One of the earliest Muslims in America: Yarrow Mamout

On 19 January 1824, one of the earliest Muslims in America, Yarrow Mamout, died in Georgetown Virginia.

He was enslaved in West Africa and brought to Maryland in the late 1700s. He eventually received his freedom in 1796 and went on to live, as a Muslim, in Washington DC until he died.

More Lost Islamic History…

Time management tips from the Seerah

Source: productivemuslim.com

By: Taha Ghayyur

Time is limited. Death is certain. However, our intention to live a productive life and to serve Allah (glorified and exalted be He) and His creation will itself be enough to count as a positive action.

If you study the seerah (life of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him)) with specific focus on his daily and regular routines, it is an eye-opener. How meticulous he was in planning every aspect of his day; how he prioritized tasks; how serious he was about keeping his word and how he kept his speech precise and not indulging in idle talk. He was the best of creation, Khayru-l-Khalq, and it is natural we should learn from his example. Below are five lessons on time-management that we can draw from the Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) enormously productive and purpose-driven life.

The Roots of Iraq’s Sectarian Division

Source: http://lostislamichistory.com/

The land of Iraq is home to some of the most ancient and precious civilizations in history. In the Mesopotamian valley that encompasses the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Babylonia, the world’s first empire was born. Writing was first developed along the banks of the rivers with tablets made of clay. Advanced government bureaucracies were first implemented here. It is truly one of the cradles of human civilization.

And when Islam was revealed in the deserts of Arabia south of Mesopotamia, the people of Iraq were some of the first to accept Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula during the caliphate of Abu Bakr. As Islamic history went on, Iraq became one of the centers of the Muslim world, with Baghdad being established in the 8th century as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Politics, culture, science, and religion all flourished here in early Islamic history. After the Mongol invasion, however, Iraq’s importance declined, it eventually became a part of the Ottoman Empire from the early 1500s until the end of the empire in the First World War. After the war, it was organized into a British-controlled mandate, which sought to create an independent nation-state in this ancient land.

Which brings us to the question: what is Iraq? The British assumed they’d find a homogeneous people in this land that would easily coalesce into one united nation, but the reality has been much more complicated. When the British drew Iraq’s borders, the people within those false borders were of different ethnic groups, religious beliefs, and languages, yet they were all expected to adopt a new identity – Iraqi – and function as a modern nationalistic European nation. This article will address the origins of these problems of identity in 20th century Iraq.

The Greatest Architect of All Time

Source: http://lostislamichistory.com/

Islamic history is filled with genius architects. Some of the greatest monuments on earth are the product of Muslims who wanted to build beautiful structures that would show the greatness of Islam throughout time. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey are all examples of this cherished and beautiful architectural tradition.

Arguably the greatest and most influential architect of all time, however, was the Ottoman architectural master, Mimar Sinan, who lived from 1489 to 1588. He lived during the zenith of the Ottoman Empire, during the reigns of sultans Selim I, Suleyman, Selim II, and Murad III. During this time, the iconic skyline of Istanbul was changed forever, with the beautiful additions of great sultans via Mimar Sinan.

Early Life

Mimar was the son of a Greek or Armenian convert to Islam, Abd al-Mannan. He joined the elite corps of the Ottoman army, the Janissaries as a young man, like his father did before him. In the Janissaries, Sinan showed early talent as an engineer. He rose up through the ranks, becoming an officer in the army who participated in numerous military campaigns under sultans Selim and Suleyman. As the Ottoman armies marched to new extents in Europe, Africa, and Persia, Sinan went with them, organizing engineering corps for the military, as well as building mosques and other civil buildings in newly Ottoman cities. In 1538, his talents could no longer be ignored and he was given a position as the head architect of the sultan’s government in Istanbul.

Early Works

Sinan certainly had a lot of practice in designing buildings. As he began his career, he built smaller mosques across the empire. He built the Khusruwiyah Mosque in Aleppo, Syria in 1547, which remains today as a landmark in that city. He also renovated the mosque of Imam Abu Hanifa in Baghdad, and the mosque of Jalal al-Din al-Rumi in Konya. These projects all gave Sinan a good background in architecture and engineering, and they also provided him with the skills he would need once he started building larger monuments to the glory of Islam.The timeless gem of Istanbul’s architecture has always been the Hagia Sophia. It was built as a Christian church in 537 by the Byzantines and was converted to a mosque to serve the new Muslim population after Mehmed II’s conquest of the city in 1453. Since then, Ottoman architects had used the Hagia Sophia’s giant dome as a template for how to design Muslim mosques. Ottoman mosques were thus based on a premise of having one giant central dome over the main prayer hall that was held up by numerous semi-domes on its sides. This greatly increasing the mosque’s size and capacity. Despite the numerous attempts through the decades to top the Hagia Sophia in size and beauty, no architect was able to accomplish such a feat. Mimar Sinan made it his goal to build a monument to Islam that was more magnificent than the epic Hagia Sophia.

 

The sunnas of shopping and dealing

By: Said Alpsoy

Source: resulullah.org

THE BEST OF THE BELIEVERS IS THE ONE WHO MAKES THINGS EASIER IN COMMERCE

• The most virtuous of the believers is the one who makes things easier in his shopping, paying his debt and demanding his debt. (Tabarani)
• Be careful! Some portion of people pay their debt nicely and demand their debt nicely, they do not hurt people. On the other hand, some people pay their debt badly, they hurt people; they demand their debt badly. They will be treated in the same way in the hereafter. Be careful! Some people pay their debt badly and demand their debt badly. Be careful! The most virtuous of them are the ones who pay their debt nicely and demand their debt nicely. The evilest ones are those who pay their debt badly and demand their debt badly. (Tirmidhi)

Dr Zakir Naik: It is good to encourage our children to fast (Video)

 It is good to encourage our children to fast by Dr Zakir Naik. The beloved Prophet said the pen has been lifted that means it’s not obligatory on them to fast. Same as prayer also, they are not obliged but it’s good to encourage our children to fast as early as possible though it’s not compulsory.

1300 Years of Islamic History in 3 minutes (VIDEO)

 The rise and fall of Muslim empires in the Middle East over 1300 years from the early 600s to the 1900s.