Islamic Values vs. Judeo-Christian Values

lundi 20 octobre 2014

FRANCE BURQA
My dear friend Ali Sina mentioned in his most recent article that a Muslim professor, Hossein Askari, believes that Western nations lead the World in “Islamic values” and that most Muslim nations practice the least Islamic values. I have heard such nonsense before from some Muslims, some of whom were my relatives. I will never forget the strange look on my Christian American husband’s face when an elderly Muslim man visiting from Egypt told him: “You are such a fine young man, you have the character of a true Muslim.”

It is not unusual for Muslims to describe non-Muslims whom they perceive as good as having “Islamic values.” Many Christians in Egypt have to suffer hearing comments by Muslims such as: “You are so good, you must convert to Islam, you have the character of a true Muslim.”

Muslims are trained to adjust reality to Islamic propaganda; thus everything good must come from Islam and everything bad comes from the Kafir non-believer. So it is Islamic logic to believe that if Christians are good then they must be Muslim, but they just don’t know it yet.How can educated Muslims professors make ridiculous claims like that Ireland “leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim states lag”? Islamic logic, in that case, says, if Irish people have noses, eyes, arms and legs like Muslims then they must be Muslim. This twisted logic wants to hide the truth: that many Muslims no longer want to live under Islamic values, but since that is considered apostasy in Islam, the only way out is to claim life in the land of the Great Satan is really equal to living the true Islamic life.

The Muslim dilemma about the West gets more complicated when over 70% of Muslim youth are desperately trying to leave the Muslim world to immigrate to Western nations. Many Muslims are stunned, disappointing and filled with envy when they compare infidel and Islamic nations and discover that infidels have achieved what Muslims could only dream of. Such an awakening by Muslims flies against the Islamic propaganda that has indoctrinated generations into believing that Islam is the solution.

So if Islam is the solution, how come Muslims are happier in the West? Simple: Muslims discovered what the West failed to understand about their own values; According to Muslims, it is Islamic values — so “Allahu Akbar” anyway.

Islam has trained the Islamic mind to solve any contradictions with the goal of making sure that Islam looks good at any cost. In other words, reality has to adjust to Islamic teachings. Muslims must never admit that Western success is attributed to the Judeo-Christian value system. That is why Muslim professors on American college campuses claim that Western cultural success is due to Islamic and not Biblical values, and that the US Constitution is Sharia compliant.

This is nothing new for Islam, Mohammed himself claimed that Christianity and Judaism, which preceded Islam by thousands of years, are in fact Islam, but have just been corrupted. Mohammed started by linking himself to the Abrahamic line in order to get legitimacy and after that he discredited the Jews and Christians as apes, pigs and enemies of Allah. Mohammed taught his followers that Abraham, Jesus, Moses etc., all are in fact Muslims and have Islamic values.

Because of Islamic Sharia’s severe and humiliating punishments, Muslims had to mold their thinking to never venture outside the Islamic mental box. Muslims who are brave enough to think critically for themselves will easily find Islamic values, summed up in Sharia, to be the antithesis of Biblical values.

Mr. Askari, like many devout Muslims, refuses to judge Islam by its fruits that are exploding all around the world. Instead of graciously giving credit where it is due — to the fruits of the Bible — he chose to slap Western culture in the face by shamelessly teaching that Western nations’ success is due to Islamic values. Amazing, that sounds exactly like Mohammed.

Askari probably feels that the poor Western citizens just don’t know what Islam already knows, but are unaware that the West is practicing Islamic values more than Muslims themselves.This line of thought fits perfectly with the jihadists who are hell bent on violently converting the West to Islam. But the smart stealth jihadist Muslims choose to leave violent jihad to others, and would rather tell the American people that everything good is Islamic and that the corrupted values of the Bible could not have resulted in the fruits of Western success.

Most Muslims are unaware that it is Muslim culture that heavily borrowed from the Bible. Muslims often say “don’t go to bed angry” but are unaware that this is a Biblical value and not a Quranic value. They say “Salamu Alaykum” and respond by saying “Alaykum El Salam” but are unaware that they have borrowed this from Jews’ “Shalom Aleikhem” and the response “Aleikhem Shalom.” They say that Islam is a religion of peace when in fact Islam advocates war and relentlessly urges its followers to die in war while killing the enemies of their Allah.

The so called “moderate Muslims” who advocate that the US Constitution is Sharia compliant, are dangerous because they are stealth jihadists who have no loyalty to the US Constitution and what America is all about. Their loyalty is to the Islamic agenda of the establishment of the Khalifate. The religion of Mohammed has produced millions of people who think like Askari who are constantly struggling with a severe case of ethnocentrism.

Western nations so far have based their way of life on Judeo-Christian values of the Bible; a book outlawed by Islam under penalty of death. It is time for American college campuses to get rid of Muslim teachers who under the guise of research are advocating Islam 101.

by Nonie Darwish

mardi 14 octobre 2014

Jews are known for their cunning .. and the arrival of what they want in various ways ..vkd House this dialogue between a Muslim and a Jew about the harmful effects of alcohol and its benefits and proscribe

Jew: ye Muslims Mtnaqdon eat grapes, dates and wine Thrmon

Thrmonh and what is not only grapes and Tamra?

Muslim: What do you think of this water that Saboh on your head and on your body ..fjv Sal, do you harm him something?

Jew: No

Muslim: What do you think of this sand that Saboh on your head and splattered on your body .. and top it off, you harm him something?

Jew: No

Muslim: What do you think this water and then mix it with sand that has become part and clay and left him for days, bringing the rock that threw them on your head, what would you have?

Jew: Sinflq my head

Muslim said: So if the dates or grapes become wine, it goes mind, money and self .... etc. from the harmful effects of alcohol, and seek refuge with Allah from him Oaazkm

P managed to convince the Muslim Jewish reasons for the prohibition on alcohol in our Islamic religion this argument strong and wonderful style even knows that God does not forbid us anything
Only to harm because God loves us so much he wanted us goodness in this world and the hereafter

Do we have to follow the Sunnah (Hadith) of the Prophet?

ntil recently, I had thought that all Muslims follow the Quran as the primary source of knowledge, guidance and information, as well as following the Hadith (traditions or Sunnah) of the Prophet. I then found out about a school of thought called ‘Quranism’ – the followers of this believe that the Quran should be the only source of guidance for Muslims, and disregard all Sunnah and Hadith of the Prophet. Though it might seem to make sense, at the same time it seems to disagree with alot of aspects of the Prophets life and what he taught us.

What are hadith?

Hadith, also referred to as ‘Sunnah’ sometimes, refer to sayings, teachings or advice of the Prophet that he said in his lifetime, and that were then transmitted orally, and written down at a later time.

Are they credible?

The argument is that since they were transmitted orally, it could be ‘chinese whispers’ and people added on and embellished to what was said, or even made up something to suit what they thought and attributed to the Prophet. This was a real problem, that still continues today with alot of ‘weak’ hadith being regarded as true. This is a long topic covered extensively by others, but the main points to note are:

Only 6 collections are regarded as authentic, 2 of which are Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim that are seen as the strongest; any others are disregarded
The screening process for these hadith was very intense: the sources had to be reliable people, who heard it first hand, and more preferred were hadith that more than one credible person had heard. For instance a hadith by the Prophets companion such as Umar or Ali is regarded as very true, but one relatively unknown person saying they heard the Prophet say something isn’t enough credibility.
There were lots of hadith that were filtered down because of this screening process, for instance it is said that Al-Bukhari collected over 300,000 hadith and included only 2,602 traditions in his Sahih collection.

Why follow just the quran

The Quran is the word of Allah speaking directly to us, and Allah has said that he will protect the Quran from being changed (Quran 15:9). So of course it is much more credible to follow the Quran for this reason as well, because as stated hadith can be changed or modified. This, and the fact that the Quran is directly Allah’s word, is seen as enough reason to follow the Quran alone. However, there are other indications and thoughts to look at before disregarding Hadith completely. Below are the reasons that I came up with or found.

#1 Implementing the Quran in our life

To follow the Quran doesn’t mean to simply read it, but to implement it in our daily life. A person could read the Quran and what it says about praying in middle of the night and perhaps think ‘This seems difficult to me; how can I do all of this? Wake up in the middle of the night to pray? It’s not possible for a person!’ and then just leave the religion altogether or to follow the parts they choose and disregard others. By reading Hadith and learning about Prophet Muhammad, we see that he showed us how to live the Quran, by setting an example for us. He would stand up often to pray in the night for long periods, for instance there is a Hadith:

Narrated Aisha: The Prophet used to offer prayer at night (for such a long time) that his feet used to crack. I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Why do you do it since Allah has forgiven you your faults of the past and those to follow?” He said, “Shouldn’t I love to be a thankful slave (of Allah)?’ When he became old, he prayed while sitting, but if he wanted to perform a bowing, he wound get up, recite (some other verses) and then perform the bowing.
Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 360 and 361

This Hadith gives us an insight on how a true Muslim and believer in Allah and the Quran would feel about night prayers, and shows that a human being is capable of doing it if they want to.

#2 Avoiding misinterpretations

As mentioned, the Quran is Allah’s word and comes with a lot of weight. While Allah has sent it using words that people can understand, it is a book with many levels and many lessons to be learnt. In this way, the Prophet can be seen as a teacher for us. Just as you wouldn’t pick up a book about Quantum Physics, read it through and think you understood it, it’s the same way with the Quran. You would need someone, ideally a teacher, to guide you through it and to help you understand what it’s saying and its meanings.

Without this teaching, you are also open to misinterpreting the Quran. I witnessed an example of this recently when a famous Hollywood celebrity died, and people had put up statuses on Facebook saying how sad they were and offering condolences. A person whom I don’t know got upset at this, and commented on my friend’s status that we shouldn’t mourn for this celebrity because they had been a Christian and so a non-believer and we shouldn’t feel sorry for them, citing verses from the Quran which talk about the disbelieving people and Allah’s wrath on them. This sort of narrow-minded interpretation of the Quran is dangerous because it leads to a way of thinking that is intolerant and contrary to the teachings of the Prophet.

A person who would look at Hadiths would learn how tolerant and compassionate our Prophet had been, even to non-Muslims.

Narrated ‘Abdur Rahman bin Abi Laila: Sahl bin Hunaif and Qais bin Sad were sitting in the city of Al-Qadisiya. A funeral procession passed in front of them and they stood up. They were told that funeral procession was of one of the inhabitants of the land i.e. of a non-believer, under the protection of Muslims. They said, “A funeral procession passed in front of the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the coffin of a Jew, he said, “Is it not a living being (soul)?” (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 399)

Hadith like this are essential to understanding the good character a Muslim person has, which upon reading the Quran might be hard to understand for some.

It says in the Quran about itself that there will be those people who will take the words of Allah and use them for their own meanings:

As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allah . But those firm in knowledge say, “We believe in it. All [of it] is from our Lord.” And no one will be reminded except those of understanding. (Quran, Surah Ali Imran, Verse 7)

From ‘those of understanding’, who better than Prophet Muhammad to help us understand the Quran.

#3 Why send a Messenger at all?

If Allah had willed, he could have sent down the Quran directly through the angel Jibrail and given it to the people. Why did he choose to send it through Jibrail to a person, Prophet Muhammad, who was then told to tell it to the people? Allah knows best, but when thinking about this, one of the main reasons is because the Prophet was an exceptional person, unlike normal people. He was called ‘Al-Amin’, the trustworthy one, and people like Abu Bakr converted to Islam instantly upon hearing him because of his reputation of always telling the truth.

A person of strong character such as the Prophet Muhammad was needed to show people how to live the Quran, how to recite it, how to read it, how to understand it and how to live by it. Allah does everything for a reason, and to disregard anything the Prophet said or did seems to oppose Allah’s decision to choose Muhammad from all the people.

#4 Prophets last sermon

Whether you believe in Hadith or not, in his Final Sermon before he passed away he clearly spoke about telling those people who were not there to listen to pass on the message. This is something ‘Quranists’ cannot even deny and so must listen to the words of his Farewell Sermon.

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today…”

He then went on to say

Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.

In various ways, implicitly and explicitly, he highlighted in this sermon the importance of passing on his teaching to whose who could not be there, that his words have importance, the Quran is primary but then to also follow his Sunnah, his example.

#5 No contradictions

Whatever the Prophet said or did was inspired by Allah and he was given guidance. The Prophet would not give out advice or rulings based on his own thoughts and feelings, but rather what Allah had decreed. It would make sense to deny hadith if they contradicted Quran, for instance the Quran says you can have 4 wives but the Prophet said ‘Well actually you can have 6 if you like’. His life complimented the Quran, and so his Hadith must compliment it, and not contradict it, which they do.

Aisha, his wife, when asked what the Prophet’s characters was like, she answered ‘His character was the Quran’.

#6 Who do we ask for advice?

There are several hadith where people have come and asked the Prophet for advice regarding law or personal affairs, or he disclosed some advice. It seems unfair that only the people who lived at the Prophets time get to benefit from such pearls of wisdom, when it is clear that the advice can benefit all Muslims. One example is this beautiful hadith:

Young man, (the Prophet said to ‘Abdullah ibn al-’Abbas) hear some words of advice; Be mindful of God and God will protect you. Be mindful of God and you will find Him before you. If you seek help, seek Help of God. Know that if all the people were to gather together to give you the benefit of anything, it would be something that God had already prescribed for you, and that if they gathered together to harm you with anything, this would only be as God had already ordained. (At-Tirmidhi)

Although the points mentioned above might be found in the Quran in different places and phrased in different ways, the Prophet put it into perspective for us. I’m sure that though his advice was to Abdullah ibn Al-Abbas, he would have wanted all people to benefit from this advice.

Following the Quran and the Prophet

After looking deeper into the topic, I feel more strongly than ever on following Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet. He was chosen as the best of human beings from us, and is an ideal role model for all Muslims wishing to follow the Quran truly.

May Allah give us all guidance, help us to love and understand the Quran, make it a part of our daily life, and assist us in being more like our beloved Prophet Muhammad.

Hijab seems to be quite a controversial topic in today’s world. Whereas a less than a 100 years ago a woman choosing to cover her hair was seen as no big deal, nowadays it seems like it’s the most shocking thing a woman can do – yet wearing revealing clothes is seen as normal! Such are the times we live in, and before I get into why Hijab is important for a muslim woman, I wanted to share my story.

Growing up

In my family, the women don’t wear Hijab per se, though they do dress conservatively (full sleeves, etc). Though I live in a Muslim country, I went to a school where majority of students were non-Muslim (Christian, Atheist or Hindu), which I think was a really good experience for me because I was friends with people who had different thoughts on religion and helped me to have an open mind on people and their beliefs. It was only in university where I made a lot of Muslim friends and became more aware of my religion as well as my culture.

9/11

When 9/11 happened, Islam was thrown into the limelight in a negative way. People wanted to know more about Islam, and for someone like me who was born a Muslim and thought that was enough, I realized how little I knew about my religion when people would ask questions and I would’t know what the answer was.

I felt like 9/11 was a wake up call for me and Muslims everywhere to understand our beautiful religion better, before it was lost it in the hands of some violent extremists and it’s image tarnished further.

Thinking about Hijab

It didn’t seem like an option for me to start Hijab, because I didn’t see how it could fit into my life. None of my friends did it, I hadn’t grown up seeing it in my family, and I thought ‘If I believe in Allah and Prophet Muhammad, I pray and fast and do the 5 pillars, and I try to be a good person, shouldn’t that be enough?’.

Over time though. as I reached my senior year in university, I subconsciously started the process of Hijab without even knowing it. My sleeves became longer, my tops became looser, and my jeans less tight. My university was more of a fashion show for girls to come dressed up to everyday, and I started wondering about what the point was of making an effort to look attractive everyday, to get compliments, have guys look at you (a nice way of saying check you out

and to have girls look at you enviously. It didnt feel right for me to be praying inbetween classes, then take off the abaya (a plain black loose dress) provided in the prayer room, and walk out onto campus dressed in tight clothes.

I felt like a total hypocrite; praying to Allah in abaya and loose clothes like He has asked me to, yet in front of the world wearing something else. What I was in front of Allah is what I was supposed to be in the world as well, because Allah sees everything, and it became harder for me to ignore that disconcerting feeling.

Wearing Abaya selectively

I started wearing Abaya selectively in places where I wouldn’t be comfortable at all in tight clothes and I didn’t really care what people there thought; such as the market place (bazaars) and grocery stores. I initially wore the abaya and then the shehla (headscarf) as well, and would immediately feel alot more comfortable being covered up.

In the working world

After university I started working full time and wore the abaya to work, with the headscarf draped around my neck as an accessory. This helped me to transition to being covered up from the neck downwards, yet I didnt feel like it was too big a jump for me. I felt like university life was different from when you are working in terms of your interaction with men; at work you have all kinds of people around and a lot of men you might have to interact with frequently, and it was better to draw that line to say ‘Im not interested’.

Covering up socially

I also changed my dressing to absolute full sleeves, loose fitting and long lengths in my western outfits as well as my shalwar kameez (luckily the fashion was of long flared shirts anyways!), and my clothes were appropriate and the only thing left was to cover up my hair.

What motivated me to finally put on the Hijab (headscarf)

A better understanding of Islam and Hijab

The main motivation was just getting closer to Islam. As I prayed more regularly, read the Quran, listened to Islam lecturers such as Hamza Yusuf and Yusuf Estes (I will put up links to their lectures on Hijab in seperate blog post), I Alhamdulilah felt a closer connection to Allah and the teachings of the Prophet. When that happens, the feeling of modesty is an automatic effect of actively trying to get closer to Allah. I felt like covering my hair was the right thing to do, and I realized that my world was going to need to adopt the Hijab and accept it, rather than Hijab trying to get into my world.

I was going to have to change my life to let Hijab in, rather than I change Hijab to fit into my current life.

Learning how to wear the headscarf in a nice way

I also had a close friend start Hijab and she wore the scarf very well. I could never wear it in a simple way (some women would say you have to wear only black but I’ve never seen a Hadith or Quran quote that affirms that) and I saw that by wearing a scarf you can still look decent yet stylish (I don’t agree with those overdone styles of big poofy camel humps fyi).

I felt it was important to look stylish not because I was trying to impress anyone or look *cool*, but the fact is that it is not something to oppress us and we are young and have the freedom to try out new things, have fun with our dressing in some ways, and since I just got married recently, I didn’t want to look boring to my husband when I was out with him

Some good resources to learn how to wear the hijab are MakeupAdikt on youtube and Pearl Daisy.

The final decision

There was no ‘Eureka’ moment for me when I made the decision, but just a gradual build up to it. I discussed it with my husband and he was supportive as I had known he would be, as were my family and friends. Then one day I headed out to the market, bought all the cute pins and matching scarves, prayed 2 Nafl Salah to ask Allah to help me find peace with my Hijab and let it be a source of reward for me since I am doing this for Akhira (the Hereafter) and not Dunya (the world), and started wearing it from that day on.

The reaction

Most people were supportive, and all of the important people like my family, in-laws, and friends were proud of the step I had taken. I was surprised how so many girls I wouldn’t have thought would be thinking about Hijab told me they wanted to start as well and asked how did I get inspired etc (which shows you we shouldn’t judge people on appearances!).

There were some people of course who didn’t care for it too much, or who still think it’s a temporary phase I’m going through, but that’s just from a lack of understanding on their part. A lot of people can’t believe a woman would choose to cover her hair when she has no external pressures (like how some girls are forced to wear it because of their families or their husbands), and I find it hard to tell them how amazingly liberating it is to wear the headscarf, and the opposite of oppressive (the topic of oppression is too long and I’ll cover in another blog post).

I hope insha’Allah my story can benefit you or someone you know, and that all of us Muslim women stay proud to wear our Hijab and let the world know we are Muslim, and we are not afraid to show it, even if it’s to disapproving eyes – we are not going to take it off to make the West more comfortable with us, since it is our identity and our liberation that they, sadly, fail to understand.

lundi 13 octobre 2014

As someone who is a full-time mom, housewife and muslimah who has a passion for her religion and seeking Islamic knowledge, I definitely have my hands full on a day-to-day basis. Recently, I’ve come across a dilemma.

I’m also an entrepreneur who has a start-up business since a year which allows me to work from home, gives me flexibility, and entrepreneurism is something I am really enthusiastic about. My business has become an opportunity for me to learn so much and grow as a person.

While I love the challenges, struggles and joys that come with running a business, I am also torn with a question: is this the right thing for me in my Deen?

Here are some of the issues that come to my mind.

What does Islam say?

Does Islam allow women to work?

This is naturally the first concern that comes to mind. From my research, I haven’t been able to find a single hadith or ayah in the Quran that states it is strictly forbidden.

Do Muslim husbands allow their wives to work?

A woman has to obey her husband and try to make him happy, except if he is asking her to do something that is against Islam (for instance if he tells her not to pray her Salah). Just a note that this is not anti-feminist but a simple ingredient to happy marriage and works the other way for a husband too. So if a husband is displeased with his wife working, and there is no financial need for her to work, she should respect her husbands wishes. In this case (alhamdulilah) my husband has always been supportive.

Have there been women in Islam who worked/ran a business?

What I find fascinating is that the Prophet met his first wife, Khadijah, while he was working for her, and she was known to be a successful businesswoman. There is nothing that indicates she stopped running her business after her marriage and children, and if being a businesswoman was a distasteful trait, the Prophet would not have considered her to be marriage-material.

So, what are my concerns?

Hadith about Signs of the Last Day

There is a hadith that one of the minor signs of the Day of Judgement is that “A woman will enter the workforce out of love for this world. [Ahmad]“.

From what I have understood, this addressees a woman has no financial need to do a job but chooses to work to afford expensive unnecessary luxuries (Gucci bags, anyone?). Sadly, this is the state for many women I see nowadays, who will choose to have careers and not have children, due to the financial strain children can cause, and they are unwilling to give up their luxurious lifestyle and go down to a single income.

Best use of time

One of my favourite modern-day Islamic scholars, Hamza Yusuf, was asked about how he manages to read so many books and give so many Islamic talks, run an Islamic university and have a family life, and his reply was that he is very aware of how he uses his time.

The thought struck me then, that working even a few hours of the day on my business, are a few hours that could have been spent for Islam. I could have read the Quran, prayed extra Salah, read Islamic books or worked on my website and Quran videos.

I heard in a lecture (but I have forgotten the source) that it was said that the first Muslims and scholars were more vigilant about their time than most people are about their dinars and dirhams (money).

Another point I have heard (here I go again with my horrible memory on the source) is that on the Day of Judgement, people will beg Allah to be allowed to go back to dunya (world) so they can have even a moment to worship Allah and use their time better.

A hadith to keep in mind:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are two blessings which many people do not make the most of and thus lose out: good health and free time.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6412.

Muslimah modern-day entrepreneurs

I do highly encourage all fellow sisters out there who have an idea and a passion for a business to run with it and see what they are capable of. It’s better they spend their free time in a productive way than with idle chat and gossip that I see so many sisters engaging in. Most times, I feel like it’s because they have nothing productive to do in their free time so they occupy their mind with these futile thoughts.

Ultimately, I see life as being one big balancing act. As Muslim women, we know that our religion and family comes first, and we manage to fit in the housework, time for friends and some alone time too! If after all this a Muslimah feels she can run a business as well, I think she should go for it. I’ve seen so many Muslimah entrepreneurs nowadays and I find it highly motivating and important to show modern society, to show that a Muslim woman is capable of wearing many hats, and can be intelligent and modest too.

Conclusion

I started my post with three adjectives: A Muslimah, an entrepreneur, a mom: and I can conclude that certainly these can be used in the same sentence. Our Prophets beloved wife Khadijah was all of those, and infact one of the best Muslimahs. Whether I pursue a business or not remains to be seen, but inshaAllah may Allah guide us all towards what is best for us.

Muslim United