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#4765 From: AboOsama <aboosama@...>
Date: Sun Oct 1, 2006 7:16 am
Subject: Response To Pope Benedict 		ouriman1
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Response To Pope Benedict

 

Jafar Shaikh Idris


 

On Sept 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XIV, delivered a lecture at the University of Regensburg. The lecture was in German but was later translated into English by the Vatican under the title, The Three Stages in the Program of Dehellenization. My reply is based on that translation.

The main theme of the Papal speech was the relationship between faith and reason, and it was mainly about the development of Western thought on this issue, especially in relation to Christianity. But for some obscure reason the Pope started off with something that does not at all seem relevant to his central topic. He began by quoting something which the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus of the fourteenth century said about Islam.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," the emperor is reported to have said to his educated Persian interlocutor. He is also reported to have explained this by saying, "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably ("syn logo") is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats…. To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death…."

To persuade his audience that the emperor whom the Pope describes as `erudite' did not say what he said out of ignorance of the Islamic religion, the Pope goes on to say, "The emperor must have known that Sura 2:256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion." It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under [threat]. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Koran, concerning holy war."

These statements are full of mistakes, inaccuracies, misconceptions as well as misrepresentations of the Islamic religion.

First, to deny that Muhammad came with something new and of great value, is a sign either of ignorance of his message or of blind prejudice. That Muhammad came with something new and important, especially for the people of the Book, is stated in many places in the Qur'an.

5:16. O people of the Book! There has come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much in the Book that you used to hide, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary). There has come to you from God a (new) light and a perspicuous Book.

3: 64. Say: "O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but God, that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God.

Second, the Pope says, "the decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: Not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature". He then quotes the comments on the emperor's words of Theodore Khoury who published and edited that dialogue, "For the emperor," says Khoury "as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident."

A person doesn't have to be shaped by Greek philosophy to know that violent conversion and not acting in accordance to reason is something that God does not approve of. Prophet Muhammad says, "Never has violence entered into something that it did not make ugly, and never has gentleness entered into something that it did not make beautiful." It is because of this that a Muslim is enjoined to:

16:125. Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who (deserve) to be guided.

Third, the verse alluded to is not of the early period as the Pope says, on the authority of his experts. It is a verse in Surat al Baqara which was revealed after the Prophet had migrated to Medina and found the support of its people, and started to engage in war against his Makkan enemies. Even the occasion on which the verse was revealed, as mentioned by authorities like Ibn Katheer, proves this. Some Medinan people who had accepted Islam, but whose sons chose to remain Jewish, thought of forcing them to join them in the new faith, but were told not to do so. Further, why would someone who is "powerless and under threat" advise his followers not to resort to force to convert people? Why would he tell them not to do something that they are not in a position to do anyway?

Fourth, this often quoted verse, is not an isolated one as the words of the Pope intimate. It emphasizes a fact that is stated in many other verses, and that constitute a fundamental Islamic teaching. This teaching is that faith resides in the heart, and that no created beings, neither Prophets nor devils, have any control over the human heart. No one except God has the power to instill faith in a person's heart or deprive him or her of it. Prophets like Noah, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad are repeatedly reminded that their role is only to convey the message in the best of ways. They guide people to the truth only by conveying it to them, and by attempting to persuade them in the best of ways to accept it; they do not and cannot guide them by forcing them to accept it. Many verses in the Qur'an state and emphasize this fact. Here are some examples:

88.021-22: Remind them, for you are but a remembrancer. You are not at all a warder over them.

10.99. Is it you who can compel people until they are believers?

028.056 You do not guide whom you love (to guide), but Allah guides whom He will.

012.103 However much you are keen (on them), most people will not believe.

Would a person who is told this by the God who sent him try to force people to become believers? One might say that the Prophet did, however, engage in war with some people and did encourage Muslims to fight wars similar to his, and that these wars are called jihad. Indeed he did, but it must be clear now that he could not have done so in contravention to those clear Divine instructions. Those wars must have therefore been engaged in for reasons other than forcing people to accept the Islamic faith. This is not the place to go into the details of the circumstances that led to them or the conditions for waging war. Suffice it to say that they were waged against aggression, against all kinds of aggression: against those who attacked Muslims because of their faith; against those who used their power to try to prevent people from accepting that faith; and against those who breached the covenants they had made with Muslims. All other non-Muslims who did not fall into those categories, including Jews and Christians, did live in peace with and among Muslims from the time of the Prophet until now. Being non-Muslim has never been considered by itself a reason for killing someone. Even organizations like al-Qaida give other justifications for their attacks on those whom they attacked.

Fifth, in his attempt to make the Christian faith compatible with reason, the Pope had to fall back on the interpretations of those, like the emperor, who attempted to marry Christianity with Greek philosophy.

A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature

This means that the nature of God becomes contrary to unreasonableness only if, with the help of Greek philosophy, God is identified with Logos, Modifying the first verse of the Book of Genesis, John began the prologue of his Gospel with the words: "In the beginning was the `logos' ".

In the beginning was the Logos, and Logos is God, says the Evangelist

This means that the God whose nature is compatible with reason is not the traditional God of Christianity. It is not God the Father, or God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost, or a combination of the three. The Pope must have had to resort to this understanding of God that identifies Him with reason because he cannot say about the traditional God of Christianity that unreasonableness is contrary to His nature. He cannot say so because he knows that unreasonableness characterizes the traditional conception of the nature of that God. This has always been Islam's main objection to Christianity. The Qur'an tells them that the claim that God has a son is not compatible with reason and cannot therefore be compatible with God's true nature. To explain this let us start with a preliminary understanding of God, an understanding that is shared by almost all those who believe in His existence. The minimum that they say about Him is that He is the Creator.

The Qur'anic arguments against God being a father are based on this essential attribute of Him. These arguments can be paraphrased as follows:

  1. Firstly, if God is the creator of every thing He must be the creator of the person called His son. A father does not however, create his child, he begets it. One cannot be a father of someone whom He creates.
  2. Secondly, a father can have a son only if he has a wife, "How can He have a child seeing that He has no spouse?" says the Qur'an. Muslims agree with the Christians that Mary is Jesus' mother. But Mary is not God's spouse; she is one of His creation.
  3. Thirdly, If God is the creator of everything, He is necessarily self-sufficient. But if He is self-sufficient, He is not in need of having a child. "They say that God has a child. Exalted above that be He. He is the Self-sufficient," says the Qu'ran.
  4. Fourthly, This problem is further aggravated by the belief that Jesus is coeternal with God the Father. How can someone who is coeternal with another be his child? A child must necessarily come after its father.
  5. Fifthly, Christians also believe that Jesus died and was resurrected. How can someone who is eternal, who has no beginning, die? Muslim intellectuals have long ago pointed to the logical truth that eternity (having no beginning) logically implies everlastingness (having no end). Why? Because a being that has no beginning is necessarily self-sufficient; that it does not depend for its existence on something outside itself. It cannot therefore cease to exist, because a thing ceases to exist only when it lacks some of the external conditions of its existence. But if it is itself the cause of its existence, it cannot cease to exist.

When faced with such rational arguments, some Christians retort by saying, "but you are taking the word "son" literally" OK, we say, we will not quarrel with you over words. Give us the non-literal meaning of 'son' that is immune from those contradictions. That non-literal meaning has never been forthcoming.

Sixth. In Islam we do not have to resort to any source outside God's Book to prove that faith is compatible with reason because this compatibility is demanded by faith itself. The Qur'an acknowledges the testimony of rational principles, of empirical evidence and of sound moral values, and uses them to prove that it is the word of God.

The Qu'ran says about itself in 4:82 that, "had it been from other than God they would have found therein much discrepancy"

It censures those who deny the testimony of the senses, in 6:7 "If We had sent down to you a written (message) on parchment, so that they could touch it with their hands, the Unbelievers would have been sure to say: "This is nothing but obvious magic!"

It stresses the fact that God enjoins good and never does he enjoin shameful deeds. In 16:90, it reads, "God commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition"

Biblical scholars tell us however that there are many contradictions in the New Testament and that there are factual mistakes in it. The Old Testament imputes to prophets like Lot and David the sort of immoral behavior that only the most deviant of human beings would commit. It is partly because of this that many people, including some Christians and Jews, no longer believe that every thing in the Bible is the word of God.

Seventh, the Pope quotes professor Khoury as saying, "But for Muslim teaching God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." God is indeed absolutely transcendent, and cannot therefore be bound by any thing external to himself. He is the creator of everything including our categories. But being absolutely free from any external influence does not mean that His actions are haphazard, that he says or does something that is contrary to the reason with which He endowed us. God is absolutely free, but His actions are governed by His attributes of perfection. He does not therefore contradict himself; he does not enjoin something that is immoral, he does not say something that is belied by the empirical facts which He himself created. Can He do otherwise? Of course He can, and He is praised because He can, and because He chose not to behave in ways that are contrary to reason or moral principles. This has to be so. You do not praise someone for not doing an evil that he is incapable of doing anyway.

Eighth, true religion is a religion based on a message from God conveyed to us by His chosen Messengers. Our task is to endeavour to understand this message and to act according to its dictates. We may make mistakes in doing so, but we should not intentionally make any changes in it by additions or subtractions, because once you do this you will not be following a divinely revealed message but a message of your own making. "O Messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord; if you do not you will not be conveying His Message."

A religion that is tampered with becomes a man-made religion, an ideology like any other secular ideology. But this tampering is what Jews and Christians have always been accustomed to doing. And this is exactly what the Pope is now doing with what has remained of Christianity. He wants to mould it into a Eurocentric ideology of which Greek philosophy and the renaissance are inseparable elements. What about Christians in other parts of the world whose cultures have no affinity to European thought? Would they now be obliged to study this thought and make it part of a religion which they know had its origin in the East?

It might be said that some Muslims are now doing the same with their religion. Indeed they are. But the consolation is that their attempts are futile. Islam is a religion that God promised to preserve and make available for truth seekers until the end of this world. "It is we who sent down the message and it is we who will preserve it." The original text of the Qur'an will always be available; the Sunnah of the Prophet that explains it will always be preserved. And there will always be honest learned people who would present this religion as it truly is. There will be deviations from this truth, and there will be many people who would believe in and follow them; but those deviations will never replace a truth that God has promised to preserve. He has preserved it for fourteen hundred years, and is sure to continue preserving it for the rest of time on this earth.


--
Learn more about ISLAM :
http://www.imanway.com
http://www.imanway1.com

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4766 From: jafrisms <jafrimail4@...>
Date: Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:47 pm
Subject: ENVY – HASAD/Ramzan 		alirazasundrani
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ENVY – HASAD
1.Quran says :
Are they jeolous upon whatever Allah has given out of his (generosity) Fazl.
2.Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) says :-
Hasad destroy good deeds as the fire burns dry wood.
 
NEWS
 
Total curfew declared in Baghdad
An Iraqi soldier talks to a man and a child at a Baghdad checkpoint
The curfew affects all vehicles and people on foot
The Iraqi government has declared an immediate curfew in the capital, Baghdad, to run until Sunday morning.

.

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

Reply | Messages in this Topic (3)
#4767 From: Islam One <islamone_l@...>
Date: Sun Oct 1, 2006 9:20 am
Subject: Zakah 		islamone_l
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Zakah :
http://www.imanway1.com/zakah.htm





  
 

Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com

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#4768 From: "DDN" <dominedirigenos@...>
Date: Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:40 pm
Subject: The Never-ending Military Rule in Burma 		nam_pik
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The Never-ending Military Rule in Burma
     
 
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

 

 

Military rule in many third world countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America is not a rare event. Sometimes it is for the right reason that is backed up popular support, which earns the coup leaders respect and admiration. Sometimes it is for the wrong reason with no popular support that only aggravates people with a sense of betrayal and helplessness. Sometimes it is for the right reason and yet delivering wrong results. Sometimes it is a welcome event and sometimes it is not.

 

Military coups often happen under the pretext of preserving constitution, restoring law and order or curbing rampant corruption within the civil administration of the government. Once these tasks are done, the military is expected to return to its barracks without delay, leaving the task of running the country to politicians. When it fulfills its genuine obligations to people, it is a boon for the country and shows its maturity.

 

But power, either unbridled or unchallenged, often has a corrupting influence. Thus, the absolute power of the military tends to corrupt it absolutely, making it more corrupt than the civilian government that it had brought down. It forgets its earlier promises to return power to civilians, entertaining a very low opinion about ‘bloody’ civilians -- attitudes and actions that are sure recipes for untold suffering to the masses, triggering in popular unrest.   Sometimes such people’s resistance may be lucky and strong enough to topple the hated regime. I say, lucky, because, unless the junta feels that ‘enough is enough and it must let go’, it can still hold onto power (after all, unarmed civilians are no match to its military brutal prowess), if necessary, by replacing its ‘hated’ leader with a newer ‘benevolent’ face. When it happens, it is usually for a long haul, and the country is damned.

 

Sometimes the military coup leaders take power as part of an elite or foreign conspiracy where none but their sponsors only benefit. Sometimes the coup leaders, sensing the public mood, improvise for the sake of remaining in power through a variety of measures that may appear to be hybrid between civil and military rule. Its leaders switch the khaki combat dress for casual civilian attire. When that happens, the military may be a corrupting influence that breeds the worst kinds of bureaucracy, sliding the country slowly but steadily into a ‘failed’ state.

 

The military has remained the face of the government in Burma since 1962 when General Ne Win took control of the country. Truly, there is hardly a county in our world today, outside some communist-run countries in Asia that can match Burma’s long record of military rule. After Ne Win’s long repressive rule, the current military regime – the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council), formerly known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, seized power in a bloody coup in 1988. Sensing the mood of the nation and outside pressure, the regime briefly relaxed on politics, allowing for the formation of political parties. It even announced holding a general election in 1990. The intention, however, was ignoble and hypocritical, hoping all along that its pro-regime client parties would win.

 

Under the able leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the NLD (National League for Democracy) emerged and registered with the Election Commission as a national party in 1988. So did many other ethnic and local organizations to cater to the needs of their respective ethnic and religious constituents. For example, in the Arakan (Rakhine) state, the National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR), came into existence to represent its vast Rohingya Muslim community and won 4 seats in the general election of 1990. In the broader national context, the NDPHR supported the NLD and its leader Daw Suu Kyi.

 

However, if there was a single party that really captured the mood and aspiration of the vast majority of people living inside Burma, it was the NLD. The party, against the worst dreams of the ruling junta, grabbed 82% of the seats of the National Assembly, proving its grass root support among non-Burmans also. Unfortunately, the results of the election were never honored by the ruling junta. Instead, of allowing Daw Suu Kyi to form the government, the regime continued its repressive policies, setting ever new records in violations of human rights.

 

As is often expected in an ethnically diverse country like Burma, glued more by strong arm tactics of an authoritarian and repressive regime than a binding desire for unity on the basis of Federalism, minorities of any kind became the easy targets of the junta-orchestrated pogroms. For instance, the Pyi Thaya Operation of July 1991-92 resulted in the exodus of some 268,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh. The SLORC military junta banned the NDPHR under order 8/92 on March 18, 1992 without any reasonable ground. Since 1992, increased Na-Sa_Ka violations of human rights have made the lives of many utterly miserable and unlivable. In its July 2002 report, the Human Rights Watch declared: “Violence against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan is a way of life. As opposed to other parts of Burma, in Arakan, the violence against Muslims is carried out systematically by the Burmese army.” U Kyaw Min (alias Mohammad Shamsul Anwarul Hoque) – the NDPHR leader was arrested on March 17, 2005.  On July 29, 2005 he was sentenced to 47 years imprisonment in the notorious Insein prison on ludicrous charges related to his nationality. His wife and three children (including two daughters) were also sentenced to 17-years term on the same ground.

 

As a matter of fact, outside the pro-junta sympathizers, none has been tolerated, not even a majority Burman who refuses to dance to the raucous tune of the military junta.

 

Soon after the election, Daw Suu Kyi and her party (NLD) came under mounting pressure from the ruling junta. The ruling junta first convened a National Convention in 1993 to formulate a new constitution. The Convention was adjourned in March 1996 when the NLD withdrew out of protest over undemocratic proceedings. Soon Daw Suu Kyi’s movement was restricted. On May 30, 2003 she and her supporters were viciously attacked during her trip to northern Burma – dashing all hopes for democracy and political reform. The NLD offices were clamped down and its leaders arrested. Daw Suu Kyi was put under renewed house arrest. In August 2003, the junta presented a 7-step ‘roadmap’ for political and constitutional reform, only to later announce on May 17, 2004 its intention to reconvene the National Convention. On October 19, 2004, the junta abruptly replaced the Prime Minister Khin Nynt, considered too soft in his negotiation with the opposition, with Lt. Gen. Soe Win.

 

The SPDC regime remains the worst violators of human rights and freedom, matters of serious concern for the international community. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens -- some (like the Rohingya) even denied citizenship – are still forced to live and choose a life of uncertainty as unwanted refugees in countries like Bangladesh and Thailand.

 

Sadly, those who have the power to make a difference for better inside Myanmar are more concerned about exploitation, cheap labor and trade relations that profit them. They are least concerned about human rights and democracy. Worse still, Burma is not Middle East. So, while the conscientious human beings of our planet cry foul seeing the monumental hypocrisy and blatant disregard for human sufferings, the powerful nations allow the inhuman abuse to continue unimpeded inside Myanmar.

 

A concerted effort, dictated more by simple ethics and morality than crass economics, from the world community is required to restore people’s right in Burma. The least the veto-wielding powers in the UNSC could do (say, for their self-styled and bloated image of being ‘civilized’ nations) is to put pressure on the SPDC regime to release all political prisoners, including Daw Suu Kyi and U Kyaw Min, allowing them to leave Burma on their free will.

 

 

September 29, 2006

 

 

 
Dr. Habib Siddiqui (saeva@...) is an anti-war activist. His essays appear in a number of websites and newspapers. He has written six books. His book on "Islamic Wisdom" is now available in the United States and Cananda. 
 
 
The opinions expressed herein contain positions and viewpoints that are not necessarily those of the disseminator of the information. These are offered as a means  to stimulate dialogue and discussion
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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#4769 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Sun Oct 1, 2006 9:32 am
Subject: Prophet's saying - On Breaking Fast Quickly 		mail2shahid@...
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Allah O Akbar

On Breaking Fast Quickly


Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu Hazim ibn Dinar from Sahl ibn Saad  As-Saidi that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "People will remain in good [in peace and prosperity] as long as they are quick to break the fast."

 

Malik's Muwatta, Book 18, Number 18.3.6  

 

Remember me in ur pray


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4770 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Sun Oct 1, 2006 9:39 am
Subject: From the Holy Qur'an-And those who have earned evil deeds... 		mail2shahid@...
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B i s m i l l a a h i r   R a h m a a n i r   R a h e e m

 

And those who have earned evil deeds, the recompense of an evil deed is the like thereof, and humiliating disgrace will cover them (their faces). No defender will they have from Allah. Their faces will be covered as it were with pieces from the darkness of night. They are the dwellers of the Fire, they will abide therein forever.

  (Surah Yunus 10:27)

From the desk of   Shahid Ali Khan 

 

  


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4771 From: tsidd96472@...
Date: Sun Oct 1, 2006 11:45 am
Subject: Re: [Truth Zone] ENVY – HASAD/Ramzan 		tsidd96472@...
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 ASA

Shukrun. But first introduce yourself who you are and what are your whereabouts? We must knbow each other before sharing e-mail.

Shamim Siddiqi
WWW.dawahinamericas.com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: jafrimail4@...
Sent: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 11:47 AM
Subject: [Truth Zone] ENVY – HASAD/Ramzan

ENVY – HASAD
1.Quran says :
Are they jeolous upon whatever Allah has given out of his (generosity) Fazl.
2.Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) says :-
Hasad destroy good deeds as the fire burns dry wood.
 
NEWS
 
Total curfew declared in Baghdad
An Iraqi soldier talks to a man and a child at a Baghdad checkpoint
The curfew affects all vehicles and people on foot
The Iraqi government has declared an immediate curfew in the capital, Baghdad, to run until Sunday morning.
.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.

Reply | Messages in this Topic (3)
#4772 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 7:42 am
Subject: Why Do Muslims Fast in Ramadan? 		mail2shahid@...
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Why Do Muslims Fast in Ramadan?

 

 

FASTING in the month of Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam. Muslims observe the fast happily in obedience to Allah and to seek His reward. Ramadan is a great chance for Muslims to be united and maintain their faith. It teaches Muslims spiritual discipline, self-control, patience, and perseverance.

 

Muslims fast in order to obey the order of Allah, their Creator. Being All-Wise and All-Knowing, He alone knows what ails humans and what benefits them. As Muslims we believe that God Who created us has provided for our spiritual welfare even as He has provided for our physical needs. He did so by sending prophets and messengers who guided us unto the straight path, and by adhering to it, humans can realize their full humanity and attain ultimate felicity in this world and the next. Fasting in Ramadan, together with prayer, Zakah and pilgrimage to Makkah, is part of a comprehensive program whose purpose is to inculcate in humans true consciousness of their mission in life as God's servants and develop the right attitude.

 

 

Among the many benefits of fasting are the following:

 

1) It deepens our spiritual awareness by inculcating God-consciousness.

 

2) It helps our bodies to recuperate and renew; it is comparable to the state of hibernation that all creatures in nature go through.

 

3) It helps us train in patience.

 

4) It creates empathy for the poor who are starving.

 

5) The month of Ramadan gives us a month-long training course to enable us to break free of our bad habits and develop new positive habits.

 

6) Through fasting we discover true spiritual identity, for too often our entanglements in the physical cares and concerns make us forget our true destiny: We proceed from God and we are ever journeying unto Him.

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

 _._,_.___


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4773 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 7:48 am
Subject: Good Website for Muslim Kids 		mail2shahid@...
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www.kidsmedia.net

    
 
 
  This is not the advertisement but the information  
       

           Discover the best website for Muslim kids

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

              

 

 
 

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4774 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 7:37 am
Subject: Ramadan Fasting: in the Light of Sunnah 		mail2shahid@...
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Ramadan Fasting: in the Light of Sunnah

 

 

FASTING generally means "to abstain from something." For example, a verse in the Qur'an reads: "I have vowed to the Merciful to abstain — that is, from speaking." What is meant here is abstaining from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset with the explicit intention of doing so (for the sake of Allah).

 

The virtues of fasting
Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as saying: "Allah said: 'Every action of the son of Adam is for him except fasting, for that is solely for Me. I give the reward for it.' The fast is a shield. If one is fasting, he should not use foul language, raise his voice, or behave foolishly. If someone reviles him or fights with him he should say, 'I am fasting,' twice. By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the [bad] breath of the one who is fasting is better in the sight of Allah on the Day of Resurrection than the smell of musk. The one who is fasting is happy at two times: when he breaks his fast he is happy with it, and when he meets his Lord he will be happy that he has fasted." (Related by Ahmad, Muslim, and An-Nasa'i).

 

Al-Bukhari and Abu Dawud added in another version: "He leaves his food, drink, and desires for My sake. His fasting is for Me... I will give the reward for it, and for every good deed, he will receive 10 similar to it."

 

Sahl Ibn Sa'd reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "There is a gate to Paradise that is called Ar-Rayyan. On the Day of Resurrection it will say: 'Where are those who fasted?' When the last [one] has passed through the gate, it will be locked." (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

 

Ramadan's arrival
This event is confirmed by sighting the new moon, even if it is seen by only one just person, or by the passage of 30 days in the immediately preceding month of Sha'ban.

Ibn Umar said: "The people were looking for the new moon and when I reported to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that I had seen it, he fasted and ordered the people to fast." (Related Abu Dawud, Al-Hakim, and Ibn Hibban, who declared it to be authentic.)

 

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) instructed : "Fast after you have seen it (the new crescent) and end the fast (at the end of the month) when you see it. If it is hidden from you, then wait until the 30 days of Sha'ban have passed." (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

 

Commenting on these reports, At-Tirmidhi states: "Most knowledgeable people act in accordance with these reports. They say that it is correct to accept the evidence of one person to determine the beginning of the fast. This is the opinion of Ibnul-Mubarak, Ash-Shafei, and Ahmad. An-Nawawi says that it is the soundest opinion. Concerning the new moon of Shawwal (which signifies the end of the fast), it is confirmed by completing 30 days of Ramadan, and most jurists state that the new moon must have been reported by at least two just witnesses. However, Abu Thaur does not distinguish between the new moon of Shawwal and the new moon of Ramadan. In both cases, he accepts the evidence of only one just witness."

 

Ibn Rushd comments that : "The opinion of Abu Bakr Ibnul-Mundhir, which is also that of Abu Thaur and, I suspect, that of the Dhahiri school of thought, is supported by the following argument given by Abu Bakr Al-Mundhiri: there is complete agreement that breaking the fast is obligatory, that abstaining from eating is based on one person's report, and that the situation must be like that for the beginning of the month and for the ending of the month, as both of them are simply the signs that differentiate the time of fasting from the time of not fasting."

 

Ash-Shaukani observes : "If there is nothing authentic recorded that states that one may only accept two witnesses for the end of the month, then it is apparent, by analogy, that one witness is sufficient, as it is sufficient for the beginning of the month. Furthermore, worship based on the acceptance of one report points to the fact that such singular reports are accepted in every matter unless there is some evidence that specifies the peculiarity of specific cases, such as the number of witnesses concerning matters of money, and so on. Apparently this is the opinion of Abu Thaur."   

 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

 _._,_.___


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#4775 From: Islam One <islamone_l@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 8:50 am
Subject: Fwd: [MuslimMail] Ayat Hadith A Day - Ramadan 09, 1427 (01 October 2006) 		islamone_l
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Ayat of the day
 

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
 
An-Nisa (The Women), Ayat 79 Audio
79. Ma asabaka min hasanatin famina Allahi wama asabaka min sayyi-atin famin nafsika waarsalnaka lilnnasi rasoolan wakafa biAllahi shaheedan
[4.79] Whatever benefit comes to you (O man!), it is from Allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself, and We have sent you (O Prophet!), to mankind as an apostle; and Allah is sufficient as a witness.
 
[ Translated by Shakir ]
 
 
Hadith of the day      
 
FASTING
 
Narrated Abu Huraira:
 
Allah's Apostle said, "Allah said, 'All the deeds of Adam's sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.' Fasting is a shield or protection from the fire and from committing sins. If one of you is fasting, he should avoid sexual relation with his wife and quarreling, and if somebody should fight or quarrel with him, he should say, 'I am fasting.' By Him in Whose Hands my soul is' The unpleasant smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord; then he will be pleased because of his fasting."
 
 
[Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 31 - Number 127]

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#4776 From: denise brown <chesapeakebaybridge@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 4:03 pm
Subject: Re: [Truth Zone] ENVY – HASAD/Ramzan 		chesapeakeba...
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Shukrun. But first introduce yourself who you are and what are your whereabouts? We must knbow each other before sharing e-mail.

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Subject: [Truth Zone] ENVY – HASAD/Ramzan

ENVY – HASAD
1.Quran says :
Are they jeolous upon whatever Allah has given out of his (generosity) Fazl.
2.Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) says :-
Hasad destroy good deeds as the fire burns dry wood.
 
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#4777 From: "DDN" <dominedirigenos@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 3:19 pm
Subject: Teachings of the Qur'aan: Al-Maaidah - Aayaat 12-16 		nam_pik
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B i s m i l l a a h i r   R a h m a a n i r   R a h e e m 

Teachings of the Qur`aan
 
Al-Maaidah
Soorah 5
 
Quran_129.jpg
 
Aayaat 12 - 16
 
Ayub A. Hamid
___________________________________

 

The next few verses mention how the kind of covenant that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala has taken from Muslims was taken earlier from the Jews and Christians, how they neglected it and what the consequences were of their neglect.

 

12 Allaah did take a covenant from Children of Israel and We appointed twelve captains from among them. Allaah said, “I shall be with you if you establish Ŝalaah, pay Zakaah, believe in My messengers and support them, and lend to Allaah a handsome loan. I will definitely cover your evil deeds, and I will most certainly admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whoever disbelieves from among you after that, he indeed will certainly have strayed from the balanced, middle way. 13 But because of their breach of their covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard. They take words out of their context and have forgotten a portion of what they were advised. You will continue discovering treachery from them excepting a few of them; so ignore them and overlook (their corrupt behaviour); surely Allaah loves those who respond with excellence.

 

According to this covenant, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala’s companionship and support was conditional on the satisfactory performance by the Jews in establishing the Islamic system of peace and justice wherein the political system was based on Ŝalaah and the financial system on Zakaah. They were also required to help and support any messengers that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala sent to enhance, maintain and re-establish that Islamic system and were expected to make financial sacrifices for the Islamic movement. Had they done their job and remained dedicated to the Islamic mission, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala would have kindly forgiven the mistakes they made while fulfilling their missionary responsibilities and would have also granted them admission into the Jannah. They were also told that any neglect in this essential part of the Deen means disbelieving in Islam and losing the path of balanced practice of Islam – the straight path.

 

Human society functions at its best when there is a perfect balance between rights and responsibilities and when all policies and practices are based on a balanced approach, free from any sort of extremism. Because of the extremely complicated nature of human beings themselves and their lives in a society and because of the limitations of human capabilities to consider and reflect on all short and long term impacts that their policy decisions will have on different aspects of life in the society, it is impossible for human beings to construct a balanced system of life on their own. History has demonstrated that human decision on any policy issue never remains balanced. Over time, people’s opinions keep swinging from one extreme to another like a pendulum. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala knowing this human limitation, very kindly took it upon Himself to guide people to that balanced system of life – Islam. However, it must be remembered that Islam is a whole system of life in which each part fits together, maintaining a delicate balance. People can benefit from it only if they accept it and adopt it as a whole package. The balance is disturbed if people tinker with the system, pick or choose from parts of the system, change the relative emphasis among the constituent parts, etc. Thus, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala accepts it from people only if Islam is practised as a whole, as given, without any tinkering; otherwise it is considered rejection of Islam. Partial adoption of Islam or failure to work for the objectives of Deen is considered disbelief.  

 

As evidenced by the history of Israelites, the most common source of disequilibrium and, thus disbelief, is neglect and abandoning of Islam in the collective life of the community. Islam slowly disappears from the political and economic systems of a society, the objectives of Deen are totally forgotten and the so-called Muslims continue living their life as if everything is alright. If Muslims are not dedicating sufficient time, energies and resources to the establishment and maintenance of the complete Islamic system in the collective affairs of the society, they are neglecting their Islamic responsibilities and are lopsided in favour of the life of this world. The consequences of such neglect are that they are subjected to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala’s curse, their hearts become too hard to be open to the true guidance of Islam or to be kind and understanding towards other people. To justify their behaviour and to prove the true Muslims wrong, they take the verses of the Book out of context and misinterpret them according to their whims. Thus they are left only with the rituals of the religion that they wrongly assume will bring them salvation.

 

The next verse talks about the breaking of the covenant by those who claim to be Christians.

 

14 And from those who claim to be followers (Helpers) of Jesus, We took their covenant; but they too forgot a portion of what they were taught. Consequently, We excited enmity and hatred among them to the Day of Resurrection; and Allaah will soon inform them of what they have been doing.

 

The word used in the verse for Christians is Naŝaraa (Helpers). It should not be confused with Naaŝiriyyeen (Nazarene), an epithet given to Christians because ‘Eesa `alayhissalaam was considered to be from Nazareth. The Qur-aanic word Naŝaraa refers to those who responded positively when ‘Eesa`alayhissalaam called his people to help him in his Islamic mission. They were the true “Christians” because they had committed themselves to work for the true mission of the Christ – to establish Islam as a complete system of life and establish a Kingdom of God – an Islamic state with Islamic system of peace and justice.  Being the helpers of Allaah’s Deen was the raison d’etre for the true followers of ‘Eesa`alayhissalaam. That is why the Qur-aan calls them “helpers”.

 

Then, the subsequent claimants of being the followers of ‘Eesa `alayhissalaam abandoned the Deen of ‘Eesa. As compared to the Jews who had abandoned the objective of Deen and its supremacy as the system of life, these so called Christians abandoned both the faith and the objectives of Deen, being left only with a few values that ‘Eesa`alayhissalaam had taught and some rituals they had themselves invented. The consequence of their behaviour was the infighting among their various sects and denominations on the basis of their heresies and innovations. This is because communities can be united only on the basis of the core concepts and objectives of Deen as originally revealed by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala. Sects are formed and in fighting occurs only due to human deviations, heresies and innovations.

 

The next verse invites both groups of violators to renew their covenant by believing in and obeying the final Messenger, Muĥammad Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the final Testament, the Holy Qur-aan. This will save them from the darkness and fighting they have been engulfed in due to their breaking of the covenants and take them into the light and peace brought upon by living according to Islam.

 

15 O people of the Book! Verily Our Messenger has come to you revealing to you much of what you used to conceal of the Book and passing over much of it. There has come to you from Allaah a Light, a Clear Book 16 by which Allaah guides those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out of utter darkness into the light, by His will, and guides them to the straight path.

 

Both people of the book have been hiding the true teachings of Islam they were taught by the previous prophets and messengers. They were hiding all the good news that was given about the coming of Prophet Muĥammad Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and also all the Islamic teachings they had abandoned or their religious authorities were themselves violating. The Prophet Ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the Qur-aan re-educate people about all the important teachings that were hidden by the Jews and Christians, but ignore those that are not relevant or significant.

 

The light refers to the Qur-aan, the Clear Book, as it clearly shows the balanced, moderate path of success.

 

 

 

 

Next: Verses 17 - 19

 

 

 

Copyright © 2004-2006 Ayub A. Hamid

All rights reserved.

 

This document may be used, only with this copyright notice included. Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on internet forums, and include in not-for-profit publications subject to the following conditions: (1) Material used must be produced faithfully in full, without alteration or omission; (2) The author's subject title must remain unchanged, in whole or in part; (3) Material must be attributed to the author Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid. Contact the author for all other rights, which are reserved.

 

Note: This series is providing the teachings of the Qur-aan, not a literal translation. Instead of  literal translation, it gives interpretive meanings of the verses, along with their contextual details. Please remember that any translation of the Holy Qur-aan is in fact only an expression of the translator's understanding of  the Word of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur-aan itself.  Only the original Arabic text can be called the Holy Qur`aan.

 
The following soorahs of  'Teachings of the Qur`aan' series by Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid,  are available upon request.
 
Al-Faatihah:  The First Verse of the Qur`aan - Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem
Al-Faatihah:  Part 1: Name, Background, Teachings and Commentary.
Al-Faatihah:  Part 2: The Significance and Summary.
 
Al Baqarah:  Name, Background and Topics
Al Baqarah:  The Letters: Alif, Laam, Meem - Aayah 1
Al Baqarah:  2:2-5 / 2:6-7 / 2:8-16 / 2:17-20 / 2:21-25 / 2:26-27 / 2:28-29 / 2:30-33 / 2:34-39 / 2:40-46 / 2:47-56 / 2:57-61 / 2:62 / 2:63-66 / 2:67-74 / 2:75-77 / 2:78-82 / 2:83-86/ 2:87-88 / 2:89-91 / 2:92-98 / 2:99-103 / 2:104-107 / 2:108-110 / 2:111-114 / 2:115-118 /  2:119-121 / 2:122-124 / 2:125 / 2:126 / 2:127-129 / 2:130-134 / 2:135-141/ A Summary Review of the Context / 2:142-143 / 2:144-152 / 2:153-157 / 2:158-162 / 2:163-167 / 2:168-176 / 2:177 / 2:178-179 / 2:180-182 / 2:183-187 / 2:188 / 2:189-195 / 2:196-203 / 2:204-214 / 2:215-218 / 2: 219-221 / 2:222-227 / 2:228-231 / 2:232-242 / 2:243 / 2:244-248 / 2:249-253 / 2:254-257/ 2:258-260 / 2:261-273 / 2:274-281 / 2:282-283 / 2:284-286.
 
Aali`Imraan:  Name, Background and Topics         
Aali`Imraan:  Teachings and Running Commentary: Aayaat 3:1-6 / 3:7-9 / 3:10-17 / 3:18-25 / 3:26-32 / 3:33-51 / 3:52-57 / 3:58-63 / 3:64-80 / 3:81-85 / 3:86-91 / 3:92-99 / 3:100-103 / 3:104-109 / 3:110-115 / 3:116-120 / An Overview of the Battle of Uhad / 3:121-129 / 3:130-136 / 3:137-142 / 3:143-148 / 3:149-153 / 3:154-158 / 3:159-160 / 3:161-163 / 3:164-175 / 3:176-179 / 3:180-186 / 3:187-189 /  3:190-194 / 3:195-200.
 
An-Nisaa`:   
4:1-4 / 4:5-14 / 4:15-28 / 4:29-43 / 4:44-52 / 4:53-58 / 4:59-63 / 4:64-76 / 4:77-87 / 4:88-100 / 4:101-112 / 4:113-126 / 4:127-149 / 4:150-158 / 4:159 / 4:160-176.
 
Al-Maaidah:   Name, Background and Topics
Al-Maaidah:   5:1-2 / 5:3 / 5:4-5 / 5:6-7 / 5:8-11 /         
 
 
Karima-DDN

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#4778 From: Islam One <islamone_l@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:03 am
Subject: Fwd: [Yamuslim] Forty Ahadith concerning Masjid al-Aqsa 		islamone_l
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Forty Ahadith booklet

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To obtain FREE copies of the booklet 'Forty Ahadith concerning Masjid al-Aqsa', please contact Friends of Al Aqsa at info@....uk


Please distribute amongst your local masjid, friends and family inshAllah.


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Help our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Palestine :

Allah says in The Noble Quran: "The Believers are but a single
Brotherhood." [Al-Hujurat 49:10]

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* Make sincere supplications to Allah to destroy the enemies of
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#4779 From: abdullah <wannabe_muttaqi@...>
Date: Mon Oct 2, 2006 3:25 pm
Subject: OVER 150 FATWAS RELATED TO FASTING 		wannabe_muttaqi
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OVER 150 FATWAS RELATED TO FASTING

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#4780 From: Islam One <islamone_l@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:04 am
Subject: Fwd: [Yamuslim] Fasting and Your Biological Rhythms 		islamone_l
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Fasting and Your Biological Rhythms
By Ebrahim Kazim, M.B., B.S., D.T.M & H., M.R.C.P.
12/11/2002
0
Allah (all glory be to Him) tells us in the Holy Quran about Ramadan that, “(He wants you) to complete the prescribed period (of fasting), and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful.” (2:185)
Many benefits, in addition to the spiritual, result from completing this prescribed period of fasting.  This article attempts to explain those related to our biological rhythms.
The Stages of Sleep
 0
The background activity of the brain is called the electroencephalogram (EEG) and can be recorded by the use of scalp electrodes.  The dominant frequency and amplitude characteristic of the surface EEG varies with states of arousal. 
A person goes through five stages while going to sleep.
Calm wakefulness is accompanied by alpha waves 8-12 Hz (cycles per second) and low voltage fast activity of mixed frequency.  This is called stage one.  Alpha waves disappear when we open our eyes.
As sleep deepens into stage two, bursts of 12-14 Hz (sleep spindles) and high amplitude slow waves appear.
The deep sleep of stages three and four is featured by an increasing proportion of high voltage slow activity.  Breathing is regular in slow-wave sleep or non-REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep.
Delta activity (very slow waves, 0.5-4 Hz, high amplitude) is unusual in a normal record and accompanies deep sleep i.e. stages three and four sleep.
After about 70 minutes or so mostly spent in stages three and four, the first REM period occurs, usually heralded by an increase in body movements, and a shift in the EEG pattern from stage four to stage two. These rapid low-voltage irregular waves resemble those seen in alert humans; sleep, however, is not interrupted. This is called stage 5 or REM sleep, when the EEG activity gets desynchronised. There is marked muscle atonia despite the rapid eye movements in REM sleep, and the breathing is irregular.
Theta activity with a pattern of large regular waves occurs in normal children and is briefly seen in stage one sleep and also in REM sleep.
Non-REM (NREM) sleep passes through stages one and two, and spends 60-70 minutes in stages three and four. Sleep then lightens and a REM period follows. This cycle is repeated three or four times per night, at intervals of about 90 minutes throughout the night, depending on the length of sleep. REM sleep occupies 25% of total sleeping time.
When the eyes are opened, the alpha rhythm is replaced by fast irregular low voltage activity with no dominant frequency, called the alpha block. Any form of sensory stimulation or mental concentration such as solving arithmetic problems could produce this break-up of the alpha rhythm. This replacement of the regular alpha rhythm with irregular low voltage activity is called “desynchronisation”.
Fasting Positively Affects Sleep
During the first few hours of an Islamic fast, the EEG is normal.  However, the frequency of the alpha rhythm is decreased by a low blood glucose level.  This may happen at the end of the fasting day towards evening when the blood sugar is low.
Fasting improves the quality and intensifies the depth of sleep, a matter of particular importance to the aged who have much less stage three and four sleep (deep sleep).  The processes of repair of the body and of the brain take place during sleep.  Two hours of sleep during the month of Ramadan are more satisfying and refreshing than more hours of sleep otherwise!
REM sleep and dreaming are closely associated.  Dreaming may be necessary to maintain health, but prolonged REM deprivation has no adverse psychological effects.  Dreaming sleep occupies 50% of the sleep cycle in infants and decreases with age.  Brain synthetic processes occur in deep sleep; brain protein molecules are synthesized in the brain during deep sleep or used in REM sleep in restoring cerebral function.  Fasting significantly increases deep sleep and leads to a fall in REM sleeping time or dreaming time, and also accelerates synthesis of memory molecules.
Fasting and the Circadian Rhythm
The period of the circadian pace-maker in humans is 24 hours 11 minutes.  Hormonal secretion is frequently characterised by rhythmic fluctuations which may be regular or irregular in periodicity.  The period of regular oscillation may be as short as a few minutes or as long as a year. 
The body timing system that drives circadian rhythms is exposed to external factors ranging from the imposed activity-rest cycle, the natural light-dark cycle, and social activities outside the workplace. 
There are biological pacemakers or oscillators within the body with time-keeping capacity which synchronise with the external environmental cycles such as light.  Environmental cues that synchronize biological pacemakers are called “zeitgebers” (from the German “time-givers”), and the process of re-setting the pacemaker is called re-synchronization.
The light/dark cycle is a potent zeitgeber for circadian rhythm but daily cycles in temperature, food availability, social interaction (such as congregational prayers) and even electro-magnetic field strength synchronize circadian rhythm in certain species.  Because of recurring cycles of light, temperature and food availability, organisms evolved endogeous rhythms of metabolism and behavior providing response to specific environmental cycles.  Many biological rhythms reflect the period of one of four environmental cycles: cycles of the tide, of day and night, of moon phase and of seasons.
Muslims who have been fasting regularly since childhood, have been exposed to different sleep/wake and light/darkness cycles on a daily basis in one annual lunar month.  Hence, it may be easier for such persons to synchronize their circadian, circalunar and circannual biological rhythms under difficult conditions.
Fasting, Jet Lag and Shift Work
 0
International travel across time zones produces symptoms of jet lag such as sleep disturbances, gastro-intestinal disorders, decreased alterness, fatigue and lack of concentration and motivation. 
Factors contributing to symptoms of jet lag are (1) external desynchronisaion due to immediate differences between body time and local time at the end of the flight. (2) internal desynchronisation due to the fact that different circadian rhythms in the body re-synchronise at different rates, and during the re-synchronisation period, these rhythms will be out of phase with one another. 
General symptoms arising from desynchronisation include tiredness during the day and disturbed sleep and reaction time.  The severity of these adverse effects and therefore the time required for re-synchronisation depends on the ability to pre-set the bodily rhythms prior to flying, the number of time zones crossed, the direction of flight, age, social interaction and activity.  NASA estimates that it takes one day for every time zone crossed to regain normal rhythm and energy levels.  A 6-hour time-difference thus needs 6 days to get back to normal. 
Rapid adaptation to a new zone can be facilitated by maximising exposure to zeitgebers for the new cycle e.g. changing to meal times and sleep times appropriate to the new time zone.  Maximising social contact and exposure to natural lgihting will result in faster resynchronisation than staying at home in a hotel and eating and sleeping without regard to local time.  There are widesperead individual viariations in the rapidity of resynchronisation. 
Muslims who fast regularly and who have experienced disturbed wakefulness/sleep cycles on a daily lunar annual basis, can adapt themselves much faster to different time zones during international travel and do not suffer from the ill effects of jet lag.  Moreover, the social contact during the Tarawih congregational prayer and the other social-cum–spiritual activities act as zeitgebers which regulate any desynchronised biological rhythm. 
Shift workers also experience similar symptoms as jet lag, especially gastro-intestinal, cardiovascular, and sleep disorders and also reproductive dysfunctions in women. The inverted schedule of sleeping and waking also results in diminshed alterness and performance during night-time work with attendant increase in the number of fatigue-related accidents during night time shift hours.  Normally, a period of three weeks is required for re-synchronisation among shift workers, and as the fasting Muslim atunes himself to resynchronization processes during the space of just over four weeks in Ramadan, his health problems as a shift worker would be negligible, as his synchronization processes would be more rapid, whether during Ramadan or at any other time.
It is also a common observation that as soon as Ramadan is over, normal circadian rhythms are established in the fasted Muslims with such great rapidity as to be at par with pre-Ramadan levels on the first day of Shawwal, i.e. Eid-ul-Fitr.
Fasting and Encephalins
During fasting, certain endogenous, narcotic-like substances known as opioids (or endorphins) are released into the body.  They have a tranquilizing effect as well as an elating effect on the mind.  These are also probably responsible for prevention of psychosomatic diseases.  The opioids have several effects, including slowing down metabolism to conserve energy.  Another effect of opioids may be that, although they produce elation as well as intense hunger, they do not drive the person to eat with sheer gluttony.
Muslims in Ramadan experience an ability to intensely focus their minds on meditation, Quranic recitation and prayers.  This spiritual gain during the Holy Month is despite the fact that normal sleep/waking cycles are somewhat disturbed and despite a long day of fasting.  Perhaps now we have a closer idea as to the science of this miraculous process.
Dr. Ebrahim Kazim is a medical doctor and the founder and director of the Islamic Academy in Trinidad.  The above article was excerpted with permission of the author from his book “Further Essays on Islamic Topics”.     
 

 
 click the link below:
http://www.islamic-relief.com/uk 
 
http://www.astwood.co.uk/ir/ir_mec/images/IR_middle_east_crisis_email.jpg3,3,3,87,143,3 http://www.astwood.co.uk/ir/ir_mec/images/IR_middle_east_crisis_em-02.jpg
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http://www.astwood.co.uk/ir/ir_mec/images/IR_middle_east_crisis_em-08.jpg169,52,388,71
 
 
Help our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Palestine :

Allah says in The Noble Quran: "The Believers are but a single
Brotherhood." [Al-Hujurat 49:10]

The Messenger said, "The Muslims are like a body, if one part of
the body hurts, rest of the body will also suffer" [Muslim]


* Make sincere supplications to Allah to destroy the enemies of
Islam who are killing our brothers and sisters

* Make a donation:
http://www.islamic-relief.com/submenu/Appeal/palestine.htm 
-----------------------------
 

Islamic Relief in Palestine

Islamic Relief has been working in the Palestinian Territories since 1994. Existing projects such as the Milk for Pre-school children and the Family Sponsorship projects have inevitably been affected by the disruptions, but are continuing as best they can.

 

 

Islahonline

00000

0


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#4781 From: Islam One <islamone_l@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:31 am
Subject: Fwd: [Yamuslim] Muhammad's Sword By Uri Avnery(Jewish) 		islamone_l
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Note: forwarded message attached.

  
 

How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

As-salamu 3alikum wa rahmatu ALLAH

 

Ramadan Karim ... Takabal ALLAH mena wa menkom saleh al-a3mal ISA

 

I think this article is worth reading, it is written by Uri Avnery (a Jewish writer -the head of the Israeli peace movement) as a reply on the word of the present Pope, Benedict XVI.

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1159094813/

 

Source: http://www.egypt-developers.com/forum/forum/viewthread?thread=1120

 

 

Best Regards

 


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4782 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:21 am
Subject: Prophet's saying - Warning against abandoning fasting in Ramadan 		mail2shahid@...
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Allah O Akbar

Warning against abandoning fasting in Ramadan


"Whoever breaks his fast in Ramadan without a [valid] concession or illness, he cannot repay it, even if he were to fast the rest of his life."

 

 [Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah]

 

Remember me in ur pray


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4783 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:34 am
Subject: Rules Related to Fasting 		mail2shahid@...
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Rules Related to Fasting

 

 

 

THE OBLIGATION OF FASTING

 

a) The time for fasting is from the rising of the second dawn until the setting of the sun.

 

b) Fasting is: abstention from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse by day with the intention.

 

THE INTENTION

 

The fasting is valid with an intention from the night, but if one did not intend until the morning, the intention suffices him between [dawn] and {the middle of the day}.

 

 

1.  Things which invalidates fasting and requires full recompense

 

1.1 If someone intentionally does one of the following without any valid excuse(see 6 below)

 

a) Does not fast at all

 

b) Breaks fast by eating, drinking and sexual activities

 

c) Assuming that cupping has broken ones fast thus quit fasting for the day.

 

1.2 Expiation for the above is to

 

a) Fast unceasingly for two months (60 days), if one breaks fats during this one has to start a new.

 

b) If unable to do so, it is to feed 60 needy persons two full meal

 

c) If unable to do so, it is to free one slave.

 

 

1.3 Things that break fast and requires one to fast similar numbers of days in recompense

 

a) If something is entered into the body during the hours when one is supposed to fast, irrelevant of how it entered into the body.(see 5)

 

*          To eat something which is not food such as stone particle or smoking anything.

*          When water enters stomach while gargling

*          When one is fed by force even when one is sleeping or unconscious

*          Inject medicine, place them on wounds which eventually gets in.

*          Eating by mistake thinking it is still night or iftar time is due while it is not.

*          Involuntary full mouth vomiting and subsequent swallowing of it or part of it.

*          When one is force into sexual intercourse or when one is sleeping or unconscious

 

b) Fasting without intention

c) Breaking (iftar) fast without the intention of doing so.

d) Lustful kissing of ones spouse

e) Emission of semen due to touching, kissing, masturbation.

f) Intentional vomiting.

 

 

2. Offensive acts during fasting

 

*          Backbiting, slander

*          To lie or deceive

*          To use abusive language

*          Not having iftar

*          Taste a food without swallowing it, using toothpaste.

*          Gargling water due to thirsts or hot weather.

*          Wrapping oneself with wet clothes.

*          Throwing up intentionally

*          Weakening the body (e.g. strenuous sport)

*          Gathering saliva and swallowing it;

 

 

3. Days when fasting is forbidden

 

*          Day of Eid al Fitr (Eid of Ramadan)

*          During Eid al ADHa 10, 11, 12 and 13 of month of Dhul Hijjah 

 

4. Events when it is allowed to break the fast and fast later the similar number of days

 

*          If fasting aggravates health-condition

*          Snake biting

*          Thirsts due to newly developed disease

*          Genuine danger for a pregnant mother, or for her fetus.

*          Genuine fear for the life of a suckling infant

*          Reason to fear death

*          Menstruation

*          If one is a traveller

 

5. Things that do not break fast

 

a) Those things which would otherwise break fast does not do so when one is unaware of the fact that one is fasting(complete forgetfulness of fasting).

 

b) Entrance of insects (i.e mosquitos), smoke and dust from natural environment does not break fast.

 

c) Wet dream, swallowing ones own saliva when still in the mouth, brushing teeth, smearing oil, ointment on unwounded body do not break fast. or used antimony [in his eyes],

 

d) If one is overcome by vomiting, his fast is not broken.

 

6. Etiquettes and desirable practices

 

*          Preparing for the month.

*          Bringing to mind the bounty of Allah.

*          Purifying one's intention

*          Pre-dawn meal (suhur) as late as safely possible.

*          Not unnecessarily delaying the breakingof the fast.

*          Performing salat al-Maghrib soon after breakign the fast, then returning to eat.

*          Making du`a at the time of breaking the fast.

*          Enabling others to break their fasts.

*          Abstaining from all forbidden deeds.

*          Maintaining a pleasant disposition.

*          Abundant reciting of the Qur'an.

*          Abundant charity.

*          Performing tarawih prayers.

 

7. Miscellaneous

 

a) The intention of fasting can be made as late as just before noon, if one forgets to do so during the previous night. If one passes noon without making the intention ones fasting is invalid.( 1.3b)

 

b) One should eat before the day breaks even when one is not hungry.

 

c) For a woman whenever during the day menstruation stops she should be observing fasting even though it is not a fast for her. She should fast if it happens just before morning and did not have enough time to take shower and eat.

 

d) If a woman menstruates, she stops fasting and makes up [fasting for the days of menstruation].

 

e)   Someone who lost consciousness in Ramadan does not make up the day on which the loss of consciousness occurred, but he makes up that which came after it.

 

f) If a traveller arrives, or a [menstruating] woman attains purity with part of the day [remaining], they abstain [from those things which invaliate fasting] for the rest of that day.

 

 

May Allah keep us on the Straight Path. Aameen


 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

 


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4784 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:41 am
Subject: From the Holy Qur'an-O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you... 		mail2shahid@...
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B i s m i l l a a h i r   R a h m a a n i r   R a h e e m

 

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you in order that you might learn piety . . . . The month of Ramadan is that wherein was revealed the Qur'an, as a guidance to mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion. So, whoever among you witnesses the month should fast."

  (Al-Qur'an 2:183, 185)

From the desk of   Shahid Ali Khan 

 

  



Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4785 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:36 am
Subject: Prophet's saying - Every deed of the Son of Adam is for himself, except fasting 		mail2shahid@...
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Allah O Akbar

Every deed of the Son of Adam is for himself, except fasting


"Every deed of the Son of Adam is for himself, except fasting - it is for Me, and I shall reward it."

 [Muslim, Abu Dawud, Nasa'i, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]

 

Remember me in ur pray


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4786 From: "G.Waleed Kavalec" <kavalec@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 12:39 pm
Subject: Why limit ourselves to 10 ? 		gkavalec
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Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

Some of the lessons from the Qur'an that apply to our day to day lives:

1. Respect and honour all human beings irrespective of their religion, colour,
race, sex, language, status, property, birth, profession/job and so on
--

2. Talk straight, to the point, without any ambiguity or deception
--

3. Choose best words to speak and say them in the best possible way
--

4. Do not shout. Speak politely keeping your voice low.
--

5. Always speak the truth. Shun words that are deceitful and ostentatious
--

6. Do not confound truth with falsehood
--

7. Say with your mouth what is in your heart
--

8. Speak in a civilised manner in a language that is recognised by the society
and is commonly used
--

9. When you voice an opinion, be just, even if it is against a relative
--

10. Do not be a bragging boaster
--

11. Do not talk, listen or do anything vain
--

12. Do not participate in any paltry. If you pass near a futile play, then pass
by with dignity
--


13. Do not verge upon any immodesty or lewdness whether surreptitious or overt
--


14. If, unintentionally, any misconduct occurs by you, then correct yourself
expeditiously
--


15. Do not be contemptuous or arrogant with people
--


16. Do not walk haughtily or with conceit
--


17. Be moderate in thy pace
--


18. Walk with humility and sedateness
--


19. Keep your gazes lowered devoid of any lecherous leers and salacious stares
--


20. If you do not have complete knowledge about anything, better keep your mouth
shut. You might think that speaking about something without full knowledge is a
trivial matter. But it might have grave consequences
--


21. When you hear something malicious about someone, keep a favourable view
about him/her until you attain full knowledge about the matter. Consider others
innocent until they are proven guilty with solid and truthful evidence
-- -13


22. Ascertain the truth of any news, lest you smite someone in ignorance and
afterwards repent of what you did
--


23. Do not follow blindly any information of which you have no direct knowledge.
(Using your faculties of perception and conception) you must verify it for
yourself. In the Court of your Lord, you will be held accountable for your
hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning
--


24. Never think that you have reached the final stage of knowledge and nobody
knows more than yourself. Remember! Above everyone endowed with knowledge is
another endowed with more knowledge
--

25. The believers are but a single Brotherhood. Live like members of one family,
brothers and sisters unto one another
--

26. Do not make mockery of others or ridicule others
--

27. Do not defame others
--

28. Do not insult others by nicknames
--

29. Avoid suspicion and guesswork. Suspicion and guesswork might deplete your
communal energy
--

30. Spy not upon one another
--

31. Do not backbite one another
--

32. When you meet each other, offer good wishes and blessings for safety. One
who conveys to you a message of safety and security and also when a courteous
greeting is offered to you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous or (at
least) of equal courtesy
--

33. When you enter your own home or the home of somebody else, compliment the
inmates
--

34. Do not enter houses other than your own until you have sought permission;
and then greet the inmates and wish them a life of blessing, purity and pleasure


35. Treat kindly Your parents, Relatives, The orphans " And those who have been
left alone in the society
--

36. Take care of the needy, the disabled, those whose hard earned income is
insufficient to meet their needs, And those whose businesses have stalled, And
those who have lost their jobs.
--

37. Treat kindly Your related neighbours, and unrelated neighbours, Companions
by your side in public gatherings, or public transportation.
--

38. Be generous to the needy wayfarer, the homeless son of the street, and the
one who reaches you in a destitute condition
--

39. Be nice to people who work under your care.
--

40. Do not follow up what you have given to others to afflict them with
reminders of your generosity
--

41. Do not expect a return for your good behaviour, not even thanks
--

42. Cooperate with one another in good deeds and do not cooperate with others in
evil and bad matters
--

43. Do no try to impress people on account of self-proclaimed virtues
--

44. You should enjoin right conduct on others but mend your own ways first.
Actions speak louder than words. You must first practice good deeds yourself,
then preach
--

45. Correct yourself and your families first Trying to correct others
--

46. Pardon gracefully if anyone among you who commits a bad deed out of
ignorance, and then repents and amends
--

47. Divert and sublimate your anger and potentially virulent emotions to
creative energy, and become a source of tranquillity and comfort to people
--

48. Call people to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful exhortation.
Reason with them most decently
--

49. Leave to themselves those who do not give any importance to the Divine code
and have adopted and consider it as mere play and amusement
--

50. Sit not in the company of those who ridicule Divine Law unless they engage
in some other conversation
--

51. Do not be jealous of those who are blessed
--

52. In your collective life, make rooms for others
--

53. When invited to dine, Go at the appointed time. Do not arrive too early to
wait for the preparation of meal or linger after eating to engage in bootless
babble. Such things may cause inconvenience to the host
--

54. Eat and drink [what is lawful] in moderation
--

55. Do not squander your wealth senselessly
--

56. Fulfil your promises and commitments
--

57. Keep yourself clean, pure
--

58. Dress-up in agreeable attire and adorn yourself with exquisite character
from inside out
--

59. Seek your provision only by fair endeavour
--

60. Do not devour the wealth and property of others unjustly, nor bribe the
officials or the judges to deprive others of their possessions
--



--
--

G. Waleed Kavalec
-------------------------
  

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4787 From: "G.Waleed Kavalec" <kavalec@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 2:19 pm
Subject: Fwd: Education or mind infection? 		gkavalec
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Dr. Nurit's speech given at Connecticut College, New London, CT 09/27/06


Below is a powerful speech by an Israeli mother who lost her daughter by a Palestinian suicide bomber and her two sons refuse to serve in the Israeli army. She blames Israeli atrocious policies towards Palestinians for the problem in the Middle East.

Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a Lecturer in Language Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem specializing in discourse in Israeli education with emphasis on visual and verbal presentation of Palestinian and non-western Jews. In September 1997, Nurit's daughter Samarder was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. She and her family are members of the Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace. Her two elder sons are active in the peace movements of the Refusenik and Combatants for Peace, a new movement of Israeli and Palestinian ex fighters. Dr. Peled-Elhanan is the recipient of the European Parliament 2001 Sakharov Prize for Human Rights and Freedom of Thought. She is now touring the US together with a Palestinian women (Hanan Abu Ghosh) who lost her 17 year old brother to Israeli gunfire.

Education or mind infection?
By Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Speech http://www.qumsiyeh.org/nuritpeledelhanan/

I would like to dedicate these words to all the Palestinian boys and girls, and to all the Lebanese boys and girls, and to all the Iraqi boys and girls who have been massacred by mind-infected Israeli and American soldier boys, and who have recently joined my own little girl in the underground kingdom of dead children, which is growing under our feet as I speak. I would like to tell them not to worry: "You will be well received there, children, and no one will hurt you just because you wandered off on your way to school or because you wore a scarf on your head or because you lived in a certain place. Rest in peace, everyone is equally worthy in your new world. This is the world where Israeli children dwell side by side with Palestinian children. There they lay, victims and murderers, whose bloods have long been absorbed by the holy land which has always been indifferent to blood. There they rest, all of them, victims of deceit.

All of you dead children were deceived, because your death has achieved nothing at all and the world goes on living as if your blood had never been shed. Because the leaders of the world keep playing their murderous games, using you as their dice and our grief as fuel for their killing machines. Because Children are abstract entities for generals and grief is a political tool. Living at both sides, that of the victims and that of the killers, I keep asking myself, what are the means by which good Israeli children are turned into murdering monsters, what are the means by which they are so mind-infected as to kill and torture and humiliate other children, their parents and grandparents, and sacrifice their own life for nothing but the folly and megalomania of their chiefs. In the so-called Western enlightened world everyone feels very well-founded when they blame Islam for suicide bombing and terror. But who would ever blame Judaism for murder?

And yet, Ulta Orthodox Jewish children who have never left Brooklyn know that to kill Arabs is a 'mitzva' (holy commandment) for they are 'vilde hayeths' (wild beasts). And Israeli children actually commit the crimes of slaughter and tporture. Neither Judaism nor Islam nor any religion for that matter are the cause for murder and terror. Racist education is. American imperialism is, and Israeli ruthless regime of occupation is. The women and children who suffer most from western violence today are Muslim women but racism has its way and the blame for their suffering is attributed to their being muslim.

The western world today is infected with fear of Islam and of the muslim womb. Great France of liberte egalite and fraternite is scared of little head-scarved girls, Jewish Israel calls in public speeches and schoolbooks the Arab citizens of Israel a demographic nightmare and the enemy from within. As for the Palestinians refugees living under occupation, they are defined in Israeli History schoolbooks as a 'problem to be solved". Not long ago the Jews were a problem to be solved.

This in spite the fact that the people who are destroying the world today are not muslims. The people who are using the most sophisticated disastrous weapons to kill thousand of innocent civilians are not Muslims . They are Christian, and Jewish. Nevertheless people who belong to the Judeo-Christian cultures, who support American-British and Israeli crimes against humanity, and particularly against Muslims all over the world, people who send their children to fight these ruthless useless wars in the name of democracy and freedom which are cover names for greed and megalomania, dare call themselves enlightened and blame it all on some imaginary clash of civilizations.. What does this fear-stricken world offer as a solution to Palestinian , Iraqi or Afgan people who are harassed, abused, tortured and famished by western crimes and exploitation? The general offer this enlightened world gives them is: Be like us. Constitute a Democracy like ours, embrace our values which despise you, which consider you an inferior primitive lot to be cultivated or cleansed away.

This, ladies and gentlemen is the attitude that permit American soldiers to rape, torture and kill muslim men women and children by the thousands, that permits Israeli soldiers to order Palestinian women to strip in front of their children for security reasons, jailers to keep them in inhuman conditions, without necessary hygienic aids, without clean water or clean mattresses and separate them from their breast-fed babies and toddlers. To block their way to education, to confiscate their lands, to destroy their water wells, to uproot their trees and to prevent them from working their fields. This is what permits Israeli pilots to drop a hundred bombs of one ton a day on the most crowded area in the world -Gaza. This is what permits Israel to issue racist laws that separate mothers from fathers and children. Palestinian Iraqi and Afgan women are mothers like me. And when they lose a child, even if it is one of 12, their pain is equal to mine. But in addition to losing their children they also lose their homes and their livelihood and their future because the world does not listen to their sufferings and does not punish their murderers. Their honour as women and mothers is crushed. Their identity is destroyed and their cry is not heard. their faith and customs, their centuries-old ways of life are disregarded and despised.

Not only American soldiers but also Israeli soldiers who actually perform massacres of 'Arabs' - Palestinian or Lebanese - may never see an Arab human face until they are drafted to the army, but they learn, for 12 long years, that these people are primitive, bear children in order to send them to the streets and throw stones at our peace-keeping soldiers, uneducated because they don't receive our education, conniving and dirty because they have different notions about politeness, they dress differently and cover their heads with different pieces of cloth. Well, from my experience there are many more Kafiehs in the camp of peace lovers than there are kippas. Israeli children are deprived from knowing their immediate neighbours, their history and their culture and their merits. Israeli children are educated to see their neighbours as an unwanted element. This is not education, this is mind infection.

The scientist Richard Dawkins was the first to speak about viruses of the mind. Children, because their minds are gullible and open to almost any suggestion, are not immune to mental infections of all sorts of propaganda and fashion. They are easily persuaded to pierce their faces and tattoo their bottoms, to turn their hats around and bare their bellies, to believe in angels and fairies. They are equally easy to acquire political beliefs and to appropriate mental maps which will later influence their decisions on the question of the future borders of the state and on the necessity of war. All of Our children are mind-infected from an early age. So that by the time they are old enough to become real soldiers, they have already learned to be good soldiers, which means their minds are totally infected and they are incapable of questioning the 'truth' that has been inculcated to them.

This is part of the explanation one can give to the terrible deeds that are committed today by good Israeli boys, who are characterized once and again as "people of values". Therefore it is high time to ask, what values are these? The following lines are part of a personal preface by Tal Sela, one of my university students to his term-paper, which included the analysis of a History textbook:

On the 5th of September 1997 I found myself in LEbanon , on a rescuing mission . All my friends were in the battle, 12 soldiers were killed. The following days I was happy: " I am alive, I survived" I said to myself. However, a year later I was in deep depression. Sad and morose. I decided to consult a psychologist. After a few sessions I was able to gather up my forces again, both physical and moral. I could reorganize my thoughts. Then I understood that the mental crisis I had was in fact a moral crisis, a crisis of consciousness. What I actually felt was frustration, shame and anger. … How could I be so gullible and let myself be duped? How can I explain that a man of peace, exposes himself to such a morbid experience of his own free will? Today, like every two weeks, I drove peace activists to the military check-points of the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories. I saw an officer put tight handcuffs on a taxi driver because he failed to obey the soldiers' order to park here and not there. "We told him a thousand times" the soldiers said. The man was lying on the ground in the worst heat of the summer, thirsty, for hours on end. His friend was luckier: He had to stand on his feet, in a cell, without handcuffs. What pushes these young Israeli boys to play the rôle of supreme judges until they lose all judgment? In my opinion it is the Grand Zionist Narrative which serves as a collective conscience to the whole Israeli society, explicitly as well as implicitly. This grand narrative is the system of values that makes us belong to this particular collective.

This is the system that dictates the relationships between us and the Palestinians. How else can one explain young people who were educated to love their neighbour as they love themselves killing their neighbours, destroying their educational institutions, their libraries and their hospitals, for no apparent reason other than their being neighbours? The only explanation is that their minds are infected by parents, teachers and leaders, who convince them that the others are not as human as we are, and therefore killing them is not real killing; it has other legitimating names such as "cleansing" "purifying", "punishment", "operation", "mission", "campaign" and "war". Although I speak about Israeli boys this is not an Israeli affair because, as you know, the epidemic is worldwide. My nephew, Doroni, 7 years old, who lives in the US, came home on Halloween day and said he wanted to be a soldier, and then to go to Iraq and save America. How many American young men, ignorant as he is of the absurdity of this statement, actually went to Iraq and died there without knowing why, but with the words "save America" on their lips? The question is, how were these false values imprinted on their minds and how can they be erased?

The human psyche, says Dawkins, has two great sicknesses: the urge to carry vendetta across generations and the tendency to fasten group labels on people rather than see them as individuals. We all suffer because of labels, but only those of us who died because of labels have realized that the way to fight labels is to refuse labels. The way to defeat false value systems is to expose them. The viruses of the mind are only partially weakened by young people like Tal and other Israeli refusniks such as 'Combatants for Peace'. But most of our mind infected children would not be free of the grip of those viruses until they find their final rest in the evergrowing, underground kingdom of dead children . Only there will they realize that is doesn't matter whether their head was bare or not in a synagogue or a church or a mosque, whether they were circumcised or not, whether they pronounced forbidden words, ate pig or cow or whether they had a hot chocolate after their salami pizza just before they were blown up by someone who didn't. Israeli, American, English, Italian mothers raise their children with all the love and care in order to sacrifice them to the god of death, as if their uterus is a national or rather an international asset. and fathers urge their children to commit themselves to armies whose interests have nothing to do with defense. And when these children die for the profits of somebody else their parents bear it with dignity and pride, as they were taught, put their dead children's photographs on the mantelpiece and sigh: He was so handsome in uniform. It is time to tell these parents that no-one is andsome in the uniform of brutality. It is time to tell them uniforms and ranks and medals have become ugly. Tell them their dignity and pride are misplaced.

It is time to tell Jewish people that the only way to discourage anti-Semitism is by condemning the only government in the world who deliberately sends young Jewish boys and girls to their certain death and who persecutes to the point of genocide a whole Semitic nation, explain to them that it is the Jewish government and the actions of its army, not some primordial hatred for the Jewish race, which are the reasons for the invention of the new sign we often see in pro-Palestinian demonstration, where the Star of David is equated with the swastika.

It is a terribly hard task for people who were educated in Israel or in the USA or in any other 'western' 'democratic' country, to admit we were raised on false racist values. On heterophobia. The only thing that can enhance such a change of spirit is the constant image of the mutilated small bodies of the victims of these values . Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jews. On this day people are required to ask forgiveness. Not to forgive but to try and be forgiven. I would like to quote one stanza from a poem written by the late Hanoh Levin, one of Israel's greatest playwrights, in the 1970s:

Dear Father, when you stand on my grave
Old and tired and very lonely,
And you see how they burry me in the ground -
Ask me to forgive you my father.

We must all ask our children's forgiveness for not being more alert, for not fighting hard enough to keep our promises for a better world, for not refusing the evil viruses before and for letting them be the victims of the horrible, mental infection we are all suffering from, to look at their innocent, astonished, disillusioned small faces and ask ourselves: why does that streak of blood rip the petal of their cheek???


--

--
--

G. Waleed Kavalec
-------------------------
  

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4788 From: Asfia Martin <asfiamartin@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 9:13 pm
Subject: Let Us Be Muslim Vol. 3 FASTING - Get to know more about the Meanings, Blessing and the True Spirit 		asfiamartin
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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful 
O Believers! Fasting is ordained for you, even as it ordained for those before you (al-Baqarah  2:  183).
 
 
 Let Us Be Muslim Part-III
(Salah & Sawm)
 

Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi

 
If you are looking beyond a basic introduction to the Islamic month of Fasting, this book goes deeper into the spiritual meaning of Ramadan and the details of the Fast. Appropriate for Muslims, and for Non-Muslims wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the faith.
 
This book is AN ALL TIME RECORD SELLER. Let Us Be Muslims is no ordinary book, for it has stirred more hearts and impelled more lives to change their course than any of this scholar's other works.
 
Some of the excerpts from his book:
The month of Ramadan is earmarked for all Muslims to fast together, to ensure similar results. This measure turns individuals ‘Ibadah’(worship) into collective ‘Ibadah’. Just as the number one, when multiplied by thousands, becomes a formidable number, so the moral and spiritual benefits accruing from the Fasting by one person alone are increased a million fold if a million people fast together…..
 
The month of Ramadan suffuses the whole environment with a spirit of righteousness, virtue and piety. As flowers blossom in spring, so does taqwa (piety) in Ramadan. Everyone tries extra hard to avoid sin and, if they lapse, they know they can count on the help of their many other brothers who are fasting with them…..
 
For this reason the Prophet Mohammed, blessings and peace be on him, said:
Every good deed of a man is granted manifold increase, ten to seven hundred times. But says Allah:  Fasting is an exception; it is exclusively for Me, and I reward for it as much as I wish (Bukhari,  Muslim).
 
This is why Allah, after ordaining the Fasting, has said that Fasting is made obligatory on you, ‘so that you may attain to God-consciousness’, la’allakum tattaqun.
 
The Prophet Mohammed, blessings and peace be on him, draws attention to another aim of fasting thus:
Whoever observes the Fast, believing and counting, has all his past sins forgiven (Bukhari,  Muslim).
 
 
Get to know more about the Meaning, Blessing & true sprit of the Fasting
 
FREE Available
in English & Urdu at
www.al-islamforall.org
(A unique & comprehensive FREE e-Library in Multiple Languages)
and many more books for the complete family in Multiple Languages
The purpose of the web site is to provide wide range, authentic & comprehensive information about all the teachings of Islam at one place with unique FREE download facilities.
 
We will highly appreciate if you introduce among your friends in the best possible manners.
 
Jazakumullah Khair 
~~~~~~~~~~~~ *  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Please send all comments, suggestions to: info@...

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#4789 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Wed Oct 4, 2006 7:59 am
Subject: Friday Sermon - Shun Immoral Acts 		mail2shahid@...
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Shun Immoral Acts 

 

SHEIKH Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, Imam and Khateeb of the Grand Mosque in Makkah , urged Muslims to be God-conscious in private and in public because they are in the most exalted month of Ramadan.

 

In his Friday sermon at the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Al-Sudais said the holy month of Ramadan is the month of Allah's bounties and blessings. This month, Muslims fast, supplicate to Allah, recite the Qur'an and perform the night prayers (Qiyam Al-Lail). Muslims are also more generous in Ramadan in giving alms to the poor and the needy. In addition, many of them pay Zakat to the deserving people during this month — all with a view to seek Allah's rewards.

 

In the month of Ramadan, said Al-Sudais, there is a night — the Night of Power (Lailat Al-Qadr) — which is better than a thousand months. Throughout this night Muslims supplicate to Allah — honestly and sincerely — to forgive their sins, ward off their tribulations and seek Paradise to be their permanent abode.

 

Al-Sudais explained that the concept of fasting during Ramadan is not just to deprive oneself of food and drink, but to purify the soul by controlling the desires, whims and tempers. A Muslim must avoid harming others physically and verbally. A Muslim keeps away from committing sins especially during this holy month so that it does not affect his fasting. A fasting person does not look at what is forbidden. The Imam said Allah created all creatures to worship Him alone, that is, to observe monotheism (Tawheed).

 

During Ramadan, Muslims recall the glories of Islam and the heroic deeds and conquests achieved during the month. Sheikh Al-Sudais said Ramadan teaches us patience, purity, preferring others to oneself, love, sacrifice, brotherhood and competing with one another in doing good deeds.

 

He said this month has come while many in the Muslim Ummah have little awareness about the conspiracies being hatched up by the enemies. He called upon Muslims to follow their words with deeds and unify their ranks on the basis of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). He called upon the Muslims to shun discord and division, and urged them respect international charters that guarantee security and peace, prevent the killing of innocent people, and forbid injustices, and encroaching upon the religions.

 

Speaking on the Palestinian issue, the Imam called for standing steadfast and firm against the oppressive Zionist occupation and aggression against Palestine. He stressed the necessity to establish peace, security and unity in Iraq and to reconstruct Lebanon.

 

Sheikh Al-Sudais criticized those who spend Ramadan watching satellite channels. He said they have abstained from food and drink but they have not observed fast from immoral satellite channels, lewd art and backbiting. He called upon Muslims to do good deeds during the holy month of Ramadan.

 

In this regard, Al-Sudais called upon the mass media to be God-conscious and fear Allah especially during the month of fasting. He urged them to repulse the tendentious media campaigns against Islam, its Prophet (peace be upon him), its Book, and its countries and men. Sheikh Al-Sudais called upon parents to be conscious about their children in their education and upbringing. They should clear their minds of defeatism, blindly following others and being affected by foreign ideologies and conduct.

 

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hussein Aal Al-Sheikh, Imam and Khateeb of the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah spoke about the merits of Ramadan .

 

In his Friday sermon at the Prophet's Mosque, the Imam said during this month the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained. In this month, there is one night that is better than a thousand months. He urged Muslims to do good deeds like supplicating to Allah, reciting the Holy Qur'an, giving alms and Zakat, performing the night prayers, and similar other good deeds to win Allah's reward throughout Ramadan and particularly in the Night of Power.

 

He said there are lessons to be learnt in Ramadan like getting used to the habit of performing night prayers (Qiyam Al-Lail), supplicating to Allah and keeping oneself busy at all times. Sheikh Aal Al-Sheikh said we must make this month the starting point for adhering firmly to night prayers so that we win Allah's favors.

 

 

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4790 From: "DDN" <dominedirigenos@...>
Date: Tue Oct 3, 2006 7:37 pm
Subject: Makkah - not Mecca 		nam_pik
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Wa`Alaykumussalaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu,
 
Dear Sister,
 
I pray you and your family are all well by the grace of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala.
 
With reference to your communiqué:
 
 Quote - : DEAR FRIENDS...........
for ur info most of us use the spelling MAKKAH as MECCA.The Word MECCA means SHARAB KHANA or prostitute centre(pusat pelacuran) this is modified by ISLAM's enemies... It's a huge plan, be careful write MAKKAH don't write MECCA please... Please forward this by every means of communication to each and every Muslim brother >. - unquote.

For most anglophones, Mecca has long been the accepted spelling for the Holy City. The word is a transliteration of the original Arabic, and has become part of the English language.

The word Mecca now refers to more than just the geographical location (i.e. not only the Holy City in Saudi Arabia) , and is used to describe any center of activity sought or converged upon by a group of people with a common interest. Las Vegas, for example, is sometimes described as 'the Mecca of gambling,' and 'Mecca Bingo' a division of  The Rank Group Plc., which Muslims find these out-of-context uses very offensive.

Mecca is also used in the names of the following:

  • Mecca, California, a town in Riverside County, California,  USA.
  • Mecca, Indiana, a town in Parke County, Indiana, USA.
  • Mecca-Cola a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage[1]
However, in an effort to distinguish between the metaphorical and official references to the holy site, the Saudi Arabian government in the 1980s began promoting a new transliteration, 'Makkah al-Mukarramah' ( مكة المكرمة), which is closer to the original Arabic. While this new usage has been officially adopted by the U.S. Department of State (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm), its spread is still incipient among anglophones at large (i.e. it is not part of the active vocabulary of English-speakers.)
 
In Arabic the word for 'prostitute house' is Bayt ul Iqhaab. Those who forwarded this statement should be asked to provide evidence that the word "SHARAB KHANA" means "prostitute centre" in Arabic or Bahasa Kebangsaan (Malay)." I don't think they can - because, as stated in the following dictionary word search - "SHARAB KHANA" is simply one of many words which stands for "Bar" in Urdu.
 
 
 
Translation of SHARAB KHANA Displaying translations 1 to 1 of 1 |
 
 English Urdu Script Roman Urdu
 Bar
sharab khana
 

 
 Bar
 salakh
 Bar rukaawat
 Bar katehra
 Bar sharab khana
 Bar wukla ki jamat
 Bar rokna

Muslims  should be mindful that by transmitting this concocted story,  they may find themselves falling foul to the wicked designs of the enemies of Islam. Please share my response with our brothers and sisters in Islam so that they will know the truth and desist forwarding this untruthful story, in shaa`Allaah.
 
The following is an excerpt from an article entitled: "Verification" http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/istiqaamah/nov1996_d.htm:

Quote:

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (hafidahullaah) relates: "Allaah - the Majestic, the Most High - orders us to verify any news that reaches us concerning a group or party from amongst the Muslims, when an evil news reaches us which necessitates fighting or opposing this group. Allaah - the Mighty, the Most High - orders us not be hasty and rush into this affair, until we have verified the matter. Allaah - the Most Perfect - says:

"O you who believe! When a wicked person comes to you with some news, ascertain and verify it, lest you harm someone in ignorance and then afterwards regret for what you have done." (al-Hujuraat 49:6)

Meaning: If some news reaches you about a group or party from amongst the people, concerning an action that they have done and which deserves to be fought against, then do not be hasty about the matter, nor announce war against them, nor attack them - until you have verified the authenticity of the report." (Wujoobut-Tathbbat fil-Akhbaari wa Ihtiraamil-'Ulemaa, pp. 22-23)

Imaam Muslim related in the introduction to his Saheeh (no.5):

Aboo Hurayrah (radiyallaahu`anhu) states that the Prophet, Sall Allaahu `alayhi wa sallam said: ‘"It is enough to render a man a liar that he relates everything he hears."

Shaykh ’Alee Hasan al-Halabee (hafidahullaah) said:

‘‘The daa’ee (caller) must be careful in everything, particularly in regards to what he hears from people, or what he reads in books.  So it is an obligation upon him to check and verify everything which reaches his ears or eyes, before spreading it and circulating it amongst the people.  His carefulness will be increased with regards to two cases:
 
Firstly: When what is being conveyed to him is connected to the Religion and the Sharee’ah, such as something being quoted as a hadeeth, or a fiqh ruling, and its like. 
 
Secondly: If someone reports something bad about a person, or an evil word from someone.  He must check its correctness, carefully find out the reality and what is correct, and not hasten to transmit it and add it to the stream of news!’’ (Source: Arba’oon Hadeethan fid-Da’wah wad-Du’aat p. 63) - unquote.
 
In closing, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala tells us: "And do not follow (blindly) any information of which you have no direct knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception, you must verify it for yourself). In the Court of your Lord, you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning." (Al Israa 17:36 - interpretation of the meaning)
 
I have attached two (2) articles below  explaining the incorrect usuage of the name 'Mecca' for the West's un-Islamic enterprises. There was no mention that 'Mecca' means "prostitute center" - if it were true that it stood for "prostitute center"  do you think the West would use it to represent their enterprises?
 
In shaa`Allaah, the above information helps. 
 
Fee Amaanillaah,
Your sister,
K a r i m a
__________________________
 
[1] Mecca-Cola was launched in France, in November 2002, by entrepreneur Tawfik Mathlouthi, as a means of aiding Palestinians by tapping into demand for alternative products in European countries. He had been inspired by a similar Iranian product, Zam Zam Cola, which was already successful in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and in fact only decided to launch his own brand when he was unable to agree on terms for a distribution contract with Zam Zam. Mecca-Cola in turn inspired the creation of Qibla Cola in the United Kingdom.

 

MAKKAH - NOT "MECCA"

It is increasingly being observed with a degree of concern that all kinds of businesses are (mis-) using the name "Mecca". "Motor-Mecca", "The Mecca Group", etc.

It should be respectfully pointed out to such persons that the use of the word "Mecca" to name their businesses is regarded as offensive to Muslims. A billion and a half Muslims, the world over, hold this holy city in the highest regard and veneration. To desecrate the name of this holy city by abusing it in this fashion is not acceptable.

Protests

On an international level, Muslims are offended by this practice. Recently, The British Rank Corporation which owns a chain of gambling and entertainment shops under the name of "Mecca", removed the name from its shop fronts as a result of protests from British Muslims. Muslims of Luton in the UK had protested against the defamatory use of the name of this holy city.

It must be noted, that Saudi Arabia had officially changed the spelling of the name of this city to "Makkah" a few years ago due to the derogatory usage of the word by the Western media and Western authors.

In most cases it is done out of ignorance, not deliberately. If pointed out politely but firmly, most companies respond favourably by changing the name.

Muslims should also be encouraged to adopt the proper spelling of Makkah, rather than the old, incorrect "mecca" version. Madinah should rather be spelt as Madinah rather than being spelt as "medina". Principals and educators of educational institutions such as Madrasahs, Islamic Schools, academies, Muslim writers, authors, researchers, scholars are to be encouraged to use the correct spelling.

Muslims have a duty to be vigilant and decisive in acting against anything that may be deemed sacrilegious, blasphemous or disrespectful to Islam or Muslims all over the world. Every town, city, province, country should have a dedicated and committed group of people to fulfil this important "watch-dog" role for the sake of the Ummah and Islam.

Mufti Zubair Bayat

AL-JAMIAT VOL3 NO.10

http://www.albalagh.net/food_for_thought/Makkah.shtml

Makkah -- not "Mecca"

By Abu Atiyyah, South Africa

The holiest city for the Muslims is Makkah-tul-Mukarramah. It is not "Mecca". Saudi Arabia had officially changed the spelling of the name of this city to "Makkah" a few years ago after realizing the derogatory usage of the word by the Western media and Western authors. And that is the way it should be. We do not like it if our own name is misspelled or mispronounced. How can we then allow it when the same is done to any of our most important icons?

Unfortunately many people, even some Muslims are still careless about it. It is increasingly being observed with a degree of concern that all kinds of businesses are (mis-)using the name "Mecca". "Motor-Mecca", "The Mecca Group", etc. It should be respectfully pointed out to such persons that the usage of the word "Mecca" to name their businesses is offensive. A billion and a half Muslims the world over, hold this holy city in the highest regard and veneration. To desecrate the name of this holy city by abusing it in this fashion is not acceptable.

Recently, The British Rank Corporation, which owns a chain of gambling and entertainment shops under the name of "Mecca", removed the name from its shop fronts as a result of protests from British Muslims. Muslims of Luton in the UK had protested against the defamatory use of the name of this holy city.

In most cases it is done out of ignorance, not deliberately. If pointed out politely but firmly, most companies respond favorably by changing the name.

Muslims should also be encouraged to adopt the proper spelling of Makkah, rather than the old, incorrect "mecca" version. Madinah should rather be spelled as Madinah than being spelled as "medina". Principals and educators of educational institutions such as Madrasahs, Islamic Schools, academies, Muslim writers, authors, researchers, scholars are to be encouraged to use the correct spelling.

Muslims have a duty to be vigilant and decisive in acting against anything that may be deemed sacrilegious, blasphemous or disrespectful to Islam or Muslims, all over the world. Every town, city, province, country should have a dedicated and committed group of people to fulfil this important "watch-dog" role for the sake of the Ummah and Islam.

Last modified: 99/04/23

 
----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxxxxx
To: DDN
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 8:53 AM
Subject: Fw: Makkah - not Mecca

Dear Sister Karima,
 
Assalamu alaiki,
 
Need your opinion on the following email.
 
Ramadhan Mubarruk.
 
Wassalam,
Sis M
 
----------------------------------
 
Subject: Makkah - not Mecca
Assalamualaikum...

DEAR FRIENDS...........
for ur info most of us use the spelling MAKKAH as MECCA.The Word MECCA
means SHARAB KHANA or prostitute centre(pusat pelacuran) this is modified
by ISLAM's enemies... It's a huge plan, be careful write MAKKAH don't write
MECCA please... Please forward this by every means of communication to each
and every Muslim brother >

wallahu "alam

>>unity in diversity<<<

Asst. Prof. Dr. xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx 
Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 


Reply | Messages in this Topic (2)
#4791 From: "G.Waleed Kavalec" <kavalec@...>
Date: Wed Oct 4, 2006 3:10 am
Subject: It couldn't happen to a nicer Pope 		gkavalec
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BBC Links Pope to Child Sex Cover-Up


LONDON, Oct. 1--A BBC documentary has implicated Pope Benedict XVI in the systematic cover-up of child sex abuse allegations against Catholic priests.

According to the Panorama program, aired by the BBC, the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger enforced a "secret Vatican decree which seemed to shelter the perpetrators and silence the victims of abuse".

The document, written in 1962 and called Crimen Sollicitationis, imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witness.

Breaking that oath would result in excommunication, the BBC said.

The procedure was intended to protect a priest's reputation until the Church had investigated, but in practice it can offer a blueprint for cover-up, the documentary said.

The man in charge of enforcing it for 20 years was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man made Pope last year, reporter Colm O'Gorman said in the program Sex Crimes and the Vatican.

Father Tom Doyle told the BBC that Crimen was "an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child sexual abuse by the clergy, to punish those who would call attention to these crimes by the churchmen".

Doyle was a canon solicitor sacked by the Vatican after criticizing its handling of child abuse claims.

The existence of the document is not new. It first surfaced publicly in 2003, when it was widely reported in the US media.

US lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse by priests at the time used it in law suits against some American dioceses.

The US scandal, in which priests known to have abused minors were transferred from parish to parish instead of being sacked, was centered in Boston.

The scandal led to the resignation of the city's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, in December 2002.

The BBC program provoked a furious attack by Roman Catholic bishops in England and Wales on the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, central England, said the BBC should be ashamed of the standard of the journalism used to create this unwarranted attack on Pope Benedict XVI.

He also accused the BBC of "a deeply prejudiced attack on a revered world religious leader".

The public broadcaster defended its documentary.

"The protection of children is clearly an issue of the strongest public interest," it said in a statement, responding to the bishops' criticism.

"The BBC stands by tonight's Panorama program, and invites viewers to make up their own minds once they've seen it."


--

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4792 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Wed Oct 4, 2006 8:13 am
Subject: Ramadan in Nicaragua & Dominican Republic 		mail2shahid@...
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Ramadan in Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

 

 

 

 

In Nicaragua, approximately 300 Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Libyan and Nigerian citizens, as well as Nicaraguans; all faithful Muslims, celebrate the month of the Ramadan. In 1999, Muslims established a mosque in Cuidad Jardin. Ahmed Hajjami, a Muslim who has resided in Nicaragua for 6 years, assured us that approximately 300 faithful Muslims, celebrate Ramadan in Nicaragua.

 

"We begin at half past five in the morning. There isn't any difference in complying with Ramadan in Nicaragua or any other part of the world," he said.

 

Nevertheless, he emphasized that given the characteristics of Nicaragua, it is more difficult to carry out Ramadan's obligations. "One of the main obstacles is the time to pray, on some occasions we only pray in the morning and at night, it is almost impossible to pray the other three times," he explained.   For Muslims in Nicaragua, the renewal of faith during this period is the main celebration. Ramadan is not a month of penitence by fasting, but of festivals with banquets, gifts and new clothes .

 
 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

 _._,_.___


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4793 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Wed Oct 4, 2006 8:11 am
Subject: Ramadan in China 		mail2shahid@...
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Ramadan in China

 

 

 


For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.    

 

Li Xan is a Chinese student who studies engineering at the Universidad Del Desarrollo in Chile. He has been living with his father in Chile for 3 years now. However, he remembers how his family used to celebrate Ramadan in China. "During Ramadan, my father would get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and an hour later he'd arrive at the Mosque of Niujie, in the center of Beijing, just in time for the dawn prayer."

 

For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.

 

"Every day in Ramadan, we attended all the five prayers at the mosque. My father's friends understood our commitment, and when he was occupied with a lot of work they would help him to do it so that he could be punctual for prayers," Li explained.

 

Li is among more than 20 million Chinese Muslims that live by Ramadan's obligations, continuing strictly the Islamic doctrines, praying five times a day in mosques and abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

 

According to the Islamic Association of China, Chinese Muslims have convenient access to prayer services as there are more than 34,000 mosques throughout the country.

 

"Since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the rights and religious liberty of the Muslims have been protected by the constitution and the law," he states.

 

The Niujie Mosque, built in 996, and that of Dongsi, 500 years old, are the two most famous mosques in the capital. The Niujie Mosque is an important center for Islamic Studies and operates a Qur'an school. During the last five decades years, the government has assigned special funds for the repair of these buildings because of their historical importance.

 

Beijing has over 900 Muslim restaurants and food stores. Some supermarkets sell food especially for followers of Islam. "Thanks to the social stability and the fast economic growth of the country, Chinese Muslims enjoy a peaceful Ramadan. Many Muslims share traditional food with their neighbors, and distribute gifts to poorer Muslims," noted Hang Xian a 61-year-old Chinese Muslim trader.

 

Wherever you are, Ramadan is undoubtedly a most special month.

 
 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

 _._,_.___


Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)
#4794 From: "Shahid Khan" <mail2shahid@...>
Date: Wed Oct 4, 2006 9:10 am
Subject: Ramadan in Spain 		mail2shahid@...
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Ramadan in Spain

 

 

 

 

In Spain an Agreement of Cooperation between the Spanish State and the Islamic Commission of Spain was established in 1992 and approved as Law 26/1992. The law affirms in article 12.1 that: "Members of the Islamic Communities belonging to the Islamic Commission of Spain who desire, will be able to request the interruption of their work on Friday of each week, from 1 P.M. to 4.20 P.M., as well as finishing work one hour before sunset, during the month of Ramadan".

 

The celebration of Ramadan acquires a special importance in all Spanish cities — like Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia — where numerous Muslim communities reside. Muslims get together to break their fast and they organize social meetings in the mosques. Amin Villoch, a Spanish Muslim, illustrates this: "The first day of Ramadan more than 9,000 Muslims gather at the mosques in Madrid to celebrate the breaking of the fast. Ramadan is an important factor in reuniting the community. The Islamic Center of Madrid always prepares many activities during this month for them."

 

After the Maghrib prayers, the mosque becomes a place of festivity. Everyone eats harrisa (an oriental sweet) and dates; Ramadan treats which no Muslim house lacks. "Women spend all day preparing typical food to offer to their relatives and friends whom they meet at the mosque," explains Amira Masaad. "The first day of Ramadan is a special day. Although, it's difficult being far away from my family, the mosque organizes events and activities to bring the Muslim community in Spain together."

 

Other activities that Spanish mosques organize during Ramadan include Arabic classes, Islamic culture classes and Qur'an and Hadith discussions.

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled from various sources.

 

Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on

Internet sites and to publish in full text and subject title in not-for-profit publications.

 

Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of the Qur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its original Arabic form.

 

 

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