Ramadan Mubarak

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

In a few days time, the Muslim ummah will welcome Ramadan. As a reminder of the significance of this very special month, here is a link to an ebook that will, insya Allah prepare us to fulfill our fast according to the Al Qur'aan and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

http://wwww.masteringramadan.com/

Nullification of the Ablution

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful

Fiqh-us-Sunnah
Fiqh 1.37

 Touching a woman

'Aishah, radiallahu anha related that the Messenger of Allah, sallahu alayhi wasallam, kissed her while he was fasting and said, "Kissing does not nullify the ablution, nor does it break the fast." (Related by Ishaq ibn Rahawaih and al-Bazzar with a good chain.)

Evaluating its authenticity, 'Abdul-Haqq says, "I do not know of any defect in the hadith that could cause its rejection."

'Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her also said, "One night, I missed the Messenger of Allah in my bed, and so went to look for him. I put my hand on the bottom of his feet while he was praying and saying, 'O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger, in Your forgiveness from Your punishment, in You from You. I cannot praise you as You have praised Yourself" (related by Muslim and at-Tirmidhi, who classified it as sahih.), and she also reported, 'The Prophet kissed some of his wives and went to prayer, without performing ablution." (Related by Ahmad and "the four,'' and its narrators are trustworthy.)

She also said, "I would sleep in front of the Prophet, upon whom be peace, with my feet in the direction of the qiblah (to him). When he made prostrations, he would touch me, and I would move my feet." In another narration it says, "When he wanted to prostrate, he would touch my legs."

Among Muslim Malays, during the 'akad nikah' (wedding) ceremony there is a ritual that is practised but misunderstood and not appreciated because the majority of the Malays do not practise Islam according to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallahu alayhi wasallam.

The ceremony is known as 'nullifying the ablution’ (membatalkan air sembahyang) between the bridegroom and the bride as a prelude to their life as husband and wife.

Ironically, that is not the situation. They insist that even casually touching one another between a husband and wife will nullify each other’s ablution and refused to accept the above mentioned hadiths of the Prophet sallahu alayhi wasallam on the matter.

Allah and His Prophet knows best.

The Struggle

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

“(Allah) said: "What prevented thee from bowing down when I commanded thee?" He said: "I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay." (Al Qur’aan Surah Al-A’raaf (7): 12)

The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Man is an ongoing affair since the day Iblis refused to bow to Adam, alayhi sallam, as commanded by God Almighty, because he was made from fire whereas Adam, alayhi sallam, was of clay.

This struggle will only cease at the end of time.

Man must therefore be made aware of this constant state of war with Iblis and his minions from both the satanic and the kuffaar, among mankind. The diverse range of weapons available to Ibis and his satanic forces include those that were used to beguile the Children of Israel, and those who followed the teachings of Christ and later were called Christians; the manipulation of faith itself.

Muslims believe that Islam is ‘the way of life’ taught by the prophets from Adam, alayhi sallam to Isa ibn Maryam, alayhi sallam but was then corrupted. 

Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wasallam, was sent to correct the manipulation within the texts of the ‘kitab’ of the teachings of Musa alayhi sallam and Isa ibn Maryam, alayhi sallam.

As there is only one God, worthy of worship; there is surely only one single faith since Adam alayhi sallam; and it is Islam.

Muslims must therefore be on the lookout for people who teach Islam contrary to what was revealed to Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wasallam, as commanded in the Al Qur’aan, practised by his rightful caliphs and companions as described in his Sunnah. They must avoid teachers who propagate Islam selectively; making Islam a personal religion and not as the way of life.

Muslims must always remember the last will and testament of the Prophet, Muhammad sallahu alayhi wasallam, as proclaimed to the multitude on the plains of Arafah that accompanied him on his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca on 9^th Zul Hijjah 10 AH. This sermon of the Prophet is known historically as Khutbatul Wada’.

Muslims must also always remember Verse 3 Surah Al Maaidah which proclaimed:

“... This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…”

Why Muslims Failed

“The Unbelievers are protectors, one of another: unless ye do this, (protect each other), there would be tumult and oppression on earth, and great mischief.” Al Qur’aan (Al Anfal): 73

According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali, ‘Evil consorts with evil. The good have all the more reason for drawing together and not only living in mutual harmony, but being ready at all times to protect each other. Otherwise the world will be given over to aggressions by unscrupulous people, and the good will fail in their duty to establish Allah's Peace and to strengthen all the forces of truth and righteousness’.

According to Muhammad Asad, ‘The fact of their being bent on denying the truth of the divine message constitutes, as it were, a common denominator between them, and precludes the possibility of their ever being real friends to the believers. This refers, of course, to relations between communities, and not necessarily between individuals: hence my rendering of the term awliya, in this context, as “allies”.

"In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised the Jews a ‘national home’ in Palestine, I saw a cruel political manoeuvre designed to foster the old principle, common to all colonial powers, of ‘divide and rule’. In the case of Palestine, this principle was the more flagrant as in 1916 the British had promised the then ruler of Mecca, Sharif Husayn , as a price for his help against the Turks, an independent Arab state which was to comprise all countries between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. They not only broke their promise a year later by concluding with France the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement (which established French Dominion over Syria and the Lebanon), but also, by implication, excluded Palestine from the obligations they had assumed with regard to the Arabs." The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad.

Palestine

The attack and murder of not less than nine men on the Mavi Marmara, Turkish registered ferry delivering much needed aid to the Gazans by Israeli Commandos on the high seas off the coast of Gaza on 5/31, brings to my mind the picture of the old Holy Land, painted in words by Muhammad Asad in his book, “The Road to Mecca”.

The author beautifully described scenes of Palestinian life prior to the declaration of that illegal Zionist so-called state of Israel carved out of the region of southwest Asia between the eastern Mediterranean shore and the Jordan River. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10259646.stm

“The ‘Arab Stone House’ of which Dorian had written was really delightful. It stood on the fringe of the Old City near the Jaffa Gate. Its wide, high-ceilinged rooms seemed to be saturated with memories of the patrician life that had passed through them in earlier generations and the walls reverberated with the living present surging into them from the bazaar nearby- sights and sounds and smells that were unlike anything I had experienced before.

From the roof terrace I could see the sharply outlined area of the Old City with its network of irregular streets and alleys carved in stone. At the other end, seemingly near in its mighty expanse, was the site of Solomon’s Temple; the Al-Aqsa Mosque – the most sacred after those of Mecca and Medina – stood on its farthest rim, and the Dome of the Rock in the centre. Beyond it, the Old City walls fell off toward the Valley of Kidron; and beyond the valley grew softly rounded, barren hills, their slopes thinly spotted with olive trees. Toward the east there was a little more fertility, and you could see there a garden sloping down toward the road, dark-green, hedged in by walls: the Garden of Gethsemane. From its midst shone between olive trees and cypresses the golden, onion-shaped domes of the Russian Church.

               Like an oscillating brew from an alchemist’s retort, clear and nevertheless full of a thousand undefinable colours, beyond words, beyond even the grasp of thought: thus you could see from the Mount of Olives the valley of the Jordon and the Dead Sea. Wavy hills and wavy hills, outlined, breath-like, against an opalescent air, with the deep-blue streak of the Jordon and the rounding of the Dead Sea beyond – and still further beyond, another world in itself, the dusky hills of Moab: a landscape of such an incredible, multiform beauty that your heart trembled with excitement.

               Jerusalem was an entirely new world to me. There were historic memories seeping from every corner of the ancient city: streets that had heard Isaiah preach, cobblestones over which Christ had walked, walls that had been old when the heavy step of Roman legionaries echoed from them, arches over doorways that bore inscriptions of Saladin’s time. There was the deep blue of the skies, which might not have been unfamiliar to someone who knew other Mediterranean countries: but to me, who had grown up in a far less friendly climate, this blueness was like a call and a promise. The houses and streets seemed to be covered with a tender, oscillating glaze; the people were full of spontaneous movement and grand of gesture. The people – that is the Arabs: for it was they who from the very beginning impressed themselves on my consciousness as the people of the land, people who had grown out of its soil and its history and were one with the surrounding air. Their garments were colourful and of a Biblical sweep of drapery, and each of them, fellah or beduin (for you could often see beduins who came to town to buy or sell their goods), wore them in a manner quite his own, ever so slightly different from the others, as if he had invented a personal fashion on the spur of the moment.

               In front of Dorian’s house, at a distance of perhaps forty yards, rose the steep, time-worn walls of David’s Castle, which was part of the ramparts of the Old City – a typical medieval Arab citadel, probably erected on Herodian foundations, with a slim watchtower like a minaret. (Although it has no direct connection with King David, the Jews have always have always called it after him because here, on Mount Zion, the old royal palace is said to have stood.) On the Old City side there was a low, broad tower, through which the gateway went, and a bridge of stone arched across the old moat to the gate. That arched bridge was apparently a customary place of rendezvous for beduins when they had occasion to come into the city. One day I noticed a tall beduin standing there without motion, silhouetted against the silver-grey sky like a figure from an old legend. His face, with sharp cheekbones framed in a short, red-brown beard, bore an expression of deep gravity; it was sombre, as if he expected something and yet did not feel expectant. His wide, brown and white striped cloak was worn and tattered – and the fanciful idea came to me, I do not known why, that it had been worn out in many months of danger and flight. Was he, perhaps, one of that handful of warriors who had accompanied young David on his flight from dark jealousy of Saul, his king? Perhaps David was asleep just now, hiding somewhere in a cave in the Judean hills, and this man here, this faithful and brave friend, had stealthily come with a companion into the riyal city to find out how Saul felt about their leader and whether it was safe for him to return. And now this friend of David was waiting here for his comrade, full of dark forebodings: it was not good news that they would bring David...

Suddenly the Beduin moved, started walking down the ramp, and my dream-fantasy broke. And then I remembered with a start: this man was an Arab, while those others, those figures of the Bible – were Hebrews! But my astonishment was only of a moment’s duration; for all at once I knew, with that clarity which sometimes bursts within us like lightening and lights up the world for the length of a heartbeat, that David and David’s time, like Abraham and Abraham’s time, were closer to their Arabian roots – and so to the beduin of today – than to the Jew of today, who claims to be their descendants...

               I often sat on the stone balustrade below Jaffa Gate and watched the throng of people going into or coming out of the Old City. Here they rubbed against each other, jostled one another, Arab and Jew, all possible variations of both. There were the strong-boned fellahin with their white or brown headcloths or orange-coloured turbans. These were Beduins with sharp, clear-cut and, almost without exception, lean faces, wearing their cloaks in a strangely self-confident manner, frequently with hands on hips and elbows wide apart, as if they took it for granted that everyone would make way for them. There were peasant women in black or blue calico dresses embroidered in white across the bosom, often carrying baskets on their heads and moving with a supple, easy grace. Seen from behind, many a women of sixty could be taken for a young girl. Their eyes also seemed to remain clear and untouched by age – unless they happened to be affected by trachoma, that evil ‘Egyptian’ eye disease which is the curse of all countries east of the Mediterranean.

               And there were the Jews: indigenous Jews, wearing a tarbush and a wide, voluminous cloak, in their facial type strongly resembling the Arabs; Jews from Poland and Russia, who seemed to carry with them so much of the smallness and narrowness of their past lives in Europe that it was surprising to think that they claimed to be of the same stock as the proud Jew from Morocco or Tunisian his white burnus. But although the European Jews were so obviously out of all harmony with the picture that surrounded them, it was they who set the tone of Jewish life and politics and thus seemed to be responsible for the almost visible friction between Jews and Arabs.


What did the average European know of the Arabs in those days? Practically nothing. When he came to the Near East he brought with him some romantic and erroneous notions; and if he was well-intentioned and intellectually honest, he had to admit that he had no idea at all about Arabs. I, too, before I came to Palestine, had never thought of it as an Arab land. I had, of course, vaguely known that 'some' Arabs lived there, but I imagined them to be only nomads in desert tents and idyllic oasis dwellers. Because most of what I had read about Palestine in earlier days had been written by Zionists – who naturally had only their own problems in view – I had not realized that the towns also were full of Arabs – that, in fact, in 1922 there lived in Palestine nearly five Arabs to every Jew, and that, therefore it was an Arab country to a far higher degree than a country of Jews.

When I remarked on this to Mr. Ussyshkin, chairman of the Zionist Committee of Action, whom I met during that time, I had the impression that the Zionists were not inclined to give much consideration to the fact of Arab majority; nor did they seem to attribute any real importance to the Arabs' opposition to Zionism. Mr. Ussyshkin's response showed nothing but contempt for the Arabs:

'There is no real Arab movement here against us; that is, no movement with roots in the people. All that you regard as opposition is in reality nothing but the shouting of a few disgruntled agitators. It will collapse of itself within a few months or at the most a few years.’

            This argument was far from satisfactory to me. From the very beginning I had a feeling that the whole idea of Jewish settlement in Palestine was artificial, and, what was worse, that it threatened to transfer all the complications and insoluble problems of European life into a country which might have remained happier without them. The Jews were not really coming to it as one returns to one’s homeland; they were rather bent on making it into a homeland conceived on European patterns and with European aims. In short, they were strangers within the gates. And so I did not find anything wrong in the Arabs’ determined resistance to the idea of a Jewish homeland in their midst; on the contrary, I immediately realized that it was the Arabs who were being imposed upon and were rightly defending themselves against such an imposition.

            In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised the Jews a ‘national home’ in Palestine, I saw a cruel political manoeuvre designed to foster the old principle, common to all colonial powers, of ‘divide and rule’. In the case of Palestine, this principle was the more flagrant as in 1916 the British had promised the then ruler of Mecca, Sharif Husayn , as a price for his help against the Turks, an independent Arab state which was to comprise all countries between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. They not only broke their promise a year later by concluding with France the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement (which established French Dominion over Syria and the Lebanon), but also, by implication, excluded Palestine from the obligations they had assumed with regard to the Arabs.

            Although of Jewish origin myself, I conceived from the outset a strong objection to Zionism. Apart from my personal sympathy for the Arabs, I considered it immoral that immigrants, assisted by a foreign Great Power, should come from abroad with the avowed intention of attaining to majority in the country and thus dispossess the people whose country it had been since time immemorial. Consequently, I was inclined to take the side of the Arabs whenever the Jewish-Arab question was brought up – which, of course, happened very often. This attitude of mine was beyond comprehension of practically all the Jews with whom I came in contact during those months. They could not understand what I saw in the Arabs who, according to them, were no more than a mass of backward people whom they looked upon with a feeling not much different from that of the European settlers in Central Africa. They were not in the least interested in what the Arabs thought; almost none of them took pains to learn Arabic; and everyone accepted without question the dictum that Palestine was the rightful heritage of the Jews.

            I still remember a brief discussion I had on this score with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the undisputed leader of the Zionist movement. He had come on one of his periodic visits to Palestine (his permanent residence was, I believe, in London), and I met him in the house of a Jewish friend. One could not but be impressed by the boundless energy of this man – an energy that manifested itself even in his bodily movements, in the long, springy stride with which he paced up and down the room – and by the power of intellect revealed in the broad forehead and the penetrating glance of his eyes.

            He was talking of the financial difficulties which were besetting the dream of a Jewish National Home, and the insufficient response to this dream among people abroad; and I had the disturbing impression that even he, like most of the other Zionists, was inclined to transfer the moral responsibility for all that was happening in Palestine to the ‘outside world’. This impelled me to break through the deferential hush with which all the other people present were listening to him, and to ask:

            ‘And what about the Arabs...?’

            ‘Well – how can you ever hope to make Palestine your homeland in the face of the vehement opposition of the Arabs who, after all, are in the majority in this country?’

            The Zionist leader shrugged his shoulders and answered drily: ‘We expect they won’t be in a majority after a few years.’

            ‘Perhaps so. You have been dealing with this problem for years and must know the situation better than I do. But quite apart from the political difficulties which Arab opposition may or may not put in your way – does not the moral aspect of the question ever bother you? Don’t you think that it is wrong on your part to displace the people who have always lived in this country?’

            ‘But it is our country,’ replied Dr. Weizmann, raising his eyebrows. ‘We are doing no more than taking back what we have been wrongly deprived of.’

            ‘But you have been away from Palestine for nearly two thousand years! Before that you had ruled this country, and hardly ever the whole of it, for less than five hundred years. Don’t you think that the Arabs could, with equal justification, demand Spain for themselves – for, after all, they held sway in Spain for nearly seven hundred years and lost it entirely only five hundred years ago?’

            Dr. Weizmann had become visibly impatient: ‘Nonsense. The Arabs had only conquered Spain; it had never been their original homeland, and so it was only right that in the end they were driven out by the Spaniards.’

            ‘Forgive me,’ I retorted, ‘but it seems to me that there is some historical oversight here. After all, the Hebrews also came as conquerors to Palestine. Long before them were many other Semitic and non-Semitic tribes settled here – the Amorites, the Edomites, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Hitties. Those tribes continued living here even in the days of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. They continued living here after the Romans drove our ancestors away. They are living here today. The Arabs who settled in Syria and Palestine after their conquest in the seventh century were always only a small minority of the population; the rest of what we describe today as Palestinian or Syrian “Arabs” are in reality only the Arabianized, original inhabitants of the country. Some of them became Muslims in the course of centuries, others remained Christians; the Muslims naturally inter-married with their co-religionists from Arabia. But can you deny that the bulk of those people in Palestine, who speak Arabic, whether Muslims or Christians, are direct-line descendants of the original inhabitants: original in the sense of having lived in this country centuries before the Hebrews came to it?’

            Dr. Weizmann smiled politely at my outburst and turned the conversation to other topics.

            I did not feel happy about the outcome of my intervention. I had of course not expected any of those present – least of all Dr. Weizmann himself – to subscribe to my conviction that the Zionist idea was highly vulnerable on the moral plane: but I had hoped that my defence of the Arab cause would at least give rise to some sort of uneasiness on the part of the Zionist leadership – an uneasiness which might bring about more introspection and thus, perhaps, a greater readiness to admit the existence of a possible moral right in the opposition of the Arabs... None of this had come about. Instead, I found myself facing a blank wall of staring eyes: a censorious disapproval of my temerity, which dared question the unquestionable right of the Jews to the land of their forefathers...

            How was it possible, I wondered, for a people endowed with so much creative intelligence as the Jews to think of the Zionist-Arab conflict in Jewish terms alone? Did they not realize that the problem of the Jews in Palestine could, in the long run, be solved only through friendly co-operation with the Arabs? Were they so hopelessly blind to the painful future which their policy must bring? – to the struggles, the bitterness and the hatred to which the Jewish island, even if temporarily successful, would forever remain exposed in the midst of a hostile Arab sea?

               And how strange, I thought, that a nation which had suffered so many wrongs in the course of its long and sorrowful diaspora was now, in single-minded pursuit of its own goal, ready to inflict a grievous wrong on another nation – and a nation, too, that was innocent of all the past Jewish suffering. Such a phenomenon, I knew, was not unknown to history; but it made me, none the less, very sad to see it enacted before 

The greatest civilization in the world.

There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.

It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.

One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.

And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.

Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.

When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.

While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.

And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.

In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.

Extract from a speech by Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard delivered on 26 September 2001 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a conference whose theme was: "TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND OUR WAY OF LIFE: WHAT'S NEXT"

God is Hearer, Knower

"That is because Allah never change the grace He hath bestowed on any people until they first change that which is in their hearts, and (that is) because Allah is Hearer, Knower." (al Qur'aan al Anfal (8) :53)*

*According to Muhammad Asad: "In its wider sense, this is an illustration of the divine law of cause and effect which dominates the lives of both individuals and communities, and make the rise and fall of civilizations dependent on people's moral qualities and the changes in "their inner selves".

"It is not for any soul to believe save by the permission of Allah. He hath set uncleanness upon those who have no sense." (al Qur'aan Yunus (10):100)*

*According to Muhammad Asad: "i.e., by virtue of God's guidance and within the compass of what He has decreed to be man's nature, comprising the ability to discriminate between right and wrong. Since man's freedom of moral choice expresses itself in his willingness or unwillingness to conform to his true, God-willed nature, it can be said to depend, in the last resort on God's grace."

Those whom Allah (in His plan) willeth to guide, He open their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying, He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe. (al Qur’aan al An’am(6):125)

Ibn Mas'ud narrated that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, explained the following words of Allah, the Exalted: "The hearts of those whom Allah wills to guide, He opens to Islam." (Qur'an 6.125) This means, the Messenger explained, that, "When the light (of truth) enters the heart it expands and opens up." The Companions asked: "Is there any evidence of this (in the life of a Muslim)?" He replied: "Being ever mindful of the eternal life of the Hereafter, and remaining at guard in this life of delusion, and preparing oneself for death before it comes." This is reported by Ibn Jarir through different chains each of which strengthens the other.

"Those whom Allah (in His Plan) willeth to guide He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying He maketh their breast close and constricted as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe."(6:125)

God's Universal Plan is the Qadha wa Qadr, which is so much misunderstood. That Plan is unalterable, and that is His Will. It means that in the spiritual world, there are laws of justice, mercy, grace, penalty, etc., which work as surely as anything we know. If, then, a man refuses Faith, becomes a rebel, with each step he goes further and further down, and his pace will be accelerated; he will scarcely be able to take spiritual breath, and his recovery, -in spite of God's mercy which he has rejected,-will be as difficult as if he had to climb up to the skies. On the other hand, the godly will find, with each step, the next step easier. (Yusuf Ali)

And whomsoever it is Allah's will to guide, He expandeth his bosom unto the Surrender, and whomsoever it is His will to send astray, He maketh his bosom close and narrow as if he were engaged in sheer ascent. Thus Allah layeth ignominy upon those who believe not. (Marmaduke Pickthall)

And whomsoever God wills to guide, his bosom He opens wide with willingness towards self-surrender [unto Him]; and whosoever He wills to let go astray, his bosom He causes to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing unto the skies: it is thus that God inflicts horror upon those who will not believe. (Muhammad Asad)

Everyone will come to a point in their life when they realised the need for change; except for those whom Allah Almighty has decreed otherwise.
These changes they wrought upon themselves and their lives will reflect the degree of knowledge they have of Islam and their belief in Islam as way of life. If it is still compartmentalise (secular), the change will be partial. He or she will begin to pray, fast during the month of Ramadan, pay zakat and go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. This is the most common change in an individual we will see within our community and it determines the level of change the community itself will achieve.

When Muhammad s.a.w., brought the message of Islam to the people in Mecca, with the help of Allah the community was ready for total change and so Islam was established.

The Holy Qur'an

Read in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created -

created man out of a germ-cell!

Read - for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One

who has taught [man] the use of the pen -

taught man what he did not know.

 With these opening verses of the 96th surah - with an allusion to man's humble biological origin as well as to his consciousness and intellect - began, early in the 7th century of the Christian era, the revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessing be upon him) destined to continue during the 23 years of his prophet-hood and to end, shortly before his death, with verse 281 of the 2nd surah:

And be conscious of the Day on which you shall be brought back

unto God, whereupon every human being shall be repaid in full for

what he has earned, and none shall be wronged.

 Between these first and last verses (chronological order of their revelation) unfolds a book which, more than any other single phenomenon known to us, has fundamentally affected the religious, social and political history of the world. No other sacred scripture has ever had a similarly immediate impact upon the lives of the people who first heard its message and, through them and the generations that followed them, on the entire course of civilization. It shook Arabia, and made a nation out of its perennially warring tribes; within a few decades, it spread its worldview far beyond the confines of Arabia and produced the first ideological society known to man; through its insistence on consciousness and knowledge, it engendered among its followers a spirit of intellectual curiosity and independent inquiry, ultimately resulting in that splendid era of learning and scientific research which distinguished the world of Islam at the height of its cultural vigour; and the culture thus fostered by the Qur'an penetrated in countless ways and by-ways into the mind of medieval Europe and gave rise to that revival of Western culture which we call the Renaissance, and thus became in the course of time largely responsible for the birth of what is described as the "age of science": the age in which we are now living.

(The above is the first and second paragraphs of the Forward in The Message of The Qur'an, Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad.)

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith No. 1.118

Let me begin by quoting this hadith narrated by Abu Huraira r.a.:

People say that I have narrated many Hadiths (the Prophet's  narration). Had it not been for two verses in the Qur'an, I would not have narrated a single Hadith, and the verses are:

"Verily those who conceal the clear (Signs) and the guidance which We have sent down and after We have made it clear for the people in the book on them shall be Allah's curse and the curse of those who are entitled to curse*. Except those who repent and make amends and openly declare (the truth) to them I turn; for I am Oft-Returning Most Merciful." (2.159-160).

And no doubt our Muhajir (emigrant) brothers used to be busy in the market with their business (bargains) and our Ansari brothers used to be busy with their property (agriculture). But I (Abu Huraira) used to stick to Allah's Apostle contented with what will fill my stomach and I used to attend that which they used not to attend and I used to memorize that which they used not to memorize.

*Those entitled to curse: i.e., angels and mankind: the cursed ones will deprive themselves of the protection of God and of the angels, who are the Powers of God, and of the good wishes of mankind, because by contumaciously rejecting Faith, they not only sin against God but are false to their own manhood, which God created in the "best of moulds" (Q xcv. 4).

Dedication

Dear Friends,
 

We’re all travelers on a journey toward the same destination, the Day of Judgment.
 

We need all the help we can get; we learn new things and discard those that are wrong.
 

Muslims are guided by the holy Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him), the Messenger of Allah.
 

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (hafidhahullaah) said in Sharhul-Aqeedatil Waasitiyyah (p.8): “Bearing witness that he is the Messenger of Allaah requires having faith (eemaan) in him; obeying him in what he commanded; keeping away from what he prohibited; believing in whatever he informed; and following him in what is prescribed as Law.”
 

The majority of Muslims in this world is those born within the folds of Islam and practice the religion as taught by their parents and/or grandparents and teachers (Ustaz) according to the school of Islamic thoughts (mazhab) within their community.
 

On the other hand, the majority of reverts to Islam studied the Qur'an, Seerah (history) of Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him), and practiced Islam, accordingly.
 

"Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate from the truth after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself. Indeed, You are the Bestower. Our Lord! Indeed it is You who will gather mankind on the Day about which there is no doubt. Indeed Allaah never breaks His Promise.” [Soorah Aal-’Imraan 3:7-9]