Give me a reason to be a Muslim !

Interesting animation explaining reasons for non-Muslims to embrace Islam, urging them to know it, and drawing attentions to its distinctive points such as being the religion harmonious with the human nature.

 

“Can I Have an Affair?”

Imagine a young man coming to the Imam of your neighboring mosque with this strange request: “Can I get a fatwa that permits me to commit Zina (fornication/adultery)?”

What kind of response will he receive?

I think that shocked and angry reproach is the most likely reaction of the attendees and the Imam; you would hear yells like, “Shame on you! How dare you mention such despicable things in the mosque and, even worse, request to commit it?”

Well, let’s read this story and see how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) handled a situation like this:

Abu Umama Al-Bahily (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that a young man came to the Prophet and said:

‘O Messenger of Allah, give me a permission to commit  Zina.’

The Companions turned to him and started rebuking him. The Prophet said: “Come closer.“

When the young man drew nearer to the Prophet and sat down, the Prophet asked him: “Would you like it for your mother?“

The man answered; No, by Allah. May Allah make me a protection for you!

The Prophet commented, “People also do not like it for their mothers.” The Prophet added, “Would you like it for your daughter?“

Again, the young man answered negatively. So, the Prophet said, “People too would not love it for their daughters“

Further, the Prophet asked, “Would you like it for your sister?” The Prophet received the same answer and made the same comment. The Prophet went on asking about the man’s paternal and maternal aunts. The young man’s answer was the same and the Prophet repeated the same comment, “People do not like that for their aunts.“

The Prophet then placed his hand on the young man and prayed for him, “O Allah, forgive his sins, purify his heart, and protect his chastity.“

Abu Umamah, the narrator of the hadith, said that the young man did not pay heed to any temptation thereafter. (Authenticated by Al-Albani)

With this gentle, understanding, and convincing approach, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sought to empower the young man rather than destroy him. He aimed to strengthen and fortify him in his battle with temptations rather than alienate or undermine him.

Following this Prophetic example is crucial when dealing with the youth as it does not only determine if the youth will commit Zina or not, but most importantly, if they would ever come back to the Mosque to discuss and find answers for their future problems or not.

Listening to the youth, understanding their problems and heartedly embracing and caring for them, whatever the issues they may have, are all elements of the Prophet’s art of empowerment. In the above hadith, the Companions themselves were not able to contain their shock. Perhaps this would be the natural reaction of our imams and community leaders if faced with a similar question.

The Prophet, however, dealt with the situation as a great educator; he drew the young man nearer to him, discussed the problem rationally, and thus succeeded in convincing the young man to the extent that, as the hadith narrator reported, the man would pay no heed to any temptation after that.

Furthermore, the Prophet did not let the incident pass without his unique spiritual touch. Placing his hand on the young man and praying for him must have left an unforgettable effect.

A Youth-Friendly Environment

Criticism does no benefit in such situations. It would only alienate the youth and make them think twice before looking for solutions in the Mosque. If we are not friendly enough to embrace our youth and recognize their concerns, they would look for other environments to channel their worries and needs.

The young man above dared to address the Prophet with his unspeakable request; do our youth feel home and welcome in our mosques that they can open up and comfortably discuss whatever busies their minds?

Unfortunately, the difference between the Prophet’s attitude and that of many of us is as great as the difference between building and destroying, empowering and undermining.

Source

 

The ayah that Led Professor Arthur Alison to Islam

Professor Arthur Alison is the head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the University of London. For several years he had been the president of the British Society for Psychological and Spiritual Studies. In the course of his study of religions, he got acquainted with Islam.

When he compared Islam with the religions and creeds he had studied, he found it suited his inborn nature and satisfied his requirements.

He was invited to the First Islamic International Conference on the Medical Illimitability in the Quran held in Cairo in September 1985 under the auspices of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate.

In the conference he presented a paper on the psychological and spiritual methods of therapy in the light of the Holy Quran, in addition to another paper on sleep and death in the light of Verse 39:42 in the Quran which he presented in collaboration with Dr. Mohammed Yahya Sharafi. The facts presented were an eye opener to him.

At the concluding session of the Conference, attended by Sheikh Jad Al-Haq, the Egyptian Minister of Awqaf, Dr. Mohammed Ahmady and Dr. Mohammed Yahya Sharafi, Professor Alison declared that Islam is the religion of truth and inborn nature with which Allah has created man. Then he uttered the two testimonies, saying that he bears witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah.

In an interview given to the Arabic-weekly, Al-Muslimoon, he narrated the story of his conversion to Islam saying:

“In the course of my study of psychology and related subjects as the president of the British Society for Psychological and Spiritual Studies, I got acquainted with religions. I studied Hinduism, Buddhism and some other religions and creeds. When I studied Islam, I compared it to other religions.

During the conference on Medical Illimitability in the Quran, I could realize that the difference was great. Then I was convinced that Islam is the most proper religion that befits my inborn nature and conduct. In the heart of my heart I had felt that there is a God controlling the Universe. He is the Creator.

Therefore, when I studied Islam, I found that it did not conflict with reason and science. I believe that is the revealed religion from the one and only God. As I witnessed the truth, I uttered the two testimonies. The moment I uttered Shahadah, I was overwhelmed by a strange and ineffable feeling mingled with ease, comfort and satisfaction.”

He went on to say that the material world is now in a critical stage, what they say and see, does not explain the facts precisely. Here lies the responsibility of Muslims who could meet the wondering and perplexed humanity.

Prof. Abdullah Alison added that he, along with Dr. Mohammed Yahya, had presented in the conference on the Medical Illimitability in the Quran a paper focusing on the meaning of the Quranic verse:

{It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply.} (Quran 39:42)

Through this verse, he said, they could prove that death and sleep are similar phenomena in which souls depart from the body. In the case of sleep, the soul returns to the body but in death it does not.

This verse reminds us that “taking the souls” means both sleep and death. This fact has been proved through parapsychological studies which are related to three main domains.

Source

 

Extremists outside Masjid Toronto call for ban on Islam as Muslims pray inside

More than a dozen people gathered outside a mosque in the heart of downtown Toronto with loudspeakers and banners in hand, shouting slogans about banning Islam as Muslims gathered to pray inside.

The gathering happened Friday outside Masjid Toronto on Dundas Street West near University Avenue.

The shouting was so loud that Tera Goldblatt, who works on the 21st floor in a nearby building, said she could hear it from inside her office.

When she came down to see what was going on, she said, she saw some 15 people screaming, some blocking the path of those trying to enter the mosque.

“The response from the people who were trying to get inside was very sort of ‘Oh well, they’re entitled to their opinion’ and ‘Oh well, I guess that’s just part of life,'” Goldblatt said.

“And it makes me really angry because that’s not part of life and it’s not freedom of speech. It’s awful and hateful and it shouldn’t be allowed.”

‘It’s very upsetting’

Mohamed Abdi, a member of the mosque, said it’s the first time he’s seen such a strong backlash against his religion.

“I was under the assumption that lately there’s been a lot of sentiment and positivity towards the Muslim communities, especially with recent events,” Abdi said. “It’s very upsetting that this did happen.”

Bryant Greenbaum also witnessed the protest. “You don’t do it in front of a place of worship on the holiest day of the week for Muslim people, and in an intimidating manner,” he told CBC Toronto.

Mayor John Tory and city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam sent tweets condemning the protest.

A Facebook post by a hate group called Never Again Canada celebrated the incident.

Source

 

Mastering this World !

We know that love of this world destroyed the first and last, and that it lies behind the shocking crimes which the elite classes commit against the common people, leaders against followers, and the intelligent against fools; but the sound cure for the chronic illness lies in mastery of this world and then rising above its baseness. It is good for you to possess more treasure than Qarun and wield wider powers than those of Sulayman if you then use that in support of the truth when the truth needs a buttress, and abandon it for Allah’s sake when death is nigh. As for living in utter poverty and reckoning that vagrancy is the Path to the Garden, this is madness and self-deception. When atheism has imposed its power through control in the earth, your abandoning control of the earth is a worse outrage than fornication and usury.

Anas ibn Malik said, “Salman al-Farisi was fatally ill. Sad ibn Abi Waqqas visited him and saw that he was weeping. Sad asked him, ‘What makes you weep, my brother? Did you not keep the company of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Were you not this? Were you not that?’ Salman replied, ‘I am not weeping from either reluctance to leave this world nor dislike of going to the Next. But the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made a contract with us, and it seems to me that I have only broken it!’ Sad asked, ‘What was your contract?’ He said, ‘He made a contract with us that each of us should have only what which is adequate, like the provision of the rider, and I think that I have exceeded that. As for you, Sad, fear Allah in your ruling when you give judgement, in your distribution when you divide, and in your plan when you decide!'” Al-Mundhiri said, “We read in the Sahih of Ibn Hibban that Salman’s property was collected after his death and it amounted to fifteen dirhams.”

Salman was one of the great and loyal Companions. The hadith shows that he feared to meet Allah even though he left only fifteen dirhams. This is a picture which evokes fear and humility: the sight of one of the commanders of the Islamic conquest meeting his Lord with this divestment and piety at a time when you see the generals and commanders full of this world without limits! But there is a question of fiqh here: Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, who was speaking with Salman, heard this directive from the Messenger of Allah: “It is better for you to leave your heirs rich than to leave them in need, begging from people.” So a large legacy is certainly not a crime! Sad ibn Abi Waqqas was one of the ten promised the Garden, as we find in the Sunan, and those ten were all wealthy Muslims. There was not a poor man among them. Transmitters claim that one of them left so much gold that it was made into axes. The problem is not in owning vast wealth: the problem is in how to use it and how to spend it. In this world we have seen rich men who have built colleges to act as fortresses of knowledge and study, rich men who have combated illness and hardship with great vigour, and rich men who have offered their nations the taxes they paid to assist in matters of general public interest. Uthman ibn Affan offered a stupendous amount of money in preparing for the Expedition of Hardship, and the Messenger said, “O Allah, be pleased with Uthman! I am pleased with him.” The fact is that the hadith of Salman only represents a particular psychological state and does not imply a general legal judgement.

Compiled From:
“The Sunna of the Prophet” – Muhammad al-Ghazali