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Our Lord! Grant us what Thou didst promise unto us through Thine apostles, and save us from shame on the Day of Judgment: For Thou never breakest Thy promise. al-Qur'an 3:194
O ye who believe! if ye fear Allah, He will grant you a criterion (to judge between right and wrong), remove from you (all) evil (that may afflict) you, and forgive you: for Allah is the Lord of grace unbounded. al-Qur'an 8:29
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ramadan
Fasting in Ramadan has not only been declared an act of worship and devotion and a means to nourish piety but has also been characterized as an act of gratefulness to God ..
Believers! Fasting is enjoined upon you, as it was enjoined upon those before you, that you become God fearing. 1 Quran 2:183 - Fasting is for a fixed number of days, and if one of you be sick, or if one of you be on a journey, you will fast the same number of other days later on. For those who are capable of fasting (but still do not fast) there is a redemption: feeding a needy man for each day missed. Whoever, voluntarily, does more good than is required, will find it is better for him; 2 and that you should fast is better for you, if you only know. 3 2:184 - During the month of Ramadan the Qur'an was sent down as a guidance to the people with clear signs of the true guidance, and as the Criterion (between right and wrong). So those of you who live to see that month should fast it, and whoever is sick or on a journey should fast the same number of other days instead. Allah wants ease and not hardship for you so that you may complete the number of days required, 4 magnify Allah for what He has guided you to, and give thanks to Him. 5 2:185
Like most other injunctions of Islam those relating to fasting were revealed gradually. In the beginning the Prophet had instructed the Muslims to fast three days in every month, though this was not obligatory. When the injunction in the present verse was later revealed in 2 A.H., a degree of relaxation was introduced: it was stipulated that those who did not fast despite their capacity to endure it were obliged to feed one poor person as an expiation for each day of obligatory fasting missed (see verse 184). Another injunction was revealed later (see verse 185) and here the relaxation in respect of able-bodied persons was revoked. However, for the sick, the traveler, the pregnant, the breast-feeding women and the aged who could not endure fasting, the relaxation was retained.
This act of extra merit could either be feeding more than the one person required or both fasting and feeding the poor.
Salaat
Salaat is a basic pillar of islam
It is mentioned again and again in the Quran
The importance of prayer is in seven hundred places
But in the mosque,do you see many young faces?
Praying in the mosque gives 27 times the reward
Pray with the intention that you're pleasing your Lord
When you walk to the mosque, just remember within
You gain a reward and you're losing a sin
For every step towards your destination
This is a blessing from Allah swt to his creation
The Quran has foretold, that before you are dead
'say your prayers before your prayers are said'
Our prophet (saws) said about those who miss prayer
fifteen punishments they'll have to bear
six in this life, three on passing away
three in the grave and three on judgement day
For missing Fajr at the start of the day
the glow of the face is taken away
the punishment for missing the salaat of Zohar
there will be no blessing from your income no more
For missing Asr, the middle prayer of the day
the strength of the body is taken away
by missing maghrib, remember one thing
you will not be benefited by your offspring
For missing Ishaa at the end of the day
the peace of your sleep will be taken away
while seeing elders pray at the mosque door
remember as a young person, your reward is 70 times more
Read salaat punctually, read it with care
on judgement day, we will be asked about prayer
that's the first question, so take this advice
salaat is the key to paradise
Spread this word to muslim sisters and brothers
salaat will separate muslims from others
salaat is a blessing which Allah swt gave
it will intercede and protect us in the grave
When it comes eventually, to the day of rising
the believers body washed by wudu will be shining
for the believers who are regular in offering salaat
it becomes a light of guidance on the pul-siraat
Don't miss the prayer asr at any cost
it will be like your family and wealth is lost
the ayat-ul-kursi after fard, should be read
it will lead you to paradise (insha Allah) after you're dead
Not reading salaat will lead you to hell
surrounded by serpants in a deep well
read your salaat whilst still in your prime
and read the durood shareef in your spare time
You'll get ten rewards, the Lord (insha Allah) will accept your pleas
and you'll be closer to Allah swt by ten more degrees
so embrace islam with all your heart
and remember the key is reading salaat
flow of barakah
By Hajj Haroon - At the request of my dear friend Mohammad Al-Harari, I have taken pen in hand to write a brief overview of the circumstances that brought me to Islam. In doing so it is impossible not to name several influential people who came into my life at a very young age.
Masjid Um-Al-Mumineen Aisha is under construction in the holy city of Harar. Most of the Masjids in Harar are located within the Jogol. However, the Harari and that of the Muslim population in general is growing outside of the Jogol and there is a need to meet the spiritual needs of these citizens. They are appealing for assistance in completing this masjid.
Culture is the consciousness of values in the totality of their realm, implying at its lowest level an intuitive awareness of their respective identities and of the order of rank properly belonging to each of them, as well as a personal commitment to their pursuit and actualization. At its highest level, this consciousness of value implies, in addition to the foregoing, a discursive knowledge of values, of their mutual relations and order of rank, of the history of the growth processes by which consciousness has achieved the said level of awareness, as well as a self-conscious collective commitment to the pursuit and actualization of the totality of values. Consciousness of any one value does not constitute culture, the latter being a perspective of the realm of values impossible to obtain without their totality being in view. What is often called monistic axiology, whether it is the survival ethic of primitive man or those implicit in a number of "isms" by which human life or culture have been defined in modern times, is not awareness of a single value, but a reordering of the whole realm of values under the dominion of the one value recognized by that axiology as the prime, or first, determinant and definiens of all other values. That is why it is possible to speak of the culture of hedonism which defines and ranks all values in terms of their contributions to pleasure, or of the culture of asceticism which defines and ranks all values in terms of their contribution to the denial of the processes of life. Each is a different perspective of the total realm of values. The same is true of the culture of communism, of national socialism and democracy, as it is of group-designated cultures such as the German, Italian, French, Indian, Chinese or Japanese culture. Though unlike any one of these, Islamic culture is nonetheless a perspective on the realm of values. To analyze it as such, to lay bare the internal structure of values as Islam perceives them, is the object of this chapter.
The foregoing definition of culture does not necessarily commit us to a relativist view. In fact, the Islamic position is the very opposite of relativism. Cultural relativism holds every culture to be an autonomous whole, a hierarchical structure of values sui generis, which though subject to description, stands beyond critique, as it were, by definition. It denies the possibility of criticism on the grounds that the criteria are therefore themselves always culturally determined, and hence falling within the culture to be evaluated; that it is impossible for humans to rise above their own cultures and build any supracultural methodology, or system of criteria and norms in terms of which historical cultures may be criticized. A culture, relativism asserts, can hence be neither justified nor criticized, its very factuality constituting its own justification. The comparative study of religions, or of civilizations, is equally alleged to fall in most cases into the same predicament. Through and through it is, and should be, descriptive. It can only Eeport, analyze, compare and contrast its findings in the various cultures, religions or civilizations. But it cannot criticize, judge, or evaluate its data because the criteria by which such work is possible are themselves the data in question.
Cultures, religions and civilizations are said to enjoy that same autonomy which makes each its own judge. Surely, each has laid claim to universalism, to address itself to man as such, to speak of religion as such. Nonetheless, relativism asserts that all their claims were vain; because while purporting to be universal, they were in reality mere inflated provincialisms. In their investigations of men, anthropology, psychology, history, sociology and even philosophy - all these disciplines have in modem times toned down their ambition of describing man or reality or truth as such quite drastically. They reduced their claims to analyzing given configurations of humans, of their thought and behaviour, their given systems of ideas or life. None has nowadays the boldness or strength to speak about men, reality or truth sub specie eternitatis.
Bushmen from equatorial Africa, Europeans and Chinese, Indians and Berbers, as well as the ethnic mixtures of the Near East, the world's crossroads of civilizations, all participated in Islamic culture just as they should, building their unity and hence their definition on the culture of Islam and, under its guidance ..
This is not the place to consider critically why the Western spirit has come to this reduction of its area of competence, or how it lost its nerve and retreated from its Christian Scholastic or rationalist Enlightenment goals. Suffice it here to emphasize two points. First, like religions and civilizations, cultures do not conceive of themselves as of one among many, not as systems whose truth and viability are only probable. "Probable truth" has no adherents committing their whole lives and energies to its pursuit, certainly no soldiers willing to lay down their lives for it. If all there is to the claims of the various cultures and religions was a mere probability, they would have never commanded the enormous energies - mental, physical, emotional - of the millions over the long centuries required for their generation, crystallization and flowering. Indeed, if their factuality indicates anything, it is that their base is firmly established on the rock of faith, on an unquestionable conviction whose object is the world in toto, humankind, reality as such. Second, culture, at least in its higher stages, must have developed its perspective of the valuational realm only after considering numerous options. By definition a perspective suggests the possibility of other methods of ordering, for no value may be assigned the order of rank proper to it without the possibility of relating it to its neighbouring values. But to assign an order of rank is to judge that a certain value has indeed priority over another which has different or contradictory content.
Co-existence of contrary claims, of contrary obligations, of opposite norms and imperatives, which is what the relativist thesis demands, is not only not productive of culture, but it appeals only to the mediocre. No worthy mind can rest when faced with contrary claims to truth or goodness or beauty. Such claims necessarily set the mind in motion to seek a higher principle in terms of which the contradiction may be solved and the differences composed. The human mind will not give up the search without satisfaction. True, such principles may not always be conscious, explicitly stated in the given literature; but their existence is absolutely indubitable. At the very least, they must be assumed; and it is the task of the analyst and comparativist to uncover and articulate them, to place them under the light of reason and understanding.
This leads us to affirm that there is no culture which does not make a meta-cultural claim to truth, to goodness and beauty. The problem is how far meta-cultural assumptions of a given culture are truly universal, how far they correspond with reality, and whether or not they are necessary; how far the culture in question is conducive to the usufruct of nature, the doing of the good works, the felicity of all humans, the cultivation of beauty. Islamic culture certainly makes this claim, namely, that it purports to speak for all humans and for all times. Its claim is that its contents are essential to humanity as such, that its values are absolutely valid for all men because they are true, and its perspective of the valuational realm the only one which fully corresponds with the order of rank inherent in each value. This absoluteness of Islamic culture did not make it intolerant of the ethnic subcultures of its adherents, of their languages and literatures, of their folk customs and styles. But it has distinguished the culture of Islam from 'adah, literally, the local custom, the provincial content, which Islam tolerated even to the point of regarding it juristically acceptable, but which it has always kept in the place proper to it. Such a position is one of subservience to the culture of Islam, which was assigned the status of determining the essence and core of Islamic civilization in tow.
Only Islam acknowledged provincial culture as content of the ethos of Islam proper, and managed to maintain a universal adherence and loyalty to it amid the widest ethnic variety of the globe. Bushmen from equatorial Africa, Europeans and Chinese, Indians and Berbers, as well as the ethnic mixtures of the Near East, the world's crossroads of civilizations, all participated in Islamic culture just as they should, building their unity and hence their definition on the culture of Islam and, under its guidance, continued to keep, develop and promote their hundred ethnic sub-cultures.
The standpoint of Islamic culture, therefore, is not that of cultural relativism.
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ethiopian muslim conference video
Harar (Mowlud) profet mohamed video
Sufi Sheikh - Sheik Abdullah al-Harariy
slam and alcohol
Alcohol - Some Good .. Mostly Bad!
5/20/2006 - Religious Social Education - Article Ref: IC0605-2995
Number of comments: 2
Opinion Summary: Agree:2 Disagree:0 Neutral:0
By: Siraj Islam Mufti
IslamiCity* -
The Role of Alcohol in Inducing Cancer
We often see the alcohol industry's enticing advertisements and the media's hyperbole telling us: "Wine Is Good for You."
What is frequently overlooked is that it may have some good effects, but its bad effects far outweigh the good. In a response to a query about alcohol, the Qur'an says:
[They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: In them is a great sin, and some benefit, for men; but the sin is greater than the benefit] (Al- Baqarah 2:219).
Since the Qur'an was revealed, modern science has shown alcohol to be the cause of a number of health problems, cancers included. This has been established over a number of years through a large number of epidemiological studies, in many countries, on individuals from a variety of backgrounds.
One study revealed that in the United States, for example, 75 percent of esophageal cancers and 50 percent of oral cavity cancers are attributed to alcohol consumption (Rothman et al, 1980).
Several questions arise in understanding the role of alcohol in the development of cancers. Between the years of 1979 and 1997, several studies, funded by grants from the US National Institutes of Health, were carried out in the author's laboratory in the University of Arizona to attempt to address these questions. Results were published in several peer-reviewed journals, selections of which are listed at the end of this article.
Posing Questions
The questions raised included the following:
Besides epidemiology, how can one scientifically prove an association between alcohol and cancer? In order to be fully convinced, we need to positively ascertain the results under conditions that are uniform, and where the only variable is alcohol. The association of alcohol with cancers was found in epidemiological studies, which are burdened with numerous variables, because humans, the subjects of these studies, live under a variety of conditions.
Experimental animals such as rats and mice, maintained in air-conditioned rooms under uniformly similar conditions, are normally used as models for diseases, and could be utilized for verifying the relationship of alcohol to cancers.
In which stage of cancer development is alcohol involved? Cancer development goes through two concrete and consecutive stages: initiation and promotion. Cancer initiation starts with exposure of an organism to a carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) resulting in a mutation in the DNA of the affected cell, which is then passed on to cells arising from it.
Promotion follows initiation and includes all the processes that initiated cells go through in order to develop into cancer. It is now generally agreed that although initiation is an essential step for the carcinogenic process to begin, the damaged DNA can be repaired or otherwise eliminated by the immune system. Thus, the effect of the initiating carcinogen may be lost, unless there is promotion.
It is all the more important to make this distinction because ethanol, the essential constituent in alcohols, is not carcinogenic (that is, it cannot initiate cancers). Our studies were the first to show that although ethanol does not initiate, it acts as a promoter of cancers.
Even more importantly, what are the molecular mechanisms underlying alcohol-related cancers? It is essential to determine the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for increase in cancers with alcohol consumption. Only by knowing these factors, will we be able to understand and tackle the disease.
The Ark
Where's Today's Ark?
7/15/2006 - Religious - Article Ref: IC0410-2493
Number of comments: 19
Opinion Summary: Agree:18 Disagree:0 Neutral:1
By: Naasir Muneer
IslamiCity* -
The world is an incessant interplay of the ninety-nine attributes of God. These attributes are almost equally divided between those of rigor and immanence. Man benefits from both. Where immanence predominates, one is to be thankful for God's mercy [1]. When tested with rigor, a concerted effort to correct any deviation from the monotheistic path (tauhid) is required.
Introduction
The people later to be known as the nation of Noah gradually slipped into a state heedlessness (Ghaflah). They negated the primordial covenant with God and attributed divine power to replicas of people, things and special events. Satan who was granted the power to "whisper to the soul" made this practice fair seeming. Against this backdrop, God sent a messenger to reacquaint the people with the covenant and guide them to the straight path (sirat ul mostaqeem).
Ma - Tehtaj An Naharu Ila Dalili
(When Does Daylight Require Proof?)
The time slices during which God's Messengers were sent to earth are times of divine refraction in human experience. During these times Truth becomes manifest and evidentiary miracles, often custom made, are in plain view of people. Rebuffing Truth (Kufr) with the divine light blazing is a form of Pharaonic arrogance not dissimilar to Iblis's first act of disobedience. God grants human beings volition in accepting or rejecting Guidance (Hdiya). The nation of Noah , by and large, rejected Guidance. God decreed that the rejecters would perish. An enormous body of water overwhelmed all, save those in the ship of salvation.
Prophet Noah , in common with other Messengers of God, showed, for all humanity, the path to reclaim the title: "lieutenant of God on earth". Stations (states) of the nafs along this path are followed by aspects of Prophet Noah's life-long Message as reflected in life-events of later day Messengers of God. Finally, the teasing question: "Where's Today's Ark?" is tackled.
Discovering the Straight Path
The Prophets are chosen by God to guide erring humanity to the Straight Path (sirat al mostaqim). A canonical Hadith (Hadith Jibreel) identifies three Stations along this path:
1) Islam: concerns the stage of action, (generally acts of piety that require the body to be performed) [2]
2) Iman: the state of firm conviction in the belief in God; this is the stage where the mind surrenders to the Truth.
3) Ihsan: indescribable in human terms is the witnessing of God (shahood). Hallmarks of the previous states are unnecessary. God is witnessed through the 'eye' of the Heart (qalb). Each of these states has associated with them a progressively more abstract and more complete view of the true nature of God. Ascension to succeeding Stations is made possible through jihad al nafs [3]. The ascension to higher states is not necessarily linear, as Imam Rumi's ascension to the state of Ihsan shows.
Ahl e Niyah Saru
Wa
Ahl-e Mohaba Taru [4]
Imam Rumi was a renowned Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) scholar. While visiting the city of Tabriz, he was questioned about the purpose of acquiring knowledge. Not content with his answer, the questioner stated that the purpose of knowledge was to "Know, the Known". In an incommunicable flash of realization, Imam Rumi realized the significance of the questioner's statement. Whereupon, guided by the questioner, (who he accepted as a Sheikh (guide)) he followed a path to Know the Known (God), which led him to the state of Ihsan. The questioner, as it turned out, was a Gnostic, himself: Imam Shams Tabrazi. Imam Rumi's son later writes that the great scholar was like a schoolboy learning from his Sheikh everyday.
The Prophets
Iblis, the ancient enemy of Adam, has purposed himself to make mankind forget our affirmation to: "Alastu -bi -rabikum" (Am I not Your Lord?). Failure to honor our covenant leads to outcomes similar to that of Satan. God, in His mercy, selects people (Prophets) to remind, guide and admonish erring humanity. Noah , was selected to remind people of their covenant with God and give them an opportunity to accept or reject it. This is the mission of all Prophets of God. The truths, sense of Abodieh, Rida and the road to salvation shown by Prophet Noah's are recounted in the context of later day Prophets.
The Nations of Ad, Thamud
The people of Ad and Thamud were descendants of the people of Noah - who were in the ship of Salvation. Similar to the people of Noah , they too attributed divine power to man-made objects, thereby rejecting God and the Prophets sent to them (Hud and Salih . Their fate was similar to that of the nation of Noah .
Heedlessness leads to attributes similar to those of Iblis - with consequent consequences.
Prophet Ibrahim
Prophet Ibrahim was cast into the fire (after he destroyed the idols). God decreed he should be saved: "O fire be coolness and peaceful to Ibrahim". (Quran 21:69)
God who made the natural order can just as easily break it.
Prophet Ibrahim when challenged to sacrifice what he loved most - offered his son.
The sacrifice required is not of flesh and blood, but rather the surrender of man's purpose and will to God. (in a word: Islam.
