Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
FAKE EX MUSLIM EXPOSED Former Muslim Rahim's journey from Islam to Christ !
It seems to be an trend with these EX MUSLIMS
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
British journalist overpowered by the sound of the adhan
The adhan is something that has captivated many non Muslims and has moved them to tears. One of my colleagues that I work with loves the Adhan even though he is not a Muslim.
May Allah guide him.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
RE:Uthman's Quran(part 1-Is the Quran Corrupted?)
From Brother Ozzycda
May ALlah bless him for his work. He is a true dayee
Friday, November 13, 2009
Drinking Alcohol?
alamo aleikum
THe quran does not say driking alcohol is bad for your health it says that in it there is some benefits and some harms and the harms are greater, will you not abstain?
Many people try to inject other reasons other than what Allah said in His book and confuse people.
The first reason for anything that Allah tells us to stay away from is that HE TOLD US TO, there does not have to be a scientific reason. He told us and we obey Him.
Second the benefits of drinking for example of glass of whine is that it increases circulation, but the same would be achieved by taking a 5 minute run around your block.
This is if we want to get scientific here... people who try to give studies saying that alcohol is good actually are just promoting and advertising for alcohol companies and most times the reasearch is sponsored by them.
The thing is that as Allah says that there is more harm than benefit was recognized long ago even the the American government which makes a heavy penny on alcohol licenses and other related activities today, but during the 30s they had the PROHIBITION where no alcohol was allowed because they knew that yes it can make you feel happy and increase your circulation and make you forget some bad things for a short time, but the damage is far grater. No one can control the amount of alcohol that is drank. One person might say I ONLY DRINK ONE CUP TO FEEL GOOD, but the truth is that law is not based on exception it's based on generality. The truth is that most people drink more than they can handle, many destroy their livers, brain cells and on top of that they drive drunk, kill others or kill themselves, they fight in bars or in down town (have you ever gone on the main street where bars are at night on a weekends and see what happens, I used to be one of those people in the past), and they fight, they stab each other, they shoot each other, and other things.
As Allah says, in it there are some benefits and some harms and the harms are greater will you not abstain?
Allah has spoken the truth as always
Back to the main point if Allah said it we obey Him period, and then we can look at benefits and harms and scientific explanations and what not, and we will still see that Allah said it for the right reasons.
Alcohol studies are pushed by corporations which make billions from people who are ready to drink and drive, to kill and to commit fornication, fact that was aknowledged by the US gov. when they passed the prohibition of alcohol in the US but they had to remove it because people were so addicted to it, so they figured a way to control it and allowed it. Of course it shows that to give up something it's not the law that will stop you, it is your self and your faith in God that will make you stop you because at the end of the day, only God can see you everywhere and the law cannot.
In alcohol there are some benefits and more harm, will you not abstain?
The companions of the prophet were drinking and Anas ibn Malik was serving them as they heard that revelation came saying that drinking is Harram. Some of the sahabas were puking out the last sip they took, and all of them began to break all the wine barrels and there were rivers of alcohol flowing in Medinah, and it was the end of it.
May Allah guide us to iman like that insh Alah
salamo aleikum
THe quran does not say driking alcohol is bad for your health it says that in it there is some benefits and some harms and the harms are greater, will you not abstain?
Many people try to inject other reasons other than what Allah said in His book and confuse people.
The first reason for anything that Allah tells us to stay away from is that HE TOLD US TO, there does not have to be a scientific reason. He told us and we obey Him.
Second the benefits of drinking for example of glass of whine is that it increases circulation, but the same would be achieved by taking a 5 minute run around your block.
This is if we want to get scientific here... people who try to give studies saying that alcohol is good actually are just promoting and advertising for alcohol companies and most times the reasearch is sponsored by them.
The thing is that as Allah says that there is more harm than benefit was recognized long ago even the the American government which makes a heavy penny on alcohol licenses and other related activities today, but during the 30s they had the PROHIBITION where no alcohol was allowed because they knew that yes it can make you feel happy and increase your circulation and make you forget some bad things for a short time, but the damage is far grater. No one can control the amount of alcohol that is drank. One person might say I ONLY DRINK ONE CUP TO FEEL GOOD, but the truth is that law is not based on exception it's based on generality. The truth is that most people drink more than they can handle, many destroy their livers, brain cells and on top of that they drive drunk, kill others or kill themselves, they fight in bars or in down town (have you ever gone on the main street where bars are at night on a weekends and see what happens, I used to be one of those people in the past), and they fight, they stab each other, they shoot each other, and other things.
As Allah says, in it there are some benefits and some harms and the harms are greater will you not abstain?
Allah has spoken the truth as always
Back to the main point if Allah said it we obey Him period, and then we can look at benefits and harms and scientific explanations and what not, and we will still see that Allah said it for the right reasons.
Alcohol studies are pushed by corporations which make billions from people who are ready to drink and drive, to kill and to commit fornication, fact that was aknowledged by the US gov. when they passed the prohibition of alcohol in the US but they had to remove it because people were so addicted to it, so they figured a way to control it and allowed it. Of course it shows that to give up something it's not the law that will stop you, it is your self and your faith in God that will make you stop you because at the end of the day, only God can see you everywhere and the law cannot.
In alcohol there are some benefits and more harm, will you not abstain?
The companions of the prophet were drinking and Anas ibn Malik was serving them as they heard that revelation came saying that drinking is Harram. Some of the sahabas were puking out the last sip they took, and all of them began to break all the wine barrels and there were rivers of alcohol flowing in Medinah, and it was the end of it.
May Allah guide us to iman like that insh Alah
salamo aleikum
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Story of repentance nr.1
The following story is not meant to be fact, however some aspects of it are inspired from real life stories. I am aware of the hadith about lying even out of joke. Please keep that in mind and consider the following only as a fictional story.
I was walking outside of the house as I gazed at the sky and as always praised God. My heart was constricted for the past few months, and I have never experienced such doubts before. I can't sleep, I can't eat. Nothing else makes sense. Nothing else. Everyone is against me, all my old friends hate me for becoming Muslim, my family hates me for abandoning Christianity. Why do they? Only cause I worship God and God alone? I walk down by the river and look at the flowing water. It is so dark. I can't see anything in it. I gaze at the sky again as in looking for a sign. What should I do? I hate drinking, I hate the bars, I hate this life style, and I can't believe that people call themselves good Christians and live like this. Did I do a mistake becoming Muslim? Should have I stayed Christian? Should I just give my sins free fall and just say that Jesus died for them? A fast thought crosses my mind as a flash: maybe I am wrong. Maybe I should just be like the water and go with the flow. Why am I trying to swim against the flow? Everyone seems to move that way. My heart skips a beat and I feel like my throat is itching.
Jesus is God I said. I can't believe it but I said it. Did I just exit Islam? What should I do next? Should I go to a club? Pick up a girl? Tell my family, they would surely love it. It was the night before that I was at the threshold of my doubts. And I still can't explain where these doubts are coming from. But it's ok now. For the first time in months my heart feels better. It's like I don't care anymore. I was brought up this way anyhow, why am I trying to swim against the flow. As I walk down the street I think of all the things that I can do now that I'm free. And all of a sudden I realize that it's for real: I just gave up Islam, and I don't really know for what, but I'm tired of swimming against the flow. 10 years of my live in Islam, and here I am back where I came from, returning home. I feel careless, I feel good.
As I'm sitting on the beach observing the tides dying on the shore, beating on the sand, while little children try to catch them with so much hope, I loose myself in remembering my life before Islam. I almost want to erase the 10 years that have passed. My thoughts are shattered by looking at the children again. Even though they can't catch the waves they still try, and every time they fail, they get up again and go for it with new hopes as if they are just starting. I stand up and pick up my blanket and walk towards the street. I gaze at the sky as usually and my eyesight leaves me for a split second. My heart begins to pound, and my body begins to shake. The children with new hopes as if they are just starting. My throat is dry and my lips are chapped. All of a sudden as if I have never heard it in my life, the call to prayer resounds from the minaret of the mosque. God is Greater, God is Greater. I bear witness that there no God but God. My feel begin moving under me, and make a 180 turn and head straight for the water. It's as if I have no control over them, and why would I want to control them, I know exactly where they are taking me. The intention runs deep in my veins. In seconds I'm in and out, all wet, heading towards the call. I go up the stairs as water is still liking from my body. I join the row and as if being placed in paradise I put my forehead to the ground with the brothers and I sit and while raising my index finger I say LA ILAHA IL ALLAH.
What just happened? Was it a dream. I gaze at the sky again and it's as clear as always. LA ILAHA IL ALALH. It was always this one statement that made more sense than anything in my life. LA ILAHA IL ALLAH the only thing worth living for. I feel like a child trying to catch a wave, I almost want to go back across the street to join them in catching one. I'll give them hope at least. What a thought? Let's do it! I can see them from here. I rush across the street while the sun is beating me from behind, and then no more. I can't feel the sun anymore, I can't see the children anymore, and slowly the sounds are fading away. I feel tired, yet I feel very relaxed. There is no pain. A car's horn is resounding in the background and slowly fading away, but it does not bother me. It looks like an accident, I hope that person is ok. Why can't I move? Where are the children? Where is the sun? I can't hear anything. My heart is slowly fading away, and with a last breath: LA ILAHA IL ALLAH, MUHAMMADAN RASUL ALLAH.
I was walking outside of the house as I gazed at the sky and as always praised God. My heart was constricted for the past few months, and I have never experienced such doubts before. I can't sleep, I can't eat. Nothing else makes sense. Nothing else. Everyone is against me, all my old friends hate me for becoming Muslim, my family hates me for abandoning Christianity. Why do they? Only cause I worship God and God alone? I walk down by the river and look at the flowing water. It is so dark. I can't see anything in it. I gaze at the sky again as in looking for a sign. What should I do? I hate drinking, I hate the bars, I hate this life style, and I can't believe that people call themselves good Christians and live like this. Did I do a mistake becoming Muslim? Should have I stayed Christian? Should I just give my sins free fall and just say that Jesus died for them? A fast thought crosses my mind as a flash: maybe I am wrong. Maybe I should just be like the water and go with the flow. Why am I trying to swim against the flow? Everyone seems to move that way. My heart skips a beat and I feel like my throat is itching.
Jesus is God I said. I can't believe it but I said it. Did I just exit Islam? What should I do next? Should I go to a club? Pick up a girl? Tell my family, they would surely love it. It was the night before that I was at the threshold of my doubts. And I still can't explain where these doubts are coming from. But it's ok now. For the first time in months my heart feels better. It's like I don't care anymore. I was brought up this way anyhow, why am I trying to swim against the flow. As I walk down the street I think of all the things that I can do now that I'm free. And all of a sudden I realize that it's for real: I just gave up Islam, and I don't really know for what, but I'm tired of swimming against the flow. 10 years of my live in Islam, and here I am back where I came from, returning home. I feel careless, I feel good.
As I'm sitting on the beach observing the tides dying on the shore, beating on the sand, while little children try to catch them with so much hope, I loose myself in remembering my life before Islam. I almost want to erase the 10 years that have passed. My thoughts are shattered by looking at the children again. Even though they can't catch the waves they still try, and every time they fail, they get up again and go for it with new hopes as if they are just starting. I stand up and pick up my blanket and walk towards the street. I gaze at the sky as usually and my eyesight leaves me for a split second. My heart begins to pound, and my body begins to shake. The children with new hopes as if they are just starting. My throat is dry and my lips are chapped. All of a sudden as if I have never heard it in my life, the call to prayer resounds from the minaret of the mosque. God is Greater, God is Greater. I bear witness that there no God but God. My feel begin moving under me, and make a 180 turn and head straight for the water. It's as if I have no control over them, and why would I want to control them, I know exactly where they are taking me. The intention runs deep in my veins. In seconds I'm in and out, all wet, heading towards the call. I go up the stairs as water is still liking from my body. I join the row and as if being placed in paradise I put my forehead to the ground with the brothers and I sit and while raising my index finger I say LA ILAHA IL ALLAH.
What just happened? Was it a dream. I gaze at the sky again and it's as clear as always. LA ILAHA IL ALALH. It was always this one statement that made more sense than anything in my life. LA ILAHA IL ALLAH the only thing worth living for. I feel like a child trying to catch a wave, I almost want to go back across the street to join them in catching one. I'll give them hope at least. What a thought? Let's do it! I can see them from here. I rush across the street while the sun is beating me from behind, and then no more. I can't feel the sun anymore, I can't see the children anymore, and slowly the sounds are fading away. I feel tired, yet I feel very relaxed. There is no pain. A car's horn is resounding in the background and slowly fading away, but it does not bother me. It looks like an accident, I hope that person is ok. Why can't I move? Where are the children? Where is the sun? I can't hear anything. My heart is slowly fading away, and with a last breath: LA ILAHA IL ALLAH, MUHAMMADAN RASUL ALLAH.
If it's not the time, it is not the time.
"Say: 'Nothing will happen to us except what God has decreed for us: He is our protector': and on God let the Believers put their trust. (The Noble Quran, 9:51)"
I remember hearing someone talking about a baby surviving a plane crash and I was a bit reluctant to believe it, but subhan Allah how can we denny that it is only Allah swt who causes death, and if it's not the time that was decreed for that person, it will not happen.
I remember hearing someone talking about a baby surviving a plane crash and I was a bit reluctant to believe it, but subhan Allah how can we denny that it is only Allah swt who causes death, and if it's not the time that was decreed for that person, it will not happen.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Will Justice Prevail? This is a test for America's Ideology, or Hypocrisy.
The Question comes up: For what did so many people die? And everyone brushes it aside. But it seems that Allah will always bring justice be it with Muslims or non Muslims.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Apostasy? part 2
***
-I understand of this, that Islamic religion (which is the same with the Islamic state) allows executions for apostasy, as being a command of God.
That is exactly what we have to understand. Once God decides something to question His decision based on our emotional attitude towards His rulings it is a contradiction. Once God establishes something there is not room for questioning it, so your problem is not really the issue of apostasy but the issue that you do not believe in God’s law, which Jesus upheld when he said in Matt 5
17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
So your problem is not with the law, but with obeying it. I do have one question. You do agree with the law in Deut 13 about the apostates and the killing of them? My question and my proof here is not to debate you over what Christianity as a doctrine or your personal understanding of Christianity says, but over what you believe to be the text and word of God, and regardless of what I believe of the Bible (and that would require hours of discussion). By divine Justice the Christians do not even follow the proofs from their book. Going back to Deut 13 please do answer me if you believe that God revealed it or not? By divine Justice it is still there to show that God at one point did reveal this and no matter how you want to go around this with appeals to emotion, calling Islam evil and intolerant and narrow and not allowing freedom of faith, I GO BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT I MADE IN MY FIRST E MAIL WHICH YOU IGNORED: The God you believe in (with Jesus being part of Him at the time this law was passed) was I guess according to your analogy and rational a intolerant and lacking freedom of faith, because He did order the killing of the apostate. No matter how much you want to say that now things changed and now it’s the love, you are saying that at one point God was less loving, and more evil than in the present time, and at the time of Jesus somehow He realized that it’s better to do things a different way, and abolish all the laws and base everything on whatever everyone wants to do.
Now of course a person by the name Paul came later and claimed many things which did not align with the message of Jesus. However the people were fooled by satan to call him a man of God, and to use the excuse WHY WOULD THIS MAN WHO WAS A KILLER OF CHRISTIANS NOW TURN TO CHRIST, WHY WOULD HE LIE? Such people who claim or use such as proof really have no understanding of real life and the drives of man can go past beyond the love of life and sacrifice.
***
-As far as i understand, Islam does not have the concept of freedom of faith. Either you are stay a Muslim, either you are a dead person - or in some "mercyfull" situations, you can be exiled or put into jail.
As far as you understand is not based on any proof, you speak only of what you have seen on tv and what experiences you might have had, and anyone can say that.
Allah says in the quran 2:256 There is no compulsion in faith, truth is discerned from falsehood.
No one is compelled to become a Muslim, so everyone is able to search for the truth or practice his or her faith.
As a Muslim if you were born and brought up as a Muslim, and you know Islam, you really have to be an evil doer to give up Islam to go from purity to impurity, from worshiping God to worshiping others than Him, from morality to immorality. One may say well Christians are moral. I will use your rational on this point: look at America, they all began as Christians and slowly one by one, because according to you and them freedom of people to do what ever they want with faith, and in that same time with the legislation that govern life (and of course the decay of faith began with people making the separation between state and church – Islam is not just a matter of personal faith, but a matter of society), one by one they allowed not only disbelief but immorality to creep in the life of people. The Muslims will never allow that. No one in their right mind, and spirit will leave Islam unless they are disobedient to God. If they do leave they will spread their ideas to those weak to those who have no knowledge, fool them and incite them to their ideas, and for the greater good of things, just like God ordered it in your Bible the issue of apostasy and it’s punishment comes up. I was in Africa and saw what Christian missionaries do to uneducated Muslims. They fool them. I mean with all due respect look at the way you approached this issue (it was the same way that they work), not by showing me the truth of your faith and proofs of it, but trying to emotionally attack me and show that my faith is evil and it is the same way that the missionaries have done it, but the ones firmly grounded in knowledge will never be fooled, however weak people might, and the scholars will always be there to refute the lies, to explain and to stop the disease from spreading in the society. You did not come to me and show me that your Bible or your doctrines are the ones of God, but you did come and attack my faith and try to give me one ended questions that would appeal to my emotions. Every day I have people doing this and I fell very sad.
Freedom of faith is a vast term that has to be defined and analyzed in context. To you it means something else than to me.
-So, Islamic faith is not a matter of conviction or revelation, but is a matter of fear, or terror. Could you explain it better in other words? The believer has not only the punishement of God for his apostasy, but he is punished by his people.
Faith in Islam is a matter of conviction and a search for truth, that is why every day we pray in our prayers SHOW US THE RIGHT PATH. It is not a matter of terror or fear, no firm believing Muslim is terrorized by Islam. No one. How ever we do fear God, as much as we love Him. The apostate is not punished by the people but he is punished by God’s law in this life and a greater punishment in the hear after. The punishment in this life as I said just like in YOUR BIBLE is to keep the corruption from spreading and to keep faith pure for God. Just as in Deut 13 it says that IF YOU FIND YOUR BROTHER WORSHIPING AN GOD THAT YOU NEVER HEARD OF, A NEW GOD, OTHER THAN GOD, that person is killed. (again I want to emphasize here that it was your scripture from what you believe to be from God that said this way before prophet Muhammad came on earth, and as the Quran says you were sent to confirm some of the message that was given before you, so prophet Muhammad only confirmed what you call terror and lack of religion freedom that your prophet Moses and Jesus upheld).
-You say that ALL the prophets including Jesus sustain this idea of punishment for the apostasy.
I know that Jesus said: LOVE your enemy, bless those who is hurting you.
And he said more: IF someone wants to follow me, he take his cross and follow me.
Can you provide me a single verse where Jesus as a prophet, is agreeing to the opinion of killing people that commit apostasy or killing non-believers?
The issue of loving your enemy or carry your cross has nothing to do with what we are talking. You are diverting the topic. Jesus in Mathew 5 upheld the law and told that whoever teaches otherwise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (that is probably Paul and those who follow him – great history lesson on how Pauline Christiantiy came to be so popular due to the rule of Constantin).
Now someone might use the proof here of the adulteress woman, but however by divine justice again, God showed us that such as story is made up as you can see by the agreement of the majority of scholars that such a story was interpolated in the bible. (by the way this is one proof for why I deny to take the Bible as fully the word of God).
New International Version (1973). "The most reliable early manuscripts omit John 7:53-8:11." Later editions of the NIV have, "The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.
So yes I can provide you with the verse of the old testament of Deut 13 again that says to kill the apostate and the verse in Mat 5 where Jesus says to uphold the law and agreeing to all that is in it. Jesus did not come to abolish the law that is why at the end of Mat 5 he says that IF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS DOES NOT EXCEED THAT OF THE PHARISEES YOU WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOOM, becaue they Pharisees were hypocrites. They enjoyed the law on everyone else but did not do it themselves, they were void of any spirituatlity and took out the essence of faith and reduced it to law alone. Faith and law are part of the same one corpus and cannot be one without the other. (OF COURSE PAUL WENT ON THE OTHER EXTREMEN AND WAS ONLY FAITH AND NO LAW).
-(We do not talk about the Divine punishment at the end of times, but of people that persecute other people because of their beliefs).
People who persecute people will be accountable to God. In the Quran God says that persecution is worse that murder. No one is allowed to persecute anyone. The only one who is allowed to enforce any laws are those qualified to do that under a state and under proof, and not of their own desires.
If you refer to the punishment for the apostasy as persecution than again I say to you YOUR SCRIPTURE ORDERED PERSECUTION (according to what you reason) and you are not ready to admit it and believe in it, but yet even though the same law is present in your scripture you only attack Islam on it, and you call Islam intolerant and insensitive. So reasoning and let’s say that Islam is what you claim, that according to your rational, your faith was intolerant and insensitive about 2000 years earlier than mine, and as proven from above it still is.
***
-First, I put you another question:
Do you believe that the OLD Testament is inspired by God?
If yes, pls. motivate.
If no, pls. motivate.
I do believe what the Quran says and prophet Muhammad told us, why? Based on proof. The Quran tells us that prophet Moses received the message, and prophet Jesus and many other prophets, but their messages were slowly distorted. The Quran came to show the criteria as to what is correct and what is not in those scriptures. If you do a thorough research on the history of the old and new testament you will know what I’m talking about. So as prophet Muhammad said, do not believe in it but don’t disbelieve in it, because you don’t know what is truth and what is not.
It makes no difference wether it is Old or New testament we are talking about however I will give you my proof for the new one since that’s the one that really poses a great difference, greater than the old, and of course you as a Christian take both as the word of God and part of the same bible.
As I have quoted the issue of the interpolation of the story of Jesus and the adulteress woman, which Christians use as a big proof for putting aside laws, interpolation only means that the word of man was introduced into the word of God for some reason or other, and I am sure the reason was not good. I can give you another very strong example as most of the other ones even though present a clear proof that the message was tempered with do not stand in front of the doctrinal difference which makes a follower of the trinity away from God, and that is the issue of associating partners with God. In 1st John 5 we read for there are 3 that bear witness in heaven, the Father the son and the Holly Ghost, and these three are one. This is a huge interpolation and huge attempt to proof the divinity of Jesus and that of the trinity, however again by divine justice the falsehood was exposed as an interpolation
Peake's Commentary on the Bible says
"The famous interpolation after 'three witnesses' is not printed even in RSVn, and rightly. It cites the heavenly testimony of the Father, the logos, and the Holy Spirit, but is never used in the early Trinitarian controversies. No respectable Greek MS contains it. Appearing first in a late 4th-cent. Latin text, it entered the Vulgate and finally the NT of Erasmus."
Christianity diverted from the woship of God only that is given in the 1st COMMANDMENT while Islam stuck to it, and brought people back to it after a wave of darkness and polytheism was dominating earth. No matter how much one tries to proof the divinity of Jesus one will not be able and at the same time they would be lying to themselves.
-Now, answering your question: supposing that Jesus was just a prophet. If Jesus came and said: all the law and the prophets are reduced to these: "Love God from all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself", is this meaning that God sent a prophet that contradicts all that God said in the past years to Moise?
That is exactly what I am saying. Jesus never came and said that the laws were reduced to this. PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR PROOF IF YOU ARE TRUTHFULL. He did come and bring people back to love, and to the spirit of faith, rather that to the deviation of the people who only looked at law. He talked about love of neighbours, same as prophet Muhammad talked about it and said you WILL NOT BELIEVE UNTILL YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER. THE LOVE OF GOD IS THE GREATEST LOVE, AND THE LOVE OF THOSE WHO GOD LOVES AND THE LOVE OF THE POOR AND THE LOVE OF THE ORPHANS AND FREEING SLAVES AND TAKING CARE OF THE WIDOWS. That is what I’m trying to tell you they all came with these loving messages but they did not abolish the law of God when transgressors transgressed it. Each law and each love message has it’s proper place and when one or the other are abandoned only chaos and immorality will arise either that people will only be enforcing laws and hypocricy will prevail, or that people will only care about the spirit and will neglect God’s commandments and evil will prevail as it does today.
-So, either Moise is a false prophet, either Jesus is a false prophet, because, their teachings are somehow opposite.
More than that. If both are good prophets, then is this meaning that God himself is contradictory?
As I said the contradiction is more likely in the understanding that Christians or followers of Paul have. The message of the so called New Testament of today even though originating from the message of Jesus has so much addition of man made ideas and ignorance that it has contradicted the law of Moses, which leaves you with to dwell into the depth of your own question: which one contradicted the other? Which one is the truth? Who is right? Moses, Abraham, Adam, Noah, and all the prophets by the thousands, or Paul?
Also maybe you have to question yourself and move away from the assumption that you are reading the word of God, and ask yourself is it really the word of God? What is the proof for it?
-There is more: here comes the prophet Mohammed, that re-establish the law: eye-for-an-eye, love only those who love you, etc. What is this? God is not yet decided what to do with the mankind? He send Moise, he send Jesus, and now Mahommed again. What am I suppose to understand from this: God does not know exactly what is the best way for humanity? Is like someone is telling me: "The cat is black, noo... is white. Waite! I decided: is black!" Hummm....
I would like to know your opinion about these questions.
Prophet Muhammad did not come to re-establish the law eye for an eye. The Jews who did not agree with Paul (and of course they were all Jews for Christianity is a new invention and not even Jesus called himself a Christian (the so called pillar of the faith is not even a Christian)), they upheld that law and still believe in it till today. So prophet Muhammad did not come and re establish but confirmed the truth of what was before him. LOVE ONLY THOSE WHO LOVE YOU IS NOT WHAT PROPHET MUHAMMAD TAUGHT BUT HE TAUGHT TO LOVE GOD AND HIS MESSENGERS AND THE TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND NOT SIN AND TRANSGRESSORS AND TO LOVE PARENTS, AND POOR PEOPLE, AND THOSE WHO GOD LOVES AND FAR ABOVE ANYTHING NOT TO GIVE THEIR LOVE TO OTHER GODS BUT TO FULLY SURRENDER THEIR LOVE TO GOD ALONE. THAT IS WHAT PROPHET MUHAMMAD TAUGHT (which shows that you did not yet grasped or maybe not even looked at his teachings).
God knows exactly what is best for humanity that is why he gave these laws. That is exactly why we should follow them even though we find them harsh. The same rational of your question is turned on you as it refutes you as God first give the law of apostasy and then he changes his mind on it, so WHAT GOD DOES NOT KNOW EXACLTY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR HUMANITY? He has to change his mind? For thousands of years he keeps them under one law and later after thousands of prophets and millions of people follow that law, all of a sudden BHUFFF it’s gone with the wind, and all those prophets and people were following to quote you” an intolerant, no freedom of faith” religion?
THE CAT WILL ALWAYS BE WHITE, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN. GOD WAS ALWAYS ONE AND EVERYONE BELIEVE IN THAT, NO ONE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS FOR AS LONG ANS THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH EXIST EVER CAME WITH THE CONCEPT OF A TRINITY, A GOD SON WHO IS GOD BUT NOT THE FATHER, RATHER IT IS THE SON WHICH IS PART OF THE SAME GODNESS. No one ever came with such a concept not even Jesus himself whom you worship, never ever claimed that, never ever asked to be worshiped, never ever taught such concepts. SO THE CAT WILL ALWAYS BE WHITE BUT SOME HAVE ATTEMTED OVER THE YEARS TO STAIN IT WITH BLACK SPOTS.
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-A man that is searching for the Truth is a man honest with himself first of all, is a man that does not FEAR to change his direction if he finds the truth, whatever that truth may be.
Can you find the Truth when you fear? Can you find the Truth when someone is telling you this is what you are obliged to believe? That you have to be a "muslim"-esclave of God or you better die?
As I said the truth is very clear from falsehood but people insist on following falsehood and their own desires. No matter how much proof you can bring to them, even from their own scriptures they will only follow what seems good to them, which can be seen in the topic of our conversation. You condemn Islam for the punishment of apostasy when it exists in your own scriptures and your own God gave it as a law at some point in time (AND IT’S IRRELEVANT WHETHER YOU APPLY IT NOW OR JUST BRUSH IT ASIDE AS IT HAS BEEN SUBSTITUTED BY LOVE), - the punishment was there and it’s the end of discussion. No one can oblige anyone to believe. If a Muslim wants to leave their faith, they can, they don’t have to tell anyone, they can do whatever they want, and keep it in their heart, and of course be hypocrites but no one will harm them. But as soon as they wash it in people’s faces and start causing corruption, now they have crossed their own sphere in to that of society and Islam will stop that. That person can move to lands where they can practice their faith freely, they can leave the Muslim lands and go to where ever they want. No one is telling you to believe what they want, the truth is so clear. As I said only someone with a very weak mind and a weak soul and a very evil desire would leave Islam, and I’m not talking about the practice of Islam only but to leave God and go to someone else. Being enslaved to God is a choice and an honor (because it’s not the slavery you think about, but the servitude of the most High ) not something forced upon. No one can force anyone, but they can stop them from spreading false ideas and evil. That is what the law of apostasy does, and that is exactly what it did during the time of the prophets of old and I do encourage you to review the history and the scriptures to see many other examples of God ordering his prophets to put an end to the corruption of those who have left the way of God. All I ask you is to be truthful to yourself and the proof.
-The Truth, in my opinion, can only be found where there is liberty of thinking and of faith. Jesus, the prophet preached this liberty. In the story of the lost son, he tells about the younger son of a father. This son decides to take his money and live his life as he wish. But soon, he find himself in a deplorable situation and decides to go back home to his father. Yes, he was in error, but his father did not hate it him for that, did not sent his servants to bring him home by force. He let him live his life and realize by himself if what is good and what is wrong in his life. When the son came home, the father did not argued with him: why did u do that, why did u do the other! He was just happy to welcome him and to give him back his wealth.
Truth seeking is part of the daily lives of the Muslims. They always seek truth, but they do not and no sensible men would seek the truth with polytheism. Jesus did not preach the liberty of people worshiping god’s other than the true God. I ask you to BRING YOUR PROOF IF YOU ARE TRUTHFULL.
I am sorry but the whole point of the story of the son is that he did come back home, where as an apostate does not come back but he insists in his disobedience of his or her FATHER (if you want to apply the story terms). God does not hate a person for being in error, or straying, He actually loves the most when his servants repent to Him, as He says in the Quran AND GOD LOVES THOSE WHO ASK HIM FOR FORGIVNESS. Anyone can be like the son in the parable and stray and go out and seek, and look for truth, but the whole point is that if they are sincere they will come back home. Many have strayed and many have returned home, and only the ones who have gone into the evil of their straying and have become arrogant have never come back home and most likely will never come back. The parable can be compared to the struggle of the heart to find truth, which is an internal struggle. The return home is the realization of the truth and straying from it. No, the father did not send his servants after him, but the son did not hurt the father or anyone else, nor did he wipe in their face or preached to them or go and attack his father and family saying that they are evil and wrong, and that they should follow him with no proof what so ever. That is what an apostate who would get the death penalty would have to do, to go against the state, to spread his ideas, to corrupt the land, but if he or she decides to leave, no one will go after them, no one will attack them, no one will even know. I hope you understand this, and I think the parable you gave is a perfect proof for my point. In a narration of the prophet he said that God said (I’m paraphrasing): THE PEOPLE’S EVIL ASCENDS TO ME DAY AND NIGHT WHILE MY MERCY DESCENDS TO THEM, THEY INSLUT ME WHILE I BlESS THEM. WHENEVER THEY TURN AWAY FROM ME I COME TO THEM AND ASK THEM; WHERE ARE YOU GOING? IS THERE ANY OTHER GOD THAN ME? IF THEY COME BACK TO ME I WAIT FOR THEM. AS FOR THOSE WHO REPENT I LOVE THEM.
God is waiting for His people with open arms every second, all they have to do is ask of Him only, and He will forgive them. BY THE MIGHT AND POWER IF THEY ASK ME I WILL FORGIVE THEM.
-So, do you truly believe that in force, in fear, in totalitarism and in terror you can find the Truth?
I doubt this very much. In fear you find only fear. In fear you find only the need to conserve the state of "well" because you fear the worst.
How can you pretend to have the truth in Islam that promotes fear? That punishes all the one who dears to think for himself? That punishes the one that is searching the Truth?
I believe in anything that God has revealed once established to be from God. Questioning it’s validity based on that you find it cruel and promoting fear, well that’s your weakness and not mine. I already showed you that we are in the same bowl, only that I submit to what God said and do not brush it away as an OLD thing, while you think you know better and follow Paul who said the law was dealt with. Islam does not promote but a fear of God, a fear of being separated from God and a fear of being away from the love of God, and a fear of being punished by God. It is a good fear a, which will save people when Love just isn’t enough. When a men is is intoxicated by lust or by other attractions and he is about to commit a sin, even though he loves his wife with all his heart (and that never stopped anyone, or even that he loves God – that never stopped Catholic priest from raping altar boys) that fear of God and of His punishment is what will keep one balanced. We love God with all our hearts but we also fear Him with all our hearts. Love and Fear are like the two wings of a bird, without either or the bird will not be able to fly. And after saying all that, the Muslim is always conforted by knowing that God is THE MOST MERCIFUL which is repeated over and over and reassures us that God will always forgive us as long as we seek Him.
I do not pretend I have the truth. It is not about me, it is about WHAT IS THE TRUTH? You have to ask yourself that question. What are you basing your faith on? On yourself? God never punishes one that is searching the truth, God punishes only those who leave HIM and go to spread corruption in the land.
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"As Muslims we condemn people who take justice in their hands, we condemn people who brutalize and kill innocent people, and no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands, first and foremost if there is no Islamic state and no khalifa, no judges and people of knowledge to decide the validity of the condemnation and the proper punishment."
-You better say: Some Muslims condemn other Muslims for taking the justice in their hands. Still, if there was an Islamic State or khalifia, this terror could be more justified, isn’t it?
Still, there are innocent people that die in the name of Allah, there are people that are not being allowed to search for the Truth, because they fear death or terror. Why? And how an Islamic state or khalifia could change this situation?
How? By legalizing all this atrocities?
If there would be an Islamic state there would be no pornography, no prostitution, no alcohol, no molestation and degradation of women in public and private, on tv and music videos, in magazines and in the strip clubs. There would be no disrespect of elderly and no interest business which have destroyed the world and are responsible for the economical recession where YOU ARE NOT SUFFERING but the ones in Africa and India in the slums are suffering because we as Westerners love to have their credit cards, and cars on interest loans, and house loans, and I don’t know what else that we don’t need. Where guess what, we don’t even think about the other ones when we swipe. We don’t eve think about the other when we buy our diamond rings and earrings, that most likely someone’s hand was cut off for that diamond. We only think of our little LOVI DOVI selves and our faith and what ever BELONGS TO CESAR SHOULD BE GIVEN TO CESAR AND WHAT EVER IS TO GOD SHOULD BE TO GOD, and with a simple irrational sentence people did not care anymore about economics as part of faith, but only about LOVE, and that made way for oppression in the field of economics which lead to oppression on almost every level. But if an ISLAMIC state would be there, such things would never happen.
If there would be an Islamic state there would be no terror, no terrorists, no people taking matters into their own hands without knowledge, there would be no oppression and everyone would be able to see the light of God. That is why over the history Christians and Jews preferred to live under Muslim rule rather than their own people’s ruler. The fact that there are millions of Christians today in the Middle East is a proof that Muslims took care of them and at the same time respected them (Yes I know there were bad apples, but there are on every tree).
Some Muslims, those who are on the truth and follow the Word of God and the example of the prophet, they condemn injustice and oppression. And having said that I will not be the first to condemn and I hope you join me in this, THE USA who claims many things, (George Bush a so called good Christian declared a crusade on Iraq, advised by his good religious protestant Baptist leaders), is and has been the biggest terrorist in the world, forcing their western ideologies and aspirations to everyone, and whoever does not accept it they call them enemies of freedom, and enemies of humanity and kill them. They killed two cities of Japanese women, men and children in a few hours at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and continue to do such everywhere they go, but of course they DO IT IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM AND GOOD, and just like history repeating itself, they demonize and dehumanize whoever they attack so that they get the support of all the people who get fooled by the magic box (the TV) and its news – which counts for most people. History repeats itself because they have done so to the native Indians and they have done so to the blacks, they have done so to everyone they fought with and they are doing it to the Muslims and everyone is following them, and it’s sad. So join me in condemning the so-called liberal freedom-loving place south of Canada. Terrorism is terrorism and Muslims hate terrorism of innocent people.
If there would be an Islamic state, the world would be a better place, but most are not scared of Islam, they are scared of living without their strip clubs, and without their alcohol and without their fake money and without being able to steal and corrupt and even kill and sometimes easily getting away.
If there would be an Islamic state the world would be a better place.
Now getting to the gist of it. You need to pray and ask God for what He wants of you not what you want of you. As I said in one of my e-mails. First and foremost you need to find the truth and not what you want to find but what God wants you to find. Your problem is not the apostasy law (which is also in your scriptures) but your problem is that you don’t know what is the truth. Let’s say hypothetically speaking that the Old Testament was still enforced, you would have to agree and support that law of apostasy and not just that, but love it and believe that it’s the best thing, because it comes from God ant it is God’s word. So you see the problem is not terrorism or shariah law, or fear, it is faith and belief. If God were to ask you to stand on one leg for the rest of your life, it does not matter whether you like it or not you should obey it because He said it. You need to find out whether what you believe is really what God said. Once you can prove to yourself beyond the shadow of a doubt that your are following God’s word and not what you believe to be the truth, then you have submitted to God and have obeyed Him.
I invite you to read the Quran, as it is the proof for Islam. I invite you to speak to Muslims and to go to a mosque and ask a scholar questions about Islam. I invite you to pray and to ask God for the truth and for guidance. If you are on the truth, nothing wrong will happen. If you are not, you should accept the truth, no matter what consequences.
I do pray that God will guide you and I do apologize if in any of my writing I have been a bit strong and I hope I did not offend you. It was not my intention. You just try to imagine how I feel when I get e-mails from people accusing the faith that I love more than my own self to be a cruel and unjust faith. I hope you accept my apology if I upset you, and I hope you will consider what I wrote. And if anything good came from this it is from God, and anything bad it’s from me, and all praise is due to God.
-I understand of this, that Islamic religion (which is the same with the Islamic state) allows executions for apostasy, as being a command of God.
That is exactly what we have to understand. Once God decides something to question His decision based on our emotional attitude towards His rulings it is a contradiction. Once God establishes something there is not room for questioning it, so your problem is not really the issue of apostasy but the issue that you do not believe in God’s law, which Jesus upheld when he said in Matt 5
17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
So your problem is not with the law, but with obeying it. I do have one question. You do agree with the law in Deut 13 about the apostates and the killing of them? My question and my proof here is not to debate you over what Christianity as a doctrine or your personal understanding of Christianity says, but over what you believe to be the text and word of God, and regardless of what I believe of the Bible (and that would require hours of discussion). By divine Justice the Christians do not even follow the proofs from their book. Going back to Deut 13 please do answer me if you believe that God revealed it or not? By divine Justice it is still there to show that God at one point did reveal this and no matter how you want to go around this with appeals to emotion, calling Islam evil and intolerant and narrow and not allowing freedom of faith, I GO BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT I MADE IN MY FIRST E MAIL WHICH YOU IGNORED: The God you believe in (with Jesus being part of Him at the time this law was passed) was I guess according to your analogy and rational a intolerant and lacking freedom of faith, because He did order the killing of the apostate. No matter how much you want to say that now things changed and now it’s the love, you are saying that at one point God was less loving, and more evil than in the present time, and at the time of Jesus somehow He realized that it’s better to do things a different way, and abolish all the laws and base everything on whatever everyone wants to do.
Now of course a person by the name Paul came later and claimed many things which did not align with the message of Jesus. However the people were fooled by satan to call him a man of God, and to use the excuse WHY WOULD THIS MAN WHO WAS A KILLER OF CHRISTIANS NOW TURN TO CHRIST, WHY WOULD HE LIE? Such people who claim or use such as proof really have no understanding of real life and the drives of man can go past beyond the love of life and sacrifice.
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-As far as i understand, Islam does not have the concept of freedom of faith. Either you are stay a Muslim, either you are a dead person - or in some "mercyfull" situations, you can be exiled or put into jail.
As far as you understand is not based on any proof, you speak only of what you have seen on tv and what experiences you might have had, and anyone can say that.
Allah says in the quran 2:256 There is no compulsion in faith, truth is discerned from falsehood.
No one is compelled to become a Muslim, so everyone is able to search for the truth or practice his or her faith.
As a Muslim if you were born and brought up as a Muslim, and you know Islam, you really have to be an evil doer to give up Islam to go from purity to impurity, from worshiping God to worshiping others than Him, from morality to immorality. One may say well Christians are moral. I will use your rational on this point: look at America, they all began as Christians and slowly one by one, because according to you and them freedom of people to do what ever they want with faith, and in that same time with the legislation that govern life (and of course the decay of faith began with people making the separation between state and church – Islam is not just a matter of personal faith, but a matter of society), one by one they allowed not only disbelief but immorality to creep in the life of people. The Muslims will never allow that. No one in their right mind, and spirit will leave Islam unless they are disobedient to God. If they do leave they will spread their ideas to those weak to those who have no knowledge, fool them and incite them to their ideas, and for the greater good of things, just like God ordered it in your Bible the issue of apostasy and it’s punishment comes up. I was in Africa and saw what Christian missionaries do to uneducated Muslims. They fool them. I mean with all due respect look at the way you approached this issue (it was the same way that they work), not by showing me the truth of your faith and proofs of it, but trying to emotionally attack me and show that my faith is evil and it is the same way that the missionaries have done it, but the ones firmly grounded in knowledge will never be fooled, however weak people might, and the scholars will always be there to refute the lies, to explain and to stop the disease from spreading in the society. You did not come to me and show me that your Bible or your doctrines are the ones of God, but you did come and attack my faith and try to give me one ended questions that would appeal to my emotions. Every day I have people doing this and I fell very sad.
Freedom of faith is a vast term that has to be defined and analyzed in context. To you it means something else than to me.
-So, Islamic faith is not a matter of conviction or revelation, but is a matter of fear, or terror. Could you explain it better in other words? The believer has not only the punishement of God for his apostasy, but he is punished by his people.
Faith in Islam is a matter of conviction and a search for truth, that is why every day we pray in our prayers SHOW US THE RIGHT PATH. It is not a matter of terror or fear, no firm believing Muslim is terrorized by Islam. No one. How ever we do fear God, as much as we love Him. The apostate is not punished by the people but he is punished by God’s law in this life and a greater punishment in the hear after. The punishment in this life as I said just like in YOUR BIBLE is to keep the corruption from spreading and to keep faith pure for God. Just as in Deut 13 it says that IF YOU FIND YOUR BROTHER WORSHIPING AN GOD THAT YOU NEVER HEARD OF, A NEW GOD, OTHER THAN GOD, that person is killed. (again I want to emphasize here that it was your scripture from what you believe to be from God that said this way before prophet Muhammad came on earth, and as the Quran says you were sent to confirm some of the message that was given before you, so prophet Muhammad only confirmed what you call terror and lack of religion freedom that your prophet Moses and Jesus upheld).
-You say that ALL the prophets including Jesus sustain this idea of punishment for the apostasy.
I know that Jesus said: LOVE your enemy, bless those who is hurting you.
And he said more: IF someone wants to follow me, he take his cross and follow me.
Can you provide me a single verse where Jesus as a prophet, is agreeing to the opinion of killing people that commit apostasy or killing non-believers?
The issue of loving your enemy or carry your cross has nothing to do with what we are talking. You are diverting the topic. Jesus in Mathew 5 upheld the law and told that whoever teaches otherwise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (that is probably Paul and those who follow him – great history lesson on how Pauline Christiantiy came to be so popular due to the rule of Constantin).
Now someone might use the proof here of the adulteress woman, but however by divine justice again, God showed us that such as story is made up as you can see by the agreement of the majority of scholars that such a story was interpolated in the bible. (by the way this is one proof for why I deny to take the Bible as fully the word of God).
New International Version (1973). "The most reliable early manuscripts omit John 7:53-8:11." Later editions of the NIV have, "The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.
So yes I can provide you with the verse of the old testament of Deut 13 again that says to kill the apostate and the verse in Mat 5 where Jesus says to uphold the law and agreeing to all that is in it. Jesus did not come to abolish the law that is why at the end of Mat 5 he says that IF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS DOES NOT EXCEED THAT OF THE PHARISEES YOU WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOOM, becaue they Pharisees were hypocrites. They enjoyed the law on everyone else but did not do it themselves, they were void of any spirituatlity and took out the essence of faith and reduced it to law alone. Faith and law are part of the same one corpus and cannot be one without the other. (OF COURSE PAUL WENT ON THE OTHER EXTREMEN AND WAS ONLY FAITH AND NO LAW).
-(We do not talk about the Divine punishment at the end of times, but of people that persecute other people because of their beliefs).
People who persecute people will be accountable to God. In the Quran God says that persecution is worse that murder. No one is allowed to persecute anyone. The only one who is allowed to enforce any laws are those qualified to do that under a state and under proof, and not of their own desires.
If you refer to the punishment for the apostasy as persecution than again I say to you YOUR SCRIPTURE ORDERED PERSECUTION (according to what you reason) and you are not ready to admit it and believe in it, but yet even though the same law is present in your scripture you only attack Islam on it, and you call Islam intolerant and insensitive. So reasoning and let’s say that Islam is what you claim, that according to your rational, your faith was intolerant and insensitive about 2000 years earlier than mine, and as proven from above it still is.
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-First, I put you another question:
Do you believe that the OLD Testament is inspired by God?
If yes, pls. motivate.
If no, pls. motivate.
I do believe what the Quran says and prophet Muhammad told us, why? Based on proof. The Quran tells us that prophet Moses received the message, and prophet Jesus and many other prophets, but their messages were slowly distorted. The Quran came to show the criteria as to what is correct and what is not in those scriptures. If you do a thorough research on the history of the old and new testament you will know what I’m talking about. So as prophet Muhammad said, do not believe in it but don’t disbelieve in it, because you don’t know what is truth and what is not.
It makes no difference wether it is Old or New testament we are talking about however I will give you my proof for the new one since that’s the one that really poses a great difference, greater than the old, and of course you as a Christian take both as the word of God and part of the same bible.
As I have quoted the issue of the interpolation of the story of Jesus and the adulteress woman, which Christians use as a big proof for putting aside laws, interpolation only means that the word of man was introduced into the word of God for some reason or other, and I am sure the reason was not good. I can give you another very strong example as most of the other ones even though present a clear proof that the message was tempered with do not stand in front of the doctrinal difference which makes a follower of the trinity away from God, and that is the issue of associating partners with God. In 1st John 5 we read for there are 3 that bear witness in heaven, the Father the son and the Holly Ghost, and these three are one. This is a huge interpolation and huge attempt to proof the divinity of Jesus and that of the trinity, however again by divine justice the falsehood was exposed as an interpolation
Peake's Commentary on the Bible says
"The famous interpolation after 'three witnesses' is not printed even in RSVn, and rightly. It cites the heavenly testimony of the Father, the logos, and the Holy Spirit, but is never used in the early Trinitarian controversies. No respectable Greek MS contains it. Appearing first in a late 4th-cent. Latin text, it entered the Vulgate and finally the NT of Erasmus."
Christianity diverted from the woship of God only that is given in the 1st COMMANDMENT while Islam stuck to it, and brought people back to it after a wave of darkness and polytheism was dominating earth. No matter how much one tries to proof the divinity of Jesus one will not be able and at the same time they would be lying to themselves.
-Now, answering your question: supposing that Jesus was just a prophet. If Jesus came and said: all the law and the prophets are reduced to these: "Love God from all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself", is this meaning that God sent a prophet that contradicts all that God said in the past years to Moise?
That is exactly what I am saying. Jesus never came and said that the laws were reduced to this. PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR PROOF IF YOU ARE TRUTHFULL. He did come and bring people back to love, and to the spirit of faith, rather that to the deviation of the people who only looked at law. He talked about love of neighbours, same as prophet Muhammad talked about it and said you WILL NOT BELIEVE UNTILL YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER. THE LOVE OF GOD IS THE GREATEST LOVE, AND THE LOVE OF THOSE WHO GOD LOVES AND THE LOVE OF THE POOR AND THE LOVE OF THE ORPHANS AND FREEING SLAVES AND TAKING CARE OF THE WIDOWS. That is what I’m trying to tell you they all came with these loving messages but they did not abolish the law of God when transgressors transgressed it. Each law and each love message has it’s proper place and when one or the other are abandoned only chaos and immorality will arise either that people will only be enforcing laws and hypocricy will prevail, or that people will only care about the spirit and will neglect God’s commandments and evil will prevail as it does today.
-So, either Moise is a false prophet, either Jesus is a false prophet, because, their teachings are somehow opposite.
More than that. If both are good prophets, then is this meaning that God himself is contradictory?
As I said the contradiction is more likely in the understanding that Christians or followers of Paul have. The message of the so called New Testament of today even though originating from the message of Jesus has so much addition of man made ideas and ignorance that it has contradicted the law of Moses, which leaves you with to dwell into the depth of your own question: which one contradicted the other? Which one is the truth? Who is right? Moses, Abraham, Adam, Noah, and all the prophets by the thousands, or Paul?
Also maybe you have to question yourself and move away from the assumption that you are reading the word of God, and ask yourself is it really the word of God? What is the proof for it?
-There is more: here comes the prophet Mohammed, that re-establish the law: eye-for-an-eye, love only those who love you, etc. What is this? God is not yet decided what to do with the mankind? He send Moise, he send Jesus, and now Mahommed again. What am I suppose to understand from this: God does not know exactly what is the best way for humanity? Is like someone is telling me: "The cat is black, noo... is white. Waite! I decided: is black!" Hummm....
I would like to know your opinion about these questions.
Prophet Muhammad did not come to re-establish the law eye for an eye. The Jews who did not agree with Paul (and of course they were all Jews for Christianity is a new invention and not even Jesus called himself a Christian (the so called pillar of the faith is not even a Christian)), they upheld that law and still believe in it till today. So prophet Muhammad did not come and re establish but confirmed the truth of what was before him. LOVE ONLY THOSE WHO LOVE YOU IS NOT WHAT PROPHET MUHAMMAD TAUGHT BUT HE TAUGHT TO LOVE GOD AND HIS MESSENGERS AND THE TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND NOT SIN AND TRANSGRESSORS AND TO LOVE PARENTS, AND POOR PEOPLE, AND THOSE WHO GOD LOVES AND FAR ABOVE ANYTHING NOT TO GIVE THEIR LOVE TO OTHER GODS BUT TO FULLY SURRENDER THEIR LOVE TO GOD ALONE. THAT IS WHAT PROPHET MUHAMMAD TAUGHT (which shows that you did not yet grasped or maybe not even looked at his teachings).
God knows exactly what is best for humanity that is why he gave these laws. That is exactly why we should follow them even though we find them harsh. The same rational of your question is turned on you as it refutes you as God first give the law of apostasy and then he changes his mind on it, so WHAT GOD DOES NOT KNOW EXACLTY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR HUMANITY? He has to change his mind? For thousands of years he keeps them under one law and later after thousands of prophets and millions of people follow that law, all of a sudden BHUFFF it’s gone with the wind, and all those prophets and people were following to quote you” an intolerant, no freedom of faith” religion?
THE CAT WILL ALWAYS BE WHITE, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN. GOD WAS ALWAYS ONE AND EVERYONE BELIEVE IN THAT, NO ONE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS FOR AS LONG ANS THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH EXIST EVER CAME WITH THE CONCEPT OF A TRINITY, A GOD SON WHO IS GOD BUT NOT THE FATHER, RATHER IT IS THE SON WHICH IS PART OF THE SAME GODNESS. No one ever came with such a concept not even Jesus himself whom you worship, never ever claimed that, never ever asked to be worshiped, never ever taught such concepts. SO THE CAT WILL ALWAYS BE WHITE BUT SOME HAVE ATTEMTED OVER THE YEARS TO STAIN IT WITH BLACK SPOTS.
***
-A man that is searching for the Truth is a man honest with himself first of all, is a man that does not FEAR to change his direction if he finds the truth, whatever that truth may be.
Can you find the Truth when you fear? Can you find the Truth when someone is telling you this is what you are obliged to believe? That you have to be a "muslim"-esclave of God or you better die?
As I said the truth is very clear from falsehood but people insist on following falsehood and their own desires. No matter how much proof you can bring to them, even from their own scriptures they will only follow what seems good to them, which can be seen in the topic of our conversation. You condemn Islam for the punishment of apostasy when it exists in your own scriptures and your own God gave it as a law at some point in time (AND IT’S IRRELEVANT WHETHER YOU APPLY IT NOW OR JUST BRUSH IT ASIDE AS IT HAS BEEN SUBSTITUTED BY LOVE), - the punishment was there and it’s the end of discussion. No one can oblige anyone to believe. If a Muslim wants to leave their faith, they can, they don’t have to tell anyone, they can do whatever they want, and keep it in their heart, and of course be hypocrites but no one will harm them. But as soon as they wash it in people’s faces and start causing corruption, now they have crossed their own sphere in to that of society and Islam will stop that. That person can move to lands where they can practice their faith freely, they can leave the Muslim lands and go to where ever they want. No one is telling you to believe what they want, the truth is so clear. As I said only someone with a very weak mind and a weak soul and a very evil desire would leave Islam, and I’m not talking about the practice of Islam only but to leave God and go to someone else. Being enslaved to God is a choice and an honor (because it’s not the slavery you think about, but the servitude of the most High ) not something forced upon. No one can force anyone, but they can stop them from spreading false ideas and evil. That is what the law of apostasy does, and that is exactly what it did during the time of the prophets of old and I do encourage you to review the history and the scriptures to see many other examples of God ordering his prophets to put an end to the corruption of those who have left the way of God. All I ask you is to be truthful to yourself and the proof.
-The Truth, in my opinion, can only be found where there is liberty of thinking and of faith. Jesus, the prophet preached this liberty. In the story of the lost son, he tells about the younger son of a father. This son decides to take his money and live his life as he wish. But soon, he find himself in a deplorable situation and decides to go back home to his father. Yes, he was in error, but his father did not hate it him for that, did not sent his servants to bring him home by force. He let him live his life and realize by himself if what is good and what is wrong in his life. When the son came home, the father did not argued with him: why did u do that, why did u do the other! He was just happy to welcome him and to give him back his wealth.
Truth seeking is part of the daily lives of the Muslims. They always seek truth, but they do not and no sensible men would seek the truth with polytheism. Jesus did not preach the liberty of people worshiping god’s other than the true God. I ask you to BRING YOUR PROOF IF YOU ARE TRUTHFULL.
I am sorry but the whole point of the story of the son is that he did come back home, where as an apostate does not come back but he insists in his disobedience of his or her FATHER (if you want to apply the story terms). God does not hate a person for being in error, or straying, He actually loves the most when his servants repent to Him, as He says in the Quran AND GOD LOVES THOSE WHO ASK HIM FOR FORGIVNESS. Anyone can be like the son in the parable and stray and go out and seek, and look for truth, but the whole point is that if they are sincere they will come back home. Many have strayed and many have returned home, and only the ones who have gone into the evil of their straying and have become arrogant have never come back home and most likely will never come back. The parable can be compared to the struggle of the heart to find truth, which is an internal struggle. The return home is the realization of the truth and straying from it. No, the father did not send his servants after him, but the son did not hurt the father or anyone else, nor did he wipe in their face or preached to them or go and attack his father and family saying that they are evil and wrong, and that they should follow him with no proof what so ever. That is what an apostate who would get the death penalty would have to do, to go against the state, to spread his ideas, to corrupt the land, but if he or she decides to leave, no one will go after them, no one will attack them, no one will even know. I hope you understand this, and I think the parable you gave is a perfect proof for my point. In a narration of the prophet he said that God said (I’m paraphrasing): THE PEOPLE’S EVIL ASCENDS TO ME DAY AND NIGHT WHILE MY MERCY DESCENDS TO THEM, THEY INSLUT ME WHILE I BlESS THEM. WHENEVER THEY TURN AWAY FROM ME I COME TO THEM AND ASK THEM; WHERE ARE YOU GOING? IS THERE ANY OTHER GOD THAN ME? IF THEY COME BACK TO ME I WAIT FOR THEM. AS FOR THOSE WHO REPENT I LOVE THEM.
God is waiting for His people with open arms every second, all they have to do is ask of Him only, and He will forgive them. BY THE MIGHT AND POWER IF THEY ASK ME I WILL FORGIVE THEM.
-So, do you truly believe that in force, in fear, in totalitarism and in terror you can find the Truth?
I doubt this very much. In fear you find only fear. In fear you find only the need to conserve the state of "well" because you fear the worst.
How can you pretend to have the truth in Islam that promotes fear? That punishes all the one who dears to think for himself? That punishes the one that is searching the Truth?
I believe in anything that God has revealed once established to be from God. Questioning it’s validity based on that you find it cruel and promoting fear, well that’s your weakness and not mine. I already showed you that we are in the same bowl, only that I submit to what God said and do not brush it away as an OLD thing, while you think you know better and follow Paul who said the law was dealt with. Islam does not promote but a fear of God, a fear of being separated from God and a fear of being away from the love of God, and a fear of being punished by God. It is a good fear a, which will save people when Love just isn’t enough. When a men is is intoxicated by lust or by other attractions and he is about to commit a sin, even though he loves his wife with all his heart (and that never stopped anyone, or even that he loves God – that never stopped Catholic priest from raping altar boys) that fear of God and of His punishment is what will keep one balanced. We love God with all our hearts but we also fear Him with all our hearts. Love and Fear are like the two wings of a bird, without either or the bird will not be able to fly. And after saying all that, the Muslim is always conforted by knowing that God is THE MOST MERCIFUL which is repeated over and over and reassures us that God will always forgive us as long as we seek Him.
I do not pretend I have the truth. It is not about me, it is about WHAT IS THE TRUTH? You have to ask yourself that question. What are you basing your faith on? On yourself? God never punishes one that is searching the truth, God punishes only those who leave HIM and go to spread corruption in the land.
***
"As Muslims we condemn people who take justice in their hands, we condemn people who brutalize and kill innocent people, and no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands, first and foremost if there is no Islamic state and no khalifa, no judges and people of knowledge to decide the validity of the condemnation and the proper punishment."
-You better say: Some Muslims condemn other Muslims for taking the justice in their hands. Still, if there was an Islamic State or khalifia, this terror could be more justified, isn’t it?
Still, there are innocent people that die in the name of Allah, there are people that are not being allowed to search for the Truth, because they fear death or terror. Why? And how an Islamic state or khalifia could change this situation?
How? By legalizing all this atrocities?
If there would be an Islamic state there would be no pornography, no prostitution, no alcohol, no molestation and degradation of women in public and private, on tv and music videos, in magazines and in the strip clubs. There would be no disrespect of elderly and no interest business which have destroyed the world and are responsible for the economical recession where YOU ARE NOT SUFFERING but the ones in Africa and India in the slums are suffering because we as Westerners love to have their credit cards, and cars on interest loans, and house loans, and I don’t know what else that we don’t need. Where guess what, we don’t even think about the other ones when we swipe. We don’t eve think about the other when we buy our diamond rings and earrings, that most likely someone’s hand was cut off for that diamond. We only think of our little LOVI DOVI selves and our faith and what ever BELONGS TO CESAR SHOULD BE GIVEN TO CESAR AND WHAT EVER IS TO GOD SHOULD BE TO GOD, and with a simple irrational sentence people did not care anymore about economics as part of faith, but only about LOVE, and that made way for oppression in the field of economics which lead to oppression on almost every level. But if an ISLAMIC state would be there, such things would never happen.
If there would be an Islamic state there would be no terror, no terrorists, no people taking matters into their own hands without knowledge, there would be no oppression and everyone would be able to see the light of God. That is why over the history Christians and Jews preferred to live under Muslim rule rather than their own people’s ruler. The fact that there are millions of Christians today in the Middle East is a proof that Muslims took care of them and at the same time respected them (Yes I know there were bad apples, but there are on every tree).
Some Muslims, those who are on the truth and follow the Word of God and the example of the prophet, they condemn injustice and oppression. And having said that I will not be the first to condemn and I hope you join me in this, THE USA who claims many things, (George Bush a so called good Christian declared a crusade on Iraq, advised by his good religious protestant Baptist leaders), is and has been the biggest terrorist in the world, forcing their western ideologies and aspirations to everyone, and whoever does not accept it they call them enemies of freedom, and enemies of humanity and kill them. They killed two cities of Japanese women, men and children in a few hours at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and continue to do such everywhere they go, but of course they DO IT IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM AND GOOD, and just like history repeating itself, they demonize and dehumanize whoever they attack so that they get the support of all the people who get fooled by the magic box (the TV) and its news – which counts for most people. History repeats itself because they have done so to the native Indians and they have done so to the blacks, they have done so to everyone they fought with and they are doing it to the Muslims and everyone is following them, and it’s sad. So join me in condemning the so-called liberal freedom-loving place south of Canada. Terrorism is terrorism and Muslims hate terrorism of innocent people.
If there would be an Islamic state, the world would be a better place, but most are not scared of Islam, they are scared of living without their strip clubs, and without their alcohol and without their fake money and without being able to steal and corrupt and even kill and sometimes easily getting away.
If there would be an Islamic state the world would be a better place.
Now getting to the gist of it. You need to pray and ask God for what He wants of you not what you want of you. As I said in one of my e-mails. First and foremost you need to find the truth and not what you want to find but what God wants you to find. Your problem is not the apostasy law (which is also in your scriptures) but your problem is that you don’t know what is the truth. Let’s say hypothetically speaking that the Old Testament was still enforced, you would have to agree and support that law of apostasy and not just that, but love it and believe that it’s the best thing, because it comes from God ant it is God’s word. So you see the problem is not terrorism or shariah law, or fear, it is faith and belief. If God were to ask you to stand on one leg for the rest of your life, it does not matter whether you like it or not you should obey it because He said it. You need to find out whether what you believe is really what God said. Once you can prove to yourself beyond the shadow of a doubt that your are following God’s word and not what you believe to be the truth, then you have submitted to God and have obeyed Him.
I invite you to read the Quran, as it is the proof for Islam. I invite you to speak to Muslims and to go to a mosque and ask a scholar questions about Islam. I invite you to pray and to ask God for the truth and for guidance. If you are on the truth, nothing wrong will happen. If you are not, you should accept the truth, no matter what consequences.
I do pray that God will guide you and I do apologize if in any of my writing I have been a bit strong and I hope I did not offend you. It was not my intention. You just try to imagine how I feel when I get e-mails from people accusing the faith that I love more than my own self to be a cruel and unjust faith. I hope you accept my apology if I upset you, and I hope you will consider what I wrote. And if anything good came from this it is from God, and anything bad it’s from me, and all praise is due to God.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Apostasy?
One of the followers of youtube sent me a video with the execution of an apostate from Islam.
The video was a clip of the slaughtering of a man in Somalia most likely. The questioner asked me my opinion on this.
Here is my answer:
Peace be with you
No one is allowed to take the law into their hands. Executions can only be done under the command of the judge or khalifa of the Islamic state. Unfortunately due to ignorance of the Islamic law people take the law into their own hands, and they themselves are not accountable to the same law they enforce. However with regards to the video, I do not know the situation of that case, wether that person was judged or not, or wether those people who executed him were ruling and taking the law into their own hands, without a judge or scholar's approval.
However having said all that, the agreement of all the scholars in Islam is that an apostate is given the chance to repent, later he is talked to by someone with knowledge, and at the discretion of the judge he or she depending on the situation wether they are hostile to the state and the faith, wether they are trying to fight against the state (in islam there is no separation between faith and state), they either get exiled from the Muslim lands, or get the death penalty for treason, depending on the pros and cons of the action. Apostasy is paramount to treason which goes punished with death in most countries, or jail for life.
As we believe in all prophets we do not believe that Islam came up with this law, rather it was a law that was common to all prophets, and Islam did not invent it, nor did prophet Muhammad. Rather it was taken and passed on from previous prophets such as Moses and Jesus.
In the Bible in Deuteronomy 13 vs 6 we read
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
I do ask those who think of driving around the above verse as OLD LAW or OLD COVENANT to be rational and realize wether old or new, the law was there from the same God that we as Muslims believe in, and according to Christian doctrine, Jesus being the son and one of the 3 persons in the trinity and eternally present with the father before even in this world, He, Jesus if in congruity and full agreement with the Father, was part of the LEGISLATION OF KILLING THE APOSTATE at whatever time, for whatever law old or new.
I hope that helps with your answer.
As Muslims we believe in truth and only truth, and we do not distort the message of God, as the nations before us have done. The Quran is the final revelation to mankind, and the last chance for people to become straight with God. People have moved away from God's laws by mere manipulations of texts and doctrines invalidating what God never invalidated, just because of questioning God's justice.
As Muslims we condemn people who take justice in their hands, we condemn people who brutalize and kill innocent people, and no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands, first and foremost if there is no Islamic state and no khalifa, no judges and people of knowledge to decide the validity of the condemnation and the proper punishment. However it is no secret and as Muslims we are not apologetic for the fact that the punishment for apostasy in most cases in Islam is death.
And God knows best.
The video was a clip of the slaughtering of a man in Somalia most likely. The questioner asked me my opinion on this.
Here is my answer:
Peace be with you
No one is allowed to take the law into their hands. Executions can only be done under the command of the judge or khalifa of the Islamic state. Unfortunately due to ignorance of the Islamic law people take the law into their own hands, and they themselves are not accountable to the same law they enforce. However with regards to the video, I do not know the situation of that case, wether that person was judged or not, or wether those people who executed him were ruling and taking the law into their own hands, without a judge or scholar's approval.
However having said all that, the agreement of all the scholars in Islam is that an apostate is given the chance to repent, later he is talked to by someone with knowledge, and at the discretion of the judge he or she depending on the situation wether they are hostile to the state and the faith, wether they are trying to fight against the state (in islam there is no separation between faith and state), they either get exiled from the Muslim lands, or get the death penalty for treason, depending on the pros and cons of the action. Apostasy is paramount to treason which goes punished with death in most countries, or jail for life.
As we believe in all prophets we do not believe that Islam came up with this law, rather it was a law that was common to all prophets, and Islam did not invent it, nor did prophet Muhammad. Rather it was taken and passed on from previous prophets such as Moses and Jesus.
In the Bible in Deuteronomy 13 vs 6 we read
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
I do ask those who think of driving around the above verse as OLD LAW or OLD COVENANT to be rational and realize wether old or new, the law was there from the same God that we as Muslims believe in, and according to Christian doctrine, Jesus being the son and one of the 3 persons in the trinity and eternally present with the father before even in this world, He, Jesus if in congruity and full agreement with the Father, was part of the LEGISLATION OF KILLING THE APOSTATE at whatever time, for whatever law old or new.
I hope that helps with your answer.
As Muslims we believe in truth and only truth, and we do not distort the message of God, as the nations before us have done. The Quran is the final revelation to mankind, and the last chance for people to become straight with God. People have moved away from God's laws by mere manipulations of texts and doctrines invalidating what God never invalidated, just because of questioning God's justice.
As Muslims we condemn people who take justice in their hands, we condemn people who brutalize and kill innocent people, and no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands, first and foremost if there is no Islamic state and no khalifa, no judges and people of knowledge to decide the validity of the condemnation and the proper punishment. However it is no secret and as Muslims we are not apologetic for the fact that the punishment for apostasy in most cases in Islam is death.
And God knows best.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Am I educated enough? It really makes not difference, the answer is simple? Was Jesus God, or the savior? NO
It has become quite a trend that I receive e mails such as the one below, never the less I try to answer them by the will of Allah as best as I can.
Email:
answer this if u r educated
Okay, let's put this to rest right now about Jesus being God.
Isaiah 43:11
I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
That was the Old Testament Verse, now by this verse do you agree that God is the only Savior?
(((2 Peter 1
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:)))
Now who is the Savior in this verse?
Well, you lost..answer and say "Yes God is the savior" then you will call Jesus God. if you say "No God is not the Savior" then you are blatantly Lying to yourself.
Also, about John 20:27-29 in original Greek it literally translates Thomas saying
"the Lord of me and the God of me" to Jesus, so I have proven you wrong again...to bad for you.
Thank you for your e mail
The answer to your question and I hope you are educated, it is very simple. I hope you will not allow your emotions to do the thinking.
God is the only savior, that's the whole point that I as a Muslim stress. But the thing is Jesus is not God. Plus your rational and reasoning is incorrect and would only work if I would believe that the Bible you profess is the word of God which I don't of course due to its human nature, and it's human flaws which show that it's not from God rather from man. I do believe that God's word is still in there somewhere, but only God knows were in it, so I cannot follow it.
As for your proof from the Bible, You disprove yourself, because your first quotation claims that God is the only savior, your second claims that Jesus is the savior, but the link is missing. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PROOF to show that Jesus is God, for him to be the savior. Show me one unambiguous statement of Jesus claiming divinty and God ship and I will show you many where he claims to be a man.
Jesus is the most misunderstood prophet and unfortunately many people will regret worshiping him instead of worshiping the one who sent him, alone.
I have a question is Jesus the son of God, or God according to Christian doctrine? If he is God than you might have a case (supposedly I believe in the bible) but if he is the son of God, you disproved yourself because in Isaia it says that Oly God is the savior, therefore not his son.
This is where the confusing and stubborn invented concept of the trinity comes in which has no basis for in any scripture let alone in the bible. No prophet, no scripture ever new any trinity - only the name implies polytheism.
As for my Lord and my God, not God of me and Lord of me as you say....I'm sure the translators of the bible know better than you and me
Other are reffered to as Gods and Lords in the Bible so the title does not belong to Jesus exclusively. If you are ready to accept that there are other Gods than you are again professing polytheism.
Ex:Psalms 82:6, you read, I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Weather Mesiah, God, Lord, son of God, none of these are used in your Bible exclusively to Jesus, so if you are willing to accept other Gods on top of the trinity you are welcome, but I am not, I only worship the one TRUE God who created everything, including Jesus, and if He wants something He justs says BE AND IT IS, and He is high above needing children or saviors.
"Why do they not repent to him" Quran
"The Most Merciful does not need a son - for He is the most Merciful, we just need to go back to Him and repent, and not wait for someone else to take our sins. He loves us so much that HE is ready to accept us as long as we ask for forgiveness, it is that simple.
Will you ask for it? Will you pray for truth?
Email:
answer this if u r educated
Okay, let's put this to rest right now about Jesus being God.
Isaiah 43:11
I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
That was the Old Testament Verse, now by this verse do you agree that God is the only Savior?
(((2 Peter 1
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:)))
Now who is the Savior in this verse?
Well, you lost..answer and say "Yes God is the savior" then you will call Jesus God. if you say "No God is not the Savior" then you are blatantly Lying to yourself.
Also, about John 20:27-29 in original Greek it literally translates Thomas saying
"the Lord of me and the God of me" to Jesus, so I have proven you wrong again...to bad for you.
Thank you for your e mail
The answer to your question and I hope you are educated, it is very simple. I hope you will not allow your emotions to do the thinking.
God is the only savior, that's the whole point that I as a Muslim stress. But the thing is Jesus is not God. Plus your rational and reasoning is incorrect and would only work if I would believe that the Bible you profess is the word of God which I don't of course due to its human nature, and it's human flaws which show that it's not from God rather from man. I do believe that God's word is still in there somewhere, but only God knows were in it, so I cannot follow it.
As for your proof from the Bible, You disprove yourself, because your first quotation claims that God is the only savior, your second claims that Jesus is the savior, but the link is missing. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PROOF to show that Jesus is God, for him to be the savior. Show me one unambiguous statement of Jesus claiming divinty and God ship and I will show you many where he claims to be a man.
Jesus is the most misunderstood prophet and unfortunately many people will regret worshiping him instead of worshiping the one who sent him, alone.
I have a question is Jesus the son of God, or God according to Christian doctrine? If he is God than you might have a case (supposedly I believe in the bible) but if he is the son of God, you disproved yourself because in Isaia it says that Oly God is the savior, therefore not his son.
This is where the confusing and stubborn invented concept of the trinity comes in which has no basis for in any scripture let alone in the bible. No prophet, no scripture ever new any trinity - only the name implies polytheism.
As for my Lord and my God, not God of me and Lord of me as you say....I'm sure the translators of the bible know better than you and me
Other are reffered to as Gods and Lords in the Bible so the title does not belong to Jesus exclusively. If you are ready to accept that there are other Gods than you are again professing polytheism.
Ex:Psalms 82:6, you read, I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Weather Mesiah, God, Lord, son of God, none of these are used in your Bible exclusively to Jesus, so if you are willing to accept other Gods on top of the trinity you are welcome, but I am not, I only worship the one TRUE God who created everything, including Jesus, and if He wants something He justs says BE AND IT IS, and He is high above needing children or saviors.
"Why do they not repent to him" Quran
"The Most Merciful does not need a son - for He is the most Merciful, we just need to go back to Him and repent, and not wait for someone else to take our sins. He loves us so much that HE is ready to accept us as long as we ask for forgiveness, it is that simple.
Will you ask for it? Will you pray for truth?
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Last Sermon
As A follow up to the last article about racism, one of our brothers jizak Allah khair posted the Last Sermon in the response section and I hope he does not mind if I cut and past it in here. This is the ultimate document, the ultimate philosophy of Islam, the ultimate charter or rights that could be ever written.
Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon
This sermon was delivered on the Ninth day of Dhul al Hijjah 10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat.
After praising, and thanking God, he said:
"O People, listen well to my words, for I do not know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Treat others justly so that no one would be unjust to you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (riba), therefore all riba obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital , however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer inequity. God has judged that there shall be no riba and that all the riba due to `Abbas ibn `Abd al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived.
Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabi`ah ibn al Harith ibn `Abd al Muttalib.
O Men, the Unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order to make permissible that which God forbade, and to forbid that which God has made permissible. With God the months are twelve in number. Four of them are sacred, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Sha`ban. Beware of the devil, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights over your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers. It is your right and they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste...
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God (The One Creator of the Universe), perform your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your financial obligation (zakah) of your wealth. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before God (The Creator) and you will answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or messenger will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I am leaving you with the Book of God (the Quraan) and my Sunnah (the life style and the behavioral mode of the Prophet), if you follow them you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.
Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon
This sermon was delivered on the Ninth day of Dhul al Hijjah 10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat.
After praising, and thanking God, he said:
"O People, listen well to my words, for I do not know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Treat others justly so that no one would be unjust to you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (riba), therefore all riba obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital , however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer inequity. God has judged that there shall be no riba and that all the riba due to `Abbas ibn `Abd al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived.
Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabi`ah ibn al Harith ibn `Abd al Muttalib.
O Men, the Unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order to make permissible that which God forbade, and to forbid that which God has made permissible. With God the months are twelve in number. Four of them are sacred, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Sha`ban. Beware of the devil, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights over your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers. It is your right and they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste...
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God (The One Creator of the Universe), perform your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your financial obligation (zakah) of your wealth. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before God (The Creator) and you will answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or messenger will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I am leaving you with the Book of God (the Quraan) and my Sunnah (the life style and the behavioral mode of the Prophet), if you follow them you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.
Was prophet Muhammad a racist?
Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 11:
Volume 1, Book 11, Number 662:
Narrated Anas:
The Prophet said, Listen and obey (your chief) even if an Ethiopian whose head is like a raisin were made your chief.
Some people who claim to be the followers of Jesus say that prophet Muhammad was a racist and that such statement proves it. We will insh Allah look at this claim in the light of pragmatics, or meaning of language and intent based on context. First of all anyone who applies rules of their own language to a language that is so different such as the Arabic has failed to approach the matter from an objective stance and from an academic stance.
Here is the answer that I gave to a brother who was asked this question by people who don't want to see what is there, and only want to inject hatred into the statements of our beloved prophet peace be upon him.
Salamo Aleikum yes the hadith is authentic but the understanding of the slow people who are quoting it is wrong. Psychologically speaking if one suffers from sexual perversity he will see perversity in everything.
Same for other things, if one suffers from racism he will see racism in everything, It is the same for these people, they see only what they themselves have inside of them.
The hadith has no racism what so ever in it. Ethiopians were slaves and were called raisin heads by the pre Islamic Arabs, and were insulted, beat, killed. Then Islam came and the message of Islam told us that no one is above each other except in good deeds. NO one and I allready quoted you from the Quran and the last speech of the prophet.
The best amongst people is the best in righteousness and fear of God.
As for the statement of raisin head it is very very simple and so foolish of people of not seeing that the prophet was not racist for that statement, he was simply using a word that in the past and maybe it was still at that time engraved in the minds of people as something racist, and to show the importance of obeying a leader he used that word to emphasize not the derogatory term itself but the importance of the leader. And rationally speaking who would place a leader in the most important power spot if he or she would be racist against that person? People that are racists don't even allow the people they hate to polish their shoes.
If I say You have to obey your leader even if he is a negro, and I'm talking to people who have just come out of a racist mentality I'm not putting that negro who I'm referring to down.
If I were to say he is nothing he is a negro or using an stronger term that is a slang word used by westerners every day both black and white, than I would be putting him down, but to use the word leader and the word negro together and to take the world negro as something of an insult would make my statement an oxymoron, kind of like saying look what a dark light.
I challenge anyone of those people who bring up these narrow thinking to prove that Islam and prophet Muhammad was racist. Anyone
May Allah bless you, let me know if my answer helped you, and all power is with Allah.
Volume 1, Book 11, Number 662:
Narrated Anas:
The Prophet said, Listen and obey (your chief) even if an Ethiopian whose head is like a raisin were made your chief.
Some people who claim to be the followers of Jesus say that prophet Muhammad was a racist and that such statement proves it. We will insh Allah look at this claim in the light of pragmatics, or meaning of language and intent based on context. First of all anyone who applies rules of their own language to a language that is so different such as the Arabic has failed to approach the matter from an objective stance and from an academic stance.
Here is the answer that I gave to a brother who was asked this question by people who don't want to see what is there, and only want to inject hatred into the statements of our beloved prophet peace be upon him.
Salamo Aleikum yes the hadith is authentic but the understanding of the slow people who are quoting it is wrong. Psychologically speaking if one suffers from sexual perversity he will see perversity in everything.
Same for other things, if one suffers from racism he will see racism in everything, It is the same for these people, they see only what they themselves have inside of them.
The hadith has no racism what so ever in it. Ethiopians were slaves and were called raisin heads by the pre Islamic Arabs, and were insulted, beat, killed. Then Islam came and the message of Islam told us that no one is above each other except in good deeds. NO one and I allready quoted you from the Quran and the last speech of the prophet.
The best amongst people is the best in righteousness and fear of God.
As for the statement of raisin head it is very very simple and so foolish of people of not seeing that the prophet was not racist for that statement, he was simply using a word that in the past and maybe it was still at that time engraved in the minds of people as something racist, and to show the importance of obeying a leader he used that word to emphasize not the derogatory term itself but the importance of the leader. And rationally speaking who would place a leader in the most important power spot if he or she would be racist against that person? People that are racists don't even allow the people they hate to polish their shoes.
If I say You have to obey your leader even if he is a negro, and I'm talking to people who have just come out of a racist mentality I'm not putting that negro who I'm referring to down.
If I were to say he is nothing he is a negro or using an stronger term that is a slang word used by westerners every day both black and white, than I would be putting him down, but to use the word leader and the word negro together and to take the world negro as something of an insult would make my statement an oxymoron, kind of like saying look what a dark light.
I challenge anyone of those people who bring up these narrow thinking to prove that Islam and prophet Muhammad was racist. Anyone
May Allah bless you, let me know if my answer helped you, and all power is with Allah.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Patience with our parents
Have you ever thought of why paradise is under the feet of your mother?
Why is the reward of listening and respecting parents is so great?
Lower the wings of mercy to them. Don't say ugh to them. How many worse words did we
say to our parents?
Watch this video and ponder.
Why is the reward of listening and respecting parents is so great?
Lower the wings of mercy to them. Don't say ugh to them. How many worse words did we
say to our parents?
Watch this video and ponder.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Reward of 50
When the Reward Equals Fifty
In ‘ad-Durar as-Saniyyah’ (8/91-95), Shaykh Hasan bin Husayn (a grandson of Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab) was asked about the hadith: “…the one who does this will have the reward of fifty.” So, he replied:
“First of all, you should know that the hadith in question was reported by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah from ‘Utbah bin Hakim, from ‘Amr bin Harithah, from Abi Umayyah ash-Sha’bani, from Abi Tha’labah al-Khushani who commented on the verse: {“O you who believe! Take care of your ownselves. If you follow the right guidance, no hurt can come to you from those who are in error…”} [al-Ma'idah; 105] He said:
“By Allah, I asked the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم) about this, and he said: “Rather, what this means is enjoin the good and prevent the bad until you see people succumb to covetousness, follow their desires, become corrupted by the worldly life, every one impressed with his own opinion, and you see that there is nothing else you can do. At that point, take care of yourself and don’t worry about the affair of the general populace, because there are indeed ahead of you days that require patience. Whoever is patient during those days will be like someone holding to a burning coal. And the one who does this from them will have the reward of fifty men who do what he is doing.” The Companions asked: “Messenger of Allah, the reward of fifty of those with him?” He said: “The reward of fifty of you.”“
…If you know this, you will see that the reason such a person deserves this great reward and his virtue is made equal to fifty of the Companions is that he has no helpers or aides, according to al-Hafidh Sulayman al-Khattabi and Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman bin Rajab and others.
And the one who clings to the stable and Prophetic path during corrupt times and confusion in beliefs is a stranger, even if he is in the presence of loved ones. Obstacles are everywhere, wrongdoing is rampant, ugliness and corruption have emerged, the Religion has been transformed and changed, desires and misguidance are followed, there is nobody to accompany and assist you, it is rare to find a Muwahhid whose company to enjoy, people have become like withering straw, the winds of war and conflict have blown everywhere, the evil of the hypocrites has spread, the patience of the righteous has worn thin, the paths to good have been cut off, the paths to misguidance and destruction have been made easy, there seems to be no way out, and it all seems inescapable.
So, the Muwahhid is in the midst of all this more noble than a red gem. Despite this, none respond to him and what he says. The banners of opposition have been rolled out against him, he is attacked with the arrows of enmity, the most spiteful eyes observe him, harm comes at him from every hypocrite, he has been made into a stranger, his heart is torn apart because of what has happened to the religion of Islam, falsehood has lit its fire, and its evil fills the sky.
With all of this, he follows the pure, straight religion, supported by the proofs and signs from Allah. So, tell me, by Allah: can this be except from one who has certainty and sincerity as high as a mountain in his heart, and has Tawhid, patience, faith, acceptance and submission to Allah’s Decree? And Allah has promised the patient an overwhelming reward: {“The patient will receive their reward without any limit…”} [az-Zumar; 10]
And some of the scholars – may Allah have Mercy on them – said: “Whoever follows the Qur’an and the Sunnah, migrates with his heart to Allah, and follows the footsteps of the Companions, the Companions will have nothing over him other than that they saw the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم).”
And in that era, they all had helpers, brothers, and people who stood by them. This is why ‘Ali bin al-Madini said, as mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in his book ‘Sifat as-Safwah’: “Nobody stood up for Islam after the Messenger of Allah the way Ahmad bin Hambal did.” He was asked: “O Aba al-Hasan, not even Abu Bakr?” He replied: “Abu Bakr had companions and helpers. Ahmad bin Hambal was accompanied by nobody.”
And al-Imam Ahmad reported from ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم) said: “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange as it began. So, glad tidings for the strangers.” He was asked: “Messenger of Allah, who are the strangers?” He replied: “Those who are outcasts from their tribes.” And this was narrated by Abu Bakr al-Ajuri with the wording: “Those who are righteous when the people are corrupt.” And others narrated this, and he also has the wording: “Those who flee for the sake of their religion from trials and tribulations.”
And at-Tirmidhi reported it from Kathir, from ‘Abdullah al-Muzani, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet with the wording: “Those who correct what the people have corrupted of my Sunnah.” And al-Imam Ahmad reported it as well from Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, and at-Tabarani reported from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar that the Prophet said: “Glad tidings to the strangers.” It was asked: “Who are the strangers?” He replied: “A tiny group of righteous people in the midst of a large number of corrupted people. Those who go against them are more than those who go along with them.” al-Awza’i explained this, saying: “Indeed, Islam does not fade away. Rather, Ahl as-Sunnah fade away, to the point that there will not remain in a particular land except one or two of them.”
And al-Bukhari reported from Mirdas as-Salami who said that the Messenger of Allah said: “The righteous will fade away one after the other, and only the useless remnants like straw or date fibers will remain. Allah will not care for them in the least.” And al-Hasan al-Basri would say to his companions: “O Ahl as-Sunnah! Be soft with each other, may Allah have Mercy on you, because you will be the first to fade away.” And Yusuf bin ‘Ubayd said: “There is nothing stranger than the Sunnah, and what is stranger than it is the one who knows it…”
And Muslim reported in his ‘Sahih’ from Mu’aqqal bin Yasar that the Messenger of Allah said: “Worship during the time of tribulation and confusion is like migration to me.” And al-Hasan al-Basri said: “If a man from the first generation was to be resurrected today, he wouldn’t recognize anything from your Islam except the prayer.” He then said: “By Allah, as for the one who lives in the midst of these vices, sees the innovator calling to his innovation and the one infatuated with the worldly life calling to it, yet he remains protected by Allah with his heart yearning for this earlier generation, and he follows in their footsteps and traditions and way of life – such a person will have a great reward.”
And al-Mubarak bin Fudalah – one of the scholars of Hadith in al-Basrah – related that al-Hasan al-Basri was asked about a wealthy man living in luxury who had authority and would take people’s wealth claiming that there was nothing wrong with this, and a misguided innovator Khariji who applied the verses about the kuffar on the Muslims. So, he said: “Your Sunnah, by Allah besides Whom none is worthy of worship. It is neither with the extreme or the negligent, the indulgent or the ignorant. So, be patient in sticking to it, as Ahl as-Sunnah are the fewest of people. They don’t indulge with the people of indulgence, and they don’t follow their desires along with the innovators. They were patient in sticking to their path until they met their Lord. So, be the same way, if Allah Wills.” He then said: “If a man saw these vices – this one calling him to itself, and that one calling him to itself – and he says ‘I don’t want anything but the Sunnah of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم),’ and he goes around seeking it out, such a person will have a great reward. So, be this way, if Allah Wills.”
And Muwarraq said: “The one who clings firmly to the obedience of Allah when others put it to the side is like the one who sticks around when everyone else has retreated.” Abu as-Sa’adat Ibn al-Athir said in ‘an-Nihayah’: “This means that if people abandon obedience to Allah and turn away from it, the person who holds tightly to it will have the same reward as one who stays firm in a battle after everyone has run away.”"
(This was written over two hundred years ago. How much more would this apply today?)
In ‘ad-Durar as-Saniyyah’ (8/91-95), Shaykh Hasan bin Husayn (a grandson of Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab) was asked about the hadith: “…the one who does this will have the reward of fifty.” So, he replied:
“First of all, you should know that the hadith in question was reported by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah from ‘Utbah bin Hakim, from ‘Amr bin Harithah, from Abi Umayyah ash-Sha’bani, from Abi Tha’labah al-Khushani who commented on the verse: {“O you who believe! Take care of your ownselves. If you follow the right guidance, no hurt can come to you from those who are in error…”} [al-Ma'idah; 105] He said:
“By Allah, I asked the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم) about this, and he said: “Rather, what this means is enjoin the good and prevent the bad until you see people succumb to covetousness, follow their desires, become corrupted by the worldly life, every one impressed with his own opinion, and you see that there is nothing else you can do. At that point, take care of yourself and don’t worry about the affair of the general populace, because there are indeed ahead of you days that require patience. Whoever is patient during those days will be like someone holding to a burning coal. And the one who does this from them will have the reward of fifty men who do what he is doing.” The Companions asked: “Messenger of Allah, the reward of fifty of those with him?” He said: “The reward of fifty of you.”“
…If you know this, you will see that the reason such a person deserves this great reward and his virtue is made equal to fifty of the Companions is that he has no helpers or aides, according to al-Hafidh Sulayman al-Khattabi and Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman bin Rajab and others.
And the one who clings to the stable and Prophetic path during corrupt times and confusion in beliefs is a stranger, even if he is in the presence of loved ones. Obstacles are everywhere, wrongdoing is rampant, ugliness and corruption have emerged, the Religion has been transformed and changed, desires and misguidance are followed, there is nobody to accompany and assist you, it is rare to find a Muwahhid whose company to enjoy, people have become like withering straw, the winds of war and conflict have blown everywhere, the evil of the hypocrites has spread, the patience of the righteous has worn thin, the paths to good have been cut off, the paths to misguidance and destruction have been made easy, there seems to be no way out, and it all seems inescapable.
So, the Muwahhid is in the midst of all this more noble than a red gem. Despite this, none respond to him and what he says. The banners of opposition have been rolled out against him, he is attacked with the arrows of enmity, the most spiteful eyes observe him, harm comes at him from every hypocrite, he has been made into a stranger, his heart is torn apart because of what has happened to the religion of Islam, falsehood has lit its fire, and its evil fills the sky.
With all of this, he follows the pure, straight religion, supported by the proofs and signs from Allah. So, tell me, by Allah: can this be except from one who has certainty and sincerity as high as a mountain in his heart, and has Tawhid, patience, faith, acceptance and submission to Allah’s Decree? And Allah has promised the patient an overwhelming reward: {“The patient will receive their reward without any limit…”} [az-Zumar; 10]
And some of the scholars – may Allah have Mercy on them – said: “Whoever follows the Qur’an and the Sunnah, migrates with his heart to Allah, and follows the footsteps of the Companions, the Companions will have nothing over him other than that they saw the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم).”
And in that era, they all had helpers, brothers, and people who stood by them. This is why ‘Ali bin al-Madini said, as mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in his book ‘Sifat as-Safwah’: “Nobody stood up for Islam after the Messenger of Allah the way Ahmad bin Hambal did.” He was asked: “O Aba al-Hasan, not even Abu Bakr?” He replied: “Abu Bakr had companions and helpers. Ahmad bin Hambal was accompanied by nobody.”
And al-Imam Ahmad reported from ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم) said: “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange as it began. So, glad tidings for the strangers.” He was asked: “Messenger of Allah, who are the strangers?” He replied: “Those who are outcasts from their tribes.” And this was narrated by Abu Bakr al-Ajuri with the wording: “Those who are righteous when the people are corrupt.” And others narrated this, and he also has the wording: “Those who flee for the sake of their religion from trials and tribulations.”
And at-Tirmidhi reported it from Kathir, from ‘Abdullah al-Muzani, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet with the wording: “Those who correct what the people have corrupted of my Sunnah.” And al-Imam Ahmad reported it as well from Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, and at-Tabarani reported from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar that the Prophet said: “Glad tidings to the strangers.” It was asked: “Who are the strangers?” He replied: “A tiny group of righteous people in the midst of a large number of corrupted people. Those who go against them are more than those who go along with them.” al-Awza’i explained this, saying: “Indeed, Islam does not fade away. Rather, Ahl as-Sunnah fade away, to the point that there will not remain in a particular land except one or two of them.”
And al-Bukhari reported from Mirdas as-Salami who said that the Messenger of Allah said: “The righteous will fade away one after the other, and only the useless remnants like straw or date fibers will remain. Allah will not care for them in the least.” And al-Hasan al-Basri would say to his companions: “O Ahl as-Sunnah! Be soft with each other, may Allah have Mercy on you, because you will be the first to fade away.” And Yusuf bin ‘Ubayd said: “There is nothing stranger than the Sunnah, and what is stranger than it is the one who knows it…”
And Muslim reported in his ‘Sahih’ from Mu’aqqal bin Yasar that the Messenger of Allah said: “Worship during the time of tribulation and confusion is like migration to me.” And al-Hasan al-Basri said: “If a man from the first generation was to be resurrected today, he wouldn’t recognize anything from your Islam except the prayer.” He then said: “By Allah, as for the one who lives in the midst of these vices, sees the innovator calling to his innovation and the one infatuated with the worldly life calling to it, yet he remains protected by Allah with his heart yearning for this earlier generation, and he follows in their footsteps and traditions and way of life – such a person will have a great reward.”
And al-Mubarak bin Fudalah – one of the scholars of Hadith in al-Basrah – related that al-Hasan al-Basri was asked about a wealthy man living in luxury who had authority and would take people’s wealth claiming that there was nothing wrong with this, and a misguided innovator Khariji who applied the verses about the kuffar on the Muslims. So, he said: “Your Sunnah, by Allah besides Whom none is worthy of worship. It is neither with the extreme or the negligent, the indulgent or the ignorant. So, be patient in sticking to it, as Ahl as-Sunnah are the fewest of people. They don’t indulge with the people of indulgence, and they don’t follow their desires along with the innovators. They were patient in sticking to their path until they met their Lord. So, be the same way, if Allah Wills.” He then said: “If a man saw these vices – this one calling him to itself, and that one calling him to itself – and he says ‘I don’t want anything but the Sunnah of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه Ùˆ سلم),’ and he goes around seeking it out, such a person will have a great reward. So, be this way, if Allah Wills.”
And Muwarraq said: “The one who clings firmly to the obedience of Allah when others put it to the side is like the one who sticks around when everyone else has retreated.” Abu as-Sa’adat Ibn al-Athir said in ‘an-Nihayah’: “This means that if people abandon obedience to Allah and turn away from it, the person who holds tightly to it will have the same reward as one who stays firm in a battle after everyone has run away.”"
(This was written over two hundred years ago. How much more would this apply today?)
Patience is a virtue
Patience is a virtue
It was quite a shock to realize the lack of patience that our Muslim Nation has. The realization came within a few weeks after having moved to UAE for a teaching position. It did not take me a while to meet with people who were ready to crash into my car just for allowing someone to go in front of me, people who cut me in line at the teller where I was waiting for half an hour, people who would not stop honking because I was respecting the speed limit, only to pass me on the shoulder of the road, making risky maneuvers only to cut me off and have to stop at the following red light.
Allah the Most High tells us in His holly book that He is with those who are patient , and that the characteristic of those who will be saved is one of patience . The shock and question might come to any Muslim who lives in any non-Muslim country, that how come a so-called Muslim country with such a lack of patience? Aren’t Muslims supposed to be the best in showing Islam, in portraying Islam? I still have to figure that one out. Since I came here I saw very little Islam, and very much ignorance. It is not in everyone, for I must be honest and say that I have met quite a good number of practicing Muslims who showed great character and Islamic conduct, and to add to that it might be something that has to do with different parts of the Muslim word, because in my travels to other Muslim countries I have met Muslims with exemplary characters.
UAE is a very developed country and has achieved in 38 years since it has been a country, many things that other countries including USA, Canada and UK did not achieve in 100 years. However with the fast growth and development, a lack of understanding of Islam, a lack of practice and of indifference towards true Islam has infiltrated the culture where most people have lost basic concepts of our faith such as patience, smiling in someone’s face and giving the right of way, seeking God’s good pleasure. Most people are very rich and forget where the richness comes from, giving up their prayers, maltreating people of other nationalities, and allowing for a subtle racism to dominate the culture.
It was Friday morning and as usual I took my bath, put clean clothes on and made my way to the mosque for the Friday prayers. The traffic was as usual, the lack of patience was in almost every driver on the street, and as everyone was making their way to some place, I was has heading for one of the biggest mosques in the city for what I was thinking will be another boring sermon which is read of a piece of paper printed by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs out of fear that someone might say something from their own heart and touch the hearts of the congregation which might lead to people realizing that they are in a very corrupt place and that they are loosing their faith day by day. To my surprise the scholar who was giving the speech was not the usual scholar and to add to my surprise he was not reading of a paper either. He gave a great speech about the virtues of patience, and how fasting (since we were in the month of Ramadan) increases one’s patience. Immediately I thought:” but almost everyone here is fasting but I did not see any change even in as much as driving habits”. At the end of the speech I stayed back a few minutes to read the Quran and from the mosque I could hear people honking their horns at each other as they were leaving the mosque without having taken anything from that speech .
As I left the mosque into the parking lot, I saw a most horrific scene. Tens of cars racing each other to get to a stop sign where they have to stop and eventually align and realize that they did not gain any time or space, however no one would allow the other one the right of way. And to add to that picture, a bunch of non-Muslims just exiting from their church in clothes that looked like were meant for the club or the beach, and all that during the month of Ramadan. So much for all the speeches that we received as a Western group from the local authorities when we arrived advising us to dress modest during Ramadan so that people will not get angry at us. I wonder where those angry people are when you need them? Most of them might have taken their anger out during their driving and have no more strength to go to any of these non-Muslims how show no respect what so ever for the holiness of Ramadan, be it on the street, in the malls, or around the mosques. No respect! If I were to tell anyone anything I would get sent home for imposing my faith on others. LOL.
So let’s get back to the main topic: where is the patience of the Muslims? Who took it out of us, or where did we loose it, that we forget that giving the right of way is a charity, and smiling is a charity, and allowing for someone to squeeze in and be happy could possible earn us paradise, or be the one good deed that will make the difference between hell fire and heaven. Not to mention deeds during the month of Ramadan, which are, multiplied only Allah knows how many times. But still no change in the Muslim. So where does a dayee start? Should he or she invite non-Muslims to Islam, or should he or she spend time teaching Muslims basics of Islam which are manners and patience? I don’t know yet, maybe a good dayee will do both at the same time.
Patience is a virtue, and anyone endowed with such a virtue will shine in front of their peers, will conquer the hearts of people, and will earn the love of God and His rewards. So how can someone develop patience, and how can someone teach it to others? Fasting is definitely one of the first steps towards patience and many other virtues that a Muslim should have. Maybe we are not fasting properly and therefore we are not seeing the results? Maybe we just need to go back to learning basics of Islam such as how to behave with others and be very conscious about them in our daily lives, really try hard to be nice and follow our prophets and our scriptures and try to live our lives as Muslims and not as people who have Muslim names. Maybe it could begin with a simple smile , and a greeting of peace.
It was quite a shock to realize the lack of patience that our Muslim Nation has. The realization came within a few weeks after having moved to UAE for a teaching position. It did not take me a while to meet with people who were ready to crash into my car just for allowing someone to go in front of me, people who cut me in line at the teller where I was waiting for half an hour, people who would not stop honking because I was respecting the speed limit, only to pass me on the shoulder of the road, making risky maneuvers only to cut me off and have to stop at the following red light.
Allah the Most High tells us in His holly book that He is with those who are patient , and that the characteristic of those who will be saved is one of patience . The shock and question might come to any Muslim who lives in any non-Muslim country, that how come a so-called Muslim country with such a lack of patience? Aren’t Muslims supposed to be the best in showing Islam, in portraying Islam? I still have to figure that one out. Since I came here I saw very little Islam, and very much ignorance. It is not in everyone, for I must be honest and say that I have met quite a good number of practicing Muslims who showed great character and Islamic conduct, and to add to that it might be something that has to do with different parts of the Muslim word, because in my travels to other Muslim countries I have met Muslims with exemplary characters.
UAE is a very developed country and has achieved in 38 years since it has been a country, many things that other countries including USA, Canada and UK did not achieve in 100 years. However with the fast growth and development, a lack of understanding of Islam, a lack of practice and of indifference towards true Islam has infiltrated the culture where most people have lost basic concepts of our faith such as patience, smiling in someone’s face and giving the right of way, seeking God’s good pleasure. Most people are very rich and forget where the richness comes from, giving up their prayers, maltreating people of other nationalities, and allowing for a subtle racism to dominate the culture.
It was Friday morning and as usual I took my bath, put clean clothes on and made my way to the mosque for the Friday prayers. The traffic was as usual, the lack of patience was in almost every driver on the street, and as everyone was making their way to some place, I was has heading for one of the biggest mosques in the city for what I was thinking will be another boring sermon which is read of a piece of paper printed by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs out of fear that someone might say something from their own heart and touch the hearts of the congregation which might lead to people realizing that they are in a very corrupt place and that they are loosing their faith day by day. To my surprise the scholar who was giving the speech was not the usual scholar and to add to my surprise he was not reading of a paper either. He gave a great speech about the virtues of patience, and how fasting (since we were in the month of Ramadan) increases one’s patience. Immediately I thought:” but almost everyone here is fasting but I did not see any change even in as much as driving habits”. At the end of the speech I stayed back a few minutes to read the Quran and from the mosque I could hear people honking their horns at each other as they were leaving the mosque without having taken anything from that speech .
As I left the mosque into the parking lot, I saw a most horrific scene. Tens of cars racing each other to get to a stop sign where they have to stop and eventually align and realize that they did not gain any time or space, however no one would allow the other one the right of way. And to add to that picture, a bunch of non-Muslims just exiting from their church in clothes that looked like were meant for the club or the beach, and all that during the month of Ramadan. So much for all the speeches that we received as a Western group from the local authorities when we arrived advising us to dress modest during Ramadan so that people will not get angry at us. I wonder where those angry people are when you need them? Most of them might have taken their anger out during their driving and have no more strength to go to any of these non-Muslims how show no respect what so ever for the holiness of Ramadan, be it on the street, in the malls, or around the mosques. No respect! If I were to tell anyone anything I would get sent home for imposing my faith on others. LOL.
So let’s get back to the main topic: where is the patience of the Muslims? Who took it out of us, or where did we loose it, that we forget that giving the right of way is a charity, and smiling is a charity, and allowing for someone to squeeze in and be happy could possible earn us paradise, or be the one good deed that will make the difference between hell fire and heaven. Not to mention deeds during the month of Ramadan, which are, multiplied only Allah knows how many times. But still no change in the Muslim. So where does a dayee start? Should he or she invite non-Muslims to Islam, or should he or she spend time teaching Muslims basics of Islam which are manners and patience? I don’t know yet, maybe a good dayee will do both at the same time.
Patience is a virtue, and anyone endowed with such a virtue will shine in front of their peers, will conquer the hearts of people, and will earn the love of God and His rewards. So how can someone develop patience, and how can someone teach it to others? Fasting is definitely one of the first steps towards patience and many other virtues that a Muslim should have. Maybe we are not fasting properly and therefore we are not seeing the results? Maybe we just need to go back to learning basics of Islam such as how to behave with others and be very conscious about them in our daily lives, really try hard to be nice and follow our prophets and our scriptures and try to live our lives as Muslims and not as people who have Muslim names. Maybe it could begin with a simple smile , and a greeting of peace.
The Line Between Hypocrisy and Sin
It is one thing to commit a sin, be ashamed of it, hide it and repent to the Almighty hoping for His infinite mercy and forgiveness, while it is another thing to encourage others to do good while you yourself do not do it, hoping that people will have a false image of your sainthood.
Allah tells us in the Quran :”O you who believe why do you do say things which you do not do”. There are too many Muslims and non-Muslims today who encourage people to do good and admonish them and judge them when they commit any mistake, however they never acknowledge their own mistakes. They occupy podiums in churches, mosques and synagogues and most frequently they lead our countries or run our political establishments, pointing fingers and holding that only their version of things is the correct version. They do not cut any slack to any person who commits a mistake, and are very harsh and strict in pointing out the various religious texts, which condemn such actions, taking pride in their quotations, but forgetting to apply the same rules to themselves. Due to the seriousness of hypocrisy and to the amount of warnings from our Creator to not speak about things we don’t practice, many of our brothers and sisters were tricked by Satan into saying:” We’ll I don’t think I should do this project, or work for the sake of Allah, because I have too many things to improve on myself and I don’t want to be a hypocrite”. Such a line of thought is what handicapped many of the potent Muslim workers for fear of being categorized with the hypocrites. However such thinking is incorrect.
Hypocrisy is a disease of the heart, a fake image that one puts forward in front of others in order to gain approval of the community and fame in the eyes of peers. Being a disease of the heart it is tied to intention and to action. However on the other side of the spectrum there are those who sin by day and night (which might be all of us) who strive hard against their own desires only to fail and start the fight again, repentant to Allah, crying for their sins, and swearing to amend in the near future. They have pure intentions and sincere hearts, however their weakness causes them to err. They are not hypocrites if they continue to work for the sake of Allah, calling people to good, and telling them to abstain from evil, calling people to things that they themselves might not do. These people cannot be considered hypocrites or the ones to which Allah refers to in the Quran unless they are amongst those who do not repent and admit their mistakes. Hypocrisy is coupled with pride, and lack of repentance. They are not equal the one who preaches for good (while he or she not being able to fully uphold that virtue, but striving and repenting day in and day out, working tardily for the sake of Allah) and the one who preaches for good but never does any good, nor do they every repent for their sins.
“Why do you say that which you do not do”? The humble believers might fall in the traps of Satan and commit sins just like everyone else, however they are not fully indulged in their sins and disbelief like the hypocrites. They strive hard and do much of the good to which they invite to, occasionally falling short of it, but bouncing back repentant to their Lord. I remember one of our brothers who was quite heavily involved in calling people to good; every time he would give a lecture he would give a disclaimer at the beginning that even though he is preaching to the audience certain virtues, that does not mean that he practices all of them as he would want to, and that this lecture is a reminder for himself to improve first and foremost. Such a sincere statement can only come from hearts who seek their Lord while knowing that they have much to improve on themselves, and that the path to improvement is not stagnation, or removal from calling people to good, but self improvement while on the path of preaching.
We cannot stop ourselves and let us be fooled by our enemy that we need to first take care of ourselves, for the scholars who precede us were all sinners and had mistakes, but never did they stop calling people to that which is good. Having said that they always tried to live as close to perfection as possible, doing as many good deeds to greatly distance them from the category of hypocrisy. Imam Malik (I believe) was told by some people to give some sermons encouraging people to free slaves. Lots of time passed and no such sermons came. After a few months finally the imam gave a great speech encouraging others to free slaves, and as a result many raced to comply. The same people who suggested such to the imam approached him and asked him why he did not do it earlier, only to be told that imam Malik did not want to ask others to do something that he did not do, so he waited some time, saved some money and freed as many slaves as he afforded and then he encouraged others to do so as well. What great character and what a great lesson?
Our sins should not stop us and depress us from seeking good and means to our Lord. Prophet Muhammad pbuh told his companions one day that Allah destroyed a people who never committed sins and replaced them with those who committed sins and repented, and committed sins and repented. The companions asked for an explanation, to which the prophet told them that if people do not commit sins they will have pride in their hearts (which is the greatest sin, the sin of Satan), and that Allah loves those who repent to him over and over again. Don’t ever despair of Allah’s mercy; very Allah can forgive anyone if they ask. Hypocrisy and sin followed by repentance are as different as hell fire and paradise. Where do we stand?
Allah tells us in the Quran :”O you who believe why do you do say things which you do not do”. There are too many Muslims and non-Muslims today who encourage people to do good and admonish them and judge them when they commit any mistake, however they never acknowledge their own mistakes. They occupy podiums in churches, mosques and synagogues and most frequently they lead our countries or run our political establishments, pointing fingers and holding that only their version of things is the correct version. They do not cut any slack to any person who commits a mistake, and are very harsh and strict in pointing out the various religious texts, which condemn such actions, taking pride in their quotations, but forgetting to apply the same rules to themselves. Due to the seriousness of hypocrisy and to the amount of warnings from our Creator to not speak about things we don’t practice, many of our brothers and sisters were tricked by Satan into saying:” We’ll I don’t think I should do this project, or work for the sake of Allah, because I have too many things to improve on myself and I don’t want to be a hypocrite”. Such a line of thought is what handicapped many of the potent Muslim workers for fear of being categorized with the hypocrites. However such thinking is incorrect.
Hypocrisy is a disease of the heart, a fake image that one puts forward in front of others in order to gain approval of the community and fame in the eyes of peers. Being a disease of the heart it is tied to intention and to action. However on the other side of the spectrum there are those who sin by day and night (which might be all of us) who strive hard against their own desires only to fail and start the fight again, repentant to Allah, crying for their sins, and swearing to amend in the near future. They have pure intentions and sincere hearts, however their weakness causes them to err. They are not hypocrites if they continue to work for the sake of Allah, calling people to good, and telling them to abstain from evil, calling people to things that they themselves might not do. These people cannot be considered hypocrites or the ones to which Allah refers to in the Quran unless they are amongst those who do not repent and admit their mistakes. Hypocrisy is coupled with pride, and lack of repentance. They are not equal the one who preaches for good (while he or she not being able to fully uphold that virtue, but striving and repenting day in and day out, working tardily for the sake of Allah) and the one who preaches for good but never does any good, nor do they every repent for their sins.
“Why do you say that which you do not do”? The humble believers might fall in the traps of Satan and commit sins just like everyone else, however they are not fully indulged in their sins and disbelief like the hypocrites. They strive hard and do much of the good to which they invite to, occasionally falling short of it, but bouncing back repentant to their Lord. I remember one of our brothers who was quite heavily involved in calling people to good; every time he would give a lecture he would give a disclaimer at the beginning that even though he is preaching to the audience certain virtues, that does not mean that he practices all of them as he would want to, and that this lecture is a reminder for himself to improve first and foremost. Such a sincere statement can only come from hearts who seek their Lord while knowing that they have much to improve on themselves, and that the path to improvement is not stagnation, or removal from calling people to good, but self improvement while on the path of preaching.
We cannot stop ourselves and let us be fooled by our enemy that we need to first take care of ourselves, for the scholars who precede us were all sinners and had mistakes, but never did they stop calling people to that which is good. Having said that they always tried to live as close to perfection as possible, doing as many good deeds to greatly distance them from the category of hypocrisy. Imam Malik (I believe) was told by some people to give some sermons encouraging people to free slaves. Lots of time passed and no such sermons came. After a few months finally the imam gave a great speech encouraging others to free slaves, and as a result many raced to comply. The same people who suggested such to the imam approached him and asked him why he did not do it earlier, only to be told that imam Malik did not want to ask others to do something that he did not do, so he waited some time, saved some money and freed as many slaves as he afforded and then he encouraged others to do so as well. What great character and what a great lesson?
Our sins should not stop us and depress us from seeking good and means to our Lord. Prophet Muhammad pbuh told his companions one day that Allah destroyed a people who never committed sins and replaced them with those who committed sins and repented, and committed sins and repented. The companions asked for an explanation, to which the prophet told them that if people do not commit sins they will have pride in their hearts (which is the greatest sin, the sin of Satan), and that Allah loves those who repent to him over and over again. Don’t ever despair of Allah’s mercy; very Allah can forgive anyone if they ask. Hypocrisy and sin followed by repentance are as different as hell fire and paradise. Where do we stand?
Monday, September 7, 2009
Still praising Allah
Look at this kid ...... he is not a normal kid and he is thanking Allah for everything he has ..... look at us who are perfectly normal and we have forgotten Allah ....
Pls forward it to as many as u can to wake them up from the life of darkness and come back to Allah and thank him for everything he has given us which others dream of ...
MAY ALLAH ACCEPT ALL OF US IN HIS WAY and live according to what he wants and what his PROPHET MUHAMMAD (saw) said .... AMEEEEEN
may ALLAH forgive us all for what we did and may he protect us from Doing it again
AMEEENNN !!!!
Forwarded by sister Afrah Ali
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Miracle of The Kabah
Did you know that out of 49 meridians the only one that does not deviate 8 degrees from the proper place is the one going through Mekkah. It goes perfectly through it's true magnetic longitude. In Mekkah there is the strongest gravitational pool on Earth. No Muslim Saudi oil rich person lobbied for that, as Muslims always get accused of faking miracles. Only Allah made that happen. And Wallahi you can feel something when you are in Mekkah that you cannot feel anywhere else in the world. Many people claim that Medinah is better but Wallahi I love Mekkah more than any place on earth, just like the prophet Sas said before leaving it.
The misconception about the Muslim World
Assalamo Aleikum
I have just returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia where I have performed the Umrah, visited the prophet's mosque and I must say that the West is not really aware of the goodness of the East. Even us as Muslims we get caught up and are very strict on our Muslim brothers and sisters in the East calling them backwards and away from Islam, however that is not the case. We tend to be very strict on our brothers and sisters and it is not right. I have experienced the amazing love and gentleness of those people who we think always scream and are angry. I used to think like that but not any more. The guards at the Harram those who have to put up with the innovations of people, with the pushing and shoving at the black stone, with all the heat, they were very nice and welcoming. They did not hit anyone as we think, nor did they shout, but they only advised people. Are there exceptions? Of course, but that does not disprove the generic aspect of things. I met brothers and sisters from all over and subhn Allah we united based on Islam. We met Saudis who are so rich as to never have to worry about money, yet they were so pious and so God fearing, that I was impressed. I was impressed by their knowledge of Islam, while the elite of Christians societies have no clue about their own faith, nor do they care about it, being indulged in worldly things. I was really impressed by what I have seen there.
May God make the ummah strong.
Salamo Aleikum
Sunday, May 3, 2009
We are ungrateful
Salamo Aleikum
Watch this video and remember how many times we have thrown out food.
At the end they show them praying to God, (committing shirk the Christian way), but
take the big lesson out of it, they still think of God before eating.
Of course this movie is made up but please apply the lesson to our lives.
May Alah bring us close to Him and give us wisdom.
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte
Watch this video and remember how many times we have thrown out food.
At the end they show them praying to God, (committing shirk the Christian way), but
take the big lesson out of it, they still think of God before eating.
Of course this movie is made up but please apply the lesson to our lives.
May Alah bring us close to Him and give us wisdom.
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte
Let us purify our hearts
Assalamo Aleikum wrb
I came upon these verses and especially the last one, about the purity of the heart.
We live in a time when anyone who wants to be an adherent to the sunnah is called a wahabi,
and anyone who wants to talk about the love of Allah is called a sufi. Yet if we look
at the people of knowledge of old, we find them having both, in the right balance, and that is
the key. People who leave the sunnah fall into extremes, and people who leave the love of ALlah
and the tazghia fall into extremes. Which ever way you take it, wether it was imam Al Ghazali,
or ibn Tymiah both were strict adherents to the sunnah and masters of purification of the heart.
Keeping the balance is the siat al mustakeem, and be ware of your heart, for if harshness settles in it,
it is corrupted and if to much softness and layback sets in it it is corrupted.
Keep the balance.
'Recite to them the story of Abraham,
When he asked his father and his people, 'What do you worship?'
'We worship idols,' they replied, 'and we are ever devoted to them.'
He said, 'Do they hear you when you cry?
Or do they benefit or harm you in any way?'
They said, 'No, but this is what we found our forefathers doing.'
He said, 'Do you see, then, what you and your forefathers have been worshipping?
Truly, they are all my enemies, except the Lord of the Worlds,
Who created me, and Who guides me,
And Who feeds me and gives me to drink,
And when I am ill, He heals me,
And Who will cause me to die, and give me life again;
And Who, I ardently hope, will forgive me my sins on the Day of Judgment.
O Lord, grant me wisdom, and unite me with the righteous,
And grant that I may be remembered well in future generations,
And make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Delight;
And forgive my father, for he is one of those who is lost;
And do not disgrace me on the Day when all will be resurrected,
The Day that wealth and children will not avail anyone,
Except one who brings to God a clean heart.'
(The Quran 26:69-89)
I came upon these verses and especially the last one, about the purity of the heart.
We live in a time when anyone who wants to be an adherent to the sunnah is called a wahabi,
and anyone who wants to talk about the love of Allah is called a sufi. Yet if we look
at the people of knowledge of old, we find them having both, in the right balance, and that is
the key. People who leave the sunnah fall into extremes, and people who leave the love of ALlah
and the tazghia fall into extremes. Which ever way you take it, wether it was imam Al Ghazali,
or ibn Tymiah both were strict adherents to the sunnah and masters of purification of the heart.
Keeping the balance is the siat al mustakeem, and be ware of your heart, for if harshness settles in it,
it is corrupted and if to much softness and layback sets in it it is corrupted.
Keep the balance.
'Recite to them the story of Abraham,
When he asked his father and his people, 'What do you worship?'
'We worship idols,' they replied, 'and we are ever devoted to them.'
He said, 'Do they hear you when you cry?
Or do they benefit or harm you in any way?'
They said, 'No, but this is what we found our forefathers doing.'
He said, 'Do you see, then, what you and your forefathers have been worshipping?
Truly, they are all my enemies, except the Lord of the Worlds,
Who created me, and Who guides me,
And Who feeds me and gives me to drink,
And when I am ill, He heals me,
And Who will cause me to die, and give me life again;
And Who, I ardently hope, will forgive me my sins on the Day of Judgment.
O Lord, grant me wisdom, and unite me with the righteous,
And grant that I may be remembered well in future generations,
And make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Delight;
And forgive my father, for he is one of those who is lost;
And do not disgrace me on the Day when all will be resurrected,
The Day that wealth and children will not avail anyone,
Except one who brings to God a clean heart.'
(The Quran 26:69-89)
The little Dayee
Assalamu Alaikum Dearest Ustazah
I want to share something with you about my youngest son Huzaifa, He is very active in helping out at his school, He works with his principal & teachers to help out those boys who are being bullied or beaten up by others. One day he told me "mom, I help a boy who doest understand the questions. I finish my work quickly and help him." And last week he told me "mom, there is a hindu boy, no one likes to play with him because he says bad things so I went up to him and i told him that our group of muslim boys is nice, you can come and play with us. And he did and then I told him you hang out with us so why dont you become a muslim. He said ok what do I have to do. So I told him to repeat after me (in english) kalima e shahadah and I told him that you have to let go of all the gods. There is only one God and His name is Allah.
I was so excited and I asked huzaifa to now tell him about good deeds and akhirah. Very seriously, he answered "MOOOOM, I have already done that. I am teaching him surah al fatiha now. He himself came upto me and asked huzaifa! wont you teach me Quran and I said o okayyy. Last recess."When he was saiyng it, I thought how difficult it is to teach with words and how easy it is through actions. This group of little boys took in one person in their group with respect and the child became so impressed by Islam. SubhanAllah! May Allah keep him on this track for ever and may Allah bring up our youth in such a way that Islam prevails.
I want to share something with you about my youngest son Huzaifa, He is very active in helping out at his school, He works with his principal & teachers to help out those boys who are being bullied or beaten up by others. One day he told me "mom, I help a boy who doest understand the questions. I finish my work quickly and help him." And last week he told me "mom, there is a hindu boy, no one likes to play with him because he says bad things so I went up to him and i told him that our group of muslim boys is nice, you can come and play with us. And he did and then I told him you hang out with us so why dont you become a muslim. He said ok what do I have to do. So I told him to repeat after me (in english) kalima e shahadah and I told him that you have to let go of all the gods. There is only one God and His name is Allah.
I was so excited and I asked huzaifa to now tell him about good deeds and akhirah. Very seriously, he answered "MOOOOM, I have already done that. I am teaching him surah al fatiha now. He himself came upto me and asked huzaifa! wont you teach me Quran and I said o okayyy. Last recess."When he was saiyng it, I thought how difficult it is to teach with words and how easy it is through actions. This group of little boys took in one person in their group with respect and the child became so impressed by Islam. SubhanAllah! May Allah keep him on this track for ever and may Allah bring up our youth in such a way that Islam prevails.
Advice on how to deal with kids
Question From: Manahil Rehman
AsSalaamualaykum,
I pray we all have children who from such a young age start the work of Allah(SWT). InshAllah Huzaifa will grow up to do great works for the pleasure of Allah(SWT) with khair.
If you could kindly ask the sister to tell us how she brought her son up and maybe give a few tips on bringing up children. JazakAllah Khair
Answer By: H
umaira Fakhar
My dear sister Manahil
Asalamu alaikum
Alhamdulillah all praise to Allah who gives us the ability to please Him. May Allah accepts our efforts ameen.Manahil jee the answer to your question is Qura'n. it is Qura'n that brings the changes.Here are some suggestions to bring your children closer to Allah (swt)
1) Ustazah taught us one activity that really worked and it was to make the children sit with you and listen to the recitation of Quran for 15 to 20 min. Tell them briefly about one strong ayah from that recitation. Ask them what did they understand. This activity was amazing mashaAllah.(just be nice to them. Give them a good snack after the activity.)
2) No matter what I am doing recitation of Quran is turned on. I never get tired from it. They are used to listening to it all the time. Like people they have background music our ears enjoy the words of Allah.
3) In the morning when I am preparing breakfast I turn on the morning evening duas (by mishaari, he has a beautiful way of saying the duas so children have amazingly memorized the duas without any difficulty).
4) keep on telling them one truth and that is that for them there shouldnt be anything more important than Allahs love. If they will obey Allah and love Him they will get respect from people and mercy from Allah.
5) frequently mention the day of judgement and death infront of the children .I listen to surah al Haaqqah very often and the children listen to it too.The qari cries alot on the ayaat.After recitation one day my son himmself questioned me mom what is the meaning of these ayaat. Why is he crying so much.So through that they came to know so many things about akhirah.
6) Make dua for them so that Allah chooses them for His deen.
May Allah keep all the muslims and especially our young children in His protection so that they can become the true mo'mineen. ameen
--
AsSalaamualaykum,
I pray we all have children who from such a young age start the work of Allah(SWT). InshAllah Huzaifa will grow up to do great works for the pleasure of Allah(SWT) with khair.
If you could kindly ask the sister to tell us how she brought her son up and maybe give a few tips on bringing up children. JazakAllah Khair
Answer By: H
umaira Fakhar
My dear sister Manahil
Asalamu alaikum
Alhamdulillah all praise to Allah who gives us the ability to please Him. May Allah accepts our efforts ameen.Manahil jee the answer to your question is Qura'n. it is Qura'n that brings the changes.Here are some suggestions to bring your children closer to Allah (swt)
1) Ustazah taught us one activity that really worked and it was to make the children sit with you and listen to the recitation of Quran for 15 to 20 min. Tell them briefly about one strong ayah from that recitation. Ask them what did they understand. This activity was amazing mashaAllah.(just be nice to them. Give them a good snack after the activity.)
2) No matter what I am doing recitation of Quran is turned on. I never get tired from it. They are used to listening to it all the time. Like people they have background music our ears enjoy the words of Allah.
3) In the morning when I am preparing breakfast I turn on the morning evening duas (by mishaari, he has a beautiful way of saying the duas so children have amazingly memorized the duas without any difficulty).
4) keep on telling them one truth and that is that for them there shouldnt be anything more important than Allahs love. If they will obey Allah and love Him they will get respect from people and mercy from Allah.
5) frequently mention the day of judgement and death infront of the children .I listen to surah al Haaqqah very often and the children listen to it too.The qari cries alot on the ayaat.After recitation one day my son himmself questioned me mom what is the meaning of these ayaat. Why is he crying so much.So through that they came to know so many things about akhirah.
6) Make dua for them so that Allah chooses them for His deen.
May Allah keep all the muslims and especially our young children in His protection so that they can become the true mo'mineen. ameen
--
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Perfect Justice in Islam
"O you who believe: Be steadfast witness for God in equity and let not hatred of any people seduce you that you deal unjustly. Be just that is closer to piety" Qur'an 5:8
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Benefits of Sajada
Sajda(Prostration) is a unique position or stance in the regular prayers, which a Muslim is supposed to offer at least five times a day. Although the basic purpose of obligatory prayers is not to provide an exercise for people yet it is being increasingly recognized that it has plenty of medical advantages for the human body.
Here it is worth mentioning that Holy Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) has mentioned in a hadith in Ibn Maja:'That prayer is a cure for many diseases'. The position of Sajda in which the forehead touches the ground is exclusively associated with the Muslim form of prayer. It is the climax of a Muslim's prayer and as mentioned in a Hadith a Muslim is nearest to Allah in this position.
The messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so make supplication' (in this state)" In a Hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik (R.A.) Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) advised Muslims to perform Rukuu (bowing) and Sajda(prostration) properly.
In another Hadith he (peace be upon him) advised to perform Sajda(Prostration) and Bowing calmly and to get up only when the body has come to ease. Hence the first positive effect upon a person who prostrates or does Sajda(Prostration) is that he comes nearest to Allah and hence in that condition he can supplicate.
Psychological advantage:
This is a great psychological advantage and it gives relief to the person concerned as life is full of worries and in this position he gets at least a transient refuge from the agonizing problems.
When a person goes to the position of Sajda(Prostration), his whole body is in active motion. This position can be considered as a mini dive as the musalli (one who offers prayer) goes to rest his forehead on the ground while his hands are placed at the sides. This brings most of the body muscles if not all in active motion and serves to give them some exercise. The hands are then specifically stretched out and thence the forearm as well as arm muscles are supposed to bear the weight in the Sajda(Prostration) position. It gives good exercise to the muscles of the upper limb. The Prophet (peace be upon him) in a hadith advised not to put the forearms flatly on the ground but to keep them elevated above ground and this is better for the forearm and arm muscles.
Sajda(Prostration) is a unique position as this is the only position in which brain (or head) becomes lower than the heart and hence for the first time the blood gushes towards the brain with full force whereas in all other positions (even when lying) brain is above the heart when it has to work against gravity to send blood to the brain. In the position of Sajda(Prostration) due to the increased blood supply the brain receive more nourishment and it has good effect upon memory, vision, hearing, concentration, psyche and all other cognitive abilities.
People who offer their prayers regularly have more will power and can cope with the difficulties of life in a much better manner.
They have less incidence of headaches, psychological problems and other defects of cognitive function. In the unique position of Sajda(Prostration) the neck muscles get best exercise. They have to bear the load when the forehead lies at the ground hence the neck muscles become stronger. One can note the tense pressure at the neck muscles in the position of Sajda(Prostration) specially the active motion of the neck and the facial muscles when the head is being lifted. (e.g. one inch above the ground) and it will be noticed that they are in a very active motion.
More strong cervical muscles mean the cervical vertebra will be better protected. Strength of cervical muscles is important as the head rests upon cervical vertebra supported by cervical musculature. In fact head performs rotator movements over the cervical vertebra. In any accident cervical neck examination is especially important to the physicians because of its extraordinary importance. It is uncommon that a person who offers his prayers regularly will get the usual neck myalgias or cervical spondylosis as the neck muscles particularly become very strong due to the 34 sajdas(Prostrations) offered daily in five prayers.
The unique position of Sajda(Prostration) also has positive effects upon the back muscles as while going into Sajda and getting up from it the back muscle contract actively and they become stronger. Probably it is because of this reason that a person who is regular in prayers will (rarely) get backache.
Finally it must be reminded that (even though) prayer is not meant to be an exercise, there are a lot of medical advantages associated with it. Still the best blessing is the peace of mind, which a person derives by the accomplishment of his duty to Allah by fulfilling an obligation.
Dr. Muhammad Karim Beebani, Saudi Gazette.
Here it is worth mentioning that Holy Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) has mentioned in a hadith in Ibn Maja:'That prayer is a cure for many diseases'. The position of Sajda in which the forehead touches the ground is exclusively associated with the Muslim form of prayer. It is the climax of a Muslim's prayer and as mentioned in a Hadith a Muslim is nearest to Allah in this position.
The messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so make supplication' (in this state)" In a Hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik (R.A.) Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) advised Muslims to perform Rukuu (bowing) and Sajda(prostration) properly.
In another Hadith he (peace be upon him) advised to perform Sajda(Prostration) and Bowing calmly and to get up only when the body has come to ease. Hence the first positive effect upon a person who prostrates or does Sajda(Prostration) is that he comes nearest to Allah and hence in that condition he can supplicate.
Psychological advantage:
This is a great psychological advantage and it gives relief to the person concerned as life is full of worries and in this position he gets at least a transient refuge from the agonizing problems.
When a person goes to the position of Sajda(Prostration), his whole body is in active motion. This position can be considered as a mini dive as the musalli (one who offers prayer) goes to rest his forehead on the ground while his hands are placed at the sides. This brings most of the body muscles if not all in active motion and serves to give them some exercise. The hands are then specifically stretched out and thence the forearm as well as arm muscles are supposed to bear the weight in the Sajda(Prostration) position. It gives good exercise to the muscles of the upper limb. The Prophet (peace be upon him) in a hadith advised not to put the forearms flatly on the ground but to keep them elevated above ground and this is better for the forearm and arm muscles.
Sajda(Prostration) is a unique position as this is the only position in which brain (or head) becomes lower than the heart and hence for the first time the blood gushes towards the brain with full force whereas in all other positions (even when lying) brain is above the heart when it has to work against gravity to send blood to the brain. In the position of Sajda(Prostration) due to the increased blood supply the brain receive more nourishment and it has good effect upon memory, vision, hearing, concentration, psyche and all other cognitive abilities.
People who offer their prayers regularly have more will power and can cope with the difficulties of life in a much better manner.
They have less incidence of headaches, psychological problems and other defects of cognitive function. In the unique position of Sajda(Prostration) the neck muscles get best exercise. They have to bear the load when the forehead lies at the ground hence the neck muscles become stronger. One can note the tense pressure at the neck muscles in the position of Sajda(Prostration) specially the active motion of the neck and the facial muscles when the head is being lifted. (e.g. one inch above the ground) and it will be noticed that they are in a very active motion.
More strong cervical muscles mean the cervical vertebra will be better protected. Strength of cervical muscles is important as the head rests upon cervical vertebra supported by cervical musculature. In fact head performs rotator movements over the cervical vertebra. In any accident cervical neck examination is especially important to the physicians because of its extraordinary importance. It is uncommon that a person who offers his prayers regularly will get the usual neck myalgias or cervical spondylosis as the neck muscles particularly become very strong due to the 34 sajdas(Prostrations) offered daily in five prayers.
The unique position of Sajda(Prostration) also has positive effects upon the back muscles as while going into Sajda and getting up from it the back muscle contract actively and they become stronger. Probably it is because of this reason that a person who is regular in prayers will (rarely) get backache.
Finally it must be reminded that (even though) prayer is not meant to be an exercise, there are a lot of medical advantages associated with it. Still the best blessing is the peace of mind, which a person derives by the accomplishment of his duty to Allah by fulfilling an obligation.
Dr. Muhammad Karim Beebani, Saudi Gazette.
Studies Show Fajr Prayer is Healthy
By Karima Burns, MH, ND
14/03/2002
"And He it is Who made the night a covering for you, and the sleep a rest, and He made the day to rise up again" (Qur’an 25:47).
Certainly sleep is one of the blessings from Allah. At the end of a busy day a person looks forward to sleeping and regaining enough energy for the next day. Sleep is also important for good health and safety reasons. However, studies vary as to how much sleep is enough. Some studies claim 8-10 hours is a requirement for everyone. However, the Prophet Mohammad (saws) used to sleep very few hours in the night and used part of the night for prayer. Recent studies confirm that this may actually be healthier for some people.
Sleep is important for health and safety reasons. Lack of sleep can lead to mental illness, relationship problems, absence from work and even traffic accidents.
Researchers have found that people with chronic insomnia are more likely than others to develop several kinds of psychiatric problems, and are also likely to make greater use of healthcare services (Yang). Lost productivity due to sleepiness has been estimated to cost the national economy as much as $100 billion annually and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has estimated more than 100,000 auto crashes annually may be fatigue related (Yang). Because of this, some studies claim that 8-10 hours should be required for everyone. However, recent studies have confirmed what the prophet Muhammad did may be healthy for some people.
"…the Prophet slept for a part of the night, (See Fateh-al-Bari page 249, Vol. 1), and late in the night, he got up and performed ablution from a hanging water skin, a light (perfect) ablution and stood up for the prayer (Bukhari)."
Modern studies show that this may actually be the best advice for many people. In fact, many studies are showing that less sleep or even lack of sleep can be healthier in some cases.
A six-year study of more than a million Americans shows that a good night's sleep lasts seven hours. It also showed that people who sleep for eight hours or more tend to die a bit sooner. Study leader Daniel F. Kripke, MD, says,"You really don't have to sleep for eight hours and you don't have to worry about it. It is evidently very safe to sleep only seven, six, or even five hours a night (DeNoon)."
Kripke and co-workers analyzed data from an American Cancer Society study conducted between 1982 and 1988. The study gathered information on people's sleep habits and health, and then followed them for six years. Study participants ranged in age from 30 to 102 years, with an average starting age of 57 years for women and 58 years for men. In the study the death risk for people with too much sleep was 34% as compared to only 12% for those who slept 8 hours and only 22% for those who had too little sleep.
These findings are similar to those in the dietary realm that show that eating too much food is much more harmful than not eating enough (of course massive extremes such as starvation and not sleeping at all are not included in this discussion). Kripke even noted that, "For 10-hour sleepers, the increased risk of death was about the same as that for moderate obesity."
Some studies have even experimented with sleep deprivation to cure depression. Up to 60% of depressed people will show a 30% improvement after just one night awake, according to a review article published in the January 1990 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. People who feel the most depressed in the morning and improve later in the day seem to benefit the most from a night without sleep (Yang). However, keeping people up all night is not a long-term solution and researchers often found a relapse in people once they went back to "normal" sleeping hours.
Further research showed that one reason staying up all night worked was because sleep inhibits the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) that helps control our metabolism and, indirectly, our levels of energy. An estimated 25% to 35% of depressed patients have low TSH levels. Recent research has shown that while sleep inhibits the release of TSH, staying awake through the night and the early morning hours boosts it. This "new" scientific research is completely in accordance with the habit of the prophet (saws), which was to sleep shortly after Eisha prayer (earlier than most people sleep nowadays), and wake in the very early morning hours (sometimes as early as midnight) again to pray.
Ibn 'Abbas said, "The Prophet slept till he snored and then prayed (or probably lay till his breath sounds were heard and then got up and prayed)." Ibn 'Abbas added: "I stayed overnight in the house of my aunt, Maimuna, the Prophet slept for a part of the night, (See Fateh-al-Bari page 249, Vol. 1), and late in the night, he got up and performed ablution from a hanging water skin, a light (perfect) ablution and stood up for the prayer. I, too, performed a similar ablution, then I went and stood on his left. He drew me to his right and prayed as much as Allah wished, and again lay and slept till his breath sounds were heard. "
This is similar to the therapy given to depressed patients in Europe who are told to sleep early for a week, awake at midnight and then ease back into a "normal" sleeping schedule by waking a bit later each morning, but no later than sunrise (Yang).
If you already feel you don’t have enough sleep you may wonder, though how less sleep can make you feel better. Oftentimes sleep problems are related to sleep quality rather than length of sleep. Things a person can do to improve their sleep quality is: eat at least two hours before bedtime, change to healthier dietary habits, check with a doctor about possible sleep apnea, snoring issues, or TMJ, sleep on your side, avoid alcohol and sedatives, lose weight and find a comfortable mattress.
So how do you know how much sleep you need? Many people instinctively feel what is right for them. If you feel great after 7 hours, but feel tired if you get five hours or nine hours then you know that seven is your "ideal sleep" time. However, sleep requirements may also vary with life events. During travel or personal trauma or illness sleep requirements may increase.
John McDougal, author of several dietary books, offers a further distinction between people who need more or less sleep. He says in his book The Quick McDougal Cookbook, that healthy people usually need only 5-7 hours of sleep a night. This, in fact may be the reason many people think they need more sleep. Bad dietary habits can cause sleepiness. One such example is the heavy feeling one gets after eating a large meal or the drug-induced state that bread causes in some people. Dr. McDougal says that as long as a person is healthy they should need less than 8-hours of sleep. Medical science seems to be saying that if you need more that 8 hours of sleep you need to work on some dietary issues and strive to need less sleep. Even the prophet (saws) spoke against extremes in sleep deprivation and told men who stayed up all night for days on end praying, that they needed to moderate their habits and also get some sleep.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/03/article8.shtml
14/03/2002
"And He it is Who made the night a covering for you, and the sleep a rest, and He made the day to rise up again" (Qur’an 25:47).
Certainly sleep is one of the blessings from Allah. At the end of a busy day a person looks forward to sleeping and regaining enough energy for the next day. Sleep is also important for good health and safety reasons. However, studies vary as to how much sleep is enough. Some studies claim 8-10 hours is a requirement for everyone. However, the Prophet Mohammad (saws) used to sleep very few hours in the night and used part of the night for prayer. Recent studies confirm that this may actually be healthier for some people.
Sleep is important for health and safety reasons. Lack of sleep can lead to mental illness, relationship problems, absence from work and even traffic accidents.
Researchers have found that people with chronic insomnia are more likely than others to develop several kinds of psychiatric problems, and are also likely to make greater use of healthcare services (Yang). Lost productivity due to sleepiness has been estimated to cost the national economy as much as $100 billion annually and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has estimated more than 100,000 auto crashes annually may be fatigue related (Yang). Because of this, some studies claim that 8-10 hours should be required for everyone. However, recent studies have confirmed what the prophet Muhammad did may be healthy for some people.
"…the Prophet slept for a part of the night, (See Fateh-al-Bari page 249, Vol. 1), and late in the night, he got up and performed ablution from a hanging water skin, a light (perfect) ablution and stood up for the prayer (Bukhari)."
Modern studies show that this may actually be the best advice for many people. In fact, many studies are showing that less sleep or even lack of sleep can be healthier in some cases.
A six-year study of more than a million Americans shows that a good night's sleep lasts seven hours. It also showed that people who sleep for eight hours or more tend to die a bit sooner. Study leader Daniel F. Kripke, MD, says,"You really don't have to sleep for eight hours and you don't have to worry about it. It is evidently very safe to sleep only seven, six, or even five hours a night (DeNoon)."
Kripke and co-workers analyzed data from an American Cancer Society study conducted between 1982 and 1988. The study gathered information on people's sleep habits and health, and then followed them for six years. Study participants ranged in age from 30 to 102 years, with an average starting age of 57 years for women and 58 years for men. In the study the death risk for people with too much sleep was 34% as compared to only 12% for those who slept 8 hours and only 22% for those who had too little sleep.
These findings are similar to those in the dietary realm that show that eating too much food is much more harmful than not eating enough (of course massive extremes such as starvation and not sleeping at all are not included in this discussion). Kripke even noted that, "For 10-hour sleepers, the increased risk of death was about the same as that for moderate obesity."
Some studies have even experimented with sleep deprivation to cure depression. Up to 60% of depressed people will show a 30% improvement after just one night awake, according to a review article published in the January 1990 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. People who feel the most depressed in the morning and improve later in the day seem to benefit the most from a night without sleep (Yang). However, keeping people up all night is not a long-term solution and researchers often found a relapse in people once they went back to "normal" sleeping hours.
Further research showed that one reason staying up all night worked was because sleep inhibits the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) that helps control our metabolism and, indirectly, our levels of energy. An estimated 25% to 35% of depressed patients have low TSH levels. Recent research has shown that while sleep inhibits the release of TSH, staying awake through the night and the early morning hours boosts it. This "new" scientific research is completely in accordance with the habit of the prophet (saws), which was to sleep shortly after Eisha prayer (earlier than most people sleep nowadays), and wake in the very early morning hours (sometimes as early as midnight) again to pray.
Ibn 'Abbas said, "The Prophet slept till he snored and then prayed (or probably lay till his breath sounds were heard and then got up and prayed)." Ibn 'Abbas added: "I stayed overnight in the house of my aunt, Maimuna, the Prophet slept for a part of the night, (See Fateh-al-Bari page 249, Vol. 1), and late in the night, he got up and performed ablution from a hanging water skin, a light (perfect) ablution and stood up for the prayer. I, too, performed a similar ablution, then I went and stood on his left. He drew me to his right and prayed as much as Allah wished, and again lay and slept till his breath sounds were heard. "
This is similar to the therapy given to depressed patients in Europe who are told to sleep early for a week, awake at midnight and then ease back into a "normal" sleeping schedule by waking a bit later each morning, but no later than sunrise (Yang).
If you already feel you don’t have enough sleep you may wonder, though how less sleep can make you feel better. Oftentimes sleep problems are related to sleep quality rather than length of sleep. Things a person can do to improve their sleep quality is: eat at least two hours before bedtime, change to healthier dietary habits, check with a doctor about possible sleep apnea, snoring issues, or TMJ, sleep on your side, avoid alcohol and sedatives, lose weight and find a comfortable mattress.
So how do you know how much sleep you need? Many people instinctively feel what is right for them. If you feel great after 7 hours, but feel tired if you get five hours or nine hours then you know that seven is your "ideal sleep" time. However, sleep requirements may also vary with life events. During travel or personal trauma or illness sleep requirements may increase.
John McDougal, author of several dietary books, offers a further distinction between people who need more or less sleep. He says in his book The Quick McDougal Cookbook, that healthy people usually need only 5-7 hours of sleep a night. This, in fact may be the reason many people think they need more sleep. Bad dietary habits can cause sleepiness. One such example is the heavy feeling one gets after eating a large meal or the drug-induced state that bread causes in some people. Dr. McDougal says that as long as a person is healthy they should need less than 8-hours of sleep. Medical science seems to be saying that if you need more that 8 hours of sleep you need to work on some dietary issues and strive to need less sleep. Even the prophet (saws) spoke against extremes in sleep deprivation and told men who stayed up all night for days on end praying, that they needed to moderate their habits and also get some sleep.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/03/article8.shtml
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