Understanding_Islam

Myth: Islam Degrades Women

Even though many aspects of Islam are misunderstood by non-Muslims, the ignorance, misinformation and incorrect assumptions that are made in regards to Islam's treatment of women are probably the most severe. Numerous verses of the Qur'an make it clear that men and women are equal in the site of God. According to the teachings of Islam, the only thing that distinguishes people in the site of God is their level of God-consciousness. Due to this, many people are surprised to find out that Islamic Law guaranteed rights to women over 1400 years ago that women in the Europe and America only obtained recently. For example, Islam clearly teaches that a woman is a full-person under the law, and is the spiritual equal of a male. Also, according to Islamic Law, women have the right to own property, operate a business and receive equal pay for equal work. Women are allowed total control of their wealth, they cannot be married against their will and they are allowed to keep their own name when married. Additionally, they have the right to inherit property and to have their marriage dissolved in the case of neglect or mistreatment. Also, Islam does not consider woman an "evil temptress", and thus does not blame woman for the "original sin". Women in Islam participate in all forms of worship that men participate in.

Actually, the rights that Islam gave to women over 1400 years ago were almost unheard of in the West until the 1900s. Less than fifty years ago in England and America, a woman could not buy a house or car without the co-signature of her father or husband! Additionally, Islam gives great respect to women and their role in society --- it gives them the right to own property, marry who they want and many other rights. Also, it should be mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad's mission stopped many of the horrible practices in regards to women that were present in the society of his time. For example, the Qur'an put an end to the pagan Arab practice of killing their baby daughters when they were born. Additionally, Islam put restrictions on the unrestricted polygamy of the Arabs of the time, and put many laws in place to protect the well-being of women.

Today, most of the so-called reforms in the status of women came about after the West abandoned religion for secularism. Even those in the West who claim to follow the so-called "Judaeo-Christian tradition" really follow the values of Western liberalism --- but just to a lesser degree than their more liberal countrymen. If women in the Muslim World today don't have their rights, it is not because Islam did not give it to them. The problem is that in many places alien traditions have come to overshadow the teachings of Islam, either through ignorance or the impact of Colonialization.

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"And now verily We shall make you turn (in prayer) toward a Qibla which is dear to you. So turn your face toward the Inviolable Place of Worship (the Kaaba of Makkah)." (Al Baqarah 2:144)

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[ http://www.qurancomplex.com/ ]

Allah [may He be Glorified] said: "You [true believers in Islâmic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)) and his Sunnah] are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Ma'rûf (i.e. Islâmic Monotheism and all that Islâm has ordained) and forbid Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islâm has forbidden), and you believe in Allâh. And had the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) believed, it would have been better for them; among them are some who have faith, but most of them are Al-Fâsiqûn (disobedient to Allâh - and rebellious against His Command). " (3:110)

Commentary:

A. In the first part of this verse Allah praises the Ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Ummah which answered the call of Allah. He describes it as the best Ummah ever raised for mankind. They are beneficial to all people in giving advice, in their sincere love for goodness, in their efforts for calling, teaching, and guiding people, and in enjoining good and forbidding evil.
They deserve this description in return for the good deeds they performed and their holding of the following qualities:

1. The perfection of their faith, which requires the performance of all that which Allah commands.

2. Trying to perfect and complete the faith of others by enjoining them to do good and forbidding them from doing evil. They also invite people to the way of Allah and strive hard to keep them on the proper way and keep them away from deviation.

Second: The last portion of the verse stated that only a few among the People of the Book adopted Islam, while the majority of them were evil persons who disobeyed Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and fought against the believers. Had they believed, it would have been better for them.

See Tafsir Ibn Sa'di, p. 112 (Al-Luwaihiq Edition).

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Middle East News

“What have I done wrong to live without my parents?” 6/11/2006 7:00:00 PM GMT

Hoda Ghalia shrieked for her father as she saw him laying dead on the sands along with five of her siblings.

The five family members were among seven other Palestinian civilians who lost their lives and over 35 who got injured in an unjustified Israeli attack on a beach in northern Gaza.

The Israeli shelling at the coastal area on Friday ripped apart Hoda’s life.

TV footage following the Israeli massacre in Gaza showed Hoda screaming "Father! Father!", symbolizing the devastating impact of the new Israeli "genocidal" and "war crime," as described by Palestinian leaders.

"What have I done wrong that I should have to live without my parents?" the 10-year old girl said as she appeared on AP Television News.

In the background appeared the rest of Hoda’s family, including female relatives dressed in black, all mourning the lost lives of their loved ones.

Five Israeli human rights organisations have called for an immediate halt to the merciless killing of innocent Palestinian civilians by Israeli occupation forces.

It was a weekend picnic- Houda and her 11 brothers and sisters went out with their father, who had promised them a picnic if they passed their end-of-year exams, to enjoy a sunny day at the beach. The family decided to quickly pack and end the picnic after they heard the Israeli fire. But as they stood awaiting a taxi to take them home, the explosive landed in the beach, killing Hoda’s father and five of her brothers and sisters, she said.

The shelling, which wiped out the Ghalia family, also killed the second wife of Hoda’s father, and one other person who was not related to them. But her mother and five other children from the family were only wounded. Seven-year-old Hadeel, Ali Ghalia's daughter from his second wife, is now laying in a hospital bed with shrapnel wounds. She still doesn’t know that she lost both her parents and her brother.

"Since last night I have been telling her that her mother will be coming back and she will be able to play with her brother," Hadeel’s aunt Intisar said. "We want her to get better and we don't want to tell her the truth while she is still sick."

"Hadeel is now an orphan," said Nasreen Ghalia, the girl's aunt. "We want nothing from (the Israelis.) We just want them to leave us alone." Israel has repetitively attacked areas crowded with civilians, killing scores of them, including children, claiming it’s only protecting itself against rockets fired by Palestinian fighters from Gaza.

The U.S. had in many cases endorsed this claim.

Hadeel's 15-year-old half sister, Ilham, was decapitated, and her 16-year-old half brother, Reham, was badly hurt, and he might have both his arms amputated, according to doctors treating him. At the mourning tent for Ghalia family in Beit Lahiya, Eyam Ghalia, 20, the only member of the family who wasn’t hurt in the massacre, described what happened when Israel’s shells hit the beach.

"We started to walk to the place where the taxi would pick us up, and suddenly the missile landed in the middle of where we were," Mr Ghalia said, with signs of shock and grief tainting his features. "My father was behind me and I saw his stomach cut open with the intestines hanging out. I tried to take care of him and I kept calling out to him but there was no response."

Blood stains and ripped shoes, some with flakes of dried flesh on the soles, were still seen in the sand where the Israeli shells landed. On Saturday, President Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to Hoda's ordeal, denouncing the Israeli crimes, calling it “genocide”.

"What is the crime that she committed while she was watching her family being killed on the beach and screaming?" Abbas said. "Who is responsible for such acts and why are such acts being committed against innocent people?" However he insisted: "We called for peace and we will call for peace. This incident is not going to prevent us from calling for peace."
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Inna Lillahi wa inailahi raj'uun-Verily, to Allah we belong and to Him is our return!!!!

And they say Muslims are "terrorists"! Indeed, this is the greatest terror against innocent people but yet you don't see anyone calling these Israelis "terrorists"! I guess this word is only used towards the Muslims!

May Allah (SWT) protect our dear brothers and sisters in Faith from these terrorists and grant them victory...Ameen!!!

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Da Vinci Code is Broken
& Answers provided by Quran of Islam

Da Vinci Code controversy - It is everywhere! Dan Brown's book claims Jesus in not divine or God, and the gospels as we know them, have been changed, and after Jesus stay here on earth, men raised his status to the level of God. Could any of this be true?

Ancient secrets of the Church, hidden for centuries have actually been revealed and published in books prior to the fictional writings of Brown in the Da Vinci Code. Baigent and Leigh have produced other books from researchers point of view over the last two decades, including "Dead Sea Scrolls Deception", "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", and "Messianic Legacy." These books were the talk of the religious communities when they came out in the early 90's and certianly they have fueled an ongoing interest into just exactly who was this man Jesus, what was his message and what happened to him?

Islam claims to "break the code" so to speak, over 1,400 years ago. The answer, according to Muslm scholars has been in the Quran for over fourteen hundred years.

Some may be surprised to learn, Muslims believe in the miracle birth and other miracles associated with Jesus. They actually consider him as the "Messiah" and they even say, "peace be upon him" when mentioning his name. However, they are quick to negate any connection between God and Jesus as a partnership or God-head, and they rule out the notion of God having any son (or daughter for that matter).

Here is how Muslim scholars present their understanding and "break the code":

Creation itself tells us there is a creator and from the beginning of time – Allah, (the One God in Arabic) alone is to be worshiped. This is clear teaching throughout the Old testament (Torah), the scriptures that Jesus himself read and taught from. God is one not one of three; for example: ‘He is God; there is no other besides Him’. (Deuteronomy 4:35). The same is mentioned in the book of Mark in the New Testament, chapter 12, verse 29, when Jesus, peace be upon him, had been asked about the Greatest Commandment he replied, "To know, O Israel, the Lord your God is One Lord; and you have to love Him with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength."

According to the oldest and most authentic copies of manuscipts and scrolls available throughout the centuries, Jesus, peace be upon him, never claimed to be God, or the creator, or the One to pray to, nor did he tell his followers to revere him as God. These notions appear on the lips of others who came along decades and even centuries later.

While Jesus was on earth he did not claim to be the creator or ask us to revere him as God. His miraculous birth is a sign of his prophethood: “Verily, the likeness of Jesus before Allah, is the likeness of Adam. He (Allah) created him from dust and said “Be!” and he was” (Quran 3:59). Like all the great and noble prophets of Allah such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and David, Jesus came with one message: Worship, love, obey and submit to the one true God, Allah, the creator of everything and do not worship anything besides Allah.

Throughout history, people have taken to worship things or people alongside Allah, or just worshiping something else like power, status or money. Even the names of religions seem have more to do with the creation and less or nothing to do with the Creator. For example: Buddhism – Buddha (the name of a man), Confucianism – Confucius (the name of a man), Hinduism – Hind (the name of an area), Judaism – Judah (the name of a tribe) and Christianity – Christ (the name of a great prophet).

Islam is different. Islam is a word coming from the verb "aslama" and it carries the meaning of "surrender", "submission", "obedience", "sincerity" and "peace" between you and Almighty Allah (God) and not to any human or anything within creation. Anyone who practices Islam submits to and worships Allah, alone without any partners of any kind.

The Quran states: "There is only One God (Allah) then have reverance for Me and fear Me (and Me alone)." To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and on earth, and to Him is duty due always: then will ye fear other than Allah?" (Quran 16:51-52)

Isn’t it time you join Jesus, the son of Mary, along with all of the other Prophets of Allah and practice the "Submission to the Will of God" (Islam)?

Or simply put: "Worship the Creator - and not His Creations!"

[credited to: http://www.islamcode.com/]

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Islam is from Allah, The Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. As such, it is for Him Alone to command and direct His creation and He Alone is responsible for what He will accept and what He will not accept. It is also for Him Alone to decree what is good and what is bad and He must be the One to show the right path in all things.

Everything in the life of the creations of Allah, especially for those who have choices to make (us), must be dictated and clarified by the One who Created everything in the fist place. We understand from this that Islam must be a complete and total way of living, explaining everything in the life from beginning to end and from birth until death.

Islam is careful to remind us that it not a religion to be paid mere lip service; rather it is an all-encompassing way of life that must be practiced continuously for it to be Islam.

There are other injunctions and commandments which concern virtually all facets of one's personal, family and civic life. These include such matters as diet, clothing, personal hygiene, interpersonal relations, business ethics, responsibilities towards parents, spouse and children, marriage, divorce and inheritance, civil and criminal law, fighting in defense of Islam, relations with non-Muslims, and so much more.

In conclusion, we are forced to realize that ISLAM is a complete way of life for the human being. Everything is covered in Islam from birth to death to live in the complete submission to the Will of the One Who Created man in the first place.

To get a better understanding of this beautiful way of life, please download this book and may it Insh'Allah (God Willing) be of benefit to you (us) all.

[Excellent Picture Guide to Understanding Islam ]

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Bismillah Rahman Raheem

Salam alaykum to all who follow True Gudiance from Above:

Many Christians write to me or talk with me concerning the belief system in Islam. This is a good chance for us to explore what we know about their beliefs (and our own) on a first hand basis.

It is always my pleasure to hold dialogs (while I do detest debates, especially by amatures) with the Jewish and Christian scholars and students of knowledge. This is actually how I was first properly introduced into Islam.

I would like to share with you now, what one of our Christian sisters in faith has written to me and ask you to reflect on what she is saying and follower her train of thought to the end of her letter.

Then take a few minutes to read my reply to her and pray for both of us, and ask Almighty Allah to guide everyone to all truth. For it is only Allah who Guides and whomever Allah Guides, none can misguide them.

For the time being, you can view this article and send links to everyone at:


www.IslamTomorrow.com/articles/christ_islam.htm

To follow up on this and other similar stories, visit our sites at: www.IslamAlways.com
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Hi,I've read your testimony of coming to Islam.
I'm a Baptist Christian and am very interested inthe absolute TRUTH which I believe Christ to be.However, if it could be proven that my beliefs arewrong and that Islam is right, I would become aMuslim immediately, for why would one want to believein something that one knows is not true?

You state that Muslims hold up Christ as a prophet of God,not as his son. Christ doesn't explicitly declare that he is Sonof God but it is clearly understood implicitly, so Christ disgreeswith Muhammed; if they're both prophets of God then HOWCOULD THEY DISAGREE? As Christ himself stated, he didNOT come to abolish the Law, but to FULFILL it! He is inagreement with all the Old Testament prophets, but most definetely NOT with Muhammed so there is NO WAY thatIslam can claim to be a fulfillment of the Old and New Testamentbecause Islam DISAGREES with the Old and New Testament!

If Allah is the source for the Old and New Testament AND theQuran, then HOW COULD THEY DISAGREE with each other??

The Old and New Testaments (Old and New Covenantsbetween man and God) complement each other, there isabsolutely NO NEED for any third part, like Islam. How do you reconcile all this?

And also, please don't claim to have been a Christian when lying and cheating was a normal way of your life. Not that I'm a saint but it definetely does not look like the Holy Spirit was in you.

How do you reconcile all this?

Sincerely,

kris plasun
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Reply to the Questioner!


Hello Kris:
Thank you for writing to me. I hope that what I say will not offend you in any way.
Your letter has some very interesting and absolutely true statements.

I was wondering if you would really like to see the 'errors' in your statements, or as you have said yourself, you are already convinced about the role of Jesus and you don't want to know anything that might disagree with what you already want to believe?

Jesus, peace be upon him, is very dear to me and I feel the same for Muhammad, peace be upon him. Most important to me though, is my relationship with the One and only God. The God of Adam and all the prophets. The God that they all prayed to. The God that Jesus, peace be upon him, worshipped. I love God. I pray that God will love me and forgive my sins.

I pray to God, directly and without any intercession or icons or idols of any kind. I pray only to Him and I ask Him to guide me. If He does, then I'll be all right. If He doesn't, then who could help if He doesn't want me to be guided? I have studied the religions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith for a number of years. I have held public dialogs with the well known professors of seminary colleges and universities. I have watched thousands of people enter into the submission of God (that is what 'Islam' means) and all the while, I have known that it wasn't from me. The Guidance to Islam or away from Islam is only coming from Almighty God [Allah in Arabic].

You are most welcome to write to me if you like. But I do not wish to argue or fight with anyone on this subject if it can be avoided. My religion teaches me that no one can be forced or coerced into believing in One True God, who is due all worship without any partners.


If you would like a quick overview of the meanings of the words that are used in presenting Islam in the English language, then feel free to check out what I have written on this topic at:
www.IslamTomorrow.com/word/


After you have read these meanigs - please write back and tell me what you have found, if you like.

Thank you again for taking your time to be concerned and to write to me. Who knows? Maybe one of us is closer to the other one than we know?
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Shaikh Yusuf Estes, ex-christian preacher who reverted to Islam (Allahu Akbar-God Is Great!!!)

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A logical approach to the understanding creation of the universe and it's continuation, based on simple reflection - without emotional prejudices or superstition.
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Where did everything come from?What is the proof?

There is a popular theory referred to as the 'Big Bang' theory. It tries to explain the existence of the universe in an evolutionary manner having an initial beginning with an immense explosion of some gases or solid mass. Some say there first was a void or a 'nothingness', or perhaps, some gases which exploded then from this everything in the universe simply began to evolve to the stage that we see now. There has never really been any solid evidence for this idea of 'something out of nothing' concept. Nor for that matter, the evolutionary theory itself.

We would like to explore the idea of creation from a purely logical standpoint using simple terminology without religious hype, emotional pre-convictions or superstitions.

What if someone called a 'scientist' tells you his 'theory' of how cars are made is like this:

"A salvage yard on the south side of town blows up and all the metal pieces fly into the air and fall back down in one place forming a brand new Chevrolet Caprice automobile . . with no left over parts . . and the motor is running . ."

Or what if his theory for how a chair is made is:

"An explosion occurs in a forest and the trees go flying into the air and then suddenly they combine with some flying cloth to make a beautiful chair . . . and then it lands in a furniture showroom complete with matching table and lamp . . . "

He further explains that:

" An earthquake in California's 'Silicon Valley' causes the computer chips and circuit boards and other various parts to fall out of their boxes and off of their shelves and just come in place together as they are rolling around on the floor and form the most advanced technical computers existing on the earth? . . . "

Or what of his 'Medicine Theory'? He now claims that:

" A gas leak in a pharmacy warehouse causes a terrific explosion. All the different chemicals and substances just smash into each other in exactly the correct amounts to produce a miracle drug which cures everything form cancer to heart and liver disease, old age and warts? . . . "

Wait . . . there's more to this one:

" It is all in one formula, packaged in the bottles with labels and ready to sell with no mess left on the floor? . . . "

Now after all this exploding and excitement this 'scientist' tells you of a great place to relax and have something to eat. It is his favorite place and he calls it: "Burger Blast"!He says:

"You just go in and sit down and suddenly a 'blast' from the kitchen occurs and immediately a burger lands right in front of you with all the trimmings.. just the way you like it complete with fries, a drink and even your favorite dessert? . . . "

AND . . .

"No one works at "Burger Blast", it just runs itself, automatically cleaning itself and as you leave it scans your billfold for a valid credit card and charges your bank account for what you have eaten? . . . "

Now the question is: "Are you really going to accept any of this as 'fact'?

Of course not!

We wouldn't believe a new car is made from flying junk; chairs don't fall down from exploding trees; earthquakes do not produce computers and blasting burgers don't rain down on us from above.

Question: So how come we don't challenge a theory of something coming from nothing and then colliding in the cosmos to make the universe? Is it because of its tremendous magnitude that we have so little comprehension about it, that we are willing to accept any theory from a few telescope 'peeping Toms' to tell us that it came from 'nothingness'? Or just some gases colliding and then. . . 'Poof'!? Instant Universe? How?

Let us now come to our main subject:

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