Teachings of ISLAM

A Breif Outlook to Islamic Rulings about Homosexuality

2011-08-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Below are some verses in the Quran that speak against homosexuality. Those people who make a god (ilah) of there own lusts are clearly in the wrong. Prophet Lut spoke against this evil practice of his people. Their only reply was: "Bring us the Wrath of God if thou tellest the truth." They soon found out who was telling the truth when Allah destroyed them all. Let it be known right now that there is NO SUCH THING AS A GAY MUSLIM!!! A Muslim is one who submits himself to the will of Allah. Those who practice this evil have submitted themselves to their own desires and have turned their backs on the clear teachings of Islam. These people will use any kind of rationalization to justify their sinful practices. Be not deceived by the smooth tactics of Shaitan. He will try everything to guide us from the wrong way.

If you have these homosexual desires in you seek refuge in Allah and Allah will help you. Allah has revealed the truth. All praise is for Allah!!!

Verses From Qur'an:

026.165-166 "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)!"

027.055 Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant!

029.028-29 And (remember) Lut: behold, he said to his people: "Ye do commit lewdness, such as no people in Creation (ever) committed before you. Do ye indeed approach men, and cut off the highway?- and practise wickedness (even) in your councils?" But his people gave no answer but this: they said: "Bring us the Wrath of God if thou tellest the truth."

Ahadeeth (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) regarding homosexuality:

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The Prophet (saws) said: A man should not look at the private parts of another man, and a woman should not look at the private parts of another woman. A man should not lie with another man without wearing lower garment under one cover; and a woman should not be lie with another woman without wearing lower garment under one cover. (Abu Dawood)

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (saws) said: A man should not lie with another man and a woman should not lie with another woman without covering their private parts except a child or a father. He also mentioned a third thing which I forgot. (Abu Dawood)

Discussion:

Allah condemns homosexuality explicitly in the Qur'an: "Do you approach the males of humanity, leaving the wives Allah has created for you? Nay, You are a people who transgress." (26:165-166)

It is the sin of the people of Lut and its Arabic word is lutiyya. Liwat is the word for sodomy, under which heading the topic of homosexuality is found in the books of fiqh. Under shari`a both the (same-sex) sodomizer and sodomized are passible of death. The laws of other religions were similar until not so long ago. The Companions considered it so abhorrent that they subjected the culprits to burning, an extreme punishment not meted out for any other offense. As for lesbianism, the Prophet, blessings and Peace upon him said that it consisted in zina (adultery) and so it is subject to the same ruling as zina, which is death for the married, and lashes for the unmarried. Our relaxed attitude in this day and age is purely a product of the times in which we live, where morals have been completely liquefied so that we no longer know the difference between black and white so to speak. If someone was covered with dirt from head to toes and insists that it is his way of life, we would not keep company with them for one second. What about someone who insists on his transgression when even the shari`a of Jews and Christians explicitly condemn it?

Islamic Perspective on Homosexuality

2011-08-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that in Islam homosexuality is considered 'sinful'. Homosexuality as far as Islam is concerned is a profound mistake ( as are all sins if they are not intending to do wrong). Humans are not homosexuals by nature. People become homosexuals because of their environments. Particularly critical is the environment during puberty. Suggestions, ideas & strange dreams are symptoms of confused attempts to understand new and blunt sexual desires and are rashly interpreted as defining someone as being one sexuality or another. If these conclusions are accompanied by actual homosexual acts they are even more strongly reinforced.

Human instincts can be subjected to acts of will. Sexuality is a choice of identity which follows choices of action which follow from choices of what to have sexual fantasies about. Human beings are especially able to control their thoughts, entertaining some and dismissing others.

However, if this free will is not recognised it is easy to get into a cycle of thinking which starts from accepting a hypothesis about yourself as true rather than as a possible choice (even if the options are sometimes difficult).For example: "I am lazy " could be supposed true by someone. When the person who thinks this lies around in bed in the morning he observes this inaction as evidence of the statement "I am lazy." As he repeatedly chooses to do so the evidence mounts and the idea becomes fixed in his identity. It may even have physical manifestations and change his physiology and psychology. This process can easily occur for any idea good or bad about the self which is based largely on evidence resulting from ones own action. The idea may be "I am 'gay'" or "I am content" or "I love eating lots of food". The truth is - you are what you choose to be ; you do what you choose to do ; you think what you choose to think. There may be long time delays between the causing choices and the effects but anyone can change themselves. There are reformed ex-drug addicts, reformed ex-compulsive gamblers and ex-homosexuals. In all these sins prevention is 1000 times better than cure and much easier.

It has been suggested that homosexuality is genetically inherited and that those who have this 'predisposition' are victims of it not sinners of any sort. However, there are other things which are probably genetically influenced to give predispositions to for example gambling or alcoholism .It could also be argued (and has been) that it is programmed into men's genetics for them to be unfaithful to their partner. All these things don't make it the right thing to do, nor does it prevent these things from being regarded as sinful. Drinking alcohol will still be regarded as sinful in Islam even if you have a predisposition to be an alcoholic. The trick as every post alcoholic will tell you is never touch another drop after you quit - it is a long slippery slope - your life is better without it. Once a certain desire is connected to your identity strongly and you get in some way hooked on it, it will always be easy to return to it - you are unable to forget the satisfaction. The difficult task is remembering the bad side of the desire, such as hangovers, lost money, self loathing or a simply sense of loss because of what you missed out on. But if you are to change for the better, you must remember this and the past desires you bound up with your identity can become disconnected from what you choose to become.

What does Islam say about homosexuality?

Taken from the book titled 'Common Questions People Ask About Islam' by Shabir Ally.

Islam teaches that homosexual acts are sinful and punishable by God. This teaching comes not from human beings, but from the Creator of all humans. God tells us in His own words how He punished the people of Lot for their homosexual behaviour.

The story of prophet Lot, on whom be peace, finds mention in several Qur'anic passages, especially Chapter 26:160-175 which reads: "The people of Lut rejected the apostles. Behold, their brother Lut said to them: "Will ye not fear (God)? "I am to you an apostle worthy of all trust. "So fear God and obey me. "No reward do I ask of you for it: my reward is only from the lord of the Worlds. "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, "And leave those whom God has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)!" They said: "If thou desist not, O Lut! thou wilt assuredly be cast out!" He said: "I do detest your doings." "O my Lord! deliver me and my family from such things as they do!" So We delivered him and his family,- all Except an old woman who lingered behind. But the rest We destroyed utterly. We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)! Verily in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe. And verily thy Lord is He, the Exalted in Might Most Merciful."

From these passages we learn that God saved Lot and the righteous ones of his family, and rained on the rest a shower of brimstone, so they were utterly destroyed. This is mentioned in the Qur'an not only for the sake of information, but mainly to serve as a warning to anyone who dares to repeat such acts.

Holy Qur'an Condemns Homosexuality

2011-08-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

References in Qur'an Condemning Homosexuality

There are five references in the Qur'an which have been cited as referring to gay and lesbian behavior. Some obviously deal with effeminate men and "masculine women." The two main references to homosexual behavior are:

"We also sent Lut : He said to his people : "Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds." Qur'an 7:80-81

"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are forward folk." Qur'an 26:165

Both references relate to gay sexual activities; lesbian practices are not mentioned in the Qur'an.

Lut is referred to as "Lot" in the Hebrew Scriptures. This passage is an apparent reference to the activities at Sodom and Gamorah. It seems to imply that there was no homosexual behavior before it first appeared in Sodom. This is a uniquely Islamic concept; it does not appear in Jewish or Christian beliefs. The passage also links the sin of Sodom (the reason for its destruction) to homosexuality.That linkage is contradicted by other verses in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Hadith and homosexuality: The Hadith are collections of sayings attributed to Muhammad. Many Hadiths (ahadith) discuss liwat (sexual intercourse between males). Two examples are:

"When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes."

"Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to." (in reference to the active and passive partners in gay sexual intercourse)

There is at least one mention of lesbian behavior mentioned in the Hadith: "Sihaq (lesbian sexual activity) of women is zina (illegitimate sexual intercourse) among them."

Traditionalist orthodox Muslims generally claim that the Hadith literature contains the authentic sayings of Muhammad. Many liberal Muslims doubt their authenticity. The latter might point out that during the times of the first Caliphs, Muslims did not know what to do with individuals guilty of "liwat/lutiyya". No sahabi (companion) of Muhammad could quote a saying or decision of Muhammad relating to this question.

Treatment of homosexuals within Islam:

According to a pamphlet produced by Al-Fatiha, there is a consensus among Islamic scholars that all humans are naturally heterosexual. 5 Homosexuality is seen by scholars to be a sinful and perverted deviation from the norm. All Islamic schools of thought and jurisprudence consider gay acts to be unlawful. They differ in terms of penalty:

The Hanafite school (currently seen mainly in South and Eastern Asia) teaches that no physical punishment is warranted.

The Hanabalites, (widely followed in the Arab world) teach that severe punishment is warranted.

The Sha'fi school of thought (also seen in the Arab world) requires a minimum of 4 adult male witnesses before a person can be found guilty of a homosexual act. Al-Fatiha estimates that 4,000 homosexuals have been executed in Iran since their revolution in 1979. 10 public executions of homosexuals have been performed in Afghanistan by the Taliban army.

Hasbi Rabbi by Sami Yusuf

2011-08-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

LYRICS:

English

O Allah the Almighty
Protect me and guide me
To your love and mercy
Ya Allah don’t deprive me
From beholding your beauty
O my Lord accept this plea

CHORUS:
Hasbi rabbi jallallah
Ma fi qalbi ghayrullah
My Lord is enough for me, Glory be to Allah
There is nothing in my heart except Allah

CHORUS

Hindi:
Wo tanha kaun hai
Badshah wo kaun hai
Meherba wo kaun hai
Who is the only One?
Who is the King?
Who is the Merciful?

Kya unchi shan hai
Uskey sab nishan hai
Sab dilon ki jan hai
Who is the most praised and benevolent?
Whatever you see in this world is His sign
He’s the love of every soul

CHORUS
Turkish:
Affeder gunahi
Alemin padisahi
Yureklerin penahi
He is the Forgiver of all sins
He is the King of the universe
He is the Refuge of all hearts

Isit Allah derdimi, bu ahlarimi
Rahmeyle, bagisla gunahlarimi
Hayreyle hem aksam hem sabahlarimi
O Allah hear my sorrows and my sighs
Have mercy and pardon my sins
Bless my night and days

CHORUS

Arabic:
Ya rabbal ‘alamin
Salli ‘ala Tahal amin
Fi kulli waqtin wa hin
O Lord of the worlds
Send peace and blessings
On Ta-ha the trustworthy
In every time and at every instant

Imla’ qalbi bil yaqin
Thabbitni ‘ala hadhad din
Waghfir li wal muslimin
Fill my heart with conviction
Make me steadfast on this Religion
And forgive me and all the believers

CHORUS

Nasheed Information:

Artist: Sami Yusuf
Album: My Ummah
Hindi lyrics: Ustadh Mehboob
Turkish lyrics: Ustadh Firooz
Arabic & English lyrics: Bara Kherigi
Melody: Afghani folklore
Copyright: 2005 Awakening

Insha-Allah by Maher Zain

2011-08-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

LYRICS:

Every time you feel like you cannot go on
You feel so lost
That your so alone
All you is see is night
And darkness all around
You feel so helpless
You can’t see which way to go
Don’t despair and never loose hope
Cause Allah is always by your side

Insha Allah x3
Insya Allah you’ll find your way

Everytime you commit one more mistake

You feel you can’t repent
And that its way too late
Your’re so confused, wrong decisions you have made
Haunt your mind and your heart is full of shame

Don’t despair and never loose hope
Cause Allah is always by your side
Insha Allah x3
Insya Allah you’ll find your way
Insha Allah x3
Insya Allah you’ll find your way

Turn to Allah
He’s never far away
Put your trust in Him
Raise your hands and pray

OOO Ya Allah
Guide my steps don’t let me go astray
You’re the only one that showed me the way,
Showed me the way x2
Insyaallah x3
Insya Allah we’ll find the way

Video & Lyrics Information
Album: Thank You Allah

Artist: Maher Zain

Melody: Maher Zain

Lyrics: Maher Zain & Bara Kherigi
Arrangement: Maher Zain & Hamza Namira
Copyright: Awakening Records 2009

Featured Islamic E-Books

2011-06-14T07:45:00.005-07:00

Gog And Magog in Modern Age-Islamic Perspective by Sheikh Imran Hosein

Seek Forgiveness by Shaykh Abdul-Razzaq

Quran and the Modern Science by Dr.Zakir Naik

Prophet Solomon by Harum Yahyah

Essential Duas in the Life of a Muslim by Jamiat-ul-Ulama (KZN)

Featured Islamic Videos

2011-06-14T07:44:00.001-07:00

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Quran and Origin of Universe

2011-05-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of 'smoke' (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition). This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology. Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that 'smoke'. The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that 'smoke' material. God said in the Quran:

Then He turned to the heavens when it was smoke...

[Noble Quran 41:11]

Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same 'smoke' we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity. Then out of this homogeneous 'smoke', they formed and separated from each other. God said in the Quran:

Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?..

[Noble Quran 21:30]

Professor Alfred Kroner is one of the world's well-known geologists. He is a Professor of the Department of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany. He said, "Thinking where Muhammad came from .. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advance technological methods that this is the case." (From 'This is the Truth' [video]). Also he said, "Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin."

What is Jihad?

2011-05-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

Islamic Holy War? Muslims Killing Jews & Christians?

That is what we are told - by the western media. But what is the real truth behind this word JIHAD?

Jihad Explained
by Dr. Amir Ali, Ph.D. (May Allah have Mercy on him)
In the linguistic sense, the Arabic word "jihad" means struggling or striving and applies to any effort exerted by anyone. In this sense, a student struggles and strives to get an education and pass course work; an employee strives to fulfill his/her job and maintain good relations with his/her employer; a politician strives to maintain or increase his [1] popularity with his constituents and so on. The term strive or struggle may be used for/by Muslims as well as non-Muslims; for example, Allah, the One and Only True God says in the Quran:

"We have enjoined on people kindness to parents; but if they STRIVE (Jahadaka) to make you ascribe partners with Me that of which you have no knowledge, then obey them not..." [Noble Quran 29:8; also see 31:15]

In the above two verses of the Quran, it is non-Muslim parents who strive (Jahadaka) to convert their Muslim child back to their religion.
In the West, "jihad" is generally translated as "holy war," a usage the media has popularized. According to Islamic teachings, it is UNHOLY to instigate or start war; however, some wars are inevitable and justifiable. If we translate the words "holy war" back into Arabic, we find "Harbun Muqaddasatu," or for "the holy war," "Al-Harbu Al-Muqaddasatu." WE CHALLENGE any researcher or scholar to find the meaning of "jihad" as holy war in the Quran or authentic Hadith collections or in early Islamic literature. Unfortunately, some Muslim writers and translators of the Quran, the Hadith and other Islamic literature translate the term "jihad" as "holy war," due to the influence of centuries-old Western propaganda. This could be a reflection of the Christian use of the term "Holy War" to refer to the Crusades of a thousand years ago. However, the Arabic words for "war" are "Harb" or "Qital," which are found in the Quran and Hadith.
For Muslims the term JIHAD is applied to all forms of STRIVING and has developed some special meanings over time. The sources of this development are the Quran (the Word of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Quran and the Hadith use the word "jihad" in several different contexts which are given below:
1. RECOGNIZING THE CREATOR AND LOVING HIM MOST:
It is human nature to love what is seen with the eyes and felt with the senses more than the UNSEEN REALITY. The Creator of the Universe and the One God is Allah. He is the Unseen Reality which we tend to ignore and not recognize. The Quran addresses those who claim to be believers:

"O you who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for protectors if they love disbelief over belief; whoever of you takes them for protectors, such are wrong-doers. Say: if your fathers, and your children, and your brethren, and your spouses, and your tribe, and the wealth you have acquired, and business for which you fear shrinkage, and houses you are pleased with are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and STRIVING in His way: then wait till Allah brings His command to pass. Allah does not guide disobedient folk." [Noble Quran 9:23, 24]

It is indeed a struggle to put Allah ahead of our loved ones, our wealth, our worldly ambitions and our own lives. Especially for a non-Muslim who embraces Islam, it may be a tough struggle due to the opposition of his family, peers and society.

2. RESISTING PRESSURE OF PARENTS, PEERS, AND SOCIETY:
Once a person has made up his mind to put the Creator of the Universe above all else, he often comes under intense pressures. It is not easy to resist such pressures and STRIVE to maintain dedication and love of Allah over all else. A person who has turned to Islam from another religion may be subjected to pressures designed to turn him back to the religion of the family. We read in the Quran:

"So obey not the rejecters of faith, but strive (Jahidhum) against them by it (the Quran) with a great endeavor." [Noble Quran 25:52]

3. STAYING ON THE STRAIGHT PATH STEADFASTLY:
Allah says in the Quran:

"And STRIVE (JADIHU) for Allah with the endeavor (JIHADIHI) which is His right. He has chosen you and has not laid upon you in the DEEN (religion) any hardship..." [Noble Quran 22:78]

"And whosoever STRIVES (JAHADA), STRIVES (YUJAHIDU) only for himself, for lo! Allah is altogether independent of the universe." [Noble Quran 29:6]

As for those who strive and struggle to live as true Muslims whose lives are made difficult due to persecution by their opponents, they are advised to migrate to a more peaceful and tolerant land and continue with their struggle in the cause of Allah. Allah says in the Quran:

"Lo! As for those whom the angels take (in death) while they wronged themselves, (the angels) will ask: 'In what you were engaged?' They will way: 'We were oppressed in the land.' (The angels) will say: 'Was not Allah's earth spacious that you could have migrated therein?'" [Noble Quran 4:97]

"Lo! Those who believe, and those who emigrate (to escape persecution) and STRIVE (JAHADU) in the way of Allah, these have hope of Allah's mercy..." [Noble Quran 2:218]

Allah tests the believers in their faith and their steadfastness:

"Or did you think that you would enter Paradise while yet Allah knows not those of you who really STRIVE (JAHADU), nor knows those (of you) who are steadfast." [Noble Quran 3:142]

"And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and fruits; but give tidings to the steadfast." [Noble Quran 2:155]

We find that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his clan were boycotted socially and economically for three years to force him to stop his message and compromise with the pagans but he resisted and realized a moral victory [2].
4. STRIVING FOR RIGHTEOUS DEEDS:
Allah declares in the Quran:

"As for those who STRIVE (JAHADU) in Us (the cause of Allah), We surely guide them to Our paths, and lo! Allah is with the good doers." [Noble Quran 29:69]

When we are faced with two competing interests, it becomes jihad to choose the right one, as the following Hadith exemplify:

"Ayshah, wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, we see jihad as the best of deeds, so shouldn't we join it?' He replied, 'But the best of jihad is a perfect Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).'" [Sahih Al-Bukhari #2784]

At another occasion, a man asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

"'Should I join the jihad?' He asked, 'Do you have parents?' The man said, 'Yes!' The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Then strive by serving them!'" [Sahih Al-Bukhari #5972]

Yet another man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him):

"'What kind of jihad is better?' He replied, 'A word of truth in front of an oppressive ruler!'" [Sunan Al-Nasa'i #4209]

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "...the MUJAHID (one who carries out jihad) is he who STRIVES against himself for the sake of Allah, and the MUHAJIR (one who emigrates) is he who abandons evil deeds and sin." [Sahih Ibn Hibban #4862]

5. HAVING COURAGE AND STEADFASTNESS TO CONVEY THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM:
The Quran narrates the experiences of a large number of Prophets and good people who suffered a great deal trying to convey the message of Allah to mankind. For examples, see the Quran 26:1-190, 36:13-32. In the Quran, Allah specifically praises those who strive to convey His message:

"Who is better in speech than one who calls (other people) to Allah, works righteous, and declares that he is from the Muslims." [Noble Quran 41:33]

Under adverse conditions it takes great courage to remain a Muslim, declare oneself to be a Muslim and call others to Islam. We read in the Quran:

"The (true) believers are only those who believe in Allah and his messenger and afterward doubt not, but STRIVE with their wealth and their selves for the cause of Allah. Such are the truthful." [Noble Quran 49:15]

6. DEFENDING ISLAM AND THE COMMUNITY:
Allah declares in the Quran:

"To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to defend themselves), because they are wronged - and verily, Allah is Most Powerful to give them victory - (they are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right - (for no cause) except that they say, 'Our Lord is Allah'..." [Noble Quran 22:39-40]

The Quran permits fighting to defend the religion of Islam and the Muslims. This permission includes fighting in self-defense and for the protection of family and property. The early Muslims fought many battles against their enemies under the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) or his representatives. For example, when the pagans of Quraysh brought armies against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Muslims fought to defend their faith and community [3]. The Quran adds:

"Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress limits. Lo! Allah loves not aggressors. ...And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against transgressors." [Noble Quran 2:190, 193]

7. HELPING ALLIED PEOPLE WHO MAY NOT BE MUSLIM:
In the late period of the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) life, the tribe of Banu Khuza'ah became his ally. They were living near Makkah which was under the rule of the pagan Quraysh, Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) own tribe. The tribe of Banu Bakr, an ally of Quraysh, with the help of some elements of Quraysh, attacked Banu Khuza'ah invoked the treaty and demanded Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to come to their help and punish Quraysh. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) organized a campaign against Quraysh of Makkah which resulted in the conquest of Makkah which occurred without any battle [4].
8. BANISHING THOSE WHO ACT TREACHEROUSLY:
Allah orders the Muslims in the Quran:

"If you fear treachery from any group, throw back (their treaty) to them, (so as to be) on equal terms. Lo! Allah loves not the treacherous." [Noble Quran 8:58]

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) undertook a number of armed campaigns to remove treacherous people from power and their lodgings. He had entered into pacts with several Jewish tribes, however, some of them proved themselves treacherous. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) launched armed campaigns against these tribes, defeated and exiled them from Medina and its surroundings [5].
9. DEFENDING THROUGH PREEMPTIVE STRIKES:
Indeed, it is difficult to mobilize people to fight when they see no invaders in their territory; however, those who are charged with responsibility see dangers ahead of time and must provide leadership. The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (peace be upon him), had the responsibility to protect his people and the religion he established in Arabia. Whenever he received intelligence reports about enemies gathering near his borders he carried out preemptive strikes, broke their power and dispersed them [6]. Allah ordered Muslims in the Quran:

"Fighting is prescribed upon you, and you dislike it. But it may happen that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that you love a thing which is bad for you. And Allah knows and you know not." [Noble Quran 2:216]

10. GAINING FREEDOM TO INFORM, EDUCATE AND CONVEY THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM IN AN OPEN AND FREE ENVIRONMENT:
Allah declares in the Quran:

"They ask you (Muhammad) concerning fighting in the Sacred Month. Say, 'Fighting therein is a grave (offense) but graver is it in the sight of Allah to prevent access to the path of Allah, to deny Him, to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and drive out its inhabitants. Persecution is worse than killing. Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith, if they can..." [Noble Quran 2:217]

"And those who, when an oppressive wrong is inflicted on them, (are not cowed but) fight back." [Noble Quran 42:39]

To gain this freedom, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

"STRIVE (JAHIDU) against the disbelievers with your hands and tongues." [Sahih Ibn Hibban #4708]

The life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was full of STRIVING to gain the freedom to inform and convey the message of Islam. During his stay in Makkah he used non-violent methods and after the establishment of his government in Madinah, by the permission of Allah, he used armed struggle against his enemies whenever he found it inevitable.
11. FREEING PEOPLE FROM TYRANNY:
Allah admonishes Muslims in the Quran:

"And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? - Men, women, and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You, one who will protect; and raise for us from You, one who will help.'" [Noble Quran 4:75]

The mission of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was to free people from tyranny and exploitation by oppressive systems. Once free, individuals in the society were then free to chose Islam or not. Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) successors continued in his footsteps and went to help oppressed people. For example, after the repeated call by the oppressed people of Spain to the Muslims for help, Spain was liberated by Muslim forces and the tyrant rulers removed. After the conquest of Syria and Iraq by the Muslims, the Christian population of Hims reportedly said to the Muslims:
"We like your rule and justice far better than the state of oppression and tyranny under which we have been living." [7]
The defeated rulers of Syria were Roman Christians, and Iraq was ruled by Zoroastrian Persians.
WHAT SHOULD MUSLIMS DO WHEN THEY ARE VICTORIOUS?
Muslims should remove tyranny, treachery, bigotry, and ignorance and replace them with justice and equity. We should provide truthful knowledge and free people from the bondage of 'associationism' (SHIRK, or multiple gods), prejudice, superstition and mythology. Muslims remove immorality, fear, crime, exploitation and replace them with divine morality, peace and education. The Quran declares:

"Lo! Allah commands you that you restore deposits to their owners, and if you judge between mankind that you judge justly. Lo! It is proper that Allah admonishes you. Lo! Allah is ever Hearer, Seer." [Noble Quran 4:58]

"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah's witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to Piety and fear Allah. And Allah is well acquainted with all that you do." [Noble Quran 5:8]

"And of those whom We have created there is a nation who guides with the Truth and establishes justice with it." [Noble Quran 7:181]

"Lo! Allah enjoins justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbids lewdness and abomination and wickedness. He exhorts you in order that you may take heed." [Noble Quran 16:90]

"Those who, if We give them power in the land, establish prescribed prayers (SALAH) and pay the poor-due (ZAKAH) and enjoin right conduct and forbid evil. And with Allah rests the end (and decision) of (all) affairs." [Noble Quran 22:41]

DID ISLAM SPREAD BY FORCE, SWORDS OR GUNS?
The unequivocal and emphatic answer is NO! The Quran declares:

"Let there be no compulsion (or coercion) in the religion (Islam). The right direction is distinctly clear from error." [Noble Quran 2:256]

Here is a good study of the question of the spread of Islam by a Christian missionary, T. W. Arnold:
"...of any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of action, they might have swept away Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestantism penal in France, or the Jews were kept out of England for 350 years. The Eastern Churches in Asia were entirely cut off from communion with the rest of Christiandom throughout which no one would have been found to lift a finger on their behalf, as heretical communions. So that the very survival of these Churches to the present day is a strong proof of the generally tolerant attitude of Mohammedan [sic] governments towards them" [8].
Islam does not teach, nor do Muslims desire, conversion of any people for fear, greed, marriage or any other form of coercion.
In conclusion, jihad in Islam is STRIVING IN THE WAY OF ALLAH by pen, tongue, hand, media and, if inevitable, with arms. However, jihad in Islam does not include striving for individual or national power, dominance, glory, wealth, prestige or pride.
References
[1]. For the sake of simplicity and easy reading, masculine pronouns have been used throughout this brochure. No exclusion of females is intended.
[2]. Haykal, M. H., THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD, Tr. Isma'il R. Faruqi, American Trust Publications, 1976, p. 132.
[3]. Haykal, pp. 216, 242, 299 and 414 for the Battles of Badr, Uhud, Al-Khandaq and Hunayn, respectively.
[4]. Haykal, p. 395 for the conquest of Makkah.
[5]. Haykal, pp. 245, 277, 311 and 326 for campaigns against the tribes of Banu Qaynuqa', Banu Al-Nadir, Banu Quraydhah and Banu Lihyan, respectively. Also, see p. 283 for the Battle of Dhat Al-Riqa'.
[6]. Haykal, pp. 284, 327, 366, 387, 393, 443 and 515 for the Battles of Dawmat Al-Jandal, Banu Al-Mustaliq, Khaybar, Mu'tah, Dhat Al-Salasil, Tabuk and the Campaign of Usamah Ibn Zaid, respectively.
[7]. Hitti, Philip K., HISTORY OF THE ARABS, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1970, p. 153.
[8]. Arnold, Sir Thomas W. THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, A HISTORY OF THE PROPAGATION OF THE MUSLIM FAITH, Westminister A. Constable & Co., London, 1896, p. 80.

Jihad Explained (Struggle)

2011-05-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Islam and Terrorism

Dr. Bilal Philips

Islam Spread By The Sword: The common image of Islam being spread by an Arab on camel back riding in off the desert with a Quran in one hand and a scimitar (a curved sword) in the other offering a choice of either accepting Islam or losing one's head.

As mentioned earlier under the issue of apostasy, forcible conversion is prohibited in Islam. The religion did not spread by the sword. There were military confrontations between the Muslim state and the existing world powers of Rome and Persia. However, the areas conquered were put under Muslim administration and the populations were free to maintain their own beliefs. Muslims ruled Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon from the 8th century and sizeable Christian communities continued to exist over the past 13 centuries. Muslims ruled Spain for 700 years and India for 1000 years without the vast majority of the population converting to Islam.

The largest Muslim country in the world today is Indonesia, having over 200 million citizens, never saw a Muslim soldier. Islam spread there and in Malaysia and Philippines by trade. That was also the case of Islam's spread in West African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Chad and Niger. Also, Islam is the fastest growing religion in America today with anywhere between 300 and 500 converts daily. This is taking place without any soldiers or even missionaries.

Terrorism

Terrorism is defined by the American government as the threat or the use of violence to advance a political cause by individuals or groups, whether acting for or in opposition to established governmental authority, when such actions are intended to shock, stun, or intimidate a target group wider than the immediate victims. Actually such a general definition will include all wars of liberation from the American War of Independence to the French Revolution. The worst aspect and perhaps the most common feature of terrorism is the unleashing of violence against innocent civilians.

The State of Israel is the most recent example of the establishment of a state by terrorism. It was established by Jewish terrorist groups, the most infamous of which was the Stern Gang.

The term "Muslim terrorist" is used to label Islam as a terrorist religion. However, it is a misnomer. When IRA bombers struck, they were not labeled as "Catholic terrorists" even though the struggle is between Catholic Ireland and Protestant Northern Ireland supported by Protestant England. Likewise, when Timothy McVeigh blew up the CIA headquarters in Oklahoma City in 1995 killing 168 people, he was not labeled as a "Christian terrorist", though he was Christian and a terrorist. In fact the "Muslim terrorist" label was attached to the activities of the PLO who were a mixture of Muslims, Christians and communists. The PLO is not, nor was it ever, a Muslim organization. It is a nationalist organization working for the establishment of a secular Palestinian state.

The face of terrorism can be seen in the extremist movements of Egypt. Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Group) and Jihad Movements provided shock troops for a bitter struggle with Egypt's security forces that caused about 1,200 deaths from 1992 to 1997 but failed to topple Husni Mubarak's secular rule. The Gama'a claimed responsibility for the Luxor massacre of tourists in November 1997. However, in March 1997 its exiled leaders declared a unilateral truce and renounced violence. The philosophy of these movements and their program of action have been loudly condemned by leading Muslim scholars internationally as well as local Egyptian scholars.

The case of Algeria is somewhat more complex. However, it is sufficient to say that the Islamic Salvation Front (F.I.S.) - which was poised to win the elections cancelled by the Algerian military - renounced violent struggle over a year ago, yet the slaughter of innocents still continues. From the beginning of the civilian slaughters, the F.I.S. disclaimed them and identified the G.I.A. as the main culprit. Recent reports indicate that the G.I.A. was created by government secret service agents to discredit the F.I.S.'s military struggle by alienating them from the masses through atrocities.

Islam opposes any form of indiscriminate violence. The Quran states:

"Anyone who has killed another except in retaliation, it is as if he has killed the whole of humankind." [Noble Quran 5:32]

There are strict rules regulating how war may be conducted. Prophet Muhammad forbade the killing of women, children, and old people and the destruction of Churches and Synagogues or farms. Of course, if women, children or the elderly bear arms they may be killed in self-defense.

Jihad

Usually translated by the Western media as "holy war" is a greatly misunderstood principle in Islam. There is no term in Arabic which means "holy war". War is not "holy" in Islam it is.

The meaning of Jihad is "striving" or "struggle". It is used in Islam to refer to a variety of different efforts enjoined upon the believers. Striving to keep God and His Messenger more important than loved ones, wealth and one's own self is the most basic form of Jihad prescribed on every Muslim. The Prophet said, "No one has truly believed until Allah and His Messenger becomes more beloved than everything." Doing the righteous deeds prescribed by God is itself a Jihad. The Prophet was reported to have said, "The best Jihad is the perfect Hajj." On another occasion, someone asked the Prophet if he should join the Jihad. The Prophet responded by asking him whether his parents were still alive and when he replied that they were, he said, "Make Jihad by serving them."

Defending Islam and the Muslim community is a primary aspect of the physical Jihad which involves taking up arms against an enemy. God states in the Quran:

"Permission to fight has been given to those who have been attacked because they are wronged. And indeed, Allah is Most Powerful." [Noble Quran 22:39]

"Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress the limits. Indeed Allah does not love transgressors." [Noble Quran 2:190]

Muslims are also enjoined to fight against tyranny. The Quran states:

"Why shouldn't you fight in the cause of Allah and for those oppressed because they are weak. Men, women and children who cry out, Our Lord! Rescue us from this town of oppressors'" [Noble Quran 4:75]

Moral & Ethical Values in Islam

2011-04-30T06:17:00.000-07:00


Self Development The word “morality” comes from the Latin word moralitas meaning “manner, character, and proper behavior”. Morality generally refers to a code of conduct, that an individual, group or society hold as authoritative, in distinguishing right from wrong. Such an ideal code of conduct is often espoused in preference to other alternatives. Islam as a comprehensive way of life encompasses a complete moral system that is an important aspect of its world-view. We live in an age where good and evil are often looked at as relative concepts. Islam however, holds that moral positions are not relative, and instead, defines a universal standard by which actions may be deemed moral or immoral. Islam’s moral system is striking in that it not only defines morality, but also guides the human race in how to achieve it, at both an individual as well as a collective level. Basic Principles in Islamic Morality The Islamic moral system stems from its primary creed of belief in One God as the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. Islam considers the human race to be a part of God’s creation, and as His subjects. From an Islamic perspective, the purpose of human life is to worship God, by leading this worldly life in harmony with the Divine Will, and thereby achieve peace in this world, and everlasting success in the life of the hereafter. Muslims look to the Glorious Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet as their moral guides. The Glorious Qur’an says: “It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.” [Al-Qur’an 2:177] This verse underscores the Islamic belief that righteousness and piety is based, before all else on a true and sincere faith. The key to virtue and good conduct is a strong relation with God, who sees all, at all times and everywhere. He knows the secrets of the hearts and the intentions behind all actions. Therefore, Islam enjoins moral behavior in all circumstances; God is aware of each one when no one else is. It may be possible to deceive the world, but it’s not possible to deceive the Creator. The love and continuous awareness of God and the Day of Judgment enables man to be moral in conduct and sincere in intentions, with devotion and dedication. The Glorious Qur’an also says: Say: the things that my Lord hath indeed forbidden are: shameful deeds, whether open or secret; sins and trespasses against truth or reason; assigning of partners to Allah, for which He hath given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which ye have no knowledge. [Al-Qur’an 7:33] It is interesting that the Qur’an refers to “sins and trespasses against truth or reason”. It is an indication of God’s blessing to every human being, of an innate moral sense. Such a moral sense, when uncorrupted by family or society, is what leads people to commendable acts of virtue. Islam aims to enhance and amplify the moral sense in every human being and adorn the individual’s character with the noblest of virtues. The Islamic moral principles therefore, appeal naturally to the human intellect, while elevating the pursuit of morality to the level of worship. This is because Islam holds every action that is done with the goal of attaining of God’s pleasure to be worship. Morality and the individual The guiding principle for the behavior of a Muslim is what the Qur’an refers to as Al `Amal Assalih or virtuous deeds. This term covers all deeds, not just the outward acts of worship. Some of the most primary character traits expected of a Muslim are piety, humility and a profound sense of accountability to God. A Muslim is expected to be humble before God and with other people. Islam also enjoins upon every Muslim to exercise control of their passions and desires. Islam warns against vanity and excessive attachment to the ephemeral pleasures of this world. While it is easy to allow the material world to fill our hearts, Islam calls upon human beings to keep God in their hearts and to use the material world in moderation and in accordance with God’s guidance. The Glorious Qur’an says: “The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, but only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart” [Al-Quran: 26:88-89] Charity is one of the most commendable acts in Islam. In fact, Zakah, the annual charity that is obligatory on every Muslim who has accrued wealth above a certain level, is one of the pillars of Islam. Gratitude in prosperity, patience in adversity, and the courage to uphold the truth, even when inconvenient to oneself, are just some of the qualities that every Muslim is encouraged to cultivate. Morality and Society For an individual as well as a society, morality is one of the fundamental sources of strength, just as immorality is one of the main causes of decline. While respecting the rights of the individual within a broad Islamic framework, Islam is also concerned with the moral health of the society. Thus, everything that leads to the welfare of the individual and the society is morally good in Islam, and whatever is harmful is morally bad. Given its importance to a healthy and just society, Islam supports morality and matters that lead to the enhancement of morality, and stands in the way of corruption and matters that lead to the spreading of corruption. The injunctions and prohibitions in Islam are to be seen in this light Conclusion Morality in Islam addresses every aspect of a Muslim’s life, from greetings to international relations. It is universal in its scope and in its applicability. A Muslim is expected to not only be virtuous, but to also enjoin virtue. He/She must not only refrain from evil and vice, but must also actively engage in asking people to eschew them. In other words, they must not only be morally healthy, but must also contribute to the moral health of society as a whole. The Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) summarized the conduct of a Muslim when he said: “My Sustainer has given me nine commands: to remain conscious of God, whether in private or in public; to speak justly, whether angry or pleased; to show moderation both when poor and when rich, to reunite friendship with those who have broken off with me; to give to him who refuses me; that my silence should be occupied with thought; that my looking should be an admonition; and that I should command what is right.” Reference: Morality and Ethics in Islam

Last Sermon of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

2011-04-30T06:04:00.000-07:00


This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah Year 632 A.C (10 A.H.) in the ‘Uranah valley of Mount Arafat’ in Mecca. After praising and thanking Allah the Prophet (saws) said: “O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today. O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that he will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligations shall henceforth be waived. Your capital is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn ‘Abd’al Muttalib [the Prophet's uncle] be waived. Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that i waive is that arising from the murder of Rabiah ibn al Harithibn. O People, the unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calender in order to make permissible that which Allah forbade, and to forbid that which Allah has made permissible. With Allah the months are twelve in number. Four of them are holy, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Shaban. Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope of that he will be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under Allah’s trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right, then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste. O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to. All mankind is from Adam and Eve, 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 a white – except by piety and good action. 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. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware: do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur’an and my Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray. All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O Allah, that I have conveyed Your message to Your people.” Reference:Why Islam? > Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)

Truth about Prophet Suleman(A.S), Jinns, Magic and Relevance to Masjid Al-Aqsa

2011-03-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

The following videos have been shared with our readers and viewers in order to advocate the Truth about Prophet Suleman(A.S), Jinns, Magic and Relevance to Masjid Al-Aqsa.
The viewers can easily assess what are the motives of Jews behind the war in Palestine where the kingdom of Hazrat Suleman (A.S) existed
The audio extract is from Life of Prophets Vol 3 and 4, Disc 9 The Kingdom of Suleman

(Part 1/4)

(Part 2/4)

(Part 3/4)

(Part 4/4)

The Signs of the Age of Fitnah (Trials) Part 2

2011-03-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

What Trials and Tribulations are expected to break out in the future?:

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has, therefore, informed the future generations of the events that shall occur in their times. Accordingly all books of Ahadith contain permanent chapters on Trials. In the Chapters all such Ahadith have been collated in which the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has informed of, and warned the people against, the tribulations expected to occur in the future. The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has said in a Hadith:

In the future trials will fall down into your houses like the falling down of the drops of rain water.

These trials have been compared to the drops of rain water because the trials will fall down on your houses in an unbroken succession one after another.

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has said in another Hadith:

Very soon trials and tribulations will appear which will be like dark nights.

In other words, just as a man is not able to find his way in dark nights in the same way during these blinding trials people will not know what to do and where to go Those trials will encompass the entire society, leaving no place of shelter for the people. The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) also taught the people a supplication to find refuge with Allah from these trials:

O Allah, we seek refuge with You from these apparent or hidden trials. This supplication was included in the Prophet's daily routine.

What is a Trial?:

We should now try to understand the meaning of (Trial). we should also try to find out the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) for all of us to obey in order to remain safe from the harms of these trials. We are not aware of the real implications of this term, although we use it from morning till evening. This word has also been used in the Holy Qur'an many times. It has been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an at one place meaning that:

"... The creation of a trial is more grievous sin than murder...."

The meaning of Trial:

The word (fitna or fitnah ) is an Arabic word the dictionary meaning of which is to find out the purity or impurity of precious metals like gold or silver by melting it on fire. Melting the metal on fire discloses the reality. For the same reason, it is also used to mean testing and examining something. Thus, a second meaning of this word is "trial". When hardships and misfortunes descend on a man his real worth and character are tested by his conduct and behavior under these trying situations. It is observed whether he bears these trying hours, days with patience makes a fuss and raises hues and cries. this testing is also called (Trial).

The word (Trial) as used in the Ahadith:

The word (Trial) has been used in the Ahadith to express a situation at any time. When the truth is obscure and it becomes very difficult to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong and truth and falsehood. When such a situation arises, it is said that it is a time of trial. It is also a time of trial when sins, crimes and disobedience become rampant. In the same way to regard falsehood as truth and truth as falsehood and to put forward something as a proof which is not proof; these are forms of (Trial). For example, if you tell a person that such an act is unlawful and strictly prohibited, the person shall reply that the entire society, the whole world including Saudi Arabia is doing this act. In our times it has become a common practice that when an objection is raised to any act, the doer at once replies that he has seen the same act being done in the Saudi Arabia. This is also a (trial) to put forward some act or practice as a proof which is not at all a proof. In the same way we find that many groups and parties have sprung up in the city, each with its slogan and tenet and it is difficult to decide which is on the right path and which is on the wrong path. Truth and falsehood have thus become mixed up. All these fall within the definition of (Trial).

A quarrel between two parties is a (Trial):

It is also a case of trial when two Muslims or two Muslim groups fall out with each other so violently that they are ready to shed blood and commit murder and it is not known which of the two is right and which is wrong.

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) is reported to have said in a Hadith

When two Muslims begin to fight With each other with their swords, the murderer as well as the murdered will both enter Hell-Fire.

One of the Companions (RA) said to the Holy Prophet O Messenger of Allah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) It is understandable that the murderer shall go to Hell for murdering a Muslim, but why shall the murdered shall enter Hell? The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) replied, saying: The murdered will enter Hell because he too had come out to fight with the intention of murdering his opponent but he did not succeed in his intention but his opponent succeeded in his intention. None of the two was fighting in the cause of Allah, but worldly benefit in the form of money or some political benefit. Both will, therefore, enter Hell.

Killing and robbing are Trial:

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) said in another Hadith:

A time will come upon the people when there will be a great deal of a (confusion/disturbance). on being asked about he (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) answered: It is killing and robbing, i.e., in those days these crimes will increase by leaps and bounds and human life will become meaner than that of mosquitoes and flies.

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has said in another Hadith:

A time will come upon the people in which the killer will not know why he killed the victim nor will the victim killed know why he was killed.

Look at the conditions obtaining today in the society which fully confirms the truth of the Holy Prophet's (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) prediction. This is as if the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) was seeing these conditions with his own eyes.

In the olden days it was not known who was the killer, but it could be known why the victim was killed, i.e., he was killed by robbers for robbing the victim of his money? or by enemies. Anyway, the cause of the murder became known. What is happening now-a-days? A man is sitting or standing in front of his door, he has no enemies, he is not involved in politics yet some hooligan shoots at him and kills him without any apparent cause. The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has predicted all these events in clear words:

A Hadith about the Holy City of Makkah:

It is narrated by Sayyidn'a Abdullah bin Umar (RA) that the Holy Propeht (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) said:

Until recently the people were not able to understand the real meaning of this Hadith, but now the meaning has become quite clear to them. The hadith may be translated as under:

When the belly of Makkah will be cleft open and through it will be dug out river-like passage (i.e. tunnels) and the buildings of the Holy City of Makkah will rise higher than its mountains when you observe these signs, then understand that the time of ? (Trial) is near at hand.

The cleaving asunder of the belly of the Holy City of Makkah:

This Hadith has continued on records of the last fourteen centuries. The commentators of the Hadith felt baffled, while explaining this Hadith as they could not understand how belly of' the Holy City of Makkah could be cleft asunder nor could they understand the meaning of digging out river like passages. It was really very difficult to imagine the sense of all these predictions. But by seeing today's Makkah one feels that the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) made these predictions, as if he e was actually seeing with his own eyes today's Makkahtul-Mukarramah. Previously the commentators (Muhaddithin) interpreted this Hadith by saying that in their times Makkah was a dry and mountainous city, but in some future age Allah may cause rivers and canals to flow in that city. However today one feels by seeing these (underground) tunnels how the belly of Makkah has been cleft asunder:

Rising of building higher than mountains:

The other sentence which the Holy Prophet spoke out in this Hadith is that the buildings of the Holy City of Makkah will rise higher than its mountains. A few years ago none could imagine that buildings would be built in Makkah which would rise higher than its mountains, as the city was surrounded by mountains on all sides. But go to Makkah and see for yourself how (high-rise) buildings higher than mountains have been built there.

It appears from this Hadith, as if fourteen centuries ago the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) had seen these changes and conditions with his own eyes. All these things had been shown to him clearly through revelations and light of Prophetic knowledge which Allah had granted him The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has clearly mentioned one by one what trials and tribulations the Muslims will have to face in the times to come. He has also mentioned simultaneously what the Muslims should do at such a time.

The present era in the light of the Ahadith:

Every Muslim should keep in view those Ahadith in which the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) a has predicted the future events. Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Ludhyanawi Sahib (RA) has compiled a book titled "The Present Era in the Light of the Ahadith" He has tried to gather together in this book all the ahadith about the Trials. He has included in this book a Hadith in which the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has mentioned seventy-two events which will occur during the Era of the Trials. I advise you to read them one by one and see how these events exactly agree to those taking place in our times and in our environments.

The Signs of the Age of Fitnah (Trials) Part 1

2011-03-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

All praise is for Allah. We praise Him and seek His help and seek His forgiveness and believe in Him and rely on Him. We seek refuge with Him from the evils of our souls and from the vices of our deeds. There is none to misguide him whom He guides and there is none to guide him whom He lets go astray. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah the One Who has no partner. We also bear witness that our sire, and our authority and our Prophet and our Master, Muhammad (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) is His servant and His Messenger. May Almighty Allah have mercy on him, his household and bless and salute them all in great abundance.

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) was commissioned as a Prophet for all peoples of the world till the Day of Judgment. To day I want to say something briefly about such a theme of the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) as is very necessary today but is generally overlooked. Almighty Allah sent the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) to this world as the last of the Prophets (Alaihe Salatu Wassallam), thus finalizing with him (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) the chain of Prophet hood. Another distinction which Allah bestowed upon him (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) over other Prophets, is that the latter Prophets (Alaihe Salatu Wassallam) were sent to some particular people residing in a particular land in a particular age. Their teachings and preaching were-confined to territory. For example, Sayyidn'a Moosa (Moses) (Alaihe Salatu Wassallam) sent to the Children of Israel, living in Egypt, his prophet hood was limited only to this community and this territory As against this, the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) was sent to the entire world and entire humanity and for all times till the Day of Judgment. The Holy Qu’ran bears witness to this fact:

And We have not sent you (O Muhammad) but as a bringer of good tidings and as a Warner to all mankind..(34:28 )

The words of all mankind' imply all human wherever and in whatever age they are living. This clearly that his prophet hood was not confined only to Arabian Peninsulas nor to any particular age. His prophet hood encompassed all periods and ages till Day of Judgment.

His teachings and injunctions shall remain valid, effective and in force till Judgment. As already pointed out his (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) teaching are not confined to any particular age and apply to every walk of life. These teachings consist of two aspects:

prescribes the rules of the Shari 'ah concerning lawful, unlawful, desirable, permissible, and other aspect.

predicts the events which will confront the Ummah in the times to come, and how the Ummah should tackle these events.

Prediction about future events:

This second aspect is also a very important part of the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) in which, peeping into the future through the light of his Prophethood, he (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) has informed his Ummah (all human being including his followers) of many future events and the ways how the members of his Ummah should tackle these events, so as to remain on the right path of Deen. Today I want to say something on this second aspect of the Prophet's teachings.

Anxiety for the salvation of the Ummah:

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) always remained concerned about the good of his Ummah. It occurs in a narrative:

The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) always remained drowned deep in some worry, grief.

What was the cause of this anxiety and grief? it was indeed not about collecting worldly resources, nor about improving his own honor and status among his community. The grief under which he was pining was about how to save from Hell-Fire the people to whom he had been sent; how to divert them from the path of error and to guide them to the straight path of right guidance. Finding His Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) drowned in such grief Allah has frequently revealed verses to advise the Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) to give up such pining and fretting. Thus, Allah has said:

It may be that you will torment your soul that they do not become believers. (18:6)

This verse indicates how concerned the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) was about the right guidance of his Ummah on to the path of Eeman (Faith). He (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) is reported to have said in a Hadith (his saying or action) :

My example is like that man who kindles fires and seeing the fire, the moths begin to fall on the flames. The man tries to keep the moths away from the flames to save them from being burnt in the flames. In the same way I am (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) trying to save you from Hell-Fire by holding you back by your waists, but you are rushing into the Fire.

So concerned did the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) feel about the right guidance of his Ummah, including also those who were yet to come to the world!

-----Continued in Part 2-----

(Extract from "ISLAHI KHUTBAAT" Discourses on Islamic Way of Life by Justice Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani English translation by Iqbal Hussain Ansari Published by Darul Isha'at Karachi Pakistan. Based on two hours of urdu audio lectures)

Video Information about The AntiChrist (Dajjal) Parts 1-4

2011-03-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

The Dajjal (Part-1 of 4 from Series GOG and MAGOG of BUCHWACKK PRODUCTIONS)

The Dajjal (Part-2 of 4 from Series GOG and MAGOG of BUCHWACKK PRODUCTIONS)

The Dajjal (Part-3 of 4 from Series GOG and MAGOG of BUCHWACKK PRODUCTIONS)

The Dajjal (Part-4 of 4 from Series GOG and MAGOG of BUCHWACKK PRODUCTIONS)

Ikhlaqun-Nabi (P.B.U.H) Part-1

2011-02-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

As Islamic teachings are distinguished among that of all other religions due to their comprehsiveness so is the sacred life of the Final Messenger of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) among that of other Prophets. Every aspect of life of Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) is safe and complete. Not only the teachings but a set example of each and every single practice are the marked features of life of Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH). In Quran it is stated as

" And verily O Muhammad (P.B.UH) you are on the exalted (standard of) character ". (Al-Qalam,V:4)

Every purity and quality one can imagine of can easily be found in the character of Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH). The generosity, magnificence, chastity, morality infact everything that is reflected from his life is at its highest standards. Following is brief overview to some of qualities of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.UH)'s character.

1. Truthfulness (Sidq)

Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) always spoke truth. In his routine dealings, business, trade and everything else he always held the high standard of truthfulness. That was why he was known by the noble name "Sadiq" meaning "Truth speaking person" since his childhood days. His worst enemies also admitted his truthfulness. Once Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) called the people of Quraish while standing on Mount Safa. Hearing him all the chieves of the tribe gathered underneath the mountain. Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) uttered " if i say that forge of your enemies is behind this mountain, would you accept it ?". All the chieves called out one voice " Yes, because always you speak truth! ".

2. Honesty and Trustworthiness (Amanat-o-Dyanat)

Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) was renouned of his honesty and trustworthiness since the days of his childhood. The people of Makkah used to call him "Ameen" meaning "trustworthy". Quresh-e-Makkah were so much inspired of his honesty that they kept their money and wealth in his trustiship because they knew that Muhammad (P.B.U.H) would always keep their trust and amanat secure and responsibly. It was his honesty and trustworthiness that became the base of his marriage (Nikah) with Hazrat Khadijah (R.A). Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) always made true promoises and commitments. His trade companion Abdullah narrates that once we had a commitment of business issue, partially it was done and I said that I would complete on return from home, I forgot on reaching home, after three days I remembered my promise and rushed back to Rasulullah (P.B.U.H). I found him sitting, waiting for my return at same place where I made the contract with him.

In short companions and rivals of Rasulullah (P.B.U.H) were all admirers of his honesty and Trustworthiness.

3. Justice and Fairplay (Adl-o-Masawaat)

Holy Prophet Muhammad (P.B.UH) always holded the right standards of justice for everyone without discrimination of relatives, unknown, wealthy or poor. Even the rivals also had firm trust in his Justice and fairness. Uptill he lived in Makkah, the residents there always took their disputes and conflicts to Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) for the final verdict. In Madina, jews and other enemies also gave the decisions of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.UH) the first and final priority. A well known example of his Justice and fairplay unto himself is that when a lender came to Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) and started demanding his debt return with insane behaviour. Hazrat Umer (R.A) stood to calm him down furiously. Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) stopped Hazrat Umer (R.A) and said the golden words: " Umer (R.A)! it might have been more reasonable that you had advised me of returning th debt and of patience to him (lender) ".Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) considered all humans equal. He never gave any superiority to any body in accord with his race,caste,color or creed. In his last Sermon of Hajja-tul-Wada, Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.UH) said : "Among you no arab has superiority over a non-arab nor a non arab over an arab, neither a fair over dark nor does dark over any fair. The standard of superiority among you is Taqwa (God fearing) only".

Seventy-two (72) signs of Trials and Tribulations

2011-02-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Sayyidn'a Huzaifah (RA) has narrated that the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) predicted that seventy-two events shall occur in the period close to the Day of Judgment. These are:

(1) People will begin to miss their prayers and pay no attention to them: If this is said in our times, there will be nothing surprising in it because the majority of the Muslim does not offer their prayers. The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) made this prediction at a time when Prayers were considered as a line of demarcation between unbelief and belief. Even the most sinful and vicious person living in that age did not miss his prayers. In his (RA) time i.e. fourteen centuries ago, the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) predicted about the present times that the people will miss their prayers.

(2) They shall begin to betray their trusts: That is, they will misappropriate the trusts entrusted to them for safe custody.

(3) They will begin to eat usurious income.

(4) They will begin to consider lying to be lawful: Telling lies will become an art.

(5) They will begin to commit murders on ordinary grounds.

(6) They shall construct high-rise buildings.

(7) They shall sell their Deen (Faith)

(8) They shall violate the bonds of relationships

(9) Justice will become a virtue almost hard to find anywhere.

( 10) Falsehood will become truth (and vice versa).

( 11 ) Silk garments will be worn by men.

( 12) Oppression and wrongdoing will become rampant.

( 13) Divorces will become a common practice.

( 14) Sudden deaths will become a common occurrence.

(15) One who betrays his trust will be regarded as trustworthy.

( 16) The trustworthy will be regarded as untrustworthy.

( 17) The liar will be regarded as truthful.

(18) The truthful will be regarded as liar.

(19) Calumny (slandering) will become a common feature, i.e., people will put false blames on one another.

(20) The weather shall be hot despite rains. ( possible indication of global warming)

(21 ) Instead of desiring children people will hate them. They will pray to Allah not to favor them with children: This is actually happening as a result of the Family Planning Department of Governments are raising the slogan, "Only Two Issues" guarantee Prosperity.

(22) The meaner classes will be happy and prosperous.

(23) The respectable classes will be in trouble and cast out of the society.

(24) The Rulers and the Ministers will become used to lying-engrossed in lies from morning till evening.

(25) The trustworthy will begin to betray their trusts.

(26) The leaders of the people will become wrongdoers.

(27) The scholars of Deen and the reciters of the Qur'an will become lewd and sinners.

(28) The people shall put on skin-garments.

(29) The hearts of the wearers of skin-garments will be more foul-smelling than dead animals; and

(30) They will be more bitter than the aloe plant (with bitter leaves).

(31) Gold will become widely used.

(32) Silver will be in great demand.

(33) Sins will be on the increase.

(34) Peace and security will deteriorate (as we see this at the moment).

(35) The pages and covers of the Holy Qur'an will be lavishly decorated.

(36) The Mosques will be decorated with beautiful writings and designs.

(37) Lofty minarets will rise from the mosques.

(38) Even so, the hearts will remain desolate and empty.

(39) Wine will be drunk freely.

(40) Punishments of the Shari 'ah will be suspended.

(41) The slave girl shall bear her master: In other words, the daughter shall rule over her mother and behave with her as a master behaves with his slave girls.

(42) The bare-footed, the naked and the uncultured shall become Kings and Rulers.

The mean, the untouchable classes and the depressed ones will become Heads of State - (this is what has happened in India).

(43) Woman and man shall be partners in trade, as women are trying to take part in every walk of life side by side with men.

(44) Men will imitate women; and

(45) Women will imitate men: In other words, men and women shall adopt each other's guise and appearance. See what has actually happened today under the frenzy of fashion, so it is difficult to distinguish between men and women from a distance.

(46) The people will swear by names other than Allah's name.

It is lawful to swear only by Allah or some attribute of Allah or by the Holy Qur'an. In the later ages people will swear by objects as 'by your head', etc. This is unlawful and strictly forbidden.

(47) In the times to come even the Muslims will bear false witnesses: The use of the word 'even' indicates that the non-Muslims do bear false witnesses freely but a Muslim who is not expected to do so, will also commit this sin.

(48) Salam (salute) will be bidden only to those who are known and not to strangers:

This is against the injunction of the Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) who has said in a Hadith:

Salam should be bidden to everyone whether you know or do not knock the the person.

If you are on a way you must bid Salam to every passer-by, except that if the number of the passers-by is very large, you may ignore this formality. However, a time will come when people will avoid bidding Salam even when there are only a few men passing on the road, and the custom of Salam will come to an end.

(49) Religious knowledge will be acquired not for the sake of religion but for the sake of earning worldly resources and worldly honor and status.

(50) Work relating to the Hereafter will be done to earls worldly gains.

(51 (War-spoils) will be taken as personal estate has been used here to imply public property which will be enjoyed as personal property.

(52) A trust shall be taken and misappropriated as plundered property.

(53) Zakat (the obligatory Islamic tax) will be paid reluctantly, as if it were a penalty.

(54) The meanest man shall become the leader of the community by their consent or votes.

(55) Men will disobey their parents.

(56) Men will misbehave with their mothers.

(57) A man will not hesitate in causing harm to his friends.

(58) A man will obey his wife.

(59) The voices of the wrongdoers will rise in the mosques.

(60) Women engaged in the singing profession (Film Actresses) will be held in great esteem and accorded high status.

(61 ) Musical instruments will be kept and preserved with care.

(62) Wine will be drunk by road-sides.

(63) Wrongdoing and tyranny will be looked upon as acts of pride.

(64) Justice will be sold (with bribery) in the Courts of Justice.

(65) The number of the Police will increase

(66) The Holy Qur'an will be recited in a musical style, so as to enjoy the singing tone and its musical cadence. The Qur'an will not be recited for the sake of its Da'wah (preaching) for understanding it and for reaping the reward for its recitation

(67) Beast skins will be used.

(68) The later people of the Ummah will taunt and curse the former people, i.e. the latter will pass derogatory remarks at the former. As a result of this trend a large section of the people is deriding insolently the Noble Companions and are behaving in the same way with the leaders of Deen who conveyed to us the message of Deen. These elder Doctors of Deen are being blamed as being ignorant of the Ahadith and the Holy Qur'an whereas the later generations claim to have understood those sources of Islam better than the former The Holy Prophet (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) . also said that when these signs appear then:

(69) Red wind-storm may come from Allah, or

(70) Earthquakes may upheave the earth; or

(71 ) The people's faces may be distorted; or

(72) Stones may rain down from the sky or some other torment may descend from Allah - God forbid. All these signs are proving true of our society one by one. The punishment that has come over us is really due to these misdeeds. (Durre-Mansoor vol 4, P-52)

Rights For All Humans Then Why Not For Muslims ? (Part 1)

2011-02-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

Muslims are humans whether they live in Pakistan or any other country of the world.The Universal Declaration of Human rights states that

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

[ if it is so then why the Muslims are considered spy's even they are innocent ?]

Article 2 : Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

[ if it is true then why shall Raymond Davis be released when he has committed three murders in Pakistan ? ]

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

[ if they hold good then why Kashmir,Iraq,Palestine,Lebanon,Afghanistan...etc are under the imposed wars ? ]

Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

[ if it has any importance then why the Muslim prisoners are maltreated in the jails of US and that unnoticed by any court? ]

Article 6: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

[ if they are true then why shall Asiya be released of charge of blasphemy laws of Pakistan when she had committed highest offense and when she is the resident of Pakistan ?]

These are a few questions against the Declaration of Human Rights. It is clear that the countries who made this declaration consider themselves devoid of its implementation especially in case of Muslims. The prejudice they hold against Islam is under the influence of fears they have in their minds! Insha-Allah their insults to Islamic world will soon be payed back in the form of great devastation of Dooms day and before that they would meet their fall of their prides very soon!

Muharram 10th and Ashurah

2010-12-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Islamic year begins with Muharram ul Haram, the first month of the Hijri Calendar. While followers of other religions spend their opening month in worthless merriment, the first month of Islam teaches us lessons of admonition, good counselling, knowledge of Allah Ta’ala, sacrifice, selflessness, patience and seeking the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala.

The tenth day of Muharram (Ashurah) has many distinctive qualities and features. Allah Ta’ala created the heavens and the earth on this blessed day. On this day He gave His infinite blessings and bounties to many of His Prophets and delivered them from the clutches of their enemies.

Allah Ta’ala created Hazrat Adam (Alaihis-Salam) in this month, pardoned him of his mistake, and Hazrat Noah’s (Alaihis-Salam) Ark landed successfully on Mount Judi, and he saved Hazrat Ibrahim (Alaihis-Salam) from fire and rescued Hazrat Musa (Alaihis-Salam) from Pharaoh.

On the first of Muharram offer 2 rakats Nafl prayer. In each rakat after Surah Fateha recite Surah Ikhlas 3 times. After the Salam pray to Allah Ta’ala for all your needs and desires. From the blessing of this prayer, Allah Ta’ala will appoint an angel for such a person. The angel will guide him or her to do only good deeds and prevent them in engaging in sinful acts.

On the eve of "Ashurah" offer 100 rakats Nafl. In each rakat recite Surah Ikhlas 3 times after Surah Fateha. After Salam recite first ‘Kalimah’ 100 times. Allah Ta’ala will forgive all the sins of such a person.

Dua-e-Ashurah - An insurance for a year’s Life

Hazrat Imam Zainul Abidain (Radi Allah Anhu) reports that who ever recites this dua( Dua-e- Ashurah) on the tenth of Muharram, any time after sunrise and before sunset, or listens to its recitation from someone else, Allah Ta’ala will certainly make it an insurance for a years’ life for him, by keeping death away from him. However, if one is to become the victim of death in that year, they will by some strange coincidence not remember to recite it.

Nafl Salat for the Eve of Ashurah

On the eve of Ashurah offer 4 rakats Nafl Salat as follows: In every rakat after Surah Fateha recite "Ayetul Kursi" once and Surah Ikhlas 3 times. After completing this Namaz recite Surah Ikhlas 100 times. Allah Ta’ala will purify such a person of all their sins and grant them endless bounties and blessings in paradise.

The Fast of Ashurah

On the 9th and 10th of Muharram, one should fast. If it is not possible to fast on both days, then every effort should be made to fast on the 10th day of Muharram, as there is great reward for this fast. (Muslim Shareef).

The following are some of the desirable acts one should do on the day of Ashurah:

1. To observe fast on this day.

2. To give as much charity as you can afford.

3. To perform Nafl Salat prayers.

4. To recite Surah Ikhlas 1000 times.

5. To visit and be in the company of pious Ulema.

6. To place a hand of affection on an orphan’s head.

7. To give generously to one’s relatives.

8. To put surma in one’s eyes.

9. To take a bath.

10. To cut one’s nails.

11. To visit the sick.

12. To establish friendly ties with one’s enemies.

13. To recite Dua-e- Ashurah

14. To visit the shrines of Awliyas and the graves of Muslims.

Hazrat Abdullah bin Masood (Radi Allah Anhu), a Companion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sall Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam) reports the following saying of the Messenger of Allah Ta’ala, "Whosoever prepares ample food and drink for his family on this sacred day and delights in feeding them generously, Allah Ta’ala will increase His provisions for that year and place much blessings and good therein."

Imam Hussain (Radi Allah Anhu) and his companions were martyred on the tenth of this month.

Like any month in the Islamic Calendar there are in this first Islamic month, many anniversaries which are celebrated every where in the world.

WHAT THE GOSPELS MEAN TO MUSLIMS ? PART 2

2010-10-29T05:53:00.001-07:00

SON OF GOD, SON OF THE DEVIL

He doesn't congratulate them on their insight -- That they heard him right, it's too bad they don't like it. No, he goes back to show them that they cannot convict him according to anything he just said. Both the Jews and Jesus used the term son of God of themselves and one another. What did they mean? Did they both mean the same thing? Or did they mean differently? According to the 8th chapter of John, the Jews came to Jesus and said, "We are sons of God." He said, no, no, I'm the son of God, you're sons of the devil.

Well, why should the one be a great theological statement: "I'm the Son of God," capital "S", and, "You're sons of the devil" figuratively speaking, of course. Perhaps they were both talking about the same sorts of things, figuratively, at that time. In any case, as I said, the encouragement is to think these things through and there is a number of standard objections that are made. That is, if a person thinks too hard about these things he may be told, "If you are going so deeply into something you are forgetting something very important: the Bible is written for simple people."

Interestingly enough, the same people who say that really mean to tell me that your problem is you haven't consulted an expert. You see, on the one hand, you are told it is written for simple people, and in the same breath you're told the reason you don't understand it is because you don't know enough about it. You should go and ask this man, he studied it for years. Those are really quite contrary ideas.

TO THINK OR NOT TO THINK

Thinking will lead you astray people have often said. In fact, I've heard it said, "Thinking will lead you astray, I want you to think about that." Now, put that all together, you see, is the thinking going to lead us astray, that certainly is a subject for thought, right, that I might go astray, it's a tangled little knot, the common statement: This is a substitution of slogans for thinking. Another common statement is: "If you will surrender your own judgment, God will guide you." Well, maybe he will.

But maybe it works like this, maybe God says: "Surrender your own judgment, and I'll see to it that you go astray." That might be the way things work. That also makes a little more sense, to me. That is after all the view the scientists have, he says, "Set aside your personal preferences and use objectivity." That is keep your judgment when investigating something, don't be blinded by what you are sure must be the case or what you would LIKE to be the case. Set aside personal preferences. And that's such a good argument, such a good suggestion, that in fact it is used by some of the very people that I have the confrontation with. Their problem is they say, "Yes, set aside your personal preferences," but in the list of personal preferences they put using your personal judgment. "Your problem is you prefer to use your head. You should suspend your judgment."

THE GOD-MAN THING

The objective questions that at least I would suggest are maybe not the ones that people might expect. I think that most often a Christian feels he has a duty to convince the Muslim that Jesus is divine and the Muslim feels he has a duty to prove that he isn't. And that could be an endless discussion but I feel that's not a very worthwhile point to get into. I suggest that some of the problems become more apparent if the Muslim asks the Christian to prove the humanity of Jesus.

To say, whatever you say he was, I'll grant you that except for this one thing, prove to me that he was a man. How do you know he wasn't God and disguised like a man? Prove he was a man. What did he do that God can't do, that only a man can do? Prove he was a man. There's only one thing: What did he do that God can't, you have to be a man to do it. The Christian will tell you, "He died." See God can't do that. Only a man can do that. The problem then is that, that same death is supposed to be the saving act that man can't do only God can do. That is to say, if we crucify a man it won't save anybody from his or her sins, on the other hand you can't kill God, only a man can die.

As one Muslim put it, about 850 years ago, he said they have an idea about God, man, and a God-man. They'll tell you what we crucified is the God-man. A God-man -- What it really comes down to is that God lived and the man died. That's not really crucifying a God-man. Anymore than if I tell you I had a sandwich for lunch I had a piece of cheese. A sandwich is bread and cheese.

To kill a God-man, but to say only the man died, not the God, then that is what happened, not the God-man thing. And these are not novel ideas; these are things appreciated by the mainstream of Christianity. There has always been a doctrine of Incarnation that's well defined, there's never been a defined doctrine of atonement, how exactly it's suppose to work – YOU DON'T FIND THAT EXPLAINED IN ANY ANCIENT OR MODERN DOCUMENT. You find a lot of talk about it but there is no creedal statement on that idea because it has never really been figured out – how it is supposed to work. I'm not claiming that proves it doesn't work, I'm just saying that it is still an open issue.

HUMAN ACTION & SALVATION

I know that there is a great concern, and the Muslim who is pestered or annoyed by people who are anxious to have him come along to their church. He may feel annoyed but at the same time he has to appreciate that people may have a proper intention in all of this and that they are genuinely concerned. Their concern, though, is related to, often anyway getting someone to take an action, which brings about salvation. And there is an interesting point about salvation here, and human action. That is, suppose there is an act that is connected with salvation, a human act, and it has to do with a man being saved.

Well, according to the fundamentalist view, if there is such an act, and IT IS NECESSARY for salvation, then that same act cannot be sufficient for salvation. That is, if it is something that we must do, then it is, in itself, not enough for salvation. I'll explain why in a moment. Conversely, if there is an act which if you do it, IT IS ENOUGH to be saved, it is sufficient, then that same act is not necessary. That is, if it is enough then it is not required. It will do the job but so will something else: Don't NEED to do that thing.

The reason being that if there is a human act which is both necessary and sufficient for salvation, then you have a human act which is equivalent to salvation. That goes against at least one branch of Christianity in a basic tenet: There is nothing a man does that is equivalent to his salvation. But that is what you get when you have these two directions of the Aerial implication: It is necessary and sufficient. That means if and only if a man is saved, IF AND ONLY IF this or that means A is equivalent to B. It is a difficult position but it is a position that some have created for themselves.

APPRECIATING LIMITATIONS AND DUTIES

Salvation, as it happens, is not precisely the concern of the Muslim in the first place. That is, the Quran does not say anything about it: Salvation. It talks about men being lost but it draws as a contrast not that they are lost or they are saved. The contrast is that a man may well be lost or it maybe that he has gained something: He is successful to some extent, to varying degrees. He loses out completely or he gains something and maybe more than somebody else does. YOU LOSE OR YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL. It is not a question of black and white. IT IS NONE OR SOME, not all or none. So the Muslims' real concern is concerning his actions. He wants to appreciate his limitations and his duties. That's basically all.

It is interesting enough that it is the nature of proof that if something is impossible, it is theoretically, or in principle at least, subject to being proved. You can't always prove when something is possible. But if something is impossible that is always open to proof and it is always open to proof if something is necessary. You can't always prove that something is unnecessary. You can always demonstrate that something is necessary. So it is that it can always be established what it is a man cannot do and what it is he must do -- His limitations and his duties. That is what the Muslim is trying to find out about. Not so much about how to get saved, he's trying to find out which things are a waste of time because they cannot be done and which are things that I cannot overlook, that I must do.

TO BE CONTINUED ON PART 3

By Gary Miller, Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas
Transcribed from a videotape

WHAT THE GOSPELS MEAN TO MUSLIMS? PART 1

2010-10-29T05:51:00.001-07:00

HOW SOME CHRISTIANS PRESENT THEIR SCRIPTURES

The Muslim used to have probably a very different attitude about the gospels than he does today. I'm just speaking of the majority or large segments of the community who use to feel much differently than large segments of the community feel today. And most of the blame for that I suppose could be placed on one hand on the Muslim and on the other hand on some of the Christian community and how it was they present the gospel. So I have to talk a little bit about that, I am trying to clear the air both for the Muslim and the Christian, and the interested bystander.

You see the Quran commands the Muslim to show respect for the books of other people, their religious scriptures. That commandment was abused by certain, I stress just certain, missionary efforts. By taking these verses that relate to the respect for scripture out of their context, and quoting them back to the Muslims saying, "Look, your book says my book is true. So read my book and then you'll be in trouble because you'll find out that my book is different than your book." And I'm afraid than that the blame must be shifted over to the Muslim who very often never thought about that before but thought that made a lot of sense, and he was letting someone else tell him what his own book said. So it was that before too long when the missionary would on the one hand say your book says you should listen carefully to my book now let me read you my book, the Muslim tended to think that it must be that your book is full of lies.

Even if the Quran says respect the books of other people, it must be that some people have put some lies in there, because I don't go along with that thing you're reading. He looked back into the Quran to try to find some verses to justify the position that the Christian changed his scriptures and put some lies in there. And that just made it worse because now the missionary said, "You're really off your book because on one hand it says believe in our book and on the other hand it says we changed our book. "The problem being that the Quran doesn't say any such thing of the kind, and these arguments that were first brought forward about 200 years ago are reprinted every year by certain missionary groups. The arguments are old and tired and quite insufficient."

THE QURAN'S THREE ACCUSATIONS

What the Quran really criticizes is not anybody else's books. It never mentions the Bible, but as a matter of fact neither does the bible, that is just a nickname for a collection of books. What it talks about are scriptures and what it criticizes is the way that some, I stress some people, use their scriptures. It criticizes the handling of whatever people call scripture. It endorses the fact that the truth has been preserved by people, that they have in their scriptures the truth, but they mishandle it.

It makes basically three accusations which probably you could go to any church and the pastor will say those things are true of those people over there.

(I) The Quran says some of the Jews and Christians pass over much of what is in their scriptures.

(II) Some of them have changed the words, and this is the one that is misused by Muslims very often giving the impression that once there was a true bible and then somebody hid that one away, then they published a false one. The Quran doesn't say that. What it criticizes is that people who have the proper words in front of them, but they don't deliver that up to people. They mistranslate it, or misrepresent it, or they add to the meaning of it. They put a different slant on it.

(III) And the third accusation is that some people falsely attribute to God what is really written by men.

Now probably in any church there will be people who will say, "Yes, I know a church that does all those three things. They pass over much of what is in their scripture, they've changed things, they put the wrong slant on the words, and they've credited God with things that men said. "So really there is not a cause for a problem between the Christian and the Muslim on these charges, the Christian, I would like to think, would generally go along with those ideas."

And again, I stress it only accuses some people of doing that.

DEMONSTRATING NONEXISTENCE

Unfortunately, also, in more recent years, discussions of Christianity and Islam have usually been attacked by the Christian on the Quran or by the Muslim on the Bible. Which is quite an un-Islamic thing to do, that is, to attack somebody's scriptures. Usually these discussions or presentations are coordinated in such a way as to, for example, the Muslims will be here to blast away at all the errors in the Bible, then the Christian takes a turn blasting away at the Quran. What is really unfortunate and really rather silly about that whole approach is that people who try to do that are trying to do something that's extremely difficult. They're trying to demonstrate the nonexistence of a certain item. And I'll illustrate it in this way, when you assert that such and such a thing does not exist, you have a big job on your hands, if you want to prove it does not exist. If I say there is no such thing as a pink elephant, how am I going to show you that? I have to somehow prove to you that I've been all over the world, I've looked in every closet, I've been everywhere that's big enough to hold an elephant, and I have pictures to show that there are no pink ones in any of those places. It really can't be done -- to demonstrate the nonexistence of something.

When people single out errors to say, "Look, there is a mistake in the Bible," they are claiming that no where else in that book is there a verse which would clear up this apparent error. It would be pretty hard work to demonstrate that is the case. It would have to say, okay, here is chapter 1 verse 1, this verse does not clear up that mistake. Now this verse, that does not put a new light on that verse and go through all these thousands of verses to show that there is no verse to clear up what apparently is an error. That would be pretty hard work. The only other way to show that something doesn't exist is to show that its existence would be self-contradictory and I don't think that method of proof lends itself to the thing I'm talking about.

As to whether or not there legitimately are errors in scripture it is simply food for thought. It is quickly dismissed by a lot of people to say these are only apparent errors – it deserves a better treatment than that. One, James Barr, who has written a number of books endorsed by the Church of England, has suggested that maybe these apparent errors in the bible are a signal from God. That they are a warning: "Look out, don't credit me with this, a man did this, I don't write like that," he said that might be a possible interpretation. So it deserves a better investigation than to simply say, "I'm sure it is only an apparent mistake."

EXPLANATIONS & PROOFS

So more useful discussions are going to be concerned with other subjects, I would hope, rather than just trying to find errors in a book. But unfortunately, people often confuse explanation for proof. That is, you ask a man how do you know that such and such is so, and he tells you how it works. AN EXPLANATION IS NOT A PROOF. I might give you a completely coherent explanation that a television works by Black Magic but that doesn't prove that it does. It just means you could explain it that way. When the Muslim asks, "How do know someone died for your sins?" and the answer comes back, "Someone has to BECAUSE, etc, etc, etc,God is here, man is there, and we have to pay this debt and so on and so forth." That is an explanation not a proof that it ever happened or will happen or whatever. That is an explanation of HOW it works. AN EXPLANATION IS NOT A PROOF.

It is fascinating to dwell on those explanations and sometimes I do that. Fascinating because virtually all of these explanations are built on analogies and the analogies are always faulty in the first place. That is, people don't usually even explain things directly, they usually will tell you, "Well, it's like this." Then they talk about something else. Now they has two problems: they've got to explain this thing and then show you that this thing is really like the other thing. To explain to you that the redemption of man is like a Traffic Court judge who pays the fines for all the guilty parties is a faulty analogy, for example. Because the traffic court judge is not the offended party, the State is offended and the State does not forgive when the State fines someone. Whoever pays the fine is beside the point. That is just to cite one example of a common analogy.

DISCOVERY VERSUS INVENTION

As I mentioned earlier, the real complaint of the Quran is the handling of scriptures, so maybe one of the most important questions that the Muslim would want to stress for those who are discussing the gospel and are trying to show someone the meaning they have discovered; the important question might be to urge a person to ask himself: Did you discover that meaning in the scriptures or did you invent that meaning, then prop it up with what you found in the scripture? It's an old problem, mathematicians have talked about it for at least 26 centuries: "Did we discover mathematics or did we invent it?" It's not entirely clear because we make up some rules, then we work with it, then we say look what we've found, but, no, did you invent it in the first place or did you find it? It's a delicate kind of thought and it's worth examining in the same way as if someone says: "look what I've found! the scripture tells me such and such; it may well be that it's a discovery but possibly it was a preconceived idea that now fits what is read."

Of course, the Bible has been read in a great many different ways, a great deal of emphasis is place by some on the Crucifixion as being THE salvation of man. Yet according to the 19th chapter of Luke, Jesus told a certain Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to your house." He didn't say next week when I die that will be when salvation comes. He says, Today, salvation, whatever that means, has come into your house. It is rather easy to read that and think that the Crucifixion is not quite what someone told it was. That is a possibility.

The 14th Chapter of John has two favorite verses but the whole thing, when put in its context, doesn't read quite the way a lot of people tell it, that is on the one hand Jesus says, "No one comes to the father but through me". It is often quoted in order to establish some kind of an idea that if man is reaching for God, you've got to talk to Jesus first or go through him or whatever. When put back in its context, the whole subject of that chapter is not so much man reaching for God but God reaching for man. That Jesus says that I came to show you God, Philip says show us the Father, Jesus says you've seen me you've seen the Father. He didn't seem to be claiming divinity because in the first place he's suppose to be the son not the father.

And in the 5th Chapter of John, he says, No one has ever seen the father. My point here is that I'm not going to try to reinterpret the Bible: I'm just trying to show that sometimes it just as easily reads in quite a different way as the EXCLUSIVE way some have tried to put on it. It is not _ and that's a more recent development I suppose _ the Muslim's job to try and reinterpret the Bible. There are plenty of people busy doing that. There's plenty of cultists who will tell you that they've found everything in there from flying saucers to word processors.

TWO STREAMS OF CHRISTIANITY

It's not the Muslim's job to find some novel twist on the meaning. It's merely his job to remind an individual that if you are sure about what it says ask yourself again: Did you have that in your mind before or did you really discover it? This means an encouragement to think and there are different views on that subject as to whether it's a good idea to think or not.

There are in a sense two streams of Christianity, and the Muslim, as a foreign student, is usually quite confused because he never thought about that before. He comes to this country and he turns on the television one Sunday morning after a few minutes he thinks that must be Christianity. He'd never seen a Christian before in his life, possibly. And certainly in the minds of those people speaking they have Christianity. But what the Muslim is sometimes unaware of is that, he has spent some years in the country, and never caught on to the fact that there's a lot of people who call themselves Christians but they have nothing to do with what was seen on television that Sunday morning.

There are widely different views. And one of the things which divides these streams concerns the understanding of the term "lost." What does it mean when somebody is lost? Does it mean that he isn't saved or does it mean something else? You might ask the question this way, is an explorer lost? If a man is going into a land where no one has ever been before, is he lost? Well, one branch of Christianity would tend to say, "Yes." Another branch would say, "No, he is an explorer, he is not lost, he's exploring the territory."

The problem the Muslim has is not with the man who will tell you that explorers are not lost. He has a problem with the man who tells you, "Until you find what you're looking for, you're lost." That stream of Christianity is the one that gives him the problem, because that is the stream of Christianity that does an awful lot of study and preparation but does not encourage a reinvestigation, an objective investigation of things. As an example, I suppose that the key question or a test question to all Muslims, as it is put to them by those who are anxious to bring them into the fold, they want a yes or no answer to the question: Is Jesus Divine? Is he divine, yes or no? Which skips a very important matter. The question is what is that supposed to mean? What do you mean, is he divine?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

It was Spinoza, a few hundred years ago, who was a Jew, at least by heritage, then he withdrew from the Jewish community. He was quite a philosopher and felt alienated from that community and there were Christians who came to him and said, "Now, of course, that you've left the Jews you will become a Christian." He said that, "Maybe, I will when I understand what you're talking about." His main thing was to stick to the definition, "I hear the words but I don't know what they mean." You tell me that God became man, what do you mean, like my father became dead or like ice became water? You mean once there was God and he squeezed himself down and now he's a man, he used to be God, what do you mean? The words sound like one thing but the actual definition is pretty hard to explain if it ever has been explained.

As a matter of fact, the insistence on the humanity and divinity of Jesus is a puzzling thing for the Muslims, not trying to be a smart Alec. He's trying to ask simple childlike questions. What is that suppose to mean? Because on the one hand he's told, "God is 100% Holy, that's why God can't deal with sinful man, man is sinful, he's down here and God is 100% Holy. So we need a mediator." The Muslim asks, "How Holy is the mediator, 50%? - 51%?" The answer is, "No, no, he's a 100% Holy, he's God!"

Well, now, we still have this problem. If the problem is that God because of his Holiness can't deal directly with man, we HAVE NOT really put anyone in the middle if he is still God. Again, it is said that God cannot deal with the sinners, and yet Jesus used to eat with them, according to the Bible. It didn't seem to annoy him to get that close to a sinner.

MUSLIM EXPECTATIONS – WHAT THE GOSPELS ARE

My main point is this, however, as the title was announced WHAT THE GOSPELS MEANS TO MUSLIMS. To the Muslim who has studied it and investigated it, and it has been a topic among Muslims for hundreds of years -- The Muslim does not really expect that the gospel, the message of Jesus, contains any theology in the first place.

There is a verse that is often quoted from the Quran to the Muslim, which says that the Jews and the Christians should have stood fast by their Torah and their Injeel, and they would be successful. If you put that all in its context what is under discussion is the fact that some of the Jews and Christians had complained that they were not successful, they did not have a Christian state. And they were told in the verses leading up to this in the Quran that the reason for that was they had ignored the rules and the advice giving to them in their books, the Torah and the Injeel. Saying: If they had done what Jesus said to do, they'd be today successful.

So, the Muslim does not expect there's any theology in there, whatever the gospel is, it's a bunch of advice and rules of conduct. It doesn't deal with subtle and convoluted definitions of the nature of God and a whole manufactured Greek vocabulary to describe all these various subtleties. And ironically enough, there are four books that go by the name Gospel, and the only one with any theology of any significance is the Gospel According to John. The irony is that's the only one of the four gospels that doesn't have the word Gospel in it anywhere. That is, if people would explain theology from the words of Jesus they have to quote from John, not from Matthew, Mark, and Luke which call themselves gospels or at least mention the gospel.

I know how the rest of the argument goes, I'm not trying to ridicule anybody, and I'm just trying to show you that I'm familiar with it. I've heard it many times. The documentation of the life of Jesus is usually cited as being a proof of the theological claims.

That is people will usually start by saying, "But look, the Jews who were right there with him, they understood him to claim divinity." So they did. The problem is, did they understand him correctly or not. His disciples didn't seem to know what he was talking about. We are all the way to the 16th chapter of Matthew, before Peter gives some kind of a theological statement, and Jesus congratulates him saying, "You didn't even know that until it was revealed." Evidently it was not very obvious what Jesus had been saying to that point.

But on the other hand, to the Jews every time he opened his mouth he was claiming to be God. It may well be that the Jews were misunderstanding him. And that is precisely the point of the 10th chapter of John. Where the Jews accused him of blasphemy, claiming equality with God, and the rest of the verses continue on to have Jesus go on and defuse the situation. To show them that if they listened more carefully to what it is he said -- if they read there own scriptures more carefully -- they'd see they have NO grounds for a claim of blasphemy.

TO BE CONTINUED ON PART 2

By Gary Miller, Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas
Transcribed from a videotape

WHAT THE GOSPELS MEAN TO MUSLIMS ? part 3

2010-10-29T05:40:00.001-07:00

SUMMARY

Now to go back, in a kind of summary, I suppose there are two thoughts that came up here. I spent a lot of time, and maybe more then I should have, on the treatment of Scripture and how it is viewed. For the most part that is for the benefit of the Muslim. I tried to get across to the Muslim that not everybody who calls himself Christian has the same ideas about what the Bible does, what it is suppose to do. They are varying views on that.

It is one stream of Christianity that says the Bible is inerrant, "These are the words that God spoke." Even in the places where he said he didn't, I guess, because there are places like that. Paul said in one place: What you are about to read didn't come from God. There are those who say these are God's words precisely. The mainstream of Christianity doesn't go along with that.

When the apparent errors are cited the usual retreat is to say, "These are errors of transmission, that is, these mistakes were not there in the original manuscripts." Which might be true but we'll never know, will we? Since no one has the original manuscripts. It makes it a pretty empty claim to say I have a perfect book I just can't get my hands on a perfect copy. What good is this book if you don't know what used to be in it? It has not been so well preserved historically. At this point, the two streams of Christianity tend to meet because they will both say, "Yes but all these apparent errors do not touch on major doctrine in the first place." Personally, I disagree with that {Atonement being one issue}.

The mainstream of Christianity will try to tell the other branch the reason for that is the Bible, itself, doesn't talk very much about major doctrines. That's the reason why these verses that may have been miscopied don't touch on major doctrine because most of the Bible doesn't in the first place. That's what Martin Luther said about the Bible, that most of it is irrelevant. His basic philosophy was that unless a verse talks about a certain subject, his particular pet subject, he says that it is doubtful that is scripture. In his edition of the Bible, he took the books of James, Hebrews, and Revelations and put them in the back, like an appendix, because he said that they don't belong up here with the rest of the scripture. A hundred years later, they were moved back. The point is that the attitude that all of it is of equal value is an old and even fundamentalist position – well, they won't go along with that – to say not all of it speaks in the same way. It doesn't very often really touch on major doctrine. So the next step in this explanation is to say, "But we know that the doctrine has been transmitted historically correct because that is what the Bible is about, it is a record of a continuity of the Christian community." That is largely true but remember the original objection was that this document of historical continuity has suffered some problems in the continuity. It hasn't been that well translated.

Regarding thought, I was trying to encourage the idea of thinking about these things. There is just one final suggestion I would make there: Beware of a lot of things that pass for proof. Very often what people consider proof of something is a proof of something which is unreasonable by nature. That is, a person will tell you about a certain doctrine. You say that makes no sense. They'll tell you, yes, it is beyond reason and look, "I have proof that it is true!" That is self-contradictory.

If you produce a proof of something that is unreasonable, then something is wrong with your proof. The scientist who does a thought experiment in his mind, "If A is true then B is true, that would mean C and therefore D – and that's crazy! Wow, let me call the newspapers. I've proved a crazy thing." He doesn't do that. When he arrives at something that makes no sense, he goes back and thinks well I must have started with a wrong assumption or something is faulty with my argument. We don't rejoice at an unreasonable conclusion by process of reasoning. Something is wrong with the proof is the usual signal.

So those are some thoughts, and I'd actually be more interested in what you're thinking than what I'm thinking. If you have some questions or comments, don't be shy to speak up. Thank you for your time and attention, in any case. Don't do that. {Miller politely objects to APPLAUSE by a Christian audience of 40 or so people}

Questions &Answers

QUESTIONER1: Can we ask you questions not exactly on the Gospel but on…

DR MILLER: Sure

QUESTIONER1: In relationship to some words that we hear: Sunnis and Shi'ite. Like we understand Protestants and Catholics, so…

DR MILLER: Yes, it's not quite parallel to that, historically, those are really nicknames that were bestowed on people, I don't think people at least years ago deliberately told you, "I am Sunni or Shia or Wahabi" or something like that. Those are nicknames bestowed from outside. Just as I don't think the first protestant said, "I am protestant." That is a label that came on. That basically refers to different approaches to certain issues. The labels were unknown until some period of time after the time of the prophet I am saying, well, at least 250 years before people were using these kinds of things. And Shia just came from an Arabic word which means "party" like the Republican party, that sort of thing. It was kind of a nickname bestowed on people who claimed to historically belong to a certain party loyal to a certain man. Others put the emphasis on saying that the loyalty is not to a certain bloodline but to a certain code of behavior. That is basically the root meaning of Sunna, which has to do with characteristic behavior or habit or whatever. That is how these two nicknames came about: One said we want to follow the behavior of a certain group of people; and, the other group wanting to emphasize the line of descent of people. They are roughly divided 90% to 10%. Some of the issues that divide are much more important to a small group of people than they are to the bulk of individuals. That is to say, if you approached someone and said I take this position and I am against the position you take, chances are he doesn't know about either one of those positions. It is like a layman trying to debate the matters that Church councils take up. Usually they don't even know what it is they are talking about in the first place. Most of those issues are far removed from people, or if they have an idea of what those issues are, it maybe some simplistic view of one or the other favorite thing they carried over. I hope that's helpful.

DR MILLER: Yes (pointing to the next questioner)

QUESTIONER2: I was just curious how does a Muslim, how does he know that he has eternal life, what does a Muslim believe once he dies in sin?

DR MILLER: Well, as to exactly what happens to him, there are all kinds of stories about that, nobody really knows. MAYBE DEATH IS AS INTERESTING AS LIFE. It's like saying what's going to happen to this baby now that it is born (referencing an infant screaming and crying out in the audience)? What's going to happen now that this man has died may be a very complicated thing, too? The first part about what you are asking is how does he know about where he stands?

Look at it in this way, the Quran says that on the final judgment that the record of each man will be put in his hand. He knows by that record what the decision is what the verdict is. There are no surprises. It is not going to be the case where someone looks over his record and is thinking, "This looks pretty close, I hope the judge is in a good mood today." (Audience laughter) It's going to be very clear by the record.

So given that that is the case, anybody at any given moment should be able to stop and think, "What if I died right now? Am I ready or not?" The difference between that approach and the approach of some at least who would say, "I KNOW that my well being is looked after," is some of those who would say that, "I know that I am saved and a week from tomorrow I'll still be saved." Whereas the Muslim would say, "I am ready to die now, a week from tomorrow ask me a week from tomorrow." That is he knows what the situation is to now.

There is a confidence there I guess which the Muslim doesn't often talk about, there is the story of one of the men of 14 centuries ago, he was about to be executed, in fact crucified, by the people in Mecca, Hubaibe (a.s.), I am thinking of. The people who were about to kill him said, "You can have a moment to make some prayers if your want." So he prayed very quickly and then he came back, "I would have prayed longer but you would think that I was stalling and I was afraid, and I am not, let's get on with it, I shortened my prayer." So he was quite confident of what the situation was at that point. That is distinctly a possibility. It is just a matter of being honest with yourself, to say why have I done what it is that I've done, what are my intentions, what brought me to here. Is it good or is it bad? That's something you know from the inside.

QUESTIONER2: So how do you know the things that you've done throughout your life whether God thinks they're good enough for Him? I'm saying you appear before Him when you die, how do you know that it is good enough?

DR MILLER: It is not a question precisely of what is done, it is a question of intentions. That is, it is said that if a man made up his mind to do a good thing and he got up to leave the house to go do it and fell and broke his neck and died, the credit is his as though he did it. Because what matters is that he was of that frame of mind that he was intending to do that. Whereas if a man made up his mind to do a bad thing, and he broke his neck on the way, he has committed no crime, too bad that he was in that state of mind -- but he has committed no crime. In the third case, if a man made up his mind to do a bad thing and then changes his mind he has credit for changing his mind.

You see it is a matter of the intention, what is the frame of mind that you are in, NOT NECESSARILY THE VALUE OF YOUR ACTS. The good things that people do have a certain value but they really don't add up to anything like the compensation that comes back. As the one verse says, The punishment that men receive is exactly equal to the wrong done but the reward they receive is 10 times greater than any good they've actually ever done. That using the figure 10 apparently figuratively, just to say penalties correspond with crimes, but rewards are much greater than any particular good thing that was done.

QUESTIONER2: Well, my point would be, how do you know that your intentions are good enough?

DR MILLER: Well, it's a matter of being perfectly honest with yourself. That is all and that takes practice.

QUESTIONER2: How do you know that what you intend as good is good in His Sight?

DR MILLER: Well, it sounds like, and I'm not trying to make fun or anything, but that's a problem sometimes psychologists talk about called "scruples." Those are people who are paranoid about their own motivation. It is always good to ask why do I do this, and you've got to be honest with yourself, but you drive yourself insane if you are continually trying to accuse yourself of wrong doing. To think back, "When I was six years old, I remember my mother picked me up. Was I sexually aroused?" That is mentally ill but people can get into that state of mind if they are always doubting what was my intention. It good to on a regular basis to ask yourself why do I really want to do this thing, but if you are convinced that, "I'll never know," then you are losing your mind. If you are convinced that you'll never know your own mind, I think you've lost it.

QUESTIONER2: The point I'm trying to make is that you will never know.

DR MILLER: I disagree one hundred percent. You are saying a man will never know his own intentions and I saying that is should be an easy thing to do.

QUESTIONER2: The point is you will never know.

DR MILLER: Okay, then you have your opinion and I have mine. I think it is rather easy to know your own intentions.

QUESTIONER3: I think I understand his question. I'm not trying to reword it but what I'm trying to think of is the comparison of two people. If your intention is to do one thing: to wear a coat and tie because you think it's a good thing to do; and, my intention was to not wear a coat and tie, cause I didn't think it was necessary. In God's Eyes are your intentions better than mine or in God's Eyes is each person's good intentions, is there a standard of good intentions or does each person do the best they can do according to their own scruples?

DR MILLER: Well, I suppose maybe what you're, that's a complex question in this sense. However I answer it, I'm agreeing with something that you've wrapped up in a question with which I disagree. You've made it sound as though different people have different scruples, and that is basically what I disagree with. On the inside of every person is the same standard. The Quran says that men are made of one sort of thing, they have one kind of a nature, that is human nature. Men are not produced in such a way that some are a little more careful than others, they get to be that way but they didn't start out that way. They all have the same standards. If people develop different standards it is precisely because of that, they have developed those different standards.

QUESTIONER3: Yeah, so you're saying that the essence of human would be an across the board, everyone has the same…

DR MILLER: It should be the same

QUESTIONER3: I didn't hear you say that earlier.

DR MILLER: I didn't, it's my fault.

QUESTIONER4: I really appreciate the way you've presented yourself, and your obvious intelligence, and your competence in scripture. And I appreciate the gentle approach that you've taken both toward Christians and Moslems.

Do you believe that Muhammad taught that God gave the Law to Moses?

DR MILLER: See that's like one of the questions that are asked when you're put in a double bind of answer yes or no that eliminates any qualification as to the terminology that is used. And you say, "The Law" given to Moses. That He gave Moses a law I have no doubt. Yes, that is basically the Muslim position. That he gave Moses "THE" Law, which you can pick up from your public library, is another question.

QUESTIONER4: The only Law that we have of Moses goes back to the Dead Sea Scrolls which is about 200 years before Christ. There is nothing older than that and they have essentially agreed with the ones we had before that which were about a 1000 years after, maybe I should say, Jesus. Of course, Muhammad called Jesus Messiah as you know but he didn't mean what Christians mean, obviously. The reason I'm asking is that the center of the Mosaic Law was blood sacrifice. And in Leviticus 17 it says that without blood sacrifice there couldn't be atonement made for the soul. And it carries over into the Christian New Testament that there is a blood sacrifice made to make atonement for the soul, which is, of course, the blood of Christ. May I read a passage from scripture to support what I'm saying?

DR MILLER: Go ahead, if it is not that long.

QUESTIONER4: It says, "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God." That just means that every human being has sinned. And I don't believe that there is a person in here who thinks they haven't. "Being justified freely by His Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus who God has sent forth to be a propitiation." That's a way of reconciling, an atonement. "Through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins of their past through the forbearance of God."

So the same system of atonement, the reason I'm saying this is because you said that the system of atonement is not worked out very clearly. The same system of atonement applies to the New Testament scripture as in the Old, that is blood sacrifice. That man has sinned and God demands blood in the Old Testament it is animal sacrifice; in the New Testament it's the blood of Christ.

DR MILLER: Sorry, you had a hard time trying to get that out. I didn't know that's what you were getting at. The problem is that you should be arguing with the rabbi who'll tell you that is not so. I'm always telling people that but they have no reason to believe me, I guess.

I had the good fortune a couple of years ago at Emory University in Atlanta when there was a rabbi in the front row. This same point came up and I mentioned the fact is the Jews have NEVER believed in blood sacrifice actually paying the penalty for sins. If you don't believe me, ask the rabbi. He stood up, put his thumbs in his suspenders, he said, "The man is quite right!" They do not believe it, and I suggest as a reference in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, the article, "Redemption." It points out that what you're talking about, the blood sacrifice actually paying for atonement, is a concept COMPLETELY UNKNOWN to the Jews.

That there were blood sacrifices, for sure, but what they were supposed to do is not the same kind of thing as orthodox Christian doctrine talks about. It relates to such places as the 31st chapter of Jeremiah. You find it in some of the Minor Prophets, the twelve so called Minor Prophets, where it is pointed out that, for example, and it was said that Israel was ransomed from Egypt. The point is made it doesn't mean that they were paid for. Even though the language reads like that.

Instead of trying to convince you of all that, I would say go and ask the rabbi if that is so. Look it up in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia or any other reference, on Redemption, where it will show you that the Christian idea does not correspond to the Jewish idea, according to the Jews. They've been using the same books longer. It's a point that the Quran makes, for that matter, it says that the Jews and Christians use some of the same material and yet they disagree. This exhibits a difficulty: At least one of them is mistaken on this issue or various other issues.

As to what these verses themselves may mean when blood sacrifice is talked about in a Christian portion of scripture, there's room for disagreement on positions. The Universalists and others, for example, said Jesus spoke figuratively about an awful lot of things and it may be unjust to take him figuratively here and literally there. He said that unless a grain of corn dies it won't grow, he didn't really mean die, he means it goes into the ground. So maybe when he said I'm going to die he meant something like that and not literally die. It was Paul who said, "I die every day." He didn't mean I really drop dead everyday and then I get up. He meant something else.

The possibility has been there, it's not a popular Christian position, but the same words are open to other meanings by other people. I'm not even saying that they're right but I'm saying this thing is not so unambiguous as it is sometimes portrayed. It is still very much an open issue.

QUESTIONER4: I certainly think that there's a sense that you are right. Because there are scriptures that say God is not satisfied with the sacrifice of bulls, and the blood of bulls, and so the Messiah answers back, "that a body you have prepared for me."

DR MILLER: Now you see, that is precisely, I shouldn't have even made it sound like an unkind comment when I was saying it. Sometimes, the suggestion is made that errors in the Bible do not relate to major doctrine, and that's precisely the one I was thinking of that does. Because if you read in Hebrews the passage which says that a body was prepared for me, look up the Psalm that it's quoting from, I thinks it's the 40th Psalm, IT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT A BODY. It says God made an ear for me. Which relates to an old miscopying of a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures by whoever wrote Hebrews when he mistook two words that ran together that meant "God dubbed me an ear" to God prepared me a body. This major doctrine has been built upon what was a mistranslation by somebody centuries ago.

QUESTIONER4: Well, it's just a matter of pointing and the Septuagint took it, ah, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture. Of course, took it as body, and so that's what the writer of the Hebrew put down, and he took his quote straight out of Septuagint, as you say, a wrong translation of the Hebrew scriptures. I realize that is controversial, maybe I shouldn't have even tried to use it…

DR MILLER: Yes, and I don't mean to embarrass you, I appreciate your input and I want to give everybody else a chance as well. I don't want to get into a harangue, anybody else?

QUESTIONER5: This is regarding your God-man dilemma. I was wondering why you chose to exclude any discussion of the physical resurrection of Jesus? That is one of the main bases of showing divinity.

DR MILLER: Why is the resurrection the basis of divinity? I hope I am raised up some day, what will that make me? Divine? Whether or not Jesus was raised up from the dead is another issue, but if I grant you that he was, what does that have to do with him being divine?

QUESTIONER5: It was a physical resurrection.

DR MILLER: I hope if I am raised up, that I look better than I do. I hope that it is a physical resurrection. I don't really see what that has to do with divinity. It's a case of show and tell, Jesus is divine: look he is raised up. It is not relevant to divinity.

QUESTIONER5: No body ever died and three days later came back to life.

DR MILLER: I know, suppose I told you no body or suppose I tell you many people. What does it prove? As a matter of fact, the documents that are passed down to us from the Roman empire of 2000 years ago report that this idea of that someone was killed and raised up again was a rather common notion. There're lots of people making the same claim. There was a Mespheles who had already drawn popularity in an area of the Mediterranean 200 years before the time of Jesus, and it was said of various people. In fact I'll bet you that you read in the next twelve months in the National Enquirer that somebody was raised from the dead. Reports of it were coming out all the time and these people didn't think that makes somebody divine.

How many people did Jesus supposedly raise from the dead? I've always wondered myself what it was like at the second funeral of Lazarus. A man that was dead then alive again then one day he must have died again. I'd have very mixed feelings as a relative going to bury him again. His actual resurrection doesn't establish the divinity of Jesus. And Elijah raised an individual from the dead according to 2nd Kings. The resurrection itself is all very interesting but it's virtually like anything you can point to, how do you demonstrate an Infinite God by pointing to some finite thing?

There's nothing a human being can EVER point to, that thing that proves the Infinite God. It establishes some power or ability beyond mortal men but to exhibit a thing that a man can look at with his eyes, and say that proves the Infinite Ability of God - It technically can not be done because of THE definition of the God they're trying to prove. Some Christian theologians have experimented with the idea that God is FINITE, not infinite. That's very interesting, that solves a lot these problems, I guess.

QUESTIONER6: Okay, now, some Christians claim that Jesus is God but Jesus never said that in the Bible that "I am God and worship me." On the other hand I would like to ask with so many interpretations of what Jesus said is that because nobody wrote it down when he said it? Or is it because it is written so after a long, long time?

DR MILLER: Well, maybe a little of both, I don't know. There is not a whole lot that is reported that he said anyway. There was one newspaperman in my city, Toronto, he said if you took all the words of Jesus you could print them on the front page of a newspaper. There are not that many words to go on that have been handed down. That was a point that I touched on, there, which I was trying to explain to Muslims sometimes, take it easy.

When I travel around it very often happens that someone meets me at the airport. Somebody I never met before, and he picks up the bag and we head out for the car and before we get to the car, before we're out of the parking lot, he says, "Does it say somewhere in the Bible that Jesus said he was God?"

The answer is, well, yes and no. It depends upon whether you are looking for precise words or are you looking to find out what did he mean when he said this thing? The Muslim has fallen into what is really an unfair kind of reply. The Christian says look here Jesus says I am THE Son of God. The Muslim says, "Ah, it must be a lie, somebody wrote that there!" When he, Jesus, may have well have said that but now let's see who was he talking to and what were they talking about when he said that. And who says that "son" should have a capital "S" there and so on. Those are ideas of some of the people who have reproduced these things.

The episode, in particular, that I mentioned where the Jews said we are sons of God his reply was no you are sons of the devil, I am a son of God. When they said son of God they didn't mean some kind of claim to divinity and when he said you are sons of the devil he didn't literally mean your grandmother slept with the devil, I don't think. But why is it that he MUST literally mean when he says, "I am the son of God, only when I say son of God, I mean SON of God, I mean capital 'S', Son!" Maybe he did or maybe he didn't. It is unfair to insist that what he meant was this thing and not something like what the Jews meant when they were having this discussion.

As to whether or not people worshipped him, that is another one of these things that, it is a trick of language, that the Quran accuses some people of doing. Worship used to mean in English, what was WORTHY, worthyship. In Canada we still call the mayor of a city, Your Worship. It doesn't mean I think he's God. It's just how you talk. It used to be in English, that if you stood up when someone came into the room they'd say you worshipped him.

It says in the Bible that a man came to Jesus one day and he worshipped him. If you look literally in the Greek the word there literally means, "he blew him a kiss." Now people have done that to me, I don't like it, but I didn't think they were worshipping me like I was God. (Audience laughter.) It's just what was said. What I'm getting at here is that, I believe it's the 2nd Chapter of Daniel, it says that Nebuchadnezzar came to Daniel and he worshipped him, in the King James Bible. You point to that and say doesn't worship here sound more just kind of like a salute? Or he nodded his head toward him or shook his hand or something like that. So in most Modern English translations they changed that to something else. But THEY HAVE LEFT ALONE A VERSE THAT SAYS A MAN CAME TO JESUS AND HE WORSHIPPED HIM.

Today, at least in many English speaking countries, worship has a different flavor than it had long ago. Today it seems to carry a lot of baggage that it didn't used to have. As I say, it still doesn't in many British areas, you won't find that argument cited by a Canadian generally will not point to the place where a man worshipped Jesus. That's kind of silly. Even a little town of 500 people we call the mayor, Your Worship. It's just a way of talking.

QUESTIONER4: May I do it again just for the sake of what the Christian scriptures say. It's your day and I'm not meaning to take it away. You've done a good job too. But can I do it with Thomas and read that situation out here?

DR MILLER: I can probably quote it for you without reading it, if you're talking about "My Lord and my God…"

QUESTIONER4: Yeah.

DR MILLER: See that's the same kind of…. I think everybody knows the passage…

QUESTIONER4: It's how Jesus responded that I'm interested in.

DR MILLER: What? How did he respond? Like this, you got it, Thomas, right on the nose?

QUESTIONER4: "Then Jesus said to Thomas reach here your finger and look at my hand." He's asking him to put his finger into the hole with his hands. "And put it into my side and don't be faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord and my God'." Jesus' response is "Thomas because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." So Jesus, I think, is backing up what Thomas says. He has him put his hand in the hole in his side and when Thomas calls him my Lord and my God, he blesses Thomas for having seen and believed. He doesn't say far be it from God that He should have a son.

DR MILLER: Well, the point is there are at least three ways that I know of that Thomas' words can be taken. I don't use it as a matter of course but it has happened to me that I've been surprised and I've said, "My God!" The man in front of me says yes, isn't it terrible, such and such a thing is true. He didn't say, no, what do you mean; I'm not God. It may have been an expletive.

He, Thomas, may have said, "My Lord, My God." What Jesus was then talking about was you Thomas didn't think I was raised up. Now you've seen and you believe I'm raised up, so congratulations. Other people won't get to see the evidence but they will believe. It's not necessarily an endorsement of some theological statement by Thomas.

In any case, even if Thomas was addressing him, "My Lord, My God," that has precedent in Scripture. The Muslim may not like it but the precedent is there of other people who were addressed as God without being God. When Moses spoke to the angel in the burning bush he called the angel, God. Stephen explains later that it wasn't actually God that was God's angel. When God Sends an angel and you speak to him you might call him God.

Moses was told, "I'm sending you as god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet." In fact the word "as" is added in Italics in most English translations, it is not there in the Hebrew. God says I am sending you to Pharaoh, you will be god, as far as Pharaoh is concerned. This and other cases, the precedent is there for a human being or some other being to be addressed as God without being God. Paul talked about Satan as being the god of the world, so there is a question of god as capital "G" or small "g".

There are various ways of looking at it but I'm not arguing that your understanding is wrong, so much as trying to point out the case in not closed by that. Other things are possible. It is ambiguous. In a session like this it may sound like I'm trying to tell some people that they are wrong. My intention is more to say if you think you have proved something think again. Find something unambiguous or all-inclusive then wrap it up. If you can do that, then I will say, "Yes, you are right."

For now, what passes as proof is largely what is called SYNTHETIC reasoning. That is not a criticism. Synthetic reasoning is when you take a lot of things and you form what seems to be a sensible conclusion. IT IS NOT AN INEVITABLE CONCLUSION. That is analytic reasoning. Synthetic reasoning is when you say it is cloudy, the wind is blowing and the weatherman said rain – It's gonna rain. That's synthetic reasoning. You have not proved it's going to rain.

Analytic reasoning is where you have said A and B makes C, there is no other possibility. That's analytic reasoning.

These types of things are sold, in my opinion, as synthetic reasoning I've never seen it sold any other way. It is very coherent but it is not an inevitable conclusion that one arrives at, OTHER CONCLUSIONS ARE POSSIBLE BASED UPON THE SAME INPUT.

I want to give someone a turn who has not spoken; did I ask you before? (Miller addressing audience)

QUESTIONER7: Sir, we've talked about the Christian scriptures and their view of themselves, could you very quickly explain the Quran's view of itself in relationship to Christian scripture? What validity does it give for its own superiority, if it claims that?

DR MILLER: Yes, to start with, it's not so much a superior kind of a scripture, if that's what you mean. That is largely a Muslim misrepresentation, which is an over enthusiastic patriotism.

The Quran does not claim superiority in the usual sense that people are talking about because the Bible and the Quran are different kinds of books. The Quran reads approximately like most of the so-called Minor Prophets and some of the pronouncements of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It is not like most of the Bible, which are stories. That is, the book of Jonah begins by saying the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, quote, what you are about to read came from God, through Jonah.

Whereas the book of Luke begins by saying, in effect, what you are about to read is what I have gathered and put together because it seemed like a good idea, saying, "It seemed the appropriate thing to do" to gather the evidence and write this story. He doesn't say, what you are about to read are words God has handed to me and I'm now putting down on paper for you.

Those are two different kinds of things. The Quran is like the former. That is why it is really rather short, it is about 80% the size of the New Testament. It is pronouncements: if you read "I" it is God speaking, if you read "you" it is you, it is God talking to whoever is reading this. So they are different kinds of books, largely.

What it says of previous scriptures for one thing is that it says of itself that it confirms the truthfulness of WHAT IS IN previous scriptures. That is certain things that have fallen into debate, people were arguing about certain things, and if they were really important things the Quran touches on them. To say, it was correctly reported in that scripture on this matter that it really happened like that.

It confirms the truthfulness of previous scriptures, and this verse also in the 5th chapter, also says of itself that it is, and the Arabic word is MUHAYMIN, which maybe best translated by the words, quality control. It is kind of a test against other scriptures. That is, if somebody brings something and says this is scripture and it says such and such, it may well be the Quran says that specifically is NOT so, and the evidence is in that place, go and look. It is acting as quality control in that regard.

But, of course, it does not go step by step all the way through the Bible, the Hindu Gupta, and various other scriptures and say chapter 1 is correct, there one mistake in chapter 2, 3 in chapter 4 and so on. It doesn't do that. It just talks about certain issues and the advice traditionally given to the Muslim right from the beginning was that if, for example, the Christian comes and he says such and such is true and it says so in my book, and you don't have a reason to agree with him – then give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be right; he might be wrong but don't insist he's wrong. Leave him with it unless you evidence to the contrary.

And so it is, a lot of what Muslims commonly talk about are really things they may have picked up from the Christian or the Jew. Often to their detriment, I'm afraid, they pick up some of the fairytales and carry them over as well. That's the key, it is confirming the truthfulness of key issues and it's also setting the record straight on certain other things that people have misrepresented. A great deal else it does not comment on because it doesn't really matter.

QUESTIONER7: It's a man-made instrument to confirm or not confirm another supposedly man-made instrument?

DR MILLER: Oh, no, it doesn't say of itself it is a man-made instrument. As I said, it's the Speech of God's commandments. When you read it, it says, "I" as God, and "you" the reader. It's a pronouncement like as I said some of the 18 of the 66 books of the bible are like that, they don't just tell the story of so and so, but they say, God told Hosea this, quote. It's of that nature.

QUESTIONER7: The point I'm trying to make is that its validity is based on the fact that in part that it says it has a right to confirm or not confirm other books of scripture.

DR MILLER: Well, as to its validity, there are various approaches to that. But the one that is easiest to explain is that the Book by its physical existence, the paper and ink, demands an explanation of where did it come from? What it repeats many times is that if somebody says the origin of this Book is such and such, then ask him or her so and so to see if they still thinks that's true. In another place, If they think this Book came from such and such, remind them of this. So a person is confronted with the Book and has to come up with an explanation of where did it come from, and the person pursuing that comes to the conclusion that that is not so easily answered. All of the usual ideas have probably already been discussed in the Book itself with an explanation of why that can't be so. You'd better come up with another reason. It's when you run out of options it becomes a proof by exhaustion. It comes down to either this man was deceived or was himself a deceiver, if you are going to explain all of the facts you need BOTH of those assumptions and the point is they eliminate each other. You cannot at one time think you are a prophet and lie to people about it. You cannot have it both ways. You can be neither a liar nor deceived; you might be one or the other, but you can't be both. You're left with still this paper and ink, unexplained – what is its origin?

That's one way of looking at how does it establish that it deserves respect.

There's also the influence that it has had. It has accomplished certain things that's why historians of science, language, and philosophy will still point to the Quran that's the reason why the Arabs were suddenly civilized after 10,000 years of NO preparation for civilization. Something in that book is a stimulus. I hesitate to mention that, I suppose, because Islam is not an Arabic sort of thing, don't get that idea. 80% of Muslims don't speak Arabic, anyway. The point is that it had a sudden impact. That needs an explanation, it calls for some kind of answer.

QUESTIONER8: Is there a difference between the word "gospel" and the word "bible" as it contributes to the scriptures?

DR MILLER: Oh, yes, that's a point maybe I should have dealt with. He's asking about words like bible, and gospel. The Quran when it talks about gospel it means Injeel, in Arabic, Injeel, which is related to the Greek, evangel, which is translated "gospel." A long time ago, it might have been better translated as "Good News." Injeel was a message it wasn't a book some place. It was in the 2nd century that the collections of the accounts of the life of Jesus got the nickname, gospels.

When technically any Christian that makes that distinction to say well these are the four gospels but the gospel of Jesus is a message. It is not these four books. These four books have the gospel in them somewhere. So the Quran is talking about what was it Jesus said not what are those four injeels.

As to bible, that is just an English nickname. It just means library; it is a collection of writings. In other languages, they sometimes don't call it that, the Germans call it "Helige Geschrift," holy writings. The "Bible" is just a convenient name. The Quran talks about people who use books, or use the book, or book people but it doesn't say people that use THAT book, the Revised Standard of 1881. People who are in the habit of using a book to support their position are people of the book without spelling out bible or the gospel according to Matthew.

By Gary Miller, Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas
Transcribed from a videotape

SIGN OF JONAH

2010-10-29T05:32:00.001-07:00

"CHRIST" NOT A NAME

Over a thousand million Christians today blindly accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. They produce "a thousand and one" prophecies from the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament) to prove their claim that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews. Let us hold the thousand" prophecies in abeyance for a moment and examine the only unequivocal claim made by Jesus in the Gospels and examine whether he fulfilled his promise to the Jews.

We must admit that the word CHRIST is not a name. It is a title. It is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is Christos from which we get the word Christ.

Priests and kings were "anointed" when being consecrated to their office. The Holy Bible confers this title even on a heathen king CYRUS (Isaiah 45:1).

We are reminded in the Gospel of St.Luke that "WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS, WHICH WAS SO NAMED OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB." (Luke 2:21). The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son was JESUS and NOT Christ. It was only after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist that he, Jesus, claimed to be the Christ. The Jews were not the ones to accept his claim on its face value. They wanted proof!

MIRACLE AS PROOF

Matthew records that the learned men among the Jews - the Scribes and Pharisees - came to Jesus and asked, "MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE". (Matthew 12:38). What they really wanted was some "magic trick," some "sleight of hand" like producing a rabbit out of a hat or walking on the water or flying in the air or trodding on burning coal. This is the type of "sign" or MIRACLE they were looking for. The Jews mistook him for a sorcerer, a wizard, a charlatan.

NO "SIGN" BUT ONE

With righteous indignation Jesus replies: "AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN (no miracle) BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT THE SIGN (miracle) OF THE PROPHET JONAS: FOR AS JONAS WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE WHALE'S BELLY; SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH." Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus says, "NO SIGN." He does not refer the Jews to blind Bartimeus whose sight he had restored. He does not speak about the "woman with issues" who was healed by merely touching him; or about the 2000 pigs he had destroyed to heal "a man possessed;" or the 5000 and the 3000 people he had fed and satiated with a few pieces of fish and a few pieces of bread. "No sign," says Jesus, BUT ONE! - "THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS!" He is putting all his "eggs" in one basket. His claim to being the Messiah (Christ) stands or falls the ONLY "sign" he was prepared to give.

Did Jesus fulfill the only sign he gave? Christendom answers with a unanimous Y-E-S! without heeding the Biblical advice - 'not to take things for granted.' - but "PROVE ALL THINGS!" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

JONAH FLEES HIS CALL

What was the "sign" (miracle) of Jonah? We have to go to the "Book of Jonah" in the Old Testament to find out. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites to repent from their "evil ways, and from the violence that is in their hands." (Jonah 3:8) But Jonah was loath to go as a warner unto the Ninevites, so he goes to Joppa instead of Ninevah, and takes a boat to run away from the Lord's command.

While at sea, there was a terrible tempest. According to the superstition of the mariners, a person fleeing from his Master's command creates such a turmoil at sea. They began to enquire among themselves and said, "COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS, (like the tossing of a coin, "head" or "tail") THAT WE MAY KNOW FOR WHOSE CAUSE THIS EVIL IS UPON US. SO THEY CAST LOTS, AND THE LOT FELL UPON JONAH." (Jonah 1:7). Though here was a temporary lapse on the part of Jonah in fulfilling his mission, he manfully and most outrageously volunteers: "AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST IS UPON YOU." (Jonah 1:12)

DEAD OR ALIVE?

Since Jonah was selflessly offering himself as a "vicarious" sacrifice there was no need for strangling him before throwing him into the sea, no need to spear him or break his arm or limb. In his own words: "TAKE ME UP AND CAST ME FORTH." The question now arises, that when the shipmaster and the crew threw him overboard, was Jonah dead or alive? Any Christian child who has attended Sunday School will give an immediate reply: "ALIVE!" The storm subsides. Was this perhaps a coincidence? A fish swallows Jonah. Was he dead or alive when swallowed? The answer again is "ALIVE" Was he dead or alive when "JONAH PRAYED UNTO THE LORD HIS GOD OUT OF THE FISH'S BELLY?" (Jonah 2:1)

Surely dead men don't cry and don't pray! The answer again is "ALIVE" For three days and three nights the fish takes him around the ocean: dead or alive? "ALIVE!" is the answer. On the third day it vomits him on the seashore: dead or alive? A-L-I-V-E, of course! What had Jesus prophesied about himself? He said: "AS JONAH WAS ..... SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE" LIKE JONAH. And how was Jonah? Was he dead or alive for three days and three nights? Alive! ALIVE! ALIVE! is the unanimous answer from the Jew, the Christian and the Muslim!

UNLIKE JONAH

If Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, then Jesus also ought to have been alive in the tomb as he himself had foretold! But Christianity hangs on the flimsy thread of the death" of Jesus for its salvation. So it has to answer that Jesus was DEAD for three days and three nights. The contradiction between his utterance and its fulfilment is obvious. Jonah ALIVE, Jesus DEAD! Very UNLIKE Jonah! Jesus had said "LIKE Jonah" not UNLIKE Jonah. If this is true then according to his own test Jesus is not the TRUE Messiah of the Jews. If the Gospel record is genuine then how can we blame the Jews for rejecting "CHRIST".

THREE AND THREE = 72 HOURS?

The Doctor of Divinity and the Professor of Theology replies that in Matthew 12:40 under discussion, the emphasis is on the TIME factor - "as Jonas was THREE days and THREE nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be THREE days and THREE nights in the heart of the earth." "Please note," says the learned theologian, "that the word "THREE" is repeated F-O-U-R times in this verse to prove that Jesus was going to fulfil the prophecy as regards the length of time he was going to remain in the tomb, and NOT 'As Jonas was' in relation to his being alive or dead. If it is the time factor that Jesus was stressing then let us ask whether he fulfilled that aspect of his promise to the Jews as well. The Christian dogmatist answers: "OF COURSE!"

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

The question arises: when was Christ crucified? The whole Christian world answers: "FRIDAY!" Is this the reason we celebrate "Good Friday" - as a Public Holiday in every Christian nation from America to Zambia, from Abyssinia to Zaire at Easter? What makes Good Friday" so good? "it is the death of Christ on the Cross on this day to wash off our sins," says the Christians. So he was killed on the cross on a Friday, 19xx years ago? "YES!" says the Christians. From the Gospel records we gather that the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus. Hence the midnight trial, and then dispatching him off to Pilate in the morning; from Pilate to Herod and then back again to Pilate. The vested interests were afraid of the general public. Jesus was their hero. He had been their benefactor. His enemies had to do away with him quickly, and succeeded in doing so. However, as much as they were in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on Friday because of the Sabbath. The Sabbath starts at about 6 p.m. on Friday and the Jews were warned in Deuteronomy 21:23 that the victim of crucifixion was an "accursed of God" and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath day, "that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."

To satisfy the religious scruples of the Scribes and Pharisees the "secret disciples" of Jesus took down the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial-bath, plastered it with "one hundred pounds weight of aaloes and myrrh" (John 19:39), then placed the shrouded body into the sepulcher before night-fall.

WHY "SUPPOSED"?

There are numerous differences between the various sects and denominations of Christianity, but on the above they are unanimous. Jesus is SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Friday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the day of Saturday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday. Christians agree whole-heartedly with this. It will be noted that I have repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times. The reason is that the Gospels are silent as to when exactly Jesus came out of the tomb. He could have been taken away on Friday night by his "secret disciples" to a more congenial and restful place, but I have no right to assume about what the Gospel writers are silent. I have, therefore, repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times.

In the final analysis, let us see whether Jesus was THREE days and THREE nights in the tomb:-

EASTER WEEK	IN THE SEPULCHER
	DAYS	NIGHTS
FRIDAY - placed in tomb just before sunset	- nil -	One night
SATURDAY - supposed to be in tomb	One day	One night
SUNDAY - missing before sunrise	- nil -	- nil -
TOTAL	One Day	Two Nights

You will no doubt note that the GRAND TOTAL is ONE day and TWO nights, and NOT three days and three nights. According to the Christian Scriptures Jesus had failed a SECOND time. FIRST he was unlike Jonah, who was ALIVE in the belly of the fish, which is the exact opposite of what the Christians claim had happened to their master Jesus, who was DEAD for the same period of time as Jonah was - ALIVE.

SECONDLY, we discover that he also failed to fulfill the TIME FACTOR as well. The greatest mathematician in Christendom will fail to obtain the desired result - THREE days and THREE nights. We must not forget that the Gospels are explicit in telling us that it was "before sunrise" on Sunday morning (the FIRST day of the week), that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.

"GOOD" WEDNESDAY

The Armstrong family has debunked the whole Christian world. They seem to know their arithmetic! Mr Robert Fahey of the "Plain Truth" magazine, delivered a lecture recently at the "Holiday Inn,' Durban, where I was present. Mr Fahey attempted to prove to his Christian audience that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday and not on Friday, as is supposed by Orthodox Christianity for the past two thousand years. According to him if one counts backwards from Sunday morning deducting 3 DAYS and 3 NIGHTS, one ought to get WEDNESDAY as the answer.

I congratulated Mr Fahey for his ingenuity. I asked him, how was it possible for the past two thousand years the whole Christian world celebrated GOOD FRIDAY instead of GOOD WEDNESDAY. Thus the 1,200,000,000 Christians of the world today are ignorant of the correct day of the so called crucifixion! It means that even the Roman Catholic Church – which claims an unbroken chain of Popes from Peter to this day - according to Mr Fahey are mislead.

GOD OR THE DEVIL?

The question arises, who deceived the millions of Christians for the past TWO THOUSAND years. GOD or the DEVIL? Mr Fahey categorically answered: "THE DEVIL!" "If the devil," I said, "can succeed in confusing the Christians in the most elementary things of their Faith, whether to celebrate a Good Friday or a Good Wednesday, then how much easier for him to mislead Christians in other things concerning God?" Mr Fahey blushed and walked away.

If this is the belief of the trend-setters of the Christian Faith in the world today, may we not then ask: is this not the mightiest hoax in history?

World of Jinn

2010-10-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

Throughout history man has always had a deep attraction for the supernatural and the unseen. The existence of a world parallel to our own has always fascinated people. This world is commonly referred to as the spirit world, and almost every set of people have some concept of one. With some people, these spirits are no more then the souls of dead people- or ghosts. With others, spirits are either the forces of good or the forces of evil - both battling against one another to gain influence over humanity. However, both of these explanations are more in tune with folk tales and fantasy. The true explanation of such a world comes from Islam. Like every other way, Islam also claims to explain this realm of the unseen. It is from this realm that Islam explains to us about the world of the Jinn. The Islamic explanation of the Jinn provides us with so many answers to modem day mysteries. Without the knowledge of this world, the Muslims would become like the non-Muslims and be running around looking for any old answer to come their way. So, who or what are the Jinn?

Existence

The Jinn are beings created with free will, living on earth in a world parallel to mankind. The Arabic word Jinn is from the verb 'Janna' which means to hide or conceal. Thus, they are physically invisible from man as their description suggests. This invisibility is one of the reasons why some people have denied their existence. However, (as will be seen) the affect which the world of the Jinn has upon our world, is enough to refute this modern denial of one of Allah's creation. The origins of the Jinn can be traced from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Allah says:

"Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire"

(Surah Al-Hijr 15:26-27)

Thus the Jinn were created before man. As for their physical origin, then the Prophet (saws) has confirmed the above verse when he said: "The Angels were created from light and the Jinn from smokeless fire" [1]. It is this description of the Jinn which tells us so much about them. Because they were created from fire, their nature has generally been fiery and thus their relationship with man has been built upon this. Like humans, they too are required to worship Allah and follow Islam. Their purpose in life is exactly the same as ours, as Allah says:

"I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me"

(Surah Ad-Dhariyat 51:56)

Jinns can thus be Muslims or non-Muslims. However, due to their fiery nature the majority of them are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Jinns form a part of the army of the most famous Jinn, Iblis- the Shaytan[2]. Consequently, these disbelieving Jinns are also called Shaytans (devils). As for the Jinns who become Muslims, then the first of them did so in the time of the Prophet (saws) when a group of them were amazed by the recitation of the Qur'an. Allah orders the Prophet to tell the people of this event:

"Say (O' Muhammed): It has been revealed to me that a group of Jinn listened and said; 'Indeed we have heard a marvellous Qur'an. It guides unto righteousness so we have believed in it, and we will never make partners with our lord'"

(Surah Al-Jinn 72:1-2)

In many aspects of their world, the Jinn are very similar to us. They eat and drink, they marry, have children and they die. The life span however, is far greater then ours. Like us, they will also be subject to a Final Reckoning by Allah the Most High. They will be present with mankind on the Day of Judgement and will either go to Paradise or Hell.

Abilities

That which clearly distinguishes the Jinn from mankind, are their powers and abilities. Allah has given them these powers as a test for them. If they oppress others with them, then they will be held accountable. By knowing of their powers, we can often make sense of much of the mysteries which go on around us. One of the powers of the Jinn, is that they are able to take on any physical form they like. Thus, they can appear as humans, animals trees and anything else. Over the last few years the interest in the subject of aliens and UFO's has become heightened. Programmes such as the X-files and the Outer limits have increased the popularity of the theory that aliens exist. Thousands of people have sighted strange looking creatures all over the world. These sightings however, have still not proven substantially that aliens exist. Rather - and it seems more plausible all the sightings of such creatures were just Jinns parading in different forms. So the next time you see something that looks like E.T, its most probably just a wicked Jinn trying to scare and confuse you!

The ability to possess and take over the minds and bodies of other creatures is also a power which the Jinn have utilised greatly over the centuries. This however, is something which has been prohibited to them as it is a great oppression to possess another being. Human possession is something which has always brought about great attention. But the true knowledge of this subject is rare amongst the people. Over the last 3 decades the subject of possession has become very commercialised. During the 70's films such as The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby were used to educate people about possession. However, because such institutions (the film industry) were heavily influenced by Christianity, knowledge of the subject was non-existent. Rather then educate people about Jinn possession, films such as The Exorcist just tended to scare the living daylights out of us![3] Only through Islam can we understand such a phenomena. We know as Muslims, that Jinns possess people for many reasons. Sometimes it is because the Jinn or its family has been hurt accidentally. It could be because the Jinn has fallen in love with the person. However, most of the time possession occurs because the Jinn is simply malicious and wicked. For this reason we have been told by the Prophet (saws) not to loiter in those places where the Jinns reside, e.g. graveyards, ruins, deserts, market places etc. We have also been commanded to recite the Qur'an frequently in our houses as the Prophet (saws) said: "Indeed, the shaytan flees from the house in which Surah Al-Baqarah (the 2nd chapter of the Qur'an) is recited" [4].

If a person does become possessed, then the name of Allah has to be used in expelling the Jinn. If we look at the practice of the Prophet and his companions, we find many duas (supplications) to exorcise the Jinn. All these duas invoke Allah to help the possessed person. How contrary this is to many modern-day exorcists. Many exorcists, Muslim and non-Muslim, often invoke the names of others besides Allah to exorcise the Jinn[5]. When the Jinn does leave, these people believe that their way was successful. However, this is a ploy of the Jinn, as it knows that if it obeys the exorcist, then it has succeeded in making him worship others besides Allah i.e. commit shirk. The Jinn often returns when the exorcist leaves, as it knows that nothing except the words of Allah can stop it from oppressing others.

It is not only humans which are possessed, but also animals, trees and other objects. By doing this, the evil Jinn hope to make people worship others besides Allah. The possession of idols is one way to do this. Not so long ago the world-wide phenomenon of Hindu idols drinking milk, shocked the world. From Bombay to London, Delhi to California, countless idols were lapping up milk. Ganesh[6] the elephant god, Hanuman the monkey god and even Shiva lingam, the male private organ(!), all seemed to guzzle down the milk as if there was no tomorrow! Unfortunately people were taken in by this (including Muslims) and many flocked to feed (?) the Hindu gods. Anyone who knows about Jinn possession, will undoubtedly know that this is a classic attempt to make people commit shirk. And it worked, as many people started to worship these lifeless pieces of wood and marble. Anyone with half a brain would say to themselves, 'why on earth does a god need to be fed?!! Surely if Ganesh, Hanuman or Shiva were divine then they wouldn't need feeding?' However, such common sense seemed to be lacking as the Jinns played havoc with these gullible people.

The Occult

Through their powers of flying and invisibility, the Jinn are the chief component in occult activities. Voodoo, Black magic, Poltergeists, Witchcraft and Mediums can all be explained through the world of the Jinn. Likewise, so can the illusions and feats of magicians. Because the Jinn can traverse huge distances over a matter of seconds, their value to magicians is great. In return for helping them in their magic, the Jinns often ask for the magicians to sell their souls to them and even to Iblis. Thus the magicians take the Jinn and Iblis as lords besides Allah. In our day, some of the feats performed by magicians and entertainers are without doubt from the assistance of the Jinn. Making the Statue of Liberty disappear, flying across the Grand Canyon and retrieving a ship from the Bermuda Triangle[7], have all been done by the Jewish magician David Copperfield. There is NO way that a man could do such things without the assistance of the Jinn. It would not be surprising therefore, if David Copperfield had sold his soul to Iblis himself. Because of their involvement with the Jinn, and its result in shirk, the Prophet (saws) said: "The prescribed punishment for the magician is that he be executed by the sword" [8]. Some may argue that this is barbaric, but if, the likes of David Copperfield truly had powers, then they could just put their heads back on again!!

One of the most frequent activities associated with the Jinn, is fortune telling. Before the advent of the Prophet (saws) fortune-tellers and soothsayers were wide spread. These people would use their associates from the Jinn to find out about the future. The Jinns would go to the lowest heaven and listen to the Angels conversing amongst themselves about events of the Future which they heard from Allah. The Jinns would then inform the fortune-tellers. This is why before the time of the Prophet (saws) many fortune-tellers were very accurate in their predictions. However, upon the Prophet's arrival the heavens were guarded intensely by the Angels, and any Jinn who tried to listen was attacked by meteors (shooting stars):

"And We have guarded it (the heavens) from every accursed devil, except one who is able to snatch a hearing and he is pursued by a brightly burning flame"

(Surah Al-Hijr 15:18)

The Prophet (saws) also said: "They (the Jinn) would pass the information back down until it reaches the lips of a magician or forrtune-teller Sometimes a meteor would overtake them before they could pass it on. If they passed it on before being struck, they would add to it a hundred lies" [9]. Thus, it is clear from this as to how fortune-tellers get predictions of the future right. It is also evident as to why they get so many wrong. Men like Nostradamus[10] are an example, as some of his predictions of the future were correct whilst many were completely wrong. Unfortunately, the amount of fortune telling which occurs amongst the Muslims is also increasing. By visiting Muslim lands such as Morocco, one is able to see as to how much inter Jinn-fortune-teller activity there really is. If you look up at the sky on a clear night in Morocco, you will see the heavens ablaze with shooting stars! A clear display of the devils being chased away from the heavens.

Fortune-tellers also operate through the Qareen. The Qareen is the Jinn companion which is assigned to every human being. It is this Jinn which whispers to our base desires and constantly tries to divert us from righteousness. The Prophet (saws) said: "Everyone of you has been assigned a companion from the Jinn. The companions asked: Even you O' Messenger of Allah? And the Prophet replied: Even me, except that Allah has helped me against him and he has submitted. Now he only tells me to do good" [11]. Because the Qareen is with a person all his life, it knows all that has happened to the person from the cradle to the grave. By making contact with the Qareen, the fortune-teller is thus able to make out that it is he who knows about the person. He looks in his crystal ball or the palm of a person and proceeds to amaze him with knowledge which no one else knows[12]. The severity of going to a fortune-teller is such that the Prophet (saws) said: "The prayer of one who approaches a fortune-teller and asks him about anything, will not be accepted for forty days or nights" [13] and: "Whosoever approaches a fortune-teller and believes in what he says, has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammed" [14]

The effects of the Jinn are not just limited to fortune-tellers. Other activities such as oujia boards and seances, which are used to contact the dead, are manipulated by the Jinn. 'Are you there Charlie? Speak to us Charlie!!' are the sort of words spoken by anxious relatives (names are obviously different!) seeking to make contact with their loved ones. And it is when the Jinn starts to talk and communicate as 'Charlie', that the people are truly fooled[15].

One of the biggest manipulations of the Jinn is through visions. Through these visions the Jinns are more likely to lead people away from the worship of Allah then any other way. When a person sees a vision in front of his eyes it is something which is very hard to explain away. Only by having knowledge of the world of the Jinn and conviction in Allah, can a person fight such a trial. The countless numbers of visions of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary over the centuries has been a popular choice for the devils. It almost seems as if leading Christians astray is the most easiest trick for the Jinns! Not only are Christians fooled by these visions, but often the Jinns possess and begin to talk from their voices. To the Christians this is known as the tongues of the Angels and thus a proof for their faith. However, the amount of unintelligible nonsense and rubbish which is heard is a clear proof that this is in fact the tongues of the devils! For other people, visions of their parents or relatives are commonplace. By taking on the form of peoples parents, the Jinns can convince people that the souls of dead people still mix with the people of the earth. This is why so many people believe in ghosts.

The onslaught of satanic visions has also hit the Muslims. Many Muslims claim to have seen visions of the Prophet Muhammed (saws) and even Allah! By doing this, Shaytan is able to lead astray the weak Muslims. Through such visions, Muslims are often told that the commands of Islam are not applicable to them. The Jinns tell them that Prayer, Fasting, Hajj etc. are not obligatory for them. It is a great deception and unfortunately one which has been very effective. The extent of satanic visions still continues to this day. The recent death of Diana Princess of Wales sparked off great love and adoration for this woman. In fact the grief of the British people was such, that it was as if Diana was something divine. No sooner had the mourning of Diana reached its peak, that visions of her were already being seen at Hampton Court Palace! If these visions did occur, the desire of Iblis and his army of Jinn to capitalise on this event, was evident. Such visions are clear attempts by Iblis to lead mankind away from the path of Allah [16].

The world of the Jinn is one which is both sinister and intriguing. By knowing of this world we can explain many of the mysteries and issues which bother us. By doing this we can avoid the extremes which the people have gone to; nothing being more extreme then worshipping others besides Allah. By learning the Tawheed of Allah, we defend ourselves from these hidden allies of Iblis:

"Indeed he (Iblis) and his tribe watch you from a position where you cannot see them"

(Surah Al-A'raf 7:27)

Maybe there is a Jinn sitting in the corner of your room right now, or even one behind you. If so, then how will you deal with this creation of Allah? Learn Islam properly and you will be able to deal with all of Allah's creation - and not just the Jinn. By becoming true Muslims and followers of Islam, the fear of Iblis, Jinns and anything else will leave us - nothing will touch the Believer unless Allah wills.

Footnotes

Reported by Muslim - Eng. Trans. Vol. 4, p.1540, No.7134
It must be remembered that Iblis is a Jinn and not an Angel. The concept of the Devil being a fallen Angel is from Christianity and not Islam.
In fact when The Exorcist was first shown on cinema, it was so scary that many people fainted and one even died!
Authentic - Reported by Tirmidhee
Whilst Christians invoke the name of Jesus, many Muslims invoke the name of pious Muslim saints! The rituals which are conducted by many Muslims are more akin to voodoo then the exorcism practised by the Prophet and his companions!!
Ganesh, the elephant headed deity, seemed to be the biggest drinker! In fact it didn't just stop at milk. At the time of these occurrences, a woman in India decided to see if Ganesh would drink anything else - so she offered him whiskey!! And Lo and behold Ganesh drank the Whiskey!!! Suffice to say, the woman was kicked out of India.
The ship which was recovered was more then 50 years old. It subsequently caught alight and was conveniently destroyed.
Authentic - Reported by Tirmidhee
Reported by Bukhari - Eng. Trans. Vol.7, p.439, No.657
Michel de Nostradamus was a famous French soothsayer of the
sixteen 16th century.
Reported by Muslim - Eng. Trans. Vol.4, p.1472, No.6757
The classic example of how fortune tellers can be wrong is the case of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed. Both went to see a fortune teller who told Diana that she would live a long and happy life. A few weeks later, on August 31st 1997, Diana and Dodi Fayed were dead. After this the fortune tellers flew for cover, as their evil art showed its decadence.
Reported by Muslim - Eng. Trans. Vol.4, p.1211, No.5540
Authentic - Reported by Ahmed
Ouija boards are so misleading, that people have even managed to get in touch with the spirit of Jack the Ripper!!
An informative book on the world of the Jinn is Ibn Taymeeyah's Essay on the Jinn translated by Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips.

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SUMMARY

By Gary Miller, Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas Transcribed from a videotape

SIGN OF JONAH

World of Jinn

By Gary Miller, Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas
Transcribed from a videotape