A most noble love

Source: reliablefatwas.com

By: Hazrat Maulana Ahmad Sadeq Desai

Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

“The noblest of you are those who are the noblest to their families”

“Verily, among the most perfect Believers in Imaan, are those who are best in character and kindest to their wives.”

Even lifting a morsel of food to the mouth of the wife has been given the significance of ‘ibaadat (worship). It is an act of love by which the husband derives thawaab (reward in the Hereafter).

Jerusalem On Edge After Latest Clashes Between Palestinians And Israelis (Video)

 Things are bad in Jerusalem. Not since the second Palestinian uprising have things been this tense. A Palestinian drove into a group of Israeli soldiers and the resulting clashes made their way into Al-Aqsa mosque. Increased settlement building is adding to the pressure.

As Ramadan comes to an end, increase making Duaa

Source: http://siratulmustaqim.com/

As Ramadan comes to an end, so do the increased opportunities for prayer. We may or may not get another Ramadan in our lives. This may be our last Iftar. Just before Iftar is a special time to ask Allah for everything you want. Allah loves hearing from us. The last night and day of fasting is a special day of Dua as well, considering that the Prophet has said that Allah makes decisions about our forgiveness that day. So here are some suggested Dua:

Duas before the last Iftar

If everyone in your family can break fast together, it will be great to make Dua together.

• Oh Allah, please accept all of my prayers, fasting, and remembrance of You during this blessed month.
• Please forgive me for the shortcomings in my worship and help me improve by next Ramadan.
• Ya Allah, help me continue the good habits I have acquired during Ramadan.
• Oh Allah, please make me of the righteous, the guided, and those You love.
• Ya Allah, please guide me and my family to the Straight Path and help us become excellent Muslims for Your sake.
• I worship only You and only from You do I seek help. Please increase Your bounty for me and my family
• Ya Allah, Guide our loved ones, friends, coworkers, neighbors, classmates to the straight path for success in this life and hereafter.

 

Gaza and Israel: War of the hashtags

How instant access to online images and information is helping to shape global reaction to the Israel-Gaza war.

 As the conflict between Israel and Hamas intensifies, so too does the battle being waged online. For generations, propaganda has always unfolded alongside warfare; but conflicts now are coming under increased scrutiny through social media. An information war is being waged online by journalists, by individuals and by the Israeli and Hamas media machines. The hashtag #GazaUnderAttack has been used in more than 4 million Twitter posts, compared to the nearly 200,000 for #IsraelUnderFire.

China “Ramadan ban” has increased practice of the Religion

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/

By: Umar Farooq

Chinese authorities have imposed restrictions on Uighur Muslims during the month of Ramadan, banning government employees and school children from fasting, in what rights groups say has become an annual attempt at systematically erasing the region’s Islamic identity.

Chinese authorities have justified the ban on fasting by saying it is meant to protect the health of students, and restrictions on religious practices by government officials are meant to ensure the state does not support any particular faith.

Yet in Kashgar, in Xinjiang province, China’s westernmost city, close to the border with Tajikstan and Kyrgyztan, Uighur Muslims say the restrictions have backfired. Not only have locals become more observant of Islamic practices, but many have found ways to flaunt Chinese laws restricting everything from who may attend the mosque, to which copies of the Quran are read.

“That is Mao ZeDong,” said Omar, a taxi driver, pointing to a 24m-tall statue of the founder of the People’s Republic of China, as he navigates his taxi through traffic across People’s Square. “He brought all the Chinese here,” he added, out of earshot of the soldiers lining up across the street.

A few minutes later, the soldiers pile into trucks and move to the city’s commercial centre down the road, where police frisk shoppers at the entrance to a shopping mall. Across Kashgar, security forces have been deployed to thwart potential attacks by Uighur militants seeking to wrestle control of Xinjiang province from Beijing.

Home to some of China’s largest deposits of oil, natural gas, and coal, Xinjiang has a majority Muslim Uighur population – a Turkic ethnic group with a language and culture closer to Central Asia. Before the region was absorbed into the People’s Republic of China in 1949, almost everyone here was Uighur, but the numbers have have since declined, dropping to below half by the year 2000, as tens of millions of Han Chinese – the majority population of mainland China – were encouraged to settle here by the government.

That demographic shift, which accelerated in the 1990s as Beijing began to develop Xinjiang, combined with Chinese laws restricting Islamic practices by Uighurs and the 1997 execution of 30 Uighur separatists by Chinese authorities, triggered a wave of violence by militants that has left hundreds of people dead, mostly civilians.

Last month, a suicide bomber killed 39 people in the provincial capitol of Urumqi, and police claimed to have killed 13 men who attempted to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into their office near Kashgar.

The deadly violence – including an attack by knife-wielding men at a train station in Kuming that killed 29 in March – has sparked a massive crackdown by Beijing, with authorities announcing the convictions of more than 400 people across Xinjiang. Last Wednesday, Kashgar authorities announced 113 people had been sentenced for crimes, including supporting terrorism and inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.

“The government says every Uighur, if they have a beard or wear a hijab, they are a terrorist,” said Abdul Majid, who owns a mobile phone shop near People’s Square. He says the last time tensions were this high was in 2009, after 184 people died in clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese in Urumqi.

‘All these problems started after September 11′

A world away from Kashgar’s commercial centre lies the city’s heart: a nearly 2,000-year-old Uighur quarter that is currently being rebuilt, literally brick by brick, by mostly Han Chinese migrant workers. Kashgar’s ancient mosques are being restored and the homes in the old city re-imagined with hints of Central Asian architecture and with help from the Chinese government. It’s part of a programme that authorities say is aimed at making the area earthquake-resistant.

But not everyone is happy about the renovations.

“If Allah wants to kill us, he will send an earthquake, and he will kill us,” said Hajji Abdul Razzak, a silk merchant who has chosen not to have his home in the old city rebuilt. “A lot of people have left, and just put their houses out to rent.”

Around the corner from Kashgar’s 572-year-old Id Kah Mosque, a large notice board implores Uighurs to adopt modern attire. One half of the board is covered in pictures depicting traditional Uighurs, women in colourful dresses and flowing hair and clean-shaven men. The other half shows rows of men with beards and women in headscarves or face-covering veils, all with a red X over them.

“All these problems started after September 11th,” said Abdul Razzak. “The Pakistan border [with China] was completely sealed, and when it opened a few years later, these Uighurs from Pakistan and Afghanistan came. They are doing all these [bombings], but we are being oppressed.”