ALLAH-THE CREATOR

Muslims on Wall Street, Bridging Two Traditions

2012-04-26T05:14:00.001-07:00

In the financial world, Muslims’ religious tenets are often tested. From left are Naiel Iqbal, who works for a hedge fund; Ali Akbar, of RBC Capital Markets; and Aisha Jukaku, a financial consultant.

NAIEL IQBAL’S co-workers couldn’t figure him out.

He’d just started at a Midtown Manhattan hedge fund — the kind of elite enclave where overachievers in button-downs go to make a few hundred grand before heading off to Harvard Business School. But Mr. Iqbal, 27, a graduate of the Wharton School, wasn’t acting like a typical finance guy. He didn’t introduce himself around the office. Nor did he grab lunch with the other traders.

In fact, he didn’t eat at all. Or drink. Not coffee, not soda, not even a sip of water from a Nalgene bottle on his desk. All day, he just sat there, staring into his Bloomberg terminal. Was he sick? Nervous? A modern Bartleby?

None of the above: It was Ramadan, and Mr. Iqbal, a Muslim, was exhausted from fasting daily till sundown.

“I’m actually a huge foodie,” he recalls with a laugh. “When Ramadan ended, I was, like: ‘Guys, let’s go to this restaurant! Let’s go to that one!’ Nobody had seen that side of me.”

Mr. Iqbal — who doesn’t drink or smoke — is among a growing number of young Muslims who are disrupting Wall Street’s old-boy culture. Seen from a certain angle, the Street can still look like a monolith — a cohort of white males with Ivy League degrees and Roman numerals attached to their names. (This is especially true the higher you look; there are, for example, no black, female or openly gay chief executives at the nation’s largest banks.)

But as the Street adapts to greater regulation, lower profits and tighter costs, it is also experiencing change within its ranks. Among entry-level financiers, especially, a years-long recruiting effort at major banks has resulted in a diverse group of aspiring Masters of the Universe.

Young Muslims, one of the newest groups to make inroads in American finance, can face steep barriers to entry. Some obstacles are remnants of a less tolerant era. But prominent, too, are the limitations of Islam itself — a faith whose tenets, Muslim workers say, often seem at odds with Wall Street’s sometimes bacchanalian culture.

“I’m always the one drinking Diet Coke at happy hour,” Mr. Iqbal said.

Granted, for the many Muslims in New York and elsewhere who have made peace with a more secular culture, working on Wall Street may not pose any problem. And Muslims, of course, aren’t the only ones whose values can clash with the ways of Wall Street. Orthodox Jews, conservative Christians and other faithful working in finance have all, at one point, had to square their beliefs and practices with an environment in which money, not God, is king.

But for observant Muslims hoping to keep the values and practices of Islamic law, known as Sharia, intact even as they climb the ladder, the calculus can be messy.

For Aisha Jukaku, a former health care analyst at Goldman Sachs, getting started in finance carried additional challenges. Ms. Jukaku has worn a head scarf, or hijab, since she was 11. Like many conservative Muslim women, she avoids physical contact with men outside her family. (She makes exceptions for handshakes extended to her in a business setting that would be awkward to decline.)

“It’s not something I want to do,” she says of shaking hands with men. “But that’s the common American way of doing business.”

At Goldman, where she worked from 2006 to 2008, she developed a daily routine that let her preserve her religious beliefs while not missing a beat at work. She would wake before sunrise in her Battery Park City apartment, conduct her first of five daily prayers, then fall back asleep until around 8:30 a.m., when she would head to work. While at Goldman, she dressed more modestly than most of her colleagues, and found a room in the firm’s health center where she could pray during the day. During Ramadan one year, a staffing director, seeing how tired she looked after completing a big deal on an empty stomach, took pity on her.

“He said: ‘Take it easy for the next couple weeks. This can’t be fun for you,’ ” said Ms. Jukaku, who now works as a freelance financial consultant.

FOR many Muslims in finance, such delicate negotiations are part of life. Ali Akbar, 34, a Pakistan-born managing director at RBC Capital Markets, says that although he observes the Ramadan fast, he doesn’t always pray five times a day and doesn’t pray in his office to avoid drawing the attention of colleagues. And when the demands of his job collide with the teachings of his faith, a tough choice often follows.

“You can’t just get up in the middle of a deal and say, ‘I have to go spend two hours in a mosque,’ ” Mr. Akbar says.

Working in finance is straightforward enough in a Muslim country, where prayer breaks are typical and holidays like Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, are built into the calendar. But Muslim bankers in the United States have fewer resources. Many don’t have dedicated prayer rooms at work, and leaving the office to attend Friday prayers at a mosque can mean shuffling duties to a co-worker.

“We have a concept called law of necessity,” said Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance at Thomson Reuters. “You have to, at one level, abide by the laws of the land that you happen to reside in, whether it’s the formal laws or the unwritten laws.”

Perhaps the biggest impediment to greater participation by Muslims on Wall Street is that, by some readings, the Koran prohibits riba, or interest. Some Islamic scholars have interpreted the ban to be more inclusive of modern finance, and a subgenre of Sharia-compliant financial transactions, known as sukuk, has tried to bridge the gap.

Still, a vast majority of Wall Street deals are not Sharia-compliant. So observant Muslims at traditional banks are often forced to shift their boundaries. “What I was doing wasn’t 100 percent legitimate in terms of religious ruling,” Ms. Jukaku says of her work at Goldman. “But after a while, you stop feeling guilty, I guess.”

In 2006, three Muslim twenty-somethings formed a group to help fellow young professionals negotiate issues that arise. The organization, Muslim Urban Professionals, nicknamed “Muppies,” began as a Google group of around 50; members traded messages about job openings, notices of apartments for rent and announcements of group dinners. It has expanded to about 1,000 members globally, roughly half of whom work in finance, according to Mr. Iqbal, the hedge fund trader, who is now a national administrator of the group.

As the Muppies’ ranks have grown, more intimate questions have surfaced. Earlier this year, one member, who was about to start a job at a well-known consulting firm, e-mailed the group for advice. How, he wondered, could he succeed at his new job without compromising his Muslim values?

The consultant’s plea, under the subject line “Avoiding Alcohol and Opposite Gender Handshakes in the Corporate World,” received a vast range of responses. In regard to the alcohol issue, Muppies respondents divided into liberal, moderate and conservative camps — those who suggested that going to bars with colleagues was permissible, those who thought “drinking-focused events” were unadvisable but that dinners where alcohol was served were O.K., and those who insisted that places serving alcohol were to be avoided.

“The dominant opinion is that it’s still mustahab (recommended) to get up or leave a gathering where alcohol is served, but many consider it mubah (permissible) to stay seated,” the consultant wrote.

On the matter of handshaking, some urged the consultant to shake hands with women when prompted, but not to initiate handshakes himself. Others suggested adopting “a tactful technique to avoid” shaking hands, such as pretending to be sick or wearing gloves.

“I think Muslim professionals are too sensitive and underestimate our co-workers,” the consultant wrote, summarizing his own views. “People in our society are actually quite understanding of these things and we just freak out, thinking, ‘OMG, what will they all think if I don’t shake her hand??!!’ Just trust in God and He will guide you and give you more than that which you give up for him.”

The Muppies also draw on a network of older, more experienced mentors in finance and investing. One such mentor, Iftikar A. Ahmed, a general partner at the venture capital firm Oak Investment Partners, says the Muppies fill an “amazing need” in the community.

“It’s telling them that you can follow an American way of life while not denying the fact that you happen to be a Muslim,” Mr. Ahmed said.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief executive of the giant bond house Pimco and one of the highest-ranking Muslims in American finance, said in an e-mail interview that he had never experienced “religion-based impediments” in his decades-long career. He said he would advise young Muslims to “seek the opportunities and firms that speak to their set of values, expertise and passion.”

Left unsaid by senior Muslims, but understood by many Muppies, is that being Muslim can be an asset for one’s employer and clients. Muslim bankers, for example, may have to leave work at 1 p.m. on Fridays to go to the mosque. But they also may be less likely to rack up a huge bar tab on the company card and may be better positioned to compete for business in Arab markets.

“Rightly or wrongly, if you’re religious, you’re considered to have a reasonable degree of integrity,” says Sohail Khan, a managing principal at StormHarbour Securities and former trader at Citigroup. He says that his business expenses are often lower than colleagues’ and that he considers his lifestyle an asset in negotiating deals. “When you’re the only guy at the table that’s not drunk, it’s a great weapon,” he said. “You know more than anyone else at the table the next morning.”

Mr. Akbar of RBC agrees that “being a good Muslim helps you be a good banker” but acknowledges that the union of his religious beliefs and his work in finance has been less than perfect.

“When I made a decision to pursue a career on Wall Street, there were certain things I knew I would have trouble reconciling with my faith,” he says. “I did some research, and I gained comfort that God is all-forgiving.”

For some, though, the envelope can be pushed only so far. Farhan Malik, Mr. Khan’s cousin and former Citigroup colleague, found his faith tested last year when asked to work on a trade involving British pubs. Mr. Malik, who does not drink, decided that trading so-called pub securities would violate tenets of his faith. He asked to be taken off the assignment; his bosses gladly acquiesced.

For Mr. Malik, who has since left Citigroup and now works at a Bahrain bank that deals sukuk products in addition to more conventional ones, the notion of marrying Western bank culture with Islam’s demands came to feel like an uphill battle. “If you’re going to go out for Friday prayers, if you’re not drinking, it’s like trying to box with one of your hands tied behind your back,” he said.

STILL, for the Muppies and other Muslims hoping to make it on Wall Street, the fight carries on. The goal, they say, is to be so good at their jobs that bosses and colleagues come to think of each as just another hard worker.

“Wall Street is basically blind to religion,” said Mr. Siddiqui at Thomson Reuters. “What it’s concerned about is deal flow, assets under management and transactions.”

Mr. Malik, the former Citigroup trader, said it another way: “You could be worshiping Satan. As long as you’re making money, they’re happy.”

How the Quran shapes the brain ?

2012-04-24T05:20:00.002-07:00

"If it wasn't for their political problems and constant fighting between each other, the Muslims would have been on the moon by the 1400's" was the statement made by a non-Muslim professor in a 400-level undergraduate class on the history of science. It seems that the rate of discovery and advancement in science achieved by the Muslims was quite impressive and has yet to be replicated. What was it that they were doing that allowed for their fast progress?

The teacher in me immediately thinks about their education system, and the neuroscientist in me wants to examine the factors involved in shaping the brains of such a civilization. Interestingly, many Muslim religious scholars will say something about how the Muslims were the leaders when the Quran was the center of their education, and only when they abandoned the Quran that they lost their reign. The amazing thing about this is that while Muslim religious scholars are typically talking about spiritual and moral realities, there is actually a material reality to what they're saying, which takes place in the brain.

A quick disclaimer here: The list of all that is affected in the brain by the Quran and how that can influence other functions is quite exhaustive. But in the interest of keeping it short, I chose some major areas to present in this article.

Before getting into the brain and how the Quran changes it, one should be familiar with how traditional Muslim education took place. In case you're wondering where I'm getting this from, it's from reading the biographies of major figures of scholarship in the traditional Muslim world such as Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, and others. This is also based on my personal experience and what I have been told by some of my teachers.

The very first thing taught to an aspiring student was the Quran, which had to be memorized completely. Unlike anything else encountered in spoken Arabic, Quran recitation is a very specific science. Local dialects of Arabic or different ways of pronunciation are not permitted when reciting the Quran. In fact, part of learning the Quran is learning what is called in Arabic taj'weed, which means elocution. The very first thing the student must do is replicate exactly how the teacher is reciting the verse. This refers to where individual letter sounds are being generated in the mouth and throat and where the tongue is to be placed exactly. Once this is done, the student writes the verse on a wooden board in the Othamni script, which follows different spelling rules than regular Arabic writing. The student then takes his board and goes away to memorize the verse. A typical memorization session for a beginner starts with repeating one verse multiple times as it is read on the board to also memorize how it is spelled using the Othmani script. The next day the student reviews the verse several times before returning to the teacher to receive the following verse. After repeating it with the teacher to ensure exact replication of sound and pronunciation, the student writes the new verse and goes away to begin a new memorization session. The third day begins with reviewing the first verse one final time, followed by the second verse several times before going to receive the third verse. On the fourth day the first verse is not reviewed anymore as it would have taken hold in memory, and the second verse takes its place for being reviewed while the third verse is repeated several times before going to receive the fourth verse. At the end of the week is a complete review session for everything that was memorized in the previous days.

As the days pass the capacity for memorization increases and the student is able to take on several verses or even pages at a time instead of only one or two verses. The writing using Othmani spelling continues, as well as the review sessions. Eventually, the whole Quran having more than 6,200 verses is memorized word for word with their specific pronunciation and Othmani spelling. Now the hard task begins as the student works to review all the verses on a monthly basis so as to not forget them. This usually means taking the 30 parts of the Quran as it has been divided to facilitate memorization, and reviewing one part everyday until all 30 have been recited by the end of the month.

It should be mentioned here that the Quran has 10 different modes of recitation. This refers to the placement of diacritical marks on the words and how certain words are pronounced. Some students take this task on and memorize the Quran in all the different modes of recitation, which requires a very careful attention to where the pronunciations are different so they're not confused with each other given how subtle they sometimes can be.

There are a couple of important qualities about the Quran that relates to how it sounds. Verses in the Quran rhyme and change rhythm often, which gives a pleasurable effect to the listener. Furthermore, as one recites, they're supposed to sing it rather than simply read it. In fact, the very practice of Taj'weed (elocution) forces the reciter into a singing tone as they enunciate the words of each verse.

A final note to bring up is in regards to the Arabic language and writing in Othmani script. Part of studying the different modes of recitation requires the student to write not only in an unusual spelling, but also to exclude the diacritical marks from the words. This would allow the student to learn the variations of recitation without having the diacritical marks visually interfere with their memorization of different modes of recitation. Moreover, the grammar of the Arabic requires the proper use of diacritical marks in pronunciation so as to not confuse things such as the subject and predicate. This means that the one learning the Quran must always keep track of how the words are enunciated so as to not alter the overall meaning of the verse.

How all of this relates to the brain is quite impressive. The brain is recognized to be a malleable organ that can change its connections and even its size of certain areas based on how active they become. Understanding how involved the brain is of someone learning the Quran using the traditional Muslim method can explain how they were able to achieve such success in their knowledge endeavors.

While learning the Quran, the careful attention to listening and pronunciation of verses stimulates an area of the brain located in the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is also where the hippocampus is located, which is the memory consolidation center. It's also the brain region activated for processing of musical sounds such as the case when the Quran is recited. Moreover, it becomes involved when the student engages in handwriting exercises similar to the ones on the wooden board. Where this matters is that this is the part of the brain whose activity levels and capacities have been correlated with a person's aptitude for learning new information. The more activation this area receives, and the more involved this activation is such as the case with the Quran, the better and more efficient it becomes in its functions for learning and memory.

The parietal lobes are also quite heavily engaged as one learns the Quran. The left parietal lobe deals with reading, writing, and functions in speech. It's also the part whose activity is important for math and logic problems. The right parietal lobe handles speech tone, which is related to elocution. It's also responsible for visuospatial relationships and understanding facial expressions. The front part is responsible for the sense of touch discrimination and recognition, which is active during handwriting. The back part plays an important role in attention. Both lobes are also activated during skill learning tasks. Overall, having parietal lobes that have been well activated translates to better logic and math-solving skills, eloquence in general speech, better ability at reading emotional states from facial cues, improved attention, and enhanced capacity for understanding visuospatial relationships.

This last one can explain why Muslims were so good at astronomy.
Other brain regions the activity of Quran recitation strongly activate are the frontal lobes and the primary motor cortex. The frontal lobes activity deals with higher order functions, including working memory, memory retrieval, speech production and written-word recognition, sustained attention, planning, social behavior, in addition to others. For example, as the student is reading the Othamni script, his brain must quickly decide on the proper pronunciation of the word, which without the diacritical marks means it must be distinguished from other possibilities that include not only wrong words, but also wrong enunciation depending on the specific recitation he's using out of the 10 valid ones. The amazing thing about this is that the brain after practice will do these things without conscious control from the student. This trains the area of the brain responsible for inhibition, which is important for social interaction. Children with ADHD have been shown to have this area to be under-developed.

Given the Quran's content that for example includes descriptions of individuals and places, it activates the occipital lobes, which are involved in generating mental imagery. This brain region is also important in visual perception. Becoming active as a result of generating mental imagery indirectly improves visual perception capacities since the area activated is within the same region. The Quran is also rich in its content for history, parables, and logical arguments, all of which recruit different areas that become more efficient and better connected as they are continually activated due to the consistent review sessions.

Putting all this together, it's no wonder Muslims were able to make such vast contributions to human knowledge in a relatively short amount of time, historically speaking. After the aspiring student during the height of Muslim rule has mastered the Quran, his education in other sciences began by the time he was in his early teenage years. Given the brain's malleable nature, the improved connections in one region indirectly affect and improve functions in adjacent locations. The process in studying the Quran over the previous years has trained his brain and enhanced its functions relating to visual perception, language, working memory, memory formation, processing of sounds, attention, skill learning, inhibition, as well as planning just to name a few. Now imagine what such an individual will be able to do when they tackle any subject. It makes sense how someone like Imam Al Ghazali can say he studied Greek philosophy on the side during his spare time and mastered it within 2 years.

What was the Muslims' secret for their exponential rise in scientific advancement and contribution to human knowledge? Literally, the Quran when it was the centre of their education system.

It is Only a Sunnah

2012-04-24T05:15:00.004-07:00

The imperative significance of the Sunnah is evident from the fact that Allah has not linked the success and salvation of humans with His obedience alone but also conditioned it upon the obedience to His Prophet. That is, Allah Almighty has enjoined on us obedience to His Messenger, just as He has enjoined His own obedience.

Often, when Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam is mentioned we hear the remark, "it is only a Sunnah", implying as if Sunnah is a mere matter of choice, not a duty or obligation, recommended, but not required. The response, for most part, is a result of the lack of understanding of the importance and the place of the Sunnah in Islam and in a Muslim's life.

What is Sunnah? Allah sent his last Prophet and Messenger Mohammad Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam to teach and guide humanity how to conduct their individual and collective affairs and live their lives in a manner pleasing to their Creator. In this regard, the virtuous acts and deeds taught by the Prophet, through his words and conduct, are called Sunnah. They range in their scope from the manner of drinking water to burial of the dead to solemnizing the marriage to regulation of trade practices, etc. Even a simple task of drinking water becomes an act of worship if the intention underlying it is to comply with the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. On the other hand, intentionally and habitually disregarding the Sunnah invites anger of Allah and His Prophet. The Holy Prophet is reported to said, "Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me", meaning he is not my follower.

How imperative is it to obey the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihe Wa Sallam? The imperative significance of the Sunnah is evident from the fact that Allah has not linked the success and salvation of humans with His obedience alone but also conditioned it upon the obedience to His Prophet. That is, Allah Almighty has enjoined on us obedience to His Messenger, just as He has enjoined His own obedience. In the Quran Allah says, "And obey Allah and the Messenger that you may obtain mercy. (3:132). And at another place He warns, "...and whoso disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path (33:36). To obey the Messenger means obey his Sunnah, what he has enjoined and what he has forbidden.

In the Islamic system of beliefs, Allah Subhanahu alone has the right to declare what is permitted and what is forbidden. He does so through the Quran and through His Prophet. Allah vested in His Prophet the authority of a lawgiver. The Quran says, "...(Prophet) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles which were upon them..." (7:157). Therefore, what the Holy Prophet enjoins or forbids is from Allah. ("He does not speak from his desire; it is nothing except revelation revealed to him" (53:3-53:4). Another verse that tells us about Prophet's authority as a lawgiver, "...So take what the messenger assigns to you and abstain from that which forbids you ..." (59:7). This verse is not limited to the division of the war booties as anti hadith groups claim, it is rather all encompassing and general in its proclamation.
The other dimension of the Sunnah of the Prophet is that it is a tangible expression of love for Allah, and the best way to gain Allah's love and forgiveness. Quran tells Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam to say to believers, "If you do love Allah, Follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins ..." (3:31). This verse makes it plain that without adhering to the dos and don'ts of the Sunnah, no triumph in this world or the next can be achieved.

The clear imperative to follow Prophet Mohammad's rulings and decisions can also be seen unambiguously expressed in this verse "But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O' Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept them with full submission" (4:65). This verse clearly illustrates the supremacy of the Holy Prophet's decisions and judgment governing all departments of life - religious, social, economic, political and cultural, etc. Here the Quran establishes Sunnah - Prophet's decision and legal judgments - as irrevocable, not to be challenged or reinterpreted and must be accepted with full submission. The emphasis on the Sunnah is to the point that if one knowingly denies the decrees and judgments of the Holy Prophet, he jeopardizes his faith.

The obligation to judge all matters in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah is also recognized from the famous hadith of Muaz bin Jabal radiyallaahu anhu. When the Holy Prophet appointed him as a Judge in Yemen, he enquired him, "What will you judge by when you decide a case?" Muaz bin Jabal said, "By the Book of Allah." The Prophet further asked, "If you don't find the answer in the Book of Allah, what will you do?" Muaz bin Jabal replied, "I will look into the Sunnah of the Allah's Prophet." The answer of Muaz bin Jabal very much pleased Rasulallah Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam. The hadith further confirms that the Sunnah, after Quran, is a definite and absolute part of the Muslim constitution.

The Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam was created as an "exalted standard of character" (68:4) and the best exemplar for the human race. In enjoining the believers to pattern their lives after the perfect example of the Prophet's life, the Quran says, "Certainly, there is an excellent example for you in the Messenger of Allah, for him who looks forward to Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much (33:21). The Holy Prophet said about himself, "Allah has sent me as an apostle so that I may demonstrate perfection of character, refinement of manners and loftiness of behavior and conduct." The believers have been exhorted to follow the Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam not only in the details of complex matters of their collective life, but also in the small details of their daily life. For example, matters of eating, drinking, dressing and sleeping, and those regarding which the Prophet gave specific guidance.

Today, Muslims overwhelmed by the West and its civilization and raised on secular education have developed inferiority complex about their religious and cultural heritage. Though they believe that the system of guidance, the Qur'an and Sunnah, is true, yet great many of them have abandoned Islamic values and ideals in favor of western standards and practices. Here it would be good to remember what the Holy Prophet said about imitating the non-believers. The Prophet of Allah said, "Whoever imitates a people is one of them."

Since the Sunnah is an integral part of Muslim faith, its negligence and abandonment would diminish the faith of a believer in the same measure. It is for this reason that the Holy Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam has promised a great recompense for the revitalization of an abandoned Sunnah. He said, "Whoever revives a Sunnah from my Sunnah that has been abandoned after me, then he will have an equal reward of all people who acts upon it, without decreasing from their reward in any way."

The Fuqaha (jurists) and muhaddithin (traditionists) may debate over the binding and non-binding status of Sunnah. A common believer whose eyes are on the Akhira will not fret over the legalities, but follow the Sunnah with same devotion and conviction in all matters, big and small. I am reminded of a young British man who after embracing Islam started to grow beard. A fellow Muslim, perhaps a modernist, said to him, "keeping beard is not an essential requirement." The comment evoked a devotional response from the new brother, "Keeping beard is one of the clear commands of the Prophet and who am I to judge the essentiality of the Prophet's orders." The young new Muslim gave us a lesson in abiding in the Prophet's Sunnah without questioning and arguing about the legalities of it.

Beware those who neglect and abandon the Sunnah and say, "It is only a Sunnah": The Quran says, "....So, those who violate his (messenger's) order must beware, lest they are visited by a trial or they are visited by a painful punishment" (24:63).

It is not just Sunnah, it is the way of life prescribed by none other than the Allah through the revelation to His Prophet.

Love the Prophet? Follow Him.

2012-04-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

We never see the Prophet PBUH telling a lie, deceiving a human or even an animal, breaking a pact or a promise. He forgives and prays for the humiliating tribal chiefs of Taif and the people who throw stones at him. He rejects social inequality and all sorts of racial supremacy and lays down in his final sermon, the basic charter of human rights,

Love is a beautiful emotion. It encompasses all the most beautiful things in the world. Every relation and connection gets stronger and more durable when there is an element of affiliation and love added to it. Beginning from our first love as a child for our mother to choosing someone to spend our whole life with, love is what makes life worth living. And, like all precious things in the world, this priceless treasure demands guarantees to keep it flourishing.

When you love someone, they are always on your mind and become the driving force of your direction in life. You love to follow them, obey them, do whatever you can to please them and try your best to avoid whatever displeases them. You share with them your problems and consult them for their best advice. Their name soothes you and their company is the most precious time of your day. Never do their messages and mails go unread or ignored. The world sees you change when this beautiful feeling overpowers you, whether this love be for a human, a mission, a career or simply a car or a gadget. Love changes your priorities and the color of this feeling is evident on your face and in your feelings, words, and actions.

We all love the Prophet Muhammad , the personality whose greatness is acknowledged by Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers and scholars-a warm friend and a guide for his companions, a devoted and loving husband to his wives, a shady tree for his daughters, a leader of the Ummah (community), an exemplary politician and a reformist who transformed the most uncultured Bedouin into the most disciplined force of people known to history.

His message, which begins with the oneness of Allah , gives answers for all the problems we face today. But how many of us have actually explored the message he brought? Do we really know the message? The Qur'anic code of life sent to us though our beloved Messenger of Allah still remains untouched, only to be 'recited' when we are in trouble or a calamity afflicts us, or it becomes a part of the deluxe package that goes with the bride. How many of us consult his way in our practical lives whether it's a matter of celebration or woe?

We never see the Prophet telling a lie, deceiving a human or even an animal, breaking a pact or a promise. He forgives and prays for the humiliating tribal chiefs of Taif and the people who throw stones at him. He rejects social inequality and all sorts of racial supremacy and lays down in his final sermon, the basic charter of human rights,

An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.

"An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action."

He sets best examples of justice and warns that the previous nations were destroyed because they only punished their weak and poor for crimes. He teaches us to be on our best behavior and to have 'akhlaaq' (manners) with our neighbors (Muslim or Non-Muslims) so much so that he once thought that they might get a share in inheritance (because of the stress Allah has put on their rights). He cries for Allah's forgiveness for us and stresses us to remain united and not be divided due to language, castes or sects.

Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

Non- Muslim minorities are at peace under his rule. Justice is served irrespective of faith, status or personal affiliation. He lifts the status of a woman from the one who was buried alive at birth to a guarantee to get best rewards, may it be through serving and obeying one's mother, taking care of a wife or raising a daughter with love. He brings a message that puts rewards in charity and spending from what we love most, giving an orphan a home and helping a widow to survive.

No one has the right to question anybody's sincerity of 'love for the Prophet ' but we all need some serious self-evaluation. When we claim to be his followers, it automatically makes us his ambassadors and representatives in whatever roles and responsibilities we take. Do we consult the Prophet in different matters of our lives?

Let's follow the Prophet to prove that we love him. Let's celebrate him every day. Let's light up our hearts with the beacon of this message like we light up the streets on his birthday. Let's engrave those beautiful stories of his life, which we memorize and narrate, on our actions. Let's check if our deeds are compatible with our claims of love towards him. In following him, lies the secret of Allah's love, mercy and forgiveness for us.

''Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, then follow me,
[so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (Al-Qur'an 3:31)

Sharia-style insurance

2012-04-18T19:17:00.002-07:00

In a world full of uncertainties, insurance products are no longer a matter of luxury. They have become essential for both private and corporate clients seeking to minimize and manage risks. But to many Muslims around the world, conventional insurance policies are considered haram, or forbidden. Most policies contradict with Islamic principles, as they contain elements of uncertainty, or gharar, gambling (maisir ) and usury ( riba ).

Meanwhile takaful, or Islam’s response to insurance, has grown steadily as a halal, or religiously permitted, alternative to traditional insurance policies.

“There is no problem with the concept of insurance itself; however the problem lies in the way it is practised,” said Abdel-Latif Sallam, managing director of Wethaq Egypt, a takaful insurance operator.

In essence, insurance is based on cooperation between people who are exposed to the same risk, a concept which complies with Islamic Sharia law. Originally, the term takaful stems from the Arabic wordkafalah, which means mutual or joint guarantee.

As with traditional insurance policies, takaful works by collecting small premiums from a large number of people to create a mutual fund or pool, in order to pay for losses which might affect some of the pool members. The key difference between takaful and commercial insurance rests in how the pool is managed. Sallam explained that takaful operators put premiums in one fund, which is used to pay out any claims made by participants. Takaful funds are managed and administered on behalf of its participants by an operator, after charging administrative expenses.

In the takaful system policyholders, or participants, are joint investors with the insurance company, which in turn acts merely as a pool manager. Policyholders share in the investment pool’s profits as well as its losses. In case of surplus, the benefits are distributed between the shareholders and participants, with a certain percentage defined by the takaful company. “Each company is free to set the percentage,” Sallam told Al-Ahram Weekly. “However the general practice is 60 per cent for shareholders and 40 per cent for participants.” In case of deficit, an interest-free loan is taken from the company’s capital. It is repaid when surplus is achieved. Also, takaful operators need to maintain two funds: a participants’ or policyholders’ fund, and a shareholders’ fund.

Another difference between takaful and conventional insurance companies is that takaful companies work under the supervision of a Sharia board. This comprises Islamic scholars whose role is to judge whether the company’s business complies with Islamic Sharia. Sallam cited an example, whereby his company refused to cover a cigarettes factory because an Islamic fatwa, or decree, prohibits smoking. In investment, takaful companies are only allowed to work with companies that comply with Sharia law. Each takaful company elects its own Sharia board.

As corporate insurance providers, takaful operators work to insure companies against all kinds of risks.

Egypt’s first experience of takaful came in 2003, when the Saudi-Egyptian Insurance House, the firsttakaful company, started operating. It was later joined by seven other takaful companies, established in mid-2008.

” Takaful insurance amounts to five per cent of Egypt’s LE10 billion-worth insurance market,” Egyptian Insurance Federation Chairman Abdel-Raouf Kotb told the Weekly. Though this is a small percentage for now, Kotb expected growth for takaful insurance in the Egyptian market over the coming years. “Egyptians have a strong religious sentiment, which works in favour of a larger takaful market,” he said.

Sallam also believes in the potential of the Egyptian takaful insurance market. He said the surge witnessed by existing takaful companies helped spread the concept. Though the companies operating in Egypt were all quite new, they have enjoyed significant success. Sallam said that in the first five years,takaful premiums did not exceed LE100 million, while today’s premiums exceed LE600 million.

This potential for growth is apparent in international takaful operators’ confidence in the Egyptian market. Manfred Dirrheimer, chairman of FWU Group, a global provider of takaful products, expected Islamic insurance in Egypt to capture 30 to 40 per cent of the market within five years. “I am 100 per cent sure that the market is going to grow, and my company is looking very carefully at the Egyptian market right now,” Dirrheimer told the Weekly. “I would not be surprised if we decide to enter the Egyptian market this year.”

Dirrheimer added that Egypt has all the components to make takaful a success. It has both a sizeable market and the expertise, including that of University of Alexandria specialists, to make it fertile ground for this kind of policy.

But in order for the takaful market to expand in Egypt, Kotb recommends that legislation be passed in order to manage takaful insurance companies in the country. He said there are currently no laws to manage takaful in Egypt today. Rather, existing companies offering this type of insurance abide by regular insurance law. Kotb went on to say that the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has set standards for takaful companies to comply with.

Sallam, on the other hand, believes there is no need for such legislation. Egypt, he said, is the only country in the region which has legislation that manages insurance companies’ operations. “We don’t needtakaful legislation, because that might lead to discrimination,” he said.

To Sallam, key factors for the growth of the takaful market are stability and economic growth. He added that the insurance industry is currently vulnerable. “When there is a strong economic performance, you find a flourishing insurance industry, and vice versa,” said Sallam.

While takaful products have been primarily developed for the Muslim world, they have advantages that are just as appealing to non- Muslims. Dirrheimer believes takaful responds to “down-to-earth principles that are applicable on Muslims and non-Muslims.” He added that in Malaysia, more than 60 per cent of non-Muslims buy halal products.

Sallam agreed with Dirrheimer on that point. He added that takaful insurance has the capacity to attract non-Muslims. For one, his company has non-Muslim customers, producers and employees.

Not only is takaful expected to grow in the Egyptian market, but in the world at large. According to Ernst & Young, the global advisory services firm, the global takaful market could reach $25 billion at the end of 2015. The firm stated that the takaful industry is concentrated mainly in the Middle East and North Africa region and in Malaysia. “Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the UAE are the top three takafulmarkets while Egypt, Sudan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are growing at a rapid pace,” according to the firm.

The world’s first takaful company was born in Sudan in 1979. It was followed by the United Arab Emirates in 1980 and Luxembourg in 1982. Afterwards, takaful companies started operating in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Indonesia, Qatar, Singapore, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Egypt and Britain.

Shisha pipes: Is smoking them really harmless?

2012-04-07T21:52:00.002-07:00

You might call it shisha in Egypt and Sudan, nargile in Turkey and Syria or hookah in India. Some are made from clay, others from ornately carved metals or plastics. But the principle is same – these water-pipes allow you to smoke flavoured tobacco as it is bubbled through water. Maybe you know it simply as hubble-bubble.

Sharing a water-pipe is thought to be harmless, relaxing fun. They are now enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity in India and the Middle East, where they are said to have originated. In the Middle East the trend has extended to teenagers and women, many of whom do not smoke cigarettes.

This shisha cafe culture has also extended to Europe, Brazil and the United States. If I run home from my office in London, I pass a street filled with cafes where groups of people sit outside engulfed in clouds of honey-scented smoke. In the United States many hookah cafes have opened in college towns and a recent study found that as many as a fifth of American students have tried it. In many countries these pipes are seen as safe enough to be exempt from legislation on smoking in public places.

But the idea that these pipes are harmless is a myth.

Smoke on the water

One of the main misconceptions is that the risks of tobacco are minimised because it is purified as it passes through the water. But this ignores the complete source of the smoke that enters your mouth.

The tobacco burns in a small dish on top of the main body of the water-pipe. You inhale through a mouthpiece connected by a pipe to a reservoir of water at the bottom. As you breathe in smoke is drawn from the burning tobacco and bubbles through the water and up into your mouth. The tobacco is sweetened with glycerine, which can make it damp, so charcoal is added to keep the tobacco burning. This means the smoke inhaled derives from charcoal too, and charcoal contains several toxic substances, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and tar.

Some water-pipes are sold with mouthpieces containing cotton filters or a plastic mesh. This does result in smaller bubbles, but a report by theWorld Health Organisation says there is no evidence that these mouthpieces reduce the harm.

Unknown risk

But surely the water cools the smoke, making it less dangerous than a cigarette? It is true that this might make an individual puff less harmful, but this does not factor in the quantity of puffs. A typical water-pipe session lasts for at least 20 minutes, often for an hour. So instead of taking 8-12 puffs of a single cigarette a person is inhaling 50-200 puffs in a session. This, in effect, makes it more like chain smoking. In an hour-long session a person can inhale the equivalent of 100 to 200 times the smoke from a single cigarette, which may come as a surprise to most people. A survey carried out this year by the British Heart Foundation found that 84% of respondents thought the amount of smoke inhaled was equivalent to 10 cigarettes or fewer.

In a study in Florida, USA, customers’ carbon monoxide levels were tested as they left bars that allowed the smoking either of cigarettes or hookah pipes. The people leaving the bars that had water-pipes had triple the levels of carbon monoxide in their bodies. Some reported feeling high, which the authors say could have been the early stages of carbon monoxide poisoning.

But what do we know about any long-term consequences? Here, the science is incomplete, as long-term studies of the kind conducted on cigarette tobacco have not been carried out. Researchers admit the evidence is scant, but suggest that smokers of water-pipes could be atlong-term risk for nicotine dependence, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Professor Hani Najm, Head of Cardiac Surgery at National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia told me in an interview that he fears that water-pipe smoking could result in an escalation in heart disease in the Gulf States.

Evidence of 'earliest fire use'

2012-04-07T21:41:00.003-07:00

Scientists say they have new evidence that our ancestors were using fire as early as a million years ago.

It takes the form of ash and bone fragments recovered from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

The team tells the journal PNAS that the sediments suggest frequent, controlled fires were lit on the site.

The ability to use fire is regarded as a key step in human development because it gave us access to cooked foods and new technologies.

Stone tools found at Wonderwerk Cave indicate the ancestor in question may have been Homo erectus, a species whose existence has been documented as far back as 1.8 million years ago.

Establishing precisely when humans first acquired the ability to control fire has been very difficult.

There have been several claims that the skill was in existence even earlier than at Wonderwerk.

But they have all been challenged, with sceptics arguing the fire remains from open sites could have been the result of natural blazes ignited by lightning.

In contrast, the PNAS team, which consists of scientists based at US, Israeli, German and South African institutions, says statements about the Northern Cape cave are far more secure.

If correct, the Wonderwerk discovery would push the earliest indisputable controlled use of fire back by about 300,000 years.

In their paper, the researchers describe burnt remains of grasses, brushes, leaves and even bones in the cave's sediments some 30m back from the entrance.

This makes it far less likely that what they are viewing is material from wildfires that was simply blown into the cave by wind, they argue.

The depth of the sediments also suggests fires were lit on the same spot over and over again.

HOW MUSLIMS VIEW EASTER

2012-04-07T21:31:00.001-07:00

Jesus didn’t die on the cross. He was born of a virgin, but he isn’t the son of God. He did not redeem the sins of humankind. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead. He spoke complete sentences even as an infant in the cradle, announcing to his mother, Mary, that God had granted him the scripture and made him a prophet. Jesus is neither almighty nor eternal. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is a Muslim.

This is the Jesus of the Koran. Ninety-three of its verses refer to him—more than any other prophet save Muhammad—and the Koranic account of Jesus’ life harmonizes with the Gospels in more particulars than even many Muslims realize. My wife is a Muslim with years of madrassa education behind her, but when I mentioned Jesus’ virgin birth to her she was skeptical. “Does the Koran really say that?” she asked. I started to look it up, but five seconds later she waved me off. “Don’t bother,” she said, “I found it on Wikipedia.” And so it was written.

With Easter on the way, I became curious about what the Koran has to say about the crucifixion. I called an imam I know, Ibrahim Sayar, and we got together over glasses of Turkish tea. Sayar does a lot of interfaith work, much of which involves getting people from different religions together to eat kebabs. In the company of Christians, he said, mentioning the status of Jesus in Islam can be a great icebreaker. “I always tell people, there are millions of Muslims named after Jesus and Mary—we call them Isa and Mariam,” he said. “Nobody names their children after someone they don’t like.”

In Islam, he emphasized, “believing in Jesus is an absolute requirement. If you don’t believe in him, you’re automatically not a Muslim.” According to the hadith—sayings of the Prophet, second only to the Koran in Islamic authority—Jesus was assumed into heaven, and will return at the end of time in the east of Damascus, his hands resting on the shoulders of two angels. When it sees him, the Antichrist will dissolve like salt in water, and Jesus will rule the earth for forty years. What Muslims don’t believe, though, is that Jesus died on the cross. It’s spelled out quite clearly, Sayar said, in the Koran’s fourth Sura, verse 157: “They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him.”

The Bible is considered a holy book in Islam. How then, I asked, can this verse in the Koran be reconciled with the accounts of Jesus’ death in the Gospels? Sayar said the key is in the phrase that follows “nor did they crucify him”: “though it was made to look like that to them.” Muslim scholars, he explained, interpret this passage in a range of ways. Some believe that someone was, in fact, crucified, but it was not Jesus; maybe it was Judas. Whoever it was, they say, God changed his face to resemble Jesus, and Jesus himself was spared. A slight variation posits that God changed the vision of all those who witnessed the crucifixion to make them think they were seeing Jesus. Others argue that it was Jesus who was nailed to the cross, but that he survived it; what happened on Easter Sunday was not a resurrection but a resuscitation. Some say that no one was crucified at all. “Of course,” Sayar said, “they all have their own proofs.”

For Muslims, the specifics of the crucifixion are largely academic. The disagreement between Christians and Muslims on the nature of Jesus, though, is fundamental, no matter how many ways their understanding of him may correspond. To Muslims, Jesus is not, and could not possibly be, divine. He is a prophet but he’s still a mortal, and God is not his father. “I understand that if you believe someone to be God, and others say he’s not God, it’s like an insult,” Sayar said. “But if you look at it from the Muslim perspective, there’s no difference between Jesus, Abraham, Mohammed.” The Koran mentions twenty-five prophets, and nearly all of them are familiar from the Bible: Adam and Noah, Moses and Abraham, David and Solomon, Lot and Job, John the Baptist. “They’re all messengers,” Sayar said. But to Christians, the message of Jesus is inseparable from his crucifixion and resurrection.

When Muslims and Christians meet, Sayer said, the Jesus connection can only take them so far. Getting into a deep conversation about exactly what happened to the Jesus in the Gospels versus the Jesus in the Koran only ends up emphasizing the gulf. “We try to learn from each other as we are,” Sayar said. “We are not doing this for the afterlife. We are doing it forthis life. In the afterlife we’ll see anyway who is wrong, who is right, what is Jesus—we will learn everything there.” Until that time comes, it might be best to focus on the kebabs.

Islamic Housing and Critical Thinking

2012-04-07T21:28:00.001-07:00

Architectural conflicts, or incompatibilities, between yesterday and today are evident virtually everywhere in the Muslim world. An apartment building with several ÒtraditionalÓ elements and features reflected on the glass faade of a nearby ÒmodernÓ commercial building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It is paramount that Muslims, while holding fast to the guidance of the holy Qur'an and the Prophet's sunnah, critically and thoroughly examine both their past and present-day conditions, the findings of which will have to constitute the core of their educational systems, socio-economic and political philosophies, as well as any reformatory and revivalist tendencies and movements. Such an ethos will shape their unique and respectable identity, and the identity of all that is associated with them.

As a segment of studying Muslim history and their society, studying the history of Islamic housing will enable Muslims - professionals and users alike - to critically and aptly analyze the causes and conditions which led to abandoning the housing systems and styles which epitomized the belief system, values and ideals of Islam, in favor of some other philosophies, values and principles. They will be in a position to grasp the extent of the relationship between a regression in Islamic housing and the other Muslim social, political, economic and spiritual setbacks, one influencing and aiding the other. They, furthermore, will be able to critically assess and come to terms with the conspicuous insufficiency of authenticity and genuine value of present-day housing styles and systems which Muslims have adopted. Certainly, in terms of Islamic housing, a serious and in-depth self-evaluation is urgently needed at all levels of the Muslim presence. What Muslims need today is a culture of critical, independent and visionary thinking, as well as a culture of an audacious initiative, creativity and change. What is needed is a culture of comprehensive excellence, as well as a culture of intellectual and cultural enlightenment and elevation. What is needed, when all's said and done, is to translate the teachings, values and principles of Islam onto life realities, because all of the above-mentioned factors that are required, are what Islam promotes and stipulates as the prerequisites for the creation of a genuine culture and civilization. Anything put forth other than this is a distorted, or at best, a questionable, version of understanding Islam. Islam, it follows, promotes a keen following in religion, and in equal measure, it promotes endless innovation and originality in civilization, an integral part of which is the built environment with housing as its nucleus.

It defies logic that some housing systems, designs and styles were excellent for many centuries and then, suddenly, they started to seem obsolete, old-fashioned and impractical. For example, how come that the concepts of the Islamic Arab, Turkish and Malay houses were the ideal solutions for hundreds of millions of people in the Arab, Turkish and Malay lands, and for hundreds of years, satisfying their unified religious and diversified cultural, environmental and climatic prerequisites, but today such concepts have become outmoded and irrelevant? As a result, we dismiss such outstanding and total housing solutions and styles of the past as merely traditional and vernacular, reducing them to museums, pages of history books and, at best, to some rare appearances in some remote indigenous regions where the currents of the Western one-dimensional materialistic modernization is yet to arrive and sweep everything away. Isn't it better for Muslims - for example - to be true to themselves and talk about modernizing, adapting and modifying their housing styles and designs which proved excellent and compatible for centuries, without compromising the philosophy, soul and fundamental qualities of such styles and designs, rather than to let themselves, their culture, history and more than a few fundamental religious precepts down, and irresponsibly embark on importing some alien housing styles and designs which stem from foreign philosophies, ideologies and cultures?

A residential area in the old city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

If, admittedly, some of the Islamic housing styles and designs somewhat failed to cope with dramatic changes in the Muslim world during a couple of last centuries, and were sluggish and irresponsive to rapid advancements in modern science, technology and engineering, that in no way renders them outdated, worn-out and worthless. The problem simply was part of a bigger picture; it was part of a total decline in Islamic society and its cultures and civilization. Thus, the matter of Islamic housing in a recent history ought to be viewed, approached and solved as such, that is, as part of a bigger picture, or a problem. The problem, as a matter of fact, was never that of Islamic housing. The problem always was, and still is, linked to Muslims and how they actually coped with and responded to the growing Westernization and colonization challenges that targeted their culture and identity. Successfully restoring Islamic housing today, as both a concept and tangible reality, therefore, can only be viable if the same is regarded as part of a wide-ranging Islamization initiative. It cannot be treated independently, away from the rest of major Muslim problems and challenges.

Indeed, the main reason for the Islamic housing problems is many Muslims' ignorance of Islam and the history of its peoples, coupled with their abandoning of many fundamental values and laws of Islam, prolonged colonization and the onslaught of the Western materialistic and hedonistic modernization and culture. The reason is a drastic change in the mind-set and attitude of many Muslims, their feeble and shallow intellectualism and wisdom, as well as their poor and disoriented, or even completely flawed, spiritual leanings. Consequently, in terms of housing, the situation became disturbingly so pathetic. Many Muslims became so impaired by the causes of the fall of Islamic culture and civilization, and were so blinded by the disingenuous and shallow alternatives which were served instead, that they eventually became incapacitated from seeing how inappropriate and inconsistent their imported housing systems, designs and styles were. They could not see that such designs and styles were foreign, some even looked very weird and awkwardly improper when juxtaposed with the backdrop of the Muslim contexts, and, due to the enormous importance of housing in life, those foreign housing designs and styles clearly served as a hindrance to a Muslim reawakening and a proper acculturation.

A "traditional" residential area in Ghadamis, Libya.

It is truly amazing why we can't see and then properly judge these things, but we can see very clearly and can properly judge many other aspects of our cultural and civilizational conscience. For example, if a person in a tropical or a hot-dry desert climate, with his own unique weather conditions, indigenous culture and religious preference, were to completely abandon his native dress style in favor of a foreign one, which evolved as a result of the impact of sets of totally different indigenous cultures, religious preferences and weather conditions, such as, for example, the cold continental four-seasons ones -- that would appear to most people as weird, impractical and even ridiculous. Everyone will be able to see that and know why. This would be so because the newly adopted style of clothing of the person in question would betray the requirements of local cultures, local environmental factors and weather conditions. The person's behavior would be regarded as absurd and unnatural, hence improper. It simply would not go well with the overall conditions of the milieu in which he lives. The adopted dress style would eventually cause the person a feeling of discomfort, incongruity and incompatibility.

Thus, if a person walks under the scorching sun in the streets of -- for instance -- Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Cairo and Khartoum, all representing the hot-dry desert climate, or in the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, both representing the hot-humid climate, and he wears, for instance, a dress that is normally worn in the places of the cold continental four-seasons climate, his actions would be regarded -- and rightly so -- as eccentric, mismatched and by some even ridiculous. In most of the mentioned cities, furthermore, if an adopted foreign dress style clearly violated some clear-cut rulings of Islam, it would be regarded as offensive and disrespectful to the beliefs and sentiments of a majority of population. An immediate change, or an adjustment, to the dress style, would, in all likelihood, be required from the person in question in most of the mentioned cities.

Global Islamic assets hit $1.3 tln in 2011

2012-04-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - Islamic financial assets around the world hit $1.3 trillion in 2011, a 150 percent increase over five years as the industry expands into new country's beyond core markets in the Middle East and Malaysia, a report on Thursday estimated.

Developed markets in Malaysia, Iran and the Gulf remain fertile ground for future growth, but considerable potential also exists for expansion as more countries look to cultivate Islamic banking operations, including Australia, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Russia, the report by lobby group TheCityUK's UK Islamic Finance Secretariat (UKIFS) said.

The figures were based on UKIFS growth estimates projected on end-2010 figures from a survey of the top 500 Islamic Financial Institutions conducted by The Banker publication.

"Considerable potential exists for expansion of the industry worldwide, although appropriate legal and regulatory structures are crucial for its development in individual countries," the report noted.

Morocco is also looking to launch its first fully-fledged Islamic bank in 2013, Reuters reported on Monday

A lack of global standardisation among Islamic institutions has been one of the main challenges for the Islamic finance industry. While regulatory bodies such as AAOIFI in Bahrain and IFSB in Malaysia have attempted to provide standards for sharia-compliant transactions, they are guidelines rather than enforceable rules.

The long-term impact of the Arab spring uprisings as new countries open up to Islamic finance remains to be seen and any further spread of political unrest could negatively affect prospects in some Middle Eastern countries, the report said.

Egypt, for instance, has raised the possibility of issuing a sovereign sukuk (Islamic bond), whileTunisia has set up a working group that will study how to develop Islamic finance in the country.

Sukuk issuance globally increased 62 percent to $84 billion in 2011, with Malaysia accounting for two thirds of that.

Islamic funds under management reached a high of $58 billion in 2010, with the available pool about 10 times larger at over $500 billion, the report found. Fierce competition, though, has driven down management fees worldwide from 1.5 percent in 2006 to 1 percent in 2011.

The new figures are higher than those predicted by Ernst and Young in a report in November, in which the consultancy estimated Islamic finance assets could climb 33 percent from 2010 levels to $1.1 trillion by the end of 2012.

Islamic assets represent only around 1 percent of the global financial market.

UKIFS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TheCITYUK, a lobby group composed of members across the financial services sector, including lawyers, bankers and asset managers.

Islamic finance solutions for development

2012-04-06T22:27:00.001-07:00

Malik Muhammad Mahmud Awan : Modern finance has played a key role in economic development across the globe. Its impact has varied from country to country depending upon the adopted economic systems, capital mobility, market imperfections and regulatory environment. Contemporary Islamic finance has generally operated within this broader framework of conventional finance and has conformed to globally acceptable conventional rules, prudential regulations and financial standards. Therefore, its impact on development is also expected to be consistent and similar.

Empirical evidence from Muslim majority countries, however, remains mixed. It suggests that gains from Islamic Finance have been limited to only a small segment of the general population. This has to do primarily with how the business and industry of Islamic finance evolved over last forty years and how it has been preoccupied with high net worth individuals. Retail Islamic banking and insurance products have been launched successfully to match the performance of conventional products but they have only taken some market share away from conventional products and have not made any significant impact either on the growth of financial sector or on greater monetisation of economy. In fact, Sharia compliance practices have created additional burdens, inefficiencies and operational constraints. That is unfortunate since Islam is universally acknowledged as an inclusive religion which promotes equality and justice for all. Sharia compliance protocols that industry adopted, however, have led to sub optimal solutions for the economy, thus undermining the original Sharia objectives of fairness, inclusiveness, equity and economic justice.

It is not suggested that classical Islamic jurisprudence principles or underlying traditional Islamic operational contracts such as Murabaha, Ijara, Musharaka, Mudaraba, Wakala, or Salam, have not been correctly applied in the development of either the retail consumer products or the asset/wealth management products for the high net worth individuals. Similarly, Islamic banks have satisfied their liquidity or treasury management needs by supporting the adoption of Sharia compliant equity and fixed income securities that perform exactly like their conventional counterparts. In this process of compliance, they have been aided by all the regulators, rating agencies, a vast majority of investment advisers and the industry-retained Sharia scholars. Thus there has been no additional or supplementary expansion of the financial sector, better access to finance for the masses or deepening of the financial markets simply because of gradual market introduction of Sharia compliant products over the last three decades. This has occurred even with substantial capital infusions from the development banks such as ADB, IBRD, and the Islamic Development Bank.

The conventional character and performance of Islamic finance products limits their religious or inspirational impact on a Muslim society. Central bankers, securities commissions, stock exchanges, and other government regulators have all followed conventional guidelines in approving and standardizing Sharia compliant products without developing a coherent national economic policy that distinguishes or maximises the benefits from such products. Islamic finance industry has remained satisfied in using newly Islamized nomenclature products for sheer profitability and market share gains at the expense of their conventional competitors. It has neither sought nor received any long term comprehensive or strategic plan from any Islamic nation to become an instrument of economic change, development, poverty alleviation, enhanced access to financial services or general social welfare.

The industry has relied heavily on the jurisprudence associated with trading practices of ancient Arabia for the Islamic legitimacy and for operating precedents from the Islamic past. It is a historic fact that classical financial contracts that provide the Sharia compliance rationale for contemporary Islamic banking and insurance products have been instrumental in the past centuries in fostering trade, growth and development all over Muslim lands. They were the pillars and facilitators of economic fairness, equity and justice in all business transactions in these societies and contributed greatly to the well being of common people as well as the emergence of the class of successful global traders and financiers. Unfortunately, internal strife and foreign colonialism destroyed the legal and judicial systems of the land and made these contracts obsolete or irrelevant until they were rediscovered in the post colonial period beginning the middle of the last century.

The pace of new Sukuk launches has picked up after the decline witnessed because of the global financial crisis of 2008 but the supply of new Sukuk still falls short of the demand from investors for fixed income securities. We can review the precedents from the conventional bond market to explore the creation of new classes of Sukuk for institutional investors and consumers alike that will enhance the potential for government projects financing in developing countries. It will not only ensure deepening of the Sukuk driven capital markets but will also provide a mechanism for Sharia conscious consumers to adopt Sukuk as a long term savings tool. Examples and case studies of public utilities financing and municipal bond financing can be looked at as viable basis for new Sukuk ownership certificates as the alternative to widely marketed savings bonds in these countries.

The potential of hybrid Sukuk structures emphasising Wakala principles should not be overlooked. Similarly, recommendations for effective placement of lower yield sovereign Sukuk in foreign currencies should be carefully examined. In the light of 2008 AAOIFI rulings on Sukuk, unique Sharia issues associated with commonly used contracts such as sales, lease, partnership and agency should be contrasted with Sukuk classifications based on commercial functions such as exchangeability and convertibility. The difference in asset-backed versus asset-based Sukuk should be examined with the available data for sovereign issuers who would like to expand the prospects for Sukuk holders in Muslim majority societies that are eager to use Sukuk instruments for economic growth and infrastructure development. Failure of past privatization efforts because of underlying corruption or other moral hazards should be noted along with suggestions for a new class of convertible Sukuk.

(Author is professor of Islamic Finance)

The popularity of both sovereign and private Sukuk in major markets such as Malaysia and UAE suggests that large population Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh will benefit from the issuance of new fixed income securities in these markets. Development banks such as IDB and ADB should work in collaboration with the World Bank and other multilateral organizations in broadening the base of such Islamic finance instruments that are positioned to create a positive transformation of these economies.*

QURAN

2012-04-06T22:20:00.003-07:00

O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you. al-Qur'an 4:29

Nigeria: Islam Forbids Extremism

2012-03-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

OPINION

The pristine Islam preached by the noble Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his immediate Companions as understood by the righteous predecessors (Salaf) who came after them totally condemns extremism in all affairs of the religion.

Let it be said without any apology that extremism as understood by the Western Orientalists and people who do not want Muslims to practise their faith as taught to them by their Prophet (pbuh) is not what Islam condemns but the real extremism as defined by the Lawgiver, Allah and His Messenger (pbuh).

To follow the rules and laws of one's religion to the letter is not extremism according to Islam. A Muslim who makes effort to carry out Allah's injunctions as stipulated in the Qu'ran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) without going beyond the limits in doing so should not be tagged as extremist. A proper definition of extremism would then be the one given by the religion itself.

The term extremism (guluww/tatorruf) as defined by scholars is to extend the religion beyond the bounds set by Allah and His Prophet (pbuh). In other words, it can be said to be exceeding the proper shariah limits in trying to worship Allah.

There are numerous evidences in the Book and Sunnah censuring extremism. Allah says, " O ye who have believed, do not put (yourselves) before Allah and His Messenger but fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing."{al-Hujurat(49): 1}

Allah also says, "Say, O people of the scripture do not go to excess in your religion and do not say about Allah except the truth."{an-Nisa(4):171}.

He also says, "So remain on the right course as you have been commanded,(you) and those who have turned with you (to Allah), and do not transgress. Indeed, He is Seeing of what you do."{Hud(11):112}

The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Beware of extremism in the religion."(reported by an-Nasae). And he (phuh) also said: "The extremist are destroyed, the extremists are destroyed, and the extremists are destroyed." (Muslim)

Also, he (pbuh) said: "I was sent with the upright moderate way." (Ahmad). Yet in another narration, the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) said: "This religion is ease and no one is hard on the religion except that it overcomes him." (Bukhari).

Deriving their understanding from the above quoted Qur'anic verses and the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh), Muslim scholars, who adhere to the path of pristine Islam, also condemn extremism and terrorism in totality.

The great scholar, Shayhk Muhammad Bn Salih Al-Uthaymen while cautioning Muslims against being violent said, "I invite you to have respect for those people who have the right that they should be respected from the Muslims and non-Muslims with whom there is an agreement of security and protection. The land in which you are living is such that there is an agreement between you and them. If this were not the case they would have killed you or expelled you. So, Apreserve this agreement, and do not prove treacherous to it, since treachery is a sign of the hypocrites, and it is not from the way of the believers. And know that it is authentically reported from the Prophet that he said, 'Whoever killed a person who was under a pledge (of safety) will not smell the fragrance of paradise."

Also, a contemporary Saudi-based scholar, Dr Abdul Salam bin Salim as-Sihiyme said, "The religion of Islam has prohibited extremism and negligence and instructs balance in all matters and from the most prominent characteristics of this religion is justice and avoiding oppression "

While also advising Muslim youths on the need to shun violence and extremism, another contemporary scholar of Islam, Shaykh Rabee' ibn Hadee al Madkhalee, said: "I, as well as other than me, have realized that there are two waves that have struck the core of the Salafe Da'wah(the call to original Islam); a wave of harshness and extremism and a wave of excessive lenience that goes beyond the legislated bounds, and negligence/laxity. And both of these waves have been exaggerated to the point that they almost engulfed all the people of Salafeyah(those sticking to the pristine Islam).

Indeed Allah has forbidden both extremism and negligence/laxity because of the harms and evils that they generate. And He has legislated for this 'Umah at tawasut (middle path) and to be just; this is the straight path of Allah which He has ordered us to follow. In it is all that is good, happiness, and salvation from destruction. So when I saw the dangers of these two waves, I directed advice to the Salafee youth everywhere a number of times. So I hope that this advice is welcomed and accepted by our brothers and sons and beloved ones from amongst the Salafes."

With these quotes from the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) prohibiting extremism, one keeps wondering why some people continue to say Islam encourages extremism and by extension terrorism.

Could it be possible that Islam, whose light ended the Dark ages in Europe, is now responsible for terrorism? Could a faith that has over one billion followers world-wide and over 7 million in America, actually advocate for the killing and maiming of innocent people? Could Islam, whose name itself stands for "Peace" and "submission to God", encourage its adherents to work for death and destruction? No, Islam does not encourage extremism but rather prohibits it. Not only that, it also condemns terrorism, the offshoot of extremism.

The New Mandela

2012-03-31T07:01:00.001-07:00

MARWAN BARGHOUTI has spoken up. After a long silence, he has sent a message from prison.

In Israeli ears, this message does not sound pleasant. But for Palestinians, and for Arabs in general, it makes sense.

His message may well become the new program of the Palestinian liberation movement.

I FIRST met Marwan in the heyday of post-Oslo optimism. He was emerging as a leader of the new Palestinian generation, the home-grown young activists, men and women, who had matured in the first Intifada.

He is a man of small physical stature and large personality. When I met him, he was already the leader of Tanzim (“organization”), the youth group of the Fatah movement.

The topic of our conversations then was the organization of demonstrations and other non-violent actions, based on close cooperation between the Palestinians and Israeli peace groups. The aim was peace between Israel and a new State of Palestine.

When the Oslo process died with the assassinations of Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, Marwan and his organization became targets. Successive Israeli leaders – Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon – decided to put an end to the two-state agenda. In the brutal “Defensive Shield operation (launched by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, the new leader of the Kadima Party) the Palestinian Authority was attacked, its services destroyed and many of its activists arrested.

Marwan Barghouti was put on trial. It was alleged that, as the leader of Tanzim, he was responsible for several “terrorist” attacks in Israel. His trial was a mockery, resembling a Roman gladiatorial arena more than a judicial process. The hall was packed with howling rightists, presenting themselves as “victims of terrorism”. Members of Gush Shalom protested against the trial inside the court building but we were not allowed anywhere near the accused.

Marwan was sentenced to five life sentences. The picture of him raising his shackled hands above his head has become a Palestinian national icon. When I visited his family in Ramallah, it was hanging in the living room.

IN PRISON, Marwan Barghouti was immediately recognized as the leader of all Fatah prisoners. He is respected by Hamas activists as well. Together, the imprisoned leaders of Fatah and Hamas published several statements calling for Palestinian unity and reconciliation. These were widely distributed outside and received with admiration and respect.

(Members of the extended Barghouti family, by the way, play a major role in Palestinian affairs across the entire spectrum from moderate to extremist. One of them is Mustapha Barghouti, a doctor who heads a moderate Palestinian party with many connections abroad, whom I regularly meet at demonstrations in Bilin and elsewhere. I once joked that we always cry when we see each other – from tear gas. The family has its roots in a group of villages north of Jerusalem.)

NOWADAYS, MARWAN Barghouti is considered the outstanding candidate for leader of Fatah and president of the Palestinian Authority after Mahmoud Abbas. He is one of the very few personalities around whom all Palestinians, Fatah as well as Hamas, can unite.

After the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, when the prisoner exchange was discussed, Hamas put Marwan Barghouti on top of the list of Palestinian prisoners whose release it demanded. This was a very unusual gesture, since Marwan belonged to the rival – and reviled – faction.

The Israeli government struck Marwan from the list right away, and remained adamant. When Shalit was finally released, Marwan stayed in prison. Obviously he was considered more dangerous than hundreds of Hamas “terrorists” with “blood on their hands”.

Why?

Cynics would say: because he wants peace. Because he sticks to the two-state solution. Because he can unify the Palestinian people for that purpose. All good reasons for a Netanyahu to keep him behind bars.

SO WHAT did Marwan tell his people this week?

Clearly, his attitude has hardened. So, one must assume, has the attitude of the Palestinian people at large.

He calls for a Third Intifada, a non-violent mass uprising in the spirit of the Arab Spring.

His manifesto is a clear rejection of the policy of Mahmoud Abbas, who maintains limited but all-important cooperation with the Israeli occupation authorities. Marwan calls for a total rupture of all forms of cooperation, whether economic, military or other.

A focal point of this cooperation is the day-to-day collaboration of the American-trained Palestinian security services with the Israeli occupation forces. This arrangement has effectively stopped violent Palestinian attacks in the occupied territories and in Israel proper. It guarantees, In practice, the security of the growing Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Marwan also calls for a total boycott of Israel, Israeli institutions and products in the Palestinian territories and throughout the world. Israeli products should disappear from West Bank shops, Palestinian products should be promoted.

At the same time, Marwan advocates an official end to the charade called “peace negotiations”. This term, by the way, is never heard anymore in Israel. First it was replaced with “peace process”, then “political process”, and lately “the political matter”. The simple word “peace” has become taboo among rightists and most “leftists” alike. It’s political poison.

Marwan proposes to make the absence of peace negotiations official. No more international talk about “reviving the peace process”, no more rushing around of ridiculous people like Tony Blair, no more hollow announcements by Hillary Clinton and Catherine Ashton, no more empty declarations of the “Quartet”. Since the Israeli government clearly has abandoned the two-state solution – which it never really accepted in the first place – keeping up the pretense just harms the Palestinian struggle.

Instead of this hypocrisy, Marwan proposes to renew the battle in the UN. First, apply again to the Security Council for the acceptance of Palestine as a member state, challenging the US to use its solitary veto openly against practically the whole world. After the expected rejection of the Palestinian request by the Council as a result of the veto, request a decision by the General Assembly, where the vast majority would vote in favor. Though this would not be binding, it would demonstrate that the freedom of Palestine enjoys the overwhelming support of the family of nations, and isolate Israel (and the US) even more.

Parallel to this course of action, Marwan insists on Palestinian unity, using his considerable moral force to put pressure on both Fatah and Hamas.

TO SUMMARIZE, Marwan Barghouti has given up all hope of achieving Palestinian freedom through cooperation with Israel, or even Israeli opposition forces. The Israeli peace movement is not mentioned anymore. “Normalization” has become a dirty word.

These ideas are not new, but coming from the No. 1 Palestinian prisoner, the foremost candidate for the succession of Mahmoud Abbas, the hero of the Palestinian masses, it means a turn to a more militant course, both in substance and in tone.

Marwan remains peace oriented – as he made clear when, in a rare recent appearance in court, he called out to the Israeli journalists that he continues to support the two-state solution. He also remains committed to non-violent action, having come to the conclusion that the violent attacks of yesteryear harmed the Palestinian cause instead of furthering it.

He wants to call a halt to the gradual and unwilling slide of the Palestinian Authority into a Vichy-like collaboration, while the expansion of the Israeli “settlement enterprise” goes on undisturbed.

NOT BY accident did Marwan publish his manifesto on the eve of “Land Day”, the world-wide day of protest against the occupation.

“Land Day” is the anniversary of an event that took place in 1976 to protest against the decision of the Israeli government to expropriate huge tracts of Arab-owned land in Galilee and other parts of Israel. The Israeli army and police fired on the protesters, killing six of them. (The day after, two of my friends and I laid wreaths on the graves of the victims, an act that earned me an outbreak of hatred and vilification I have seldom experienced.)

Land day was a turning point for Israel’s Arab citizens, and later became a symbol for Arabs everywhere. This year, the Netanyahu government threatened to shoot anybody who even approaches our borders. It may well be a harbinger for the Third Intifada heralded by Marwan.

For some time now, the world has lost much of its interest in Palestine. Everything looks quiet. Netanyahu has succeeded in deflecting world attention from Palestine to Iran. But in this country, nothing is ever static. While it seems that nothing is happening, settlements are growing incessantly, and so is the deep resentment of the Palestinians who see this happening before their eyes.

Marwan Barghouti’s manifesto expresses the near-unanimous feelings of the Palestinians in the West Bank and elsewhere. Like Nelson Mandela in apartheid South Africa, the man in prison may well be more important than the leaders outside.

URI AVNERY is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to CounterPunch’s book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.

Half of all cancers are preventable

2012-03-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

Half of all cancers could be prevented if people just adopted healthier behaviors, US scientists argued on Wednesday.

Smoking is blamed for a third of all US cancer cases and being overweight leads to another 20 percent of the deadly burden that costs the United States some $226 billion per year in health care expenses and lost productivity.

For instance, up to three quarters of US lung cancer cases could be avoided if people did not smoke, said the article in the US journal Science Translational Medicine.

Science has shown that plenty of other cancers can also be prevented, either with vaccines to prevent human papillomavirus and hepatitis, which can cause cervical and liver cancers, or by protecting against sun exposure, which can cause skin cancer.

Society as a whole must recognize the need for these changes and take seriously an attempt to instill healthier habits, said the researchers.

“It’s time we made an investment in implementing what we know,” said lead author Graham Colditz, an epidemiologist at the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Exercising, eating right and refraining from smoking are key ways to prevent up to half of the 577,000 deaths from cancer in the United States expected this year, a toll that is second only to heart disease, according to the study.

But a series of obstacles to change are well enshrined in the United States, which will see an estimated 1,638,910 new cancer cases diagnosed this year.

Those hurdles include skepticism that cancer can be prevented and the habit of intervening too late in life to stop or prevent cancer that has already taken root.

Also, much of the research on cancer focuses on treatment instead of prevention, and tends to take a short-term view rather than a long-term approach.

“Humans are impatient, and that human trait itself is an obstacle to cancer prevention,” said the study.

Further complicating those factors are the income gaps between the upper and lower social classes that mean poor people tend to be more exposed to cancer risk factors than the wealthy.

“Pollution and crime, poor public transportation, lack of parks for play and exercise, and absence of nearby supermarkets for fresh food hinder the adoption and sustained practice of a lifestyle that minimizes the risk of cancer and other diseases,” said the study.

“As in other countries, social stratification in the United States exacerbates lifestyle differences such as access to health care, especially prevention and early detection services.

“Mammograms, colon screening, diet and nutrition support, smoking cessation resources and sun protection mechanisms are simply less available to the poor.”

That means any bid to overcome deep social imbalances must be supported by policy changes, said co-author Sarah Gehlert, professor of racial and ethnic diversity at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work and the School of Medicine.

“After working in public health for 25 years, I’ve learned that if we want to change health, we need to change policy,” she said.

“Stricter tobacco policy is a good example. But we can’t make policy change on our own. We can tell the story, but it requires a critical mass of people to talk more forcefully about the need for change.”

A separate annual report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other major US cancer groups found that death rates from cancer in the United States continued to decline between 1.3 and 1.7 percent from 1998 to 2008.

New cancer diagnoses also decreased less than one percent per year from 1996 to 2006 and leveled off from 2006 to 2008.

However, the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer also highlighted the problem of obesity-related cancers, such as colorectal cancer, as well as cancer of the kidney, esophagus, pancreas, breast and endometrial lining.

“If you watch your diet, exercise, and manage your weight, you can not only prevent your risk of getting many lethal forms of cancer, you will also increase your chances of doing well if you should get almost any form of cancer,” counseled Edward Benz, president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Bin Laden roamed Pakistan for 9 years, his widow says

2012-03-30T21:25:00.002-07:00

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Osama bin Laden spent nine years as a fugitive in Pakistan, hopscotching among safe houses in big cities and small towns with his growing family before U.S. forces killed him in his final hideout, according to an account one of his widows has given to investigators.

A newly surfaced confidential police report summarizing the testimony of bin Laden’s youngest wife, who was taken into custody after his death, has renewed debate over how the world’s most notorious terrorist could have eluded detection by Pakistan’s powerful security services.

“Who facilitated his movement and his stops, and were they ordinary citizens or members of law enforcement or intelligence agencies?” asked an editorial Friday in the English-language newspaper Dawn, which broke the story here.

The report is based on the interrogation of Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, a Yemeni national and the last of bin Laden’s five wives — three of whom were living with the al-Qaeda chief at the time of the raid on his villa in the garrison town of Abbottabad last May.

The women, who could be jailed for up to five years, face charges of illegally enteringPakistan. They, their children and bin Laden’s grandchildren are among those now confined to a home in Islamabad provided by the government, officials have said.

Sadah, who bore bin Laden five children and was shot in the leg during the Navy SEALS operation, has been the most cooperative of the widows, according to a security official familiar with the investigation. The others — Saudi nationals Siham Saber and Khairiah Sabar — said Islam does not permit women to talk to non-related men, the official said.

Since bin Laden’s death, the military establishment — especially the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI — has faced accusations it was aware of bin Laden’s presence. But nothing proving its complicity has emerged in documents seized from the compound and analyzed by U.S. intelligence officials.

Sadah’s narrative, if accurate, reveals the extent of bin Laden’s travels in Pakistan before his six-year-long stay in Abbottabad. She said that starting in 2002, she lived with him in the country’s northwest, including in the Swat Valley and Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She said they also lived for more than two years in a village in the Haripur district, 20 miles from Abbottabad.

Sadah bore bin Laden children in 2003 and 2004, both delivered in government hospitals in Haripur, she told the investigators. She later gave birth to two other children, evidently at private hospitals in Abbottabad. (Her eldest child was born in Afghanistan, where she had married bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2011.)

Retired Brig. Gen. Asad Munir, a former ISI official who was involved in tracking bin Laden after 9/11 until 2005, questioned at least one part of Sadah’s account.

“I knew that Osama bin Laden was in the tribal areas in 2002 somewhere, but not in Peshawar,” he said.

Asked why the ISI didn’t find bin Laden during six years in Abbottabad, Munir offered an explanation heard often from those who doubt complicity by the state.

“Sheer negligence and incompetence,” he said.

A senior U.S. official familiar with the 10-year hunt for bin Laden called the widow’s account “very plausible” and “consistent with the previously held theories on where bin Laden may have been hiding during those years.”

The police report, dated Jan. 19, was prepared as part of a joint probe by civilian and military authorities into the raid on bin Laden’s compound, which blindsided and humiliated the Pakistani military.

The document, however, appears to be ancillary to the focus of the investigation, which has confined itself to intelligence failures connected to the May 2 operation. Critics of the probe say it should have been expanded to include the entire period bin Laden was in Pakistan.

“We need an absolutely complete review of what happened, why it happened, and when it happened,” said Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier general who conducted his own investigation into bin Laden’s death and also had access to the interrogations of the youngest wife. “We need to know.”

The Islamic Sharia - An Overview - Dr. Ishaq Zahid

2012-03-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

I seek refuge in God from the rejected Satan.
I begin with the name of God, the Owner and Dispenser of love, compassion and mercy.

The One God and Freedom of Religion

Belief in One and only One God is the fundamental belief in Islam and considered such by all God’s prophets. Allah, an Arabic word, is the personal name of God. The below verse speaks about God and His attributes.

Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. Unto Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedes with Him save by His leave? He knows that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includes the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous. (The Holy Quran, 2:255)

God created human beings with a noble purpose to worship and obey Him. However, He gave people the free will with capacity to do good or commit evil.

There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejects false deities and believes in Allah has grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (The Holy Quran, 2:256)

The Islamic Shari’ah helps us follow the right direction for worship and obedience to God in our entire individual and collective life.

The Meanings of Islamic Shari’ah

Khurram Murad describes the Islamic Shari’ah as:

The Islamic Shari'ah is not merely a collection of do's and don'ts, nor just a code of criminal laws prescribing punishments for certain crimes. Though it does contain both, its sweep is much broader and deeper, encompassing the totality of person's life. Shari'ah literally means a 'clear, trodden path to a source of water'. Since water is the source of life, it means a clear path to life. In religious terms, it is the path to the eternal life. It is the path that a person, in Islam, must walk as he toils and strives to reach his Creator. It is the yearning deep within to seek the Lord and the Master that the Shari'ah translates into steps, concrete and specific, on the pathways of life. The Shari'ah is the fulfillment of the total man- inner and outer, individual and corporate-as he seeks to live by the will of his one and only God. [1]

So for example, Shari’ah teaches Muslims the best way of performing prayers, giving in charity, fasting, eating, getting married, doing business, and more. A simple example about etiquette of eating is that:
We are taught to wash our hands before eating.
Start eating with the phrase “Bismillah Hir-Rahman Ar-Raheem.”(With the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind.)
And when we finish our meal, teaches us to thank God (and for kids, also their parents) for providing the food and drinks and made us to worship and obey Him.

It is also part of Shari’ah to speak the Truth, not to lie, not to backbite, not to steal, not to kill, not to abuse, not to deceit in trade, and if you do not like your purchase, take the item back to Walmart or from wherever you purchased it.

As we see, the principles and law of the Islamic Shari’ah are part of every society and country, including the USA. The difference in many cases is that when a Muslim follows the Shari’ah, it abides by the Law with intent to please God. From the outside, it is the same as how anyone else obeys the Law. If we sideline the clash of ignorance, the issues mostly relate to the severe punishments in the cases of theft and adultery, which can be understood as exceptions if taken in the context of the entire Shari’ah,

Primary Sources of Shari’ah

The Holy Quran and the Hadeeth form the two primary sources of the Islamic Shari’ah. Allah, the One and Only God, the Creator, the Almighty is the Law-Giver.The Holy Quran (Arabic) is the word of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.w.). Hadeeth refers to the collection of books containing the sayings and narrations of actions of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.w.).

The Shari’ah includes religious law covering worship and rituals and the penal law covering everything else.

Objectives of the Shari’ah Law and Five Essentials:

Early Muslim scholars have looked at the question of why Allah revealed the Law. Some Muslim scholars of jurisprudence, especially Ibn Taimiah, said that Allah revealed such a legislative system or Shari’ah in order to achieve Justice. Other jurists said it is for the purpose of achieving happiness. And still some others, especially al-Ghazali, said it is only for the achievement and the realization of the very benefits of man on earth. [3]

A closer look at these three approaches to Shari’ah shows that they complement each other: happiness of mankind cannot be achieved at large without justice, and justice is one of the essential benefits and interest of people on earth.[3]

Based on the Holy Quran and the Hadeeth, early Muslim scholars have given five universal necessities on which the lives of people depend, and whose neglect leads to total disruption and chaos. [3]
The following are the five universals (al-kuliaat):

Religion (Al_Din), Life (Al-Nafs), Intellect (Al-‘Aql), Procreation (Al-Nasl), Property (Al-Mal)

The objective of the Shariah is to preserve and promote what is good in the context of these five universals. A good introduction on the objectives of the Shariah can be found at [2].

An early Muslim scholar, Imam Ibn Al-Qayyum, described the Shari’ah as follows:

“ Shari’ah, all of it is filled with purpose (hikm) and with benefits (al-Masaleh) for this life and the hereafter. All of Shari’ah is justice(‘adl), compassion and love (rahmah). All of Shari’ah is benefit (masaleh), all of shari’ah is wisdom (hikmah). Therefore, any issue taken from justice to injustice, or from love, compassion and mercy to lack of it, or from benefit to harm, or from purpose to lack of wisdom, then such a solution has nothing to do with Shari’ah, even if it is made so by the power of interpretation.”

Rahmah is all encompassing of Shar’iah [6]

The Arabic word Rahmah means love, compassion and mercy. Its root word in Arabic means the womb of the mother. In Arabic, most words have a three letter root. All derivatives retain some aspects of the meanings of the root word. We will look at some fundamental principles of the Shari’ah, especially in the context of Rahmah.

Rahmah is a universal law of Allah
Allah has prescribed for Himself the rule of Rahmah (Quran, 6:12). He has made it mandatory on Himself to be not only the owner, but also the dispenser of Rahmah.

Every time a Muslim begins something, he or she recites “Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem”, which contains two nouns Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem based on the word Rahmah. Ar-Rahman is the possessor of Rahmah. Ar-Raheem is the dispenser of Rahmah. The sentence means, “I begin with the name of Allah, the Owner and Dispenser of love, compassion and mercy.”

Muhammad as Rahmah for the world

All God’s messengers and Prophets were sent as Rahmah for the people.
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.w.) has been described in the Holy Quran as:

“ We have not sent you (O Muhammad), except as Rahmah for the worlds.” (21:107)

The Arabic sentence construction implies that his entire message and mission can be contained in one phrase, as, “Rahmah for the worlds,” that is “Love, compassion and mercy for the worlds.”

In a Hadeeth, the Prophet (s.a.a.w.) said: “He who does not show Rahmah to people, should not expect Rahmah from Allah.”

Allah's Rahmah includes everything, including justice.
[rahmati wase’at kulla shai-in]

Allah’s love, compassion and mercy encompasses everything, including the law. In fact, when Rahmah is stripped from justice, it reduces to man-made law. It is not divine law any more, regardless of the mode of interpretation to reach the verdict, as Imam Ibn-al Qayyum stated above.

Two Conditions of Accountability: (Sharoot al-Takleef)
[la takleef illa be-maqdoorin wa m’aloom]
There is a basic rule in Shari’ah, which states that “No person shall be legally responsible except for what is within his capacity and what is knowable.” There is a verse in the Holy Quran which states that Allah will not hold anyone responsible for anything not within his capacity.

Legislation of Concessions: [tashree’ur-Rukhas] The scholars say that it is a hallmark, or a trademark of the Shari’ah to have a legislation of concessions. This by itself shows that Shari’ah is not literalist. That is, if something is forbidden, it is not forbidden under all circumstances. It applies not only to religious matters, but also to judicial issues.

For example, pork is forbidden, but if a Muslim is starving and nothing else is available, he or she is permitted to eat at that moment. All intoxicants are forbidden, but if there is a case when a person's eye sight can only be cured by taking marijuana and health professionals testify it, he is permitted to take it to the extent his medical need is fulfilled. (This example is chosen as there was such a case of a person in the USA, who asked for the use of marijuana due to his eye sight problem.) [6]

Concessions like these are already “built-in” to the Shari’ah and no new legislation is needed.

Avert by doubt: Prophet Muhammad(s.a.a.w.) advised the judges to avert punishment by doubts. The saying of the Prophet is in a command format: avert …

Cover Faults: The Prophet (s.a.a.w.) said, "Allah will cover up on the Day of Resurrection the defects (faults) of the one who covers up the faults of the others in this world". [Sahih Muslim]. One should also keep his own faults to himself. This includes certain punishable sins.

Err in Pardon: The Prophet (s.a.a.w.) said, “Ward off the hudood punishments from the Muslims as much as you can. If there is any possible way for the accused, let him go. For a judge to err in pardon is better than his erring in punishment.” [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi #1344 with a weak chain. However, all jurists have accepted this hadith and used it in their works on the basis of other chains that strengthen it. Categorized as authentic (saheeh) by al-Hakim.][4]

God did not reveal the law for His own benefit. Such a statement is in fact a statement of disbelief in Islam. God is Self-Sufficient. He does not legislate in vain without purpose. It is all for the well-being of humanity.

Repentance (Taubah) is an important component of Rahmah

Punishment for a crime is the outermost layer of Islam. A Muslim is repeatedly advised and inspired to strengthen the innermost layer, which is Qalbun Saleem (sound heart), needed for happiness in this life as well as eternal salvation.

A person may continue committing sin or crime and repent each time. The difference is how a judge or society sees it and how God sees it. A judge or jury may swing to the right or to the left or do just right, but not God. Repentance is until time for death comes. Troubled people are only those who continue doing wrong until the death knocks at the door.

Capital Punishment and Qisas

Islamic Shari’ah does not have capital punishment. Islam has Qisas not capital punishment. In Islam, it is not the state, but the grieved party, the guardian of the victim who decides either to forgive the murderer, ask for a compensation or have him executed. In capital punishment, the state takes over full rights of the case and there have been cases when the guardian wanted the murderer to be forgiven, the state said no and carried out the case.

In an authentic tradition, (Sahih Hadeeth), in the time of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.w.), a man killed someone. The father of the victim brought the murderer to the Prophet for execution. The Prophet asked the father to forgive the murderer. The father refused and wanted him to be executed. The Prophet repeatedly asked the father to forgive, but each time he refused. The Prophet then allowed him to carry out the execution, as the decision is in the hands of the grieved party, not the state. However, while the father was taking the man for execution, the Prophet said that you are like the murderer. The father did not hear this. Others asked the father, did you hear what the Prophet said. He said no. They told him that the Prophet has said that you are like him. Upon hearing this, the father rushed back to the Prophet and said I forgive him.

In another Hadeeth, a man came to the Prophet (s.a.a.w.) and said that he has done something which requires hudood punishment, so punish him. He did not say what he has done. The Prophet turned his face away from him. The man turns around and repeats himself. The Prophet turned his face away again. It happens three times and then Call to Prayer is heard. The Prophet goes to the Mosque, prays and comes out. The man comes back to the Prophet and repeats his words that he has done something which requires punishment, so punish him. The Prophet asked him, “Did you pray with us?” He said, yes. The Prophet told him that in that case, go, God has forgiven you. (Nasai)[7]

Adultery:

The sacred laws of Jews, Christians and Muslims forbid, and render punishable, all types of sexual relations outside marriage.

According to Islamic law, if four witnesses testify seeing the act by a married person, then the punishment is stoning to death. This is certainly an extreme penalty but limited to extreme cases. Four witnesses is the minimum required number.

It is also narrated that the Prophet ordered this punishment to be carried out in four cases. One of the cases were that of a Jewish man and a woman, who did not want the Jewish court to decide upon them and hoping to get lesser punishment, came to the Prophet. The Prophet decided their punishment according to the Holy Torah. There is no verse in the Holy Quran which states stoning to death as punishment for adultery. However, the prophet and the rightly-guided caliphs after him did carry out the punishment. The following story relates to a second case of adultery in the Prophet’s time.

A man named Ma’iz came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Allah's Messenger, I have wronged myself; I have committed adultery and I earnestly desire that you should purify me. He turned him away. On the following day, he (Ma'iz) again came to him and said: Allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) turned him away for the second time, and sent him to his people saying: Do you know if there is anything wrong with his mind. They denied of any such thing in him and said: We do not know him but as a wise good man among us, so far as we can judge. He (Ma'iz) came for the third time, and he (the Holy Prophet) sent him as he had done before. He asked about him and they informed him that there was nothing wrong with him or with his mind. When it was the fourth time, a ditch was dug for him and he (the Holy Prophet) pronounced judgment about him and he was stoned. [Sahih Muslim]

In his article, “The Face of Mercy in Islamic Law”, Dr. Abu Zayd writes:

“In the case of Maa’iz, it became known that he had confessed to the Prophet after being encouraged by his friend Hazzal al-Aslamy. After the infliction of the punishment, the Prophet sadly told Hazzal: “Woe to you, O Hazzal. If you had veiled him with your mantle it would have been better for you.” This spirit of forgiveness and concealment stands in sharp contrast to the broadcast image of religious police scouting Muslim societies for offenders to punish. Is it deliberate misinformation and exaggeration or real ignorance and extremism among segments of the Muslim society? Perhaps the blame lies somewhere in between.” [4]

Armed Robbery (Hirahah):

The following verse from the Holy Quran talks about justice as eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,…

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; (Holy Quran, 5:33)

The verse relates to an incident in which a Muslim shepherd was brutally tortured by a group in the outskirts of Madinah, his eyes and other organs were taken out, and he was brutally killed, just like this verse says in retaliation. Justice demands the punishment according to the crime. However, the Most Compassionate God revealed the next verse, as a continuation of the above:

Except for those who repent before they fall into your power: in that case, know that Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Loving, Compassionate and Merciful.(The Holy Quran, 5:34)

On the basis of these verses, Muslim jurists have raised the question:

What is the place of repentance in averting punishment?

Some jurists say that if a person repents before he is caught, then he gets no punishment. Others say the same even if he is arrested.

Rights of God and the rights of Individuals

It is important to understand in the context of the above verses that when it comes to the rights of God, repentance may be enough. When Prophet(s.a.a.w.) entered Makkah at its peaceful conquest, his hometown, from which he was driven out, and whose people had persecuted him, plotted to kill him, waged wars against him, he forgave them all and entered into the city with his head in prostration. Repentance was enough for forgiveness of the entire town.

However, when it comes to the rights of an individual, it is the individual who has to forgive the person, as I gave an example on a case of a murder. In cases like these, the rights of individuals supersede the rights of God, which is yet another example of the love, compassion and mercy of God.

Current State of the World

It appears that Rahmah is a bygone virtue. In today’s world, people may find joy in witnessing a persecution. When we do not have Rahmah for others, Rahmah is taken away from us, and we complain why God is not compassionate with us. In the words of Shaikh Maghroui, "Mind without heart is harsh and heart without mind is blind." [6]

At the core of the Shari’ah is sound heart (Qalbun Saleem). Covered with Rahmah and Repentance, the Penal Law constitutes an essential, but outermost layer of Islam.

Justice with Rahmah, compassionate justice forms the core of Muslim Ummah as a dynamic civilization for all times. When you see a country whose rulers live in huts, draw a salary of no more than a day’s meals and work tirelessly until they have done their best to provide food, shelter, clothing and medicine for their citizens, then know that the core of the Shari’ah is in place and the rest can follow. It has happened before in the time of the Prophet (s.a.a.w.) and the four rightly guided caliphs. It also happened in the time of Omar bin Abdul Aziz, when government officials would go out on streets to find people in need of charity and there were none! The implementation of Shari’ah must begin at the core. All other attempts lead to injustice and brutality.

References:

1. Shariah – The Way to God by Khurram Murad
2. Maqasid al Shariah: The Objectives of Islamic Law by Dr. Mohammad Hashim Kamalihttp://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?6176-Maqasid-al-Shariah-The-Objectives-of-Islamic-Law
3. Maqasid Theory by Mashhad Al-Allaf
  http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ma/works/maqasid.pdf
4. THE FACE OF MERCY IN ISLAMIC LAW By Dr Abu Zayd
  http://islamicstudies.islammessage.com/panel/media/file/The%20Face%20of%20Mercy%20in%20Islamic%20Law.pdf
5. Maqasid al Shari’ah: A Strategy to Rehabilitate Religion in America by Dr. Robert D. Crane
  ( http://www.iiit.org/Portals/0/pdf/Maqasid%20al%20Sharia.pdf )
6. Rahmah in the Shari'ah - Mokhtar Maghraoui ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrOMfLx2wC8 )
7. Mokhtar Maghraoui – Maqassid ul Shariah (www.halaltube.com/speaker/mokhtar-maghraoui )

Acknowledgement: I have used various sources to write this article. I am, however, greatly indebted to Shaikh Mokhtar Maghroui, whose lectures on Shari’ah helped me the most. The contents on Rahmah are mostly based on Shaikh Maghroui's video [6].

HOW TO BECOME A MUSLIM ?

2012-03-17T01:03:00.002-07:00

All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe. May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Mohammad, His last messenger.

The purpose of this hand-out is to correct a false idea spread among those willing to adopt Islam as their faith. Some people have a wrong notion that entering into the Islamic fold requires an announcement from the concerned person in the presence of high ranking scholars or shaikhs or reporting this act to courts of justice or other authorities. It is also thought that the act of accepting Islam, should, as a condition, have a certificate issued by the authorities, as evidence to that effect.

We wish to clarify that the whole matter is very easy and that none of these conditions or obligations are required. For Allah, Almighty, is above all comprehension and knows well the secrets of all hearts. Nevertheless, those who are going to adopt Islam as their religion are advised to register themselves as Muslims with the concerned governmental agency, as this procedure may facilitate for them many matters including the possibility of performing Hajj (Pilgrimage) and Umrah.

If anyone has a real desire to be a Muslim and has full conviction and strong belief that Islam is the true religion ordained by Allah for all human-beings, then, one should pronounce the "Shahada", the testimony of faith, without further delay. The Holy Qur'an is explicit on this regard as Allah states:

"The Religion in the sight of Allah is Islam." (Qur'an 3:19)

In another verse of the Holy Qur'an, Allah states:

"If unyone desires a religion other than Islam (Submission to Allah), Never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (their selves in the hell fire)."(Qur'an 3:85)

In addition, Islam is the only religion prevailing over all other religions. Allah states in the Holy Qur'an:

"To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety:..." (Qur'an 5:48)

Mohammad, the Prophet of Allah (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him), said:

"The superstructure of Islam is raised on five (pillars): testifying that there is no God (none truely to be worshiped) but Allah, and that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah, performing the prayer, paying the Zakah (poor-due), fasting the month of Ramadan, and performing Hajj".

The Shahada can be declared as follows:

"ASH-HADU ANLA ELAHA ILLA-ALLAH WA ASH-HADU ANNA MOHAMMADAN RASUL-ALLAH".

The English translation is:

"I bear witness that there is no deity (none truely to be worshipped) but, Allah, and I bear witness that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah",

However, it would not be sufficient for anyone to only utter this testimony oraly either in private or in public; but rather, he should believe in it by heart with a firm conviction and unshakeable faith. If one is truly sincere and complies with the teachings of Islam in all his life, he will find himself a new born person.

This will move him to strive more and more to improve his character and draw nearer to perfection. The light of the living faith will fill his heart until he becomes the embodiment of that faith.

What would be next after declaring oneself a Muslim? One should then know the real concept underlying this testimony which means the Oneness of Allah and meet its requirements. One must behave accordingly, applying this true faith to every thing one speaks or does.

What do the words of the "Shahada" signify? The significant point which every Muslim must know very well is the truth that there is no God (deity) to be worshipped other than Allah. He - glory be to Him - is the only true God, Who alone deserves to be worshipped, since He is the Giver of life and Sustainer and Nourisher of mankind and all creation with His unlimited bounties. Man must worship Allah, Who alone is worthy of worship.

The second part of the Shahada (i.e., Wa ash-hadu anna Mohammadan rasul-Allah) means that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is the servant and chosen messenger of Allah. No one must have two opinions about this matter. In fact the Muslim has to obey the commands of the Prophet (PBUH), to believe him in what he has said, to practice his teachings, to avoid what he has forbidden, and to worship Allah alone according to the message revealed to him, for all the teachings of the Prophet were in fact revelations and inspirations conveyed to him by Allah.

What is the meaning of worship? It simply means rendering sincere service, showing reverence for Allah. In a deeper shade of meaning, it implies total submission and complete obedience to Allah's commandments both in utterances and actions of man whether explicit or implicit.

Worship fall into two categories:

Visible (manifest or outward)
Invisible (concealed or inward)

Visible worship includes acts such as uttering the two parts of the "Shahada", performing prayers, giving Zakah (the poor-due), recitation of the Holy Qur'an, supplication, adoring Allah by praising Him, purifying our bodies before prayers, etc.

This type of worship is associated with movement of the parts of the human body.

Invisible worship is to believe in Allah, in the Day of Judgement (in the Hereafter), in the Angels, in the Books of Allah, in the Prophets of Allah, in the Divine Decree of destiny (that good and bad are determined by Allah alone).

This type of worship does not involve movement of parts of the body but it surely has bearing on one's heart which subsequently affects one's way of life.

It should be borne in mind that any worship not dedicated to Allah alone will be rejected as one form of polytheism and this causes apostasy from the Islamic fold.

The next step for a newly revert to Islam is to purify himself by taking a complete bath. He should then resolve to comply with the principles and rules of Islam in their entirety. He should disown all forms of polytheism and false beliefs. He should reject evil and be righteous. Such rejection of evil and being righteous is one of the equisites of the motto of Islam - that is, Laa Ilaha Illallah.

Allah states in the Holy Qur'an:

"... whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy Hand-hold, that never breaks..." (Qur'an 2:256).

We have to consider that when we declare from our heart that "there is no god (deity) worthy to be worshipped but Allah", it implies on our part love, devotion, faith and obedience to the rules of Islamic legislations which are legally binding on all Muslims. It is a requirement of "there is no god worthy to be worshipped but Allah" to love for the sake of Allah and to reject for the sake of Allah.

Why Israel Attacked Gaza: Bibi Stirring Trouble ?

2012-03-16T10:22:00.001-07:00

The first Israel missile sped down to its target, scorching the Gaza earth and everything in between. Palestinians collected the body parts of two new martyrs, while Israeli media celebrated the demise of two terrorists.

Zuhair Qasis was the head of the Popular Resistance Committee. He was killed alongside a Palestinian prisoner from Nablus, who had recently been freed and deported to Gaza.

Then, another set of missiles rained down, this time taking Obeid al-Ghirbali and Muhammad Harara.

Then, a third, and a forth, and so on. The death count began on March 9 and escalated through the day. The Hamas government urged the international community to take action. Factions vowed to retaliate.

In these situations, Western media is usually clueless or complicit. Sometimes it's both. The Israeli army was cited readily by many media outlets without challenge.

The first round of attacks was justified based on a claim that Qasis was involved in the planning of an attack that killed seven Israelis last year. The Israel army didn't even bother to upgrade that claim - which already resulted in the killing and wounding of many Palestinians. Even Israeli media had drawn the conclusion that the attack then originated from Egypt, and no Palestinian was involved.

Al Jazeera reported that some of the victims were decapitated, a familiar scene in most of Israel's unforgiving atrocities.

Expectedly, Palestinians fired back. "The national resistance brigades, the DFLP's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa brigades, and the armed wing of the PRC, the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din brigades, have all claimed responsibility for rocket fire," reported Maan news agency.

The incessant Israeli provocations would not have been enough to end the months-long truce. Palestinians know that Israeli provocations are often, if not always, politically motivated. This time however, the people killed were leaders in al-Muqawama, the local resistance parties. Neither Hamas' might nor diplomacy could persuade Gaza's many factions to hold their fire. Israel knows this fact more than any other party. This is why it sent such unmistakably bloody messages. Israeli needed Palestinians to respond, and urgently so.

But why did Israel decide to ignite trouble again?

To answer the question, one needs to make a quick stop in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had recently tried to articulate a case for war against Iran there. Unlike the successful effort to isolate and strike and invade Iraq in 2003, the Iran war campaign is not going according to plan.

The Israelis are desperate to see Iran's nuclear facilities bombed by American bunker buster bombs - some of which weigh up to 13600 kg. Israel's former head of military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, assured the 'free world' - a term often manipulated by Netanyahu - that a bombing campaign can succeed if it's followed by the right measures. "Iran, like Iraq and Syria before it, will have to recognize that the precedent for military action has been set, and can be repeated," he wrote (as cited in CNN, March 9).

There is growing consensus in Israel that 'something has to be done' - at least to set back Iran's uranium enrichment by few years, per the assurances of deputy director of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, Ephraim Kam. Republican candidates in the US, and even President Obama himself, agree. But Obama, despite his groveling at the recent AIPAC conference, dared to question the timing and the way in which Iran must be brought to its knees. The US president is becoming increasingly isolated within Washington because of his stance on Iran.

It is election year, and Israel knows that a window of opportunity will not be open for long. "Netanyahu won a crucial battle in Washington this past week. No one brought up the Palestinians. Netanyahu has quite masterfully shifted the conversation to the subject of Iran," wrote Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic (March 9). He is right, of course, but only within the context of 'peace process' and conflict resolution.

The Palestinians were mentioned in a different context, and repeatedly so. Ephraim Kam, for example, expected that thousands of rockets would rain on Israel from Hizbollah, Hamas and Iran itself. The Associated Press quoted Vice Prime Minister Dan Meridor as saying, "The whole of Israel (is vulnerable to) tens of thousands of missiles and rockets from neighboring countries. If there is a war...they are not just going to hit Israeli soldiers. The main aim is at civilian populations" (Feb 20).

Per this logic, the only way to prevent rockets from reaching Israel is by attacking Iran. An independent Israeli commentator, Yossi Melman predicted that a weakened Iran "would undoubtedly have an impact on Hamas and Hezbollah" (CNN, March 9).

Yes, the Palestinians were infused plenty in Israeli war rhetoric. They were liberally presented as the jackals who would pounce on vulnerable Israel. Who would dare challenge this tired victimization narrative? Who would have the audacity to point out the fact that Israel has the region's strongest army, equipped with hundreds of fully-functioning nuclear heads, while Palestinians fighters - who had until recently respected the truce, although Gaza's siege was never lifted - are armed with light weapons?

No one in the mainstream media, of course. But then, as the supposed threat has reached an all time high, Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum told AP: "Hamas weapons and the weapons of the Palestinian resistance, in general, are humble weapons that aim to defend and not to attack, and they are to defend the Palestinian people...that does not give us the ability to be part of any regional war."

Hamas has its own calculations independent of Israel's war momentum. But losing Hamas would jeopardize the very equation Israel has been constructing for years. The 'radical camp' must remain intact, as far as Israel is concerned. No political polarization caused by the so-called Arab Spring will be allowed to endanger the Israeli narrative: the radicals, the evil alliance, the threat facing the 'free world' and all the rest. Great resources were spent on spinning the perfect story to justify a preemptive war.

Then, on Friday, March 2, less than two days after Barhoum made his comments of 'humble weapons', heads began to roll in Gaza. Literally. And the media machine resumed its work unabashed. "Gaza Rockets fire disrupts life in Israeli south," read a headline in Israel's Haaretz. "IDF strikes Gaza terror targets following rocket barrage," declared another in the Jerusalem Post. It's war all over again. Israeli civilians run to shelters. Sirens blare. US media reports the fate of 'besieged' Israelis and Palestinian 'terrorists'.

It matters little to them that it was Israel itself that stirred the trouble, broke the truce, and fanned the flames.

How does someone become a Muslim?

2012-03-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

Simply by saying 'there is no god apart from God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.' By this declaration the believer announces his or her faith in all God's messengers, and the scriptures they brought.

What do Muslims believe?

2012-03-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Muslims believe in One, Unique, Incomparable God; in the Angels created by Him; in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to mankind; in the Day of Judgement and individual accountability for actions; in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist, and Jesus, peace be upon them. But God's final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that has gone before was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through Gabriel.

islam

2012-03-15T23:43:00.002-07:00

Who are the Muslims?

One billion people from a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe - from the southern Philippines to Nigeria - are united by their common Islamic faith. About 18% live in the Arab world; the world's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia; substantial parts of Asia and most of Africa are Muslim, while significant minorities are to be found in the Soviet Union, China, North and South America, and Europe.

ORGANISATION

2012-03-15T23:17:00.002-07:00

http://www.islamicity.com/orgs/

ARABIC TUTOR

2012-03-15T21:52:00.003-07:00

Arabic is more meritorious than other languages.
It is the language of the people of Jannah.
Whoever learns it or teaches it to others will be
rewarded. It is mentioned in a hadīth that you
should love the Arabs for three reasons, namely:
• because Nabī was an Arab,
• the Qur’ān is in Arabic and
• the language of the people of Jannah in
Jannah is Arabic.
(Ad-Durrul Mukhtār)
DOWNLOAD ARABIC TUTOR 4
http://www.learningquranonline.com/quran/Arabic_Tutor-Volume_Four.pdf

ARABIC TUTOR

2012-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Àlī Ibnul Ja’d (Rahimahullāh) narrates that he heard
Shu’bah saying,
“The example of a scholar of hadīth who does not know
Arabic is like a donkey that has a nosebag but there is no
fodder in it.”
(Tafsīr Qurtubī)
DOWNLOAD ARABIC TUTOR-3
http://www.learningquranonline.com/quran/Arabic_Tutor-Volume_Three.pdf