Blog Archives
New Muslim: How to Minimize the Stress?
Source: onislam.net
By: Theresa Corbin
With negative pressure from fellow Muslims at the mosque, the daily media pressure of negative news about Muslims and Islam, and all the challenges of learning a new religion and getting the right understanding about Islam, many new Muslims find themselves more stressed than ever before.
Which can lead them to wonder where is the peace promised in Islam?
How does a new Muslim cope with all these pressures?
Modesty: An Inside-Out Approach
Source: virtualmosque.com
Think modesty (hayā’). What comes to mind? It could be wearing hijāb and dressing modestly. Or maybe it is using decent and clean speech. Or it might be conducting ourselves with dignity and self-respect around the opposite gender. If we know we’ve fallen short in our modesty, we feel the need to change in some way. So, we try to wear more loose-fitting clothes, for example, or wear less make-up. Or we might try to curse a little less, look at lewd images less often, or flirt a little less with a guy friend or girls at work. But sometimes we find it difficult to change these habits and behaviors. Why is that? Part of the reason is that we overlook the inner spiritual dimensions of modesty; we try to cure the symptoms without dealing with the problem at its root. It is almost like trying to save a dried out plant by dipping its leaves in water or fertilizer.
Signs of the times, the End Times
Source: jamiat.org.za
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) foretold 72 signs that would appear near the Day of Doom:
1. People will leave prayer
2. People will usurp Ama’naat
3. Lying will become an art
4. There will be murders on the slightest of disagreements
5. Interest will become common
6. There will be very tall buildings
7. People will sell Religion for the world
8. People will treat relatives badly
9. Justice will become a rarity
10. Lies will be considered truth
11. Clothes will be of silk
12. Persecution will become common
13. Divorces will become common
14. Sudden deaths will increase
15. The usurper of Ama’naat will be considered honest and honourable
16. The keeper of Am’naat will be called an usurper of things given to him for safekeeping
17. Liars will be thought of as honest
18. Honest people will be thought of as liars
19. False accusations will become the norm
20. It will be hot in spite of rain
21. Instead of wishing for children, people will pray that they not have children
22. People from bad backgrounds and with bad upbringing will live a life of luxury(material, not peaceful)
23. Good people, when they try to practice, will be cut off from the world
24. Previously good people will also usurp Ama’naat
25. Leaders will become persecutors
26. Ulema and Qaris will commit adultery
27. People will wear clothes of animal skin
28. But their hearts will smell and will be dead
29. And will be bitter
30. Gold will become common
31. Demand for Silver will increase
32. Sin will increase
33. Peace will become rare
34. Ayaats from the Quran will be decorated and calligraphy will become common
35. Mosques will be decorated
36. And will have tall minars
37. But hearts will be empty
38. Alcoholic drinks will be consumed more than ever
39. Punishments ordered by the Shariah will be revoked and will no longer be implemented
40. Women will order their mothers around
41. People who are with naked feet, naked bodies and against religion will become kings
42. Women will trade along with men
43. Women will imitate men
44. Men will imitate women
45. People will swear by things other than Allah and the Quran
46. Even Muslims will be prepared to give false testimony, without being incited to it
47. Only people one knows will be greetedwith the salaam
48. The knowledge of the shariah will be used to earn worldly things
49. Acts which earn the Akhirah, will be used to earn the world
50. Assets belonging to the nation will be considered and treated as personal treasures by the rulers
51. Ama’naat will be considered ones personal asset
52. Zakaat will be considered a burden
53. The lowest and the worst man in the nation will become its leader
54. People will not obey their fathers
55. And will mistreat their mothers
56. And will not hold back from harming their friends
57. And will obey their wives
58. And the voices of men who commit adultery will be raised in mosques
59. Women who sing will be treated with great deference
60. Instruments of music will be kept with great care
61. Alcohol will be drunk on the highways
62. People will be proud of their acts of persecution
63. Justice will be sold in the courts
64. The number of men in the police force will increase
65. Instead of music, the Quran will be used to gain pleasure for its tune and style (qirat), not for what it preaches, its meaning or for rewards in the Akhirah
66. Animal fur will be used for clothes
67. The last of the Ummat will curse thosebefore them. (clearly seen today in peoplewho call the Prophet’s companion’s names)
68. Either Allah will send a Red Storm upon you
69. Or Earthquakes
70. Or your faces will be changed
71. Or a rain of rocks from the skies. Asteroids, Meteors
72. Lies will become a habit of the rulers and the rich
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also said:
1. Alcohol will be called Sherbat, and will be considered Halal
2. Interest will be called Trade, and will be considered Halal
3. Bribes will be called Gifts, and will be considered Halal
4. Women will have hair, like the hump of a camel. (This is the fashion of people today, yet they do not realise they will neither enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance.)
5. Women will be naked in spite of wearing dresses. (This Hadith has baffled the Ulema for a very long time until now)The 3 kind of naked women are:(1) Those who wear see-through dresses(2) Those who wear tight dresses and(3) Those whose dresses are so short,thatthey expose the body
#illridewithyou goes viral after Sydney siege
Anti-Islamaphobia campaign trends globally in solidarity with Muslims after cafe standoff raised fears of reprisal.
Source: aljazeera.com
Australians have taken to social media in solidarity with the country’s Muslim community to counter concern about an anti-Muslim backlash, after a gunman took an unknown number of people hostage at a cafe in Sydney’s financial and shopping district.
Amid uncertainty about the hostage-taker’s motives and fears of reprisals after a flag bearing the Islamic proclamation of faith, was raised in the cafe, some Australians created the hashtag, #illridewithyou in a bid to show solidarity with local Muslims who might feel threatened.
Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas, reporting from Sydney, said there was some reported racist sentiments towards Muslims especially on public transport following the standoff at the cafe.
The hashtag trended globally on Twitter rapidly and in response, Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane said he was heartened by the campaign adding, “let’s not allow fear, hatred and division to triumph.”
More than 40 Muslim groups condemned the siege, saying in a statement that they rejected “any attempt to take the innocent life of any human being or to instil fear and terror into their hearts”.
Crying washes heart’s maladies
Source: islamweb.net
It is a fact which no one can debate that crying washes out the maladies of the heart. Crying out of fear from Allaah softens the heart and cleans it from its filth. Yazeed Ibn Maysarah 
said: “Crying happens due to one of seven things, joy, sadness, terror, to show off, pain, gratitude and out of fear from Allaah one tear from which extinguishes as huge as oceans size of fire”
Good Cheer
Source: http://fridaynasiha.com/
“Say, ‘In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy – in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate.'”
We must learn to remedy our sorrows with joy and good cheer. There are so many things that we can rejoice in. We should rejoice in our very humanity, knowing that Allah has so honoured the human being.
We should rejoice in the blessings that we have, and that we often overlook or take for granted. We should feel joy in being alive. We should rejoice in our family and loved ones, and in the provision that Allah has given us.
We should take cheer in thanking Allah for His blessings, since through our gratitude Allah will continue to bless us.
Turkey: all universities to have mosques
Source: onislam.net
Catering to the needs of hundreds of thousands of students, Turkey’s top religious body has announced plans to construct a mosque in every state university, making it easier for Muslim students to observe their prayers.
“Mosques are under construction in over 80 universities,” Mehmet Gormez, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, known as Diyanet in Turkish, was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP).
“Fifteen of them have been opened for prayers and we will open at least 50 more in 2015.”
In Sickness and In Health
By: Izza Atiqa
One of the things I love most about my job is the people that I get to meet. I just started work a few months ago, and in the course of my day-to-day routine, I have met some people to whom my heart gravitates, just for the beauty of the person that they are. During my first few weeks of work, I met a Muslim brother who was suffering from multiple sclerosis. Despite it being a difficult condition to live with, he was independent, positive, and especially cheerful during the short 30-minute consult my colleague and I had with him. That day, he had intermittent muscle spasms that interrupted the treatment we were giving him, yet it did not disturb his calm and collected demeanor. I remember he was the first patient to say, “Jazak Allahu Khayran (may God reward you),” and I was so delighted at hearing someone make that simple du`a’ (supplication) for me.
PASS THE KNOWLEDGE (LIGHT & LIFE) 