Six ways to help lower the gaze

Source: productivemuslim.com

By: Aiman Azlan

The eyes have desires that have a great tendency to want to be fulfilled, as if there is a gravity-like force that pulls the sight to the things we should not be looking at. Like gravity, those who resist will feel the force acting on them, while those who just go with the flow will feel little or nothing at all. Like gravity, it takes a lot of strength to escape it.

More than 2,800 embraced ‪‎Islam‬ in ‪Dubai‬ last year

Source: futureofdubai.com

More than 2,800 people from 91 nationalities embraced Islam in 2014, the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai (IACAD) said.

The New Muslims Section in IACAD said 2014 witnessed the conversion of 2,815 people to Islam, 2,047 of whom were women, while the remaining 768 were men.

‘IACAD works in light of the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, that Dubai becomes a beacon of peace and religious tolerance, and an example of coexistence,’ Dr. Omar Al Khateeb, CEO of Islamic Affairs Sector in IACAD, said.

The department dedicates resources to New Muslims Section’s projects. Its projects include specially designed programmes and various activities, which are held not only in the department’s buildings and Islamic centres, but also in clubs, shopping malls, and other public sites. And there are also the printed and electronic publications that focus on Islam’s teachings and its moderate and global message.

Avoiding the one-eyed vision of Religion

Source: masud.co.uk

By: Abdal-Hakim Murad

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The Dajjal, as everyone knows, has only one eye. Those ulema who are concerned to understand and apply their intuition rather than simply to act as historical relay stations have sometimes interpreted this attribute as a reference to the characteristic sickness of decadent religious communities; a sickness that will necessarily be at its most prevalent as the end of time approaches. The human creature has been given two eyes for reasons of obvious biological utility: the capacity for focusing so splendidly produced by the ciliary muscles in the eyeball (a superb technology most of us never pause to give thanks for) is nonetheless not a perfect instrument for the gauging of distance. Human beings need perspective: for hunting and for fighting; and for the efficient monitoring of children. And hence we have two eyes, as the Qur’an notes, asking for our faith and our thankfulness: ‘Have We not given him two eyes’?

How Smoking Harms Your Vision

Source: http://www.allaboutvision.com/smoking/

Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. It harms nearly every organ in your body — including your eyes.

Adverse — and often fatal — health effects of cigarette smoking such as heart disease and cancer are all too familiar, but sight-threatening vision and eye problems generally are less well-known.

Here are more reasons you should kick the habit:

Smoking and Cataracts

Cataracts (clouding of the eye’s natural lens) are a leading cause of blindness in the world. More than 50 percent of Americans will have a cataract or have had cataract surgery by age 80.

Smokers significantly increase their risk of developing a cataract compared with non-smokers. In fact, studies show that people who smoke double their chance of forming cataracts, and the risk continues to increase the more you smoke.

Smoking and Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects the center of the retina, which is responsible for sharp, central vision needed for everyday tasks such as reading and driving.

Macular degeneration causes “blind spots” and often severely impairs central vision. AMD is the leading cause of permanent vision loss among Americans age 65 and older.

Studies show smokers can have a three-fold increase in the risk of developing AMD compared with people who have never smoked. And female smokers over age 80 are 5.5 times more likely to develop AMD than non-smokers of the same age.

But it’s not all bad news: because smoking is the biggest controllable risk factor associated with AMD, quitting smoking at any age, even later in life, can significantly reduce your risk of developing AMD.

Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of eye conditions that cause vision loss.

World Vision – The Zambia Project (Video)

World Vision- The Zambia Project from Janssen Powers on Vimeo.

 World Vision is an amazing organization doing great things in Zambia and all over the world. To learn more about their effort to bring Zambia clean water, visit worldvisionwater.org.

The Spirit of Modesty

By: Usman Siddiqui

Source: suhaibwebb.com

Many Muslims – myself included — often forget about the spirit of Islam in matters of law and worship. For instance, do we not recite 114 times in the Qur’an, “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful” – should this not, then, be the spirit with which all our actions and deeds are performed? Is our worship for anything other than to get closer to Allahsubhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) – should this not, then, be the focus with which we perform every prayer? Is the essence of fasting not sacrifice for the sake of Allah (swt) – should we not, then, abandon extravagance when it comes to Ramadan?

#MissionDawah: DAWAH MISSION CAMDEN TOWN (VIDEO)

 Our Mission: To fulfill the vision of the Prophet peace be upon him of Islam entering into every home. Mission Dawah aims to establish a “mass movement” in dawah through training and mobilising a network of duaat across the world to convey the message of Islam.

IMRAN HUSSEIN: MUSLIMS HAVE A VISION (VIDEO)

 London Dawah Movement: An organization taking the dawah to another level in and around London.

The Real Winner of America’s War on ISIS: Bashar al-Assad

By: Joshua Keating

Source: http://www.slate.com

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the fairly obvious point yesterday that it will be impossible to deal a definitive blow to ISIS by attacking it on only one side of the increasingly irrelevant Syrian-Iraqi border. Here’s the New York Times:

“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” said the chairman … in his most expansive public remarks on the crisis since American airstrikes began in Iraq. “Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria? The answer is no.”…

“It requires a variety of instruments, only one small part of which is airstrikes,” he said. “I’m not predicting those will occur in Syria, at least not by the United States of America. But it requires the application of all of the tools of national power—diplomatic, economic, information, military.”

Despite Dempsey’s remarks, it’s not really clear that “defeating” ISIS is actually President Obama’s goal in this conflict. But that could change. Assuming that the U.S. does reluctantly take on the project of defeating ISIS, or at least substantially degrading it, that decision will inevitably deepen America’s even-more-reluctant involvement in the conflict in Syria.