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  200 + Ways.....
Posted by: Rehmat - 10-26-2004, 04:40 PM - Forum: Books you read - No Replies


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,

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  Terrorists Suing ‘terrorists’!
Posted by: Rehmat - 10-26-2004, 02:18 PM - Forum: General - Replies (2)


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

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  The True Followers Of Prophet Jesus (as)
Posted by: Rehmat - 10-26-2004, 02:00 PM - Forum: Discussion of Beliefs - Replies (1)


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.

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  Reverts Listings/database
Posted by: shaffy - 10-26-2004, 11:30 AM - Forum: Islam - Replies (1)


Asalaam Alaikum


I would like to bring to the attention of all Reverts that at www.4muslims.org/forums we have put together a Reverts Database [Reception area of Index page]. Here you will find Reverts from all over the world listing there usernames and possibly there email addresses as well as there area of residence. The aim of this project is to allow Reverts to locate and possibly contact other Reverts in their area.


We strongly wish that all Reverts list themselves and partake in this rewardable project. You must join and this is for member protection. There is also an option to hide your email in the profile section in which case it will only be available to admin team who will contact you on behalf of anyone wishing to contact you.


Inshallah we are still growing and hope one day to have an extensive listing. Our listed Reverts include both old and New Reverts and we need you to make this project a success. May Allah reward you for you actions.

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  Through The Eyes Of A Muslim
Posted by: Rehmat - 10-26-2004, 10:56 AM - Forum: Discussion of Beliefs - No Replies


"It ran chills up and down my spine," he said that Sunday afternoon. "It was all there, all laid out, how they were going to take over the world, and it was the scariest thing I have ever read."


What he was discussing that day was a document which had been circulating amongst the various members of his church, downloaded off the internet in which was contained an outline for subduing the whole of humanity to a totalitarian system run by Islamic extremists. No doubt, the individual who had brought the document to church that day had originally retrieved it from Worldnetdaily, Drudge, Limbaugh, Hannity or some other intellectual brothel that peddles the whorish agenda of Zionism for the benefit of Israel. As the elderly, conservative Christian man described this document which ran chills up and down his spine, there wasn’t an ounce of doubt in his mind that it was genuine and that its contents portended the worst for the Christian West. He was visibly frightened at what he had read, as if he had been given the gift of prophecy and could see in a vision the nightmare that awaited him and his fellow Christians in the not too distant future. In this future, as he foresaw it, the Muslims would one day seize political control of the Western world, come to dominate or at least manipulate its media and legal systems, and afterwards restrict or outlaw the precepts and practicing of the Christian faith.


Calming him down was of no use. Trying to make him understand that the religion of Islam is not inimical to Christianity in its central tenets was an exercise in futility. Reading to him the treaties signed by Caliph Omar and the Christian leaders in Jerusalem and Damascus, centuries-old treaties which promised the Christians that they would be free to practice their religion without fear fell on deaf ears. Showing him passages of the Quran, wherein Christ is revered as the Messiah and wherein his blessed Mother is regarded as even more holy than even some Christians believe only made him angrier. Even for him, as a Catholic, pointing out the fact that in the Holy Land Muslims and Christians can be found side by side in processions honoring the saints in heaven and Christ’s mother meant nothing. It was of no use, he had made up his mind and didn’t want to be bothered with the details. In his world, Christianity was besieged by an enemy who was encircling it minute by minute, and threatened by a fanaticism whose victories could be chronicled every day in what had become the constantly progressing destruction of Western Civilization.


That Sunday visitor is by no means in a class by himself. He and the tens of millions of his like minded fellow travelers represent a rather large group of apocalyptically minded Christians who lament the loss of Christian virtue in today’s world, and, to be fair, for good reason. Clearly, an individual would have to be sleep walking through present day life not to notice what has become the decline of objective morality, and particularly in the Christian West. It truly is a season of evil, these last 50 or so years, and the fog which has all but choked out the civility which the carpenter from Nazareth preached in his 3 year mission today billows throughout the world, wreaking havoc and misery on an unprecedented scale. Never before, (with the possible exception of those early days in which this revolutionary new faith struggled to free itself from the tyranny of Pharisaical Judaism) can it be said that Christianity was more unwelcome than it is now. As such, individuals just like that Sunday guest are willing to hear just about anything which confirms their worst suspicions, which conforms to the future as they envision it, and which justifies and validates all the hand wringing that they do on a daily basis over watching their faith attacked. What they do not realize is the fact that clever individuals, much more clever than the average Christian might suspect, know well of their condition, and as such have made the most of it, particularly since the tragic day of September 11.


Never allowing an opportunity to get past them, these clever individuals have capitalized on the anxiety under which conservative Christians have been suffering now for the last 30 years or more, and as such did not miss a beat in exploiting that anxiety so as to serve their own purposes. It is for this reason that a Zionist media (which has never failed in recent decades to profane Christian sentimentality on a daily basis) made sure to fill America’s TV screens with images intended to evoke Christian outrage over an attack purported to have been committed by Muslims who were motivated by religious reasons. As such, Americans were made spectators to images of structural beams from the debris of the Twin Towers that fell together in such a way as to resemble a crucifix. The same media whose executives have never hidden in the slightest manner their loyalty to the antichrist agenda of Marxist Zionism made sure to show firefighters and policemen making the sign of the cross before going into harm’s way. And finally, in the interest of optimizing that same anxiety and outrage which they have fostered for years through their attacks on Christian sentiments, the same institutions which have never blinked at an opportunity to ridicule traditional religious values were found to be conspicuously supportive in their coverage of the bumper stickers, t shirts, hats, and all the rest boldly stating "God Bless America." In a moment of weakness, one would like to think that the seriousness of the events which took place that day in New York may have caused a profound change to occur in the hearts and minds of these reprobates who have gnawed away at Christianity and its precepts through their influence over the media and legal system. However, for those who are inclined to think so, prudence should probably be allowed to weigh in and remind the world of those famous words concerning a leopard changing its spots.


The truth of the matter is, for Christians who are serious about their faith and who justifiably resent the manner in which it has been ridiculed and attacked over the last 3 decades, there is good reason for them to have those shivers going up and down their spines these days. Indeed, there is an enemy out there who is hell bent on destroying them and their values, and who can be found possessed with a virulent hatred of the Christian faith as well as for all its adherents. Truly there is an organized network laboring in the world, at times whispering in secret, at other times shouting out loud in furthering its agenda to bring about the day in which the last shovel full of dirt is thrown on the grave of Christian sentimentality. Like he assumes, these individuals have religious reasons for doing this, and indeed have demonstrated that there is no length to which they are unwilling to go in appeasing their flavor of fanaticism. It is a centuries old struggle! , a jihad fought by individuals who are absolutely possessed by their desire to replace the religion of Christianity with a theocracy of sorts, and bringing about in the process a totalitarian system which has no tolerance for dissenting views. And, as the Sunday guest prophesied, this enemy will use every means it his disposal to achieve this, including the media, the legal system, and outright terror at times. The problem for the Sunday guest and all those others who agree with him is that they trusted too much the very individuals who couldn’t be trusted, and as such have come to fear the wrong people and the wrong agenda. In effect, due to the propaganda which has taken place since 9/11, what has occurred is that those who pose the real danger to Christianity and to civilization in general have used the event as a means of shifting the focus away from their own deeds and agenda, and have caused the world to focus on a threat which pales by comparison. In comparative terms, it is ! like the hungry, 200 pound wolf who has convinced the sheep that they need to be afraid of a fox which poses no danger to them at all, and for obvious reasons. And as outrageous as this may sound in a propagandized world post 9/11, it actually makes perfect sense to those who still have eyes to see, and even more so when the whole situation involving Islamic extremism is viewed through the eyes of a Muslim.


If any one group of individuals should be able to understand the sentiments which are fueling the anxiety and outrage which have been associated with those living in the Middle East, then no one should understand better than the same conservative Christians in America today like that Sunday guest. In truth, much of what he sees in the world with respect to the lawlessness and immorality which has overcome humanity like a flood has much to do with the reason why Islam views the West in such unfavorable terms. It is the Muslims who despise the moral relativism (or outright antagonism to objective morality) which has brought fuel to the fires of religious extremism. The more radicalized the West has become with respect to its indifference to morality, the more radicalized has the Muslim world become in the opposite direction, much like a good portion of conservative Christians today have become. The document which was making its way around the internet and which was used to frighten Christians in the West was a statement of fact more than anything else, for a better reading of the document would reveal that its contents depicted a West which is dying due to low birth rates, and that eventually, (due more to simple demographics than anything else) the Muslims would overtake the Western world because of this. Therefore, what should be obvious to that Sunday visitor and all conservative Christians like him is that the Muslim world, rather than an enemy, instead stands in solidarity with them in recognizing the same evils that have all but destroyed Western Civilization. But there are even more simple reasons which explain the current crises with regards to the Middle East, and an individual does not need a degree in theology to grasp them. And given the amount of energy which has been expended in keeping these reasons out of the debate, one must assume that these reasons also make perfect sense, which is why those who manage the flow of information have kept them hidden from public consideration.


Despite a propaganda campaign which has sought to depict Muslims as individuals driven by pure fanaticism, nothing of the sort is the case. They have reacted no differently than any other group of individuals would react were they lied to, had their land taken and their homes destroyed, robbed of their only source of wealth, and had their innocent women and children bombed, shot, starved and poisoned for the last 50 years. The religion of Islam has nothing to do with today’s attempt by those in the Middle East to realize their own self-preservation and justice, for these same sentiments are naturally occurring and are found in every race, creed and culture throughout the world and throughout history. In truth, the amount of attention that has been paid to the religion of Islam since 9/11 has been nothing more than a deflectionary program which was hatched in conference rooms in Tel Aviv and New York for the purposes of pitting two religions, Christianity and! Islam, against each other for the benefit of Judaism. In the process, the Zionist interests who have been propagandizing American Christianity since 9/11, (interests that are easily verifiable and recognized throughout the rest of the world) have, in furthering their interests, lied (either openly or by insinuation) about what comprises the sentiments of those living in the Middle East. In such a way, the Muslims, whose image has been stereotypically reduced to unthinking, fanatical individuals who have no concern for human life, and imbued with an innate hatred for Christianity and its adherents have been made easy targets in an effort to facilitate their extermination by the Zionist agenda. As such, clever individuals, manipulating what information conservative Christians saw and heard knew how to steer a shell-shocked Christianity into adopting the mindset which would facilitate a war of religion to eradicate Zionism’s last remaining impediment to world hegemony. The obvious foolishness in the arguments which have been used to demonize those in the Middle East is revealed in the fact that there has been no war of religion between the Muslims and the West for centuries, as well as in the fact that there are tens of millions of Christians living in the Middle East today. So inimical to Christianity, freedom, and the West were the Muslim nations that in anticipation of the liberation which they were expecting in the years encompassing the decline of the Ottoman Empire, they came to the Western powers, seeking aid in reforming their countries along the lines of the Western model. It was the Western powers, most notably the "Christian" countries of England, France and America, who (by then mere puppets of Zionist influence) betrayed them and broke the promises which they had made to them. It was the "Christian" countries who funded the gangsters of the Zionist crime families and injected them like a plague into the land upon which these people lived for 2,000 y! ears. It is the "Christian" countries who have stood by and watched as a program for ethnically cleansing the Middle East has been implemented by the practitioners of racist Zionism, a religion of hate which in reality is nothing more than the ugly twin sister of Aryan fascism. And today, it is the "Christian" countries who are paying for all the awful mechanisms of warfare which are murdering innocent women and children on an hourly basis, both in Iraq and Palestine. ……..


http://www.themoderntribune.com/through_th..._mark_glenn.htm

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  Fear Of Death - Maryam Jameelah (a Jewish Convert)
Posted by: Rehmat - 10-25-2004, 08:12 PM - Forum: "And remind for reminding benefit the believers - No Replies


As a child, I was so mortally afraid of death, particularly the thought of my own death, that after nightmares about it, sometimes I would awaken my parents crying in the middle of the night. When I asked them why I had to die and what would happen to me after death, all they could say was that I had to accept the inevitable; but that was a long way off and because medical science was constantly advancing, perhaps I would live to be a hundred years old! My parents, family, and all our friends rejected as superstition any thought of the Hereafter, regarding Judgment Day, reward in Paradise or punishment in Hell as outmoded concepts of by-gone ages. In vain I searched all the chapters of the Old Testament for any clear and unambiguous concept of the Hereafter. The prophets, patriarchs and sages of the Bible all receive their rewards or punishments in this world. Typical is the story of Job (Hazrat Ayub). God destroyed all his loved-ones, his possessions, and afflicted him with a loathsome disease in order to test his faith. Job plaintively laments to God why He should make a righteous man suffer. At the end of the story, God restores all his earthly losses but nothing is even mentioned about any possible consequences in the Hereafter.


Although I did find the Hereafter mentioned in the New Testament, compared with that of the Holy Quran, it is vague and ambiguous. I found no answer to the question of death in Orthodox Judaism, for the Talmud preaches that even the worst life is better than death. My parents' philosophy was that one must avoid contemplating the thought of death and just enjoy as best one can, the pleasures life has to offer at the moment. According to them, the purpose of life is enjoyment and pleasure achieved through self-expression of one's talents, the love of family, the congenial company of friends combined with the comfortable living and indulgence in the variety of amusements that affluent America makes available in such abundance. They deliberately cultivated this superficial approach to life as if it were the guarantee for their continued happiness and good-fortune. Through bitter experience I discovered that self-indulgence leads only to misery and that nothing great or even worthwhile is ever accomplished without struggle through adversity and self-sacrifice. From my earliest childhood, I have always wanted to accomplish important and significant things. Above all else, before my death I wanted the assurance that I have not wasted life in sinful deeds or worthless pursuits. All my life I have been intensely serious-minded. I have always detested the frivolity which is the dominant characteristic of contemporary culture.


My father once disturbed me with his unsettling conviction that there is nothing of permanent value and because everything in this modern age accept the present trends inevitable and adjust ourselves to them. I, however, was thirsty to attain something that would endure forever. It was from the Holy Quran where I learned that this aspiration was possible. No good deed for the sake of seeking the pleasure of God is ever wasted or lost. Even if the person concerned never achieves any worldly recognition, his reward is certain in the Hereafter. Conversely, the Quran tells us that those who are guided by no moral considerations other than expediency or social conformity and crave the freedom to do as they please, no matter how much worldly success and prosperity they attain or how keenly they are able to relish the short span of their earthly life, will be doomed as the losers on Judgement Day. Islam teaches us that in order to devote our exclusive attention to fulfilling our duties to God and to our fellow-beings, we must abandon all vain and useless activities which distract us from this end. These teachings of the Holy Quran, made even more explicit by Hadith, were thoroughly compatible with my temperament.


Salaam, Shalom, etc. [Image: biggrin.gif]

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  Culture, Religion And Generation Gap
Posted by: umm Zachariah - 10-25-2004, 05:30 PM - Forum: Usama - Replies (4)


Youth: On Culture, Religion, and Generation Gap


By Khalid Baig


Posted: 27 Safar 1424, 17 April 2004


If the life of this world is an illusion, the period of greatest illusion occurs during youth. It is a period of high energy and great enthusiasm, coupled with an air of invincibility and perpetuity. Like the driver of a fast car, one may also develop a disdain for the slower cars on the highway of life. It is difficult to imagine that the car will run out of fuel and that one day the engine will wear out.


For the moment though the car is fast and it can go places!


For this reason there are special warnings for the youth and glad tidings for the person who uses this energy wisely. A famous hadith tells us that on the Day of Judgment no man will be able to move from his place until he answers five questions. "How did he spend his life? How did he utilize his youth? How did he earn his wealth? How did he spend it? And, how did he practice what he learnt?" [sunan al-Tirmidhi]. While the first question asks generally about one's life pattern, the second especially focuses on the period of youth.


On the other hand, the person who devoted his youth to the worship of Allah will be among the selected seven kinds of people: "There are seven people for whom Allah will provide His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His shade: 1. A just ruler. 2. A youth who grew up in the worship of Allah. 3. A man whose heart is attached to the mosque. 4. Two men who love each other for Allah's sake; they meet for the sake of Allah and part company for His sake. 5. A man who is invited by a woman of beauty and position [to sin], but he refuses saying: 'I fear Allah.' 6. A man who gives in charity secretly such that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives. 7. A man whose eyes shed tears as he remembers Allah in private." [bukhari, Muslim].


Hence the profound advice in another famous hadith to value five things: "Youth before old age, health before sickness, wealth before poverty, free time before preoccupation, and life before death."


A fast car is dangerous if it does not have strong controls. And that is where Shaitan targets the vulnerable --- by loosening the controls. It has been his time-tested trick to work through temptations and make desires look irresistible. The path of deviation looks good. It is cool. It is fun. It is endlessly entertaining. The only problem is, it leads to assured disaster. This is the path of MTV and pop culture; of music and hip-hop; of rebellion and generation gap.


'Generation gap' is a clever term that aims at giving scientific respectability to rudeness and rebellion. The idea is to create a wedge between generations and make it look acceptable for a young person to be indifferent to any wise counsel from one's close and well-wishing elders. Which reminds us of the special challenge faced by the youth today. While temptations have always been strong in young age, today the problem is magnified by mega efforts targeting the youth, especially the Muslim youth in the Western world, at all levels including intellectual and philosophical.


A favorite theme of these campaigns is to separate Islam from its culture. When in France, follow the French culture not the Muslim Algerian one, so the argument goes. This argument needs to be carefully deconstructed. Like all clever arguments this one also begins with a bit of truth. It is true that Islam is a universal religion and not restricted to a particular region. It is also true that many Muslim lands, during their period of decline, developed or adopted some cultural practices that were not based in Islam and need to be pruned. Certainly, not everything that has become accepted social practice in every Muslim country is Islamic. But it is a very long jump from there to conclude that everything being done in the Muslim world is un-Islamic and must be jettisoned. And it is even more bizarre to suggest that the replacement of all that with the pop-culture is just fine.


When Islam reached the lands that today form the Muslim world, it influenced the life style and cultural practices there without forcing a monoculture. For example the wedding practices vary as you move from region to region in the Muslim world. (The picture is complicated by the introduction of many non-Islamic practices there as well.) Yet they also retain common features traceable to Islamic teachings. These include: 1. Marriage is a sacred act and an important religious obligation and not just a means of fulfilling physical needs. 2. While the ultimate decision to marry each other remains with the bride and groom, parental help, guidance, and support in arranging it is a blessing for them.


The propaganda machine presents this common core of Islamic culture as a great burden, but one only needs to look at the unfortunate millions who are left on their own in the name of freedom, to ascertain the truth. Is it not true that if one were to draw a family-and-home-life-disaster map of the world, it will coincide with a map of the Western world? The distinctly safe area will be the Muslim world, with a gray area within it coinciding with the areas of Westernization. The safeguards and the disaster are built into the underlying cultural values and one cannot do a wholesale exchange of cultural practices without buying into the underlying values and facing the consequences.


Does it mean that all Muslims can aim at is to make mini Pakistans in England or mini Algerias in France? Not at all. Islam allows for growth and adaptation and early Muslims have left great examples of it. Theirs was an example of a natural adjustment that was fully informed by Islamic teachings; it did not damage the underlying values. And it tremendously enriched the new societies. The same healthy adaptation can happen today, with benefits for everyone.


The great task of Muslim youth will be to bring the life-giving message of Islam to wherever they live. With love, dedication, wisdom, and insight. But if you give up all you have, how can you give anything to anyone?

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  The Prayer
Posted by: umm Zachariah - 10-25-2004, 05:16 PM - Forum: Discussion of Beliefs - No Replies


PRAYER


The Muslim should always be aware and conscious of Allah; the Bounties that He has provided him/her with. To help this consciousness grow, the Muslim prays five times a day. At the time of prayer, the Muslim leaves off the business of life and faces his Creator, bowing and prostrating; thanking Him for the life he has, the bounty he enjoys and seeking forgiveness for the weaknesses and mistakes he has left behind him through the passage of his life. The Muslim seeks closeness to Allah and seeks His pleasure and forgiveness.


In a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), he said, "Allah the Almighty has said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner with Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it."


(At Tirmidhi)


Thus, if performed with concentration and sincerity, prayer is an enlivening experience, a refreshing time for the spirit, a time of peace; of renewal. Throughout, the day the Muslim remembers the inevitability of death and therefore, does not spend all his time and ability in seeking worldly benefits but focuses on preparing himself and his family for the eternal life to come, by doing good deeds, learning with the intention of being a better Muslim, making up for wrongs done, inviting people to Allah and solving the everyday problems of life that surround him, according to Qur'an and Sunnah.


The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer."


(Al Bukhari)

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  Allah's Guidance To Mankind
Posted by: umm Zachariah - 10-25-2004, 05:10 PM - Forum: Discussion of Beliefs - No Replies


ALLAH'S GUIDANCE TO MANKIND


From the beginning of time, when Adam (Peace be upon him) was created , Allah has guided mankind. The very nature of mankind is inclined towards weakness and desires - a combination of the body, mind and spirit that are constantly in conflict. If left to himself, man will certainly destroy all that lies around him. Being prone to greed, pride, aggression and all that is base, if left unguided, the human being descends to the state of being less than an animal. Indeed, animals, like everything else in nature, willingly submit to the laws of nature as provided by Allah. On the other hand, often if left unhindered by environmental or educational influences, the human being, will naturally seek Allah; truth and peace. Indeed the human being is a complex being!


Allah says in the Qur'an,


"Verily, We created man of the best stature (mould),


Then reduced him to the lowest of the low,


Save those who believe and do righteous deeds, then they shall have a reward without end (Paradise)."


(Sura At Tin 95:4-6)


After being tempted by the devil, Adam and Eve (Hawwa in Arabic) were sent to live on the earth. They repented to Allah for their mistake and were forgiven as Allah is the most Merciful and the most Forgiving. He promised them guidance and that if they remained steadfast on the straight path, they would be given help and protection from the devil and his helpers from among jinn (the spirit world) and evil men. And so began the history of mankind. A constant struggle between good and evil. At times good raises high and becomes powerful and the world if full of justice, goodness and stability and then at other times evil overtakes the foolish desires of man and the world is filled with troubles, violence, injustice and instability. The ebb and flow of goodness in the world, is something like the waves of the sea. Harmony and peace are found when mankind achieves obedience to Allah and submits to His Way, (which means Islam) and therefore is provided with strength, faith and wisdom.


Allah says in the Qur'an,


"We said: "Get down all of you from this place (Paradise), then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows My guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve." (Sura Al Baqara 2:38)


All the prophets that followed Adam (Peace be upon them all) came with the same message; calling the people to turn from the worship of false dieties, to the worship of Allah, and establishing piety on the earth. Prophet Abraham, Noah, Moses, Elias, Jonah, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus and finally Muhammad (Peace be upon them all), (and many other prophets), called people to the worship of Allah, the Al Mighty and to disdain the worship of idols and all graven images and false gods - thereby lifting humanity into a renewed, peaceful, harmonious existence with all that exists. They called mankind to establish goodness, justice and piety on earth. Man's never ending search for knowledge and wisdom has been enhanced by the periodic coming of prophets throughout time, offering mankind Divine sources of knowledge and wisdom - after all even knowledge and wisdom belong to Him and He gives it to whom He chooses.


Allah says in the Qur'an,


"And with Him are the keys of the Ghaib (all that is hidden), none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in (or on) the earth and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record."


(Sura Al An'am 6:59)


The Muslim loves, reveres and respects all the prophets of Islam and makes no distinction between them.


The word Islam, does not denote a religion as such, but the way of life prescribed by Allah, the Creator, from the beginning of time. It denotes a state of obedience and submission to Him - something which has occurred on various levels from the time of Adam (peace be upon him), until now.


Allah says in the Qur'an,


"And I (Allah) created not jinns and men except they should worship Me (Alone)."


(Sura Az Zariyat 51:56)

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  The Simple Meaning Of Islam
Posted by: umm Zachariah - 10-25-2004, 05:04 PM - Forum: Discussion of Beliefs - Replies (1)


THE SIMPLE MEANING OF ISLAM


If you were to ask a Muslim child, 'Who do you love the most?' The answer would most likely be, 'Allah!' And if you were to ask them the reason for their response, they might look at you, wonderingly and say, 'because Allah gave us everything.' They might go on to explain how everything we eat, wear and have is from Allah and that the sky, the earth, the stars above, the flowers, the animals and just everything is from Him.


Allah says in the Qur'an,


"He has created the heavens and the earth with truth. He makes the night to go in the day and makes the day to go in the night. And He has subjected the sun and the moon. Each running (on a fixed course) for an appointed term. Verily, He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving."


(Sura Az Zumar 39:5)


A Muslim child is taught to say 'Bismillah' before they eat, drink or do anything. It means 'In the name of Allah.' By doing so they acknowledge that the existence of that thing, or the ability to do that thing is a gift from Allah and it makes them humble before Allah's creation. Even before killing an animal for food the Muslim must say 'Bismillah' as an acknowledgement that it belongs to Allah and respect for that living thing.


As everything in Creation runs on a harmonious course according to the laws that govern nature, so too, do human beings who submit to the Will and Laws of Allah and are therefore named Muslims. In His Infinite Mercy, Allah, the Creator of all, turned to this Creation on the Earth and provided mankind with Guidance from Himself. Guidance, which if followed, would lead to success in this life and the next.


Allah says in the Qu'ran,


"Are you more difficult to create, or is the heaven that He constructed?


He raised its height, and He has equally ordered it,


Its night He covers with darkness, and its forenoon He brings out (with light).


And after that He spread the earth;


And brought forth therefrom its water and its pasture;


And the mountains He fixed firmly;


To be a provision and benefit for you and your cattle."


(Sura An-Naziat 79:27-33)

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