VOICE OF THE GLOBAL UMMAH
Vol 21, March 31, 2008
Mehrun-Yusuf Behavioral Care
St. Louis, Missouri
EDITORS OF THIS ISSUE: Haja & Tabassum Yusuf (Toronto, Canada)
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST BENEFICENT AND THE MOST MERCIFUL
PART A:
Topic: APRIL FOOL – A DISHONEST TRADITION
Author: Shawana A Aziz
Source: As-Sunnah Islamic Newsletter
1st April - a day when people lie, play jokes and mock in the name of entertainment. This ugly practice of lying, which is considered to be merely a humor, is known to have caused great harm to many. Even trauma and deaths. Still this dishonest tradition is not only practiced among the common masses, but also newspapers and magazines participate in it by publishing false news and untrue stories on the first day of April!
Much is said about the origin of this practice, however what concerns the most to the Muslims is that it is a tradition which directly contradicts the teachings and morals of Islam.
Lying is a characteristic of hypocrisy and Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) strictly forbade lying at all times. He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good or be silent." [Saheeh al-Bukharee] Moreover, he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) has specifically cursed the person who lies to make people laugh, he said: "Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him." [Abu Dawood]
The above Ahaadeeth shows the gravity of participating in the false tradition of April Fool, which the Western tradition appreciates and encourages claiming that it brings joy and amusement, whereas the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) forbade lying and deceiving even if the intention of the person is to amuse people.
Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abi Laylaa said: "The companions of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) told us that they were traveling with the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam). A man among them fell asleep and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he got alarmed (because his arrows were missing) and the people laughed. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "What are you laughing at?" They said, "Nothing, except that we took the arrows and he got alarmed." The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said: "It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim." [Abu Dawood (5004) and Musnad Ahmad. Authenticated by Sheikh al-Albanee in Saheeh al-Jamee (7658)]
He (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) described the severe punishments for the liars and said: "I saw (in a dream), two men came to me. They said, 'The person, the one whose cheek you saw being torn away (from the mouth to the ear) was a liar and used to tell lies and the people would report those lies on his authority till they spread all over the world. So he will be punished like that till the Day of Resurrection.'" [Saheeh al-Bukharee (vol. 8, no: 118)]
May Allah protect us from indulging ourselves in such dishonest activities and may He give us the strength to withstand such practices when they tend to infect our Muslim Society. Ameen!
Let not anyone make fools of us anymore!
PART B:
As we are approaching April 2008, we need to remind ourselves..........................!!!
APRIL FOOL
Most of us celebrate April fool day every year and fool each other. But how many of us know the bitter facts hidden behind it. It was around a thousand years ago that Spain was ruled by Muslims. And the Muslim power in Spain was so strong that it couldn't be destroyed. The Christians of the west wished to wipe out Islam from all parts of the world and they did succeed to quite an extent. But when they tried to eliminate Islam in Spain and conquer it, they failed. They tried several times but never succeeded. The unbelievers then sent their spies in Spain to study the Muslims there and find out what was the power they possessed and they found that their power was TAQWA. The Muslims of Spain were not just Muslims but they were practicing Islam.
They not only read the Quran but also acted upon it. When the Christians found the power of the Muslims they started thinking of strategies to break this power. So they started sending alcohol and cigarettes to Spain free of cost. This technique of the west worked out and it started weakening the faith of the Muslims in particular the young generation of Spain. The result was that the Catholics of the west wiped out Islam and conquered the entire Spain bringing an end to the EIGHT HUNDRED LONG YEARS' RULE OF THE MUSLIMS in Spain. THE LAST FORT OF THE MUSLIMS TO FALL WAS GRENADA (GHARNATAH), WHICH WAS ON THE 1ST OF APRIL. FROM THAT YEAR ONWARDS, EVERY YEAR THEY CELEBRATE APRIL FOOLS DAY ON THE 1ST OF APRIL, CELEBRATING THE DAY, THEY MADE A FOOL OF THE MUSLIMS. THEY DID NOT MAKE A FOOL OF THE MUSLIM ARMY AT GHARNATAH ONLY, BUT OF THE WHOLE MUSLIM UMMAH. WE, THE MUSLIMS, WERE FOOLED BY THE UNBELIEVERS. THEY HAVE A REASON TO CELEBRATE APRIL FOOL DAY, TO KEEP UP THE SPIRIT.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we join in this celebration, we do so out of ignorance. If we had known about it, we would never have celebrated our own downfall. So now, that we are aware of it, and now let us promise that we shall never celebrate this day. We should learn our lesson from the people of Spain, and shall try to become practicing Muslims, never to let anybody weaken our faith. Please forward this message to as many Muslims as you know. The more people you forward it to the greater will be the reward from your Lord in this world and in the life hereafter. Please try to do it before the 1st of April, to create awareness that WE ARE NOT FOOLS ANYMORE.
Wassalam "Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! Not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire. “Holy Qur'an 3:191
PART C:
TIME TO CELEBRATE:
ISLAM HAS NOW BECOME THE WORLD’S LARGEST RELIGION IN TERMS OF A PARTICULAR FAITH DENOMINATION.
News.yahoo.com, 03/30/08. VATICAN CITY - Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.
"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.
He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.
"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the Monsignor said.
Formenti said that the data refers to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.
When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.
Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.
PART D:
HAS BELOW STATEMENT ANY CONNECTION TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN?
Camille Paglia had referred to respected Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton in the SALON (1/10/08) as follows:
HILLARY WITHOUT TEARS: “As her husband has dragged his numerous female play objects before her and has humiliated her on the public stage year after year, she still stays within the marriage. Hillary seems to take every beating, and yet she appears to “keep on ticking”. Does she thrive on this?
PART E:
3/26/08: SOURCE: DAILY MUSLIM:
Topic: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOHN MC CAIN’S SPIRITUAL GUIDE: “DESTROY ISLAM”
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio mega church pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it. On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a super size Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals.
A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. MCCAIN, WITH PARSLEY BY HIS SIDE AT THE CINCINNATI RALLY, CALLED THE EVANGELICAL MINISTER A "SPIRITUAL GUIDE." The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 “Silent No More”.
In this work, Parsley decries the "spiritual desperation" of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of Church and State, the homosexual "culture" ("homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree"), the "abortion industry," and the profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam. In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Parsley warns there is a "war between Islam and Christian civilization." He continues: I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications.
The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore. Parsley is not shy about his desire to obliterate Islam. In his book: “Silent No More”, he notes-approvingly-that Christopher Columbus shared the same goal: "It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492. Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America. "He urges his readers to realize that a confrontation between Christianity and Islam is unavoidable: "We find now we have no choice. The time has come." And he has bad news: "We may already be losing the battle. As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment." Parsley claims that Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" predicated on "deception."
The Muslim Prophet Muhammad, he writes, "received revelations from demons and not from the true God." And he emphasizes this point: "Allah was a demon spirit." Parsley does not differentiate between violent Islamic extremists and other followers of the religion: There are some, of course, who will say that the violence I cite is the exception and not the rule. I beg to differ. I will counter, respectfully, that what some call "extremists" are instead mainstream believers who are drawing from the well at the very heart of Islam. The spirit of Islam, he maintains, is one of hostility. He asserts that the religion "inspired" the 9/11 attacks. He bemoans the fact that in the years after 9/11, 34,000 Americans "have become Muslims" and that there are "some 1,209 mosques" in America. Islam, he declares, is a "faith that fully intends to conquer the world" through violence. The United States, he insists, "has historically understood herself as a bastion against Islam," but "history is crashing in upon us." At the end of his chapter on Islam, Parsley asks, "Are we a Christian nation? I say yes."
Without specifying what actions should be taken to eradicate the religion, he essentially calls for a new crusade. Parsley, who refers to himself as a "Christocrat," is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, the grassroots organization he founded, the “Center for Moral Clarity”, called for prosecuting people who commit adultery. In January, he compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis. In the past Parsley's church has been accused of engaging in pro-Republican partisan activities in violation of its tax-exempt status. Why would McCain court Parsley? He has long had trouble figuring out how to deal with Christian fundamentalists, an important bloc for the Republican Party. During his 2000 presidential bid, he referred to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." But six years later, as he readied himself for another White House run, McCain repudiated that remark. More recently, his campaign hit a rough patch when he accepted the endorsement of the Reverend John Hagee, a Texas televangelist who has called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and a "false cult system."
After the Catholic League protested and called on McCain to renounce Hagee's support, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee praised Hagee's spiritual leadership and support of Israel and said that "when [Hagee] endorses me, it does not mean that I embrace everything that he stands for or believes in." After being further criticized for his Hagee connection, McCain backed off slightly, saying, "I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee's, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics."
But McCain did not renounce Hagee's endorsement. McCain's relationship with Parsley is politically significant. In 2004, Parsley's church was credited with driving Christian fundamentalist voters to the polls for George W. Bush. With Ohio expected to again be a decisive state in the presidential contest, Parsley's World Harvest Church and an affiliated entity called Reformation Ohio, which registers voters, could be important players within this battleground state. Considering that the Ohio Republican Party has been decimated by various political scandals and that a popular Democrat, Ted Strickland, is now the state's governor, McCain and the Republicans will need all the help they can get in the Buckeye State this fall. It's a real question: Can McCain win the presidency without Parsley? The McCain campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding Parsley and his anti-Islam writings. Parsley did not return a call seeking comment. "The last thing I want to be is another screaming voice moving people to extremes and provoking them to folly in the name of patriotism," Parsley writes in “Silent No More”. Provoking people to holy war is another matter. About that, McCain so far is silent.
PART F:
WHERE DOES BELOW MODIFIED FICTION BLEND WITH REALITY ? (Would confirm the author’s name in next issue)
SATAN'S MEETING: (Read even if you're busy. Very well written.)*
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep people from going to pray." "We can't keep them from reading their holy books and knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their GOD."
"Once they gain that connection with GOD, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their prayers; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with GOD.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their GOD and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow." "Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"So let them go to their prayers; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with GOD.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their GOD and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow." "Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children." "As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice." "Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs, I-PODS and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-religious music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with God." "Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers." "Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day." "Invade their driving moments with billboards." "Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.." "Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. " "Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night." "Give them headaches too! " "If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere." "That will fragment their families quickly!" "Give them distractions to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of life." "Even in their recreation, let them be excessive." "Have them return from their recreation exhausted." "Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!" "And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences." "Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from GOD." "Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause." "It will work!" "It will work!" It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing people everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of GOD to change lives.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes? You be the judge!!!!!Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke? PLEASE PASS THIS ON, IF YOU AREN'T TOO BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!
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