Tuesday 19 April 2016

Speaking Truth to Power: The Eloquence of the Prophet’s Granddaughter

truthtopower
This woman was Zaynab bint ¢Ali ibn Abi Ṭâlib. Sadly, her name and personality are unfamiliar to many of us, though she was the granddaughter of the Prophet œ, the daughter of Fâṭimah bint Muhammad œ and ¢Ali ibn Abi Ṭâlib.
She was born in the year 5 AH, during the lifetime of the Prophet œ and was in fact named by him, after his daughter and her aunt, Zaynab bint Muhammad œ. She was the third child of Fatimah—daughter of the Prophet œ—and Ali—nephew and son-in-law of the Prophet œ—born after her brothers Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. Though the Prophet œ died when she was about five years old, her love for him never waned.
As she grew older, many sought her hand in marriage, desiring to be joined with the family of the Messenger of Allah œ. However, her father waited until a man of equal standing came to propose: her cousin, ¢Abdullâh ibn Ja¢far ibn Abi Ṭâlib.
Though ¢Abdullâh became a wealthy man, Zaynab herself was a woman who lived simply. With her husband’s support, she used her wealth to provide support for the vulnerable and the needy; it is said that she owned a house which she did not keep for herself to live in, but used as a shelter for vulnerable women, orphans, and the elderly


Monday 18 April 2016

Respecting Our Sisters

Forced To Marry



Forced marriages are not permissible in Islam yet they do take place in certain Muslim communities for a number of cultural reasons.
Did you ever hear your Imam speak against this during the Friday Khutbah ?

Thursday 14 April 2016

A Forgotten Covenant

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”*
Such were the memorable words of Prophet Muhammad  in the year 628 CE, when he granted this historic document, also known as the Charter of Privileges, to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians living under Islamic rule, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.
In the spirit of this and numerous other authoritative Islamic texts, one wonders why contemporary policy makers in the West insist on supporting the secular, corrupt, and authoritarian regimes of the predominantly Muslim nations. What is the wisdom of allocating billions of dollars to overthrow, through well-crafted public and covert operations, the popularly and legitimately elected Muslim governments? Have the West’s ‘experts‘ on the Middle East, the Orientalists and the national security advisers hijacked Western political institutions as the latter hijacked the legitimate government of, for example, Iran’s democratic Mosadeq regime, or the Algerian peaceful election that guaranteed Muslim control, and many more cases? Should the predominantly Christian West fear and fight genuine Islamic regimes or should it change its outlook by trusting those who uphold God’s Words and Muhammad’s  commands above secular and cultural values?
Source

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Hadith of the Day: Love Each Other


The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Shake hands and rancor will disappear. Give presents to each other and love each other, and enmity will disappear." Al-Muwatta

The Prophet also said: "There is a (place) in paradise. . .prepared for those who are polite in their speech, provide food (to the needy), fast frequently, and (pray) when (other) people are asleep." Al-Tirmidhi

Sunday 10 April 2016

'We should kill them': Hindu extremists leave no room for beef eaters

“In many cases there has been a stunning silence on the part of the authority when such things happen.” (SBS)
Gaoshalas are common in India, run by Hindus like Mr Prasad in an attempt to protect cows from being slaughtered for meat.  “The cows are like a God to us,” he explains.
Mr Prasad walks among the cattle – patting one here, another there.  But his gentle disposition dissolves when asked about people who slaughter cattle. 
“We should kill them,” he says.  “We should kill them because there is no other way.”
And what about Christians and Muslims who eat beef?
“Killed,” he says firmly.
It’s a very radical response and not something that the vast majority of Hindus would agree with. 
However, since India’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, there have been a number of murders across the country linked to the slaughter of cows.  Cattle traders, an alleged cattle smuggler and even a man accused of storing beef in his home have all been killed.
On March 18, two Muslim cattle traders were murdered in the north-eastern state of Jharkhand, their bodies found swinging from a tree.  One of the victims was just 14-years-old.