Al-Muharram: A Common Misconception

By Shaykh Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat hafizahullāh


Islām is a way of life sent by Allāh ta‘ālā for the guidance of mankind, and it is the key to success in both worlds. Something that holds such significance holds great importance; hence, it is of great value and therefore needs to be protected at all costs.

For the protection of the religion of Islām, scores of Muslim individuals have contributed through their wealth, their lives, and many other ways and forms, the like of which cannot be found in history. Thousands have sacrificed their lives for the protection of this sacred religion. Islamic history is filled with the names of martyrs, and for the irrigation of Islamic values, much blood of Muslims has been shed.

From the first generation of Muslims, the great Sahābah radhiyallāhu ‘anhum, there are many who put all their possessions, even their lives, on the line for the sake of Islām. Sumayyah, Hamzah, Ja‘far, ‘Abdullāh ibn Rawāhah, ‘Abdullāh ibn Az-Zubayr radhiyallāhu ‘anhum, are just a few of the many famous ones that fall under this category.

In the sacred month of Al-Muharram, much is heard about one of the great martyrs of Islām, Husayn ibn ‘Alī radhiyallāhu ‘anhu. Without doubt, his martyrdom had a great role to play in fortifying the causes of Islām; but a mere few days before the tenth of Al-Muharram, on which his martyrdom is mourned with much importance by certain people, the martyrdom of another of Islām’s greats took place. This was, of course, the martyrdom of the second in rank and virtue from all Muslims after Abū Bakr radhiyallāhu ‘anhu, the leader of the believers, ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattāb radhiyallāhu ‘anhum.

The incident of his martyrdom is recorded in great detail in the books of ahādīth and history. In the 23rd year after of the Islamic calendar in the month of Dhū-al-Hijjah, ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu entered the masjid to lead the Fajr prayer. He made sure the rows were complete and straight, keeping alive the teachings of the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam in this regard. ‘Amr ibn Maymūn rahimahullāh, the narrator of the incident, says, ‘‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu had just said the first takbīr, when suddenly I heard him say, ‘A dog has killed (or eaten) me!’ The lout then attempted to flee with his double-edged dagger, and in doing so stabbed everyone in his way, to the right and left. As a result, he wounded 13 people, 7 fatally.’ The narration is lengthy, and many lessons are to be learnt from it. The blow was fatal, and ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu departed as a martyr just as he had desired. He would continually supplicate, ‘O Allāh, grant me martyrdom in your path, and make my death occur in the City of your Prophet.’ (Al-Bukhārī)

The martyrdom of ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu was imminent, as the Prophet of Allāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam had given glad tidings of this bounty. Anas ibn Mālik radhiyallāhu ‘anhu narrates that the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam once climbed Mount Uhud, along with Abū Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthmān radhiyallāhu ‘anhum, and it trembled. The Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam said, ‘O Uhud! Be calm, for there is a Nabī, a Siddīq and two martyrs on you.’ (Al-Bukhārī)

‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu was an outstanding personality, and the amount he benefited Islām can be gauged from what is narrated about him in the books of ahādīth.

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu relates that the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam prayed, ‘O Allāh, strengthen Islām with either Abū Jahl ibn Hishām or ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, and in the morning ‘Umar came to the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam and accepted Islām’. (At-Tirmidhī)

‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd radhiyallāhu ‘anhu would say, ‘We (Islām and the Muslims) went from strength to strength since ‘Umar accepted Islām’. (Al-Bukhārī)

Once, upon ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu asking regarding a ḥadīth of the Prophet

sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam regarding trials and tribulations which were to fall upon the Ummah, Hudhayfah ibn Al-Yamān radhiyallāhu ‘anhu, who knew the ḥadīth, remarked, ‘Why do you worry about such a fitnah, O Amīr-al-Mu’minīn, when there is a closed door between it and yourself?’ When asked who this ‘door’ was, Hudhayfah radhiyallāhu ‘anhu replied, ‘‘Umar.’ (Al-Bukhārī, Ibn Mājah)

It was due to this prophecy of the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam, that Sa‘īd ibn Zayd radhiyallāhu ‘anhu, one of the Al-‘Asharah Al-Mubashsharah, upon the demise of ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu said:

‘I cry upon the state of Islām, indeed the death of ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu has wounded Islām, a wound never to be healed until the Day of Qiyāmah.’ (At-Tabaqāt)

Despite such sufferings to its rank, Islamic teachings do not favour mourning the martyrdom of any individual. If there was such a thing, not a single day of the calendar year would remain void in which someone great had not given his life for the cause of Islām. What Islām does teach is that one should always remain conscious of the sacrifices of these accepted souls, continue praying for them, and make them our role models in that whatever sacrifice is required from us for Islām, at whatever time, we should be ready to offer it.

At this time, we are not being asked to offer our lives; we are only being asked to sacrifice our unlawful desires. How great a difference is there between us and those blessed individuals who gave their lives for Islām, and we cannot sacrifice a single transient enjoyment from harām sources. It is this lesson that we should learn from the martyrdoms of ‘Umar radhiyallāhu ‘anhu, Husayn radhiyallāhu ‘anhu, and all the other martyrs of Islām.

Courtesy: Riyādul Jannah

Ettiquetts of reciting Qur'an

Imam Muhammad ibn Ahmad Qurtubi says in
al-Jami' li ahkam al-Qur'an
[Taken from Reliance of the Traveller]
It is the inviolability of the Qur'an:

1. not to touch the Qur'an except in the state of ritual purity in wudu, and to recite it when in a state of ritual purity;

2. to brush one's teeth with a toothstick (siwak), remove food particles from between the them, and to freshen one's mouth before reciting, since it is the way through which the Qur'an passes;

3. to sit up straight if not in prayer, and not lean back;

4. to dress for reciting as if intending to visit a prince, for the reciter is engaged in an intimate discourse;

5. to face the direction of prayer (qiblah) to recite;

6. to rinse the mouth out with water if one coughs up mucus or phlegm;

7. to stop reciting when one yawns, for when reciting , one is addressing one's Lord in intimate conversation, while yawning is from the Devil;

8. when begining to recite, to take refuge from in Allah from the accursed Devil and say the Basmala, whether one has begun at the first surah or some other part one has reached;

9. once one has begun, not to interrupt one's recital from moment to moment with human words, unless absolutely necessary;

10. to be alone when reciting it, so that no one interrupts one, forcing one to mix the words of the Qur'an with replying, for this nullifies the effectivness of having taken refuge in Allah from the Devil at the beginning;

11. to recite it leisurely and without haste, distinctly pronouncing each letter;

12. to use one's mind and understanding in order to comprehend what is being said to one;

13. to pause at verses that promise Allah's favour, to long for Allah Most High and ask of His bounty; and at verses that warn of His punishment to ask Him to save one from it;

14. to pause at the accounts of bygone peoples and individuals to heed and benefit from their example;

15. to find out the meanings of the Qur'an's unusual lexical usages;

16. to give each letter its due so as to clearly and fuLly pronounce every word, for each letter counts as ten good deeds;

17. whenever one finishes reciting, to attest to the veracity of ones's Lord, and that His messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) has delivered his message, and to testify to this, saying: "Our Lord, You have spoken the truth, Your messengers have delivered their tidings, and bear witness to this. O Allah, make us of those who bear witness to the truth and who act with justice": after which one supplicates Allah with prayers.

18. not to select certain verses from each surah to recite, but rather the recite the whole surah;

19. if one puts down the Qur'an, not to leave it open;

20. not to place other books upon the Qur'an, which should always be higher than all other books, whether they are books of Sacred Knowledge or something else;

21. to place the Qur'an on one's lap when reading; or on something in front of one, not on the floor;

22. not to wipe it from a slate with spittle, but rather wash it off with water; and if one washes it off with water, to avoid putting the water where there are unclean substances (najasa) or where people walk. Such water has its own inviolability, and there were those of the early Muslims before us who used water that washed away Qur'an to effect cures.

23. not to use sheets upon which it has been written as bookcovers, which is extremely rude, but rather to erase the Qur'an from them with water;

24. not to let a day go by without looking at least once at the pages of the Qur'an;

25. to give one's eyes their share of looking at it, for the eyes lead to the soul (nafs), whereas there is a veil between the breast and the soul, and the Qur'an is in the breast.

26. not to trivially quote the Qur'an at the occurrence of everyday events, as by saying, for example, when someone comes, "You have come hither according to a decree, O Moses" [Qur'an 69:24],

or, "Eat and drink heartily for what you have done aforetimes, in days gone by" [Qur'an 69:24], when food is brought out, and so forth;

27. not to recite it to songs tunes like those of the corrupt, or with the tremulous tones of Christians or the plaintiveness of monkery, all of which is misguidance;

28. when writing the Qur'an to do so in a clear, elegant hand;

29. not to recite it out aloud over another's reciting of it, so as to spoil it for him or make him resent what he hears, making it as if it were some kind of competition;

30. not to recite it in marketplaces, places of clamour and frivolity, or where fools gather;

31. not to use the Qur'an as pillow, or lean upon it;

32. not to toss it when one wants to hand it to another;

33. not to miniaturize the Qur'an, mix into it what is not of it, or mingle this worldly adornment with it by embellishing or writing it with gold;

34. not to write it on the ground or on walls, as is done in some new mosques;

35. not to write an amulet with it and enter the lavatory, unless it is encased in leather, silver, or other, for then it is as if kept in the heart;

36. if one writes it and then drinks it (for cure or other purpose), one should say the Basmala at every breath and make a noble and worthy intention, for Allah only gives to one according to one's intention;

37. and if one finishes reciting the entire Qur'an, to begin it anew, that it may not resemble something that has been abandoned.

Qur'an cures cancer

It is scientifically proven; listening to Quran reduces the prevalence of cancerous cells in the human body and even destroys them.

The prolongation of prostration strengthens memory, and prevents stroke.

Prostration removes positive charges in the body - in a world where EVERYTHING uses electricity and affects us negatively, learn the importance of this.

MUSLIMS OF BRITAIN ARE UNDER MICROSCOPE

By Shaykh Shams Adduha Muhammad.

Once again, Muslims of Britain are under the microscope. This time it is the niqab, the face covering worn by many Muslim women. Calls to ban it, have a national debate about it etc are being made by non-Muslims and so called ‘progressive Muslims’ like Yasmin Alibhai Brown (1). Neither of these two groups of people have any idea why a Muslim woman wears a niqab and proceed with their tirade based on their own assumptions; preaching to Muslims about their own faith. What positive outcome they think they will get out of this; quite how this will promote community cohesion and understanding is beyond anyone. What irony! They offend Muslims, propose to limit their freedom, and yet still talk about social cohesion and freedom in the same breath.

In a country where women have won the right to bar ealmost everything, we have a proposal to ban people from covering almost everything. People’s freedoms are being limited in the name of emancipating them. The newspaper that has Page 3, is campaigning for the niqab ban on page one. Male MPs want to tell women what they can’t wear; ‘progressive Muslims’ i.e. non-practising Muslims are the new Muslim theologians; and practising Muslims are the extremists.It’s a tired and familiar old story. With hugely important events occurring around the world to report on, the media jumps on every little scrap that either makes Islam and Muslims look bad or puts pressure on them by making their way of life look more and more incompatible. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; make your own demons and then fight to banish them. Muslims will respond by fighting the oppression and repelling the false liberators. As things stand, the Muslims are fighting for the heart of Britain, for freedom and human rights. Should they along with the sane voices in British society fail and the extreme voices in British society prevail, it will simply add to the ever increasing proof of the British establishment’s hypocrisy as, on the one hand, it seems to be taking lessons in suppression from its despotic and autocratic allies in whose lands Muslims indeed struggle for basic freedoms; and yet on the other hand it marauds around the world, hand in hand with the US in the name of freedom and democracy.

Now it is simply bringing all that ugly mess home. Muslims of Britain simply need to stick to their value-rich faith. Good people will respect us for our principles, and the haters and hypocrites will continue to expose themselves plain for all to see.Yet while we will continue to fight for a woman’s right to wear the niqab, there is growing confusion about whether Muslim women are fighting for a cultural practice or a religious one. Although this distinction should make little difference in a democratic country, it is a pertinent question for us as Muslims to understand. Every time this issue makes the headlines, some Muslims who are vocal in the media make a point of stating that it is a cultural practice that has nothing to do with Islam.

It is time to clear this up, and it is very simple.In Surah al-Noor

(2), Allah (SWT) commands believing men and women to lower their gazes and guard their chastity. Then He tells women to not expose their beauty except that which is normally apparent. There are two interpretations for the ‘normally apparent’. Ibn ‘Abbas (RA) says it means the face and hands. However, Ibn Mas’ud (RA) interprets it as whatever is apparent after the face is covered.

(3)In Surah al-Ahzab (4), the Prophet (SAW) is commanded to tell his wives, daughters and the women of the believers to ‘bring their outer garments close to them’ so that they can be recognised as noble women and not be harmed. In response to the verse, the women of Madina were reported to have come out with their faces covered in different ways.

(5)In light of the above, Muslims scholars have differed on whether or not covering the face is obligatory for women. This is true also of the four famous and currently practised schools of thought. The Hanafi and Maliki schools do not consider covering the face to be obligatory. The Shaf’i and Hanbali schools declare it obligatory. Later Hanafi jurists preferred the obligatory ruling due to an increase in immorality resulting in the need for women to be more prudent and protective over themselves.

(6)The above difference of opinion based on varying interpretations is not unique to this issue, thousands of issues are differed upon in exactly the same way. Muslims accept both positions as acceptable interpretations. Preference is either based on an academic leaning or based on precaution and prudence. The fact that there is disagreement does not take any matter outside of the pale of the Islamic tradition. In the case of men, the same is true of the beard, the cap, wearing trousers above the ankles. All of these are issues that have differing views, yet all of these issues are part and parcel of Islam and all are issues wherein the current practice of Muslims is diverse.

To suggest that any such issue is cultural and not religious demonstrates an overwhelming ignorance of Islamic teachings. In some instances it also indicates crass-pragmatism and an inferiority complex owing to an inability to cope with issues presented by modernity.

There will be those ‘progressive Muslims’ who give little importance to the hadith literature and claim to only be following the Qur’an, interpreting it in whichever fanciful way suits their preference. The contradiction they have to overcome is that the Qur’an itself was preserved by the memories of the Prophet’s companions and their oral tradition. Thus if one accepts the Qur’an as being preserved through the memories of these most trustworthy of human beings then how can one choose to ignore the weight of their testimony in other matters relating to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).On any Islamic issue where there is a difference of opinion, the individual chooses what to do. There is no force or coercion. In the matter of the niqab, many women find it more conducive to Islamic teachings around modesty, chastity, and neutralisation of sexual attraction, and so wear the niqab as a mark of their commitment to these ideals and their piety. It doesn’t even have to mean they consider it obligatory; nor does it mean that those who do not wear the niqab are less chaste or modest. It is about one’s personal feelings about themselves and how they manage their own spirituality. Many of my students know that I do not consider it obligatory. I see them join my classes without the niqab, soon after, they start wearing the niqab. I don’t even know why they did it. Ultimately, it’s their choice and none of my business. But it is a religious choice and not a cultural one, which means a woman makes the choice to adopt an Islamic teaching in the hope of being rewarded by Allah (SWT). This is the essence of any religious practice.The idea that women are being forced to wear the niqab islaughable. I’m sure some wear it because their husbands or fathers want them to. But choosing to respect their wishes does not mean they are forced. Maybe the would-be heroes who seek to emancipate niqab-wearing Muslim women should actually talk to niqabi women to find out how they feel rather than excluding them. An act that is so undemocratic, one wonders what kind of government these MPs think they represent?In my fifteen years as an active imam and teacher with thousands of students, I have rarely come across a woman who complained that she was being forced to wear theniqab. Given that I do not hold it to be obligatory; I would be an obvious imam to consult for such women. Ironically, the complete opposite is true: women regularly complain that they choose to wear the niqab but their husbands or fathers pressurise them to take it off. They ask whether they have the freedom in Islam to hold their ground. If the niqabgets banned, these MPs would have succeeded in taking away their freedoms and would have played in to the hands of patriarchy, something that would never have occurred to them.

At the root of it is ignorance and arrogance. Ignorance of what the niqab really is about, and arrogance that leads to imposing one’s own views, preferences and anxieties upon the freedoms of others. Whatever happens, Muslims will adapt and we’ll move on. We’ve seen and been through worse.

Britain as a whole needs to think carefully about what it stands to lose if it goes down this path. As far as I am concerned, democracy, human rights and liberal values are now being interpreted in a very dubious way. Muslims just have to stick to their principles. We were around before modernity and many other aspects of new-age conventional thinking, we will not be dictated to by it, we have not given in to it like Christianity and other faiths, and indeed we have no need to do so.

Furthermore we will be around the day they have moved-on and become unrecognisable to westerners whose ancestors fought for them. It seems they are already moving on, albeit a move backwards.

Who is a Salafi?

By: Shaikh Luthfur Rahman
The original translation of SALAF is Predecessors Scholars and the meaning of SALAFI is a follower of those Predecessors.  In that sense, whoever follows a group of predecessors scholars in their religious matters is considered as Salafi. It also proves that, the followers of early stage Mazhabs  like Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafie, Hanbali are the actual and better Salafi than anybody else. Further more,  each of this Mazhab never belonged  to an individual Faqeeh (Jurist) only as some might assume rather it belonged a number of extra ordinary  learned predecessors Fuqahaa (jurists).
What about the Salafi Dawah Movement of this time and a person who is claiming to be Salafi? Salafi Dawah Movement is a contemporary school of thought which is highly committed to invite the Muslims to follow the Quran and Sunnah according to the understanding of their contemporary scholars and some selected predecessors. It must be clarified that, anybody claims to be Salafi at this time is nothing but a follower of the contemporary Salafi Dawah Movement in his religious matters.

Olive Online, an excellent new Islamic online company

An entrepreneur has established an excellent new Islamic company which is serving the British Muslims, specially the Muslims in London.  

There are about 1.8 million Muslims in the UK which is 3% of the total British population. From this, 1 million Muslims are situated in London alone. Although not all Muslims look like or practice Islam properly but there are an increasing number of people practicing Islam in Britain. Women wear Jilbabs and Abayas to cover their body modestly and Hijabs and Niqabs to cover their heads and faces respectfully as it is a praiseworthy and necessary aspect of a Muslim’s faith. Men keep beards as it is regarded as Wajib according to the Ulama of the Hanafi school of thought. Other schools render it important too. Muslim men wear Islamic clothes such as Hats, Thoubs, Jubbas, Qamees and etc. This is seen in the month of Ramadhan more often than other times of the year.

In the British Muslim community, there is a growing demand growing for Muslim businesses where services and Islamic items and necessary things can be found. Some entrepreneurs have seen this gap and took this opportunity to make available the things that a Muslim needs to live a normal Islamic life with comfort in Britain. Such is the case with Olive. Olive has managed to establish itself to provide Madrasah uniform to a number of full time and evening Islamic schools in London.

It saw that Muslims need to go to Islamic stores in person to buy clothes that they need or want which can be hard often due to being far from the shop. Hence Olive has opened its online shop which can be accessed on www.oliveonline.co.uk. 

To its website more accessible, it has created a marketing campaign on Facebook (www.facebook.com/oliveonline.islamicstore) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/shop_olive). On Olive’s website, traditional and classical Abayas, Jilbabs, overcoats, Hijabs, Niqabs, Burqas for women and Jubbas, Thoubs, Hats for men can be found. There are often offers that are available on the site and specially for its customers from Facebook. Dua to the success, Olive now has some clothes in its own brand. Olive’s managing director said that his intention from beginning was “to make Islamic goods and clothes available to the Muslim community so that Muslims can present themselves as Muslims and practice Islam comfortably affordably”.

Reference:

http://www.mcb.org.uk/library/statistics.php

www.oliveonline.co.uk

www.facebook.com/oliveonline.islamicstore

www.twitter.com/shop_olive

Introducing Mufti Taqi Uthmani

Moulana Abdur Raheem, a senior lecturer of Hadith (Darul Uloom, Bury) reports a statement from the wife of Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb DB about her husband.

Mawlana Abdur Raheem repots that ‘Yesterday evening she was with my family, a very humble Khala. She said the following:

"He never wastes a minute of his time, he always uses every second wisely. If he had a few minutes he would continue the writings of his books. If he has time he would reply to letters from the hundreds of letters he receives daily. He sleeps very little. He wrote a full Kitaab on all his plane journeys. He authored his 1st book at the age of 18. He is a master of Tafseer Hadith and Tasawuf. His daily routine is busy every minute however, after Asr he has fixed a specific time for family, to talk to them, listen to them and give them Naseehat. He goes for a walk in the morning and completes his Tasbeehaat during his walk"

Mawlana Abdur Raheem supplicates after mentioning this, ‘May Allah reward him for all his excellent work and elevate his status even more Ameen’.

Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani was born in 1943 in Deoband, India. He is the son of the late Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi, the former Grand Mufti of Pakistan. He obtained his Takhassus degree (an advanced degree equivalent to Ph.D.) in Islamic education from Darul Uloom Karachi, the largest and most renowned Islamic educational institution in Pakistan. He also obtained a Master’s degree in Arabic literature from Punjab University, and a law degree (LLB) from Karachi University.
He is regarded as an expert in the fields of Hadith (sacred traditions of the Holy Prophet, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Economics, and Tasawwuf (Islamic spirituality). He has been teaching these and other branches of Islamic education since 1959.
He served as Judge of the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to May 2002. He is also a permanent member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, an organ of OIC based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has served as the Vice Chairman of the Academy for nine years. He is also the Vice President of Darul Uloom Karachi.
He is generally known as one of the leading Shariah scholars active in the field of Islamic finance. For more than a decade he has served as chairman or member of Shariah supervisory boards of a dozen Islamic banks and financial institutions in various parts of the world. He presently serves as Chairman of the International Shariah Council for the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) in Bahrain.
He has held many positions in the higher echelons of the education sector of Pakistan and has participated in numerous commissions set up by the government of Pakistan in the field of education and economics. Since 1967, he's been the Chief Editor of the monthly Urdu-language magazine "Albalagh", and since 1990, he's been Chief Editor of the monthly English-language magazine "Albalagh International." He has also contributed articles to leading Pakistani newspapers on a range of issues. He has authored more than 60 books in Arabic, English, and Urdu.

Positions Holding:
• Vice President and Shaikul-Hadith, Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi
• Chairman, International Shariah Standard Council set up by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, Bahrain.
• Permanent Member, International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Jeddah, sponsored by OIC.
• Member, Islamic Fiqh Academy of Rabita-al-‘Alam-e-Islami, Makkah
• Chairman, Centre for Islamic Economics, Pakistan since 1991
Positions Held in the Past:
• Judge, Shariat Appellate Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to May 2002
• Judge, Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1980 to 1982
• Member, Syndicate University of Karachi 1985 to 1988
• Member, Board of Governors, International Islamic University Islamabad, 1985 to 1989.
• Member, International Institute of Islamic Economics 1985 to 1988
• Member, Council of Islamic Ideology 1977 to 1981
• Member, Board of Trustees International Islamic University, Islamabad 2004 to 2007
• Member, Commission for Islamisation of Economy of Pakistan.
Current Affiliated Institutions:
• Chairman Shariah Board, Central Bank of Bahrain
• Chairman Shariah Board, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, U.A.E.
• Chairman Shariah Board, Meezan Bank Ltd., Karachi, Pakistan
• Chairman Shariah Board, Dubai Bank, Dubai
• Chairman Shariah Board, International Islamic Rating Agency, Bahrain
• Chairman Shariah Board, Swiss Re-Takaful, Switzerland
• Chairman Shariah Board, Pak-Kuwait Takaful, Karachi
• Chairman Shariah Board, Pak-Qatar Takaful, Karachi
• Chairman Shariah Board, Bank Islami, Karachi
• Chairman Shariah Board, JS Investments Islamic Fund, Karachi
• Chairman Shariah Board, JS Islamic Pension Savings Fund
• Chairman Shariah Board, Arif Habib Investments – Pakistan Intrnational Element Islamic Fund, Karachi
• Member Shariah Board, Arcapita Bank, Bahrain
• Member Shariah Board, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), an organ of IDB Jeddah
• Member Shariah Board, Guidance Financial Group, USA
Previous Affiliated Institutions
• Member Shariah Board, Bank of Khyber, Peshawar
• Chairman Shariah Board, European Islamic Investment Bank, UK (affiliation ended Dec 2008)
• Chairman Shariah Board, Dow Jones Islamic Index, New York
• Chairman Shariah Board, Saudi American Bank, Jeddah.
• Chairman Shariah Board, Islamic House of Britain
•Chairman Shariah Board, HSBC Amanah Finance, Dubai
• Chairman Shariah Board, Robert Fleming Oasis Fund, Luxemburg.
• Chairman Shariah Board, Citi Islamic Invesment Bank, Bahrain.
• Member Higher Shariah Board, Al-Baraka Group, Jeddah.
• Member Shariah Board, Faysal Bank Ltd, Pakistan.
• Member Shariah Board, ABC Investment Bank, Bahrain.
• Member Shariah Board, Islamic Unit of United Bank of Kuwait, UK and USA

The speech of the Turkish Prime Minister

Tens of thousands have gathered for a rally in support of Turkish PM, last Sunday. Erdoğan addresses the notorious secularist violent opposition protesters in a historical speech.

He said in his speech: “These people used mosques as barns during the single-party period."
He expressed “These dark circles will never be able to succeed in their attempt to de-stable this country. One thing they did not count on was the determination of its people,” he said. "The call to prayer used to be recited in a flat, depressing way [in Turkish language]" Erdoğan reminded. "However, with the decision of the Adnan Menderes government long ago, the call started being recited as original [in Arab]," he added.
“Those who wonder about what’s going on in Turkey should take a better look at Kazlıçeşme, at Istanbul,” Erdoğan told his supporters in Istanbul. “These hundreds of thousands of people are not the ones who have burned and destroyed; these hundreds of thousands of people are not traitors like those who threw Molotov cocktails at my people. Whatever we do, we’ll remain within the frame of democracy and the rule of law. We have never pushed the limits of legality,” he assured. ‘Hide this if you can’ Erdoğan once again slammed the international media. “If the international media want a picture of Turkey, the picture is here,” he said. “CNN, Reuters, BBC, hide this picture too, and go on with your lies. Turkey is not a country on which international media institutions can conduct operations. Without feeling ashamed they say get ready for the Turkish Spring after the Arab Spring. They do not know that the Turkish Spring occurred on November 3, 2002,” the prime minister challenged. “Now Gezi Parkı has been cleared and handed back to its people. The municipality has cleared the park and renewed it with new flowers. Real environmentalists are at work now. Who is this environmentalist? The AK Party government,” he announced.
And he concluded 'I don't take orders from anyone except god'
Erdogan, many people don't know that he was the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998 until he was sentenced to year in prison for reciting a poem deemed to be anti-secular.

It included with verses translated as "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...."

Genocide on the Ulama at night in Dhaka, Bangladesh

I have heard of brutality and despotism in various parts of the world but Hasina, the current Prime Ministers of Bangladesh has broken all records. Hasina and her government have committed colossal genocide on Bangladeshi people yesterday. They have massacred countless men in the depth of the night.

Hefazote Islam and its supporters gathered in Dhaka city with the aim of putting extra pressure on the government to end its brutality, human rights abuse, political abduction, extrajudicial execution, aiding and abetting the Shahbag secular fundamentalists and thug rule. In response the government gave an ultimatum to the protestors to leave the city by dusk or the government will resort to its tried and tested method of clearing the city.

I have heard of evil dictators attacking their own people but Hasina, an elected parliamentarian and the Prime Minister of one of the most populous Muslim nation in the world has stooped so low that even the evil dictators appear angelic. She massacred her own people while they slept. The protestors gathered in a square as the night fell and began to rest. Some asleep, some engaged in chit chat and some in personal prayers. At around 2.30am, while the protestors were resting and in the depth of the darkness that deepened over the city due to the government turning off the electricity from the entire area, the security forces moved in. What followed is a cold blooded massacre of the protestors. In the darkness all that could be heard are tanks rolling, machine guns firing and people’s last harrowing cry as the bullet pierced their bodies, leaving them dead of injured.

I have heard of Slobodan Milosevic’s mass murder and mass graves in Bosnia but Hasina has gone one step further. Her security forces have simply vanished the bodies of those they have massacred. No one knows how many people have been shot dead by the security services and nobody knows how many people have been injured either. The media organisations that are trusted by the masses of people have been shut down, the remaining media have been given clear instructions to not report or show dead or injured bodies. There has been a total shut down of press freedom and the world does not have a clue as to what unfolded in the Dhaka city last night. This was by the far the worst ever massacre of Bangladeshi people by any elected government.

I hold Hasian and her government directly responsible for this genocide. I call upon every human being in all parts of the world to protest and raise their grave concerns at their local level and their local governments. I call upon our government in the Britain to take immediate action against Bangladeshi government. I call upon all Bangladeshis to boycott all those who support the current government and I call upon the international community to bring to justice the criminal and murderous Hasina and her government urgently.

The current Awami League led government of Bangladesh is completely responsible for a premeditated and calculated slaughter of hundreds of Bangladeshi people. This government has orchestrated mass murder in the last 18 months at a scale that has not been witnessed in Bangladesh since the murders of thousands of Bangladeshis during the 1971 war. Hasina and her thugs have overtaken the brutality of the Pakistani army; they have unashamedly silenced their opposition by taking their lives.

I have always believed that dictators and despots will eventually be brought to justice, either in this world or in the hereafter. They will be brought to justice one day. Hasina and her cronies will find no holes big enough to hide when their tenor ends. They will find no country safe enough to hide when this parliamentary session expired. They will find no friends strong to defend them when the Bangladeshi people try them for crimes against humanity and genocide of Bangladeshi people.

Let me make myself clear, Hasina and Awami League government are the true criminals and they should be tried in the Hague for mass murder.
 

[Taken from a speech by Ajmol Masroor]

Fatwa on Dr. Farhat Hashmi by Mufti Taqi Usmani

The View of Mufti Taqi Uthmani D.B and other eminent scholars regarding Farhat Hashmi

Dr. Farhat Hashmi is not a scholar of religion or an Alima. She has some very strange views in matters of Deen. Please warn sisters to beware of what she teaches as we have to learn Deen from correct sources. Some of her incorrect views are as follows:
* women can travel countries without a Mahram man (husband/father etc)
* you do not need to do Qadha of previously missed Salah/ prayer
* reading Surah Yasin daily is of no use and virtue
* Nafil Salah like Awwabeen/ Duha (Chasht) etc are baseless.
The womenfolk must be informed of this so that our sisters are not misguided by this deviant woman. Below is a fatwa of mufti Taqi Usmani (senior mufti in the world in current times in Arab and non Arab world) regarding her views.


Be aware that Dr. Farhat Hashmi is not a scholar of religion and has not studied the Deen under any qualified and reliable Ulama. Rather she has studied and attained a PHD in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow. Her talks and lectures have gained a lot of fame and popularity amongst the public. All Muslims should be aware that many of Dr. Farhat Hashmi's teachings are based on ignorance from true knowledge of the Quran and Hadith, and conflict with the consensus and practice of the Ummah since 1400 years. Below are some of her deviant teachings.
Dr. Farhat Hashmi claims that "it is not permissible for one to follow one of the four schools of thought of Islamic Jurisprudence. Rather, one should follow one's own understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an and Hadith." She claims that "to follow one of the four Imams is sheer ignorance." We ask her, was the practice of the Ummah since 1400 years based on sheer ignorance?
She claims that "if someone has a lot of Salah to make up for, there is no need to make up for them, and to do Taubah is enough." All four schools of thought are unanimous on the fact that if one has missed a Salah, he should make up for it (Qadha) as soon as he can. It is narrated in the Hadith of Muslim that the Prophet of Allah Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam said, “Whosoever from amongst you misses his Salah due to sleep, or forgets to pray, then he should perform it as soon as he remembers.”
She teaches that "after learning the translation and brief meaning of the Quran, one is able to interpret and extract rules from the Holy Quran from his own understanding." Whereas the Prophet of Allah Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam said, “Whosoever interprets the Holy Quran through his own opinion, then he has erred even though he may have interpreted it correctly."
She teaches that "it is permissible for a woman in her menses to recite the Holy Quran, and that she is allowed to touch the Quran using gloves." Whereas the Prophet of Allah Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam says in the narration of Ibn Majah the “The one in a state of impurity, and the one in her menses should not recite the Holy Quran. Imam Tirmizi R.A mentions that that this was the opinion of the majority of the people of knowledge, the Companions R.A and the Tabieen. Regarding this, Dr. Farhat Hashmi says "who are these people to place such self made restrictions on us women?" How can one make such a statement regarding the Sahabah, and Tabieen? We seek Allah's refuge from such statements.
As you can see, such teachings are far from the true Deen and show how little understanding Dr. Farhat Hashmi has of the Shariah. It seems she wants the Ummah to lose their trust on the God Fearing and eminent Ulama who spent their entire lives learning and teaching the Deen, and to place their trust on her teachings and follow some new sort of modern Deen which invites anyone and everyone to pick up the Quran and the Ahaadith and make an interpretation according to their own understanding. Such people and teachings are a test to the Ummah. We should realise this and stay away from such people and teachings. Brothers and sisters should be warned to stay away from such teachings, and adhere to the teachings of the rightly guided scholars.
Check the link below for more detailed Fatawa regarding her.
https://sites.google.com/site/allahiseloi/dr-farhat-hashmi-al-huda-exposed
May Allah Ta'ala give us all true awareness and keep us steadfast on the straight path. Ameen.a

http://nabeelfaruqui.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/dr-farhat-hashmi-fatwaa-by-mufti-taqi.html?m=1

The cost of shopping at Primark- Collapse of factory building in Bangladesh

[This is a narration of an anonymous brother, expressing his feelings regarding the collapsing of the factory building in Bangladesh.] 

An hour before reading with horror on Thursday morning that workers at a clothes factory that collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday had been ordered to return to work after their bosses decided cracks in the wall were nothing to worry about, I was deciding what to wear.
The season has changed and most of my lighter clothes feel stale, while my children have grown and been promised new things that fit them. We must all go shopping, I thought. But where?
Not every time I open my purse, but regularly, I consume ethically, or as ethically as I can. I buy gas and electricity from the Co-op, and shop mostly at the Co-op and local grocers. I don’t buy factory-farmed meat or battery eggs, and choose Fairtrade products when I can.
I don’t think my spending habits are going to change the world, and I don’t think ethical consumption is a very effective lever in building a more just and sustainable society. That is what politics is for. But I do think if you can afford to, that it’s worth trying to give your money to producers you approve of rather than those you know are avoiding taxes, paying workers a pittance or harming the environment.
But when it comes to fashion, applying even the most modest ethical criteria is ridiculously hard. All the big chains – including Primark, which had a supplier in the destroyed Rana Plaza building on Dhaka’s outskirts, and has promised “to provide support where possible” to the families of the 187 workers known to have died – have ethics policies that can be viewed online. None has a clearly labelled and readily available Fairtrade or equivalent line on the shop floor.

Worse than the Civil war in Bangladesh

The onslaught against Islam and anyone calling for it in Bangladesh has reached an unprecedented height. It was described by a journalist from Bangladesh, as “worse than living through the civil war”. Yet many people are unaware of what’s going on.  

A brother from Zaki-Ganj, Sylhet told us “Today Awami Leaguers broke our community center in our local Bazaar because the Islamic programs take place there”.

Today in Manik-Ginj, the police and Awali league thugs opened fire with live ammunition at Khelafat Majlis demonstration and killed five our brothers” said an official of Khelafat Majlis (An Islamic movement in Bangladesh).

Yesterday, nine people were martyred including 5 male and one female members of Khelafat Majlis, during a protest against the atheist blasphemers and their sponsors, the tyrannical government.

Hadhrat Mawlana Noor-e-Alam Hamidi of Hifazat-e-Islam (an Islamic organisation in Bangladesh) was arrested and tortured because he has protested against the ‘Murtad’ atheists who dared to write unspeakable and blasphemous words against the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).