VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 211, November 27, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICENT AND THE MOST MERCIFUL

(www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

Or have they adopted intercessors besides Allah? Say: “Even though they do not control a thing and have no awareness?” Say: “ Intercession is entirely Allah's affair . The kingdom of the heavens and Earth is His. Then you will be returned to Him.” (Surat az-Zumar, 39:43-44)

Those who have faith in Allah and yet associate partners with Him assume that these partners will intercede for them on the Day of Judgment. According to their belief, such “guardians” will take responsibility for their followers or purify them. And so they undertake strenuous efforts to earn their approval and constantly think of them. But this is no more than a huge delusion, for Allah states that He will be the only Protector on the Day of Judgment, as follows:

Abandon those who have turned their religion into a game and a diversion, who have been deluded by the life of the world. Remind [them] by it [the Qur'an], lest a person is delivered up to destruction for what he has earned with no protector or intercessor besides Allah. Were he to offer every kind of compensation, it would not be accepted from him... ( Surat al-An‘am, 6:70)

On that Day, no one will befriend another or bear some one's sins. As Allah informs us, only those who please Him will be allowed to intercede, and this person will surely say the truth. Unbelievers will find no guardian or intercessor on that Day, and no support, protection, or intercession, for Allah is the only Guardian and Intercessor:

Allah created the heavens and Earth and everything between them in six days, and then established Himself firmly upon the Throne. You have no protector or intercessor apart from Him. So will you not pay heed? ( Surat as-Sajda, 32:4)

By Harun Yahya
(www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

ED NOTE:

In this E-Zine, our focus is on "fathers" and we wanted to share few articles on the topic of fatherhood. This is Part I and we will conclude on this topic with next issue as Part II.

PART I

PART I-a

FATHER HOOD

Below note received by e-mail from Sr. Najmunisa seem to have been initiated by Sr. Rizwana Ahmed.

While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 years old son picked up a stone and scratched lines on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child's hand and hit it many times not realizing he was using a wrench. At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father.....with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?' The man was so hurt and speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions......sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches; the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.

The next day that man.. committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits; choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely life & remember this:

Things are to be used and people are to be loved.
The problem in today's world is that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:
Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

I'm glad a friend forwarded this to me as a reminder..
I hope you have a good day no matter what problems you may
face it's the only day you'll have before it's over.

PART I-b

FATHERHOOD IN ISLAM
www.tariqramadan.com

20 June 2010
Tariq Ramadan

It is important for Muslims to have a discussion about fatherhood while keeping in mind the ever-fragile state of Muslim families. We need to re-assess the language we use and the ontological assumptions we make when we speak about the role of the father because often, the problem doesn’t just lie with the crisis but the way we deal with it.

Muslims naturally feel inclined to place the mother at the centre of the process of raising children, unwittingly ignoring the father’s role. Islamic tradition does stress the role of the mother. For example, when asked who a Muslim should love most, the Prophet Muhammad said, “Your mother, your mother, your mother and then your father.” It is also said that paradise lies at the feet of the mother. As a result, we tend to focus on the father as an individual, not as someone who should and can play a central role within his family.

When we assess issues from an Islamic perspective, we categorise everything according to “rights” and “duties”. We speak of the rights of the man, the rights of the woman, the duties of the man, the duties of the woman. This mentality is dangerous. It reduces issues to black and white, right and wrong absolutes. This approach is more prevalent than we realise.

We must take from all the human sciences that can deal with family problems.

Another problem in our approach is the idealism. We speak about an idealised past and idealised families which have nothing to do with reality, whether it be now or the history of our ancestors.

Muslims must realise we may be Muslims but we live in Western societies and therefore, face the same problems as other families.

There are various reasons why we are facing this crisis of the family.

1.) Immigration

Immigration is a very difficult process because it involves uprooting oneself from a familiar cultural environment and transplanting oneself in a foreign land. Many immigrants fear that if they adapt to their host culture, they will lose their own. This rarely lasts because the peer pressure and constant bombardment of the host culture inevitably has an effect on children. We have to find healthier and more comfortable ways to effectively interact with the dominant culture.

2.) Unemployment

Many Muslim fathers are unemployed. The inability to fulfil the traditional role of bread-winner and protector destroys the self-confidence of a father in a very profound way. This is not just a Muslim problem. In fact, many problems face by European-Muslim families have nothing to do with Islam so why do we remain afraid to search for solutions outside our faith?

What is the way forward?

We need to creatively tap into Islamic values for solutions because that is what Muslim families are most likely to be receptive to. The father is more than just an individual. He can play an important role, far beyond that of just the financial protector.

The Prophet Muhammad himself was a role model as a father. When his own daughter would come to him, he would stand up out of respect for her, as people in traditional societies often do.

We have forgotten these aspects of the Prophetic example. We are replacing these values with an obsession with enforcing rights and duties. That is what is destroying the spirit of the family.

But what does fatherly authority mean in the Islamic tradition? Is it all about saying yes or no to the actions of your children? Many fathers miss the opportunity to educate their children and accompany them through life. An absentee father spends long hours working or engaged in voluntary community service, at the expense of time with his family.

Muslims keep saying the Islamic tradition cares for wholesome family life but Muslims themselves are having a difficult time upholding these values because we have lost our grasp of what it means to be a good Muslim and a good parent.

Fathers have poor relationships with their children. There is lack of dialogue, tenderness and affection. Also, feeling uncomfortable in his social surroundings can add to disengagement at home as he tries to grapple with his insecurities.

We need local and dynamic social policies which will counter this problem. For example, in the Mauritan Islands, a scheme is underway whereby fathers are told their children will be taken care of if fathers attend training workshops several times a year.

Muslim families need to share experiences with those who share the same problems.

We need to be open and learn from different sources, including non-Muslim ones. We need to take the best from mainstream psychology and social studies and incorporate these into solutions custom-made to help Muslim families.

We don’t necessarily have to integrate into society by abandoning our heritage but rather, integrate the positive things we learn from society into our lives.

What we need to do is not to name and shame mosques or families. Don’t look for the guilty people – look for solutions. We need grassroots workers working between families and mosques, people who are rooted in Islam and connected to reality.

Resources on fatherhood: Fatherhood Institute

PART I-c

(ED NOTE:

Smoking unfortunately is the biggest addiction that Muslim men have in the global ummah. While we acknowledge that we have no right to impose our view on their personal lifestyle, we humbly wanted to just present below article as food for thought).

FATHER'S SMOKING MAY LEAD TO DAUGHTER'S EARLIER MENOPAUSE:

By Join Together Staff
June 3, 2011

The smoking habits of fathers may influence the timing of their daughters’ menopause, a new study suggests. Japanese researchers found that a woman whose father smoked, while her mother was pregnant with her, may go through menopause about a year earlier than a woman whose father did not smoke.

Previous studies have shown that a woman’s own smoking habits, as well as her partner’s, can also influence the timing of menopause, Reuters reports. The new study found that a father’s smoking has a greater effect on the timing of a woman’s menopause than her partner’s smoking, lead researcher Dr. Misao Fukuda, of the M&K Health Institute in Ako, Japan, told Reuters.

The study included more than 1,000 women who were past menopause. The researchers found that women whose fathers smoked while their mother was pregnant hit menopause about 13 months earlier, than those whose fathers didn’t smoke. The findings are published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

PART I-d

(ED NOTE:

Canada has been judged as the "Best country to live in the world" couple of times in the past and it is considered one of the leaders representing the west in this 21st century. But we ask with what values and where is it heading towards? There is no question it has several positive aspects. But when it comes to the rights of a father who has biologically contributed to the fetus, it is sad that he has no rights. No doubt Islam continues to stand the test of time)

CANADA:

SHUT OUT: FATHERS OF UNBORN CHILDREN HAVE NO LEGAL SAY WHETHER THEIR CHILDREN LIVE OR DIE
October 28, 2010
Hilary White
(www.lifesitenews.com)
(condensed version)

Rome:
What is the first thing that pops into the minds of ordinary people when they hear the word “abortion”? If you have been lucky, or blessed, enough to have seen through the common rhetoric of our death-cult culture, you may answer something like, “…kills an unborn child.” But, sadly and despite our continuing efforts, the world at large has not yet made that connection.

No, what most people think spontaneously when they hear the word is “women’s rights.” The issue of “rights” in abortion rhetoric is the first and last one in any debate on the subject.

I was not involved in the pro-life movement, nor was I even paying much attention, when the Chantal Daigle case was making headlines in Canada, but the decision of the Supreme Court in Tremblay v. Daigle (1989) found that a fetus has no legal status in Canada as a person, either in Canadian common law or in Quebec civil law. While Canada has no positive law about abortion, the status of the unborn child is firmly established: there isn’t one.

Between the legal non-status of abortion and the legal non-existence of the unborn child, the question in the Daigle case that was under debate at the time, was, “should a father have any rights?” In Canada, the Supreme Court decided, No.

....... I was powerfully reminded of two incidents I experienced when I was working in Toronto and giving talks in local Catholic high schools. I was often able to surprise the kids by telling them that the legal situation in Canada gave absolutely no rights to men to have any say in whether their children live or die.

I usually related the story of a man I once spoke to on the phone who had called our office asking for legal help. He and his girlfriend were refugees from Honduras, and had no idea what the laws were in Canada. The man’s girlfriend was pregnant and was living in a woman's shelter. These places are often run by the hardest core of radical feminists, and they had arranged for her to have an abortion (immigrant/refugee women, many of whom don't speak English, are often told by social workers that they will be deported if they have a child, that their child is "illegal").

This poor man, who was in Canada having fled Honduras during one of their political difficulties and who could not risk being sent back, asked me, begged me, to tell him what he could do to save his child's life and get his girlfriend some other kind of help.

I was forced to tell him that in Canada, he had no legal rights whatever and if he tried to intervene to save his child, he could be arrested and probably deported.

At the end of one of these talks, a nice kid in one of the grade eleven classes was asked to escort me to the next class. He was tall and gangly and was tremendously good looking, but looked so sad; his face would have made you burst into tears. He quietly and very politely thanked me for having brought the subject of men's rights up in the talk. He felt very strongly about it, he said, because his own girlfriend had had an abortion the year before. He said that he had wanted to help raise the child and that his parents had agreed, saying they would help too. But he was shut out of the discussion and his child was dead. He was 16.

For more details check out: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10102801.html

THE END