Current Affairs « Seeking His Pleasure Through Patience

Muslim youths, beware of this movement!

March 2, 2009 at 15:33 | In Current Affairs, islam | Leave a Comment
Tags: allah, challenges, faith freedom, forgive, islam, koran, muhammad, muslim, muslim youth, Muslims, Patience, Prophet, quranic science, Rasulullah, science in the Quran

Assalaamu’alaikum everyone

Yes, I know how the title of this post sounds like one of those chain e-mails you get, but believe me, this is not a hoax. I subscribe to Google Alerts for several topics, and one of them is any posts or websites or news that has to do with Muslim Youth.

SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, He Has Made me aware of this movement in an Alert I received today. When I read through one of the articles on the website, I was horrified and I started to fear for my brothers and sisters, which is why I’m blogging about this.

Please beware of this dangerous movement called Faith Freedom International
http://www.faithfreedom.org

This is a snippet of one of the articles they have published on their website:

Many Muslim apologetics claim a scientific perspective to some of the Qur’anic claims. Much work has been done in the past to show that all such claims are bogus. They do not withstand critical scrutiny.

Many researchers who are published on this site have shown that such “scientific” claims of the Qur’an are no more than wishful thinking. Muhammad, in his Qur’an, merely reiterated what the people of his time believed with regard to the physical and biological world.

Astaghfirullah haladzhim…

They’re targeting Muslim youths. Which is why it showed up in the Alert. Read the full article at the website. They are determined to make Muslim youths leave Islam by posting extremely misleading articles about Allah swt, about Rasulullah s.a.w., the Qur’an… everything, EVERYTHING that has to do with our beloved religion.

I’m not angry about the fact that it’s trying to tear down Islam. That has been going on since Rasulullah s.a.w. received the Revelations.

I’m more angry and devastated at the fact that there are Muslims who have left Islam because of this website. There’s a category called Leaving Islam there and when I read through the comments, my heart broke when I came across comments saying how they’ve been misled by Islam.

I’m waiting for ‘Asar to arrive to seek refuge and comfort. I’m just too traumatised. Ya Rabbi…

Let us not be deceived by these words or let them lead us astray. Let us warn our families and friends about this alarming movement. Let us pray for Allah swt to Protect us from them.

But as angry as we may be towards them, we must pray for Allah swt to Guide them back to the right path. For they have been misled by none other than Syaitaan. Only Allah swt Has the Power to change their hearts.

We cannot afford to follow our emotions and wage an outright war against them. That will only turn the world against us, and ultimately against Allah swt.

The safest thing we can only do right now is to pray to Him, and make sure that we help others to understand the real Islam. Not convince them about Islam, just help them understand us.
Fi Amanillah

Peace!

February 26, 2009 at 20:25 | In Current Affairs, People, prophet muhammad | 1 Comment
Tags: islam, peace, Prophet, Rasulullah, reflections, inter-faith, harmony, search for common ground, peace efforts, tariq ramadan, the messenger, sirah

Assalaamu’alaikum everyone!

Hope you’re all doing fine, Insya’Allah… I’ve been sneezing a lot today, haha. He must be Telling me something

Anyways, below is an excerpt from The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad by Tariq Ramadan

Haha, I’ve been wanting to buy this book since I saw it in the Best Reads for 2008 list at Wardah Books and I was tempted to buy it at Books Kinokuniya last week. But since I couldn’t really afford it, I guess this is Allah’s Alternative for me: I found it at a library

SubhanAllah (:

The Pact of the Virtuous

Abdullah ibn Judan, the chief of the Taym tribe and a member of one of the two great alliances of Meccan tribes (known as the People of the Perfume), decided to invite to his home all those who wanted to put an end to the conflicts and establish a pact of honor and justice that would bind the tribes beyond alliances based on tribal, political, or cemmercial interests.

Chiefs and members of numerous tribes thus pledged that it was their collective duty to intervene in conflicts and side with the oppressed against the oppressors, whoever they might be and whatever alliances might link them to other tribes.

This alliance, known as hilf al-fudul (the Pact of the Virtuous), was special in that it placed respect for the principles of justice and support of the oppressed above all other considerations of kinship and power. Young Muhammad, like Abu Bakr, who was to become his lifelong friend, took part in that historic meeting.

Long after the Revelation had begun, Muhammad was to remember the terms of that pact and say: “I was present in Abdullah ibn Judan’s house when a pact was concluded, so excellent that I would not exchange my part in it even for a herd of red camels; and if now, in Islam, I was asked to take part in it, I would be glad to accept.”

(Reported by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham and confirmed as authentic by various sources, including al-Hamidi, and partly by Imam Ahmad)

…

The second teaching is no less essential: at a time when the message was still being elaborated in the course of Revelation and of the Prophet’s experiences, he acknowledged the validity of a pact established by non-Muslims seeking justice and the common good of their society.

The Prophet’s statement is in itself a blatant denial of the trend of thought expressed here and there throughout history of Islamic thought – and to this day – according to which a pledge can be ethically valid for Muslims only if it is of strictly Islamic nature or/and if it is established between Muslims.

Again the key point is that the Prophet clearly acknowledges the validity of adhering to principles of justice and defending the oppressed, regardless of whether those principles come from inside Islam or outside it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I initially wanted to share a different excerpt, but today, as I was reading yesterday’s newspaper, I came across an article regarding counter-terrorism efforts and apparently one of our Ministers here has set up a website called P4Peace.

I’m really interested in inter-faith harmony efforts, and I like to read up on the counter-ideology methods adopted by different nations, so I went to that website.

Aaah Masya’Allah… I totally support this effort! I don’t care that it’s set up by a non-Muslim, as long as it promotes peace and justice amongst people.

Because that’s one of the purposes of Islam. Our beautiful religion has NEVER taught us to create chaos or make life hard for others.

This is the promo vid for Search for Common Ground.

Founded in 1982, Search for Common Ground works to transform the way the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving. We work with local partners to find culturally appropriate means to strengthen societies’ capacity to deal with conflicts constructively: to understand the differences and act on the commonalities.

And this is one of the many beautiful songs produced by the organisation:

It’s our responsibility as Muslims, as the Ummah of Rasulullah s.a.w. to ensure that peace exists in this dunya. Let’s spread peace in any way that we are capable of. As long as it doesn’t go against Islam of course (:

Fi Amanillah!

Alhamdulillah

January 20, 2009 at 15:43 | In Current Affairs, Islam history, Politics, prophet muhammad | Leave a Comment
Tags: gaza, islam, Islam history, Islam on war, israel, muhammad, muslim, palestine, peace, Rasulullah, taif, thaif, women and children

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillahi Rabbi Al-Amin…

Finally, a ceasefire. Finally our brothers and sisters in Gaza are getting the peace that they have waited for 3 long, insufferable weeks.

Yet amidst that peace there is shock and devastation as they begin to discover the extent of the destruction of the so-called operation. Whole buildings and homes all destroyed, like as though an earthquake had struck.

It has been estimated that it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild everything again, but Alhamdulillah, Arab leaders are discussing plans to set up a $2 billion fund to rebuild the battered Gaza Strip. [http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50I1P320090119] There are other organizations chipping in to help out Gaza as well.

I’m still quite mad actually. Why is there a need to keep the Israeli soldiers in Gaza? Why did Hamas have to launch rockets at Southern Israel during the course of the truce? I don’t believe that that constitutes as self-defence; isn’t self-defence done WHILE you are being attacked?

What they’ve done seems like revenge to me. Would Rasulullah s.a.w. have done that? Attack the enemy AFTER they had agreed to a truce? Isn’t that a breach of the agreement? How can the other party co-operate with you if you’ve breached a term of the agreement? That’s not fair, because that’s pretty much a breach of trust.

Look at the treaty of Hudaibiyah. You can see how unfair the terms were. Yet Rasulullah s.a.w agreed to them all anyway. But he managed to turn them into advantages instead for the Muslims back then. And that’s why we can perform the hajj now right?

I personally hate ‘weapons of mass destruction’. They allow senseless killing of innocents with the drop of a bomb. You can’t see the faces and you won’t see the pain, so you’re not able to witness the devastation that you’ve caused to innocent people’s lives. It’s sick and completely inhumane.

I have a feeling this is not quite the end, but I pray that whatever happens next, the leaders and people of Gaza will be strong and patient.

Looking at this situation from another perspective, I feel quite sorry for the Jews around the world. I’ve come across reports stating that there has been an increase in anti-Semitism acts around the world such as vandalism on synagogues.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? Isn’t that the same kind of situation we Muslims have been facing since 9/11 and the consequent terror attacks, the latest being the Mumbai attacks?

Yes, maybe some Jews are for ‘Operation Cast Lead’, but there has got to be some who are against it. The Neturei Karta, Orthodox Jews against Zionism for example. There really is no need to attack every single Jew out there.

I believe in a war, the only people who can be slain are the fighters. Not the ones not involved in it, and especially not, as pointed out by Rasulullah s.a.w., women and children.

It is narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah that a woman was found killed in one of the battles fought by the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He disapproved of the killing of women and children.

[Bukhari, Muslim]

And certainly not the destruction of WHOLE COUNTRIES. I’ve never come across any stories of Rasulullah s.a.w. destroying a whole country in a war or on an expedition. Nor did he even WISH for the destruction of Thaif or Makkah when they put him and the Muslims under despicable tortures and humiliation.

The quote below describes his reaction after the humiliation he faced at Thaif:

Jibril (AS) said, “Allah has heard your people’s saying to you, and what they have replied back to you. Allah has sent the angel of the mountains to you so that you may order him to do whatever you wish to these people.

The Prophet (SAWS) described this later saying, “The angel of the mountains called and greeted me, and then said, O Muhammad! Order what you wish. If you like, I will let Al-Akh-Shabain (i.e. two mountains) fall on them”

But the Prophet (SAWS) replied saying, “No but I hope that Allah will let them beget children who will worship Allah Alone, and will worship None besides Him.”

[http://www.amrkhaled.net/articles/articlesprint1107.html]

Masya’Allah, look at that. LOOK AT THAT!!! He didn’t even think of revenge, Masya’Allah… How can you not love him?

Astaghfirullah… where is the natural compassion that we are all supposed to have? How did we get tricked into believing that seeking revenge can solve everything?

Okay, before I go any longer and risk making this an even more emotional post, I shall end here…

Jazaakallahu Khair, Fi Amanillah