KONKANLINES

The steady rise of Islamic finance

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:31:00 +0000

By Emily Buchanan and Bhasker Solanki

London has become one of the biggest centres for Islamic finance in the world, with five Islamic banks, and many others in the high street offering Islamic financial products, or "windows" as they are known.

The growth of Islamic finance has been an unexpected outcome of the attacks on the World Trade Center of 11 September 2001.

Islamic finance is based on rules from Islam's holy texts - the Koran. Scholars claim the fundamental difference to conventional banking is that Islamic finance is more ethical.

First it bans any form of "riba" or interest, preventing consumers being exploited by high rates of borrowing.

'Sinful'

Secondly, it regards speculative trading as sinful. One of the world's leading experts on Islamic finance, Sheikh Hussain Hassan, argues the whole crisis in Western banking could have been avoided if these basic sharia principles had been followed.

He said: "$600 trillion were wasted on options, futures and derivatives, all gambling. Sharia prohibited these kind of risks 14 centuries back."

Some Muslims regard ordinary mortgages as sinful. The idea is for the lender and the borrower to share the risk. There are now more products on the market which help Muslims buy a house without paying interest.

The most common form of Islamic home purchase loan works like this: When a couple wants to buy a house, instead of borrowing the money, the Islamic bank buys 80% of the house for them.

The couple puts down a deposit for the other 20% and then pays the bank rent, plus regular portions of the capital. During the fixed period, ownership gradually passes from the bank to the buyer.

But if the borrower loses his job and defaults on the payments, under sharia law it is very difficult for the family to be thrown out of their home, as that would be seen as a creditor exploiting a debtor.

These interest-avoiding transactions can work on a bigger scale as well.

The old Chelsea Barracks in London was bought by the Qatari government for nearly £1bn - the biggest residential property deal in the UK.

The entire transaction was done under sharia pinciples, with contracts drawn up by lawyers at Norton Rose.

Farmida Bi, one of the law firm's partners, explained that London has attracted this kind of investment because the British government wooed Islamic money in the wake of 9/11, at the expense of the US.

"It was really September 11th that made being a Muslim a political statement and not just a matter of personal faith," she said.

"And with the Patriot Act, which made investments in the US difficult for many Islamic investors, there was a significant increase in Islamic investors choosing to invest in Islamic institutions and Islamic products."

So while groups in the US were investigating terrorist connections with Islamic banks, Muslim investors pulled their money out of America.

Some of the money got diverted to London, which had traditionally been a banking centre. The British government then helped further by changing regulations to give sharia-compliant funds a level playing field with conventional ones.

A spokesperson for the Financial Services Authority, the body which regulates UK financial services, said: "We have a policy of no obstacles and no special favours towards Islamic banking, or indeed any new financial company."

The desire of British Muslim consumers to affirm their identity is also leading to a growth in new consumer services.

Salaam Insurance has launched Europe's first sharia-compliant car insurance aimed at Britain's 700,000 Muslim drivers.

Bradley Brandon-Cross, its non-Muslim chief executive, finds most Muslims do not yet understand the profit and loss sharing principles of "takaful" that it is based on.

"There's clearly an education campaign we are undertaking for British Muslims, to help them understand what Islamic finance is and what it means for them," he said.

Critics say the Islamic character of the products is merely window dressing to lure in Muslim customers.

And others argue the scholars who authorise them are a narrow group whom financial institutions choose to support their new services.

But this scepticism is unlikely to halt the inexorable growth of Islamic finance - as big investors and growing numbers of Muslim consumers demand it.

Eid ul Fitar, Religious Fesitval of the Muslims

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:25:00 +0000

The Eid ul Fitar is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims. It marks the end of Ramadan and celebrated on the starting day of Shawaal as it marks the tenth month of the Islamic Calendar. For Muslims, Eid ul Fitar is a joyous day since it is the best time for them to offer thanksgiving. As a true Thanksgiving Day, Muslims show appreciation to Allah for their opportunities of life, strength, and good health. They also give thanks to Allah for the fulfillment of their obligation such as good deeds and fasting during the blessed month of Ramadan.

The name of Eid ul Fitar is derived from two Arabic words, “Eid” and “Fitr”. Eid means festivity while Fitr refers to charity or nature. This religious festival is an entire day celebration for Muslims. It is often called as the “Smaller Eid” since the “Greater Eid” lasts for four days. During festival, Muslims are required to complete their fasting on the last day of Ramadan in accordance to their Holy Book, the Quran. The “Takbir” is also recited by Muslims all throughout the Eid period.

The common greetings during the Eid ul Fitar festival are the Arabic terms of “Id sa id” or Happy Eid, and “Id Mubarak” or Blessed Eid. Apparently, most Muslim countries have their own greetings based on their local traditions and language.

At the start of Eid ul Fitar festival, Muslims wake up early and have small breakfast before attending a special Eid prayer called as “salah”. Salah is performed in flock at mosques or open places such as squares and fields. Muslims are persuaded to wear their best clothes for the occasion. The Eid prayer is followed by a sermon known as “khutbah”, and a plea asking for help, mercy, and forgiveness for all living things in the world. The sermon instructs the Muslims to do rituals of Eid, such as the “zakat”. After the prayers, Muslims visit their acquaintance, friends, relatives as well as the graveyards of their loved ones who died.

Marriage in Islam

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:04:00 +0000

Marriage in Islam
September 21, 1:19 PMBoston Muslim Women's ExaminerBatul Juma

In Islam, marriage is a simple, legal contract between a man and a woman to live together as husband and wife.

A Muslim girl cannot be forced to marry against her will. Parents may suggest a suitable man for her but the choice is hers.

Marriage is strongly encouraged in Islam. It is both a legal agreement and a sacred bond. Allah has commanded in the Holy Quran: "Get the singles among you married as well as those who are fit for marriage among your male slaves and female slaves. If they are poor, Allah will make them free from want out of His grace: for Allah has boundless resources and is All-Knowing (24:32)." "And of His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves that you may find comfort with them, and He planted love and mercy for each other in your hearts; surely, there are signs in this for those who think about it (30:21)."

A woman has the same right to own property, earn wealth, and spend it as a man. A woman's wealth does not become the property of her husband after marriage or divorce. Nor is she expected to change her last name after marriage. Husbands and wives are protectors of each other, equal partners, and best of friends; remaining faithful to one another. The husband is the provider. He is responsible for the family. He fulfills his duties with consultation and kindness. Divorce is permitted in Islam but only as a last resort; although it is not common in Muslim families. In such cases, women are givennpriority in the custody of young children and the father is required to provide child support.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has said: "The best among the believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife."

THE CONCEPT OF BID'A IN THE ISLAMIC SHARI'A

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:29:00 +0000

Written by Abdul Samad
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 03:32
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There are few topics that generate as much controversy today in Islam as what is sunna and what is bid’a, or ‘reprehensible innovation,’ perhaps because of the times Muslims now live in and the challenges they face. Without a doubt, one of the greatest events to impact upon Muslims in the last thousand years has been the end of the Islamic caliphate earlier in this century, an event that marked not only the passing of temporal, political authority, but in many resects the passing of the consensus of orthodox Sunni Islam as well. No-one familiar with the classical literature in any of the Islamic legal sciences, whether Quranic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, or jurisprudence (fiqh), can fail to be struck by the fact that questions are asked today about basic fundamentals of Islamic Sacred Law (Shari’a) and its ancillary disciplines that would not have been asked in the Islamic period – not because Islamic scholars were not brilliant enough to produce the questions, but because they already knew the answers.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify some possible misunderstandings of the concept of ‘innovation’ (bid’a) in Islam, in the light of Prophetic hadith:

‘[…] Beware of matters newly begun, for every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell.’

The materials I use are the traditional Islamic sources, and my discussion with center on three points.

The first point is that scholars note that the above hadith does not refer to all new things without restriction, but only to those to whose validity nothing in Sacred Law attests. The use of the word every in the hadith does not indicate and absolute generalisation, for there are many examples of similar generalisations in the Quran and sunna that are not applicable without restriction, but rather are qualified by restrictions found in other primary textual evidence.

The second point is that sunna and way of the Prophet was to accept new acts initiated in Islam that were of the good and did not conflict with established principals of Sacred Law, and to reject things that were otherwise.

And our third and last point is that new matters in Islam may not be rejected merely because they did not exist in the first century, but must be evaluated and judged according to the comprehensive methodology of Sacred Law, by virtue of which it is and remains the final and universal moral code for all peoples until the end of time.

Our first point, that the hadith does not refer to all new things without restriction, but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law attests to the validity of, may at first seem strange, in view of the wording of the hadith, which say ‘every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell.’ Now the word bid’a or ‘innovation’ linguistically means anything new. So our first question must be about the generalisability of the word every (kull) in the hadith: does it literally mean that everything new in the world is haram or ‘unlawful’?? The answer is “no”. Why ??

In answer to this question, we may note that there are many similar generalities in the Quran and sunna, all of them admitting of some qualification, such as the word of Allah Most High in Surat al-Najm: ‘A man can have nothing, except what he strives for’ (53:39), despite there being an overwhelming amount of evidence that a Muslim benefits from the spiritual works of others, for example, from his fellow Muslims, the prayers of angels for him, the funeral prayer over him, charity given by others in his name, and the supplications of believers for him.

Consider, also, the words of Allah to unbelievers in Surat ul-Anbiya, ‘Verily you and what you worship apart from Allah are the fuel of hell’ (21:98). Here, ‘what you worship’ is a general expression, although there is no doubt that Jesus, his mother, and the angels were all worshipped apart from Allah, but are not the fuel of hells so are not what is meant by the verse.

Another example is the word of Allah Most High in Surat al-An’am about past nations who paid no heed to the warners who were sent to them; ‘But when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened unto them the doors of everything’ (6:44), even though the doors of mercy were not opened unto them.

And again, there is the hadith related by Muslim that the Prophet said, ‘No one who prays before sunrise and before sunset will enter hell’, which is a generalised expression that definitely does not mean what its outward generality implies, for someone who prays the dawn and mid-afternoon prayers and neglects all other prayers and obligatory works is certainly not meant. It is rather a generalisation whose intended referent is particular, or a generalisation that is qualified by other texts, for when there are fully authenticated hadiths, it is obligatory to reach an accord between them, because they are in reality as a single hadith, the statements that appear without further qualification being qualified by those that furnish the qualification, in order that the combined implications of all of them may be utilised.

Let us look for a moment at bid’a or innovation in the light of the sunna of the Prophet concerning new matters. Sunna and innovation (bid’a) are two opposed terms in the language of Lawgiver, such that neither can be defined without reference to the other. That is, they are opposites, and ‘things are made clear by their opposites.’ Many writers have sought to define innovation (bid’a) without defining the sunna, and thus have fallen into hopeless difficulties and conflicts with the primary textual evidence that contradicts their definition of innovation. If they had first defined the sunna, they would have produced a criterion free of shortcomings.

Sunna, in both the language of the Arabs and the Sacred Law, means way, as is illustrated by the words of the Prophet , ‘He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam […] And he who introduces a bad sunna in Islam […],’ sunna meaning way or custom. The way of the Prophet in giving guidance, accepting and rejecting: this is the sunna. For ‘good sunna’ and ‘bad sunna’ mean a good way or bad way, and cannot possibly mean anything else. Thus, the meaning of sunna is not what most students, let alone ordinary people, understand; namely, that it is the prophetic hadith, as when sunna is contrasted with Kitab, i.e. Quran, in distinguishing textual sources, or the opposite of the obligatory (as when sunna, i.e. recommended, is contrasted with obligatory in legal contexts), since the former is a technical usage coined by hadith scholars, while the latter is a technical usage coined by legal scholars and specialists in fundamentals of jurisprudence. Both of these are usages of later origin that are not what is meant by sunna here. Rather, the sunna of the Prophet is his way of acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting, and the way of his Rightly Guided Caliphs who followed his way of acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting. So practices that are newly begun must be examined in the light of the sunna of the Prophet and his way and path in acceptance or rejection.

Now, there are a great number of hadiths, most of them in the rigorously authenticated (sahih) collections, showing that many of the Prophetic Companions initiated new acts, forms of invocation (dhikr), supplications (dua), and so on, that the Prophet had never previously done or ordered to be done. Rather, the Companions did them because of their inference and conviction that such acts were of the good that Islam and the Prophet of Islam came with and in general terms urged the like of be done, in accordance with word of Allah Most High in Surat al-Hajj, ‘And do the good, that haply you may succeed’ (22:77), and the hadith of the Prophet , ‘He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam earns the reward of it and the reward of all who perform it after him without diminishing their own rewards in the slightest.’

Though the original context of the hadith was giving charity, the interpretative principle established by the scholarly consensus (ijma) of specialists in fundamentals of Sacred Law is that the point of primary texts lies in the generality of their lexical significance, not the specificity of their historical context, without this implying that just anyone may make provisions in the Sacred Law, for Islam is defined by principles and criteria, such that whatever one initiates as a sunna must be subject to its rules, strictures, and primary textual evidence.

From this investigative point of departure, one may observe that many of the prophetic Companions performed various acts through their own personal reasoning (ijtihad), and the sunna and way of the Prophet was both to accept those that were acts of worship and good deeds conformable with what the Sacred Law had established and not in conflict with it; and to reject those which were otherwise. This was his sunna and way, upon which his caliphal successors and Companions proceeded (may Allah be well pleased with them), and from which Islamic scholars have established the rule that any new matter must be judged according to the principles and primary texts of Sacred Law: whatever is attested to by the law as being is acknowledged as good, and whatever is attested to by the law as being a contravention and bad is rejected as a blameworthy innovation (bid’a). They sometimes term the former a good innovation (bid’a hasana) in view of it lexically being termed an innovation, but legally speaking it is not really an innovation but rather an inferable sunna, as long as the primary texts of the Sacred Law attest to its being acceptable.

We now turn to the primary textual evidence previously alluded to concerning the acts of the Companions and how the Prophet responded to them:

(1) Bukhari and Muslim relate from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be well pleased with him) that at the dawn prayer the Prophet said to Bilal (may Allah be well pleased with him) ‘Bilal (may Allah be well pleased with him), tell me your acts in Islam you are most hopeful about, for I have heard the footfall of your sandals in paradise.’ He replied, ‘I have done nothing I am more hopeful about than the fact that I do not perform ablution at any time of the night or day without praying with that ablution whatever has been destined for me to pray.’

Ibn Hajaral-Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari that ‘the hadith shows it is permissible to use personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing times for acts of worship, for Bilal (may Allah be well pleased with him) reached the conclusions he mentioned by his own inference, and the Prophet confirmed him therein.’ Similar to this is the hadith in the Bukhari about Khubayb (may Allah be well pleased with him), who had asked to pray two rak’as before being executed by idolaters in Mecca, and was hence the first to establish the sunna of two rak’as for those who are steadfast in going to their death. These hadiths are explicit evidence that Bilal and Khubayb (may Allah be well pleased with them) used their own personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing the times of acts of worship, without any previous command or precedent from the Prophet other than the general demand to perform the prayer.

(2) Bukhari and Muslim relate that Rifa’a Ibn Rafi said, ‘When we were praying behind the Prophet and he raised his head from bowing and said, “Allah hear whoever praises Him,” a man behind him said, “Our Lord, Yours is the praise, abundantly, wholesomely, and blessedly.” When he rose to leave, the Prophet asked who said it, and when the man replied that it was he, the Prophet said, “I saw thirty-odd angels each striving to be the one to write it.”

Ibn Hajar comments in Fath Al-Bari that the hadith ‘indicates the permissibility of initiating new expressions of dhikr in the prayer other than the ones related through hadith texts, as long as they do not contradict those conveyed by the hadith. It is clear that this is since the above words were a mere enhancement and addendum to the know, sunna dhikr.’

(3) Bukhari relates from A’isha (may Allah be well pleased with her) that the Prophet dispatched a man at the head of military expedition who recited the Quran for his companions at prayer, finishing each recital with al-Ikhlas (Quran 112). When they returned, they mentioned this to the Prophet , who told them, ‘Ask him why he does this,’ and when they asked him, the man replied, ‘because it describes the All-Merciful, and I love to recite it.’ The Prophet said to them, ‘Tell him that Allah loves him.’

In spite of this, we do not know of any scholar who holds that doing the above is recommended, for the acts the Prophet used to do regularly are superior, though his confirming the like of this illustrates his sunna regarding his acceptance of various forms of obedience and acts of worship, and shows he did not consider the like of this to be a reprehensible innovation (bid’a), as do the bigots who vie with each other to be the first to brand acts as innovation and misguidance. Further, it will be noticed that all the preceding hadiths are about the prayer, which is the most important of bodily acts of worship, and of which the Prophet said, ‘Pray as you seen me pray,’ despite which he accepted the above examples of personal reasoning because they did not depart from the form defined by the Lawgiver, for every limit must be observed, while there is latitude in everything besides, as long as it is within the general category of being required by Sacred Law. This is the sunna of the Prophet and his way and could not be more clear. The ulema infer from it that every act for whose benefit there is evidence in Sacred Law and which does not oppose an unequivocal primary text or entail harmful consequences is not included in the category of reprehensible innovation (bid’a), but rather is of the sunna, even if there should exist something whose performance is superior to it.

(4) Bukhari relates from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah have mercy on him) that a band of the Companions of the Prophet once departed on one of their journeys, alighting at the encampment of some desert Arabs whom they asked to be their hosts, but who refused to have them as guests. The leader of the encampment was stung by a scorpion, and his followers tried everything to cure him, and when all had failed, one said, ‘If you’d approach the group camped near you, one of them might have something.’ So they came to them and said, ‘O band of men, our leader has been stung and we’ve tried everything. Do any of you have something for it ??’ and one of them replied, “Yes, by Allah, I recite healing words [ruqya] over people, but by Allah, we asked you to be our hosts and you refused, so I will not recite anything unless you give us a fee.’ They then agreed upon a herd of sheep, so the man went and began spitting and reciting the Fatiha over the victim until he got up and walked as if he were a camel released from its hobble, there being nothing the matter with him. They paid the agreed fee. Some of the Companions wished to divide this up, but the man who had done the reciting told them, ‘Do not do so until we reach the Prophet and tell him what has happened, to see what he may order to us to do.’ They came to the Prophet and told him what had occurred, and he said, ‘How did you know it was of the words which heal ?? You were right. Divide up the herd and give me a share.’

The hadith is explicit that the Companion had no previous knowledge that reciting the Fatiha to heal (ruqya) was countenanced by Sacred Law, but rather did so because of his own personal reasoning (ijtihad), and since it did not contravene anything that had been legislated, the Prophet confirmed him therein. He did so because it was of his sunna and way to accept and confirm that brought good and did not entail harm, even if it did not proceed from the acts of the Prophet himself as a definitive precedent.

(5) Bukhari relates from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah have mercy on him) that one man heard another reciting al-Ikhlas (Quran 112) over and over again, so when morning came he went to the Prophet and sarcastically mentioned it to him. The Prophet said, ‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, it equals one-third of the Quran!’ Daraqutni recorded another version of the hadith in which the man said, ‘I have a neighbour who prays at night and does not recite anything but al-Ikhlas.’

The hadith shows that the Prophet confirmed the person’s restricting himself to this sura while praying at night, despite its not being what the Prophet himself did, for though the Prophet’s practice of reciting from the whole Quran was superior, the man’s act was within the general parameters of the sunna and there was, in any case, nothing blameworthy about it.

(6) Ahmad and Ibn Hibban relate from ‘Abdullah ibn Burayda that his father said, ‘I entered the mosque with the Prophet . A man was at prayer, supplicating with the following words: “O Allah, I ask You by fact the I testify You are Allah, there is no god but you, the One, the Ultimate, who did not beget and was not begotten, and to whom none is equal,” and the Prophet said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, he has asked Allah by His greatest name, which if He is asked by it He gives, and if supplicated He answers.”’

It is plain that this supplication came spontaneously from the Companion, but since it conformed to the requirements of the Sacred Law, the Prophet confirmed it, and indeed approved it strongly, even though it is not known that the Prophet had ever taught it to him.’ (reference: Yusuf al-Rifa’I, Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa’l Jama’a (Kuwait, 1404/1984), 119-33.

We are now able to return to the hadith which I began this essay, in which the Prophet said, ‘Beware of matters newly begun, for every innovation is misguidance.’ We should understand it in the orthodox way that has been expounded by a leading classical scholar of Islam, Shaykh Mohammed al-Jurdani, whose extended paraphrase and commentary runs as follows:

Beware of matters new begun
‘Distance yourselves and be wary of matters newly innovated that did not previously exist,’ i.e. things invented in Islam that contravene the Sacred Law,

for every innovation is misguidance

meaning that ‘every innovation is the opposite of the truth’, i.e. falsehood, a hadith that has been related elsewhere as:

for every newly begun matter is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell

meaning that everyone who is misguided, whether through himself or by following another, is in hell; the hadith referring to matters that are not good innovations with a basic in Sacred Law. It has been stated [by al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam] that innovations (bid’a) fall under the five headings of the Sacred Law [the obligatory (wajib), unlawful (haram), recommended (mandub), offensive (makruh), and permissible (mubah)]:

(1) The first category comprises innovation the are obligatory, such as recording the Quran and laws of Islam in writing when it was feared that something might be lost from them; the study of the disciplines of Arabic that are necessary to understand the Quran and sunna such as grammar, the declension of nouns, and lexicography; hadith classification to distinguish between genuine and spurious prophetic traditions; and the philosophical refutations of arguments advanced by the Mu’tazilites and comparable sects.

(2) The second category is that of unlawful innovations such as non-Islamic taxes and levies, giving positions of authority in Sacred Law to those unfit for them, and devoting one’s time to learning the beliefs of heretical sects that contravene the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna

(3) The third category consists of recommended innovations such as building hostels and schools of Sacred Law, recording the research of Islamic schools of legal thought, writing books on beneficial subjects, extensive research into fundamentals and particular applications of Sacred Law, in-depth studies of Arabic linguistics, the reciting of wirds by those with a Sufi path, and commemorating the birth (mawlid) of the Prophet Mohammed and wearing one’s best and rejoicing at that occasion.

(4) The fourth category includes innovations that are offensive, such as ornately embellishing mosques, decorating the Quran and having a backup man (muballigh) loudly repeat the spoken Allahu Akbar of the imam when the latter’s voice is already clearly audible to those who are praying behind him.

(5) The fifth category is that of innovations that are permissible, such as sifting flour, using spoons and having more enjoyable food, drink and housing. (reference: Mohammed ibn Abdullah al-Jurdani, al Jawahid al-lu’lu’iyya fi shar al-Arba’in al-Nawawiyya (Cairo, 1328/13910, reprinted Damascus: Abd al-Wakil al-Durubi, n.d.) 220-21)

I will conclude my summary of the classical position on this subject with a translation of the following statement by Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghumari:

In his al-Qawaid al-kubra, al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam classifies innovations (bid’a), on the basis of their benefit, harm, or indifference, into the five categories of rulings: the obligatory, recommended, unlawful, offensive, and permissible, giving examples of each and mentioning the principles of Sacred Law that verify his classification. His words on the subject display is keen insight and comprehensive knowledge of both the principles of jurisprudence and the human advantages and disadvantages in view of which the Lawgiver has established the rulings of Sacred Law.

Because his classification of innovation [bid’a] was established on a firm basis in Islamic jurisprudence and legal principles, it was confirmed by Imam Al-Nawabi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and the vast majority of Islamic scholars, who received his words with acceptance and considered it obligatory to apply them to the new events and contingencies that occur with the changing times and the peoples who live in them. One may not support the denial of his classification by clinging to the hadith ‘Every innovation is misguidance,’ because the only form of innovation that is without exception misguidance is that which concerns tenets of faith, like the innovations of the Mu’tazilites, Qadarites, Murji’ites, and so on, that contradicted the beliefs of the early Muslims. This is the ‘innovation of misguidance’ because it is harmful and devoid of benefit. As for innovation in works, meaning the occurrence of an act connected with worship or something else that did not exist in the first century of Islam, it must necessarily be judged according to the five categories mentioned by al-Izz ibn Abdal-Salam. To claim that such innovation is misguidance without further qualification is simply not applicable to it, for new things are among the exigencies brought into being by the passage of time and generations, and nothing that is new lacks a ruling of Allah Most High that is applicable to it, whether explicitly mentioned in primary texts, or inferable from them in some way. The only reason that Islamic law can be valid for every time and place and be the consummate and most perfect of all divine laws is because it comprises general methodological principles and universal criteria, together with the ability its scholars have been endowed with to understand its primary texts, the knowledge of types of analogy and parallelism, and the other excellences that characterise it. Were we to rule that every new act that has come into being after the first century of Islam is an innovation of misguidance without considering whether it entails benefit or harm, then a large share of the fundamental bases of Sacred Law would be invalidated, as well as those rulings established by analogical reasoning [qiyas], and this would narrow and limit the Sacred Law’s vast and comprehensive scope. (reference: al-Rifa’i, op. cit., 145-47)

Wa Jazakum Allahu khayran, wa’l-hamdu li’Llahi Rabbi’l-Alamin.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 May 2009 03:36

The oldest mosque in India - Cheraman Jama Masjid

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Cheraman Juma Masjid is a mosque in Kodungallur in the Indian state of Kerala. Built in 629 AD by Malik Ibn Dinar, it is the oldest mosque in India, and the second oldest mosque in the world to offer Jumu'ah prayers. Constructed during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammed(pbuh), the bodies of some of his original followers are said to be buried here.

Since ancient times, trade relations between Arabia and the Indian subcontinent were active. Even before Islam had been established in Arabia, Arab traders to used visit the Malabar region, which was a link between the ports of South and South East Asia. With the advent of Islam, the Arab merchants became carriers of the new religion and
they propagated it wherever they went. A number of Indians living in the coastal areas of Kerala were moved by the principles of Islam and converted. King Cheraman Perumal is said to be the first convert to Islam in India.

Legend has it that a group of Prophet Muhammad's(pbuh) companions visited Kodungallur. Cheraman Perumal, then the Chera ruler, had witnessed a miraculous happening the sudden splitting of the moon, the celebrated miracle of Muhammad and learned on inquiry that this was a symbol of the coming of a Messenger of God from Arabia. Soon after, Perumal travelled to Mecca, where he embraced Islam, and accepted the name Thajudeen. On his way back to India he died at Salala in the
Sultanate of Oman. On his deathbed he is said to have authorised some of his Arab companions to go back to his kingdom to spread Islam. Accordingly, a group of Arabs led by Malik Bin Deenar and Malik bin Habib arrived in north Kerala, and constructed the Cheraman Juma Masjid at Kodungallor.

H.H. Maharaja Cheraman Perumal of Travancore

One of the most illustrious Dravidian emperor, Cheraman Perumal who was the first known head of state to embrace Islam. The emperor heard about the Prophet and his teachings from scholars and traders from the middle east. Subsequently, the king visited the Prophet and under the instruction of the prophet and the King constructed the famous Cheraman Juma Masjid in 629 AD at Mahodayapuram which is the present day kodungalloor. It is claimed, it is the first Islamic congregation In the world or at least in India.

How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead;
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a paragon of cool and an icon of the ultimate bad-ass. Not only were his martial arts skills incredible, but he had such an impressive physique that even bodybuilders in the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger admired him.

What’s more impressive is that Bruce trained his body without ever stepping into a gym and with very little use of weights or machines.

Here are just a few of Lee’s physical feats:

Performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
Could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
Could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.
Could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
Performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
While you may not get to Bruce Lee’s level overnight, you can start getting in shape without the use of a lot of fancy (and expensive) equipment. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, in a space as large as a bathroom.

Part of the reason I started training without a gym was because I began training in Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s method of martial arts). But I also got tired of paying monthly gym dues. At the time, I was looking for things I could cut out of my monthly budget to save a little extra money.

I thought about getting rid of my gym membership altogether, but I didn’t want to sacrifice my health or physical fitness. So I found another way. For months, I haven’t had a gym membership, yet I’m getting stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in my life.

You don’t have to buy lots of weights or machines, either. The most expensive equipment you’ll need (a simple doorway pull-up bar) will cost no more than $35.00.

Bruce Lee was a big proponent of holistic or total fitness. His workouts included strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility training.

Here’s just a few of the ways you can start getting stronger, faster and more toned without ever stepping into a gym:

Calisthenics. There are so many different bodyweight exercises out there, but we’ll start with the basics. For the lower body: lunges and squats are a good start. For upper body: pull-ups, push-ups, and shoulder press ups. For your core: crunches, chops, and reverse crunches will get you going. What’s great about bodyweight exercises is that they build functional strength. They’re natural movements you would use in real life situations like sports, self-defense, gardening, or doing chores. Plus when you do bodyweight exercises, you force your body to use more supporting and balancing muscles than you would on machines. For more bodyweight exercises check out these great resources: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Training: 100 Killer Resources and for an awesome list of bodyweight exercises with illustrations check out Combat Fitness. Bonus: Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced and Beginners.
Isometric exercises. These are basic bodyweight exercises, but where you hold your body in a static position. Examples of these are the frog sit, v-sit, horse stance, hanging from a pull-up bar, and the plank. Calisthenic exercises will improve muscle strength over a range of motion, but isometric exercises are great for joint and stabilizing strength.
Range of motion and flexibility. The best exercise I’ve found for range of motion and flexibility is yoga. The best thing about yoga is that no equipment is required and you can find tons of free resources online for yoga routines. Check out Anmol Mehta’s Yoga Illustrations to get you started.
Balance. Balance is the ability to keep your equilibrium when your center of gravity is thrown off-balance. There are many ways you can practice balance every day (we won’t get into tight rope walking here). When you’re putting on your shoes or getting dressed, do it on one foot. Walk on the curb and try to walk in a straight line without stumbling. Or if you’re really ambitious, there’s always pogo sticking and unicycling.
Dynamic exercise. Dynamic exercise is anything where you’re not performing routine after routine. Things are in flux and constantly changing. You’re moving in more natural movements, rather than continuous repetition of fixed patterns. I recently started doing Jeet Kune Do in the park every weekend. It’s a great way to get a good work out and learn self defense. Not to mention, practicing martial arts tends to make you inspired to further pursue and achieve higher levels of physical fitness. If you’re not into martial arts, you can always pick up a sport like tennis, handball, basketball, or take dance classes. Do whatever you’re naturally drawn to. Or if you struggle with seeing fitness as an enjoyable activity, you might consider getting a Wii Fit.
There’s a lot of other opportunities for exercise that don’t include a gym that I haven’t listed here. Hiking, jogging, skiing, yardwork… The list could go on. Just use your imagination. Make it fun and change it up. That’s the great thing about exercising without a gym, there’s so much to choose from.

On a side note, I will, however, say that for me, it took a lot more discipline to work out from home. It was easy for me to just go to the gym. Once I’m there, there’s not a lot else I can do other than work out. But at home, there’s always distraction, always other things you can do besides working out (like laying on the couch or surfing the internet). For me, practicing martial arts inspires me to be physically fit. While you might not have this problem, I thought it only fair to be upfront about this issue.

The other motivator for me to work out from home — besides saving money — was the variety of workouts. There’s just so many more options with bodyweight exercises than machines. You can always do something to further challenge yourself. If push-ups are a breeze, you can try doing them on your fingers or in a close grip (with a medicine ball). If pull-ups become too easy, train for a one arm pull-up (insanely difficult).

Attaining Bruce Lee like fitness isn’t just about doing the types workouts he did and eating the same diet. What made Bruce so great was his natural curiosity and drive to constantly explore and learn more about fitness and personal growth. (His personal library contained over 2,000 books!)

Tap into your own curiosity and make fitness enjoyable. Challenge yourself to new levels of fitness. Go beyond what you think you can do.

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” - Bruce Lee

MEDICAL ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:18:00 +0000

MEDICAL ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER

STARTING WITH ABLUTION (WUDU)

As all the Muslims know and practice that the Ablution is a must before we offer prayer or in fact any

other religious worship. It is important to know that this practice forms the part of the cleanliness on

which Islam has so immensely stressed. The importance of performing an ablution prior to prayer has

been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an itself. Sura Al Nisa 4:43 "O ye who believe! Approach not

prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say, - nor in a state of ceremonial

impurity except when you are passing by (through the mosque), until after washing your whole body."

In verse No 6 of Sura Al Maida, the way of performing an ablution is also described. "O ye who

believe! When ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows;

Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial

impurity, bathe your whole body." Cleanliness is so much important that even if water is not available,

Ablution is still to be done with sand or soil that is clean.

The same verse of Sura Al Maida continues "If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from

offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for

yourselves clean sand (or earth), and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins

and forgive again and again."

CLEANLINESS... A HALLMARK OF ISLAM

Mind you that cleanliness, so enormously stressed by Islam is by and large a characteristic of this

divine religion only. It is futile to search it in other religions. No other religion stresses so much on

cleanliness and sanitation as does ISLAM. In the medieval times Europe's major cities like London,

Paris and Berlin were known for filthy heaps in front of every house. There was no lightening.

Whosoever used to get out of the house was soon in muddy drainage water. To take a bath in those

days was considered a taboo as if a sin such that when Roman Pope accused Fredrick II Of

Germany (1212-1250AD) for being a non believer of Christianity he specifically mentioned that he

takes a bath daily as if he is a Muslim. The Christians showed their hatred towards the habit of

cleanliness of Muslims. For example Philip II (1556-1598 AD) closed all the bath saloons in Spain

after the fall of Muslim empire there. He dismissed one of his Governors saying that he washes his

hands and feet every day like Muslims.

On the other hand the cleanliness is so much important in Islam that after the opening revelation of

Sura Alaq the very second revelation of Qur'an in Sura Al Mudassir has a verse addressed to Holy

Prophet (pbuh) to maintain cleanliness. Similarly both Tirmizi and Mishkat quote the famous saying of

the Holy Prophet (pbuh) "Cleanliness is part of faith."

In this article I will briefly highlight the advantages of each step of Ablution knowing that my

knowledge is still limited and the medical research is an ongoing process.

WASHING THE HANDS.... FIRST STEP OF ABLUTION

The first step by which we start an ablution is washing the hands three times. There is no need to

emphasize upon this point that hand washing is the most important part of the sanitation for medical

personnel. Every physician is required to wash his hands after each maneuver and examination of the

patient.

HAND WASHING...A BARRIER AGAINST INFECTIONS...

It obviously means that hand washing serves as an important barrier against the spread of infections.

As all infections disseminate from the community and Islam looks at prayer as a community worship

in a mosque for men (women as well like in big mosques) the washing of hands is important to

decrease the chances of contracting an infection.

HAND WASHING HAS A SOOTHING EFFECT ON MIND

Secondly in this busy life when we are having hundreds of stresses, hand washing serves as a

maneuver that consoles our mind. I have frequently noticed that hand washing always eases the

tension and it not only cools the hands but also cools the mind. In fact it breaks the vicious circuit of

depressed thoughts. Even apart from ablution the ritual of hand washing is important in Islam, as a

Muslim is required to wash his hands before he starts a meal. There is a Hadith in Abu Daud and

Tirmizi saying that "The blessing of a meal is in washing (like ablution) before and after meals."

MOUTH WASHING AND ITS EFFECTS

After washing the hands a Muslim is supposed to wash his mouth three times by gargling. Again it is

well understood that as mouth is an ideal location for microorganisms and it is the main entry point for

infections as it is through mouth that microorganisms reach the stomach and respiratory tract hence

cleaning the mouth three times will be highly beneficial.

TOOTH CLEANING - A MUST IN ALL PRAYERS

Cleaning of the mouth three times before a prayer or fifteen times a day is excellent for deterring the

dental caries that is so common these days. Apart from dental caries and diseases of the mouth like

Aphthous Ulcers, Stomatitis etc., new research has shown that the risk of heart attack is also

increased if the teeth remain unclean.

Remember that Holy Prophet (pbuh) has strongly recommended the use of Sewak to clean the teeth.

A Hadith quoted in Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, Nasai and Tirmizi says that Holy Prophet (pbuh)

said "If I did not find it hard on my followers (Ummah) I would have ordered them to wash their teeth

by sewak with each prayer".

It obviously elaborates how much stress Holy Prophet (saw) laid upon cleaning the teeth. I have no

hesitation to say that the number of times most of the people clean their teeth at bedtime and in the

morning alone is not at all enough. The use of refined sugars has increased tremendously in the

present time and this warrants that the teeth should be more frequently cleaned and five prayers

provide an ample opportunity for this purpose. This practice ensures a healthy and a prosperous life

and this is what Islam intends.

CLEANING OF NOSE AND ITS GOOD EFFECTS

Next is the three times cleaning of the nose with water. Cleaning of nose is not only hygienically

important and it not only cleans the nose but is also good for the mind. As nose is usually filled with

hardened plaques and as we breath through nose a slight narrowness in its passage interferes with our

respiration and makes it uneasy. Cleaning of the nose so frequently means that we get rid of the

unwanted obstruction and this makes us feel comfortable otherwise a person suffering from Sinusitis

knows that a blocked nose usually gives an unpleasant feeling.

FACE WASHING ... AND ITS ADVANTAGES

After washing his nose a Muslim who is performing Ablution is supposed to wash his face three

times. Again it is worth mentioning that face is the area close to nose and mouth, the entry points of

infections and presumably it is a seat of many microorganisms hence washing face is of paramount

importance in infection control and this is what a Muslim is supposed to do 15 times a day. In the

Oxford book of Medicine 1996 Edition the importance of face washing is clearly mentioned in the

prevention of Trachoma, a blindness causing disease. It reads as "In Mexico, children who washed

their faces seven or more times per week are found to be less likely to have Trachoma than those

who washed less often."

The book further says...exact words..."It suggests that face washing could be a simple intervention

that might easily be the target of health education" Note that a Muslim offering his prayers regularly

washes his face 15 times not in a week but in a single day alone .The book further adds that face

washing was educated in Tanzanian children and the result is encouraging to prevent Trachoma. In

fact face washing prevents not only Trachoma but other diseases like Conjunctivitis etc as well. If a

Muslim still gets Conjunctivitis he should not however be discouraged because exceptions are always

there.

WASHING OF FOREARMS SIMULATES SURGICAL SCRUBBING

After washing the face itis now the turn of the forearm and elbow and whenever I see the surgeons

and staff in the Operation Theatre scrubbing before they enter the Operation Theatre I am reminded

of the ablution in which Muslims wash the forearms up to the elbows. 1400 years ago when the

verses about ablution were being bestowed, no one had any concept of microorganisms being the

cause of infections yet the divine religion of ISLAM protected its followers for the past 1400 years

by making ablution compulsory for them and amazingly the steps simulate the scrubbing which the

physicians etc do before entering the Operation Theatre. This is the truth of Islam that as Allah has

absolute knowledge of all facts and all times He did not miss to emphasize on cleanliness that is

rendered important before one can offer a prayer.

WASHING OF THE HEAD, NECK AND EARS

After washing the forearms a Muslim washes the head with a wet hand which is also important and it

is well known that all physicians and staff in the Operation Theatre are supposed to cover the head

with a scarf as it also could be a seat of microorganisms to hide.

While cleaning the head a Muslim is also supposed to clean his ears and the area behind the pinna. It

is worth mentioning that ordinarily the area behind the pinna is the one which is most often neglected

and this is the area where un-cleanliness is highly expected but thanks to ablution a Muslim washes

this area at least five times a day as a part of ablution rituals. Not to forget that a clean area around

the ear means less ear infections like Otitis Media, Otitis Externa etc. Apart from cleaning the head

Muslims have also to clean neck and that completes the rituals of cleaning the face & its surroundings.

ABLUTION ......FOOT-CARE IS INCLUDED

Thereafter we are left with the feet. Foot-care is important for all and as a Muslim has to wash them

15 times he has to wash all the parts of foot that is even the spaces between the toes and the webs

have to be cleaned. Let me inform that the space between the toes and the web is an ideal location to

develop fungal infections that are so common. By ablution 5 times a day it is highly unlikely that a

good Muslim should ever get this infection. Feet washing as done in ablution is specially important for

diabetic patients as they are much more prone to get diabetic foot ulcers, hence a 15 times

mandatory washing will help to control this aspect of diabetic management.

NAIL CUTTING ...AN AUTOMATIC CHECK UP

It is also important to note that nail cutting is also part of general cleanliness as nail beds are a seat for

harboring the deadly microorganisms. As in the state of RUKUU (bending stance in prayer) one can

see the nails of a neighboring Muslim one tends to cut them as soon as they become longer and this is

a good sign for sanitation. Let me say now that the prayer provides a check for the sanitation of

Muslims in a given community.

BATH BEFORE JUMA PRAYER IS RECOMMENDED

Apart from the ablution Islam also makes general cleanliness compulsory and there is a Hadith that a

Muslim should take a bath at least once in seven days and of course if he is impure then he can't

touch Qur'an or offer prayer unless he takes a bath. Taking of bath has been recommended specially

before the Friday prayer and it is very appropriate because on this day there is a larger congregation

in the mosques, hence everyone coming to mosque is supposed to be more clean than ever before in

the week and this helps to avoid the infections.

Islam is that divine religion which has called the cleanliness as a part of Muslim faith and this shows

how complete our religion is that since the past 1400 years ago when there was no knowledge of the

microbiology, Islam did not miss to protect its followers from the unseen world of pathogens.

PRAYER - ONE OF THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

Everyone knows a Muslim has to offer prayers five times a day, that is Fajr, Zuhur, Asar, Maghrib

and Esha. The prayer is an essential obligation of Islam and it is just the second important foundation

pillar of Islam. Ibn Umar (R) reported in Bukhari and Muslim that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

said, "Islam is based on five pillars: Testifying that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad

(pbuh) is His slave and Messenger; performing of Salat (Prayer); the payment of Zakat; Performing

Hajj (pilgrimage) to the House of Allah (Ka'aba); and Saum (fasting) during the month of Ramadan.''

Ibn Umar (R) reported in both Bukhari and Muslim that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "I

have been commanded to fight against the people till they testify LA ILAHA ILLUL LAH (There is

no true god except Allah) and that Muhammad (pbuh) is His slave and Messenger, and to establish

Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and to pay Zakat; and if they do this, then their blood and property are

secured except by the rights of Islam, and their accountability is left to Allah." The offering of five

obligatory prayers is such an important issue in Islam that anyone who leaves it, walks out of Islam as

narrated in this Hadith of Muslim by Jabir (R) who reported that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

said, "Between a man and disbelief and paganism is the abandonment of Salat (prayer).''

Same Hadith is narrated in Bukhari by Buraida (R) that Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said "That

which differentiates us from the disbelievers and hypocrites is our performance of Salat. He who

abandons it, becomes a disbeliever.''

PRAYER...THE FIRST THING ON AGENDA ON DAY OF RESURRECTION

Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Tirmizi that Holy prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said "The first of man's

deeds for which he will be called to account on the Day of resurrection will be Salat. If it is found to

be perfect, he will be safe and successful; but if it is incomplete, he will be unfortunate and a loser. If

any shortcoming is found in the obligatory Salat, the Glorious and Exalted Rabb will command to see

whether His slave has offered any voluntary Salat so that the obligatory Salat may be made up by it.

Then the rest of his actions will be treated in the same manner."

PRAYER...EXPIATES MINOR SINS

Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Muslim "The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "The five (daily) Salat

(prayers) and the Friday (prayer) to the next Friday (prayer) expiate whatever (minor sins) may be

committed in between, so long as major sins are avoided.'' Othman bin Affan (R) reported in Muslim

"I heard Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saying, When the time for a prescribed Salat is due and a Muslim

performs its Wudu' and its acts of bowing and prostration properly, this Salat will be an expiation for

his past sins, so long as he does not commit major sins, and this applies for ever." It is well known

that being an obligatory worship of highest merit the prayer is extremely important for a Muslim but

apart from that research has shown that there are many medical advantages of Muslim form of

prayer.

THE ADVANTAGES OF OFFERING A PRAYER IN THE MOSQUE

First of all let me say that for a Muslim male it is compulsory to offer his prayers in a mosque. There

is a Hadith narrated by Ibn Umar (R) in Bukhari and Muslim that Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw)

said, "Salat in congregation is twenty-seven times more meritorious than a Salat performed

individually."

EVEN THE BLIND SHOULD COME TO MOSQUE

In Muslim, Abu Hurairah has narrated that even when a blind person came to Holy Prophet

Muhammad (pbuh) saying that he is blind and has no guide so can he perform his prayers at home?

Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) answered that as long as he can hear the sound of the Aazaan he

should respond to it. From this one can judge the importance of performing prayers in the mosque

that even a blind man with no helper should offer his prayers in the mosque. And I have myself seen

the blind men being habitual to offer their prayers regularly in the mosque as although he is blind once

he is on his way to mosque he almost invariably gets the support and help from other people going to

the mosque.

TRADITIONS ADVISING TO OFFER PRAYERS IN THE MOSQUE

From religious pof view there are many traditions in Hadith that lay stress upon performing

prayer in the mosque. e.g. Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Bukhari and Muslim that "The Messenger of

Allah (pbuh) said, "He who goes to the mosque in the morning or in the evening, Allah prepares for

him a place in Jannah (heavens) whenever he goes to the mosque in the morning and returns from it in

the evening." Again see another Hadith that persuades to perform prayer in the mosque rather than in

the house. Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Muslim that the Prophet (pbuh) said, "He who purifies

(performs Wudu') himself in his house and then walks to one of the houses of Allah (mosque) for

performing an obligatory Salat, one step of his will wipe out his sins and another step will elevate his

rank (in Jannah).'' When Banu Salamah wanted to get a house in the vicinity of the mosque, Holy

Prophet (pbuh) advised not to do that in these words "O, Banu Salama! Stay in your houses,

because your footprints (when you come to the mosque) will be recorded."

And as Abu Musa (R) reported in Bukhari and Muslim that "The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, the

person who will receive the highest reward for Salat (prayer) is the one who comes to perform it in

the mosque from the farthest distance. And he who waits for Salat to perform it with the Imam (in

congregation) will have a greater reward than the one who observes it alone and then goes to sleep."

Buraidah (R) reported in Tirmizi and Abu Daud that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,

"Convey glad tidings to those who walk to the mosque in the darkness. For they will be given full light

on the Day of Resurrection."

Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Muslim that Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "Shall I not tell you

something by which Allah effaces the sins and elevates the ranks (in Jannah).'' The Companions said:

"Yes (please tell us), O Messenger of Allah.'' He (pbuh) said, "Performing the ablution properly in

spite of difficult circumstances, walking with more paces to the mosque, and waiting for the next Salat

(prayer) after observing a Salat; and that is Ar-Ribat, and that is Ar-Ribat.''

Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri (R) reported in Tirmizi that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "When you

see a man frequenting the mosque, testify that he is a believer because Allah says: Allah's mosques

are visited only by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day.'' Abu Hurairah (R) reported in both

Bukhari and Muslim that "Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "If they knew the merits of Salat

after nightfall (Esha) and the morning (Fajr) Salat, they would come to them even if they had to crawl

to do so.''

All the above Ahadith highlight the importance of performing a prayer in the mosque and now let us

see some of the medical advantages of performing a prayer in the mosque.

WALKING - GOOD FOR ALL AGES

As a Muslim has to walk to the mosque five times a day, when he returns from the mosque he has

already achieved a prize for his effort as while going to and coming back from the mosque he gets

enough of exercise while walking.

There is no doubt that walking is what is recommended by physicians to be a highly beneficial

exercise for all age groups. Usually the patients are advised to find reasons to walk to the market and

other places. For example if they have to buy two things buy it one by one so that you walk two

times as walking is a good exercise to reduce weight and to maintain fitness.

Five times obligatory walk to the mosque and back to home is a blessing for any person. Note on our

holidays how indolent and sluggish we become but it is the prayers which force us to get out of our

homes at least five times a day and this is a good exercise which is mandatory as a Muslim has to

offer his prayer in the mosque.

For a person who does not have a mosque in his vicinity, it will only be a blessing to walk a longer

distance. Walking is good for cardiac diseases as it increases the age of the heart by keeping the

blood vessels healthy and disallowing the killer plaque or clot to block the blood vessels.

Walking to a mosque and coming back from there certainly helps to digest the food. Instead people

who just lie down after eating are far more susceptible to get Reflux Oesophagitis that is caused when

the acidic contents of the stomach try to move upwards into the oesophagus. This is very difficult in

standing position as the stomach contents do not exert sufficient pressure on the pylorus (upper end

of stomach). Specially note that the timing of the prayers is such that virtually after each meal there is

a prayer and this certainly helps to digest the food.

WALKING IN SUNLIGHT - GOOD FOR SKIN

As Muslims walk to the mosques it is especially good for some skin diseases for which phototherapy

is the ideal treatment. Furthermore in sunshine we get Vitamin D that is very important for the bones.

Not to forget that by offering at least two prayers of Zuhur and Asar we are actually exposed to

sunshine that we miss while staying in our air-conditioned rooms etc.

Many people have the tendency to get headache while they are in their homes. Note that this may be

due to the closed atmosphere, due to lack of fresh air. Five times prayers move them out and thus

break the routine of confinement. Walking is that type of exercise, which is helpful for all.

PRAYER - GOOD FOR HEART

Note that a strenuous exercise is prohibited for heart patients but walking and the form of Muslim

prayer is a mild exercise, which does not interfere with his management and are adjuvant to his

treatment.

Today the risk of heart attacks and other diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension is far more for those

patients who have a sitting office job. Walking five times a day that too at appropriate periods is

really a life saving practice for them.

PRAYER REDUCES CHOLESTEROL LEVEL

It also helps to lower the cholesterol level decreases the excessive fat and reduces weight in over

weight patients. Also note that Muslim males are required to stand in an arranged manner in a straight

row before they start their prayer. This is a great training of discipline. Forming a row in an arranged

manner whether it is at a public utility spot, cattle ground or in places of worship indicates good

organization.

Prayer in this sense prepares the whole nation to inculcate a harmony and organization, which is an

asset when the mettle of a nation is tested in war or peace. Moreover by performing prayers in a

gathering a Muslim naturally feels more comfortable and socially secure. It is of special significance in

Muslim minority areas where a group worship will deter any opportunist who may desire to hurt an

otherwise isolated person.

GOOD FOR CONSTIPATION

Another advantage of offering prayers in the mosque is that by walking the distance between the

house and the mosque, which in most cases is substantial, a person unconsciously gets a lot of

medical benefits for example this walk plus the light exercise done during the prayer are good to

prevent constipation. Five times obligatory prayers and movement to and from the mosque does not

allow the faecal matter to stagnate in the bowel and this helps in its speedy removal.

GOOD FOR KIDNEYS

Similarly prayer is good for the health of the kidneys. It gives them more exercise like other organs

and although no study has been conducted so far but it seems hat walking and then light exercise of

prayer should help the kidneys that get more blood and their efficiency should be improved.

Hence the less incidence of urinary tract diseases like structural deformities with aging, Prostatitis,

Urinary incontinence due to a flabby old bladder should be less in Muslims who offer their prayers

regularly.

While walking to the mosque the blood circulation increases and this means its effective and

increased supply to the organs like brain, heart, kidneys etc that casts a favorable shadow on the

overall health.

PRAYER AND ITS EFFECTS UPON JOINTS AND BONES

Prayer is undoubtedly good for the acute/chronic herniated disc disease as by walking to and from

the mosque the pain of herniated disc improves since walking is particularly good for it. The

rheumatologists and surgeons particularly prescribe rest or walking along with other back exercises

as a treatment for the herniated disc disease but of course the bed-rest is preferable. However,

walking is superior to standing in which case the burden increases on the involved discs.

Walking is also good for rheumatological diseases like Ankylosing Spondylitis, Achondroplasia,

Polymyositis, Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Polymyalgia Rheumatica etc.

PRAYER IN MOSQUE ...A GIFT FOR LONELY PATIENTS

For those epileptics and other patients suffering from a serious disease who are living alone in their

homes and who do not have a caretaker at home, going to the mosque to offer prayer is a special

blessing as they remain in a safe place at least for a certain period of time. In case of an attack at

home their condition will definitely be miserable whereas the mosque is the only place from where

they can be moved to a hospital easily as there is no dearth of God-fearing people among the

Muslims.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS EFFECTS ON BODY

It also increases the appetite and may aid in the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa. Many studies

conducted on volunteers have concluded that resting all the time is not at all a healthy habit and

people who spend their time (for example on weekends) in sleeping and resting alone do not practice

a healthy routine and suffer from body-aches, lassitude etc. It is easy to understand that five prayers

break this routine and move the person to leave home and go to the mosque for offering prayers.

SPECIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE MORNING PRAYER

The Morning Prayer is the one most missed by Muslims, as this is the peak time for sleeping. From

medical point of view people who sleep early in the night and get up early in the morning are more

likely to be healthy. Morning fresh air is heart absorbing and refreshes the mind so that the whole day

is enveloped in its fragrance. There has been special stress on performing this prayer although all the

prayers are compulsory. Abu Musa (R) reported in Bukhari and Muslim that "Holy Prophet

Muhammad (pbuh) said, "He who observes Al-Bardan (i.e., Fajr and Asar prayers) will enter

Jannah.'' Similarly in another Hadith Abu Zuhair Umarah Ruwaibah (R) reported in Muslim "I heard

the Messenger of Allah (saw) saying: "He who performs Salat (prayers) before the rising of the sun

and before its setting, will not enter the Hell."

Jundub bin Sufyan (R) reported in Muslim "The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "He who offers the

dawn (Fajr) prayers will come under the Protection of Allah. O son of Adam! Beware, lest Allah

should call you to account in any respect from (for withdrawing) His protection." As mentioned

earlier, by getting up early in the morning and performing Fajr prayer one becomes more active and

alert.

Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Muslim & Bukhari that Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "There

are angels who take turns in visiting you by night & by day, and they all assemble at the dawn (Fajr)

and the afternoon (Asar) prayers. Those who have spent the night with you ascend to the heaven and

their Rabb, Who knows better about them, asks: "In what condition did you leave my slaves?" They

reply: "We left them while they were performing Salat & we went to them while they were performing

Salat."

RECITING QUR'AN IN THE MORNING. ADDED ADVANTAGE

Another advantage of offering Morning Prayer is that at this time one can also read Holy Qur'an and

reading Holy Qur'an at dawn is of special significance and has great rewards. Holy Prophet

Muhammad (pbuh) used to recite at least 60-100 verses of Holy Qur'an every day in the morning.

Similarly the importance of Asar prayer has been adequately highlighted in Ahadith. Buraidah (R)

reported in Bukhari " The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "He who misses the Asar Salat

(deliberately), his deeds will be rendered null and void.''

PRAYER --- A LIGHT EXERCISE SUITABLE FOR ALL

Another important aspect of Muslim form of prayer (i.e. Salat) is that it is not just a sitting type of

worship; rather it is a multi-positional prayer in which the Musalli (one who is offering prayer)

changes several postures.

To be accurate there are 48 Rakaat in the total of five prayers in a single day and that means 48 x 2

= 96 Sajdas as there are two Sajdas in every Rakaat. Similarly 48 times a person has to bend his

back for offering Rukuu.

For all the Rakaats in five prayers he has to stand 48 times while reading the first Sura of Qur'an and

some other portion of Qur'anic verses while standing. Similarly he has to sit at least 25 times for

Tahiyyat position.

He has to lift his hands up to the head at least 17 times before starting a prayer. He has to turn his

neck both sides that too at least 17 times in a day. All this may not be noticeable while a person

offers his prayers but it amounts to a considerable and respectable total if we consider that a Muslim

is supposed to do all this in a single day.

In the morning, most of the people who do exercise to maintain good health do not do all these steps

every day. They may do it one day and take rest on the following day but a person who offers his

prayers regularly in a mosque does so punctually, hence there is no objection to say that Muslim form

of prayer is so much regular and light that it is much better than a heavy exercise done once in a blue

moon or on an irregular basis. In the absence of a regular exercise there is no hesitation to say that a

good Muslim will require only a little bit more exercise on top of what he does in five prayers for

which he has to go to the mosques every time to offer his prayers.

VARIOUS POSTURES IN A PRAYER AND THEIR ADVANTAGES

Many of the other medical advantages of prayer have been described in the section on the medical

advantages of Sajda position, hence here only those will be mentioned which are additional to them.

First of all when a person raises his hands for Takbeer the muscles of his arms, forearms and hands

contract to complete that act and they get an exercise. Remember that a Muslim does it for 17 times

in a single day. I am mentioning the figure because it may look minor for some to see that this

movement occurs once in the start of a two or four Rakaat Salat only.

STANDING WHILE IN PRAYER

Now the next step is putting the hands at the abdomen and standing to read the whole of Sura Al

Fateha plus some verses of Qur'an in addition to that.

A NATURAL WATCH AT OBESITY

Frankly speaking when I stand up for Salat I am watching (although for a brief time only) my hands

which are at the right place, I mean right on top of the abdomen which has fatty deposit and this

reminds us to have a check at the abdominal obesity every time we stand for prayers.

By this I certainly do not mean that a Musalli should not concentrate on prayer and should start

comparing his abdominal girth with the previous one but as we are after all human beings, for obese

people it is a good checkpoint which they may not miss if they are already conscious of it.

Remember that abdominal obesity is blamed to be a certain risk factor for heart attack. It is also a

certain risk factor for diabetes hence a person may be reminded when he is standing with his hands at

upper abdomen although I repeat prayer is not meant for that.

STANDING - A TEST OF CIRCULATION

Apart from that it must not be forgotten that standing for such a long time is by itself an exercise. As

while standing, the leg muscles are contracted to keep the man upright in standing position & limb

muscles become stronger.

Remember that soldiers are asked to stand as a part of their training so that they are ready to cope

with a similar situation. Also while standing the veins of the lower limbs open up and adapt

themselves. Similarly a person having a disorder of peripheral vessels will detect the fault much earlier

as it will become difficult for him to cope with a prolonged standing.

THE POSITION OF BENOR RUKUU

After standing for a while, Muslims are supposed to bend in the stance of Rukuu such that their hands

lie at their knees stretching them out and the back of the Musalli is horizontal to the ground.

This position plus 48 times bending for the Rukuu is helpful to give strength to the back muscles. The

position of Rukuu is also good for kidneys, lungs and the heart as all of them get exercise by this

motion. This is just to add to the additive effect of walking to the mosque.

In the position of Rukuu the ligaments and the tendons are stretched and get strength. There is a

special burden on the muscles of the legs and the feet who have to bear the weight and this is good

for the power and tone of the muscles of the legs and feet. This can be easily felt when a person gets

up from the position of Rukuu or goes into it.

PRAYER BRINGS PEACE TO MIND

There is a Hadith in Ibn Maja saying that Çä Ýì ÕáÇÉ ÔÝÇÁ

which means "There is cure in prayer." There is no doubt about that as a prayer certainly keeps us

away from many diseases.

We have already seen the impact of ablution upon cleanliness and the effects of the position of Sajda

on the human body. It is worth mentioning that a Muslim offering his prayers regularly gets

extraordinary peace in his prayers. Allah says in Sura Yunus verse No 62 that: "Behold! Verily on the

friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve."

Similarly in the verse No 28 of Sura Al ra'ad Allah says ÇáÏíä ÁÇãäæÇ æ ÊØãä ÞáæÈåã

ÈÏßÑÇááå ÃáÇ ÈÏßÑ Çááå ÊØãä ÇáÞáæÈ

"Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without

doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction. "

It obviously means that as prayer is a way of remembering Allah it is surely a way to find peace and

satisfaction in life which otherwise may not be possible in today's stressful life.

EVEN SITTING IN THE MOSQUE BRINGS PEACE

According to a Hadith of Holy Prophet (saw) even sitting in the mosque between Aazaan and prayer

is considered as a prayer. Abu Hurairah (R) reported both in Bukhari and Muslim that "Holy Prophet

Muhammad (saw) said, "Everyone among you will be deemed to be occupied in Salat (prayer)

constantly so long as Salat (the prayer) detains him (from worldly concerns), and nothing prevents

him from returning to his family but Salat.''

Similarly see another Hadith by Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Bukhari that "Holy Prophet

Muhammad (saw) said, "The angels supplicate in favor of one of you so long as he remains in the

place where he has performed Salat (prayer) in a state of ablution. They (the angels) say: `O Allah!

Forgive him, O Allah! Have mercy on him.'''

These Ahadith promote an inclination to come early in the mosque. As a matter of fact one can

always find that sitting in the serine and peaceful atmosphere of a mosque brings peace to the mind.

A TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES

Allah says in verse No 45 of Sura Al Baqara (2)

æÇÓÊÚíäæÇ ÈÇáÕÈÑ æÇáÕáÇÉ æÇäåÇ áßÈíÑÉ ÇáÇ Úáì ÇáÎÇÔÚíä

"Seek help in patience and prayer; and truly it is hard save for the humble-minded." The fact is that

prayer gives peace of mind. It has a cool effect on our nerves and it pacifies people even in the very

tense situations by giving patience. The Muslim form of prayer also gives a relief to the depressed and

those suffering from anxiety as prayer breaks the vicious cycle of erroneous and troublesome

thinking, thinking and thinking.

It completely changes the topic being discussed in one's mind. It just pulls a person out of it to a

trouble free and peaceful thought, to wash and to walk to the mosque to bow one's head in front of

Allah. Thus when a person returns from mosque he has already eased down and relaxed to a great

extent. Prayer is an ideal treatment for Grief and Bereavement that can prolong ordinarily. The

sublime effect of offering a prayer exerts its effect in a slow unpronounced manner but its effects are

there whether a lay man appreciates it or not.

Performing a prayer creates a sense of hope of Allah's mercy as the person has rose successfully to

the call of obedience and compliance with Allah's order. Now for sure he is a candidate for Allah's

mercy and this is what gives him a pleasure that makes his mind cheerful and full of hope and peace

as Allah's bounties abound in this world as well as in the hereafter. Sura Az Zumar (39:9) "What! He,

who is obedient during hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing, takes care of the hereafter

and hopes for the mercy of his Lord! Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike?

Only the men of understanding are mindful."

PRAYER PREVENTS THOUGHT DISORDERS

And then there is a series of Thought disorders and Phobias that are cured and (in the first place)

prevented by Salat. These phobias include Claustrophobia and Agoraphobia etc.

PRAYER PREVENTS PHOBIAS

Claustrophobia means fear of closed places or a place where there are people. It is easy to

understand that a person who offers his prayers five times in the midst of people in a walled mosque

will hardly get at least this disease. In fact I am yet to see a Muslim having Claustrophobia.

PRAYER GIVES SELF CONFIDENCE

Prayer gives self-confidence to a person as while going to the mosque several times in a day he

makes a lot of friends and remains in touch with the community.

MOSQUES.... COMMUNITY MEETING PLACES

Remember that Islam has laid down great stress upon having cordial and friendly relationship with

neighbors but in a mosque all the members of a given community living in a village, a street, or an area

close to the mosque meet each other and become familiar to each other.

This is yet another blessing of Islam that it breaks the hindrances in getting acquainted with

surrounding people in a given community and brings the people at one forum. Man is after all a social

animal and he cannot live isolated with his environment. At prayer Muslims break their isolation five

times a day and become a part of a larger family.

Prayer also brings a lot of benefits as it brings people of all walks of life to come across each other

and this provides an opportunity for them to open dialogue for their means of income. In this way

mosque is just not a place of worship for Muslims rather it is a community center as well where day

to day problems can be brought to attention of course outside the mosque and not inside. Not to

mention that after every prayer groups of people can be seen conferring with each other in front of

almost every mosque. This is a healthy practice and creates harmony among the members of a given

community.

PRAYER PREVENTS PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES

With prayer having a soothing effect upon our psyche there is no doubt that it will substantially

prevent the occurrence of diseases like Hyperventilation, Hysteria, Emotional liability, Grief reaction,

Korsakoff Syndrome, Schizophrenia etc. It is especially good for Agoraphobia that is the fear of

open spaces and Claustrophobia that is the fear of closed spaces.

PRAYER...BEST TREATMENT OF AUTISM

It is also the best treatment of Autism (means a condition in which a person likes to be isolated from

the society) but in the first place there is no reason that a person who comes across the community

members five times a day should ever become a victim of Autism.

PRAYER - A LOGICAL TREATMENT OF

DEPRESSION / GRIEF REACTION ETC.

It is important to note that five times prayers in a single day keep the human mind busy and to keep

busy is by itself a treatment of many psychiatric diseases. Remember that psychiatrists stress upon the

patients of Grief reaction, Depression etc to keep them busy as by so doing the patient tends to

forget his ailment that needs psychotherapy rather than the medicines. The schedule of five prayers is

such that in daytime when people are awake every two to three hours there is a prayer. I like the

arrangement of the prayer timings, as for the period when a person is busy in his work there is only

one prayer of Zuhur and fothe rest of the time when he is free he has to perform Asar, Maghrib

soon followed by Esha. This chain of prayers one after another keeps him busy as each prayer may

take half hour if offered in the mosque completely. This pre occupation of mind prevents

self-destructive ideas and as the prayer provides a mental peace of compliance with Allah's order it

has positive effects on one's life.

PRAYERS AND PREVENTION OF NARCOTICS

Prayer offers a special protection from Narcotics as it builds the character of a Muslim and creates a

sense of responsibility in the youngsters. How can a person who is so responsible that he offers his

prayers regularly become such an irresponsible person intending to destroy his own future with his

own hands? (The exceptions are always there however.)

And then there is a whole series of sexually transmitted diseases that are substantially avoided if a

person is a good Muslim and offers his prayers regularly. As Allah says in Holy Qur'an Sura Al

-Ankaboot (29:45) "Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular

Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest

(thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do."

Now see a Hadith from Abu Hurairah quoted in both Muslim and Bukhari. He says "I heard the

Messenger of Allah (saw) saying, "Say, if there were a river at the door of one of you in which he

takes a bath five times a day, would any soiling remain on him?'' They replied, "No soiling would left

on him.'' He (saw) said, '' that is the five (obligatory) Salat (prayers). Allah obliterates all sins as a

result of performing them.'' As the regularity of prayers creates a sense of deep association with

Islamic teachings Muslims tend to avoid indulging into such heinous crimes that expose them to

sexually transmitted diseases. Hence in this way prayer plays a pivotal role in decreasing the

incidence of sexually transmitted diseases in Muslims. Therefore offering regular prayers reduces the

incidence of following diseases.

STD'S PREVENTED BY PRAYER

1.Aids.

2.Herpes Genitals,

3.Gonorrhea,

4.Syphilis,

5.Hepatitis B and C

6.Non Specific Vaginitis,

7.Granuloma Inguinal,

8.Chancroid,

9.Non Specific Urethritis,

10.Proctitis,

11.Cervicitis,

12.PID,

13.Lymphogranuloma Venereum,

14.Genital Ulcer,

15.Genital Ulcers,

16.Molluscum Contagiosum,

17.Balanitis,

18.Candidiasis

19.Genital Scabies,

20.Pediculosis Pubis,

21.Balanoposthitis etc .

-------------------------------------------------------

Mind you that this is just a random list of a few sexually transmitted diseases otherwise there is a long

line of diseases and with the passage of time it will only increase just like Aids erupting in 1980's. As

a Hadith says the prayer has a clean up work for the human mind and hence the body. Jabir (R)

reported in Muslim that Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "The similitude of the five (obligatory)

Salat is like a river running at the door of one of you in which he takes a bath five times a day.''

POSITION OF SITTING AFTER SAJDA

Apart from the position of Rukuu and Sajda there are other movements which are means of an

exercise for example by moving heads to sideways for Salaam which a Muslim does at least 17 times

a day. By so doing one has a good exercise of the neck muscles. For a person who is healthy it may

not matter much but one who is sick and is bound to home this will give a substantial exercise to the

neck region. Also noteworthy is the position of right foot and ankle while sitting after two Sajdas. The

ankle of the right foot has to be elevated in such a way that the toes of the right foot are stretched.

This particular position is a specifically good exercise for the muscles of the right leg as well as the

right foot and one can easily feel how much contracted they are when a person is sitting in that

position.

ADVANTAGES OF PRAYING TO ALLAH AFTER SALAT (i.e. DUAA)

There are special advantages of Dua or praying to Allah after Salat is over. This not only inculcates a

sense of well-being and peace but also gives an extraordinary confidence to the praying Muslims.

Remember the Dua has been called the jist of prayer. A person who prays to Allah hopes good in

reward and this is very true that Allah either accepts his prayer or grants him Ajar or benefit in the

coming life. In general Muslim form of prayer has a positive effect upon all the body systems and to

close this discussion it is appropriate to quote once again the Hadith of Ibn Maja that there is cure in

prayer.

MIRACLES OF THE POSITION OF SAJDA

Sajda is a unique position or stance in the regular prayers that a Muslim is supposed to offer at least

five times a day. Although the basic purpose of obligatory prayers is not to provide an exercise for

people yet it is being increasingly recognized that it has plenty of medical advantages for the human

body. Here it is worth mentioning that Holy prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has mentioned in a hadith in

Ibn Maja that prayer is a cure for many diseases. The fact is that a person who offers his prayers

regularly that too in the mosque is protected from many diseases that he may not even know.

SAJDA...A UNIQUE FROM OF MUSLIM PRAYER

The position of Sajda in which the forehead touches the earth is exclusively associated with the

Muslim form of prayer. It is the climax of a Muslim's prayer and as mentioned in a Hadith a Muslim is

nearest to Allah in this position. Abu Hurairah (R) reported in Bukhari that the messenger of Allah

(may peace be upon him) said: "The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating

himself, so make supplication (in this state)" Syeda Aisha Siddiqa (R) narrates that Holy Prophet

(pbuh) used to prolong the prostration to such an extent that one could recite fifty verses (of the

Quran) before he would lift his head. (Bukhari) In another Hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik (R)

Holy prophet (pbuh) advised Muslims to perform Rukuu (bowing) and Sajda properly.

SAJDA & RUKUU SHOULD BE PERFORMED WITH EASE

In another Hadith he (pbuh) advised to perform Sajda and Bowing calmly and to get up only when

the body has come to ease. In battle of Badr Holy prophet (pbuh) performed long Sajdas in Al Fatah

mosque and supplicated for the victory. He (pbuh) also performed long bowing (Rukuu) and Sajda in

the special prayers at the time of eclipse. Hence the first positive effect upon a person who prostrates

or does Sajda is that he comes nearest to Allah and hence in that condition he can supplicate. This is

a great psychological advantage and it gives relief to the person concerned as life is full of worries and

in this position he gets at least a transient refuge from the agonizing problems.

GOING TO SAJDA...IS A DIVE LIKE MOTION

When a person goes to the position of prostration that is Sajda his whole body is in active motion.

This position can be considered as a mini dive as the musalli (one who offers prayer) goes to rest his

forehead on the ground while his hands are placed at the sides. . This brings most of the body

muscles if not all in active motion and serves to give them some exercise

POSITION OF HANDS AS MENTIONED IN HADITH

The hands are then specifically stretched out and thence the forearm as well as arm muscles are

supposed to bear the weight in the Sajda position. It gives good exercise to the muscles of the upper

limb. Holy Prophet (pbuh) in a Hadith advised not to put the forearms flatly on the ground but to

keep them elevated above ground and this is better for the forearm and arm muscles.

MULTIPLE DIRECT EFFECTS OF SAJDA POSITION

Sajda is a unique position as this is the only position in which brain (or head) becomes lower than the

heart and hence for the first time the blood gushes towards the brain with full force whereas in all

other positions (even when lying) brain is above the heart when it has to work against gravity to send

blood to the brain. In the position of Sajda due to the increased blood supplthe brain receives more

nourishment and it has good effect upon memory, vision, hearing, concentration, psyche and all other

cognitive abilities. People who offer their prayers regularly have more will power and can cope with

the difficulties of life in a much better manner. They have less incidence of headaches, psychological

problems and other defects of cognitive function.

SAJDA...EXERCISE FOR THE NECK MUSCLES

In the unique position of Sajda the neck muscles get best exercise. They have to bear the load when

the forehead lies at the ground hence the neck muscles become more strong .One can note the tense

pressure at the neck muscles in the position of Sajda specially the active motion of the neck and the

facial muscles when the head is being lifted (e.g. one inch above the ground) and it will be noticed that

they are in a very active motion. More strong cervical muscles mean the cervical vertebra will be

better protected. Strength of cervical muscles is important as the head rests upon cervical vertebra

supported by cervical musculature. In fact head performs rotatory movements over the cervical

vertebra. In any accident cervical neck examination is especially important to the physicians because

of its extraordinary importance. It is uncommon that a person who offers his prayers regularly will get

the usual neck myalgias or cervical spondylosis as the neck muscles particularly become very strong

due to the 96 Sajdas offered daily in five prayers. Position of Sajda is also said to be a good

treatment for the retro version of uterus, a disease of women.

SAJDA POSITION AND MAN POWER

Most of us do not know that the position of Sajda is an excellent exercise for men (for man power).

It may be good information to the Viagra dependents. While getting up from Sajda the perennial

muscles are one of those muscles that have to pull the trunk back to sitting position and they contract

actively. Similarly while standing up from Sajda the perennial muscles are again actively mobilized and

this gives much strength to the muscles important for manpower.

SAJDA...A TREATMENT FOR BACKACHE

The unique position of Sajda also has positive effects upon the back muscles as while going into

Sajda and getting up from it the back muscles contract actively and they become stronger. Probably

it is because of this reason that a person who is regular in prayers will uncommonly get backache.

ATTAHIYYAT POSITION.... RELAXING STANCE

After performing Sajda either the musalli stands up or he sits to pray Attahiyat. In this position the

person sits calmly while his hands rest at his thighs that are folded backwards. This is much similar to

the relaxation position of Yoga and has soothing effect upon one's health and mentation.

CONCLUSION

Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) used to elongate the position of Rukuu (bending) and Sajda

positions and he (pbuh) advised to do so. In the light of the above facts it is appropriate to say that

from medical point of view as well this advice is a golden rule for health.

Finally it must be reminded that prayer is not meant to be an exercise. However there are a lot of

medical advantages associated with it. Still the best blessing is the peace of mind that a person

derives by the accomplishment of his duty to Allah by fulfilling an obligation.

Hassan Farooq.

President & CEO, Haz's Co. (A Dream Inshallah).

AMU to start 'Islamic Banking' course

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:20:00 +0000

18 Jan 2009 TIMES OF INDIA

LUCKNOW: In what is being touted as a first of its kind in the country, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will launch a one-year post graduate diploma course in 'Islamic Banking and Finance' based on tenets of Shariah.

"The basic principle of Islamic banking based on Shariah, Islamic rules of transaction, is prohibition of Riba (interest)and is known as interest free banking system. As per the tenets of Islam earning interest on money deposit and loans in the bank is prohibited by law," Dr Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, who designed the one-year diploma course, told reporters.

The university academic council, highest body of the university, which decides on academic affairs, has approved of the introduction of the course early this month from the next academic session, he said, adding, that there would initially be 20 seats in the course.

In this system of banking the depositor, who does not bear risk as in other banking systems, has to equally share the risk with the bank. Owner of the capital, however, is allowed to have a share in the bank's profits, Siddiqui, a retired AMU professor of Economics and Islamic Studies, said, adding that a similar system is followed by the banks while offering loans to the customers.

This type of banking system reduces speculation or gambling, he said. The course would enable students to make a career in Islamic banking, which is already very popular in Islamic countries, he added.

"As of now no university in the country is offering a course in Islamic Banking. Though some research work on the subject has been done in Karnataka and Pune universities, and a handful of part time refresher courses are being offered by some institutes, the course does not figure in the syllabus of any university," he claimed.

About the future prospects of the course, he said that though there are no Islamic banks in India, there existed a few non-banking cooperatives in Karnataka and Mumbai, which have branches in cities like Aligarh and Chennai.

"India is seen as a potential place for the Islamic banking, which can also attract NRI investors. Some of the top Indian companies are looking forward to launch Islamic financial products in the country," said Siddiqi, claiming that the placements after pursuing this course would be very good.

20 Islamic inventors/inventions that changed the world

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:03:00 +0000

1 The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.

2 The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.

3 A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century - and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.

4 A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing - concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.

5 Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.

6 Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by Islam's foremost scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today - liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation and filtration. As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the alembic still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and alcoholic spirits (although drinking them is haram, or forbidden, in Islam). Ibn Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of modern chemistry.

7 The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear motion and is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical inventions in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim engineer called al-Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His 1206 Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices shows he also invented or refined the use of valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other inventions was the combination lock.

8 Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was invented in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or China. But it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used by Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead of armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard against the chafing of the Crusaders' metal armour and was an effective form of insulation - so much so that it became a cottage industry back home in colder climates such as Britain and Holland.

9 The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe's Gothic cathedrals was an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger than the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the building of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other borrowings from Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building techniques. Europe's castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world's - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry V's castle architect was a Muslim.

10 Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as those devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many of the 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It was he who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute strings) and that it can be also used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim medic named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years before William Harvey discovered it. Muslims doctors also invented anaesthetics of opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts from eyes in a technique still used today.

11 The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used to grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the wind which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first windmill was seen in Europe.

12 The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it.

13 The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after he demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink in a reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a combination of gravity and capillary action.

14 The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably Indian in origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi's book, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths scholars was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim world. And Al-Kindi's discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology.

15 Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas - see No 4).

16 Carpets were regarded as part of Paradise by medieval Muslims, thanks to their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic chemistry and highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of Islam's non-representational art. In contrast, Europe's floors were distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian carpets were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were "covered in rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned". Carpets, unsurprisingly, caught on quickly.

17 The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

18 By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500 years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139.

19 Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in their fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified using potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices terrified the Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which they called a "self-moving and combusting egg", and a torpedo - a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in enemy ships and then blew up.

20 Medieval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs who developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. The first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century Muslim Spain. Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip.

CAN THE ISLAMIC INTELLECTUAL HERITAGE BE RECOVERED?

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:47:00 +0000

By
William C. Chittick

By "the Islamic intellectual heritage" I mean the ways of thinking about God, the world, and the human being established by the Qur'«n and the Prophet and elaborated upon by generations of practicing Muslims. I use the term "intellectual" to translate the word ‘aqlâ , and by it I want to distinguish this heritage from another, closely related heritage that also has theoretical and intellectual dimensions. This second heritage is the "transmitted" ( naqlâ ) heritage.

Transmitted knowledge is learned by "imitation" ( taqlâd ), that is, by following the authority of those who possess it. This sort of knowledge includes Qur'«n recitation, Hadith, Arabic grammar, and jurisprudence. It is impossible to be a Muslim without taqlâd , because one cannot discover the Qur'an or the practices of the Shariah by oneself. Just as language is learned by imitation, so also the Qur'an and Islamic practice are learned by imitating those who know them. Those who have assumed the responsibility of preserving this transmitted heritage are known as its "knowers," that is, its ulama .

In transmitted knowledge, it is not proper to ask "why." If one does ask why, the answer is that the Qur'an says what it says, or that grammar determines the rules of proper speech. In contrast, the only way to learn intellectual knowledge is to understand it. One cannot learn it by accepting it on the basis of authority. Intellectual knowledge includes mathematics, logic, philosophy, and much of theology. In learning , "why" is the most basic and important of questions. If one does not understand why, then one will be following someone else's authority. It makes no sense to accept that 2 + 2 = 4 on the basis of a report, no matter how trust worthy the source may be. Either you understand it, or you do not. The goal here is not taqlâd , but taÁqâq , which can be translated as "verification" or "realization."

In the transmitted sciences, people must follows mujtahids , whether the mujtahids be alive (as in Shi'ism) or dead (as in Sunnism). In other words, one follows a mujtahid because the only way to learn the transmitted sciences is from those who already know them. But one cannot follow a mujtahid in matters of faith, because faith pertains to one's own understanding of God, the prophets, the scriptures, and the Last Day. A Muslim cannot say, "I have faith in God because my mujtahid told me to have faith." Someone who said this would be saying that if the mujtahid told him not to believe in God, he would not. In other words, he would be saying that his faith is empty words.

Although in theory we can distinguish between the transmitted and intellectual sciences, in practice the two have always been closely interrelated, and the transmitted sciences have been the foundation upon which the intellectual sciences are built. One cannot speak properly without grammar, and one cannot understand things Islamically without the Qur'an and the Hadith. However, the fact that people may have an excellent knowledge of the transmitted sciences does not mean that they know anything at all about the intellectual sciences. Nor does the ability to recite the opinions of the great Muslims on matters of faith prove that the reciter has any understanding of what he is saying.

Both the transmitted and the intellectual sciences are essential to the survival of any religion—not only Islam—and both are gradually being lost. By and large, however, the transmitted sciences have been preserved better than the intellectual sciences, and the reason is obvious. Anyone can learn Qur'an and Hadith, but very few people can truly understand what God and the Prophet are talking about. One can only understand in one's own measure. One cannot understand mathematics (or any of the other intellectual sciences) without both native ability and training. One may have a great aptitude for mathematics, but without long years of study, one will never get very far. And mathematics deals with issues that are relatively near at hand, even in the most sophisticated of its modern forms. What about theology, which deals with the deepest issues of reality, the furthest from our everyday experience?

It is important to stress that no religion can survive, much less flourish, without a living intellectual tradition. In order to verify this—because this statement should not be accepted on the basis of taqlâd —we can ask the questions, What was the intellectual tradition for? What function did it play in Islamic society? What was its goal? To ask these questions is the same as asking, "Why should Muslims think?" The basic answer is that Muslims should think because they must think, because they are thinking beings. They have no choice but to think, because God gave them minds and intelligence when He created them. Not only that, but God has commanded them to think and to employ their intelligence in numerous Qur,«nic verses.

No doubt, this does not mean that God requires all Muslims to enter into the sophisticated sort of study and reflection that went on in the intellectual tradition, because it is obvious that not everyone has the proper sort of talents, capacities, and circumstances to do so. Nevertheless, all Muslims have the moral and religious obligation to use their minds correctly—if they have minds. As the Qur'an puts it, "God does not burden any soul save to its capacity." When people's capacity includes thinking, God has given them the burden of thinking correctly. But He does not tell them what to think, because then He would be making taqlâd incumbent in intellectual matters. If many of the Ulama have forbidden taqlâd , it is because God Himself forbids it. He has given people minds, and they cannot use their minds correctly if they simply accept dogma or opinions on the basis of authority. To think properly a person must actually think, which is to say that conclusions must be reached through one's own intellectual struggle, not someone else's. Any teacher of an intellectual science—like mathematics or philosophy—knows this perfectly well.

It is true that many if not most people are unreflective and would never even ask why they should think about things. They simply go about their daily routine and imagine that they understand their own situation. In any case, they suppose, God wants nothing more from them than observing the Shariah. But this is no argument for those who have the ability to stop and think. Anyone who has the capacity and talent to reflect upon God, the universe, and the human soul must do so. Not to do so is to betray one's God-given nature and to disobey God's commandments.

Since some Muslims have no choice but to think, learning how to think correctly must be an important area of Muslim effort. But what defines "correct" thinking? How do we tell the difference between right thinking and wrong thinking? Does the fact that people have no choice but to think mean that they are free to think anything they want? The Islamic answer to this sort of question has always been that the way people think is far from indifferent. Some modes of thinking are encouraged by the Qur'an and the Sunnah, some are discouraged. Islamically, it is incumbent upon those who think to employ their minds in ways that coincide with the goals of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In other words, the goal of the Islamic intellectual tradition must coincide with the goal of Islam, or else it is not Islamic intellectuality.

So, what is the goal of Islam? In general terms, Islam's goal is to bring people back to God. However, everyone is going back to God in any case, so the issue is not going back, but how one goes back. Through the Qur'«n and the Sunnah, God guides people back to Him in a manner that will ensure their everlasting happiness. If they want to follow a "straight path" one that will lead to happiness and not to misery, they need to employ their minds, awareness, and thinking in ways that are harmonious with God Himself, who is the only true Reality. If they follow illusion and unreality, they will be following a crooked path and most likely will not end up in a pleasant place when they go back.

The history of Islamic intellectuality is embodied in the various forms that Muslims have adopted over time in attempting to think rightly and correctly. The intellectual tradition was robust and lively, so disagreements were common. Nevertheless, in all the different schools of thought that have appeared over Islamic history, one principle has been agreed upon by everyone. This principle is the fact that God is one and that He is the only source of truth and reality. He is the origin of all things, and all things return to Him. This principle, as everyone knows, is called tawhid , "asserting the unity of God." To think Islamically is to recognize God's unity and to draw the proper consequences from His unity. Differences of opinion arise concerning the proper consequences, not in the fact that God is one.

The consequences that people draw from tawhid depend largely on their understanding of "God." Typically, Muslims have sought to understand God by meditating upon the implications of God's names and attributes as expressed in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The conclusions reached in these meditations have everything to do with how God is understood. If He is understood primarily as a Lawgiver, people will draw conclusions having to do with the proper observance of the Sharâ‘ah . If He is understood primarily as wrathful, they will conclude that they must avoid His wrath. If He is understood primarily as merciful, they will think that they must seek out His mercy. If He is understood primarily as beautiful, they will know that they must love Him. God, of course, has "ninety-nine names"—at least—and every name throws different light on what exactly God is, what exactly He is not, and how exactly people should understand Him and relate to Him. Naturally, thoughtful Muslims have always understood God in many ways, and they have drawn diverse conclusions on the basis of each way of understanding. This diversity of understanding in the midst of tawÁâd is prefigured in the Prophet's prayer, "O God, I seek refuge in Your mercy from Your wrath, I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your displeasure, I seek refuge in You from You."

Obstacles to Recovery

My title indicates that I think the Islamic intellectual heritage has largely been lost in modern times. This is a vast topic, and I cannot begin to offer proofs for my assertion, but I think it is obvious to most Muslims who have some awareness of their own history. What I can do here is to offer a few suggestions as to the obstacles that stand in the way of recovery. For present purposes, I want to deal with two basic sorts of obstacles, though there are other sorts as well. First are intellectual forces that originally came from outside. They are intimately connected with the types of thinking that grew up in Western Europe and America and have come to dominate in the modern world. However, they have long since become an internal problem, because most Muslims have either actively and eagerly adopted them as their own, or they been molded by them without being aware of the fact. Given that these intellectual forces have now been internalized, they have given rise to a second group of obstacles, which are modern attitudes and social forces within the Islamic community that prevent recovery.

In suggesting the nature of the first category of obstacles, we can begin with a basic question: Is it possible nowadays to think Islamically? Or, Is it possible to be a "Muslim intellectual" in the modern world? By this, I do not mean an intellectual who is by religious affiliation a follower of Islam, but rather an individual who thinks Islamically about the three basic dimensions of Islam—practice, faith, and sincerity— while living in the midst of modernity.

I have no doubt that there are tens of thousands of Muslim intellectuals in the ordinary sense of the word—that is, Muslim writers, professors, doctors, lawyers, and scientists who are concerned with intellectual issues. But I have serious doubts as to whether any more than a tiny fraction of such people are "Muslim intellectuals" in the sense in which I mean the term. Yes, there are many thoughtful and intellectually sophisticated people who were born as followers of Islam and who may indeed practice it carefully. But do they think Islamically? Is it possible to be both a scientist in the modern sense and a Muslim who understands the universe and the human soul as the Qur'«n and the Sunnah explain them? Is it possible to be a sociologist and at the same time to think in terms of tawÁâd ?

It appears to me, as an outside observer, that the thinking of most Muslim intellectuals is not determined by Islamic principles and Islamic understanding, but by habits of mind learned unconsciously in grammar school and high school and then confirmed and solidified by university training. Such people may act like Muslims, but they think like doctors, engineers, sociologists, and political scientists.

It is naive to imagine that one can learn how to think Islamically simply by attending lectures once a week or by reading a few books written by contemporary Muslim leaders, or by studying the Qur'«n, or by saying one's prayers and having "firm faith." In the traditional Islamic world, the great thinkers and intellectuals spent their whole lives searching for knowledge and deepening their understanding. The Islamic intellectual heritage is extraordinarily rich. Hundreds of thousands of books were written, and in modern times the majority of even the important books are not available, because they have never been printed. Those that have been printed are rarely read by Muslim intellectuals, and those few that have been translated from Arabic and Persian into English and other modern languages have, by and large, been badly translated, so little guidance will be found in the translations.

I do not mean to suggest that it would be necessary to read all the great books of the intellectual tradition in their original languages in order to think Islamically. If modern-day Muslims could read one of these important books, even in translation, and understand it, their thinking would be deeply effected. However, the only way to understand such books is to prepare oneself for understanding, and that demands dedication, study, and training. This cannot be done on the basis of a modern university education, unless, perhaps, one has devoted it to the Islamic tradition (I say "perhaps" because many Muslims and non-Muslims with Ph-D in Islamic Studies cannot read and understand the great books of the intellectual heritage).

Given that modern schooling is rooted in topics and modes of thought that are not harmonious with traditional Islamic learning, it is profoundly difficult today for any thinking and practicing Muslim to harmonize the domain of intellectuality with the domain of faith and practice. One cannot study for many years and then be untouched by what one has studied. There is no escape from picking up mental habits from the types of thinking that one devotes one's life to. It is most likely, and almost, but not quite inevitable, for modern intellectuals with religious faith to have compartmentalized minds — I will not go so far as to say "split personalities," but that is common enough. One compartment of the mind will encompass the professional, intellectual domain, and the other the domain of personal piety and practice. Although individuals may rationalize the relationship between the two domains, they necessarily do so in terms of the world view that is determined by the rational side of the mind, which is the professional, modern side. The world view established by the Qur'«n and passed down by generations of Muslims will be closed to such people, and hence they will draw their rational categories and their ways of thinking from their professional training and the ever-shifting Zeitgeist that is embodied in contemporary intellectual trends and popularized through television and other forms of mass indoctrination.

Many Muslim scientists tell us that modern science helps them see the wonders of God's creation, and this is certainly an argument for preferring the natural sciences over the social sciences. But is it necessary to study physics or bio– chemistry to see the signs of God in all His creatures? The Qur'«n keeps on telling Muslims, "Will you not reflect, will you not ponder, will you not think?" About what? About the "signs" («y«t ) of God, which are found, as over two hundred Qur'«nic verses remind us, in everything. In short, one does not need to be a great scientist, or any scientist at all, to understand that the world tells us about the majesty of its Creator. Any fool knows this. This is what the Prophet called the "religion of old women" ( dân al-‘aj«'iz ), and no one needs any intellectual training to understand it. It is simply necessary to look at the world, and it becomes obvious to "those with minds" ( ulu 'l-alb«b ).

It is true that a basic understanding of the signs of God may provide sufficient knowledge for salvation. After all, the Prophet said, aktharu ahl al-jannati bulhun , "Most of the people of paradise are fools." However, the foolishness that leads to paradise demands foolishness concerning the affairs of this world, and that is very difficult to come by nowadays. It is certainly not found among Muslim intellectuals. They are already far too clever, and this explains why they are such good doctors and engineers. In other words, they have already employed and developed their minds, so they have no choice but to be intellectuals. Inescapably, their intelligence has been shaped and formed by their education, their disciplines, and the media.

The Gods of Modernity

The information and habits of mind that are imparted by modernity are not congruent with Islamic learning. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate this concisely is to reflect on the characteristics of modernity—by which I mean the thinking and norms of the "global culture" in which we live today. It should be obvious that whatever characterizes modernity, it is not tawÁâd , the first principle of Islamic thinking. Rather, it is fair to say that modernity is characterized by the opposite of tawÁâd . One could call this shirk or "associating others with God." But for most Muslims, the word shirk is too emotionally charged to be of much help in the discussion. Moreover, they have lost touch with what it really means, because they are unacquainted with the Islamic intellectual tradition, where tawÁâd and shirk are analyzed and explained. So let me call the characteristic trait of modernity " takthâr ," which is the literal opposite of tawÁâd . TawÁâd means to make things one, and, in the religious context, it means "asserting that God is one." Takthâr mean to make things many, and in this context I understand it to mean "asserting that the gods are many."

Modern times and modern thought lack a single center, a single orientation, a single goal, any single purpose at all. Modernity has no common principle or guideline. In other words, there is no single "god"—since a god is what gives meaning and orientation to life. A god is what you serve. The modern world serves many, many gods. Through an ever-intensifying process of takthâr , the gods have been multiplied beyond count, and people worship whatever god appeals to them, usually several at once.

The truth of my assertion becomes obvious if we compare the intellectual history of the West and Islamic civilization. Up until recent times, Islamic thought was characterized by a tendency toward unity, harmony, integration, and synthesis. The great Muslim thinkers were masters of many disciplines, but they looked upon all of them as branches of a single tree, the tree of tawÁâd . There was never any contradiction between studying astronomy and zoology, or physics and ethics, or mathematics and law, or mysticism and logic. Everything was governed by the same principles, because everything fell under God's all-encompassing reality.

The history of Western thought is characterized by the opposite tendency. Although there was a great deal of unitarian thinking in the medieval period, from the Middle Ages onward there has been constantly increasing dispersion and multiplicity. "Renaissance men" could know a great deal about all the sciences and at the same time have a unifying vision. But nowadays, everyone is an expert in some tiny field of specialization, and "information" increases exponentially. The result is mutual incomprehension and universal disharmony. It is impossible to establish any unity of knowledge, and no real communication takes place among the specialists in different disciplines, or even among specialists in different subfields of the same discipline. In short, people in the modern world have no unifying principles, and the result is an ever-increasing multiplicity of goals and desires, an ever-intensifying chaos.

Despite the chaos, everyone has gods that he or she worships. No one can survive in an absolute vacuum, with no goal, no significance, no meaning, no orientation. The gods people worship are those points of reference that give meaning and context to their lives. The difference between traditional objects of worship and modern objects of worship is that in modernity, it is almost impossible to subordinate all the minor gods to a supreme god, and when this is done, the supreme god is generally one that has been manufactured by ideologies. It is certainly not the God of tawÁâd , who negates the reality of all other gods. However, it may well be a blatant imitation of the God of tawÁâd , especially when religion enters into the domain of politics.

The gods in the world of takthâr are legion. To mention the more important ones would be to list the defining myths and ideologies of modern times—evolution, progress, science, medicine, nationalism, socialism, democracy, Marxism, freedom, equality. But perhaps the most dangerous of the gods are those that are the most difficult to recognize for what they are, because we in the modern world take them for granted and look upon them much as we look upon the air that we breathe. Let me list the most common of these gods by their seemingly innocuous names: basic need, care, communication, consumption, development, education, energy, exchange, factor, future, growth, identity, information, living standard, management, model, modernization, planning, production, progress, project, raw material, relationship, resource, role, service, sexuality, solution, system, welfare, work. These are some, but not all, of the ninety-nine most beautiful gods of modernity, and reciting their names is the dhikr of modern man.

Anyone who wants an analysis and explanation of the nature of these gods should refer to the book Plastic Words by the German linguist, Uwe Poerksen. The subtitle is more instructive as to what the book is all about: The Tyranny of a Modular Language . Poerksen explains how the modern use of language—a use that achieved dominance after the Second World War—has resulted in the production of a group of words that have turned into the most destructive tyrants the world has ever seen. He does not call them "gods," because he is linguist and has no apparent interest in theology. Nevertheless, he does give them the label "tyrant," and this is a good translation for the Qur'«nic divine name, al-jabb«r . When this name is applied to God, it means that God has absolute controlling power over creation. "Tyranny" becomes a bad thing when it is ascribed to creatures, because it indicates that they have usurped God's power and authority. In the case of the plastic words, the usurpation has taken place at the hands of certain words that are used to shape discussion of societal goals.

As Poerksen points out, these tyrannical words have at least thirty common characteristics. The most important of these is that they have no definition, though they do have an aura of goodness and beneficence about them. In linguistic terms, this is to say that such words have no "denotation," but they do have many "connotations." There is no such thing as "care" or "welfare" or "standard of living," but these words suggest many good things to most people. They are abstract terms that seem to be scientific, so they carry an aura of authority in a world in which science is one of the most important of the supreme gods.

Each of these words turns something indefinable into a limitless ideal. By making the ideal limitless, the word awakens unlimited needs in people, and once these needs are awakened, they appear to be self-evident. The Qur'«n says that God is the rich, and that people are the poor toward God. In other words, people have no real need except toward God. But nowadays, people feel need toward meaningless concepts, and they think that they must have them. These empty idols have become the objects of people's devotion and worship.

The plastic words give great power to those who speak on their behalf. Anyone who uses these words—care, communication, consumption, information, development—gains prestige, because he speaks for god and truth, and this forces other people to keep silent. After all, we think, only a complete idiot would object to care and development. Everyone must follow those whose only concern is to care for us and to help us develop.

The mujtahids who speak for these mini-gods are, of course, the "experts." Each of the plastic words sets up an ideal and encourages us to think that only the experts can achieve it, so we must entrust our lives to them. We must follow the authority of the scientific mujtahids , who lay down shariahs for our health, our welfare, and our education. People treat the pronouncements of the experts as fatw«s . If the experts reach consensus ( ijm«‘ ) that we must destroy a village as a sacrificial offering to the god "development," we have no choice but to follow their authority. The mujtahids know best.

Each of the plastic words makes other words appear backwards and out-of-date. We can be proud of worshipping these gods, and all of our friends and colleagues will consider us quite enlightened for reciting the proper dhikrs and du‘«'s . Those who still take the old God seriously can cover up this embarrassing fact by worshipping the new gods along with Him. And obviously, many people who continue to claim to worship the old-fashioned God twist His teachings so that He also seems to be telling us to serve "care, communication, consumption, identity, information, living standard, management, resource . . ." — the dhikr is well enough known.

Because the plastic gods have no denotations, all those who believe in them are able to understand them in terms of the connotations that appeal to then and then convince themselves that they are serving the basic need that is stated in the very name of the god, because, after all, it is a self-evident need. We are poor toward it and we must serve it. It is obvious to everyone that these gods are worthy of devotion. Religious people will have no trouble giving a religious color to these tyrants. In the name of the plastic gods, people of good will join together to transform the world, with no understanding that they are serving man-made idols, idols that, as the Qur'«n puts it, "your own hands have wrought."

The topic of false gods is vast, especially nowadays, when more false gods exist than were ever found in the past. The Qur'an tells us that every prophet came with the message of tawÁâd , and that God sent a prophet to every community. Every community of the past had its own version of tawÁâd , even if people sometimes fell into shirk because of ignorance and forgetfulness. But in modern society, there are nothing but the gods of takthâr , and these gods, by definition, leave no room for tawÁâd .

Understanding the nature of false gods has always been central to the intellectual sciences, but this cannot be the concern of the transmitted sciences. One cannot accept that "There is no god but God" simply on the basis of taqlâd . The statement must be understood for people to have true faith in it, even if their understanding is far from perfect. Hence most of the Islamic intellectual tradition has been concerned with clarifying and explaining the objects of faith. What is it that Muslims have faith in? How are they to understand these objects? Why should they have faith in them?

The first of the Islamic objects of faith is God, then angels, prophets, the Last Day, and the "measuring out, the good of it and the evil of it" ( al-qadri khayrihâ wa sharrihâ ). In discussing God and the other objects of faith, it is important to explain not only they are, but also what they are not. When people do not know what God is and when they do not know that it is easy to fall into the habit of worshipping false gods, then they will have no protection against the takthâr of the modern world, the multiplicity of gods that modern ways of thinking demand that they serve.

What is striking about contemporary Islam's encounter with modernity is that Muslims lack the intellectual preparation to deal with the situation. Muslim intellectuals—with a few honorable exceptions—do not question the legitimacy of the modern gods. Rather, they debate about the best way to serve the new tyrants. In other words, they think that Islamic society must be modified and adapted to follow the standards set by modernity, standards that are built on the basis of takthâr . This is to say that innumerable modern-day Muslims are forever looking for the best ways to adapt Islam to shirk.

Many Muslims today recognize that the West has paid too high a price for modernization and secularization. They see that various social crises have arisen in all modernized societies, and they understand that these crises are somehow connected with the loss of the religious traditions and the devaluation of ethical and moral guidelines. But many of these same people tell us that Islam is different. Islam can adopt the technology and the know-how—the "progress," the "development," the "expertise"— while preserving Islam's moral and spiritual strength and thereby avoiding the social disintegration of the West. In other words, they think, Muslims can forget tawÁâd , embark on a course of takthâr , and suffer no negative consequences.

The fact that so many people think this way and do not recognize the absurdity of their position shows that they have lost the vision of tawÁâd that used to give life to Islamic thinking. They cannot see that everything is interrelated, and they fail to understand that the worship of false gods necessarily entails the dissolution of every sort of order—the corruption not only of individuals and society, but also of the natural world. In other words, when people refuse to serve God as He has asked them to serve Him, they cannot fulfill the functions for which He has created them. The net result is that our world becomes ever more chaotic. A significant Qur'«nic verse here is this: "Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of people have earned" (30: 41). When people follow the gods of takthâr , corruption can only increase, and it will end up by destroying the natural world just as it is destroying society. "Corruption" ( fas«d ), after all, is defined as the lack of "wholesomeness" ( Äal«Á ), and wholesomeness is wholeness, health, balance, harmony, coherence, order, integration, and unity, all of which are established through tawÁâd or "making things one."

Attitudinal Obstacles

The second sort of obstacle preventing the recovery of the intellectual heritage can be discerned on the societal level in the attitudes and habits of mind that have been adopted by modern-day Muslims. These result from the loss of intellectual independence and have become embodied in the institutions and structures of contemporary society. I will not attempt to go into details. Instead let me suggest that these obstacles become manifest in various currents that are not difficult to see, such as the politicization of the community, monolithic interpretations of Islamic teachings, and blind acceptance of the teachings of contemporary Muslim leaders (in other words taqlâd where there should be taÁqâq ). Perhaps the broadest and most pernicious of these obstacles, however, is the general attitude that one might call "anti-traditionalism."

Although Islam, like other religions, is built on tradition—the sum total of the transmitted and intellectual heritages—many Muslims see no contradiction between believing in the gods of modernity and accepting the authority of the Qur'«n and the Sunnah. In order to do this, however, they need to ignore thirteen hundred years of Islamic intellectual history and pretend that no one needs the help of the great thinkers of the past to understand and interpret the Qur'«n and the Sunnah.

We need to keep in mind that if there is any universally accepted dogma in the modern world, it is the rejection of tradition. The great prophets of modernity—Descartes, Rousseau, Marx, Freud—followed a variety of gods, but they all agreed that the old gods were no longer of any use. In the Islamic view, God's prophets share tawÁâd . In contrast, the modern prophets share the rejection of tawÁâd and the assertion of takthâr . One can only reject God's unity by inventing other gods to replace Him.

In traditional Islamic terms, God is qadâm ," ancient" or "eternal." God has always been and always will be. In modernity, the gods are new. To stay new, they have to be changed or modified frequently. The new is always to be preferred over the old, which is "outmoded" and "backwards." Science is always making new discoveries, and technology is constantly offering new inventions that all of us quickly think we need. Anything that is not in the process of renewal is thought to be dead.

One name for this god of newness is "originality." He rules by ordaining new styles and models, and his priests are found everywhere, especially in the domains of advertising and mass indoctrination. Thus we have the fashion mujtahids who tell women what to wear and who change their fatw«s every year. Originality's priests also exercise authority in the world of art. Or take the modern university, where many professors adopt the latest intellectual styles as soon as they arrive on the scene. In much of the modern university, as in women's fashion, Paris rules.

The greatest danger of anti-traditionalism for modern Muslims is that they have accepted this god—like so many others—without giving any thought to what they are doing. Hence they think that for thirteen hundred years, Muslims had nothing to say. They want to retain their Muslim identity, but they imagine that in order to do this, it is sufficient to keep their allegiance to the Qur'«n and the Sunnah, blithely ignoring the great interpreters of the tradition over the centuries.

If people think they no longer need the grand interpreters, this seems to be because they believe in the gods of progress, science, and development. They tell us that today we know so much more about the world than those people of olden times, because we have science. People who think this way usually know nothing about science except what they are taught by the media, and they certainly know nothing about the Islamic intellectual tradition. They are blind obedientalists on the intellectual level, even though taqlâd is absurd in such matters. What is worse, this is a selective taqlâd . They will only accept the intellectual authority of the "scientists" and the "experts," not that of the great Muslim thinkers of the past. If Einstein said it, it must be true, but if Ghazz«lâ or Mull « Âadr« said it, it is "unscientific"—which is to say that it is false.

If such people really knew something about the intellectual roots and bases of science and theology, they would know that science has nothing to say to theology, but theology has plenty to say to science. The reason for this is that theology is rooted in tawÁâd , and hence it can look down from above and discern the interconnectedness of all things. But science is rooted in takthâr , so it is stuck to the level of multiplicity—the lowest domain of reality—and it can only dissect this multiplicity and rearrange it endlessly. Even when it is able to gain a certain overview of interconnections, it does this without being able to explain how it can do so or what the ultimate significance of these interconnections may be. By its own premises, science is banned from the invisible domains—what the Qur'«n calls ghayb . If it has nothing to say about angels and spirits, which are sometimes called the "relative ghayb ," it has even less to say about God, the "absolute ghayb ." In contrast, the Islamic intellectual tradition is rooted in knowledge of God, and thereby it also acquires various modalities of knowing His creation. These are rooted in absolute truth and in certainty, unlike modern disciplines, which are cut off from the Absolute. Only this sort of traditional knowledge can re– establish human connections with the divine.

Finally, let me suggest that the most basic problem of modern Islam is that Muslims suffer from what has traditionally been called "compound ignorance," jahl murakkab . "Ignorance" is not to know. "Compound ignorance" is not to know that you do not know. Too many Muslims do not know what the Islamic tradition is, they do not know how to think Islamically, and they do not know that they do not know. The first step in curing ignorance is to recognize that one does not know. Once people recognize their own ignorance, they can go off in "search of knowledge" ( Çalab al-‘ilm )— which, as everyone knows, "is incumbent on every Muslim," and indeed, one would think, on every human being. No recovery of the intellectual tradition is possible until individuals take this step for themselves. The tradition will never be recovered through taqlâd or by community action, only by the dedication of individuals, through their own, personal taÁqâq . Governments and committees cannot begin to solve the problem, because they start from the wrong end. Understanding cannot be imposed or legislated, it can only grow up from the heart.

The Prophet said, "Wisdom is the believer's lost camel. Wherever he finds it, he recognizes it." People today do not know what wisdom is, and still less do they know that it belongs to them by right. Until they recognize this, they will never know that their camel has been lost. They will think that in any case, camels are no longer of any use, since cars, airplanes, and computers will take them wherever they want to go. It is a tragedy when people have no idea that the only way to cross the desert of modernity without danger is by the camel of wisdom.

100 Simple Ways to Change Your Life Healthy

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:35:00 +0000

By Jessica Hupp

No matter how perfect you may think you are, the fact this there's always some small way you can improve upon yourself. Whether it's broadening your knowledge or reducing your impact on the earth, there are seemingly endless little things you can do to make a change for the better. Here, we'll discuss 100 of these steps, and how you can go about doing them.

Health

Good health is the foundation of a good life, so make these improvements, and they'll resonate out to the rest of your life.

1. Eat breakfast every morning: Eating breakfast is important for your health and mental power, supplying essential vitamins, minerals, and energy for your day.

2. Get a good night's rest: You just can't have a happy and productive life if you're tired all of the time, so get some quality shut eye.

3. Drink water: Step up your water intake to lose weight, feel better, and improve your skin.

4. Eat slowly: Slow down when you eat, and you'll find that you consume less while still feeling satisfied.

5. Cut down on junk food: Junk food has a nasty way of bringing your health down, so avoid it whenever possible, opting instead for healthy food like fresh fruits and vegetables.

6. Practice good dental hygiene: Researchers have found that dental hygiene is important for more than cosmetic reasons-it can help you chew food and even avoid heart disease.

7. Drink tea: Be sure to check out the powerhouse of benefits that tea can deliver, which includes improved memory and prevention of ills such as cavities, cancer, and heart disease.

8. Get some exercise: Whether you need to lose weight or not, exercise will have a positive effect on your overall health and quality of life.

9. Improve your energy: If you're feeling sluggish all day, chances are you're just not going to feel good about yourself. So take a few steps to boost your energy, and you'll be better in your daily life.

10. Intensify your workouts: Researchers have found that by doing more intense workouts, you can enjoy similar benefits that you would with a more relaxed workout for a longer period of time.

11. Enjoy fish a few times a week: Eat fish, and you'll get a serving of Omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce heart disease.

12. Wear better shoes: Don't torture your toes with restrictive shoes all the time-limit the amount of time you spend in uncomfortable shoes.

13. Protect your skin: Stay out of the sun to avoid skin damage, or use sunblock to help.

14. Eat at home: It's easier and cheaper to prepare healthy foods on your own at home, and skillfully cooking a meal is sure to impress just about anyone.

15. Get tested for prediabetes: Diabetes is a disease that many Americans are susceptible to, and by discovering it early on you can prevent it or lessen its impact.

16. Take a daily walk: Get a little bit of movement and clear your mind with a walk every day.

17. Lose weight: One of the best things you can do for your health and overall quality of life is to shed a few pounds.

Social

Take these steps to change your social life for the better.

18. Join a book club: Get some social interaction while improving your knowledge with a book club.

19. Get out of the house: Believe it or not, the world just isn't going to come to you. You've got to get out of your "zone" for social interaction.

20. Volunteer: For a rewarding social experience, look into volunteer opportunities.

21. Ignore minor irritations: Whether it's some jerk in traffic, or incessant Facebook application requests, some things just aren't worth dealing with.

22. Start a blog: Spark an online discussion and network with new people through a blog..

23. Talk to strangers: Don't hesitate to spark a conversation with someone you don't know-you just might enjoy yourself, or even make a new friend.

24. Don't stereotype or label people: Avoid dismissing people based on factors you don't fully understand, and you may find that they have something to offer you.

25. Call old friends: You'd be surprised how many people would be overjoyed to hear from you, especially if it's been a while since you've seen them.

26. Go to Mosque: Make new friends and get in touch with your spiritual side at Mosque.

27. Host a party: Spend some time with good friends and enjoy yourself at home by inviting others over for a party.

28. Enjoy a hobby: Having a regular, relaxing activity will bring you joy.

29. Join a club: Whether you're into board games or photography, there's a group out there for you.

Emotional

Improve your emotional life with these simple strategies.

30. Make an effort to be happy: Whether you actually feel happy or not, make it a point to attempt happiness. It will help you feel better, as well as others around you.

31. Consider religion: If you're not a spiritual person, consider becoming more involved with religion to improve your emotional well-being.

32. Stop taking things personally: Although it may seem to the contrary, know that not everyone is out to make your life harder.

33. Be optimistic: Put a positive spin on things and feel better about the future.

34. Know when to lose sleep: Sometimes, you have more important things to do than sleep, but they key is knowing when that should happen.

35. Step out of your comfort zone: Make it a point to step out of your comfort zone once in awhile. It's a great way to advance yourself.

36. Get rid of ill-fitting clothing: Clothes that don't fit right will just make you look bad and feel worse about yourself. If you love a piece, but it just doesn't look good, consider getting it tailored.

37. Spend time with a child: Look at the world through a child's eyes and get inspired. You'll learn to appreciate simple things and see life with excitement.

38. Pamper yourself: Take care of yourself, whether that means getting a pint of ice cream now and then, or just getting a spa treatment.

39. Celebrate your successes: When you've accomplished something great, take a moment to feel good about it!

40. Quit your technology addiction: Although you may love your BlackBerry, you'll feel a whole lot better if you just step away from the screen for a while.

41. Set goals: By setting goals, you'll give yourself something to strive for and look forward to.

42. Feel good about yourself: Make a decision to improve your self-confidence, and you'll feel better. Others will notice it, too.

43. Be thankful: Every now and then, take some time to acknowledge all of the good things you have in your life, big and small.

44. Cut yourself some slack: Avoid inventing your own impossible, stringent rules that you have to stick to-they'll only make you feel nervous and guilty.

45. Let go of the past: Don't hold grudges-let go, and you'll free up emotional space.

46. Don't be dramatic: Stop inflating small problems, or you'll make yourself more anxious than you need to be.

47. Express yourself: Let your emotions come out through art, writing, or other forms of expression.

48. Meditate: Take some time out every day to have an inner dialogue with yourself.

Financial

Make these changes to improve your life's financial outlook.

49. Pay off debt: Nothing will improve your finances better than simply getting rid of debt.

50. Build an emergency fund: Keep an emergency fund to save yourself from plummeting into the red when something pops up, and you'll be much more secure.

51. Track your spending: At some point in their lives, nearly everyone has wondered where all their money goes. Try this exercise to finally get to the bottom of it, and identify spots where your money could be better spent.

52. Be frugal: Embrace frugality in your life, and you'll save money while living more simply.

53. Make extra payments: Pay off mortgage and other large debts early, and you'll take a load off.

54. Diversify your income: Provide yourself with some financial security by finding multiple sources of income.

55. Save: The concept is simple-save money, and you'll have more financial power to do the things you'd like to do.

56. Eat at home more often: Eating out all the time may be fun, but preparing meals at home is a better financial strategy.

57. Invest: Investing is not only fun, it's an excellent way to make your money grow.

58. Set a goal: Give yourself a financial goal to achieve, whether it's saving for a particular item, or doubling your investments.

59. Save for retirement: Don't give your future self a huge mess to take care of-save now, and you'll enjoy it later.

Mental

Improve your mind by taking these simple steps.

60. Go back to school: Continuing your education does not have to be a complicated endeavor. Take an online class, or just a weekend seminar.

61. Read classic books: Improve your mind by finally picking up all those books you were supposed to read in school.

62. Plan: Always have a plan for your life, so you'll know what you're working toward..

63. Quit procrastinating: Resolve to get moving, and you'll find that you have much more time than you originally realized.

64. Get inspired by a book: Read a book that will help you spark positive changes in your life.

65. Learn from your mistakes: Don't let mistakes get you down. Instead, consider what you did wrong, and how you can avoid doing so again in the future.

66. Stop worrying: Let go of worry, and know that the future will come no matter what you do about it.

67. Learn to play various games.

68. Work to your own advantage: Improve upon what you can, and let the rest fall away.

69. Think slowly: Instead of jumping to conclusions, carefully calculate what a situation means. Doing so can help you save relationships that might be damaged by rash thinking

70. Participate in a debate: Have a rational discussion with someone of similar intellect to improve your knowledge.

71. Learn a new language: Broaden your horizons by learning how to speak a new language.

72. Visit Wikipedia: Spend some time on Wikipedia learning lots of interesting facts you've never realized before.

Habits

Make these changes in your daily life to improve upon yourself.

73. Quit smoking: It's the single most important thing you can do for your health, appearance, and energy. You'll smell better, too.

74. Wake up early: Be an early riser, and you'll find that you have more time to get things done.

75. Spend more time outside: Head outside to become more active and enjoy the world around you.

76. Be organized: Make things easier on yourself by living a more organized life.

At Work

You spend so much time at work, but probably don't often consider how you can improve upon this important facet of your life. Take these steps to make things just a little bit better.

77. Make friends with your coworkers: One of the easiest and most important things you can do to improve your career is to practice inner networking. Socialize with your coworkers, and they'll be more willing to help you when you need it.

78. Improve your writing skills: If you improve upon your writing skills, you'll instantly sound more intelligent and persuasive.

79. Collaborate: Don't go it alone-ask for help, and give help in return.

80. Keep your inbox empty: Reduce anxiety and simplify by clearing out your inbox as much as you can.

81. Leave work at the door: Don't bring work home with you, or you'll stress yourself out at home.

82. Join a professional association: Network with others in your field for fun and career advancement.

83. Ask for a raise: Simply asking for a raise you deserve is a no-brainer way to feel better about work and your paycheck.

84. Improve your resume: If you're not happy with your job, give your resume a facelift and consider seeking a new position.

85. Improve your system: If you've got a messy desk, or generally lead a disorganized work life, take charge by reorganizing.

86. Start your own business: One of the best ways to improve your career is to go into business for yourself.

In Your Community

Getting involved in your community is a great way to improve upon your life. Try these methods for getting out there.

87. Vote: Impact your community's future by participating in the election of officials.

88. Donate unused items: Instead of holding a garage sale, pass your old items on to people who need them-like books to schools, and clothing to shelters.

89. Support charitable endeavors: Whether it's with money or time, do what you can to help out charities in your community.

90. Be a coach: Offer to coach a youth sport, and you'll shape young lives while having fun.

91. Visit your local library: Take advantage of your community's library to both save money and broaden your mind.

In the Environment

An excellent way to improve upon yourself is to reduce the negative impact you have on the world. Take these steps to get greener and change your life for the better.

92. Work to reduce your carbon emissions: Find out about the many things you can do to help cut your carbon emissions, and then take action on them.

93. Improve your gas mileage: Drive more slowly and coast as much as you can to improve your gas mileage.

94. Turn off the lights: Cut your waste and energy bill by turning off your lights whenever you don't need them.

95. Get a reusable water bottle: Keep plastic water bottles out of our landfills by getting a container you can use over and over again.

96. Reduce your trash: Take steps to cut down on the waste you put in landfills.

97. Buy local and organic food: Support your health and local farmer by purchasing local, organic produce.

98. Adjust your thermostat: Let your heater and AC take a small break by adjusting your thermostat to reduce waste.

99. Stop using plastic bags: Quit using plastic bags, and you'll both reduce your impact and save animals.

100. Take shorter showers: Save a precious resource by reducing the amount of water you use in your daily shower.

Signs were prophesized 1400 years ago

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:15:00 +0000

As we look at this article we realise how true the Messenger(P.B.U.H) was these signs were prophesized 1400 years ago!!!

Take a look.... Now this is scary!!!!
* Camels will no longer be used as a means of transport;
* People will ride on saddles that aren't saddles cars?)
* The distance on earth will become short;
* Horses will not be used in wars;
* Muslims will defeat the Byzantines which will end with the conquest of Constantinople(Istanbul);
* The Jews will gather again to live in Bilad Canaan;
* Very tall buildings will be built;
* The disappearance of knowledge and the appearance of ignorance, with much killing;
* Adultery will become widespread, and the drinking of wine will become common;
* The number of men will decrease and the number of women will
increase until there are 50 women to be looked after by one man.
* Islam will become worn out like clothes are, until no one will
know what fasting, prayer, charity and rituals are;
* Allah will send a disease to fornicators that will have no cure
Aids?);
* People will begin to believe in the stars and reject AL QADAR
(THE DIVINE DECREE OF DESTINY);
* Men will pass by people's graves and say: "Would that I were in
his place"; (large amount of sucidal deaths?)
* The Euphrates will uncover a mountain of gold for which people
will fight over (the river of Alfurat that lies near Syria);
* Two large groups of people will fight one another, and there will
be many casualties; they will both be following the same religion
(World War II?);
* Approximately 30 DAJJALS will appear, each one claiming to be the
messenger of ALLAH;

* Earthquakes will increase;
* Time will pass quickly;
* Afflictions will appear;
* Killing will increase;
* Wealth will increase;
* Women will be wearing clothes but not wearing clothes
* THE PROPHET (saw) SAID: "IF MY UMMAH BEARS 15 TRAITS (QUALITIES),TRIBULATION WILL FOLLOW IT." (DAY OF JUDGEMENT)
SOMEONE ASKED,"WHAT ARE THEY O MESSENGER OF ALLAH?"
HE (saw) SAID:
* When any gain is shared out only among the rich, with no benefit
to the poor;

* When a trust becomes a means of making profit;
* When paying ZAKKAT becomes a burden;
* When voices are raised in the mosque;
* When the leader of a people is the worst of them; When people
treat a man with respect because what he may do;
* When much wine is drunk; red wind or the earth
swallow them, or to be transformed into animals."
* 'IMRAN IBN HUSAYN SAID: "THE PROPHET (AS) SAID, ‘SOME PEOPLE OF
THIS UMMAH WILL BE SWALLOWED BY THE EARTH, TRANSFORMED INTO
ANIMALS, AND SOME WILL BE BOMBARDED WITH STONES'. ONE OF THE MUSLIMS ASKED, WHEN WILL THAT BE O MESSENGER Of ALLAH?' HE SAID, ‘WHEN SINGERS AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WILL BECOME POPULAR, AND MUCH WINE IS DRUNK.'"THE GREATER SIGNS OF THE HOUR The Quran will disappear in one night, even from the people's hearts, and no Ayyah will be left on earth.
(Some groups of old people will be left who will say: "We heard of
fathers' saying "LAILLAHA ILLA ALLAH" so we repeat it)

* The appearance of the MAHDI;
* The appearance of the DAJJAL (Anti Christ);
* The appearance of Ya'juj and Ma'juj (biblical Gog
and Magog);
* Isa (Jesus) will come during the time of Dajjal;
* The rising of the sun from the west;
* The destruction of the Ka'ba and the recovery of its treasures;
* The smoke.

Dictionary that contains all you need to know about Urdu words - by Dinesh Prabhu

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Alphabet
--------
Vowel Pronunciation Key
-----------------------
a : "u" in "but"
aa : "a" in "far"
e : "e" in "bed"
i : "i" in "fit"
ee : "ee" in "feet"
o : "o" in "code"
u : "u" in "put"
oo : "oo" in "booed"
au : "ow" in "how"
ai : "ei" in "neighbor"

Notes: 1. ' indicates a glottal stop (pronounced like "uh") in very careful
----- speech. Normally, however, it is not pronounced at the beginning
of a word and in other positions it represents 'aa'.
2. The combination 'ah' at the end of a word is pronounced like 'aa'
or 'e'. For example: 'jagah' could be 'jagaa' or 'jage', i.e., the
h is silent.
3. The combination 'ah' or 'aH' in the middle of a word is pronounced
like 'e'.
4. n. (n period) indicates nasalization.
5. a - is used to distinguish between sh and s+h, kh and k+h, etc.

Letter Transcription Remarks
------ ------------- -------

'alif : a Could also stand for an unspecified initial vowel
be : b
pe : p Does not occur in Arabic
te : t Used in native words
Te : T Does not occur in Arabic and Persian
se : s Used in loan words
jeem : j
che : ch Does not occur in Arabic
baRi he : H Used in loan words
khe : kh
daal : d
Daal : D Does not occur in Arabic and Persian
zaal : z Used in loan words
re : r
Re : R Does not occur in Arabic and Persian
ze : z Used in native words
zhe : zh Does not occur in Arabic
seen : s
sheen : sh
saad : s Used in loan words
zaad : z Used in loan words
to-e : t Used in loan words
zo-e : z Used in loan words
ain : ' Could also stand for an unspecified initial vowel
ghain : gh
fe : f
qaaf : q
kaaf : k
gaaf : g Does not occur in Arabic
laam : l
meem : m
noon : n
vaa-o : w Stands for oo/o/au at the end of a word. In the
middle it could stand for w/oo/o/au
chhoTi he: h Used in native words
chhoTi ye: y Stand for ee/e/ai at the end of a word. In the
middle it could stand for y/ee/e/ai
baRi ye : y Occurs only at the end of a word and stands for
e or ai

################################################################################

Abbreviations
-------------

Grammatical Word Origin
----------- -----------
n.f. : noun feminine P : Persian
n.m. : noun masculine A : Arabic
pron. : pronoun T : Turkish
adj. : adjective H : Hindi
v. : verb S : Sanskrit
adv. : adverb G : Greek
conj. : conjunction
intj. : interjection
prep. : preposition
suff. : suffix
pref. : prefix
fig. : figurative
plu. : plural
lit. : literal
poet. : poetic

################################################################################

Vocabulary
----------

'alif (long)
------------
aab: P n.m. water
aab: P n.f. splendor/elegance/polish/brightness/
temper(steel)/lustre(gems)/sharpness(sword)
aab-e-aa'inah: n.f. polish of a mirror
aab-e-talkh: n.m. bitter water/tears/wine
aab-e-chashm: n.m. tears
aabaad: P adj. populated/inhabited/peopled/prosperous/happy
aabru: P n.f. honor/fame/good name/dignity
aap: H pron. self/selves/respectful term of address
aatish: P n.f. fire
aatmaa: S n.f. soul/spirit/mind
aasim: A n.m. sinner/culprit
aakhir: A adj. last/final
aadaab: A n.m. manners (plu. of adab)
aadmi: P n.m. man (lit. offspring of Adam)
aadmiyyat: A n.f. humanity/human nature/civility
aaraa: P adj. embellishing/adorning
aaraam: P n.m. rest/repose/respite/relief/ease/comfort
aara'ish P n.f. decoration/adornment/beauty
aarzoo: P n.f. yearning/desire/wish/longing
aaz: P n.f. ardent desire/lust/covetousness
aazaad: P n.f. free/unrestrained
aazardah: P adj. annoyed/dejected/uneasy/gloomy/sad
aazmaa'ish: P n.f. trial/experiment/testing/proving
aas: H n.f. longing/desire/hope/faith/shelter/refuge
aasaan: P adj. light/facile/easy
aasraa: H n.m. means of subsistence/protection/shelter
aasmaan: P n.m. heaven/sky
aasmaani: P adj. heavenly/celestial/azure
aasoodah: P adj. opulent/rich/satisfied
aashaa: S n.f. desire/hope/longing
aashuftah: P adj. perplexed/careworn/distracted/confused
aashnaa: P n.m. aquaintance/friend/lover
aashiyaan.: P n.m. nest/house
aakhaaz: P n.m. commencement/outset/beginning
aaghosh: P n.f/m. embrace/lap/bosom
aafaat: A n.f. evils/disasters/misfortunes (plu. of aafat)
aaftaab: P n.m. sun
aag: H n.f. flame/fire (fig. anger/passion/love/lust)
aalaap: H n.f. conversation/preparatory tuning
aan.ch: H n.f. flame/warmth/fervor/loss/grief
aan.chal: H n.m. corner of the 'dopaTTa' worn by women
aan.dhee: H n.f. dust-storm/hurricane
aan.soo: H n.m. tears
aawaarah: P adj. without home
aawaarah: P n.m. wanderer/vagrant/destitute
aawaaz: P n.f. noise/sound/cry/shout
aawaazah: P n.m. rumor/fame/report/reputation
aah: P n.f. sigh
aahistah: P adv. softly/leisurely/slowly
aa'inah: P n.m. mirror
aayandah: P adj. hereafter/in the future

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'alif (short)
-------------
ab: H adv. now/presently
ubaal: H n.m. boiling/rage/anger
ibtidaa': A n.f. commencement/beginning
abtar: P adj. ruined/scattered/worthless
ibtisaam: A n.m. smile/cheerfulness
ibtilaa: A n.m. trial/misfortune/suffering
abad: A n.f. eternity
abr: P n.m. cloud
abroo: P n.m. eyebrow
absaar: A n.m. eyes (plu. of basr)
ibn: A n.m. son
abnaa': A n.m. sons (plu. of ibn)
ittiHaad: A n.m. union/alliance
ittifaaq: A n.m. agreement/concord/chance/event/opportunity
ittifaaqaan: A adv. accidentally
ittikaa': A n.m. dependence/reliance
itlaaf: A n.m. loss/ruin/decay
itmaam: A n.m. completion/perfection
ittihaam: A n.m. charge/imputation/blame
aTak: H n.f. obstacle/obstruction
isbaat: A n.m. proof
asar: A n.m. mark/sign/trace/effect
ujaaR: H adj. ruined/waste/abandoned
ijaazat: A n.f. permission/leave/sanction
ajnabee: A n.m. stranger/foreigner/alien
iHtiyaaj: A n.f. need
iHtiyaat: A n.f. caution/heed
aHzaan: A n.m. sorrows (plu. of huzn)
iHsaas: A n.m. feeling/emotion
iHsaan: A n.m. beneficence/favor/good deed
akhbaar: A n.m. news/newspaper
ikhtiyaar: A n.m. choice/option/power/influence/control/authority
akhz: A n.m. grasping/seizing/taking
ikhlaas: A n.m. sincerity/purity/love/selfless worship
adaa: A n.f. payment of debt/settlement
adaa: P n.f. charm/grace/beauty
idraak: A n.m. perception/comprehension
adib: A n.m. learned, man of letters (plu. udabaa')
iraadah: A n.m. aim/object/will/desire
arjmand: P adj. exalted
urdoo: T n.f. army/camp
irshaad: A n.m. instruction/order/command/guidance
arz: A n.f. land/region/earth
armaan: P n.m. desire/yearning/wish
azal: A n.f. eternity/without beginning
asaas: A n.f. foundation
asbaab: A n.m. causes/motives/means
ustaad: P n.m. master/professor
isti'faa: A n.m. resignation
isti'maal: A n.m. application/usage/use
asad: A n.m. lion
asraar: A n.m. secrets (plu. of sirr)
israaf: A n.m. waste/extravagance
asfaar: A n.m. voyages/travels (plu. of safar)
asqaam: A n.m. evils/weaknesses/defects (plu. of suqm)
asir: A n.m. prisoner/captive
ishaarah: P n.m. gesture/symbol/wink/sign
ishtihaar: A n.m. notification/poster/reputation/renown
ishtiyaaq: A n.m. longing/craving/desire
ishraaq: A n.m. dawn/day break/lustre
ashfaaq: A n.m. favors (plu. of shafaq)
ishfaaq: A n.m. compassion/kindness
ashqiyaa': A n.m. cruel/heartless (plu. of shaqi)
ashk: P n.m. tearS
as-haab: A n.m. lords/masters (plu. of saahib)
israar: A n.m. obduracy/persistence/obstinacy
asl: A n.m. root/foundation/essence (plu. usool)
asli: A adj. original/genuine/real/true
iztiraab: A n.m. restlessness/perturbation/anxiety
iztiraar: A n.m. helplessness/agitation/constraint
atfaal: A n.m. children/offspring (plu. of tifl)
iz-haar: A n.m. disclosure/proclamation/statement/testimony
i'tibaar: A n.m. trust/confidence/faith/reliance
i'tiraaz: A n.m. objection/criticism/protest
i'jaaz: A n.m. miracle/marvel/wonder
i'laam: A n.m announcing/notifying
aghlaat: A n.f. mistakes (plu. of ghalat)
aghyaar: A n.m. strangers/rivals (plu. of ghair)
uftaad: P n.f. misery/distress/mishap/foundation
iftikhaar: A n.m. honor/glory/repute/distinction
ifraat: A n.f. excess/exuberance/plenty
afsaanah: P n.m. tale/legend/fiction
afsurdah: P adj. melancholy/depressed
afsos: P n.m. regret/remorse/dejection
ufaq: A n.m. horizon
iqbaal: A n.m. prosperity/good fortune/success/confession
iqraar: A n.m. promise/pledge/confession/declaration/covenant
iqtizaa': A n.m. requirement/need/demand
akbar: A adj. greatest (sup. of kabir)
aksar: A adj. most/much/many/frequent
aksar: A adv. frequently/usually/generally/often
agar: P conj. if/in case
al: A art. the
iltifaat: A n.m. regard/kindness/favor/friendship
alfaaz: A n.m. words (plu. of lafz)
amaanat: A n.f. something given in trust/deposit/security
imtiHaan: A n.m. examination/test/trial/proof/experiment
imtiyaaz: A n.m. discrimination/discernment/distinction
ummid: P n.f. hope/expectation/trust
intikhaab: A n.m. selection/choice/election
intizaar: A n.m. waiting (anxiously)/expectation
intizaam: A n.m. management/order/method/arrangement
intiqaam: A n.m. revenge/reprisal
anjaam: A n.m. end/conclusion/result/issue
anjuman: P n.f. assembly/meeting/society/council
andaazah: P n.m. measurement/guess/rough estimate
an.dar: P prep. within/inside/inward
insaan: A n.m. man/human being/mankind
insaaniyyat: A n.m. humanity/civility
in'aam: A n.m. gift/reward/largesse
inqilaab: A n.m. revolution
inkaar: A n.m. denial/contradiction
auqaat: A n.m. times (plu. of waqt)
auqaat: A n.f. status/position
awwaal: A adj. first/excellent/best
aulaad: A n.f. children (plu. of walad)
imaan: A n.m. belief/faith/creed/conscience

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be
--
bi: A prep. by/with/from/in/into/near/on/for/towards
(Always prefixed to another word)
ba: P prep. by/with/from/in/into/to/on/upon/for/upto
(Always prefixed to another word)
baa: P prep. with/by/possessed of
baab: A n.m. door/gate/chapter/topic/subject
baabul: H n.m. father
baat: H n.f. word/saying/speech/tale/news/question/business
proposal/point/gossip/substance
baad: P n.f. wind/air/breeze
baadshaah: P n.m. emperor/king
baadal: H n.m. cloud(s)
baadah: P n.m. wine/spirits
baadiyah: A n.m. wilderness/desert
baadiyah: P n.m. goblet/cup
baar: H n.m. time/turn/chance/opportunity/delay/obstacle
baar: P n.m. burden/load/permission/grief/court
baarish: P n.m. rain
baarah: P n.m. time/turn/about/in regard of
baareek: P adj. fine/slender/delicate/difficult/subtle
baaz: P suff. denotes doer/agent
baaz: P n.m. falcon
baaz: P adv. again/back/refusing
baazaar: P n.m. market
baazaaree: P adj. common/low/vulgar/relating to the market
baazoo: P n.m. arm/fold of a door/flank of an army
baazi: P n.f. sport/game/wager
baazichah: P n.m. toy/fun/sport
baagh: P n.m. garden/orchard/grove
baaqee: A adj. remaining/lasting
baaqee: A n.f. residue/remainder/arrears
baalam: S n.m. a lover/sweet-heart/husband
baam: P n.m. upper storey/terrace/balcony
baan: P suff. signifying keeper or guardian
baan.kaa: H adj. curved/crooked/sly/cunning
baano: P n.f. lady/gentlewoman
bachchah: P n.m. child
baHaal: A adj. status quo/refreshed/happy
baHs: A n.f. dispute/argument/debate/controversy
bukhaar: A n.m. steam/temperature/fever/rage
bakht: P n.m. good fortune/luck/prosperity
bakhshish: P n.f. gift/donation/reward/alms/tip
bad: P adj. bad/wicked/evil
bad akhtar: adj. unfortunate
bad anjaam: adj. having a bad end
bad tar: adj. worse/inferior
bad chalan: adj. of bad conduct/ill-mannered/immoral
bad khwaab: n.m./f. nightmare
bad du'aa: n.f. curse/malediction
bad sirat: adj. ill-tempered
bad soorat: adj. ugly
bad m'aash: adj. roguish
bad naam: adj. disreputable/notorious/ignominous
bad naseeb: adj. unfortunate/unlucky
badr: A n.m. full moon
badal: A n.m. exchange/change/substitution
badlaa: n.m. exchange/retaliation/revenge
badan: A n.m. body
baraabar: P adj. equal/even/level/alike/opposite/accurate
bardaasht: P n.f. endurance/tolerance/patience
barsaat: H n.f. rain/rainy season
barkat: A n.f. abundance/prosperity/blessing/auspiciousness
baRhiyaa: H adj. superior/of good quality/expensive
buzurg: P adj. great/venerable/aged/noble
bazm: P n.f. assembly/company (at a feast or entertainment)
bas: P adj. sufficient/enough/plenty
bisaat: A n.f. bedding/carpet/chess board/extent/capacity
bast: P n.m. obstacle/knot/asylum/sanctuary
bistar: P n.m. bed
bismil: P n.m. sacrificial animal/a lover
baseraa: H n.m. roosting/a night's lodging/shelter
bashar: A n.m. man/mortal
basheer: A adj. a messenger of good news
basar: A n.f. sight/vision/the eye
baghaawat: A n.f. revolt/rebellion/disloyalty
baghal: P n.f. armpit/side
balaa: A n.m. calamity/distress/trial/misfortune
buland: P adj. high/lofty/sublime/exalted/tall/loud
billaur: P n.m. crystal/crystal glass/transparent
ban.dish: P adj. composition/elegance of style/plan/obstruction
ban.dagi: P n.f. devotion/worship/service
bandah: P n.m. slave/servant/individual/man
bunyaad: A n.f. foundation
bood: P n.f. being/existence
bahaadur: P adj. brave/valiant/high-spirited
bahaar: P n.f. spring/prime/bloom/beauty/glory/delight
bahaanah: P n.m. excuse/pretext/evasion/reason
bhool: H n.f. forgetfulness/omission/mistake/lapse/fault
bhool bhulayyaan.: a maze/labyrinth
be: P pref. without/void of
be aabroo: adj. dishonorable
be ittifaaqi: n.f. discord/disunity
be iHtiyaati: n.f. incautiousness
be ikhtiyaari: n.f. helplessness/without choice
be adab: adj. rude/unmannerly
be i'tibaar: adj. untrustworthy/discredit
be imtiyaaz: adj. indiscriminating
be an.daazah: adj. unlimited/endless
be insaaf: adj. unfair/unjust
be imaan: adj. faithless/liar/cheat
be bas: adj. helpless/weak
be pardah: adj. unveiled/immodest/exposed
be parwaa: adj. heedless/indifferent/above want
be taab: adj. restless/powerless/impatient
be taasir: adj. ineffectual/useless
be tameez: adj. indiscreet/rude/uncultured
be jaan: adj. lifeless
be jurm: adj. faultless
be chain: adj. restless/uneasy
be Hadd: adj. endless/boundless
be Hayaa: adj. shameless/impudent/bare-faced
be khabar: adj. uninformed/ignorant/stupid
be khataa: adj. faultless/innocent
be khud: adj. enraptured/in ecstasy/delirious/senseless
be daad: n.f. iniquity/injustice/oppression
be daagh: adj. spotless/without blemish/innocent
be dard: adj. without feeling/pitiless/merciless
be rahm: adj. merciless/cruel
be riyaa: adj. without guile/candid/sincere
be zaar: adj. disgusted/displeased
be zabaan: adj. dumb/speechless/modest
be zar: adj. destitute/poor
be sakhtah: adj. artless/unaffected/natural/plain
be saaz: adj. without tools or apparatus
be sabab: adj. without cause or reason
be sharm: adj. shameless/immodest
be sabr: adj. impatient
be taaqat: adj. powerless
be 'izzat: adj. without honor or respect
be gham: adj. happy/without sorrow
be fikr: adj. free from care or worry
be qadr: adj. worthless
be qaraar: adj. uneasy/restless/unsettled
be qusoor: adj. innocent/not guilty
be kaar: adj. idle/unemployed/useless
be kas: adj. friendless/lonely
be gunaah: adj. innocent/guiltless
be ma'ni: adj. meaningless/absurd
be naam: adj. without name, character or reputation
be naseeb: adj. unfortunate
be nazir: adj. unequalled/matchless/unique
be wajh: adj. without cause
be wafaa: adj. faithless/ungrateful/treacherous
be waqoof: adj. foolish/stupid/dolt
be hunar: adj. unskilled
be hosh: adj. unconscious
bayaabaan: P n.m. desert/wilderness
bayaan: A n.m. description/statement/account
bait: A n.m. house/abode
bait: A n.f. couple/verse
bedaar: P adj. awake/alert/vigilant
bezaar: P adj. displeased/angry/out of humor
begaanah: P adj. strange/alien/foreign
bimaar: P adj. sick/ill

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pe
--
paa: P n.m. leg/foot/root of a tree
paa ban.d: n.m fettered/bound/subjugated
paa maal: adj. trodden under foot/ruined
paa yaab: adj. fordable/within man's depth
paar: H n.m. opposite bank/the end/termination
paas: P n.m. custody/regard/supervision
paas baan: n.m. guard/sentinel
paar daari: n.f. favor/partiality/favoritism
pak: P adj. pure/holy/immaculate/chaste/undefiled
pakeezah: P adj. pure/clean/neat
paagal: H adj. mad/insane/idiotic/distressed
paani: H n.m. water/rain/lustre/character/honor
pardah: P n.m. curtain/screen/veil/secrecy/privacy
parastish: P n.m. worship
paraknaa: H v. to examine/to test
parwaanah: P n.m. moth/lover/warrant/permission
parwarish: P n.f. fostering/rearing/sustenance/protecting
pariwash: P adj. fairy-like/beautiful
pareshaan: P adj. troubled/distracted/distressed
pasand: P n.f. choice/approval/preference
pasinaa: H n.m. perspiration/sweat
pashemaan: P n.f. penitent/repentant/ashamed
pal: H n.m. a moment
palak: H n.f. eyelash/a moment/an instant
panaah: P n.f. protection/asylum/refuge
pahlu: P n.m. side/advantage/flank of an army
payaam: P n.m. message
peshaah: P n.m. craft/trade/profession
paighaam: P n.m. message/news/advice
paimaan: P n.m. promise/agreement/oath/confirmation

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te
--
taab: P n.f. heat/power/endurance/rage
taabish: P n.f. heat/splendour/grief/sorrow
taasir: A n.f. effect/impression
taj: P n.m. crown/tiara
taarikh: A n.f. date/annals
taarik: P adj. dark/obscure
taazah: P adj. fresh/new/tender/happy
taak: P n.f. look/regard/aim/view
tabaah: P adj. ruined/spoiled/depraved/wretched
tabdeel: A n.f. change
tabassum: A n.m. smile/smiling
tajribah: A n.m. experience/experiment/test/proof
toHfaa: A n.m. a gift
takht: P n.m. throne/seat
tadbir: A n.f. deliberation/opinion/advice/arrangement/order
taraanah: P n.m. harmony/symphony/a kind of song
tarjumaan: A n.m. interpreter
tars: P n.m. fear/terror
tars: H n.m. compassion/pity/mercy
tarraqqee: A n.f. elevation/promotion/proficiency
tarkeeb: A n.f. composition/mixture/plan/mode/method
tasallee: A n.f. consolation/comfort/satisfaction
tasleem: A n.f. salutation/greeting/resignation/submission
tashreef: A n.f. honoring
tishnagi: A n.f. thirst/desire/longing
tasawwur: A n.m. imagination/fancy/idea
tasawwuf: A n.m. mysticism
tasweer: A n.f. picture/portrait/painting
ta'ajjub: A n.m. wondering/admiration/amazement/surprise
ta'areef: A n.f. explanation/description/praise/definition
ta'alluq: A n.m. connection/relation/consideration
taqaazaa: A n.m. demanding settlement of a debt/importunity
taqdeer: A n.f. fate/luck
taqriban: A adv. approximately
taqwaa: A n.f. piety/abstinence/fear of God
takleef: A n.f. imposition of a burden/difficulty/inconvenience
talaash: A n.f. search/inquiry/quest
talkh: P adj. bitter/acrimonious/pungent/unpalatable
talwaar: H n.f. sword
tamaashaa: A n.m. entertainment/fun/amusement/sport/spectacle
tamaam: A adj. entire/complete/perfect/end
tameez: A n.f. discernment/judgement/observance of etiquette
tan: P n.m. body
tanqiH: A n.f. cleaning/investigation/inquiry/issue
tangi: P n.f. narrowness/hardship/poverty
tanhaa: P adj. alone/solitary
taubah: P n.m. repentance
taubah taubah: intj. Heaven forbid!
tauheen: A n.f. disgrace/contempt/defamation/dishonor/insult
taiyaar: P adj. ready/prepared/finished/alert/ripe
teer: P n.m. arrow
tez: P adj. sharp/keen/caustic/pungent/swift/clever
tegh: P n.m. sword/dagger

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Te
--
Taan.g: H n.f. the leg/a share
Tapaknaa: H v. to leak/to drip/to fall down (fruits)
Takkar: H n.f. collision/encounter/rivalry/competition
TukRaa: H n.m. a piece/a morsel/a part/fraction
TooT: H n.f. breaking/fracture/loss
Thikaanaa: H n.m. fixed abode/proper place/goal/limit
ThanD: H n.f. cold/chill
Thokar: H n.f. obstacle/kick/stumble
TeRh: H n.f. crookedness

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se
--
saabit: A adj. confirmed/established/fixed/stable
saabit: A n.m. a fixed star
saaqib: A adj. shining brightly/splendid/sublime
sabaat: A n.m. stability/endurance/resolution/constancy
sabt: A n.m. permanence/a seal/writing
suboot: A n.m. evidence/proof/conviction/constancy/stability
saarwat: A n.f. wealth/power/influence
saraa: A n.m. the earth
siqaafat: A n.f. culture
siqaalat: A n.f. burden/weight
siqaahat: A n.f. reliability/trustworthiness
sawaab: A n.m. reward/recompense
sawaabit: A n.m. the fixed stars (plu. of saabit)

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jeem
----
jaadu: P n.m. magic/conjuring/charm/effect of evil spirits
jaazib: A adj. alluring/attractive
jaaree: A adj. running/flowing/current/continuing
jaagir: P n.f. a fief
jaam: P n.m. goblet
jaan: P n.f. soul/life/mind/vigor/sweetheart/beloved
jaanee: P adj. of or relating to life
jaanee: P n.m. a beloved/a lover
jaahil: A adj. ignorant/illiterate/barbarous
jaa'edaad: P n.f. property/estate/assets
jaa'iz: H adj. legal/permitted
jabeen.: P n.f. the forehead
judaa: P adj. separate/apart/asunder/peculiar
judaaee: P adj. separation/absence
jazb: A n.m. allurement/attraction
jazbah: A n.m. passion/rage/desire/feeling
jurm: A n.m. crime/guilt
jurmaanah: P n.m. fine/penalty
justjoo: P n.f. search/inquiry
jism: A n.m. body
jashn: P n.m. a feast/celebration
ja'l: A n.f. counterfeit
jafaa: P n.f. oppression/injustice/injury
jigar: P n.m. liver/heart/soul/mind
jalaal: A n.m/f. splendor/majesty
jalwah: A n.m. lustre/splendour/display/show
jamaal: A n.m. beauty/elegance
janaab: A intj. sir!/your honor!
janaazah: A n.m. corpse/funeral
jumbish: P n.f. movement
jannat: A n.f. paradise/garden
jang: P n.f. battle/war
junoon: A n.m. madness/insanity
jawaab: A n.m. answer/equal/parallel/match
jawaan: P adj. young/youth
jawaahir: A n.m. jewls/gems (plu. of jauhar)
josh: P n.m. heat/zeal/enthusiasm/passion/lust
jahaaz: A n.m. ship/vessel
jahaan: P n.m. the world
jahaannum: A n.f. hell
jeewan: H n.m. life/existence

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che
---
chaarah: P n.m. remedy/cure/help/aid/resource
chaadar: P n.f. a sheet/veil/waterfall
chaaq: T adj. active/alert/healthy/fat/hale and hearty
chaaqoo: P n.m. a small knife
chaal: H n.f. gait/walk/custom/trick/strategem
chaalaak: P adj. clever/expert/cunning/nimble
chaan.d: H n.m. the moon
chaan.dani: H n.f. moonlight
chaan.di: H n.f. silver/wealth
chaah: H n.f. desire/love/affection/need/choice
chitwan: H n.f. look/glance/appearance
charaagh: P n.m. lamp
charaagaah: P n.f. meadow/pasture
chust: P adj. alert/active/clever/quick/tight
cashm: P n.f. eye/hope
chasm-e-baddoor:intj. God preserve from evil eyes!
chashm-o-chiraagh:n.m. light of the eye/dearly beloved
chasmak: P n.m. wink/winking/misunderstanding/spectacles
chakaan.: P adj. dropping/distilling
chilman: H n.m. a venetian blind
chamak: H n.f. glitter/splendour/flash/gleam
chaman: P n.m. flower garden
chand: P adj. how many/how much/few/how often/how long
chah: P suff. used to form dimunitives
chehraa: P n.m. face/visage/a mask
cheez: P n.f. thing/commodity
chain: H n.m. ease/comfort/rest/peace

Word beginning with baRi he/khe

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baRi he
-------
Haatim: A n.m. generous (derived from Haatim Tai)
Haadisah: A n.m. accident/occurence/calamity/misfortune
Haazir: A adj. present/ready/in attendance
Haakim: A n.m. ruler/governor/judge/an official
Haal: A n.m. state/condition/narrative/circumstance
Haalat: A n.f. condition/state/circumstance (plu. Haalaat)
Hubb: A n.f. love/friendship/desire/affection/wish
Habeeb: A n.m. beloved/sweetheart/comrade/friend
Hijaab: A n.m. veil/modesty/bashfulness/night
Hadd: A n.f. boundary/limit
Hadd: A adv. very/at most/utmost point
Hiddat: A n.f. sharpness/fury/acrimony/poignancy
Hads: A n.m. novelty/innovation
Hudood: A n.m/f. boundaries/penal laws
Hizaaqat: A n.m. Intelligence/wisdom
Haraarat: A n.f. heat/fever/ardor/fervor/zeal
Haraam: A adj. unlawful/forbidden
Hirs: A n.f. eager/greediness/desire/ambition
Hoorriyat: A n.f. emancipation/freedom
Hazm: A n.m. firmness of mind/resolve
Huzn: A n.m. grief/sadness/sorrow
Hisaab: A n.m. reckoning/account/computation/rate/sense
Hasrat: A n.f. regret/intense sorrow/desire/longing
Husn: A n.f. beauty/elegance
Haseen: A adj. beautiful/elegant/charming/handsome
Hashmat: A n.f. state/dignity/pomp/retinue
Hisaar: A n.m. fort/enclosure/fence
Husool: A n.m. acquisition/profit/advantage/achievement
Hissah: A n.m. share/portion/lot
Hazrat: A n.m. dignity/a title of respect
Huzoor: A n.m. presence of superior authority
Huzoor: A intj. Your Highness!
Hifaazat: A n.f. guarding/security/safety
Haqq: A adj. just/truth/right
Haqeeqat: A n.f. truth/reality/narration/condition
Hukm: A n.m. order/decree/statute/law
Hikmat: A n.f. wisdom/knowledge/cleverness/device
Hakeem: A n.m. wise man/doctor/philosopher
Halaal: A adj. legal/permitted
Himaayat: A n.f. protection/patronage/support/defence
Hamlah: A n.m. attack/assault/invasion
Hawaas: A n.m. the senses
Hawaalah: A n.m. charge/custody/care
Hoor: A n.f. virgin of Paradise/nymph
Hausalah: A n.m. capacity/courage/spirit/resolution/desire
Hayaa: A n.f. modesty/shame
Hayaat: A n.f. life/existence
Haiseeyat: A n.f. rank/capacity/merit/status/prestige
Hairaan: A adj. amazed/confounded/perplexed/worried

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khe
---
khaas: A adj. special/particular/private/noble/unmixed
khaatir: A n.f. the heart/mind/memory/sake/behalf/choice/favor
khaak: P n.f. dust/earth/ashes
khaalis: A adj. pure/genuine/sincere(friend)
khaam: P adj. raw/green/inexpert/immature/vain
khaamosh: P adj. silent
khaandaan: P n.m. family/lineage/dynasty
khaanum: P n.f. lady/princess/wife
khaanah: P n.m. house/room/compartment/partition
khabar: A n.f. news/information/report/rumor/notice
khatm: A n.m. conclusion/seal
khatm: A adj. finished/done
khajaalat: A n.m. shame/bashfulness
khajaalat: P adj. happy/auspicious/blessed
khuda: P n.m. God
khidmat: A n.f. service/office/duty
kharaab: A adj. bad/depraved/ruined/spoiled/wretched/obscene
khurram: P adj. happy
khareed: P n.f. purchase
khazaan.: P n.f. autumn/decay/old age
khizaanah: P n.m. treasury/treasure
khastah: P adj. wounded/broken/sorrowful
khushk: P adj. dry/withered/cynic
khatt: A n.m. letter/note/mark
khataa: A n.f. mistake/slio/oversight/error
khutbah: A n.m. sermon/oration/introduction
khatrah: A n.m. danger/fear/risk
khafaa: A n.f. concealment/secrecy
khafaa: P adj. angry/displeased
khalaas: A n.m. deliverance/redemption/freedom
khilaaf: A n.m. opposition/contraiety/falsehood
khilaaf: A prep. against
khalish: P n.f. prick/pain/anxiety/apprehension
khumaar: A n.m. intoxication
khanjar: A n.m. dagger
khwaab: P n.m. sleep/dream
khwaar: P adj. wretched/deserted/friendless/poor
khwaahish: P n.f. desire/request/demand
khoob: P adj. good/excellent/beautiful/amiable
khood: P n./adj. self/private/personal/own
khoodi: P n.f. egotism/vanity/presence of mind
khoorsheed: P n.m. sun
khoosh: P adj. pleasing/happy
khoon: P n.m. blood/murder
khiyaaban: P n.m. flower-bed/flower garden
khayaal: A n.m. thought/imagination/opinion/care/respect
khair: A adj. good/best
khair: A adv. very well
khair: A n.f. welfare/happiness

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daal
----
daakhil: A adj. entering
daad: P n.m. justice/appeal/revenge/praise
daar: P n.f. gallows/a piece of wood
daar: P suff. having/holding
daar: A n.m. house/country
daaraa: P n.m. holder/sovereign/king
daaru: H n.f. alcohol
daaru: P n.f. medicine/remedy
daastaan: P n.f. story/fable/tale
daagh: P n.m. scar/blemish/stain/calamity/grief/loss
daam: P n.m. net/snare
daam: H n.m. price/value
daaman: P n.m. skirt/foot of a mountain/a lap
daanaa: P adj. wise/learned
daanistah: P adv. knowingly
daanish: P n.f. knowledge/science/learning
daa'im: A adj. perpetual/permanent
dakhl: A n.m. entrance/access/reach/skill
dar: P n.m. door/gate/entrance
dar: P prep. in/into/within/to/about/by
durr: A n.m. pearl
daraaz: P adj. long/tall/extended
darbaar: P n.m. court (royal)
darkhwaasht: P n.f. request/petition/appeal
dard: P n.m. pain/affliction/sympathy/compassion
dars: H n.m. sight/view/look
durust: P adj. right/proper/well/safe/precise
durusht: P adj. rough/hard/rigid/oppressive/fierce
darmiyan: P n.m. middle/midst/interval
darwaazah: P n.m. door/gate
darya: P n.m. a large river/sea
duzd: P n.m. thief
dastoor: P n.m. custom/usage/manner/rule
dushman: P n.m. enemy
dushnaam: P n.f. abuse/invective
dushwaar: P adj. difficult
du'aa: A n.f. blessing/prayer/wish
da'wat: A n.f. invitation/banquet
da'waa: A n.m. claim/law suit/charge/demand/accusation
daghaa: P n.f. deceit/treachery/delusion
daf'a: A n.f. time/turn/section/class
dafn: A n.m. burial/concealment
diqqat: A n.f. difficulty/intricacy/minute point
dil: P n.m. heart/soul/courage/generosity/wish
dil aawar: adj. brave/valiant
dilbar: adj. lovely/sweetheart
dil band: adj. charming/attractive
dil chasp: adj. interesting/pleasing/delightful
dil kharaash: adj. heart rending
dil daar: adj. charming/beloved
dil daar: n.m. sweetheart
dil daari: n.f. consolation
dil doz: adj. heart-piercing
dil rubaa: adj. fascinating/alluring
dil rubaa: adj. fascinating/alluring
dil rubaa: n.m. sweetheart
dil sokhtah: adj. grieved/suffering
dil soz: adj. touching/pathetic/passionate/ardent
dil shaad: adj. cheerful
dil fareb: adj. charming/alluring/enticing/beautiful
dil figaar: adj. melancholy
dil kash: adj. attractive/winning
dil geer: adj. melancholy
dil lagi: n.f. amusement/diversion
dil nawaaz: adj. soothing (the mind)
dilaasaa: P n.m. consolation/encouragement
dam: P n.m. breath/vitality/moment/edge of a sword
dimaagh: A n.m. brain/intellect/airs/conceit
dunyaa: A n.f. world/worldly goods
dawaa: A n.m. medicine
door: P adj. distant/remote/far
daur: A n.m. revolving/period/cycle/orbit
dost: P n.m. friend/lover
daulat: A n.f. riches/fortune/happiness/cause/means
diyaar: A n.m. country/region
deedaar: P n.m. sight/interview
deedah: P n.m. the eye
deen: A n.m. faith/religion
deewaar: P n.f. a wall
deewaanah: P n.m. madman

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Daal
----
Daabar: H n.m. lake/pond/water pot
Daakaa: H n.m. robbery
Dar: H n.m. fear
Dagar: H n.f. path/road

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zaal
----
zaat: A n.f. being endowed with/soul/self/caste/race
zaati: A adj. innate/inherent/essential/natural
zaakir: A adj. remembering/grateful
zaakir: A n.m. grateful person/obe who praises God
zikr: A n.m. remembrance/memory/Qur'an recital
zillaat: A n.f. insult/dishonor/affront/abjectness
zaleel: A adj. abject/base/wretched/contemptible
zauq: A n.m. taste
zehn: A n.m. acumen/wit/sagacity/understanding

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re
--
raaHat: A n.f. rest/repose/comfort/tranquility/ease
raaz: P n.m. mystery/secret
raast: P adj. true/honest/straight/even/level
raastah: P n.m. path/road/manner
raazi: A adj. willing/satisfied/agreed/pleased
raah: P n.f. road/pathcustom/journey/method
raah bar: n.m. a guide
raah numaa: n.m. conductor/leader/guide
rabb: A n.m. creator/god
rahm: A n.m. mercy/pity/compassion/kindness/tenderness
rukh: P n.m. face/cheek/side/point
rukhsaar: P n.m. face/cheek/complexion/aspect
rukhsat: A n.f. leave/permission/dismissal/indulgence
radd: A n.m. rejection/repulsion/returning
razm: P n.m. war/battle
rasm: A n.f. marking/writing/established usage/model/law
rasan: P n.f. rope/string/cord
ruswaa: A adj. infamous/dishonored/disgraced
rasool: A n.m. a prophet
rishtah: P n.m. thread/line/relationship/kinship/alliance
rashk: P n.m. jealousy/envy/malice/spite
raghbat: P n.f. strong desire/esteem/pleasure
raftaar: P n.f. speed/pace/walk/motion
rafi': A adj. high/sublime/exalted
rafeeq: A n.m. friend/ally
raqs: A n.m. dance/dancing
raqeeb: A n.m. rival/competitor
ran.j: P n.m. grief/sorrow/trouble/inconvience
ran.jish: P n.m. grief/indignation/misunderstanding/anguish
ran.g: P n.m. color/dye/fashion/enjoyment
ran.geen: P adj. colored/lively/elegant/flowery/figurative
rawaanah: P adj. despatched/proceeding
rooH: A n.f. soul/spirit/life/essence/divine revelation
roz: P n.m. a day
roz: P adj. daily
rozah: P n.m. a fast
raushan/roshan: P adj. light/illuminated/bright/clear/splendid
raunaq: A n.f. lustre/beauty/elegance/freshness
resham: P n.m. silk

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Re
--
This letter does not occur as the first letter of a word and hence
there are no entries. The letter has the sound of a hardened 'r'
and is often used interchangeably with Daal.

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ze
--
zaar: P n.m. weeping/lamentation/garden/desire/wish
zabaan: P n.f. tongue/language/flame (of a candle)
zabar: P n.m. above/superior/greater/top
zabardast: adj. vigorous/violent/tyrranical/superior
zaHmat: A n.f. uneasiness of mind/trouble/pain
zakhm: P n.m. wound/damage/loss
zadah: P adj. struck/stricken/oppressed
zar: P n.m. gold
zukaam: A n.m. cold
zulf: P n.f. curl/ringlet/tress
zamaanah: P n.m. time/age/period
zameen: P n.f. ground/earth
zanjeer: P n.f. chain
zindaan: P n.m. prison/jail
zindagi: P n.f. life/living/existence
zindah: P adj. alive/living
zinhaar: P adv. never/by no means
zinhaar: P intj. beware!
zood: P adv. quickly/soon/suddenly
zor: P n.m. force/strength/power/influence/stress
zahr: P n.m. poison
ziyaadah: P adj. too much/more/excessive
ziyaarat: A n.f. pilgrimage/visit (a shrine)
zebaa: P adj. adorned/beautiful/proper/graceful
zeenat: A n.f. decoration/beauty

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zhe
---
zhaalah: P n.m. hail/dew/frost
zharf: P n.m. deep/penetrating/acute of mind
zholeedah: P adj. dishevelled/entangled/intricate
zhiyaan: P adj. terrible/furious/angry/rapacious

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seen
----
saajan: H n.m. lover/sweetheart/beloved
saaHir: A n.m. magician
saaHil: A n.m. shore/beach
saadah: P adj. simple/plain/candid/sincere
saaz: P n.m. apparatus/equipment/concord
saazish: P n.f. conspiracy/intrigue/collusion
saaqee: A n.m. cup-bearer/page/beloved
saal: P n.m. year
saalim: A adj. safe/sound/perfect/whole
saamaan: P n.m. apparatus/custom/understanding/power
saan.ch: H n.f. truth/reality
saan.s: H n.m./f. breath/sigh
saa'ir: A n.m. thw whole/the rest/wandering/walking/tax/duty
saayah: P n.m. shadow/shade/shelter/apparition
sabab: A n.m. cause/reason
sabaq: A n.m. lesson/lecture/advancing
subuk: P adj. light/delicate/trivial/frivolous/futile
sitaarah: P n.m. star
sitaan.: P adj. taking/seizing
sitam: P n.m. oppression/tyranny/injustice/violence
sajdah: A n.m. prostration
saHar: A n.m. dawn/morning
sakht: P adj. hard/firm/cruel/harsh/vehement
sukhan: P n.m. speech/words/business/affair
sukhan war: adj. eloquence
sar: P n.m. head/top/pinnacle/origin/chief/desire
sar afraaz: adj. exalted
sar bastah: adj. hidden/secret
sar basar: adv. wholly/entirely
sar buland: adj. eminent/glorious
sar taabee: n.f. rebellion
sar taaj: n.m. chief/leader
sar-e dast: adv. at present/immediately
sar-e raah: adv. on the road
sar zameen: n.f. country/limits/region
sar-e shaam: n.f. about evening/evening
sar-o saamaan: n.m. necessities/furniture/luggage
siraaj: A n.m. lamp/candle/sun
surkh: P adj. red
sard: P adj. cold/damp/dull/dead
suroor: A n.m. pleasure/joy/exhilaration
sazaa: P n.f. correction/punishment/requital
sust: P adj. loose/frail/lazy/slow/dull
sifaarish: P n.f. recommendation
safar: A n.m. journey
safed: P adj. white
saktah: P n.m. trance/swoon/pause
sukoot: A n.f. silence/peace/rest/tranquility
sukoon: A n.m. peace/rest/tranquility
salaam: A n.m. salutation/peace/safety/compliment
silsilah: A n.m. chain/series/pedigree/genealogy
saleeqah: A n.m. good disposition/good taste/mode/skill
sang: P n.m. stone/weight
sanh: A n.m. year/era
siwaa: P adv. except/save/but/besides
sawaal: A n.m. question/petition/application/request/demand
saudaa: P n.m. trade/marketing/goods
soz: P n.m. burning/passion/vexation
saugand: P n.m. oath
soona: H adj. void/empty/desolate/lonely
siyaah: P adj. black/dark/unfortunate/bad
sair: A n.f. walk/excursion/recreation/amusement
seerat: A n.m. quality/nature/disposition
sailaab: A/P n.m. flood/deluge/torrent
seenah: P n.m. chest/bosom

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sheen
-----
shaabaash: P intj. bravo! well done! (contr. of shaadbaash)
shaakh: P n.f. branch/bough/dilemma/difficulty/objection
shaad: P adj. happy/cheerful/delighted
shaadaab: P adj. full of water/fresh/agreeable/verdant
shaa'ir: A n.m. poet
shaagird: P n.m. pupil/apprentice/servant
shaam: P n.f. evening
shaamil: A adj. including/comprising/connected/mingled/common
shaan: A n.f. dignity/glory/grandeur
shaah: P n.m. king/prince/monarch
shaahtir: n.m. a beam/roof support
shahzaadah: n.m. prince
shaayad: P adv. perhaps/probably
shab: P n.f. night
shab bakhair: intj. goodnight!
shabnam: n.f. dew
shabaab: A n.m. youth
shabeenah: P adj. nocturnal
shujaa': A adj. brave
shakhs: A n.m. a person/individual/being/body
sharaab: A n.f. wine/liquor
sharaarah: A n.m. spark/gleam/flash
sharaafat: A n.f. nobility/civility/good manners
shart: A n.f. condition/agreement/wager
sharm: P n.f. shame/modesty
shuroo': A n.m. beginning
shareef: A adj. noble/eminent/honorable
shi'r: A n.m. verse/couplet
shu'lah: A n.m. flame/blaze/flash/light
shu'oor: A n.m. wisdom/intellect
shafaqat: A n.f. kindeness/compassion/mercy
shakk: A n.m. doubt/suspense/hesitation
shikaar: P n.m. hunting/prey
shikaayat: A n.f. complaint/accusation/illness
shukr: A n.m. gratitude
shakl: A n.f. form/appearance/model/image/diagram
shikwah: A/P n.m. complaint/chiding
shumaar: P n.m. counting/numbering/estimation/account
shams: A n.m. the sun
shamsher: P n.f. sword
shama': A n.f. lamp/candle
shinaas: P adj. knowing/acquainted with/intelligence
shokh: P adj. playful/mischievous/bold/insolent
shor: P n.m. noise/outcry/tumult/clamor/ardor
shauq: A n.m. taste/fondness/desire/interest
shahd: P n.m. honey
shahr: P n.m. city
shuhrat: A n.f. renown/fame/rumor
shaheed: A n.m. martyr
shaikh: A n.m. elder
shekhi: A n.f. bragging
sher: P n.m. lion/tiger/brave man
shireen: P adj. sweet/pleasant/gentle
shishah: P n.m. glass/bottle/glass pane
shaitaan: A n.m. satan/devil/demon

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saad
----
saahib: A n.m. master/lord/ruler/companion/title
saaf: A adj. clean/pure/innocent/clear/legible/plain
subH: A n.f. morning/dawn
sabr: A n.m. patience/endurance/submission/suffering
suHbat: A n.f. companionship/society/conversation
saHraa: A n.m. plain/desert
saHeeH: A adj. right/correct/genuine/sound/pure/just
sadr: A n.m. chest/bosom/chief
sadmah: A n.m. shock/blow/calamity/collision/suffering
sirf: A adj. only/mere/sheer
sirf: A adv. purely/exclusively
sa'oobat: A n.f. difficulty/hardship
salaaH: A n.f. peace/treaty/integrity/advice/counsel
sanam: A n.m. idol/sweetheart/mistress
surat: A n.f. form/figure/countenance/aspect/manner/plight

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zaad
----
zaabit: A n.m. governor/master/possessor
zaabit: A adj. strict/punctual/patient/disciplinarian
zaabitah: A n.m. rule/custom/canon/law/code
zaamin: A n.m. sponsor/surety/guarantor
zaa'i: A adj. lost/destroyed/wasted/fruitless
zidd: A n.f. the contrary/opposition/stubborness
zarb: A n.f. injury/beating/impression (plu. zarbaat)
zarar: A n.m. injury/damage/harm/affliction/loss/ruin
zaroor: A adj. necessary/expedient/needful
zaroor: A adv. certainly/absolutely
zaroorat: A n.f. need/compulsion/want/exigency
zu'f: A n.m. weakness/feebleness
za'if: A adj. weak/infirm/feeble/old/faint
zalaal: A n.m. error/fault/vice
zamaanat: A n.f. surety/bond
zameer: A n.f. mind/heart/thought/reflection/sense
zau: A n.f. light/sunlight
ziyaa: A n.f. light/splendour/brilliancy
zeeq: A n.f. anguish/melancholy/

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to-e
----
taab: A adj. sweet/agreeable/pure/excellent
taa'at: A n.f. obedience/devotion (plu. taa'aat)
taaq: A n.m. arch/cupola/niche
taaqat: A n.f. strength/power/might
taalib: A n.m. seeker/enquirer/lover/candidate
tabi'at: A n.f. nature/temperament/disposition
tapaan.: P adj. palpitating/throbbing
tarh: A n.m. manner/mode/form/design/plan
tarz: A n.m. manner/fashion/way
taraf: A n.f. side/margin/direction
tariqah: A n.m. method/custom/path/way
ta'n: A n.m. blame/reproach/censure/chide
talaaq: A n.f. divorce/repudiation
talab: A n.f. search/inquiry//wish/demand/request
taur: A n.m. manner/condition/mode/state
toofaan: A n.m. storm/tempest/hurricane
taiyyaar: A adj. ready

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zo-e
----
zaalim: A n.m. tyrant/oppressor
zaahir: A adj. manifest/clear/evident
zaahiraa: A adv. outwardly/manifestly
zarif: A adj. witty/subtle/fine
zafar: A n.m. victory/triumph/gain
zulm: A n.m oppression/tyranny
zann: A n.m. suspicion
zaheer: A n.m. ally/associate

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ain
---
'aajiz: A adj. powerless/weak/helpless/dejected
'aadat: A n.f. custom/habit/usage/practice/manner
'aadil: A adj. just/sincere/righteous
'aazim: A adj. determined/resolute
'aashiq: A n.m. lover/suitor
'aaqibat: A n.f. end/conclusion/future life
'aaqibat: A adv. finally/at last
'aaqil: A adj. wise/sensible
'aalam: A n.m. world/universe/regions/public/beauty/period
'aalim: A adj. learned/wise/intelligent
'aali: A adj. high/sublime/exalted/grand
'aam: A adj. common/public/general/ordinary (plu. 'awaamm)
'ibaadat: A n.f. prayers/devotion
'ibaarat: A n.f. composition/style/diction
'abas: A adj. useless/profitless/trifling/idle
'abd: A n.m. slave/servant of God
'ibrat: A n.f. warning/admonition
'itaab: A n.m. rebuke/reproach/anger/displeasure
'ajab: A n.m. wonder/astonishment
'ajab: A adj. wonderful/amazing/strange/rare
'ajeeb: A adj. wonderful/surprising/rare/admirable/unique
'adaalat: A n.f. court of justice/tribunal/justice/law
'adam: A n.m. non-existence/nothing/annihilation
'azaab: A n.m. torment/pain/punishment
'arsh: A n.m. roof/canopy/highest heaven
'arz: A n.f. petition/request/exposition/review
'irfaan: A n.m. knowledge/science/wisdom
'urooj: A n.m. ascension/rising/exaltation
'uryaan: A n.m. naked/bare/devoid
'izzat: A n.f. honor/esteem/glory/reputation
'azeez: A adj. dear/beloved/honored/respected/worthy
'ishrat: A n.f. pleasure/enjoyment/mirth/society
'ishq: A n.m. love/excessive passion
'atr: A n.m. perfume
'atf: A n.m. kindness/favor/affection/present
'azeem: A adj. great/high in dignity/large
'iffat: A n.f. purity/chastity
'aql: A n.m. intellect/reason/knowledge
'uqoobat: A n.f. punishment/torment/torture
'ilaaj: A n.m. cure/treatment/antidote
'ilaaqah: A n.m. jurisdiction/area/tenure
'illat: A n.f. fault/defect/bad habit/illness/pretext/basis
'ilm: A n.m. knowledge/science/doctrine
'aleem: A adj. wise/learned
'imaarat: A n.f. building/edifice
'umr: A n.f. age/life-time/span of life
'amalan: A adv. practically/truly
'inaad: A n.m. enmity/obstinacy
'awaam: A n.m. populace/common people (plu. of 'aam)
'aurat: A n.f. woman/wife/nudity
'aiyaash: A adj. luxurious/rakish/addicted to pleasure
'aish: A n.m. pleasure/delight/luxury

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ghain
-----
ghaalib: A adj. victorious/predominant
ghaalib: A adv. often/likely/most probably
ghaa'ib: A adj. hidden/absent
ghubaar: A n.m. vapor/fog/mist/dust/vexation
ghaddaar: A adj. disloyal/treacherous
gharaz: A n.f. intention/meaning/design/view/want
ghuroor: A n.m. pride/vanity
gharib: A adj. poor/destitute/strange/innocent/wonderful
ghazal: A n.f. ode/poem
ghash: A n.m. stupor/fainting
ghussah: A n.m. anger/passion/rage/anxiety/grief
ghaflat: A n.f. negligence/drowsiness/stupor
ghulaam: A n.m. slave/boy/youth
ghalat: A adj. wrong/incorrect/inaccurate
ghaleez: A adj. dirty/filthy/gross/coarse/obscene
gham: A n.m. grief/sorrow/concern/care
gham khwaar: adj. consoling
gham deedah: adj. afflicted/grieved
gham gusaar: n.m. comforter
ghammaaz: A n.m. informer/tattletale/back-biting
ghaur: A n.m. deep thought/meditation/close attention
ghair: A n.m. stranger/foreigner
ghair: A adv. besides
ghair: A adj. other/different/alien/bad
ghair: A prep. without/except/but/save
ghairat: A n.f. honor/modesty/bashfulness/envy/enmity

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fe
--
faakhir: A n.m. a boaster
faash: P adj. apparent/known/notorious
faasilah: A n.m. distance/space/separation
faazil: A adj. superfluous/accomplished person/virtuous
faaqah: A n.m. starvation/fasting/poverty
faa'idah: A n.m. benefit/profit/utility
faa'iq: A adj. superior/great
fitnah: A n.m. sedition/revolt/mischief/temptation
fatwaa: A n.m. judicial decree
fakhr: A n.m. glory/honor/pride/egotism
fida: A n.m. sacrifice/devotion/ransom/exchange
fidaa'ee: A&P n.m. lover
firaaq: A n.m. separation/anxiety/absence/distance
firdaus: A n.m. garden/paradise
farishtah: P n.m. angel/apostle/prophet/messenger
fursat: A n.f. opportunity/leisure/rest/recovery
farz: A n.m. duty/moral obligation/statute
farq: A n.m. difference/distance/separation/defect
furqat: A n.f. separation/disunion/absence (of lovers)
farmaan: P n.m. mandate/order/royal decree
farmaa'ish: P n.f. order for goods/requisition/pleasure/will
faro: P adj. down/below/under
faryaad: P n.f. complaint/cry
fareb: P n.m. deceit/trick/fraud
faza': A n.f. lamentation/wailing
fasanah: P n.m. romance/tale/fable
fazl: A n.m. excellence/virtue/reward/wisdom
fitrat: A n.f. nature/creation/deceit/intrigue/wisdom
fughaan.: P n.m. clamor/lamentation/cry of distress
faqr: A n.m. poverty
fikr: A n.m./f. opinion/notion/care/concern/anxiety/counsel
figaar: P adj. wounded/sore/afflicted/confused
falak: A n.m. sky/heaven/fortune/fate
fuwaad: A n.m. the heart
fauj: A n.f. army/crowd/multitude
fauran: A adv. immediately/quickly/directly
fahm: A n.m. understanding/intellect
faisalah: A n.m. settlement/decree/decision
faiz: A n.m. liberality/grace/bounty

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qaaf
----
qaabil: A adj. worthy/able/competent/deserving/clever
qaaboo: P n.m. power/command/authority/possession/hold
qaatil: A n.m. murderer/assassin/homicide
qaazee: A n.m. judge
qaa'idah: A n.m. custom/rule/manners/habit/established order
qaafiyah: A n.m. rhyme/metre/cadence
qaanoon: A n.m. rule/law/system/state
qaa'il: A adj. confessing/agreeing/conceding/subdued
qaa'im: A adj. erect/stagnant/firm/durable
qabr: A n.f. grave/tomb
qabzah: A n.m. gridp/clutch/possessing/power/hilt of a sword
qubool: A n.m. consent/acceptance/assent/recognition
qatl: A n.m. killing/murder/assassination
qadd: A n.m. stature/size/height
qadr: A n.f. dignity/honor/worth/value
qudrat: A n.f. power/strength/universe/nature
qadam: A n.m. step/pace/footstep
qaraar: A n.m. residence/stability/rest/patience/satisfaction
qurbaan: A n.m. sacrifice/victim/offering
qarz: A n.m. debt/loan
qareeb: A adj. near/adjacent/akin/approaching
qasam: A n.m. an oath
qism: A n.f. sort/kind/species/portion/nature
qismat: A n.f. fortune/fate/share/portion/head/category
qusoor: A n.m. fault/defect/blame/sin/failure
qissah: A n.m. tale/fable/romance/quarrel/dispute
qazaa: A n.f. fate/destiny/jurisdiction/judgement
qafas: A n.m. cage/network/body
qalb: A n.m. heart/mind/soul/intellect/marrow/pith
qalam: A n.m. reed/pen/handwriting
qamar: A n.m. the moon
qaul: A n.m. word/saying/promise/consent/vow
qaum: A n.m. nation/people
qiyaamat: A n.f. resurrection/Judgement Day/tumult
qaid: A n.f. imprisonment/confinement/obstacle/control
qeemat: A n.m. price/value/woth/cost

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kaaf
----
kaatib: A n.m. scribe/writer
kaazib: A adj. false
kaar: P n.m. affair/work/labor/duty/profession
kaarwaan: P n.m. caravan/large company of pilgrims
kaasah: P n.m. cup/goblet/bowl
kaash: P intj. would that !
kaashif: A adj. discoverer/revealer
kaaghaz: P n.m. paper/letter/document
kaafir: A n.m. infidel/sweetheart/mistress
kaafir: A adj. impious/ungrateful
kaafur: A n.m. camphor
kaafi: P&A adj. sufficient/enough
kaam: P n.m. palate/desire/object/purport/design/intention
kaamraan: adj. successful/fortunate/happy/blessed
kaam yaab: adj. prosperous/successfulhappy/satisfied
kaahish: P n.f. anxiety/pining/decline/decay
kaahil: A adj. lazy/slow/indolent/relaxed/tardy/ailing
kabootar: P n.m. pigeon/dove
kabeer: A adj. great/large/immense
kitaab: A n.m. book/writing/despatch
kasrat: A n.f abundance/excess/bulk
kadah: P n.m. a place (usually a suff.)
karam: A n.m. kindness/favor/bounty/clemency
kareem: A adj. bountiful/generous/merciful/epithet of God
kas: P n.m. man/person
kasab: A n.m. profession/trade
kasr: A n.f. breach/loss/affliction
kasal: A n.m. laxity/cowardice/depression/sickness
kiswat: A n.f. dress/appearance/habit/figure/form/manner
kashaakash: P n.f. struggle/dilemma/contention/grief and pain
kashti: P n.f. ship/boat/vessel/tray
kashish: P n.f. drawing/attraction/allurement
kufr: A n.m. paganism/infidelity/profanity
kafan: A n.m. shroud
kul: A adj. all/complete/entire/aggregate/universe
kalaam: A n.m. discourse/oration/a work/composition/objection
kam: P adj. deficient/few/little/rare/scanty
kam bakht: adj. unfortunate/wretched
kamzor: adj. weak/feeble/powerless
kamaal: A n.m. excellence/perfection/miracle/art
kamaan: P n.f. bow/arch/spring
kamar: P n.f. waist/girdle/zone/army flank/arch
kamee: P n.f. deficiency/loss/abatement/reduction/dearth
kameenah: P adj. mean/vulgar/base/defective
kinaarah: P n.m. shore/river bank/edge/margin/limit
kandah: P adj. carved/engraved
koshish: P n.f. attempt/endeavor/labor/exertion
koft: P n.f. beating/pain/vexation/grief/gilding
kaul: H n.m. mouthful/morsel
koh: P n.m. mountain/hill
kaif: A n.m. intoxication
kaifiyyat: A n.f. narrative/circumstances/explanation/situation
keenah: P n.m. malice/rancor/enmity

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gaaf
----
giraan.: P adj. precious/costly/dear/important/heavy
gard: P n.f. trifle/dust
gird: P n.m. round/circumference/environs
girdaab: P n.m. whirlpool/abyss/vortex
gardish: P n.f. revolution/circulation/misfortune/vagrancy
gardan: P n.f. the neck
giriftaar: P adj. captured/seized/smitten/prisoner/captivated
garm: P adj. hot/burning/ardent/choleric/lively
girau: P n.m. pledge/pawn
girah: P n.f. knot/joint/knuckle
giriyaan.: P adj. weeping/crying
giryah: P n.m. weeping/lamentation/crying/plaint
gaz: P n.m. a yard measure
guzaarish: P n.f. petition/request/explanation
guzaarah: P n.m. living/subsistence/passage/abode
guzar: P n.f. a pass/a living/a road
gazeedah: P adj. stung/bitten
guzeedah: P adj. selected/chosen
gusaar: P adj. taking away/dissipating/removing
gustaakhee: P n.f. rudeness/arrogance/audacity
guftgoo: P n.f. conversation/discourse
gul: P n.m. rose/flower/ornament/brand
gul badan: adj. delicate/graceful
gul dastah: n.m. a bouquet
gul zaar: n.m. flower-bed/garden
gul sitaan.: n.m. rose-garden
gulshan: n.m. a flower or rose garden
gulaab: P n.m. the rose
gilah: P n.m. complaint/blame/reproach/lamentation
gum: P n.m. lost/missing/distracted
gum raah: adj. astray/lost/wicked/depraved
gum sum: adj. still/silent
gum gashtah: adj. lost/wandering
gum naam: adj. nameless/anonymous/unknown/inglorious
gumaan: P n.m. doubt/surmise/fancy/pride/opinion/distrust
gunaah: P n.m. fault/sin/crime/guilt
gawaaraa: P adj. palatable/agreeable/pleasant/nice
gawaah: P n.m. a witness
gawaahee: P n.m. testimony/evidence
gosh: P n.m. the ear
goshah: P n.m. corner/angle/cell/privacy
goyaa: P adj. speaking/eloquent
geer: P adj. taking/holding/seizing/conquering
gesoo: P n.m. tresses/locks
gaihaan.: P n.m. the world/the universe

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laam
----
laa: A suff. no/not/by no means/without
laa jawaab: adj. rendered speechless/silenced
laa chaar: adj. helpless/destitute/forlorn/disabled
laa waaris: adj. heirless
laazim: A adj. necessary/compulsory/important
laash: T n.f/m. corpse
laa'iq: A adj. worthy/suitable/able/qualified/decent
lab: P n.m. the lip/edge/margin/shore/bank
laHzah: A n.m. the twinkling of an eye/moment/glance
lazzat: A n.f. taste/flavor/enjoyment/pleasure
larzaan.: P adj. termbling/tremulous/fearing
lataafat: P n.f. pleasantness/elegance/subtility
lutf: A n.m. kindness/favor/grace/pleasure
latmah: A n.m. slap/blow
lateefah: A n.m. pleasantry/witticism/joke
lughat: A n.m. tongue/speech/dialect/word/dictionary
lifaafah: A n.m. cover/envelope/wrapper/secret
lafz: A n.m. word/saying
luknat: A n.f. stammering/speech impediment
lagaam: H n.f. bridle/rein
lamHah: A n.m. minute/moment
lang: P n.m. lameness/limp
lan.gar: P n.m. anchor/cable/rope/public kitchen/alms
lau: H n.f. candle flame/ardent desire/attachment
lauH: A n.f. plank/board/table/tablet/title page
liyaaqat: A n.f. worth/ability/merit/skill

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meem
----
maa: A adv. which/what/that which/whilst/during...
maa ba'd: adj. following
maa Haul: n.m. surroundings/environs
maa faat: adj. what is past or dead
maa waraa: adj. what is beyond or behind
maatam: A n.m. mourning/grief
maal: A n.m. riches/property/merchandise/revenue
maalik: A n.m. master/lord/owner/God
maani': A n.m. impediment/hinderance/objection/stopper
maah: P n.m. the moon/month
maah paaraa: adj. handsome/beloved
maah taab: n.m. moonlight
maah jabeen: adj. a beautiful person
maah wash: adj. having a face as beautiful as the moon
maahir: A adj. skilled/expert/master/excel
maayoos: A adj. without hope/disappointed
mubaarak: A adj. auspicious/blessed/felicitation
mubaahaat A n.m. contending for glory/boasting/arrogance
mubtada: A n.m. commencement/principle
mutaassif: A adj. sorrowful/repentant/grieving
mutabassim: A adj. smiling/laughing
mutaHammil: A adj. affable/tolerant/patient/passive
mutaraddid: A adj. hesitant/perplexed/wavering/grieved
matrook: A adj. abandoned/obsolete/rejected
muta'assib: A adj. prejudiced/partial/superstitious
matwalaa: A adj. intoxicated/inebriated
mutawaqqi': A adj. expecting/hopeful
matin: A adj. strong/solid/vigorous/obstinate
misaal: A adj. simile/likeness/metaphor/example
masal: A n.f. proverb/example
majaal: A n.f. power/strength/stability/opportunity
majboor: A adj. compelled/helpless/oppressed
mujrim: A adj. criminal/culpable/faulty
mujrim: A n.m. felon/criminal/sinner
majrooh: A adj. wounded/hurt/smitten
majma': A n.m. congregation/assemblage/crowd/collection
majnoon.: A adj. insane/madly in love
muHaafiz: A n.m. protector/guardian/guard
maHabbat: A n.f. love/friendship
maHboob: A n.m. lover/friend/sweetheart
maHboob: A adj. loved/lovely
maHboobah: A n.f. mistress/sweetheart
maHboos: A adj. confined/imprisoned
muHtaj: A adj. needy/poor/defective
maHjoob: A n.m. modesty/shame/bashfulness
maHdood: A adj. limited/bounded/finite
maHroom: A adj. deprived/unlucky/prohibited/disappointed
moHzoon: A adj. grieved/vexed
muHsin: A n.m. patron/benefactor
maHsood: A adj. envied/hated
maHsoos: A adj. felt/perceived/sensible
maHzooz: A adj. pleased/delighted/rich/contented
maHfil: A n.f. congregation/assembly
maHfooz: A adj. kept safe/guarded/secure/memorized
muHallah: A n.m. quarter(of a city)/street/ward
miHnat: A n.f. labor/toil/difficulty/trial
makhboot: A adj. mad/insane
mukhtasar: A adj. concise/abbreviated
makhmal: A n.m. velvet
makhmoor: A adj. intoxicated/drunk
madaar: A n.m. circumference/orbit/station/dependence
mudaam: A adv. eternally/always/continually
muddat: A n.f. period(of time)
madad: A n.f. help/assistance/reinforcement/wages
madhosh: A adj. intoxicated/astonished
mazaaq: A n.m. joke/taste/relish/perception
mazhab: A n.m. religion/sect/doctrine
muraad: A n.f. desire/will/intention/vow/tenor/meaning
martabah: A n.f./m. degree/office/class/order
marhalah: A n.m. stage/inn/day's journey/difficulty
marhoom: A adj. dead/deceased
mard: P n.m. man/male/hero/husband
murdah: P adj. dead/weak/decrepit
murshid: A n.m. teacher/spiritual guide
marghoob: A adj. desired/beautiful
marqoom: A adj. written/inscribed
marmar: G n.m. marble
marham: A n.m. ointment/salve/cure
mareez: A n.m. patient
mizaaj: A n.m. mixture/temperament/humor/pride
mazaar: A n.m. shrine/tomb/grave
mazah: P n.m. taste/relish/enjoyment/pleasure
musaafir: A n.m. traveller/stranger
mast: P adj. drunk/intoxicated
masroor: A adj. glad/cheerful/pleased
mash'al: A n.f. torch/lantern
mushkil: A adj. difficult/intricate/hard/painful
mashhoor: A adj. noted/famous/reported/proclaimed
museebat: A n.f. misfortune/calamity/adversity/evil
mazboot: A adj. strong/firm/resolute/valid
mutaqbiq: A adj. conformable/suitable/like/in accordance with
matlab: A n.m. object/aim/meaning/motive/wish/desire
mazloom: A adj. injure/oppressed/wronged
mu'aahid: A n.m. ally/confederate
mu'ijzah: A n.m. miracle
ma'shooq: A n.m. beloved/sweetheart
ma'loom: A adj. known/evident/clear
ma'mool: A adj. governed/prepared/customary
ma'nee: A n.m. meaning/intent/signifcance/reality/essence
maghz: P n.m. brain/pith/intellect
maghroor: A adj. proud/arrogant
maghloob: A adj. conquered/subdued
muft: P adj. free/gratis
maftoon: A adj. tempted/enamored/charmed/mad (with love)
muflis: A adj. poor/indigent/bankrupt
maflook: A adj. indigent/beggarly/destitute
mufeed: A adj. profitable/beneficial/useful
muqaabil: A adj. opposite/converse/against/matching
maqaal: A n.m. word/speech/saying/proverb
maqaam: A n.m. dwelling/station/position/basis
maqbarah: A n.m. tomb/grave
maqbool: A adj. accepted/chosen/grateful
muqaddar: A n.m. fate/destiny/predestination
muqaddam: A adj. antecedent/prior/superior/chief
muqir: A adj. confessing/admitting/acknowledging
muqarrar: A adj. established/fixed/certain/customary/permanent
maqsad: A n.m. intention/purpose/aim/goal/desire
maqsood: A adj. intended/proposed
makkaar: A adj. cunning/artful/deceitful
makaan: A n.m. house/place/habitation
mukaddar: A adj. turbid/muddy/sullen/gloomy/vexed
mukarrar: A adv. repeatedly/again
maknoon: A adj. hidden/concealed
magar: P conj. unless/perhaps/except/but/however
mulaazim: A n.m. servant/aide
mulaaqaat: A n.f. meeting/encounter/interview/visit
malaal: A n.m. sadness/grief/langor/fatigue
malaamat: A n.f. censure/rebuke
mulaa'im: A adj. soft/tender/gentle/placid
mulk: A n.m. nation/realm/territory
malool: A adj. sad/depressed/tired/bored
mumtaaz: A adj. exalted/eminent/chosen
mumkin: A adj. possible/feasible
munaasib: A n.f. proper/suitable/fit/apt/congruous
munHasir: A adj. surrounded/besieged/dependent/resting
manzil: A n.f. day's journey/destination/storey/house
manish: P n.f. heart/mind/soul/magnanimity/pride
manzar: A n.m. countenance/visage/sight/aspect/scene
manzoor: A adj. admired/chosen/approved/accepted/granted
mana': A n.m. prohibition/refusal/hindrance/forbidding
maut: A n.f. death/mortality
mauj: A n.f. wave/surge/enjoyment/ecstasy/caprice/plenty
moojib: A n.m. cause/reason
maujood: A adj. present/existing/at hand/ready
mausam: A n.m. season/time
mauqa': A n.m. occasion/opportunity/place/situation
mom: P n.m. wax
mua'yyid: A adj. corroborative/confirmatory
muhaajir: A n.m. refugee/emigrant
mahtaab: P n.m. moonlight
mihrbaani: P n.f. favor/kindness
muhlat: A n.f. retarding/delay/respite/leisure
mihmaan: P n.m. guest
mai: P n.f. wine/liquor
mai khaanah: n.m. bar/tavern
mai kadah: n.m. bar/tavern
maidaan: A n.m. open field/battlefield/ground
muyassar: A adj. facilitated/easy/possible/feasible

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noon
----
naa: P&H pref. no/not/termination of the infinitive
naa aashnaa: adj. not acquainted/stranger
naa ittifaaqi: n.f. discord/disagreement
naa ummeedee: n.f. hopelessness/despair
naa insaafi: n.f. injustice
naa bood: adj. nonexistent/annihilated/extinct
naa paa'idari: n.f. inconstancy/frailty
naa pasand: adj. disliked/unacceptable/offensive
naa tars: adj. hard-hearted/severe/pitiless
naa tamaam: adj. incomplete
naa tawaani: n.f. weakness/inability
naa jaa'iz: adj. unlawful
naa chaar: adj. helpless/destitute/forlorn
naa cheez: adj. trifling/insignificant/worthless
naa khushi: n.f. disagreeableness/displeasure
naa daari: n.f. poverty
naa daanistah: adv. unwittingly/unknowingly
naa daani: n.f. ignorance
naa deedah: adj. greedy
naa raasti: n.f. dishonesty
naa raazi: n.f. discontent
naa saaz: adj. indisposed/dissonant/uncivil
naa samajh: adj. ignorant/dull/foolish
naa shaad: adj. cheerless/joyless/dull
naa shukr: adj. ungrateful
naa shinaas: adj. ignorant
naa saaf: adj. unclean/impure/unchaste
naa saboor: adj. impatient/restless
naa taaqat: adj. weak/feeble
naa farmaan: adj. disobedient
naa fahm: adj. stupid
naa qaabil: adj. unfit/unworthy/incapable
naa qadr: adj. unappreciative
naa kaam: adj. unsuccessful
naa kas: adj. worthless/base
naa gawaar: adj. unpleasant/unpalatable
naa laa'iq: adj. unworthy/unsuitable/improper
naa muraad: adj. disappointed
naa mard: adj. unmanly
naa ma'loom: adj. unknown
naa mumkin: adj. impossible
naa manzoor: adj. disallowed
naa yaab: adj. scarce/rare
naataa: H n.m. relationship/alliance/kin/affinity
naach: H n.m. dance
naakhun: P n.m. nail/claw
naadir: A adj. rare/singular/precious
naadim: A adj. penitent/ashamed/bashful
naar: A n.f. fire/hell
naaz: P n.m. coquetry/airs/pride/elegance/softness/delicacy
naazish: P n.f. pride/arrogance
naazuk: P adj. thin/slender/fragile/delicate
naasoot: A n.m. humanity/human nature
naafiz: A adj. having effect/piercing
naak: P suff. affected with/full of
naalaan: P adj. lamenting/moaning
naalish: P n.f. complaint/accusation
naam: P n.m. name/title/honor/fame/
naamah: P n.m. treatise/book/history
naa'o: H n.f. boat/ship/vessel
naa-onosh: P n.m. carousing/feasting
naa'ib: A n.m assistant/deputy
nabz: A n.f. the pulse
nabi: A n.m. a prophet
nataa'ij: A n.m. results/consequences (plu. of nateejah)
nateejaa: A n.m. result
nisaar: A n.m. throwing/dispersion/scattering/sacrifice
najm: A n.m. star/planet/fortune/horoscope
najeeb: A adj. praiseworthy/noble/generous
nakhraah: A n.m. airr/coquetry/trick/pretence/swagger
nadeem: A n.m. intimate friend
nar: S&P n.m. man/male
niraalee H adj. unequalled/rare/strange
nargis: P n.f. Narcissus/the eye of a mistress
narm: P adj. smooth/tender/soft/slow
nazaakat: P n.f. neatness/elegance/politeness
nazdeek: P adj. near
nisbat: A n.f relation/affinity/attribute/comparison
naseem: A n.f. Zephyr/gentle breeze
nishaan: P n.m. mark/sign/signal/emblem/target/scar/trace
nishaanee: P n.f. mark/sign/souvenir/keepsake
nashaah: P n.m. intoxication/pride/arrogance
nasheen: P adj. sitting
nusrat: A n.f. victory
naseeb: A n.m. fortune/fate/destiny
naseeHat: A n.f. advice/counsel/admonition
nazaarah: A n.m. sight/view/vista
nazaafat: A n.f. purity/neatness
nizaam: A n.m. order/arrangement/custom/system
nazar: A n.f. look/glance/favor/motive/view/countenance
nazm: A n.f. poetry/verse
nazm: A n.m. order/arangement
na'sh: A n.f. coffin/corpse/bier
ni'am: A n.f. favors/benefits
na'eem: A n.f. pleasure/ease/tranquility
naghmaah: A n.m. melody/song/musical note
nafrat: A n.f. aversion/disgust/fright/terror
nafs: A n.m. soul/spirit/essence
naqsh: A n.m. painting/picture/map/mark
naqshah: A n.m. portrait/model/design/example
nuqsaan: A n.m. loss
naql: A n.f. narration/tale/mimicing/copying/aping
naqli: A adj. artificial/spurious/counterfiet
nikaah: A n.m. matrimony
nakbat: A n.f. calamity/misfortune
nuktah: A n.m. subtlety conceit/point of wit/epigram
nuktah been: adj. hypercritical
nuktah cheen: adj. captious
nuktah daan: adj. sagacious
nigaar: P n.m. painting/picture/sweetheart/beloved
nigaah: P n.f. look/glance/sight/custody/care
nigaah baan: n.m. protector/guard
nam: P n.m. moisture/wetness/dampness
nam: P adj. moist/wet/damp
namaaz: A n.f. prayer
numaa'ish: P n.f. show/display/sight/spectacle
namoonah: P n.m. example/sample/specimen
nau: P adj. new/fresh/raw
nau bahaar: n.f. early spring
nau jawaani: n.f. youth/prime of life
nau nihaal: n.m. sapling/young man
nawaazish: P n.f. kindness/favor/patronage
naubat: A n.f. turn/time
noor: A n.m light
nihaal: P n.m sapling
nihaan.: P n.m latent/hidden/secret/
niyaaz: P n.f. desire/plea/poverty/need
niyyat: A n.f. intention/purpose/will/aim
nek: P adj. good/lucky/virtuous/pious
neelaam: (Port.) n.m. auction
nim: P adj. middle/half
niyoosh: P adj. listening/hearing

################################################################################

vaa-o
-----
o: P conj. and
waa: P adj. open
waa: P adv. again/back
waa: P prep. with
waa bastah: adj. bound together/attached
waa pas: adj. behind/back/returning again
waa rastah: adj. free/delivered/escaped/carefree
waa sokht: n.m. aversion/disgust
waasiq: A adj. strong/firm/confident/secure
waajib: A adj. necessary/obligatory
waajibaat: A n.m. duties (plu. of waajib)
waajid: A adj. possessor/creator
waahid: A adj. unique/one/single/unit
waar: H n.m. blow/attack/stroke
waar: P suff. like/resembling/possessing
waar: S n.m. day of the week/moment
waaris: A n.m. heir
waarid: A adj. coming/arriving/happening
waaridaat: A adj. events/occurences (plu. of waarid)
waastah: A n.m. account/sake/reason/means/motive
waaste: A prep. for/for the sake of
waazih: A adj. clear/evident/apparent
waaqi': A adj. occuring/happening
waaqi'i: A adv. really/actually/truly
waaqi'i: A adj. true/real/proper
waalid: A n.m. father
waalidah: A n.f. mother
waalah: A adj. distracted/mad with love
waan: H suff. possessing/endowed with
waahimah: A n.m. imagination/fancy/whim
wajaahat: A n.f. dignity/respect/beauty
wajd: A n.m. ecstasy/rapture/excessive love
wijdaan: A n.m. ecstasy/rapture/intuition
wujood: A n.m. existence/essence/being
waj-h: A n.m. cause/reason/mode/manner/face/appearance
wajeeh: A n.m. handsome/respectable/good appearance
waHshat: A n.f. solitude/grief/fear/sadness/loneliness
waHeed: A adj. singular/unique/alone
widaad: A n.f. friendship/love/affection
widaa': A n.m. farewell
wadood: A adj. loving/friendly
war: P suff. possessing/having
warnah: P adv. and if not/otherwise
wazn: A n.m. weight/measure/metre/rhyme/esteem/honor
waseem: A adj. handsome/fine countenance
wash: P suff. like/resembling
wasf: A n.m. praise/merit/virtue
wusool: A n.m. collection/acquisition
wasiyyat: A n.f. testament/last will/legacy/bequest
wazaahat: A n.f. vivid description
waza': A n.f. state/position/situation
watan: A n.m. native country
wa'dah: A n.m. promise/agreement
waghairah: A adv. et cetera/and so forth
wafaa: A n.f. fulfilling a promise/fulfilment/fidelity
wafaa begaanah: adj. faithless
wafaa daar: adj. faithful/sincere
wafaat: A n.f. death
waqt: A n.m. time/term/season/hour/opportunity
waqf: A n.m. religious bequest
wakaalat: A n.f. advocacy/attorneyship
wakeel: A n.m. lawyer/attorney
wilaayat: A n.f. a foreign country/abroad/realm/union with God
walee: A n.m. lord/prince/master/friend/guardian
wahm: A n.m. imagination/idea/fancy/opinion/fear/suspicion
wairaagi: S n.m. ascetic/recluse
weeraan: P adj. desolate/ruined
weeraanah: P n.m. a ruined place
weeraani: P n.f. desolation/destruction/ruin

################################################################################

chhoTi he
---------
haatif: P n.m. angel/voice from heaven
haath: H n.m. hand/arm/clutches/power/slap/reach
haadi: A n.m. guide/leader/director
haar: S&P n.m. necklace/garland
haar: H n.f. loss/defeat/fatigue
haalah: A n.m. halo/nimbus/circle round the moon
haamoon: P n.m. desert/plain/level ground
haawiyah: A n.m. the lowest region of hell
haa'ilah A adj. terrible/horrible
huboot: A n.m. decline/downfall/descent
hibah: A n.m. gift/bequest/grant
hatauRa: H n.m. sledgehammer
hatauRee: H n.f. small hammer
hathyaar: H n.f. tool/weapon
hathelee: H n.f. palm of the hand
hijr: A n.m. separation/absence from one's country
hijrat: A n.f. separation/flight (flight of the Prophet
from Mecca to Medina)
hujoom: A n.m. crowd/mob/tumult/assault/attack
hidaayat: A n.f. instruction/guidance/righteousness
hadaf: A n.m. target/goal/object
hazaa: A pron. this
har: P adj. all/every/each
har ek: adj. every one
har baar: adv. every time
har jaa'ee: adj. vagabond/faithless
har dam: adv. every moment
hiraas: P n.m. fear/terror/confusion/sorrow/disappointment
harj: A n.m. tumult/sedition/trouble/loss/harm/injury
harzah: P adj. nonsense/absurd/frivolous/vain
hargiz: P adv. ever/never
haryaalee: H n.f. greeness/freshness/grass
hazl: A n.m. joke/jest/pleasantries
hasti: P n.f. life/existence
hushyaar: P adj. intelligent/alert/awake
haftah: P n.m. a week
hakaazah: A adv. similarly
halaak: A adj. ruined/destroyed
halaak: A n.f. ruin/destruction/slaughter/death
hilaal: A n.m. new moon/the crescent
ham: P conj. also/likewise/together/with/similar
& adv.
ham bazm: adj. of the same society
ham batn: adj. related by blood
ham batn: n.m. blood-relation/close ally
ham taa: adj. equal/alike
ham jalees: adj. close friend
& n.m.
ham jolee: n.f. playmate/equal/peer/friend
& n.m.
ham dard: n.f. sympathizer/partner in adversity
ham raaz: adj. confidant
ham raah: n.m. fellow-traveller
ham zabaan.: adj. unanimous/of the same language
ham saaz: adj. friendly/unanimous
ham saayah: n.m. neighbor
ham safar: n.m. fellow-traveller
ham mazhab: adj. coreligionist
ham nasheen: n.m. playmate/associate
humaa: P n.m. eagle/phoenix/bird of Paradise
humaayun: P adj. august/royal/fortunate
himmat: A n.f. spirit/mind/courage/desire/design
hameshaah: P adv. always
han.gaam: P n.m. season/time/period
han.gaamah: P n.m. tumult/riot/uproar/confusion/disorder
hawaa: A n.f. wind/breeze/air/atmosphere
hawas: A n.f. ambition/desire/lust
hosh: P n.m. sense/mind/understanding
haul: A n.m. terror/horror/fright
hunar: P n.m. skill/art
heeraa: H n.m. diamond
hai'at: A n.f. astronomy/face/figure;commission/delegation

################################################################################

chhoTi ye/baRi ye
-----------------
yaa: A intj. O!
yaa: P conj. either/or
yaad: P n.f. remembrance/memory/recollection
yaad daasht: n.f. a note/memorandum/memory
yaad gaar: memorial/souvenir/keepsake
yaar: P n.m. friend/lover/companion
yaaraa: P n.m. strength/courage/power
yaaraanah: P n.m. friendship
yaaraanah: P adv. friendly
yaari: P n.f. friendship/assistance/love/intrigue
yaas: A n.f. despair/fear/terror
yaaghi: T n.m. rebel/enemy
yaaqoot: P n.m. ruby/garnet
yaawar: P adj. aiding/friendly
yaawar: P n.m. assistant/companion/friend
yaawari: P n.f. favor/assistance/friendship
yaawah: P adj. absurd/vain/futile/lost/ruined
yataamaa: A n.m. orphans (plu. of yateem)
yateem: A n.m. orphan
yad: A n.m. hand/power/authority/protection/succor
yazdaan: P n.m. God
yasaar: A n.m. left/left hand; affluence/opulence
ya'ni: A adv. namely/that is to say
yaqin: A n.m. certainity/assurance/truth/confidence/trust
yaqinan: adv. certainly/verily/assuredly/indeed
yak: P adj. one/a/an
yak jaan: adj. one soul
yak dil: adj. unanimous
yak rukhee: adj. one-sided
yak zabaan: adj. uniform opinion or speech
yak sar: adj. all at once
yak soo: adj. on one side/aside
yak lakht: adv. all at once/suddenly
yaktaa: P adj. single/unique/matchless/incomparable
yagaanah: P n.m. kinsman/kindred
yagaanah: P adj. unique/single/sole/agreed/unequalled
yumn: A n.m. felicity/prosperity/good luck
yamin: A n.m. right hand; oath
yoorish: T n.f. assault/storm/invasion
yaum: A n.m. a day

(TAMAAM)

The 10 Best Foods You Aren't Eating

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:31:00 +0000

Although some guys aren't opposed to smoking some weed, most wouldn't think of eating one. It's a shame, really, since a succulent weed named purslane is not only delicious but also among the world's healthiest foods.

Of course, there are many superfoods that never see the inside of a shopping cart. Some you've never heard of, and others you've simply forgotten about. That's why we've rounded up the best of the bunch. Make a place for them on your table and you'll instantly upgrade your health -- without a prescription.

Beets
These grungy-looking roots are naturally sweeter than any other vegetable, which means they pack tons of flavor under-neath their rugged exterior.

Why they're healthy: Think of beets as red spinach. Just like Popeye's powerfood, this crimson vegetable is one of the best sources of both folate and betaine. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, the natural pigments -- called betacyanins -- that give beets their color have been proved to be potent cancer fighters in laboratory mice.

How to eat them: Fresh and raw, not from a jar. Heating beets actually decreases their antioxidant power. For a simple single-serving salad, wash and peel one beet, and then grate it on the widest blade of a box grater. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.

You can eat the leaves and stems, which are also packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Simply cut off the stems just below the point where the leaves start, and wash thoroughly. They're now ready to be used in a salad. Or, for a side dish, sauté the leaves, along with a minced clove of garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil, in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook until the leaves are wilted and the stems are tender. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Cabbage
Absent from most American kitchens, this cruciferous vegetable is a major player in European and Asian diets.

Why it's healthy: One cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it's loaded with valuable nutrients. At the top of the list is sulforaphane, a chemical that increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm cell-damaging free radicals and reduce your risk of cancer. In fact, Stanford University scientists determined that sulforaphane boosts your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical.

How to eat it: Put cabbage on your burgers to add a satisfying crunch. Or, for an even better sandwich topping or side salad, try an Asian-style slaw. Here's what you'll need:

4 Tbsp peanut or canola oil

Juice of two limes

1 Tbsp sriracha, an Asian chili sauce you can find in the international section of your grocery store

1 head napa cabbage, finely chopped or shredded

1/4 cup toasted peanuts

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Whisk together the oil, lime juice, and sriracha. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss with the dressing to coat. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving. The slaw will keep in your fridge for 2 days.

Guava
Guava is an obscure tropical fruit that's subtly acidic, with sweetness that intensifies as you eat your way to the center.

Why it's healthy: Guava has a higher concentration of lycopene -- an antioxidant that fights prostate cancer -- than any other plant food, including tomatoes and watermelon. In addition, 1 cup of the stuff provides 688 milligrams (mg) of potassium, which is 63 percent more than you'll find in a medium banana. And guava may be the ultimate high-fiber food: There's almost 9 grams (g) of fiber in every cup.

How to eat it: Down the entire fruit, from the rind to the seeds. It's all edible -- and nutritious. The rind alone has more vitamin C than you'd find in the flesh of an orange. You can score guava in the produce section of higher-end supermarkets or in Latin grocery stores.

Swiss chard
Hidden in the leafy-greens cooler of your market, you'll find this slightly bitter, salty vegetable, which is actually native to the Mediterranean.

Why it's healthy: A half cup of cooked Swiss chard provides a huge amount of both lutein and zeaxanthin, supplying 10 mg each. These plant chemicals, known as carotenoids, protect your retinas from the damage of aging, according to Harvard researchers. That's because both nutrients, which are actually pigments, appear to accumulate in your retinas, where they absorb the type of shortwave light rays that can damage your eyes. So the more lutein and zeaxanthin you eat, the better your internal eye protection will be.

How to eat it: Chard goes great with grilled steaks and chicken, and it also works well as a bed for pan-seared fish. Wash and dry a bunch of Swiss chard, and then chop the leaves and stems into 1-inch pieces. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan or wok, and add two garlic cloves that you've peeled and lightly crushed. When the oil smokes lightly, add the chard. Sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until the leaves wilt and the stems are tender. Remove the garlic cloves and season the chard with salt and pepper.

Cinnamon
This old-world spice usually reaches most men's stomachs only when it's mixed with sugar and stuck to a roll.

Why it's healthy: Cinnamon helps control your blood sugar, which influences your risk of heart disease. In fact, USDA researchers found that people with type-2 diabetes who consumed 1 g of cinnamon a day for 6 weeks (about 1/4 teaspoon each day) significantly reduced not only their blood sugar but also their triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol. Credit the spice's active ingredients, methylhydroxychalcone polymers, which increase your cells' ability to metabolize sugar by up to 20 times.

How to eat it: You don't need the fancy oils and extracts sold at vitamin stores; just sprinkle the stuff that's in your spice rack (or in the shaker at Starbucks) into your coffee or on your oatmeal.

Purslane
Although the FDA classifies purslane as a broad-leaved weed, it's a popular vegetable and herb in many other countries, including China, Mexico, and Greece.

Why it's healthy: Purslane has the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3 fats of any edible plant, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The scientists also report that this herb has 10 to 20 times more melatonin -- an antioxidant that may inhibit cancer growth -- than any other fruit or vegetable tested.

How to eat it: In a salad. Think of purslane as a great alternative or addition to lettuce: The leaves and stems are crisp, chewy, and succulent, and they have a mild lemony taste. Look for it at your local farmer's market, or Chinese or Mexican market. It's also available at some Whole Foods stores, as an individual leafy green or in premade salad mixes.

Pomegranate juice
A popular drink for decades in the Middle East, pomegranate juice has become widely available only recently in the United States.

Why it's healthy: Scientists discovered that men who downed just 2 ounces of pomegranate juice daily for a year decreased their systolic (top number) blood pressure by 21 percent and significantly improved bloodflow to their hearts. What's more, 4 ounces provides 50 percent of your daily vitamin C needs.

How to drink it: Try 100 percent pomegranate juice from Pom Wonderful. It contains no added sugars, and because it's so powerful, a small glassful is all you need. (For a list of retailers, go to www.pomwonderful.com.)

Goji berries
These raisin-size fruits are chewy and taste like a cross between a cranberry and a cherry. More important, these potent berries have been used as a medicinal food in Tibet for over 1,700 years.

Why they're healthy: Goji berries have one of the highest ORAC ratings -- a method of gauging antioxidant power -- of any fruit, according to Tufts University researchers. And although modern scientists began to study this ancient berry only recently, they've found that the sugars that make goji berries sweet reduce insulin resistance -- a risk factor of diabetes -- in rats.

How to eat them: Mix dried or fresh goji berries with a cup of plain yogurt, sprinkle them on your oatmeal or cold cereal, or enjoy a handful by themselves. You can find them at specialty supermarkets or at gojiberries.us.

Dried plums
You may know these better by the moniker "prunes," which are indelibly linked with nursing homes and bathroom habits. And that explains why, in an effort to revive this delicious fruit's image, producers now market them under another name.

Why they're healthy: Prunes contain high amounts of neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids, antioxidants that are particularly effective at combating the "superoxide anion radical." This nasty free radical causes structural damage to your cells, and such damage is thought to be one of the primary causes of cancer.

How to eat them: As an appetizer. Wrap a paper-thin slice of prosciutto around each dried plum and secure with a toothpick. Bake in a 400°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the plums are soft and the prosciutto is crispy. Most of the fat will cook off, and you'll be left with a decadent-tasting treat that's sweet, savory, and healthy.

Pumpkin seeds
These jack-o'-lantern waste products are the most nutritious part of the pumpkin.

Why they're healthy: Downing pumpkin seeds is the easiest way to consume more magnesium. That's important because French researchers recently determined that men with the highest levels of magnesium in their blood have a 40 percent lower risk of early death than those with the lowest levels. And on average, men consume 353 mg of the mineral daily, well under the 420 mg minimum recommended by the USDA.

How to eat them: Whole, shells and all. (The shells provide extra fiber.) Roasted pumpkin seeds contain 150 mg of magnesium per ounce; add them to your regular diet and you'll easily hit your daily target of 420 mg. Look for them in the snack or health-food section of your grocery store, next to the peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds.

Antioxidants, ExplainedThe science is clear: Plant foods are good for you. And the credit often goes to chemicals they produce called antioxidants. Just as the name suggests, antioxidants help protect your cells against oxidation. Think of oxidation as rust. This rust is caused by free radicals, which are unstable oxygen atoms that attack your cells, inducing DNA damage that leads to cancer. Thankfully, antioxidants help stabilize free radicals, which keeps the rogue atoms from harming your cells.

So by eating more antioxidant-rich foods, you'll boost the amount of the disease-fighting chemicals floating in your bloodstream. The result: Every bite fortifies your body with all-natural preventive medicine.

Eight More Superfoods You Should Eat
Want to build more muscle, prevent disease, and live longer? It's as easy as changing your diet: Take out the packaged, processed foods, and add fresh ingredients to your meals.

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS is a board certified nutritionist with graduate degrees in nutrition and psychology.

For more on the best foods you're not eating, click here.

Visit the New York Times Website.

Visit the Men's Health Website.

The Hajj and Eid al-Adha

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:14:00 +0000

The Hajj and Eid al-Adha (PICS)

How to Beat The Indian Politician

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Section 49-O of the Constitution:
(A Repetition worth a read)

Did you know that there is a system in our Constitution, as per the 1969 Act, in Section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone!

Yes such a feature is available, but obviously our seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".

Why should you go and say "I VOTE FOR NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the Election Commission has not revealed such a feature to the public....

Please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on...

The people of India , can really use this power to save our nation". Use your voting right for a better INDIA

Deluxe Hotels in Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:58:00 +0000

India's Cash-for-Fatwa Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:59:00 +0000

India's Cash-for-Fatwa Scandal

Many Muslims in India, like their counterparts around the world, gathered on the streets to burn effigies of the Pope and shout slogans denouncing him for his remarks on Islam and violence. Even before that fully died out, however, a new controversy erupted — one that has turned Muslim ire against some of their own local clerics.

India's "cash-for-fatwas" scandal broke out when a TV channel broadcast a sting operation that showed several Indian Muslim clerics allegedly taking, or demanding, bribes in return for issuing fatwas, or religious edicts. The bribes, some of which were as low as $60, were offered by undercover reporters wearing hidden cameras over a period of six weeks. In return for the cash, the clerics appear to hand out fatwas written in Urdu, the language used by many Muslims in Pakistan and India, on subjects requested by the reporters. Among the decrees issued by the fatwas: that Muslims are not allowed to use credit cards, double beds, or camera-equipped cell phones, and should not act in films, donate their organs, or teach their children English. One cleric issued a fatwa against watching TV; another issued a fatwa in support of watching TV.
Adding to the shock in India, home to the world's third-largest Muslim population (approximately 150 million), is that some of the clerics apparently caught in the sting operation teach at important institutions — one belongs to India's most famous Islamic seminary, the Darul Uloom at Deoband. At least two of the clerics have been suspended from their posts, but that hasn't satisfied everyone. Students at one madrassa in north India denounced the clerics, and in the city of Meerut, where a mufti, or cleric, had been caught on camera, the congregation at one mosque refused to offer prayers until he came before them, admitted to taking the money, and apologized.

The "cash-for-fatwas" scandal has also led to a renewed debate on what constitutes a fatwa, and who has legitimate authority to issue one. Fatwas — like the one passed by Iran's Ayatullah Khomeini in 1989 against the novelist Salman Rushdie, or those issued by Osama bin Laden in 1996 and 1998 against America — have come to epitomize the intolerance of Islamic fundamentalists. Yet many Muslims argue that the purpose of fatwas has been misunderstood: A fatwa is, technically speaking, a ruling on a point of Islamic law made by a recognized Muslim scholar in response to a question put to him. Since Osama bin Laden is no Islamic scholar, many deny his right to issue a fatwa. The sway that fatwas hold over Muslims is also not as great as many outsiders think. Last year, a Muslim cleric issued a fatwa stating that it was un-Islamic for Sania Mirza, India's most famous tennis player and a Muslim, to wear sleeveless tops or short skirts on court. Mirza simply dismissed the ruling; indeed, many, if not most, urban Indian Muslims do not take fatwas seriously. However, in rural communities, a well-respected mufti's fatwa — on issues ranging from marriage to health to women's rights — can carry considerable influence. India's Muslim leaders announced that they will soon create a new body that will monitor the passing of fatwas in the country, in a bid to preserve that influence, and nip the popular anger swirling around this scandal.

Words to think About...

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:25:00 +0000

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate.
A Message by George Carlin:
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

Church attacks dent Karnataka's civilised image

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:37:00 +0000

Submitted by Mudassir Rizwan on 24 September 2008 - 9:05am.
India News
By Fakir Balaji and Maitreyee Boruah, IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka's reputation as a communally harmonious state has taken a severe beating following brazen attacks on churches widely blamed on rightwing Hindu groups.
The widespread revulsion over the vandalism that began Sep 14 in coastal Karnataka is giving way to concern that the violence as well as allegations that Hindus are being converted may be used by fringe groups to create a gulf between Hindus and Christians.
This is the first time in Karnataka that such a largescale assault on churches and prayer halls has taken place, including in cosmopolitan Bangalore.
The vehemence of the Christian protest in the coastal city of Mangalore, which bore the brunt of the vandalism, was also unprecedented.
The attacks have caused severe embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because they happened just three months after it came to power in Karnataka -- and in south India -- for the first time.
With the Bajrang Dal reportedly owning responsibility for some of the attacks, the BJP has been exposed to criticism that Hindu groups linked to it are emboldened because the party is in power.
Industry leaders, writers, expatriates and even the man on the street IANS spoke to in Bangalore are furious that the authorities failed to prevent the attacks.
"Such violence is not acceptable in a civilised society. Differences, disputes and grievances have to be resolved in a peaceful manner and through dialogue, not by taking law into hands," said Infosys Technologies board member T.V. Mohandas Pai.
"It is ridiculous to attack places of worship whatever be the cause or provocation. The incident shows the state's law and enforcement machinery has failed," he added.
Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said from Spain: "It is very shocking that such things are taking place in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore. The government should have pre-empted them in the wake of similar attacks in other parts of the state.
"Such incidents in a global IT hub like Bangalore bring a bad name, spoil the fair image of its citizens and cause apprehension in the minds of investors - in India and overseas."
According to Jnanpeeth awardee U.R. Ananthamurthy, it appears extremists in BJP are doing this to unseat Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and bring in "a Modi" -- a reference to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is a hero for Hindu groups.
Said theatre personality, playwright and another Jnanpeeth awardee Girish Karnad: "The perpetrators are testing the tolerance of our society. Violence, abuse and taking law into one's hands is not justified, whatever the cause or provocation."
Christians are also shocked that this could happen in Karnataka.
Said Mary Triza of Don Bosco Institute: "As devout Catholics or Protestants, we are never in favour of conversions, especially forcible. If such things are happening, let the law take its course.
"By attacking churches or prayers halls, they will not be able to stop such activities. Such acts will only provoke people and lead to counter-attacks."
Expatriates in the IT hub, estimated to be around 18,000, including about 4,000 students, are simply stunned.
Stephanie Collins, a language trainer from Canada who has worked in Bangalore for two years, said: "Bangalore is one of India's best cities and it offers everyone, even expatriates, a sense of belonging.
"But the recent attacks on Christians is making me think twice. Why in a secular country like India are Christians considered outsiders and are vulnerable to violence?"
Saba Khan, a student of biotechnology from Iran, said he came to Bangalore a year ago as the city provides the best - and safe - educational opportunities.
"But now I am scared. My parents in Tehran are worried," said the 22-year-old pursuing a masters in biotechnology at Bangalore University.
Ester Rupa Sahu, a BPO employee from Shillong, felt such incidents were damaging the reputation of Karnataka, known across the country as an "oasis of peace".
D. Muralidhar, president of the Federation of the Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FKCCI), added: "It is a bad dream. Karnataka is known for harmonious relations among different communities. Industry is concerned about such attacks as they do not take place in any civilised society."
G.B. Atri, a former wing commander in the Indian Air Force and now the Brahmin face of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Karnataka, was of the view that the "level of patience in the society is coming down. Goondas (thugs) should not be allowed a free hand".
(V.S. Karnic contributed to this story)

Say proudly, I AM AN INDIAN.

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:39:00 +0000

Facts to Make INDIA Proud - Today, 12:09 AM
________________________________________
Facts to Make INDIA Proud

Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the todays computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.
There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.

1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.

2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.

6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.

7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.

8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.

9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from Inida. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.

10. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

13. Chess was invented in India.

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India.

15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation).

16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Quotes about India.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition. Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
Hu Shih
(former Chinese ambassador to USA)

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS.
BUT, if we dont see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an evershining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.
I hope you enjoyed it and work towards the welfare of INDIA.

Say proudly, I AM AN INDIAN.

Islamic Banking! Now, What is That?

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:17:00 +0000

Islamic Banking! Now, What is That?
In a move that has the potential of dramatically alter banking, the government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to explore ways to introduce Islamic banking in the country.

Recently, the finance ministry had sounded out the RBI on the subject of introducing Islamic banking in India. The central bank has already formed a senior team to look into the matter. The group is headed by Anand Sinha, chief general manager in charge, department of banking operations and development, and includes senior bankers from State Bank of India and few other government and foreign banks. Some of the foreign banks operating in India already offer Islamic banking products in West Asia and Europe. Interestingly, banking products like these not only exist in West Asian countries, but have also caught on in advanced markets like the UK.

What is Islamic banking?
Islamic banking has the same purpose as conventional banking except that it operates in accordance with the rules of the Shariah, known as Fiqh al-Muamalat (Islamic rules on transactions).
The basic principle of Islamic banking is sharing of profit and loss and prohibition of riba (interest). Amongst the common Islamic concepts used in Islamic banking are profit sharing (mudarabah), safekeeping (wadiah), joint venture (musharakah), cost plus (murabahah) and leasing (ijarah).
In an Islamic mortgage transaction, instead of loaning buyer money, a bank might buy an item from a seller, and sell it to the buyer at a profit, while allowing the buyer to pay the bank in installments. The higher cost might include what would in non-Islamic arrangements have been charged as interest, but there could not be additional penalties for late payment. This arrangement is called murabahah. Another approach is ijara wa iqtina, which is similar to real estate leasing.
In business deals, there are several other approaches to handle a lack of interest. Most important is musharaka, which is equity financing. Further mudaraba means if one entrepreneur is doing the work and the other is giving the funds to finance it then both profit and risk must be shared. Such participatory arrangements between capital and labour reflect the Islamic view that the borrower must not bear all the risk/cost of a failure, as it is Allah who determines that failure, and intends that it fall on all those involved.
Islamic banking is restricted to Islamically acceptable deals, which exclude e.g. alcohols, pork, gambling, etc. Thus ethical investing is the only acceptable investing, and moral purchasing is encouraged

How do these banks operate in India?
There are several Baitul Mals working in cities as well as in villages. Only 10 to 15 Islamic banks with deposits of about Rs 75 crore are operating all over the country in various states. They are actually non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) which work on profits/loss basis. Islamic banks by and large cater to the needs of local area except a few of them operating across districts or states. Their sources of funds are limited and as a result these banks have to operate on small scale missing the economies of scale.
Islamic banks in India provide housing loan, on the basis of co-ownership, venture finance on mudarabah basis as well as on musharaka basis and consumers loans. Some banks finance transports also on the mark up basis via hire purchase. Education finance and skill development finance is also provided by them. Investments are made in government securities, small savings schemes or units of mutual funds. Investment in shares of companies is also made by some Islamic banks. Hire purchase and lease finance are other source of investments.

What are the regulations for Islamic banking in India?
Islamic banks in India do not function under banking regulations. They are licensed under Non Banking Finance Companies Reserve Bank Directives 1997 RBI (Amendment) Act 1997, and operates on profit and loss based on Islamic principles. RBI has introduced compulsory registration system. In the Monetary and Credit Policy for the year 1999-2000, it was proposed that in respect of new NBFCs, which seek registration with the RBI and commence the business on or after April 21, 1999, the requirement of minimum level of net owned funds (NOF) will be Rs 2 crore.
What are the current practices in Islamic banking globally?
Generally speaking, all interest-free banks agree on the basic principles. However, individual banks differ in their application. These differences are due to several reasons including the laws of the country, objectives of the different banks, individual bank’s circumstances and experiences, the need to interact with other interest-based banks, etc. The three important features are the deposits, modes of financing and services.

What are the different deposits available?
All the Islamic banks have three kinds of deposit accounts: current, savings and investment.
1. Current accounts
Current or demand deposit accounts are virtually the same as in all conventional banks. Deposit is guaranteed.
2. Savings accounts
Savings deposit accounts operate in different ways. In some banks, the depositors allow the banks to use their money but they obtain a guarantee of getting the full amount back from the bank. Banks adopt several methods of inducing their clients to deposit with them, but no profit is promised. In others, savings accounts are treated as investment accounts but with less stringent conditions as to withdrawals and minimum balance. Capital is not guaranteed, but the banks take care to invest money from such accounts in relatively risk-free short-term projects.
3. Investment account
Investment deposits are accepted for a fixed or unlimited period of time and the investors agree in advance to share the profit (or loss) in a given proportion with the bank. Capital is not guaranteed.

What are the different modes of financing?
Banks adopt several modes of acquiring assets or financing projects. But they can be broadly categorised into three areas: investment, trade and lending
1. Investment financing
This is done in three main ways: a) Musharaka where a bank may join another entity to set up a joint venture, both parties participating in the various aspects of the project in varying degrees. Profit and loss are shared in a pre-arranged fashion. This is not very different from the joint venture concept. The venture is an independent legal entity and the bank may withdraw gradually after an initial period. b) Mudarabha where the bank contributes the finance and the client provides the expertise, management and labour. Profits are shared by both the partners in a pre-arranged proportion, but when a loss occurs the total loss is borne by the bank. c) Financing on the basis of an estimated rate of return. Under this scheme, the bank estimates the expected rate of return on the specific project it is asked to finance and provides financing on the understanding that at least that rate is payable to the bank. If the project ends up in a profit more than the estimated rate the excess goes to the client. If the profit is less than the estimate the bank will accept the lower rate. In case a loss is suffered the bank will take a share in it.

2. Trade financingThis is also done in several ways.
The main ones are: a) Mark-up where the bank buys an item for a client and the client agrees to repay the bank the price and an agreed profit later on. b) Leasing where the bank buys an item for a client and leases it to him for an agreed period and at the end of that period the lessee pays the balance on the price agreed at the beginning and becomes the owner of the item. c) Hire-purchase where the bank buys an item for the client and hires it to him for an agreed rent and period, and at the end of that period the client automatically becomes the owner of the item. d) Sell-and-buy-back where a client sells one of his properties to the bank for an agreed price payable now on condition that he will buy the property back after certain time for an agreed price. e) Letters of credit where the bank guarantees the import of an item using its own funds for a client, on the basis of sharing the profit from the sale of this item or on a mark-up basis.

3. Lending
The main forms of lending are: a) Loans with a service charge where the bank lends money without interest but they cover their expenses by levying a service charge. This charge may be subject to a maximum set by the authorities. b) No-cost loans where each bank is expected to set aside a part of their funds to grant no-cost loans to needy persons such as small farmers, entrepreneurs, producers, etc and to needy consumers. c) Overdrafts also are to be provided, subject to a certain maximum, free of charge.

What other services are offered by such banks?
Other banking services such as money transfers, bill collections, trade in foreign currencies at spot rate, etc where the bank’s own money is not involved are provided on a commission or charge basis.

What are the deficiencies?
To start with, they have not developed adequate internal control system, as a result their accounting system is not very transparent. A number of times they are not able to follow the directives of regulatory authorities pertaining to deposit acceptance from public. For instance, they hardly go for credit rating. They do not submit required information and data to Reserve Bank of India. Their monitoring system warrants appointment of technical people familiar with reporting system. It is also observed that accounting practices needs to be learned by the officials of these banks. Lack of skilled staff, professionals and infrastructure frustrate their effort to expand and enlarge their operations.

What are major issues and constraints in Islamic banking?
The biggest issue which is a permanent hurdle for Islamic banks operating in countries with interest-based banking is that they cannot function as banks unless powers of issuing cheques are given to them. They cannot be members of settlement/clearing house unless they accept two conditions regarding their liabilities and assets like conventional banks that have to keep fractional cash reserve with the central bank and statutory liquid assets in their assets. Thus banks in India have to maintain deposit account with the RBI over which they get interest. The SLR includes government and approved securities. A bank licensed by the RBI becomes part of the monetary system, which means it can create money by deposit generation through deposit acceptance. Since these assets are interest based, Islamic bank cannot hold them. Consequently, the central bank cannot act as the lender of last resort because such accommodation by the monetary authority is also interest based. Islamic banks cannot interact with conventional banks based on principles of interest.The last but not the least, Islamic banking has been constantly in short-term and medium-term operations though some of them are undertaking long-term finance also. It is understood that inability to evaluate projects profitability has tended to act against investment financing. Some borrowers frustrate the banks appraisal efforts as they are not reluctant to provide full disclosures of their business. Moreover, the borrowers do not observe business ethics which make it difficult to establish close bank-clientele relationship — a condition for successful Islamic banking. As a result a number of Islamic banks have been closed during the recent years.(economictimes.indiatimes.com/articles-July 11, 2005)

Insurance: Mustafa Al-Zarqa's Views
By Adil Salahi
In its modern form, insurance was introduced in Muslim countries when many of them were occupied by Western powers.Every now and then I get questions about life insurance. Is life insurance permissible from the Islamic point of view? Most of the readers want to know. The attraction to take a life policy, says, some of the readers, seems too strong when one considers the need for safety in life. My answer to all such questions is:Insurance has become an essential part of business throughout the world. Because there are too many risks that could affect people’s lives and welfare, insurance tries to alleviate the adverse effects of such risks. Insurance has become a highly sophisticated business, with large companies offering cover against a wide range of risks. People take out insurance policies to protect their homes, furniture, vehicles, and jobs, and they also take out health and life insurance.In its modern form, insurance was introduced in Muslim countries when many of them were occupied by Western powers, or when they came under Western influence. In some cases, its introduction was delayed in a country until its international business flourished. Like every thing that came with a “colonial” or Western color, insurance was first viewed by Muslim scholars with grave suspicion. A verdict of disapproval was common to most things thought to be introduced by non-Muslims.Yet insurance is not new, and it was not invented by the Western civilization. The idea of collaboration to reduce the effects of disaster that might hit one or more in a community is as old as human society. In many Muslim cities, business people collaborated, establishing funds to look after anyone of them who might suffer a huge trade loss, as could happen when a cargo ship sank during a storm. While these early efforts catered for a specific risk, the idea behind them is the same as that behind insurance.In the last few decades, a number of eminent scholars discussed insurance at length, arriving at divergent views. One of the best theses written on the subject was published in a book in Arabic by the late Prof. Mustafa Al-Zarqa, who ranked high among the top scholars of the twentieth century. His work is very scholarly, as it shows thorough understanding of the insurance system and how it works. He arrives at a verdict of permissibility of all types of insurance, including life insurance. He points out that insurance inevitably involves an element of gharar, which in Islamic terminology means the sale of an “undefined” or unspecified product. However, he explains that it is rather marginal, and as such it is overlooked, as in other types of transactions involving marginal gharar.There are two main types of life insurance: Term policy and endowment policy. The term policy involves the payment by the insured of modest premiums over an agreed period, say, 20 years, in return for the benefit of his family receiving an agreed large sum of money in the case of his death during that period. If the insured remains alive at the end of the policy, it lapses and he gets nothing. What the insured actually buys with his payments is the peace of mind he gets from the knowledge that should he die, his dependants will have a large sum of money to see them through life until, say, his young children came of age and were able to look after themselves.The endowment policy involves the payment of larger premiums which are invested by the insurance company. When the policy matures, the insured receives the sum assured as well as any share of profits to which he may be entitled under the terms of investment made on his behalf by the insurance company.Both types are permissible from the Islamic point of view, as explained by Professor Al-Zarqa, provided that the insured makes sure that the insurance company invests in legitimate business. If the insurance company invests in what Islam forbids, then taking out its policies becomes forbidden as a result.(www.arabnews.com March 4, 2005) The opinion on Insurance are Prof. Mustafa Al-Zarqa’s own views

Now, Islamic Insurance from LIC
Mumbai
After Islamic banking, it’s the turn of Islamic insurance. Even as the Reserve Bank of India is exploring Islamic banking opportunities for Indian banks, the Life Insurance Corporation of India has set the ball rolling on takaful (Islamic insurance).LIC’s new international joint venture company - Indo-Saudi Insurance Company — will be the first to introduce takaful. This Arabic word means ‘guaranteeing each other’ or joint guarantee.“The entire pricing will be different as the benefits differ from conventional insurance policies,” according to LIC Managing Director, K Mehrotra. Its actuarial team has started working on the pricing mechanism and senior officials have been sent to Saudi Arabia to look into the product, he added.Takaful can be described as cooperative insurance where policyholders contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool. Each member pays his subscription (premium) to help those that need assistance. To some extent, it resembles the chit funds that operate mainly in southern India.The purpose of takaful is not to profit, but to support the belief of “bearing each other’s burden”. Losses are divided, while liabilities spread across the community pooling system. The idea is not to derive any benefits at the cost of others. Instead, it eliminates uncertainty in terms of premium and compensation.“Takaful is a Shari’ah compliant product,” said Mehrotra. It is necessary for LIC to comply with local laws of the land when it starts operations in Saudi Arabia.While LIC will offer a range of insurance products like endowment, money-back, single premium policies, among others, “the returns would need to be inbuilt into the pricing, and cannot be called bonus or profits,” said the managing director.Today LIC announces annual bonuses depending on its investment performance. Under Takaful plans, it would need to build in the possible profits, Mehrotra pointed out.

Islamic banking can attract trillions of dollars: expert

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:16:00 +0000

CHENNAI: Introduction of Islamic banking in India can attract trillions of dollars belonging to Muslims and now invested in the United States and the west Europe, according to an expert in Islamic banking.
People of the faith, particularly those in West Asia, are looking for alternative investment destinations, fearing the U.S. will continue with its uneconomic retaliatory measures for the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Monzer Kahf, a financial and investment consultant in the U.S.
The flow of such funds out of the U.S. and west Europe had begun.
Though Singapore recently amended its laws to introduce Islamic banking, India would benefit more, since it was a production base, , he told an interactive session on `interest free banking and finance,' organised here on Friday by Jamaat-E-Islami Hind.
Dr. Kahf had drafted Shariah contents of Islamic finance agreements, by-laws and operational systems for Islamic financial institutions in the U.S. He won the Islamic Development Bank prize for Islamic Economics 2001 and served in the U.N. Institute of Planning in Damascus and the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah.
Though there was no concept of interest on the loans extended under the Islamic banking system, it still was not a case of free lunch or charity.
"We are talking of money ... not ... of loans," he said.
The concept was based on a different paradigm. Islamic banking started in 1973. A year later the first bank was formed. The total assets of the Islamic banks world over were $300 billion.
According to Mohammed Ismail Shariff, a director of Kuwait Finance House, which is the first wholly foreign owned Islamic bank in Malaysia, non-Muslims accounted for a majority of the customers of such banks.
The Islamic banks were essentially engaged in major financing.
H. Abdur Raqeeb, president, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry zone, Jamaat-E-Islami Hind, said the Reserve Bank of India had instructed the Ministry of Finance to look into the possibility of launching Islamic banking.

This is why INDIA shining.

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:25:00 +0000

An Indian man walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. He tells the loan officer that he is going to India on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so the Indian man hands over the keys and documents of new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produces the title and everything checks out. The loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the Indian for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.. An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the Indian returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why you would bother to borrow "$5,000”?The Indian replies:"Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return'"Ah, the mind of the Indian... This is why India is shiningI am very proud. Because I am also an Indian.

India unveils climate change plan

noreply@blogger.com (NH17) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:20:00 +0000

The Indian government has unveiled a national action plan to confront the threat posed by climate change.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the plan envisaged a gradual shift to greater reliance on sustainable sources of energy.
Mr Singh said the development of India's capacity to tap solar power would be central to the strategy.
But the prime minister made no commitment to cut his country's carbon emissions which are predicted to rise.
Solar power
"Our vision is to make India's economic development energy efficient," said Mr Singh as he released details of the plan in the Indian capital, Delhi.
"Our people have a right to economic and social development and to discard the ignominy of widespread poverty."
The prime minister said that over time India must shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels, and from reliance on non-renewable and dwindling sources of energy to renewable ones.

Greenpeace says India could face a major humanitarian crisis
"In this strategy, the sun occupies centre stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy.
"We will pool all our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with financial sources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people," Mr Singh said.
"Our success in this endeavour will change the face of India."
The action plan, however, makes no commitment to cut India's carbon emissions.
India's government says that it must strive to lift much of the country's population out of poverty.
It argues that its carbon emissions per head of population are only a fraction of those of rich countries.
A recent Greenpeace report on climate change warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow at their present rate, South Asia could face a major humanitarian crisis.
It estimates that 75 million people in Bangladesh would lose their homes. About 45 million people in India would also become "climate migrants".