CELEBRATING THE NEW YEAR

Source: blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com

By: Dr. Bilal Philips

Origins

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. He was commonly depicted in statues, carvings and paintings as a two headed man with one head facing forward and the other head facing backwards. In 46BC Julius Caesar chose January 1^st as the first day of the New Year as Janus symbolically represented the door to the New Year. Wild parties and orgies were held on the night before the New Year’s Day as a re-enactment of the chaos which Roman mythology depicted as preceding the cosmos or the ordered world whose organization was set by the gods. Furthermore, by that time, Janus had become, in practice, the highest god receiving the ritual sacrifices of Roman worshippers before the other gods, including the chief god, Jupiter.[1]

Thus, in its essence the celebrations of the New Year on January 1^stand New Year’s Eve, the night before, are a part and parcel of pagan religious rituals based on idolatrous beliefs in false gods. Consequently, it is completely Haraam (sinful and forbidden) for Muslims to participate in or adopt any of its related rituals, customs and symbols.

 If a non-Muslim greets a Muslim, “Happy New Year”, the Muslim is not allowed to respond in a similar manner or say, “Same to you.” Instead, in order not to offend or hurt the feelings of non-Muslim friends or acquaintances, one may say instead, “Happy holiday.”

 

As for celebrating the New Year according to the Islamic calendar which begins with the month of Muharram, this is also not permissible from a number of perspectives. First and foremost, if one does so believing that it is pleasing to Allah to do so, thereby transforming it into an act of worship, it becomes a  Bid‘ah or cursed innovation in the religion about which the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Every innovation in religion is misguidance and all misguidance leads to the Hellfire.” If one does so merely as a custom, it is still impermissible as it falls under the prohibition of imitation of pagan customs about which the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them.”

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[1] Pope Gregory 13^th who set the modern calendar, the Gregorian calendar, also officially fixed the first day of the year for ChristianEurope as January 1^st in 1582.

6 Tech Traps We All Fall Into (And How To Avoid Them)

By: Lindsay Holmes

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Technology can be a beautiful thing: It connects us to our family across the country, it exposes us to captivating stories, real and fictional … but it also has its downsides.

Admittedly, we’re all a little guilty of indulging in our devices too often, whether it’s checking our texts one too many times while we’re out to dinner or just wasting precious minutes dissecting our old roommate’s new romance. Luckily, there are ways to avoid these pitfalls in order to approach life in a more mindful manner. Below are six tech traps we constantly get sucked into and how to fight your way out of them. Take that, smartphone addiction.

1. Snapping a picture of the moment instead of savoring it.

That sunset may be beautiful, but if you’re not truly enjoying it — without your phone — you may not really remember it. Research suggests that our phones aren’t the best cameras, our memories are. A 2013 study revealed that people who took photos of art remembered less about the work than those who just stopped to soak it all in. And while photos are an incredible way to preserve a memory, we shouldn’t be experiencing every important moment in our life through a screen. Next time, let the mind do the image capturing.

The inner secrets of reciting the Quran

By: Imam Ghazali

Source: seekersguidance.org

Based on Imam Ghazali’s explanation in his Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din

In the Name Of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

1. One should understand the magnificent nature of the Qur’an. This is a divine gift from Allah, and a tremendous favor. One should bring to mind the favor of Allah and be thankful.

When you see a female dressed in a manner that is unacceptable Islamically

By: Mufti Ismail Menk

“When you see a female dressed in a manner that is unacceptable Islamically, do not for a moment think that she is lower than you spiritually. If you do that, you are lower than her. Believe me, that is the teaching of your religion. She might have a link with her creator that you do not know about. She might have a heart that is tons better than yours. She might have one weakness that is outward, and you have 50 weaknesses that are hidden.”

Mufti Menk: Don’t Delay Marriage (Video)

 Delaying marriage without a valid reason once the parties have agreed to marry leads to unnecessary sin. The marriage should be solemnized quickly in order to allow the newly weds to start their new life in the most pure manner. Many parents unknowingly encourage sin by making the couple to be, wait for a long period of time before they are allowed to marry. They shall bear an equal sin of any resultant wrongdoings.

At the time of reciting Quran, realize the beautiful manner of divine glory & think that what u recite is not human words.

 At the time of reciting Quran, realize the beautiful manner of divine glory & think that what u recite is not human words.
 En el momento de recitar el Corán, darse cuenta de la manera hermosa de la gloria divina y creo que lo que u no es recitar las palabras humanas.
 Op het moment van het reciteren van de Koran, het realiseren van de prachtige manier van goddelijke glorie en denken dat wat u reciteren is geen menselijke woorden.
 Au moment de la récitation du Coran, de réaliser la belle manière de la gloire divine et pense que ce n’est pas u réciter des paroles humaines.
 Zu der Zeit des Koran zu rezitieren, erkennen die schöne Art und Weise der göttlichen Herrlichkeit und denke, dass das, was u rezitieren ist nicht menschliche Worte.
 在背誦古蘭經的時間，實現神聖光輝美麗的方式和認為什麼ü背誦不是人話。
 Vid tidpunkten för recitera Koranen, inser vackert sätt av gudomlig härlighet och tror att det som u recitera är inte mänskliga ord.
 На момент читает Коран, реализовать красивую манеру божественной славы и думаю, что то, что у читать не человеческие слова.
 Kur’an-ı Kerim okuyan zamanda, ilahi zafer güzel şekilde gerçekleştirmek ve ne u ezberden insan kelime olmadığını düşünüyorum.
 Al momento di recitare Corano, realizzare la bella maniera di gloria divina e pensare che quello che u recitare non è parole umane.
 Pada saat membaca Quran, menyadari cara yang indah kemuliaan ilahi & berpikir bahwa apa yang u membaca bukanlah kata-kata manusia.

SPEAK THE TRUTH

Try to speak the truth my friend’s, as what is a world shrouded in mystery. Never forget that truth comes before loyalty. no good comes from being loyal to a cause or your misplaced convictions if at first there is no truthfulness in your conscious actions, you will pay a price for your misplaced loyalty.

One way to see that you are speaking and acting in a truthful manner is to try to comprehend the outcome of your actions, which are always thoughts before they become alive in this world. When a child is young and learning what is needed to survive in this world, all it sees and does is the truth, until one day it learns that to get what it wants, it may have to lie. But its first intentions were to look for the truth in this world before it learned otherwise.