grasp and believe inthe message brought to them. But none of these Prophets initiated at-tack or aggression against their people. To the contrary, they tasted allkinds of torture and persecution in the course of their mission. So themain feature of all these Prophets was showing mercy and praying fortheir people's guidance.In his response to your question, Dr. M. M. Abu Laylah professor ofComparative Religions, and head of the English Department at Al-Azhar Univ., states the following:Before we address the question you posed, we'd like to make it clear toyou that in Islam we are commanded not to discriminate between oneProphet and another. We believe in all Prophets and Messengers sent byAllah to guide us and lead us to the way of Allah. The Qur'an says:(Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed untoUs and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac,and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received,and that which the Prophets received from their Lord. We make no dis-tinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 136)(The messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto himfrom his Lord and (so do) the believers. Each one believeth in Allahand His angels and His scriptures and His messengers We make no dis-

MuHAMMAD AND JESuS:Common Ground

Islam

tinction between any of His messengers and theysay: We hear, and we obey. (Grant us) Thy forgive-ness, our Lord! Unto Thee is the journeying.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 285) So in the light of this, we want youto know that we accept Jesus as a prophet of Allah.Concerning what you said about Jesus not killingany one, we can tell you that Prophet Muhammadnever killed anyone too. But, Jesus’ mission was toguide people peacefully and in a land, which was oc-cupied by a foreign power, and under siege, therewas no liberty or freedom to allow Jesus to workopenly or to oppose the authority in power. It wasnot the aim of Jesus to build a state. That is why wefind that the people who followed him were small innumber and influence. Though in the New Testamentand in the four Gospels, in particular, Jesus did askhis followers to carry their swords and to followhim, he clearly said that he came not only to castpeace but also to set fire. He asked his disciples to beready to sacrifice their lives for his cause.Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)never raised or commanded any of his followers toraise a sword against his enemies in Makkah. Rather,he ordered them to remain patient and steadfast (de-spite all the persecutions and torture displayed by theQuraish against them). But when he moved to Madi-nah, Allah commanded him to establish the MuslimState, and this necessitated some sort of power andauthority. Nonetheless, he was ordered not to resortto force in dealing with people disbelieving in himuntil after exhausting all peaceful means. For exam-ple, he concluded a peace treaty with the Jews ac-knowledging their religious and political rights andgiving them the same rights as Muslims to live inMadinah and to run their own society in accordancewith their own religion with no interference from

Muslims. But all this did not prevent the Pagans ofMakkah, aided by their Jewish allies in Madinah, tolaunch an attack against the Muslim State, so the wartook place.Here, we may bring to your notice that even thoughthe war between the Muslims and non-Muslims inArabia was very much limited and was under toughconditions, it was a sort of self-defense and with aimof preserving the creed and defending the newly-es-tablished State.Muhammad was not only a prophet like Jesus orMoses (peace and blessings be upon them all) but hewas a prophet and a statesman and his mission was auniversal one. Along this line, Prophet Muhammaddelivered his message outside Arabia through peace-ful means. He performed peace treaties even with thepolytheists in Makkah, received Christian delega-tions in his mosque and conducted a dialogue withthem in the best decent manner ever existed. Whilestill in Makkah, he sent a delegation to the Christiancountry, Abyssinia, and the history also recorded thatits king, Negus, who was also at the helm of theChristian hierarchy, was held in high esteem byProphet Muhammad (peace and blessings be uponhim).War in Islam is only legitimate if it is for self-de-fense or as a means to defend the religion, tradition,and the way of life as believed by Muslims. Even ifthe war takes place between Muslims and non-Mus-lims, there are certain religious and human condi-tions that should be taken into consideration. Forexample, the civilians should not be attacked, thecrops should not be destroyed, and the water supplyand other means of living should not be ruined.

Allah Almighty knows best.


The myth of abrogation in QuRAN - Part 2

I By Arbaz Fahad I

Section-C. Concept of abroga-tion clearly contradicts withQuran

An anti-islamic writerwrites - "Muslim authori-ties try to explain the in-

ternal apparent contradictions inthe Qur'an by stating that certainpassages of the Qur'an are an-nulled (Mansukh) by verses re-vealed chronologically later,known as Nasikh verses. Yet, thereis by no means any certainty as towhich disagreeing verses aremansukh and which are nasikh,since the order in which theQur'an was compiled was notdone chronologically".

1. As it is crystal clear that thereason for evolution of abrogationconcept is to solve the problem ofseemingly-contradictory ayah inQuran. For example: Ayah dealingwith prohibition of alcohol(2:219; 4:43; 5:90) perplexedscholars as they found it impossi-ble to practice all three ayah. Theymisunderstood that there is con-tradiction in commandment ofthese 3 ayah; hence they declaredfirst two ayah to be abrogated.Actually no way there is any con-tradiction in these 3 ayah.But, but, but... those people whofeel that any two ayah of Quran iscontradicting then they are agree-ing that Quran is NOT AT ALLfrom GOD!!! Wait- don't getangry. Look what Allah has tosay:"Do they not consider the Qur'anwith care? Had it been from otherThan Allah, they would surelyhave found therein many contra-

dictions". Quran-Surah Nisa 4:82

Quran tells that if Quran containscontradiction then Quran is notfrom God. So those people whobelieve in abrogation - which isbecause of assuming Quran con-tains contradictory ayah - areproving that Quran is not fromGod. The miracle of Quran is thatit distinguishes right from wrong.Abrogation is clearly in contradic-tion to Quran.

2. How can Quran be a uniquemasterpiece, divine message if itcancels its own ruling?What was the need then in thefirst place to reveal such ayah ifAllah already knew that he isgoing to cancel his words? Itshuman words that contradict -word of Allah can never contra-dict, God can not go against hisown words.

"No change can there be in theWords of Allah (Quran, Surahyunus 10:64)"There is none that can alter theWords of Allah (Quran, SuraAnam6:34)

If the Qur’an is indeed of divineauthorship, and is perfect in itsconstruction and style, no Ayahcan be better than another; howthen could one Ayah abrogate an-other? Is God not Wise and Far-Seeing enough to give rulings thatare permanent? Abrogation of alaw meant that it became illegal inthe face of the one replacing it,and that this latter one was illegalwhile the former was in place.This would be to declare good asevil and evil as good, clearly not adivine activity

Almighty God mentions clearlythat Allah can not change hiswords. It means if he has given aruling for a particular issue-in aparticular context and situation-then this can not change.

D. Does Quran support abroga-tion?

Supporter of abrogation quote oneparticular ayah in their support.1. "None of Our Ayah (sign) do Weabrogate or cause to be forgotten,but We substitute something betteror similar: Knowest thou not thatAllah Hath power over allthings?" Quran-Surah Baqrah2:106

a. People think that in this ayahAllah is talking about abrogationof Quranic ayah. They fail to real-ize that this ayah is also speakingabout "forgetting of ayah". So ifyou mean that Allah abrogatesayah in Quran then you have toagree that Allah makes you forgetsome of ayah of the Quran!!! Thisis ridiculous. The words "cause to be forgotten"could not be applicable if theword ‘Ayah’ in this ayah meant averse in the Quran. How can aayah in the Quran become forgot-ten? For even if the ayah was in-validated by another (assupporters of abrogation falselyclaim) it will still be part of theQuran and thus could never beforgotten.

b. In this ayah-in fact-Allah isspeaking about previous revela-tions. Previous revelations wereforgotten with the passage of timeand its some portion were abro-

From the Book


From the Book

gated by ayah of Quran. Abroga-tion and forgetting of ayah (Withthe passage of time previous reve-lation could not be preserved,hence gradually lost and forgot-ten)- both can be applied for pre-vious revelation and NOT forQuran. This is simple and logicalunderstanding.

c. The words " We substitutesomething better or similar "would be meaningless if the word‘Ayah’ in this verse meant aQuranic verse, simply because itwould make no sense for God toinvalidate one verse then replaceit with one that is identical to it!So actually this ayah is talkingabout abrogation of ayah (someayah, not all ayah) of previousrevelations. It is not talking aboutabrogation of quranic ayah.

E. Prohibition of Alcohol - Anexample of abrogation?

The best example given in supportof abrogation is prohibition of al-cohol. People say that Alcoholwas prohibited in 3 stages. Peoplemisunderstand that initially Quranpermitted alcohol consumption,then it asked people not to con-sume alcohol for some time andthen finally Allah prohibited itcompletely. So - they say - firsttwo ayah of this series are abro-gated by the third ayah. Lets ana-lyze it using simple translationand common sense.

a. They ask you (O Muhammad{SAAW}) concerning alcoholicdrink and gambling. Say: "In themis a great sin, and (some) benefitfor men, but the sin of them isgreater than their benefit."....(Quran, Surah baqrah 2:219)

b. O you who believe! Approachnot As-Salat (the prayer) whenyou are in a drunken state until

you know (the meaning) of whatyou utter....... (Quran, Surah Nisa4:43)

c. O you who believe! Intoxicantsand gambling, and Al-Ansab , andAl-Azlam (arrows for seeking luckor decision) are an abominationof Satan's handiwork. So avoidthat, in order that you may be suc-cessful. (Quran, Surah Maidah5:90)

Traditional understanding is:

1. Quran initially permitted Alco-hol. They cite 2:219 and 4:43 fortheir support.2. Later these two ayah were abro-gated by 5:90 in which Allah pro-hibited alcohol.

This example is the best exampleof abrogation as per the supporterspf abrogation.

However, a serious and carefulunderstanding of these ayah makeclear that none of the ayah is abro-gated, none of the ayah contradictwith any other one, all 3 ayah canbe practised even today. This isthe miracle of Quran that its eachletter, each word and each sen-tence is divine.

1. 2:219 says that in alcohol thereis some benefit for men, but harmis far more than benefit. That istrue. Human being DO use it inchemical industry, in medicine. Incold countries people drink it toget warmth. It is also used in ther-mometers, as a solvent, and as afuel.Important point to note is thatQuran is not saying that Alcoholis permitted for consumption. HadQuran mentioned here that "youcan have alcohol" then it wouldhave directly contradicted with5:90 and then as per 4:82 wecould say that Quran is not God's

word. But, alhamdulillah, God'sword is superior to human misun-derstanding.

2. 4:43 says that do not approachfor salah when you are in drunkenstate. Here many people get con-fused and assume that this ayahmeans that one can have alcoholwhen not going for salah. [If A isfather of B then that does not al-ways mean B is son of A. B canbe daughter of A :) ] They are mis-taken. The word of Quran is verybalanced. It conveys the meaning,give command and maintain theprinciple that Quranic ayah canNOT contradict. This ayah is notabrogated and it can be practisedeven today. Alcohol is prohibited(As per 5:90), yet there would besome bad muslims who wouldconsume alcohol. Just like; zina(illegal physical relation) is pro-hibited but some people may dozina - that is why we have punish-ment for those who commit zina.Similarly for people who haveconsumed alcohol - for them in-struction is that if they want to re-pent through salah or they want tooffer salah then they should not gofor salah till they are in soundmind, till the intoxicating effect ofalcohol has gone. Please note-even in this ayah Allah is not say-ing at all that alcohol is permitted.This ayah does not contradict with2:219 and 5:90

3. Finally 5:90 said that Alcohol isprohibited. It does not contradictany ayah; viz 2:219 and 4:43

These 3 ayah were practised thattime by Arabs. Even today these 3ayah are relevant as explained ear-lier. Hence there is no contradic-tion in these 3 ayah, there is NOabrogation at all. Nothing is abro-gated from Quran, not even a let-ter, not a word, not a sentence.<[email protected]>


Islam

I By Shaykh Muhammad Amaan Al Jaami I

Abu Dhar (radhi Allaahu anhu) said: Whoever doesnot know that his Imaan increases and decreases isnot a person of understanding.Rather it is from un-derstanding in the religion to notice if your Imaan isincreasing or decreasing.

If you find yourself devoted to Allah, desiring thatwhich is with Allah, and energetic in acts of worship,loving the righteous people and the gatherings ofknowledge, this is an indication and a sign of yourstrong Imaan and your increase in Imaan.And if you find yourself turning away and lazy, hav-ing no desire to recite the Book of Allah and remem-ber Allah; and you find yourself always laggingbehind in some acts worship and not desiring thatwhich is with Allah, this is proof of your deficiencyin Imaan. Therefore remedy and rectify yourself.Translated by Rasheed ibn Estes Barbee

Source: http://mtws.posthaven.com/recognize-if-your-imaan-is-increasing-or-decrWatch Video Here : http://wp.me/p2sNCV-1kpRelated Links:

•The Decrease After the Increase Of Eemaan -[Transcribed lecture] - by Abu Awais Abdullah AleeListen to the audio•Causes Behind The Increase and Decrease ofEemaan - Shaykh Abdur-Razzaaq al-Abbaad [Book]The greatest blessing Allaah, the Most High, can be-stow upon a person in this world is the blessing ofeemaan. It is as the author points out in his introduc-tion the source to all the good in this world and Hereafter However; as the texts unequivocal show andas a simple glance at the various types of people willshow, eema an is of levels. It is of degrees and for-ever fluctuating. This is a matter that a person canwitness in himself: when he is a ctive and obedient,he senses a strength of eemaan and when he isfalling short of the mark and disobeying Allaah hefeels that his eemaan is weak.•Aspects of Increasing Iman - by Shaikh al-Islam IbnTaymiyyah - from Kitab al-Iman © 1999 Iman Pub-lishing House

•Increasing Eemaan (Faith) - Shaykh Àbdul Àzizibn BazFataawaa Lajnatud-Daa'imah lil-BuhoothulÌlmiyyah wal-Iftaa, 3/185-187, Al-IstiqaamahNewsletter•What are the types of Murji’ah? – Shaykh Saalih al-FawzaanURL: http://wp.me/p1VJ3-2GF

Taking knowledge from the Asaaghir (young) – ByShaykh Abdus Salaam bin Burgess

Certainly there has appeared between the students ofknowledge during this time, the taking of knowledgefrom those young in age. This phenomenon in realityis a cancerous disease and a chronic illness and ithinders the student of knowledge from his intent andturns him away the sound path that will connect himto knowledge.

That is because taking knowledge from those whoare young in age; those who did not firmly establishtheir feet in knowledge, their beards did not becomegrey within it (they did not spend a long time withseeking knowledge) along with the presence of thoseolder than them in age, whose feet are grounded, be-cause of this the foundation of the beginner is weak.He is prevented from the benefit of the experience ofthe major scholars and attainment of their mannerswhich is established by knowledge and time.And from the evidences that give reason to this is theathar of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allaah be pleased withhim) when he said:

"The people will not cease to be upon good as longas they take knowledge from their elders, theirtrusted and their scholars. If they (begin) takingknowledge from their sighaar and evil ones, thenthey are destroyed"There is the affirmed Hadeeth on the authority ofAbi Umayyah al Jamhee, that the Messenger of Al-laah said:"From the signs of the hour is when knowledgesought from al-asaagheer"The people have differed in relation to the explana-tion of the word: "as-sighaar".

Recognize if your Imaan is Increasing or Decreasing


Islam

There is some speech which Ibn Abdul Barr (mayAllaah have Mercy on him) mentioned in al-Jaami'and ash-shatibi (may Allaah have Mercy on him)mentioned in al-i'tisaam.

Ibn Qutaybah (may Allaah have mercy on him) tookthe view that as-sighaar are those who are young inage. And he said regarding the athar of Ibn Mas'ud:"He intended that the people will not cease to beupon good as long as their scholars are mashaayakh(old) and that their scholars are not young (in age),because the shaykh (elderly) has left the pleasure ofyouth, his temper, his hastiness, his foolishness andhe prefers practice and experience and nothingdoubtful enters into his knowledge, his desires donot overcome him and he is not tempted by lust orgreed. Shaytan does not cause him to fall (but)causes the young to. The one with age has dignity,honor and prestige.”

The young maybe will enter into some of these af-fairs that the elderly is safe from. If these affairsenter into him and he makes a ruling (then) he is de-stroyed and destroys others.

Ibn abdul Barr reported that Umar Ibn al-Khattaab(may Allaah be pleased with him) said:"I knew when the uprightness of the people (waspresent) and when they became corrupted. When (anissue) of fiqh came from the young (in age) the eld-erly turned away from following them. And when (anissue) of fiqh came from the elderly; the young fol-lowed them and they were both guided.”

Ibn Abdul Barr also reported on the authority ofAboo Ahwas from Abdullah who said:"Certainly you will always remain upon good aslong as knowledge is found in your elderly and whenknowledge is found in your young, the young willmake the elderly appear foolish."

In these two Athars are proofs for not taking knowl-edge from the young. Another besides which IbnQutaybah mentioned and it was fear of acceptingknowledge if it came from the youth. At any rate, ifits wording; as-sagheer is general (then) it is used ina way perceived and meaning (young in age).

This ruling is not without exception regarding theyoung in age, since a group from amongst the com-panions and taabi’een used to give fataawa and teachduring their youth in the presence of those old inage. Certainly it is rare to find the likes of these indi-

vidual so what about anyone after them. If they (theyoung) were present and their uprightness wasknown and their knowledge was examined and itsfirmness was apparent and no one from amongst theelders were found, then whatever knowledge they(the young) had with them was taken and safe fromfitnah.

Hajjaaj bin Ar-Taah said:“The people use to dislike that a man speak untilgrey was seen in his beard.”

The intent is not that knowledge of the young shouldbe abandoned in the presence of the old; no! The in-tent is only to put people in their proper places.Sothe right of the intelligent young (student) is that hebenefits by the learning institutions, (circles) of dis-cussions and studies (of research). As for putting himforward for giving rulings and questions being putforward to him the no! Certainly no! Because thiswill kill him and this is a fitna and deception.

Fudayl ibn Iyaad said:“If you see a man gathering the people around him,then I say this (person) is crazy. What person gath-ers the people around him and does not like that theymake good his speech”

He also said:“It has reached me that the scholars of the pastwhen they learned they acted, and when they actedthey became busy, when they became busy they lost(some) and when they lost they sought and when theysought they fled”

So O seeker of knowledge if you desire knowledgefrom its source (fountain) then, here are the majorscholars, those whose beards have become grey andbodies have become frail and strength have becomeweak (being exhausted) in knowledge and learning.Their commitments are before their lost and theybring out their treasures before they pass away(along) with them. (As) in the darkness of the nightthe Badr (moon) passes away.

A PoINT of ATTENTIoN:During these times the standards have been greatlyblemished by the common people regarding properlyestimating the scholars. So every individual who cangive an eloquent speech, or a meaningful lecture, ora Friday sermon haphazardly becomes a scholar. Hethen becomes someone returned to for rulings andknowledge is taken from him. This is a painful and


Islam

apparent affliction which its evil is airborne and itharms is circulated. When the connection of knowl-edge is (connected) to other than its people and whenthe affair (are in the hands) of other than its people,then look for the hour (Day of Judgment)

So the student must be warned of taking knowledgefrom these (types). Except if they are known to befrom people who possess knowledge. Not everyonewho has good expression is a scholar and not every-one who turns the people’s faces towards him withissues regarding the leaders of the Muslims or thementioning of the death rate of aids and whatever issimilarly to that is a scholar.

(Also) the meaning is not what has proceeded – assome understand it- ex. Not listening to them (theyoung in age) or not benefitting from their talks, No!The intent is only taking legislative knowledge fromthem and not raising them to the levels of the schol-ars and Allaah is the One Who gives success.

Translated by Abu Anas Atif Hasan May Allaahmake this a benefit for myself and the readerhttp://www.burjes.com/burjes_article012.phpPosted with Permission from: Al-Binaa Publishing |Durham NCRelated Links:•Biography of Shaykh ‘Abdus-Salam Bin Barjas Ali‘Abdil-Karim (rahimahullaah)•O Hasty Youth! Come to your Senses and Respectthe Rights of The (Upright) Scholars and Teachers•Fear Allah and know your limit, O student ofknowledge! – Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id Raslan[Video|Ar-En Subtitles]•Criterion To Distinguish A True Scholar From AnImitator – Shaykh ibn Baaz•Only a Person of Sunnah Loves the Ulemah and aLiar Hates Them (Must Listen•[Video] The Evil Results of a Scholar of Innovation(MUST SEE)•Not all who read are scholars – (must see, emo-tional!)•Indeed This Knowledge Is Religion So Look To TheOne You Take Your Religion From – Shaykh Muham-mad al-Imaam [Audio|Ar-En]•Al-Imaam al-Qayrawaanee: “The First FoundationThey Instill in You is Hatred for the Scholars” Com-ments by: Shaykh Ahmad Bazmool•The Beginner Students of Knowledge who Try toTower Over the Major Scholars – Shaikh Al Albaani[Video|Ar-En Subtitles]•Do you want to listen to tapes? Listen to the pure

people of the Sunnah and the pure scholars of theSunnah – Shaykh ‘Abdul-Laah bin ‘Abdir-Raheemal-Bukhaaree•Imaam Maalik (d.179) : Don’t Take Knowledgefrom Those Who Didn’t Sit With Scholars•The Importance maintaining relations and sittingwith the ScholarsURL: http://wp.me/p1VJ3-2Fx

DEVILISH WHISPERS DuRING THEPRAyER

Question: I am a woman who performs what Allaahhas obligated on me concerning the ritual acts ofworship. However, while in prayer, I often forgetwhat I have prayed. I also think about what has oc-curred to me during that day. I do not think of thosethings except when I begin the prayer and I cannotseem to free myself from these thoughts unless I re-cite aloud. What do you advise me to do?

Response: This matter that you complain about issomething that many of those who pray also com-plain about. This is where Satan has the door ofwhispering open to him during the prayer. Perhapsthe person finishes without knowing what he hassaid in his prayer. However, the Prophet (sal-Allaahu‘alayhe wa sallam) has guided us to the cure for that.The person should blow out on his left side threetimes and say: (I seek refuge in Allaah from the ac-cursed Satan).

If the person does that, his problem will come to anend, Allaah willing. When the person enters theprayer, he must firmly believe that he is standing infront of Allaah. He is in private conversation withAllaah. He should get closer to Allaah by his statingAllaahu Akbar, his glorification of Allaah, and hisreciting of Allah’s word. Also, he should get closerto Allaah by means of the places of supplication inthe prayer. If a person has this feeling and conscious-ness in him, he will approach his Lord with humilityand submission to Him. He will love what Allaahhas of good and fear from His punishment if he failsin what Allaah has obliged him to do.

Shaykh Ibn ‘UthaymeenFataawa al-Mar.ahTake your time when praying as it could be your lastopportunity to do so. Develop a no rush policy whenpraying to your Creator. May the One we are return-ing to have mercy upon us on that day. Aameen.


I By Shakil Ahmad & Sharjeel Ahmad I

It’s that time of the year once again, when a lot ofMuslims gleefully and happily engage in a greatcelebration called “Eid Miladun Nabi” or

Mawlid – 12 Raby al-Awal. What signficance doesthis date (12 Raby al-Awal) have under the light ofSahih Hadith? What are we really celebrating on thisday?? We will try to address these few questions inthis write up.

When was the Prophet Mohammad (peace be uponhim) born? Let’s try to understand this according tomodern technoloy and in the light of Sahih Hadith.Abu Qatada Ansari (Allah be pleased with him) re-ported that Allah's Massenger (may peace be uponhim) was asked about fasting on Monday, where-upon he said: It is (the day) when I was born andrevelation was sent down to me. (Sahih Muslim,Book #006, Hadith #2606)

According to this authentic Hadith, one aspect be-comes very clear beyond any doubt – that ProphetMohammad (peace be upon him) was born on aMonday.

Let’s look at another important reference, TheSealed Nectar (Al Raheeq Al Maqtoom), authoredby Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri . The Arabic ver-sion of this book was awarded first prize by theMuslim World League, at the first Islamic Confer-ence on Seerah. A quotation from the book is as fol-lows:

“Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the Master ofProphets, was born in Bani Hashim lane in Makkahon Monday morning, the ninth of Rabi‘ Al-Awwal,the same year of the Elephant Event, and forty yearsof the reign of Kisra (Khosru Nushirwan), i.e. thetwentieth or twenty-second of April, 571 A.D., ac-cording to the scholar Muhammad Sulaimân Al-Mansourpuri, and the astrologer Mahmûd Pasha.”This reference from The Sealed Nectar also men-tions that the birth day of the Prophet (peace be upon

him) is Monday. Going by the above reference, theGregorian date is either April 20 or 22 April, 571A.D. let’s consider and convert these two dates:

1. When we convert April 22, 571 A.D.intoHijri Calendar, the day we get is Wednesday, and thedate is 11 Raby’ al-awal (53 Before Hijri). A screen-shot of the conversion from the website islam-icfinder.org is shown here.

However, considering the Sahih Hadith of SahihMuslim quoted previuosly, and numerous other simi-lar Hadiths, the birth date of the Prophet (peace beupon him) is Monday. Therefore, it would only belogical to consider April 22, 571 A.D. as the birthdate is not correct.

2. Now, consider April 20, 571 A.D.Convertingthis date to the Hijri Calendar, we get Monday, 9Raby al-awal (53 Before Hijri). A screenshot of theconversion is as shown here:

Even if we consider the 1 day error mentionedabove, the date would be either 8 Raby al-Awal or10 Raby al-Awal. This implies that the best logicaloption that appears for the birth date of the Prophet

What are They Celebrating?


(peace be upon him) is 9 Raby al-awal (53 Before Hijri) – which is Monday, April 20, 571 A.D.

3. This is in abstract contrast to what some people believe and celebrate – 12 Raby al-awal – as theProphet’s (peace be upon him) birthday. A screenshot of the conversion is as follows:

This date cannot be accepted as the birth date, since the day (Thursday) does not conform to the Sahih Ha-dith referred earlier.

Conclusion for Birth Date

12 Raby al-awal 53 Before Hijri cannot be accepted as the birth date of the Prophet (peace be upon him) asper the above analysis, and in the light of Sahih Hadith and the scientific date-conversion methods. Therefore, what most of the people celebrate as Eid MiladunNabi on 12 Raby al-Awal is not the birth date ofthe Prophet (peace be upon him). The question that still stands unanswered at large is – what are they cele-brating?? Whether celebrating another Eid (or birthday) is correct or not in the light of Islam is anothertopic, which we have already discussed in a separate article. See the following link for reference:And Allah knows Best… [email protected] & [email protected]

False deities have no power to harm or benefit

Ash-Shirk ul-Akbar takes one outside the fold of Islam. The opposite of Tawhid is expressed bythe Arabic term Shirk (polytheism) derived from the root Sh-r-k which conveys the notion of “shar-ing” or “partnerships.” The word Sharik (plural shurakaa) means “partner” or “associate.” It encom-passes far more than the more blatant (obvious) forms of idolatry and denial of Allah’s Unity. Theterm Shirk means associating partners with Allah, and the related term mushrik is applied to some-one guilty of such polytheistic association. Some examples of Shirk ad Du’a (invoking or supplicat-ing to a false deity besides Allah are given. False deities have no power, Allah has all powers.

1) Say( O Mohammed to mankind) How do you worship besides Allah something which has nopower either to harm or benefit you”, (Surah Al-Maidah 5/76)

Totally unacceptable act is Shirk- (Part 1 of 3)Absolutely unforgivable Sin is “Shirk”


2) And do not invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor harms you, for if you did,then indeed you would be of the wrongdoers.' (Surah Yunus 10/106)

3) And if Allah should touch you with adversity (hardship), there is no remover of it except Him.And if He touches you with good – then He is over all things competent. (Surah Al-Anam 6/17)

4) Say, "Shall we invoke instead of Allah that which neither benefits us nor harms us and beturned back on our heels after Allah has guided us?( Surah Al-Anam 6/71)

bakhabar, february 2014

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