Reflections of a Muslim Mind

This blog has moved

2006-01-20T10:05:00.000Z

Better functionality, better design and regular posts!

I'll no longer be posting here, find me at my new blog:

http://mkuk.wordpress.com

Salaams and duas

Learn to use an iPod at Selfridges - for just £65

2006-01-16T15:36:00.000Z

I was stunned to read in the Guardian this morning that Selfridges are charging £65 for a 40 minute tutorial on how to use an iPod. I'm sorry but why pay over £100 for something if your not going to take the time to figure out how it works? Ask most males (I'm not sure about the female population) and they will tell you that the best part of getting a new gadget is actually figuring out how it actually works.

Selfridges have stated that the 40 minute tutorial will include: using iTunes, installing videos, creating playlists and downloading podcasts. All of the above are pretty easy to figure out.

I think its just all part of the lazy consumer driven culture we are now part of.

I urge anyone considering wasting £65 on this tutorial to instead donate it to a good cause.

Coming soon: 'Company charges £100 to switch on computer.'

Bookshop rant

2006-01-12T15:02:00.000Z

Go into any bookshop and head towards the relgion section. Look for Islam and what you will find is the usual slim selection of so called material about Islam, surely with the massive increase in interest about Islam, bookshops (especially the big chains like Waterstones, Books etc)could and and do have the budget to make quality books about Islam available to the public. There are now enough publishers that produce very high quality Islamic material (Islamic Texts Society, Fons Vitae, Starlatch, Alhambra Productions) surely material from these publishers are ripe for the main stream non muslim market.

I'm not sure if it is down to the bookshops themselves that quality Islamic material isn't stocked, maybe some of the publishers above should be pushing harder to get their books into the mainstream, non Muslim hands. The fact that quality Muslim publications such as Islamica & Emel are available in mainstream bookshops is proof that breaking into the mainstream is possible.

My second gripe is -- whay are the Qurans nearly always on the lower shelves near the feet of people? Surely someone must have pointed out to the bookshops that having a Quran that low is very disrespectful, in fact for any religious book to be down near a persons feet is disrespectful. Bookshops should be mindful to keep copies of the Quran and other sacred religious texts on a higher shelf to avoid causing offence.

Rant over!

2006-01-12T15:00:00.000Z

Imperialist Devastation of Peoples and the Evils Done in our Names

By Manuel Valenzuela

"The world burns while we live lives of consumption and production, happy worker bees stuck in hour long commutes working most of our productive lives. We live in peace and harmony at home, distracted from reality by our television screens and movie theatres, by our lavish lifestyles and wasteful society. In the land of the individual the communality of peoples is an alien principle. Content, conformist and passive thanks to our nation of plenty, we care not for peoples outside our borders."

2006-01-12T14:57:00.000Z

US Army its own worst enemy: British officer:

A senior British Army officer has written a scathing critique of the US Army and its performance in Iraq, accusing it of cultural ignorance, moralistic self-righteousness, unproductive micromanagement and unwarranted optimism.

2006-01-06T13:13:00.000Z

From DeenPort, created by the webmaster and mad genius Sidi Omar Tufail. :-)

DeenPort lessons: Abdul Qâdir al-Jaylâni , His lineage, background and early years

Abdul Qâdir al-Jaylâni was one of the most prestigious offspring of the
Messenger of Allah, upon him be peace – a gem from the source of all
spiritual treasures. He descends from Hasan, the prophet’s grandson
through a lineage of scholars and saints. His grandfather, Abu
Abdullah al-Sumâi’ was renowned for his piety as was his mother,
Fatima and his aunt, Aysha. Miracles were attributed to all of them
and local people used to seek their supplications.

Email from Yemen - Shaykh Nuh visits Tarim

2006-01-03T10:54:00.000Z

I received this email from my brother a few weeks back. One word, Beautiful:

Shaykh Nuh came to Tarim for about a week,it is the first time I've seen him.

Masha-Allah it was amazing,we had around 4-5 lessons with him. He is amazing, I was really affected by him, it was wonderful feeling seeing Shaykh Nuh and Habib Umar together, Habib Umar spoke about how he met Shaykh Nuh's grand shaykh, truly spiritual stuff, words cannot explain, you have to visit this place Insha-Allah.

Converting

2005-12-20T16:41:00.000Z

I was talking to a Jewish colleague the other day and we somehow got onto the subject of conversion. This particular colleague asked me about how a person converted to Islam to which I replied that they take the declaration of faith (Shahada) and that when the person utters this with conviction then he/she becomes a Muslim. My colleague then informed me that a friend who wanted to convert to Judaism had to study for seven years before they could actually convert!

Although I can see some benefits in this, in particular the person becomes well versed in the religious rites and also obligations I couldn't help but feel that for some people having to study for seven years before actually converting might be too much and might actually stop the person from pursuing the conversion.

In Islam it is paramount that when a person feels that they are ready to take the Shahada then they take it as soon as possible because as Muslims we don't know when we might depart this temporal life so in essence every second counts. What I have also found is that converts (or reverts if you prefer) nearly always seem to be a lot more eager to learn and take their religious obligations a lot more seriously than those Muslims who in some respects take their religion for granted and are almost lethargic in upholding the obligations that are due from them. We only need to look at some of the outstanding shaykhs that are contributing so much to Islam in the west, people such as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Shaykh Nuh, Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad and Imam Zaid Shakir, all of these outstanding figures were not born Muslim but embraced Islam and they are now all making a huge contribution to understanding and teaching Islam to western born Muslims and non Muslims.

2005-11-25T12:05:00.000Z

Extremists 'hijack Islam's image'

Between March and August 2005 the survey team carried out more than 2,400 online interviews in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the US. Their findings included:

* Muslims rated lowest in overall favourability among various religious groups.

* Ignorance of and lack of empathy with Islam is widespread.

* The portrayal of Arabs and Muslims varies according to the type of media, "but it is typically stereotypical and negative, although improving especially in certain prestigious news organisations".

* TV documentaries and news are the most influential media in influencing feelings about Arab Muslims, followed by newspapers.

* Nearly three-quarters of respondents believe that the media depicts Arab Muslims and Islam accurately only half the time, not often or never.

2005-11-24T16:41:00.000Z

Reza Aslan: No God but God
edited extract: Prologue: The clash of monotheisms

Almost immediately following the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, pundits, politicians, and preachers throughout the United States and Europe declared that September 11, 2001, triggered a once-dormant "clash of civilizations," to use Samuel Huntington's now ubiquitous term, between the modern, enlightened, democratic societies of the West and the archaic, barbarous, autocratic societies of the Middle East. A few well-respected academics carried this argument further by suggesting that the failure of democracy to emerge in the Muslim world was due in large part to Muslim culture, which they claimed was intrinsically incompatible with Enlightenment values such as liberalism, pluralism, individualism, and human rights. It was therefore simply a matter of time before these two great civilizations, which have such conflicting ideologies, clashed with each other in some catastrophic way. And what better example do we need of this inevitability than September 11?

Back to blogging

2005-11-23T16:21:00.000Z

It has been a few weeks since I last blogged. Thanks to a combination of work and home commitments, but, inshAllah I will be back soon with a few things I have lined up. One of which includes a project which I very excited about (if it works out!). I'm currently working on some ideas for this project which should hopefully see the light of day soon! Watch this space....

For the time being watch out for some new blog posts coming soon, InshAllah.

Boycott Caterpiller

2005-11-09T13:00:00.000Z

Blood on the tracks: War on Want’s Nick Dearden and Joe Zacune call for a boycott of the clothing of Caterpillar, whose bulldozers are being used to indiscriminately lethal effect in Palestine.

Ramadan reflections

2005-11-07T14:56:00.000Z

The end of the blessed month of Ramadan is always a sad time; the lift that we get as Muslims during this month is indescribable. Putting aside the moon sighting controversies it is the one time of year that for me the ummah feels united and the feeling that everyone is striving for the same goal, namely, an increase in our worship in order to draw closer to our Lord.

However the end of Ramadan also brings with it much soul searching. I always feel that I haven’t done enough during Ramadan not even if the Ramadan just performed was better than the previous one and feelings of regret set in: Were my intentions as they should have been during this month? Did I gain the maximum that I could have from each fast? Why didn’t I utilise my time better and pray so much more than I did? Will Allah (Subhanahu wa tallah) accept my fasts even though they were so deficient? And finally will I learn the lessons I learnt during this month or will they be promptly forgotten now that Ramadan is over?

I suppose most people who fast go through this process of soul searching and try to better themselves as Muslims. The best thing is to continually strive to perfect every aspect of our worship, whether it be your wudu, salat, recitation of Quran and any other form of worship.

I pray and hope that Allah (Subhanahu wa tallah) blesses us by allowing us to see and undertake fasting during the blessed month of Ramadan for many more years to come. Ameen.

Conversations

2005-10-24T13:18:00.000+01:00

I seem to be having a lot of conversations with people about faith at the moment. I'm not sure why they approach me because I don't pretend to be an authority on Islam or faith for that matter. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a beard which makes people think that I am 'religious.'

Anyway the first conversation I had was with non practicing Muslim who feels that he wants to become more practicing. He told me that he had a hard time believing after his father was killed in a racist attack when he was very young with feelings of anger and frustration at how 'God could have been so unjust.' He has since come to terms with this, but feels, as most Muslims in this country do that there is no place to turn to when a person decides to become more practicing. I did ask him whether he still believed in Islam to which he replied that he did but the problem was that now he is coming to an inner realisation about himself and his faith there are no places to turn to. I have told him that I will help him in anyway that I can with helping him understand the deen.

I have also been approached by a Jewish colleague of mine who has taken an interest in how my Ramadan is going. Most recently she has been asking me how long we (Muslims) have to fast for and the difficulties Muslims face in hot climates. No 'Clash of Civilisations' here then but rather a genuine understanding and respect between two people from two different faiths.

2005-10-18T15:51:00.000+01:00

Habib Umar bin Hafiz: Seminal Advice (for Muslims living in the West)

Habib Umar bin Hafiz gives inspiring advice to Muslims living in the West. He covers eleven points with superb clarity. In brief, his important advice
includes...

1. Carefully Study the Sirah,
2. Develop strong certainty,
3. Display rapport & composure,
4. Devote yourself to remembrance,
5. Be not affected,
6. Have firm resolve,
7. Focus on Divine acceptance,
8. Look after your family,
9. Make your goal Allah,
10. Respect all scholars & show graciousness to humanity,
11. Fervently ask for forgiveness.

2005-10-17T15:09:00.000+01:00

The Times Online - To haj and haj not on the road to Mecca

"Ismaël Ferroukhi's heartfelt road movie illustrates the Islamic generation gap, says Kevin Maher"

Guardian Online Review - Le Grand Voyage

"But it is made notable and even remarkable for the unprecedented scenes at Mecca itself.

Though documentarists have been permitted to shoot there in the past, this is the first time for a feature film, and Ferroukhi has his characters mingling with the pilgrims making the hajj - two million extras! It really is an incredible spectacle: an authentic religious phenomenon which is largely invisible and under-imagined in Western culture. That extraordinary panorama of white-clad pilgrims crowding into the mosque's inner terraces has not yet been rendered familiar as an image in the same way as, say, St Peter's in Rome. In some ways it is a pity that the scenes in Mecca do not occupy more of the film."

Observations by a non Muslim

2005-10-05T12:40:00.000+01:00

Carrying on with the Dawah theme: I mentioned in my previous two posts that I had lent 'An Idiots Guide to Islam' to a work colleague of mine. The book has so far dispelled some myths that he had about Islam:

1) An Imam isn't a psycho terrorist leader as depicted in the media, but in fact leads prayers and other functions within the community.

2) Islam was at the forefront of medicine and science during its golden age and was in fact well ahead of Europe and many of the words that we use in science, astronomy and maths have Arabic roots.

3) Muslims believe in the unseen world, especially Djinns who co-exist with us on earth.

What is clear just from the examples above is that as Muslims we are not doing enough to dispel the myths about Islam which the media frequently portrayed. We need to be actively recommending books and other resources to non Muslims to get a truer picture of our beliefs.

follow up from previous post....

2005-09-23T11:36:00.000+01:00

Well.....the discussion turned out to be very interesting indeed. Over a course of chicken sandwiches, my work colleagues asked me a number of questions about Islam. I was asked about the basic beliefs so I started by giving an overview of the five pillars of Islam and how they form a solid foundation from which every Muslim begins from. My colleagues were particularly impressed with the idea of Zakat. (charity), the idea that individuals must purify their wealth by giving a portion of it away to the needy.

They were also impressed with the idea of fasting and the underlying reasons why we fast. The idea that fasting can purify oneself by awakening the spritual nature of an individual and that it makes Muslims aware of the plight of millions around the world who go without food for months, resonated strongly with my colleagues, (so strongly that one of my colleagues will attempt to fast one day with me next month, although he doubted that he would be able to go without water for the whole day!).

There were some testing questions for example the recent episode of stoning for adultery in Nigeria, and, how this kind of punishment could be humane and justified. I explained that although punishments for adultery did exist in Islam they were very difficult to prove especially given the fact that in Islam four people need to witness the said act (now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that even in this decadent age in which we live in, finding four witnesses to adultery would be very difficult indeed). I also explained that in this day and age there are very few Islamic jurists who are truly independent of the government or who are qualified to the level needed to be able to give out legal rulings. I also explained that historically Islam had a rich legal tradition and that in the past the Islamic world was full of learned scholars. I also explained that just as in the west, judges, solicitors and barristers needed to be legally qualified to be able to practice law and give out legal opinions, the same was true of Islam and that we cannot take our legal rulings from just anyone, therefore by way of this understanding the so called legal pronouncements of Osama Bin Laden and others were not valid by virtue of the fact that they didn’t have the necessary qualifications to make laws or pass fatwas.

Next I was asked about the relationship between Islam and non Muslims, in particular Christians and Jews. One of my colleagues was under the impression that Muslims did have strong animosity towards Jews and Christians. I explained, to the surprise of my colleagues that Jews and Christians are spoken of favourably in the Quran as ‘the people of the book’ and that as Muslims we also believed in Jesus (peace be upon him) but not in the same way that Christians believed in him. I also explained that Islam, Christianity and Judaism had all flourished together when Muslims were in power in the past especially in Spain. I can say that my colleagues who had never been exposed to this side of Islam were a little surprised! But I explained that this was the Islam that I had been brought up with and that millions of Muslims like me had be brought up with the same beliefs as I have just described.

Having described my beliefs I asked my colleagues whether they believed but, although they were both brought up as Christians they now called themselves atheists and didn’t believe that God existed. One of my colleagues explained that he felt that evolution theory (which he believed in) and science itself gave better answers to the questions about life than religion. He felt that we could not prove that God existed and that there was nothing on earth to prove he did exist. I counted with four points:

1) Firstly just because we could not prove something existed does not mean that it didn’t exist (he did agree with me on this).

2) Secondly I explained that we just needed to open our eyes to the miracles of everyday life to show that there was indeed a creator: night and day, the sun rising and setting, our solar system and the universe in perfect balance to enable us to exist, the different seasons we have in a year and the miracles of humans and our various attributes. I explained that if we reflected then we would come to the conclusion that there is a grand architect for everything, infinitely more powerful and knowledgeable than we could ever be.

3) Thirdly, I explained that if we look around us then everything has a creator, the buildings – designed and made by architects and builders, cars made in a factories, the roads, the clothes we wear and us as individuals come from our parents, therefore why would it be so difficult for us to believe that the whole universe was created by someone greater in power than we as humans ever could be?

4) Evolution theory and most western science is grounded in a secular framework, therefore in my opinion it is inherently biased against religion. Also, most science is not ‘fact’ but ‘theory’ therefore the science that people cling to isn’t grounded in concrete fact, meaning that something else could be discovered in a few years time which makes redundant a theory science had about life and the universe. Islam and the Quran never change and will never change because it is guidance for all of time.

This is where we left it. We have all promised to meet up again soon to carry on with this discussion. Overall it was an extremely beneficial exercise for us all. Understanding each other is something we are sorely lacking at the moment and by bringing people of different beliefs together creates tolerance and respect for other opinions, even if we don’t agree with everything that someone has to say.

I would further add that spending an hour of my time with my colleagues gave them a much better understanding of Islam than they would have found in any newspaper or news item on the TV. I am not in anyway implying that I am knowledgeable, but, the limited knowledge I do have did dispel some of the ‘myths’ my colleagues had about Islam.

And Allah alone gives success.

Dawah at work

2005-09-07T11:43:00.000+01:00

A couple of work colleagues have asked me out to lunch today to discuss Islam. It stemmed froma converstion yesterday during which one of my colleagues started to discuss his hedonistic lifestyle at universtiy and asked how it fitted in with being a Muslim and Islam, suffice to say I didn't have the time to give him a detailed answer or discuss it in much depth but he was intrigued enough to want to discuss Islam over lunch. We have had brief conversations before. Another colleague will also be coming with us who has expressed some interest in Islam, I have lent him a copy of the Idiots Guide to Islam (not implying that my colleague is an idiot!)and he has already come back with some comments from reading part of the book.

I'm hoping that this opportunity will form my next post so, watch this space.

As for where we are going for lunch, a nice halal restaurant near work called Arabesque. Looking forward to the dawah opportunity & kebabs...:-)

I pray that Allah gives me the ability to portray Islam in its correct way. Ameen

Biometric digital payment

2005-08-30T16:24:00.000+01:00

Human credit cards....

In recent months shoppers in parts of the US having been walking up to check outs, waving their hands at the shop assistant, and walking out of the store with armfuls of groceries. But this is not part of some shoplifting craze: it is the testing ground for widespread use of biometric payment technologies.

Over 120 Piggy Wiggy supermarkets in Southern California are already using a payment system from Pay By Touch, and further trials are underway at Farm Fresh stores in Virginia. Trials are expected to begin at Co-op stores in the UK this autumn.

The system works by linking scans of the shoppers’ fingers, combined with a PIN, to their bank accounts. Instead of carrying cash or cards, shoppers need to simply present their digit at the counter, enter their PIN and the system does the rest.

There is also an incentive for retailers to invest in the technology, as the Pay By Touch system charges less per transaction than current credit card regimes.

While biometric technology has long been touted as the future of identity management, to date most applications have been confined to processes such as granting access. Should the trials be successful it could help increase public acceptance and business trust in biometrics.

Pay By Touch is not alone in offering biometric transaction systems. Rival BioPay has also launched trials at coffee shops in North Carolina, using very similar capabilities. Indeed the technologies are so similar, that the two companies have been trading patent infringement writs in the US courts.

Taken from the August 2005 edition of Information Age

2005-08-30T11:29:00.000+01:00

Fight To Survive Blog

This site is the mouthpiece for a group of soldiers who are fighting in a war they oppose for a president they didn't elect while the petrochemical complex turns the blood of their fallen comrades into oil.

2005-08-30T11:20:00.000+01:00

Finding Closure - J.D. ENGELHARDT aka hEkLe (former) Specialist, 1st Infantry Division, US Army

At times it feels as though many years have passed. Weeks go by so fast in my new civilian life that I don’t even realize that it was only five months ago when I was counting days to escape the suffocating madness of Operation Iraqi Freedom II (It Looks Good On Paper). But it doesn’t mean I have forgotten about it. On the contrary, I think about this meaningless war everyday. I can’t hide from the soldier I once was much like I will never be able to bury the memories of one year in combat. Whenever I glance at war coverage on a television, or hear the ignorant hate-talk of our blood mongering president, or read the latest death tolls in the news papers my eyes fill with rage and my heart fills with sorrow. It is impossible for me to ignore what is going on in Iraq when I am constantly reminded of the death and carnage, as well as my participation in the war machine. Some people boast the war chant “never forget”. Well, I never do.

There is nothing that I feel can alleviate the guilt for being directly involved with our illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq. I ask myself from time to time, “Why was I so afraid to resist the order to go to war? Why didn’t I object to the whole damned thing?” I have been told many times not to be ashamed for my service to this country, but I can’t help a genuine intuition that this war is not designed to promote freedom and our beautiful American way of life, but instead only carried out to proliferate Western imperialism and corporate profits every time a bullet is fired. My guilt is synonymous with the sentiment that I was indeed on the wrong side of the wire.

Religious education

2005-08-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

I had a very fruitful conversation with a friend of an uncle of mine who is visiting from India.

He told me how he had a set up a religious education centre in his own home in India. He has converted one of his rooms into a large lecture theatre which can hold up to fifty people at a time. The most encouraging aspect of this new centre is how it is geared towards teaching students the meaning of Arabic as well as learning the Quran; they have managed to get some highly qualified teachers in to provide lessons. This particular person told me that we are sorely lacking in people who actually know the meaning of the Quran as opposed to just learning how to read the Arabic, something that we are lacking here in the UK.

What was also very good to hear was that they have separate women classes. I was told that the institute has been extremely happy to find that women have been flocking to the courses and are very eager to learn and in many cases they have been outstripping the male students. What was also astonishing to hear was that some students, in the space of two months were able to hear a text in Urdu and were able to convert this into written Arabic!

The institute has initially been set up as a free centre to encourage people to attend the courses without having to pay for them, bearing in kind that it is based in deprived area, it gives the local community access to traditional Islamic knowledge.

We need to seriously look into setting up similar grass roots institutes here in the UK which can service the local Muslim communities, if communities pooled their resources together then institutes as described above could become a reality across the UK InshAllah.

Acting for the self

2005-08-11T11:38:00.000+01:00

I came across this quote today after going through some of my email folders:

Most people act on their own account; they pursue personal ambitions without seeking Gods guidance and grace. By asserting the self they will achieve nothing.

-Junayd: Tawhid

Reflecting on this quote a little, I came to the conclusion that it has much relevance today. Deviant groups claim to be representing the true 'orthodox' face of Islam are in fact 'pursuing personal ambitions without seeking God's guidance and grace.' They say that they are acting on what is correct when in fact they are misguided. The same is true of the right wing Christians and Neo-Cons in America who believe they are 'doing Gods work' when in fact they are not. How can killing innocent civilians ever be reconciled with the peaceful teachings of the Prophet Jesus (Peace and Blessing Be Upon Him) and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessing Be Upon Him)?

As the quote states people acting on there own account will achieve nothing. Seeking true guidance from Allah (exalted is he) will lead us to the right path.

Free traditional Islamic weekend event

2005-07-27T14:48:00.000+01:00

Classical Weekend

2005-07-25T11:45:00.000+01:00

LA Weekly: Kristine McKenna talks with graphic journalist Joe Sacco

If you haven't read any of Joe Saccos work, check out his masterpiece: Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde

Your first book of political reportage was Palestine. Prior to actually going to Palestine, how did you know the media was portraying that situation inaccurately?

With Palestine, that was easy to know because there are so few Palestinian voices in the media. The obvious reason for that is U.S. interests lie with Israel, and our media reflects that.

Having spent a good deal of time there, what do you think it will take to resolve that conflict?

I don’t see it resolving anytime soon. I was there several times over the past year, and during that year the level of violence went way up on both sides. It’s no longer a question of police in Jeeps coming around shooting a few rubber bullets — it’s tanks and aircraft now. It looks increasingly likely that there won’t be a viable Palestinian state, and that these two peoples will be forever conjoined in some way that might result in an apartheid situation. Israel knows that removing the settlements would do a great deal in terms of moving toward a just solution, but it would take considerable will among the Israelis to do that, and it would be messy — at least 15 percent of the Israeli population would oppose it tooth and claw. The U.S. has played a lousy role in this situation all the way through, and should be pressing Israel harder to make concessions.

Blinkered vision

2005-07-21T12:07:00.000+01:00

Tony Blair has done it again. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. First there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (we all know now there never were), secondly he fails to acknowledge his mistakes over Iraq and refuses to apologise to the public (ok, he may have attempted one half heartedly) and now he states that the London suicide bombers weren’t motivated by western foreign policy abroad, as Blair stated:

"If it is the plight of the Palestinians that drives them, why, every time it looks as if Israel and Palestine are making progress, does the same ideology perpetrate an outrage that turns hope back into despair?

"If it is Afghanistan that motivates them, why blow up innocent Afghans on their way to their first-ever election?

"If it is Iraq that motivates them, why is the same ideology killing Iraqis by terror in defiance of an elected Iraqi government?

"What was 11 September 2001 the reprisal for?"

With regards to Palestine, my question is, what progress? Every time there is a cease fire the Israelis initiate one of their incursions into Palestinian territory, Israelis are never asked to condemn the actions of their government with its huge arsenal of weapons (courtesy of the US of course), it is pretty amazing that the Palestinians are cast as the ‘bad guys’ with there sticks, stones and their bodies. How about tackling the underlying reasons to understanding why Palestinians blow themselves up. The answers are obvious and clear; an unjust foreign occupation, terrible living conditions, being treated as sub humans by Israeli soldiers and poverty. All these factors and more breed resentment and a sense of helplessness. I’m sure we in the UK would feel the same way if we were occupied by a foreign country treating us in this manner.

With regards to Afghanistan and Iraq, does Blair fail to realise that there were no suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq before the UK and US launched their unjust invasions? The fact that the UK and US are occupying Iraq gives the ’extremists’ the reasons they want to enter Iraq and cause mayhem and destruction and not to mention the outrages at Abu Ghraib prison and other places in Iraq. Iraqis seeing this will be angered and will turn on the forces that are occupying their lands.

Mayor Ken Livingstone in an interview with the BBC pointed out the reasons why certain Muslims are being radicalised:

"I think you've just had 80 years of western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the western need for oil.

"We've propped up unsavoury governments, we've overthrown ones we didn't consider sympathetic.

"And I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s... the Americans recruited and trained Osama Bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russians and drive them out of Afghanistan.

"They didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that he might turn on his creators."

Furthermore:

"If at the end of the First World War we had done what we promised the Arabs, which was to let them be free and have their own governments, and kept out of Arab affairs, and just bought their oil, rather than feeling we had to control the flow of oil, I suspect this wouldn't have arisen." He attacked double standards by Western nations, such as the initial welcome given when Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq.

There was also the "running sore" of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
"A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in Guantanamo Bay, and they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy," said Mr Livingstone.

Tony Blair would do well to talk to Ken Livingstone, who seems to have a better grasp of the underlying reasons why people killing themselves and get a better understanding of the Middle East.

Finally, we need to condemn terrorism wherever it stems from and this includes state sponsored terrorism. What the UK and US are doing in Iraq and what the Israeli government are doing, and subjecting the Palestinian people to, is state sponsored, illegal terror. Just because governments are dressed up in suits and don’t have to get their hands dirty because of computer digital warfare, doesn’t mean these countries aren’t terrorists. Both types of warfare are different sides of the same coin, unjust but fought by different methods as Ken Livingstone stated:
"those governments which use indiscriminate slaughter to advance their foreign policy, as we have occasionally seen with the Israeli government bombing areas from which a terrorist group will have come, irrespective of the casualties it inflicts, women, children and men".

He continued: "Under foreign occupation and denied the right to vote, denied the right to run your own affairs, often denied the right to work for three generations, I suspect that if it had happened here in England, we would have produced a lot of suicide bombers ourselves."

As Muslims we need to claim back our religion from the extreme, literalist groups who would do away with madhabs, tassawuf and a traditional approach to Islam. We need traditional institutes around the country that teach our children the Islamic sciences like fiqh, tassawuff, tafsir and to expose them to the great Islamic scholars like Imam Ghazzali, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jillani, our four great Imams: Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi and Imam Ahmed Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on them all) and others. We also need translate our greatest Islamic works into English and make them accessible to all. The good news is that this is already happening but we need to do more to stem the tide of wahabbi writings that are openly available for free. As Muslims, we also need to look inwards and correct our own faults and sort out our problems that are occurring within our communities.

Straight talking....

2005-07-18T12:01:00.000+01:00

I’m reading Malcolm X: The Last Speeches at the moment. What is amazing is what a straight talker Malcom X was, something we are sorely lacking at this moment in time. Politicians constantly ‘fudge’ issues and give half baked answers which really don’t give away their feelings on a particular issue; wouldn’t it be great if politicians didn’t sit on the fence? Granted there are the few that do (Galloway & Livingstone come to mind) but the top dogs (Blair and co) hardly do.

In terms of the recent attacks on London the government does have to shoulder some of the blame (yes, as Muslim communities we have huge problems which need to be dealt with), but, if Muslims are told to root out ‘extremists’ then the government have to be brutally honest with themselves and realise that following a hypocritical foreign policy agenda is causing anger and resentment. Hundreds and thousands of innocents are dying in the streets of Iraq everyday due to the policies of the UK and US.

Lets be open and honest with each other, if British Muslims are being told to root out extremism then the government should hold their hands up and acknowledge that unjust foreign policy decisions are part of the problem, and acknowledge this in public. We don’t need soundbites (‘evil ideology’ comes to mind) which is then regurgitated by the government foot soldiers and press.

We can all learn from Malcolm X (May Allah have mercy on his soul), he was honest with himself and with others, if and when we adopt this stance will we see genuine changes in our communities and in the foreign policy decisions of our government.

Camp Lovo Island - Stockholm

2005-07-12T11:38:00.000+01:00

Reviving the Heart

first day back at work...

2005-07-11T11:04:00.000+01:00

It was my first day back at work today after the London attacks on Thursday. I was allowed to work from home of Friday which was a blessing as it allowed me to reflect on the enormity of the events from the day before.

Things seemed to be back to normal on the underground today, although, nervous tension was definitely noticeble. People seemed subdued and there were nervous glances around the tube, understandably so given what had happened last week.

I was a little nervous about the reaction of my colleagues at work as I am the only bearded person on my floor and as far as I can tell, in the whole building, so it was a nice gesture when a colleague came up to me and asked me if I was ok, and, whether I had had any problems getting to work today. Clearly the 'us' v 'them' mentality wasn't at work here.

It is important to remember the victims--by this I mean victims of indiscriminate violence throughtout the world be it London, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir and other places where innocent people are being butchered.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raajioon.

London Bombing

2005-07-08T09:04:00.000+01:00

I'm still in shock about what happened yesterday.

My day started as any other. I got the bus from my house at around 8am to my tube station. Most of the journey was normal, the only idea that there were problems on the tube was when the train driver informed us that there had been 'power surges' on the underground and that most tube lines were closed, except for ours, and that we would be carrying on. We got to Waterloo station and after about five minutes were told to evacuate the station, again nothing new here, this happens quite often.

I got out the station and rang my wife to tell her that I was stuck at Waterloo station. I rang my manager who told me that it would be difficult for me to get to work so I should try and get home. I got a bus going back up towards East London and about five minutes into the bus ride I had a call from my wife who was upset and told me that there had been bombs across central London and that if I was at a tube station or bus, to get off. I was shocked, I couldn't believe that something like this had happened. I calmed down and began to recite durood sharif and making dua that everything would be ok. The bus I was on then suddenly stopped two stops before I was about to get off and terminated, saying that the bus would not be continuing any further. I was then stranded for about an hour, I couldn't get any transport back home, on top of that my phone battery died meaning that I couldn't get hold of my wife to let her know I was ok. I eventually managed to flag down a taxi who was willing to take me home, I was relieved but, still shocked about the events of the past few hours.

I count myself very lucky, or I should say grateful to Allah that my life was spared, I have been to all the stations that have been affected before, although none of the stations affected are on my work route.

As Muslims we condemn these attacks. Whoever carried them out should be brought to justice. Islam condemns indiscriminate killings, it is not part of our faith and never will be.

In this time of tribulation our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by these terrible events.

Words cannot adequately describe my feelings, I am angry, frustrated and feel a sense of violation that this has happened in a the city that I live in.

May Allah grant us patience in these troubling times.

Al Ghazzali weekend - Spain

2005-06-29T14:34:00.000+01:00

A very dear friend of mine recently sent me an email detailing his experiences during the recent Al Ghazzali weekend in Spain. He has kindly allowed me to reproduce his experiences here. I've divided up the email into two parts. Part one deals with a brief history of the region visited (Cordoba and Granada). Part two will deal with the actual course itself. Enjoy!

Experiences in worldly-Dimensions

The first two days of the trip were spent in the cities of Cordoba and Granada, looking at the historical legacies of the people that ruled these magnificent medieval cities. The Muslim armies, at the request of the Christian ruler in southern Spain (Andulcia), invaded Spain and ransacked the numerically superior Visgothic armies. The armies advanced as far north as the central areas of modern day France, until they were defeated and dropped back to consolidate their gains in Spain.

Work was begun on the great Mosque in Cordoba by Abdur Rahman I and was continued by his successors. This building formed the intellectual and spiritual heart of the city which was flourishing far in excess of anything that would exist in the rest of Europe for several centuries. Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in relative harmony and was a time of great intellectual and spiritual growth for all the communities that lived under Muslim rule. In fact, the most renowned Jewish theologian in history, Maimonides, produced his greatest works in the sanctified environment of Muslim Andulicia.

When Spain was re-conquered by the Christian armies of Isabel and Ferdinand 800 years later, the Great Mosque was converted into a Church. For around 300 years after the conquest, the Christian showed great restraint and did not alter the appearance of the Mosque greatly. However, with the rule of Carlos V, the mosque (called Mesquita in Spanish, which means mosque - ironic, as the building is meant to be a church) was substantially changed, with several of its internal columns removed and a large central seated area inserted.

I must admit that the experience of seeing this place carried many mixed feelings for me. When entering the Mesquita, the security guard looked at my beard and asked in Spanish 'Are you a Muslim?' 'Yes, I am'. He continued ' This has been a Catholic Church since the 13th Century, you're not allowed to pray in here'. I entered thorough a single door on the west side of the building, the other twelve doors being closed since the capture of the mosque. One could imagine that this place would have been one of great light with all the doors open, but now had the kind of gloomy, half-lighting that is typical of most churches one goes to. It was a very disconcerting seeing the mix a Muslim and Christian architecture. The Muslim parts were simply and yet beautiful, using intricate and detailed patterns that always encouraged the eyes to move to a central point, whether it was at the apex of an arch, or the centre of a geometric pattern on the ceiling, always encouraging one to focus of the unity of God. In contrast, the parts that were added by Christians were always much more literal, as demonstrated by several depictions of Jesus (pbuh) and Maryam (ra), as well as statues of assorted saints, popes, and martyrs of the ages. It was also heart breaking to know that this building, which would have been used constantly as a house of God, was now just another stop on the tourist trail, and that it's centrality for people's spiritual lives was no longer there. I could almost hear the place weeping to be used to remember the Almighty.

Moving to Granada to visit the Alhambra had a similar, but not so profound effect on me, possibly because the vandalism (the Vandals were actually Christians barbarians that lived in Spain) was not so pronounced. The Alhambra is a garden-fortress-palace of exquisite beauty and is actually Spain's foremost symbol of heritage. It comprises of a fort at one end, and a garden palace in the centre. Because the imagery of paradise being like a garden is used by the Qu'ran to describe the beauty of the hereafter, the Muslims moulded their environments to reflect this. It is interesting to note the idea of the garden, as a public space and one for private use, came directly into Europe after the Christians conquered Andulicia and were flabbergasted by this space of such beauty, with flowing water, gushing springs and the most colourful and exotic plant life. At the centre of the Alhambra, the crown jewel is the palace of the Navarids (a ruling Muslim dynasty). All throughout the palace, there is delicate Arabic calligraphy engraved in plaster, with the words 'There is no conqueror but Allah' repeated, it appears, infinitely. Like the Mesquita, there was this alluring simplicity to the design of the place, with the eye (and heart) being drawn to single points, the whole establishment testifying to the Unity of the Creator.

There were many Muslim and Jewish places of worship and homes that were destroyed by the Christian reconquest. Then the Spanish Inquisition began. Muslims and Jews were given the option to convert to Christianity or be killed/expelled from the land. There were many people that died. Some Muslims and the Jews fled to the hills, along with Gypsies, and found solace with each other. This manifested itself, amongst other ways, in the music of flamenco, which was created from ancient Indian melodies that the Gypsies brought, use of the guitar which the Muslims of North Africa created, and songs of worship from all these diverse groups of peoples.

What I saw in Spain on the historical level, showed to me the very real place that Islam has had in moulding both the minds and hearts of Europe and of Christendom, and how the biases that exist against Islam have in no small part to do with the antagonism that existed in Andulicia. I left Granada to make my way to a school in the mountains, my heart and head slightly heavy thinking of the pain and loss that Muslims had suffered in Spain, but also incredibly proud that Islam had left an irrevocably positive mark on the people's of Europe. Perhaps, I felt, this could happen again...

Judging others

2005-06-17T10:38:00.000+01:00

Sitting on the tube on the way to work this morning reading my copy of Thomas Cleary’s translation of the Quran, I noticed a Muslim brother sitting opposite me reading from an Arabic Quran, the sight of which made feel extremely happy, but also made me think that sometimes we are a little too harsh on our Muslim brothers and sisters. The brother sitting opposite me on the tube wasn’t dressed as a traditional Muslim; he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a regular top and was clean shaven. My point is that if he wasn’t praying from his Arabic Quran I would have been none the wiser that he was Muslim, or a practicing one. That is why it is important not to judge someone by their appearance. Having a beard (as I have) or wearing traditional dress doesn’t necessarily mean that I, or anyone else dressed in this way are good Muslims, or that someone wearing traditional western clothes are not practicing Muslims. In this day and age where traditional values & religion are being undermined the fact that we have practicing Muslims, regardless of how they look is a blessing.

I should also add that Muslim brothers are extremely good at acknowledging other Muslims, I have lost count of the number of times I have been met with a salaam & a smile from a brother walking in the opposite direction, this small gesture does make a person feel part of a Muslim brotherhood, no matter how fractured this brotherhood has become in this age.

Problems facing converts

2005-06-09T14:54:00.000+01:00

I recently had a very interesting conversation with my wife about why she converted to Islam and some of the issues she faced after becoming a Muslim.

What was interesting from my perspective (having heard my wife’s conversion story quite a few times before, but, I still find it fascinating.) was how directly the Quran affected her heart to make her change the direction of her life. Her conversation wasn’t based on dawa by any Muslims as such, although she did have a number of Muslim friends, who although not fully practicing fasted during Ramadan and were proud to be Muslims.

Unfortunately what she had read about Islam didn’t reflect the reality of the state of Muslims and I think this is an issue that faces all converts to Islam. The initial problem was finding anyone with any deeper understanding of Islam, from its practices to its sciences. Unfortunately groups like HT and Al Muhajiroon are good at exploiting this problem and will in many cases entice new converts to their ranks. What we need is a support structure to help new converts. They face many issues from problems at home because of their conversion to confusion over how to practice Islam, our communities need to be more inclusive and embrace newcomers to Islam, in many respects converts to Islam have much to teach those who are ‘born’ into Muslim families and simply take this for granted. Islam isn’t a passive religion but an active one, active in dhikr and active in jihad against ones nafs and active in helping others.

One horror story that I was told about concerned a young woman who had gone to the local mosque make her declaration as a Muslim public. Unfortunately she was turned away by someone at the mosque as she didn’t come across as ‘sincere’ in her conversion, as if the person at the mosque had somehow looked into her heart to test her sincerity. Unfortunately this type of narrow thinking is indicative of the ‘tribal Islam’ that seems to have taken root in our communities.

However as the recent Quran desecration episode illustrates; the more that someone tries to suppress Islam the more Allah will make it flourish. We need to stop being complacent and actively help newcomers into our communities.

2005-05-20T15:36:00.000+01:00

What's it like being a Muslim in America?

Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of the excellent 'Super Size Me' documentary has started work on his next project.

He is working on the pilot for a cable TV show called "30 Days" that takes someone out of their environment and forces them to question their own beliefs.

"We wondered what it would be like to be a Muslim in America today, to be someone who is seen as a 'threat' to our freedom every day, who is profiled," he said.

"We took a fundamentalist Christian from my home state of West Virginia, somebody who is very pro-war, pro-'us versus them,' that when you hear Muslim the only thing he thinks of is a guy standing on a mountain with an AK-47," Spurlock said.

The man leaves his wife and children at home and goes to live with a Muslim family in Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States.

"He dresses as a Muslim, eats as a Muslim, he prays five time a day, he studies the Koran daily, he learns to speak Arabic, he works with an imam, a Muslim cleric, to learn the history of Islam, what are the five pillars, why are they important."

"And the transformation this guy goes through in 30 days is miraculous, it's incredible," Spurlock said.

Sounds very interesting. If any Americans out there are reading this please let us Brits know what it's like.

2005-05-19T10:35:00.000+01:00

The Downing Street Memo

"The Downing Street Memo, recently leaked, reveals that President George W. Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in summer 2002 and—determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policies—"fixed" the intelligence and facts relevent to WMD.

What has come to be known as the Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002. This meeting was held a full 8 months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005. When asked about the document's validity, "British officials did not dispute the document's authenticity."

The contents of the memo are shocking. The minutes detail how our government did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations; how intelligence was manipulated to sell the case for war to the American public; and how all the talk of "war as a last resort" was mere hollow pretense.

Regardless of politics, all Americans should ask themselves: Was I misled? Did President Bush tell me the truth when he said he would not take us to war unless absolutely necessary?"

2005-05-17T14:50:00.000+01:00

Life & Death / Unity & Brotherhood
Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy (Syria)

Event - Derby

The Prophetic Concern for Teaching the Quran - Al-Sayyid Muhammad b. 'Alawi b. 'Abbas al-Maliki (Part 1)

2005-05-14T22:11:00.000+01:00

Some beautiful advice from the great Maliki scholar (May Allah Be Pleased with him):

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) showed great concern for teaching the Quran especially to young children. There is no doubt that it is of immense benefit as it orientates the youth towards a certain belief that Allah, exalted be He, is their Lord and that it is His pre-eternal speech and in order for the spirit of the Quran to flow in their hearts and its light in their ideas, perceptions and senses. And likewise in order for the child to receive the beliefs contained in the Quran from childhood and that he is raised upon love of the Quran and attached to it, obedience to its imperatives and abstinence from its prohibitions and inculcation of its etiquettes and the adoption of its way. This is why spiritual teachers have have been concerned with teaching the Quran to children, this being one of the primary foundationsof Islam such that they grow in accordance with the primordial way and that the light of wisdom swiftly occupies their heart prior to carnal appetites taking root in it and it becoming soiled through the impurities of disobedience and error, as a poet said,

Her carnal appetite came unto me prior to me
knowing about base inclination,
It thereby met an empty heart, so rooted itself
therein.

2005-05-11T11:49:00.000+01:00

Soldier lifts lid on Guantanamo 'abuse'

Although we know that prisoners are treated inhumanely at Guantanamo Bay it is still shocking and distressing reading about it. Why aren't the US government doing something to stop this?

Sgt Erik Saar's book, Inside the Wire, comes with the US military's treatment of prisoners in the spotlight due to court hearings over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

In an interview with the BBC, Sgt Saar says that bizarre, sexual abuses at the prison camp set dangerous precedents that paved the way for mistreatment of US detainees in Iraq.

Sgt Saar believes improvements have been made at the camp, but says more radical change is needed, to bring prisoners within the US judicial system.

"People say if what I have written is the worst that went on, it is not too bad," he says.

"But Guantanamo has become a symbol of everything wrong with America's image. If we are trying to build a bridge to the Muslim world, what sort of face are we portraying?"

Reflections on Mawlid

2005-05-05T16:37:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share this deep, thoughtful and beautiful email that I received from a very good friend of mine after the Mawlid event on Monday. (I've left names out to maintain anonymity).

Walaykum asalam brother,

Was excellent to see you too.

The event left me a little out of phase. I have been struggling to express how I have been feeling via the medium of language, but have generally failed. The only way that I can feel in phase now is to pray, the performing of which appears for me to have another dimension to it now.

Maybe it was being around men of such knowledge, lineage and piety that threw me, as this is not the type of people that I share the company of. Perhaps I wasn't prepared for the baraka.

It was odd, because over the weekend, I spent a lot of time with my brothers (blood and through religion) and this inculcated real warmth in my heart, and a lot of love was shared. I assumed that Monday's event would build on this, but the experience was very different from that expected. My cousin S and I talked of this afterwards, and we both said that we felt we were different people. It brought home to us the importance of the company we keep, the abject materialistic nature of those that are near and dear to us, Muslim and non-Muslim, those who are practicing and those that are non-practicing.

I was left asking whether I really loved Rasool (Peace Be Upon Him) more than I loved the things of this world, never mind loving him (Peace Be Upon Him) more than my family, or myself. I have to be honest and say no, I don't, but I want to - no, I need to - and to do this requires seeking knowledge from those that live the truth and spending time in their presence.

Mashallah

Question Time - Leader Special

2005-04-29T11:53:00.000+01:00

BBC broadcast a Question Time special last night featuring the leaders of the three main parties in the UK (Tony Blair - Labour, Michael Howard - Conservative, Charles Kennedy - Lib Dems).

What should have been a no holds bar debate between the three leaders, with questions from the audience, turned out, in some respects to be a bit of a cop out. Blair refused to be part of a panel and so each leader was wheeled out in turn to be questioned by the audience.

I didn’t catch it all but managed to watch most of ‘Blair's interrogation’ by the audience and an interrogation it was with various questions about the Iraq war by an angry audience many of which believed that the war, on the premise on which it was fought was unjustified. Blair’s main justification was that had the US & UK not acted in actively removing Saddam then he would still be in power and hence be killing and terrorising the Iraqi people. What was disappointing was that no one questioned Blair about the deaths that had occurred in Iraq as a result of UK & US bombing or the behaviour of UK soldiers towards Iraqi prisoners, the death issue was something which was touched upon by Charles Kennedy who suggested in no unclear terms that the UK and US had not bothered to count the number of Iraqi civilian deaths and so in reality were unconcerned about the plight of the Iraqis. Blair was also attacked for introducing top up fees when the government had previously announced that they wouldn’t.

Blair became increasingly uncomfortable as the session continued, with clear signs of sweat on his forehead suggesting he was having a difficult time justifying his positions on a number of issues, the foremost being the Iraq war.

The Conservatives, although I didn’t see the segment with Michael Howard, were as desperate as ever. What was particularly amusing was how they tried to attack Blair about the Iraq war, in particular the suggestion that Lord Goldsmith (the government legal advisor) had serious reservations about going to war but changed his mind because of Blair, and, also, that Blair had lied to the country to go to war. What is ironic about these remarks is that the Conservatives themselves would have gone to war, the basis on which they would have justified their actions are unclear.

From the segment I saw Charles Kennedy seemed more relaxed than Tony Blair. His answers were clear and concise, although it has to be said that he does have the luxury of not being the Prime Minister and the added pressures that go with the job.

Although this was a good programme in that it allowed the audience to scrutinise the leaders of the main parties, it did feel like an opportunity missed with them all being questioned separately. The normal panel discussion would have been a better platform for debate between the three leaders (with audience participation), something which rarely occurs.

Finally, Q-News have made available a PDF document entitled ‘Voting is Halal’ which includes answers for those who have doubts about whether it is permissible to vote or not.

2005-04-27T11:36:00.000+01:00

Guardian interview with Ahdaf Soueif

Interesting interview.....

"In the second of our series of interviews introducing the Vienna Writers' Festival, Michael March talks to festival author Ahdaf Soueif about the war in Iraq and the west's view of Islam."

Michael March: Your recent collection of essays, Mezzaterra, opens with a quote from the Koran: "The one that God honours most among you is the one that fears him most". Why did you choose this?

AS: The quotation actually opens with "and we have created you of nations and tribes that you may get to know one another." It continues: "the one that God honours most among you is the one that fears Him most". As far as God is concerned, there is nothing to choose between people of one nation and another, or one tribe and another. The ultimate measure of people, in the language of the quote, is "the one who fears Him most". In Arabic, the expression "to fear God", means to behave in daily life according to certain standards, to be just, truthful, compassionate, honest and so on. So it is how one behaves in the world, on a daily basis, that makes one person better than another , not any inherent racial, ethnic, tribal consideration.

General election reading

2005-04-27T10:15:00.000+01:00

Below are links to some useful articles in light of the upcoming general election in the UK:

The prime minister is a war criminal:
"Like Chamberlain in the 30s, Blair is an appeaser of a dangerous global power. He should be in prison, not standing for election."

Blair faces fresh impeachment threat over Iraq:
"The Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru today pledged they would make a fresh bid to impeach Tony Blair over the Iraq war after the election."

Labour MP defects to Lib Dems over Iraq:
"A prominent Labour politician will announce today that he is defecting to the Liberal Democrats in protest at Tony Blair's "lies" over Iraq."

The Id Gah Mosque, China

2005-04-25T16:22:00.000+01:00

I came across this beautiful description of the Id Gah mosque in China whilst reading through: In Xanadu, A quest by William Dalrymple:

“I left the others near the town centre and went to sit in the Id Gah mosque. You enter through a great domed portal and immediately the Peace of Islam is upon you. The Id Gah is the largest mosque in China and has room for eight thousand worshippers. It was partially burned down in the Cultural Revolution but has since been renovated; it now looks a little gaudy with its bright yellow-ochre brick. The façade follows the standard Persian model: an arcade of arches flanked by two pepperpot minarets, centring on the great ivan. But inside, lying the far side of a grove of lime trees, the architecture breaks away from the orthodox. The main prayer area is not a basilica but an open-fronted pavilion in the manner of the Chihil Sutan in Isfahan. Raised on a platform, a forest of Octagonal wooden pillars supports a flat, gabled roof and gives onto a prayer wall lined with niches. The façade projects in the centre which serves to emphasize the tile-covered central mihrab. The arrangement is ingenious and extremely beautiful. When the muezzin called for evening prayers and the Uigurs trooped in from the bazaar and lined up in between the trees and pillars, the effect was like holding a prayer meeting in a pavilioned pleasure garden."

Mashallah.

misinterpretation / miscommunication

2005-04-20T10:36:00.000+01:00

This is part of a discussion that I had with a friend of mine over email. To put it into context, I had asked him why he didnt post messages on Deenport, his reasons for not doing so made a lot of sense:

"Another thing that I have noticed, especially in the email dialogues that I have been having with my cousin in NZ, how harsh people can sound in written form. I am sure that this is not, for the most part, intentional, but it sometimes comes across as so, for me anyway. It's part of the reason that I don't partake in chat forums - I never feel like I have got my 'intention'
across, and surely, as the Hadith states, 'actions are by intentions'.

When I consider the formation of the Intention in the soul, to it's moulding into thoughts, to its articulation into words, to its being heard by the recipient, to its cognation, to it's assimilation into their hearts, I feel that with so many steps, the danger of being mis-interpreted is so grave, that if the communication is not backed up having the person in front of you, with their eyes to reassure you, their smile to assuage you, the intonation of their voice to relay their sincerity, then we can easily not understand each other."

With the breakdown of traditional communication methods such as speech in favour of more impersonal methods such as email, the chances of mis-interpreting what someone is trying to convey is high.

Speech itself is only part of the communication process. A person’s body language or facial expression can sometimes, better convey the message a person is trying to get across. With other methods such as email and message boards (to stay within the context of this post), this type of communication is not possible.

From an Islamic perspective, formulating an intention before one speaks or undertakes any action is extremely important. The higher state is to undertake any action, whether it is speech or anything else for the sake of Allah (Subhanahu wa t'ala) and to also be governed by the rules relating to these actions. For example, when speaking: to abstain from backbiting and slander and not to soil the tongue by using bad language. This higher state is perfectly embodied in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him. His (Peace be Upon Him) speech was measured, neither to long nor to short and all his actions, including speech were for the sake of Allah (Subhanahu wa t'ala).

Needless to say, we need to follow the example of Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) carefully. Before we post on a message board we need to ask ourselves: Is this for the sake of myself? OR Is this for the sake of Allah (Subhanahu wa t'ala)?

And Allah (Subhanahu wa t'ala) knows best.

Shaykh Gibril talk

2005-04-18T10:09:00.000+01:00

A dear friend in my home town has organised this, if you are in the area please try to attend:

Shaykh Gibril Haddad at my home town

The Blessed Hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

2005-04-11T22:38:00.000+01:00

My uncle held a gathering at his house a few days back to celebrate the month of Rabi al Awal. To mark the special occassion my brother and his wife brought the blessed hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from the safekeeping of my father to my uncles house in London.

The blessed hair itself was passed onto my father from a sufi saint in India, going back to earlier generations.

It is always a special day when the hair is removed from its safe box for all to see. On this particular occasion members of the local community were invited to my uncles house to have the honour of being in the presence of the hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

It was a beautiful occasion, with salawaat, dhikr, dua, naat in praise of the blessed Prophet (SAW) and perfuming of the blessed hair with attar, as people looked on in wonder, as if they stood in the presence of the beloved Prophet (SAW). The love and respect shown by each person was a deeply satisfying experience.

My own feelings were that of amazement, to think that I was in the presence of the hair of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a humbling experience. I imagined that the hair had been up to the heavens during the Prophets (SAW) night journey and I was now in its presence.

The blessed hair, of which there are three, are embedded in earth which is held in a container with a glass covering. This is then held in a bigger plastic container with magnified sections, through which people can look at the hair.

The hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has been venerated throughout Islamic history. There is well known baraka or blessings attached to such belongings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), such as the treatment of diseases.

Some examples of the deep respect held by Muslim figures are outlined below:

- Since the time of the Prophet, relics have always played an important role in the history of Islamic civilization. According to hadith reports preserved in Bukhari (4:33) and Muslim (15:324-6), the Prophet Muhammad cut his hair upon completing his hajj and instructed Abu Talha to distribute one share of hair each to his male companions, and Abu Talhas wife Umm Sulaym to distribute two shares to the women.

- Ibn Hajar comments that it was this distribution that established the tradition of baraka (blessings) associated with the hair of the Prophet, and al-Qastallani states that the hair was distributed so that it could be kept as relics.

- Ahmad ibn Hanbal records a hadith report that not a single hair fell from the Prophets head that was not collected by his followers (4:324).

- Nasim al-Riyad in his commentary on the Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyyad states that Mu'awiya had the hair and fingernails of the Blessed Prophet (SAW) put into his mouth and nose.

- Accordng to Ibn al-Hawrani and al-Harawi, Khalid ibn al-Walid was buried in Homs with a hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)which he wore pinned to his hat during his conquest of Damascus.

(Examples above from: Relics of the Prophet- Brannon Wheeler, Islamica Magazine, Issue 11)

There are many other such examples of the deep respect that Muslims held for anything belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Below are some pictures I took of the casing and the mound in which the hair of the Prophet Muhammad is embedded. Unfortunately, the blessed hair are not visible in these pictures.

Peace and blessings on the beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was sent as a mercy to all mankind. Ameen.

The container holding the hair of the blessed Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

The mound of earth that the blessed hair rests in

Although the blessed hair aren't visible in these pictures, there are actually three strands in the mound of earth pictured

Japan orders changes to school textbooks

2005-04-07T16:40:00.000+01:00

1984 (George Orwell) all over again:

"Japan's Education Ministry has again been criticised for rewriting history.

In its latest screening of junior high school textbooks, the Ministry has ordered publishers not to state that weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq.

The Ministry has also ordered that the word 'unilaterally' be removed from a paragraph which said the United States and it allies had unilaterally attacked Iraq and overthrown the government of Saddam Hussein.

Another entry has been banned that said Japanese troops had been deployed to the Iraq battlefield.

The Ministry ordered the text read instead that they had been deployed to a non-combat area in Iraq.

For many years Japan has been accused of sanitising the country's less savoury role in World War II."

Community Advice | By: Hamza Yusuf

2005-04-07T11:43:00.000+01:00

New Shaykh Hamza audio from Zaytuna. (Click on the title above to listen)

London Underground tips

2005-04-06T15:26:00.000+01:00

I was stuck on the underground for two and a half hours last week, trying to get to work. To put it into context, my journey to work normally takes me about an hour and a trip to my home city of derby from London takes around an hour and forty minutes!

The most interesting aspect of this journey was observing the reaction of fellow passengers. Some, if not all were completely frustrated with the delays, a few resorted to swearing at the unseen voice over the speaker.

While I can undoubtedly relate to the frustration of fellow tube users, what with millions if not billions of pounds spent on an already crumbling underground with no noticeable difference, I now look at tube delays in a new light. Below are some of my tips to fellow (Muslim) underground users on how to keep a cool head:

Patience:
Remember that ultimately everything is from Allah (SWT) and therefore that tube delay was meant to happen at that time, losing your cool over it wont make that tube move unless it has permission from Allah (SWT)

Deen or work?
I wonder whether people would get as as frustrated if they were about to miss salat. Remember that the life on this earth is fleeting/short where as the life hereafter is permanent.

More Dhikr time:
Use the time that you are stuck to perform dhikr, remember Allah (SWT) and his Messenger (SAW) as much as you can, not only will it calm your heart it will enable you to get closer to your Lord.

Reflection:
The benefits of reflection are immense. As Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (May Allah be Pleased With Him) states in Kitab Sirr al-Asrar wa Mazhar al-Anwar
(The Book of the Secret of Secrets and the Manifestation of Lights):

A moment of reflection is worth more than a year of worship.

A moment of reflection is worth more than a seventy years of worship.

A moment of reflection is worth more than a thousand years of worship.

These sayings convey the implicit meaning:

If someone reflects on the details of the branches [of knowledge], a moment of reflection is worth more than a year of worship.

If someone reflects for a moment on the true significance of the worship incumbent upon him, that is worth more than seventy years of worship.

If someone reflects for a moment on intimate knowledge of Allah (Exalted is He), that is worth more than a thousand years of worship.

And Allah knows best.

Sidi Omar (DP Dude) v Maq (DP Moderator Dude)

2005-04-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

This is a hilarious conversation I had with Deenport extraordinaire and dear friend Sidi Omar.
My suspicions, that he really is a 'gangsta' were confirmed after this convo. (Click on the title above to read the full transcript)
Enjoy!

Post Zionism

2005-04-02T18:11:00.000+01:00

Some very interesting observations in this excellent article by John Rose in the Guardian today. (The article is linked in the title above.)

Contrary to what some narrow minded people think, Muslims don't hate Jews and Islam does not advocate violence against Jews. There is also a long history of Jews flourishing under Muslim rule.

Also can the Zionist project be justified seeing as it denies Palestians their rights?

Does the religious and historical attachment of so many Jews to the "land of Israel" justify the Zionist project? The idea of a Jewish homeland continues to pose two problems. The first is the denial of Palestinian rights, especially the rights of the dispossessed refugees, who see an Israel built on their homeland. And the second is what "homeland" means for the Jewish majority that lives outside Israel.

Furthermore Ridley Scott etc would do well to read the following:

More than a thousand years later, also in Egypt, we have a highly successful Jewish community in the newly built Islamic city of Cairo. Professor Shelomo Goitein, the brilliant scholar of Islamic Arab-Jewish relations, in his analysis of the "Geniza" documents discovered in a medieval synagogue, has left us a vivid insight of how the city's Jews saw "homeland". This is the high point of Islamic-Jewish relations symbolised by Saladin, the Islamic world's greatest leader, protecting Cairo from the Crusaders as well as expelling them from Jerusalem.

It is worth reminding ourselves that it was the European Crusaders who slaughtered the Jews (as well as Muslims, of course) in Jerusalem, and it was Saladin who invited them to return. But most Jews had no intention of living in Jerusalem. It was a religious and spiritual centre, not a "homeland". The communities felt "at home" in villages, towns and cities throughout the Islamic world.

Jews migrated from Europe to the Islamic world to escape the Crusades. Cairo's Jews readily offered help to their European co-religionists. According to Goitein, Islamic authorities made no attempt to impede this migration. What a contrast with our contemporary "civilised" attitudes to migration.

Gujarati, History and Islam

2005-04-02T17:26:00.000+01:00
Being of Guji...sorry Gujarati origin :-), I have found some interesting facts about the language and the influence of Islam on Gujarati:

- Gujarati (also sometimes Gujerati) is a language native to the state of Gujarat.

- It is an Indo-European language, of the Indo-Aryan family, spoken by about 46 million people worldwide, making it the 23rd most spoken language in the world.

- Of these, roughly 45.5 million reside in India, 150,000 in Uganda, 250,000 in Tanzania, 50,000 in Kenya and roughly 100,000 in Pakistan. A considerable population of Gujarati speakers exists in North America and the United Kingdom.

- In the United Kingdom, Leicester (Midlands) and Wembley (North London) are two areas popular with Gujaratis.

- The history of the language can be traced back to 12th c. CE. A formal grammar of the precursor of this language was written by Jain Monks and scholar Hemachandra-charya in the reign of Rajput king Siddharaj Jayasinh of Patan. This was called Apabhransa grammar, signifying a language which is a corrupted form of languages like Sanskrit and Ardha-magadhi.

- The Gujarati spoken today takes considerable vocabulary from Persian due to the more than five centuries of the rule of Sultan kings who were Muslims.

- These words occur mostly in reference to worldly and secular matters. The other elements of the language however draw quite a lot on the native tribes of the specific region.

- Also due to centuries of trade with European countries such as Portugal and England, many, many words in Gujarati are naturally the same as Portuguese and English.

Reflections of a Muslim Mind

2005-03-27T22:07:00.000+01:00
Here is a very short story that I wrote a few back while at work (it still isn't finished). The name of the blog actually derives from the name of this short story. I hope you enjoy it:

I once went down to the beach, to play in the sand and to swim in the dark blue sea. The sun blazed, beaming down its mighty rays, frying the skin of those on the beach.

The time for prayer arrived with the muezzin announcing the call to prayer from the long white minaret gleaming in the sunlight.

The ‘adhan.’ The muezzin with his beautiful voice stirred something within me, my spirit? My fitra state? I wasn’t sure but my legs instinctively took me towards the direction of the mosque. My whole body, mind and spirit were captivated by this beautiful haunting voice. I was no longer in control but was being guided by the words and sounds emanating from this man, as if from heaven inviting me to glorify my Lord.

I walked barefooted along the sand and past the sea, away from the people on the beach oblivious to an existence outside of their little worlds. The beach, sea and the sun blinded them from the transcendent reality that kept them in existence. Why were they not drawn to this voice inviting them to forget about this world that would one day disappear like the illusion it is. They were deaf and blind guided by the superficial nature of everything around them.

And then in front of me a mosque, the House of Allah, the one and only, creator of everything we see, hear, touch and taste.

I looked around me and saw people from all walks of life, whites, blacks, Asians. A microcosm of the world in which we live in, but here everyone was equal, as they will be on the day of reckoning, standing in rows waiting for the salat to begin.

Turks, Moors and Englishmen

2005-03-25T17:15:00.000Z
I have been interested in the relationship between Islam and Britain for quite some time so I picked up a copy of the excellent Turks, Moors and Englishmen: In the Age of Discovery by Nabil Matar. Here are some fascinating facts from what I have read so far:

- Queen Elizabeth cooperated commercially & diplomatically with both the Turks and of the Ottoman empire and the Moors of the of the kingdom of Morocco.

- Queen Elizabeth never entertained or articulated - and nor did her subjects ideas of colonising them.

- On the contrary, instead of exhibiting her superiority to the Moroccan ruler, Ahmed al-Mansur, Elizabeth repeatedly sought military and diplomatic help from him.

- In 1603, the last year of his life as well as hers, al-Mansur proposed to Elizabeth that Moroccan and English troops, using English ships, should together attack the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, expel the Spaniards , and then "possesse" the land and keep it "under our dominion for ever, and-by the help of God-to joyne it to our estate and yours."

- In al-Mansur's plan, England was to help the Moors colonise America.

- Official Muslim delegations began to arrive in England as early as the second half of the sixteenth century.

- Such visits introduced the London community to the Muslims in a manner different to refugees and prisoners, these two groups were unable to project their culture or religion.

- Muslim ambassadors, however, arrived in pomp and enjoyed the protection of the monarch, and therefore could and and did practice their religious observances openly, abide by their dietry rules, and appear in thir national dress with its conspicuous turban.

- Such visitors provided the populance with the only real portrait of how Muslims-wealthy Muslims, that is-lived, worshipped, and conducted themselves.

- Although they numbered far fewer than refugees & prisoners, it was this elite group that provided Londoners with their most authentic image of Muslims.

What is most interesting about the facts above is how much the Muslims were respected both in military power and in appearance. The Turks and Moors were proud to be Muslims and did not allow other nations to project their colonial aspirations on them, but, rather, other nations were afraid of both the Turks and Moors.

There is much to learn from this historical analysis. Not only does it dismiss some of the "Clash of Civilisations" discussions which have become so apparent in western discourse about the western world and Islam, this sort of analysis also shows how both the world of Islam and the world of Christianity as it was then known co-existed side by side.

Much food for thought for the policy makers and think-tanks in the UK and the US.

Road map Facade

2005-03-21T15:10:00.000Z
Recent comments by the Israelis suggesting that they want peace with the Palestinians by withdrawing from settlements in the Gaza Strip and by evacuating settlers from the area, seem to have been a smokescreen to increase the size of its largest settlement in the West Bank.
The Israelis are planning to build approximately 3,500 homes in Maale Adumin, east of Jerusalem.

According to the BBC: Under the peace plan known as the roadmap, Israel pledged to freeze the growth of settlements on land occupied since 1967. The plan is sponsored by the "quartet" of the US, Russia, European Union and United Nations.

Furthermore and more importantly: The international community considers all settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as illegal under international law.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Jerusalem says:

That most attention in the region over the last few months has been focused on Israel's plans to withdraw from settlements in the Gaza Strip and evacuate settlers from the area.

But now the government has made it clear that while it pulls out part of the Palestinian territories, it plans to step up its presence in another, he says.

So in effect the Palestinians gain nothing and as usual the US response to Israeli aggression towards the Palestinians has been lukewarm at best:

"A spokesman for the US embassy in Tel Aviv said that Washington expected Israel to keep the commitments it made under the roadmap, and for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to abide by the promises he made President Bush. "

Which translates to: The Israelis can continue doing as they please to the Palestinians and the US will not get involved.

Conditions for Ijtihad

2005-03-20T21:53:00.000Z
What is becoming increasingly noticeable during these times is the amount of people who state: 'I follow the Quran and Sunna.' In many instances this relates to, 'I don't need to follow the qualified scholarship of the four sunni madhabs.' What these people fail to realise is the sheer depth of knowledge and understanding the founders of the four madhabs and their students had of both the Quran and Sunna. How did they gain this understanding? Fear, Taqwa, Iman and a fierce intellect. They also fulfilled all the necessary pre-requisite criteria in order for them to perform ijtihad, as outlined by Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad below:

"In order to protect the Shariah from the danger of innovation and distortion, the great scholars of usul laid down rigorous conditions which must be fulfilled by anyone wishing to claim the right of ijtihad for himself. These conditions include:

(a) mastery of the Arabic language, to minimise the possibility of misinterpreting Revelation on purely linguistic grounds;

(b) a profound knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and the circumstances surrounding the revelation of each verse and hadith, together with a full knowledge of the Quranic and hadith commentaries, and a control of all the interpretative techniques discussed above;

(c) knowledge of the specialised disciplines of hadith, such as the assessment of narrators and of the matn [text];

(d) knowledge of the views of the Companions, Followers and the great imams, and of the positions and reasoning expounded in the textbooks of fiqh, combined with the knowledge of cases where a consensus (ijma) has been reached;

(e) knowledge of the science of juridical analogy (qiyas), its types and conditions;

(f) knowledge of ones own society and of public interest (maslahah);

(g) knowing the general objectives (maqasid) of the Shariah;

(h) a high degree of intelligence and personal piety, combined with the Islamic virtues of compassion, courtesy, and modesty.

A scholar who has fulfilled these conditions can be considered a mujtahid fil-shar, and is not obliged, or even permitted, to follow an existing authoritative madhhab."

In this day and age it seems highly unlikely that there are many, if any people who fulfill the above criteria, making it a Fard on us lay people to follow one of the schools of the four mujtahid Imams.

So the next time you hear someone saying its a bida to follow a madhab or that they follow only the Quran and Sunna, ask them if they fulfill the above criteria.

School Dinners Update

2005-03-20T20:53:00.000Z
It seems like Jamie's School Dinners has created a sufficient stir to make Tony Blair announce changes to school dinners (whether this is just pre-election propaganda to gain more support remains to be seen).

The Observer newspaper reported that:

"In a response to the plea from TV chef Jamie Oliver for a 'school dinner revolution', the Prime Minister will say that school kitchens will be rebuilt and equipped so dishes can be cooked from scratch, while dinner ladies are given 'culinary skills' to help them create appetising menus.
Writing in today's Observer , Blair acknowledges for the first time the strength of parental anger about the fatty, sugary processed diet on offer in many schools. He pledges an independent food trust to build on and expand the work begun by Oliver in his Channel 4 series, Jamie's School Dinners .
The moves will form part of a mini 'children's manifesto' to be published tomorrow outlining Labour's pitch to parents on issues from diet to paedophiles targeting children through the internet.
The crux, however, will be its response to the uproar over the quality of school dinners triggered by Oliver's programme, which followed the chef and father of two as he tried to change menus for pupils in Greenwich, south-east London.
The Prime Minister said a new independent School Food Trust, to be set up by the government shortly, would 'draw on the remarkable work of Jamie Oliver in schools, of the Soil Association in encouraging the use of organic and local produce in school meals'.
Promising that kitchens and dining areas would be improved as part of the £9.4 billion primary school building programme announced in last week's Budget, he added: 'It may take a little time to change children's tastes but it will be worth the effort if we can get them enjoying healthy and good quality food at school.'
Oliver told The Observer he was 'really pleased' the government was taking his campaign seriously but would scrutinise the detail.
'I think the government should use the knowledge from the people who have already worked on a grass- roots level: the dinner ladies deserve all the support they can get to make change,' he said.
'If changes are made it will only be a matter of months before British health, education and farming could be affected for the better. It could be one of the biggest food revolutions that England has ever seen.'
Education ministers are also considering moves to teach parents in deprived areas about nutrition and cookery. Greenwich families were initially suspicious of Oliver's emphasis on fresh food and vegetables, bringing in burgers for their children.
Blair will shortly meet Oliver to receive the petition triggered by his Feed Me Better campaign, now signed by more than 100,000 people, calling for low-fat, healthy, fresh school food.
Downing Street is expected to offer him an advisory role overseeing progress with school meals, although it is not clear whether he would accept. Blair has also been impressed by meetings with Peter Melchett of the Soil Association, which runs a programme in Gloucestershire showing how children can be fed on locally grown and organic menus.
The children's manifesto, to be unveiled tomorrow by election co-ordinator Alan Milburn, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly and Children's Minister Margaret Hodge, will also promise to curb junk food advertising on TV."
Although this is a welcome announcement by Blair, it does make you wonder why it has taken the government so long to acknowledge the sorry state of British school dinners. Either the government are completely out of touch with the British public (highly likely, see: Iraqi war) or the health of British children does not figure highly on the list of government priorities. (personally I think it is a combination of both).

Islam and Humour PDF

2005-03-18T16:24:00.000Z
A certain person who reads this blog has mentioned that I should inject some humour into it (you know who you are :-) . Below are some excerpts from a PDF file that I came across. It has some beautiful stories about the how the Prophet (Peace and Blesssings be upon Him) and the Sahaba (May Allah be pleased with them all) used to humour each other. (Islamic and halal humour of cause....what else did you expect?)

"Anas reported that once a man asked Muhammad for an animal to ride. He replied that he would give him the baby of a she-camel to ride on. The man asked what would he do with a she-camel baby because of his weight. Muhammad replied, "Is there any camel which is not born of a she camel?" (all camels are the babies of a mother camel, even adult camels)
He also reported that once the Prophet addressed him as, "O you with two ears," (meaning very obedient)."
"An old woman came to see the Prophet and asked him to pray for her that she might go to Paradise. He replied, "No old woman will enter Paradise!" She was very grieved end began crying. Muhammad told his companions to tell her that the old woman would go to Paradise but as a young girl."
"Ahmad report that 'A'ishah said: "I went out with the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) on a journey. At that time I was a young girl and was quite slender. The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) told the people, 'Go on ahead,' so they went ahead, then he said to me, 'Come, let us have a race.' So I raced with him, and I won. He let the matter rest until I had gained weight. Later, I accompanied him on another journey. He told the people, 'Go on ahead,' so they went ahead. He said to me, 'Come, let us have a race.' So I raced with him, and he won. He began to laugh, and said, 'This is for that."
"Imam Bukhari reports from Bakr ibn 'Abdillah who said: "The Companions of the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam ) used to throw melon-rinds at one another,but when the matter was serious, they were the only true men."

"Rabiah Ibn Uthman (ra)says: That a certain Bedouin came to the Prophet (pbuh). He seated his she camel outside the holy Mosque and himself went inside to meet the holy Prophet. Some of the companions of the Prophet said to Nuaiman Ibn Amr al Ansari, If you slaughter this she camel and satisfy your hunger, the holy Prophet will pay its penalty. The narrator says that very soon Nuaiman slaughtered the she camel.
When the Bedouin came out of the Mosque and saw all this, he began crying out,O Muhammad! Some one has slaughtered her. The holy Prophet came out and asked the people who had done that. The people told him that Nuaiman had done that.
Now the Prophet went out in search of him. He found Nuaiman in the house of Dabaah daughter of Zubair Ibn Abd al Muttalib. He had hidden himself in a cell and had put branches and dry barks and leaves of the date tree over his body. Someone cried out that he had not seen him. But this very man pointed to the place where Nuaiman was hiding. The Prophet took him out from there and his face was covered with dust and leaves of the date tree. The Prophet asked him who had asked him to do that. He said, O Messenger of Allah! These very men who had told you about my whereabouts, had asked me to do that. The holy Prophet began removing the leaves and barks from his head and face and remained laughing. The narrator says that later on the Prophet paid the price of the she-camel to that Bedouin."
the stories above show that Muslims don't have to be serious all the time. There is a time and a place for humour as it generates love and affection between people.
I'm off to play a practical joke on my wife now....(now where are those melon-rinds?)

Crusades Movie

2005-03-17T12:31:00.000Z
Any lingering hope that Ridley Scott's new Crusades movie, Kingdom of Heaven would depict Muslims in a positive light seem to have been scuppered, according to UCLA professor Khaled Abu el-Fadl who was shown a shooting script of the aforementioned movie. I've quoted him extensively below to give you a good idea of what to expect from this multi million propaganda movie:

"The Western characters are fully formed human beings, reflecting the whole gamut of human feeling."

"On the Muslim side, everyone apart from Saladin is portrayed as a mindless machine, maniacally screaming 'Allah Akhbar"'.

Whether the script has changed significantly since the professor read his draft remains unclear, but he insists that the films key Islamic character, Saladin's religious jurist advisor, preaches hate, fanaticism and massacres, instead of advising Saladin according to Islamic law.

"Saladin," he continues, "is torn between being a 'good Moslem' and being human. 'Moslem' meaning being evil. In a typical Hollywood portrayal of an enlightened Moslem, he wants to do the right thing, but is bound to do evil by his religion. Islam is depicted as practically insane, reflecting nothing of the tolerance, historically, shown by Moslems to Jews and Christians; the film attributes that characteristic to the Christians.

"In reality, as far as the Crusaders were concerned, they were fighting infidels, pagans and people who were not human," continues Abu el-Fadl, "and an Arab Christian was viewed as much a pagan as a Moslem. Yet, the movie makes no allusion to the fact the Crusaders butchered Jews and Arab Christians in horrendous numbers."

What is shocking about the script and the film is how it has reversed the facts in favour of the Crusaders. We know from accurate historical accounts that Saladin followed the Prophet Muhammad's (peace and blessings be upon him) example when he captured Jerusalem and entered the city humbly, respectful of religious places of worship and respectful of the people of other faiths. As Abu el-Fadl rightly points out, "an Arab Christian was viewed as much a pagan as a Moslem" by the Crusaders, in fact Jews and Christians were treated better and flourished under the rule of Saladin. Furthermore there was no butchering of Jews and Christians by Muslims, but, rather by the Crusaders who massacred men, women and children.

Films like this are extremely dangerous. Not only do they paint a false picture of Islam but they also create an 'us' and 'them' mentality among non Muslims, many of whom will view this movie and think of it as fact.

What would have been a good chance to foster Muslim-Christian relations now amounts to nothing more than Islam and Muslim bashing.

We need Muslims in the mainstream media with a thorough grasp of Islamic history who can critique these types of propaganda movies and inform the public at large about the real facts about the Crusades, Muslims and Islam in general.

Joe Sacco's trip to Iraq

2005-03-15T15:35:00.000Z
Joe Sacco is probably one of the best political comic book writers at the moment, with such acclaimed works as Palestine (a must read to visualise and understand the plight of the Palestinians under illegal occupation) and Safe Area Gorazde (which looks at the Bosnian War).

He recently went on a mission to Iraq for the Guardian newspaper 'Weekend' supplement. You can view his eight page comic strip PDF, entitled: 'Complaceny Kills'.

(It may take a while to download this file as it is big, but it is well worth it.)

School Dinners

2005-03-15T10:14:00.000Z
Anyone who is watching or has watched an episode of Jamie's School Dinners will have realised the horrendous state school dinners are in here in the UK. Schools are only allocated around 37pence per child which is a measly amount. With schools under pressure to deliver meals on time and on budget, many are forced to rely on cheap fast food which is reheated in the school kitchens. The staple diet of these poor kids amounts to burgers, chips and pizza.

Jamie Oliver should be commended for trying to change the status quo. Not only is he trying to ban fast food in schools, he is outlining and developing healthy menus which can be implemented cost effectively in cash strapped schools. Furthermore he is trying to educate dinner ladies on how to cook his menus and how to prepare food.

The difference in the behavior patterns of children who switched over to the healthier menu was apparent almost straight away. From being hyperactive, uncooperative and unable to concentrate, to being calmer and relaxed, with a greater ability to focus when on a healthier diet. What was also noticeable was that after an initial reluctance to try healthier food, children actually prefered the new diet once they had eaten the new menu a few times.

As Muslims we should be very concerned about what our children eat at school. Not only should the food be halal (which in many cases, is debatable) but also healthy, if we are to raise children who are not obese. We know that Islam places great emphasis on food: Where we obtain it from and how much we consume.

The best option for Muslim parents is to give their children a healthy packed lunch, this way parents know exactly what their children are eating, safe in the knowledge that the food is both halal and healthy.

On a wider scale we should be kicking up a fuss with the government and local authorities to improve school dinners (if the government can cough up billions of £'s on an unjust war, why not for the health of the nation?) and insist that 'education' should incorporate how to live a healthy life.

Three PDF's are available for parents and anyone else who wants to see a change for the better.

The first PDF is entitled: Reality Check, the Second: Make a difference information and thirdly: Prepare for Change

Let us all make dua that Jamie is able to change what our children eat nationwide Inshallah.

E-mail from Yemen (part 2)

2005-03-14T09:52:00.000Z
Here is another email I received from my brother in Yemen today. I'm hoping that this will be a regular part of this Blog:

"Habib Ali arrived in Tarim yesterday, I was praying my sunnahs of asr and when I made my second salaam I saw him standing there praying in the front row, an amazing sight.
He has an awe about him, noor pour's forth from his face and a glance at his face reminds you of the Sahaba and his words and his state remind you of the Prophet Salallahu Alyhi Wasal'lam, May Allah preserve the Shaikh. Ameen.
I also spoke to a new convert yesterday, he entered into Islam on Friday at Darul Mustafa, Please remember him in your Duas."

Cityscape

2005-03-13T22:58:00.000Z
Life in London can be overwhelming at the best of times (I'm sure people from other cities can relate to this) . The hustle and bustle of the tubes with everyone packed in as tight as a tin of sardines, sour faced people reading their books and newspapers not daring to look at anyone else in case they make conversation with them and no shortage of 'tube rage' when someone as much as bumps into you or if someone gets that last seat before you.

The most troubling aspect of this kind of existence is that it dislocates you from the spiritual nature of life. Everyone is individualistic, not part of a whole. Everyone is always in a hurry to get to somewhere. The whole nature of western secular life is based on individualism, no one has time to talk to anyone else, it is survival of the fittest which is at complete odds with the Islamic way of life which relies on interaction between the individuals to create a healthy and vibrant Umma. I think one of the reasons why the Muslim Umma is in such a bad state is because we have forgotten how to deal and interact with other people.

How do I cope with this? I usually always listen to a CD by our respected shayukh, be it Shaykh Hamza, Imam Zaid, Shaykh Yaqoubi on the tube to remind me of my priorities in life and to remind me that there are much more important aspects to life than the 'rat race.' I also read a daily portion from my Prayers for Forgiveness book. Finally I take time out in the afternoon and travel to the Regents Park Mosque to pray my salat. Although situated in the heart of London (near Baker St) it resides near the beautiful Regents Park which seems worlds away from the 'concrete city' just around the corner.

I'm sure I can think of many positives about life in London, but, that is a post for another time.

Salafi burnout

2005-03-12T21:05:00.000Z
Following a life of moderation (which is the prophetic tradition and the view of traditional Islam), one finds inner peace. Following a narrow, rigid and literal form of Islam leads to burnout.
As Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad (an intellectual & spiritual tour-de-force) states in his essay: The Poverty of Fanaticism, from the excellent book: Islam, Fundamentalism, and the betrayal of Tradition, essays by Western Muslim Scholars:
'This phenomenon, which we might label 'salafi burnout', is a recognised feature of many modern Muslim cultures. An initial enthusiasm, gained usually in one's early twenties, loses steam some seven to ten years later. Prison and torture - the frequent lot of the Islamic radical - may serve to prolong commitment, but ultimately, a majority of these neo-Muslims relapse, seemingly no better or worse for their experience in the cult-like universe of the salafi mindset.
This ephemerality of extremist activism should be as suspicious as its content. Authentic Muslim faith is simply not supposed to be this fragile; as the Qur'an says, its root is meant to be 'set firm'. One has to conclude that of the two trees depicted in the Quranic image, salafi extremism resembles the second rather than the first. After all, the Sahaba were not known for a transient commitment: their devotion and piety remained incomparably pure until they died.
What attracts young Muslims to this type of ephemeral but ferocious activism? One does not have to subscribe to determinist social theories to realise the importance of the almost universal condition of insecurity which Muslim societies are now experiencing. The Islamic world is passing through a most devastating period of transition. A history of economic and scientific change which in Europe took five hundred years, is, in the Muslim world, being squeezed into a couple of generations. For instance, only thirty-five years ago the capital of Saudi Arabia was a cluster of mud huts, as it had been for thousands of years. Today's Riyadh is a hi-tech megacity of glass towers, Coke machines, and gliding Cadillacs. This is an extreme case, but to some extent the dislocations of modernity are common to every Muslim society, excepting, perhaps, a handful of the most remote tribal peoples.
Such a transition period, with its centrifugal forces which allow nothing to remain constant, makes human beings very insecure. They look around for something to hold onto, that will give them an identity. In our case, that something is usually Islam. And because they are being propelled into it by this psychic sense of insecurity, rather than by the more normal processes of conversion and faith, they lack some of the natural religious virtues, which are acquired by contact with a continuous tradition, and can never be learnt from a book.'

E-mail from Yemen

2005-03-12T12:01:00.000Z
Here is part of an e-mail I received from my brother a few weeks back. It conjured up images of being in a place which still upholds the sunna of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
I'm glad to say that he is part of a growing number of young adults learning the traditional Islamic sciences from living shayukh with chains of transmission going back to the first and best community of Muslims. May Allah grant him and those like him success in their endeavors. Ameen.

"One of them is the Ribat of Tarim, a serious traditional Madrasa which has been running for over 100 years. I spoke to the main Shaikh there named Shaikh Salimas-Shatiri, a shaikh from the Ahlul Bayt who was very very close to Sayed Alawi al-Maliki (Rahmatullah Alyh) and he also taught in the Haram. He said he would let me in on the condition that I commit to a minimum of 2 years study.

I will be studying hifdz, grammar and Shafi Fiqh (it will aid my Hanafi studies in the future Insha-Allah) I will be studying hifdz at the grave of one of the great walis. his grave has been there unchanged for over 600 years and thousands of people have memorised under there including Shaikh Habib Umar."

Editorial team

2005-03-11T22:11:00.000Z
My wife (who wishes to remain anonymous) is acting as the 'quality control' for this blog. She picked the template and is reading my posts. I'm only allowed to post after stringent checks by my wife. I'm trying to convince her to publish some of her thoughts here but so far no luck.
(I'm still working on it...make dua).

Blog name

2005-03-11T21:37:00.000Z
As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh,

This is the first post on this blog details of which can be seen above.
The name of the blog comes from an old short story that I wrote about two years ago. I might post the story on this site at a later date (two years on it is still unfinished!)