SALAM.


Qur'an]


To any that desires the soil of the Hereafter, We will increase


in his soil, and to any that desires the soil of this world, We


grant somewhat thereof, but he has no share or lot in the


Hereafter.


Surat Ash-Shura 42:20


[Lessons from this Verse]


When you ask people what their number one goal in life is,


rarely do you hear the person immediately respond by saying


"Pleasing Allah, Jannat Al-Firdows - the highest level of


Jannah, and being with Rasul Allah, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam,


in the hereafter." But ... isn't that the correct answer? Let's

<b>The Trinity</b>
Now the Catholic faith is this,


that we worship One God in the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity,


neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.


The Person of the Father is distinct, the Person of the Son is distinct, the Person of the Holy Ghost is distinct;


but of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost


the Divinity is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.


As the Father is, such is the Son, such is the Holy Ghost:


Uncreated is the Father, Uncreated is the Son, Uncreated is the Holy Ghost;


Infinite is the Father, Infinite is the Son, Infinite is the Holy Ghost;


Eternal is the Father, Eternal is the Son, Eternal is the Holy Ghost;


Any yet not three eternals, but One Eternal.


As there are not three uncreated, not three infinites, but One Uncreated and One Infinite.


Likewise, Almighty is the Father, Almighty is the Son, Almighty is the Holy Ghost;


And yet not three almighties, but One Almighty.


So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God;


And yet there are not three gods; there is but One God.


So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Ghost is Lord;


And yet there are not three lords; there is but One Lord.


For we are compelled by Christian truth to confess that each Person is God and Lord;


so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say that there are three gods or lords.


The Father is made by none; not created, nor begotten.


The Son is from the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten.


The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son; not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.


Therefore, there is One Father, not three fathers;


there is One Son, not three sons;


there is One Holy Ghost, not three holy ghosts.


And in this Trinity there is none before or after, none greater or less;


but all Three Persons are co-eternal and co-equal.


So that, in all respects, as is aforesaid,


we must worship both the Unity of the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.


<i>(DS 75: Solemn Teaching of the Church - 5th Century AD)</i>

Open Letter to Sir Cyril Taylor


Sir Cyril Taylor, the chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, is of the opinion that Muslim children are not doing well in schools because they speak their own mother tongues at home. A very high proportion of the mothers come from the sub-continent, few speaking English. It is a major cause of lower results in English.


If children do not use their home language, it will die and with it they lose a big part of their faith and culture. Children see language as a feature of their identity. By welcoming a child’s home language, schools facilitate the flow of knowledge, ideas and feelings between home and school. Humans have a unique ability to learn more than one language. Jimmy Carter called for the providing all immigrant pupils with a teacher speaking their native language. One of the most powerful ways of boosting the moral and academic ambitions of bilingual pupils is to help them get the easiest qualification of all – their home language GCSE. The result has been stunning. More than 80% of bilingual pupils at st. Martin school in Lambeth who have studied for home language GCSEs have earned As.


According to the Rights of the Child, all children must be allowed to speak their own language and practice their own religion and culture. Schools must recognize bilingualism as positive learning resource. Bilingualism should be explicitly valued as a special achievement. The opportunity to use first language will help development in English. Language is a very important symbol of cultural identity and schools should ensure that they value the linguistic diversity. British schooling is very unwelcoming and intimidating institutions for those with lesser or no English. The studies carried out in Britain concluded that children who speak two languages do better at schools than those who speak only one. Dr Raymonde Sneddon of UEL was able to demonstrate that far from being confused by using different languages, these children display greater comprehension when reading English. They tend to be on higher ability groups – because the skills they acquire and develop in their language use is transferred to other subjects. A study in Leicester by Arvind Bhatt found that bilingualism improved a child’s overall educational performance by instilling a more subtle use of language and better communication skills. The findings contradicted the controversial comments made in 2002 by the Home Secretary David Blunkett and recently by Ann Cryer, who decried the “negative impact” on society of children growing up with different languages at home and at school. Their views were based on the false premise that children can learn only one language at a time and that learning a mother tongue interferes with English. Another study in Watford found that a large number of British children learn to read in more than one language at the same time as they learn to read in English. It is a well known fact that to reject a child’s language in the school is to reject a child. Children’s cultural and linguistic experience in the home is the foundation of their future learning and the school must build on that foundation rather than undermine it. The cultural, linguistic and intellectual capital of British society will increase dramatically when we stop seeing culturally and linguistically diverse children as “a problem to be solved” and instead open our eyes to the linguistic, cultural and intellectual resources they bring from their homes to schools and societies.


Iftikhar Ahmad


www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Asalamu ALikum warahmatu Allahi wabarakatu


I thought this article about understanding the Quran was very nice, mashaAllah.


When are We to Understand?


by Muhammad Alshareef


Should they make him a king or should they kill him? The mushrikeen of Makkah did not know what to make of this phenomenon sweeping their ranks, dividing – as they claimed – between a man and his son, between a man and his wife. It had to end.


Abu Al-Waleed Utbah ibn al-Mugheerah said, "Let me finish this once and for all." He found RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam sitting near the Ka'bah and approached. He said, "O Muhammad."


RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam turned to Al-Waleed, acknowledged him, and listened attentively. Al-Waleed began, "Why do you persist in this message you are calling to? Is it riches you desire? If so, we shall make you the richest amongst us. Is it women you desire? If so, we shall marry you to the fairest of our women. Do you find illness in your mind? If so, we shall afford you with the best of doctors."


When Al-Waleed had exhausted the offers, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam asked him politely, "Have you completed what you wanted to say?"


Al-Waleed said, “Yes."


Then, in the sweetest of recitation, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam began reciting from the beginning of Surah Fussilat:


Haa-Meem / A revelation from [Allah] the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving / A book whose verses have been spelled out – a Qur'an in Arabic for people who know / [sent as] Good news and warning, but most of them turn away, so they hear not / And they say, "Our hearts are under covering (screened) from that to which you invite us; and in our ears is deafness, and between us and you is a screen, so work (on your way), verily we are working [on our way].


Abu Al-Waleed's eyes widened as he listened to the recitation of he whom the Qur'an was revealed to. RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam continued to recite until he came to the verse:


But if they turn away, then say, "I warn you of a destructive, awful torment, such as the destructive awful torment of [the tribes of] Aad and Thamud.”


Al-Waleed leapt forward and covered the mouth of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam for fear that the saa'iqah (destructive awful torment) would befall them right then and there.


Now come back to the 21st century. You turn on your computer and a signal flashes on your screen: You have 1 message waiting. Is it your friend? Has that online order been shipped? You can't wait to find out. Or is that 'annoying' mailing list that sends out a verse-a-day that many delete without looking twice?


Dear brothers and sisters, there is an unread message waiting for us. It is Al-Qur'an al-Kareem, the Noble Recitation. And its author is our Creator!


Let us randomly ask Muslim communities around the world the following question: Why did Allah reveal the Qur'an? Many a community will respond without hesitation, "The Qur'an was revealed to bless us." But is that the correct response?


The Qur'an is blessed and blessed is he who recites it. However, listen carefully to the following verse, for we shall find out that this blessedness is not the reason the Qur'an was revealed. Allah ta’ala says:


[This is] a blessed book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded (As-Saad 38/29).


Barakah is a characteristic of the Qur'an, not the purpose of revelation. The purpose of revelation is so that "its verses will be contemplated and acted upon!"


The misconception that the place of Qur'an in our lives is one of barakah and barakah alone, has many manifestations. We find many Muslim families bent on the desire to have their children read the Qur'an in Arabic once, yes ONCE, in their lifetime. We find communities that print their Qur'ans in 30 separate parts so that they can recite it when someone dies; this is a well known fact. Or, when they some wealthy person dies, they donate $100,000 of their inheritance (money that belongs to their children) to print a million copies of pocketsize Surah Yaa-Seen (not Surah Maa'idah or any other surah, just Surah Yaa-Seen) so that they can get the 'barakah' of people who read for 'barakah'.


Nay, we've misunderstood the role of the Qur'an in our lives and the message is still waiting to be read. This is our topic for today: When are we to understand Allah's message?


Do you know which language the Qur'an would have been revealed if the majority of speakers were taken into account? No, not English. It would have been a Mandarin Chinese Qur'an! But the Qur'anic language is not open to the whims of humans. Nay, Allah ta'ala chose a pure and blessed Arabic. It is we who must strive to understand it:


A book whereof the verses are explained in detail - a Qur'an in Arabic for people who know (Fussilat 41/3).


The Qur'an is truth in its purest form. Falsehood cannot touch it. Allah ta'ala says:


Falsehood cannot approach it from in front, nor from behind. It is a revelation from One Wise and Praised (Fussilat 41/42).


The Qur'an is the siraat al-mustaqeem, the straight path which we ask for every day in salah:


Guide us to the straight path (Al-Fatihah 1/6).


All we have to do is turn the very next page, and we'll discover the straight path. Allah ta'ala begins speaking about this book wherein there is no doubt, and then characterizes it:


A guide [what we were asking for] for the God-Fearing (Al Baqarah 2/2).


Ali radi Allahu anhu said, "As-siraat al-mustaqeem, the straight path, is the Qur'an!"


The Qur'an is the rope of Allah that we are ordered to hold fast to:


And hold firmly to the rope of Allah, and be not divided (A’le-Imran 3/103).


Ibn Abbas said: "Hold firmly to the rope of Allah, for verily the rope of Allah is the Qur'an" (Ibn Katheer).


The Qur'an is the best speech:


Allah has sent down the best of statements, a book, its parts resembling each other in goodness and truth, oft-repeated (Az-Zumar 39/23).


I want you to try and picture ancient Makkah right now. Picture what kind of things you would see. I picture the city getting darker as the sun sets; there are no streetlights. I see a small marketplace; Arabs selling dates, honey, meats, bread. I do not hear the sound of clocks ticking or distant cars; I hear pigeons squawking, donkeys whining, and Arabs chatting. I do not feel the softness of cotton and acrylic that I wear now; my skin is very harsh, deeply tanned. I recline on hard mud floors, and sleep under the moon.


In that condition, a man is claiming that he is the Prophet of Allah. As-saadiq, al-ameen – the truthful one, the trustworthy Muhammad.


Imagine yourself in this state; you've believed in him and you go to hear the guidance of the Qur'an, to hear the recitation from he whom the Qur'an was revealed to. I ask you dear brothers and sisters, how deeply would you listen to the message in such a state? What has happened to us that we do not want to hear Allah's message with such passion.


During Ramadan, we have good brothers who lead the Salat-ul-Taraweeh. They recite the Qur'an and make the du'a and once in a while, tears overtake the words they recite. One of the brothers once came up to me with his eyes misty, and a sheet of paper and pen in his hands. He said, "Muhammad, I want you to translate for me everything the Imam is saying in his dua."


Caught off guard, I shrugged and said, “You want me to translate the whole thing here in the hallway?"


He replied, "Yes, because we're Muslim too. If it makes the Imam cry, it would make us cry too ... if we only knew what it meant!"


As he spoke, tears overtook him. The words locked in my mind, "If only we knew what it meant."


Allah ta'ala says in the Qur'an:


And the Messenger has said, "O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur'an as a thing [abandoned]" (Al-Furqan 25/30).


How is the Qur'an abandoned?


1. The Qur'an is abandoned in our lives when we do not believe in it anymore. When we prefer listening and watching 135 channels by satellite, but if the Qur'an were to accidentally play, we would not listen to it or perhaps rush to shut it off (of course after one complete Ayah - can't be disrespectful now can we).


2. The Qur'an is abandoned when a person does not care to learn Allah's message in the Qur’an.


3. The Qur'an is abandoned when we leave its laws and instead turn to the laws of the British and the Italian to dictate justice to us.


This will be the Prophet's charge, what are we doing to create an alibi?


"My heart is hard as a rock. I do not feel any spirituality." This is a statement we hear over and over again in our communities. Dear brothers and sisters, I am going to shock you now with a verse of Qur'an. It's going to tell us the reason why our hearts have become like this:


Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts humble to the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient (Al-Hadeed 57/16).


Notice, that it is an admonishment from Allah that our hearts are not humbling to the Qur'an. Dear brothers and sisters, Allah is telling us that it is OUR FAULT when we do not feel that spirituality. How much time has passed since we last contemplated the Qur'an? 20 years? 50 years? When are we to understand?


Ibn Katheer comments: “In this verse, Allah is forbidding us from imitating those that were charged with carrying Allah's books before us, the Jews and the Christians. The time they spent away from the books went on and on until they changed the books – put it behind their backs, and turned to their priests and monks whom their worshipped instead of Allah. It was then that their hearts rusted away.”


As a poet once said:


Al-Qur'an, the key to happiness' door.


Al-Qur'an, the only rope of salvation.


Don't leave it or abandon it.


Allah will forget you if you forget Him.


PART II


If any of us are planning to watch TV all summer long, let me tell you TV guide's best bet: It's called the OFF button! Our time is too valuable for that. How can we waste our time when we know for a fact that when we get up to pray the 2 rakaat of Jumah, more then 85% of the congregation will not know what the verses mean?


Language is such a blessed thing; indeed the variations of our tongues is one of the signs of Allah ta'ala. Humans took this divine gift and created languages for those that cannot vocalize a single vowel – sign language. We devised a language of dots and dashes – Morse code. Yet, if we look at the most illiterate countries of the world, we will find most of them to be Muslim majority countries; all this in disregard to the fact that the first word revealed to us by Allah was "Read".


"To move the world, we must first move ourselves." ‘Uqbah ibn Aamir radi Allahu anhu recalls, “RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam once came to us while we were sitting on the Suffah and asked, ‘Would any of you like to go to the market of But-haan or Aqeeq (two market places that sold camels near Madinah) and fetch from there two she-camels of the finest breed without committing any sin or severing a tie of kinship?’ We replied, ‘Every one of us would love to do so.’ RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam then said, ‘Going to the masjid and reciting or teaching two aayaat of the Qur'an is more precious than two she-camels; three aayaat are most precious than three she-camels. And that similarly reciting or teaching of four aayaat is better than four she-camels and an equal number of camels” (Ahmad, Muslim and Abu Dawood).


Here in the United States, Allah ta'ala has blessed our communities with many professionals and educated people. With all our wealth, conveniences, and intelligence, we have no excuse but to excel in our drive to learn Islam and learn it properly.


http://www.khutbah.com/index.php?type=5&...language=8

Bismillah:


Assalamo ALikum FHC…


On the other thread of (20 more revert to Islam) you have stated that:

Quote:As I'm sure you're all aware by now, I'm quite happy for anyone to freely convert/revert to whatever faith they believe is right for them...

Dear Brothers


A Three Years Boy Reciting Quran - It May Inspire


<b> Watch and Download </b>





He inspired to learn quran from another boy he reciting quran - that inspired him - so this type videos can be used to encourage our childrance to learn quran by heart


May Allah bless all of us


Padapuram

Asalaamu alikum,


I was a bit leary when I saw a news broadcast showcasing this new Canadian series. I have not viewed any of the episodes myself, Im not sure if it even airs here in the USA, but it seems in Canada there is alot of hype over it.


The link is for a commentary about the series. May Allah guide us all to the right path and help us to be better Muslims, Ameen


http://m-kamil-ahmad.blogspot.com/

Bismillah:


Assalamo Alikum;


Last Sunday, <b>February 4, 2007 in </b> one of the biggest mosques located in Hong Kong (<b>Ammar mosque or Wan Chai mos</b>que)… at least <b>20 persons embraced Islam in public.</b> Allahu Akbar. And Alhamdulelah that I’ve witnessed this event and was able to capture with my cell phone camera some sampling videos of their Shahadah, and I would like to share the files with you insh a Allah.


The reverts were mostly from Indonesia, Philippines, China and one person from UK. Mash a Allah.


i was hoping to attach the video files but i failed, i got this message " you are not permitted to upload this file with this file extension"



any idea how to attach real player files??? sister Muslim :conf06:


Salam


Wael.

<b>[b] :assalam: to all interested parties,
</b>


...And among his signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love & mercy between your hearts: verily in that are signs for those who reflect...Al-Quran 30:21


Looking to get married in this day and age is becoming difficult! Therefore this website has solely been developed for young Muslim individuals from all backgrounds, must be British citizens looking to get married in the UK.


…Insha’Allah, Simply Muslim Marriages will be hosting the event at Asia Dinining. Please No Time Wasters!


To avoid disappointment register your interest & for further info please visit www.simplyislam.info/smm


All profit will go to Muslim Hands Charity, for further info please visit www.justgiving.com/nadiayr


:wasalam:


<i>Simply Muslim Marriages </i> [/b]

<b>Bismillah
</b>


as salam alykom


Seems this is a Greek site, Well this is an Islamic English borad directed to non Arabic speakers if u are interested most welcome.