Since the height of the feminist movement in the late 70's there has been a magnifying glass placed over the status of muslim women. Unfortunately, the magnifying glass that has been used is an unusual one. Unusual in the sense that it is very selective about which items it will magnify; other items it will distort to such a degree that they will no longer look familiar. I remember once reading in an "in depth" article about the lives of muslim women. This article "explained" that at any time a man can divorce his wife by simply stating "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you". This article can lead anyone ignorant of the Islamic ruling regarding divorce to believe that in less than five seconds the woman is left with no husband and is left to care for herself (and possibly children) by any means necessary. The question that immediately popped up in my mind was, "Did the author innocently write that out of sincere ignorance or was it another of the many attempts to degrade the religion of Islam and its followers (muslims)?" It may be my own paranoia, but I tend to believe it was the latter of the two.


The truth of the matter is that Islam has the most humane and most just system of divorce that exists. Firstly, many options are taken and tried before coming to the decision of the divorce. If the man and woman decide that they can no longer live together successfully as a husband and wife, the husband (in most cases, not always) pronounces the divorce by saying "I divorce you". At this point the waiting period begins. The waiting period lasts for three menstrual cycles to assure the woman is not pregnant. This period allows the couple time to think about what they are doing and if this is what they really want to do. There are no lawyers involved to antagonize an already delicate situation.


In the case that it is realized, that the woman is pregnant, the waiting period lasts the entire time she is pregnant. During the waiting period (whether the woman is pregnant or not) the man is obligated to provide food, clothing and shelter to the woman as he did before the divorce pronouncement. If the couple carries the divorce through to the birth of the child and the woman suckles the baby, the man is obligated to feed and clothe both his ex-wife for the time the woman suckles (the maximum being two years). After this weaning, the child will be provided for by the father until he/she is no longer in need of support.


It is quite ironic that in such an "advanced society" as America, there are divorce cases in which women are being forced to pay alimony to their ex-husbands. Can this and many other things we know about the American system of divorce compare to the Islamic system of divorce?


I have also read stories wherein it is stated that women are forced to marry men without their consent. This in no way resembles the marriage system in Islam. In Islam the woman marries the man of her choice. She may even marry someone that her mother and/or father objects to. The point is that it is the woman who makes the final decision as to whom she will marry. Once the man and the woman decide that they are interested in one another for marriage, a dowry is decided upon. A dowry is not a brides price but, it is a gift from the groom to the bride. They agree upon a gift that is affordable by the groom. In the time of the Prophet (sas), often things such as livestock and money were given. This is a wise decision in the event that a woman becomes divorced or widowed, she has some financial security to fall back on even if it is for a limited amount of time. Once the man and woman are married, the man is required to clothe, feed, shelter and educate her (or allow her to be educated) in the same manner as he does himself.


The last distorted image that I will cover is that of the muslim women's dress. The western influenced media portrays our dress to be outdated and oppressive. Needless to say however, I differ with these adjectives. Our dress code does not hinder us from doing anything productive in our lives. Muslim women maintain a variety of jobs, non of which are devalued nor hampered due to their dress code. And as for the timing of muslims women's dress during these contemporary times, it seems most appropriate due to decreasing morals in the world today.


For those who say that Islamic dress is outdated, they speak from great ignorance. The decreasing molarity and trials of this time makes Hijaab even more in need. More than ever before sex crimes are rampant. Although this society tells women they can wear what they want to wear, anytime a rape occurs the woman is the one put on trial an one of the first questions is, "What were you wearing?" This concept seems as though it is a set up directed against the so called contemporary woman. Also there is a direct correlation between the respect a man has for a woman and the amount of her body her body she displays flauntigly.


(Written by a Christian convert)

One of Sayyid Qutb’s masterpieces – Now translated into English “The Religion of Islam”, is a fascinating study of Islam as “The Deen (complete way of life)”, and not just a religion of some rituals, as Christianity and Judaism are.


http://www.geocities.com/abyassin/Qutb1.html

Has anyone ever purchased any clothing from SHUKR Islamic Clothing
? Their URL is: www.shukronline.com
.

Has anyone ever purchased any clothing from SHUKR Islamic Clothing
? Their URL is: www.shukronline.com
.

Has anyone ever purchased any clothing from SHUKR Islamic Clothing
? Their URL is: www.shukronline.com
.

Has anyone ever purchased any clothing from SHUKR Islamic Clothing
? Their URL is: www.shukronline.com
.

"Israel does not spy on the United States of America." - Mark Regev, a spokesman at the Israeli embassy in Washington


Prior to 9/11, the FBI had discovered the presence of a massive spy ring inside the United States run by the government of Israel. This seems a harsh gratitude from a nation, which obtains 10% of its annual budget from the American taxpayer, $3+ billion a year. Over the years, American taxpayers have been required to send Israel more than four times what the US spent to go to the moon.


http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring.html


Salaam, Shalom, etc

One of the best book for everyone to find out that Islam is the only true religion and Holy Qur'an is the only TRUE MESSAGE OF GOD.


http://www.muslimplanet.com/Islamic-book-store/


Salaam,

Four Israelis arrested in New York on September 11, 2001, found dancing and carrying explosives in their vane near the World Trade Center, filed a multi-million-dollar suit in the United States on Monday against the American Department of Justice.


The four were employed by a New Jersey moving firm and the truck they were riding in was stopped near the George Washington bridge between New Jersey and New York when the Twin Towers were attacked.


The cops traced the number, establishing that it belonged to a company called Urban Moving. Police Chief John Schmidig said: "We got an alert to be on the lookout for a white Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration and writing on the side. Three individuals were seen celebrating in Liberty State Park after the impact. They said three people were jumping up and down." In the car was $4700 in cash, a couple of foreign passports and a pair of box cutters – the concealed Stanley Knife-type blades used by the 19 hijackers who’d flown jetliners into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon just hours before. There were also fresh pictures of the men standing with the smouldering wreckage of the Twin Towers in the background. One image showed a hand flicking a lighter in front of the devastated buildings, like a fan at a pop concert. The driver of the van then told the arresting officers: "We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem." His name was Sivan Kurzberg. The other four passengers were Kurzberg’s brother Paul, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Marmari. [employed with "Urban Moving"]


Sunday Herald (Sydney) - 02 November 2003 -http://ww1.sundayherald.com/37707...)


The police officers arrested the four after they saw that they held foreign (Israeli) driving licenses. They were arrested as suspects in the terrorist attack and were transfered to the FBI for interrogation.


The four, who are now in Israel, claim that they were held in complete isolation, without being allowed to meet with their attorneys or their families, and were exposed to harsh interrogation methods, physical abuse, sleep deprivation and racist insults

The present-day Christianity has only ‘spicing’ of the original message revealed to prophet Jesus (as). On the other hand, Christianity practiced today is ‘Pauline cult’ invented by a Jew named Saul, who took the Gentile name of Paul – to hide his real agenda – to corrupt the law of Moses and destroy the ‘true message’ of prophet Jesus (as).


Muslims believe Jesus (as) to be Allah’s prophet, a human being and a great Jewish reformer. Paul and his successors, king Constantine and Athanasius, reinvented a former Pagan creed and presented it as Jesus’ (as) teachings. Paul is known to had boasted ‘unto my lies has the word abound’. On the other hand, Jesus (as) is reported to said “for in seeing, they do not perceive, in hearing they do not understand.”


Jesus’ ministry was known as ‘nazarenism’, which was based on the laws of Moses (as) as interpreted by Jesus (as). here is a quick comparison of Jesus’ (as) actual teachings as preached by his half-brothers James and Barnabas - and the modern


Christianity:


1.Nazarenism was established by Jesus (as) in Jerusalen. Paul established Christianity at Antioch (syria).


2.Nazarenes obeyed the laws of Moses (as). Paul abolished the laws of the old testament.


3.Jesus (as) and James were the leaders of the Nazarenes. Paul, Constantine and Athanasius were the proponents of Christianity.


4.Jesus (as), his disciple and followers worshipped one singular God. Most Christians worship three entities as God, as well as Mary as ‘mother of god’, and saints too.


5.Jerusalem is the holy city of Nazarenes. Rome (Italy) is the shrine of the Roman Catholics (the oldest Christianity and even now the largest Christian denomination).


6.Nazarene church has no priesthood. RC has established priestly hierarchy like the pagan temple of Jupiter in Rome.


7.Nazarenes did not worship Saints or statues. Most Christians do – even humans.


8.Jesus (as) preached good work, good deeds and good fruits to attain salvation. bad deeds led to hellfire. Paul preached Jesus’ Atonement for the sins of Adam and


redemption from sins through the blood of Jesus (as).


9.Nazarenes did not practice celibacy. Most Christians profess celibacy – has nuns and priests.


10.Jesus (as) worshipped in synagogues. He did not advocate monkry, nunry, or monasticism. Most Christians have adopted the pagan practice of seclusion of nuns and priests in monasteries.