Assalamu aleikum,


I tried to find a picture showing cous-cous but I failed.


So this is a symbolic invitation to sisters and brothers in faith, to share the Morrocan national dish called cous-cous and that traditionally is served on Fridays.


I thought it suitable today the last Friday before our beloved Ramadan starts, inshaAllah.


Brothers invited to sit at one table and sisters at another table.


Welcome,


your sister in faith

<i>The Agnostic: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god</i>


I post the above not to patronise but in case someone doesn't know whether they are Agnostic or not. I didn't until i read the definition, then i thought i was. Of course i wasn't in the end. Anyway, Agnostics read this scenario...


An Agnostic will say If you're a sensible person, Logical, you'll know you cannot 100% prove the existance of Heaven and you cannot 100% prove that when you die you go to the worms and thats it no more. Agnostic. So it's a 50/50 with both scenarios when you die. The first scenario, is when we die, we end up in the mud, dead no more. Eaten by worms and that's it nothing else. Then that's fine, it ends there. Thats the first possibility. And the other possibility is, that when we die, we rise and stand before God and eventually go to heaven or hell depending on Gods will. Now think about this as an Agnostic...


Isn't it safer to prepare fully for the second possibilty? the one which has a 50% chance of happening? Because with the first possibility, you don't have to prepare for nothing, so that ones done, forget that one, just sit back. Just live life and it's over. But with the second possibility (Facing God) that could also be true, you must face God and you haven't prepared...doesnt it make sence to an Agnostic, or even a rational Human being, religious or not, to prepare for the second event, just in case the First scenario (dying in the mud, worms eat you) doesnt happen? as both are 50/50?


This above and the following scenario i gave to my girlfriend tonight when debating with her. You're in the African Jungle where Lions, Cheetahs and panthers could possibly be roaming around in that part of the jungle ready to eat you. These people standing at the beginning of this Jungle tell you that there are NO animals in this Jungle, it might seem like you heard some, or there might be slight small signs that Lions and cheetahs and other dangerous Animals that will eat you are there, but the people standing at the beginning of the Jungle are teling you they are not, nothing is in there that will eat you. No Lions no cheetahs no mad Apes nothing. These people have been tested on a Lie detector and as far as you or anyone testing them scientifically can possibly know...they are telling the solid truth 99.9%. But theres a Shotgun on the floor that you can take to kind of prepare your self..just in case, by chance, there ARE actually Lions etc in there. Of course...you'd take the Shotgun, anyone would, just to cover yourself when the time comes and you have to enter that Jungle. It's like, OK you know that there are no Animals there because you are told, but you would take the Shotgun just in case. Just to cover your back even...anyone would right?


So therefore a non beliver, should belive, Submit fully to Allah and then start to belive truely after actually reading the Quran as a next immediate step, because on the flip side, if they were right, and didnt belive in Allah and there was no Heaven, then what..so what, they get eaten by maggots and it's over, no penalty you know no more. But if they were wrong, what can they do about it once they are there in front of God unprepared? Nothing...it's safer and makes perfect Logic to take that shotgun (submit to the will of Allah 100%) as you enter that Jungle (death)


What i just typed above popped into my head tonight against my girlfriend and it suprised me thanks to Allahs total will i was able to (i think) for the first time ever convince my girlfriend a tiny bit about Islams beauty, my only mistake in these scenarios is that they are not the perfect way to enter Islam. My own human error is present there of course, any mistakes in the Scenario are mine all Goodness is Allah. I know all the good i say in the above is of course Given to me by Allah for guiding me. But like i said this popped into my head when debating for a good few hours with my Girlfriend about why she should think about embracing Islam. And it stopped her in her tracks...and she actually thought about it properly. All praise due to Allah. I don't of course want to scare or force her into Islam. Or choose it like flipping a coin "just in case" I was just trying to show the obviousness that Islam is the way for mankind. It takes people many different ways to embrace Allah, mine was through science, others tragedy, etc. Maybe this scenario above could be my girlfriends, or any other Agnostics way toward Islam Insha'Allah. Then like me once they have found it, they will bow in total submission to it's beauty and obvious perfection in guiding us through life like i did.


I will keep working on her, i think....i think i might be getting through. Step by slow step. Wish me luck...this is a challenge. This is not just for my Girlfriend for my daughter also. She better catch up with me soon though, Allah has shown mercy and patience with me.

By Abidullah Jan


It is painful to watch old news-reels of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini making speeches and crowds cheering. Mussolini's posturing seems so transparent that one wonders how adults could have taken him seriously. With Hitler, what comes across is crude, passionate intensity and the rapture of his audiences, sharing his feelings, with minds turned off. What is chilling is knowing how many tens of millions of human beings lost their lives because of these almost musical-comedy performances. The seemingly shallow stuff can have deep roots as well as deep consequences. Few things today are more shallow than the reasons most people have for supporting Bush and Blair war on "terrorism" and accepting their claims that it is not a war on Islam. To understand if it is a war on Islam, we need to honestly and impartially scan the horizon since 1990.


Apart from the massive air strikes, commando raids and a prolonged "dirty war" against Islamic movements, the police repression, deportation, torture, censorship and death squads that we are certainly going to face are certainly not planned after the September 11 attacks. The US "war on terror" is no more than translation to the physical level, of the systematic approach that started with


(1) introduction of the rancid notion of "Islamic fundamentalism,"


(2) classification of Islam;


(3) equating "fundamentalism" with extremism and then terrorism;


(4) removal of governments, like Mr. Erbakan in Turkey, for having affiliations with Islam


(5) support of governments' cracking down on "Islamic extremists" such as Egyptian and Algerian regimes;


(6) development of agendas for government's like Musharraf;


(7) initially supporting the Taliban and then demonizing them to show the world the failure of Islam.


The coming physical horror is simply execution of the judgments passed by the western intellectuals upon Islam in the past decade or so.


Just have a look at how the ground has been prepared for the coming "dirty war." Musharraf came to "moderate" religious schools and take Jihad related Quranic verses from school curricula in 2001. However, the Economist sensed "The Islamic Threat" way back in its March 13, 1993 edition whereby it declared: "It is the mightiest power in the Levant...Governments tremble before it. Arabs everywhere turn to it for salvation from their various miseries. This power is not Egypt, Iraq, or indeed any nation, but the humble mosque." Mosques would probably be the next targets after dealing with madrassa.


Similarly, since the establishment of Israel, no one had talked about "fundamentalism," yet Yitzhak Rabin suddenly started calling the world in December 1992, "to devote its attention to the greater danger inherent in Islamic fundamentalism. [W]e stand on the line of fire against the danger of fundamentalist Islam.


Mr. Bush with a slip of tongue tells his mind in 2001 by describing the US recent missions in the lands of Islam as "crusade."


Peter Rodman, senior editor of the National Review, however, saw in 1992 that the West being challenged from the outside by a "militant, atavistic force driven by a hatred of all Western political thought, harking back to age- old grievances against Christendom.... the rage against us is too great..." (May 11, 1992).


Charles Krauthammer summed up the expected resistance by the Islamic civilisation to the hegemonic designs of the US in one word: "Global Intifada," (Washington Post January 1, 1993). He tried to suggest that the world is now "facing a mood and a movement...a perhaps irrational but surely historic reaction of an ancient rival against our Judaeo-Christian heritage, our secular present, and the worldwide expansion of both."


The New York Times went one step ahead and confirmed on January 21st, 1996: "The Red Menace Is Gone. But Here's Islam."


The open war against it, however, had to be delayed until a perfect excuse like the September 11 attacks.


Intellectuals like Samuel P. Huntington played a key role in making Islam an enemy of choice. He declared: "Islam is the only civilisation which has put the survival of the West in doubt."


Web page of the Montclair State University in New Jersey reads: "The West today is losing irretrievably its former global hegemony and is increasingly challenged economically and culturally by East Asian and Islamic civilisations."


Irving Kristol, Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in the Wall Street Journal, editorial August 2, 1996: "With the end of the Cold War, what we really need is an obvious ideological and threatening enemy, one worthy of our mettle, one that can unite us in opposition."


Bernard Lewis In his influential essay, "The Roots of Muslim Rage," writes: "Islamic fundamentalism has given an aim and a form to the otherwise aimless and formless resentment and anger of the Muslim masses" (Atlantic, September 99).


Islamic "fundamentalism," according to Amos Perlmutter (Insight in the News, February 15, 1993), is "a plague" which has infected the entire Islamic world and whose goal is to topple secularist military regimes in Egypt, Syria and Algeria and replace them with [unacceptable] Islamic states."


Daily Express, ran an article "Islam Is a Creed of Cruelty" on January 16, 1995, which concluded that the spectre of Islamic fundamentalism was haunting Europe and the world power should enter into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre. The underlying assumption has always been that Islam is primitive, underdeveloped, retrograde, at best stuck in the memory hole of a medieval splendour out of which it could not disentangle itself without a radical transformation; and this could only be based on Western, "rational", "progressive" values. The long proposed "holy alliance" is now in making.


A above mentioned examples show that during the past 11-12 years systematic efforts have been directed to relegated Islam from its holistic perspective, encompassing all facets of human conduct and behaviour to a mere set or rituals, something what the west has done to Christianity itself.


According to Lt-Col Trinka of US Army, "[Muslims] must work to fashion the shariah into a modern blue print for change." In a similar vein, one of the CIA experts counselled that those Muslims who do not believe that world of God is law, should be found and supported. "The Arab rulers," he thinks, "have to create a new identity of [Muslim] seductively fusing Islam and the West."


This so-called expert added: "Though the Saudi rulers may be guilty of ugly authoritarian behaviour and consistent stupidity in foreign affairs, they are at least fervent hypocrites, and that [in] Middle East Affairs, a fervent hypocrite is always safer than a fervent puritan." He had the audacity to make such humiliating remark because there was truth in it. These are in fact general policy guidelines that we see in operation during lifting of democracy related sanctions against Pakistan and visit of the British Prime Minister who could not bear an undemocratic government in Pakistan at any cost.


Over the last decade the western propaganda successfully divided Muslim into "Moderates," "Liberals" and "Fundamentalists" for whom there is no basis or justification in Islam. There has been no definition offered even in the Western propaganda.


Salman Rushdie, however, lists in his October 2, article in Washington Post what he believes fundamentalists are against: "homosexuals, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, evolution theory, sex." He believes such "fundamentalists are tyrants, not Muslims...yes, even the short skirts and dancing -- are worth dying for." He further argues, "kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, cutting-edge fashion, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love," should matter and "these will be our weapons." The moderates among us should decide for themselves as to what kind of Islam allows kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, homosexuality, etc.


Besides mass propaganda, efforts were underway to support Hosnie Mubarak like regimes for their crackdown on Islamic opposition and remove Erbakan like elected governments for exactly the same reasons for which the US wants to support religious groups in China. With false propaganda, the Taliban have been demonised to the extent that even majority of the Muslims who have never set a foot on the Afghan soil to verify the grand lies, speak in the anti-Taliban, CNNised language. The US has established that a country can never be ruled with Islamic principles. Now the war is only left to be carried out by individual Muslim countries by collecting information on its citizens as to who is involved with the banned religious parties, who is the extremist, how to arrest and try the fundamentalism and if necessary remove them from the scene.


Apart from the above-mentioned factors, the US, UK recent moves are part of an undeclared war on Islam because:


1. Jonathan Steele, Ewen MacAskill, Richard Norton-Taylor and Ed Harriman reported on September 22, 2001 in the Guardian that attacks on Afghanistan were planned before September 11. The US planned the attacks as soon as it considered it's demonising the Taliban project as complete.


2. Islam is the only challenge to American hegemony with its claims to be a complete code of life with panacea for ills in economic, political, moral and spiritual systems, and thus only Islam can pose a threat to the civilisation considered superior by the West.


3. The West reasons that the source of terrorism is not its terrorism but Islamic teachings and history. Naturally, the real campaign is against the teachings of Islam from the original sources at Madrassa. Mustafa Kamal destroyed Islamic teachings 85 years ago in Turkey and dried up the swamp. We however are expected to follow the suit sooner than later.


4. The US is planning to impose its brand of democracy or autocracy - whichever may be suitable -- on Muslim countries by force. The US put forward many symbolic personalities over the years to undermine the roots of Islam. These advocates preach unconditional assimilation into, support of, sympathy toward, and whole-hearted participation in the social and political system espoused by the US.


5. Transmissions of BBC and CNN testify to the fact that it is a war on Islam. On their part they put forward unqualified individuals or groups as representatives of Islam who may be unethical, deviants, or outright heretics from the religion with no subjective measures being used to ascertain the qualifications of such people. Rushdie's recent article in the Washington Post is an excellent example. They present Islamic Shariah as antiquated, irrelevant, authoritarian, unsophisticated, and limited.


6. By making public statements like: Taliban are not the real Muslims, the American leaders, like Karl Inderfurth, have long been creating a nationalistic or ethnic view and approach to Islam, or more accurately, creating a new religion that cannot truly be called Islam but rather has some outward aspects of it. It will certainly be one that would not pose a challenge to the US domination or offer anything that will make Islam seen as a viable alternative to the US uni-polar world.


7. The evidence suggests that it is the US government that has been playing a leading role in the media crusade against Islam. As early as fall 1994, PBS aired a documentary by journalist Steve Emerson Titled "Jihad in America." Evidence within the programme suggests that Emerson has access to official government intelligence. Some clips appear to be from home videos confiscated from Muslims in FBI sweeps. A decade of this kind of programming has set the climate for a war on Islam.


The facts do not change with the denial of Bush and Balir. The strength of Islam lies in the fact that despite having far less military and economic power, the western war-makers do not have the courage to declare it an open war on Islam. They would certainly fail as long as they want to cover their ulterior motives and undermine Islam under the guise of looking for "infinite Justice." Ending terrorism through eradicating its root causes may not take more than a few months. However, defeating Islam may cost them many generations before finally realising that it was a wrong war.


Its hard to believe for many among us, but the fact is that the US is more than half way through its war on Islam. The stage has long been set for the Mossad and its lackeys in the CIA to use Pakistani leadership, military intelligence and their "expertise" and the intermediaries to do anything in Pakistan from abducting Osama bin Laden to robbing Pakistan of its nuclear capability and also do anything through Pakistan, from dismantling the Taliban government to abandoning the cause of Kashmir. The reason behind the renewed American interest in Pakistan is not to combat the so-called terrorism but to target Islam.


Undoubtedly, Pervez Musharraf has taken all the decisions in the best interest of the state, but the secret and open demands would never stop until we fully surrender our souls, our faith and ourselves. It is a campaign against Islamic world. Apart from other undeniable evidence, consider the following fact to fully understand the argument that contrary to all the claims of American leadership, this is a war on Islam. According to well placed sources, in the Fall of 1993 at the initiative of Clinton-Gore government, a secret conference of anti-Islam forces was called in Washington, D.C. area to develop a long-term strategy of defeating Islamic resurgence worldwide. It lasted for three days and many papers were presented.


Naturally, no serious Muslim was represented in the conference. The main resolution was to fight Islam the way West fought communism and defeat Islam even if it took 70-80 years. At least one of the resolutions was to remove "fundamentalist Islam" from the West and fight Islam in the Muslim majority countries. Islamic movements like those of Tanzeem-e-Islami,, Jamaat-e-Islami, Ikhwan al-Muslimoon and similar movements are their main targets. All the recent development are simply directed to bring this war from Washington to the real front, to the doorsteps of Muslim countries.


The American methodology against movement orientated organizations is infiltration, spreading rumors, sowing dissensions within the organization leadership, and now outright ban on religious parties that refuse to tread the line set forth as acceptable to Washington. From outside, spreading rumors to make leadership or the organization itself unpopular would remain part of the wider strategies. If nothing works, outright murder is their ultimate weapon.


In its campaign against the Islamic world, the US depends on a number of weapons. The first weapon is its international weight and influence in the Islamic world, particularly after the second Gulf War policy, which resulted in further consolidation of its influence.


The second weapon is it's ensuring others' participation in the campaign against Islam. The US uses their influence and their agents to guarantee the success in the whole Islamic world particularly as these states do not differ from America in viewing Islam as a threat to them under the draconian banner of "fundamentalism."


The third weapon is the international law, and its tools represented by the UN, its charter and its other sub-organizations which the US employs to implement its sinister designs. The fourth weapon is the world media dominated by the US and its allies, which is used as one of the most deadly weapons in its campaign. The media is used to distort the image of Islam and to incite the world against those who adhere to it, portraying them as fundamentalists, zealots, extremists and terrorists.


The fifth, the ugliest and most dangerous of these weapons are the agent rulers and the circle around them of underlings, hypocrites, opportunists and those lured by the liberal culture and fascinated by its way of life. All of these are paid or blessed by the US government one way or the other. This circle also includes those who pretend to care about Islam whether they are government scholars or those presented to the people as Islamic intellectuals from some Islamic movements who are in reality nothing more than secularists, calling for the detachment of religion from life.


The CIA, as the arm of the U.S. government most concerned with fighting the US wars, focuses on Islam in the period immediately following the Post-Gulf War. To counter the appeal of Islam and the growth of Islamic movements, the CIA has devised a two-tier program. On the one hand, certain Muslim authors are promoted as part of an explicitly "anti-Islam program." The CIA cultural commissar's criteria for "suitable texts" include whatever critiques of "Islamic fundamentalism" and role of religion in running predominantly Muslim dominated countries, the CIA finds to be objective and convincingly written and timely.


On the other hand, the CIA is especially keen on promoting liberal politicians and protecting disillusioned Muslim leaders. The present funding of the secularists and westernised human rights activists reminds on of the CLA, which promoted anticommunist writers by funding lavish conferences in Paris, Berlin, and Bellagio (overlooking Lake Como), where objective social scientists and philosophers like Isaiah Berlin, Daniel Bell, and Czeslow Milosz preached their values (and the virtues of Western freedom and intellectual independence, within the anticommunist and pro-Washington parameters defined by their CIA paymasters).


The singular lasting, damaging influence of the CIA's buying our leaders and intellectuals is not their specific defences of US imperialist policies, but their success in imposing on subsequent generations the idea of excluding any sustained discussion of US involvement in our internal affairs through sheer terror and injustice. The issue is not that today's intellectuals or leaders may or may not take an Islamic position on this or that issue. The problem is the pervasive belief among writers and leaders that anti-US expressions should not appear in their speech and writing if they want to be successful in their careers. The enduring political victory of the CIA through buying out our leaders and influencing our policies without any hurdle is to convince the rest of us that serious and sustained political, economic and social development is incompatible with our religious beliefs and practices.


Open your mind.


The kuffar are kuffar. Always and forever. They hate and fear Islam now for the very same reason they have for all eternity. Because it calls to belief in ONE God and their Disbelieving way of life is rebellious towards obeying God's orders.


This is not about any Muslim country.


It is about Islam. They already know that the Muslim countries are ruled by hypocrites, who are more concerned with their thrones and palaces rather than remaining true to the Shahaadah. The kuffar fear a resurgence of Islam. They fear the revolution this might bring about, which could result in any number of things, such as overthrow of puppet governments, and the Islamic governments which would erase political boundaries and operate in accordance to the laws of the Quran and Sunnah, which is in opposition to what America and her allies want.


This is why they most certainly care about Islam and they are attempting to destroy it. By discrediting, demonizing and attacking those who advocate a rule by Islamic laws as opposed to man-made laws.


You speak of closing down Islamic websites.


Pardon my extreme shock, but where exactly do you live again?


They have been closing down Islamic websites. Obviously you have been unaware, and so you assume that Islamic websites are not being shut down.

The Prophet (PBUH) said "Pass on knowledge from me even if it is only one verse"


Say: He is Allah, the One and


Only, Allah the Eternal, Absolute.


He does not beget, nor is He begotten. And there is none like Him.


(Soore Ikhlas 112:1-4)

208.


O you who believe! Enter perfectly in Islâm (by obeying all the rules and regulations of the Islâmic religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitân (Satan). Verily! He is to you a plain enemy.


209.


Then if you slide back after the clear signs (Prophet Muhammad SAW and this Qur'ân, and Islâm) have come to you, then know that Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Wise.


210.


Do they then wait for anything other than that Allâh should come to them in the shadows of the clouds and the angels? (Then) the case would be already judged. And to Allâh return all matters (for decision).


[يَـأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ادْخُلُواْ فِي السِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَتِ الشَّيْطَـنِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ]


[فَإِن زَلَلْتُمْ مِّن بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَتْكُمُ الْبَيِّنَـتُ فَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ ]


(208.O you who believe! Enter Silm perfectly, and follow not the footsteps of Shaytan (Satan). Verily, he is to you a plain enemy.) (209. Then if you slide back after the clear signs (Prophet Muhammad , and this Qur'an and Islam) have come to you, then know that Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise).


Entering Islam in its Entirety is obligated


Allah commands His servants who believe in Him and have faith in His Messenger to implement all of Islam's legislation and law, to adhere to all of its commandments, as much as they can, and to refrain from all of its prohibitions. `Al-`Awfi said that Ibn `Abbas said, and also Mujahid, Tawus, Ad-Dahhak, `Ikrimah, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Zayd said that Allah's statement:[ادْخُلُواْ فِي السِّلْمِ](Enter Silm) means Islam. Allah's statement:[كَآفَّةً](...perfectly) means, in its entirety. This is the Tafsir of Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Abu Al-`Aliyah, `Ikrimah, Ar-Rabi` bin Anas, As-Suddi, Muqatil bin Hayyan, Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak. Mujahid said that the Ayah means, `Perform all the good works and the various pious deeds, this is especially addressed to those from among the People of the Scripture who embraced the faith.'


Ibn Abu Hatim reported that Ibn `Abbas said that:[يَـأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ادْخُلُواْ فِي السِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً](O you who believe! Enter Silm perfectly) refers to the believers among the People of the Scripture. This is because they believed in Allah, some of them still followed some parts of the Tawrah and the previous revelations. So Allah said:[ادْخُلُواْ فِي السِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً]


(Enter Islam perfectly.) Allah thus commanded them to embrace the legislation of the religion of Muhammad in its entirety and to avoid abandoning any part of it. They should no longer adhere to the Tawrah.


Allah then said:[وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَتِ الشَّيْطَـنِ](...and follow not the footsteps of Shaytan) meaning, perform the acts of worship and avoid what Satan commands you to do. This is because:[إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَآءِ وَأَن تَقُولُواْ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ ](He (Shaytan) commands you only what is evil and Fahsha' (sinful), and that you should say about Allah what you know not.) (2:169) and:[إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُواْ مِنْ أَصْحَـبِ السَّعِيرِ](He only invites his Hizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire.) (35:6) Hence, Allah said:[إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ](Verily, he is to you an open enemy.)


Allah said:[فَإِن زَلَلْتُمْ مِّن بَعْدِ مَا جَآءَتْكُمُ الْبَيِّنَـتُ](Then if you slide back after the clear signs have come to you) meaning, if you deviate from the Truth after clear proofs have been established against you,[فَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ](...then know that Allah is All-Mighty) in His punishment, and no one can escape His vengeance or defeat Him.[حَكِيمٌ]


(All-Wise) in His decisions, actions and rulings. Hence Abu Al-`Aliyah, Qatadah and Ar-Rabi` bin Anas said, "He is Mighty in His vengeance, Wise in His decision.''


[هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِّنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ وَقُضِىَ الأَمْرُ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الأُمُورُ ]


(210. Do they then wait for anything other than that Allah should come to them over the shadows of the clouds and the angels (Then) the case would be already judged. And to Allah return all matters (for decision).)


Do not delay embracing the Faith[هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِّنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ]


(Do they then wait for anything other than that Allah should come to them over the shadows of the clouds and the angels) on the Day of Resurrection to judge the early and the latter creations. Allah shall then reward each according to his or her deeds; and whoever does good shall see it, and whoever does evil shall see it. This is why Allah said:


[وَقُضِىَ الأَمْرُ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الأُمُورُ]((Then) the case would be already judged. And to Allah return all matters (for decision).)


Similarly, Allah said:[كَلاَّ إِذَا دُكَّتِ الاٌّرْضُ دَكّاً دَكّاً - وَجَآءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفّاً صَفّاً - وَجِىءَ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِجَهَنَّمَ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَذَكَّرُ الإِنسَـنُ وَأَنَّى لَهُ الذِّكْرَى ]


(Nay! When the earth is ground to powder. And your Lord comes with the angels in rows. And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance (then) avail him) (89:21-23) and:[هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَ أَن تَأْتِيهُمُ الْمَلَـئِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِىَ رَبُّكَ أَوْ يَأْتِىَ بَعْضُ ءَايَـتِ رَبِّكَ]


(Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord (Allah) should come, or that some of the signs of your Lord should come (i. e., portents of the Hour, e.g., rising of the sun from the west)!) (6:158)


Abu Ja`far Razi reported that Abu Al-`Aliyah narrated that:[هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِّنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ](Do they then wait for anything other than that Allah should come to them over the shadows of the clouds and the angels) means, the angels will descend on the shadows of clouds, while Allah comes as He wills. Some of the reciters read it,[هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُوَالْمَلَـئِكَةُفِي ظُلَلٍ مِّنَ الْغَمَامِ]


Do they then wait for anything other than that Allah should come to them and also the angels over the shadows of the clouds. This is similar to Allah's other statement:


[وَيَوْمَ تَشَقَّقُ السَّمَآءُ بِالْغَمَـمِ وَنُزِّلَ الْمَلَـئِكَةُ تَنزِيلاً ](And (remember) the Day when the heaven shall be rent asunder with clouds, and the angels will be sent down, with a grand descending.) (25:25)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Compiled by Abdul Hameed Tareen


You are the best community (Ummah) raised up for (the benefit of) humanity; enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah


[AL QUR'AN 3:110]

Sahih Bukhari


Volume 4, Book 55, Number 544:


Narrated Abu Huraira (radiallaho unho):


Allah's Apostle (salallaho alaihi wasallam) said, "The first group of people who will enter Paradise, will be glittering like the full moon and those who will follow them, will glitter like the most brilliant star in the sky. They will not urinate, relieve nature, spit, or have any nasal secretions. Their combs will be of gold, and their sweat will smell like musk. The aloes-wood will be used in their centers. Their wives will be houris. All of them will look alike and will resemble their father Adam (in statute), sixty cubits tall."

:


Author: Shaikh Ali Hasan al-Halabi


Source: Tasfiyah wat-Tarbiyah


Article ID : CAF020003


The Ways in which Creation Operates


Jubayr ibn Nufayr said: Once, when Cyprus was conquered and its people


were divided and they used to cry to each other, I saw Abud-Dardaa


sitting alone crying. So I said: O Abud- Dardaa! What makes you cry on


this day in which Allaah has strengthened Islaam and its people? So he


said: "Woe be to you O Jubayr. How insignificant the creation is to


Allaah when they abandon His commands. Between us is a nation, who


were evidently strong and had dominion, they abandoned the commands of


Allaah, so see what has become of them!"[2]


So this is a clear and indisputable evidence that cultivation and


education upon the commands of Allaah - with the beneficial knowledge


and righteous actions - is the basis for achieving the help of Allaah;


whilst abandoning this is the cause for defeat. "Indeed, Allaah - the


One free from all defects, the Most High - has established certain


Sunan (ways and causes) upon His creation, whosoever fulfills them


will achieve success and felicity, but whosoever turns away from them


has indeed gone astray. Allaah the Most High - explains this Sunan


with regards to those who disbelieve: "Similar Sunan were faced by


people before you, so travel through the earth and see what was the


end of those who disbelieved."[3]


And He - the Most Perfect - says:


"Such was the Sunnah (way) of Allaah with those who lived before.


Indeed, in the Sunnah of Allaah you will find no change."[5]


This established Sunan, or way in which Allaah's creation operates, is


not only for one particular nation to the exclusion of others, nor for


any one particular era to the exclusion of others. Rather, this matter


was practically taught to even the first of the Muslims, the Sahaabah


- may Allaah be pleased with them all - as in the battle of Uhud, when


the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam commanded the


archers to remain in their positions, yet they disobeyed his order;


which resulted in their defeat:


Lessons from the Battle of Uhud


Al-Baraa' ibn 'Aazib radiallaahu 'anhu said:


We encountered the pagans on that day [of Uhud] and the Prophet


sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam positioned a group of archers and


appointed 'Abdullaah ibn Jubair to be in command of them and said: "Do


not leave this position, if you should see us conquer them, do not


leave this position; and if you should see them conquer us, then do


not come to our aid." However, when we met the enemy they fled on


their heels, until I saw their women running towards the mountain,


lifting their dresses from their legs, thus exposing their


ankle-bracelets. Some people started saying: The booty, the booty! So


'Abdullaah ibn Jubair said: The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam


has taken a promise from me not to abandon this position. However, his


companions refused to stay. So when they refused, Allaah confused


them, such that they did not know where to go; due to which they then


suffered seventy deaths...."[6]


Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim (d 751H) - rahimahullaah - said:


"This calamity which struck them was caused by their own actions. So


our Lord said: "When a single disaster struck you, whereas you struck


them with a disaster twice as great, do you then say: from where did


this come? Say: It is from your own selves! Indeed, Allaah has power


over everything."[7]


And He mentioned this itself; in that which is more general than this


in the Makkan soorahs. He said:


"Whatever misfortune befalls you is because of what your own hands


have done, yet for many He grants forgiveness."[8]


"Whatever of good comes to you, it is from Allaah; and whatever


misfortunes befall you, it is from your ownselves."[9]


So the good and the bad here are blessings and misfortunes. So the


blessings of Allaah are something which He has favoured you with,


whilst the misfortunes have sprung from your own selves and your


actions. So the first is from His grace and the second is from His


justice. And the servant is always between His grace and His justice;


His grace is upon him, His judgment in him and whatever He decrees is


just. And Allaah concluded the first Aayah with His saying:


"Indeed Allaah has power over all things." After His saying: "Say: It


is from your own selves!" Thus indicating to them about the generality


of His Power along with His Justice - and He is the Most Just, the


All-Powerful."[l0]


Disobedience Results in Defeat


And the story of this battle of Uhud must give us the du'aat


(callers), an important lesson by which we benefit in our lives, which


is that: "When the Muslims suffer defeat in jihaad or in da'wah, then


they should blame themselves and straighten their course; and they


should weigh their actions with the true scales. Since Allaah - the


Mighty and Majestic - has informed the Muslims that the reason for


their defeat in the battle of Uhud was themselves, and this was the


same reason on the day of Hunayn. And it is from the Sunan of Allaah


that He does not remove a blessing from a people which has been given


to them, unless they change what He has given them of eemaan (faith),


guidance and good. Allaah says:


"That is because Allaah will never change the favour which He bestows


upon a people, until they change themselves."[11]


And this verse shows us the history of our Islaamic Ummah in the best


way. So our Salafus-Saalih (Pious Predecessors) clung to the blessings


of Allaah upon them, and the most important of these blessings is the


correct 'aqeedah (beliefs) and noble manners; and they kept away from


disunity and splitting. They took hold of those prescribed reasons


which made them the best of nations ever raised for mankind, and


thereby deserved through this, the victory of Allaah, establishment


upon the earth and the various tribes and nations being made


subservient to them.


After them came a people who changed that which the Messenger of


Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam and his Companions were upon, in


'aqeedah and methodology, with their own customs, ways and manners.


They split into groups and parties and raised up the banner of


jaahiliyyah (pre-Islaamic ignorance), so Allaah made them despicable,


causing the lowly nations to dominate over them. So the best of them


were attacked and the minds of the children were brainwashed, and they


became scum, like the scum upon the waves.


So if the Muslims desire good, unity and establishment upon the earth,


then they should make their manners and behaviour like that of the


Salaf of this Ummah and begin by ch angingthemselves.However,hewho


is unable to change even himself, will not be able to change his


family, not to mention changing the Ummah.


And then this aayah comes between two aayaat, which informs us about


the people of Fir'awn - and those nations and tribes which preceded


them - who disbelieved in Allaah and His Signs. There was much


oppression and sin committed amongst them, so Allaah destroyed them.


So take heed - O people of understanding and hearts - and beware of


the punishment and the power of Allaah! And know that change begins


with the soul and is not achieved through having many helpers, nor


strength of information, nor the clamor of those who clap and shout,


nor by the arenas and streets being filled with huge crowds.


Indeed, the leaders of our Ummah - those through whom Allaah gave


honour and might to His Deen - when the conquest of a city was delayed


for them, then they gathered the army and asked them two questions,


for which there was no third: What are the Sunnahs that you have


fallen short in complying with? [ii] What are the sins you have


committed?![12]


Therefore, they used to take account of themselves, and they used to


fear the spread of sins amongst themselves. The leader used to be a


good example for his army, with regards obedience to Allaah and fear


of Him. However, as regards us today, then we read the previous aayah


and we read other aayaat which are like it, such as the saying of


Allaah - the Most High:


"Never does Allaah change the condition of a people, until they change


themselves. But when Allaah wills punishment for a people, then there


can be no turning it back, nor will they find besides Him any helper."[l3]


However, along with this, these sublime aayaat do not deeply enter


into our hearts. We accuse the east and the west, but we do not accuse


ourselves and we take a very precise account of other people - such


that it contains no pity, nor mercy - but we do not take account of


our ownselves."[l4]


From Where Will the Help Come?


Due to all this, Allaah attached His help and assistance for His


servants, to the servants aiding Him, and this does not come about


except with true tarbiyah (cultivation and education) and sincerely


clinging to the truth. So He - the Most Perfect - says:


"Indeed Allaah will help those who help His (cause). Indeed Allaah is


Exalted in Might, all-Powerful."[15]


'Urwah ibn az-Zubayr (d.94H) - rahimahullaah - said: When the people


were equipped and ready to proceed to Mu'tah, he said to the Muslims:


"May Allaah accompany you and defend you. " .... Then they went on


until they reached the land of Shaam (Syria, Jordan and Palestine),


where they were informed that Heraclius had arrived at al-Balqaa with


one- hundred thousand Romans, and added to them - from the Arab tribes


of al-Hazm, Jadhaam, Balqeen and Bahraa - another one-hundred thousand


men. So the Muslims waited for two nights, considering what to do. So


they said: We will write to the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu


'alayhi wa sallam and inform him about the number of the enemy. He


said: But 'Abdullaah ibn Rawaahah encouraged the people to bravery and


said: "By Allaah, O people! That which you hate is what you had come


out for. You seek martyrdom. We do not fight the enemy merely with


what we have prepared, nor with strength, nor with large numbers. We


do not fight them except with this Deen that Allaah has blessed us


with. So go forth, because it is only one of two good things: either


victory, or martyrdom. He said: So the people said: By Allaah! Ibn


Rawaahah has spoken the truth. So the people continued." [16]


The Mufassir and Imaam, ash-Shanqeetee (d.1393H) said:


"Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic - explains in the above noble aayah


that He has sworn to help and give victory to those who help Him. It


is known that the help and victory of Allaah comes by following what


He has prescribed, obeying His command, avoiding His prohibitions, by


helping His Messengers and their followers, aiding His Deen and


fighting against His enemies and overpowering them - until the word of


Allaah is made uppermost, whilst the word of His enemies is debased


and made low. Then Allaah - the Most High, the Most Magnificent -


explains the characteristics of those whom He has promised would


receive His help and victory, distinguishing them from others. So He


said, whilst explaining those to whom He swore He would aid and give


victory to - because He is the one to aid and give victory:


"Those who, if We establish them in the earth, establish the prayer,


give the zakaah, enjoin the good and forbid the evil."[l7]


And that which this noble aayah indicates is that whosoever aids


Allaah, then Allaah will aid Him. This is clearly explained in other


than this place, such as His - the Most High's - sayings:


"O you who Believe. If you help Allaah, Allaah will help you; and


establish your feet firmly. But those who disbelieve, for them is


destruction and Allaah will make their deeds vain."[l8]


"Indeed, Our Word has gone forth of old for our slaves, the


Messengers, that they will certainly be victorious; and that Our


forces will certainly be triumphant."[19]


"Allaah has Decreed: It is My Messenger and I who will prevail."[20]


"Allaah has promised to those amongst you who believe and do righteous


actions that He will grant you the Khilaafah in the land."[21]


And in His - the Most High's - saying:


"Those who, if We establish them in the earth, establish the Prayer,


give the Zakaah, enjoin the good and forbid the evil."[22]


In it is a proof that there is no promise from Allaah of His help,


except by establishing the Salaah, paying the Zakaah, enjoining what


is good and forbidding what is evil. So it is these whom Allaah will


establish upon the earth and will strengthen His Word through them.


However, those who do not establish the Salaah, nor pay the Zakaah,


nor enjoin the good or forbid the evil, then there is no promise for


them from Allaah that He will aid and grant them victory. They are not


from His party, nor are they his friends - those who have the promise


of His help and victory. Rather, they are the party of Shaytaan and


his friends. So if they were to expect the help of Allaah and the


fulfillment of His promise upon them, then their example is like that


of a hired worker who refuses to do the job that he was hired for, yet


he expects to be rewarded. So whosoever is like this, then he has no


intellect![23]


The Fruits of Disagreement


There is here, an important point that must be mentioned, which is


that disagreement, opposing views and mutual disregard is one of the


greatest causes of defeat. This - in reality - is due to a deficiency


in tarbiyah (education and cultivation) and therefore it is one of


those matters which prevents victory.


Imaam ash-Sha'bee (d.104H) said: "No nation differed after its


Prophet, except that the people of falsehood from it, gained


ascendancy over its people of truth."[24]


And this - as has preceded - is precisely what happened to the


Sahaabah (Companions), those who were educated and cultivated under


the shade of Revelation, with their Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa


sallam. So what is the case of those who come after them?!


Indeed: "Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic - explained that one of the


greatest causes for the loss suffered by the Muslims at the battle of


Uhud was the differing and ikhtilaaf (disagreement) of the archers,


and that some of them disobeyed the order of the Messenger of Allaah


sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam. About this Allaah - the Most High - said:


"Indeed, Allaah did fulfill His Promise to you when you were killing


them by His Permission; until you lost your courage and began


disputing about the command, and disobeyed, after He showed you that


which you love. Amongst you are some that desire this world and some


that desire the Hereafter. Then He made you flee from them, that He


may test you. But He forgave you, and Allaah is Most Gracious to the


Believers."[25]


So in all the battles of the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi


wa sallam, the Muslims were a single rank and a single jamaaah '


(united body), taking orders from a single leader. Allaah - the Most


High - said:


"O you who Believe! When you meet an enemy, be firm against them and


remember Allaah a lot so that you may be successful. And obey Allaah


and His Messenger, and do not dispute less you lose courage and your


strength departs. And have sabr (patient perseverance), indeed Allaah


is with the patient ones."[26]


So obedience to Allaah and His Messenger means being free from defect


and blemish in both 'aqeedah (beliefs) and manhaj (methodology), just


as it means agreement in direction and where instructions are taken


from. However, defeat is the result of disunity and disagreement


between the hearts, and in having many leaders and many jamaa'ahs


(groups and parties).


There has - in this present age - been no battle in which we have


participated, except that in it we were differing and disputing


parties, having differing leaderships and having mutual hatred. So how


is it possible to achieve victory and establishment?! Indeed, everyone


talks about bringing about unity, and writes about it and looks


forward to it. However, the results are sorrowful and destroy and


frustrate the hopes. After every attempt it becomes clear that every


group strove to cause difficulties for the others; and to plot against


them; and to make conditions upon them which conflict with the goals


of unity and harmony. So the attempt that will be effective and


successful must have as its goal, corrections for the ailments of the


hearts and souls..... So when the souls are changed and the hearts are


filled with taqwaa (piety, fear and obedience to Allaah), then


everything in our lives will be changed."[27]


Lessons from the Battle of Hunayn


Thus the cause for the defeat has been very clearly manifested, and it


is a deficiency in the tarbiyah (education and cultivation). Another


clear manifestation of this also, is what happened in the battle of


Hunayn, about which Allaah - the Most High - said:


"And on the day of Hunayn, when you rejoiced at your great number, but


it availed you nothing; and the earth vast as it is - was straightened


for you, then you turned back in flight."[28]


Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim said:


"So from the wisdom of Allaah, He first gave them a taste of the


bitterness of defeat and of being overcome - despite their large


number, preparation and strength - in order that heads which had been


raised up due to the conquest of Makkah, should be lowered. For they


did not enter His land and His Sacred Precinct (i.e. Makkah) in the


way the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam entered it;


lowering his head with humility, upon his horse - to the extent that


his chin nearly touched the saddle - out of humility before His Lord,


humbling himself before His Greatness and submitting to His Might.


This was due to the fact that Allaah had made lawful His Sacred


Precinct and His Land for him, and He had not made it lawful to anyone


before him or after him. All of this occurred so that he should make


clear to those who said: "We will not be defeated today because of our


numbers!!" Explaining to them that the victory comes only from Him and


that whomsoever He aids, then none can overcome him; and whomsoever He


forsakes, then there is none to grant victory to him, besides Allaah.


And that He - the Most Perfect - took it upon Himself to aid and grant


victory to His Messenger and His Deen - not due to their large numbers


which they (falsely) delighted in, since that was of no avail to them.


Rather, they fled, turning their backs. So when their hearts had


become downcast, Allaah sent them the removal of their distress and a


prior taste of victory, by sending down His tranquility upon His


Messenger and upon the Believers and by sending down the unseen forces


(i.e. the Angels). So from His wisdom - the Most Perfect - was that he


only granted victory and its gifts to them when their hearts had


become downcast and saddened:


"And We desired to favour those who were weak in the land and to make


them leaders and make them the inheritors, and to establish them in


the land. And We let Fir'awn and Haamaan and their hosts receive from


them that which they feared."[29]"[30]


Impatience: An Obstacle against Tarbiyah


From that which negates tarbiyah and prevents its completion is: being


hasty and having lack of sabr (patient perseverance). This produces a


negative result, the least of which is a delay in the victory. Our


Lord - the Most Perfect - said:


"And what made you hasten from your people, O Moosaa? He replied: They


are close on my footsteps, and I hasten to you - O my Lord - that you


might be pleased. " [31]


A clear goal and a clear intention: I have hastened to you - O my Lord


- to please you. So Allaah said:


"Indeed We have put your people to fitnah (trial and tribulation) in


your absence. And indeed as-Saamiree has led them astray."[32]


So this is Moosaa 'alayhis-salaam, and he was one of the Oolul-'Azm


(foremost in resolve) from the Messengers, yet he sought to hasten the


affair. So when he sought to hasten the affair, fitnah (trial and


discord) occurred amongst his people which was that they began


worshipping others besides Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic. Allaah -


the Most High - said:


"So patiently persevere, and let not those who have no yaqeen


(certainty of faith) discourage you from conveying Allaah's Message."[33]


Imaam al-Baghawee (d.555H) - rahimahullaah - said:


"Meaning: do not let those who have no certain faith lead you into


ignorance and into following them upon misguidance."[34]


Ibn al-Qayyim - rahimahullaah - said:


"Whosoever considers the trials and discords that have come upon


Islaam - the small and the great of them - will realise that they were


due to abandoning this principle of not being hasty, and of having


sabr upon that which is harmful, and seeking to remove the harm in a


hasty manner. This in turn produces that which is greater and worse


than the initial harm."[35]


So this is a word from a Scholar who has carefully and thoroughly


examined the Book and the Sunnah, and has likewise carefully examined


the condition of the Muslims, and therefore said what he said - may


Allaah have mercy upon him.


Tarbiyah and Sabr: the Key to Victory


The teacher, Muhammad Qutb (one of the heads of innovation) - may


Allaah forgive him - said in his book: Waaqi'unal-Ma'aasir, and he was


speaking about the Islaamic Movements of Egypt, internally and


externally, he said: "So with regards to within the country, then


there occurred from them hastiness in showing the strength of the


jamaa'ah ' (i.e. the Muslims) - whether in making themselves manifest,


or in demonstrations, protest marches, entering into political affairs


of the time - such as fighting the communists; and supporting the


affairs of the country in the security council, and other than that.


It is as if the jamaa'ah - each and every time - wanted to say: we are


here, and we are able to do such and such.... Leaving aside the


matters of the day, then was this something which was permissible for


the Muslim jamaa'ah to enter into? Or was its obligation to call to


the correction of the fundamental manhaj (methodology) of living, to


the establishment of the firm pillars and to the perfection of the


desired tarbiyah. However, seeking to hasten the movement before its


time, then produced an effect upon the overall direction."[36]


I say: What will very clearly demonstrate the matter of hastiness and


its many negative effects is the saying of Allaah - the Most Perfect,


Most High - when He said:


"Have you not seen those who were told to hold back their hand from


fighting, and offer Salaah (Prayer) and give the Zakaah. But when


fighting was prescribed for them, behold! a section of them fear men


as they fear Allaah, or even more. They say: Our Lord! Why have you


prescribed fighting for us. Would that you had granted us respite for


a short period."[37]


"So those who were resolved upon Jihaad and loved it, when they were


tested with it, they were averse to it and fled from it."[38]


And they were from the Companions of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi


wa sallam - those who received tarbiyah (cultivation and education)


beneath the shade of Revelation and who were guided by the Sharee'ah.


So how about those after them - the greatest of whom cannot even reach


a handful, or even half a handful, of their calibre?!


And only Allaah guides to the Path that is straight.


NOTES


[2]. Related by Imaam Ahmad in az-Zuhd (2/63) and Abu Nu'aym in


Hilyatul-Awliyaa (l/216-217).


[3]. Soorah Aal-'lmraan 3: 137


[4]. Soorah al-Ahzaab 33:62


[5]. Qul Huwa Min 'Indee Anfusakum (p.58) of Muhammad Suroor.


[6]. Related by al-Bukhaaree (no.4043).


[7]. Soorah Aal-lmraan 3:165


[8]. Sooratush-Shooraa 42:30


[9]. Sooratun-Nisaa 4:79


[10]. Zaadul-Ma'aad ( 3/238).


[11]. Sooratul-Anfaal 8:53


[12]. Such as the advice given by Umar ibn al-Khattaab to Sa'd ibn


Abee Waqqaas and his army - radiallaahu 'anhumaa - as occurs in


'Iqdul-Fareed (1/40).


[13]. Sooratur-Ra'dd 13:11


[14]. Qul Huwa Min 'Indee Anfusakum (pp.59-62).


[15]. Soorah Hajj 22:40


[16]. Related by Abu Nu'aym in Hilyatul-Awliyaa (1/119).


[17]. Soorah al-Hajj 22:41


[18]. Soorah Muhammad 47:7


[19]. Sooratus-Saaffaat 37:171-173


[20]. Soorah al-Mujaadalah 58:21


[21]. Sooratun Noor 24:55


[22]. Soorah al-Hajj 22:41


[23]. Adwaa'ul-Bayaan (5/703-704) of 'Allaamah ash- Shanqeetee.


[24]. Related by Abu Nu'aym in al-Hilyah (4/313) and adh- Dhahabee in


Siyar A'laamun - Nubalaa (4/311).


[25]. Soorah Aal-'lmraan 3:152


[26]. Sooratul Anfaal 8:45-46


[27]. Qul Huwa Min 'Indee Anfusakum (pp. 93-94)


[28]. Qul Huwa Min 'Indee Anfusakum (pp. 93-94)


[29]. Soorah al Qasas 28:5-6


[30]. Zaadul-Ma'aad (3/477-478) of Ibn al-Qayyim.


[31]. Soorah TaaHaa 20:83-84


[32]. Soorah TaaHaa 20:85


[33]. Soorah ar-Room 30:60


[34]. Ma 'aalimut-Tanzeel (6/279) of al-Baghawee.


[35]. A'laamul-Muwaqqi'een (3/4) of lbn al-Qayyim.


[36]. Quoted in Mawqiful-Mu'min minal-Fitnah (pp. 28-29) by Shaykh


'Abdullaah al-'Ubaylaan - may Allaah protect him.


[37]. Soorah an-Nisaa 4:77


[38]. Majmoo'ul-Fataawaa (10/690) of Shaykhul-lslaam lbn Taymiyyah.

I am brand new to this forum but not new to online discussions with people of other religions.


I am a Christian, a very strong believer in my faith. I am simply interested in knowing, from a Muslim viewpoint, why a person should convert from being a Christian to a Muslim.


Thanks in advance for any replies.


- Ronni (Female)

<b>As salam Alykom dear brothers and sisters
</b>


I received this article on an email from our brother AbuMubarak in Arabic. It is amazing could not help but to translate and share it with my family members.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


According to a book titled “Household pre tested experiences and secrets of natural treatment” composed by a group of American authors in 1993, it was proved that getting out of bed during the night, limited movement around the house, doing light exercise, making water massage for the limbs, and taking a deep breath has various health benefits.


Looking at such advice, we can easily see that it fully agrees with the movements we make during wodu (ablution) and prayer during night time.


Our teacher, leader and beloved Prophet (salla Allah a`alyhee wa sallam) was a pioneer before all these researches to refer to the miraculous effect of night prayer (Qiyamul layl).


<b>He said:” I advice you to maintain night prayer Qiyamul layl for it is the tradition of the righteous people who preceded you, a means to become closer to Allah May He be Glorified, a means to refrain from sins, expiation of sins, and a repulsion of illness from the body” (reported by Ahmed and Termidhi and Albani included it under 4079 in his Sahih Jame`).
</b>On how does night prayer (Qiyamul layl) could repulse illness from the body, the following was proved:


Praying at night allows a decrease in the level of cortisol (which is the natural steroid generated in the body) specially in a few hours before waking up which actually corresponds to the last third of the night (sahar time).


This vital process protects diabetics from a sudden increase in the blood sugar, protects also against a sudden increase of the blood pressure, brain and heart stroke.


Night prayer also diminishes blood-clotting threats in the retinal vein, which occurs due to the slow blood flow during sleep, which in turn increases the blood viscosity due to the lack of fluids, or obesity. In such case obesity causes difficulty of breathing which in turn hinders the return of vein blood from the head.


Also patients of articular infection (due to rheumatism or other) benefit much of the performance of night prayer which helps in the improvement of the infected parts with the light movement and water massage during wodu.


On another side, night prayer (Qiyamul lail) is a successful treatment for the so-called time exhaustion. During the prayer one achieves a balance between a regular movement which involves light or medium effort which proved effective treatment. Also Qiyamul lail rids the body of the Triglaycride which accumulates in the blood specially after having high fat dinner which increases the threat of coronary artery with a 32%.


Qiyamul lail minimizes as well the threat of death due to heart or brain strokes as well as a number of malignant tumors.


It also minimizes possibilities of sudden death due to unstable heart beats because it allows one to breath unpolluted air.


On the other hand, because it entails recitation and reflection of Quran, supplications of the morning and evening, it stimulates the memory as well as other mental functions of the brain. Therefore it protects against depression, Alzheimer's and other old age diseases.


For unknown reasons, Qiyamul lail minimizes as well some of the ear diseases.


Dr. Salah Ahmed Hussain


Professor with School of Medicine of Asuit University (Egypt)


Published in Ahram 27/7/2004

<b>Standing firm in salat after being hit by arrows - Abbad ibn Bishr</b>


Four years after the Hijrah [emigration of the followers of Islam from Makkah to Medinah], in the city of Medinah, the Muslims were still in danger due to the Jewish tribe, the Banu an-Nadir, who broke their contract with the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH=May Allah bless him and grant him peace]. Then the community received news that some tribes from the desert of Najd were about to attack. So, the Prophet of Islam [PBUH]raised over four hundred Muslims in order to prevent them from attacking.


Arriving at Najd, they found that only women were present in the houses; the men had taken refuge in the hills. At this time, warriors did not attack women; it was considered as cowardise. But the women were taken as captives. Some of the Nadj tribes regrouped and prepared themselves for the fight. The time of 'Asr [the afternoon prayer] came, and the Muslims divided in two, as it was revealed, and each group prayed after the other.


The ennemy, seeing the discipline among Muslims felt uneasiness and fear. They did not attack. So, the Muslims went back to Medinah.


<b>The Prophet of Allah [PBUH] asked: </b>


"Who will be our guard tonight?"


Two men immediatly rose: Abbad ibn Bishr and Ammar ibn Yasir


Abbad saw that Ammar was tired and asked him:


"What part of the night do you wish to sleep, the first or the second?"


"The first part," said Ammar.


The night was serene. Everything seemed peaceful. Abbad decided to spend the night in Ibadah [acts of worship] while his companion was asleep, and began reciting the Qur'an. Abbad soon stood and faced the Qiblah in order to perform Salaat [voluntary prayer]. He began reciting Surah al-Kahf of one hundred and ten verses which explains the virtues of faith, truth and patience and the passing of time. While he was absorbed in recitation and in thought, an ennemy came from the mountains of Najd and saw him vulnerable.


The man drew his bow and thew an arrow towards Abbad. Calmly, Abbad pulled the arrow out and continued his meditation. The ennemy shot a second, then a third arrow. Abbad pulled them out one by one, and finished his recitation. Weak and in pain, at last, he stretched out his right hand during his prostration and awoke his companion Ammar.


"Glory be to Allah! Why didn't you wake me up when the first arrow reached you?"


"Reciting the verses of the Qur'an filled me with such wonders that I felt repugnance to cut it short.


I would have preferred death rather than stopping right in the middle of it." Abbad did not die this day; he died as a shahid [a martyr], at the battle of Yamamah. He fought so vehemently that his wounds made him almost not recognizable. He was a true believer.


Asalamalaykum