It’s been a while since I’ve wrote last, but considering time since last world was normal, it’s like a blink of an eye.

Exactly one year ago I’ve started this blog as a self help tool to me, my life and my beliefs. A lot has happened during last year, not only in my small world but global. It was a roller coaster that keeps on spinning with out stopping. It seems that only loosing oneself completely leads to finding and recognizing who one really is. So I’ve learned, regardless  Times and Circumstances, to seek refuge in God and keep faith in oneself.

To all that suffer, may Allah hear and bring relief to them.

Ameen.

Eid Al- Adha known as Festival of Sacrifice, is celebrated on the 10th day of the month Dhul Hijja (ca 70 days after Ramadan), as a crown element of pilgrim Hajj. This important holiday has its roots in a particular event that took place 4000 years ago-  a test that Allah has addressed to Ibrahim and Ismail.

“Ibrahim was of the self-same faith (as Noah) and came to his Lord with a pure heart. He said to his father and to his people, ‘What are these that you worship? Would you serve false gods instead of Allah? What do you think of the Lord of the Creation?’

He lifted up his eyes to the stars and said, ‘I am sick!’ Then, his people turned their backs and went off.

He stole away to their idols and said to them, ‘Will you not eat your offerings? Why do you not speak?’ With that, he fell upon them, striking them down with his right hand.

The people came running to the scene. ‘Would you worship that which you have made with your own hands,’ he said, ‘when it was Allah who created you and all that you have made?’

They replied, ‘Build up a pyre and cast him into the blazing flames.’ Thus they schemed against him, but we balked their schemes.

He said, ‘I will take refuge with my Lord; he will guide me. Grant me a son, Lord, and let him be a righteous man.’

We gave him news of a gentle son. And when he reached the age when he could work with him his father said to him: “My son, I dreamt that I was sacrificing you. Tell me what you think.’

He replied: ‘Father, do as you are bidden. Allah willing, you shall find me faithful.’ And when they had both surrendered themselves to Allah’s will, and Ibrahim had laid down his son prostrate upon his face, We called out to him saying: ‘Ibrahim, you have fulfilled your vision.’ Thus did we reward the righteous. That was indeed a bitter test. We ransomed his son with a noble sacrifice and bestowed on him the praise of later generations. ‘Peace be on Ibrahim!’

Thus are the righteous rewarded. He was one of Our believing servants.

We gave him Ishak, whom We made a saintly prophet, and blessed them both. Among their offspring were some who did good words and others who clearly sinned against their souls.”

~ Qur’an 37:83- 113

Ibrahim’s unconditional and immovable belief manifested in his willingness to submit own son to God, is great example to be followed. It also shows one undeniable truth- God always knows what’s best, and often puts people in the hardest trials. Keep your faith!!!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

اللهم جازي كل من شارك في إعداد وإرسال هذه الرسالة خير ما جازيت به عبادك الصالحين

كل عام وأنتم بخير

اضغط على الرابط

tkber.swf

وشغل الصوت ونت قاعد تشتغل

EID MUBARAK!!!

☞ Madinah-Coverside ☜ download PDF file

Posted in Islam Tagged: medina ]]> http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/medina/feed/ 11 Amina http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/jannat-al-mualla/ http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/jannat-al-mualla/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:20:55 +0000 Amina http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/?p=586 ]]>

Jannat Al- Mualla in Mekkah, known also as Al- Hajun, is second biggest and most attended graveyard after Al-Baqi in Medina. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) used to visit this cemetery frequently, as it’s place of peace for many close to him people:

• Abd Manaf: prophet’s great, great-grandfather
  
• Hashim: prophet’s great-grandfather
• Abdul Muttalib: prophet’s grandfather
• Amina: prophet’s mother (according to another source, Amina is buried in Abwa- between Makkah and Madina) – where the 7th Imam (RA) was born
• Abu Talib: Father of First Imam Ali (RA)
• Khadija: prophet’s first wife and Fatima’s (R) mother
• Qasim: prophet’s son who died in his infancy

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“Their reward is with their Lord:
Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow,
Wherein they dwell forever.
Allah hath pleasure in them and they have pleasure in Him.
This is (in store) for him who feareth his Lord”
( Qur’an, 98:8)

Jannat Al-Baqi (جنة البقيع) is a cemetery for companions and family members of prophet Muhammad (SAWS), located across Masjid Al- Nabawi in Medina- KSA. It is believed that nearly 10000 people were buried there starting from prophet’s relatives, friends and muslim scholars. Baqi is very clean graveyard with out any trees. All graves are nameless and made of mud. Though this place has historical value and spiritual significance, burials continue at this cemetery up to this day.

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Janat Al- Baqi NOW

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“The Garden of Heaven” can be visited by men only. Women are not allowed to come even near wall of the cementary.

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Grave of Hazrat Ibrahim R.A. (Son of Prophet Mohammed P.B.U.H.)

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Grave of third Caliph 0sman (RA)

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Grave of Hazrat Haleema R.A.

Haleema fed Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) according to old arabic custom- handing child after birth to nurse.

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Grave of prophet Muhammad’s wives

Khadija (RA) however, is buried in Jannatul Mullah in Mekkah

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Graves of prophet Mohammad’s (SAWS) aunts

on the left- Safia (RA), the only confirmed aunt (fathers’sister) of prophet Muhammad (SAWS) that embraced Islam

in the middle- Aatika

on the right- Umm al-Banin, wife of Imam Ali, mother of Abbas

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GRAVES OF DAUGHTERS OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAWS)

No1. Zainab (R.A)
No2. Umm-e-Kulsoom (R.A)
No3. Ruqayia (R.A)

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GRAVE OF ABBAS (RA)

Abbas (RA) was one of 2 prophet’s Muhammad (SAWS) uncle that has embraced islam.

Other uncle is Hamza (RA), buried in the battle fieldof Uhad in Madina Munawarrah.

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GRAVE OF JAFFAR-TAYYAR (RA)

Jaffar- Tayyar was cousin of prophet (SAWS)

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GRAVE OF IMAM HASAN (RA) AND 4 IMAMS

The lonely grave on the left- Imam Hasan (RA), grandson of prophet Muhammad (SAWS)

four other graves: Imam Ali bin Hussain (AS), Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS), Imam Jafir Sadiq (AS) and Hazrat Abbas bin Muttalib

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“Their reward is with their Lord:
Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow,
Wherein they dwell forever.
Allah hath pleasure in them and they have pleasure in Him.
This is (in store) for him who feareth his Lord”
( Qur’an, 98:8)

Posted in Islam Tagged: cemetery, Islam, jannat al-baqi, medina, prophet ]]> http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/jannat-al-baqi/feed/ 7 Amina jannatul_baqi1 http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/the-prophets-are-alive/ http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/the-prophets-are-alive/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:27:54 +0000 Amina http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/?p=564 ]]>

I. Hadrat Abu al-Darda’ reported that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Indeed Allah has made it Haram (forbidden) upon the earth to eat the bodies of the Prophets. Thus, the Prophets of Allah are alive and are given their sustenance.”

COMMENTARY:

Hadrat Sheikh ‘Abd al-Haq “Muhaddith-e-Dehwli” states under the commentary of this Hadith that:

The Prophets of Allah are alive in their graves, just as they were alive in this world.

[Ashi’ah al-Lam’at – Vol. 1 Pg. 576]

Imam Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari states under the commentary of this Hadith that:

There is no difference between the life of the Prophets after their demise and the life of them in this world. This is why it has been stated that the Awliyah (pious friends of Allah, the Most Exalted) do not die, but in fact, move from one place (the world) to another (the Hereafter).

[Mirqat – Vol. 2 Pg. 212]

II. Hadrat Aws ibn Aws narrated that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Allah has made the (eating of the) bodies of the Prophets Haram (unlawful) on the earth.

COMMENTARY:

Hadrat Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari states under the commentary of this Hadith:

Indeed the Prophets are alive in their graves.

[Mirqat – Vol. 2 Pg. 209]

Hadrat Sheikh ‘Abd al-Haq “Muhaddith-e-Dehlwi” states under the commentary of this Hadith:

The Prophets are alive and everyone believes that they are alive; there is no disagreement in this. Their life (in their graves) is the real, physical life (which they possessed in this world); not like the martyrs whose life is only spiritual.

[Ashi’ah al-Lam’at – Vol. 1 Pg. 574]

NOTES:

1. The Prophets are alive in their graves living their ‘real’ and physcial life which they used to live in this world. This is why on the Night of Ascension when the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] reached Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), he lead the prayer in which all the Prophets stood behind him. If the prophets were not alive after their death, then how would have they come to perform Salaah in Bayt al-Maqdis behind the Final Messenger [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam]?!

1. The life of the Prophets in their graves is the real, physical life which they used to live in this world. It is not merely a ‘spiritual’ life like that of the martyrs. This is why the wealth left in inheritance by the Prophets is not distributed; nor can their wives marry anyone else after them. Contrary to this, the wealth left in inheritance by the martyrs can be distributed and their wives can marry anyone after their death.

1. The life of the Prophets in their graves is not barzakhi (interspatial life) but it is the ‘real’, ‘physical’ life they used to spend in this world. The only matter of the fact is that we are not able to see them. This has been stated by the great Imam al-Shiekh Hasan ibn ‘Ammar Shurunbulali in the commentary of his famous book “Noor al-Idah” entitled “Maraqiy al-Falah” on Page 447:

It is well known fact among the great scholars that the Mesenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is alive in his blessed grave (the life which he used to spend in this world). The Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is given sustenance; takes benefit from everything which he desires; and gains the pleasure and joy of worshipping (as he had in this world). However, those who have not reached close proximity to Allah are unable to see him.

It has been stated in Nasim al-Riyadh sharh al-Shifa Qadi ‘Iyadh:

The prophets are alive in their graves living the ‘real’ life which they had in this world.

[Vol. 1 Pg. 196]

In al-Mirqat sharh Mishkat, Imam Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari states:

Undoubtedly, the Messenger of Allah is [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] alive; presented with sustenance; and one can ask from him any kind of assistance whatsoever.

[al-Mirqat sharh Mishkat – Vol. 1 Pg. 284]

Hadrat Sheikh ‘Abd al-Haq Muhaddith-e-Dehlwi states in his book “Suluk Aqrab al-Subuli bi al-Tawajjuh ila Sayyid al-Rusuli” (published by Rahimiyah – Deoband – India Pg. 161):

Despite the increasing disagreement and disputes amongst the scholars of this Ummah, there is no disagreement in this fact that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is alive in his grave; he is present there. There is not even a slightest thought of saying that this life is not real (but majaz – metaphoric). The Holy Prophet [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is Hadhir-o-Nadhir (present and witnessing) seeing the actions of his Ummah and being presented with them. Those who seek assistance from the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam], and those who draw close to him, he blesses them and is their mentor.

1. The Holy Qur’an states: “surely you are to die, and they too are to die.” [Surah:39 – al-Zumar, Verse:30]. This means moving away from this world (to the Hereafter). The meaning of the word hayat (life) is the real physcial life after death.

Yunus Raza Akhtari

As I mentioned in my previous post, muslims are being encourage to visit prophet Mohammad’s (SAWS) grave during Hajj. Al-Qadi `Iyad writes: Visiting his grave is part of the Sunna and is both excellent and desirable. Ibn `Umar refares to words of prophet: “My intercession is assured for all who visit me.”

In the same time it must be said, that there’s specific etiquette in Islam regarding this issue, that doesn’t permit seeking blessing by touching the grave. Prophet (SAWS) himself said:

“O Allah, do not make my grave an idol to be worshiped after me. Allah was angry with people who took the graves of their Prophets as mosques.”

Good elaboration to following matter grave Sheikh `Abdel Khaliq Hassan Ash-Shareef, an Egypt-based renowned scholar and da`iyah, who said:

We all love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and we are required to send peace and blessings on him, follow his footsteps, and protect his Sunnah.

However, it is not prescribed in the Islamic Shari`ah to worship Almighty Allah by visiting the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) grave. Although, it is prescribed and recommended in the Islamic Shari`ah to visit the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) Mosque. While visiting the Prophet’s Mosque, we can stand by his grave and send peace on him and his two Companions, Abu Bakr and `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), with politeness and without touching the grave or doing any other unlawful acts.

In regard to the mentioned etiquette, professor of Islamic Philosophy Dr. Muhammad Ahmad Al-Musayyar, at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo stated:

It is most appropriate for a Muslim visiting the Prophet’s Mosque to begin with praying two rak`ahs, preferably in Ar-Rawdah Ash-Sharifah, to greet the mosque. Then the visitor may walk to the blessed grave from the direction of the qiblah in a polite, calm, and humble manner, face the grave, and then say, “O Allah’s Prophet, may the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.”

The visitor may also praise the Prophet’s character by mentioning some of his attributes upon greeting him. Then, the visitor may move rightwards by an arm’s length to face Abu Bakr’s grave and greet him and then proceed by the same distance to stand before `Umar’s grave and greet him, too.

Then, if any visitor wants to pray for themselves, then they are required to face the qiblah, not the grave, while doing so.

It was reported in some narrations that when the mosque was free of worshippers, the Companions of the Prophet would sit by the rummanah of the pulpit (a spherical shape in the Prophet’s pulpit where he would rest his hand while delivering speeches) with the grave to their right and then face the qiblah to supplicate Almighty Allah. `Abdullah ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) would visit the Prophet’s grave and say, “Peace be upon the Prophet, peace be upon Abu Bakr, and peace be upon my father.” Then he would leave.

Some scholars made a distinction between the dwellers of Madinah and its visitors with regard to the desirability of standing at the Prophet’s grave. Imam Malik said, “It is not highly desirable for a resident of Madinah to stand at the [Prophet's] grave when entering the Prophet’s Mosque. This is, however, highly desirable for the visitors of Madinah.”

Imam Malik was also reported as saying, “It is, however, permissible for a resident of Madinah who has just turned back from a journey outside Madinah or who is setting out for a journey outside it to stand at the grave of the Prophet and invoke Allah’s peace and blessings upon him, Abu Bakr, and `Umar.”

This distinction between the inhabitants of Madinah and its visitors as to standing at the Prophet’s grave is followed by another distinction pertaining to the desirability of performing supererogatory prayer at the Prophet’s mosque.

Generally speaking, the jurists of Islam, based on an authentic hadith of the Prophet, agree that a Muslim’s supererogatory prayer is best performed at home. The prescribed prayers are, however, best performed in congregation at the mosque for men. But Imam Malik said, “In my viewpoint, for the visitors of Madinah, offering supererogatory prayers is more recommended at the Prophet’s Mosque than at home.”

In Islam it is merely recommended for people to visit each other graves. Prophet once said:

“Allah curses women who visit graves” [Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban].

Based on that statment, many rules and practises have been formulated. Best example- Jannat al- Baqi in Media ( graveyard for Mohammad’s family members and companions), where women are not allowed to enter at all. Permission for men to visit this place has been legitimized from another statment of Prophet (SAWS):

“I forbade you to visit graves, but now you can visit them” [Muslim]

Time of Hajj has started and since it is recommended during visiting Mosque in Medina, to visit Prophet’s Muhammed grave, I’ve decided to write few words about it.

I. Hadrat ibn ‘Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Whoever visits my grave, my intercession is guaranteed for him.”

[al-Sunan al-Daraqutni (2:278) al-Kuna wa al-Asma’ al-Dulani (2:64), Majma’ al-Zawaid Haythami (4:2), al-Talkhis al-Habir Ibn Hajar al-Hafiz (2:267), Kanz al-‘Ummal (15:651), Jadhb al-Qulub – Shaykh ‘Abd al-Haq al-Dehlwi al-Muhaddith (204)]

II. Hadrat ibn ‘Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Whoever visits me without any avowed purpose other than my visit, it is incumbent upon me to be his intercessor on the Day of Resurrection.”

[narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat and al-Kabir (12:291) and al-Daraqutni and Majma’ al-Zawa’id al-Haythami (4:2) and Ittihaf al-Sa’dah al-Muttaqin Sharh Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din al-Zubaidi (4:416) and Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthur al-Suyuti (1:237) and Kanz al-‘Ummal Muttaqi al-Chishti al-Shadhili al-Hindi (Hadith no. 34928 (2:256) all references from Jami’ al-Ahadith – Imam Ahmed Rida Khan compiled by ‘Allama Hanif Khan Razvi Bareilly – V.2 Pg. 268].

III. Hadrat ibn ‘Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Whoever makes pilgrimage then visits me after my death it is as if he visited me in my life.”

[narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (12:310) and al-Daraqutni (2:278) and al-Baihaqi in his al-Sunan al-Kubra (5:286) and in Mishkat al-Masabih Tabrezi (2756) and in al-Jami’ al-Saghir Suyuti (2:523) and Jadhb al-Qulub - ‘Abd al-Haq Dehlwi (205) and Ittihaf al-Sadah Zubaydi (4:416) and Kanz al-‘Ummal (5:135) and Majma’ al-Zawaid Haythami (4:2)]

IV. The Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Whoever visits my grave after my death is as those who visited me in my life.”

[Narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (12:406) and al-Awsat (1:94) and al-Daraqutni (2:278)]

V. Hadrat Anas ibn Malik said that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “Anyone who visits me in Madinah for the sake of Allah is near me and I will intercede for him on the Day of Rising.”

[al-Baihaqi and others as mentioned by Imam Qadi al-‘Iyad in al-Shifa – Section 9 – “Concerning visit to the Prophet’s grave...”]

VI. Hadrat Nafi’ said, “I saw that Hadrat [‘Abdullah] ibn ‘Umar used to come to the grave a hundred times or more. He would say, ‘Peace be upon the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Peace be upon Abu Bakr.’” Then he would leave. Ibn ‘Umar was also seen to put his hand on the seat of the Prophet [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] at the mimbar and then place his hand on his face [for blessings and Barakah].

[narrated in al-Shifa’ – Section 9, and mentioned by Imam Ahmed Rida Khan the great Muhaddith and Mufassir and the Reviver of the Islamic sciences in his treatise “Abar al-Maqal – p.3 and Jami’ al-Ahadith – Vol. 2 Pg. 268]

VII. Hadrat ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] said, “whosoever visits me (my grave) after my death is as he has visited me in my life and I shall be an intercessor and witness for him on the Day of Resurrection.”

[Ittihaf al-Sadah (4:416) and al-Mughni Zain al-Din al-Iraqi (1:259) and Jadhb al-Qulub ‘Abd al-Haq al-Dehlawi (205)]

NOTES:

1. To perform the ziyarah (visit) of the blessed shrine of the Messenger of Allah [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is near to Wajib (being necessary).

[Fatawa-e-Razawiyyah, Bahar-e-Shari’at]

1. To perform Hajj and not to visit the blessed shrine of the Beloved Prophet [Sallal Laahu Alayhi Wasallam] is a sign of wretchedness.

I’m receiving many questions concerning postage of Qur’an and other islamic books for FREE. Since however I don’t occupy myself with sending publications, I’ve decided to do a research and find sites that provide such service. Here’s what I’ve found.

I know I wrote about this site before, but since it works really good and it’s really reliable, I’ve determined to mention it again. Conveying Islamic Message Society (CIMS) is an Islamic society that sends free Islamic books (with no costs at all) in many languages, straight to your door!!! To get particular publication send an e-mail to Mr Abd Elhamed Torky: contactcims@yahoo.com or CIM_SOCIETY@YAHOO.COM.

To get the latest list of Books,  you can visit CIMS: http://www.islamic-invitation.com as well as:

www.islamic-message.net

www.islamic-invitation.net (Only for downloading books)

info_en@islamic-message.net

Following site is rich source of useful links, books and islamic products:

http://www.sultan.org/books/

IslamBasic has big libary of varied books:

http://www.islambasics.com/

This site contains: 659 books in 98 languages all in PDF files:

http://www.islamic-invitation.com/

HilalPlaza has good collection of free books ready to download in many languages: http://www.hilalplaza.com/free-islamic-ebooks/

IslamicGift will provide Free Qur’an in any language, to any place in the world! It has also developing library of free books. Everyone can donate to this site, own books and islamic materials as a part of charity. All books are free and there are NO DELIVERY CHARGES! This site also offers arrangement for desired translation of  chosen book for any individual, in case it’s not there listed:

http://www.islamgift.com/

Islamic Bulletin has decent collection of muslim e-books:

http://www.islamicbulletin.com/services/all_ebooks_p1.aspx

IslamicOccasions offers free e-books around topic of Islam and spirituality, that not only help to understand religion but also reason of own existence:

http://www.ezsoftech.com/islamic/download.asp

Following site, have collection of recommended books for New and Non- Muslims on bases of renting or getting free copy:

http://www.welcome-back.org/reading.htm

Another site that I would like to mention, is Islamic Forum with many e-books links. Best thing about it would be its form- one can ask questions and participate in discussion regarding any matter:

http://www.gawaher.com/index.php?showforum=13.html&

Adam
Idris       >>>>>>   Enoch Approx. 1600-1800 after advent of Adam.
Nuh        >>>>>>   Noah Approx. 1600 years after advent of Adam.
Hud        >>>>>>   Approx. 2900 years after advent of Adam.
Salih       >>>>>>   Approx. 3000 years after advent of Adam.
Ibrahim  >>>>>>    Abraham Approx 3400 years after advent of Adam.
Isma’il    >>>>>>    Ishmael Approx 3400-3500 years after advent oAdam.
Ishak      >>>>>>    Isaac Approx 3400-3500 years after advent of Adam.
Yaqub    >>>>>>    Jacob Approx 3500-3600 years after advent of Adam.
Lut         >>>>>>    Lot Approx. 3400 years after advent of Adam.
Shuaib   >>>>>>    Approx. 3900 years after advent of Adam.
Yusuf     >>>>>>    Joseph Approx. 3600-3700 years after advent of Adam.
Ayub      >>>>>>    Job Approx. 3800 years after advent of Adam.
Yunus    >>>>>>    Jonah Approx. 3800 years after advent of Adam.
Musa & Harun    >    Moses & Aaron Approx. 4000 years after advent of Adam.
Hizqueel >>>>>>   Ezekiel Approx. 4800 years after advent of Adam.
Elisha      >>>>>>   Elyas Approx 4500 years after advent of Adam.
Shammil    >>>>     Samuel Approx. 4250 years after advent of Adam.
Dawud   >>>>>>    David Approx. 4300 years after advent of Adam.
Daniel    >>>>>>    Daniel Approx. 4800 years after advent of Adam
Uzair      >>>>>>    Ezra Approx. 4850 years after advent of Adam.
Zechariah    >>>      Zakariya Approx 5400 years after advent of Adam
Yahya     >>>>>>    John Approx. 5400 years after advent of Adam.
Isa          >>>>>>    Jesus Approx. 5400 years after advent of Adam
Mohammed  >>>     Approx. 6000 years after advent of Adam

I guess many of you have heard about one peculiar event that recently took place in Oxford, UK. Female scholar from US, Mss Amina Wadud, has led group of women and men in Friday prayer. When I heard the news I got really intrigued, and decided to do some research in this subject as question of woman leading men in islamic sermon, has been raised many times.

This is not one time/ first time occurrence. Sister Amina Wadud has led friday’s khutba in 1994 in Cape Town’s Mosque, South Africa. In spite of criticism, she has continued to lead mixed gender congregations, most recent in 2005 in New York and Spain. One of the earliest cases of woman taking role of Imam was registered in 1995 in Johannesburg- South Africa. There are also many similar goings-on in Canada and US.

Scholars generally agree that female can lead kids or other ladies in pray. Mullahs from hanafi madhab go even further letting woman to lead mixed gender in pray during ramadan pray- Tarawih or within own household with group of relatives. This view according to Dr. Yusuf Al- Qaradawi has its source in Umm Waraqah Hadith, however is strongly rejected by great majority of Fiqh followers.

The hadith of `Aisha and Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with them). `Abdur-Raziq (5086), Ad-Daraqutni (1/404) and Al-Bayhaqi (3/131) reported from the narration of Abu Hazim Maysarah ibn Habib from Ra’itah Al-Hanafiyyah from `A’ishah that she led women in Prayer and stood among them in an obligatory Prayer. Moreover, Ibn Abi Shaybah (2/89) reported from the chain of narrators of Ibn Abi Layla from `Ata’ that `A’ishah used to say the Adhan, the Iqamah, and lead women in Prayer while standing among them in the same row. Al-Hakim also reported the same hadith from the chain of narrators of Layth Ibn Abi Sulaim from `Ata’, and the wording of the hadith mentioned here is Al-Hakim’s.

Furthermore, Ash-Shafi`i (315), Ibn Abi Shaybah (88/2) and `Abdur-Raziq (5082) reported from two chains of narrators that report the narration of `Ammar Ad-Dahni in which he stated that a woman from his tribe named Hujayrah narrated that Umm Salamh used to lead women in Prayer while standing among them in the same row.

The wording of `Abdur-Raziq for the same hadith is as follows: “Umm Salamah led us (women) in the `Asr Prayer and stood among us (in the same row).”

In addition, Al-Hafiz said in Ad-Dirayah (1/169), “Muhammad ibn Al-Husain reported from the narration of Ibrahim An-Nakh`i that `A’ishah used to lead women in Prayer during the month of Ramadan while standing among them in the same row.

Further, `Abdur-Raziq reported (5083) from the narration of Ibrahim ibn Muhammad from Dawud ibn Al-Husain from `Ikrimah from Ibn `Abbas that the latter said, “A woman can lead women in Prayer while standing between them.”

Women have never stood in front of men, in regards to prophet (SAWS) teaching:

So standing in the first row of the prayers as Imams do, and leading Jummah prayer as sister Amina Wadud did, seems to be totally unthinkable and unacceptable since friday pray isn’t obligatory for women in a first place.

As Imam As-Sindi explains following narration: ‘The saying of the Prophet : “…their homes are better (i.e. more rewarding) for them” means that they will receive a greater reward for praying at home than if they were to pray in the mosque. This is due to them being further from temptation by remaining at home. This becomes even more apparent and established by the fact that women have begun to adorn themselves and are leaving their homes in a manner which did not exist at the time of the Prophet . This phenomenon caused ‘Aa’ishah to state that women must be obliged to pray at home.”

Women since very beginning were commanded to distant themselves from men during prayer, so how can it be permissible for women to lead men in Salaat? Few fatawa however, like Dr. Khaled Abu Al- Fadl, permit women to lead a mixed gender congregation regardless of familial relationship and even recommend females for positions of Imam.

Why there is so much disagreements in this matter? Qur’an considers women and men equal in belief and in any acts in life and gives example of Queen of Sheba as righteous woman and excellent leader of a nation. Giving however woman legimity to lead mixed congregations for pray, is big innovation that hits tradition continued since times of Abraham and frankly speaking I’m not sure of its result. We must be aware that there was no woman ever chosen as prophet, and even this fact alone should give us something to think about. At the same time, what women call: equality of rights for both sexes in deen, can be also called: novelty, which is strongly condemned by Qur’an.

It is tough task to preserve tradition and modernize law according to needs of time and society with out fear of being misguided. Normally I would cite one chinese proverb:

but in the matter of Deen, I can only quote:

(…)do not follow your personal opinion, lest it diverts you from the way of GOD. Surely, those who stray off the way of GOD incur severe retribution for forgetting the Day of Reckoning.

***

Woman leads Muslim prayers in UK

What is the precise meaning of ‘dhikr’? What is its scope and what does it entail?

Does it simply involve certain utterances of the tongue, like Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah), Alhamdu lillah (All praise be to Allah), Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), La ilaha illallah (There is no god but Allah)?

Does it involve the recitation of some other selected verses Quran? Or is there more to it?

Of course, such utterances of the tongue and recitation of verses of the Quran are important. In fact they are very important forms of dhikr, for indeed, the best forms of remembrance are those that involve both the heart and the tongue.

You must understand, however, that the scope of dhikr is considerably wider.Dhikr must not only be felt by the heart and uttered with the tongue, but must also effectgood deeds.

Significantly, Ibn Al-Qayyim suggests that dhikr encompasses “any and every particular moment when you are thinking, saying or doing things which Allah likes”.

Hence, if your conversation is filled with the words of God, this is dhikr. And if all your actions are in accordance with His will, this is dhikr. Indeed Allah commends that we remember Him while standing, sitting and even while reclining. This is only possible if dhikr embraces every single aspect of life.

Consider for example the following verse of the Quran where dhikr is emphasized in both Prayer and business activity:

[O Believers, when the call to Prayer is sounded on the Day of Congregation, hasten to Allah's remembrance and leave all worldly commerce. This is for your own good, if you but knew it. And when the Prayer is finished, then disperse through the land,

and seek of the bounty of Allah; and remember Allah frequently

that you may prosper.](Al-Jumu`ah 62:9-10)

Attending the Friday Prayers, listening to the Khutbah, or sermon, and performing the congregational Prayer are all well known as forms of dhikr. But in our worldly pursuits as well, we are urged to remember Allah even more often.

We may thus conclude, that attending to your personal needs, earning a livelihood and spending on your family are all forms of dhikr. But of course, they can only be dhikr if, alongside with the relevant supplications in the heart and on the

tongue, they are done in obedience to Allah, for His pleasure, to attain Paradise.

Otherwise, as the Quran warns us, far from being dhikr, they may have the opposite effect:

[Let not your worldly possessions and your children make you neglectful of Allah's remembrance. But spend in the way of Allah.] (Al-Munafiqun 63:9-10)

The Methods of Dhikr

We have thus far discussed the significance, meaning and scope of dhikr. Let us now turn to the various forms and methods of dhikr. How do we remember Allah in the morning and evening, during the day and at night and while standing, sitting or

reclining? There are basically two forms of dhikr.

The first involves continuous and sustained inner awareness of Allah in all that we say and do in our daily lives.

The second involves mechanisms, whether performed individually or collectively,

that help to develop the first.

Sustained Awareness of Allah

Let us begin with a discussion of the first form and its methods. How can you remember Allah throughout the normal course of your day without withdrawing from the routine of your daily worldly life?

How can you ensure that your personal life, family life, professional life and other activities all continue in full swing, and yet, at the same time, ensure that your life as a whole — every moment of it — is permeated with remembrance of Allah? Such an all-pervading dhikr can be an onerous task, but one you can accomplish with some ease.

Let me remind you of four states of consciousness that you must strive to develop

by remembering certain things, absorbing them and reminding yourself of them often.

1. Say to yourself: “I am in Allah’s presence; He is watching me.”

If ever you are alone, He is the second and that if you are two, He is the third.

[He is with you wherever you are.] (Al-Mujadalah 58:7)

[He is nearer to you than your jugular vein.](Qaf 50:16)

He is watching everything that you do and hearing everything that you say. He is ever present and His knowledge is all encompassing. Remind yourself of this as often as you can, and throughout the day, every time you begin a new task, and every

time you speak.

Indeed, your aim should be to impress this on your heart in such a way that it ultimately becomes your very breath. When the Prophet was asked by a Companion about the best method of purifying himself, he replied: “You should always remember that Allah is with you wherever you are.” (At-Tirmidhi)

2. Say to yourself: “Everything I have has been given to me by Allah.”

All that there is — surrounding you, on you and in you — comes from Allah alone. There is none that creates or gives anything but Allah (An-Nahl 16:78; Ya-Sin 36:33-35.)

Therefore, reflect upon all the blessings that He has created you with and

be thankful to Him. In all the dhikr that the Prophet has taught us, gratefulness to Allah is a constant theme.

Many of these dhikrs are simple to learn, and indeed, it was the most simple of his dhikr that he used most frequently. When the Prophet rose in the morning, he would say Alhamdu lillah; whenever he ate or drank he would say Alhamdu lillah; and even when he relieved himself he would give thanks to Allah.

Learn as many of the dhikrs as you can, and throughout the day, as you witness all that Allah has blessed you with, punctuate your day with these dhikrs.

If ever you appear to be short of things to be thankful for, recall the hadith of the Prophet: “There are 360 joints in the body and for each joint you must give a sadaqah [thanks or charity] each day.” (Al-Bukhari.)

You must give a sadaqah for each one of them because without any one of them you will be incomplete and handicapped. You must do this on a daily basis for should

any one of them become damaged one day, you will similarly become incapacitated.

Additionally, you may remind yourself that, as we now know from our knowledge of human physiology, your heart beats an average of 72 times a minute. Every time it beats, it does so with the permission of Allah.

The moment He withdraws that permission, the heart will stop beating and your life will certainly come to an end. If you feel that there is nothing else to thank Allah for, then thank Him for the life that He has given you — for, so long as there is life, there is hope.

3.Say to yourself: “Nothing in this world can happen without His permission.”

Everything lies in the hands of Allah. No harm can befall you and no benefit can reach you except as Allah ordains. It is as the Quran informs us:

[If God should touch you with misfortune, none can remove it but He; and if He should touch you with good fortune, He has power over all things. He alone holds sway over His creatures; He is the All-Wise, the All-Aware.] (Al-An`am 6:17-18)

The Prophet Muhammad would supplicate to Allah after each Prayer: “O Allah, whatever You want to give me, no one can stop it from coming to me and whatever You want to prevent from coming to me, nobody can give to me.”

Prayer after Prayer, you should recite these beautiful words. And beyond that, remind yourself as much as you can and throughout the day, especially as you expect something to happen, or not to happen, that everything happens only as He

commands, and by His permission.

4. Say to yourself: “I am going to return to Allah one day and that day could be today.”

You do not know when you will leave this world. It may be that the coming morning is your last morning, or perhaps the coming evening is your last evening. Indeed, it may be that this hour is your last hour, or even, that this moment is your last

moment.

Such an uncertainty does not, of course, justify a complete withdrawal from this life so as to prepare for the next in some monastic fashion. It is important, however, that you are always conscious of this uncertainty, to the extent that it motivates you to spend every moment of your remaining life seriously, considering it as a gift from Allah and spending the resources He has blessed you with — time, ability and energy — as He has advised.

Then, and only then, will your life have achieved what is required of it, and your return will achieve what is required of it. To help you attain this state of consciousness, recall and reflect upon the following Quranic verse as much as

you can and throughout the day:

[From Allah we came and to Him we shall return.](Al-Baqarah 2:156)

These are the four states of consciousness that can help us achieve a life completely devoted to the remembrance of Allah.

To try to reach these four states simultaneously, and with sincerity, can only purify you. To try in a determined fashion to reach these four states will lead you inevitably to Paradise.

By  Khurram Murad

http://www.readingislam.com

Poverty is an unsolved issue of unimaginable scale worldwide. In book: The End of Poverty, prof Jeffrey Sachs comments that every day our newspapers could report “more than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty”. Why don’t they? Because story is too big for the news, heartbreaking and horrifying. Since also events like that happen on daily basis, and no gold mean is being found in fighting and preventing it, news itself is being treated as minor! So instead of sensitize society and serving cause of spreading news and opening eyes, media rather chase after big scandals and drama, saving us compassion over tragic news. That leeds to ignorance and takes people away from issues that really matter. At this point I would like also to refute one stereotype about poverty, as problem of only third world countries or deserved condition of few individuals brought by themselves alone due to bad habits and addictions. Well, THIS IS NOT THE CASE, or at least whole truth about it. Myself I come from rather indigent country, I’ve traveled a lot, Europe, Asia, America and everywhere common pattern was seen. No place on this planet has been spared from indigence as it’s social and political issue that concerns all of us!

There are many factors that induce poverty and traps people just like you and me every day. So may be next time seeing mendicant, feeling discuss from his ragged clothes and smell, just before turning your eyes away from him pretending not to see nor hear help entreaty, just before poisoned arrow of disdain is about to cross your mind, think is that person really so different from you. Is it really so unthinkable that one day it could be you or someone you know living on the street and begging? We are all on the same train called freedom, and we all climb our way to life. Sometimes that way brings us to the top of the peak, and another times, down the hill.

It is amazing that in 21st century, with so many welfare and charity organizations out there to fight poverty, number of needy people grows. That only proves how big that problem is and stresses that still lot more needs to be done and said about it. No PITY, No Scapegoats- ACTION!!!

***

Following article written by Nelson Kruschandl is really very moving and informative. Spare a moment and read it.

I would also like to direct your attention to WFP. It’s one of most trusted organizations fighting hunger.

POVERTY

Those who live in conditions of poverty lack a wide range of economic and other resources and may be described as poor or impoverished. Some see the term as subjective and comparative, others see it as moral and evaluative, while others consider that it is scientifically established. The term “developing countries” is now used to refer to nations that are “poor.”  We’ve all seen it overseas and in a small way at home in our cities and felt ashamed we could not help.  I’m lucky, I live in England. a country where absolute poverty hardly exists, but where poverty levels are reduced and help and advice is reasonably available.

Nelson Kruschandl – on poverty

It is a little known fact that the human race has expended more money and effort on war and waging war, than on tackling grass-root poverty, famine or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.  The reasons for this are many and I will try to highlight a few.  First of all, we are still encumbered by our caveman instinct to protect ourselves against outsiders.  In a modern world in this still necessary? Well, judging from the fact there has never been a time of absolute peace since the turn of the century – it is.  The solution to this one is not NATO or the United Nations, since they are largely ineffective.  One possible solution is a Global Alliance – an effective international peace keeping initiative. Of course as I speak, there is no such thing.

However, let us assume for the sake of argument that the Global Alliance was in place and working.  If that is true, we (Planet Earth) just freed up $billions normally spent on each country developing weapons, which can be used to tackle other issues such as the energy crisis – that’s the one they don’t tell ordinary folk about, but which starts wars and it will become worse as the oil runs out. As an example, the UK (Gordon Brown) is considering spending £25 billion renewing the Trident submarine nuclear missile system, which could go to fighting poverty.

Next, take away the tempting energy supplies gifted to a few lucky nations in the form of oil supplies.  I don’t mean literally.  I mean urgently develop renewable energy as an alternative to provide plentiful energy anywhere in the world.

Finally, take a look at the political and geographical issues causing starvation and deprivation.  Could this ever happen?  Who knows. But one thing is for sure, if we don’t look at solving these problems on a global scale, we will never conquer poverty. NK

Poverty is understood in many senses. The main understandings of the term include:

• Descriptions of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as the deprivation of essential goods and services.

• Descriptions of social need, including social exclusion, dependency, and the ability to participate in society. This would include education and information. Social exclusion is usually distinguished from poverty, as it encompasses political and moral issues, and is not restrained to the sphere of economics.

• Describing a lack of sufficient income and wealth. The meaning of “sufficient” varies widely across the different political and economic parts of the world.

Poverty-stricken people washing their clothes by a road in Mumbai, India.  Photo Antônio Milena/ABr

Measuring poverty

Although the most severe s.t.d.’s are in the developing world, there is evidence of poverty in every region. In developed countries, this condition results in wandering homeless people and poor suburbs and ghettos. Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. To avoid stigma these nations are usually called developing nations.

When measured, poverty may be absolute (also known as objective) or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 kilocalories per day). Absolute poverty is a condition that applies to people with the lowest incomes, the least education, the lowest social status, the fewest opportunities, etc.

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$ (PPP) 1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. It has been estimated that in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. The proportion of the developing world’s population living in extreme economic poverty has fallen from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Much of the improvement has occurred in East and South Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa GDP/capita shrank with 14 percent and extreme poverty increased from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001. Other regions have seen little or no change. In the early 1990s the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia experienced a sharp drop in income. Poverty rates rose to 6 percent at the end of the decade before beginning to recede. [1] There are various crticisms of these measurments.[2][3]

Other indicators of absolute poverty are also improving. Life expectancy has greatly increased in the developing world since WWII and is starting to close the gap to the developed world where the improvement has been smaller. Even in Sub-Saharan Africa, the least developed region, life expectancy increased from 30 years before World War II to about a peak of about 50 years before the AIDS pandemic and other diseases started to force it down to the current level of 47 years. Child mortality has decreased in every developing region of the world [4]. The proportion of the world’s population living in countries where per-capita food supplies are less than 2,200 calories (9,200 kilojoules) per day decreased from 56% in the mid-1960s to below 10% by the 1990s. Between 1950 and 1999, global literacy increased from 52% to 81% of the world. Women made up much of the gap: Female literacy as a percentage of male literacy has increased from 59% in 1970 to 80% in 2000. The percentage of children not in the labor force has also risen to over 90% in 2000 from 76% in 1960. There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita, as well as the proportion of the population with access to clean water.[5]

Map of the world showing poverty as a % of the population

Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context. In this case, the number of people counted as poor could increase while their income rise. A relative measurement would be to compare the total wealth of the poorest 1/3 of the population with the total wealth of richest 1% of the population. There are several different income inequality metrics, one example is the Gini coefficient. Relative poverty is a condition that is measured by comparing one group’s situation to the situations of those who are more advantaged.

In many developed countries, the official definition of poverty used for statistical purposes is based on relative income. As such many critics argue that poverty statistics measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. Furthermore, they are usually based on a person’s yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on “economic distance”, a level of income set at 50% of the median household income. The US poverty line is more arbitrary. It was created in 1963-64 and was based on the dollar costs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “economy food plan” multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplier was based on research showing that food costs then accounted for about one third of the total money income. This one-time calculation has since been annually updated for inflation.[6]

Income inequality for the world as a whole may be diminishing.[7]

Even if poverty may be lessening for the world as a whole, it continues to be an enormous problem:

• One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes. That’s 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US.

• Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.

• 800 million people go to bed hungry every night.

• The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world’s poorest countries.[8]

A homeless Frenchman

Causes of poverty

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance at all. The factors that have been alleged to cause poverty include the following:

• State discrimination and corruption. Abuse of public power.

• Lack of social integration. Competition instead of cooperation.

• Crime.

• Substance abuse

• Procrastination

• Natural factors such as climate or environment.

• Historical factors, for example imperialism and colonialism.

• Overpopulation. Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition.

• War, including civil war, genocide, bullying, democide, and politicide.

• Lack of education and skills.

• Matthew effect— the phenomenon, widely observed across advanced welfare states, that the middle classes tend to be the main beneficiaries of social benefits and services, even if these are primarily targeted at the poor.

• Cultural causes, which attribute poverty to common patterns of life, learned or shared within a community. For example, some have argued that protestantism contributed to economic growth during the industrial revolution.

• Individual beliefs, actions and choices.

• Mental diseases, such as Autism, and Schizophrenia.

• Excessive materialism

ACUTE CAUSES OF POVERTY

Warfare

The material and human destruction caused by warfare is a major development problem. For example, from 1990 to 1993, the period encompassing Desert Storm, per capita GDP in Iraq fell from $3500 to $761. The drop in average income, while a striking representation of the drop in the well-being of the average Iraqi citizen in the aftermath of the war, fails to capture the broader affects of damages to the infrastructure and social services, such as health care and access to clean water.

Agricultural cycles

People who rely on fruits and vegetables that they produce for household food consumption (subsistence farmers) often go through cycles of relative abundance and scarcity. For many families that rely on subsistence production for survival, the period immediately prior to harvest is a ‘hungry period.’ During these periods of scarcity, many families lack sufficient resources to meet their minimal nutritional needs. Being familiar with these cycles has enabled development practitioners to anticipate and prepare for periods of acute need for assistance.

Natural disasters

Natural disasters such as droughts, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes have devastated communities throughout the world. Developing countries often suffer much more extensive and acute crises at the hands of natural disasters, because limited resources inhibit the construction of adequate housing, infrastructure, and mechanisms for responding to crises.

Geography and Political

Some regions on earth are not conducive to supporting life anymore.  Yet, for political or other reasons, people gather at these locations only to find there is no food or water, or that the land may not support crops or animals, such as to provide a living. These people may be trapped in this location, without the means to support themselves or their families.

Eliminating poverty

In politics, the fight against poverty is usually regarded as a social goal and many governments have — secondarily at least — some dedicated institutions or departments.

Economic growth

• The anti-poverty strategy of the World Bank [9] depends heavily on reducing poverty through the promotion of economic growth. However, some consider this approach does not actively or directly work to reduce or eliminate poverty.

• 
  

The World Bank argues that an overview of many studies show that:

• 
  

  • Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction, and in principle growth as such does not seem to affect inequality.

  • Growth accompanied by progressive distributional change is better than growth alone.

  • High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty reduction.

  • Poverty itself is also likely to be a barrier for poverty reduction; and wealth inequality seems to predict lower future growth rates.[10]

• Research on the Index of Economic Freedom suggests that a set of economic conditions which have been termed “economic freedom” help increase growth and reduce poverty.

• Business groups see the reduction of barriers to the creation of new businesses [11], or reducing barriers for existing business, as having the effect of bringing more people into the formal economy.

A group of impoverished Russians butchering a dog for food

Direct aid

• The government can directly help those in need. This has been applied in most Western societies during the 20th century in what became known as the welfare state. Especially for those most at risk, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. The help can be for example monetary or food aid.

• Private charity. This is often formally encouraged within the legal system. For example, charitable trusts and tax deductions for charity.

Improving the social environment and abilities of the poor

• Affordable housing development and urban regeneration.

• Affordable education.

• Affordable health care.

• Providing help in finding employment.

• Subsidizing employment of groups that have difficulty finding work otherwise.

• Encouraging political participation and community organizing.

Millennium Development Goals

Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 is a Millennium Development Goal. In addition to broader approaches, the Sachs Report (for the UN Millennium Project) [12] proposes a series of “quick wins”, approaches identified by development experts which would cost relatively little but could have a major constructive effect on world poverty. The quick wins are:

• Eliminating school fees.

• Providing soil nutrients to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Free school meals for schoolchildren.

• Supporting breast-feeding.

• Deworming school children in affected areas.

• Training programmes for community health in rural areas.

• Providing mosquito nets.

• Ending user fees for basic health care in developing countries.

• Access to information on sexual and reproductive health.

• Drugs for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

• Upgrading slums, and providing land for public housing.

• Access to electricity, water and sanitation.

• Legislation for women’s rights, including rights to property.

• Action against domestic violence.

• Appointing government scientific advisors in every country.

• Planting trees.

The Borgen Project points out that while the U.S. government spends over $230 billion dollars a year on military contracts, $40-$60 billion a year is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of ending severe poverty by 2015. [13]

Other approaches

Most developed nations send some aid to developing nations. Polls have shown that, on average, Americans believe that 24% of the federal budget goes to development assistance. In reality, less than 1% of the budget goes to this.[14]

Most developing countries have produced Poverty Reduction Strategy papers or PRSPs [15].

Inequality can be reduced by progressive taxation, wealth tax, and/or inheritance tax.

Some argue for a radical change of the economic system. There are several proposals for a fundamental restructuring of existing economic relations, and many of their supporters argue that their ideas would reduce or even eliminate poverty entirely if they were implemented. Such proposals have been put forward by both left-wing and right-wing groups:socialism, communism, anarchism, libertarianism and participatory economics, among others.

In law, there has been a movement to seek to establish the absence of poverty as a human right.

In his book “The End of Poverty” [16], world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs laid out a lucid plan to eradicate global poverty by the year 2025. Following his doctrine, international organizations such as the Global Solidarity Network are helping end poverty working with governments and partners to help eradicate poverty worldwide with known, proven, reliable, and appropriate interventions in the areas of housing, food, education, basic health, agricultural inputs, safe drinking water, transportation and communications.

A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find

Debates about poverty

The underlying causes of poverty and the elimination thereof are a controversial, politicized issue. Those with right wing views may consider that poverty results from personal choices or preferences, the breakdown of “traditional values”, lack of birth control, and over-interference by government. They may also look to structural factors that prevent economic growth, such as poorly protected property rights, lacking credit system, crime, and corruption.

Those with more left wing views typically see poverty as the result of many systemic factors unrelated to personal choices or preferences. For instance, they consider that poverty is caused by lack of opportunity (particularly in education), and that it is often the lack of government intervention which results in more poverty. They tend to believe that alleviating poverty is a matter of social justice and that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to help those in need.

The condition in itself is not always considered negatively, even if this is the prevalent interpretation within a given society: some cultural or religious groups consider poverty an ideal condition in which to live, for an example; a condition necessary in order to reach certain spiritual, moral, or intellectual states. Poverty in this sense is understood as the lack of material possessions, and it is regarded in some branches as one of the counsels of perfection. For some orders this is equivalent to voluntary simplicity: Mother Teresa said that a vow of poverty “frees us from all material possessions”. However, a vow of poverty traditionally goes beyond that. The Dominicans “lived a life of voluntary poverty, exposing themselves to innumerable dangers and sufferings, for the salvation of others.” (Pope Honorius III, 1217).

LINKS

• The End of Poverty – an interview with Jeff Sachs – Yale Economic Review

• Catholic Encyclopedia “Poverty and Pauperism”

• The Borgen Project

• The Anti-Poverty Campaign

• Poverty on the Development Gateway portal

• Poverty on the World Bank portal

• Poverty at the Open Directory Project

• Unicef State of the World’s Children report 2006 on different kinds of child poverty.

• Schools resource on Poverty

• UN Poverty

• Povertymap.net Maps of world poverty

• CROP – the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty An extensive international and multi-disciplinary research network of poverty scholars.

source: http://www.solarnavigator.net/poverty.htm

Tomorrow, October 15th is Blog Action Day 2008. Bloggers allover are publishing and discussing matter of poverty in order to raise social awareness and make a difference. Do join!

***

88 ways to Take Action Against POVERTY

(from http://blogactionday.org website)

1. Eat meatless meals 2x a week. Donate that grocery money to a local food bank. – TarotByArwen
2. Be homeless for a day/night. – Lex
3. Stop putting off adopting a child through an organization like Compassion International (or adopt another one). – Lex
4. Make a loan on Kiva, or buy a couple gift certificates and give them away to friends. – Lex
5. Get a group together to go door-to-door collecting canned foods for your local soup kitchen/shelter. – Lex
6. Take a homeless person to dinner and actually sit/talk with him. – Lex
7. Stop being lazy. Find a way to do your job better so that you can save an hour a day, or be that much more productive. – Alex Shalman
8. Stop buying junk to make yourself look pretty and donate it to homeless people and hungry people. – Craigsnede
9. Make flyers to stick in the local library. – Craigsnede
10. If you have a musical instrument you no longer use, donate to the still-struggling musicians and students in New Orleans, who are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. A few great organizations that will accepts musical instruments are Tipitina’s Foundation (www.tipitinasfoundation.org) and The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund (www.nomrf.org/donations.html).
11. I’m interviewing a Capuchin monk vowed to Poverty about his work with Detroit’s poor for my blog, and I’m trying to arrange a fund raiser with my author and PIVTR radio station friends.
12. Find a gripping picture or video having to do with poverty and publish it on the Web.
13. Stop drinking Coke and bottled water for a day and save on plastic. Will save a lot of plastic if each of us does it for only one day.
14. Share your skill or knowledge, so they can improve their knowledge to increase their life/prosperity.
15. Visit an orphanage.
16. Stop being lazy.
17. Give comfort to the poor.
18. Donate.
19. Check your closet and make sure that anything you have not used last winter is taken to a charitable organization. Ask your friends and neighbors and volunteer to pick up the clothes, launder them and deliver them to those organizations. They will do no good in your closet and a world of good to someone in need.
20. On one day only eat food that you have asked someone for directly or for the money you need to buy it. Pay attention to the feelings.
21. Have a “sponsor me” day. Donate money to a poverty relief cause for everyone who leaves a comment on your blog that day.
22. Designers for Blog Action Day group on Flickr. Submit your designs: http://www.flickr.com/groups/bad2008design/
23. Organize a Hunger 101 Program for a local youth group. Our Girl Scout community learned about what they could do to help the working poor in our community. http://spedr.com/da5f This inspired them to organize several Take Action events: http://spedr.com/krfw
24. Add the “Women Rock” badge to your website or Facebook page.
25. if any of us knew or aware about any organisation which can help educate them, like, skills centre, entrepeneurship centre..u know, stuffs they do to help these pople actually do something to improve their life, we might try to collect name carsd from these organisations (NGOs or ministries), and walk around and passed these cards to them, with of couse, maybe some donations of any supplies.
26. Skip a weekly trip to the grocery store and donate the money saved to a food bank. I do this once a year for my family of 5. For that week we only eat what is left in the pantry or fridge. By the end of the week, pickings are slim and we get a sense of what it feels like to not have the luxury of tasty, well balanced meals every night.
27. Make a personal fundraising page in 5 minutes on Firstgiving.com. Raise money securely online for any US-based nonprofit committed to ending poverty in the US or around the world. Here’s an example page: http://www.firstgiving.com/bapbwm.
28. Have dinner on the floor and make it a very small meal (like chicken broth, watered down milk, and maybe a small piece of bread?) Talk about the blessings you have and that the meal represents those who don’t get to eat “big” on a daily basis.
29. Volunteer at a soup kitchen!
30. Play freerice.com!
31. If you have take out coffee, skip it for an entire week, donate the savings!
32. Give 5 bucks to a homeless person who looks hungry!
33. Talk with your children about poverty and who it affects.
34. Save your old stuff and sold it for charity
35. Support charity organization in your country. Reducing poverty may start in your nearest region.
36. Do something to touch 3 people or to reach out to 3 people and get them to pay it forward.
37. Give a gallon of water to each of 3 people who need it?
38. Give a $10 gift certificate to each of 3 homeless, single mothers so that she and her children can have one hot meal at a fast food restaurant?
39. Ask 3 entrepreneurs to each make a donation to 3 people or causes?
40. Holding perhaps daily or weekly community classes for imparting knowledge from our side and educating the local masses is something we all can do by coming together at grass root level.
41. Avoiding overconsumption.
42. Contributing to relief funds which can assist this cause.
43. Host a 1 day famine and collect donations. With the donations, pass it to a Welfare/Poverty Organisation.
44. Plan a pot luck/BBQ or a get together inviting close friends and neighbours, to bring awareness and also to raise funds for a shelter home. Funds can be used to purchase the necessary groceries for the home.
45. Pray for the comfort and safety of the world’s poor. Pray for the strength, wisdom and courage to help each of them find prosperity.
46. Combat corruption!
47. Don’t just talk to your kids about poverty – get them involved by having them go through their toys and clothes to find concrete things to pass along. The next time they want you to buy something for them – talk about what that money could buy for someone who had no food… then follow through and donate the money you didn’t spend.
48. Donate your time and expertise to teach a class to those trying to find a new way to earn a living.
49. To add to the previous suggestions, rather than just donate money to homeless people, why not use the money you would use on yourself for a coffee to buy one for someone else. If you get coupons for free beverages or meals, keep them with you and give them to someone in need.
50. As you find organizations to which you like to donate food, clothing, etc., spend some time volunteering for that organization. Contribute to the organizations you are already supporting in other ways.
51. Educate others. If you are a teacher, talk to your students about poverty. Get their opinions. Inspire them. If you work in other areas, strike up a conversation with your colleagues in the lunchroom or lounge. Get educated so you can answer questions and provide information that might spur others into action.
52. Visit The Hunger Site every day and click the link to feed the hungry. It’s fast and it’s free and there’s absolutely NO excuse not to do it every day you’re online!
53. Be compassionate.
54. Invite friends to watch documentaries how poverty destroyed ones life,family and their future.
55. Do not waste water on that day.
56. Express your love and compassion for one street child by having an enrollment conversation with her.
57. Ask your child to share her food with the child of your maid on that day.
58. Make a list of five items you haven’t used for long and have no plans to use them in future either. And distribute them among local poors with all humility.
59. Compose a poem on the theme ‘Making Poverty A History’ and get it published in a local magazine or paper. Also, ask your baby to recite the poem in her school.
60. Talk to your five relatives about the poverty issue and invite them to come up with their suggestions to eradicate poverty.
61. Organize a drawing competition for kids on the poverty theme and exhibit their works in a local school or community centre.
62. Do not overeat on that day.
63. Save electricity on that day and contribute the equivalent savings to a local charity.
64. Contribute your one day salary to a child rehabilitation centre.
65. Get a few friends, gather all your unused items, sell it and buy something a meal for the poor in your neighborhood.
66. Si tan solo los gobiernos hicieran mucho mas por este flagelo, la pobreza se reduciría en un 70% por no decir 100%. Observo como a algunos gobiernos que han prometido en sus campañas electorales que acabarían con este mal, luego de llegar al poder y por motivo del oro negro les entran grandes cantidades de dinero, ¿y que es lo que han hecho con el, en vez de ayudar al pais? Financiar con ese dinero (que se supone es del pueblo), proyectos políticos solo para sus intereses personales… da tanta tristeza ver cuanta gente tirada por la calle, sin tener que comer, o donde dormir, mientras estos señores se gastan el dinero de tantos ciudadanos, comprando poder para satisfacer su ego.
67. Travel to a poor country or area. Look for ways to make a difference on the ground there.
68. On your next off day from work, go to a homeless shealter and help serve food to those who are there, talk with them, listen to their stories, you will find that they were at one time, alot like yourself.
69. Let’s learn to love and respect one another, and to give to those who have less.
70. Pictures. It’s one thing to say that the milk my son spilled at lunch this afternoon was more than some kids get. But some people don’t see how real that is unless they’re looking at a picture.So, I’m looking for them.
71. Talk about poverty.
72. To most Americans, it’s not real unless we see it. I’m going to be revamping my blog so that poverty is prominent, and I’m talking about it more often.
73. Don’t stop at the generalities. War, famine, corruption, etc. all happen, and should be resisted. However, let’s dig deeper and go into the specifics. Not just talking about thousands of people dying of thirst … let’s talk about a real person.
74. Pull out the hearts of the readers, and make them confront what they know is right and wrong.
75. Instead of video games and other toys, give your neighbors and friends gift certificates for classical music lessons. For every $1 spent on music education, by my calculations, you get a $4.57 return on your investment from age 4-22 and that investment can never be taken away from you. Throughout one’s lifetime it pays much, much more. Take the money you save and give it in music lessons to the next person.
76. Go to your school board meetings and demand better music education. The arts are part of the core curriculum of “No Child Left Behind” and as I’ve been telling people for a few months now, the less we have to pay for health care and crime, the more we have to spend on food and shelter and doing good for our neighbors.
77. The more intelligent we are and the more productive we are, the more fruitfully we can spend our time, and the more we can produce to give away.
78. The reason why poverty still exist in Indonesia is because people is giving cash money to the poor at the streets and those money usually being used for things that usually destructive/not good (buying drugs, etc.) In order to stop poverty, the government already got their program to fight it but it didn’t go successfully for people still think that they are better off at the streets and there’s this what-so-called ‘mafia’ that organize these poor people at the streets.
79. In order to fight this, the people started to give food/meal/clothes to the poor instead of cash money so it would stop the process.
80. I think in order to stop poverty is to give what the people really need, not just giving it away for the sake of ‘being kind’
81. Fund educational programs for women.
82. Ensure that women have legal protections.
83. Educate people about the plight of women around the world.
84. Educate yourself on one aspect of poverty that affects women, whether it’s educating yourself on what’s going on with rape or abortion legislation in your own local area, or finding out what you can do to help women in other countries attain the basic human rights they deserve, by doing research on organisations that help women and contributing to those organisations in some way.
85. Do a campaign of creative advertisements for public awareness and a call to action. Do a poster, do an ambient campaign, write a radio or TV spot.
86. Breadline Africa is launching a Blogger Bake Off to help raise awareness and funds. If you want to do something on Blog Action Day, you should turn your talking (which is very worthwhile) into action: donate to a charity. Organisations that use funds directly in poor communities will be using your money where it can do the most good: at the grass roots level.
87. Educate yourself.
88. Prepare a space in your home for the poor to stay as needed.

Pick something from this list. Go NOW. Do it. And the world will be richer in mind and body.

1. O Haji, come! see the garden of the King [the mausolem of Rasulallah Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam]
2. You have seen the Kabah; now see the locus of the Kabah.

3. The evening of your being a stranger ended at the Syrian Corner [rukn-e-shami]
4. Come, let’s go to Madinah to see an enchanted morning.

5. You have quenched your thirst by drinking water from Zamzam;
6. Come, see the sea of generosity of the Prince of Kawthar.

7. Many droplets of grace were found under the Golden Duct [miizaab]
8. Come here; see a downpour in torrents from the Clouds of Mercy.

9. You have seen an impatient crowd throng at the door of the Kabah
10. Come here; see the passion and anguish of those who yearn for him.

11. The Kabah, the lamp you circled in the manner of a firefly;
12. Come, see that light of yours [Kabah] sacrifice itself at his altar.

13. You have touched the drapes of Kabah [ghilaf] with your eyes [in reverence];
14. Come, behold the luminous curtains that adorn the palace of the Beloved.

15. The hearts of the pious trembled with fear [of the Almighty] in Makkah;
16. Come, see the sinners throng the beloved’s place, eagerly awaiting pardon.

17. You have seen the rays of light emanating from the House of Allah as the Haj began;
18. And as you end, come, see the beams of light radiating from the house of Rasulallah Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam.

19. The Kabah was bedecked in the splendor of a hundred thousand brides;
20. Come see, the majesty of the resting place of the Prince of the Universe!

21. The Yemeni Corner [rukn-e-yamani] appeared as the valley of Ayman in the mountain of Tur;
22. Come, see the light which irradiated the Mountain of Tur shine here.

23. The arms of the Hateem had the warmth of a mother’s lap;
24. Come here; see the benevolence of the Prince, on whose feet our parents be sacrificed.

25. The Kabah was the guarantor for the acceptance of the prayers of the Hajis;
26. Come see, the deliverance and bounty of the Prince of Taybah

27. The darkness and evil in the hearts was washed away by kissing the Black Stone [hajar aswad];
28. Come see the exalted station of kissing the dust of Madînah.

29. Your sights soared and beheld the Kabah’s summit;
30. Hold your headgear as you look at the dust of my beloved’s door.

31. Piety shivered with fear of the Sovereign’s Awe;
32. See the Sin relieved and celebrate at the deluge of Mercy.

33. The Friday in Makkah was a celebration [eyd] of the pious worshipper;
34. O Sinners! Come celebrate the festival of Monday here.

35. Ye fulfilled your long held desires by embracing the Multazam [threshold of the door to Kabah]
36. Come, see the conflict; of both Reverence and Yearning wrestle at his threshold.

37. You ran between Safa and Marwa in the hope of being cleansed;
38. Come, see the scene on the cleansing path that leads to the beloved’s place. SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam.

39. You have seen the waltz of the writhing Bismil [the slaughtered animal] in Mina;
40. Come here; see the bleeding hearts writhe at the beloved’s doorstep.

41. Listen, Raza! Listen to the Kabah with rapt attention as it says:
42. Come, see the my beloved’s garden with my eyes.

~ translated by a brother named 'Abu Hassan'

This is to wish one and all Jummu’ah Mubarak as well as the Yaum Ar-Raza mubarak.

Yaum Al Jummu’ah is self explanatory while some may be wondering what is Yaum Ar-Raza.

Yaum Ar-Raza is the day that the great Reviver (Al Mujaddid),Imam Ahmad Raza Khan (May Allah Almighty’s pleasure be upon Him)was born.It is a day that one should spend in thoughts of the selfless struggle that the Mujaddid spent his days in, in reviving and serving the deen of the Messenger of Allah (Blessings and peace be upon Him and his Noble family).

Below is an extract that very briefly summarizes a simple introduction to Imam Ahmad Raza Khan.

Shaykh al-Islam wa’l Muslimin Imam Ahlus Sunnah A’lahadrat Imam Ahmad Rida Khan al-Qadri [d. 1921 AH] was an ocean of knowledge and wisdom. He had skill and mastery over a hundred different sciences of nowledge and was well-versed in all of them. Seeing his extraordinary command over these subjects and his undeniable research and painstaking efforts in digging out gems from the ocean of knowledge of and wisdom, the age had saluted him and had extolled him as its Imam and Mujaddid.

For the sake of rectifying and correcting beliefs and actions he had authored more than a thousand books. Till present day, his highly esteemed personality, his unique life and his matchless works are being studied in the colleges and universities worldwide and the intellectuals are carrying out MAs and PHDs on such diverse aspects of this illustrious figure in Islam.

Without a shadow of doubt, Imam Ahmad Rida Khan was entrusted to this Ummah as a trust and he was a miracle of the Beloved Messenger (Blessings and peace be upon Him and his Noble family.

SunnahTalk Moderator (A.H)

I’ve found the following article in today’s edition of The New York Times. Basically chinese government are cracking down on Muslims practicing Ramadan. The following things have been put in place:

1. A ban on teaching Islam or Koran.
2. No students may fast.
3. No teachers may fast.
4. No Hijabs.
5. No Beards.
6. No out of town guests in Muslim homes.
7. No closure of restaurants for prayer or for fasting purposes.
8. No visits to Muslim gravesites.
9. Muslim school students are ‘educated’ not to fast.
10. Muslim government employees are forced to ’sign’ an agreement not
to pray, fast, or visit Mosques.

It is really strange that China made such move, and restricted/abused Muslim human rights. I wonder about prerequisites of these executive decisions. Islam has rich heritage in China- over thirteen hundred years, and number of muslims living there is estimated by BBC within range of 20-100 million!

Anyhow, here is the ARTICLE

Ramadan Curbs Imposed in China

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/world/asia/09china.html?hp

By EDWARD WONG

NEW YORK TIMES

Published: September 8,  2008

BEIJING — Local governments in a Muslim desert region in western China have imposed strict limits on religious practices during the traditional Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began last week, according to the Web sites of four of those governments.

The rules include prohibiting women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan. One town, Yingmaili, requires that local officials check up on mosques at least twice a week during Ramadan.

The local governments administer areas in the western part of Xinjiang, a vast autonomous region that is home to the Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic people who often chafe under rule by the ethnic Han Chinese. In August, a wave of attacks swept through Xinjiang, the largest surge of violence in the region in years. Some local officials blamed separatist groups for the instability, and the central government sent security forces to the area.

The limits on religious practices put in place by local governments appear to be part of the broader security crackdown. The areas affected by the new rules are near Kuqa, a town struck by multiple bombings on Aug. 10.

It was unclear whether the rules would be relaxed after Ramadan, an observance that some Islamic extremists have used elsewhere as a symbolic backdrop for attacks on their perceived enemies. It was also unclear how the Chinese authorities intended to enforce the rules, which appeared to run the risk of antagonizing devout Muslims who present no obvious security threat.

The Web site of the town of Yingmaili lists nine rules put in place to “maintain stability during Ramadan.”

They include barring teachers and students from observing Ramadan, prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques and requiring men to shave off beards and women to doff veils. Mosques cannot let people from outside of town stay overnight and restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. Because of the sunrise-to-sunset fasting, many restaurants would normally close during daytime for Ramadan.

In nearby Xinhe County, the government has decreed that Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials must not observe Ramadan, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month. Worshipers cannot make pilgrimages to tombs, so as “to avoid any group event that might harm social stability,” according to the Xinhe government’s Web site.

In addition, children and students cannot be forced to attend religious activities, and women cannot be forced to wear veils.

County rules also emphasize the need to maintain a strict watch over migrant workers and visitors from outside the county. Companies and families that have workers or visitors from outside the county are required to register the outsiders with the nearest police station and have them sign an agreement “on maintaining social stability.”

Shayar County, which includes the town of Yingmaili, said on its Web site that migrants must register with the police, and that any missionary work by outsiders was banned.

Huang Yuanxi contributed research.

PS. Additionally to this article I do recommend to read post:

http://islaminchina.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/ramadan-crackdown-the-use-of-terminology-chinese-muslim-vs-uiygar-vs-hui-vs-han-muslim/

It contains informations from "first hand" so to speak, and clears up many things.

~~~

The method is to make intention for Eid ul Fitr or Eid al Adha for two Rakats Wajib and then lift your hands up to your ears and say ‘Allaho Akbar’ and then fold them below the navel as normal. Now pray ‘Sana’ and then say Allaho Akbar and lift your hands upto your ears and release them and again lift your hands and say Allaho Akbar and release them again and then lift your hands again and say Allaho Akbar and then fold them. Meaning fold your hands after the first and fourth Takbeer and the second and third Takbeers release your hands.

The best way to remember is that if there is something to pray after the Takbeer then fold your hands and where there is nothing to pray release your hands and hang them on the side.

After folding your hands after the fourth Takbeer the Imaam will quietly pray ‘A’oozubillah’ and ‘Bismillah’ and then he will pray ‘Alhamdo’ and a Surah loudly and then go into Rukooh and Sajdah and complete one Rakat. Then in the second Rakat the Imaam will first pray the Alhamdo and a Surah then lift your hands to your ears and say Allaho Akbar and release them and do not fold them and repeat this twice more,therefore a total of three times and on the fourth time say Allaho Akbar and without lifting your hands go into Rukooh.

This therefore means that in Eid salaah there are six extra Takbeers, three before Qirayat and after Takbeer e Tahrima in the first Rakat and three after Qirayat in the second Rakat and before the Takbeer for Rukooh. Also in all the extra Takbeers you must lift your hands and between two Takbeers a gap of three Tasbeehs should be made and it is Mustahhab in the Eid salaah to pray after Alhamdo, ‘Surah Jummah’ in the first Rakat and ‘Surah Munafiqoon’ in the second or in the first pray ‘Sabbih Ismi’ and in the second ‘Hal Ataaka’ [Durr e Mukhtar, Bahar].

After salaah the Imaam will pray two Khutbas and whatever aspects are sunnah in the Jummah Khutba they are also sunnah in the Eid Khutba and whatever aspects are Makrooh in the Jummah Khutba they are also Makrooh in the Eid Khutba. There are only two differences and they are that in Jummah before the first Khutba it is sunnah to sit down and here it is sunnah not to sit down, and secondly it is sunnah in this Khutba to pray Allaho Akbar nine times before the first Khutba and seven times before the second Khutba and fourteen times before standing down from the Mimbar and in the Jummah Khutba it is not [Alamgiri, Durr e Mukhtar, Bahar].

Rule: If someone joins in the first Rakat after the Imaam has prayed the Takbeers then they should say all the three extra Takbeers together even if the Imaam has started the Qirayat [Alamgiri, Durr e Mukhtar].

Rule: If you caught the Imaam in Rukooh then first of all say the Takbeer e Tahrimah and then if you know that you can pray the three extra Takbeers before the Imaam lifts his head from the Rukooh then pray the three Takbeers and then join the Imaam in Rukooh and if you fear that if you stayed to pray the three Takbeers the Imaam would lift his head from Rukooh then go straight into Rukooh and without lifting your hands pray the three Takbeers quietly in Rukooh and whilst you were praying the three Takbeers the Imaam lifted his head from Rukooh then you should also lift your head and leave the remaining Takbeers as these no longer need to be prayed [Alamgiri etc.].

Rule: If you joined in the second Rakat then pray the first Rakat’s Takbeer when you stand to pray the missed Rakat [Alamgiri etc.].

Rule: If you joined in after the Imaam had come back up from Rukooh then do not say the Takbeers at this stage but pray them when you pray the missed Rakat [Alamgiri etc.].

Rule: If you joined the salaah in the last Rakat just before the Imaam performed Salaam then pray your both Rakats with Takbeers when you stand up [Alamgiri etc.].

~

Extracted from the Qanoon-e-Shariah, compiled by Ahmad Razvi.

PS. Following method is for Hanafi Madhab. The Shafi Madhab has 12 extra Takbeers!

***

This year’s Ramadan, was a real challenge for me. It was not the matter of fasting itself,  but  keeping pure intentions, cool mind and kind heart in light of new environment, constant changes, daily surprises, simply pop-up life.

Today’s Eid marks end of confrontation two natures, and signifies spirit’s victory over physics. Soul always strives for life, but due to ramadan’s convention, gets raised up above the pains and needs of the body, which eventually enables perfect union of these two. But there’s more to it, than just battle of senses on stage of rules and regulations.

Sitting around the dinner table with family, eating all sorts of delicious food, chatting, laughing, joking with loved ones, made me realise, for the first time really, what’s behind Eid Al-Fitr, it’s GRATITUDE. In fact, I can’t find  a better word than naming it muslims’ thanksgiving Fasting has many spiritual, moral and physical benefits and these are not only for individuals but also whole community. It’s act of devotion that teaches patience, strengths will, injects sympathy and kindness as well as humbleness and appreciation. It’s time of joy and rejoice, reunion with family and friends, when especially poor and needy are being concentrated upon.

In this special day of Eid Al-Fitr, I would like to wish all muslim brothers and sisters around the globe, prosperity, joy, love, peace and God’s blessing.

May Allah accept our good deeds and grant us His forgiveness and mercy.

Posted in Islam Tagged: Eid ]]> http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/eid-mubarak/feed/ 13 Amina Eid Mubarak by khalilshah. http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/zakat/ http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/zakat/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:55:30 +0000 Amina http://muslimbychoice.wordpress.com/?p=380 ]]>

I found that spreadsheed very useful in calculating amount of zakat. Check it out

Zakat el mal

Zakat Calculation (.pdf)

This will be my 11th time of following and celebrating Ramadan. It’s not easy to fast whole day but in same time, it’s not that much of difficult either. So to all my brothers and sisters out there, wish you Blessed Ramadan !

Today is the day of my birthday…if we wanna talk about numbers, I give you 25- this is the official version for masses I fully accept I celebrate 25th bday for the 4th time now and I intent to do so for another 2 years . Now seriously, I know many muslims don’t accept any kind of festivity apart from two approved holidays in Islam: Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al- Adha. I however, love all kinds of fetes and any occasion is good if it makes one pleased.

I’m so HappY, way I haven’t been since long time now, and since I have nothing I could possibly want more, I wish for blessedness to all.

LIVE-LAUGH-LOVE, it really takes so little to be so much glad.

Love is the way messengers
from the mystery tell us things.

Love is the mother
We are her children.

She shines inside us,
visible-invisible, as we trust
or loose trust, or feel it start to grow again.

~Rumi

My close friends know very well how much I do love and value Rumi or Ghazali, in fact I’m bit of a Sufi myself . I decided to post today an interview by Wajahat Ali with Seyyed Hossein Nasr on Islam’s Spiritual Science in Modern Age. I do feel Sufism has been always misinterpreted and judged as something out and against Islam, while it has really inspired Islamic Art with its unique message of divine and purification of soul. Enjoy reading .

Rumi, the best selling poet in America today, was a practicing Muslim and a Sufi master who lived nearly eight hundred years ago. His poetry andlyrical verses exalting his desire for the Divine, as well and lyrical his ecstatic pain and yearning for his “beloved” continue to inspire lovers to this day. Due to mass commercialization and weak translations of Rumi’s poetry, Sufism has unfortunately become synonymous with a saccharine, Hallmark card, Deepak Chopra’s simplification of Islam’s most profound spiritual science. Even within the global Muslim community, significant controversies and acrimonious debates have arisen around the validity of Sufism within the theological framework of the religion. Many, such as Seyyed Hossein Nasr, one of the most prolific and well known Muslim American scholars,argue that Sufism represents the spiritual engine and heart of Islam,which is rooted within the core of its scholastic traditions, and is capable of revitalizing modern day Islam rooted in literalism and political extremism. In discussing his latest work, “The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition,” we talked about Rumi’s spiritual influence on the modern world, the role of Sufism in Islamic history and tradition, and the critique of Sufism as an antiquated model of esotericism.

ALI: Let’s talk about Rumi. I’m sure you know Coleman Barks [“Translator” of countless Rumi poetry books], correct?

NASR: Yes.

ALI: Even though Coleman Barks and others try to divorce Rumi from his God consciousness, it nonetheless emanates in his poetry. Rumi is the bestselling poet in America today. What is it about his work, which is thoroughly rooted in Islam and Islamic sciences, that appeals to mainstream audiences?

NASR: The question I think should be put the other way around. First of all, Jalaluddin Rumi is completely rooted in Islamic teachings of Quran. He was a great scholar, he belonged to a madrassa, and he knew Islamic theology and jurisprudence very well. He knew Persian, Arabic and Turkish, which was coming into Anatolia at that time, very well. He was a remarkable, remarkable scholar, besides being a great saint. He was completely rooted in Islamic tradition. I’m totally opposed to those who try to pull Rumi out of his Islamic foundations by ignoring that element. I have written about this quite a bit and in fact I have a recent book of poetry which is called “Life is a pilgrimage: In conversation with Rumi” in which I translated the first part of his Mathanvi [Rumi’s most beloved work.]

It complements what I said about Sufi-Islamic being rooted completely in the to the tradition. Now what is it that appeals universally of Rumi to the West today? Several things. First of all, Rumi is one of the great spokesmen for the Quranic instruction teaching that all prophets come from God and God does not create one religion, but many religions. The verse of the Quran that mentions we have created for each of you, for all of you, your own path, your own Sharia [Religious law], so that you will vie for each other in goodness and mindfulness of God. And a very famous Quranic verse: “To every people we have sent a messenger.” And many of the verses of the Quran which represent a universal perspective of Islamic Fiqh [Jurisprudence.] Abraham is called a Muslim,Christ is called Muslim. Now, there were a large number of Muslims throughout history who brought out the meanings of this especially when it was necessary; when Islam met Hinduism in India and in Anatolia for example, and when Islam met Christianity and to an extent Judaism. But Rumi is one of the great masters who brought out this universal teaching.

As of today, one of the greatest problems of humanity is how to live in a multi religious society without losing one’s religion – with out relativising everything. Which is why perhaps with the greatest spiritual problem of today, Rumi is a great master who is able to provide a way. Secondly, Rumi is also perhaps the greatest mystical poet who ever lived, one of the greatest poets of the Persian language. He was able to express practically all aspects of the spiritual life and our existential situation in the world today as human beings in beautiful Persian poetry.

Now, Coleman Barks and these other translators who are very famous now, they do not know Persian. They work with a Persian speaker. The translations are not exact. They are not like the translations of Reynald A. Nicholson, who translated the whole of the Mathnavi, a remarkable feat; a few mistakes in it, but really a remarkable feat. These people have adapted the teachings of Rumi often based on the Nicholson translation often with the help of a Persian speaker to a kind of contemporary,American medium of poetry. This is quite an art, although it’s not exact from the point of scholarship, it brings out something of the taste for this combination of truth and beauty that Rumi represents: an expression of the deepest truths of spiritual life in God and beauty.

ALI: Speaking about Rumi and other Sufi poets, much of their poetry comes from a specific desire. There seems to be a fire and longing in their spirit that was ignited by a loss. For Rumi, it was the loss of his spiritual friend and guide Shams Tabris. Why do we see these extreme emotions: one of pain and longing and the other of love, both equally necessary in reaching and understanding the Divine Path? Why the marriage of pain and longing?

NASR: Well, that’s very obvious and let me give you a human example. If you’re just a young man, like you are, and going about your business, you will think of this. Suppose you fall in love with a girl, now suddenly this element of love comes into your life and it disturbs you. The day before you fell in love, you got up in the morning, you said your prayers, you washed yourself, and you went to work and didn’t think of these things.
Then suddenly you’ve fallen in love. Once you’ve fallen in love, it’s turned around your whole life. You keep thinking bout this girl all the time instead of thinking about other things. Since the object of love is that particular person, being separated brings about a longing and pain. Love is loss combined with pain; even in the West you have the famous, famous play, which Wagner put into opera, Tristan and Isolde, which brings out the story of these great lovers, where their love leads to death. It’s one of the most famous arias of Western music – The Love-Death Song of Wagner in German– which corresponds exactly on an external plane, because of course Wagner was not a mystic or a Sufi, but it was a medieval story that had this depth in it. The idea that love itself cannot be divorced from the suffering which comes from being separated from the object of love. The story of Layla and Majnoon, in Arabic and Persian and other Islamic languages, always leads them to death. It’s like Romeo and Juliet: intense love. This is a human way for expressing something much more profound that is that love for God.
And the Quran, of course, speaks about this explicitly: “God loves them,and they love Him.” If God did not love us, we could not love him. And Sufis are those who have realized this love. It’s like that second day that I mentioned about a young man, like yourself. The first day he was not in love and went about his business, and the second day suddenly the love came. There are people who realize this love for God in this life. Like falling in love with a beautiful woman, or from a female side, a man. Once this realization takes place, this love brings with it yearning. Yearning is inseparable from love, and since once doesn’t have the object of love immediately, one has not fallen in the embrace of the beloved immediately, they are suffering. That’s how they are related.

ALI: Here’s a criticism that many critics of spirituality ask: If the spiritual seeker must be like a subservient “corpse” in the hand of his “washer”, his spiritual guide, then doesn’t Islam and the spiritual path rob one of their individuality? Isn’t this proof Islam is a machine that requires assimilation and creates mindless automons? How is this a path towards individuality?

NASR: I wish someone could get rid of individuality so easily; one never gets rid of one’s individuality completely. One gets rid of one’s egotism,which is a very different matter. In your room, you can have two paintings on your wall; one that is a Persian miniature and the other which is a Dutch painting by Rembrandt. They are very distinct characters, yet they have their own individual traits, but they are inanimate, they don’t have a will of their own. When one talks about being like a dead corpse in the hands of a spiritual teacher it means being able to surrender one’s will, specially one’s nafs al ammarah, that is a part of our soul which is again a Quranic term, which commands us to evil – we must surrender that. That’s what it means. It doesn’t make you become part of a cog of a machine.

In fact, the machine doesn’t have the consciousness we have, the free will that we have, and to surrender one’s free will, not in every matter but in spiritual matters, to a spiritual teacher is in a sense a lower level of surrendering one’s will to God. Many people have criticized Islam for being just automatic, having no individuality, just surrendering your will to God, but we Muslims know very well that every moment of the day we have to practice the fact that to surrender one’s self to God is an act of free will.

ALI: Muslims look at the world right now, specifically the Muslim “ummah”[community], and they see instability, suffering, authoritarian regimes, oppression and so forth. So, many Muslims ask what will all this fasting, this dhikr [remembrance and invocation of God], this tazkiyat al nafs [Spiritualexercises in purification], and all this Sufi practice help? How do all these spiritual Sufi practices help the Muslims suffering in Palestine,Chechnya or Iraq? People say this is like Muslims who live in a bubble and put their heads in the sand, but in order to help people one must be more political. So, what’s your take on that?

NASR: It’s total nonsense. There are many, many answers to this question. The main answer is that the Islamic world is suffering not only because of external oppression but also because of the loss of its own dignity, of its own heritage, of its own practice of Islam, of its weakening of its own ethics, and many things which are internal to Islam not just external. Now, Sufism has always had the function of purifying Islamic ethics and that fasting and tazkiya is like lighting a lamp. What does a lamp do? The lamp is like a horse that is running but stays put. But by virtue of being a lamp it illuminates the space around it. Therefore, the practice of purifying one’s soul, of living virtuously,has tremendous impacts upon the ethics of the surrounding society.

The Islamic world is not only suffering from the American occupation of Palestine and Iraq, it’s also suffering from the unbelievable corruption in Afghanistan by Afghans themselves and also in Iraq – I’m just giving these 2 examples of countries which are under direct occupation; I do not mean at all to negate the terrible events that led to this or what’s going on with the foreign occupation there. But I’m saying that it is not the only problem and Sufis have always been those that have tried to purify the ethics of Islam and society. And they don’t have their hands cut off from the external action at all. For example, the bazaar in which the Sufis were very strong always dominated economic life in Islamic world. They could give a much more sane and Islamic form of activity when the economic life of Islam moved out of the bazaar to new parts of Islamic cities with modernized Muslims, who took it in another light and it became very, very antiIslamic, and much against many of the most profound practices of Islamic societies.
There is no way through out Islamic society for Islam as a society, as a civilization, to revive itself without this inner spiritual vitality that came to it. And also militarily, the great movements of resistance against colonial powers in the 18th and 19th century were almost all from Sufis: Imam Shamil in Caucasia, Amir Abd al Qadir in Algeria, The Barelvi family in the modern province of India, today which is Pakistan, and you can go down the line. What is tragic today is that there is a number of Muslims who think that all the solutions are to be found simply by external actions. They don’t have to do anything within themselves. This is a deeply Western idea – modern, Western idea, where you try to improve the world without improving yourself. And this is what the Muslims who talk about others putting their heads in the sand and that “We are doing jihad and we are political” and so forth, they are emulating a very important mistake of modernism.

ALI: Prophet Muhammad’s personality and name are exalted as habiballah, beloved of God, and he who is beloved by Muslims as a criterion model of conduct. His Sunnah [Prophetic etiquette and conduct] yields men like Rumi and leads to acts of selfless charity, but also at the same inspires jihadists and extremists in the modern world. Many people blame this latter type of behavior on the personality of Prophet Muhammad. Let’s talk about this remarkably complex personality, which can produce such varying fruits and results in its followers. You have the Sufis on one hand and the Bin Laden on the other.

NASR: First of all, The Bin Laden must not be confused with authentic jihad– it’s quite something else. If you want an example of external jihad, you should cite Amir Abd al Qadir who fought against the French in the 19th century, which was quite something else. But putting that aside,the Prophet, peace be on him, presents all the possibilities of the human state in perfection. Now, a part of that of course is love of God. And the word Habib in Arabic means both lover and beloved. At the heart of it is that he loves God, God loves him. But God designated him to be also the founder of a new world order of a civilization of a society. He was therefore, first of all, a Prophet of course, a beloved and lover of God, a father, an army commander, a judge, a ruler of a community, the King of Medina and later of Arabia, and all of these were combined in him and his destiny, the reason God brought him on earth, was to show how each of the functions which human beings have in life have the perfect form in the prophet.

He sets the model for all of them. He sets the model for being a good statesman. He also sets the model for being a good warrior, for chivalry, of nobility, of all the things which the Quran and Hadith [The recorded collections of the sayings and traditions of the Prophet] says of treating your enemy with dignity and kindness. The Quran explicitly opposes the killing of innocent people and the Prophet was always careful in doing that. If they had to fight a war, he was always on the side of peace as soon as it was possible to make peace because that’s what the Quran says also. He was the exemplar ruler, exemplar father, exemplar warrior, and once you have a family, you have contentions, you have problems, human problems, and it’s the human order. He set the example and model for Muslims for all the different endeavors. He is not only the example of the spiritual life, but he is also an example for our life in this world. Because Islam, in contrast to Christianity and Buddhism, does not have monasticism; spiritual life, social life, they are all integrated and related together in one way or another. And the Prophet represents that in his life.

ALI: Let’s talk about the relationship between a murshid [spiritual master/guide] and his murid [spiritual aspirant/apprentice]; the seeker and the sought; the master and the apprentice. First, why must the spiritual aspirant need to givebaya’ [allegiance/oath; giving one’s hand] to a spiritual master?

NASR: In Islam, there is no priesthood and each person stands before God,like in the daily prayers, without an intermediary. That’s in contrast to Christianity, where during the Eucharist, a priest has to officiate and the priest functions as a link – at least in Catholic Christianity- between the laity and God. In Islam this doesn’t exist. However, this is not the same thing as spiritual guidance of what I speak. All Muslims stand before God and they are their own priests. But spiritual guidance needs guidance. It’s like comparing walking on the ground and mountain climbing. Once you learn how to walk, you can walk on the ground by yourself, but if you want to climb Mount Everest, you need a guide.

The fact there is need for a guide in the spiritual traveling that Sufism is involved with does not at all annul what I just said about the lack of necessity of an intermediary of God – as far as religious rights of ordinary practices of religion are concerned. In the field of medicine,if you’re sick you need a doctor. A doctor has already studied how to deal with your ailments, and human beings are imperfect. There any many ailments of the psyche and the soul that need to be treated, and the serious murshid, or spiritual master, is also really a doctor of the soul: a person who can heal the wounds of the soul in the same way as a medical doctor takes care of our physical problems. Why does one need a doctor if God has given us our body and we pray to Him for our help?

That’s on one level, but the need of a doctor when we have a bad stomach is an immediate level and God has provided the possibility. In Islam, we believe that it is God himself who is the ultimate guide – Al Hadi – one of the names of God is Al Hadi,the Guide. But at the same time, God has provided within the Islamic revelation the possibility of spiritual guidance through human beings, because then everyone can have direct access to God. If you want to make a decision in life on what to do, but if you’re trying systematically, through spiritual practice, through meditation, through the invocation of the name of God, to walk closer and closer in this life to Him, you need someone to guide you. And God has made it possible in Islam for this guidance to exist.

ALI: Here comes the criticism, and I don’t want to label the people who would say this, but assume someone says, “Ok, what you say makes sense but where’s the proof in Quran and Sunnah [The Prophetictraditions and etiquette] that allows this? Where did the Prophet Muhammad allow this? When did Prophet Muhammad do this – the giving of the baya’?”

NASR: First of all, in Hudaibiya, the Prophet gave baya’ to his choice followers, laying the foundation of the baya’ of Sufism. This is based directly on the Sunnah of the Prophet. Secondly, the Quran mentions the story of Moses and Khidr [a prophet mentioned in the Quran who guided Moses on a revelatoryjourney], a famous story, in which Moses represents sort of the external understanding of the religion and Khidr represents the inner spiritual understanding of the religion. Moses went on a journey with Khidr and Khidr said, “I will not accept you unless you stop questioning things,” which from an external point of view seems strange, but inwardly is very meaningful. This is exactly the question of spiritual guidance.

Finally,you have the prototype of spiritual guidance, you have the Prophet,peace be upon him, himself when he goes on the night Miraj, the nocturnal ascent, which is in the Quran and no Muslim can deny it no matter how external and exclusive they are, and there are many of those in the Islamic world today, but they can’t deny the text of the Quran. The Prophet was taken by the order of God to heaven, which is a prototype of all spiritual realization in Islam. But, he had a guide; Gabriel, the angel, was his guide. He took him to heaven. So, anybody who says what is the basis of this – there are many, many sources. This is not at all something without scriptural basis; there is much scriptural basis in Sharia [Islamic Jurisprudence.]

ALI: Many might say what you are describing is a very universal concept of religion and spirituality. Yet in Sufism and Islam, why is Haqiqat [Spiritual Enlightenment; The Ultimate Truth] rooted within Sharia [Islamic Jurisprudence]? Why must the tariqah [Spiritual Path] be Islamic if there are so many different paths to God?

NASR: That’s a very good question. In the same way that we have a body and a soul and a spirit, our soul can’t walk in the street without our body –we would be dead then. Religion is the same way; it has to have a body,it has to have a form, it has to have structure. Without that, the soul cannot be prepared to follow the tariqah. Tariqah [The Spiritual Path]without the Sharia [Islamic Law] is like having a pistachio tree without the shell. Or a walnut, a walnut cannot grow on a tree without having a shell, and the food that you eat is inside the shell. The Shariah has many other functions but also protects the tarqiah; it protects the spiritual path. There is no religion in the world where there is a possibility of spiritual development outside of the context of that religion. This is only a modern invention. For example, Christian mystics were also Christians. They also went to Church and followed Christian laws. Hindu mystics were practicing Hindus; they didn’t kill cows and have steak. They follow the Hindu laws and so on and so forth down the line and Sufism is no exception.

It’s only in the modern world, where there is a hatred of religion, and there are certain sectors of modern society where there is an idea that you can take the spiritual teachings of a religion outside of a religion and practice them; these ideas are brought forward. That appears to be easy. You can say, “Oh, well. I don’t have to bother about not eating pork, and not drinking wine, and all you have to do is read the beautiful poetry of Rumi and talk about wine, women and song. Or something like that.” This kind of attitude. This is the antipode of the other attitude which says Islam is nothing but throwing bombs, it has nothing to do with internal or inward purification.

ALI: Haqiqat, some say, destroyed al-Hallaj [9TH century Persian Sufi mystic executedfor alleged heresy] It overtook him to the point where he exceeded Sharia boundaries and proclaimed himself as “The Truth.” So why dabble with something that is so dangerous for a practicing Muslim? Why dabble with this spiritual science?

NASR: You are taking only one case. It’s like saying why drive when there are drunk people on the road everyday. There are millions and millions of Sufis who have existed in Islamic history and have the deepest impact on every aspect of Islamic culture and civilization to philosophy to art to science to social structure to economics who have not met the destiny of al-Hallaj. That has to be understood.

Al-Hallajhas a special destiny. He came at a time when worldliness, the luxury,were inundating the Islamic world. His function was to act as kind of an antithesis to this, and he paid for it with his life, and he was very happy to do so. He smiled as he went to the executioner. That was done because it shook the conscience of the Islamic peoples of that time. But the vast majority, the vast, vast, vast majority of Sufis,they have not met the destiny of al-Hallaj. They have spoken about reaching “the Truth” and there is nothing dangerous about it. Look at Senegal, about 90% of the Muslims in Senegal are Tijani or Qadiri Sufis. Among them, they have very great teachers who have written poems about al-Hallaj, and they have not been killed. In fact, it’s Sufism that brought Islam through all of Senegal, right under our noses the last couple of centuries. And you can go down the same line through Indonesia and Malaysia. How did the Turks become Muslim? They became Muslim through the Sufis. The Arabs never conquered the Turks. There were people in early Islam who were speaking like Hallaj, who spoke about the Truth, about reaching the Truth, about being one with the Truth, and not only they were not killed, but they were great heroes of their own culture, and there is a university in Turkey named after one [Sufi Saint.]

ALI: How did Sufism help spread Islam without the sword using the Chishti and Qadiri Sufi tariqahs in South Asia? Because all we hear is that Islam spread through the sword and only the sword.

NASR: That is absurd. This is all Western propaganda from the Middle Ages which is totally untrue. First of all, 300 years after the rise of Islam there were Zoroastrians in Iran. The Muslim armies never forced people to accept Islam. It was only within Arabia that God ordered the idolaters to have a choice of either embracing Islam or fight against Muslims, because He wanted to remove this terrible idolatry that exited there. But outside Arabia where Islam met Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Hindus, they were given a choice by and large. That’s why many Christians and Jewish communities survived in the Muslim world, but gradually many of them embraced Islam for different reasons. First of all, let’s stop talking about the spread by the sword. The Islamic world doesn’t stop in the Arab world or Persia. There is the whole Turkic world, the Central Asian world, South Asian world, Southeast Asian world, and African world.

If you have a billion Muslims, 900 million of them were not brought into Islam by any kind of invasion, but most of them through the Sufis,because human beings are such that they are affected by people of spiritual character. Certainly when they display nobility and hospitality and gentility and love and are not selfish or aggressive,and they are honest. People who were also traders were also men of Sufism, as we see around Java, people who were out wardly trading but were also men of very high spiritual character. Otherwise no trader would be able to convert a person from one religion to another. It was because they were men of spiritual character.

The Qadiri and Chisti Sufi orders in South Asia played an incredible role. Moinuddin Chishti, this incredible master who founded the Chishti order, originally Chisht was in the border of modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan, he was brought to India as a young man. He was a great saint. Openly, Hindus came to him, he would pray for them, he would be kind to them, and he would eat with them. Many of these Hindus realized this man was beyond all the distinctions of caste and social classifications that existed in India. I’m not trying to criticize the caste system that has its own philosophy, but the oppressive aspect of social stratification did not exist for him, so, many Hindus came to him. And they say he brought over 500,000 people to Islam during his life. Same with the Qadiris, some of these were great teachers who did not take a sword and try to fight against the Hindus. They made friends with the Hindus. In fact many Hindu yogis and Sufis met, they became friends, they spoke about the knowledge and love of God; about all the similarities that exist. And then the simplicity of Islam, the fact these people practiced what they preached brought many, many Hindus into Islam. It is very clear, you can see it: without Sufism, Islam would not have spread into two thirds of what we call the Islamic world.

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Wajahat Ali is Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, “The Domestic Crusaders” is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post 9-11 America. His blog is at http://goatmilk.wordpress.com/. He can be reached at wajahatmali@gmail.com

Her YouTube channel, where videos featuring Arab comics, singers and the Queen herself are posted weekly, has drawn more than a million viewers since it was launched in the spring, surprising the Jordanian royal court with the reaction.

“I’ve been surprised by some of the questions that I’ve been asked about the Arab world and Middle East”, the Queen tells viewers in one clip. “Do all Arabs hate Americans? Can Arab women work? Are there any YouTubers in Jordan?”

“YouTube is a great platform for dialogue and I believe we need to use that platform to get our message out there.”

In a broadcast interview last week she added: “I do feel that our world is in a bit of a crisis at the moment, violence has overtaken dialogue and compassion has lost out to anger. I’m hoping this will become a channel of communication between east and west because I very much think our world is in dire need of that.”

The YouTube channel has also kicked off a new round of public appearances and interviews with Queen Rania, who, while criticised among more conservative quarters at home for not wearing the Islamic headscarf, in all other respects epitomises the modern Arab woman: Young, beautiful and educated, she gave up a career at a multinational corporation to marry then-Prince Abdullah, who became king after his father, King Hussein, died in 1999.

A devoted mother of four, she has dedicated her royal life to such publicity-friendly causes as Bono’s Product Red campaign against Aids in Africa, an end to honour killings in the Middle East and improving public schools at home in Jordan. Named one of the world’s most 100 powerful women by Forbes, she has been featured in Hello magazine and the popular US television talk show Oprah, and earlier this year appeared on a collector’s edition cover of Vanity Fair magazine.

She and her husband, both fluent in English and frequently welcomed in Western countries, have devoted much time to promoting moderate Islam and condemning terrorist attacks ascribed to radical factions.

The YouTube channel, however, is an entirely new approach. Entirely in English to appeal to a Western audience, it is also seen as a way to reach out to the often-fractious youth of the Arab world, reflecting the growing power of the Internet in a region where regular media often find themselves censored. Even in Jordan, it remains a criminal offence to criticise the King.

With 60 per cent of the Arab world’s population under the age of 30 and hundreds of thousands plugging in, often via free dial-up connections and Internet cafes, to YouTube and Facebook, even the most authoritarian regimes find themselves struggling to control dissent. A young Internet organiser nicknamed ‘Facebook Girl,’ Esraa Abdel Fatah, was earlier this year arrested in Egypt for organising a series of anti-government protests via the online networking site.

The Jordanian queen, observers say, is just trying to keep up with the times.

“They’re trying to ride a wave which is that people have lost faith in state-run media, they don’t read newspapers. So YouTube is a very interesting platform for the Queen to use to attract young people,” said Daoud Kuttab, a Jordanian online broadcaster and recently a professor of new media in the Arab world at Princeton University in the US. “She and her husband want to influence young people away from radicalism into a more pragmatic, centrist thought.”

Her video clips, to be posted each week until International Youth Day next month, address women working in the Arab world and the Amman hotel bombings of 2005, among other issues, and feature an Arab comedian and a musical duet with Arab and Portuguese singers. In one, she appears in a white blouse and traditional red keffiyeh, a desert scarf, to explain the scarf is not a symbol of terror.

Some of the clips have been met with scepticism. “Here is an idea, give up all religions and be atheist so we would not be bound by religions or have stereotypes about other religions,” wrote one viewer.

Others, however, have been more impressed by the queen’s efforts and star power.

“First let me say, you continue to impress and inspire me. As a teenage girl from the USA I was surprised to find that in your hopes and wishes you could relate to me, as your cultural, religious, and social backgrounds are so different from mine. It amazes me that women worldwide can connect through the desire for progress,” wrote another viewer.

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source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/2460332/Queen-Rania-goes-online-to-challenge-stereotypes.html

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