Did you hear of the story of the Shaykh from Azhar and the prostitute?
No …
Well, there you go, as was narrated by Shaykh Ali Tantawi [May Allah have mercy on him] in his memoir about Shaykh Ahmad Al-Zayaat [May Allah have mercy on him].
Shaykh Ali Tantawi said:
“The Shaykh (Ahmad Al-Zayaat) was a teacher, who did not know anything of this world except: The Azhar where he used to teach, the house he used to live in, and the road between them.
As years passed by, and he got older, his health started to deteriorate, and he needed to rest. So the doctor forced him to take some time of, and suggested that he goes somewhere away from his place of work and residence, and advised him to enjoy the quietness and calmness of the parks next to the Nile .
So one day, the Shaykh went out and stopped a carriage (as cars were not that available at the time). He told the driver: My son, take me to a nice place were I can enjoy the view and relax.
The driver of the carriage, however, was a wicked person, and took the Shaykh to a place in Egypt , which at the time had several prostitution houses.
After arriving he told the Shaykh: Here [we are].
The Shaykh said: O son, Magrib prayer is drawing near, where can I pray? Take me first to the Masjid.
The Driver [pointing to one of those houses] said: The Masjid is over there.
The door [of the place] was open, and the lady running that house was sitting, in the manner those like her usually sit.
When the Shaykh saw her, he lowered his gaze. He saw a seat, so he headed there and sat, waiting for the Call for prayer (Adhan).
[The woman in confusion, just] stared at him.
What brought that man here?
He doesn’t look like any of her regular customers.
She kept thinking to herself, but did not dare ask him what he was doing here.
What kept her from asking was the shyness that remained in her heart, even as a prostitute. However, that shyness only appears in front of people of Piety.
He, on the other hand, kept doing Tasbeeh (saying Subhan Allah), whilst looking at his watch, until he heard the Adhan of Maghrib from far away.
He asked her: Where is the Moazin (Person who calls for prayers) here?
Why didn’t he call for prayer when the time entered?
Are you his daughter?
She … kept silent.
He waited for a while, and then said: My daughter, Maghrib time is short, and it is not permissible to delay it, and I do not see anyone here, so if you have your Wudu (ablution) then pray behind me Jama’ah.
He gave the call for prayer, and without looking at her, as he was about to give the Iqamah, he noticed stillness behind him?!
He asked: What is wrong? Don’t you have your Wudu?
All of a sudden, as if her Iman (Faith) woke up and she remembered the old days. The days when she was filled with purity, and was away from sin, she started to cry loudly, and threw herself at his feet.
The Shaykh surprised, did not know in what way he can calm her.
She then, started narrating her story.
He saw in her words great regret, and felt the truth in her repentance. He realized the sincerity in what she was saying, so he told her: Listen, my daughter, to what the Lord of all creation says: {Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the Mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah forgives all sins …”} (39:53).
All sins, my daughter, all sins …
The door of repentance is open to every sinner and it is so wide that it can encompass them all no matter how heavy their load [of sins] is … even Kufr.
So whoever disbelieves in the all Mighty, after he was a believer, but repents before the hour of his death comes, and he was sincere in his repentance, and he renewed his Islam, Allah will accept him.
Allah, my dear daughter, is the most Generous of all. Did you ever hear of anyone generous shutting the door in the face of those who come seeking him?
Stand up and go wash yourself, and cover yourself. Go and clean your skin with water and your heart with repentance and regret. Approach your Lord, and I will wait for you.
But do not delay, so that we do not miss Maghrib prayer.
She did as he asked, and returned to him with a new dress and a new heart. She stood behind him and prayed. She felt and tasted the sweetness of that prayer, and felt that this prayer purified her heart.
When the prayer was over, he told her: Come with me, and try to cut every relation you have with this place and everyone in it. Try to erase the time you spent here from your memory.
Consistently ask Allah for his forgiveness, and increase in doing righteous deeds.
Verily, adultery is not as big a sin as Kufr, and Hind [bint ‘Utbah – May Allah be pleased with her], who was a disbeliever and had animosity in her heart to the Prophet of Allah. After that she became from the righteous believers, and we started saying: Allah is well-pleased with her.
The Shaykh then took her to a house of righteous ladies, and then found her a righteous husband and advised him to take good care of her” 1/252.
[Original writer in Arabic forum said]: Notice [May Allah shower you with Mercy] the state of this woman, how she was and how she changed. It was nothing more than simple words from an old man that led her into changing her life upside down.
So if you only think how many people are just like this woman.
People who are drowning in filth, people who the dust from their sins gathered around their hearts shedding away its light.
These sins caused them to see the Truth as Falsehood and the Falsehood as Truth.
How much are they in need of one to take by their hands, and to clear the dust away from their hearts.
They do not need complicated educational and behavioral philosophical treatments, or theories in the manners of interaction and persuasion. Neither are they in need of complicated statements.
What they truly need is for someone to feel sorry for them and for their state … Someone to understand their situation and to hope for their guidance … Someone who would speak a word that would leave his heart, [and touch theirs]. A word which he seeks nothing from except the Face of Allah.
After this the light, that was for so long covered with sins, would emerge and their souls would return to its Fitrah, and would return to its harmony with the universe and to the true manner of life.
Original Arabic:
http://www.ahlalhde eth.com/vb/ showthread. php?p=671170
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Austrian minister sparks controversy over teachers wearing headscarves
Austrian minister sparks controversy over teachers wearing headscarves
(AFP, March 09, 2005)
Austria ’s education ministry said Wednesday that public school teachers would not be banned from wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf despite controversial comments by the country’s new interior minister.
Liese Prokop, speaking to the weekly Falter, said she found teachers wearing the headscarf in public schools shocking.
“I don’t know if a ban of the headscarf is legally possible, but I am in favor of it,” the new minister of the governing conservative party was quoted as saying Tuesday. “I find it shocking because it does not correspond to the values of our society and tolerance is going too far.”
Prokop also denounced forced marriages, honor killings and wife battery in Austria ’s minority Muslim community.
Omar Al-Rawi, a Muslim community leader, said the statements amounted to “a slap in the face of Muslim women.”
On Wednesday, education ministry spokesman Ronald Zecha told AFP that there was no proposal to bar teachers from wearing the headgear in public schools.
“There is no problem in Austria , because we have a system of good cooperation and of reciprocal tolerance with the different religious communities,” Zecha said.
Austria established freedom of religion in 1912, he said.
The wearing of the Islamic headscarf has been the subject of heated debate across Europe . In France , it was banned in public schools after a protracted legal and political battle.
http://www.wwrn. org/article. php?idd=2174&sec=33&con=44
(AFP, March 09, 2005)
Austria ’s education ministry said Wednesday that public school teachers would not be banned from wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf despite controversial comments by the country’s new interior minister.
Liese Prokop, speaking to the weekly Falter, said she found teachers wearing the headscarf in public schools shocking.
“I don’t know if a ban of the headscarf is legally possible, but I am in favor of it,” the new minister of the governing conservative party was quoted as saying Tuesday. “I find it shocking because it does not correspond to the values of our society and tolerance is going too far.”
Prokop also denounced forced marriages, honor killings and wife battery in Austria ’s minority Muslim community.
Omar Al-Rawi, a Muslim community leader, said the statements amounted to “a slap in the face of Muslim women.”
On Wednesday, education ministry spokesman Ronald Zecha told AFP that there was no proposal to bar teachers from wearing the headgear in public schools.
“There is no problem in Austria , because we have a system of good cooperation and of reciprocal tolerance with the different religious communities,” Zecha said.
Austria established freedom of religion in 1912, he said.
The wearing of the Islamic headscarf has been the subject of heated debate across Europe . In France , it was banned in public schools after a protracted legal and political battle.
http://www.wwrn. org/article. php?idd=2174&sec=33&con=44
Sunday, April 20, 2008
A Glimpse of Muslim Spain
A Glimpse of Muslim Spain
By Dean Derhak (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 05 Mar 2007
When you think of European culture, one of the first things that may come to your mind is the renaissance. Many of the roots of European culture can be traced back to that glorious time of art, science, commerce and architecture. But did you know that long before the renaissance there was a place of humanistic beauty in Muslim Spain? Not only was it artistic, scientific and commercial, but it also exhibited incredible tolerance, imagination and poetry. Muslims, as the Spaniards call the Muslims, populated Spain for nearly 700 years. As you’ll see, it was their civilization that enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the renaissance. Many of their cultural and intellectual influences still live with us today.
Way back during the eighth century, Europe was still knee-deep in the Medieval period. That’s not the only thing they were knee-deep in. In his book, “The Day The Universe Changed,” the historian James Burke describes how the typical European townspeople lived:
“The inhabitants threw all their refuse into the drains in the center of the narrow streets. The stench must have been overwhelming, though it appears to have gone virtually unnoticed. Mixed with excrement and urine would be the soiled reeds and straw used to cover the dirt floors. (p. 32)
This squalid society was organized under a feudal system and had little that would resemble a commercial economy. Along with other restrictions, the Catholic Church forbade the lending of money - which didn’t help get things booming much. “Anti-Semitism, previously rare, began to increase. Money lending, which was forbidden by the Church, was permitted under Jewish law.” (Burke, 1985, p. 32) Jews worked to develop a currency although they were heavily persecuted for it. Medieval Europe was a miserable lot, which ran high in illiteracy, superstition, barbarism and filth.
During this same time, Muslims entered Europe from the South. Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of a family of caliphs of the Muslim empire, reached Spain in the mid-700’s. He became the first Caliph of Al-Andalus, the Muslim part of Spain , which occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula . He also set up the Umayyad Dynasty that ruled Al-Andalus for over three-hundred years. (Grolier, History of Spain ). Al Andalus means, “the land of the vandals,” from which comes the modern name Andalusia .
At first, the land resembled the rest of Europe in all its squalor. But within two-hundred years the Muslims had turned Al-Andalus into a bastion of culture, commerce and beauty.
“Irrigation systems imported from Syria and Muslimia turned the dry plains... into an agricultural cornucopia. Olives and wheat had always grown there. The Muslims added pomegranates, oranges, lemons, aubergines, artichokes, cumin, coriander, bananas, almonds, pams, henna, woad, madder, saffron, sugar-cane, cotton, rice, figs, grapes, peaches, apricots and rice.” (Burke, 1985, p. 37)
By the beginning of the ninth century, Muslim Spain was the gem of Europe with its capital city, Cordova. With the establishment of Abd al-Rahman III - “the great caliphate of Cordova” - came the golden age of Al-Andalus. Cordova, in southern Spain , was the intellectual center of Europe .
At a time when London was a tiny mud-hut village that “could not boast of a single streetlamp” (Digest, 1973, p. 622), in Cordova…
“…there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city and its twenty-one suburbs. The streets were paved and lit.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38)
“The houses had marble balconies for summer and hot-air ducts under the mosaic floors for the winter. They were adorned with gardens with artificial fountains and orchards”. (Digest, 1973, p. 622) “Paper, a material still unknown to the west, was everywhere. There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38).
In his book titled, “Spain In The Modern World,” James Cleuge explains the significance of Cordova in Medieval Europe:
“For there was nothing like it, at that epoch, in the rest of Europe . The best minds in that continent looked to Spain for everything which most clearly differentiates a human being from a tiger.” (Cleugh, 1953, p. 70)
During the end of the first millennium, Cordova was the intellectual well from which European humanity came to drink. Students from France and England traveled there to sit at the feet of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, to learn philosophy, science and medicine (Digest, 1973, p. 622). In the great library of Cordova alone, there were some 600,000 manuscripts (Burke, 1978, p. 122).
This rich and sophisticated society took a tolerant view towards other faiths. Tolerance was unheard of in the rest of Europe . But in Muslim Spain, “thousands of Jews and Christians lived in peace and harmony with their Muslim overlords.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38)
Unfortunately, this period of intellectual and economic prosperity began to decline. Shifting away from the rule of law, there began to be internal rifts in the Muslim power structure. The Muslim harmony began to break up into warring factions. Finally, the caliphs were eliminated and Cordova fell to other Muslim forces. “In 1013 the great library in Cordova was destroyed. True to their Islamic traditions however, the new rulers permitted the books to be dispersed, together with the Cordovan scholars to the capital towns of small emirates.” (Burke, 1985, p. 40) The intellectual properties of the once great Al-Andalus were divided among small towns.
…the Christians to the North were doing just the opposite. In Northern Spain the various Christian kingdoms united to expel the Muslims from the European continent. (Grolier, History of Spain ) This set the stage for the final act of the Medieval period.
In another of James Burke’s works titled “Connections,” he describes how the Muslims thawed out Europe from the Dark Ages. “But the event that must have done more for the intellectual and scientific revival of Europe was the fall of Toledo in Spain to the Christians, in 1105.” In Toledo the Muslims had huge libraries containing the lost (to Christian Europe) works of the Greeks and Romans along with Muslim philosophy and mathematics. “The Spanish libraries were opened, revealing a store of classics and Muslim works that staggered Christian Europeans.” (Burke, 1978, p. 123)
The intellectual plunder of Toledo brought the scholars of northern Europe like moths to a candle. The Christians set up a giant translating program in Toledo . Using the Jews as interpreters, they translated the Muslim books into Latin. These books included “most of the major works of Greek science and philosophy.. . along with many original Muslim works of scholarship.” (Digest, p. 622)
“The intellectual community which the northern scholars found in Spain was so far superior to what they had at home that it left a lasting jealousy of Muslim culture, which was to color Western opinions for centuries” (Burke, 1985, p. 41)
“The subjects covered by the texts included medicine, astrology, astronomy pharmacology, psychology, physiology, zoology, biology, botany, mineralogy, optics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, music, meteorology, geography, mechanics, hydrostatics, navigation and history.” (Burke, 1985, p. 42)
These works alone however, didn’t kindle the fire that would lead to the renaissance. They added to Europe ’s knowledge, but much of it was unappreciated without a change in the way Europeans viewed the world.
Remember, Medieval Europe was superstitious and irrational. “What caused the intellectual bombshell to explode, however, was the philosophy that came with (the books).” (Burke, 1985, p. 42)
Christians continued to re-conquer Spain , leaving a wake of death and destruction in their path. The books were spared, but Moor culture was destroyed and their civilization disintegrated. Ironically, it wasn’t just the strength of the Christians that defeated the Muslims but the disharmony among the Muslims’ own ranks. Like Greece and Rome that proceeded them, the Muslims of Al-Andalus fell into moral decay[1] and wandered from the intellect that had made them great.
The translations continued as each Muslim haven fell to the Christians. In 1492, the same year Columbus discovered the New World, Granada , the last Muslim enclave, was taken. Captors of the knowledge were not keepers of its wisdom. Sadly, all Jews and Muslims that would not abandon their beliefs were either killed or exiled (Grolier, History of Spain). Thus ended an epoch of tolerance and all that would remain of the Muslims would be their books.
It’s fascinating to realize just how much Europe learned from the Muslim texts and even greater to see how much that knowledge has endured. Because of the flood of knowledge, the first Universities started to appear. College and University degrees were developed (Burke, 1985, p. 48). Directly from the Muslims came the numerals we use today. Even the concept of Zero (a Muslim word) came from the translations (Castillo & Bond, 1987, p. 27). It’s also fair to say that renaissance architectural concepts came from the Muslim libraries. Mathematics and architecture explained in the Muslim texts along with Muslim works on optics led to the perspective paintings of the renaissance period (Burke, 1985 p. 72). The first lawyers began their craft using the new translated knowledge as their guide. Even the food utensils we use today come from the Cordova kitchen! (Burke, 1985 p. 44) All of these examples show just some of the ways Europe transformed from the Muslims.
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 522/
By Dean Derhak (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 05 Mar 2007
When you think of European culture, one of the first things that may come to your mind is the renaissance. Many of the roots of European culture can be traced back to that glorious time of art, science, commerce and architecture. But did you know that long before the renaissance there was a place of humanistic beauty in Muslim Spain? Not only was it artistic, scientific and commercial, but it also exhibited incredible tolerance, imagination and poetry. Muslims, as the Spaniards call the Muslims, populated Spain for nearly 700 years. As you’ll see, it was their civilization that enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the renaissance. Many of their cultural and intellectual influences still live with us today.
Way back during the eighth century, Europe was still knee-deep in the Medieval period. That’s not the only thing they were knee-deep in. In his book, “The Day The Universe Changed,” the historian James Burke describes how the typical European townspeople lived:
“The inhabitants threw all their refuse into the drains in the center of the narrow streets. The stench must have been overwhelming, though it appears to have gone virtually unnoticed. Mixed with excrement and urine would be the soiled reeds and straw used to cover the dirt floors. (p. 32)
This squalid society was organized under a feudal system and had little that would resemble a commercial economy. Along with other restrictions, the Catholic Church forbade the lending of money - which didn’t help get things booming much. “Anti-Semitism, previously rare, began to increase. Money lending, which was forbidden by the Church, was permitted under Jewish law.” (Burke, 1985, p. 32) Jews worked to develop a currency although they were heavily persecuted for it. Medieval Europe was a miserable lot, which ran high in illiteracy, superstition, barbarism and filth.
During this same time, Muslims entered Europe from the South. Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of a family of caliphs of the Muslim empire, reached Spain in the mid-700’s. He became the first Caliph of Al-Andalus, the Muslim part of Spain , which occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula . He also set up the Umayyad Dynasty that ruled Al-Andalus for over three-hundred years. (Grolier, History of Spain ). Al Andalus means, “the land of the vandals,” from which comes the modern name Andalusia .
At first, the land resembled the rest of Europe in all its squalor. But within two-hundred years the Muslims had turned Al-Andalus into a bastion of culture, commerce and beauty.
“Irrigation systems imported from Syria and Muslimia turned the dry plains... into an agricultural cornucopia. Olives and wheat had always grown there. The Muslims added pomegranates, oranges, lemons, aubergines, artichokes, cumin, coriander, bananas, almonds, pams, henna, woad, madder, saffron, sugar-cane, cotton, rice, figs, grapes, peaches, apricots and rice.” (Burke, 1985, p. 37)
By the beginning of the ninth century, Muslim Spain was the gem of Europe with its capital city, Cordova. With the establishment of Abd al-Rahman III - “the great caliphate of Cordova” - came the golden age of Al-Andalus. Cordova, in southern Spain , was the intellectual center of Europe .
At a time when London was a tiny mud-hut village that “could not boast of a single streetlamp” (Digest, 1973, p. 622), in Cordova…
“…there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city and its twenty-one suburbs. The streets were paved and lit.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38)
“The houses had marble balconies for summer and hot-air ducts under the mosaic floors for the winter. They were adorned with gardens with artificial fountains and orchards”. (Digest, 1973, p. 622) “Paper, a material still unknown to the west, was everywhere. There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38).
In his book titled, “Spain In The Modern World,” James Cleuge explains the significance of Cordova in Medieval Europe:
“For there was nothing like it, at that epoch, in the rest of Europe . The best minds in that continent looked to Spain for everything which most clearly differentiates a human being from a tiger.” (Cleugh, 1953, p. 70)
During the end of the first millennium, Cordova was the intellectual well from which European humanity came to drink. Students from France and England traveled there to sit at the feet of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, to learn philosophy, science and medicine (Digest, 1973, p. 622). In the great library of Cordova alone, there were some 600,000 manuscripts (Burke, 1978, p. 122).
This rich and sophisticated society took a tolerant view towards other faiths. Tolerance was unheard of in the rest of Europe . But in Muslim Spain, “thousands of Jews and Christians lived in peace and harmony with their Muslim overlords.” (Burke, 1985, p. 38)
Unfortunately, this period of intellectual and economic prosperity began to decline. Shifting away from the rule of law, there began to be internal rifts in the Muslim power structure. The Muslim harmony began to break up into warring factions. Finally, the caliphs were eliminated and Cordova fell to other Muslim forces. “In 1013 the great library in Cordova was destroyed. True to their Islamic traditions however, the new rulers permitted the books to be dispersed, together with the Cordovan scholars to the capital towns of small emirates.” (Burke, 1985, p. 40) The intellectual properties of the once great Al-Andalus were divided among small towns.
…the Christians to the North were doing just the opposite. In Northern Spain the various Christian kingdoms united to expel the Muslims from the European continent. (Grolier, History of Spain ) This set the stage for the final act of the Medieval period.
In another of James Burke’s works titled “Connections,” he describes how the Muslims thawed out Europe from the Dark Ages. “But the event that must have done more for the intellectual and scientific revival of Europe was the fall of Toledo in Spain to the Christians, in 1105.” In Toledo the Muslims had huge libraries containing the lost (to Christian Europe) works of the Greeks and Romans along with Muslim philosophy and mathematics. “The Spanish libraries were opened, revealing a store of classics and Muslim works that staggered Christian Europeans.” (Burke, 1978, p. 123)
The intellectual plunder of Toledo brought the scholars of northern Europe like moths to a candle. The Christians set up a giant translating program in Toledo . Using the Jews as interpreters, they translated the Muslim books into Latin. These books included “most of the major works of Greek science and philosophy.. . along with many original Muslim works of scholarship.” (Digest, p. 622)
“The intellectual community which the northern scholars found in Spain was so far superior to what they had at home that it left a lasting jealousy of Muslim culture, which was to color Western opinions for centuries” (Burke, 1985, p. 41)
“The subjects covered by the texts included medicine, astrology, astronomy pharmacology, psychology, physiology, zoology, biology, botany, mineralogy, optics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, music, meteorology, geography, mechanics, hydrostatics, navigation and history.” (Burke, 1985, p. 42)
These works alone however, didn’t kindle the fire that would lead to the renaissance. They added to Europe ’s knowledge, but much of it was unappreciated without a change in the way Europeans viewed the world.
Remember, Medieval Europe was superstitious and irrational. “What caused the intellectual bombshell to explode, however, was the philosophy that came with (the books).” (Burke, 1985, p. 42)
Christians continued to re-conquer Spain , leaving a wake of death and destruction in their path. The books were spared, but Moor culture was destroyed and their civilization disintegrated. Ironically, it wasn’t just the strength of the Christians that defeated the Muslims but the disharmony among the Muslims’ own ranks. Like Greece and Rome that proceeded them, the Muslims of Al-Andalus fell into moral decay[1] and wandered from the intellect that had made them great.
The translations continued as each Muslim haven fell to the Christians. In 1492, the same year Columbus discovered the New World, Granada , the last Muslim enclave, was taken. Captors of the knowledge were not keepers of its wisdom. Sadly, all Jews and Muslims that would not abandon their beliefs were either killed or exiled (Grolier, History of Spain). Thus ended an epoch of tolerance and all that would remain of the Muslims would be their books.
It’s fascinating to realize just how much Europe learned from the Muslim texts and even greater to see how much that knowledge has endured. Because of the flood of knowledge, the first Universities started to appear. College and University degrees were developed (Burke, 1985, p. 48). Directly from the Muslims came the numerals we use today. Even the concept of Zero (a Muslim word) came from the translations (Castillo & Bond, 1987, p. 27). It’s also fair to say that renaissance architectural concepts came from the Muslim libraries. Mathematics and architecture explained in the Muslim texts along with Muslim works on optics led to the perspective paintings of the renaissance period (Burke, 1985 p. 72). The first lawyers began their craft using the new translated knowledge as their guide. Even the food utensils we use today come from the Cordova kitchen! (Burke, 1985 p. 44) All of these examples show just some of the ways Europe transformed from the Muslims.
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 522/
Friday, April 11, 2008
Islam in China
Islam in China
By Mohammed Khamouch - Published on 22 Jan 2007
The ‘Great Mosque of Guangzhou’ is also known as Huaisheng Mosque which means ‘Remember the Sage’ (A Memorial Mosque to the Prophet) and is also popularly called the ‘Guangta Mosque’ which translates as ‘The Beacon Tower Mosque’. Huaisheng Mosque is located on Guantgta Road ( Light Pagoda Road ) which runs eastwards off Renmin Zhonglu.
Prior to 500 CE and hence before the establishment of Islam, Arab seafarers had established trade relations with the “Middle Kingdom” ( China ). Arab ships bravely set off from Basra at the tip of the Arabian Gulf and also from the town of Qays (Siraf) in the Persian Gulf . They sailed the Indian Ocean passing Sarandip ( Sri Lanka ) and navigated their way through the Straits of Malacca which were between the Sumatran and Malaysian peninsulas en route to the South China Sea . They established trading posts on the southeastern coastal ports of Quanzhou and Guangzhou . Some Arabs had already settled in China and probably embraced Islam when the first Muslim deputation arrived, as their families and friends back in Arabia , had already embraced Islam during the Prophet’s revelation (610-32).
Guangzhou is called Khanfu by the Arabs who later set up a Muslim quarter which became a centre of commerce. Guangzhou ’s superior geographical position made it play an important role as the oldest trading and international port city in China . Witnessing a series of historical events, China has become a significant place in history and one of the fastest growing regions in the world enjoying unprecedented prosperity.
Whilst an Islamic state was founded by Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, China was enduring a period of unification and defense. Early Chinese annals mentioned Muslim Arabs and called their kingdom al-Medina (of Arabia ). Islam in Chinese is called “Yisilan Jiao” (meaning “Pure Religion”). A Chinese official once described Mecca as being the birthplace of Buddha Ma-hia-wu (i.e. Prophet Muhammad).
There are several historical versions relating to the advent of Islam in China . Some records claim Muslims first arrived in China in two groups within as many months from Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ).
Ethiopia was the land where some early Muslims first fled in fear from the persecution of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca . Among that group of refugees were one of Prophet Muhammad’s daughters Ruqayya, her husband Uthman ibn Affan, Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and many other prominent Companions who migrated on the advice of the Prophet. They were successfully granted political asylum by the Abyssinian King Atsmaha Negus in the city of Axum (c.615 CE).
However, some Companions never returned to Arabia . They may have traveled on in the hope of earning their livelihood elsewhere and may have eventually reached China by land or sea during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE). Some records relate that Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and three other Companions sailed to China in c.616 CE from Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ) with the backing of the king of Abyssinia . Sad then returned to Arabia, bringing a copy of the Holy Quran back to Guangzhou some 21 years later, which appropriately coincides with the account of Liu Chih who wrote “The Life of the Prophet” (12 vols).
One of the Companions who lived in China is believed to have died in c.635 CE and was buried in the western urban part of Hami. His tomb is known as “Geys’ Mazars” and is revered by many in the surrounding region. It is in the northwestern autonomous province of Xingjian (Sinkiang) and about 400 miles east of the latter’s capital, Urumqi . Xingjian is four times the size of Japan , shares its international border with eight different nations and is home to the largest indigenous group of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs. Hence, as well as being the largest Islamized area of China , Xingjian is also of strategic importance geographically.
The Quran states in unequivocal words that Muhammad was sent only as a Mercy from God to all peoples (21:107), and in another verse:
“We have not sent thee but as a Mercy to all Mankind…” (34:28)
This universality of Islam facilitated its acceptance by people from all races and nations and is amply demonstrated in China where the indigenous population, of ethnic varieties of Chinese Muslims today is greater than the population of many Arab countries including that of Saudi Arabia .
The history of Huaisheng Mosque represents centuries of Islamic culture dating right back to the mid-seventh century during the T’ang Dynasty (618-907) - “the golden age of Chinese history”. It was in this period, eighteen years after the death of the Prophet, that Islam - the last of the three monotheistic religions - was first introduced to China by the third Caliph, Uthman Ibn ‘Affan (644-656 CE/23-35 AH ).
Uthman was one of the first to embrace Islam and memorize the Holy Quran. He possessed a mild and gentle nature and he married Ruqayyah and following her death, Umm Kulthum (both were daughters of the Prophet). Consequently he was given the epithet of ‘Dhu-n-Nurayn’ (the one with the two lights). Uthman was highly praised for safeguarding the manuscripts of the Quran against disputes by ordering its compilation from the memories of the Companions and sending copies to the four corners of the Islamic Empire.
Uthman sent a delegation to China led by Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas (d. 674 CE/55 AH) who was a much loved maternal uncle of the Prophet and one of the most famous Companions who converted to Islam at the age of just seventeen. He was a veteran of all the battles and one of the ten who it is reported that the Prophet said were assured a place in paradise.
In Medina , Sad, using his ability in architecture added an Iwan (an arched hall used by a Persian Emperor) as a worship area. He later laid the foundation of what was to be the first Mosque in China where early Islamic architecture forged a relationship with Chinese architecture.
According to the ancient historical records of the T’ang Dynasty, an emissary from the kingdom of al-Medina led by Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and his deputation of Companions, who sailed on a special envoy to China in c.650 CE, via the Indian Ocean and the China Sea to the famous port of Guangzhou, thence traveled overland to Chang’an (present day Xi’an) via what was later known as the “Silk Route”.
Sad and his deputation brought presents and were warmly received at the royal court by the T’ang Emperor Kao-tsung, (r. 650-683) in c.651 CE, despite a recent plea of support against the Arabs forwarded to the Emperor in that same year by Shah Peroz (the ruler of Sassanid Persia). The latter was a son of Yazdegerd who, along with the Byzantines, already had based their embassies in China over a decade earlier. Together they were the two great powers of the west. A similar plea made to Emperor Tai Tsung (r.627-649) against the simultaneous spread of Muslim forces was refused.
First news of Islam had already reached the T’ang royal court during the reign of Emperor Tai Tsung when he was informed by an embassy of the Sassanid king of Persia , as well as the Byzantiums of the emergence of the Islamic rule. Both sought protection from the might of China . Nevertheless, the second year of Kao-tsung’s reign marks the first official visit by a Muslim ambassador.
The emperor, after making enquiries about Islam, gave general approval to the new religion which he considered to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. But he felt that the five daily canonical prayers and a month of fasting were requirements too severe for his taste and he did not convert. He allowed Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and his delegation freedom to propagate their faith and expressed his admiration for Islam which consequently gained a firm foothold in the country.
Sad later settled in Guangzhou and built the Huaisheng Mosque which was an important event in the history of Islam in China . It is reputedly the oldest surviving mosque in the whole of China and is over 1300 years old. It survived through several historical events which inevitably took place outside its door step. This mosque still stands in excellent condition in modern Guangzhou after repairs and restorations.
Its contemporary Da Qingzhen Si (Great Mosque) of Chang’an (present day Xi’an ) in Shaanxi Province was founded in c.742 CE. It is the largest (12,000 sq metres) and the best early mosque in China and it has been beautifully preserved as it expanded over the centuries. The present layout was constructed by the Ming Dynasty in c.1392 CE, a century before the fall of Granada , under its (ostensible) founder Hajj Zheng He who has a stone tablet at the mosque in commemoration of his generous support, which was provided by the grateful Emperor.
A fine model of the Great Mosque with all its surrounding walls and the magnificent, elegant appearance of its pavilions and courtyards can be seen at the Hong Kong Museum placed gracefully besides the model of the Huaisheng Mosque. I was fortunate to visit the real mosque last year during Asr prayer, after which I met the Imam who showed me an old handwritten Quran and presented me with a white cap.
Walking to the prayer hall is like sleepwalking through an oriental oasis confined in a city forbidden for the impure. A dragon symbol is engraved at the footstep of the entrance opposite the prayer hall demonstrating the meeting between Islam and the Chinese civilisation. All in all it is a dazzling encounter of the architecture of Oriental China with that of the indigenous fashionable taste of Harun ar-Rashid (147-194 AH/764-809 CE) of Baghdad - a newly founded city that was to become the greatest between Constantinople and China , fifty years after the time of Harun.
The Sheng-You Si (Mosque of the Holy Friend), also known as the Qingjing Si (Mosque of Purity) and Al-Sahabah Mosque (Mosque of Companions), was built with pure granite in 1009 CE during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Its architectural design and style was modeled on the Great Mosque of Damascus (709-15) in Syria thus making the pair the oldest extant Mosques to survive (in original form) into the twenty-first century.
Qingjing Mosque is located at “Madinat al-Zaytun” (Quanzhou) or, in English, “City of Olives” in Fujian Province, where also two Companions of the Prophet who accompanied Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas’s envoy to China are buried. They are known to the locals by their Chinese names of “Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ku-Su”.
Zhen-Jiao Si (Mosque of the True Religion), also known as Feng-Huang Si (the Phoenix Mosque) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is believed to date back from the Tang Dynasty. It has a multi-storied portal, serving as a minaret and a platform for observing the moon. The Mosque has a long history and it has been rebuilt and renovated on a number of occasions over the centuries. It is much smaller than it used to be, especially with the widening of the road in 1929, and it was partly rebuilt in 1953.
The other ancient Mosque is located in the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province , once the busiest city of trade and commerce during the Song Dynasty (960-1280). Xian-He Si (Mosque of Immortal Crane) is the oldest and largest in the city and was built in c.1275CE by Pu-ha-din, a Muslim preacher who was a sixteenth-generatio n descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
According to Chinese Muslim historians, Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas died in Guangzhou where he is believed to be buried. However Arab scholars differ, stating that Sad died and was buried in Medina amongst other Companions. One grave definitely exists, while the other is symbolic, God only knows whether it is in China or Medina . As one can see, the spread of Islam in China was indeed a peaceful one. The first envoy reached the southeast via the Zhu Jiang (The Pearl River) and was later followed by contact via an overland route from the northwest. Muslim communities are present over a wide geographical area in China today, including some in the remote places of Tibet , where I once met Tibetan Muslims in the middle of nowhere, while on a trek.
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 486/viewall/
By Mohammed Khamouch - Published on 22 Jan 2007
The ‘Great Mosque of Guangzhou’ is also known as Huaisheng Mosque which means ‘Remember the Sage’ (A Memorial Mosque to the Prophet) and is also popularly called the ‘Guangta Mosque’ which translates as ‘The Beacon Tower Mosque’. Huaisheng Mosque is located on Guantgta Road ( Light Pagoda Road ) which runs eastwards off Renmin Zhonglu.
Prior to 500 CE and hence before the establishment of Islam, Arab seafarers had established trade relations with the “Middle Kingdom” ( China ). Arab ships bravely set off from Basra at the tip of the Arabian Gulf and also from the town of Qays (Siraf) in the Persian Gulf . They sailed the Indian Ocean passing Sarandip ( Sri Lanka ) and navigated their way through the Straits of Malacca which were between the Sumatran and Malaysian peninsulas en route to the South China Sea . They established trading posts on the southeastern coastal ports of Quanzhou and Guangzhou . Some Arabs had already settled in China and probably embraced Islam when the first Muslim deputation arrived, as their families and friends back in Arabia , had already embraced Islam during the Prophet’s revelation (610-32).
Guangzhou is called Khanfu by the Arabs who later set up a Muslim quarter which became a centre of commerce. Guangzhou ’s superior geographical position made it play an important role as the oldest trading and international port city in China . Witnessing a series of historical events, China has become a significant place in history and one of the fastest growing regions in the world enjoying unprecedented prosperity.
Whilst an Islamic state was founded by Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, China was enduring a period of unification and defense. Early Chinese annals mentioned Muslim Arabs and called their kingdom al-Medina (of Arabia ). Islam in Chinese is called “Yisilan Jiao” (meaning “Pure Religion”). A Chinese official once described Mecca as being the birthplace of Buddha Ma-hia-wu (i.e. Prophet Muhammad).
There are several historical versions relating to the advent of Islam in China . Some records claim Muslims first arrived in China in two groups within as many months from Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ).
Ethiopia was the land where some early Muslims first fled in fear from the persecution of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca . Among that group of refugees were one of Prophet Muhammad’s daughters Ruqayya, her husband Uthman ibn Affan, Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and many other prominent Companions who migrated on the advice of the Prophet. They were successfully granted political asylum by the Abyssinian King Atsmaha Negus in the city of Axum (c.615 CE).
However, some Companions never returned to Arabia . They may have traveled on in the hope of earning their livelihood elsewhere and may have eventually reached China by land or sea during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE). Some records relate that Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and three other Companions sailed to China in c.616 CE from Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ) with the backing of the king of Abyssinia . Sad then returned to Arabia, bringing a copy of the Holy Quran back to Guangzhou some 21 years later, which appropriately coincides with the account of Liu Chih who wrote “The Life of the Prophet” (12 vols).
One of the Companions who lived in China is believed to have died in c.635 CE and was buried in the western urban part of Hami. His tomb is known as “Geys’ Mazars” and is revered by many in the surrounding region. It is in the northwestern autonomous province of Xingjian (Sinkiang) and about 400 miles east of the latter’s capital, Urumqi . Xingjian is four times the size of Japan , shares its international border with eight different nations and is home to the largest indigenous group of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs. Hence, as well as being the largest Islamized area of China , Xingjian is also of strategic importance geographically.
The Quran states in unequivocal words that Muhammad was sent only as a Mercy from God to all peoples (21:107), and in another verse:
“We have not sent thee but as a Mercy to all Mankind…” (34:28)
This universality of Islam facilitated its acceptance by people from all races and nations and is amply demonstrated in China where the indigenous population, of ethnic varieties of Chinese Muslims today is greater than the population of many Arab countries including that of Saudi Arabia .
The history of Huaisheng Mosque represents centuries of Islamic culture dating right back to the mid-seventh century during the T’ang Dynasty (618-907) - “the golden age of Chinese history”. It was in this period, eighteen years after the death of the Prophet, that Islam - the last of the three monotheistic religions - was first introduced to China by the third Caliph, Uthman Ibn ‘Affan (644-656 CE/23-35 AH ).
Uthman was one of the first to embrace Islam and memorize the Holy Quran. He possessed a mild and gentle nature and he married Ruqayyah and following her death, Umm Kulthum (both were daughters of the Prophet). Consequently he was given the epithet of ‘Dhu-n-Nurayn’ (the one with the two lights). Uthman was highly praised for safeguarding the manuscripts of the Quran against disputes by ordering its compilation from the memories of the Companions and sending copies to the four corners of the Islamic Empire.
Uthman sent a delegation to China led by Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas (d. 674 CE/55 AH) who was a much loved maternal uncle of the Prophet and one of the most famous Companions who converted to Islam at the age of just seventeen. He was a veteran of all the battles and one of the ten who it is reported that the Prophet said were assured a place in paradise.
In Medina , Sad, using his ability in architecture added an Iwan (an arched hall used by a Persian Emperor) as a worship area. He later laid the foundation of what was to be the first Mosque in China where early Islamic architecture forged a relationship with Chinese architecture.
According to the ancient historical records of the T’ang Dynasty, an emissary from the kingdom of al-Medina led by Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and his deputation of Companions, who sailed on a special envoy to China in c.650 CE, via the Indian Ocean and the China Sea to the famous port of Guangzhou, thence traveled overland to Chang’an (present day Xi’an) via what was later known as the “Silk Route”.
Sad and his deputation brought presents and were warmly received at the royal court by the T’ang Emperor Kao-tsung, (r. 650-683) in c.651 CE, despite a recent plea of support against the Arabs forwarded to the Emperor in that same year by Shah Peroz (the ruler of Sassanid Persia). The latter was a son of Yazdegerd who, along with the Byzantines, already had based their embassies in China over a decade earlier. Together they were the two great powers of the west. A similar plea made to Emperor Tai Tsung (r.627-649) against the simultaneous spread of Muslim forces was refused.
First news of Islam had already reached the T’ang royal court during the reign of Emperor Tai Tsung when he was informed by an embassy of the Sassanid king of Persia , as well as the Byzantiums of the emergence of the Islamic rule. Both sought protection from the might of China . Nevertheless, the second year of Kao-tsung’s reign marks the first official visit by a Muslim ambassador.
The emperor, after making enquiries about Islam, gave general approval to the new religion which he considered to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. But he felt that the five daily canonical prayers and a month of fasting were requirements too severe for his taste and he did not convert. He allowed Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and his delegation freedom to propagate their faith and expressed his admiration for Islam which consequently gained a firm foothold in the country.
Sad later settled in Guangzhou and built the Huaisheng Mosque which was an important event in the history of Islam in China . It is reputedly the oldest surviving mosque in the whole of China and is over 1300 years old. It survived through several historical events which inevitably took place outside its door step. This mosque still stands in excellent condition in modern Guangzhou after repairs and restorations.
Its contemporary Da Qingzhen Si (Great Mosque) of Chang’an (present day Xi’an ) in Shaanxi Province was founded in c.742 CE. It is the largest (12,000 sq metres) and the best early mosque in China and it has been beautifully preserved as it expanded over the centuries. The present layout was constructed by the Ming Dynasty in c.1392 CE, a century before the fall of Granada , under its (ostensible) founder Hajj Zheng He who has a stone tablet at the mosque in commemoration of his generous support, which was provided by the grateful Emperor.
A fine model of the Great Mosque with all its surrounding walls and the magnificent, elegant appearance of its pavilions and courtyards can be seen at the Hong Kong Museum placed gracefully besides the model of the Huaisheng Mosque. I was fortunate to visit the real mosque last year during Asr prayer, after which I met the Imam who showed me an old handwritten Quran and presented me with a white cap.
Walking to the prayer hall is like sleepwalking through an oriental oasis confined in a city forbidden for the impure. A dragon symbol is engraved at the footstep of the entrance opposite the prayer hall demonstrating the meeting between Islam and the Chinese civilisation. All in all it is a dazzling encounter of the architecture of Oriental China with that of the indigenous fashionable taste of Harun ar-Rashid (147-194 AH/764-809 CE) of Baghdad - a newly founded city that was to become the greatest between Constantinople and China , fifty years after the time of Harun.
The Sheng-You Si (Mosque of the Holy Friend), also known as the Qingjing Si (Mosque of Purity) and Al-Sahabah Mosque (Mosque of Companions), was built with pure granite in 1009 CE during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Its architectural design and style was modeled on the Great Mosque of Damascus (709-15) in Syria thus making the pair the oldest extant Mosques to survive (in original form) into the twenty-first century.
Qingjing Mosque is located at “Madinat al-Zaytun” (Quanzhou) or, in English, “City of Olives” in Fujian Province, where also two Companions of the Prophet who accompanied Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas’s envoy to China are buried. They are known to the locals by their Chinese names of “Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ku-Su”.
Zhen-Jiao Si (Mosque of the True Religion), also known as Feng-Huang Si (the Phoenix Mosque) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is believed to date back from the Tang Dynasty. It has a multi-storied portal, serving as a minaret and a platform for observing the moon. The Mosque has a long history and it has been rebuilt and renovated on a number of occasions over the centuries. It is much smaller than it used to be, especially with the widening of the road in 1929, and it was partly rebuilt in 1953.
The other ancient Mosque is located in the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province , once the busiest city of trade and commerce during the Song Dynasty (960-1280). Xian-He Si (Mosque of Immortal Crane) is the oldest and largest in the city and was built in c.1275CE by Pu-ha-din, a Muslim preacher who was a sixteenth-generatio n descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
According to Chinese Muslim historians, Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas died in Guangzhou where he is believed to be buried. However Arab scholars differ, stating that Sad died and was buried in Medina amongst other Companions. One grave definitely exists, while the other is symbolic, God only knows whether it is in China or Medina . As one can see, the spread of Islam in China was indeed a peaceful one. The first envoy reached the southeast via the Zhu Jiang (The Pearl River) and was later followed by contact via an overland route from the northwest. Muslim communities are present over a wide geographical area in China today, including some in the remote places of Tibet , where I once met Tibetan Muslims in the middle of nowhere, while on a trek.
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 486/viewall/
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Humbleness
Humbleness
The Muslim Creed
Humbleness is the opposite of arrogance, and is an attitude and behavior that Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) have commanded us to have. It is also a great tool used to spread Islam to others.
The best way to achieve humbleness in the heart is contained in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), who prescribed many methods to teach his companions how to be humble. We ask Allah to help us all become humble and stay firm on that path. Following are some of the methods and ways of achieving humbleness:
1. Extending As-Salam (saying As-Salamu Alaykum, peace be unto you).
2. Muslims should hate that people stand up for them when they pass by them or enter their homes or businesses.
3. Sitting wherever one finds space.
4. Prohibiting the Muslim from claiming purity for himself. Allah said, what translated means,
5. Prohibiting praising people in their presence.
Abu Musa said, “The Prophet (pbuh) heard a man praising another man and saying good words about him while he was present with them. He said, ‘You have destroyed or broke the back of the man!’”
[Al- Bukhari & Muslim]
Also,
Abdur- Ra’hman bin Abi Bakrah said that a man was once mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Another man said good words of praise about him. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) then said, what translated means, “Woe unto you! You have beheaded your friend. If one of you has to praise, let him say, ‘I think this and that’ (about the praised man), if he thinks that he deserves it, ‘And his reckoning is with Allah,’ and let him not ascribe purity (to anyone).”
[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]
Also,
Ibrahim At-Taymi said that his father said, “We were sitting in the presence of Umar when a man praised another man to his face. Umar said, ‘You ‘Aqartahu (crippled him), may Allah do the same to you.’” Furthermore, Abu Ma’mar said that a man stood up and praised one of the leaders, then Al-Miqdad started throwing sand in his face, and saying, “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) ordered us to throw sand in the faces of the praisers.”
[Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Abu Dawood & ibn Majah]
From these Hadiths and stories, we conclude that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) prohibited praising others, especially while they can hear their praise. This is because such praise may encourage the praised persons to overestimate themselves, especially if they were people of position or wealth. Also, such praise may lead the praised person to be arrogant, which may lead to laziness and a lower number of good deeds, for one will depend on what he heard of praise and ignore acquiring more good deeds.
6. Shortening the length of the clothes.
http://www.quraan. com/index. aspx?&tabid=31&artid=43
The Muslim Creed
Humbleness is the opposite of arrogance, and is an attitude and behavior that Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) have commanded us to have. It is also a great tool used to spread Islam to others.
The best way to achieve humbleness in the heart is contained in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), who prescribed many methods to teach his companions how to be humble. We ask Allah to help us all become humble and stay firm on that path. Following are some of the methods and ways of achieving humbleness:
1. Extending As-Salam (saying As-Salamu Alaykum, peace be unto you).
2. Muslims should hate that people stand up for them when they pass by them or enter their homes or businesses.
3. Sitting wherever one finds space.
4. Prohibiting the Muslim from claiming purity for himself. Allah said, what translated means,
5. Prohibiting praising people in their presence.
Abu Musa said, “The Prophet (pbuh) heard a man praising another man and saying good words about him while he was present with them. He said, ‘You have destroyed or broke the back of the man!’”
[Al- Bukhari & Muslim]
Also,
Abdur- Ra’hman bin Abi Bakrah said that a man was once mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Another man said good words of praise about him. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) then said, what translated means, “Woe unto you! You have beheaded your friend. If one of you has to praise, let him say, ‘I think this and that’ (about the praised man), if he thinks that he deserves it, ‘And his reckoning is with Allah,’ and let him not ascribe purity (to anyone).”
[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]
Also,
Ibrahim At-Taymi said that his father said, “We were sitting in the presence of Umar when a man praised another man to his face. Umar said, ‘You ‘Aqartahu (crippled him), may Allah do the same to you.’” Furthermore, Abu Ma’mar said that a man stood up and praised one of the leaders, then Al-Miqdad started throwing sand in his face, and saying, “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) ordered us to throw sand in the faces of the praisers.”
[Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Abu Dawood & ibn Majah]
From these Hadiths and stories, we conclude that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) prohibited praising others, especially while they can hear their praise. This is because such praise may encourage the praised persons to overestimate themselves, especially if they were people of position or wealth. Also, such praise may lead the praised person to be arrogant, which may lead to laziness and a lower number of good deeds, for one will depend on what he heard of praise and ignore acquiring more good deeds.
6. Shortening the length of the clothes.
http://www.quraan. com/index. aspx?&tabid=31&artid=43
Non-Muslims flock to sumptuous Abu Dhabi mosque
Non-Muslims flock to sumptuous Abu Dhabi mosque
by Habib Trabelsi
Outside pics: http://www.mirai. ne.jp/~uae/ images/gndmsq200 50102_2.jpg
Dozens of Westerners, including black-clad women, have been flocking to Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi , an architectural masterpiece graced with a Persian carpet said to be the biggest in the world.
"It is the third biggest mosque in the world after the Haramain," boasted the project's deputy head, Khawla al-Suleimani, after Islam's two holiest sites in Saudi Arabia -- Mecca 's Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina .
But unlike these two mosques, the one named after the United Arab Emirates ' late founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, is not off-limits to non-Muslims.
In fact, the opposite is true, with some provisos.
Women must cover themselves from head to toe in abayas, or long black robes, handed them at the entrance.
"And non-Muslims must not touch the Koran," the Muslim holy book, copies of which are stacked in every prayer room, cautions one of the guides.
Armed with cameras to capture the splendour of the place, visitors have been coming from within the UAE "but also from abroad," said Suleimani.
"Hundreds have been coming every week since the opening (of the mosque) on the first day of Eid al-Adha," the Muslim feast of sacrifice which fell in December, she added.
The project was launched in 1998 by Sheikh Zayed, who besides being the UAE's first president was also ruler of the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi , one of seven making up the Gulf federation. Work will be fully completed in November 2009.
Sheikh Zayed, who died in November 2004, is buried in a courtyard adjacent to the mosque.
"The mosque is dedicated to the father of the nation, whose vision was founded on dialogue between religions, civilisations and cultures," say brochures handed out to visitors by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
The authority began to organise guided tours of the place last month.
"Apart from the thousands of (Muslim) faithful who come to pray, the mosque is visited by non-Muslims: Germans, French, Britons, Italians, Russians, Americans, Argentinians and Indians," it said in a guide.
-- Abu Dhabi seeking to become a cultural hub --
Unlike the leisure-oriented UAE emirate of Dubai , Abu Dhabi is seeking to become a cultural hub and sees the mosque as one more attraction for tourists looking for more than sandy beaches and huge shopping malls.
"As Sheikh Zayed wished, the mosque was built on a 9.5-metre (31-feet) high hill so it is visible from far, it covers an area of 22,000 square metres (237,000 square feet), and it can accommodate more than 40,000 faithful," said engineer Mohammad Ali al-Ameri.
Ameri said construction was nearly over, with only fences, gardens and car parks still to be completed.
"Built 100 percent with Italian marble, the mosque has four 107-metre (351-feet) tall minarets, 82 domes of seven different sizes, 96 columns inside and 1,048 outside," Ameri told AFP.
"Thousands of workers," nearly all from the Asian subcontinent, were involved in building the mosque, he said. The sculptors were Moroccan.
Thousands of rare and semi-precious stones, some encrusted in marble, were used to decorate the structure.
The centrepiece is a 6,000 square metre (64,583 square feet) hand-made Persian carpet, said to be the biggest in the world.
"More than 1,200 women from the Khorasan region in eastern Iran spent two years weaving the carpet, which weighs 45 tonnes and cost more than 8.5 million dollars," Ameri said.
The carpet covers the floor of the main prayer hall, which can accommodate up to 9,000 faithful.
Two rooms next to the main prayer hall, with a 1,500-capacity each, have been reserved for women, who can follow sermons delivered by prayer leaders on giant television screens. Islam requires men and women to pray separately.
The main dome is also "the biggest" mosque dome in the world, according to Ameri, who said it is 75 metres (246 feet) high with a 32.2-metre (105.6 feet) diametre.
Another breathtaking piece is a huge crystal chandelier in the main prayer hall, one of seven German-made chandeliers costing more than eight million dollars. It is 10-metre (32.8 feet) tall, 10-metre wide and weighs nine tonnes.
Ameri would not give the total cost of the mosque, but Suleimani estimated it at more than two billion dirhams (545 million dollars).
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20080303/ lf_afp/uaereligionislamtourism&printer=1
by Habib Trabelsi
Outside pics: http://www.mirai. ne.jp/~uae/ images/gndmsq200 50102_2.jpg
Dozens of Westerners, including black-clad women, have been flocking to Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi , an architectural masterpiece graced with a Persian carpet said to be the biggest in the world.
"It is the third biggest mosque in the world after the Haramain," boasted the project's deputy head, Khawla al-Suleimani, after Islam's two holiest sites in Saudi Arabia -- Mecca 's Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina .
But unlike these two mosques, the one named after the United Arab Emirates ' late founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, is not off-limits to non-Muslims.
In fact, the opposite is true, with some provisos.
Women must cover themselves from head to toe in abayas, or long black robes, handed them at the entrance.
"And non-Muslims must not touch the Koran," the Muslim holy book, copies of which are stacked in every prayer room, cautions one of the guides.
Armed with cameras to capture the splendour of the place, visitors have been coming from within the UAE "but also from abroad," said Suleimani.
"Hundreds have been coming every week since the opening (of the mosque) on the first day of Eid al-Adha," the Muslim feast of sacrifice which fell in December, she added.
The project was launched in 1998 by Sheikh Zayed, who besides being the UAE's first president was also ruler of the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi , one of seven making up the Gulf federation. Work will be fully completed in November 2009.
Sheikh Zayed, who died in November 2004, is buried in a courtyard adjacent to the mosque.
"The mosque is dedicated to the father of the nation, whose vision was founded on dialogue between religions, civilisations and cultures," say brochures handed out to visitors by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
The authority began to organise guided tours of the place last month.
"Apart from the thousands of (Muslim) faithful who come to pray, the mosque is visited by non-Muslims: Germans, French, Britons, Italians, Russians, Americans, Argentinians and Indians," it said in a guide.
-- Abu Dhabi seeking to become a cultural hub --
Unlike the leisure-oriented UAE emirate of Dubai , Abu Dhabi is seeking to become a cultural hub and sees the mosque as one more attraction for tourists looking for more than sandy beaches and huge shopping malls.
"As Sheikh Zayed wished, the mosque was built on a 9.5-metre (31-feet) high hill so it is visible from far, it covers an area of 22,000 square metres (237,000 square feet), and it can accommodate more than 40,000 faithful," said engineer Mohammad Ali al-Ameri.
Ameri said construction was nearly over, with only fences, gardens and car parks still to be completed.
"Built 100 percent with Italian marble, the mosque has four 107-metre (351-feet) tall minarets, 82 domes of seven different sizes, 96 columns inside and 1,048 outside," Ameri told AFP.
"Thousands of workers," nearly all from the Asian subcontinent, were involved in building the mosque, he said. The sculptors were Moroccan.
Thousands of rare and semi-precious stones, some encrusted in marble, were used to decorate the structure.
The centrepiece is a 6,000 square metre (64,583 square feet) hand-made Persian carpet, said to be the biggest in the world.
"More than 1,200 women from the Khorasan region in eastern Iran spent two years weaving the carpet, which weighs 45 tonnes and cost more than 8.5 million dollars," Ameri said.
The carpet covers the floor of the main prayer hall, which can accommodate up to 9,000 faithful.
Two rooms next to the main prayer hall, with a 1,500-capacity each, have been reserved for women, who can follow sermons delivered by prayer leaders on giant television screens. Islam requires men and women to pray separately.
The main dome is also "the biggest" mosque dome in the world, according to Ameri, who said it is 75 metres (246 feet) high with a 32.2-metre (105.6 feet) diametre.
Another breathtaking piece is a huge crystal chandelier in the main prayer hall, one of seven German-made chandeliers costing more than eight million dollars. It is 10-metre (32.8 feet) tall, 10-metre wide and weighs nine tonnes.
Ameri would not give the total cost of the mosque, but Suleimani estimated it at more than two billion dirhams (545 million dollars).
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20080303/ lf_afp/uaereligionislamtourism&printer=1
Countering Islamophobia- Urgency of Da'wah in the West
Muslims in the West need to unite in order to counter Islamophobia.
"A girl like you should take off this burqa and start getting an education," a middle-aged white woman told a 17-year-old Muslim girl at the dressing room of a respected health club. The Muslim girl was shocked by these hostile comments, but chose not to reply. Later, she reported the harassment incident to the club's manager. The manager apologized and assured her that this behavior is against their policy, and if it was repeated, he would take an action against the aggressor. Ironically, this Muslim girl is a national merit scholar who started her college education at one of the well-known universities at age sixteen.
In the middle of a friendly conversation, a receptionist at a medical clinic told a young Muslim mother who came to see a doctor for her baby, "You don't know how to drive."
In both cases, stereotypes and presumptions were absolutely wrong.
Cashiers at department or grocery stores often assume that Muslim women who wear scarfs (in accordance with the Islamic dress code) do not speak English.
One Muslim girl put it: "Do I need to wear a shirt with labels saying, I speak English, I know how to drive, I have an education," so that the general public don't think otherwise just because I am devoted to my religion and covering my hair?
Anti-Muslim Hate: Why Da..wah Is Our Top Priority
Cashiers at department stores often assume that Muslim women who wear scarfs do not speak English.
Since September 11, the damage of planned media campaigns against Islam and Muslims has been increasing exponentially with time. "Hateful, negative rhetoric regarding Muslims is on the increase both in tone and frequency. It has almost become socially acceptable to engage in bigoted and racist speech about Muslims. More frightening is the reality that the hateful thoughts and speech can turn into hateful, even violent action, which can ruin an innocent person's life", Karen J. Dabdoub—the director of the Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ohio, USA—wrote in The Enquirer.
Islamophobes are aggressively organizing propaganda that portrays Islam as a foreign religion that came with the backward, violent Arabs, who oppress women and deny them their rights of education, driving, working, or even leaving their homes. This completely distorted image is ingrained in the minds of the majority of the American public as a result of organized efforts by bigoted figures. Daniel Pipes, a critic of "Islamism," has proposed the creation of a new "Anti-Islamist Institute" (AII), designed to expose legal political activities of "Islamists," according to Jim Lobe of the Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS).
The draft of a grant proposal by Pipes' Middle East Forum (MEF), obtained by IPS, reads, "In the long term... the legal activities of Islamists pose as much or even a greater set of challenges than the illegal ones."
"Pipes is also working with Stephen Schwartz on a new 'Center for Islamic Pluralism' (CIP) whose aims are to 'promote moderate Islam in the U.S. and globally'" and to oppose the influence of extremists," Lobe writes.
"It has almost become socially acceptable to engage in bigoted and racist speech about Muslims."
"The 'extremists, ' according to the CIP proposal, are mainly represented by ... an array of organisations consisting of CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Muslim Students' Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), as well as 'secular' groups, including the Arab-American Institute (AAI) and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)," he adds.
Muslim civil rights organizations, such as CAIR, are working day and night to counteract the effects of such campaigns. But they are limited in number and resources compared to Islamophobes. The American people are victims of the biased and racist media propaganda. Ordinary American citizens do not have the time or motivation to filter the information fed to them through media outlets. Leaving this destructive tide unchallenged could lead to serious consequences: For instance, some Muslims—especially the young—will be forced or tempted to deviate from the authentic teachings of Islam in order to be called liberal or progressive. On the other hand, those who have strong beliefs will be persecuted for false allegations; they will be labeled extremists, isolated, and discriminated against.
We Must Unite for the Sake of Da..wah
To preserve genuine Islam in the West, every sincere Muslim has an obligation to educate as many people as he/she can about Islamic beliefs and values.
Islam is a complete way of life. We must adjust our lifestyle to our religion—not the other way round. That is, we cannot twist the laws of Allah and His message to fit our convenience or to please a person or group. To accomplish this noble mission, Muslims need to coordinate and unite their efforts to withstand the plots that aim at distorting Islamic teachings under slogans like "Reforming Islam" or "Promoting Liberal Islam." We need to focus our energy in passing the genuine message of Allah to humanity.
Muslims in the West need to put aside cultural differences.
In order to do this, we must begin to unite. The Muslim community in the West is so diverse that Muslims end up getting segregated in clusters. Not only is this disunity totally against the spirit of Islam, it also makes Muslims much less effective in pursuing their goals or acting as a powerful minority that can positively influence the societies they live in.
Muslims in the West need to put aside cultural differences developed from their ethnicity or original country and consider their Islamic identity as the only source for a unified Islamic culture. Muslims from every background should review all their customs and traditions, give up what is national but not Islamic, and preserve only what is compatible with the Qur'an and Sunnah. Every Muslim must make learning the Arabic language a high priority. In their golden days, Muslims used the language of the Qur'an to communicate.
Developing a unified set of customs and social behaviors that is based on Islamic teachings and communicating in one language will act as strategies to develop a united Muslim community.
:::
Dr. Salwa Rashad is an Egyptian writer based in Madison , USA . She holds a PhD in engineering and a master's degree in computer science. A freelance writer for Aljumah magazine, Rashad also presents Islamic views at schools, colleges, and churches. She is a peace activist with Beyond Terrorism group and Madison Area Peace Coalition (MAPC). You can reach her at salwa_rashad@ hotmail.com
"A girl like you should take off this burqa and start getting an education," a middle-aged white woman told a 17-year-old Muslim girl at the dressing room of a respected health club. The Muslim girl was shocked by these hostile comments, but chose not to reply. Later, she reported the harassment incident to the club's manager. The manager apologized and assured her that this behavior is against their policy, and if it was repeated, he would take an action against the aggressor. Ironically, this Muslim girl is a national merit scholar who started her college education at one of the well-known universities at age sixteen.
In the middle of a friendly conversation, a receptionist at a medical clinic told a young Muslim mother who came to see a doctor for her baby, "You don't know how to drive."
In both cases, stereotypes and presumptions were absolutely wrong.
Cashiers at department or grocery stores often assume that Muslim women who wear scarfs (in accordance with the Islamic dress code) do not speak English.
One Muslim girl put it: "Do I need to wear a shirt with labels saying, I speak English, I know how to drive, I have an education," so that the general public don't think otherwise just because I am devoted to my religion and covering my hair?
Anti-Muslim Hate: Why Da..wah Is Our Top Priority
Cashiers at department stores often assume that Muslim women who wear scarfs do not speak English.
Since September 11, the damage of planned media campaigns against Islam and Muslims has been increasing exponentially with time. "Hateful, negative rhetoric regarding Muslims is on the increase both in tone and frequency. It has almost become socially acceptable to engage in bigoted and racist speech about Muslims. More frightening is the reality that the hateful thoughts and speech can turn into hateful, even violent action, which can ruin an innocent person's life", Karen J. Dabdoub—the director of the Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ohio, USA—wrote in The Enquirer.
Islamophobes are aggressively organizing propaganda that portrays Islam as a foreign religion that came with the backward, violent Arabs, who oppress women and deny them their rights of education, driving, working, or even leaving their homes. This completely distorted image is ingrained in the minds of the majority of the American public as a result of organized efforts by bigoted figures. Daniel Pipes, a critic of "Islamism," has proposed the creation of a new "Anti-Islamist Institute" (AII), designed to expose legal political activities of "Islamists," according to Jim Lobe of the Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS).
The draft of a grant proposal by Pipes' Middle East Forum (MEF), obtained by IPS, reads, "In the long term... the legal activities of Islamists pose as much or even a greater set of challenges than the illegal ones."
"Pipes is also working with Stephen Schwartz on a new 'Center for Islamic Pluralism' (CIP) whose aims are to 'promote moderate Islam in the U.S. and globally'" and to oppose the influence of extremists," Lobe writes.
"It has almost become socially acceptable to engage in bigoted and racist speech about Muslims."
"The 'extremists, ' according to the CIP proposal, are mainly represented by ... an array of organisations consisting of CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Muslim Students' Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), as well as 'secular' groups, including the Arab-American Institute (AAI) and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)," he adds.
Muslim civil rights organizations, such as CAIR, are working day and night to counteract the effects of such campaigns. But they are limited in number and resources compared to Islamophobes. The American people are victims of the biased and racist media propaganda. Ordinary American citizens do not have the time or motivation to filter the information fed to them through media outlets. Leaving this destructive tide unchallenged could lead to serious consequences: For instance, some Muslims—especially the young—will be forced or tempted to deviate from the authentic teachings of Islam in order to be called liberal or progressive. On the other hand, those who have strong beliefs will be persecuted for false allegations; they will be labeled extremists, isolated, and discriminated against.
We Must Unite for the Sake of Da..wah
To preserve genuine Islam in the West, every sincere Muslim has an obligation to educate as many people as he/she can about Islamic beliefs and values.
Islam is a complete way of life. We must adjust our lifestyle to our religion—not the other way round. That is, we cannot twist the laws of Allah and His message to fit our convenience or to please a person or group. To accomplish this noble mission, Muslims need to coordinate and unite their efforts to withstand the plots that aim at distorting Islamic teachings under slogans like "Reforming Islam" or "Promoting Liberal Islam." We need to focus our energy in passing the genuine message of Allah to humanity.
Muslims in the West need to put aside cultural differences.
In order to do this, we must begin to unite. The Muslim community in the West is so diverse that Muslims end up getting segregated in clusters. Not only is this disunity totally against the spirit of Islam, it also makes Muslims much less effective in pursuing their goals or acting as a powerful minority that can positively influence the societies they live in.
Muslims in the West need to put aside cultural differences developed from their ethnicity or original country and consider their Islamic identity as the only source for a unified Islamic culture. Muslims from every background should review all their customs and traditions, give up what is national but not Islamic, and preserve only what is compatible with the Qur'an and Sunnah. Every Muslim must make learning the Arabic language a high priority. In their golden days, Muslims used the language of the Qur'an to communicate.
Developing a unified set of customs and social behaviors that is based on Islamic teachings and communicating in one language will act as strategies to develop a united Muslim community.
:::
Dr. Salwa Rashad is an Egyptian writer based in Madison , USA . She holds a PhD in engineering and a master's degree in computer science. A freelance writer for Aljumah magazine, Rashad also presents Islamic views at schools, colleges, and churches. She is a peace activist with Beyond Terrorism group and Madison Area Peace Coalition (MAPC). You can reach her at salwa_rashad@ hotmail.com
APRIL FOOL !!! A Dishonest Tradition
APRIL FOOL !!! A Dishonest Tradition
1st April - a day when people lie, play jokes and mock in the name of entertainment. This ugly practice of lying, which is considered to be merely a humor, is known to have caused great harm to many. Even trauma and deaths. Still this dishonest tradition is not only practiced among the common masses, but also newspapers and magazines participate in it by publishing false news and untrue stories on the first day of April!
Much is said about the origin of this practice, however what concerns the most to the Muslims is that it is a tradition which directly contradicts the teachings and morals of Islam.
Lying is a characteristic of hypocrisy and Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) strictly forbade lying at all times. He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good or be silent." [Saheeh al-Bukharee] Moreover, he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) has specifically cursed the person who lies to make people laugh, he said: "Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him." [Abu Dawood]
The above Ahaadeeth show the gravity of participating in the false tradition of April Fool, which the Western tradition appreciates and encourages claiming that it brings joy and amusement, whereas the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) forbade lying and deceiving even if the intention of the person is to amuse people.
Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abi Laylaa said: "The companions of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) told us that they were traveling with the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam). A man among them fell asleep and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he got alarmed (because his arrows were missing) and the people laughed. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "What are you laughing at?" They said, "Nothing, except that we took the arrows and he got alarmed." The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim." [Abu Dawood (5004) and Musnad Ahmad.]
He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) described the severe punishments for the liars and said: "I saw (in a dream), two men came to me. They said, 'The person, the one whose cheek you saw being torn away (from the mouth to the ear) was a liar and used to tell lies and the people would report those lies on his authority till they spread all over the world. So he will be punished like that till the Day of Resurrection.'" [Saheeh al-Bukharee (vol. 8, no: 118)]
May Allah protect us from indulging ourselves in such dishonest activities and may He give us the strength to withstand such practices when they tend to infect our Muslim Society. Ameen!
by Shawana A Aziz:
[Dawaah]
1st April - a day when people lie, play jokes and mock in the name of entertainment. This ugly practice of lying, which is considered to be merely a humor, is known to have caused great harm to many. Even trauma and deaths. Still this dishonest tradition is not only practiced among the common masses, but also newspapers and magazines participate in it by publishing false news and untrue stories on the first day of April!
Much is said about the origin of this practice, however what concerns the most to the Muslims is that it is a tradition which directly contradicts the teachings and morals of Islam.
Lying is a characteristic of hypocrisy and Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) strictly forbade lying at all times. He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good or be silent." [Saheeh al-Bukharee] Moreover, he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) has specifically cursed the person who lies to make people laugh, he said: "Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him." [Abu Dawood]
The above Ahaadeeth show the gravity of participating in the false tradition of April Fool, which the Western tradition appreciates and encourages claiming that it brings joy and amusement, whereas the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) forbade lying and deceiving even if the intention of the person is to amuse people.
Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abi Laylaa said: "The companions of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) told us that they were traveling with the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam). A man among them fell asleep and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he got alarmed (because his arrows were missing) and the people laughed. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "What are you laughing at?" They said, "Nothing, except that we took the arrows and he got alarmed." The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim." [Abu Dawood (5004) and Musnad Ahmad.]
He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) described the severe punishments for the liars and said: "I saw (in a dream), two men came to me. They said, 'The person, the one whose cheek you saw being torn away (from the mouth to the ear) was a liar and used to tell lies and the people would report those lies on his authority till they spread all over the world. So he will be punished like that till the Day of Resurrection.'" [Saheeh al-Bukharee (vol. 8, no: 118)]
May Allah protect us from indulging ourselves in such dishonest activities and may He give us the strength to withstand such practices when they tend to infect our Muslim Society. Ameen!
by Shawana A Aziz:
[Dawaah]
Dutch Jews louder than Muslims in condemning 'Fitna' film
Dutch Jews louder than Muslims in condemning 'Fitna' film
By Cnaan Liphshiz
THE HAGUE - Ironically, Dutch Jews are more outspoken than local Muslims in their criticism of the newly released anti-Islam film by rightist legislator Geert Wilders, says Dr. Ronny Naftaniel, head of the pro-Zionist Center for Information and Documentation (CIDI).
Last Friday, hours after the film's online release, CJO, the Jewish community central board of which CIDI is a member, condemned the footage as generalizing and counterproductive to the fight against extremism. The board described parts of the film as unacceptable, adding it had crossed the line of legitimate criticism.
By contrast, Yusuf Altuntas of CMO, a body that facilitates contact between Muslims and the government, said that by releasing the film - which is entitled "Fitna" (Arabic for "strife") - "Wilders is testing the limits of acceptability, but hasn't gone beyond them."
The Muslim community's response - which the Dutch media described as "calm" - was to say the film is not religiously insulting to Islam, and that they had anticipated more offensive content. The government's fears of rioting never materialized.
"They [the Muslim community] are afraid. They have been told by the Dutch government to keep quiet and be wise about this issue, and that's what they want to do," Naftaniel told Haaretz on Monday in CIDI's four-story headquarters near the Amer ican embassy.
"I was surprised by the silence of the local Muslim leaders," Naftaniel added. "If I were a Muslim, I would speak out and I would blame Wilders for this film. I wouldn't stop shouting about it. I don't understand their silence, I really don't. I think they are scared."
A spokesman for CMO told Haaretz that although the Muslim community had not taken to protesting the film in the streets, the umbrella group for Dutch Muslims does condemn it.
The 15-minute film, which drew millions of viewers since its release Thursday, contains footage of Muslim clerics and protesters calling for the slaying of Jews, verses from the Koran, videos from scenes of suicide bombings and executions, illustrations of the demographic increase in the number of European Muslims and archive material from the Dutch media about Islamic terrorism-related incidents.
Naftaniel says that even though he feels the Dutch Jewish community is more at liberty to criticize "Fitna" than the Muslim community, "the only thing which may prevent many Jews from criticizing this film is that they consider Wilders very pro-Israeli and that they don't want to annoy him."
After the Jewish community condemned the film, CIDI received several angry calls from members who objected to the criticism. "Some even wanted to leave our organization, but I really think that what he did was wrong," he said.
Naftaniel stressed that it's not the criticism of Islam that prompted him to condemn the film, but the linking of that criticism of Koran-inspired violence with the demographics. Naftaniel said that is tantamount to suggesting all Muslims are terrorists.
CIDI's founder says he was particularly offended by angry reactions to the Jewish condemnation of "Fitna." These reactions, which came mainly as reader responses to online articles about the condemnation, accused the Jewish community of trying to appease the Holland 's Muslims.
"We are never afraid to speak out in the harshest of terms against what we think is wrong, be it against Muslim extremism here in the Netherlands, or the Dutch or Israeli governments," he said. "But this movie portrays all Muslims as The Enemy. And this is just not true."
By Cnaan Liphshiz
THE HAGUE - Ironically, Dutch Jews are more outspoken than local Muslims in their criticism of the newly released anti-Islam film by rightist legislator Geert Wilders, says Dr. Ronny Naftaniel, head of the pro-Zionist Center for Information and Documentation (CIDI).
Last Friday, hours after the film's online release, CJO, the Jewish community central board of which CIDI is a member, condemned the footage as generalizing and counterproductive to the fight against extremism. The board described parts of the film as unacceptable, adding it had crossed the line of legitimate criticism.
By contrast, Yusuf Altuntas of CMO, a body that facilitates contact between Muslims and the government, said that by releasing the film - which is entitled "Fitna" (Arabic for "strife") - "Wilders is testing the limits of acceptability, but hasn't gone beyond them."
The Muslim community's response - which the Dutch media described as "calm" - was to say the film is not religiously insulting to Islam, and that they had anticipated more offensive content. The government's fears of rioting never materialized.
"They [the Muslim community] are afraid. They have been told by the Dutch government to keep quiet and be wise about this issue, and that's what they want to do," Naftaniel told Haaretz on Monday in CIDI's four-story headquarters near the Amer ican embassy.
"I was surprised by the silence of the local Muslim leaders," Naftaniel added. "If I were a Muslim, I would speak out and I would blame Wilders for this film. I wouldn't stop shouting about it. I don't understand their silence, I really don't. I think they are scared."
A spokesman for CMO told Haaretz that although the Muslim community had not taken to protesting the film in the streets, the umbrella group for Dutch Muslims does condemn it.
The 15-minute film, which drew millions of viewers since its release Thursday, contains footage of Muslim clerics and protesters calling for the slaying of Jews, verses from the Koran, videos from scenes of suicide bombings and executions, illustrations of the demographic increase in the number of European Muslims and archive material from the Dutch media about Islamic terrorism-related incidents.
Naftaniel says that even though he feels the Dutch Jewish community is more at liberty to criticize "Fitna" than the Muslim community, "the only thing which may prevent many Jews from criticizing this film is that they consider Wilders very pro-Israeli and that they don't want to annoy him."
After the Jewish community condemned the film, CIDI received several angry calls from members who objected to the criticism. "Some even wanted to leave our organization, but I really think that what he did was wrong," he said.
Naftaniel stressed that it's not the criticism of Islam that prompted him to condemn the film, but the linking of that criticism of Koran-inspired violence with the demographics. Naftaniel said that is tantamount to suggesting all Muslims are terrorists.
CIDI's founder says he was particularly offended by angry reactions to the Jewish condemnation of "Fitna." These reactions, which came mainly as reader responses to online articles about the condemnation, accused the Jewish community of trying to appease the Holland 's Muslims.
"We are never afraid to speak out in the harshest of terms against what we think is wrong, be it against Muslim extremism here in the Netherlands, or the Dutch or Israeli governments," he said. "But this movie portrays all Muslims as The Enemy. And this is just not true."
Brief History of Islam
Brief History of Islam part 2
By Isma il Nawwab, Peter Speers, and Paul Hoye (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 19 Apr 2006
The Caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar
With the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was faced with the problem of succession. Who would be its leader? There were four persons obviously marked for leadership: Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, who had not only accompanied Muhammad to Medina ten years before, but had been appointed to take the place of the Prophet as leader of public prayer during Muhammad’s last illness; Umar ibn al-Khattab, an able and trusted Companion of the Prophet; Uthman ibn ‘Affan, a respected early convert; and ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. There piousness and ability to govern the affairs of the Islamic nation was uniformly par excellence. At a meeting held to decide the new leadership, Umar grasped Abu Bakr’s hand and gave his allegiance to him, the traditional sign of recognition of a new leader. By dusk, everyone concurred, and Abu Bakr had been recognized as the khaleefah of Muhammad. Khaleefah - anglicized as caliph - is a word meaning “successor”, but also suggesting what his historical role would be: to govern according to the Quran and the practice of the Prophet.
Abu Bakr’s caliphate was short, but important. An exemplary leader, he lived simply, assiduously fulfilled his religious obligations, and was accessible and sympathetic to his people. But he also stood firm when some tribes, who had only nominally accepted Islam, renounced it in the wake of the Prophet’s death. In what was a major accomplishment, Abu Bakr swiftly disciplined them. Later, he consolidated the support of the tribes within the Arabian Peninsula and subsequently funneled their energies against the powerful empires of the East: the Sassanians in Persia and the Byzantines in Syria , Palestine , and Egypt . In short, he demonstrated the viability of the Muslim state.
The second caliph, Umar - appointed by Abu Bakr - continued to demonstrate that viability. Adopting the title Ameer al-Mumineen, or Commander of the Believers, Umar extended Islam’s temporal rule over Syria , Egypt , Iraq , and Persia in what, from a purely military standpoint, were astonishing victories. Within four years after the death of the Prophet, the Muslim state had extended its sway over all of Syria and had, at a famous battle fought during a sandstorm near the River Yarmuk, blunted the power of the Byzantines - whose ruler, Heraclius, had shortly before refused the call to accept Islam.
Even more astonishingly, the Muslim state administered the conquered territories with a tolerance almost unheard of in that age. At Damascus , for example, the Muslim leader, Khalid ibn al-Walid, signed a treaty which read as follows:
This is what Khalid ibn al-Walid would grant to the inhabitants of Damascus if he enters therein: he promises to give them security for their lives, property and churches. Their city wall shall not be demolished; neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their houses. Thereunto we give them the pact of God and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. So long as they pay the poll tax, nothing but good shall befall them.
This tolerance was typical of Islam. A year after Yarmook, Umar, in the military camp of al-Jabiyah on the Golan Heights, received word that the Byzantines were ready to surrender Jerusalem . Consequently, he rode there to accept the surrender in person. According to one account, he entered the city alone and clad in a simple cloak, astounding a populace accustomed to the sumptuous garb and court ceremonials of the Byzantines and Persians. He astounded them still further when he set their fears at rest by negotiating a generous treaty in which he told them: “In the name of God ... you have complete security for your churches, which shall not be occupied by the Muslims or destroyed.”
This policy was to prove successful everywhere. In Syria , for example, many Christians who had been involved in bitter theological disputes with Byzantine authorities - and persecuted for it - welcomed the coming of Islam as an end to tyranny. And in Egypt , which Amr ibn al-As took from the Byzantines after a daring march across the Sinai Peninsula , the Coptic Christians not only welcomed the Arabs, but enthusiastically assisted them.
This pattern was repeated throughout the Byzantine Empire . Conflict among Greek Orthodox, Syrian Monophysites, Copts, and Nestorian Christians contributed to the failure of the Byzantines - always regarded as intruders - to develop popular support, while the tolerance which Muslims showed toward Christians and Jews removed the primary cause for opposing them.
Umar adopted this attitude in administrative matters as well. Although he assigned Muslim governors to the new provinces, existing Byzantine and Persian administrations were retained wherever possible. For fifty years, in fact, Greek remained the chancery language of Syria , Egypt , and Palestine , while Pahlavi, the chancery language of the Sassanians, continued to be used in Mesopotamia and Persia .
Umar, who served as caliph for ten years, ended his rule with a significant victory over the Persian Empire . The struggle with the Sassanid realm had opened in 687 at al-Qadisiyah, near Ctesiphon in Iraq , where Muslim cavalry had successfully coped with elephants used by the Persians as a kind of primitive tank. Now with the Battle of Nihavand, called the “Conquest of Conquests,” Umar sealed the fate of Persia ; henceforth it was to be one of the most important provinces in the Muslim Empire.
His caliphate was a high point in early Islamic history. He was noted for his justice, social ideals, administration, and statesmanship. His innovations left an all enduring imprint on social welfare, taxation, and the financial and administrative fabric of the growing empire.
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan
Election of Uthman
Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the second caliph of Islam, was stabbed by a Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’ah, a Persian Magian, while leading the Fajr Prayer. As Umar was lying on his death bed, the people around him asked him to appoint a successor. Umar appointed a committee of six people to choose the next caliph from among themselves.
This committee comprised Ali ibn Abi Talib, Uthman ibn Affan, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, Az-Zubayr ibn Al-Awam, and Talhah ibn Ubayd Allah, who were among the most eminent Companions of the Prophet, may God send His praises upon him, and who had received in their lifetime the tidings of Paradise .
The instructions of Umar were that the Election Committee should choose the successor within three days, and he should assume office on the fourth day. As two days passed by without a decision, the members felt anxious that the time was running out fast, and still no solution to the problem appeared to be in sight. Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf offered to forgo his own claim if others agreed to abide by his decision. All agreed to let Abdur-Rahman choose the new caliph. He interviewed each nominee and went about Medinah asking the people for their choice. He finally selected Uthman as the new caliph, as the majority of the people chose him.
His Life as a Caliph
Uthman led a simple life even after becoming the leader of the Islamic state. It would have been easy for a successful businessman such as him to lead a luxurious life, but he never aimed at leading such in this world. His only aim was to taste the pleasure of the hereafter, as he knew that this world is a test and temporary. Uthman’s generosity continued after he became caliph.
The caliphs were paid for their services from the treasury, but Uthman never took any salary for his service to Islam. Not only this, he also developed a custom to free slaves every Friday, look after widows and orphans, and give unlimited charity. His patience and endurance were among the characteristics that made him a successful leader.
Uthman achieved much during his reign. He pushed forward with the pacification of Persia , continued to defend the Muslim state against the Byzantines, added what is now Libya to the empire, and subjugated most of Armenia . Uthman also, through his cousin Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria , established an Arab navy which fought a series of important engagements with the Byzantines.
Of much greater importance to Islam, however, was Uthman's compilation of the text of the Quran as revealed to the Prophet. Realizing that the original message from God might be inadvertently distorted by textual variants, he appointed a committee to collect the canonical verses and destroy the variant recensions. The result was the text that is accepted to this day throughout the Muslim world.
Opposition and the End
During his caliphate, Uthman faced much of hostility from new, nominal Muslims in newly Islamic lands, who started to accuse him of not following the example Prophet and the preceding caliphs in matters concerning governance . However, the Companions of the Prophet always defended him. These accusations never changed him. He remained persistent to be a merciful governor. Even during the time when his foes attacked him, he did not use the treasury funds to shield his house or himself. As envisaged by Prophet Muhammad, Uthman’s enemies relentlessly made his governing difficult by constantly opposing and accusing him. His opponents finally plotted against him, surrounded his house, and encouraged people to kill him.
Many of his advisors asked him to stop the assault but he did not, until he was killed while reciting the Quran exactly as the Prophet had predicted. Uthman died as a martyr.
Anas ibn Malik narrated the following:
“The Prophet once climbed the mountain of Uhud with Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. The mountain shook with them. The Prophet said (to the mountain), ‘Be firm, O Uhud! For on you there is a Prophet, an early truthful supporter of mine, and two martyrs.’” (Saheeh al-Bukhari)
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 317/viewall/
By Isma il Nawwab, Peter Speers, and Paul Hoye (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 19 Apr 2006
The Caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar
With the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was faced with the problem of succession. Who would be its leader? There were four persons obviously marked for leadership: Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, who had not only accompanied Muhammad to Medina ten years before, but had been appointed to take the place of the Prophet as leader of public prayer during Muhammad’s last illness; Umar ibn al-Khattab, an able and trusted Companion of the Prophet; Uthman ibn ‘Affan, a respected early convert; and ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. There piousness and ability to govern the affairs of the Islamic nation was uniformly par excellence. At a meeting held to decide the new leadership, Umar grasped Abu Bakr’s hand and gave his allegiance to him, the traditional sign of recognition of a new leader. By dusk, everyone concurred, and Abu Bakr had been recognized as the khaleefah of Muhammad. Khaleefah - anglicized as caliph - is a word meaning “successor”, but also suggesting what his historical role would be: to govern according to the Quran and the practice of the Prophet.
Abu Bakr’s caliphate was short, but important. An exemplary leader, he lived simply, assiduously fulfilled his religious obligations, and was accessible and sympathetic to his people. But he also stood firm when some tribes, who had only nominally accepted Islam, renounced it in the wake of the Prophet’s death. In what was a major accomplishment, Abu Bakr swiftly disciplined them. Later, he consolidated the support of the tribes within the Arabian Peninsula and subsequently funneled their energies against the powerful empires of the East: the Sassanians in Persia and the Byzantines in Syria , Palestine , and Egypt . In short, he demonstrated the viability of the Muslim state.
The second caliph, Umar - appointed by Abu Bakr - continued to demonstrate that viability. Adopting the title Ameer al-Mumineen, or Commander of the Believers, Umar extended Islam’s temporal rule over Syria , Egypt , Iraq , and Persia in what, from a purely military standpoint, were astonishing victories. Within four years after the death of the Prophet, the Muslim state had extended its sway over all of Syria and had, at a famous battle fought during a sandstorm near the River Yarmuk, blunted the power of the Byzantines - whose ruler, Heraclius, had shortly before refused the call to accept Islam.
Even more astonishingly, the Muslim state administered the conquered territories with a tolerance almost unheard of in that age. At Damascus , for example, the Muslim leader, Khalid ibn al-Walid, signed a treaty which read as follows:
This is what Khalid ibn al-Walid would grant to the inhabitants of Damascus if he enters therein: he promises to give them security for their lives, property and churches. Their city wall shall not be demolished; neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their houses. Thereunto we give them the pact of God and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. So long as they pay the poll tax, nothing but good shall befall them.
This tolerance was typical of Islam. A year after Yarmook, Umar, in the military camp of al-Jabiyah on the Golan Heights, received word that the Byzantines were ready to surrender Jerusalem . Consequently, he rode there to accept the surrender in person. According to one account, he entered the city alone and clad in a simple cloak, astounding a populace accustomed to the sumptuous garb and court ceremonials of the Byzantines and Persians. He astounded them still further when he set their fears at rest by negotiating a generous treaty in which he told them: “In the name of God ... you have complete security for your churches, which shall not be occupied by the Muslims or destroyed.”
This policy was to prove successful everywhere. In Syria , for example, many Christians who had been involved in bitter theological disputes with Byzantine authorities - and persecuted for it - welcomed the coming of Islam as an end to tyranny. And in Egypt , which Amr ibn al-As took from the Byzantines after a daring march across the Sinai Peninsula , the Coptic Christians not only welcomed the Arabs, but enthusiastically assisted them.
This pattern was repeated throughout the Byzantine Empire . Conflict among Greek Orthodox, Syrian Monophysites, Copts, and Nestorian Christians contributed to the failure of the Byzantines - always regarded as intruders - to develop popular support, while the tolerance which Muslims showed toward Christians and Jews removed the primary cause for opposing them.
Umar adopted this attitude in administrative matters as well. Although he assigned Muslim governors to the new provinces, existing Byzantine and Persian administrations were retained wherever possible. For fifty years, in fact, Greek remained the chancery language of Syria , Egypt , and Palestine , while Pahlavi, the chancery language of the Sassanians, continued to be used in Mesopotamia and Persia .
Umar, who served as caliph for ten years, ended his rule with a significant victory over the Persian Empire . The struggle with the Sassanid realm had opened in 687 at al-Qadisiyah, near Ctesiphon in Iraq , where Muslim cavalry had successfully coped with elephants used by the Persians as a kind of primitive tank. Now with the Battle of Nihavand, called the “Conquest of Conquests,” Umar sealed the fate of Persia ; henceforth it was to be one of the most important provinces in the Muslim Empire.
His caliphate was a high point in early Islamic history. He was noted for his justice, social ideals, administration, and statesmanship. His innovations left an all enduring imprint on social welfare, taxation, and the financial and administrative fabric of the growing empire.
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan
Election of Uthman
Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the second caliph of Islam, was stabbed by a Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’ah, a Persian Magian, while leading the Fajr Prayer. As Umar was lying on his death bed, the people around him asked him to appoint a successor. Umar appointed a committee of six people to choose the next caliph from among themselves.
This committee comprised Ali ibn Abi Talib, Uthman ibn Affan, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, Az-Zubayr ibn Al-Awam, and Talhah ibn Ubayd Allah, who were among the most eminent Companions of the Prophet, may God send His praises upon him, and who had received in their lifetime the tidings of Paradise .
The instructions of Umar were that the Election Committee should choose the successor within three days, and he should assume office on the fourth day. As two days passed by without a decision, the members felt anxious that the time was running out fast, and still no solution to the problem appeared to be in sight. Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf offered to forgo his own claim if others agreed to abide by his decision. All agreed to let Abdur-Rahman choose the new caliph. He interviewed each nominee and went about Medinah asking the people for their choice. He finally selected Uthman as the new caliph, as the majority of the people chose him.
His Life as a Caliph
Uthman led a simple life even after becoming the leader of the Islamic state. It would have been easy for a successful businessman such as him to lead a luxurious life, but he never aimed at leading such in this world. His only aim was to taste the pleasure of the hereafter, as he knew that this world is a test and temporary. Uthman’s generosity continued after he became caliph.
The caliphs were paid for their services from the treasury, but Uthman never took any salary for his service to Islam. Not only this, he also developed a custom to free slaves every Friday, look after widows and orphans, and give unlimited charity. His patience and endurance were among the characteristics that made him a successful leader.
Uthman achieved much during his reign. He pushed forward with the pacification of Persia , continued to defend the Muslim state against the Byzantines, added what is now Libya to the empire, and subjugated most of Armenia . Uthman also, through his cousin Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria , established an Arab navy which fought a series of important engagements with the Byzantines.
Of much greater importance to Islam, however, was Uthman's compilation of the text of the Quran as revealed to the Prophet. Realizing that the original message from God might be inadvertently distorted by textual variants, he appointed a committee to collect the canonical verses and destroy the variant recensions. The result was the text that is accepted to this day throughout the Muslim world.
Opposition and the End
During his caliphate, Uthman faced much of hostility from new, nominal Muslims in newly Islamic lands, who started to accuse him of not following the example Prophet and the preceding caliphs in matters concerning governance . However, the Companions of the Prophet always defended him. These accusations never changed him. He remained persistent to be a merciful governor. Even during the time when his foes attacked him, he did not use the treasury funds to shield his house or himself. As envisaged by Prophet Muhammad, Uthman’s enemies relentlessly made his governing difficult by constantly opposing and accusing him. His opponents finally plotted against him, surrounded his house, and encouraged people to kill him.
Many of his advisors asked him to stop the assault but he did not, until he was killed while reciting the Quran exactly as the Prophet had predicted. Uthman died as a martyr.
Anas ibn Malik narrated the following:
“The Prophet once climbed the mountain of Uhud with Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. The mountain shook with them. The Prophet said (to the mountain), ‘Be firm, O Uhud! For on you there is a Prophet, an early truthful supporter of mine, and two martyrs.’” (Saheeh al-Bukhari)
Source: http://www.islamrel igion.com/ articles/ 317/viewall/
Brief History of Islam
Brief History of Islam part 1
By Isma il Nawwab, Peter Speers, and Paul Hoye (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 19 Apr 2006
The Prophet of Islam
In or about the year 570 the child who would be named Muhammad and who would become the Prophet of one of the world’s great religions, Islam, was born into a family belonging to a clan of Quraish, the ruling tribe of Mecca, a city in the Hijaz region of northwestern Arabia.
Originally the site of the Kaabah, a shrine of ancient origins, Mecca had, with the decline of southern Arabia , become an important center of sixth-century trade with such powers as the Sassanians, Byzantines, and Ethiopians. As a result, the city was dominated by powerful merchant families, among whom the men of Quraish were preeminent.
Muhammad’s father, “Abd Allah ibn” Abd al-Muttalib, died before the boy was born; his mother, Aminah, died when he was six. The orphan was consigned to the care of his grandfather, the head of the clan of Hashim. After the death of his grandfather, Muhammad was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib. As was customary, the child Muhammad was sent to live for a year or two with a Bedouin family. This custom, followed until recently by noble families of Mecca , Medina , Taif, and other towns of the Hijaz, had important implications for Muhammad. In addition to enduring the hardships of desert life, he acquired a taste for the rich language so loved by the Arabs, whose speech was their proudest art, and also learned the patience and forbearance of the herdsmen, whose life of solitude he first shared, and then came to understand and appreciate.
About the year 590, Muhammad, then in his twenties, entered the service of a merchant widow named Khadijah as her factor, actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. Sometime later he married her, and had two sons, neither of whom survived, and four daughters by her.
In his forties, he began to retire to meditate in a cave on Mount Hira , just outside Mecca , where the first of the great events of Islam took place. One day, as he was sitting in the cave, he heard a voice, later identified as that of the Angel Gabriel, which ordered him to:
“Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, Created man from a clot of blood.” (Quran 96:1-2)
Three times Muhammad pleaded his inability to do so, but each time the command was repeated. Finally, Muhammad recited the words of what are now the first five verses of the 96th chapter of the Quran - words which proclaim God to be the Creator of man and the Source of all knowledge.
At first Muhammad divulged his experience only to his wife and his immediate circle. But, as more revelations enjoined him to proclaim the oneness of God universally, his following grew, at first among the poor and the slaves, but later, also among the most prominent men of Mecca . The revelations he received at this time, and those he did later, are all incorporated in the Quran, the Scripture of Islam.
Not everyone accepted God’s message transmitted through Muhammad. Even in his own clan, there were those who rejected his teachings, and many merchants actively opposed the message. The opposition, however, merely served to sharpen Muhammad’s sense of mission, and his understanding of exactly how Islam differed from paganism. The belief in the Oneness of God was paramount in Islam; from this all else follows. The verses of the Quran stress God’s uniqueness, warn those who deny it of impending punishment, and proclaim His unbounded compassion to those who submit to His will. They affirm the Last Judgment, when God, the Judge, will weigh in the balance the faith and works of each man, rewarding the faithful and punishing the transgressor. Because the Quran rejected polytheism and emphasized man’s moral responsibility, in powerful images, it presented a grave challenge to the worldly Meccans.
The Hijrah
After Muhammad had preached publicly for more than a decade, the opposition to him reached such a high pitch that, fearful for their safety, he sent some of his adherents to Ethiopia . There, the Christian ruler extended protection to them, the memory of which has been cherished by Muslims ever since. But in Mecca the persecution worsened. Muhammad’s followers were harassed, abused, and even tortured. At last, seventy of Muhammad’s followers set off by his orders to the northern town of Yathrib , in the hope of establishing a news stage of the Islamic movement. This city which was later to be renamed Medina (“The City”). Later, in the early fall of 622, he, with his closest friend, Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, set off to join the emigrants. This event coincided with the leaders in Mecca plotting, to kill him.
In Mecca , the plotters arrived at Muhammad’s home to find that his cousin, ‘Ali, had taken his place in bed. Enraged, the Meccans set a price on Muhammad’s head and set off in pursuit. Muhammad and Abu Bakr, however, had taken refuge in a cave, where they hid from their pursuers. By the protection of God, the Meccans passed by the cave without noticing it, and Muhammad and Abu Bakr proceeded to Medina . There, they were joyously welcomed by a throng of Medinans, as well as the Meccans who had gone ahead to prepare the way.
This was the Hijrah - anglicized as Hegira - usually, but inaccurately, translated as “Flight” - from which the Muslim era is dated. In fact, the Hijrah was not a flight, but a carefully planned migration that marks not only a break in history - the beginning of the Islamic era - but also, for Muhammad and the Muslims, a new way of life. Henceforth, the organizational principle of the community was not to be mere blood kinship, but the greater brotherhood of all Muslims. The men who accompanied Muhammad on the Hijrah were called the Muhajiroon - “those that made the Hijrah” or the “Emigrants” - while those in Medina who became Muslims were called the Ansar, or “Helpers.”
Muhammad was well acquainted with the situation in Medina . Earlier, before the Hijrah, various of its inhabitants came to Mecca to offer the annual pilgrimage, and as the Prophet would take this opportunity to call visiting pilgrims to Islam, the group who came from Medina heard his call and accepted Islam.. They also invited Muhammad to settle in Medina . After the Hijrah, Muhammad’s exceptional qualities so impressed the Medinans that the rival tribes and their allies temporarily closed ranks as, on March 15, 624, Muhammad and his supporters moved against the pagans of Mecca.
The first battle, which took place near Badr, now a small town southwest of Medina , had several important effects. In the first place, the Muslim forces, outnumbered three to one, routed the Meccans. Secondly, the discipline displayed by the Muslims brought home to the Meccans, perhaps for the first time, the abilities of the man they had driven from their city. Thirdly, one of the allied tribes which had pledged support to the Muslims in the Battle of Badr, but had then proved lukewarm when the fighting started, was expelled from Medina one month after the battle. Those who claimed to be allies of the Muslims, but tacitly opposed them, were thus served warning: membership in the community imposed the obligation of total support.
A year later the Meccans struck back. Assembling an army of three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside Medina . After initial successes, the Muslims were driven back and the Prophet himself was wounded. As the Muslims were not completely defeated, the Meccans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked Medina again two years later but with quite different results. At the Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of the Confederates, the Muslims scored a signal victory by introducing a new form of defense. On the side of Medina from which attack was expected, they dug a trench too deep for the Meccan cavalry to clear without exposing itself to the archers posted behind earthworks on the Medina side. After an inconclusive siege, the Meccans were forced to retire. Thereafter Medina was entirely in the hands of the Muslims.
The Conquest of Mecca
The Constitution of Medina - under which the clans accepting Muhammad as the Prophet of God formed an alliance, or federation - dates from this period. It showed that the political consciousness of the Muslim community had reached an important point; its members defined themselves as a community separate from all others. The Constitution also defined the role of non-Muslims in the community. Jews, for example, were part of the community; they were dhimmis, that is, protected people, as long as they conformed to its laws. This established a precedent for the treatment of subject peoples during the later conquests. Christians and Jews, upon payment of a nominal tax, were allowed religious freedom and, while maintaining their status as non-Muslims, were associate members of the Muslim state. This status did not apply to polytheists, who could not be tolerated within a community that worshipped the One God.
Ibn Ishaq, one of the earliest biographers of the Prophet, says it was at about this time that Muhammad sent letters to the rulers of the earth - the King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt among others - inviting them to submit to Islam. Nothing more fully illustrates the confidence of the small community, as its military power, despite the battle of the Trench, was still negligible. But its confidence was not misplaced. Muhammad so effectively built up a series of alliances among the tribes that, by 628, he and fifteen hundred followers were able to demand access to the Kaaba. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Just a short time before, Muhammad left the city of his birth to establish an Islamic state in Medina . Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. A year later, in 629, he reentered and, in effect, conquered Mecca , without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance, which established an ideal for future conquests. He also destroyed the idols in the Kaabah, to put an end forever to pagan practices there. At the same time ‘Amr ibn al-’As, the future conqueror of Egypt , and Khalid ibn al-Walid, the future “Sword of God,” accepted Islam, and swore allegiance to Muhammad. Their conversion was especially noteworthy because these men had been among Muhammad’s bitterest opponents only a short time before.
In one sense Muhammad’s return to Mecca was the climax of his mission. In 632, just three years later, he was suddenly taken ill and on June 8 of that year, with his third wife Aisha in attendance, the Messenger of God “died with the heat of noon.”
The death of Muhammad was a profound loss. To his followers this simple man from Mecca was far more than a beloved friend, far more than a gifted administrator, far more than the revered leader who had forged a new state from clusters of warring tribes. Muhammad was also the exemplar of the teachings he had brought them from God: the teachings of the Quran, which, for centuries, have guided the thought and action, the faith and conduct, of innumerable men and women, and which ushered in a distinctive era in the history of mankind. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia , and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. As Abu Bakr put it: “Whoever worshipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.”
Continued…
By Isma il Nawwab, Peter Speers, and Paul Hoye (edited by IslamReligion. com) - Published on 19 Apr 2006
The Prophet of Islam
In or about the year 570 the child who would be named Muhammad and who would become the Prophet of one of the world’s great religions, Islam, was born into a family belonging to a clan of Quraish, the ruling tribe of Mecca, a city in the Hijaz region of northwestern Arabia.
Originally the site of the Kaabah, a shrine of ancient origins, Mecca had, with the decline of southern Arabia , become an important center of sixth-century trade with such powers as the Sassanians, Byzantines, and Ethiopians. As a result, the city was dominated by powerful merchant families, among whom the men of Quraish were preeminent.
Muhammad’s father, “Abd Allah ibn” Abd al-Muttalib, died before the boy was born; his mother, Aminah, died when he was six. The orphan was consigned to the care of his grandfather, the head of the clan of Hashim. After the death of his grandfather, Muhammad was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib. As was customary, the child Muhammad was sent to live for a year or two with a Bedouin family. This custom, followed until recently by noble families of Mecca , Medina , Taif, and other towns of the Hijaz, had important implications for Muhammad. In addition to enduring the hardships of desert life, he acquired a taste for the rich language so loved by the Arabs, whose speech was their proudest art, and also learned the patience and forbearance of the herdsmen, whose life of solitude he first shared, and then came to understand and appreciate.
About the year 590, Muhammad, then in his twenties, entered the service of a merchant widow named Khadijah as her factor, actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. Sometime later he married her, and had two sons, neither of whom survived, and four daughters by her.
In his forties, he began to retire to meditate in a cave on Mount Hira , just outside Mecca , where the first of the great events of Islam took place. One day, as he was sitting in the cave, he heard a voice, later identified as that of the Angel Gabriel, which ordered him to:
“Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, Created man from a clot of blood.” (Quran 96:1-2)
Three times Muhammad pleaded his inability to do so, but each time the command was repeated. Finally, Muhammad recited the words of what are now the first five verses of the 96th chapter of the Quran - words which proclaim God to be the Creator of man and the Source of all knowledge.
At first Muhammad divulged his experience only to his wife and his immediate circle. But, as more revelations enjoined him to proclaim the oneness of God universally, his following grew, at first among the poor and the slaves, but later, also among the most prominent men of Mecca . The revelations he received at this time, and those he did later, are all incorporated in the Quran, the Scripture of Islam.
Not everyone accepted God’s message transmitted through Muhammad. Even in his own clan, there were those who rejected his teachings, and many merchants actively opposed the message. The opposition, however, merely served to sharpen Muhammad’s sense of mission, and his understanding of exactly how Islam differed from paganism. The belief in the Oneness of God was paramount in Islam; from this all else follows. The verses of the Quran stress God’s uniqueness, warn those who deny it of impending punishment, and proclaim His unbounded compassion to those who submit to His will. They affirm the Last Judgment, when God, the Judge, will weigh in the balance the faith and works of each man, rewarding the faithful and punishing the transgressor. Because the Quran rejected polytheism and emphasized man’s moral responsibility, in powerful images, it presented a grave challenge to the worldly Meccans.
The Hijrah
After Muhammad had preached publicly for more than a decade, the opposition to him reached such a high pitch that, fearful for their safety, he sent some of his adherents to Ethiopia . There, the Christian ruler extended protection to them, the memory of which has been cherished by Muslims ever since. But in Mecca the persecution worsened. Muhammad’s followers were harassed, abused, and even tortured. At last, seventy of Muhammad’s followers set off by his orders to the northern town of Yathrib , in the hope of establishing a news stage of the Islamic movement. This city which was later to be renamed Medina (“The City”). Later, in the early fall of 622, he, with his closest friend, Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, set off to join the emigrants. This event coincided with the leaders in Mecca plotting, to kill him.
In Mecca , the plotters arrived at Muhammad’s home to find that his cousin, ‘Ali, had taken his place in bed. Enraged, the Meccans set a price on Muhammad’s head and set off in pursuit. Muhammad and Abu Bakr, however, had taken refuge in a cave, where they hid from their pursuers. By the protection of God, the Meccans passed by the cave without noticing it, and Muhammad and Abu Bakr proceeded to Medina . There, they were joyously welcomed by a throng of Medinans, as well as the Meccans who had gone ahead to prepare the way.
This was the Hijrah - anglicized as Hegira - usually, but inaccurately, translated as “Flight” - from which the Muslim era is dated. In fact, the Hijrah was not a flight, but a carefully planned migration that marks not only a break in history - the beginning of the Islamic era - but also, for Muhammad and the Muslims, a new way of life. Henceforth, the organizational principle of the community was not to be mere blood kinship, but the greater brotherhood of all Muslims. The men who accompanied Muhammad on the Hijrah were called the Muhajiroon - “those that made the Hijrah” or the “Emigrants” - while those in Medina who became Muslims were called the Ansar, or “Helpers.”
Muhammad was well acquainted with the situation in Medina . Earlier, before the Hijrah, various of its inhabitants came to Mecca to offer the annual pilgrimage, and as the Prophet would take this opportunity to call visiting pilgrims to Islam, the group who came from Medina heard his call and accepted Islam.. They also invited Muhammad to settle in Medina . After the Hijrah, Muhammad’s exceptional qualities so impressed the Medinans that the rival tribes and their allies temporarily closed ranks as, on March 15, 624, Muhammad and his supporters moved against the pagans of Mecca.
The first battle, which took place near Badr, now a small town southwest of Medina , had several important effects. In the first place, the Muslim forces, outnumbered three to one, routed the Meccans. Secondly, the discipline displayed by the Muslims brought home to the Meccans, perhaps for the first time, the abilities of the man they had driven from their city. Thirdly, one of the allied tribes which had pledged support to the Muslims in the Battle of Badr, but had then proved lukewarm when the fighting started, was expelled from Medina one month after the battle. Those who claimed to be allies of the Muslims, but tacitly opposed them, were thus served warning: membership in the community imposed the obligation of total support.
A year later the Meccans struck back. Assembling an army of three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside Medina . After initial successes, the Muslims were driven back and the Prophet himself was wounded. As the Muslims were not completely defeated, the Meccans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked Medina again two years later but with quite different results. At the Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of the Confederates, the Muslims scored a signal victory by introducing a new form of defense. On the side of Medina from which attack was expected, they dug a trench too deep for the Meccan cavalry to clear without exposing itself to the archers posted behind earthworks on the Medina side. After an inconclusive siege, the Meccans were forced to retire. Thereafter Medina was entirely in the hands of the Muslims.
The Conquest of Mecca
The Constitution of Medina - under which the clans accepting Muhammad as the Prophet of God formed an alliance, or federation - dates from this period. It showed that the political consciousness of the Muslim community had reached an important point; its members defined themselves as a community separate from all others. The Constitution also defined the role of non-Muslims in the community. Jews, for example, were part of the community; they were dhimmis, that is, protected people, as long as they conformed to its laws. This established a precedent for the treatment of subject peoples during the later conquests. Christians and Jews, upon payment of a nominal tax, were allowed religious freedom and, while maintaining their status as non-Muslims, were associate members of the Muslim state. This status did not apply to polytheists, who could not be tolerated within a community that worshipped the One God.
Ibn Ishaq, one of the earliest biographers of the Prophet, says it was at about this time that Muhammad sent letters to the rulers of the earth - the King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt among others - inviting them to submit to Islam. Nothing more fully illustrates the confidence of the small community, as its military power, despite the battle of the Trench, was still negligible. But its confidence was not misplaced. Muhammad so effectively built up a series of alliances among the tribes that, by 628, he and fifteen hundred followers were able to demand access to the Kaaba. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Just a short time before, Muhammad left the city of his birth to establish an Islamic state in Medina . Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. A year later, in 629, he reentered and, in effect, conquered Mecca , without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance, which established an ideal for future conquests. He also destroyed the idols in the Kaabah, to put an end forever to pagan practices there. At the same time ‘Amr ibn al-’As, the future conqueror of Egypt , and Khalid ibn al-Walid, the future “Sword of God,” accepted Islam, and swore allegiance to Muhammad. Their conversion was especially noteworthy because these men had been among Muhammad’s bitterest opponents only a short time before.
In one sense Muhammad’s return to Mecca was the climax of his mission. In 632, just three years later, he was suddenly taken ill and on June 8 of that year, with his third wife Aisha in attendance, the Messenger of God “died with the heat of noon.”
The death of Muhammad was a profound loss. To his followers this simple man from Mecca was far more than a beloved friend, far more than a gifted administrator, far more than the revered leader who had forged a new state from clusters of warring tribes. Muhammad was also the exemplar of the teachings he had brought them from God: the teachings of the Quran, which, for centuries, have guided the thought and action, the faith and conduct, of innumerable men and women, and which ushered in a distinctive era in the history of mankind. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia , and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. As Abu Bakr put it: “Whoever worshipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.”
Continued…
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