Anger, Lust and Forgetfulness; The Traps of Shaytan

Source: http://www.missionislam.com

Shaytan can persuade a person to come and use one of these three doors to make a person slip. It is like he is ambushing them. So even the most complete of people can fall into moments of anger, doing something based on anger, based on lust or based on forgetfulness.

Reasons for misguidance – DESIRES

Source: http://missionislam.com/

The moment a person follows his desires, the path of sins open up. A person, who sins but then sincerely repents, is forgiven by Allah. But, in the present day world, the truth is disbelieved, and the falsehood is openly supported. If this is not misguidance then what is? Humiliation is the end of those who follow their desires in
disobedience to Allah:

“Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his ilaah (god)? And Allah knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. Who then will guide him after Allah? Will you not then remember?” [Qur’an Surah Al-Jaathiyah (45): 23]

The Termination of “Israel”- a Qur’anic Fact

By: Sheikh Abu Al-Waleed Al-Ansari

Source: http://www.missionislam.com/nwo/termination.htm

Translated by Abu Al-Waleed Al-Hamawi

It is evident that Allah has Promised to subject upon the corrupted Children of Israel His believing servants who will afflict them with a horrible torment…

Praise be to Allah who grants dominance to whom He wills and deprives it of whom He wills. He is the Enricher and the Preventer. He the Almighty Says:

“And so are the days (good and not so good), We give to men by turns, that Allah may test those who believe, and that He may take martyrs from among you. And Allah likes not the Zalimun” [Qur’an 3:140].

Peace and blessings upon His servant and messenger who was sent as a Mercy to this world. He (saws) said: “Verily, this matter (i.e. this Religion) will reach what the night and the day has reached (i.e. the whole earth). Allah will not exclude an urban nor a nomad household without which this religion would have entered” [Reported by Ahmad].

During these times when the affliction upon the people of Islam is exacerbated, Islam continues to suffer ruthless attacks by its cunning enemies. These are the times of hardship and agony when the Muslim struggles to convince himself about the reality of the inverted facts. This is expected when polytheism becomes religious monotheism, when adulation of the enemies of Allah is regarded as wisdom and craftiness, when slackening to support and defend the oppressed Muslims is a sign of intelligence and aptitude. In short, when truth becomes falsehood and falsehood becomes truth. Living these critical times, one feels the urgent need of those honest and trustworthy people of knowledge and religion who are sincere to Allah, His Book, His Messenger and to the Imams of the Muslims and their common folk.

Unfortunately, we observe that many of those who claim to have knowledge are negligent in declaring the truth and in inviting people to it. Instead they garnish the falsehood and dissolute its identity in order to justify their negligence while accepting the transient adornments of this world. This lead the ignorant blind-followers to regard the statements made by these false men of religion as true evidence to dismiss them from preparing for revival.

One of the consequences of this chronic disease that was caught by the Muslim Ummah is the content and approval of our people when the infidel rulers of today held a permanent accord with the Jews. Those who did not approve this accord were nevertheless influenced by the fabrications made by those rulers and said: “The presence of the Jews on the land of Palestine has become an unavoidable reality that we must accept. The Ummah must now be prepared to deal with it!!”. There are also those poor and defeated people who thought that this cursed accord will relieve their difficulties. The best of those people were crying: “Land in exchange for peace”. All those people overlooked the fact that this is a matter of Kufr and Iman and that it is a trial from Allah to test His servants and to distinguish the wicked from the good, and to witness those who will give victory to the religion by sincerely fighting for Allah’s Cause, as He the Most High said:

“Do you think that you shall be left alone while Allah has not yet tested those among you who have striven hard and fought and have not taken Walijah[(helpers, consultants from disbelievers, pagans, etc.) giving openly to them their secrets] besides Allah and His Messenger, and the believers. Allah is Well-Aquatinted with what you do” [Qur’an 9:16],

“Or think you that you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with him said, ‘When (will come) the Help of Allah?’ Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allah is near!” [Qur’an 2:214].

Indeed it is a trial and an affliction by Allah who promised to give victory, honour and consolidation to the believers. There is no doubt that disbelief and falsehood will be abolished, in particular the state of the Jews who earned Allah’s Anger, the murderers of the Prophets and the enemies of the Messengers. The termination of this state is announced in the Book of our Lord and proclaimed by our Prophet (saws).

Allah (swt) States: “And we decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture, that indeed you would do mischief on the earth twice and you will become tyrants and extremely arrogant! So, when the promise came for the first of the two, We sent against you slaves of Ours given to terrible warfare. They entered the very innermost parts of your homes. And it was a promise (completely) fulfilled. Then We gave you once again, a return of victory over them. And We helped you with wealth and children and made you more numerous in manpower. (And We said): ‘If you do well, you do good for your ownselves, and if you do evil (you do it) against yourselves’. Then, when the second promise came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to make your faces sorrowful and to enter the mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and to destroy with utter destruction all that fell in their hands. [And We Said in the Taurat (Torah)]: ‘It may be that your Lord may show mercy unto you, but if you return (to sins), We shall return (to Our Punishment). And We have made Hell a prison for the disbelievers” [Qur’an 17:4-8].

In the previous verses, Allah (swt) mentions how the Children of Israel rebelled and disobeyed the Command of Allah, and how they became extremely arrogant. The Qur’anic Mufasiroon (commentators) – May Allah have mercy upon them – have lengthily described how the Jews did mischief on this earth twice. Most of them report that the doing of mischief twice had passed when the Jews killed Zachariah (as) and then killed Yahiah (John) son of Zachariah (as). However, the scholar Al-Shinqeety -may Allah have mercy on him- says in his Tafseer (Adwa’ul-Bayaan), that their conclusions were based on Israi’liat (Jewish reports). Al-Shinqeety in commenting on the verse ‘But if you return (to sins), We shall return (to Our Punishment)’, says:

“The Most High explains how he decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture, that indeed they will do mischief on the earth twice. When the first promise came, He sent against them slaves of His given to terrible warfare who occupied their homes and tortured them. Then, when the second promise came to pass, He sent to them a tribe that made their faces sorrowful and who entered the mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and who destroyed with utter destruction all that fell in their hands. He (swt) also explained that if they return to doing mischief for the third time, then He will return to take revenge from them by subjecting their enemies upon them ‘but if you return (to sins), We shall return (to Our Punishment)’.

DEFINITION OF LIFE

by Prof.Dr.Omar Hassan Kasule Sr.

DEFINITION OF LIFE

All of us agree when we see a living thing that it is alive when it is breathing, moving, and eating. There are several situations that are border-line and require a clear definition. Both life and death are earthly events (Qur’an 7:25). Life can not be defined simply as the opposite of death. It is definable on its own. Life can be defined biologically, chemically, legally, and spiritually. It is not surprising that there is no one single definition of life; life is complex and its definition must be complex. The biological definition is not easy.

Phenomena of death occur on a continuous basis. On a daily basis cells die and are replaced. Some organs can die while the rest of the organism is still living. Even in situations in which the whole organism is considered dead by ordinary criteria, some parts of it could maintain manifestations of life for a long time. Organs of dead persons stay alive for a long time in transplantees. Human cells have been maintained in long-term culture for decades.

Life could also be defined in chemical terms as a series of chemical reactions in metabolism. These reactions are not much different from inorganic reactions that occur between elements. Viruses make a very fine line between life and death. One of the signs of life is dynamic change. There is growth and development. There is also degeneration and death.

The elements that make up the human body are recycled. The degenerate cells and tissues whether in life or after death break up and become part of the earth. They are later incorporated into new cells as food, water or air that is breathed in. Life could also be looked at in spiritual terms. Life without any spirituality is no life at all. Spiritual death could occur without biological death. Spiritual diseases could transform a human to be at the level of animals or even worse. We can conclude that life is a complex phenomenon with biological, chemical, and spiritual components.

Life can be described at various levels: ruh, the whole living organism, the organ, the tissue or cell, the molecule, and the atom. The highest level is that of the ruh about which we know very little. We however know that the ruh is the essence of human life and that it is eternal. Humans share with animals the biological nature of life but they have in addition the ruh which makes them special.

The Qur’an mentions insertion of the ruh in case of Isa (PBUH) (p 515 4:171, 31:91, 66:12). The ruh is inserted in the fetus during intra-uterine life to give it human life, nafakh al ruh (p 516 15:29, 32:9, 38:72, p 1249 15:29, 21:91, 32:9, 38:72, 66:12).

The body without the ruh has lost all the essence of a human being. On burial most of the human body decomposes and disappears within a short time and only bones persist. The Qur’an has mentioned the bones as a challenge to the unbelievers that He can indeed bring them back to life (p 281 17:49, 17:98, 23:35, 23:82, 37: 16, 37:53, 56:47, 75:3, 79:11). The various organs of the body have a life and an individuality of their own and will bear witness against the human shahadat al a’adha (p 230 24:24).

Life can be looked at in three stages: pre-uterine phase, uterine phase, the post-uterine phase, and the after death phase. The Qur’an has mentioned two lives and 2 deaths (40:11). Life on earth is described as enjoyment, hayat akl duniya matau (p 430 3:14, 3:185, 4:77, 6:32, 7:32, 9:38, 9:69, 10:23-24, 10:70, 10:98, 11:15, 13:62, 20:131, 23:33, 28:60-61, 28:77, 29:64, 33:28, 40:49, 42:20, 42:36, 43:32, 43:35, 46:20, 47:36, 57:20).

Humans have a blind love for life on earth and its enjoyment (p 382 2:96). Life in the hereafter starts with resurrection (p 19 6:6:36, 7:29, 7:57, 10:4, 10:34, 11:7, 16:38, 17:49-52, 17:99, 18:48, 21:104, 22:7, 23:100, 28:85, 29:19-20, 30:11, 30:25-27, 30:50, 30:56, 31:28, 32:10-11, 34:7, 36:12, 36:32-36, 36:51-52, 36:27-83, 37:16-21, 46:33, 56:47-50, 58:6, 71:3-4, 83:4-6, 86:8-10).

NATURE OF LIFE

As far as we know human life exists only on our planet. The possibility of human life on other planets is possible and was referred to indirectly by the Qur’an (42:29). The details will have to be unravelled by scientific research and exploration.

Life belongs to Allah and not the human (p 382 3:156, 7:158, 8:42, 15:23, 23:80, 30:40, 4);11, 40:68, 45:26, 50:43, 53:44, 57:2, 67:3). Allah gives and takes away life (2:96, 3:156, 7:25, 7:158, 15:23, 23:80, 30:40, 40:43, 40:68, 45:26, 50:43, 44:53:44, 57:2, 67:2). Humans do not own their life but are temporary custodians of life. Humans have no control over life or death (25:3). Death and life are in Allah’s hands (p 382 25:3). Humans therefore have no right to destroy their life or that of any other human. Doing so is one of the greatest transgressions.

There is a continuum in human life. The start is the state on non-existence (azal). Allah then created the souls and took an undertaking from them to worship him (al ‘ahad). Starting with Adam (PBUH) Allah created a physical body to house those souls during life on earth (hayat al duniyat). The physical part of existence on earth ends with death and the souls continue into eternity. Life in the integrum (hayat al barzakh 23:100) is an intermediate stage between life on earth and life in the hereafter (hayat al akhirat). In the hereafter human life will re-assume its physical form with the resurrection (al ba’ath). Life in the hereafter will be eternal. The fortunes of people will vary; some will be in Jannah while others will be in hell being punished for their transgressions on earth.