“this is my way”

The Divine Book

2009-11-17T05:46:00.000-08:00

A documentary series from WakeUpProject...

"This series will present divine proof from our creator, it will uncover shocking truths, as well as attempt to provide light, wisdom, guidance, and unity for those who seek it."

Recommended Websites

2009-05-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum wrh.
Peace be upon you...

To all my brothers and sisters out there who would like to know more about Islam and the Muslim society in Japan, i recommend you to check out these websites:

[articles & info]

islamawareness.net

guide to Islam

日本ムスリム情報事務所

イスラームのホームページ

[mosque]

mosques in Japan

[quran-jpn]

Quran in Japanese translation

[organizations]

Islamic organizations in Japan

Islamic Circle of Japan

Muslim Students Association of Japan

Islamic Center

Islamic Trust Japan

(Japanese)

日本ムスリム協会

日本イスラーム文化センター

イスラミック・センター

(Malay)

Aspiring Malaysian Rijal

Ikatan Persaudaraan Islam Jepun

Allaha'lam

Japan and Islam

2009-03-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

written by Hajji Mustafa Fujio Komura
photos by Saizensen

(1) Religious concept of Japanese people in present day

As being well known, Japanese Shinto since the ancient time and Buddhism that had been transferred from India, China and Korea thousand and a few hundred years ago had been widely spread among Japanese people who had earnestly worshiped both. In the middle age, Christianity was brought by missionaries from Europe to Kyushu or West Japan, however, the Tokugawa government (17th AC - 1868) banned it in those days. Later the Meiji Government (1868 - 1912) admitted the freedom of religion and allowed Christianity to spread again.

After Japan's defeat of the World War II in 1945, the worship toward Shinto which had been the spiritual pillar of the nation was rapidly declined. Buddhism also isolated from the real world because its doctrine was too deep and difficult. It used to emphasize only formal or ideological sermons such as funeral, ancestor service, Bon, equinoctial week, etc.

Under these circumstances and the age of spiritual vacuum, many new waves of religion erupted to preach doctrines which people can easily understand, are attached with daily life, and fill the vacuum of their mind. One of them got so much popular and is rapidly expanding to enter into the field of political renovation movements through its religious activities.

What happened with Islam which is the topic of this paper? Generally speaking, most of Japanese have been indifferent, ignorant, or not interested in Islam. Going back to history, some pioneers have broken ground of Islam in the middle of the Meiji period, i.e. about 90 years ago. However, since their preaching power was week only a limited number of people worshiped.

After the outbreak of the China-Japan incident and the Greater East Asia War, it was discovered that a few hundreds of million Muslims resided in many areas of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, which aroused the interest in Islam by some scholars. As a result, some people converted to Islam and a number of Islamic books which had never seen before started appearing on store selves. Nevertheless, the light of Islam had been put off due to the defeat in the war which caused shortage in food, clothe, or accommodation and made people occupied only with daily necessities and worldly matters.

Since 1955, missionaries of Tabliq from Pakistan started visiting Japan every year to preach Islam all over Japan. At the end of 1973, the first Oil Shock erupted and threatened the daily life of people. They realized that the oil which is indispensable for our daily life was produced by Islamic nations in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia. Then people suddenly showed the strong interest in Islam.

Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, Dr. Saleh Samarrai who had studied in Japan since 1960, came back to Japan to establish the present Islamic Center, Japan and initiated the systematic Islamic Dawah activities. This was an innovative incident in the history of Islam in Japan. It is no exaggeration to say that this became the driving force for various movements which made the Japanese Islamic circle recognized among Japanese people. Of course, the read ahead is much far, there are still many commitments which the Islamic Center, Japan has to fulfill.

(2) How do Japanese people consider Islam?

How do Japanese people accept and recognize Islam, a foreign religion, which has been comparatively recently introduced to Japan? It is sad to say that until recently, 90% of Japanese people used to misunderstand that Islam, a barbaric, aggressive and inferior religion, came from barren deserts of Arabia. First of all, polygamy, prohibiting alcohol, pork and so on. Also once a year, they have to fast for one month. Preconceived ideas that Islam is extremely strict in commandments or rules, clag into brains of Japanese people. This stereo type preoccupied people's minds.

Especially, the polygamy which has been repeatedly used as a means of attack for the anti-Islamic propaganda, is often taken as ithyphallic as if Islam allows or promotes polygamy. In fact, this needs the clear explanation and remarks, which I will describe in another section and skip here.

Above all, briefly saying, Islam may generally give an impression that its commandments are strict with the complicated rules and rituals. Therefore, most of people shrink back at its entrance, back away from it or avoid it. It is so-call disliking without trying. It would be equal to the proverb that "wait for a hundred years until Yellow River gets clean" (the river is always dirty not to get clean for ever).

These misunderstanding or falsification were somehow brought back by those students who had been dispatched to learn the advanced culture of Western nations , later had accepted Christianity, and had been brainwashed ideologically. Even after they returned to Japan after their study, they were misguided by Christians to believe that Islam was a barbaric or vulgar religion. In fact these brilliant elites wrote many textbooks and books to be spread widely.

This is the reality of the prejudice carried since the beginning of the Meiji Era to the present time in Japan. It was been the general tendency apart from a few exceptions.

The second reason for prejudice is that most of nations in Middle East, Asia and Africa had been colonized by the Western Powers and subordinated under their control. The majority of them left themselves to the exploitation of the Western nations or were not fully independent. Therefore, other nations jumped into conclusion that the religion, that was worshiped (修正: practiced) by those underdeveloped people who were culturally or economically inferior, must be an uncivilized and vulgar religion. They despised and fooled Islam from the beginning. In other words, They concluded that since the Christian civilization is superior to the Islamic civilization the former religion was also much superior to the latter religion.

It is one of the major reasons that they could not spiritually afford to contemplate about Islam calmly or deeply. This unfavorable trend has been corrected along with the change and progress of the objective time and the aspersion or slander has been dwarfed, however, it would take still a long time for people except a few number of believers to respect it as one of the three major religions in the world.

Briefly saying, in the sage of Heise started from 1989, while there are not many people as those who used to look down on Islam immediately after they heard about Islam in those days of Meiji, Taisho, and Showa (1868 ~ 1989), there are not many people in total who proactively embrace Islam. Since it would need a certain amount of pages to explain, I will do in another occasion. While scholars or researchers are increasing, it seems that, they may hesitate to enter Islam due to the feeling of distance in order to follow and adjust to the way of Islam as a perfect Muslim.

(3) What is Islam?

What kind of religion is Islam? Islamic Center, Japan has published a lot of introduction textbooks or practical manuals that are easily understood by beginners. I recommend you to read them.

Islam is generally translated into 'peace' or 'chastity', however, they are not enough to explain. In summary, it is based on the teaching to surrender to Allah, the only one God, obey Him and pray for peace. In rather hard saying, it teaches us the righteous way in the world and ethics of human life from every direction and field. While it may be obsolete to say, aside some part, it is strangely very much similar to the Imperial Rescripts on Education that people, irrespective of age or sex, used to recite before the end of the war. You, readers, may try to read and compare both for proof.

Leaving the profound and ultra-hyper doctrines such as difficult Islamic theologies or philosophies to specialists, scholars, or researchers, the revelation of the Qur'an, the Holy Book of Islam, teaches us how human beings should behave or the way of daily life, the guideline or direction and also the practical code of life which fits to the reality. It also shows how a society as well as individuals should deal with others, how to negotiate. These teachings of daily life by the religion that was initiated 1400 years ago, still goes for the modern times in which super advanced science and technology are being developed day and night, without any contradiction. Furthermore, the population of Muslims is increasing all over the world, which gives the clear evidence.

(4) What is anti-Islam? Or misunderstanding of Islam

In comparison with other religions like Christianity or Buddhism, there are many differences in Islam. The most distinctive character is that it does not worship Buddha or the cross. In short, Islam is not idol worshiping like other religions.

Then, what does Islam worship? In one word, we worship only Allah, who is only one and has been omnipresent in every space from the beginning of the world creation, whom we cannot see by our eyes (it is called Gaybu in Islam ) , and who is omnipotent, and we also follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, a messenger of God, and believe him as a prophet of God. On the contrary, it is against the teaching of Islam to worship someone or something but Allah.

As I mentioned above, unscrupulous people of Christian countries in the West, intentionally spread negative and distorted images of Islam which are far away from the true picture of Islam. Recently, many people realized its mistake by themselves, or were taught by others, however, a certain number of people still stubbornly despise or looked down Islam.

These people often mention the polygamy which I quoted in (2). They misunderstand in extreme cases that Islam officially admits it or rather promotes.

What about the fact? Some of learned people realized and corrected their mistake, however, they could have understood the reason if they studied the truth in the course of the history. When the teaching of Islam was enlightened to the Arab world, they often used to fight with pagans or different ethnic groups. They had rarely experienced peaceful times and suffered from wartime conditions. Therefore, many of men went to battlefields and also many of them died there. Their wives were left widows, suffered from earning bread and became badly off. When women lost their fiancé, only the way to save them was the protection by marriage because there were not social welfare systems or facilities as we see in present days. Islam puts the strict conditions that only the husband who can treat his wives equally without discrimination, physically and financially love, and take care of them are allowed. Therefore, ordinary people except riches or royal families did not have much to do with polygamy. In the present Islamic world, there are not many husbands who have plural wives. On the other hand, in the first stage of Islam, the polygamy was the effective and necessary means for people to increase the population as many as possible, as we did in Japan during the wartime with the slogan, "bring forth and increase".

What about in non-Islamic countries? Though they may keep monogamy on the surface, they give silent approval to keeping a mistress or a second wife. Japan is also not an exception. In this sense, Islamic countries are more fair and forward-looking.

All the misunderstandings have been carried by the people who were brainwashed by Western Christian countries during the Meiji Era. Once you understand the cause of the misunderstanding, it will melt way and ordinary people will understand clearly.

Also regarding Ramadan, it is not forced to anybody. Sick persons, travelers, pregnant women or children are exempt from fasting. They will resume once they clear their problems and fit themselves to fasting, for example, after travel or delivery, recovery from sickness. Islam does not force everybody to keep fasting.

Islam has flexible approach toward all aspects of life as well as fasting. The teaching is very flexible and comprehensive. Once you know Islam, you will easily understand its characters.

(5) Thoughts of ordinary Japanese and similarity with Islam

a. Cleanness

Japanese people called themselves as a clean nation and were proud of it from ancient times. Since we had abundant clean water in mountains and rivers and we have four seasons every year with genial climate, Japanese people naturally became the clean nation.

On other hand, most of Islamic countries are in barren deserts where trees do not grow or water is scant. Since their landscape is desolate, they always wash their body or keep clean themselves before prayer or after discharging urine or defecating. If water is not available, they may use clean sand. It has some sort of similarity with the ablution that Japanese people often clean their mouth and hands before entering and praying inside a Shinto shrine.

b. Honor and Faith

In general, Japanese people do respect honor and faith. Once we promise, we definitely fulfill. It would be a shame for them to break it.

It is also the same with Muslims. It is strictly prohibited in the Qur'an to break a promise. It is to be expected to carry out in any case once you promise. This is the teaching of Islam that is also common with Japanese.

c. Manners

We are also similar in respecting manners. Japanese people emphasize courtesy and principle. If someone does not follow, others will not care him.

How about Islam? The revealed Holy Qur'an teaches the guideline and principle of Muslim's daily life which are given in details, for example, how to visit friends, how to walk on the road, etc. If you enter into a room or climb stairs, you have to send elders forward. Start from the right sleeve and then the left sleeve when you put on the cloth, or start from the right foot when you stand up to walk, since it is considered that the right hand is clean and the left hand is unclean.

d. Salvation and charity

While Japanese people used to consider from the ancient time that it was a virtue to help and give charity to poor, weak, or underprivileged people, Muslims are more positive and practical.

Why are they so? Many verses of the Qur'an emphasize the spirit of mercy and salvation, and positively promote its practice.

One of the five pillars of Islam which are the basic duties of Muslim, is zakat, charity. It is quite clear from the fact that Zakat is indispensable in Islam.

e. Braveness

The Japanese race has been brave since the ancient time. People stopped saying something brave or gallant on the face, because it may cause unnecessary misunderstanding or dispute since the wartime militarism had been thoroughly removed and eliminated on the declaration of the Peace Constitution after the World War Second.

Nevertheless, I have to state that the true courage should not be violent, aggressive, threatening barbarism. It should be the true courage to follow justice and the golden road of the universe.

Though many Muslim nations have experienced rise and fall from ancient times, all of them followed the spirit of Islam with bravery, especially the first one hundred years in the beginning of Islam were the most paramount. That was why the great teaching of the emerging Islam had rapidly spread in the region of meniscus shape centered by Arab in a short time. If it had been done by brute courage, territorial ambition or materialistic lust, Islam would not have expanded so much that there are one billion believers as one of the three biggest religions in the world.

Similarities between both are countless, and we find so many similar aspects that I will not list in this paper.

(6) Why Japanese people should accept Islam?

a. For Japanese people who unnecessarily flow to flippancy and luxury

All material and immaterial assets were destroyed and lost when Japan lost the World War II. The damage was tremendous to the extent that the nation was on the verge of ruin at a certain stage.

However, standing up from this serious crisis of turmoil and apathy, one hundred million Japanese people worked so hard day and night as one nation that they could overcome every kind of troubles. Within 10 years after the defeat, they promoted a number of reconstruction projects and within 20 years they could reach the pre-war level. Later Japan outstripped it with astonishing speed every year and nowadays, Japan distinguished herself in the world in every field of politics, economy, culture, academic study, etc. Japan, that people though was almost disable to recover, became one of the largest powers in the world.

Therefore, the national life became very rich, which people could never image during or soon after the war. They get used to luxury, consumed goods unnecessarily without considering abuse, and they do not care the fact they put on warm cloths, take abundant and tasty foods in daily life.

People's vainglory is puffed up with the materialistic ideas that people believe they can get everything only with money and never have the thankfulness to God, the Creator of the Universe.

The people who depend on money and materials in daily life, would get confused or lost when they encounter a natural disaster or unexpected accident or incident while they feel no problem in a peaceful time or their conditions or environments are stable. It is because they have not cultivated patient, strong and sturdy mentality. As a result, they are equal to weakly children mentally and physically. Affluent materials and rich foods have negative effects to wreck the nation for both mind and body. It is somehow a bitter phenomenon.

In these situations, there is the best and most effective medicine, that is Islam. The best way is to follow and practice the Teachings and Spirit of Islam.

Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has been a barren desert since the ancient time and Islam was born and has been grown from the harsh and hard natural environment. That is why Islam teaches the very positive way of life, to encourage simple and sturdy life, face difficulties resolutely and preserve against poverty.

For example, fasting, one of the five pillars of Islam, represents its model. It is nowadays well known by nonbelievers as Ramadan of Islam. In fact, Muslim may practice it whenever he or she decides to do it for a day. They really feel the importance of food and realize the gratefulness to Allah who provide.

If you keep on training yourselves in daily life, you will be able to withstand starvation, hunger or thirst and will not feel any pain. They will not give up so easily like people who have indulged in luxurious life. They have patience, resolution not to bend their necks to difficulties. They will never complain, get exhausted nor have any negative thoughts.

From these aspects, young people, who have been brought up after the war, especially should accept the Muslim's way of life that practice the teachings of Islam based on the simple life and thrift and they should welcome and learn its teachings.

b. Friendship based on the spirit of Islam

In Japan nowadays, there are many people or organizations that promote friendship wit Asian, Arab or African countries, or start positive actions based on the slogan "Friendship with Asian, Arab and African countries". For example, they accept, take care of , or support foreign students and trainees.

Of course, there are several associations or organizations which produce some results. However, in fact, there are comparatively many of them which show just shadow play for the sake of formality.

Under these circumstances of international exchanges, though some of Japanese people may do something with good intention, they may often cause negative effects to receive a backlash from a counterpart just because of their ignorance about its custom and tradition. Even if they may understand custom, tradition, or language to some extend, we should be very careful not to conflict with the teachings and commandments of Islam to get along with Muslims.

One of the best way is to learn the way of Islam, the teaching of Allah for him or her in order to become Muslim, and contact and communicate with Muslims from Islamic countries. By doing so, you will be sincerely dedicated to establish the true friendship and mutual understanding which will be able to strike the right cord of people's hearts. This will be able to achieve the true and close friendship. It will be the true and real friendship with those countries if this is realized. People will conclude that it will be the nearest way though it looks an indirect and long way, to understand and embrace Islam in order to go along with and promote friendship with one billion of Muslims who reside in Asia, Africa and Arab nations.

The statement above had been given to me by Hajji Omar Mita, my former mentor who passed way a decade age, during his life. Mr. Omar Mita used to mention that we would be proud of ourselves that Japanese people are the most excellent nation in fame and reality, if we live based on the spirit of simple, strong, sturdy life, i.e. if we accept the spirit of Islam and apply to the real life, which would bring the strength of Samson. His words are very much rational and appropriate. In fact, he used to deplore that most of the people who have been brought up after the war, have poor-spirit with gallon head. We should fairly admit the reality.

In brief, the friendship and diplomacy should be led not only by technology, economy or culture but also spiritual communication which go deep into the bottom of hearts, i.e. we should understand what the spirit of Islam and respect it, which will be the real and best friendship.

(7) Conclusion

Looking back the pre-war Japan, thought people used to consolidate into the unit under the spiritual pillar of the Emperor as the central core, based on the loyalty and patriotism, this spiritual structure was totally collapsed by the defeat of the World War II, and they started emphasizing westernization under the banners of democracy and freedom.

Many of pre-war bad habits and obstacles were removed, however, our unique Japanese traditional virtues were also demolished under the name of old-fashion. All the morals have been fallen away. As a result, many flippant and gooey Japanese who lost healthy spines increased in these days, which is a really sorry state for us.

At present, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently announced that though the height and physics of Japanese youth apparently improved quite well, their chest size became narrower and their physical strength is getting much less than those in the pre-war period. It is an interesting data in fact. One of the specialists clearly pointed out that the major reason is that people go for delicious cuisine in daily meals and, on the contrary, they do not exercise much for training.

With in a decade, Japan would have only top-heavy, fragile people without soul as mentioned above. We already witness these signs unfortunately. What shall we do to solve the situation? There are many countermeasures to be taken. The author believe that if we understand the spirit of Islam and grasp the quintessence of Islam, we will be automatically a physically and mentally strong nation and we will be welcome by one billion Muslim spreading all over the Asia, Arab and African continents, as their true and heartfelt friends. It would be best for both worlds.

Some of historians foresee that, in the forthcoming century, the Western materialistic civilization will start decline and the age of Muslim will arrive with the renovation of a new Islamic civilization, a successor of the Saracen civilization that has been declined for hundred years.

We Japanese people should not see matters through shortsighted and narrow views. Rather we should open our eyes toward the coming new century to encourage ourselves for further development. For that sake, lets start learning what Islam is.

Islam in brief

2009-03-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

a very comprehensive video introducing ISLAM with japanese subtitles..

Women In Islam: Beyond the Stereotypes

2009-03-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

by: World Assembly Of Muslim Youth (WAMY)

............

What comes to your mind when you think of a Muslim woman? A mysterious, veiled victim of male oppression, awaiting Western liberation? A slogan-shouting terrorist? An uneducated foreigner with whom you have little or nothing in common? Unless your social circle includes Muslim friends and acquaintances, the chances are that your impressions of Muslim women have largely been formed by negative media stereotypes - images that usually have little to do with real life, and may have been designed to attract more viewers, sell more products, or gain support for someone's political agenda.

How much do you really know about Muslim women's lives or views, and why does it matter? Well, for one thing, Muslims account for 20-25% of the people on this planet, and Islam has become the second main religion in Europe. But did you know that the majority of European and American converts to Islam are women - not men? Would it surprise you to learn that many women in the Muslim world feel sorry for Western women and view them as being victimised? Have you ever stopped to consider why Muslim women who immigrate to the West usually maintain their identity and strive to pass it on to their children? A thinking person may well ask, if Islam is as oppressive to women as some journalists would have us believe, why aren't Muslim women running away in droves? What it is about Islam that attracts any followers outside its heartlands?

In this brochure we aim to look beyond sensationalistic or alarmist stories to take a glimpse at what Islam has to offer educated women in today's world, and understand why so many (men and) women of every race, colour, and social class have made Islam their choice. The truth, like real life, is beyond propaganda and stereotypes.

The Islamic view of women

First of all, women are portrayed positively in the Qur'an and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). The Qur'an is the only book of world Scripture in which women are frequently referred to alongside men, and both are described as being friends and partners in faith. The following verses are just a few notable examples:

The believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another; they promote the right and forbid the wrong, establish prayer, pay the poor-due, and they obey God and His messenger. As for these, God will have mercy on them. Surely God is Mighty, Wise. God has promised to believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the good pleasure of God: that is the supreme felicity. (Qur'an 9:71-72)

Surely for men who surrender to God, and women who surrender
and men who believe and women who believe;
and men who obey and women who obey;
and men who speak the truth and women who speak the truth;
and men who persevere (in righteousness)
and women who persevere;
and men who are humble and women who are humble;
and men who give alms and women who give alms;
and men who fast and women who fast;
and men who guard their modesty and women who guard
(their modesty);and men who remember Allah much and women who remember - Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward. (Qur'an 33:35)

There is no question in Islam of men and women being at odds with one another, engaged in some kind of historical struggle for power. Rather, the roles of both are complementary and essential. The Qur'an states:

O mankind! Be mindful of your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single being, and from it created its mate, and from the two of them has scattered countless men and women (throughout the earth). Fear God, in Whose (Name) you demand your rights of one another, and (be mindful of your duty) towards the wombs that bore you. God is ever Watching over you. (Qur'an 4:1)

Do not long for the favours by which God has made some of you excel others. Men shall have a share of what they have earned, and women shall have a share of what they have earned. (Do not envy each other) but ask God to give you of His bounty. God has knowledge of all things. (Qur'an 4:31-32)

The Prophet Muhammad augmented the revelations he received with further teachings and his wonderful personal example, which made him beloved by family and followers alike. He forbade violence against women, and preached against all forms of abuse of power. He warned that both men and women would be held accountable by God for those in their care or under their authority, and said:

Let no Muslim man entertain any bad feeling against a Muslim woman. If he should dislike one quality in her, he will find another that is pleasing.

The best of believers are those who are best to their wives and families.

The position of women in other religions

While these teachings may not seem very remarkable today, they were revolutionary at the time they were revealed, for Arabs and non-Arabs alike. While Muslim sons were being taught that Paradise lay at their mothers' feet, women in Confucian China were told to obey their fathers, then their husbands, and finally their sons after their husbands' death. Hindu women were declared to be unfit for independence, inherently weak, easily misled, sinful and unintelligent. In Buddhism, women were said to be the personification of evil. At the time, Jews and Christians believed women to be responsible for the downfall of the human race, and considered menstruation and childbirth to be the consequences of a Divine curse. One thousand years after Muhammad, in 1586, French Catholics were still debating whether or not women possessed souls! English Christians burned millions of women alive on the mere suspicion that they were witches. Married women in Europe did not gain the right to own property, obtain a divorce or enter into their own contracts until the 19th century. Not surprisingly, women who found such teachings unreasonable rebelled against them and fought for better treatment. Whereas other women have often had to pit themselves against the authority of a male priesthood, in Islam the dynamics of social change have been quite different.

Muhammad was greatly concerned with women's rights

The Prophet Muhammad was an extremely successful social reformer as well as spiritual and political leader, who championed the rights of the weak and oppressed. The Qur'anic verses referring to women had the effect of vastly improving the status and rights of women at the time they were revealed. Muslim women were granted the right to own, inherit and dispose of their own property as they saw fit; reject forced marriages; keep their own names and identities after marriage; initiate divorce; and obtain an education - back in the 7th century. In contrast to the dismal situation affecting many women in developing countries today, early Muslim women were noted for their learning and accomplishments. The Prophet declared, 'To seek knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim, male and female,' and his own wife Aisha was responsible for transmitting thousands of his sayings to later generations. Aisha was also renowned for her knowledge of poetry, medicine, and Islamic law, as well as her personal qualities of character and intelligence. When she led a battle after the Prophet's death, no one objected on the grounds that she was a woman. Many Muslim women in the medieval period enjoyed positions of respect as scholars and religious authorities. Therefore, Muslims seeking to improve the position of women in society have usually focused their efforts on getting men (and women) to practice Islam, rather than trying to 'reform' it, as happened with other religions. The main obstacles to Muslim women achieving the rights guaranteed to them, then and now, have been persistent un-Islamic cultural traditions (usually dating to the period before people accepted Islam in a given locality), inadequate religious education, and the bad side of human nature.

Women's roles, rights and obligations

Spiritual status
As shown in the Qur'anic verses above, women are considered to be the spiritual equals of men, and they have the same religious duties. This is all the more important when we consider that the main goal of a Muslim is to serve God, and that this world is regarded as no more than a testing-grounds to prepare oneself for eternal life after death. Therefore, worldly accomplishments, fame, wealth and power simply do not have the same attraction for a Muslim, whose main focus is on the Next World. The Qur'an repeatedly draws our attention to the fact that the time we spend in this world is short and unpredictable, and what really counts is our character, how we treat others, and what we do with the blessings God has given us. In this context, home and family are of paramount importance, since stable families are essential to the rearing of well-adjusted children who will transmit their faith and values to the next generation. According to a well-known Arab proverb, 'The mother is a school.'

Social roles
Islam supports the traditional division of labour whereby women assume the main responsibility for home while men are responsible for their financial support, but with an important difference: motherhood and homemaking, like a Muslim's inner life, are not considered to be less important or rewarding than a professional career. Indeed, motherhood is one of the most important professions, and competent mothers who can successfully run a warm and welcoming home, and raise a family of happy, confident and well-disciplined children are becoming increasingly harder to find. Muslim wives and mothers are granted the respect due to all women for the struggles and sacrifices they make for the sake of their families. Furthermore, Muslims consider it unfair to burden women with both the physical and emotional demands of motherhood and the professional demands of the workplace, which end up exhausting so many women and destroying family life for the sake of economic gain. Muslims often express sympathy for women in the West, who often suffer from sexual exploitation and abuse at home and in the workplace, while being unappreciated in their traditional roles. Western women who seek to be respected must often dress and behave like men, and are expected in practise to neglect their children's needs for the sake of their careers. In Islam, femininity is appreciated, and Muslim women may seek a higher education, work outside the home or volunteer their services to benefit the community as long as their primary responsibilities are taken care of. Any money that a Muslim woman earns is her own, to spend as she likes; men remain solely responsible for maintaining the family.

Islamic marriage
Although Muslim parents traditionally play an important role in arranging introductions and helping to choose marriage partners for their children, both husband and wife must freely agree to the marriage. The Prophet granted girls who had been forced into marriages against their will the right to have their marriages annulled.

The relationship between husband and wife in Islam is an interdependent one, based on love and tranquillity. The Qur'an says,

And of His signs is this: He created spouses for you from among yourselves that you might find comfort in them, and He put between you love and mercy. Surely there are signs in that for people who reflect. (Qur'an 30:21)

Both parents should strive to establish a stable, loving home and partnership. Major family decision-making should be through consultation and discussion. As the provider, the husband is expected to take the lead, as he is accountable to God for his care of the family. If no agreement can be reached, the wife should be supportive as long as her husband does not ask her to do anything that contravenes religious law. This works well as long as each spouse behaves maturely and treats the other with respect, kindness and consideration.

Codes of behaviour for women and men

In order to safeguard the moral integrity of family and society, Muslim men and women are expected to observe certain guidelines of behaviour that Westerners may find restrictive. Both sexes are expected to dress modestly in loose, non-transparent clothing and avoid situations that would put them alone with members of the opposite sex, or lead to temptation or misunderstandings. Muslim women additionally cover their hair, since women are ordinarily considered to be the more attractive of the sexes. These restrictions are not observed at home among close family members, but serve to protect women's honour in public and draw attention to their personal qualities rather than their looks. In Islam, the sexual urge is considered to be natural and desirable as long as it is confined to expression within marriage. However, Muslims are saddened by the rise in the vulgar exploitation of women and the human body for marketing purposes and pornography, which inevitably result in a cheapening of sexuality and the undermining of family and spiritual life.

Islam's appeal to today's woman

For women who enjoy being women and appreciate the differences (as well as the common ground) between the sexes, who would prefer to be respected for their intelligence and character rather than being chased after for their looks, and who would like to pursue personal and spiritual fulfilment at a human pace without having to neglect their families, Islam is a very appealing alternative.

A few words about polygamy…

Many people are aware that Muslim men are permitted to marry more than one wife. What is not generally known is that strict conditions of equal treatment in terms of time and money are imposed on men who do, or that women may stipulate in their marriage contracts that they have the right to divorce if their husbands take another wife. In reality, monogamy is the norm and polygamy the exception; it has never been common among Muslims except in areas where it was already practised, and it is seldom successful unless the first wife agrees. Islam did not introduce polygamy; in reality, some form of polygamy - whether with legal marriages, mistresses, prostitution or extra-marital affairs - occurs in every society. Rather, it allowed and regulated it in order to protect the women and children who might otherwise be taken advantage of. In certain cases, such as when the first wife is chronically (or mentally) ill or unable to bear children; when there are many widows and orphans due to war; or when a marriage has effectively broken down but the wife would prefer to remain married; open and legalised polygamy can be a workable second-best solution.

The Prophet Muhammad was married to his first wife, Khadijah, for 25 years, and he did not take other wives until after her death. His marriages to several widows and divorcees in later years were primarily contracted for political and humanitarian reasons, as was expected of a man in his position. His home life was characterised by love, consideration, kindness and respect.

Dialogue with an Atheist Professor

2009-01-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

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"Let me explain the problem science has with God.", The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

Professor: "You're a Muslim, aren't you, son?"

Student: "Yes, sir"

Professor: "So you believe in God?"

Student: "Absolutely"

Professor: "Is God good?"

Student: "Sure! God's good"

Professor: "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

Student: "Yes"

The professor grins knowingly and considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?"

Student: "Yes sir, I would"

Professor: "So you're good...!"

Student: "I wouldn't say that"

Professor: "Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could in fact most of us would if we could... God doesn't"

[No answer]

"He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Muslim who died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. How is this God good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

[No answer]

The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. "In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones"

"Let's start again, young fella"

Professor: "Is God good?"

Student: "Er... Yes"

Professor: "Is Satan good?"

Student: "No"

Professor: "Where does Satan come from?"

Student: "The student falters. From... God..."

Professor: "That's right. God made Satan, didn't He?"The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen". He turns back to the Muslim.

"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

Student: "Yes, sir"

Professor: "Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"

Student: "Yes"

Professor: "Who created evil?"

[No answer]

Professor: "Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things - do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet.

Student: "Yes"

Professor: "Who created them?"

[No answer]

The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!"
The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Muslim's face. In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"

[No answer]

The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me, he continues, How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time? The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"

[No answer]

"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"

[No answer]

"Do you believe in God, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do"

The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. You have never seen God, Have you?"

Student: "No, sir. I've never seen Him"

Professor: "Then tell us if you've ever heard your God?

Student: "No, sir. I have not"

Professor: "Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God or smelt your God...in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"

[No answer]

Professor: "Answer me, please"

Student: "No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't"

Professor: "You're AFRAID... you haven't?"

Student: "No, sir"

Professor: "Yet you still believe in him?"

Student: "yes..."

Professor: "That takes FAITH!"
The professor smiles sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical, testable,
demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Where is your God now?"

The student doesn't answer
"Sit down, please"
The Muslim sits...Defeated.
Another Muslim raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"
The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Muslim in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering"

The Muslim looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"

Professor: Yes, the professor replies. There's heat.

Student: "Is there such a thing as cold?"

Professor: "Yes, son, there's cold too."

Student: "No, sir, there isn't"

Professor: The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.
The student continues. You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458, You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it"

Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.

Student: "Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"

Professor: "That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"

Student: "So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"

Professor: "Yes..."

Student: "You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you... give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him.
"This will indeed be a good semester. Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"

Student: "Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."

The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!

Student: "Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears.

Professor: "Explain... oh, explain..."
The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

"You are working on the premise of duality", the Muslim explains. "That for example there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it"

The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor, Is there such a thing as immorality?"

Professor: "Of course there is, now look..."

Student: "Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Muslim pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"

The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless. The Muslim continues.

"If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? Islam tells us it is to see if each one of us will, choose good over evil"

The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't vie this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable"

"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going", the Muslim replies. "Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

Professor: "If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

Student: "Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.

Student: "Professor, Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?

Professor: "I will overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.

Student: "So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"

Professor: "I believe in what is - that's science!"

Student: "Ahh! SCIENCE!", the student's face splits into a grin, "Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."

SCIENCE IS FLAWED..? the professor splutters.

The class is in uproar. The Muslim remains standing until the commotion has subsided.

Student: "To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?"

The professor wisely keeps silent. The Muslim looks around the room.

"Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen air, oxygen, molecules, atoms, the professor's brain?"
The class breaks out in laughter. The Muslim points towards his elderly crumbling tutor, "Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain... felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?"

"No one appears to have done so", The Muslim shakes his head sadly. "It appears no one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I declare that the professor has no brain!"

The Muslim sits...Because that's what a chair is for!!!

Believe It or Not: You were Born Muslim!

2008-12-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

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What would you call a religion whose beliefs, practices and followers are being bashed and bad-mouthed in practically every sphere of activity, in almost every corner of the globe, yet it attracts ever-increasing numbers of people?

A Paradox? A Miracle ? Or simply, The Truth: Islaam.

The fact that Islaam is the fastest growing religion in the world today, is proof that our Creator has taken it upon Himself to perfect the Truth that He sent all His prophets and messengers with -- from Aadam [AS] to Muhammad [SAW].

Studies conducted in the West show that the sheer number of new Muslims is changing the demographic profile of countries all over the world, and not all of them are born into Muslim families. With some 6 million adherents in the United States, Islam is said to be the nation’s fastest-growing religion. One expert estimates that 25,000 people a year become Muslims in this country; some clerics say they have seen conversion rates quadruple since Sept 11.

Ironically for a religion that is routinely bashed for “subjugating” and “oppressing” its female followers, the number of female reverts to Islaam outnumber the males 4:1!

The fact that more and more people are finding their way to Islaam, notwithstanding the relentless propaganda, deliberate misinformation and outright prejudice against it, never ceases to amaze me.

How do these people navigate in the darkness to find the light of Islaam in spite of all the obstacles in the way?

The answer is that our Creator has granted each one of us a guiding light -- a pure, undefiled innate nature called the fitrah. Unlike Christians who believe in the doctrine of Original Sin and assert that each baby is born tainted with the sin of Adam’s disobedience to God, Muslims believe that every child is born into a state of purity where it recognizes its Creator and is naturally subservient to His laws.

In his book The Fundamentals of Islaamic Monotheism, Abu Ameenah Bilaal Philips writes: Just as a child’s body submits to the physical laws which Allaah has put in nature, its soul also submits naturally to the fact that Allaah is its Lord and Creator. But its parents try to make it follow their own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its life to resist or oppose its parents. The religion which the child follows at this stage is one of custom and upbringing and Allaah does not hold it to account for this religion.

When the child matures in youth and clear proofs of the falsehood of its religion are brought to it, the adult must now follow the religion of knowledge and reason. At this point the devils try their best to encourage him to stay as he is or to go further astray. Evils are made pleasing to him and he must now live in the midst of a struggle between his innate pure nature and his desires in order to find the right road.

If he chooses to follow his innate nature, his fitrah, Allaah will help him overcome his desires even though it may take most of his life to escape, for many people enter Islaam in their old age.

The Qur’aan also points to this phenomenon, where every soul that has been created is asked Who their Lord is, and they testify that it is none other than Allaah before they are born into the world.

When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Aadam their descendants and made them testify concerning themselves. Saying: Am I not your Lord? They said: “Yes, we testify to it.” (This) in case you say on the Day of Judgement, “We were unaware of this.” Or in case you say: It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only their descendants…[Surah Al-A’raaf 7:172-173]

Explaining this verse, the Prophet [SAW] said: When Allaah created Aadam [AS] , He took a covenant from him …then He extracted from him all of his descendants who would be born until the end of the world, generation after generation and spread them out in front of Him in order to take a covenant from them.

He spoke to them face to face saying: Am I not your Lord? And they all replied: Yes, we testify to it.

Allaah then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness that He was their Creator and the only true God worthy of worship. He said: That was in case you (mankind) should say on the Day of Resurrection, “Surely we were unaware of all this. We had no idea that You were our God.” [Silsilah al ahadeeth as Saheehah, Narrated by ibn Abbaas, collected by Imaam Ahmad]

This is the reason why people who adopt Islaam are said to revert instead of convert, because they are going back to their original nature -- the one they were naturally created with -- which is automatically aligned with the Universe, its Creator and His Laws; as opposed to simply exchanging one set of beliefs for another.

Reverts to Islaam testify that this inner inclination to search for the Truth, to know and follow it is a major factor in their adopting the faith. It is interesting to see some of the reasons cited by reverts for adopting Islaam:

Islaamic Monotheism
“The Christian sect of Athanasians insistently inculcates the tenet that Christianity is based on a belief in three gods (Trinity), that a slightest doubt as to this belief will lead one to immediate perdition; and that a person who wishes to attain salvation in this world and the next should definitely hold a belief in the three gods: God, the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost.

When I became a Muslim, I received a letter, which said: “By becoming a Muslim you have damned yourself to perdition. No one can save you. For you deny the divinity of God.” The poor man [who wrote that letter] thought that I no longer believed in God, not knowing that when Jesus had begun to preach, he stated the unity of God and he never claimed to be His son.

[Lord Headley al-Farooq; British diplomat, engineer]

An answer for every question:
“I would always search for causes and purposes for everything. I would anticipate logical explanations for them. On the other hand, the explanations provided by priests and other Christian men of religion did not satisfy me. Most of the time, instead of giving satisfactory answers to my questions, they would dismiss the matter with evasive prevarications such as, “We cannot understand these things. They are divine secrets” and “They are beyond the grasp of the human mind.”

Upon this I decided to study, on the one hand, Oriental religions, and on the other hand, books written by famous philosophers. The books written by these philosophers always dealt with such subjects as protoplasms, atoms, molecules, and particles, and did not even touch on reflections such as “What becomes of the human soul?” “Where does the soul go after death?” “How should we discipline our souls in this world?”

The Islamic religion, on the other hand, treated the human subject not only within the corporeal areas, but also along the spiritual extensions. Therefore, I chose Islam not because I had lost my way, or only because Christianity had incurred my displeasure, or as a result of sudden decision, but, on the contrary, after very minutely studying it and becoming thoroughly convinced about its greatness, singularity, solemnity and perfection

[Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb; American diplomat, author]

Direct relationship with one’s Creator:
Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, “You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate.” What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers.

[Yusuf Islaam, formerly Cat Stevens]

Universality:
Islam is a religion that belongs not only to the Arabs but to the entire humanity. This universal quality presents a sharp contrast with the Judaic religion, whose holy book always refers to the God of Israel.

One more thing that I love in Islam is that this religion recognizes all the prophets, makes no distinction between them and treats the believers of other religions with compassion.

[Mahmud Gunnar Ahmad, Swedish Muslim]

Absolute equality before God, extended brotherhood:
There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.

America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white - but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug - while praying to the same God - with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) - because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.

[Letter written from Makkah, by Malcolm X]

Purity of prayer:
If I were asked what impressed me most in the religion of Islam, I would probably say the prayers, because prayers in Christianity are used wholly in begging God (through Jesus Christ) to grant worldly favours, whereas in Islam they ar used to give praise and thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings since He knows what is necessary for our welfare and grants us what we need without our asking it.

[Cecilia Mahmuda Cannolly, Australian Muslim]

Women’s rights and status:
No doubt, influenced by the usual condemnation of Islam from Christian pulpits on the subject, I picked on polygamy. At last I thought I had something; obviously Western monogamy was an improvement on this old system. I talked of it to my Muslim friend. He illustrated with the aid of newspaper articles how much true monogamy there was in England, and convinced me that a limited polygamy was the answer to the secret unions that are becoming so distressingly common in the West. My own common sense could see that, particularly after a war, when women of a certain age group far outnumber men, a percentage of them are destined to remain spinsters. Did God give them life for that? I recollect that on the radio programme known as `Dear Sir' an unmarried English girl had called for lawful polygamy, saying she would prefer a shared married life rather than the loneliness to which she seemed to be destined. In Islam no one is forced into a polygamous marriage, but in a perfect religion, the opportunity must be there to meet those cases where it is necessary.

[Mavis B Jolly, UK]

Belief in the Qur’aan as Divine Revelation:
I read as much of the Qur’aan as I could. I was immersed in it. As I read the verses in English, I repeated to myself over and over again, this is what I have always thought and believed. What kind of book was this? Before long I was reading the book and crying, and reading and crying... it was as if something had overtaken me... I forgot what I was looking for in particular, however when I came upon the verses in Surah Baqarah 122-141 regarding Prophet Ibrahim (AS) I had found my answer.

I had been searching for Isma'il (as), son of Prophet Ibrahim and his wife Hajarah, who had been missing from the Hebrew brothers story. In those verses I found the truth of religion... They say: Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided (to salvation). Say thou: Nay! (I would rather) the religion of Abraham the True, and he joined not gods with Allah. Say ye: We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) the Prophets from their Lord; We make no difference between one another of them: and we submit to Allah." (2:135-136) As I continued to read and cry, I became intent upon finding someone who could connect me with others who believed in this book!

[K H Abdul Lateef, USA]

The personal example of the Prophet Muhammad [SAW]:
I accepted Islam because I admired the Prophet Muhammad.[SAW]. I had quite a number of Muslim friends in Zanzibar, who gave me Islamic books, which I read in secrecy from my family. I became a Muslim despite the remonstrances of my family and the oppressions of the priests of Parsee religion, which had been my religion until that time. I held fast to my religion and resisted against all sorts of threats. Now I love Allaah and His last Prophet Muhammad [SAW] more than my life

[Faruq B Karai, Zanzibar]

Islaam withstands scrutiny and encourages reasoning:
Instead of asking a follower to believe in its precepts just ”because” or someone asks them to, Islaam encourages people to think for themselves, reflect on the signs of God in Creation and within their own selves. Little wonder then that a sizable number of reverts are thinking people: scientists, astronomers, philosophers, doctors.

As created beings who can neither grant life nor ward off death, we owe it to ourselves and The One Who Created Us to discover the Truth, to follow it and to facilitate others to do the same.

Selamat Hari Graduasi!

2008-09-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

Bismillahirahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillah (segala puji bagi Allah) rabbul ‘alamin (Tuhan yang mencipta dan memelihara seluruh alam). Selawat kepada junjungan rasul, Muhammad, yang mulia dan kepada keluarga serta sahabat baginda, generasi pertama para pejuang agama ini, yang mewariskan petunjuknya kepada kita umat manusia dan seluruh alam.

Sesungguhnya tarbiyah yang terbaik hanyalah yang datang dari Tuhanmu. Selamat graduasi saya ucapkan kepada seluruh umat islam di Jepun khususnya dan umumnya di seluruh pelusuk dunia. Yang telah menyempurnakan ibadah puasa dan menjalani aktiviti men’recharge’ diri. Mungkin ramai orang yang diberi kesempatan untuk mendaftarkan diri dan hadir ke kem tarbiyah ini. Tetapi, tidak semua orang diberikan peluang olehNya melalui untuk kem ini dengan memperoleh kebaikan di dalamnya. Sesungguhnya anda telah berjaya (Almukminun, : 1) Apapun kebaikan yang kita perolehi dari bulan yang penuh berkah ini, adalah dengan izinNya dan janganlah sekali-kali kita merasa bangga dengan tindakan, amalan, dan ibadah kita yang sedikit itu. Sesungguhnya ini hanyalah merupakan satu dari persinggahan (seperti kem musim panas) dalam pendidikan kita yang panjang. Banyak lagi yang perlu kita harungi dalam membebani tugas yang mulia ini.

Sesungguhnya ibadah (solat, puasa, menghayati al-Quran, bersedekah dan sebagainya) itu adalah merupakan bekal. Bekal buat ujian yang saban hari menjenguk kita. Bekal buat perjuangan yang berpanjangan. Tiadalah ibadah itu melainkan untuk mengisi api perjuangan yang makin kehabisan minyaknya. Untuk menjahit layar-layar kapal yang koyak di tengah-tengah pelayarannya. Semoga api dakwah dapat terus kita nyalakan. Semoga pelayaran dapat kita teruskan di lautan dunia yang bergelora ini.

Amal ibadah perlulah diselarikan dengan perjuangan. Kita tidak mengisi minyak melainkan untuk menyalakan api, tidak pula menjahit layar melainkan untuk meneruskan perjalanan. Kita bukannya semata-mata ‘abid, tetapi juga singa-singa Allah yang sentiasa menjaga agamaNya.

“Janganlah pula amal ibadah yang agong ini kau rosakkan!!” jangan kau rosakkan dengan maksiat di bulan Syawal. Ramadhan adalah stesen untuk mengambil bekal, buat perjalanan setahun. Sampai kau tiba pula ke stesen Ramadhan yang seterusnya, ketika itu kau sangat merasa dahaga dan tibalah masanya untuk mengambil bekal semula.

Selamat meraikan hari graduasi kita dari kem tarbiyah ramadhan kali ini. Akhir kata saya akhiri dengan sebuah hadith diriwayatkan oleh Sufyan bin Abdullah (radhiAllahu ‘anhu)

Aku berkata kepada Rasulullah “Katakan kepadaku sesuatu tentang Islam, yang aku tak akan bertanya tentangnya lagi selepas itu.” Rasulullah menjawab “Katakan aku beriman kepada Allah, kemudian istiqamahlah”

Hadith riwayat Imam Muslim

Sumber asal dari AMIR-net

Semarak Ramadhan 08

2008-08-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Dear brothers.. let us take the opportunity given to us by Allah swt. during this upcoming month of ramadhan to set higher aims in our prayers, fasting, and charity etc. for it is a month of blessings. This is the time for inner reflection, devotion to God and self control. Ramadhan is also a time of intensive worship and reading of the Quran. Let us also learn to feel and understand the guidance explained in the Quran just like how Yusuf Islam did...

THE QUR'AN

When he came to London he brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also.

And when I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim.

I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other.

Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.

When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different levels. I began to understand it on another level, where the Qur'an says,

"Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers."

Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.

.............................................................................

"MARI BERSAMA MENGHAYATI ALQURAN"

Dont Miss This Chance!

2008-08-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation. Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when man is brought to account, he will say, "O Lord, send us back and give us another chance." The Lord will say, "If I send you back you will do the same."

(Yusuf Islam) - cat steven

The Reality of Jesus, peace be upon him

2008-08-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

source

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Without a doubt, you have often heard the claim that Jesus is God, the second person in the "Holy Trinity". However, the very Bible which is used as a basis for knowledge about Jesus and as the basis for doctrine within Christianity clearly belies this claim.

We urge you to consult your own Bible and verify that the following conclusions are not drawn out of context:

1. God Is All Knowing.....But Jesus Was Not

When speaking of the Day of Judgement, Jesus clearly gave evidence of a limitation on his knowledge when he said, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32 and Matt. 24:36) But God knows all. His knowledge is without any limitations. That Jesus, of his own admission, did not know when the Day of Judgement would be, is clear proof that Jesus is not all-knowing, and that Jesus is therefore not God.

2. God Is All-Powerful.....But Jesus Was Not

While Jesus performed many miracles, he himself admitted that the power he had was not his own but was derived from God when he said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do..." (John 5:19). Again he said, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which has sent me." (John 5:30) But God is not only All-Powerful, He is also the source of all power and authority. That Jesus, of his own admission, could do nothing on his own is clear proof that Jesus is not all-powerful, and that therefore Jesus is not God.

3. God Does Not Have A God.....But Jesus Did Have A God

God is the ultimate judge and refuge for all, and He does not call upon nor pray to any others. But Jesus acknowledged that there was One whom he worshipped and to Whom he prayed when he said, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." (John 20:17). He is also reported to have cried out while on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). If Jesus were God, then couldn't this be read, "Myself, myself, why hast thou forsaken me?". Would that not be pure nonsense? When Jesus prayed the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:2-4), was he praying to himself? When in the garden of Gethsemane he prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:36). Was Jesus praying to himself? That Jesus, of his own admission and by his own actions, acknowledged, worshipped, and prayed to another being as God is clear proof that Jesus himself is not God.

According to the Bible, God is an invisible spirit....

4. But Jesus Was Flesh And Blood

While thousands saw Jesus and heard his voice, Jesus himself said that this could not be done with God when he said: "No man hath seen God at any time." (John 1:18). "Ye have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape." (John 5:37) He also said in John 4:24: "God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." That Jesus would say that no one had seen or heard God at any time, while his followers both saw and heard him, is clear proof that Jesus was not God.

NO ONE IS GREATER THAN GOD AND NO ONE CAN DIRECT HIM...
BUT JESUS ACKNOWLEDGED
SOMEONE GREATER THAN HIMSELF WHOSE...

5. Will Was Distinct From His Own

Perhaps the clearest indication we have that Jesus and God are not equal, and therefore not one and the same, comes again from the mouth of Jesus himself who said in John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I." When someone referred to him as a good master in Luke 18:19, Jesus responded: "Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is God..." Furthermore, Jesus drew clear distinctions between himself and God when he said, "I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself but He sent me." (John 8:42) Jesus gave clear evidence of his subordination to God, rather than his equality with God, when he said in Luke 22:42, "not my will but Thine be done" and in John 5:30, "I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which has sent me." That Jesus would admit that he did not come into the world on his own initiative but was directed to do so, that he would acknowledge another being as greater than himself, and that he would negate his own will in deference to affirming the will of another, give clear proof that Jesus is not the Supreme One and therefore Jesus is not God.

Conclusion
The Church recognises the Bible as the primary source of knowledge about God and Jesus. But since the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is not the Supreme Being and the Supreme Being is not Jesus, upon what basis have you come to believe otherwise?

The belief that the Supreme Being is a Trinity is false and completely inconsistent with the words of Jesus as presented in the Bible. God is one, not three. He is a perfect unity.

If you are interested in the truth about God and your relationship to Him, we invite you to investigate the religion of Islam.

What Is The Word Of God About Jesus:

A. Regarding The Sonship Of Jesus:

“Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth about which they (vainly) dispute. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter He only says to it "Be" and it is.”
Chapter 19, Verses 34-35

“They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At if the skies are ready to burst the earth to split asunder and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious. For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son. Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant.”
Chapter 19, Verses 88-93

“This similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam: He created him from dust then said to him: "Be" and he was.”
Chapter 3, Verse 59

“O people of the Book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an Apostle of Allah and His Word which He bestowed on Mary and a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His Apostles. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.”
Chapter 4, Verse 171

B. Regarding Jesus Being God:

“And behold! Allah will say "O Jesus the son of Mary! didst thou say unto men `worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah"? He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing Thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart though I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden. "Never said I to them aught except what Thou didst command me to say to wit `Worship Allah my Lord and your Lord'; and I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt amongst them; when Thou didst take me up thou wast the Watcher over them and Thou art a Witness to all things.” Chapter 5, Verses 116-117

C. Regarding Crucifixion Of Jesus

“That they rejected faith: that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge. That they said (in boast) "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary the Apostle of Allah"; but they killed him not nor crucified him but so it was made to appear to them and those who differ therein are full of doubts with no (certain) knowledge but only conjecture to follow for of a surety they killed him not. Nay Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power Wise. And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment He will be a witness against them.”
Chapter 4, Verses 156-159

All Quranic quotations have been taken from the Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation of “The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an”, published by Amana Corporation, Brentwood, Maryland, USA, 1993

All Biblical quotations have been taken from The Holy Bible (Authorised King James Version), Riverside Book & Bible House, Iowa Falls, IA50126, published by World Bible Publishers, Inc.

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Quotations on Islamic civilization

2008-05-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

By Dr. A. Zahoor (edited by IslamReligion.com)

http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/576/viewall/

Napolean Bonaparte

Quoted in Christian Cherfils, ‘Bonaparte et Islam,’ Pedone Ed., Paris, France, 1914, pp. 105, 125.

- Original References: “Correspondance de Napoléon Ier Tome V pièce n° 4287 du 17/07/1799...”

“Moses has revealed the existence of God to his nation. Jesus Christ to the Roman world, Muhammad to the old continent...

“Arabia was idolatrous when, six centuries after Jesus, Muhammad introduced the worship of the God of Abraham, of Ishmael, of Moses, and Jesus. The Ariyans and some other sects had disturbed the tranquility of the east by agitating the question of the nature of the Father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad declared that there was none but one God who had no father, no son and that the trinity imported the idea of idolatry...

“I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness.”

Sir George Bernard Shaw

‘The Genuine Islam,’ Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.

“If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam.”

“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity.”

“I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”

Bertrand Russel

History of Western Philosophy,’ London, 1948, p. 419.

“Our use of phrase ‘The Dark ages’ to cover the period from 699 to 1,000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe...

“From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary...

“To us it seems that West-European civilization is civilization, but this is a narrow view.”

H.G. Wells

“The Islamic teachings have left great traditions for equitable and gentle dealings and behavior, and inspire people with nobility and tolerance. These are human teachings of the highest order and at the same time practicable. These teachings brought into existence a society in which hard-heartedness and collective oppression and injustice were the least as compared with all other societies preceding it....Islam is replete with gentleness, courtesy, and fraternity.”

Dr. William Draper

‘History of Intellectual Development of Europe’

“During the period of the Caliphs the learned men of the Christians and the Jews were not only held in great esteem but were appointed to posts of great responsibility, and were promoted to the high ranking job in the government....He (Caliph Haroon Rasheed) never considered to which country a learned person belonged nor his faith and belief, but only his excellence in the field of learning.”

Thomas Carlyle

‘Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History,’ Lecture 2, Friday, 8th May 1840.

“As there is no danger of our becoming, any of us, Mahometans (i.e. Muslim), I mean to say all the good of him I justly can...

“When Pococke inquired of Grotius, where the proof was of that story of the pigeon, trained to pick peas from Mahomet’s (Muhammad’s) ear, and pass for an angel dictating to him? Grotius answered that there was no proof!...

“A poor, hard-toiling, ill-provided man; careless of what vulgar men toil for. Not a bad man, I should say; Something better in him than hunger of any sort, -- or these wild Arab men, fighting and jostling three-and-twenty years at his hand, in close contact with him always, would not revered him so! They were wild men bursting ever and anon into quarrel, into all kinds of fierce sincerity; without right worth and manhood, no man could have commanded them. They called him prophet you say? Why he stood there face to face with them; bare, not enshrined in any mystery; visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes; fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them: they must have seen what kind of man he was, let him be called what you like! No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting. During three-and-twenty years of rough actual trial. I find something of a veritable Hero necessary for that, of itself...

“These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century, - is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Granada! I said, the Great man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame...”

Phillip Hitti

‘Short History of the Arabs.’

“During all the first part of the Middle Ages, no other people made as important a contribution to human progress as did the Arabs, if we take this term to mean all those whose mother-tongue was Arabic, and not merely those living in the Arabian peninsula. For centuries, Arabic was the language of learning, culture and intellectual progress for the whole of the civilized world with the exception of the Far East. From the 9th to the 12th century there were more philosophical, medical, historical, religious, astronomical and geographical works written in Arabic than in any other human tongue.”

Carra de Vaux

‘The Philosophers of Islam,’ Paris, 1921.

“Finally how can one forget that at the same time the Mogul Empire of India (1526-1857 C.E.) was giving the world the Taj Mahal (completed in 1648 C.E.) the architectural beauty of which has never been surpassed, and the ‘Akbar Nameh’ of Abul Fazl:

‘That extraordinary work full of life ideas and learning where every aspect of life is examined listed and classified, and where progress continually dazzles the eye, is a document of which Oriental civilization may justly be proud. The men whose genius finds its expression in this book were far in advance of their age in the practical art of government, and they were perhaps in advance of it in their speculations about religious philosophy. Those poets those philosophers knew how to deal with the world or matter. They observe, classify, calculate and experiment. All the ideas that occur to them are tested against facts. They express them with eloquence but they also support them with statistics.’

...the principles of tolerance, justice and humanity which prevailed during the long reign of Akbar.”

Marcel Clerget

‘La Turquie, Passe et Present,’ Paris, 1938.

“Many proofs of high cultural level of the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent are to be found in the development of science and law; in the flowering of literary works in Arabic, Persian and Turkish; in the contemporary monuments in Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne; in the boom in luxury industries; in the sumptuous life of the court and high dignitaries, and last but not least in its religious tolerance. All the various influences - notably Turkish, Byzantine and Italian mingle together and help to make this the most brilliant epoch of the Ottomans.”

Michael the Elder (Great)

Quoted in ‘Michael the Elder, Chronique de Michael Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite d’ Antioche,’ J.B. Chabot, Editor, Vol. II, Paris, 1901.

“This is why the God of vengeance, who alone is all-powerful, and changes the empire of mortals as He will, giving it to whomsoever He will, and uplifting the humble beholding the wickedness of the Romans who throughout their dominions, cruelly plundered our churches and our monasteries and condemned us without pity, brought from the region of the south the sons of Ishmael, to deliver us through them from the hands of the Romans. And if in truth we have suffered some loss, because the Catholic churches, that had been taken away from us and given to the Chalcedonians, remained in their possession; for when the cities submitted to the Arabs, they assigned to each denomination the churches which they found it to be in possession of (and at that time the great churches of Emessa and that of Harran had been taken away from us); nevertheless it was no slight advantage for us to be delivered from the cruelty of the Romans, their wickedness, their wrath and cruel zeal against us, and to find ourselves at people. (Michael the Elder, Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch wrote this text in the latter part of the twelfth century, after five centuries of Muslim rule in that region. Click here for a relevant document sent to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai, 628 C.E.)

Sir John Bagot Glubb

“Khalif (Caliph) Al-Ma’mun’s period of rule (813 - 833 C.E.) may be considered the ‘golden age’ of science and learning. He had always been devoted to books and to learned pursuits. His brilliant mind was interested in every form of intellectual activity. Not only poetry but also philosophy, theology, astronomy, medicine and law all occupied his time.”

“By Mamun’s time medical schools were extremely active in Baghdad. The first free public hospital was opened in Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-Rashid. As the system developed, physicians and surgeons were appointed who gave lectures to medical students and issued diplomas to those who were considered qualified to practice. The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia.”

On the Holocaust of Baghdad (1258 C.E.) Perpetrated by Hulagu

“The city was systematically looted, destroyed and burnt. Eight hundred thousand persons are said to have been killed. The Khalif Mustasim was sewn up in a sack and trampled to death under the feet of Mongol horses.

“For five hundred years, Baghdad had been a city of palaces, mosques, libraries and colleges. Its universities and hospitals were the most up-to-date in the world. Nothing now remained but heaps of rubble and a stench of decaying human flesh.”

Why ISLAM?

2008-05-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

God says in the Quran (5:82-85)

لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُواْ وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُمْ مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ الَّذِينَ قَالُوَاْ إِنَّا نَصَارَى ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly. (82)

وَإِذَا سَمِعُواْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ تَرَى أَعْيُنَهُمْ تَفِيضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ مِمَّا عَرَفُواْ مِنَ الْحَقِّ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ

And when they hear what has been revealed to the messenger you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize; they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of truth). (83)

وَمَا لَنَا لاَ نُؤْمِنُ بِاللّهِ وَمَا جَاءنَا مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَنَطْمَعُ أَن يُدْخِلَنَا رَبَّنَا مَعَ الْقَوْمِ الصَّالِحِينَ

And what (reason) have we that we should not believe in Allah and in the truth that has come to us, while we earnestly desire that our Lord should cause us to enter with the good people? (84)

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a serious one from Ali. for surely it is a serious message..

may Allah guide you the way...
waLlaha'lam

golden week gathering 08

2008-04-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

brothers and sisters in japan.. come and join us!

where?

山梨県立少年自然の家こどもの国 (brothers)
Link: http://www9.plala.or.jp/atagoyama/

when?

3rd - 5th May 2008

register now!

http://gwg2008.amirnet.org/dansei/index.html

The BIG Questions (I): Who Made Us?

2008-02-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

source: http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/524/

by Laurence B. Brown.

At some point in our lives, everybody asks the big questions: “Who made us,” and “Why are we here?”

So who did make us? Atheists speak of the Big Bang and evolution, whereas all others speak of God. Those who answer “I don’t know” are atheist for all intents and purposes, not because they deny God’s existence, but because they fail to affirm it.

Now, the Big Bang may explain the origin of the universe, but it doesn’t explain the origin of the primordial dust cloud. This dust cloud (which, according to the theory, drew together, compacted and then exploded) had to come from somewhere. After all, it contained enough matter to form not just our galaxy, but the billion other galaxies in the known universe. So where did that come from? Who, or what, created the primordial dust cloud?

Similarly, evolution may explain the fossil record, but it falls far short of explaining the quintessential essence of human life—the soul. We all have one. We feel its presence, we speak of its existence and at times pray for its salvation. But only the religious can explain where it came from. The theory of natural selection can explain many of the material aspects of living things, but it fails to explain the human soul.

Furthermore, anyone who studies the complexities of life and the universe cannot help but witness the signature of the Creator.[1] Whether or not people recognize these signs is another matter—as the old saying goes, denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. (Get it? Denial, spelled “de Nile” … the river Ni … oh, never mind.) The point is that if we see a painting, we know there is a painter. If we see a sculpture, we know there’s a sculptor; a pot, a potter. So when we view creation, shouldn’t we know there’s a Creator?

The concept that the universe exploded and then developed in balanced perfection through random events and natural selection is little different from the proposal that, by dropping bombs into a junkyard, sooner or later one of them will blow everything together into a perfect Mercedes. In the color and trim of our hearts’ desire, no less.

If there is one thing we know for certain, it is that without a controlling influence, all systems degenerate into chaos. The theories of the Big Bang and evolution propose the exact opposite, however—that chaos fostered perfection. Would it not be more reasonable to conclude that the Big Bang and evolution were controlled events? Controlled, that is, by the Creator?

The Arabs tell the tale of a nomad finding an exquisite palace at an oasis in the middle of an otherwise barren desert. When he asks how it was built, the owner tells him it was formed by the forces of nature. The wind shaped the rocks and blew them to the edge of this oasis, and then tumbled them together into the shape of the palace. Then it blew strands of sheep’s wool together into rugs and tapestries, stray wood together into furniture, doors, windowsills and trim, and positioned them in the palace at just the right locations. Lightning strikes melted sand into sheets of glass and blasted them into the window-frames, and smelted black sand into steel and shaped it into the fence and gate with perfect alignment and symmetry. The process took billions of years and only happened at this one place on earth—purely through coincidence.

When we finish rolling our eyes, we get the point. Obviously, the palace was built by design, not by happenstance. To what (or more to the point, to Whom), then, should we attribute the origin of items of infinitely greater complexity, such as our universe and our lives?

Another classic argument for atheism focuses upon what people perceive to be the imperfections of creation. These are the “How can there be a God if such-and-such happened?” arguments. The issue under discussion could be anything from a natural disaster to birth defects, from genocide to grandmother’s cancer. That’s not the point. The point is that denying God based upon what we perceive to be injustices of life presumes that a divine being would not have designed our lives to be anything other than perfect, and would have established justice on Earth.

Hmm … is there no other option?

We can just as easily propose that God did not design life on Earth to be paradise, but rather a test, the punishment or rewards of which are to be had in the next life, which is where God establishes his ultimate justice. In support of this concept we can well ask who suffered more injustices in their worldly lives than God’s favorites, which is to say the prophets? And who do we expect to occupy the highest stations in paradise, if not those who maintain true faith in the face of worldly adversity?

I would hope that, by this line of reasoning, we can agree upon the answer to the first “big question.” Who made us? Can we agree that if we are creation, God is the Creator?

If we can’t agree on this point, there probably isn’t much point in continuing. However, for those who do agree, let’s move on to “big question” number two—why are we here? What, in other words, is the purpose of life?

Questions & Answers

2008-02-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

Why did you leave Christianity?

Is Jesus God?

Trinity?

What about Son of God?

So then who is Jesus?

Did Jesus died for our sins?

Advice for the truth seeker...

waLlaha'lam

Gerakan Kristianisasi

2008-02-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

sumber:
http://www.darulkautsar.com/

.....................................................................................................................................................................

TA'RIF

Gerakan Kristianisasi adalah sebuah gerakan keagamaan yang bersifat ‘Politik Penjajahan’. Gerakan ini muncul selepas kekalahan pihak Kristian dalam Perang Salib sebagai usaha menyebarkan agama Kristian ke negara-negara dunia ketiga, terutamanya kepada ummat Islam. Objektifnya ialah untuk menguasai bangsa-bangsa tersebut.

SEJARAH PENUBUHAN DAN TOKOH-TOKOHNYA

Raymond Lull adalah orang Kristian pertama yang memperkenalkan konsep kristianisasi, selepas kegagalan pihak Kristian dalam Peperangan Salib. Dia bersungguh-sungguh belajar bahasa Arab, menjelajah negara-negara Syam sambil berdialog dengan ulama-ulama di sana.

Para mubaligh Kristian bermazhab Katholik telah memasuki benua Afrika sejak abad ke 15M ketika Portugal menjumpai negara-negara baru tersebut. Setelah itu mubaligh-mubaligh Kristian bermazhab Protestan pula dihantar oleh orang-orang Inggeris, Jerman dan Perancis.

Peter Heling sejak awal lagi sudah masuk ke dalam masyarakat lslam di pantai Negara-negara Afrika.

Sedangkan Baron du Betez, sejak tahun 1664, membangkitkan semangat orang-orang Kristian sehingga ia berjaya mendirikan sebuah akademi yang menjadi pusat latihan mubaligh Kristian.

Mr. Cary adalah tokoh yang unggul dalam gerakan Kristianisasi mengatasi mereka yang sebelumnya. la muncul menjelang akhir abad 18M dan awal abad 19M.

Paderi Henry Martin (meninggal tahun 1812) sangat besar peranannya dalam menyebarkan mubaligh-mubaligh Kristian ke negara-negara Asia Barat. Dia telah menterjemahkan Bibel ke dalam bahasa India, Parsi dan Armenia.

Dalam Tahun 1795 M Dewan Gereja Protestan bersatu dengan orang-orang Kopti di Mesir untuk menubuhkan sebuah Misi Kristian yang bertugas menyebarkan ajaran Injil di Afrika.

David Livingstone (1813 -1873), seorang pelancong lnggeris, telah menjelajah ke tengah-tengah benua Afrika. Sebelum menjelajah benua itu, dia dikenal sebagai seorang paderi.

Pada tahun 1849 M missi-missi Kristian mula dihantar ke negara-negara Syam. Perancangan yang intensif dilakukan untuk menguasai beberapa wilayah di kawasan negara-negara tersebut.

Tahun 1855 M Pertubuhan Pemuda Masehi ditubuhkan. Anggotanya terdiri dari pemuda-pemuda berbangsa lnggeris dan Amerika. Tugasnya terbatas pada usaha menanamkan keyakinan Ketuhanan Almasih pada diri mereka sendiri.

Tahun 1895 M Persatuan Mahasiswa Kristian Antarabangsa ditubuhkan. Persatuan ini berusaha menyelesaikan masalah-masalah yang dihadapi pelajar-pelajar sekolah di berbagai negara. Seiring dengan itu dilancarkan pula kempen 'cinta kasih' (ajaran Kristian) kepada mereka.

Samuel Zwemer, Ketua Misi Kristian untuk negara-negara Arab di Bahrain dan Ketua Persekutuan Kristian di Timur Tengah, bertanggungjawab menerbitkan majalah berbahasa lnggeris berjudul ‘Muslim World’. Majalah ini mula diterbitkan pada tahun 1911 dan masih lagi diterbitkan sehingga hari ini oleh Hartford.

Zwemer memasuki Bahrain dalam tahun 1890 M. Sejak tahun 1894 gereja-gereja reformasi Amerika menaja dan membiayainya sepenuhnya kegiatannya. Kejayaan dari aktiviti sosial dan kemanusiaan Zwemer yang paling menonjol antara lain ialah penubuhan misi-misi kedoktoran dan perubatan di negara-negara Teluk. Diikuti dengan pembukaan Pusat-pusat Kebajikan Masyarakat di Bahrain, Kuwait, Musqat dan Amman. Zwemer boleh dianggap sebagai salah seorang tokoh gerakan kristianisasi terbesar di abad moden ini.

Kenneth Cragg, pengganti Zwemer untuk mengetuai majalah Muslim World, pernah menjadi pensyarah Universiti Amerika di Kairo dan menjadi Dekan Jurusan Theologi Masehi di Lembaga Misi Kristian Hartford. Bukunya yang terkenal, Panggilan Menara Azan, diterbitkan pada tahun 1956.

Louis Massignon, penasihat gerakan kristianisasi di Mesir. Ia adalah salah seorang anggota Lembaga Bahasa Arab di Mesir dan pernah menjadi penasihat Departmen Kolonialisme Perancis untuk Urusan Afrika Selatan.

Daniel Bills berkata, "Institut Pengajian Tinggi Robert di lstanbul (sekarang Universiti Amerika) tidak lagi menjadi pusat pengajian tinggi yang ekslusif, baik di segi sukatan pelajaran ataupun fasiliti yang disediakannya. Sekarang telah menjadi institut pengajian tinggi Kristian yang benar-benar terbuka. Pengasasnya adalah seorang mubaligh Kristian. Malah sampai sekarang pimpinannya mestilah seorang pendakwah Kristian."

Paderi Syantor pada masa penjajahan Perancis menjadi Ketua Akademi Yesuit di Beirut dalam tempoh yang agak lama. Mr. Nibrouse, Rektor Universiti Beirut Amerika tahun 1948 M berkata: "Sejarah telah membuktikan bahawa pendidikan adalah alat paling berkesan kepada para mubaligh Amerika untuk mengkristiankan Syria dan Lebanon."

Don Huk Crey, tokoh terbesar dalam Persidangan Kristian Louzon tahun 1974 M, adalah seorang penganut Kristian bermazhab Protestan. Dia pernah menjadi mubaligh Kristian di Pakistan selama 20 tahun. Pernah menjadi mahasiswa Fuller School of International Mission. Selepas Persidangan Kristian di Colorado pada tahun. 1978 M, dia menjadi pengarah kepada Lembaga Samuel Zwemer. Lembaga ini aktif dalam bidang penerbitan untuk menyebarkan kajian-kajian khusus tentang cara-cara kristianisasi terhadap Ummat Islam. Ibupejabatnya terletak di California. Berbagai latihan dan rekrut dijalankan untuk melahirkan para pendakwah Kristian dalam segala bidang kepakaran.

Jesus Christ - Son of God? (part 1): The Meaning of “Son of God”

2008-02-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

source: http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/547/

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Son of God, son of David, or son of Man? Jesus is identified as “son of David” fourteen times in the New Testament, starting with the very first verse (Matthew 1:1). The Gospel of Luke documents forty-one generations between Jesus and David, while Matthew lists twenty-six. Jesus, a distant descendant, can only wear the “son of David” title metaphorically. But how then should we understand the title, “son of God?”

The “Trilemma,” a common proposal of Christian missionaries, states that “Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or the Son of God, as he claimed to be.” For the sake of argument, let’s agree that Jesus was neither a lunatic nor a liar. Let’s also agree he was precisely what he claimed to be. But what, exactly, was that? Jesus called himself “Son of Man” frequently, consistently, perhaps even emphatically, but where did he call himself “Son of God?”

Let’s back up. What does “Son of God” mean in the first place? No legitimate Christian sect suggests that God took a wife and had a child, and most certainly none conceive that God fathered a child through a human mother outside of marriage. Furthermore, to suggest that God physically mated with an element of His creation is so far beyond the limits of religious tolerance as to plummet down the sheer cliff of blasphemy, chasing the mythology of the Greeks.

With no rational explanation available within the tenets of Christian doctrine, the only avenue for closure is to claim yet one more doctrinal mystery. Here is where the Muslim recalls the question posed in the Quran:

“…How can He have a son when He has no consort?...” (Quran 6:101)

…while others shout, “But God can do anything!” The Islamic position, however, is that God doesn’t do inappropriate things, only Godly things. In the Islamic viewpoint, God’s character is integral with His being and consistent with His majesty.

So again, what does “Son of God” mean? And if Jesus Christ has exclusive rights to the term, why does the Bible record, “...for I (God) am a father to Israel, and Ephraim (i.e. Israel) is my firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9) and, “...Israel is My son, even my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22)? Taken in the context of Romans 8:14, which reads, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” many scholars conclude that “Son of God” is metaphorical and, as with christos, doesn’t imply exclusivity. After all, The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion confirms that in Jewish idiom “Son of God” is clearly metaphorical. To quote, “Son of God, term occasionally found in Jewish literature, biblical and post-biblical, but nowhere implying physical descent from the Godhead.”[1]Hasting’s Bible Dictionary comments:

In Semitic usage “sonship” is a conception somewhat loosely employed to denote moral rather than physical or metaphysical relationship. Thus “sons of Belial” (Jg 19:22 etc.) are wicked men, not descendants of Belial; and in the NT the “children of the bridechamber” are wedding guests. So a “son of God” is a man, or even a people, who reflect the character of God. There is little evidence that the title was used in Jewish circles of the Messiah, and a sonship which implied more than a moral relationship would be contrary to Jewish monotheism.[2]

And in any case, the list of candidates for “son of God” begins with Adam, as per Luke 3:38: “...Adam, which was the son of God.”

Those who rebut by quoting Matthew 3:17 (“And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased’”) have overlooked the point that the Bible describes many people, Israel and Adam included, as “sons of God.” Both II Samuel 7:13-14 and I Chronicles 22:10 read, “He (Solomon) shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.”

Entire nations are referred to as sons, or children of God. Examples include:

Genesis 6:2, “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men…”

Genesis 6:4, “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men…”

Deuteronomy 14:1, “Ye are the children of the Lord your God.”

Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD…”

Job 2:1, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD…”

Job 38:7, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Philippians 2:15, “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation…”

1 John 3:1-2, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! … Beloved, now we are children of God…”

In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Later in

Matthew 5:45, Jesus prescribed to his followers the attainment of noble attributes, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Not exclusively his Father, but their Father …

Christ in Islam

2008-01-10T02:55:00.000-08:00

brothers and sisters,
assalamualaikum wbt.

Yesterday, i was required to write a few chapel reports on three chapters in the bible. One of them was about the birth of Jesus Christ from a Christian's point of view. I've learned quite a lot about Christianity for the past 3 months. Now here's what WE think or believe in.

Christ in Islam
by: Ahmed Deedat

Chapter Two : Jesus in the Quran

Christians Unaware

The Christian does not know that the true spirit of charity which the Muslim displays, always, towards Jesus and his mother Mary spring from the fountainhead of his faith - the Holy Quran. He does not know that the Muslim does not take the holy name of Jesus, in his own language, without saying Eesa, alaihi assalam ("Jesus, peace be upon him")

The Christian does not know that in the Holy Quran Jesus is mentioned twenty five times. For example:

"We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit" (The Holy Quran 2:87)

"O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary..." (3:45)

"...Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of god..." (4:171)

"...And in their foot steps we sent Jesus the son of Mary..." (5:46)

"And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous." (6:85)

Jesus - His Titles

Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran, he is also addressed with respect as: Ibn Maryam, meaning "The son of Mary"; and as the Maseeh (in Hebrew it is the Messiah), which is translated as "Christ". He is also known as Abdullah, "The servant of Allah"; and as Rasul u Allah, the messenger of Allah.

He is spoken of as "The Word of God", as "The Spirit of God", as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this mighty messenger of God, and the Muslims have not fallen short over the past fourteen hundred years in doing the same. There is not a single disparaging remark in the entire Quran to which even the most jaundiced among the Christians can take exception.

Eesa Latinised to "Jesus"

The Holy Quran refers to Jesus as Eesa, and this name is used more times than any other title, because this was his "Christian" name. Actually, his proper name was Eesa (Arabic), or Esau (Hebrew); classical Yeheshua, which the Christian nations of the West latinized as Jesus. Neither the "J" nor the second "s" in the name Jesus is to be found in the original tongue - they are not found in the Semitic languages.

The word is very simply "E S A U" a very common Jewish name, used more than sixty times in the very first booklet alone of the Bible, in the part called "Genesis". There was at least one "Jesus" sitting on the "bench" at the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Josephus the Jewish historian mentions some twenty five Jesus' in his "Book of Antiquities". The New Testament speaks of "Bar-Jesus" a magician and a sorcerer, a false prophet (Acts 13:6); and also "Jesus-Justus" a Christian missionary, a contemporary of Paul (Colossians 4:11). These are distinct from Jesus the son of Mary. Transforming "Esau" to (J)esu(s) - Jesus - makes it unique. This unique (?) name has gone out of currency among the Jews and the Christians from the 2nd century after Christ. Among the Jews, because it came to be a name of ill - repute, the name of one who blasphemed in Jewry; and among the Christians because it came to be the proper name of their God. The Muslim will not hesitate to name his son Eesa because it is an honored name, the name of a righteous servant of the Lord.

Chapter Three : Mother And Son

Mary Honored

The birth of Jesus Christ is described in two places of the Quran - chapter 3 and chapter 19. Reading from the beginning of his birth, we come across the story of Mary, and the esteemed position which she occupies in the House of Islam, before the actual annunciation of the birth of Jesus is given:

"'Behold'! the angels said: 'O Mary! God hath chosen thee and purified thee, and chosen thee above the women of all nations" (3:42)

"Chosen thee above the women of all nations." Such an honor is not to be found given to Mary even in the Christian Bible! The verse continues:

"O Mary! Worship thy Lord devoutly: prostrate thyself, and bow down (in prayer) with those who bow down." (3:43)

Divine Revelation

What is the source of this beautiful and sublime recitation which, in its original Arabic, moves men to ecstasy and tears? verse 44 below explains:

"This is part of the tidings, of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Muhammad!) by inspiration: Thou wast not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary: nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the point)." (3:44)

Mary's Birth

The story is that the maternal grandmother of Jesus, Hannah, had hitherto been barren. She poured out her heart to God: If only God will grant her a child, she would surely dedicate such a child for the service of God in the temple.

God granted her prayer and Mary was born. Hannah was disappointed. She was yearning for a son, but instead she delivered a daughter; and in no way is the female like the male, for what she had in mind. What was she to do? She had made a vow to God. She waited for Mary to be big enough to fend for herself.

When the time came, Hannah took her darling daughter to the temple, to hand over for temple services. Every priest wanted to be the god-father of this child. They cast lots with arrows for her - like the tossing of the coin - head or tail?
eventually she fell to the lot of Zakariya, but not without a dispute.

The Source of His Message

This was the story. But where did Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, get this knowledge from? He was an Ummi, Arabic for "unlettered". He did not low how to read or write. He is made by God Almighty to answer this very question in the verse above, by saying that it was all by divine inspiration. "No!", says the controversialist. "This is Muhammed's own concoction. He copied his revelations from the Jews and Christians. He plagiarized it. He forged it."

Knowing full-well, and believing as we do, that the whole Quran is the veritable Word of God, we will nevertheless agree, for the sake of argument, with the enemies of Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, for a moment, that he wrote it. We can now expect some cooperation from the unbelievers.

Ask him: "Have you any qualms in agreeing that Muhammed was an Arab?" Only an ignorant will hesitate to agree. In that case there is no sense in pursuing any discussion. Cut short the talk. Close the book!

With the man of reason, we proceed. "That this Arab, in the first instance, was addressing other Arabs. He was not talking to Indian Muslims, Chinese Muslims, or Nigerian Muslims. He was addressing his own people, the Arabs. Whether they agreed with him or not, he told them in the most sublime form, words that were seared into the hearts and minds of his listeners that Mary the mother of Jesus, a Jewess, was chosen above the women of all nations. Not his own mother, nor his wife nor his daughter, nor any other Arab woman, but a Jewess! Can one explain this? Because to everyone his own mother or wife, or daughters would come before other women.

Why would the prophet of Islam honor a woman from his opposition! and a Jewess at that! belonging to a race which had been looking down upon his people for three thousand years? Just as they still look down upon their Arab brethren today."

Sarah and Hagar

The Jews learn, from the Bible, that their father, Abraham, had two wives Sarah and Hagar. They say that they are the children of Abraham through Sarah his legitimate wife; that their Arab brethren have descended through Hagar, a "bondwoman", and that as such, the Arabs are an inferior breed.

Will anyone please explain the anomaly as to why Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, if he is the author, chose this Jewess for such high honor? The answer is simple, he had no choice he had no right to speak of his own desire. "It is no less than an inspiration sent down to him." (53:4)

The Chapter of Maryam

There is a Chapter in the Holy Quran, named Surat u Maryam "Chapter Mary", named in honor of Mary the mother of Jesus Christ, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; again, such an honor is not to be found given to Mary in the Christian Bible. Out of the 66 books of the Protestants and 73 of the Roman Catholics, not one is named after Mary or her son. You will find books named after Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul and two score more obscure names, but not a single one is that of Mary!

If Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, was the author of the Holy Quran, then he would not have failed to include in it with Mary, the mother of Jesus, his own mother Aamina, his dear wife Khadija, or his beloved daughter Fatima. But No! No! This can never be. The Quran is not his handiwork!.

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reference:

http://jamaat.net/cis/ChristInIslam.html

Allah a'lam

Sura Rahman

2007-11-19T07:38:00.001-08:00

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِِ
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
慈悲あまねく慈愛深きアッラーの御名において

"This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard (against evil)" (al-baqarah:2)

“それこそは、疑いの余地のない啓典である。その中には主を畏れる者たちへの導きがある”（baqarah:2)

Among Allah's Signs: the Sun, the Moon, the Sky and the Earth

Allah said,

[الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ ]

(The sun and the moon (run) on fixed courses.) They move in their orbit in perfect succession,
according to precise calculation that is never delayed nor disturbed,

[لاَ الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِى لَهَآ أَن تدْرِكَ القَمَرَ وَلاَ الَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ وَكُلٌّ فِى فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ]

(It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. They all float, each in an orbit.)(36:40),

[فَالِقُ الإِصْبَاحِ وَجَعَلَ الَّيْلَ سَكَناً وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ حُسْبَاناً ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ]

((He is the) Cleaver of the daybreak. He has appointed the night for resting, and the sun and the moon for calculating. Such is the measuring of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.) (6:96), Allah said,

[وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ ]

(And the Najm and the trees prostrating.) Ibn Jarir commented, "Scholars of Tafsir disagreed over the meaning of Allah's statement, `And the Najm.' They agreed, however, that the trees mentioned here are those that stand on trunks.''`Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "An-Najm refers to the plants that lay on the ground.'' Similar was said by Sa`id bin Jubayr, As-Suddi and Sufyan Ath-Thawri. This is what Ibn Jarir preferred, may Allah have mercy upon him. Mujahid said, "An-Najm (the star); the one that is in the sky.'' Al-Hasan and Qatadah said similarly. This is the saying that is the most obvious, and Allah knows best, for Allah the Exalted said,

[أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَسْجُدُ لَهُ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَن فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ وَالنُّجُومُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَالشَّجَرُ وَالدَّوَآبُّ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنَ النَّاسِ]

(See you not that whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the moving creatures, and many of mankind prostrate themselves to Allah.)(22:18) Allah's statement,

[وَالسَّمَآءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ الْمِيزَانَ ]

(And the heaven He has raised high, and He has set up the balance.) meaning the justice, as He said in another Ayah,

[لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَيِّنَـتِ وَأَنزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَـبَ وَالْمِيزَانَ لِيَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ]

(Indeed, We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and sent down with them the Book and the balance that mankind may keep up equity.)(57:25) Allah said here,

[أَلاَّ تَطْغَوْاْ فِى الْمِيزَانِ ]

(In order that you may not transgress the balance.) meaning, He created the heavens and earth in justice and truth so that everything is founded on, and observing, justice and truth. Allah's statement,

[وَأَقِيمُواْ الْوَزْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلاَ تُخْسِرُواْ الْمِيزَانَ ]

(And observe the weight with equity and do not make the balance deficient.) meaning, do not cheat in the weights and measures, but rather observe justice and fairness,

[وَزِنُواْ بِالْقِسْطَاسِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ ]

(And weigh with the true and straight balance.)(26:182) Allah said,

[وَالاٌّرْضَ وَضَعَهَا لِلاٌّنَامِ ]

(And the earth He has put down (laid) for Al-Ana'm.) Allah raised the heavens and put down, or laid, the earth and balanced it with firm mountains, so that it would be stable for its residents that live on it, i.e. the various types and kinds of creatures, different in species, shape, color and language. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said that Al-An'am means the creatures.

[فِيهَا فَـكِهَةٌ]

(Therein are fruits,) of various colors, taste and scent,

[وَالنَّخْلُ ذَاتُ الاٌّكْمَامِ]

(and date palms producing Akmam.) Allah mentioned the date tree here specifically because of its benefit, both fresh and dry. Ibn Jurayj reported that Ibn `Abbas said said Al-Akmam, means sheathed fruit stalks. Similar was said by more than one of the scholars of Tafsir, it refers to the stalks that the seeds grow in to become a cluster of dates, unripe green dates then they ripen and ripen more. Allah said,

[وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ ]

(And also corn, with (its) `Asf, and Rayhan.) `Ali bin Abi Talhah said that Ibn `Abbas said that in,

[وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ]

(And also corn, with (its) `Asf), `Asf means straw.'' Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas, "`Asf is green leaves cut from the stem, so it is called `Asf when it dries out.'' Similarly, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and Abu Malik said that `Asf means straw. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and others said that Rayhan means leaves, while Al-Hasan said that it means sweet-scented plants. `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said that Rayhan means green leaves. The meanings here, and Allah knows best, are the various crops that produce straw, such as wheat and barley, and Rayhan are the leaves that grow on the stems.

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

I am a MUSLIM!

2007-11-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

AlhamduliLlah, I am a Muslim.. and I am really really proud to be one.

Will the energy problem continue to become more serious? (part1)

2007-11-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

Q: What is the current state of the energy problem?
エネルギー問題の現状は？

The price of oil, which was stagnant through the 1980s and 1990s following two oil crisis, has risen sharply since 2000.

In addition toaccelerating demand in rapidly growing emerging countries like China, demand in the US, the worlds largest consumer of oil, has also continued to grow. Meanwhile, investment in oil drilling was curbed for many years because of low prices, and there has been a lag in the expansion of production capacity.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Iraq war, which began in 2003, also caused heightened governmental and military conflicts between the oil-producing countries of the Middle East and developed countries, particularly the US.

二度の石油危機の後、８０年代以降の石油価格は低迷したが、２００年代に入って再び高騰している。

中国等高成長新興国の需要が急速に伸びている上、世界一の消費国である米国の需要も伸び続けている。一方で、長年の低価格によって石油採掘の投資が抑えられ、生産能力の拡大は遅れている。

また、０１年の９．１１テロや０３年のイラク戦争など、中東産油国と先進国（特に米国）との間での新たな政治的・軍事的対立が高まったという事情もある。

......
source
参考文献

the world economy project, 'a bilingual guide to the world economy', koudansha international corporation, 28.8.2006

国際経済プロジェクト、「英語で話すs国際経済」、講談社インターナショナル株式会、２００６年８月２８日

人生が変わった！日本の女性

2007-11-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

my fellow japanese friends.. take a look at this one. you wont regret it!

“一体自分は何のためにこのように生まれてきたのか？どう生ければ良いのか？何を求められているのか？”

"why on earth are we born in this world? in what way are we going to spend our lives? whatever is that we are seeking for?"

.....

here are the continuance..

(sequel2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjQgSt6F9-8

(sequel3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8p8_cRRb-Y

(website)
www.noora1.com
www.nihon-tarbiyah.org

Islam & Christianity

2007-10-30T05:26:00.000-07:00

Comparing Codes of Beliefs between
Islam & Christianity

Islam: Allah (God Almighty) is the only Creator of all that exits.

Christianity: God Almighty is the only Creator of all that exits. (Gen. 1:1)

Islam:There is one God (Allah). Jesus is the Christ, miracle birth- and Muhammad (p) is his last prophet, both of them said, "God is One and you have to serve Him with all your heart, mind and strength.

Christianity: There is one God. He exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (There is no "Trinity" in the Bible)

Islam: Allah reveals His 99 Divine Attributes and does not compare Himself to any of His creation.

Christianity: God has revealed Himself as "One God" and "One Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:3; Mark 12:29)

Islam: Allah created man from dirt and "in His image" and of "His spirit," yet God has no likeness of anything in creation.

Christianity: God created man from dirt and the image of God (Genesis 1)

Islam: Adam & Eve sinned, then repented and were forgiven, with no continuing effects on their children.

Christianity: Adam and Eve sinned and thus brought sin into the world and their sins passed
on to their children. (Genesis 3:1-7)

Islam: God Forgives Adam and Eve after they repent. Then He makes Adam his deputy (caliph) and the first prophet.

Christianity: Original Sin - all of Adam's posterity are born with a sin nature and are sinful from birth (Romans 3:22-23, 1st John 1:10)

Islam: Man is basically good but prone to mistakes. Muslims who repent and submit to God are forgiven without intercession from Christ (or anyone) needed.

Christianity: Man is by nature sinful and has need for redemption by the atonement of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6, 8:32, Colossians 1:19-20, Hebrews 7:26-27, 9:26, 10:12, 1st John 4:10)

Islam: Through submission to the Will of God in peace, anyone, anytime, any place becomes a servant of Allah and draw closer to Him.

Christianity: Through the work of Christ, God adopts Christians into His family and calls them His children (Romans 8:14-15, Ephesians 1:5, Galatians 4:5)

Islam: Allah is not like His creation. He is neither male nor female, nor is creation like Him.

Christianity:Bible says; "God is not a man... not the son of man.." (Numbers 19:23) Other places contradicts this(?)

sources:

http://www.islamcode.com/christianityvsislam.html

http://www.islamtomorrow.com/

Apa Cita-Cita Awak?

2007-10-24T03:56:00.000-07:00

i know.. its a long one, but itll be worth your while reading it.. if you understand malay though.

Apakah cita-cita awak...?'

Written by Hassan Al Banna

Guru kami, Syeikh Ahmad Yusuf Najati sangat　gemar memilih tajuk-tajuk karangan　yang menarik. Dia　menghibur kami dengan kelakarnya yang menarik itu. Apabila　dia merasa penat memeriksa karangan kami,dia pun berkata, 'Ambillah　karangan-karangan awak　ini wahai para ulamak dan sebarkan. Duhai kaum ku,　hendaklah kamu mempunyai maksud atau tujuan.Bunga-bunga bahasa yang elok ialah yang ringkas　(yakni sesuatu karangan itu elok apabila ia pendek,　padat dan berisi). Demi Allah, saya tidak menilai karangan awak berdasarkan panjang atau pendeknya.　Kami pun ketawa mendengar kata-katanya itu.

Kemudian, kami pun membahagi-bahagikan　karangan-karangan di kalangan para　penuntut. 1927 ialah tahun akhir pengajian saya di Darul Ulum. Salah satu tajuk karangan yang Syeikh Najati beri　kepada kami ialah 'Apakah cita-cita awak selepas　tamat pengajian nanti? Dan cara cara yang awak　hendak gunakan untuk mencapai cita-cita awak itu.'

Berikut ialah jawapan yang saya beri:

'Saya berpendapat seorang yang baik akan mencari　kebahagiaan dan panduan dengan berkhidmat kepada　manusia. Dia merasa seronok apabila dia berupaya　menghilangkan kesusahan orang dan membuat orang lain　gembira. Dia sanggup berkorban untuk pembaharuan　masyarakat sebagai keuntungan hakiki bagi dirinya.　Dia berjihad bagi menghadapi kesukaran dan kesusahan　dengan tabah dalam menegakkan kebenaran dan hidayat.　Dia cuba menyelamatkan hati manusia dengan merasai　penyakitnya. Dia mengkaji ciri-ciri yangmengakibatkan kemerosotan akhlak dan masyarakat. Dia　berusaha untuk menegakkan peraturan masyarakat Islam
yang lebih baik. Dia bersifat kasih sayang kepada　manusia. Dia berusaha sebanyak mungkin untuk　meringankan penderitaan manusia dan mencipta suasana　yang boleh membantu mereka menjalani kehidupan yang　bahagia. Dia juga berusaha memimpin mereka yang　telah sesat ke jalan yang benar.

'Saya yakin tindakan yang tidak bermanafaat kepada orang lain dan juga dirinya ialah tindakan yang salah dan tidak berguna. Tindakan yang paling baik ialah tindakan yang bermanafaat kepada diri sendiri, saudara mara, rakan taulan dan juga negara. Tindakan yang memberi manafaat kepada umum ialah tindakan yang hebat dan mulia. Pendapat-pendapat saya ini telah mendorong saya memilih kerjaya di bidang　pendidikan kerana para pendidik adalah sumber cahaya (keilmuan) bagi rakyat. Mereka menghapuskan kejahilan dan menyebarkan cahaya ilmu di seluruh dunia. Para pendidik ini seumpama lilin yang sedang menyala sambil memberi cahaya kepada orang lain. Saya yakin cita-cita tertinggi yang dapat dicapai　manusia ialah mencari keredhaan Allah dengan cara　yang diterima dan dirahmati Nya. Seorang manusia　yang ingin mencapai cita-cita tertinggi ini akan mendapati dirinya berada di persimpangan jalan. Setiap jalan mempunyai ciri-cirinya yang tersendiri. Dia bolehlah memilih salah satu dari keduanya.

'Jalan yang pertama ialah falsafah sufi yang sebenar. Dasar jalan ini ialah keikhlasan amalan dan menjauhkan diri dari kesibukan sebarang makhluk yang baik dan tidak baik. Jalan ini lebih dekat dan selamat dari jalan-jalan yang lain.

Jalan yang satu lagi ialah pendidikan (tarbiyah) dan dakwah. Jalan ini sama seperti jalan pertama tadi di segi keikhlasan dan amalan. Perbezaan jalan　ini dari jalan pertama tadi ialah:

dari segi hubungannya dengan manusia;
dari segi kajian terhadap manusia dan institusi-institusi manusia;
dari segi penglibatannya di dalam kegiatan-kegiatan masyarakat;
dan dari segi menyediakan penawar untuk penyakit-penyakit masyarakat.

'Inilah jalan yang lebih mulia di sisi Allah. Al-Quran menggelarnya jalan yang terpuji. Rasulullah s.a.w. sendiri menyebut kepentingan dan kelebihan jalan ini, Selepas merantau di dalam alam sufi, saya kini memilih jalan yang kedua kerana ia lebih mulia
dan lebih penting. Saya juga yakin bahawa seseorang yang telah mencapai ketinggian ilmu dan berpandangan jauh sudah tentu memilih jalan yang kedua.

'Saya dapati kaum ku sudah tidak mempedulikan agamanya lantaran pergolakan politik yang sedang dilaluinya dan juga kerana keadaan masyarakatnya yang terpengaruh dengan Barat. Mereka telah lupa kepada pencapaian-pencapai an gemilang nenek moyangnya. Berbagai aliran fahaman bukan Islam telah bercampur baur dengan agama Islam yang tulen itu sehingga menghasilkan fahaman-fahaman yang penuh kekeliruan Islam, di dalam bentuknya yang jelas, tulen dan mudah itu telah hilang dari pandangan. Di samping itu, terdapat pula tabir khurafat yang menyekat pertumbuhan flkiran kita. Ringkasnya, umat Islam sedang meraba-raba di dalam kegelapan jahiliyah. Golongan terpelajar dan para belia pula tenggelam di dalam jurang keraguan. Sikap ini merosakkan mereka. Iman mereka menjadi lemah dan mereka pun cenderung ke arah fahaman atheisma (mulhid).

'Saya yakin manusia, di segi fitrahnya, adalah saling berkasih sayang. Dia akan mencari sesuatu yang menjadi sasaran kasih sayangnya. Tumpuan kasih sayang saya ialah seorang sahabat. Dia bersemadi di dalam diri saya seumpama roh saya sendiri. Saya menumpukan kasih sayang saya kepadanya (yakni Ahmad Afandi Sakri). Dia begitu berkesan dalam persahabatan saya.

'Keyakinan saya di dalam perkara ini semua adalah mendalam dan jelas. Hanya yang perlu ialah untuk melihat ia menjadi kenyataan. Cita-cita saya terbahagi kepada dua bahagian:

Cita-cita khas: Kebahagiaan keluarga dan saudara mara serta kesetiaan kepada para sahabat tercinta sentiasa mendapat keutamaan di dalam hati saya.

Cita-cita umum: Saya ingin menjadi guru dan pemimpin. Saya ingin mendidik kanak-kanak pada siang hari dan mendakwah ibu bapa mereka pada waktu malam melalui perbincangan dan syarahan di sekitar agama. Ini boleh juga dilakukan dengan mengarang buku-buku dan melawat berbagai tempat.

'Untuk mencapai cita-cita yang pertama (yakni cita-cita khas), saya telah meneliti sesuatu itu dengan baik. Untuk melaksanakan cita-cita yang kedua, saya telah menyediakan dua senjata akhlak iaitu ketegasan dan pengorbanan. Kedua senjata ini perlu bagi seorang tokoh pembaharuan. Bahkan rahsia kejayaan berada pada kedua senjata ini. Tokoh pembaharuan yang ada dua senjata ini tidak akan menghadapi kegagalan yang mungkin menjejaskan maruah atau mendatangkan malu kepadanya. Di samping itu, ia juga memerlukan kepada cara praktik (amali) iaitu meneruskan pengajian. Saya juga telah menghubungi peribadi-peribadi yang sependapat dengan saya dan menyokong orang-orang yang berpendapat demikian. Badan saya lemah, namun begitu saya sudah biasa dengan kerja keras yang berterusan. Saya telah menyerahkan kehidupan saya kepada Allah. Saya berdo'a kepada Allah agar Dia menerima usaha saya ini dan memberi saya kekuatan untuk melaksanakan tugas saya. Semoga jasmani dan rohani saya mendapat bantuan Allah agar saya menjalankan tugas saya ini. Semoga Allah memberi saya keberkatan dan rahmat seperti yang terdapat di dalani firman-Nya: (Muhammad: 7) Maksudnya: "Hai orang-orang yang beriman, jika kamu menolong (agama) Allah, nescaya Dia akan menolongmu dan meneguhkan kedudukanmu. "

'Ini adalah satu perjanjian di antara saya dan Allah dan guru saya menjadi saksi kepada perjanjian ini. Saya membuat keputusan ini seorang diri. Tiada sesiapa yang mempengaruhi saya kecuah perasaan saya sendiri. Keputusan ini adalah hasil dari kesungguhan saya kepada Allah Yang mengetahui rahsia hati manusia..' Guru saya, Hasan Yusuf Najati memeriksa karangan saya itu dan memberi markah yang sangat baik iaitu tujuh setengah daripada sepuluh. Dalam karangan tersebut, saya menyebut sahabat saya, Ahmad Afandi Sakri yang sama-sama berkongsi perasaan dengan saya. Dia telah berhenti berniaga dan menutup kedainya kerana hendak sama-sama bergiat
dengan saya. Dia masuk berkhidmat dengan Lembaga Pelajaran Buhairah agar saya dapat bersamanya apabila saya tamat pengajian nanti.

Selamat Hari Raya dan Maaf Zahir Batin

2007-10-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Peringatan, tazkirah utk diri saya dan kita semua sempena bulan syawal.
Selamat Hari Raya dan Maaf Zahir Batin kpd keluarga dan rakan-rakan!

Daripada Anas r.a berkata: Selepas Nabi s.a.w tiba di Madinah, baginda mendapati bahawa penduduk Madinah mempunyai dua hari yang mereka raikannya pada zaman jahiliah. Lalu baginda bersabda, “Aku sampai kepada kamu semua dan aku dapati ada dua hari yang kamu semua raikannya pada zaman jahiliah, dan sesungguhnya Allah telah menggantikannya bagi kamu dengan dua hari yang lebih baik daripadanya: hari raya korban dan eidul fitri”. (Hadis sahih, riwayat Ahmad, Abu Daud dan al-Nasa’ie)

Hari Raya adalah ibadat. Bagaimanapun dalam keseronokan meraikannya ramai yang terlupa batasan yang ditetapkan oleh syarak.

Wartawan MOHD. RADZI MOHD. ZIN dan jurufoto ZHAFARAN NASIB menemu bual Pegawai Agama Kem Kementah, Mejar Shukri Yahya bagi mengupas isu ini.

MEGA: Apakah maksud Eidul fitri?

SHUKRI: Eid itu bermaksud Hari Raya Fitrah sesuai dengan kewajipan umat Islam membayar zakat fitrah. Ia juga disebut sebagai hari kemenangan selepas sebulan berpuasa Ramadan melawan hawa nafsu. Kita menang sebab berjaya menunaikan perintah Allah.

Ia juga adalah hari kita kembali kepada fitrah di mana dosa diampunkan oleh Allah. Sebagai manusia kita kembali kepada fitrah iaitu suka kepada kebaikan dan kebajikan serta benci kepada kejahatan dan maksiat.

Pendek kata, ia adalah ibadat. Maka, sebagai umat Islam hendaklah kita menggunakan hari raya ini sebagai hari untuk membesarkan Allah. Ini dijelaskan dalam al-Quran: Supaya kamu cukupkan bilangan puasa (sebulan Ramadan), supaya kamu membesarkan Allah (dengan bertakbir) kerana telah memberi petunjuk-Nya kepada kamu dan supaya kamu bersyukur. (al-Baqarah: 185)

Kalau begitu, bagaimanakah seharusnya kita menyambut Hari Raya ini?

SHUKRI: Hari Raya Aidilfitri ini bermula pada waktu maghrib malam 1 Syawal. Antara ibadat sunat yang dianjurkan oleh Islam ialah bertakbir dan bertahmid memuji kebesaran Allah.

Selain itu, kita perlu menghidupkan malam raya dengan ibadat seperti zikir, solat, tilawah al-Quran dan beristighfar.

Sebenarnya, menghidupkan malam raya dengan amal ibadat ini diberi ganjaran yang besar oleh Allah. Malangnya, mungkin disebabkan kekurangan ilmu, maka ada di kalangan umat Islam yang tidak menghidupkan malam raya ini dengan mengerjakan ibadat seperti yang disebutkan.

Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda, “Siapa yang bangun malam raya fitrah dan malam raya adha dengan mengharapkan pahala, nescaya tidak akan mati hatinya pada hari mati sekelian hati”. (riwayat Ibn Majah).

Pada pagi raya, kita hendaklah solat subuh berjemaah dan menyambung takbir raya.

Kemudian mandi sunat Hari Raya, memakai baju yang elok atau cantik dan memakai wangi-wangian. Disunatkan makan sedikit dahulu di rumah sebelum menunaikan solat aidilfitri.

Anas r.a. berkata, Adalah baginda s.a.w tidak beredar pada Hari Raya Fitrah hinggalah baginda makan beberapa biji tamar. (riwayat Bukhari)

Semasa dalam perjalanan, kita disunatkan bertakbir dan bersedekah kepada fakir miskin, anak yatim dan orang yang dalam kesusahan. Bagi mereka yang belum membayar fitrah, inilah masa paling afdal berbuat demikian.

Selepas solat hari raya, hendaklah kita ziarah-menziarahi kaum keluarga dan jiran tetangga.

Tetapi ramai yang tidak bertakbir dan bertahmid pada malam raya kerana sibuk menukar langsir atau kerusi baru. Bagaimana membetulkan keadaan tersebut?

SHUKRI: Untuk membetulkan keadaan ini, kita hendaklah membuat persiapan awal. Maknanya, selesaikan kerja-kerja menghias rumah termasuklah menggantung langsir baru atau menyusun perabot baru lebih awal. Jangan tunggu sehingga malam raya.

Sebabnya, kita mahu menghidupkan malam raya dengan ibadat kepada Allah. Ini bukan pula bermaksud kita perlu bertakbir sepanjang malam. Memadai jika kita berhimpun bersama keluarga dan bertakbir bermula daripada solat Maghrib hingga Isyak.

Selain itu, kita boleh juga menghidupkan amalan bertakbir rumah ke rumah di kawasan kediaman kita. Selain mendapat pahala kita juga dapat mengeratkan silaturrahim sesama jiran.

Hari Raya adalah hari mulia. Namun apakah batas-batas yang perlu dijaga semasa meraikannya untuk mengelak kemuliaannya dicemari?

SHUKRI: Hari Raya adalah hari kebesaran Islam untuk kita bergembira dalam suasana ibadat. Bagaimanapun, jangan kita jadikan Hari Raya sebagai tiket menghalalkan apa sahaja. Kita kena jaga batasan yang ditetapkan oleh Islam.

Kita perlu menjaga adab bertamu ke rumah orang, masuk dengan ucapan salam dan menundukkan pandangan. Jangan terlampau ghairah melihat ke sana-sini.

Batas pergaulan dan aurat wajib dijaga. Jika yang datang itu lelaki bukan mahram, maka jangan pula si gadis bersalam dengannya atau pun membuka aurat.

Memadai hanya mengucap tahniah dan bermaaf-maafan tanpa bersalam. Rasulullah pun tidak pernah bersalam dengan wanita yang bukan mahram semasa baiah (membuat perjanjian).

Jangan pula timbul rasa bangga diri atau sombong kerana kita mempunyai kereta baru atau perabot yang baru.

Paling utama, hendaklah kita menjaga had atau batas dalam menikmati juadah hari raya. Jangan makan terlalu banyak. Ingatlah firman Allah, ...makan dan minumlah dan janganlah berlebih-lebihan. Sesungguhnya Allah tidak menyukai orang yang berlebih-lebihan. (al-A’raf: 31)

Seperkara lagi, jangan pula kita dilalaikan dengan menyambut tetamu sehingga tidak menunaikan solat. Kalau kita beraya dan meninggalkan solat fardu maka kita melakukan maksiat dan ia tidak lagi menjadi ibadat.

Ada yang lebih suka menonton televisyen di rumah berbanding menziarahi keluarga. Apakah pandangan Islam dalam hal ini?

SHUKRI: Dalam Islam, Hari Raya Aidilfitri adalah sehari. Jadi amat rugi jika kita menghabiskannya dengan hanya menonton tv. Rancangan tv itu hari lain pun boleh kita tengok.

Lagipun bukan semua program tv pada hari raya sesuai ditonton pada hari yang mulai ini. Ini bukan pula bermakna kita tidak boleh berhibur pada hari raya.

Islam benarkan kita berhibur tetapi jangan sampai ia melalaikan. Umat Islam perlu memilih rancangan hiburan yang sesuai contohnya yang menyiarkan lagu-lagu raya tetapi filem atau rancangan yang lari daripada konsep hari raya tidak perlu ditonton.

Sepatutnya kita mengambil peluang hari raya untuk berziarah dan bermaaf-maafan. Bukan pula maknanya, hari raya sahaja masa untuk memohon maaf.

Cuma apabila pada hari lebaran ini kita dapat berkumpul beramai-ramai dengan sanak saudara maka ia seolah-olah menjadi masa paling sesuai bermaafan.

Bermaafan ini adalah sifat orang yang bertakwa. Malah Rasulullah juga adalah sangat pemaaf walaupun kepada kaum kafir Quraisy yang sentiasa menyakiti baginda.

Bagi anggota keselamatan seperti tentera, sudah tentu ada yang terpaksa bertugas di perbatasan pada Hari Raya. Bagaimanakah cara untuk mengurangkan kesedihan ini?

SHUKRI: Dalam Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) ada giliran bertugas. Mereka yang bertugas tahun ini barangkali bercuti pada hari raya lalu.

Dalam Hari Raya pun menjaga keselamatan negara adalah penting dan mesti diteruskan. Sebenarnya anggota tentera yang bertugas di perbatasan ini memikul amanah dalam suasana orang lain bergembira pada Hari Raya.

Bertugas mempertahan negara jika ikhlas akan mendapat ganjaran yang besar.

Bagi mengelak kesedihan, adakan aktiviti menyiapkan juadah Hari Raya secara sederhana di tempat bertugas. Elakkan bersendirian sehingga terlalu memikirkan isteri dan anak-anak.

Pegawai Pemerintah juga berperanan menyuntik semangat anak-anak buah agar turut bergembira walaupun berada di hutan, laut atau pun misi Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu.

IKHTILAT

2007-09-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

IKHTILAT IKHWAH DAN AKHAWAT, SEKSISkah KITA???

Persoalan mungkin, ikhtilat(percampura n) IKHWAH dan AKHAWAT, Bagaimana dengan kita?. Sesungguhnya menjadi kewajipan bagi seseorang muslimin-muslimat yang beriman kepada Allah dan Rasul itu menjauhi ikhtilat yang haram antara lelaki dan perempuan. Hendaklah seorang wanita itu apabila telah cukup ilmu dan fahamnya dan terlibatnya di dalam dakwah untuk memastikan dirinya jauh

dari ikhtilat (percampuran lelaki-perempuan) yang bukan mahramnya. Perlanggaran batas-batas pergaulan muslimin-muslimat masih terjadi dan hal ini mungkin disebabkan kerana :

1. Belum mengetahui batas-batas pergaulan.

2. Sudah mengetahui, namun belum memahami.

3. Sudah mengetahui namun tidak mahu mengamalkan.

4. Sudah mengetahui dan memahami, namun tergelincir kerana lalai.

Kita mungkin sibuk menghiasi penampilan luar kita dengan menyimpan janggut, berkopiah ataupun dengan tudung labuh warna-warni. Kita sibuk berhiaskan simbol-simbol front Isla

m namun lupa substans Islam. Kita bersungguh belajar ilmu Islam namun tidak fokus pada pemahaman dan amal. Aktivis sekular tidak lagi segan dengan kita!!!

Seorang ustaz bercerita bahawa ada aktivis sekular yang berkata kepadanya, " Ustaz, dulu saya respect pada Islamic student, pakai tudung labuh, berkopiah kerana pandai menjaga pergaulan muslimin-muslimat, namun kini mereka sama saja dengan kami. Kami jadi tak segan lagi."

Ungkapan aktivis sekular di atas memalukan kita selaku jundi-jundi y

ang ingin memperjuangkan agama-Nya. Menjaga pergaulan lelaki-perempuan memang bukanlah hal yang mudah kerana fitrah lelaki adalah mencintai wanita dan demikian pula sebaliknya. Hanya dengan keimanan yang kukuh dan mujahadah sajalah yang membuat seseorang dapat istiqomah menjaga batas-batas ini. Pelanggaran batas-batas pergaulan Ikhwah dan Akhawat masa kini

1. Tidak Menundukkan Pandangan ( Gadhul Bashar )
Bukankah ada pepatah yang mengatakan, " Dari mana

datangnya cinta ? Dari mata turun ke hati". Maka jangan kita ikuti seruan yang mengatakan, "Ah, tidak perlu gadhul bashar, yang penting kena jaga hati!" Namun, bukanlah menunduk pandangan sehingga terlanggar tiang tapi cukup sekadar kita memastikan pandangan kita terjaga daripada melihat sesuatu yang tidak syarie. Lelaki memandang wanita dengan penuh nafsu dan tidak alah juga wanita yang berkelakuan demikian walau tampil "warak berbungkus".

2. Couple
Duduk berdua di taman-taman, tepi-tepi malah ada yang lebih licik dengan menggunakan platform rasmi yang bernama 'meeting' ditempat2 yang mencurigakan. Walaupun kebanyakan masyarakat pelajar Azhar mahupun masyarakat arab tidak mempedulikan sebegini kerana menganggap ustaz-ustazah yang berduaan ini sedang berdiskusi tentang Islam dan tugas, namun apapun alasannya, maka menutup pintu fitnah ini adalah langkah terbaik dan wajib bagi kita.

3. "Chop awal2" Untuk berkahwin
"Bagaimana, ustazah? Tapi tiga tahun lagi baru kita kahwin. Ana takut enti diambil orang." Akhawat belum tamat belajar sehingga 'dichop' seorang ikhwah untuk menikah kerana takut kehilangan, padahal belum pasti hasrat itu akan tercapai. Hal ini sangatlah berisiko dan boleh mendatangkan permusuhan dan perpecahan bukan setakat semasa belajar, malah akan berlanjutan ke tanah air. Bukankah Nabi sallahu Alihi Wasallam sendiri melarang kita daripada 'chop awal' atau bertunang terlalu lama. Dengan kata mudah 'kalau rasa diri sudah berpunya dan serius dalam hubungan, eloklah dipercepatkan urusan akad antara keduanya takut-takut terjerumus kekancah maksiat. Justeru, mana mungkin hubungan suci suami isteri akan terbina kekal di atas timbunan sampah kemaksiatan. '

4. Telefon Tidak 'Urgent'
Menelefon dan berborak tidak tentu arah yang tidak ada nilainya sama ada soal pengajian mahupun atau soal tugas berpersatuan. Kalau setakat bertanya khabar, bercakap soal hati dan perasaan atau apa sahaja yang bersifat tidak syarie tanpa batas, ana gusar apa akan kita jawab dihadapan Allah nanti. Apa yang lebih malang, kita selaku daei, ulamak dan harapan masyarakat di luar sana sebagai benteng terakhir umat Islam yang membawa mandat besar selaku agen pengubah masyarakat, harus menunjukkan teladan dan nama yang baik dengan mengenepikan sebarang salah laku

5. SMS Tidak 'Urgent'
Saling berchatting via SMS mengenai hal-hal yang tak ada kaitannya dengan da'wah, sampai tak sedar kredit dah habis. Sudah tiba masanya kita matang dan bermuhasabah dengan kehadiran teknologi yang sudah sekian lama kita nikmati. SMS tidak sepatutnya dijadikan medan melempiaskan nafsu serakah dengan berabang-sayang tapi sepatutnya dimanfaatkan untuk tujuan yang lebih murni dan berfaedah untuk menempah tiket ke syurga Allah Subhanahu Wataala.

6. Berbicara Mendayu-Dayu
Bercakap sambil tertawa kecil dan terdengar sedikit manja. Bukankah Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam melarang perempuan daripada bercakap dengan suara yang mendayu-dayu dan dibuat-buat untuk menarik perhatian lelaki. Jadilah wanita yang bermaruah dengan sedikit bertegas bila bercakap dengan lelaki yang bukan mahram. Si lelaki pula. Jadilah mukmin yang 'gentleman' dengan menghormati perempuan mukminat. Hormat dalam erti kata menjaga dan memelihara maruah kaum hawa yang bakal menjadi tempat letaknya zuriat kita, penerus generasi beragama masa depan.

7. Yahoo Messenger/Chatting Yang Tidak 'Urgent'
YM adalah termasuk satu kemudahan. Tidaklah berdosa bila ingin menyampaikan hal2 penting di sini. Namun menjadi bermasalah bila topik perbicaraan melebar entah kemana dan tidak fokus pada da'wah kerana khalwat secara maya mudah untuk berlaku. Firman Allah Subhanahu Wataala : Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda,
" Barangsiapa beriman kepada Allah dan hari akhirat, maka jangan sekali-kali dia bersendirian dengan seorang perempuan yang tidak bersama mahramnya, kerana yang ketiganya ialah syaitan." (HR. Ahmad)

Penutup
Ikhtilat Ikhwah dan Akhawat, seksiskah kita? Berdasarkan dalil-dalil yang dikemukakan, jelaslah kepada kita bahawa pergaulan atau 'ikhtilat' di antara lelaki dan wanita tanpa sebab-sebab munasabah yang dibenarkan adalah dilarang sama sekali dan membawa kepada dosa. Maka sewajarnya ke atas kaum Hawa menjaga batas-batas pergaulan hariannya dengan kaum Adam. Ini kerana 'ikhtilat' yang melanggar batas2 syariat akan menyebabkan fitnah serta kerosakan hati dan akhlak di dalam kalangan masyarakat Islam. Seterusnya ia boleh menjatuhkan martabat wanita itu sendiri. Jadilah lelaki yamg mampu membela dan memimpin kaum hawa ke jalan yang membawa mereka ke syurga.

Bukankah sekiranya kita sayangkan seseorang, sayang kita akan lebih bermakna jika kita sama2 memperoleh syurga. Mana mungkin lafaz sayang dan kasih kita terpalit lumpur yang natijahnya adalah neraka. Lupakan persoalan salah siapa antara kita tapi letakkan pertanyaan dalam benak sanubari kita, Ikhtilat antara ikhwah dan akhawat, bagaimana dengan kita? Adakah kita terlibat sama?. Jangan sampai suatu masa anak cucu kita mentertawakan dan menghukum kita lantaran salah laku yang kita adakan hari ini. Wallahu 'alam.

Semarak Ramadhan 2007

2007-09-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Semarak Ramadhan 2007
Assalamualaikum..

Syukur alhamdulillah ramadhan tiba kembali. Apakah rancangan anda? Marilah bersama-sama memeriahkan bulan yang mulia ini dengan Program Semarak Ramadhan 2007. Ayuh pergi.Program ini dibuka untuk dansei sahaja..

Tarikh : 15-17 September 2007
Tempat : Masjid Asakusa Tokyo
Masa : 1700 (Sabtu 15/9/07) - 1300 (Isnin 17/9/07)

lifetime friends - kemanisan ukhuwwah

2007-06-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

The most important possessions for me are my friends..

Until now I've met various kinds of people in life. Most of the people I know turned out to be my friend. But amongst them are my true friends I met in high school and the ones with me right now who are there for me unconditionally. They never question, but always offer support no matter what the circumstances are. My best friends are the people worth living for. My friends know every last thing about me including by bad parts, yet still manage to like me. They overlook my failures and with their word of advice I manage to go forward not looking back again.

“If you are lost in the wood, I will find you. If you’re afraid of the dark, I’ll sit beside you.” That is what a true friend would say. Even now I still keep contact with them. Knowing that we are not going to be together again for a while made it really hard for me to leave my country. Even then, they gave me support and wished me all the best.

A friend does not have to be the richest kid in town or a good looking popular guy but what is important to me is a friend who is always close to the heart although being miles apart. The best medicine in life is to have several true faithful friends and gratefully, that is what I have right now.

sincerely to all my best friends out there!
ihsan shahrin