From: http://www.iviews.com/
By: Dr. Aslam Abdullah Iviews* -
Seven of the 16 Pakistani cricket team players visiting England for test and one day matches are under investigation for match fixing. Among them are players as young as 18 and as old as 34. They include junior and senior players including the captain and the vice captain. Those who were caught fixing the match were Pakistani too and they revealed that during the last 30 months they had amassed huge wealth by buying Pakistani cricketers to serve the interests of bookies. Everyone who is a fan of any sports and love the youthful spirit of competitiveness must hand his head in utter shame as words cannot explain the trauma of betrayal. It is ironic that this disgrace comes at a time when the nation is faced with the worst flood of its existence. How can the world trust a people with its resources to help the flood victims, when even its sportsmen are not free from corruption?
This is utter disgrace from a sports perspective, abject disgust from a national perspective and absolute shame from a faith perspective. But what is there to be shocked? When the country is led by a President who is known in international financial circles as Mr. 10 per cent for bribes that he collects for awarding lucrative contracts on behalf of the government of Pakistan, the cricketers lust for money is not unjustified. Why should anyone be surprised when the national cabinet consists of people who are known for destroying the national wealth by piling up their personal wealth abroad.
Corruption is rampant in Pakistan. Pakistanis have to pay huge amounts of money to their government officials to get their genuine and legitimate work done. They have to spend large amounts to ensure that they are not framed in any illegal act by those who have been given the responsibility to protect them. There are not many in the Pakistan bureaucracy and Pakistani elected government who can claim integrity and honesty as their traits.
This is the land where people kill each other in the name of establishing an Islamic state, where sectarian and ethnic violence is common and where the dignity of an ordinary citizen is not safe. This is the state where some 25 per cent people live in conditions not suitable even for animals and this is the land that has abandoned once its own citizens who are stranded in Bangladesh. This is the land where honor killing is often justified by religious scholars and this is the land where boys are given preference over girls because girls are considered social stigma.
Some 63 years ago, when the world witnessed the emergence of a state created in the name of a faith, hopes were high. More than a million people lost their lives from amongst Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs for what is known the partition of the country. Huge population shift took place within a short period of time destroying the culture and stability for millions. All that was accepted in the hope that a state would emerge where men and women would be treated respectfully and equally, where ethnic and sectarian strife would be of no value, where the division between rich and poor would not determine the status, where education would be common, where exploitation of labor would come to an end and where minorities would never complain of injustices. Idealism for an altruist society was common among those struggling for the creation of the new country.
Those who witnessed the early era for the struggle of Pakistan were not looking for just a homeland for Muslims because there were numerous places in an undivided India where Muslims constituted overwhelming majority, rather, they were optimistic of a future where the rule of law not favoring any ethnic, religious or ideological group would prevail and where the resources would not be monopolized by a few people. Many died for this dream and many still live for this dream.
Pakistan has betrayed its own ideals and destroyed the very foundation it was built on. Rather than using the divine guidance to unite and progress, its religious leaders have created divisions around divine guidance to an extent where violence against opponents has been justified in the name of God. Rather than using the resources divinely gifted, the rich and resourceful have continued to practice feudalism, brutal ownership of land and brutalization of a work force that has been compelled to live as bonded labors. Rather than building an educated and literate community, the educators and planners have continued to neglect the poor and the needy to the extent that today Pakistan's literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world. National interests are sold cheaply to foreign buyers. People can easily be bought even to give their honor and life for a few dollars.
Unemployment is rampant, moral degradation is visible, tolerance of opposing ideas is absent, violence is common and above all corruption has become a national hallmark. Every sector of Pakistan's life is affected by corruption and graft including the religious sector whose dealers known as clerics take pride in charging the believers huge amount of money for reciting a few words of the scripture and making a few duas in Arabic.
Scattered individuals concerned with the deteriorating conditions do stand up against this culture of degradation, yet their voices are shut down. Sincerity is often ridiculed and simplicity is laughed at. Pakistan as a nation has lost the moral compass to turn to.
If Pakistan has to emerge as a respectable and dignified nation, it has to find those visionaries who are selfless and willing to give their country a leadership based on rational thoughts and progressive ideas securing the dignity of each and every one of the people. Pakistan does not need a movement centered around this or that politician to overtake the parliament in the next election, it needs a national leadership drawn from all ethnic, cultural, gender, linguistic and religious groups who can identify with the needs of common people and work to secure the dignity of each and everyone based on sound ideas and progressive thinking.
In the next 30 years, the majority of Pakistan would consist of people under the age of 30. This generation deserve to live a full life in a culture of peace and dignity. If they do not find it in the Pakistan's dominant faith, Islam, they will experiment with other ideologies and isms. It is imperative that the Islamic vision of equality, justice and liberty is revived with progressive thoughts by those who are willing to understand the divine purpose of the divine guidance and who are willing to challenge the status quo. Otherwise, the heaps of disgrace would keep piling on and on.
Dr Aslam Abdullah is director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, Vice president of the Muslim Council of America (MCA) and the President elect of the Nevada Interfaith Council. He has authored several books and published more than 400 papers on issues related with Islam and contemporary issues. He has taught at colleges in India as well as in the US.
Blogger comment:
At personal level I met a lot of Pakistani who are very good people and carry the best ethics. However like many Muslims/Arabs countries the people in top who control the country are corrupt. I do not know what is wrong with the west they always find those corrupt guys to control us. May be there are no good guys there, I doubt it. Muslims are yearning for caliphate because of the great moral history of the first Califs who came after the prophet and lived the Quran day by day not as a holy book put up over the shelves of their cars or homes. If they want from the Quran the protection they have to protect the Quran and implement it.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
America Facing Depression and Bankruptcy
From: Media Monitor
by Stephen Lendman
(Saturday, August 28, 2010)
As worrisome were increasing layoffs and first-time unemployment claims hitting 500,000, flashing red for trouble nearly three years after the initial downturn, combined with a near-22% unemployment rate, not the bogus 9.5% headline number, the 1980 calculation reengineered to conceal weakness like all other fake economic data, putting lipstick on an economy, increasingly looking and smelling more like a pig, a sick one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-time economic, political and market analyst Bob Chapman publishes the International Forecaster, offering incisive analysis absent through mainstream sources, especially important now given America's deepening economic crisis getting harder to conceal as evidence mounts.
His August 25 issue says the following:
"Twenty countries (including America) are headed into bankruptcy and more will follow. That brings up the subject of state debt in the US. America has been in an inflationary depression for 18 months. States have been cutting back for two years," but still face huge budget gaps required to be closed....2011 will be a terrible year (with) 80% of states expect(ing) deficits of more than $200 billion. 2012 looks even worse." Most worrisome, "there is no recovery and there never has been....the US economy and financial system is comatose." The worst is yet to come and will hit hard on arrival.
On August 24, economist David Rosenberg said, "Now (I'll) tell you why this is a depression, and not just some garden-variety recession," what he's been repeating for months unlike few others, corporate analysts claiming the fall 2007 downturn "ended sometime last year." Not so, it's deepened, growing evidence providing more clarity.
Offering a historical perspective, Rosenberg said the Great Depression wasn't marked by declining GDP each quarter. The 1929 - 33 recession lasted four years, followed by recovery and another "deep downturn" in 1937 - 38.
During the first one, "there were no fewer than six - six! - quarterly bounces in GDP data," averaging 8% at an annual rate, accompanied by sharp market increases, then declines confirming false positives. So "guess what? We may be reliving history (now). If you're keeping score, we have recorded four quarterly advances in real GDP," averaging only 3%. The late 1930s reversal showed "how fragile the post-bubble recovery really was," a faux one again repeated in a weaker economy now than then, one headed for serious trouble ahead, harming millions more Americans as a result.
The Fed cut interest rates to near zero with no effect, at best buying time, resolving nothing. "Then the Fed tripled the size of its balance sheet - again with little sustained impetus to a broken financial system."
Weeks back, then confirmed with new data, Rosenberg stressed weakness, numerous indicators turning down, including production, retail sales, consumer confidence, and housing, a bellwether industry impacting the entire economy. New reports show it's collapsing, some readings to record lows, others disturbingly weak throughout the country.
July existing home sales dropped 25.5%, the largest monthly decline since records began in 1968, bringing annualized sales back to 1995 levels, and signaling worse trouble ahead. Other housing data confirm the malaise, including new home sales, housing starts and permits.
As worrisome were increasing layoffs and first-time unemployment claims hitting 500,000, flashing red for trouble nearly three years after the initial downturn, combined with a near-22% unemployment rate, not the bogus 9.5% headline number, the 1980 calculation reengineered to conceal weakness like all other fake economic data, putting lipstick on an economy, increasingly looking and smelling more like a pig, a sick one.
According to Rosenberg, "You know you are in a depression when:
"Congress (extends) jobless benefits seven times (in the past two years) when almost half (of those) unemployed have been looking for at least a half year;"
the adult male unemployment rate (25 - 54 years) "hit a post-WW II (high and still tops) the 1982 peak," the worst then since the Great Depression;
"youth unemployment is stuck near 25%," and for inner-city black youths it's 80% or higher; "these developments will have profound long-term consequences - social, economic and political;"
the depression's fiscal costs keep mounting, the federal deficit soaring with no end to it in sight;
for over a year into a supposed recovery, the Fed still contemplates new ways to stimulate growth, its tool, of course, printing money (funny money, or as one analyst calls it, "toilet paper") and quantitative easing, compounding the deficit, or the equivalent of throwing fuel on a fire instead of monetary and fiscal sanity plus sound economy policies to extinguish it;
after two years of record trillion dollar plus deficits to kick-start the economy, interest rates are shockingly low, flashing weakness, not strength; to wit, on August 24, the 5-year note was 1.36%, 7-year at $1.95%, 10-year at 2.50%, and 30 year at 3.57%; as well as 30-year fixed mortgage rates at record lows below 4.5% (4.42% on August 24), despite "no fewer than eight (government) programs to put a floor under the housing market;" we're in big trouble "when (Washington) can expend so many resources (on) one sector" in vain;
the FDIC keeps shuttering more banks; again, the carnage keeps spreading, yet most economists cling tenaciously an economic recovery theme, at most hit by a soft patch; Rosenberg's response - "Some recovery (when) the private credit market is basically defunct....what replaced it was rampant government intervention (buying time) by trying to (put) a floor under the economy;" once it stops, and it will, they'll be no hiding the dire truth, and no end of pain for growing millions.
The Worst Is Yet to Come
Financial expert and investor safety advocate Martin Weiss began warning about a major economic decline long before it began and keeps at it, citing evidence most analysts downplay or ignore, including:
America's worst ever housing depression showing no signs of abating; since January 2006, housing starts alone have plunged from 2.3 million annually to a recent 477,000 low that may not yet reflect a bottom because demand is so weak for this bellwether industry;
record long-term unemployment, its worst since first officially tabulated over 60 years ago; and
"the most chronic credit squeeze ever recorded....suffer(ing) its deepest plunge since WW II."
As a result, he sees deepening economic trouble ahead, no matter what steps the administration, Congress or the Fed undertake. He expects little more stimulus, just another futile central bank attempt to print money (lots of it) to buy time. "These paper dollars will not create real prosperity," just an illusory, "temporary, false prosperity," but none at all for most people, hung out to dry on their own.
He also expects a sovereign debt crisis to hammer Europe and the US, saying America's plight exceeds the dire situation of PIIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), citing the Bank of International Settlements (the central bank of central bankers) saying US debt will hit 400% of GDP, more than triple Greece's burden at 129% that plunged the country into (undeclared) bankruptcy. Indeed the worst for America is yet to come.
America Is Already Bankrupt
Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff explains it in his August 10 article, titled "US Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It," saying:
"Let's get real. The US is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills." What's needed, he says, is reengineering the economy by "radically simplify(ing) its tax, healthcare, retirement and financial systems...." Revitalization depends on it with unfunded liabilities topping $110 trillion and growing. Even the IMF is worried, saying "closing (America's) fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 percent of US GDP," meaning, of course, from working households, not corporate interests or national security, the most glaring areas needing reform.
The fiscal gap represents "the difference between projected spending (including debt service) and projected revenue in all future years. (It's) the government's credit-card bill and each year's 14 percent GDP is the interest on that bill."
When it's not paid, it increases the balance owed. And each trillion the Fed prints bailing out bankers compounds it. Make them pay, not the public they robbed, starting with shutting them down, breaking them up, seizing their assets, and nationalizing them for the collective good.
Kotlikoff is scary saying "Uncle Sam's Ponzi scheme will stop, (perhaps) in a very nasty manner," citing three possibilities:
(1) massive benefit cuts on retirees;
(2) huge tax increases hitting working Americans hardest, and/or
(3) printing vast amounts of money ad infinitum until debt overload crashes the economy eventually.
Calling America "Worse than Greece," he believes "Most likely we will see a combination of all three responses with dramatic increases in poverty, tax(es), interest rates and consumer prices," the path we're on heading us for the worst of all possible worlds.
Based on the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, he calculates a $202 trillion fiscal gap - "more than 15 times the official debt" because Congress "label(s) most of its liabilities 'unofficial' to keep them off the books, (out of sight) and far in the future" to concern other officials, not them. Labeling, of course, isn't fixing. It's just concealing unpleasant realities, letting others, not them, face the music in out years.
Current federal revenue totals $14.9% of GDP, the IMF saying that closing it requires "an immediate and permanent doubling of our personal-income, corporate and federal taxes as well as the payroll levy set down in the Federal Insurance Contribution Act."
Such policy would produce a 5% surplus this year, the IMF prescribing ad infinitum fiscal austerity, saying delay will make it tougher ahead. "Is the IMF bonkers?" Not at all, just preferential, wanting workers, not special interests hit hardest, the way it's raped and mauled economies for years, serving capital, not people, now aiming at America, the biggest plum of all ripe for plucking with millions of vulnerable households, easy pickings for the powerful, harming, not relieving their needs by:
cutting wages and benefits;
destroying, not creating jobs; privatizing everything for private gain; and
turning America into Guatemala, a corporatist's dream.
Indeed let's get real. Bad policy begets bad results, and bad solutions makes it worse. For sure, America is "broke and can no longer afford no-pain, all-gain 'solutions.' "
It needs responsible ones, too many to list, but here's a few:
end imperial wars and a bloated defense budget;
reinvent government to make it responsive to public needs and democratic values;
make offenders pay most, starting with Wall Street, defense contractors, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Agribusiness, and other corporate predators profiting at public expense for decades;
make now the time for payback, assuring their victims fair and equitable reimbursements;
reinvigorate industrial America;
end Wall Street's financial chokehold;
return money creation power to Congress as the Constitution mandates;
encourage publicly-owned state banks like North Dakota's, making it prosperous when most states are debt-strapped and faltering;
create full-time, good-paying jobs with benefits; don't destroy them;
bring back those offshored;
protect homeowners from foreclosure;
re-institute progressive taxes, including a Tobin tax (perhaps 1%) on all speculative financial transactions, a millionaire's/Wall Street bank levy generating a huge windfall, enough to smack if not close the budget gap, making those most able pay; for example, the Bank for International Settlements estimated annual 2008 global over-the-counter derivatives trading at $743 trillion; a 1% tax would yield $7.43 trillion, and if taxes curbed speculation, the take would still be enormous;
dismantle corporate predators;
think small and local, not big and global;
reinstitute financial, environmental, and other consumer-friendly regulations;
get money out of politics;
end the two-party monopoly;
institutionalize a free, open, fair media and Internet;
assure equitable social benefits for all, including universal, single-payer health care, government-supported public and higher education, and more; and
reinvigorate an eroding democracy before it's too late to matter.
Responsible policies, all of the above and more, will reinvigorate America. The unsustainable fiscal crisis is reason enough to do it.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/Headlines/America-Facing-Depression-and-Bankruptcy
Blogger comment:
Time for America to go back to God, the true God of Israel not the God of imperialism, injustice and wars. Time to go back to the true teachings of Jesus (PBUH).
by Stephen Lendman
(Saturday, August 28, 2010)
As worrisome were increasing layoffs and first-time unemployment claims hitting 500,000, flashing red for trouble nearly three years after the initial downturn, combined with a near-22% unemployment rate, not the bogus 9.5% headline number, the 1980 calculation reengineered to conceal weakness like all other fake economic data, putting lipstick on an economy, increasingly looking and smelling more like a pig, a sick one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-time economic, political and market analyst Bob Chapman publishes the International Forecaster, offering incisive analysis absent through mainstream sources, especially important now given America's deepening economic crisis getting harder to conceal as evidence mounts.
His August 25 issue says the following:
"Twenty countries (including America) are headed into bankruptcy and more will follow. That brings up the subject of state debt in the US. America has been in an inflationary depression for 18 months. States have been cutting back for two years," but still face huge budget gaps required to be closed....2011 will be a terrible year (with) 80% of states expect(ing) deficits of more than $200 billion. 2012 looks even worse." Most worrisome, "there is no recovery and there never has been....the US economy and financial system is comatose." The worst is yet to come and will hit hard on arrival.
On August 24, economist David Rosenberg said, "Now (I'll) tell you why this is a depression, and not just some garden-variety recession," what he's been repeating for months unlike few others, corporate analysts claiming the fall 2007 downturn "ended sometime last year." Not so, it's deepened, growing evidence providing more clarity.
Offering a historical perspective, Rosenberg said the Great Depression wasn't marked by declining GDP each quarter. The 1929 - 33 recession lasted four years, followed by recovery and another "deep downturn" in 1937 - 38.
During the first one, "there were no fewer than six - six! - quarterly bounces in GDP data," averaging 8% at an annual rate, accompanied by sharp market increases, then declines confirming false positives. So "guess what? We may be reliving history (now). If you're keeping score, we have recorded four quarterly advances in real GDP," averaging only 3%. The late 1930s reversal showed "how fragile the post-bubble recovery really was," a faux one again repeated in a weaker economy now than then, one headed for serious trouble ahead, harming millions more Americans as a result.
The Fed cut interest rates to near zero with no effect, at best buying time, resolving nothing. "Then the Fed tripled the size of its balance sheet - again with little sustained impetus to a broken financial system."
Weeks back, then confirmed with new data, Rosenberg stressed weakness, numerous indicators turning down, including production, retail sales, consumer confidence, and housing, a bellwether industry impacting the entire economy. New reports show it's collapsing, some readings to record lows, others disturbingly weak throughout the country.
July existing home sales dropped 25.5%, the largest monthly decline since records began in 1968, bringing annualized sales back to 1995 levels, and signaling worse trouble ahead. Other housing data confirm the malaise, including new home sales, housing starts and permits.
As worrisome were increasing layoffs and first-time unemployment claims hitting 500,000, flashing red for trouble nearly three years after the initial downturn, combined with a near-22% unemployment rate, not the bogus 9.5% headline number, the 1980 calculation reengineered to conceal weakness like all other fake economic data, putting lipstick on an economy, increasingly looking and smelling more like a pig, a sick one.
According to Rosenberg, "You know you are in a depression when:
"Congress (extends) jobless benefits seven times (in the past two years) when almost half (of those) unemployed have been looking for at least a half year;"
the adult male unemployment rate (25 - 54 years) "hit a post-WW II (high and still tops) the 1982 peak," the worst then since the Great Depression;
"youth unemployment is stuck near 25%," and for inner-city black youths it's 80% or higher; "these developments will have profound long-term consequences - social, economic and political;"
the depression's fiscal costs keep mounting, the federal deficit soaring with no end to it in sight;
for over a year into a supposed recovery, the Fed still contemplates new ways to stimulate growth, its tool, of course, printing money (funny money, or as one analyst calls it, "toilet paper") and quantitative easing, compounding the deficit, or the equivalent of throwing fuel on a fire instead of monetary and fiscal sanity plus sound economy policies to extinguish it;
after two years of record trillion dollar plus deficits to kick-start the economy, interest rates are shockingly low, flashing weakness, not strength; to wit, on August 24, the 5-year note was 1.36%, 7-year at $1.95%, 10-year at 2.50%, and 30 year at 3.57%; as well as 30-year fixed mortgage rates at record lows below 4.5% (4.42% on August 24), despite "no fewer than eight (government) programs to put a floor under the housing market;" we're in big trouble "when (Washington) can expend so many resources (on) one sector" in vain;
the FDIC keeps shuttering more banks; again, the carnage keeps spreading, yet most economists cling tenaciously an economic recovery theme, at most hit by a soft patch; Rosenberg's response - "Some recovery (when) the private credit market is basically defunct....what replaced it was rampant government intervention (buying time) by trying to (put) a floor under the economy;" once it stops, and it will, they'll be no hiding the dire truth, and no end of pain for growing millions.
The Worst Is Yet to Come
Financial expert and investor safety advocate Martin Weiss began warning about a major economic decline long before it began and keeps at it, citing evidence most analysts downplay or ignore, including:
America's worst ever housing depression showing no signs of abating; since January 2006, housing starts alone have plunged from 2.3 million annually to a recent 477,000 low that may not yet reflect a bottom because demand is so weak for this bellwether industry;
record long-term unemployment, its worst since first officially tabulated over 60 years ago; and
"the most chronic credit squeeze ever recorded....suffer(ing) its deepest plunge since WW II."
As a result, he sees deepening economic trouble ahead, no matter what steps the administration, Congress or the Fed undertake. He expects little more stimulus, just another futile central bank attempt to print money (lots of it) to buy time. "These paper dollars will not create real prosperity," just an illusory, "temporary, false prosperity," but none at all for most people, hung out to dry on their own.
He also expects a sovereign debt crisis to hammer Europe and the US, saying America's plight exceeds the dire situation of PIIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), citing the Bank of International Settlements (the central bank of central bankers) saying US debt will hit 400% of GDP, more than triple Greece's burden at 129% that plunged the country into (undeclared) bankruptcy. Indeed the worst for America is yet to come.
America Is Already Bankrupt
Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff explains it in his August 10 article, titled "US Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It," saying:
"Let's get real. The US is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills." What's needed, he says, is reengineering the economy by "radically simplify(ing) its tax, healthcare, retirement and financial systems...." Revitalization depends on it with unfunded liabilities topping $110 trillion and growing. Even the IMF is worried, saying "closing (America's) fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 percent of US GDP," meaning, of course, from working households, not corporate interests or national security, the most glaring areas needing reform.
The fiscal gap represents "the difference between projected spending (including debt service) and projected revenue in all future years. (It's) the government's credit-card bill and each year's 14 percent GDP is the interest on that bill."
When it's not paid, it increases the balance owed. And each trillion the Fed prints bailing out bankers compounds it. Make them pay, not the public they robbed, starting with shutting them down, breaking them up, seizing their assets, and nationalizing them for the collective good.
Kotlikoff is scary saying "Uncle Sam's Ponzi scheme will stop, (perhaps) in a very nasty manner," citing three possibilities:
(1) massive benefit cuts on retirees;
(2) huge tax increases hitting working Americans hardest, and/or
(3) printing vast amounts of money ad infinitum until debt overload crashes the economy eventually.
Calling America "Worse than Greece," he believes "Most likely we will see a combination of all three responses with dramatic increases in poverty, tax(es), interest rates and consumer prices," the path we're on heading us for the worst of all possible worlds.
Based on the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, he calculates a $202 trillion fiscal gap - "more than 15 times the official debt" because Congress "label(s) most of its liabilities 'unofficial' to keep them off the books, (out of sight) and far in the future" to concern other officials, not them. Labeling, of course, isn't fixing. It's just concealing unpleasant realities, letting others, not them, face the music in out years.
Current federal revenue totals $14.9% of GDP, the IMF saying that closing it requires "an immediate and permanent doubling of our personal-income, corporate and federal taxes as well as the payroll levy set down in the Federal Insurance Contribution Act."
Such policy would produce a 5% surplus this year, the IMF prescribing ad infinitum fiscal austerity, saying delay will make it tougher ahead. "Is the IMF bonkers?" Not at all, just preferential, wanting workers, not special interests hit hardest, the way it's raped and mauled economies for years, serving capital, not people, now aiming at America, the biggest plum of all ripe for plucking with millions of vulnerable households, easy pickings for the powerful, harming, not relieving their needs by:
cutting wages and benefits;
destroying, not creating jobs; privatizing everything for private gain; and
turning America into Guatemala, a corporatist's dream.
Indeed let's get real. Bad policy begets bad results, and bad solutions makes it worse. For sure, America is "broke and can no longer afford no-pain, all-gain 'solutions.' "
It needs responsible ones, too many to list, but here's a few:
end imperial wars and a bloated defense budget;
reinvent government to make it responsive to public needs and democratic values;
make offenders pay most, starting with Wall Street, defense contractors, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Agribusiness, and other corporate predators profiting at public expense for decades;
make now the time for payback, assuring their victims fair and equitable reimbursements;
reinvigorate industrial America;
end Wall Street's financial chokehold;
return money creation power to Congress as the Constitution mandates;
encourage publicly-owned state banks like North Dakota's, making it prosperous when most states are debt-strapped and faltering;
create full-time, good-paying jobs with benefits; don't destroy them;
bring back those offshored;
protect homeowners from foreclosure;
re-institute progressive taxes, including a Tobin tax (perhaps 1%) on all speculative financial transactions, a millionaire's/Wall Street bank levy generating a huge windfall, enough to smack if not close the budget gap, making those most able pay; for example, the Bank for International Settlements estimated annual 2008 global over-the-counter derivatives trading at $743 trillion; a 1% tax would yield $7.43 trillion, and if taxes curbed speculation, the take would still be enormous;
dismantle corporate predators;
think small and local, not big and global;
reinstitute financial, environmental, and other consumer-friendly regulations;
get money out of politics;
end the two-party monopoly;
institutionalize a free, open, fair media and Internet;
assure equitable social benefits for all, including universal, single-payer health care, government-supported public and higher education, and more; and
reinvigorate an eroding democracy before it's too late to matter.
Responsible policies, all of the above and more, will reinvigorate America. The unsustainable fiscal crisis is reason enough to do it.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/Headlines/America-Facing-Depression-and-Bankruptcy
Blogger comment:
Time for America to go back to God, the true God of Israel not the God of imperialism, injustice and wars. Time to go back to the true teachings of Jesus (PBUH).
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The United Colors of Islam
From: www.islamicity.com
The United Colors of Islam (part 1 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
“God said: ‘What prevented you (O Satan) that you did not prostrate when I commanded you?’ Iblees (the Satan) replied: ‘I am better than him (Adam). You created me from fire, and him You created from clay.” (Quran 7:12)
So begins the history of racism. Satan thought himself superior to Adam on account of his origins. Since that day, Satan has misled many of Adam’s descendants into also believing themselves superior to others, causing them to persecute and exploit their fellow man. Quite often, religion has been used to justify racism. Judaism, for example, despite its Middle-Eastern origins, is readily passed off as a Western religion; but the entry of Jews into all levels of Western society actually betrays Judaism’s elitist reality. A pious reading of the bible verse:
“There is no God in all the world but in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15)
…would be to suggest that in those days God, or God, was not worshipped except by Israelites. However, Judaism today remains centered around its boast of ‘chosen’ racial superiority.
“Say: ‘O Jews! If you pretend that you are the beloved slaves of God to the exclusion of the rest of humanity, then long for death if you are really truthful.’” (Quran 62:6)
Conversely, while most Christians are overwhelmingly non-Jew, Jesus, as the last of the Israelite Prophets, was sent to none but the Jews.[1]
“And (remember) when Jesus, son of Mary, said: ‘O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of God sent unto you, confirming the Torah before me and bearing glad tidings of a Messenger after me whose name shall be Ahmad[2]...’” (Quran 61:6)
And likewise every Prophet was sent exclusively to his own people,[3] every Prophet, that is, except Muhammad.
“Say (O Muhammad): ‘O People! I am the Messenger of God sent to you all…’” (Quran 7:158)
As Muhammad was God’s final Prophet and Messenger, his mission was a universal one, intended for not only his own nation, the Arabs, but all the peoples of the world. The Prophet said:
“Every other Prophet was sent to his nation exclusively, while I have been sent to all of humanity.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
“And We have not sent you (O Muhammad) except as a bearer of glad tidings and a Warner to all mankind, but most of people know not.” (Quran 34:28)
Bilal the Abyssinian
One of the first to accept Islam was an Abyssinian slave named Bilal. Traditionally, black Africans were a lowly people in the sight of Arabs who thought them to be of little use beyond entertainment and slavery. When Bilal embraced Islam, his pagan master had him brutally tortured in the scorching desert heat until Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s closest friend, rescued him by buying his freedom.
The Prophet appointed Bilal to call the believers to prayer. The athan heard from minarets in every corner of the world since, echoes the exact same words recited by Bilal. Thus, a onetime lowly slave won a unique honor as Islam’s first muezzin.
“And indeed We have honored the Children of Adam...” (Quran 17:70)
Western romantics hail ancient Greece as being the birthplace of democracy.[4] The reality was that, as slaves and women, the vast majority of Athenians were denied the right to elect their rulers. Yet, Islam ordained that a slave could himself be ruler! The Prophet ordered:
“Obey your ruler even if he be an Abyssinian slave.” (Ahmad)
Footnotes:
[1] The bible agrees. Jesus is reported to have said: ‘I have not been sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ (Matthew 15:24). Hence, every one of his famous twelve disciples was an Israelite Jew. The one biblical passage where Jesus tells them to: ‘Go and preach unto all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’ (Matthew 28:19), commonly quoted to prove the Gentile mission as well as the Trinity, is not found in any pre-16th century manuscript and thus considered ‘a pious fraud.’
[2] One of the names of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.
[3] And We sent to every nation a Messenger (saying): ‘Worship God (alone) and shun false deities.’ (Quran 16:36)
[4] Democracy is a Middle-Eastern invention, first seen in the civilization of Ebla in 3rd millennium BC, and then in Phoenicia and Mesopotamia during 11th century BC. It did not appear in Athens unti15th century BC.
The United Colors of Islam (part 2 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
Salman the Persian
Like most of his countrymen, Salman was raised a devout Zoroastrian. However, after an encounter with some Christians at worship, he accepted Christianity as ‘something better’. Salman then traveled extensively in search of knowledge, from the service of one learned monk to another, the last of whom said: ‘O son! I do not know of anyone who is on the same (creed) as we are. However, the time of the emergence of a Prophet is at hand. This Prophet is upon the religion of Abraham.’ The monk then proceeded to describe this Prophet, his character and where he would appear. Salman migrated to Arabia, the land of the prophecy, and when he heard about and met Muhammad, he immediately recognized him from his teacher’s descriptions and embraced Islam. Salman became renowned for his knowledge and was the first person to translate the Quran into another language, Persian. Once, whilst the Prophet was amongst his Companions, the following was revealed to him:
“It is He (God) Who had sent among the unlettered (the Arabs) a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves... and (also to) others (i.e. non-Arabs) among them who have not yet joined them (as Muslims)...” (Quran 62:2-3)
God’s Messenger then placed his hand on Salman and said:
“Even if the Faith were near (the stars of) Pleiades, a man from amongst these (Persians) would surely attain it.” (Saheeh Muslim)
Suhayb the Roman
Suhayb was born into privilege in the luxurious house of his father, who was a client governor for the Persian emperor. While he was still a child, Suhayb was captured by Byzantine raiders and sold into slavery in Constantinople.
Suhayb eventually escaped from bondage and fled to Mecca, a popular place of asylum, where he soon became a prosperous merchant nick-named ‘ar-Rumi’, the Roman, due to his Byzantine tongue and upbringing. When Suhayb heard Muhammad preach, he was at once convinced of the truth of his message and embraced Islam. Like all the early Muslims, Suhayb was persecuted by the pagans of Mecca. So, he traded all his wealth in exchange for safe passage to join the Prophet at Medina, whereupon the Prophet, delighted to see Suhayb, greeted him thrice: ‘Your trade has been fruitful, O [Suhayb]! Your trade has been fruitful!’ God had informed the Prophet of Suhayb’s exploits before their reunion with this revelation:
“And there is a type of man who ransoms himself to earn the pleasure of God. And God is full of kindness to His servants.” (Quran 2:207)
The Prophet loved Suhayb a great deal and described him as having preceded the Romans to Islam. Suhayb’s piety and standing among the early Muslims was so high that when Caliph Umar was on his deathbed, he selected Suhayb to lead them until they could agree upon a successor.
Abdullah the Hebrew
The Jews were another nation that the pre-Islamic Arabs held in contempt. Many Jews and Christians had been expecting a new Prophet to appear in Arabia during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Jews from the Levite tribe in particular had settled in large numbers in and around the city of Medina. However, when the much anticipated Prophet came, not as a Hebrew son of Israel, but as the Arab descendant of Ishmael, the Jews rejected him. Except, that is, for a few like Hussein bin Salam. Hussein was the most learned rabbi and leader of the Medinan Jews but was denounced and vilified by them when he embraced Islam. The Prophet re-named Husayn, ‘Abdullah’, meaning ‘Servant of God’, and gave him the glad tidings that he was destined for Paradise. Abdullah addressed his tribesmen saying:
‘O assembly of Jews! Be conscious of God and accept what Muhammad has brought. By God! You certainly know that he is God’s Messenger and you can find prophecies about him and mention of his name and characteristics in your Torah. I for my part declare that he is the Messenger of God. I have faith in him and believe that he is true. I (for one) recognize him.’ God revealed the following about Abdullah:
“And a witness from the Children of Israel testified to this (Quran being from God) like (the Torah). So he believed while (most of) you (Jews) are too proud (to believe).” (Quran 46:10)
Thus, in the ranks of the Prophet Muhammad’s Companions could be found Africans, Persians, Romans and Israelites; representatives of every known continent. As the Prophet said:
“Indeed, my friends and allies are not the tribe of so and so. Rather, my friends and allies are the pious, wherever they may be.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)
The United Colors of Islam (part 3 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
This universal brotherhood preached by Islam was championed by the Prophet’s Companions after him. When the Companion, Ubada bin as-Samit, led a delegation to Muqawqis, the Christian patriarch of Alexandria, the latter exclaimed: ‘Get this black man away from me and bring in his stead another to talk to me! ... How can you be content that a black man should be the foremost among you? Is it not more fitting that he be below you?’ ‘Indeed no!’, Ubada’s comrades replied, ‘Though he is black as you see, he is still the foremost among us in position, intelligence and wisdom; for black is not despised among us.’
“Truly, the Believers are but brothers...” (Quran 49:10)
It is the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which remains the ultimate symbol of the oneness and brotherhood of man. Here, rich and poor from all nations stand and bow in unison before God in what is the largest gathering of humanity; testifying to the Prophet’s words when he said:
“There is truly no excellence for an Arab over a non-Arab; or for a non-Arab over an Arab; or for a white man over a black man; or for a black man over a white man; except through piety.” (Ahmad)
And this confirms the Quran, which says:
“O humanity! We have created you from a single male and female and have made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another (not that you have pride over one another). Verily, the most honorable of you in the God’s Sight is the one most pious…” (Quran 49:13)
As for nationalism, with its factionalizing of Muslims along ethnic and tribal lines, it is considered an evil innovation.
“If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your tribe, the wealth you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and striving hard in His Cause, then wait until God brings about His Decision. And God guides not a rebellious people.” (Quran 9:24)
The Prophet said:
“... whoever fights under the banner of the blind, becoming angry for nationalism, calling to nationalism, or assisting nationalism, and dies: then he dies a death of jahiliyya (i.e. pre-Islamic ignorance and disbelief).” (Saheeh Muslim)
Rather, the Quran says:
“While those who disbelieved placed in their hearts pride and haughtiness - the pride and haughtiness of jahiliyya, God sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the Believers…” (Quran 48:26)
In fact, the Muslims in and of themselves constitute a single body and supra-nation, as the Prophet explained:
“The parable of the Believers in their mutual love and mercy is like that of a living body: if one part feels pain, the whole body suffers in sleeplessness and fever.” (Saheeh Muslim)
The Quran confirms this unity:
“Thus, We have made you (Believers into) a (single) justly-balanced community...” (Quran 2:143)
Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to the acceptance of Islam by many Westerners is the fallacy that it is primarily a religion for Orientals or dark-skinned people. No doubt, the racial injustices against many blacks, be they Abyssinian slaves of pre-Islamic Arabia, or 20th century Afro-Americans, has prompted many to embrace Islam. But this is beside the point. The Prophet Muhammad was himself of whitish complexion, described by his Companions as being ‘white and ruddy’ - a description many tens of millions of believing Arabs, Berbers and Persians share. Even blue-eyed blondes are not so rare amongst Near Easterners. Furthermore, Europe has more indigenous white Muslims than it has ‘colored’ immigrants. The Bosnians, for example, whose numbers were decimated at the end of the 20th century but who, due to their heroism and tradition of tolerance, have contributed most to Balkan peace and stability. Albanians too, descended from Europe’s ancient Illyrians, are also largely Muslim. In fact, one of the 20th century’s leading Muslim scholars, Imam Muhammad Nasir-ud-Deen al-Albani, was, as his title suggests, Albanian.
“Truly, We created humans in the best stature.” (Quran 5:4)
Whites have been called ‘caucasian’ ever since anthropologists declared the Caucasus Mountains, home to Europe’s highest peaks, to be the ‘Cradle of the White Race.’ Today, the natives of these mountains are Muslims. Amongst many a lesser-known tribe of fierce mountaineers and fair maidens are the Circassians famed for their bravery and beauty and who, as Mamluke rulers of Syria and Egypt, helped defend the civilized world and safeguard its holy lands from the ravages of the Mongol hordes. Then there is the brutalized Chechen, arguably the most unwieldy of all God’s creatures, whose tenacity and resistance has helped them avoid the fate of the Circassians. Meanwhile, over 1,000,000 American and North European Caucasian whites - Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Germans, Scandinavians and Celts included - now profess Islam. In fact, Islam peacefully entered parts of Europe before Christianity, when: ‘In times long ago, when the Russian Slav had not yet started to build Christian churches on the Oka nor conquered these places in the name of European civilization, the Bulgar was already listening to the Quran on the banks of the Volga and the Kama.’ (Solov’ev, 1965) [On 16 May 922, Islam became the official state religion of the Volga Bulgars, with whom today’s Bulgarians share a common ancestry.]
Every faith besides Islam calls for the worship of creation in some way, shape or form. Moreover, race and color play a central and divisive role in almost all non-Islamic belief systems. A Christian’s deification of Jesus and the saints or a Buddhist’s deification of Buddha and the Dalai Lamas has people of a particular race and color being worshipped in derogation of God In Judaism, salvation is withheld from the non-Jew Gentile. Hinduism’s caste system likewise checks the spiritual, socio-political and economic aspirations of the ‘unclean’ lower castes. Islam, however, seeks to unite and make one all the creatures of the world upon the Unity and Oneness of their Creator. Thus, Islam alone liberates all peoples, races and colors in the worship of God alone.
“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the (wonderful) differences of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for people of sound knowledge.” (Quran 30:22)
The United Colors of Islam (part 1 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
“God said: ‘What prevented you (O Satan) that you did not prostrate when I commanded you?’ Iblees (the Satan) replied: ‘I am better than him (Adam). You created me from fire, and him You created from clay.” (Quran 7:12)
So begins the history of racism. Satan thought himself superior to Adam on account of his origins. Since that day, Satan has misled many of Adam’s descendants into also believing themselves superior to others, causing them to persecute and exploit their fellow man. Quite often, religion has been used to justify racism. Judaism, for example, despite its Middle-Eastern origins, is readily passed off as a Western religion; but the entry of Jews into all levels of Western society actually betrays Judaism’s elitist reality. A pious reading of the bible verse:
“There is no God in all the world but in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15)
…would be to suggest that in those days God, or God, was not worshipped except by Israelites. However, Judaism today remains centered around its boast of ‘chosen’ racial superiority.
“Say: ‘O Jews! If you pretend that you are the beloved slaves of God to the exclusion of the rest of humanity, then long for death if you are really truthful.’” (Quran 62:6)
Conversely, while most Christians are overwhelmingly non-Jew, Jesus, as the last of the Israelite Prophets, was sent to none but the Jews.[1]
“And (remember) when Jesus, son of Mary, said: ‘O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of God sent unto you, confirming the Torah before me and bearing glad tidings of a Messenger after me whose name shall be Ahmad[2]...’” (Quran 61:6)
And likewise every Prophet was sent exclusively to his own people,[3] every Prophet, that is, except Muhammad.
“Say (O Muhammad): ‘O People! I am the Messenger of God sent to you all…’” (Quran 7:158)
As Muhammad was God’s final Prophet and Messenger, his mission was a universal one, intended for not only his own nation, the Arabs, but all the peoples of the world. The Prophet said:
“Every other Prophet was sent to his nation exclusively, while I have been sent to all of humanity.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
“And We have not sent you (O Muhammad) except as a bearer of glad tidings and a Warner to all mankind, but most of people know not.” (Quran 34:28)
Bilal the Abyssinian
One of the first to accept Islam was an Abyssinian slave named Bilal. Traditionally, black Africans were a lowly people in the sight of Arabs who thought them to be of little use beyond entertainment and slavery. When Bilal embraced Islam, his pagan master had him brutally tortured in the scorching desert heat until Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s closest friend, rescued him by buying his freedom.
The Prophet appointed Bilal to call the believers to prayer. The athan heard from minarets in every corner of the world since, echoes the exact same words recited by Bilal. Thus, a onetime lowly slave won a unique honor as Islam’s first muezzin.
“And indeed We have honored the Children of Adam...” (Quran 17:70)
Western romantics hail ancient Greece as being the birthplace of democracy.[4] The reality was that, as slaves and women, the vast majority of Athenians were denied the right to elect their rulers. Yet, Islam ordained that a slave could himself be ruler! The Prophet ordered:
“Obey your ruler even if he be an Abyssinian slave.” (Ahmad)
Footnotes:
[1] The bible agrees. Jesus is reported to have said: ‘I have not been sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ (Matthew 15:24). Hence, every one of his famous twelve disciples was an Israelite Jew. The one biblical passage where Jesus tells them to: ‘Go and preach unto all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’ (Matthew 28:19), commonly quoted to prove the Gentile mission as well as the Trinity, is not found in any pre-16th century manuscript and thus considered ‘a pious fraud.’
[2] One of the names of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.
[3] And We sent to every nation a Messenger (saying): ‘Worship God (alone) and shun false deities.’ (Quran 16:36)
[4] Democracy is a Middle-Eastern invention, first seen in the civilization of Ebla in 3rd millennium BC, and then in Phoenicia and Mesopotamia during 11th century BC. It did not appear in Athens unti15th century BC.
The United Colors of Islam (part 2 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
Salman the Persian
Like most of his countrymen, Salman was raised a devout Zoroastrian. However, after an encounter with some Christians at worship, he accepted Christianity as ‘something better’. Salman then traveled extensively in search of knowledge, from the service of one learned monk to another, the last of whom said: ‘O son! I do not know of anyone who is on the same (creed) as we are. However, the time of the emergence of a Prophet is at hand. This Prophet is upon the religion of Abraham.’ The monk then proceeded to describe this Prophet, his character and where he would appear. Salman migrated to Arabia, the land of the prophecy, and when he heard about and met Muhammad, he immediately recognized him from his teacher’s descriptions and embraced Islam. Salman became renowned for his knowledge and was the first person to translate the Quran into another language, Persian. Once, whilst the Prophet was amongst his Companions, the following was revealed to him:
“It is He (God) Who had sent among the unlettered (the Arabs) a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves... and (also to) others (i.e. non-Arabs) among them who have not yet joined them (as Muslims)...” (Quran 62:2-3)
God’s Messenger then placed his hand on Salman and said:
“Even if the Faith were near (the stars of) Pleiades, a man from amongst these (Persians) would surely attain it.” (Saheeh Muslim)
Suhayb the Roman
Suhayb was born into privilege in the luxurious house of his father, who was a client governor for the Persian emperor. While he was still a child, Suhayb was captured by Byzantine raiders and sold into slavery in Constantinople.
Suhayb eventually escaped from bondage and fled to Mecca, a popular place of asylum, where he soon became a prosperous merchant nick-named ‘ar-Rumi’, the Roman, due to his Byzantine tongue and upbringing. When Suhayb heard Muhammad preach, he was at once convinced of the truth of his message and embraced Islam. Like all the early Muslims, Suhayb was persecuted by the pagans of Mecca. So, he traded all his wealth in exchange for safe passage to join the Prophet at Medina, whereupon the Prophet, delighted to see Suhayb, greeted him thrice: ‘Your trade has been fruitful, O [Suhayb]! Your trade has been fruitful!’ God had informed the Prophet of Suhayb’s exploits before their reunion with this revelation:
“And there is a type of man who ransoms himself to earn the pleasure of God. And God is full of kindness to His servants.” (Quran 2:207)
The Prophet loved Suhayb a great deal and described him as having preceded the Romans to Islam. Suhayb’s piety and standing among the early Muslims was so high that when Caliph Umar was on his deathbed, he selected Suhayb to lead them until they could agree upon a successor.
Abdullah the Hebrew
The Jews were another nation that the pre-Islamic Arabs held in contempt. Many Jews and Christians had been expecting a new Prophet to appear in Arabia during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Jews from the Levite tribe in particular had settled in large numbers in and around the city of Medina. However, when the much anticipated Prophet came, not as a Hebrew son of Israel, but as the Arab descendant of Ishmael, the Jews rejected him. Except, that is, for a few like Hussein bin Salam. Hussein was the most learned rabbi and leader of the Medinan Jews but was denounced and vilified by them when he embraced Islam. The Prophet re-named Husayn, ‘Abdullah’, meaning ‘Servant of God’, and gave him the glad tidings that he was destined for Paradise. Abdullah addressed his tribesmen saying:
‘O assembly of Jews! Be conscious of God and accept what Muhammad has brought. By God! You certainly know that he is God’s Messenger and you can find prophecies about him and mention of his name and characteristics in your Torah. I for my part declare that he is the Messenger of God. I have faith in him and believe that he is true. I (for one) recognize him.’ God revealed the following about Abdullah:
“And a witness from the Children of Israel testified to this (Quran being from God) like (the Torah). So he believed while (most of) you (Jews) are too proud (to believe).” (Quran 46:10)
Thus, in the ranks of the Prophet Muhammad’s Companions could be found Africans, Persians, Romans and Israelites; representatives of every known continent. As the Prophet said:
“Indeed, my friends and allies are not the tribe of so and so. Rather, my friends and allies are the pious, wherever they may be.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)
The United Colors of Islam (part 3 of 3)
By AbdurRahman Mahdi, www.Quran.nu, (edited by IslamReligion.com)
This universal brotherhood preached by Islam was championed by the Prophet’s Companions after him. When the Companion, Ubada bin as-Samit, led a delegation to Muqawqis, the Christian patriarch of Alexandria, the latter exclaimed: ‘Get this black man away from me and bring in his stead another to talk to me! ... How can you be content that a black man should be the foremost among you? Is it not more fitting that he be below you?’ ‘Indeed no!’, Ubada’s comrades replied, ‘Though he is black as you see, he is still the foremost among us in position, intelligence and wisdom; for black is not despised among us.’
“Truly, the Believers are but brothers...” (Quran 49:10)
It is the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which remains the ultimate symbol of the oneness and brotherhood of man. Here, rich and poor from all nations stand and bow in unison before God in what is the largest gathering of humanity; testifying to the Prophet’s words when he said:
“There is truly no excellence for an Arab over a non-Arab; or for a non-Arab over an Arab; or for a white man over a black man; or for a black man over a white man; except through piety.” (Ahmad)
And this confirms the Quran, which says:
“O humanity! We have created you from a single male and female and have made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another (not that you have pride over one another). Verily, the most honorable of you in the God’s Sight is the one most pious…” (Quran 49:13)
As for nationalism, with its factionalizing of Muslims along ethnic and tribal lines, it is considered an evil innovation.
“If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your tribe, the wealth you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and striving hard in His Cause, then wait until God brings about His Decision. And God guides not a rebellious people.” (Quran 9:24)
The Prophet said:
“... whoever fights under the banner of the blind, becoming angry for nationalism, calling to nationalism, or assisting nationalism, and dies: then he dies a death of jahiliyya (i.e. pre-Islamic ignorance and disbelief).” (Saheeh Muslim)
Rather, the Quran says:
“While those who disbelieved placed in their hearts pride and haughtiness - the pride and haughtiness of jahiliyya, God sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the Believers…” (Quran 48:26)
In fact, the Muslims in and of themselves constitute a single body and supra-nation, as the Prophet explained:
“The parable of the Believers in their mutual love and mercy is like that of a living body: if one part feels pain, the whole body suffers in sleeplessness and fever.” (Saheeh Muslim)
The Quran confirms this unity:
“Thus, We have made you (Believers into) a (single) justly-balanced community...” (Quran 2:143)
Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to the acceptance of Islam by many Westerners is the fallacy that it is primarily a religion for Orientals or dark-skinned people. No doubt, the racial injustices against many blacks, be they Abyssinian slaves of pre-Islamic Arabia, or 20th century Afro-Americans, has prompted many to embrace Islam. But this is beside the point. The Prophet Muhammad was himself of whitish complexion, described by his Companions as being ‘white and ruddy’ - a description many tens of millions of believing Arabs, Berbers and Persians share. Even blue-eyed blondes are not so rare amongst Near Easterners. Furthermore, Europe has more indigenous white Muslims than it has ‘colored’ immigrants. The Bosnians, for example, whose numbers were decimated at the end of the 20th century but who, due to their heroism and tradition of tolerance, have contributed most to Balkan peace and stability. Albanians too, descended from Europe’s ancient Illyrians, are also largely Muslim. In fact, one of the 20th century’s leading Muslim scholars, Imam Muhammad Nasir-ud-Deen al-Albani, was, as his title suggests, Albanian.
“Truly, We created humans in the best stature.” (Quran 5:4)
Whites have been called ‘caucasian’ ever since anthropologists declared the Caucasus Mountains, home to Europe’s highest peaks, to be the ‘Cradle of the White Race.’ Today, the natives of these mountains are Muslims. Amongst many a lesser-known tribe of fierce mountaineers and fair maidens are the Circassians famed for their bravery and beauty and who, as Mamluke rulers of Syria and Egypt, helped defend the civilized world and safeguard its holy lands from the ravages of the Mongol hordes. Then there is the brutalized Chechen, arguably the most unwieldy of all God’s creatures, whose tenacity and resistance has helped them avoid the fate of the Circassians. Meanwhile, over 1,000,000 American and North European Caucasian whites - Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Germans, Scandinavians and Celts included - now profess Islam. In fact, Islam peacefully entered parts of Europe before Christianity, when: ‘In times long ago, when the Russian Slav had not yet started to build Christian churches on the Oka nor conquered these places in the name of European civilization, the Bulgar was already listening to the Quran on the banks of the Volga and the Kama.’ (Solov’ev, 1965) [On 16 May 922, Islam became the official state religion of the Volga Bulgars, with whom today’s Bulgarians share a common ancestry.]
Every faith besides Islam calls for the worship of creation in some way, shape or form. Moreover, race and color play a central and divisive role in almost all non-Islamic belief systems. A Christian’s deification of Jesus and the saints or a Buddhist’s deification of Buddha and the Dalai Lamas has people of a particular race and color being worshipped in derogation of God In Judaism, salvation is withheld from the non-Jew Gentile. Hinduism’s caste system likewise checks the spiritual, socio-political and economic aspirations of the ‘unclean’ lower castes. Islam, however, seeks to unite and make one all the creatures of the world upon the Unity and Oneness of their Creator. Thus, Islam alone liberates all peoples, races and colors in the worship of God alone.
“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the (wonderful) differences of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for people of sound knowledge.” (Quran 30:22)
Friday, August 27, 2010
Ethical Triangle of Islam
From: http://www.islamicity.com/
By: Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq IslamiCity* -
Taqwa, Ramadan and the Quran: The Triangular Link of Our Ethical System
Most of us have encountered many months of Ramadan in our life. Unfortunately, it is a reality that our lives most often have not been touched or affected by this month of fasting, even though every ceremonial aspect of Islam - that is, Ibadah in a limited sense - has special purpose and significance. Indeed, there is no aspect of Islam that is without a purpose or significance. It is either the lack of understanding or negligence to understand that renders our Ibadah into mere rituals. One reason that explains the stagnation of our individual and collective Muslim life is our weakness in building our life in light of the "purpose and significance" of Ibadah.There is purpose behind every single act of creation of God. "Not without purpose did We create heaven and earth and all between!" [Quran 38:27]. In the context of this purposeful creation, God desires to see the entire human life on the foundation of Ibadah. "I have only created Jinns and human beings, that they may offer their Ibadah (to Me)." [Quran 51:56] If this purpose or goal-orientation does not affect our lives, then stagnation is unavoidable.Ibadah is for the entire life of a human being. It is critical to our understanding that there are five pillars of Islam - Shahadah (witnessing), Salat (prayer), Zakat, Siyam (fasting) and Hajj. It is on these pillars the Islamic way of life rests. This way of life derives its dynamism from these five pillars. Whenever these five pillars are alienated from the overall context of human life and its purpose, Ibadah is bound to be nothing more than rituals. Such Ibadah does not carry the golden touch. The hue of such Ibadah cannot help the environment to bloom in its full color. One does not hear through such Ibadah the inspiring melody of the Aakhirah-bound life.The main theme of this article is Taqwa (God-consciousness) - a theme that has a triangular connection in terms of our ethical and moral system.First, God has sent the final revelation - the Quran - for the guidance of humankind. Hence, the Quran is the guidance (Huda') for us. "This is the Book - in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who are (Muttaqoon) God-conscious." [Quran 2:2]. Therefore, the Quran is not merely for accumulating bits of rewards (thawab), but for using as comprehensive guidance for human life and for solving the problems in our Aakhirah-bound life in this world. But to make use of the Quran as guidance, one needs some basic capital, and that capital is Taqwa (God-consciousness). That is why the Quran is the guidance, but effectively only for those who are (Muttoqoon) (God-conscious).Secondly, God has not only revealed to us His expectation about us, but He has also informed us about how to fulfill His expectation. It is for this reason God has not only required a minimum level of Taqwa, but also has shown us the way to attain and improve our Taqwa. The five pillars of Islam have five distinctive, but complementary roles. Achieving Taqwa is intimately related to one of those five pillars: Siyam (fasting). "O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may attain Taqwa (God-consciousness)." [Quran 2:183]
Thirdly, As fasting is not merely a ritual, attaining Taqwa is not also a pursuit without a purpose. Thus, the third of the triangular link of ethical/moral system is the special month of Ramadan, which God has designated for the prescribed month of fasting. The significance of this link has been clearly identified in the Quran. "Ramadan is the (month) in which we sent down the Quran, as a guide to humankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). Se every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting...." [Quran 2:185]The above-quoted verse helps establish the triangular link. God has revealed the Quran for our guidance. A basic prerequisite of benefiting from the divine revelation in the Quran is a minimum level of Taqwa. As a means and method of attaining Taqwa, God has chosen fasting as one of the five pillars of Islam, and He has chosen that very month as the month of fasting which is intimately related to the revelation of the Quran.Therefore, to be a Muslim or to believe in Islam inevitably implies that, upon due inquiry and due diligence, we should accept the Quran as a complete, indivisible, final and balanced source of guidance for our life and sincerely endeavor to subject our entire life to this source of guidance. Also, to effectively benefit from the Quran, we have to have consistently increasing Taqwa. Hence, we should welcome this month of fasting, Ramadan, as a means to attaining and improving our Taqwa.How fasting enhances Taqwa will be a subject of another article. However, the noble Prophet has clearly and beautifully explained the significance of fasting in numerous Hadith, such as: "God has no interest in any person's abstention from eating and drinking, if that person does not give up lying and dishonest/indecent actions" [narrated by Hadhrat Abu Hurrah in Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 3, #127]. One should note that the benefit of such avoidance of lying and dishonest actions is not limited to Muslims alone. In another Hadith, we have been warned about the possible ritualization of Salat (prayer) and Siyam (fasting). Hadhrat Abu Hurairah narrated: "There are some people who fast, but their fasting is nothing more than abstention from food, and there are many who pray (at night), but whose praying is no more than being awake at night" [Musnad Ahmad, Vol. 2, #9698].Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the teachings of Islam are so unambiguous and that every aspect of Islam has a purpose within a unified and comprehensive way of life, our Muslim identity and life are so deviated. That is why the month of fasting comes and goes in our life, yet the purpose for which God has made fasting incumbent in the month of Ramadan - the link between our Ibadah and life, on one hand, and that purpose of fasting, on the other - does not develop. The resulting condition in our individual lives then is reflected in our collective life as well.As Muslims, not every one of us but, many do fast. However, for even those who fast, it seems that the critical connection between our life and ever-increasing Taqwa rarely is made. Often a gap remains even in the life of those who sincerely and meticulously perform the ritualistic aspects of Ramadan. This gap is in terms of our failure, both at the individual and collective level, to utilize the Quran as Huda (guide) in our life and to embrace the month of fasting as a period to build and improve our commitment to take this guide and use it to channel our Aakhirah-bound life to a dynamic, constructive, and practical direction.
The Quran has not been revealed because people will believe without due diligence and then believe in it and show their reverence by printing it in the form of a decorative artwork, and then wrapping in velvet fabric would place it in an unreachable shelf close to the roof, and occasionally recite without understanding the meaning to search the key to heaven. The real purpose of recitation is to read, learn, and understand that should lead to implementation of the teachings of the Quran in our full spectrum of life.The time that is especially important for us to intimately understand the above-mentioned connection is the month of fasting. It is to materialize and practice the divine guidance we need Taqwa. Yet, most of us are either not aware or caring about the link between fasting and Taqwa. Even many of among us who are conscious of this connection neglect our responsibility to recognize and accept Taqwa as the foundation of building our entire life in light of the Quran. Those who understand the triangular connection can also easily understand the consequence of ignorance about and negligence toward this connection.In the context of the breakdown of moral and ethical fabric of the contemporary Muslim society, it is important for us to recognize that the solution is intimately related to the functional link between Taqwa and our moral and practical values. There is no hope for our true liberation, both at the individual and the collective level, until we can bridge the gap between our words and action and solve our problem of lack of integrity of purpose and behavior. We need a fundamental overhaul of our values. It is not that we as Muslims are not familiar with such values. However, a great deal of ignorance and misunderstanding exists in regard to the proper place of such values in our life.It is also a basic failure of those among us who are educated and/or scholars, especially from the religious viewpoint, to present this importance of the value and ethical system to our masses. This is evidenced by the fact that one can observe the contents and focus of the Jumuah Khutbah (Friday Prayer Sermon) where so much is mentioned about prayer and other aspects of Islam, but in my life I haven't heard one Friday sermon emphasizing the importance literacy or developing good relationship with everyone including non-Muslims.Let us ignore the case of those who are secular (in some cases, anti-religion). Ignorance of or negligence toward religion in general on their part is understandable. In different societies there are many types of people who are secular or even anti-religion. Even in our Muslim societies, there are "secular Muslims" - that is, essentially "anti-religion Muslims." It is such a ridiculous as well as pathetic situation. But we will deal with this aspect on another occasion. The reality is that secularism, atheism, agnosticism, nationalism, socialism, or capitalism does not give us such as an effective, balanced, comprehensive, and coherent framework of moral and ethical standard that in aggregate is beneficial for us. One can't escape in this context the question that how in the world then the Muslim societies are so messed up. Some may also raise the question, what then is the secret of the dazzling success of the West? Is their ethical foundation and moral values ineffective or useless? We have to analyze these questions at two levels. At one level we have to deal with those who either are not fanatical against a central role of religion in human life or do not have a strong position on this issue one way or another. They generally have a different perspective about religion. Then there are those who would like to see religion as central to human life, among whom Muslims are supposed to be included. The discussion at the first level is important, but its scope is different. Our focus in this article is the second group of people.Those who identify themselves as Muslims have a well-defined set of ideals and principles as well as a framework of moral and ethical standard. There is no need for or room of blind faith in Islam. Islam doesn't recognize or dignify blind faith and that is why it educates us in no ambiguous terms that to believe in Islam means that we should embrace Islam based on knowledge and understand and in its totality - that is, its philosophy, vision, values and laws. And if we do accept Islam, we should make a sincere and committed effort to organize our entire life according to Islam. We may have doubts or vacillation about it. Islam fully recognizes our liberty and invites us to the same effect to work toward removing such doubts or vacillation. If such doubts or vacillation cannot be overcome or resolved, why should we accept Islam? What is really then the need to believe in Islam? What is the reason or benefit of such faith and identity? What is the meaning and value of being a Muslim with such doubt, hesitation or ambivalence?
Therefore, we need to be clear and honest to ourselves that those who have such ambivalence about Islam neither they will benefit from Islam, nor will they benefit the Muslims or humanity at large. Let us now briefly discuss the case of those who sincerely believe in Islam.What is the reason behind the moral breakdown of our society, the majority of which are intimately identified with Islam. What is the explanation of the fragility and decadence of such society?Whatever views we hold about the Western societies and whether we have any interest or not in engaging ourselves in a comparative analysis, there is a clear criteria for us as Muslims to evaluate our problems, and that criteria is Islam.Let us ask ourselves a few more pertinent questions? Why has our society become so unstable? Is there any solution of this in Islam? As Muslims are we facilitators or hindrance in this situation? What is the reason behind widespread poverty, deprivation, exploitation and oppression in our society? Is Islam a failure in this case; or, do we have these problems due to Islam; or, is it that it is because of us these problems persist? Why corruption, bribery and violent conflict so rampant in our society? Should we place the blame for these as well on Islam? Should we ignore our worldly problems and cherish our success in the life hereafter by attributing these problems to destiny? Why the control and authority in our societies in the hands of individuals, parties, or groups that have absolutely no integrity? Is Islam's teaching unambiguous in these regards? Why the precious infants in various parts of the Muslim world have to die prematurely due to malnutrition or diseases? Why do we still bear the curse of illiteracy? In the context of all these, what really is the power and benefit of our Iman (belief), Amal (action), and Taqwa (God-consciousness)? Does Islam then teach us to abandon this world in favor the life hereafter? Do we really expect to represent Islam to the humanity while we are humiliated, subjugated, dependent, or problem-ridden on one hand, and a laughing stock of the world as we seek the aid, recognition, and status from the West? Let us ignore others, but is there really any effective answer from the vast number of pious Muslims - who devoutly perform prayer and fasting - to all these problems? Only God knows as to which month of Ramadan will be the last one in our life. Yet, if we are to deal with the problems mentioned above, it is vitally important that we understand Taqwa's triangular connection based on the month of Ramadan, fasting, and the Quran as the guidance. This connection should help us understand and motivate better that Taqwa, Ramadan, and the Quran are not for a ritual-oriented life, but a value-based, action-oriented life for us, which is also for the betterment of the humanity. Let us welcome this blessed month of Ramadan with that spirit and awareness, and channel this Aakhirah-bound life to the desired direction by enhancing our Taqwa that would help us build a dynamic Islamic life.
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq is an associate professor of economics and finance at Upper Iowa University.Homepage: http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqmThe author welcomes volunteers who would like to translate this piece into their native language.Email: farooqm@globalwebpost.com
By: Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq IslamiCity* -
Taqwa, Ramadan and the Quran: The Triangular Link of Our Ethical System
Most of us have encountered many months of Ramadan in our life. Unfortunately, it is a reality that our lives most often have not been touched or affected by this month of fasting, even though every ceremonial aspect of Islam - that is, Ibadah in a limited sense - has special purpose and significance. Indeed, there is no aspect of Islam that is without a purpose or significance. It is either the lack of understanding or negligence to understand that renders our Ibadah into mere rituals. One reason that explains the stagnation of our individual and collective Muslim life is our weakness in building our life in light of the "purpose and significance" of Ibadah.There is purpose behind every single act of creation of God. "Not without purpose did We create heaven and earth and all between!" [Quran 38:27]. In the context of this purposeful creation, God desires to see the entire human life on the foundation of Ibadah. "I have only created Jinns and human beings, that they may offer their Ibadah (to Me)." [Quran 51:56] If this purpose or goal-orientation does not affect our lives, then stagnation is unavoidable.Ibadah is for the entire life of a human being. It is critical to our understanding that there are five pillars of Islam - Shahadah (witnessing), Salat (prayer), Zakat, Siyam (fasting) and Hajj. It is on these pillars the Islamic way of life rests. This way of life derives its dynamism from these five pillars. Whenever these five pillars are alienated from the overall context of human life and its purpose, Ibadah is bound to be nothing more than rituals. Such Ibadah does not carry the golden touch. The hue of such Ibadah cannot help the environment to bloom in its full color. One does not hear through such Ibadah the inspiring melody of the Aakhirah-bound life.The main theme of this article is Taqwa (God-consciousness) - a theme that has a triangular connection in terms of our ethical and moral system.First, God has sent the final revelation - the Quran - for the guidance of humankind. Hence, the Quran is the guidance (Huda') for us. "This is the Book - in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who are (Muttaqoon) God-conscious." [Quran 2:2]. Therefore, the Quran is not merely for accumulating bits of rewards (thawab), but for using as comprehensive guidance for human life and for solving the problems in our Aakhirah-bound life in this world. But to make use of the Quran as guidance, one needs some basic capital, and that capital is Taqwa (God-consciousness). That is why the Quran is the guidance, but effectively only for those who are (Muttoqoon) (God-conscious).Secondly, God has not only revealed to us His expectation about us, but He has also informed us about how to fulfill His expectation. It is for this reason God has not only required a minimum level of Taqwa, but also has shown us the way to attain and improve our Taqwa. The five pillars of Islam have five distinctive, but complementary roles. Achieving Taqwa is intimately related to one of those five pillars: Siyam (fasting). "O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may attain Taqwa (God-consciousness)." [Quran 2:183]
Thirdly, As fasting is not merely a ritual, attaining Taqwa is not also a pursuit without a purpose. Thus, the third of the triangular link of ethical/moral system is the special month of Ramadan, which God has designated for the prescribed month of fasting. The significance of this link has been clearly identified in the Quran. "Ramadan is the (month) in which we sent down the Quran, as a guide to humankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). Se every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting...." [Quran 2:185]The above-quoted verse helps establish the triangular link. God has revealed the Quran for our guidance. A basic prerequisite of benefiting from the divine revelation in the Quran is a minimum level of Taqwa. As a means and method of attaining Taqwa, God has chosen fasting as one of the five pillars of Islam, and He has chosen that very month as the month of fasting which is intimately related to the revelation of the Quran.Therefore, to be a Muslim or to believe in Islam inevitably implies that, upon due inquiry and due diligence, we should accept the Quran as a complete, indivisible, final and balanced source of guidance for our life and sincerely endeavor to subject our entire life to this source of guidance. Also, to effectively benefit from the Quran, we have to have consistently increasing Taqwa. Hence, we should welcome this month of fasting, Ramadan, as a means to attaining and improving our Taqwa.How fasting enhances Taqwa will be a subject of another article. However, the noble Prophet has clearly and beautifully explained the significance of fasting in numerous Hadith, such as: "God has no interest in any person's abstention from eating and drinking, if that person does not give up lying and dishonest/indecent actions" [narrated by Hadhrat Abu Hurrah in Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 3, #127]. One should note that the benefit of such avoidance of lying and dishonest actions is not limited to Muslims alone. In another Hadith, we have been warned about the possible ritualization of Salat (prayer) and Siyam (fasting). Hadhrat Abu Hurairah narrated: "There are some people who fast, but their fasting is nothing more than abstention from food, and there are many who pray (at night), but whose praying is no more than being awake at night" [Musnad Ahmad, Vol. 2, #9698].Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the teachings of Islam are so unambiguous and that every aspect of Islam has a purpose within a unified and comprehensive way of life, our Muslim identity and life are so deviated. That is why the month of fasting comes and goes in our life, yet the purpose for which God has made fasting incumbent in the month of Ramadan - the link between our Ibadah and life, on one hand, and that purpose of fasting, on the other - does not develop. The resulting condition in our individual lives then is reflected in our collective life as well.As Muslims, not every one of us but, many do fast. However, for even those who fast, it seems that the critical connection between our life and ever-increasing Taqwa rarely is made. Often a gap remains even in the life of those who sincerely and meticulously perform the ritualistic aspects of Ramadan. This gap is in terms of our failure, both at the individual and collective level, to utilize the Quran as Huda (guide) in our life and to embrace the month of fasting as a period to build and improve our commitment to take this guide and use it to channel our Aakhirah-bound life to a dynamic, constructive, and practical direction.
The Quran has not been revealed because people will believe without due diligence and then believe in it and show their reverence by printing it in the form of a decorative artwork, and then wrapping in velvet fabric would place it in an unreachable shelf close to the roof, and occasionally recite without understanding the meaning to search the key to heaven. The real purpose of recitation is to read, learn, and understand that should lead to implementation of the teachings of the Quran in our full spectrum of life.The time that is especially important for us to intimately understand the above-mentioned connection is the month of fasting. It is to materialize and practice the divine guidance we need Taqwa. Yet, most of us are either not aware or caring about the link between fasting and Taqwa. Even many of among us who are conscious of this connection neglect our responsibility to recognize and accept Taqwa as the foundation of building our entire life in light of the Quran. Those who understand the triangular connection can also easily understand the consequence of ignorance about and negligence toward this connection.In the context of the breakdown of moral and ethical fabric of the contemporary Muslim society, it is important for us to recognize that the solution is intimately related to the functional link between Taqwa and our moral and practical values. There is no hope for our true liberation, both at the individual and the collective level, until we can bridge the gap between our words and action and solve our problem of lack of integrity of purpose and behavior. We need a fundamental overhaul of our values. It is not that we as Muslims are not familiar with such values. However, a great deal of ignorance and misunderstanding exists in regard to the proper place of such values in our life.It is also a basic failure of those among us who are educated and/or scholars, especially from the religious viewpoint, to present this importance of the value and ethical system to our masses. This is evidenced by the fact that one can observe the contents and focus of the Jumuah Khutbah (Friday Prayer Sermon) where so much is mentioned about prayer and other aspects of Islam, but in my life I haven't heard one Friday sermon emphasizing the importance literacy or developing good relationship with everyone including non-Muslims.Let us ignore the case of those who are secular (in some cases, anti-religion). Ignorance of or negligence toward religion in general on their part is understandable. In different societies there are many types of people who are secular or even anti-religion. Even in our Muslim societies, there are "secular Muslims" - that is, essentially "anti-religion Muslims." It is such a ridiculous as well as pathetic situation. But we will deal with this aspect on another occasion. The reality is that secularism, atheism, agnosticism, nationalism, socialism, or capitalism does not give us such as an effective, balanced, comprehensive, and coherent framework of moral and ethical standard that in aggregate is beneficial for us. One can't escape in this context the question that how in the world then the Muslim societies are so messed up. Some may also raise the question, what then is the secret of the dazzling success of the West? Is their ethical foundation and moral values ineffective or useless? We have to analyze these questions at two levels. At one level we have to deal with those who either are not fanatical against a central role of religion in human life or do not have a strong position on this issue one way or another. They generally have a different perspective about religion. Then there are those who would like to see religion as central to human life, among whom Muslims are supposed to be included. The discussion at the first level is important, but its scope is different. Our focus in this article is the second group of people.Those who identify themselves as Muslims have a well-defined set of ideals and principles as well as a framework of moral and ethical standard. There is no need for or room of blind faith in Islam. Islam doesn't recognize or dignify blind faith and that is why it educates us in no ambiguous terms that to believe in Islam means that we should embrace Islam based on knowledge and understand and in its totality - that is, its philosophy, vision, values and laws. And if we do accept Islam, we should make a sincere and committed effort to organize our entire life according to Islam. We may have doubts or vacillation about it. Islam fully recognizes our liberty and invites us to the same effect to work toward removing such doubts or vacillation. If such doubts or vacillation cannot be overcome or resolved, why should we accept Islam? What is really then the need to believe in Islam? What is the reason or benefit of such faith and identity? What is the meaning and value of being a Muslim with such doubt, hesitation or ambivalence?
Therefore, we need to be clear and honest to ourselves that those who have such ambivalence about Islam neither they will benefit from Islam, nor will they benefit the Muslims or humanity at large. Let us now briefly discuss the case of those who sincerely believe in Islam.What is the reason behind the moral breakdown of our society, the majority of which are intimately identified with Islam. What is the explanation of the fragility and decadence of such society?Whatever views we hold about the Western societies and whether we have any interest or not in engaging ourselves in a comparative analysis, there is a clear criteria for us as Muslims to evaluate our problems, and that criteria is Islam.Let us ask ourselves a few more pertinent questions? Why has our society become so unstable? Is there any solution of this in Islam? As Muslims are we facilitators or hindrance in this situation? What is the reason behind widespread poverty, deprivation, exploitation and oppression in our society? Is Islam a failure in this case; or, do we have these problems due to Islam; or, is it that it is because of us these problems persist? Why corruption, bribery and violent conflict so rampant in our society? Should we place the blame for these as well on Islam? Should we ignore our worldly problems and cherish our success in the life hereafter by attributing these problems to destiny? Why the control and authority in our societies in the hands of individuals, parties, or groups that have absolutely no integrity? Is Islam's teaching unambiguous in these regards? Why the precious infants in various parts of the Muslim world have to die prematurely due to malnutrition or diseases? Why do we still bear the curse of illiteracy? In the context of all these, what really is the power and benefit of our Iman (belief), Amal (action), and Taqwa (God-consciousness)? Does Islam then teach us to abandon this world in favor the life hereafter? Do we really expect to represent Islam to the humanity while we are humiliated, subjugated, dependent, or problem-ridden on one hand, and a laughing stock of the world as we seek the aid, recognition, and status from the West? Let us ignore others, but is there really any effective answer from the vast number of pious Muslims - who devoutly perform prayer and fasting - to all these problems? Only God knows as to which month of Ramadan will be the last one in our life. Yet, if we are to deal with the problems mentioned above, it is vitally important that we understand Taqwa's triangular connection based on the month of Ramadan, fasting, and the Quran as the guidance. This connection should help us understand and motivate better that Taqwa, Ramadan, and the Quran are not for a ritual-oriented life, but a value-based, action-oriented life for us, which is also for the betterment of the humanity. Let us welcome this blessed month of Ramadan with that spirit and awareness, and channel this Aakhirah-bound life to the desired direction by enhancing our Taqwa that would help us build a dynamic Islamic life.
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq is an associate professor of economics and finance at Upper Iowa University.Homepage: http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqmThe author welcomes volunteers who would like to translate this piece into their native language.Email: farooqm@globalwebpost.com
Miracles of The Quran
From: http://www.harunyahya.com/miracles_of_the_quran_01.php
Contents
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
PART ONE: THE SCIENTIFIC MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN THE HELIO-CENTRIC SYSTEM - NEW- THE OZONE LAYER AT THE POLES AS THE SUN RISES - NEW- HEART MASSAGE - NEW- THE CLONING OF LIVING THINGS - NEW- THE SUN WILL EXPIRE AFTER SOME TIME - NEW- THE PULLING MOTION THAT FACILITATES BIRTH - NEW- THE EXPANDING EARTH - NEW- QUASARS AND THE GRAVITATIONAL LENS EFFECT - NEW- SCIENTIFIC FACTS IN THE STORY OF THE FLOOD OF NUH - NEW- THE EARTH’S GRAVITATIONAL FORCE - NEW- THE COMING OF THE UNIVERSE INTO EXISTENCE THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE BIG CRUNCH CREATION FROM HOT SMOKE THE SPLITTING ASUNDER OF "THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH" THE CREATION OF WHAT LIES BETWEEN THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH THE PERFECT EQUILIBRIUM IN THE UNIVERSE THE FINE TUNING IN THE UNIVERSE THE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE STARS THE SUN’S HYDROGEN AND HELIUM CONTENT - NEW- ORBITS AND THE ROTATING UNIVERSE THE SUN'S TRAJECTORY THE MOON'S ORBIT CALCULATING THE LUNAR YEAR THE FORCE OF GRAVITY AND ORBITAL MOVEMENTS THE ROUNDNESS OF THE EARTH THE EARTH'S DIRECTION OF ROTATION THE EARTH'S GEOID SHAPE THE DIAMETERS OF THE EARTH AND SPACE ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS THE PROTECTED ROOF THE SKY MADE A DOME THE RETURNING SKY THE LAYERS OF THE EARTH THE EARTH DISGORGES ITS CHARGES THE FUNCTION OF MOUNTAINS RADIO RECEIVERS ON MOUNTAINS - NEW- THE MOVEMENT OF MOUNTAINS DIFFERENT POINTS IN THE RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN LAND LOSS AT THE EXTREMITIES THE SPLITTING EARTH THE MIRACLE OF IRON THE FORMATION OF PETROL THE RELATIVITY OF TIME CREATION IN SIX DAYS THE TRUTH OF DESTINY DUALITY IN CREATION SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLES BLACK HOLES PULSARS: PULSATING STARS THE STAR SIRIUS LIGHT AND DARK COMBUSTION WITHOUT FIRE THE MIRACLE OF FIRE AND WOOD, THAT CANNOT BE OBTAINED ARTIFICIALLY - NEW- THE WEIGHT OF CLOUDS RAIN IN MEASURED AMOUNTS HOW RAIN FORMS THE QUIVERING AND SWELLING OF THE EARTH - NEW- RAINS WHICH BRING A DEAD LAND BACK TO LIFE THE FORMATION OF HAIL, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING THE FECUNDATING WINDS THE STAGES OF WIND FORMATION HOW THE PROCESS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS BEGINS IN THE MORNING THE SEAS NOT MINGLING WITH ONE ANOTHER DARKNESS IN THE SEAS AND INTERNAL WAVES THE REGION THAT CONTROLS OUR MOVEMENTS HEARTS FIND PEACE IN THE REMEMBRANCE OF ALLAH FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO THE MORALS OF ISLAM AND ITS BENEFITS ON HEALTH HOW PRAYER ACCELERATES THE TREATMENT OF THE SICK STRESS AND DEPRESSION: THE RESULTS OF NOT ABIDING BY THE RELIGION THE BIRTH OF A HUMAN BEING THE CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS FROM WATER FOSSILIZATION AND IRON CONTENT - NEW- CREATION FROM CLAY THE PROGRAMMING IN GENES THE MENSTRUAL PERIOD PREGNANCY AND BIRTH THE MOTHER’S WOMB WITH ITS SECURE PROTECTION - NEW- THE SEQUENCE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN ORGANS THE FORMATION OF MILK OXIDATION IN THE BLOOD - NEW- MIRACULOUS MIXTURE: MOTHER'S MILK THE IDENTITY IN THE FINGERPRINT THE FEMALE HONEY BEE THE MIRACLE OF HONEY THE DATE AND ITS USES AS DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN THE FIG: A FRUIT WHOSE PERFECTION HAS ONLY RECENTLY BEEN REVEALED FISH: A VALUABLE SOURCE OF NUTRITION PORK AND ITS HARMFUL EFFECTS ON HEALTH THE WISDOM BEHIND THE PROHIBITION OF BLOOD IN THE QUR’AN - NEW- THE OLIVE: A HEALTH-GIVING PLANT CORONARY BY-PASS SURGERY HEALTH BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT, WASHING AND DRINKING WATER THE EXISTENCE OF MICROSCOPIC LIFE THE EXISTENCE OF ANIMAL SOCIETIES BIOMIMETICS: DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE DESIGN IN LIVING THINGS LOCUSTS MOVING IN SWARMS ANT COMMUNICATION THE FOOD CYCLE THE EARS ARE ACTIVE DURING SLEEP THE IMPORTANCE OF MOVEMENT IN SLEEP REDUCED MOVEMENT AT NIGHT CHEST CONTRACTION WITH INCREASING HEIGHT AERODYNAMIC FORCES AND THE FLIGHT PROGRAMMED IN BIRDS - NEW-
PART TWO: PREDICTIONS IN THE QUR'AN INTRODUCTION THE VICTORY OF BYZANTIUM THE PRESERVATION OF PHARAOH'S BODY THE CONQUEST OF MAKKAH THE TRIBE OF ISRAEL WILL BECOME VERY HAUGHTY THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE THE VOYAGE TO THE MOON MODERN MEANS OF TRANSPORT PLANE TECHNOLOGY IMAGE TRANSMISSION SMELL TRANSFERENCE THE USE OF ELECTRICITY ARTESIAN WELLS THE ARMY-ANT IN TECHNOLOGY ATOMIC ENERGY AND FISSION
PART THREE: THE HISTORICAL MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN "HAMAN" AND ANCIENT EGYPT MONUMENTS PROPHET MUSA (AS) AND SEA'S SPLITTING IN TWO THE TROUBLES WHICH AFFLICTED PHARAOH AND THOSE AROUND HIM THE PROPHET MUSA (AS) REFERRED TO AS A MAGICIAN THE WORD "PHARAOH" IN THE QUR'AN NUH'S FLOOD THE CITY OF IRAM THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH THE PEOPLE OF SABA AND THE ARIM FLOOD THE PEOPLE OF AL-HIJR
MATHEMATICAL MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN
THE RETINA: THE LAYER OF THE EYE - NEW- UNDERGROUND ENERGY RESOURCES: PETROL - NEW- THE OZONE LAYER - NEW- QUANTUM PHYSICS - NEW- DNA AND THE BEGINNING OF GENETIC HISTORY - NEW- SAND DUNES AND THE PLANET MARS - NEW- HEMOGLOBIN AND IRON - NEW- HALLEY’S COMET AND 76 YEARS - NEW- WORD REPETITIONS IN THE QUR'AN NUMEROLOGICAL CALCULATIONS (ABJAD) IN THE QUR'AN THE MIRACLE OF 19 IN THE QUR'AN
THE PERFECTION OF THE QUR'AN FROM THE LITERARY ASPECT
THE INIMITABILITY OF THE QUR'AN COMMENTS ABOUT THE QUR'AN FROM VARIOUS SCHOLARS A SELECTION OF OTHER STATEMENTS REGARDING THE QUR'AN
CONCLUSION THE QUR'AN IS THE WORD OF GOD
Contents
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
PART ONE: THE SCIENTIFIC MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN THE HELIO-CENTRIC SYSTEM - NEW- THE OZONE LAYER AT THE POLES AS THE SUN RISES - NEW- HEART MASSAGE - NEW- THE CLONING OF LIVING THINGS - NEW- THE SUN WILL EXPIRE AFTER SOME TIME - NEW- THE PULLING MOTION THAT FACILITATES BIRTH - NEW- THE EXPANDING EARTH - NEW- QUASARS AND THE GRAVITATIONAL LENS EFFECT - NEW- SCIENTIFIC FACTS IN THE STORY OF THE FLOOD OF NUH - NEW- THE EARTH’S GRAVITATIONAL FORCE - NEW- THE COMING OF THE UNIVERSE INTO EXISTENCE THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE BIG CRUNCH CREATION FROM HOT SMOKE THE SPLITTING ASUNDER OF "THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH" THE CREATION OF WHAT LIES BETWEEN THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH THE PERFECT EQUILIBRIUM IN THE UNIVERSE THE FINE TUNING IN THE UNIVERSE THE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE STARS THE SUN’S HYDROGEN AND HELIUM CONTENT - NEW- ORBITS AND THE ROTATING UNIVERSE THE SUN'S TRAJECTORY THE MOON'S ORBIT CALCULATING THE LUNAR YEAR THE FORCE OF GRAVITY AND ORBITAL MOVEMENTS THE ROUNDNESS OF THE EARTH THE EARTH'S DIRECTION OF ROTATION THE EARTH'S GEOID SHAPE THE DIAMETERS OF THE EARTH AND SPACE ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS THE PROTECTED ROOF THE SKY MADE A DOME THE RETURNING SKY THE LAYERS OF THE EARTH THE EARTH DISGORGES ITS CHARGES THE FUNCTION OF MOUNTAINS RADIO RECEIVERS ON MOUNTAINS - NEW- THE MOVEMENT OF MOUNTAINS DIFFERENT POINTS IN THE RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN LAND LOSS AT THE EXTREMITIES THE SPLITTING EARTH THE MIRACLE OF IRON THE FORMATION OF PETROL THE RELATIVITY OF TIME CREATION IN SIX DAYS THE TRUTH OF DESTINY DUALITY IN CREATION SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLES BLACK HOLES PULSARS: PULSATING STARS THE STAR SIRIUS LIGHT AND DARK COMBUSTION WITHOUT FIRE THE MIRACLE OF FIRE AND WOOD, THAT CANNOT BE OBTAINED ARTIFICIALLY - NEW- THE WEIGHT OF CLOUDS RAIN IN MEASURED AMOUNTS HOW RAIN FORMS THE QUIVERING AND SWELLING OF THE EARTH - NEW- RAINS WHICH BRING A DEAD LAND BACK TO LIFE THE FORMATION OF HAIL, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING THE FECUNDATING WINDS THE STAGES OF WIND FORMATION HOW THE PROCESS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS BEGINS IN THE MORNING THE SEAS NOT MINGLING WITH ONE ANOTHER DARKNESS IN THE SEAS AND INTERNAL WAVES THE REGION THAT CONTROLS OUR MOVEMENTS HEARTS FIND PEACE IN THE REMEMBRANCE OF ALLAH FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO THE MORALS OF ISLAM AND ITS BENEFITS ON HEALTH HOW PRAYER ACCELERATES THE TREATMENT OF THE SICK STRESS AND DEPRESSION: THE RESULTS OF NOT ABIDING BY THE RELIGION THE BIRTH OF A HUMAN BEING THE CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS FROM WATER FOSSILIZATION AND IRON CONTENT - NEW- CREATION FROM CLAY THE PROGRAMMING IN GENES THE MENSTRUAL PERIOD PREGNANCY AND BIRTH THE MOTHER’S WOMB WITH ITS SECURE PROTECTION - NEW- THE SEQUENCE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN ORGANS THE FORMATION OF MILK OXIDATION IN THE BLOOD - NEW- MIRACULOUS MIXTURE: MOTHER'S MILK THE IDENTITY IN THE FINGERPRINT THE FEMALE HONEY BEE THE MIRACLE OF HONEY THE DATE AND ITS USES AS DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN THE FIG: A FRUIT WHOSE PERFECTION HAS ONLY RECENTLY BEEN REVEALED FISH: A VALUABLE SOURCE OF NUTRITION PORK AND ITS HARMFUL EFFECTS ON HEALTH THE WISDOM BEHIND THE PROHIBITION OF BLOOD IN THE QUR’AN - NEW- THE OLIVE: A HEALTH-GIVING PLANT CORONARY BY-PASS SURGERY HEALTH BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT, WASHING AND DRINKING WATER THE EXISTENCE OF MICROSCOPIC LIFE THE EXISTENCE OF ANIMAL SOCIETIES BIOMIMETICS: DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE DESIGN IN LIVING THINGS LOCUSTS MOVING IN SWARMS ANT COMMUNICATION THE FOOD CYCLE THE EARS ARE ACTIVE DURING SLEEP THE IMPORTANCE OF MOVEMENT IN SLEEP REDUCED MOVEMENT AT NIGHT CHEST CONTRACTION WITH INCREASING HEIGHT AERODYNAMIC FORCES AND THE FLIGHT PROGRAMMED IN BIRDS - NEW-
PART TWO: PREDICTIONS IN THE QUR'AN INTRODUCTION THE VICTORY OF BYZANTIUM THE PRESERVATION OF PHARAOH'S BODY THE CONQUEST OF MAKKAH THE TRIBE OF ISRAEL WILL BECOME VERY HAUGHTY THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE THE VOYAGE TO THE MOON MODERN MEANS OF TRANSPORT PLANE TECHNOLOGY IMAGE TRANSMISSION SMELL TRANSFERENCE THE USE OF ELECTRICITY ARTESIAN WELLS THE ARMY-ANT IN TECHNOLOGY ATOMIC ENERGY AND FISSION
PART THREE: THE HISTORICAL MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN "HAMAN" AND ANCIENT EGYPT MONUMENTS PROPHET MUSA (AS) AND SEA'S SPLITTING IN TWO THE TROUBLES WHICH AFFLICTED PHARAOH AND THOSE AROUND HIM THE PROPHET MUSA (AS) REFERRED TO AS A MAGICIAN THE WORD "PHARAOH" IN THE QUR'AN NUH'S FLOOD THE CITY OF IRAM THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH THE PEOPLE OF SABA AND THE ARIM FLOOD THE PEOPLE OF AL-HIJR
MATHEMATICAL MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN
THE RETINA: THE LAYER OF THE EYE - NEW- UNDERGROUND ENERGY RESOURCES: PETROL - NEW- THE OZONE LAYER - NEW- QUANTUM PHYSICS - NEW- DNA AND THE BEGINNING OF GENETIC HISTORY - NEW- SAND DUNES AND THE PLANET MARS - NEW- HEMOGLOBIN AND IRON - NEW- HALLEY’S COMET AND 76 YEARS - NEW- WORD REPETITIONS IN THE QUR'AN NUMEROLOGICAL CALCULATIONS (ABJAD) IN THE QUR'AN THE MIRACLE OF 19 IN THE QUR'AN
THE PERFECTION OF THE QUR'AN FROM THE LITERARY ASPECT
THE INIMITABILITY OF THE QUR'AN COMMENTS ABOUT THE QUR'AN FROM VARIOUS SCHOLARS A SELECTION OF OTHER STATEMENTS REGARDING THE QUR'AN
CONCLUSION THE QUR'AN IS THE WORD OF GOD
Miracles in the language of the Holy Quran
From: http://www.islamicmedicines.com/forum/amazing-quran/163-evident-miracles-holy-quran.html
Miracle No. 1
At the time when the Holy Quran was revealed, Arabic writings and poetry were confined to the then Arabic environments, culture, customs, and history. Thus, the majority of Arabic literature contained descriptions of praises of such topics as camels, horses, women, tribal chiefs, tribal wars, and tribal histories etc. The Holy Quran, however, does not describe anything that may reflect the then Arab environment, culture, history etc. Moreover, the Holy Quran uses its own specific words and terms to describe things or events. Most of these terms were unknown to the then contemporary writers, e.g. the Holy Quran uses the term 'Surah' for its chapter, and 'ayat' for its verse, whereas early Arabic books used the term 'Qasidah' for the chapter and 'Bait' for the verse.
Miracle No. 2
The Arabic poetry and prose, while describing an object or event, often goes into such exaggerations that they usually obscure the facts. This is an inherent tendency in the arabic language. The language of the Holy Quran however, never exaggerates anything. In fact the Holy Quran is most unique in the sense that it does not follow the normal tone and the inherent tendency of the Arabic language.
Miracle No. 3
In all poems and poetic writings it is a fact that a few of the phrases or verses excel the others in choice of word or phrases. The Holy Quran is mostly revealed in poetic language, yet all or its verses and chaptersare uniformally eloquent, beautiful, and impressive. It is not humanly possible to write a book of 6,666 verses with such superbly sublime diction, and absolute command of language.
Miracle no. 4
If a certain concept or event in a book is mentioned repeatedly, the language usually becomes unimpressive and monotonous, and also loses its beauty.
It is a unique quality of the Holy Quran that it describes numerous concepts and events repeatedly, yet the language maintains its beauty. Topics such as: Oneness of Allah (swt), prophethood of Muhammad (saw), Day of Judgement, attributes of the believers, Salat, and charity are a few of the much repeated subject matters of The Holy Quran. One, however, cannot observe the least monotony of words or phrases in the description of these subjects. Infact, each and every description ot these topics is unique and specific in its choice of words and the beauty of the language.
Miracle No. 5
Most of the topics discussed in the Holy Quran relate to such subjects as: belief, ethics, prayers , personal conduct, social obligations, and legal matters etc. No human being has composed a book of poetry on such topics. The Holy Quran, however, discusses such topics in a poetic language which has a specific rhythm, beauty, and style.
Miracle no. 6
A human writer usually has the command of knowledge of a certain specific subject, or a few related subjects, e.g. one can write on the subject of history, or economics, or philosophy, or physics or ethics etc. It is not possible for a human being to write simultaneously on a large variety of different subjects with an equal command of language and depth of knowledge. Even a casual reader can find that Holy Quran discusses an array of subjects such as history, philosophy, economics, beliefs, social laws, and science etc. with equal command of the language and depth of knowledge. Furthermore, whatever the Holy Quran has stated in a certain field of knowledge has always been proven to be the eternal truth. No human being has written such a comprehensive book with such absolute perfection and certainty of knowledge.
Miracle No. 7
Every human book represents the knowledge that was avaliable to the writer at a certain time and place. Human knowledge however, keeps advancing. As a result, every human book, after some time becomes obsolete. The knowledge in a book, after the passage of time, is found to be either false or incomplete. Books by human authors thus need to be revised of rewritten after a period of time. The Holy Quran was given to mankind through Muhammad (saw) more than 1,400 years ago. Since that time, human knowledge has gone through countless changes and advancements. It is, however, a fact that not a single word, phrase, sentence,or topic in the Holy Quran needs to be revised or rewritten. Furthermore, the Holy Quran also discusses the finest mysteries of nature and man. Not a single disrepency has been found in the statements of the Holy Quran with the continuous advancements of science and technology during the past 1,400 years.
Miracle no. 8
An effective writer always modifies his style and language according to the varying needs of the readers. What may appeal to a young person may not appeal to an old person. Similarly what may appeal to an illeterate person, may not appeal to an educated person. Moreover human society also has persons with different levels of knowledge and intelligence. All of these persons are motivated by different styles of writing. Furthermore every human being passes through various phases of emotional changes e.g., a person who is happy likes to read something different from the person who is depressed. At the same time every human being has a certain preference for thestyle of writing. A few prefer to read poetry, others prefer to read prose, a few others like to read simple language, a few others like an eloquent style of writing. No one has ever written a book that could appeal, motivate, and inspire all sectors, age groups, education levels, and emotional states of human society. The Holy Quran is the only book that has universally met the needs of all varying sectors and factors of human society.
This unparalleled ability of the Holy Quran to address a multitude of persons, to penetrate their inner most souls, and to give them comfort and peace is one of the outstanding miracles of the language of the Holy Quran.
Miracle No. 9
If a human author keeps writing for years and years, he passes through a gradual change in his writing style and also in his views and thoughts. Thus, not only the language, but the philosophy and opinion of a writer usually change with the passage of time. The Holy Quran was gradually revealed to Muhammad(saw) during a period of about 23 years. If Muhammad(saw) had been the writer of the Holy Quran, one could certainly find some difference in the earlier and later writings of the book, and also some changes and discrepancies in views and thoughts expressed over time. The fact, however, is that no change is observed in the language of earlier and later revealed verses of the Holy Quran. Moreover, no change is found in the message and philosophy of the earlier and later revealed verses of the Holy Quran.
Miracle No. 10
A human writer is mostly affected by the changing conditions of his environment, which in turn affect his emotions and feelings. These are inevitably reflected in the style and tone of his writing. This all the more true of the poets because poetry always reflects the mood and emotions of the writer. Given the fact that the Holy Quran is written in a poetic language, it is important to note that Muhamad(saw), during his 23 years of Prophethood, went through numerous periods of personal trials and triumphs. He went through a period of severe hardship in the 7th year of his Prophethood. He, and all of his relatives were expelled from Makkah, and deprived of all the basic necessities of life for three long years. In contrast in the 8th year of Hijra, he enjoyed a glorious triumph- when he entered Makkah as the head of an army of 10,000 believers and gratiously accepted the total surrender of the Makkans. Had Muhammad(saw) been the writer of the Holy Quran, its language would have reflected his personal emotions under various sets of environments. The fact, however, is that the Holy Quran does not exhibit any change in its style or tone that may reflect the phases of struggle, hardship, and triumph that Muhammad(saw) experienced. The language in the Holy Quran remains steady in its own majesty far from being affected by any environmental ups and downs.
Miracle No. 11
Glory be to Allah, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as, their own kind, and (other) things of which they have no Knowledge. (36:36)
.........The earth produces various minerals. Recent advancements in science have established that all minerals are composed of eithr positively or negatively charged sub atomic particles. The Holy Quran revealed this fact by stating that all things produced by the earth were created in pairs. In addition to minerals, even water that the earth produces is composed of opposite radicals.
The Holy Quran refers to things, also, that were unknown to mankind at the time of revelation, and that they also are created in pairs. These things 'unknown' may be explained by the discovery of bacteria. It is amazing to note that all bacteria are classified into only two broad classes known as gram positive or gram negative.
Miracle No. 12
It is We who send the fertilizing winds, then We send down the water from the sky, and then We give it to you to drink, you are not the one who hold the store of this wealth. (15:22)
Miracle No. 13
Does not man think that We (Allah) can not assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order (even) the very tips of his fingers. (75:3-4)
...........It is now an established fact that each human being has his or her own unique fingerprint. The differences between finger prints of individuals is so specific and subtle that only experts with sophisticated instruments can identify them.
And this is also a sign for mankind, who are warned not to underestimate the powers and capabilities of Allah (swt), who can easily bring us back to life, on the Day of Judgement.
Miracle No. 1
At the time when the Holy Quran was revealed, Arabic writings and poetry were confined to the then Arabic environments, culture, customs, and history. Thus, the majority of Arabic literature contained descriptions of praises of such topics as camels, horses, women, tribal chiefs, tribal wars, and tribal histories etc. The Holy Quran, however, does not describe anything that may reflect the then Arab environment, culture, history etc. Moreover, the Holy Quran uses its own specific words and terms to describe things or events. Most of these terms were unknown to the then contemporary writers, e.g. the Holy Quran uses the term 'Surah' for its chapter, and 'ayat' for its verse, whereas early Arabic books used the term 'Qasidah' for the chapter and 'Bait' for the verse.
Miracle No. 2
The Arabic poetry and prose, while describing an object or event, often goes into such exaggerations that they usually obscure the facts. This is an inherent tendency in the arabic language. The language of the Holy Quran however, never exaggerates anything. In fact the Holy Quran is most unique in the sense that it does not follow the normal tone and the inherent tendency of the Arabic language.
Miracle No. 3
In all poems and poetic writings it is a fact that a few of the phrases or verses excel the others in choice of word or phrases. The Holy Quran is mostly revealed in poetic language, yet all or its verses and chaptersare uniformally eloquent, beautiful, and impressive. It is not humanly possible to write a book of 6,666 verses with such superbly sublime diction, and absolute command of language.
Miracle no. 4
If a certain concept or event in a book is mentioned repeatedly, the language usually becomes unimpressive and monotonous, and also loses its beauty.
It is a unique quality of the Holy Quran that it describes numerous concepts and events repeatedly, yet the language maintains its beauty. Topics such as: Oneness of Allah (swt), prophethood of Muhammad (saw), Day of Judgement, attributes of the believers, Salat, and charity are a few of the much repeated subject matters of The Holy Quran. One, however, cannot observe the least monotony of words or phrases in the description of these subjects. Infact, each and every description ot these topics is unique and specific in its choice of words and the beauty of the language.
Miracle No. 5
Most of the topics discussed in the Holy Quran relate to such subjects as: belief, ethics, prayers , personal conduct, social obligations, and legal matters etc. No human being has composed a book of poetry on such topics. The Holy Quran, however, discusses such topics in a poetic language which has a specific rhythm, beauty, and style.
Miracle no. 6
A human writer usually has the command of knowledge of a certain specific subject, or a few related subjects, e.g. one can write on the subject of history, or economics, or philosophy, or physics or ethics etc. It is not possible for a human being to write simultaneously on a large variety of different subjects with an equal command of language and depth of knowledge. Even a casual reader can find that Holy Quran discusses an array of subjects such as history, philosophy, economics, beliefs, social laws, and science etc. with equal command of the language and depth of knowledge. Furthermore, whatever the Holy Quran has stated in a certain field of knowledge has always been proven to be the eternal truth. No human being has written such a comprehensive book with such absolute perfection and certainty of knowledge.
Miracle No. 7
Every human book represents the knowledge that was avaliable to the writer at a certain time and place. Human knowledge however, keeps advancing. As a result, every human book, after some time becomes obsolete. The knowledge in a book, after the passage of time, is found to be either false or incomplete. Books by human authors thus need to be revised of rewritten after a period of time. The Holy Quran was given to mankind through Muhammad (saw) more than 1,400 years ago. Since that time, human knowledge has gone through countless changes and advancements. It is, however, a fact that not a single word, phrase, sentence,or topic in the Holy Quran needs to be revised or rewritten. Furthermore, the Holy Quran also discusses the finest mysteries of nature and man. Not a single disrepency has been found in the statements of the Holy Quran with the continuous advancements of science and technology during the past 1,400 years.
Miracle no. 8
An effective writer always modifies his style and language according to the varying needs of the readers. What may appeal to a young person may not appeal to an old person. Similarly what may appeal to an illeterate person, may not appeal to an educated person. Moreover human society also has persons with different levels of knowledge and intelligence. All of these persons are motivated by different styles of writing. Furthermore every human being passes through various phases of emotional changes e.g., a person who is happy likes to read something different from the person who is depressed. At the same time every human being has a certain preference for thestyle of writing. A few prefer to read poetry, others prefer to read prose, a few others like to read simple language, a few others like an eloquent style of writing. No one has ever written a book that could appeal, motivate, and inspire all sectors, age groups, education levels, and emotional states of human society. The Holy Quran is the only book that has universally met the needs of all varying sectors and factors of human society.
This unparalleled ability of the Holy Quran to address a multitude of persons, to penetrate their inner most souls, and to give them comfort and peace is one of the outstanding miracles of the language of the Holy Quran.
Miracle No. 9
If a human author keeps writing for years and years, he passes through a gradual change in his writing style and also in his views and thoughts. Thus, not only the language, but the philosophy and opinion of a writer usually change with the passage of time. The Holy Quran was gradually revealed to Muhammad(saw) during a period of about 23 years. If Muhammad(saw) had been the writer of the Holy Quran, one could certainly find some difference in the earlier and later writings of the book, and also some changes and discrepancies in views and thoughts expressed over time. The fact, however, is that no change is observed in the language of earlier and later revealed verses of the Holy Quran. Moreover, no change is found in the message and philosophy of the earlier and later revealed verses of the Holy Quran.
Miracle No. 10
A human writer is mostly affected by the changing conditions of his environment, which in turn affect his emotions and feelings. These are inevitably reflected in the style and tone of his writing. This all the more true of the poets because poetry always reflects the mood and emotions of the writer. Given the fact that the Holy Quran is written in a poetic language, it is important to note that Muhamad(saw), during his 23 years of Prophethood, went through numerous periods of personal trials and triumphs. He went through a period of severe hardship in the 7th year of his Prophethood. He, and all of his relatives were expelled from Makkah, and deprived of all the basic necessities of life for three long years. In contrast in the 8th year of Hijra, he enjoyed a glorious triumph- when he entered Makkah as the head of an army of 10,000 believers and gratiously accepted the total surrender of the Makkans. Had Muhammad(saw) been the writer of the Holy Quran, its language would have reflected his personal emotions under various sets of environments. The fact, however, is that the Holy Quran does not exhibit any change in its style or tone that may reflect the phases of struggle, hardship, and triumph that Muhammad(saw) experienced. The language in the Holy Quran remains steady in its own majesty far from being affected by any environmental ups and downs.
Miracle No. 11
Glory be to Allah, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as, their own kind, and (other) things of which they have no Knowledge. (36:36)
.........The earth produces various minerals. Recent advancements in science have established that all minerals are composed of eithr positively or negatively charged sub atomic particles. The Holy Quran revealed this fact by stating that all things produced by the earth were created in pairs. In addition to minerals, even water that the earth produces is composed of opposite radicals.
The Holy Quran refers to things, also, that were unknown to mankind at the time of revelation, and that they also are created in pairs. These things 'unknown' may be explained by the discovery of bacteria. It is amazing to note that all bacteria are classified into only two broad classes known as gram positive or gram negative.
Miracle No. 12
It is We who send the fertilizing winds, then We send down the water from the sky, and then We give it to you to drink, you are not the one who hold the store of this wealth. (15:22)
Miracle No. 13
Does not man think that We (Allah) can not assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order (even) the very tips of his fingers. (75:3-4)
...........It is now an established fact that each human being has his or her own unique fingerprint. The differences between finger prints of individuals is so specific and subtle that only experts with sophisticated instruments can identify them.
And this is also a sign for mankind, who are warned not to underestimate the powers and capabilities of Allah (swt), who can easily bring us back to life, on the Day of Judgement.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Prophet Saleh
From: www.islamreligion.com
Prophet Saleh
By Aisha Stacey
God said in Quran that Prophets and Messengers were sent to every nation on earth and that they all spread the same message – to worship One God, alone, without partners, sons, or daughters. The majority of Prophets mentioned in the Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad are recognisable, and considered prophets in both the Jewish and Christian faiths. Prophet Saleh however, is one of only four Arab prophets and his story is not universally known.
“And, indeed We have sent Messengers before you (O Muhammad); of some of them We have related to you their story and of some We have not related to you their story, and it was not given to any Messenger that he should bring a sign except by the Leave of God.” (Quran 40:78)
Ad and Thamud were two great civilisations destroyed by God due to their excessive wickedness. After the destruction of Ad, Thamud succeeded them in power and grandeur. The people led wealthy excessive lives, built grand buildings, both on the plains, and carved into the hills. Unfortunately with their extravagant lifestyles came idol worship and wickedness. Prophet Saleh was sent to warn the people of Thamud, that God was not pleased with their behaviour, and would rain down destruction upon them, if they did not mend their evil ways.
Saleh was a pious, righteous man who held a position of leadership in the community, but his call to worship God alone infuriated many people. Some understood the wisdom of his words, but the majority of the people disbelieved and harmed Saleh with both words and actions.
"O Saleh! You have been among us as a figure of good hope and we wished for you to be our chief, till this, new thing, which you have brought that we leave our gods, and worship your God alone! Do you now forbid us the worship of what our fathers have worshipped? But we are really in grave doubt as to that which you invite us to monotheism.” (Quran 11:62)
The people of Thamud gathered at their meeting place, in the shadows of a great mountain. They demanded that Saleh prove that the One God he spoke of was truly mighty and strong. They asked him to perform a miracle – to cause a unique and incomparable she camel to emerge from the nearby mountains. Saleh addressed his people asking, if the camel appeared would they then believe in his message. They answered a resounding yes, and together the people prayed with Saleh for the miracle to occur.
By the grace of God, an enormous, ten month pregnant she camel emerged from the rocks at the bottom of the mountain. Some of the people understood the magnitude of this miracle but the majority continued to disbelieve. They saw a great and dazzling sight yet remained arrogant and stubborn.
“We sent the she camel to Thamud as a clear sign, but they did her wrong (Quran 17:59)
Quran commentator and Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir informs us that there are a number of accounts of the she camel and her miraculous nature. It is said that the camel appeared from a rock that split open, and some people pointed out that the camel was so huge it was able to drink all the water in the town’s wells in one day. Other people said the camel was able to produce enough milk every day to feed the entire population. The camel lived among the people of Thamud and sadly, the disbelievers who had harassed Saleh turned their anger and resentment towards the camel.
Although many people believed in God, listened to Prophet Saleh, and understood the miracle of the she camel, many others stubbornly refused to listen. People began to complain that the camel drank too much water, or that she frightened the other livestock. Prophet Saleh began to fear for the camel. He warned his people of a great torment that would befall them if they harmed the she camel.
“O my people! This she camel of God is a sign to you, leave her to feed on God's earth, and touch her not with evil lest a near torment will seize you.” (Quran 11:64)
A group of men encouraged their womenfolk, plotted to kill the she camel and took the first opportunity to shoot her with an arrow and pierce her with a sword. The she camel fell to the ground and died. The murderers cheered and congratulated each other and the disbelievers laughed and mocked Saleh. Prophet Saleh warned the people that a great torment would be upon them with in three days, but he continued to hope that they would see the error of their ways and seek God’s forgiveness. Prophet Saleh said. "O my people! I have indeed conveyed to you the Message of my Lord, and have given you good advice but you like not good advisers.” (Quran 7:79) However, the people of Thamud jeered at Saleh’s words and planned to destroy him and his family as callously as they had killed the she camel.
“And there were in the city nine men (from the sons of their chiefs), who made mischief in the land, and would not reform. They said: ‘Swear to another by God that we shall make a secret night attack on him and his household, and afterwards we will surely say to his near relatives, "We witnessed not the destruction of his household, and verily! We are telling the truth.’” (Quran 27: 48 & 49)
God saved Prophet Saleh and all his followers; they packed some meagre belongings, and with heavy hearts, moved to another place. After three days, Prophet Saleh’s warning came to pass. The sky was filled with lightening and thunder and the earth shook violently. God destroyed the city of Thamud and her people died in a torment of fear and disbelief.
Ibn Kathir said that Saleh’s people fell down dead, one and all, all at the same time. Their arrogance and disbelief could not save them, nor could their idols. Their large and extravagant buildings afforded them no protection at all. God continues to send clear guidance to humankind but the disbelievers persist in their arrogance and denial. God is the most Merciful and the most Forgiving: He loves to forgive. However, God’s warnings should not to be ignored. God’s punishment, as the people of Thamud experienced, can be swift and severe.
Prophet Saleh
By Aisha Stacey
God said in Quran that Prophets and Messengers were sent to every nation on earth and that they all spread the same message – to worship One God, alone, without partners, sons, or daughters. The majority of Prophets mentioned in the Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad are recognisable, and considered prophets in both the Jewish and Christian faiths. Prophet Saleh however, is one of only four Arab prophets and his story is not universally known.
“And, indeed We have sent Messengers before you (O Muhammad); of some of them We have related to you their story and of some We have not related to you their story, and it was not given to any Messenger that he should bring a sign except by the Leave of God.” (Quran 40:78)
Ad and Thamud were two great civilisations destroyed by God due to their excessive wickedness. After the destruction of Ad, Thamud succeeded them in power and grandeur. The people led wealthy excessive lives, built grand buildings, both on the plains, and carved into the hills. Unfortunately with their extravagant lifestyles came idol worship and wickedness. Prophet Saleh was sent to warn the people of Thamud, that God was not pleased with their behaviour, and would rain down destruction upon them, if they did not mend their evil ways.
Saleh was a pious, righteous man who held a position of leadership in the community, but his call to worship God alone infuriated many people. Some understood the wisdom of his words, but the majority of the people disbelieved and harmed Saleh with both words and actions.
"O Saleh! You have been among us as a figure of good hope and we wished for you to be our chief, till this, new thing, which you have brought that we leave our gods, and worship your God alone! Do you now forbid us the worship of what our fathers have worshipped? But we are really in grave doubt as to that which you invite us to monotheism.” (Quran 11:62)
The people of Thamud gathered at their meeting place, in the shadows of a great mountain. They demanded that Saleh prove that the One God he spoke of was truly mighty and strong. They asked him to perform a miracle – to cause a unique and incomparable she camel to emerge from the nearby mountains. Saleh addressed his people asking, if the camel appeared would they then believe in his message. They answered a resounding yes, and together the people prayed with Saleh for the miracle to occur.
By the grace of God, an enormous, ten month pregnant she camel emerged from the rocks at the bottom of the mountain. Some of the people understood the magnitude of this miracle but the majority continued to disbelieve. They saw a great and dazzling sight yet remained arrogant and stubborn.
“We sent the she camel to Thamud as a clear sign, but they did her wrong (Quran 17:59)
Quran commentator and Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir informs us that there are a number of accounts of the she camel and her miraculous nature. It is said that the camel appeared from a rock that split open, and some people pointed out that the camel was so huge it was able to drink all the water in the town’s wells in one day. Other people said the camel was able to produce enough milk every day to feed the entire population. The camel lived among the people of Thamud and sadly, the disbelievers who had harassed Saleh turned their anger and resentment towards the camel.
Although many people believed in God, listened to Prophet Saleh, and understood the miracle of the she camel, many others stubbornly refused to listen. People began to complain that the camel drank too much water, or that she frightened the other livestock. Prophet Saleh began to fear for the camel. He warned his people of a great torment that would befall them if they harmed the she camel.
“O my people! This she camel of God is a sign to you, leave her to feed on God's earth, and touch her not with evil lest a near torment will seize you.” (Quran 11:64)
A group of men encouraged their womenfolk, plotted to kill the she camel and took the first opportunity to shoot her with an arrow and pierce her with a sword. The she camel fell to the ground and died. The murderers cheered and congratulated each other and the disbelievers laughed and mocked Saleh. Prophet Saleh warned the people that a great torment would be upon them with in three days, but he continued to hope that they would see the error of their ways and seek God’s forgiveness. Prophet Saleh said. "O my people! I have indeed conveyed to you the Message of my Lord, and have given you good advice but you like not good advisers.” (Quran 7:79) However, the people of Thamud jeered at Saleh’s words and planned to destroy him and his family as callously as they had killed the she camel.
“And there were in the city nine men (from the sons of their chiefs), who made mischief in the land, and would not reform. They said: ‘Swear to another by God that we shall make a secret night attack on him and his household, and afterwards we will surely say to his near relatives, "We witnessed not the destruction of his household, and verily! We are telling the truth.’” (Quran 27: 48 & 49)
God saved Prophet Saleh and all his followers; they packed some meagre belongings, and with heavy hearts, moved to another place. After three days, Prophet Saleh’s warning came to pass. The sky was filled with lightening and thunder and the earth shook violently. God destroyed the city of Thamud and her people died in a torment of fear and disbelief.
Ibn Kathir said that Saleh’s people fell down dead, one and all, all at the same time. Their arrogance and disbelief could not save them, nor could their idols. Their large and extravagant buildings afforded them no protection at all. God continues to send clear guidance to humankind but the disbelievers persist in their arrogance and denial. God is the most Merciful and the most Forgiving: He loves to forgive. However, God’s warnings should not to be ignored. God’s punishment, as the people of Thamud experienced, can be swift and severe.
The Prophet Joseph (Yusuf) {PBUH}
From: http://www.scienceandquran.com/articles/Hz_Yusuf.htm
The Qur'an was sent down to mankind by Allah to serve as a guide, it contains the very truest accounts, bringing glad tidings to man, warning him and instilling fear in him. It is a great mercy and the sole Divine Book. For that reason, it is the Qur'an that people must read and study above all else.
As well as containing the commandments of Allah, the Qur'an also gives people the most accurate information on a number of subjects.
Allah teaches us important wisdom in those sections that describe the lives of the prophets of the past. The life story of every prophet furnishes us both with lessons in faith and with examples of how we should behave in the time and society in which we live. Studying these life stories in detail, trying to grasp the wisdom they contain and praying to Allah that we might do so, is the duty of every Muslim.
In this text we shall be examining the life and struggles of one of these prophets of the past, Yusuf (as), and considering the knowledge that Allah imparts to us concerning him.
Prophet Yusuf (as), known in the Bible as Joseph, is one of those prophets about whose life the Qur'an has most to say. Almost all of Surah Yusuf, one of the longest in the Qur'an, is devoted to his life and that of his family. Early on in this surah, Allah reveals that his life story contains important indications, proofs and wisdom:
In Yusuf and his brothers there are Signs for every one of those who want to ask. (Surah Yusuf: 7)
Since Allah devotes a lot of space to the details of the life of Prophet Yusuf (as), we may be sure that believers have a great deal to learn from it. In fact, the final verse of the surah stresses that the life stories of the prophets contain important lessons for those who possess wisdom and reason and are capable of grasping the essential meanings inherent in creation:
There is instruction in their stories for people of intelligence. This is not a narration which has been invented but confirmation of all that came before, a clarification of everything, and a guidance and a mercy for people who believe. (Surah Yusuf: 111)
One of the great examples of wisdom in the life stories of the prophets is the way the verses do not merely describe events in the past, but also provide lessons for people of future generations while pointing to events that have yet to take place. In this sense, the life of Yusuf (as) has several meanings. When we look at his life we see that Muslims have faced similar difficulties in all ages, that they have been subjected to unfounded allegations by people who do not share their religion and that they have experienced a great many situations in which they have needed to exhibit patience and resignation before the will of Allah. We are told that at an early age Prophet Yusuf (as) was thrown down a well by his brothers and left to die, that he was later sold into slavery and spent long years in prison as a result of false accusations, and that he was tested with a number of difficulties. So when believers look at his life they find a great many similarities with their own lives. It is the immutable design of Allah that believers over the ages have faced similar situations. Allah makes this clear in a number of verses:
That was the pattern with those We sent before you as Our Messengers. You will not find any changing of Our pattern. (Surat al-Isra': 77)
That is Allah's pattern which has passed away before.You will not find any changing in the pattern of Allah. (Surat al-Fath: 23)
In addition to this, after all the traps that had been set for him; the way he was thrown into a well, slandered, unjustly imprisoned and left there for years, Allah eventually made Yusuf (as) head of the Treasury. He gave him power, rank and wealth. The unalterable pattern of Allah applies here, just as it does in every other field. Allah promises in several verses that the faithful will be delivered after all their tribulations:
Allah has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their religion with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. "They worship Me, not associating anything with Me." Any who disbelieve after that, such people are deviators. (Surat an-Nur: 55)
Just as with the other prophets, believers who read the life story of Prophet Yusuf (as) will encounter many glad tidings and learn a great many lessons. That being the case, every believer must read these stories and attempt to grasp the wisdom they contain. A thorough understanding of the life of Prophet Yusuf (as) will provide believers with the kind of insight that will be of use to them in their daily lives and throughout their lives.
THE SINCERE PRAYER OF PROPHET YUSUF (as)
Throughout this text we have discussed how exceedingly devoted to Allah Prophet Yusuf (as) was, how well protected he was by Him, and how often he called upon and gave thanks to Him. This can be seen in the following verse in which Allah inspires him with the following words:
"My Lord, You have granted power to me on earth and taught me the true meaning of events. Originator of the heavens and earth, You are my Friend in this world and the Next. So take me as a Muslim at my death and join me to the people who are righteous." (Surah Yusuf: 101)
As we have seen, Prophet Yusuf (as) was aware that all the attributes he possessed, both the material benefits and his knowledge and reason, had been given to him by Allah . Those who deny true religion, on the other hand, believe that they acquire everything through their own efforts, thus magnifying themselves in their own eyes and displaying ingratitude for Allah's blessings.
Prophet Yusuf's prayer (as) as recorded in the above verse is another expression of his faith and fear of Allah. Despite being a prophet chosen by Allah, he wishes to die as a believer and join the community of the righteous. Nothing is taken for granted with respect to his position in the hereafter. He has a genuine fear of Allah and calls upon Him in his need.
This is the kind of understanding and behaviour befitting a believer. Those who regard themselves as worthy of the Garden, who claim that as beloved servants of Allah they will definitely be saved in the hereafter, and who belittle other people in their pride, are in a heedless state. The true believer, on the other hand, is always submissive in the face of Allah , is always mindful of jeopardising His good pleasure, and acts with the humility this awareness brings with it.
The duty of every Muslim is to be a sincere, submissive, devout and humble believer, just like Prophet Yusuf (as) and to pray with all sincerity, "So take me as a Muslim at my death and join me to the people who are righteous."
Throughout this book we have been examining the life of Prophet Yusuf (as) in the light of the details given in the Qur'an. Our only reliable source of knowledge about his life is that provided for us by Allah. Beyond that, we have absolutely no right to add or subtract even a single word. Allah has in fact indicated this, revealing that everything that has been related regarding Prophet Yusuf (as) actually consists of unknown things. The story of Prophet Yusuf (as) concludes with these words:
This is news of the Unseen which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they decided what to do and devised their scheme. (Surah Yusuf: 102)
In revealing this information to us, Allah both teaches us important wisdom, which we can use in our own lives, and has also made it easier for us to take the prophets of the past as role models by allowing us to become acquainted with them. With the exception of true dreams (which as we have seen from the evidence of Prophet Yusuf's own life, are not ordinary or everyday occurrences), we have no opportunity of actually seeing Prophet Yusuf (as), Prophet Ya'qub (as) or any other prophet while we remain in this world. However, careful reading of the Qur'an and deep consideration of the lives of the prophets, seeing the environment they lived in and their exemplary behaviour clearly in our minds' eye and striving to understand it, may allow us to become acquainted with the prophets and to make use of their superior perceptiveness, spirituality and nearness to Allah.
Everyone who reads this book must therefore reflect upon it carefully. They must consider the wisdom of the prophets Ya'qub (as) and Yusuf (as) and work out how to make that wisdom part of their daily lives. If a person abandons hope in the face of the troubles and woes that befall him, or if he says, "This is going to be very difficult to put right, there is nothing we can do," when he sees the plight of Muslims, then we should know that this is terrible heedlessness. We should remember the patience, determination and firm, unshakeable faith in Allah of Prophet Yusuf (as), who was thrown down a well, then sold cheaply as a slave, slandered, imprisoned for no crime and abandoned there for years. That is how to rid oneself of defeatism and despair. We must remember that in spite of the calamitous events that befell Prophet Yusuf (as) that seemed to be so great on the surface, he was freed from them in a moment by the generosity and mercy of Allah, and secured a great blessing.
Never forget that in the present day, just like in the time of Prophet Yusuf (as), there is a flawless Divine plan operating in every single event, and that Allah creates everything that happens under His good auspices and wisdom. Do not forget that Allah has power over all things, and that He always helps those who have faith and are sincerely devoted to Him, who devoutly seek to serve Him and follow His Messenger (saas). He gives believers blessings at times when they are least expected, and helps them in unforeseen ways. A human being's sole duty is to worship Allah on the basis of these truths, and to live his life accordingly.
The Qur'an was sent down to mankind by Allah to serve as a guide, it contains the very truest accounts, bringing glad tidings to man, warning him and instilling fear in him. It is a great mercy and the sole Divine Book. For that reason, it is the Qur'an that people must read and study above all else.
As well as containing the commandments of Allah, the Qur'an also gives people the most accurate information on a number of subjects.
Allah teaches us important wisdom in those sections that describe the lives of the prophets of the past. The life story of every prophet furnishes us both with lessons in faith and with examples of how we should behave in the time and society in which we live. Studying these life stories in detail, trying to grasp the wisdom they contain and praying to Allah that we might do so, is the duty of every Muslim.
In this text we shall be examining the life and struggles of one of these prophets of the past, Yusuf (as), and considering the knowledge that Allah imparts to us concerning him.
Prophet Yusuf (as), known in the Bible as Joseph, is one of those prophets about whose life the Qur'an has most to say. Almost all of Surah Yusuf, one of the longest in the Qur'an, is devoted to his life and that of his family. Early on in this surah, Allah reveals that his life story contains important indications, proofs and wisdom:
In Yusuf and his brothers there are Signs for every one of those who want to ask. (Surah Yusuf: 7)
Since Allah devotes a lot of space to the details of the life of Prophet Yusuf (as), we may be sure that believers have a great deal to learn from it. In fact, the final verse of the surah stresses that the life stories of the prophets contain important lessons for those who possess wisdom and reason and are capable of grasping the essential meanings inherent in creation:
There is instruction in their stories for people of intelligence. This is not a narration which has been invented but confirmation of all that came before, a clarification of everything, and a guidance and a mercy for people who believe. (Surah Yusuf: 111)
One of the great examples of wisdom in the life stories of the prophets is the way the verses do not merely describe events in the past, but also provide lessons for people of future generations while pointing to events that have yet to take place. In this sense, the life of Yusuf (as) has several meanings. When we look at his life we see that Muslims have faced similar difficulties in all ages, that they have been subjected to unfounded allegations by people who do not share their religion and that they have experienced a great many situations in which they have needed to exhibit patience and resignation before the will of Allah. We are told that at an early age Prophet Yusuf (as) was thrown down a well by his brothers and left to die, that he was later sold into slavery and spent long years in prison as a result of false accusations, and that he was tested with a number of difficulties. So when believers look at his life they find a great many similarities with their own lives. It is the immutable design of Allah that believers over the ages have faced similar situations. Allah makes this clear in a number of verses:
That was the pattern with those We sent before you as Our Messengers. You will not find any changing of Our pattern. (Surat al-Isra': 77)
That is Allah's pattern which has passed away before.You will not find any changing in the pattern of Allah. (Surat al-Fath: 23)
In addition to this, after all the traps that had been set for him; the way he was thrown into a well, slandered, unjustly imprisoned and left there for years, Allah eventually made Yusuf (as) head of the Treasury. He gave him power, rank and wealth. The unalterable pattern of Allah applies here, just as it does in every other field. Allah promises in several verses that the faithful will be delivered after all their tribulations:
Allah has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their religion with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. "They worship Me, not associating anything with Me." Any who disbelieve after that, such people are deviators. (Surat an-Nur: 55)
Just as with the other prophets, believers who read the life story of Prophet Yusuf (as) will encounter many glad tidings and learn a great many lessons. That being the case, every believer must read these stories and attempt to grasp the wisdom they contain. A thorough understanding of the life of Prophet Yusuf (as) will provide believers with the kind of insight that will be of use to them in their daily lives and throughout their lives.
THE SINCERE PRAYER OF PROPHET YUSUF (as)
Throughout this text we have discussed how exceedingly devoted to Allah Prophet Yusuf (as) was, how well protected he was by Him, and how often he called upon and gave thanks to Him. This can be seen in the following verse in which Allah inspires him with the following words:
"My Lord, You have granted power to me on earth and taught me the true meaning of events. Originator of the heavens and earth, You are my Friend in this world and the Next. So take me as a Muslim at my death and join me to the people who are righteous." (Surah Yusuf: 101)
As we have seen, Prophet Yusuf (as) was aware that all the attributes he possessed, both the material benefits and his knowledge and reason, had been given to him by Allah . Those who deny true religion, on the other hand, believe that they acquire everything through their own efforts, thus magnifying themselves in their own eyes and displaying ingratitude for Allah's blessings.
Prophet Yusuf's prayer (as) as recorded in the above verse is another expression of his faith and fear of Allah. Despite being a prophet chosen by Allah, he wishes to die as a believer and join the community of the righteous. Nothing is taken for granted with respect to his position in the hereafter. He has a genuine fear of Allah and calls upon Him in his need.
This is the kind of understanding and behaviour befitting a believer. Those who regard themselves as worthy of the Garden, who claim that as beloved servants of Allah they will definitely be saved in the hereafter, and who belittle other people in their pride, are in a heedless state. The true believer, on the other hand, is always submissive in the face of Allah , is always mindful of jeopardising His good pleasure, and acts with the humility this awareness brings with it.
The duty of every Muslim is to be a sincere, submissive, devout and humble believer, just like Prophet Yusuf (as) and to pray with all sincerity, "So take me as a Muslim at my death and join me to the people who are righteous."
Throughout this book we have been examining the life of Prophet Yusuf (as) in the light of the details given in the Qur'an. Our only reliable source of knowledge about his life is that provided for us by Allah. Beyond that, we have absolutely no right to add or subtract even a single word. Allah has in fact indicated this, revealing that everything that has been related regarding Prophet Yusuf (as) actually consists of unknown things. The story of Prophet Yusuf (as) concludes with these words:
This is news of the Unseen which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they decided what to do and devised their scheme. (Surah Yusuf: 102)
In revealing this information to us, Allah both teaches us important wisdom, which we can use in our own lives, and has also made it easier for us to take the prophets of the past as role models by allowing us to become acquainted with them. With the exception of true dreams (which as we have seen from the evidence of Prophet Yusuf's own life, are not ordinary or everyday occurrences), we have no opportunity of actually seeing Prophet Yusuf (as), Prophet Ya'qub (as) or any other prophet while we remain in this world. However, careful reading of the Qur'an and deep consideration of the lives of the prophets, seeing the environment they lived in and their exemplary behaviour clearly in our minds' eye and striving to understand it, may allow us to become acquainted with the prophets and to make use of their superior perceptiveness, spirituality and nearness to Allah.
Everyone who reads this book must therefore reflect upon it carefully. They must consider the wisdom of the prophets Ya'qub (as) and Yusuf (as) and work out how to make that wisdom part of their daily lives. If a person abandons hope in the face of the troubles and woes that befall him, or if he says, "This is going to be very difficult to put right, there is nothing we can do," when he sees the plight of Muslims, then we should know that this is terrible heedlessness. We should remember the patience, determination and firm, unshakeable faith in Allah of Prophet Yusuf (as), who was thrown down a well, then sold cheaply as a slave, slandered, imprisoned for no crime and abandoned there for years. That is how to rid oneself of defeatism and despair. We must remember that in spite of the calamitous events that befell Prophet Yusuf (as) that seemed to be so great on the surface, he was freed from them in a moment by the generosity and mercy of Allah, and secured a great blessing.
Never forget that in the present day, just like in the time of Prophet Yusuf (as), there is a flawless Divine plan operating in every single event, and that Allah creates everything that happens under His good auspices and wisdom. Do not forget that Allah has power over all things, and that He always helps those who have faith and are sincerely devoted to Him, who devoutly seek to serve Him and follow His Messenger (saas). He gives believers blessings at times when they are least expected, and helps them in unforeseen ways. A human being's sole duty is to worship Allah on the basis of these truths, and to live his life accordingly.
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