Asalamualaykum


Alhamdulillah, we have planned our first conference:





Visit the conference page for complete details about this project.


http://www.as-sabiqoon.com

:assalam:


Here is the second episode of Baghdad Sniper Filmography (Juba 2 ) which reveals the tragedy of U.S infantry in Baghdad - the well controlled territory by Americans


This footage presents just a small part of the sniping operations occurred in this year, since the last Juba's documentary release


Juba killed 668 U.S soldiers with his [Dragunov] Sniper Rifle, none of those operations were declared by the media of U.S army or T.V channels, although there strong presence during invasion of Iraq and Baghdad fall


It is enough to post the news.

Salam


Peace n Blessing to you all.


Eid mubarak to all yall celebrating tomorrow

Established 1981


London School of Islamics


An Educational Trust


63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD


Email: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk


www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk


Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667


Press Release


A bilingual Muslim teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her veil in class should be sacked, a local government minister said. She said her pupil were happy with her and never complained about the veil. She said she would remove the veil, but not in front of male colleagues. She was asked to remove the veil during lessons to improve pupil communication skills, because they were finding it difficult to hear what she was saying. She was not supposed to teach but to help the class teacher in her/his teaching. It is the job of the teacher to teach English to bilingual children.


OFSTED criticized the school for exceptionally low standards achieved by pupils, stating that most difficulties are related to speech and communication problems. The school is placed among the worst 5% of schools in the country. It is not the fault of the veil and its wearer that the school is at the bottom of the educational ladder. It is the fault of the teaching staff who are monolinguals and who are unable to communicate with the children who can’t speak English in local accent. The staff as well as the head teacher should be replaced by bilingual Muslim teachers who are in a position to impart bilingual education right from nursery level. I hope that within a couple of years the school would be at the top of the educational ladder.


Shahid Malik MP and MCB have no right to criticise the bilingual support teacher covering her face with a veil. They should criticise the LEA and monolingual staff who are not fit to teach bilingual children. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority. All such schools should have bilingual Muslim teachers as well as bilingual support staff as role models. They are in a better position to teach English, Arabic and Urdu and other community languages at the same time. British born and educated Muslim teachers are also required to teach English and other subjects.


The school has failed by the OFSTED because it never introduced bilingualism and bilingual education. OFSTED and DFE must have bilingual Muslim staff to carry out inspection according to the needs and demands of the Muslim children. Bilingual teachers are not available in this country. LEA must recruit bilingual Muslim teachers from abroad. In the 60s and 70’s, there was a shortage of teachers in state schools, hundreds of teachers were given work permits to come to teach in those inner cities rough schools where even a native teacher could not dare to teach. Now bilingual Muslim teachers are needed for Muslim children.


Iftikhar Ahmad

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/29691.php


By ANDREA FALKENHAGEN


East Valley Tribune


Sixteen-year-old Yasmine Asfoor is planning a party she won't attend. The student body president opened her notebook and faced Brianna Raymond, a fellow senior at Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee Foothills.


"We need to talk about Sadie Hawkins," Asfoor told her. The two made a list of decorations they would need.


It's not the first dance Asfoor has helped plan, and it won't be the first one she's skipped. It's just part of being a Muslim teenager at an American high school.


"Some people thought it was weird," she said. "I just tell them, 'I'm Muslim. I don't go out with guys, I don't dance with guys. I have parties with girls.' "


For Asfoor and the hundreds of observant Muslim students like her in Arizona, life is about moving between these two worlds.


"Sometimes I do feel like I'm living two different lives, but I'm the same person and I do the same things in both of them," she said.


This month - the holy month of Ramadan - the duality is more pronounced.


During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. It's also a time of self-reflection, to abstain from gossip, loud music and television.


"It's difficult," said Asfoor, a Palestinian-American. "You just have to put your mind to it and say, I'm going to do this."


In the Middle East, it's a little easier. More people fast. Schools participate in Ramadan activities.


But life doesn't stop for Ramadan in America.


"When you don't have Muslim families in every other house, when no one is fasting but you and your Muslim friends, it's hard to get the sense of how important this month is," said Rheem Khalife Kabbani, a Scottsdale mother of two. "We try to do that here."


For example, the end of Ramadan, a day known as Eid al-Fitr, will fall this year on Monday or Tuesday - both school days - according to the lunar calendar. So Kabbani will keep son, Zaid, 7, home from Copper Canyon Elementary School.


After Eid, her son will take small gifts to pass out to classmates and explain his holiday.


The boy isn't ready to fast for full days, yet. Fasting only becomes obligatory after puberty.


For older students who fast all day, it's complicated.


Mountain Pointe's homecoming week fell in the middle of Ramadan this year. Asfoor had to get to school early, march in the parade, volunteer for a fundraiser, then come back for the honors student march during halftime - all while fasting.


For students who fast, temptations abound.


"Today, in every class they passed out candy, granola and bagels," groaned Asfoor's younger sister, Reema, 13.


On a recent Friday, with her Advanced Placement government class behind her, Asfoor had 10 minutes to make it to her mosque for noontime prayers.


After a speech about self-discipline, the imam began to chant a prayer in Arabic as the women stood, shoulder to shoulder, and performed prayers on the soft blue carpet.


Asfoor and her family would return in the evening to pray again.


"During Ramadan, we go to the mosque every night. It feels good because this is not an Islamic country. This is the way we can be with other Muslims," said Ayisha Asfoor, Yasmine's mother. "It brings the community together."


Later at home in Chandler, Asfoor's friends begin to show up, carrying Starbucks Frappuccinos, but not taking a sip. Asfoor's mother began making the iftar meal, which will break the fast, chopping up vegetables as hungry bodies gather around her.


She asked one of the children to turn on a voice recording of the Quran.


Her husband, Bassam, came downstairs, and son Kareem, 8, who just began fasting for the first time, woke up from his nap.


A cousin came over, then another. The crowd eagerly watched the microwave's clock, waiting for the 6:06 to appear - the day's official sunset time, according to a printout on the refrigerator.


Finally, it's time. Smiles break out as they pass a plate of fresh dates, a traditional way to break the fast. A not-so-traditional iftar meal follows.


"I grew up in California," Ayisha Asfoor said. "Even if some of them wouldn't miss this food, I would."


The table is spread with Shake 'n Bake chicken, salad, squash and broccoli cheese soup. Tonight, the feast is American.

U.S. agents question teen


Girl ran anti-Bush page on MySpace


By Laurel Rosenhall and Ryan Lillis


Friday, October 13, 2006


The latest Sacramento resident to be questioned by federal agents in possible threats against President Bush is a 14-year-old girl with a heart on her backpack and braces on her teeth, a freckle-nosed adolescent who is passionate about liberal politics and cute movie stars.


Her name is Julia Wilson, and she learned a vivid civics lesson Wednesday when two Secret Service agents pulled her out of biology class at McClatchy High School to ask about comments and images she posted on MySpace.


Beneath the words "Kill Bush," Julia posted a cartoonish photo-collage of a knife stabbing the hand of the president. It was one of a few images Julia said she used to decorate an anti-Bush Web page she moderated on MySpace, the social networking Web site that is hugely popular among teenagers.


The Secret Service refused to answer questions about the case or even confirm an investigation. Eric Zahren, a Secret Service spokesman, said the agency does not discuss its work "due to the sensitivity of our mission."


But Julia's mother, Kirstie Wilson, and an assistant principal at McClatchy High said two agents showed them badges stating they were with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.


Federal law prohibits making serious threats against the president, and Julia and her parents say what she did was wrong.


The couple are disturbed, however, that federal agents questioned a child at school -- without her parents present. And First Amendment lawyers question whether the Secret Service over-reacted to a 14-year-old's comments on a Web site made for casual socializing.


"I don't condone what she did, but it seems a little over the top to me," said Julia's father, Jim Moose. "You'd think they could look at the situation and determine that she's not a credible threat."


Earlier this month, federal officials arrested two Sacramento-area men for allegedly threatening the president. Elk Grove resident Michael Lee Braun has been charged with sending two threatening letters to the El Dorado Hills country club where Bush recently made an appearance. Rocklin resident Howard J. Kinsey is accused of threatening the president through a text message.


Here is how Julia Wilson's family tells their story:


Two Secret Service agents arrived at their Land Park home about 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, Kirstie Wilson said. They told her they wanted to speak with her daughter about threats to the president that she had posted on MySpace.


"She was in molecular biology, and I said I really didn't want to take her out of class for this," Kirstie Wilson said. "I said I'd make sure she came right home from school."


She asked the agents to come back in an hour, and they left.


Then Wilson sent her daughter a text message instructing her to come straight home from school.


"... there are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush. Dont worry youre not going to jail or anything like that but they take these things very seriously these days," Kirstie Wilson wrote.


"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble"? her daughter replied, using common teenage shorthand for "Oh, my God."


Kirstie Wilson called her husband. While they were on the phone, she received another text message from her daughter: "They took me out of class."


It was a 15- to 20-minute interview, Julia said. Agents asked her about her father's job, her e-mail address, and her Social Security number. They asked about the MySpace page she had created last year as an eighth-grader at Sutter Middle School.


"I told them I just really don't agree with Bush's politics," Julia said Thursday. "I don't have any plans of harming Bush in any way. I'm very peaceful; I just don't like Bush."


The MySpace page under question was a group page, similar to an online club.


Most of the groups Julia is a part of are fan clubs for movie stars like Jake Gyllenhaal and Ewan McGregor. The group that got her in trouble was called something like "People who want to stab Bush" -- Julia said she doesn't remember the exact name because she soon changed it.


After an eighth-grade history lesson in which she learned that threatening the president is against the law, Julia said she changed the group name to "So Bush is an idiot but hey what else is new?"


The group primarily consisted of her teenage friends who share her liberal political interests, Julia said. She deleted the group page over the summer when she decided that MySpace was juvenile and taking up too much time.


Moose and Wilson say they had no idea what their daughter had posted online.


"I was more than happy to have them talk to her about the severity of what she did. But I wanted to be here with her," Kirstie Wilson said.


McClatchy Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said he usually does not notify parents when law enforcement officials come to school to interview students.


"Parents usually interfere with an investigation, so we usually don't notify them until it's done," he said.


Sacramento City Unified School District policy calls for parents to be notified but doesn't say whether it should happen before or after a student is interviewed. State law doesn't require parental notification.


In any case, said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Julia Wilson's post did not sound like a "true threat" to the president, making it political speech that is protected by the First Amendment.


"The courts have to distinguish between political rhetoric and hyperbole and a real threat," Brick said. "A reasonable person would have to interpret what was said as indication of a serious intent to commit harm."


Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said in the current political climate, "the threshold that brings (agents) in has gotten lower."


"It's a cautionary tale for kids who are on MySpace that putting something on MySpace like 'Kill the President' is not the same as saying it on e-mail or over the phone," Scheer said. "The government is not systematically listening to all phone calls or going through e-mails, but it probably does search the Internet."


http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/38768.html

salaam


i am new to this forum. i think it would be interesting to hear how everyone celebrates eid....especially since it looks like there are folks from all over the world here. i am in the US. anything special for the kids? what foods do you all make? desserts?


mummum(what my kids call me :) )

Amongst the special Ibaadah of the month of Ramadhaan are the fasts and the Taraweeh salaah. The information below will be dedicated to the history of the number of Rakaahs of Taraweeh that have always been performed in the two holy Harams.


The Taraweeh Salaah During the Time of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)


Saheeh Muslim reports a hadith from Hadhrat Aaisha (رضى الله عنها) that when (during Ramadhaan) Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) once performed the Taraweeh salaah in the Masjidun Nabawi, the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم followed him in the salaah. When Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) again performed the salaah the following night, an even larger congregation followed him. It was then either on the third or fourth night that Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not come to the Masjid for the Taraweeh salaah. Explaining his reason the following morning, Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم, "I noticed your fervour and did not come to the Masjid to perform the Salaah fearing that this Taraweeh salaah should become compulsory for you." 1


It is therefore evident that Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) performed the Taraweeh salaah in congregation at least twice or thrice in his lifetime. Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمة الله and Allaama Showkaani رحمة الله have both mentioned that a study of Ahadeeth regarding Taraweeh reveals that Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) never specified the number of rakaahs for Taraweeh.


During the Period of Hadhrat Abu Bakr (رضى الله تعالى عنه)


During this period, the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم meticulously performed the Taraweeh salaah individually or in small congregations.


During the Period of Hadhrat Umar (رضى الله تعالى عنه)


During his Khilaafah, the second Khalifah Hadhrat Umar Faarooq (رضى الله تعالى عنه) combined all the small congregations into one because of the possibility of the Taraweeh salaah becoming Fardh no longer existed. With the approval of all the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم, twenty rakaahs Taraweeh salaah was performed every night of Ramadhaan after the Isha salaah, followed by three Rakaahs Witr salaah. 2


There are many people nowadays who perform the Taraweeh salaah with Jamaah throughout Ramadhaan because it was carried out during the time of hadrat Umar (رضى الله تعالى عنه) with the consent of all the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم. However, these people object to the number of Rakaahs. If they keep the following Hadith in mind, their objection will Inshaa Allah be removed.


Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "I advise you fear Allah, to listen and to obey (your leaders) even though your leader be an Abyssinian slave because those of you who live after me shall see great disputes. It is therefore compulsory for you to adhere to my practices and to the practice of the righteous and rightly guided successors (Khulafaa Raashideen). Hold fast to these practices and bite on them with your molars." 3


In this Hadith Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has emphasised to his Ummah that it is imperative for them to emulate his practices as well as the practices of the Khulafaa Raashideen. When Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has instructed the following of the practices of his Khulafaa, how can their practices be labelled as Bidah? How can one promote forsaking something that Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) empathetically wanted done? How can there be scope to oppose something that the Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم unanimously agreed upon?


This practice of the righteous Khalifah Hadhrat Umar (رضى الله تعالى عنه) falls perfectly within the purport of this Hadith. Therefore one should perform twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah in congregation every night of Ramadhaan after the Isha salaah. This is then followed by three Rakaahs of Witr salaah.


During the period of Hadhrat Uthmaan (رضى الله تعالى عنه)


The third righteous khalifah Hadhrat Uthmaan (رضى الله تعالى عنه) also continued the practice of twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah in congregation, followed by the three Rakaahs of Witr salaah. 4


During the period of Hadhrat Ali (رضى الله تعالى عنه)


The fourth righteous khalifah Hadhrat Ali (رضى الله تعالى عنه) also continued the practice of twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah in congregation, followed by the three Rakaahs of Witr salaah. 5


The Taraweeh salaah in the Masjid Haraam in Makkah


The famous book of Ahadeeth Jaami Tirmidhi states that according to the majority of scholars, the number of Rakaahs in the Taraweeh salaah is twenty, as reported from Hadhrat Umar رضى الله تعالى عنه, Hadhrat Ali رضى الله تعالى عنه and other Sahabah رضى الله تعالى عنهم. This is also the opinion of Hadhrat Sufyan Thowri رحمة الله and Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Mubaarak رحمة الله. Hadhrat Imaam Shafiee رحمة الله says, "I have seen the learned scholars of Makkah perform twenty Rakaahs of Taraweeh salaah." 6


In his famous book Kitaabul Umm (vol 1 page 142), Imaam Shaafiee رحمة الله says that twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah is reported from Hadhrat Umar رضى الله تعالى عنه and the learned scholars of Makkah also perform twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh with three Rakaahs Witr.


In the third century A.H., the famous historian of Makkah Muhammad bin Ishaaq Faakihi documented that during the month of Ramadhaan it was the practice of the people of Makkah to sit five periods of Taraweeh (rest periods between every four Rakaahs of the Taraweeh salaah. This denotes that they performed twenty Rakaahs of salaah.) 7


It is therefore evident twenty Rakaahs of Taraweeh salaah has been performed in the Masjid Haraam of Makkah for the past fourteen hundred years. Throughout, this period, there has never been a single night when only Rakaahs have been performed.


Taraweeh salaah in the Masjidun Nabawi صلى الله عليه وسلم


The renowned Saudi scholar and Mufassir Sheikh Atiyya Saalim رحمة الله who was a Sheikhul Hadeeth, judge and lecturer in the Masjidun Nabawi صلى الله عليه وسلم wrote a book in Arabic entitled "The history of the Taraweeh salaah in the Masjidun Nabawi صلى الله عليه وسلم for more than a thousand years." In this book[8], he conclusively proves from historical evidence that twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah has been performed in the Masjidun Nabawi صلى الله عليه وسلم for the past fourteen centuries. He adds further that even after the establishment of the Saudi rule, both the Harams in Makkah and Madinah have twenty Rakaahs of Taraweeh salaah with three witr. 9


The heart-rending and beautiful Taraweeh salaah in both the Harams is broadcast live throughout both on radio and television.


A fourteen century old practice


Twenty Rakaahs Taraweeh salaah is being performed from the first century of Islaam up to this fifteenth century.


Source: The Historyof Makkah Mukarramah


by Dr Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Ghani


References


1 - Muslim - The Chapter concerning encouragement for performing the Taraweeh salaah.


2 - Mu'atta Maalik, as quoted in Nasbur Ra'yah


3 - Tirmidhi - Hadith 6272. The hadith is classified Hasan Saheeh and even Albaani has verified its authenticity [see Mishkaat annotated by him (Vol. 1 pg. 28)]


4 - Sunan Kubra of Bayhaqi - Chapter concerning the number of Rakaahs during the nights of Ramadhaan.


5 - Sunan Kubra of Bayhaqi - Chapter concerning the number of Rakaahs during the nights of Ramadhaan.


6 - Tirmidhi


7 - Akhbaar Makkah by Faakihi (Vol.2 Pg. 156,157)


8 - Pgs. 41-58


9 - Pg. 65


Ramadan menu


http://www.haqislam.org/ramadan/1400-yea...raweeh.htm

http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=545


The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Abd Al-Baset Al-Sayyed of the Egyptian National Research Center. Al-Majd TV aired this interview on January 16, 2005


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: The centrality [of Mecca] has been proven scientifically. How? When they traveled to outer space and took pictures of the earth, they saw that it is a dark, hanging sphere. The man said, "Earth is a dark hanging sphere – who hung it?"


Interviewer: Who said that?


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: [Neil] Armstrong. Armstrong was basically trying to say: Allah is the one who hung it. They discovered that Earth emits radiation, and they wrote about this on the web. They left the item there for 21 days, and then they made it disappear.


Interviewer: Why did they make it disappear?


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: There was intent there…


Interviewer: So it may be said that this suppression of information was significant.


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: It was very significant, since…the Ka'ba [in Mecca]… They said it emits radiation. This radiation is short-wave.


When they discovered this radiation, they started to zoom in, and they found that it emanates from Mecca – and, to be precise, from the Ka'ba.


Interviewer: My God!!


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: It was said…


Interviewer: Does this radiation have an effect?


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: They found that this radiation is infinite. When they reached Mars and began to take pictures, they found that the radiation continues beyond. They said that the wavelength known to us… or rather the shortness of the wavelength known to us… This radiation had a special characteristic: It is infinite, and I believe that the reason is that this radiation connects the [earthly] Ka'ba with the celestial Ka'ba.


Imagine that you are the North Pole and I am the South Pole – in the middle there's what is called the magnetic equilibrium zone. If you place a compass there, the needle won't move.


Interviewer: You mean that the pull is equal from both sides?


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: Yes, and that's why it's called zero-magnetism zone, since the magnetic force has no effect there. That's why if someone travels to Mecca or lives there, he lives longer, is healthier, and is less affected by Earth's gravity. That's why when you circle the Ka'ba, you get charged with energy.


Interviewer: Allah be praised.


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: Yes, this is a fact.


This is a scientific fact…


Interviewer: Because you are distant from…


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: Earth's magnetic fields have no effect on you in this case.


There's a study that proves that the black basalt rocks in Mecca are the oldest rocks in the world. This is the truth.


Interviewer: The oldest rocks? Yes. Has this been proved scientifically?


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: It's been scientifically proven, and the study has been published.


Interviewer: They took basalt rocks from Mecca…


Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: …Basalt rocks from Mecca, and investigated the places where they were formed.


In the British Museum there are three pieces of the black stone [from the Ka'ba] …and they said that this rock didn't come from our solar system.

You will be touched by this dua.


Please take a moment to relax your mind and humble your heart to focus on


ALLAH. Allow ALLAH, to occupy your mind while you read this DUA.If we can


take the time to read long jokes, stories, etc.,we should give the same


respect to this DUA. Friends that pray together, stay together.


Let's pray...


OH ALLAH, I thank YOU for this day.


I thank YOU for my being able to see and to hear this morning.


I'm blessed because YOU are forgiving and understanding, Oh ALLAH.


YOU have done so much for me & YOU keep on blessing me & my family.


Forgive us this day for everything we have done, said or thought that was


not pleasing to you.


I ask YOU now for YOUR forgiveness.Please keep me safe from all danger and


harm.


Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.


Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can


hear from YOU.


Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.


Let me not whine and whimper! over things I have no control over.


Let me continue to see sin through YOUR eyes and acknowledge it as evil.


And when I sin, let me repent,and receive YOUR forgiveness.


And when this world closes in on me, let me remember YOU - to slip away and


find a quiet place to make DUA.


It's the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits.


I know that when I can't make DUA, YOU listen to my heart.


Continue to use me to do YOUR will.


Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.


Keep me strong that I may help the weak.


Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others.


I make DUA for those that are lost and can't find their way.


I make DUA for those that are misjudged and misunderstood.


I make DUA for those who don't know YOU intimately.


I make DUA for! those that will delete this without sharing it with other


I make DUA for those that don't believe. But I thank YOU that Ibelieve.


I believe that ALLAH changes people and ALLAH changes things.


I make DUA for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every


family member in their households.


I make DUA for peace, love and joy in their homes that


they are out of debt and all their needs are met.


I make DUA that every eye that reads this knows there is no


problem, circumstance, or situation greater than ALLAH.


Every battle is in YOUR hands for YOU to fight.


I make DUA that these words be received into the hearts of


every eye that sees them and every mouth that confesses them willingly.


This is my DUA.


Aameen.


Please do read and pass on dua to others to read aswell.