Issue 97 » December 22, 2000 -
General
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QURAN
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Translation:
"We have fastened every person's omen (fate) to his/her own neck. "
[Al-Quran- Sura Al-Isra 17: 13]
Tafseer:
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The causes that lead us to ultimate salvation, to our perpetual happiness or unending misery, lie within ourselves. It is the proper use of our natural faculties, our power of judgment and decision, our preference and choice which makes us earn either happiness or misery.
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People who do not understand things properly hold external factors to be
responsible for their fortune. -
If people were to critically examine themselves, they would appreciate that the factors which had put them on the road to their destruction and ultimately led to their undoing lay within themselves - their own bad character traits and bad decisions. Their destruction was not thrust upon them by outside factors.
[Compiled from "Towards
Understanding the Quran", by S. Abul Ala Maududi,
vol. V, pg. 29]
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Signs
Before the Hour- What have we prepared for it?
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>
Mahdi - Dajjal
- Jesus - Yajuj
& Majuj <
After
the lesser signs of the Hour appear and increase, mankind
will have reached a stage of great suffering. Then
the awaited Mahdi (peace be upon him) will
appear; he is the first of the greater, and clear, signs
of the Hour. There will be no doubt about his existence,
but this will only be clear to the knowledgeable people.
The Mahdi will rule until the False Messiah (Anti-Christ
or al-Masikh al-Dajjal) appears, who will
spread oppression and corruption. The only ones who will
know him well and avoid his evil will be those who have
great knowledge and Iman (faith). Th False Messiah
(Dajjal) will remain for a while, destroying mankind completely,
and the earth will witness the greatest Fitna (trial)
in its history! Then the Messiah, Prophet
Jesus (peace be upon him) will descend, bringing
justice from heaven. He will kill the Dajjal, and there
will be years of safety and security.
Then the
appearance of the two tribes, Yajuj and
Majuj (Gog and Magog),
will take mankind by surprise, and corruption will overtake
again. In answer to Jesus' faithful prayer to Allah, they
will die, and safety and justice will return. This state
of affairs will continue for some years, until the death
of Jesus (peace be upon him).
[Taken from "The
Signs before the Day of Judgment", by Ibn
Katheer (Rahimahullah)]
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<*>
RaMaDan Special! <*>
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Crying
in Front of Allah-It’s not impossible!
When was
the last time you cried? Not "crocodile tears",
or a few drops of salty water from your eyes, or the odd
tear that slipped down your face while watching Muhammad
Al-Dura of Palestine screaming in agony as he was murdered
by Israeli soldiers. I’m talking about a flood of tears
that won’t stop. Tears that stain your face...because they’ve
been there so long, their bitter saltiness hurts your skin.
When was the last time you cried like a baby? Back when
you, and all of us, were closer to our Fitra, our
true nature.
Ramadan
is coming to an end! That’s enough of a reason to cry! But
what’s even more important is to take stock of ourselves
before it ends and we cannot benefit from its blessings
any further. According to the Quran, the blessings of the
Nigh of Power (Laylatul Qadr) are greater than
the blessings of 1000 months (see Quran 97:3)! We can’t
afford NOT to be crying in front of Allah, asking for all
that we want in these last nights, seeking the Night of
Power.
Crying happens
when we remember how much Allah has blessed us with and
how much we disobey Him. We can never repay Allah for everything
we have, yet we still blatantly commit sins both big and
small: whether it’s backbiting, taking and giving interest,
treating our family badly, lying, doing good deeds to show
off, cheating, etc. We should also remember how Allah puts
us in difficulties and opens ways out of them for us, easing
our burdens. Yet, we still disobey Him and take His Mercy
for granted.
Abdullah
ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said that he would
rather shed two tears from the fear of Allah than give a
thousand dinars in charity.
And the
most telling example of a man who few would think would
cry because of fear of Allah is Umar (may Allah be pleased
with him). He was known for being strong, fearless, and
uncompromising when it came to matters of faith. Yet, Abdullah
ibn Isa said that Umar had two black streaks on his face
because of constant weeping. He feared Allah so much that
he said, "If someone announced from the heavens that
everybody will enter Paradise except one person, I would
fear that that person would be me." And this is the
man who the Prophet (peace be upon him) was pleased with
when he died. Umar also died as a martyr. Umar was one of
the strongest believers. Yet he cried and feared Allah.
We have
no reason not to cry in what’s left of Ramadan. Let’s be
more contemplative and pray for an awareness of and forgiveness
for our sins, as well as softness in our hearts. If Umar
the brave and pious did it, we have even more need and urgency
to do it.
[Taken
from http://www.soundvision.com/ramadan/10.cry.shtml]
Don't
leave your home for the Eid Prayer without reading, "14
Things to Remember For Eid day"
Want
this Eid to bring life and joy to your family?....the article
"16
Things to Make this Eid Special for family" could be
of some help, In-sha-Allah!
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'Tis
The Season: The Muslim Perspective On Christmas
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To a Muslim
living in the West, the Christmas Holiday period is one
of the most stressful times because of the differences in
our attitudes towards holidays and celebrations from the
status quo there.
The fundamental
issue for Muslims everywhere is whether or not to celebrate
Christmas. Their Christian colleagues may stress the secular
aspects of the holiday and the need to comply with social
customs in order to advance in society there. Many times
I have been told to forget Christmas as a religious holiday
and just consider it as a social occasion. Especially in
the United States, failure to participate in business Christmas
parties, makes oneself an object of ostracism. One needs
to climb the social ladder to optimize one's chances for
promotion, etc. and it is difficult to resist the
pressure to conform.
Christmas
and its Origins:
Many Christians do not
realize that much of the celebration of Christmas is actually
of pagan origin. When the date of Christmas was set by the
Christian priests to fall in December, it was done at least
in part to compete with ancient pagan festivals that occurred
about the same time. The Romans celebrated the Feast of
the Invincible Sun on December 25. The early church fathers
elected to celebrate the birth of Jesus (peace be upon him)
on this date, although there was no particular reason
to choose this date. In fact, many Christian scholars believe that
Jesus (peace be upon him) was actually born in summer. This
is consistent with the Quranic account of Jesus' birth, because
there is specific mention of ripe dates falling
on Mary (peace be upon her), in Sura Maryam, verse
25. It seems the early church elders redefined
some of the pagan celebrations in Christian terms, rationalizing
them as a celebration of some aspect of their dogma on the
life of Jesus (peace be upon him). Nowadays, few may remember
the reasons for the various customs that they practice.
Unfortunately,
many Westerners feel that we Muslims should celebrate Christmas.
They cite the example of many other non-Christians doing
so, including many Jews, Hindus, etc. who join the merrymaking.
They find it frustrating that many of us Muslims will not
comply. It is regretful that they do not apply the same
standard to themselves. They don't expect us to pressure
them to celebrate our holidays nor do we Muslims put such
pressure on them. After all, we Muslims must follow the
Quranic verse 2:256: "Let there be no compulsion
in religion." In fact I recently heard from some who
consider it an insult that we won't celebrate it. However,
I ask them. "Did Jesus (peace be upon him) or any of
the other prophets celebrate their birthdays?" On what
authority do they do it now?
Of course,
there is also the problem of the children. They are bombarded
with numerous advertisements for the toys and are essentially
brainwashed so that they should expect something "under
the tree" on Christmas Day.
Coping with
the pressure:
To us Muslims,
each and every thing we do is part of our worship of the
One, Supreme God - nothing is excluded. We do not make any
distinction between the secular and the religious.
Strictly
speaking, for Muslims there are only two holidays, the two
Eids. Namely, Eid-ul Fitr - the festival
of fast-breaking immediately after the end of Ramadan -
and Eid- ul-Adha - the festival of sacrifice during
the major pilgrimage time. They do not celebrate birthdays
(despite all the Western conventions to the contrary) -
not even the birth of any of the prophets (peace be upon
them all), including Muhammad (peace be blessings be upon
him).
Thus, we
as Muslims cannot condone nor should we participate in those
practices. It is not out of disrespect to Christian colleagues
that this is done; rather, it is out of respect and love
for Jesus (peace be upon him) and Mary (peace be upon
her) and Allah Himself that we must refuse!
What we
should really celebrate are the praises of Allah, Who is
free of all imperfections, as stated in the Quran: "Therefore
be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly)
the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun, and
before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the
hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: so that
you may have (spiritual) joy. Nor strain your eyes in longing
for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of
them, the splendor of the life of this world, through which
We test them: but the provision of your Lord is better and
more enduring." [Sura Ta-Ha (20): verses
130 - 131].
[Compiled
from " 'Tis The Season: The Muslim Perspective
On Christmas" by Zeyd Ali Merenkov,
M.D.]
Note:
You may also visit the following
link to read Dr.
Muzzammil Siddiqi's views
on this issue.