\r\n
\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n| \r\n QURAN \r\n |
\r\n\r\nTranslation:\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSurah al-Maidah (The Table)
\r\n
\r\n Chapter 5: Verses 41\"O Messenger! Do not be grieved \r\n on account of those who compete with one another in disbelieving: \r\n even though they may be those who say with their mouths: 'We believe' \r\n but their hearts have no faith (iman)...\"
\r\n
\r\n@ Commentary @
\r\nBackground
\r\n
\r\n Revealed in Madina this verse refers to those who devoted all \r\n their capacities and efforts to ensure that the status quo ante \r\n of Jahiliyyah (Ignorance) remained intact, and that the reformative \r\n mission of Islam should fail to set right the corruption that had \r\n come down to them from the past.
\r\n
\r\n In Today's Context
\r\n In today's world we have some among us who claim to be Muslims \r\n but act contrarily to the injunctions of Islam. Some even go beyond \r\n transgression and spread mischief on earth. They spread false \r\n teachings as Islamic and try to innovate in matters of worship. It \r\n hurts us greatly to see such 'Muslims'.
\r\n
\r\n It is Natural to be Hurt but ...
\r\n A sincere person must \r\n feel heartbroken when he or she sees persons of low moral character, \r\n driven by ignorance, blind selfishness and bigotry, resort to vile \r\n methods in opposition to his or her mission, which is actuated by \r\n charity and goodwill towards humanity. Hence the purpose of God's \r\n directive here is not to ask the Prophet (sall Allahu 'alayhi wa \r\n sallam) and his followers to abstain from this natural \r\n feeling of grief but rather that he should not allow such feelings \r\n to undermine his morale and that he should persevere in his task.
\r\n
\r\n Some Characteristics of such People
\r\n The later portion of the ayah and what follows it give some \r\n characteristics of such individuals of low character:\r\n
\r\n- \r\n
They lie about their faith \r\n\r\n- \r\n
They are eagerly turned to falsehood \r\n\r\n- \r\n
They spy on other people\r\n- \r\n
They pervert the words of Allah, \r\n taking them out of context in order to distort their meaning \r\n\r\n- \r\n
They only accept from the teaching \r\n of Islam what they like\r\n- \r\n
They are listeners of falsehood \r\n\r\n- \r\n
\r\nThey devour unlawful earnings \r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nReward of such \r\n People\r\n
\r\n Because of the excessive evil acts of such people Allah will let them \r\n fall into errors and he will not purify them.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[compiled from \"Towards Understanding The \r\n Quran\"
\r\n
\r\n of Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi, Vol II, pp. 161-163]
\r\n \r\n\r\n
| \r\n UNDERSTANDING \r\n OUR TEENS \r\n |
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThis \r\n series seeks to analyze some of the negative \r\n aspects of the 'teen culture', which go against \r\n our Islamic values and traditions. Every Muslim \r\n parent and teacher needs to recognize that not \r\n actively participating in your teen's lifestyle \r\n is not an option.
\r\n[Stress in \r\n School: It's Natural!]
\r\n\"Most \r\n people say that when entering high school you \r\n begin to feel lot of stress. You \r\n are in a new school, you are the youngest, and \r\n you don't know many people. For me, however, \r\n that was not at all the case. I mean, sure it \r\n feels a little strange and it's going to take \r\n sometime to get used to, but for me, I think \r\n I felt the most stress when I was entering grade \r\n 8. Now, this was also very strange, because \r\n I knew everybody in my class well, I was with \r\n all my friends, and I knew the teachers and \r\n the building like the back of my hand.
\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n
\r\n \"Yet from the first day of the school, I came \r\n home crying hard and this ended up being a recurring \r\n pattern that went on for several months. No \r\n one could understand why; I had my friends, \r\n my grades were great, and I had an amazing teacher, \r\n but to me the reason was clear: my friends were \r\n all changing!
\r\n
\r\n \"Now, popularity was their ultimate goal \r\n in life. Schoolwork and good grades were \r\n no longer their number one priority, and I was \r\n completely confused because, just two months \r\n ago in grade 7, these same people had been good. \r\n My friends had also decided to expand their \r\n vocabulary a little and swear.
\r\n
\r\n \"I guess that to many people, this problem that \r\n I faced in grade 8 would be nowhere near a dilemma, \r\n but for me, I knew that the solution couldn't \r\n simply be to act like them. This was not \r\n just because I'm very \"religious\" and it would \r\n go against everything I was taught, but because \r\n it didn't look or feel right. It didn't look \r\n or feel natural; it was so obviously superficial!
\r\n
\r\n \"So for a few months, I experienced major loss \r\n of appetite and some weight loss. I would also \r\n experience some pretty bad headaches that came \r\n from crying too much and the symptoms of stress \r\n were clear. However, now that I look back on \r\n those depressing days, I realize that I have \r\n actually triumphed, because if I had given in \r\n to save myself some stress, I may have become \r\n a shallow stereotypical teen: a fashion \r\n slave who's biggest fear is whether or not she'll \r\n be popular, someone who will do anything 'socially \r\n accepted', and look like the girl on the cover \r\n of the teen magazine.\"
\r\n
\r\n Narrated by two sisters from Ottawa: Sr. Hoda \r\n Beshir & Sr. Noha Beshir
\r\n[compiled from \"Muslim Teens: Today's Worry, Tomorrow's \r\n Hope\" by Dr. Ekram Beshir and Mohamed R. Beshir, \r\n pp 24-25]
\r\n\r\n\r\nNote: If you are a young school/university \r\n student, or you were one some time ago, and \r\n would like to share your thoughts and challenges \r\n faced in your academic and social teenage \r\n life, and how you dealt with them using your \r\n moral and Islamic principles, please do share \r\n them with our readers. We would love to hear \r\n from you!
\r\n
| \r\n SHARIAH: THE \r\n WAY OF JUSTICE \r\n |
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[ The Problem with Shari'ah? ]
\r\nAdroitly manipulated exposure \r\n to the imagery of a whip cracking on a \r\n naked back and a veil enshrouding a woman’s \r\n face has led many to believe that the \r\n Shari'ah , the divine code of Muslim \r\n conduct, is in reality no more than a \r\n collection of values and practices that \r\n are primitive, uncivilized and barbaric. \r\n What to a Muslim is the object of \r\n his longing and endeavour has been very \r\n subtly projected as a relic from the dark \r\n ages which enslaves the woman and inflicts \r\n punishments on the criminal which are \r\n cruel, inhuman and degrading.
\r\nThe Qur'an most \r\n certainly does prescribe corporal punishment \r\n for certain serious social crimes and \r\n it does lay down the principle of retribution, \r\n or qisaas; it is very emphatic, \r\n too, about the crucial role of the family \r\n in human society and therefore insists \r\n on assigning different well-defined roles \r\n to men and women; and it does lay down many \r\n other regulations and laws and expects \r\n Muslims to obey the eternally valid injunctions \r\n of God and His Prophet.
\r\nBut will these \r\n and similar provisions of the Shari'ah really \r\n plunge society back into darkness? Are they \r\n inhuman and barbaric? Are they an indicator \r\n of Islam's inability to keep pace with the \r\n demands of human progress? The issues \r\n need to be examined seriously to determine \r\n the place and valued of the Shari'ah and \r\n its provisions in the ultimate order of \r\n human civilization and happiness.
\r\nThe need for this \r\n examination is especially acute in the view \r\n of the dogmatic position adopted by the \r\n West on these questions. A host of Western \r\n writers have said it, and the media continue \r\n to harp on the same theme: unless Islam \r\n is prepared to relent on these and other \r\n legal provisions of the Shari'ah \"there \r\n can and will be no accommodation; only a \r\n continuation of Western rejection of Islam\". \r\n Such vehemence makes one wonder whether \r\n the loud chorus about the Shari'ah, and \r\n such of its specific provisions as pertain \r\n to women and punishment, is in all cases \r\n the result of genuine misunderstanding and \r\n moral indignation, or whether the issue \r\n is merely being used by some as a whipping-boy \r\n to settle scores with Islam – old and new?
\r\nNo apologies \r\n or excuses are needed to explain away or \r\n make acceptable to the West what has been \r\n so clearly laid down by the Qur'an and the \r\n Prophet in this regard and what has been \r\n so consistently accepted and adhered to \r\n by Muslims. There should be no place \r\n in dialogue with the West for such tortuous, \r\n self-deprecating arguments as: 'polygamy \r\n is permitted, but the conditions of justice \r\n attached to it makes it effectively prohibited'. \r\n Or: 'Corporal punishment is prescribed but \r\n hedged in with such unworkable requirements \r\n of evidence that it is virtually impossible \r\n to carry it out. Or, at least, it cannot \r\n be carried out unless an \"ideal\" just society \r\n is established, when it will in any case \r\n become unnecessary'.
\r\nWhy those who \r\n advance this specious logic should think \r\n that God would lay down things which were \r\n impossible to practice is not made clear. \r\n As if He does not know how to say what He \r\n means, and say it clearly! Such excuses \r\n are unfair to the Qur'an and the Prophet, \r\n and an affront to their wisdom, and at the \r\n same time illogical and implausible to the \r\n unconvinced.
\r\n... stay tuned \r\n for a new series beginning next week on \r\n Shari'ah ...
\r\n[compiled from \"Shari'ah: The Way of \r\n Justice\" by Ustadh Khurram Murad (rahimahullah)]
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| \r\n QUOTES \r\n TO PONDER UPON \r\n |
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe cravings \r\n are cold of the uproars old,
\r\n
\r\n As blood of Muslim is now a days cold.
\r\n My faithless trend the idols hail.
\r\n Yet my Allah-hoo’s fire is cold like hail.['Allama Muhammad Iqbal in \"Armaghan-e-Hijaaz\" 1938]
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