بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Note: You will find more options there on the top right corner, inshaAllaah.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Rulings of Christmas

Ruling on the Muslims celebrating at the time of Christmas and decorating their homes with balloons
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no doubt that what is mentioned of celebrations is haraam, because it is an imitation of the kuffaar. It is well known that the Muslims do not have any festival apart from Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, and the weekly “Eid” which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumu‘ah). Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is either of two things: either it is an innovation (bid‘ah), if it is celebrated as a means of drawing close to Allah, such as celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday (Mawlid); or it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is celebrated as a tradition and not as an act of worship, because introducing innovated festivals is the action of the people of the Book who we are commanded to differ from. So how about if it is a celebration of one of their actual festivals? 

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Refutation of Imran Hosein’s Book Entitled “An Islamic View of Gog & Magog in the Modern World”

Surprisingly, a lot of people are being influenced by the views of Imran N. Hosein and a lot of his multimedia is being promoted throughout the Internet. Here is a refutation of his book entitled "An Islamic View of Gog & Magog in the Modern World"!

Bismillahi Was-salaatu Was-salaamu ‘Alaa Rasulillah, wa ba’d…

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Virtues of Muharram & Fasting on Ashura


Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and Chief of the Messengers, and upon all his family and companions.
Allah’s sacred month of Muharram is a blessed and important month. It is the first month of the Hijri calendar and is one of the four sacred months concerning which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, the number of months with Allah is twelve months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them, four are sacred. That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein…” [At-Tawbah 9:36] Abu Bakr RA reported that the Prophet SAWS said: “The year is twelve months of which four are sacred, the three consecutive months of Dhul Qadah, Dhul Hijjah and Muharram, and Rajab which comes between Jumada and Shaban.” [Reported by Al-Bukhari, 2958]

Tragedy of Karbalah


In the name of Allah, most Beneficent most Merciful.

On the 10th of Muharram Al-Haram, 61 A.H., a most abominable and tragic event occurred in the desert of Karbala that resulted in the martyrdom (shahadah) of Hussain Ibn Ali (RAA), the grandson of our Prophet(SAW) and the son of his daughter, along with most of the members of his family and their supporters. It should be borne in mind that this tragedy did not take place all of a sudden like a bolt from the blue. It was in fact the manifestation of the plot of Sabayeeswhich had claimed the life of Uthman (RAA), the third Caliph and the son-in-law of the Prophet (SAW) twenty-five years earlier. Caliph Uthman’s (RAA)martyrdom took place on 18th of Dhu Al-Hajj, 36 A.H.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Dealing with Pornography

A lot of organisations/individuals on the web are taking part in a large scale online dawah initiative called "Purify Your Gaze", which is addressing the issue of pornography addiction in the Muslim community.

To learn more about this initiative, please visit: http://www.purifyyourgaze.com/cmd.php?af=1260871

Just incase you are hearing about this for the first time, we don't want you to miss the videos there (they are awesome masha'Allah!):

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Sacred Month of Muharram

Verily, the most truthful of speech is the Speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The worst of affairs are those that are newly introduced, and every newly introduced affair is an innovation, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the Hell Fire.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


Friday, December 3, 2010

India fears Pakistan, says US: WikiLeaks exposes

New Delhi, Dec 2: The new secret diplomatic cables exposed by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks revealed that United States was not happy with India's response to Pakistan over 2001 Parliament attack.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels


About the Documents
A mammoth cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the last three years, provides an unprecedented look at bargaining by embassies, candid views of foreign leaders and assessments of threats. The material was obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations in advance.

A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration’s exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents. WikiLeaks posted 220 cables, some redacted to protect diplomatic sources, in the first installment of the archive on its Web site on Sunday.
The disclosure of the cables is sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and American ambassadors around the world have been contacting foreign officials in recent days to alert them to the expected disclosures. A statement from the White House on Sunday said: “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”
The White House said the release of what it called “stolen cables” to several publications was a “reckless and dangerous action” and warned that some cables, if released in full, could disrupt American operations abroad and put the work and even lives of confidential sources of American diplomats at risk. The statement noted that reports often include “candid and often incomplete information” whose disclosure could “deeply impact not only U.S. foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world.”
The cables, a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates, amount to a secret chronicle of the United States’ relations with the world in an age of war and terrorism. Among their revelations, to be detailed in The Times in coming days:
A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device. In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, “if the local media got word of the fuel removal, ‘they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,’ he argued.”
Thinking about an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the United States.
Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe.”
Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” (Mr. Massoud denies taking any money out of Afghanistan.)
A global computer hacking effort: China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, one cable reported. The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
Mixed records against terrorism: Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a generous host to the American military for years, was the “worst in the region” in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December. Qatar’s security service was “hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals,” the cable said.
An intriguing alliance: American diplomats in Rome reported in 2009 on what their Italian contacts described as an extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian prime minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and business magnate, including “lavish gifts,” lucrative energy contracts and a “shadowy” Russian-speaking Italian go-between. They wrote that Mr. Berlusconi “appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin” in Europe. The diplomats also noted that while Mr. Putin enjoyed supremacy over all other public figures in Russia, he was undermined by an unmanageable bureaucracy that often ignored his edicts.
Arms deliveries to militants: Cables describe the United States’ failing struggle to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a huge stockpile since its 2006 war with Israel. One week after President Bashar al-Assad promised a top State Department official that he would not send “new” arms to Hezbollah, the United States complained that it had information that Syria was providing increasingly sophisticated weapons to the group.
Clashes with Europe over human rights: American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for Central Intelligence Agency officers involved in a bungled operation in which an innocent German citizen with the same name as a suspected militant was mistakenly kidnapped and held for months in Afghanistan. A senior American diplomat told a German official “that our intention was not to threaten Germany, but rather to urge that the German government weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the U.S.”
The 251,287 cables, first acquired by WikiLeaks, were provided to The Times by an intermediary on the condition of anonymity. Many are unclassified, and none are marked “top secret,” the government’s most secure communications status. But some 11,000 are classified “secret,” 9,000 are labeled “noforn,” shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and noforn.
Many more cables name diplomats’ confidential sources, from foreign legislators and military officers to human rights activists and journalists, often with a warning to Washington: “Please protect” or “Strictly protect.”
The Times, after consultations with the State Department, has withheld from articles and removed from documents it is posting online the names of some people who spoke privately to diplomats and might be at risk if they were publicly identified. The Times is also withholding some passages or entire cables whose disclosure could compromise American intelligence efforts. While the White House said it anticipated WikiLeaks would make public “several hundred thousand” cables Sunday night, the organization posted only 220 released and redacted by The Times and several European publications.
The cables show that nearly a decade after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States’ relations with the world. They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.
They show officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon — and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal.
Even when they recount events that are already known, the cables offer remarkable details.
For instance, it has been previously reported that the Yemeni government has sought to cover up the American role in missile strikes against the local branch of Al Qaeda. But a cable’s fly-on-the-wall account of a January meeting between the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East, is breathtaking.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Mr. Saleh said, according to the cable sent by the American ambassador, prompting Yemen’s deputy prime minister to “joke that he had just ‘lied’ by telling Parliament” that Yemen had carried out the strikes.
Mr. Saleh, who at other times resisted American counterterrorism requests, was in a lighthearted mood. The authoritarian ruler of a conservative Muslim country, Mr. Saleh complains of smuggling from nearby Djibouti, but tells General Petraeus that his concerns are drugs and weapons, not whiskey, “provided it’s good whiskey.”
Likewise, press reports detailed the unhappiness of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, when he was not permitted to set up his tent in Manhattan or to visit ground zero during a United Nations session last year.
But the cables add a touch of scandal and alarm to the tale. They describe the volatile Libyan leader as rarely without the companionship of “his senior Ukrainian nurse,” described as “a voluptuous blonde.” They reveal that Colonel Qaddafi was so upset by his reception in New York that he balked at carrying out a promise to return dangerous enriched uranium to Russia. The American ambassador to Libya told Colonel Qaddafi’s son “that the Libyan government had chosen a very dangerous venue to express its pique,” a cable reported to Washington.
The cables also disclose frank comments behind closed doors. Dispatches from early this year, for instance, quote the aging monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan.
Speaking to another Iraqi official about Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, King Abdullah said, “You and Iraq are in my heart, but that man is not.” The king called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan the greatest obstacle to that country’s progress. “When the head is rotten,” he said, “it affects the whole body.”
The American ambassador to Eritrea reported last year that “Eritrean officials are ignorant or lying” in denying that they were supporting the Shabab, a militant Islamist group in Somalia. The cable then mused about which seemed more likely.
As he left Zimbabwe in 2007 after three years as ambassador, Christopher W. Dell wrote a sardonic account of Robert Mugabe, that country’s aging and erratic leader. The cable called him “a brilliant tactician” but mocked “his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics).”
The possibility that a large number of diplomatic cables might become public has been discussed in government and media circles since May. That was when, in an online chat, an Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. Bradley Manning, described having downloaded from a military computer system many classified documents, including “260,000 State Department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world.” In an online discussion with Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker, Private Manning said he had delivered the cables and other documents to WikiLeaks.
Mr. Lamo reported Private Manning’s disclosures to federal authorities, and Private Manning was arrested. He has been charged with illegally leaking classified information and faces a possible court-martial and, if convicted, a lengthy prison term.
In July and October, The Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel published articles based on documents about Afghanistan and Iraq. Those collections were placed online by WikiLeaks, with selective redactions of the Afghan documents and much heavier redactions of the Iraq reports.
Fodder for Historians
Traditionally, most diplomatic cables remain secret for decades, providing fodder for historians only when the participants are long retired or dead. The State Department’s unclassified history series, titled “Foreign Relations of the United States,” has reached only 1972.
While an overwhelming majority of the quarter-million cables provided to The Times are from the post-9/11 era, several hundred date from 1966 to the 1990s. Some show diplomats struggling to make sense of major events whose future course they could not guess.
In a 1979 cable to Washington, Bruce Laingen, an American diplomat in Tehran, mused with a knowing tone about the Iranian revolution that had just occurred: “Perhaps the single dominant aspect of the Persian psyche is an overriding egoism,” Mr. Laingen wrote, offering tips on exploiting this psyche in negotiations with the new government. Less than three months later, Mr. Laingen and his colleagues would be taken hostage by radical Iranian students, hurling the Carter administration into crisis and, perhaps, demonstrating the hazards of diplomatic hubris.
In 1989, an American diplomat in Panama City mulled over the options open to Gen.Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian leader, who was facing narcotics charges in the United States and intense domestic and international political pressure to step down. The cable called General Noriega “a master of survival”; its author appeared to have no inkling that one week later, the United States would invade Panama to unseat General Noriega and arrest him.
In 1990, an American diplomat sent an excited dispatch from Cape Town: he had just learned from a lawyer for Nelson Mandela that Mr. Mandela’s 27-year imprisonment was to end. The cable conveys the momentous changes about to begin for South Africa, even as it discusses preparations for an impending visit from the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson.
The voluminous traffic of more recent years — well over half of the quarter-million cables date from 2007 or later — show American officials struggling with events whose outcomes are far from sure. To read through them is to become a global voyeur, immersed in the jawboning, inducements and penalties the United States wields in trying to have its way with a recalcitrant world.
In an era of satellites and fiber-optic links, the cable retains the archaic name of an earlier technological era. It has long been the tool for the secretary of state to send orders to the field and for ambassadors and political officers to send their analyses to Washington.
The cables have their own lexicon: “codel,” for a Congressional delegation; “visas viper,” for a report on a person considered dangerous; “démarche,” an official message to a foreign government, often a protest or warning.
But the drama in the cables often comes from diplomats’ narratives of meetings with foreign figures, games of diplomatic poker in which each side is sizing up the other and neither is showing all its cards.
Among the most fascinating examples recount American officials’ meetings in September 2009 and February 2010 with Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of the Afghan president and a power broker in the Taliban’s home turf of Kandahar.
They describe Mr. Karzai, “dressed in a crisp white shalwar kameez,” the traditional dress of loose tunic and trousers, appearing “nervous, though eager to express his views on the international presence in Kandahar,” and trying to win over the Americans with nostalgic tales about his years running a Chicago restaurant near Wrigley Field.
But in midnarrative there is a stark alert for anyone reading the cable in Washington: “Note: While we must deal with AWK as the head of the Provincial Council, he is widely understood to be corrupt and a narcotics trafficker.” (Mr. Karzai has denied such charges.) And the cables note statements by Mr. Karzai that the Americans, informed by a steady flow of eavesdropping and agents’ reports, believe to be false.
A cable written after the February meeting coolly took note of the deceit on both sides.
Mr. Karzai “demonstrated that he will dissemble when it suits his needs,” the cable said. “He appears not to understand the level of our knowledge of his activities. We will need to monitor his activity closely, and deliver a recurring, transparent message to him” about the limits of American tolerance.
Not All Business
Even in places far from war zones and international crises, where the stakes for the United States are not as high, curious diplomats can turn out to be accomplished reporters, sending vivid dispatches to deepen the government’s understanding of exotic places.
In a 2006 account, a wide-eyed American diplomat describes the lavish wedding of a well-connected couple in Dagestan, in Russia’s Caucasus, where one guest is the strongman who runs the war-ravaged Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The diplomat tells of drunken guests throwing $100 bills at child dancers, and nighttime water-scooter jaunts on the Caspian Sea.
“The dancers probably picked upwards of USD 5000 off the cobblestones,” the diplomat wrote. The host later tells him that Ramzan Kadyrov “had brought the happy couple ‘a five-kilo lump of gold’ as his wedding present.”
“After the dancing and a quick tour of the premises, Ramzan and his army drove off back to Chechnya,” the diplomat reported to Washington. “We asked why Ramzan did not spend the night in Makhachkala, and were told, ‘Ramzan never spends the night anywhere.’ ”

Source: NYTimes.Com

For more information on this, click here!

Suspect in Oregon Bomb Plot Is Called Confused


CORVALLIS, Ore. — Mohamed Osman Mohamud had seemed to be a well-adjusted American teenager: a solid student whose interests included basketball, girls and the night life at Oregon State University, where he studied engineering.
But those who know him say he changed in recent months. He dropped out of school and stopped attending mosque. And, perhaps most telling, he began lying about his plans for the future.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

US teenager held in Oregon over Christmas 'bomb plot'


ORTLAND, Ore. — A Somali-born teenager who thought he was detonating a car bomb at a packed Christmas tree-lighting ceremony downtown here was arrested by the authorities on Friday night after federal agents said that they had spent nearly six months setting up a sting operation.
The bomb, which was in a van parked off Pioneer Courthouse Square, was a fake — planted by F.B.I. agents as part of the elaborate sting — but “the threat was very real,” Arthur Balizan, the F.B.I.’s special agent in charge in Oregon, said in a statement released by the Department of Justice. An estimated 10,000 people were at the ceremony on Friday night, the Portland police said.

To Make It Known & Not To Conceal It

Just a note for all those watching the following videos and any other that may come soon: These videos are only being posted for educational purposes. It might not necessarily be authentic. To spread a false video, it is as easy as signing up on a forum and posting it there.
Therefore, these videos may or may not be true.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Hajj Journey on a bike


Two young South Africans have pedaled their way to Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s Haj. Nathim Cairncross, 28, and Imtiyaz Ahmad Haron, 25, both from Cape Town, said on arrival at the Saudi border before reaching Tabuk that they felt happy they were fulfilling their dream of performing Haj. “Pedaling our way to the Kingdom from Cape Town was a grueling experience. We wanted to travel this way so that we are prepared to experience the rigors of performing the pilgrimage,” Cairncross, a town planner by profession, told Arab News over the telephone on Monday night.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Significance of the Two Eids

Eid Mubarak to all the Muslims throughout the world. Remember to follow the Sunans of Eid, at least the basic easy ones and remember to keep reciting the Eid Takbir. Here's an on these sunans including the significance of these Eids!



Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Definition of Udhiyah and Its Ruling


Praise be to Allaah.
The word udhiyah means an animal of the ‘an’aam class (i.e., camel, cow, sheep or goat) that is slaughtered during the days of Eid al-Adha because of the Eid and as an act of worship, intending to draw closer to Allaah thereby. 
This is one of the rituals of Islam prescribed in the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and according to the consensus of the Muslims. 
In the Qur’aan:  
1 – Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):  
“Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice (to Him only)”
[al-Kawthar 108:2] 
2 – Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Say (O Muhammad): Verily, my Salaah (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allaah, the Lord of the ‘Aalameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists).
He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims”
[al-An’aam 6:162] 
The word nusuk (translated here as sacrifice) means sacrifice; this is the view of Sa’eed ibn Jubayr. And it was said that it means all acts of worship, including sacrifice, which is more comprehensive.  
3 – Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“And for every nation We have appointed religious ceremonies, that they may mention the Name of Allaah over the beast of cattle that He has given them for food. And your Ilaah (God) is One Ilaah (God Allaah), so you must submit to Him Alone (in Islam). And (O Muhammad) give glad tidings to the Mukhbitoon [those who obey Allaah with humility and are humble from among the true believers of Islamic Monotheism]”
[al-Hajj 22:34] 
In the Sunnah: 
1 – It was narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari (5558) and Saheeh Muslim (1966) that Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sacrificed two white rams speckled with black. He slaughtered them with his own hand, said ‘Allaahu akbar’ and put his foot on their necks.” 
2 – It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stayed in Madeenah for ten years, offering sacrifice (every year on Eid).” Narrated by Ahmad, 4935; al-Tirmidhi, 1507; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, 1475. 
3 – It was narrated from ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) shared out sacrificial animals amongst his companions, and ‘Uqbah got a sheep that was six months old. He said, “O Messenger of Allaah, I got a sheep that is six months old.” He said, “Offer it as a sacrifice.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5547. 
4 – It was narrated from al-Baraa’ ibn ‘Aazib (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever offers a sacrifice after the prayer has completed his rituals (of Eid) and has followed the way of the Muslims.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5545. 
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) offered sacrifices, as did his companions (may Allaah be pleased with them). And he said that sacrifice is the way of the Muslims. 
Hence the Muslims are unanimously agreed that it is prescribed in Islam, as was narrated by more than one of the scholars. 
But they differed as to whether it is Sunnah mu’akkadah (a confirmed Sunnah) or it is obligatory and it is not permissible to omit it. 
The majority of scholars are of the view that it is Sunnah mu’akkadah. This is the view of al-Shaafa’i, Maalik and Ahmad according to his most well-known view.
 Others were of the view that it is obligatory. This is the view of Abu Haneefah and one of the views narrated from Ahmad. This was also the view favoured by Ibn Taymiyah who said: “This is one of the views narrated in the madhhab of Maalik, or it appears to be the view of Maalik.”
 From Risaalat Ahkaam al-Udhiyah wa’l-Dhakaah by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him).
 Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Udhiyah is Sunnah mu’akkadah for the one who is able to do it, so a person should offer the sacrifice on behalf of himself and the members of his household.”
 Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 2/661.

Poverty kills Muslim feast happiness in Gaza

Um Ibrahim Salah, a 42-year-old woman, can not buy all she needs for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of sacrifice, since her husband have been jobless for years.

Fasting and Dua on the Day of Arafah

Abu Qutaadah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu 3alayhi wa sallam was asked about fasting on the Day of 3Arafah. 
He said, “It expiates for the sins of the previous year and of the coming year.” (1)



If countries differ with regard to when the day of 3Arafah is, 
with whom should I fast?


Shaykh Ibn 3Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: what if the day of 3Arafah is different because of the moon being sighted at different times in different countries? Should we fast according to the moon sighting in the country where we are or according to the moon sighting in al-Haramayn (the two Holy Sanctuaries)? 

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Fasting on the Day of 'Arafah


The ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah (the 12th and final month of the Islamic calendar) is the day of 'Arafah. It is the day when pilgrims stand on the plain of 'Arafah to pray. On this day, Muslims all over the world who do not witness the annual hajj should spend the day in fasting, in preparation for the three days festivity following 'Eid ul-Adha (the celebration marking the end of the hajj commemorating the Prophet Ibrâhîm's willingness of sacrifice).
Abû Hafsah, may Allâh be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said:
"Fasting on the day of 'Arafah absolves the sins for two years: the previous year and the coming year, and fasting on 'ashûra, (the tenth day of Muharram) atones for the sins of previous years."[Reported by all except al-Bukhârî and Tirmidhî]
In another saying the Prophet's wife Hafsah, may Allâh be pleased with her, said:
"Four things the Messenger of Allâh never neglected: Observing fast on the day of 'ashûra, 'Arafat, three days every month, and offering fajr sunnah prayers early in the morning." [Muslim]
These statements are proof that fasting on the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah, the day before 'Eid ul-Adha was a lifelong practice of the Prophet, peace be upon him, as his wife reported.
There are some reports that fasting is prohibited on the day of 'Arafah. However, it must be understood that this refers to a person performing the hajj. If a person is on the hajj, there is no fast for him or her on the day of 'Arafah. That is undoubtedly a blessing for him because of the hardships of the pilgrimage. In a saying reported by Umm al-Fadl,may Allâh be pleased with her, she said:
"The companions doubted whether the Prophet was fasting on 'Arafah or not. She decided to prove to them that he was not, so she said, 'I sent to him milk, which he drank while he was delivering the khutbah (sermon) on 'Arafah.' " [Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
Prohibiting the pilgrims from fasting on these days is a great mercy for them, for fasting will exert undue hardship on the person performing the hajj, while they are primarily concerned with their pilgrimage. Above all, the pilgrim would not be fasting anyway because he is travelling.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Adhkar for the First Ten days of Dhul Hijjah

With the start of Dhul Hijjah, it is recommended that the Muslim increases in worship as the first 10 days of this month are considered to be the favourite days of Allah Azzawajal. Here's a video of one of the most common adhkar of these days which is also recited on Eid.
By the way, for those of you who haven't noticed yet, as I said I'd change the background according to the events, I've changed it to a picture of Jabal Rahmah on the Day of Arafah!

An Algerian Hajj assaulted in medina


An Algerian pilgrim was attacked by unknown assailants last Thursday in Medina when he was returning home after performing the dawn prayer.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The status of Hajj in Islam and the conditions of it being obligatory


Praise be to Allaah.
Hajj to the sacred House of Allaah is one of the pillars of Islam and one of its most important fundamentals, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Islam is built on five (pillars): the testimony that there is no god but Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, establishing regular prayer, paying zakaah, fasting Ramadaan and performing pilgrimage to the sacred House of Allaah.”  

The first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah: Days of virtue and righteous deeds

Praise be to Allaah Who has created Time and has made some times better than others, some months and days and nights better than others, when rewards are multiplied many times, as a mercy towards His slaves. This encourages them to do more righteous deeds and makes them more eager to worship Him, so that the Muslim renews his efforts to gain a greater share of reward, prepare himself for death and supply himself in readiness for the Day of Judgement.


Yemeni court orders 'forcible arrest' of US-born cleric - Summary

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni state security court on Saturday ordered the "forcible arrest" of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, wanted by the United States for links to al-Qaeda.
Asiri is beleived to be the bomb maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He is the main suspect in a plot to get parcel bomb packages onto US-bound cargo planes.
Al-Awlaki has been connected to a failed Christmas airline bombing over Detroit and killings at a US army base at Fort Hood, Texas.
He is believed to have links to the AQAP, the Yemeni wing of al-Qaeda.

Friday, November 5, 2010

The Traps of Shaitan - by Ibnul Qayyim


It is not possible to encompass one of Iblees' evils, let alone all of them. Since Iblees' evil is of six types, Iblees remains behind the son of Adam until he gets him to do one or more of these six evils.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

HajjCoach

Here are a few videos by Muhammad Alshareef giving tips to all those who intend to do Hajj this year, inshallah!



Saturday, October 23, 2010

Halloween and Islam


Halloween is a Western celebration originated by Celtic pagans and traditionally applied to the evening of October 31. It is completely based on rituals involving dead spirits and devil worship. Moreover, it symbolizes the beginning of the ancient Druid new year, who hold that the dead revisit their homes at that time, thus in essence, Halloween represents the devil worshipper's New Year's celebration.

Origins of Halloween






                       

The pagan origins of Halloween are so palpable that there is little wonder the holiday has generated considerable controversy over the centuries. Falling on October 31, Halloween history tells us that this celebration is only the herald of the holiday that medieval Christian Europeans were intended to celebrate -- All Saints' Day, November 1.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Was “Burn a Koran” pastor arrested for child pornography?

The big buzz on the Internet today is the claim that Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center was arrested on charges of child pornography. True? False?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Companions And Friendship

Humans are social creatures by nature; they're always in need of friends and companions. Most of our lives depend on interaction with others. Strong individuals are the core of a strong community, something that Muslims should always strive for.

We all know that Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) the Most High has brought us to life in order to test us. Thus we are here for a relatively short period of time and that we shall meet Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) one Day, so we need to use our present life for what is best for us in the hereafter. Once we know our purpose and our goal in life, we should seek ways to achieve them so as to benefit our own selves.

In an authentic Hadith, Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you associate with."

Proper Manners To Answer The Telephone

What follows is beneficial knowledge from AshShaykh Al’Allaamah AlAlbaanee(rahimahullaah) transmitted by way of his student Saalih bin Taha Abu Islaam in his book entitled, (what translated means) Al’aqeedah first, if they but only knew (Vol 1, pgs. 16-17), wherein he (Abu Islaam) said,
He called me rahimahullaah (meaning AshShaykh AlAlbaanee) one day by telephone, but I was not there. My young daughter, upon answering the telephone, said, “Assalaamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullaah”. The Shaykh asked for me and then said to her, “Inform your father that Muhammad Naasiriddeen AlAlbaanee called”. (He did not say ‘AshShaykh’ . . . and this is from his humbleness, may Allaah raise his rank in Aljannah)”.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Fasting of Shawwaal

Almost everyone knows the virtues of fasting the 6 days of Shawwaal which along with the fasts of Ramadan gets you the reward for fasting a whole year. However, the details aren't common among many people as to when to start the fasts or to fast consecutively or not?

When should a Muslim start fasting six days of Shawwaal?

US court sentences Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years of prison


Pakistan has condemned a US court's sentencing of Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison, vowing to bring the neuroscientist back home.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Ramadan, My Dear Guest, I’m Sorry

Sorry for such a long delay in posting. I was a bit busy lately.

You might have noticed the change in the layout (If you hadn't, now you must have!). Inshallah, this will remain the layout unless there's some special event coming up.

Here's an article on the finishing of Ramadan by Yasir Birjas.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Eid Greetings

Happy Eid to all those who are celebrating it today. May Allah Azza Wajal accept all our fasts and all our good deeds of Ramadan and allow us to continue with them, inshallah!


Finally! A Verdict on Burn a Quran Day!

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The leader of a small Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy said Wednesday he was determined to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, despite pressure from the White House, religious leaders and others to call it off.
Pastor Terry Jones said at a press conference that he has received a lot of encouragement, with supporters mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his Gainesville church of about 50 followers. He proclaimed in July that he would stage "International Burn-a-Quran Day" to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11.
"As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," said Jones, who took no questions.
Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats and has started carrying a .40-caliber pistol since announcing his plan to burn the book Muslims consider the word of God and insist be treated with the utmost respect. Jones, 58, was flanked by an armed escort Wednesday.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Eid Takbir

It is recommended to recite the Eid Takbir from the time of Maghrib of the previous day till the time of Eid prayer. I've added a video below and you can download the mp3 format from below and put it on repeat play.

Moonsighting Issue

Moonsighting issue is one of the most important issues that the Muslim Ummah is facing nowadays. However, most of the people do not realise that this is one of the Fiqh issues which started off as early as the time of the Sahaba (RA).

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Eid Flash Presentation

From Muhammad Alshareef, courtesy of www.SuccessinIslam.com
As salamu alaykum,
I made this super cool "Eid 101: What to do on Eid" flash presentation
that never loses it's coolness. Ma sha Allah.
Some Masjids even show this to their entire congregation with a LCD projector.

At this time that I'm sending this email to you, there is still some
time left in Ramadan - so extra reminder to take full advantage of
these final Ramadan moments.

But also, get a head start on educating yourself for what happens on
Eid (and share it with your family and friends so that they too may
educate themselves more)

View it here...
http://www.outstandingmuslim.com/Eid101/engage.html

Move Forward with your Dreams

You’ve just had an amazing ‘Productive’ Ramadan, you feel completely buzzed, and want to continue this feeling after Ramadan...now what?!
OR


With Ramadan almost over, many of us begin drifting back into our daily routines, 
perhaps letting go of some of the habits we picked up this blessed month.

Till today, this was an individual challenge; you had to figure out on your own how to continue the Ramadan spirit after Ramadan. Unfortunately, these individual efforts usually fail miserably as they don’t have structure to them and their isn’t a support network to help you. That was till today. 

What if you could maintain the Ramadan spirit throughout the year?
Though it is sad to see it go, it's time to strengthen those habits and make them a part of our lifestyle throughout the year. 

Our friends at DiscoverU have put together a special 10 days Post Ramadan course,conducted by Muhammad Alshareef to help you stay Productive and ‘buzzed’ after Ramadan. 

Here’s why we like it:

1.It’s 
practical: The course is packed with actions & to-dos.
2. It’s 
extensive: This is a 10 day course, not a one-off talk or webinar.
3. It’s 
ONLINE: So anyone from anywhere can take part in it.

The course is only for $197 (or with 2 instalments of $98.50 each). I know this might sound expensive (and even unconventional to get charged for an Islamic course), but honestly, how much would you pay to get professional help to stay ‘buzzed’ and ‘productive’ after Ramadan?! Think of the benefits. 



So, if you’ve been rattling your brains about how you can stay Productive after Ramadan sign up to BringIT! today and stay Productive!




With Bring It! 2.0 Shaykh Muhammad Alshareef will assist you to move beyond the
Ramadan blues. 
Bring It! 2.0 will focus on some of the most important topics in our life, including
time management, finances, family/spouse relationships, spirituality and so much more.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Zakat al-Fitr

You don't need to think about it, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) already told us! It’s paying Zakat-al-Fitr! 

SubhanaAllah, it’s easy to forget this special Zakat with all the Eid shopping, but please DON’T forget it!  It’s the least you can do to make sure that your fasting is accepted inshaAllah.

Following is an article by Muhammad Alshareef about a few mistakes people normally do regarding Zakat-al-Fitr, please read it as it contains super useful information. I just wanted to add that if you can, try to give this Zakat in person this Ramadan instead of doing it via a Charity organisation. 

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