A Sign in the Qur’an

In the Qur'an, there are certain indications that in Allah's sight,
there is no past or future and that, for Him, time is a single moment.
Events that lie are in the future for us are related in the Qur'an as
if they were long past. This is because Allah has already created the
past and the future as one single moment. For this reason, he speaks
of a future event of as having already come to an end. But because we
cannot perceive it, we think of it as lyig in the future. For example,
in the verses that describe the account human beings will give to
Allah in the Hereafter, this is related as an event that is long over:
And the trumpet is blown, and all who are in the heavens and all who
are in the Earth swoon away, save him whom Allah willeth. Then it is
blown a second time, and behold them standing waiting! And the Earth
shineth with the light of her Lord, and the Book is set up, and the
prophets and the witnesses are brought, and it is judged between them
with truth, and they are not wronged . . . And those who do not
believe are driven unto Hell in troops . . . And those who keep their
duty to their Lord are driven unto the Garden in troops . . . .(Surat
az-Zumar, 68-73)
Some other verses on this subject are:
And every soul came, along with it a driver and a witness.(Surat al-Qaf, 21)
And the heaven is cloven asunder, so that on that day it is
frail.(Surat al-Haqqa, 16)
And because they were patient and constant, He rewarded them with a
Garden and [garments of] silk. Reclining in the [Garden] on raised
thrones, they saw there neither the sun's [excessive heat] nor
excessive cold.(Surat al-Insan, 12-13)
And Hell is placed in full view for [all] to see.(Surat an-Naziat, 36)
But on this Day the believers laugh at the unbelievers.(Surat al-Mutaffifin, 34)
And the Sinful saw the fire and apprehended that they have to fall
therein: no means did they find to turn away therefrom.(Surat al-Kahf,
53)
As you can see, occurrences that are going to take place after our
deaths (from our point of view) are related as already experienced and
past events in the Qur'an. Allah is not bound by the relative time
frame that we are confined in. Allah has willed these things in
timelessness: people have already performed them and all these events
have been lived through and ended. It is imparted in the verse below
that every event, be it big or small, is within the knowledge of Allah
and recorded in a book:
In whatever business thou may be, and whatever portion you may be
reciting from the Qur'an, and whatever deed you [mankind] may be
doing, We are witnesses thereof when you are deeply engrossed therein.
Nor is hidden from your Lord [so much as] the weight of an atom on the
Earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these
things but are recorded in a clear record.(Surah Yunus, 61)
When a person who submits to Allah realizes that he is ill, he puts
all his trust in Allah knowing that this ailment is his fate. His
knowledge that Allah has created the illness as his destiny enables
him to realize that it will turn out for the good. And knowing that he
will get better if it is in his future to recover, he will be swift to
see a doctor, watch his diet and take some medicine. But he never
forgets that despite his going to a doctor, effecting the treatment
and taking his prescription, whether of not he will recover are all in
Allah's hands. He knows that all these events are in Allah's memory
and were prepared for him even before he was born.
In the Qur'an, Allah tells us that everything that happens to a person
is written in a book before it happens:
Nothing occurs, either in the Earth or in yourselves, without its
being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for
Allah. That is so that you will not be grieved about the things that
pass you by or exult about the things that come to you. Allah does not
love any vain or boastful man.(Surat al-Hadid: 22-23)
The Important of Submitting to Fate
This fact—that the past and the future are already created and exist
and have happened in Allah's sight—reveals to us a very important
truth: Everyone is absolutely ruled by fate. And just as we cannot
alter our past, we cannot change our future. Like your past, your
future has already happened. Everything that will happen to you in the
future—what you will eat, when and where you will eat it, who you will
speak to, how much money you will make, the illnesses you will suffer
from, how, when and where you will die—all that is determined and
unalterable. These things already exist in Allah's sight and in His
memories. But this information is not present in your memory.
For this reason, anyone who is saddened and upset by things that have
happened to him and gets angry worrying about the future is worrying
in vain. Because the future that he fears and frets about has already
happened. No matter what anyone does, he cannot change this fact.
At this point, we must also state that we must avoid a wrong
understanding of fate. Some people believe that whatever lies in their
fate is preordained, that it will happen regardless, and there's
nothing they can do about it. But such an attitude leads to a
distorted idea of fate. It is true, everything that happens to us is
determined in our fate. Before anything happens to us, it has already
happened in Allah's sight and all the details are kept in Allah's
sight in a book entitled Lawh-i Mahfuz. But Allah gives to all of us
the impression that we can change things that happen and that we do
act according to our own choices.
For example, when a person feels thirsty, he does not wait to see if
it is in his fate to drink water. Rather, he simply gets up, takes a
glass of water and drinks it. Doing this, he feels that he is acting
according to his own will and desire. In reality, both the glass and
how much water he will drink are determined in his fate. But
throughout his life, he has the sense that everything he does is by
his own free will.
There is a difference between the person who submits to Allah and the
fate He has created for him and the person who does not. The one who
submits knows that everything he does is according to Allah's will; he
knows this, despite his sense that he is doing these things himself.
The ignorant individual mistakenly believes that he does everything
through his own power and his own intelligence.
A person who believes in fate never sinks into desperation in the face
of adversity. On the contrary, his trust in Allah only increases, and
he feels contentment in his submission to Him. Allah has determined
beforehand everything that happens to us; therefore, He has commanded
(Surat al-Hadid: 23) that we not be saddened by adversity and that we
not be unmindful of the blessings He gives us. . . . Allah's command
is a pre-ordained decree. (Surat al-Ahzab: 38)
A Journey in Time
Scientific research into the nature of time agrees with statements in
the Qur'an. One of these points of agreement is that time is a concept
formed by our perceptions. Given the fact that Allah gives us all our
perceptions, it is certainly possible—with His permission—for a person
to perceive forward and backward in time.
To understand this idea more easily, imagine time as a film strip. If
we imagine the film running backwards, the actors would appear travel
from their future into their past. Or we cut a frame or two from the
end to near the beginning of the picture, a character in the film
would experience a moment in the future. So, in our world, our
perception of time is no different. If He wills, Allah may reorder our
perceptions, and we could travel into the past or the future.
This very possibility is mentioned in many verses of the Qur'an: We
are told that a person chosen by Allah could live in a different
dimension. For example, the Qur'an tells us that Allah kept a
community of believers called the Companions of the Cave in a deep
sleep for more than three centuries. When He woke them up, they had no
idea how long they had slept and believed that only a very short
period of time had elapsed:
Then We draw [[a veil]] over their ears, for a number of years, in the
Cave, [so that they heard not]. Then We raised them up that We might
know which of the two parties would best calculate the time that they
had tarried.(Surat al-Kahf, 11-12)
Such [being their state], we raised them up [from sleep], that they
might question each other. Said one of them, "How long have you stayed
[here].....?" They said, "We have stayed [perhaps] a day, or part of a
day." [At length,] they [all] said, "Allah [alone] knows best how long
you have stayed here....."(Surat al-Kahf, 19)
As we see from these verses, the time before the Companions of the
Cave fell asleep and the moment when they woke up were vastly
different.
Allah tells us of a similar situation. In verse 259 of Surat
al-Baqara, we hear of a man visiting a deserted city. Allah left this
man dead for a hundred years and later resurrected him. But the man
thought he has been there for a day or less. And within the space of
that century, the man's food did not spoil and his donkey still
remained in the same place. There are the relevant verses:
Or [take] the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins
to its roofs. He said: "Oh! how shall Allah bring it [ever] to life,
after [this] its death?" but Allah caused him to die for a hundred
years, then raised him up [again]. He said: "How long did you tarry
[thus]?" He said: [Perhaps] a day or part of a day." He said: "Nay,
you have tarried thus a hundred years; but look at your food and your
drink; they show no signs of age; and look at your donkey: And that We
may make of you a sign unto the people, Look further at the bones, how
We bring them together and clothe them with flesh." When this was
shown clearly to him, he said: "I know that Allah has power over all
things."(Surat al-Baqara, 259)

Lawh-i Mahfuz and the reality of timelessness: Our livesare composed of a single moment

A day with your Lord is equivalent to a thousand years in the way you
count.(Surat al-Hajj, 47)
What we call time is actually a way of comparing one moment with
another. For example, it we strike an object, it makes a certain
sound. If we strike the same object again a bit later, it will make a
similar sound. You probably think that there's an interval between the
first and the second sound—an interval called "time." However, when
you hear that second sound, the first one is only a record in your
brain and an item in your memory. By comparing the sound you recall
with the moment you hear it again, you form the concept of time.
Without making this comparison, you would have no concept of time.
In the same way, a person who enters a room and sees someone sitting
in an armchair in that room makes a comparison. The moments of seeing
the person in the armchair, opening the door and walking into the
center of the room are only data in his mind. The concept of time
arises when he compares the sight of person in the armchair with these
"previous" data.
The Formation of the Concept of Time
Today, it is scientifically accepted that time is a concept born of
our habit of arranging the changes and movements of objects in a
definite serial progression. Were it not for the human memory, the
brain could not make such interpretations, and the concept of time
would not arise. In his book The Possible and the Actual, Francois
Jacob, a Nobel Prize winner in Genetics, refers to the importance of
the concept of being invariably formed with reference to an organized
series:
Films played backwards make it possible for us to imagine a world in
which time flows backwards. A world in which milk separates itself
from the coffee and jumps out of the cup to reach the milk-pan; a
world in which light rays are emitted from the walls to be collected
in a trap (gravity center) instead of gushing out from a light source;
a world in which a stone slopes to the palm of a man by the
astonishing cooperation of innumerable drops of water which enable the
stone to jump out of water. Yet, in such a world in which time has
such opposite features, the processes of our brain and the way our
memory compiles information, would similarly be functioning backwards.
The same is true for the past and future and the world will appear to
us exactly as it currently appears.
Because our brains are accustomed to arranging things in a certain
series, we assume that the world operates as Jacob describes—and that
time always flows forward. However, this is a decision the brain
makes—"from inside," as it were—and is therefore totally relative.
Indeed, we can never know how time flows, or even if it flows at all.
This is because time is not an absolute, "outside" reality, but just a
subjective concept. You may, for example, think you have fallen
asleep in your armchair for merely a moment, when your watch tells you
that hours have passed.
The General Theory of Relativity
The idea that time is a concept was substantiated by the noted
physicist, Albert Einstein, in his book General Theory of Relativity.
Lincoln Barnett, in his book The Universe and Dr. Einstein, writes
these words:
The subjectivity of time is best explained in Einstein's own words.
"The experiences of an individual," he says, "appear to us arranged in
a series of events; in this series the single events which we remember
appear to be ordered according to the criterion of 'earlier' and
'later'. There exists, therefore, for the individual, an I-time, or
subjective time. This in itself is not measurable. I can, indeed,
associate numbers with the events, in such a way that a greater number
is associated with the later event than with an earlier one."
Einstein himself pointed out (as quoted in Barnett's book): "Space and
time are forms of intuition, which can no more be divorced from
consciousness than can our concepts of colour, shape, or size."
According to the General Theory of Relativity, time is not absolute;
apart from the series of events according to which we measure it, it
has no independent existence. Since time is based on perception, it
depends entirely on the perceiver and is therefore relative.
The speed at which time flows differs according to the references we
use to measure it, because there is no natural clock in the human body
to indicate precisely how fast time passes. As Lincoln Barnett wrote:
"Just as there is no such thing as colour without an eye to discern
it, so an instant or an hour or a day is nothing without an event to
mark it."
The Relativity of Time in the Qur'an
The relativity of time is plainly experienced in dreams. Although what
we see in our dreams seems to last for hours, in fact, it only lasts
for a few minutes, and even a few seconds.
The conclusion to which we are led by the findings of modern science
is that time is not an absolute fact as supposed by materialists, but
only a relative perception. What is most interesting is that this
fact, undiscovered until the 20th century by science, was revealed to
mankind in the Qur'an fourteen centuries ago. There are various
references in the Qur'an to the relativity of time.
It is possible to see in many verses of the Qur'an the scientifically
proven fact that time is a psychological perception dependent on
events, setting, and conditions. For instance, a person's entire life
is a very short time, as we are informed in the Qur'an:
On the Day when He will call you, you will answer His Call with words
of His Praise and Obedience, and you will think that you have stayed
in this world but a little while!(Surat al-Isra': 52)
And on the Day when He shall gather them together, it will seem to
them as if they had not tarried on Earth longer than an hour of a day:
they will recognize each other.(Surah Yunus: 45)
Some verses indicate that people perceive time differently and that
sometimes people can perceive a very short period as a very lengthy
one. The following conversation of people held during their judgment
in the hereafter is a good example of this:
He will say: "What number of years did you stay on Earth?" They will
say: "We stayed a day or part of a day, but ask those who keep
account." He will say: "Brief indeed was your sojourn, if you had only
known!"(Surat al-Mu'minun: 112-114)
In some other verses. Allah states that time may flow at different
paces in different settings:
. . . Truly, a day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years
of your reckoning.(Surat al-Hajj: 47)
The angels and the spirit ascend to Him in a day the measure of which
is like fifty thousand years.(Surat al-Ma'arij: 4)
He rules all affairs from the heavens to the Earth: in the end all
will ascend to Him in a single day, the measure of which is a thousand
years by your reckoning.(Surat as-Sajda: 5)
These verses are clear expressions of the relativity of time. That
this finding, which was only recently understood by scientists in the
20th century, was communicated to man 1,400 years ago in the Qur'an is
an indication of the revelation of the Qur'an by Allah, Who
encompasses the whole of time and space.
The Relativity of Time Explains the Reality of Fate
As we see from the account of the relativity of time and the verses
that refer to it, time is not a concrete concept, but one that varies
depending on perceptions. For example, a space of time conceived by us
as millions of years long is one moment in Allah's sight. A period of
50 thousand years for us is only a day for Gabriel and the angels.
This reality is very important for an understanding of the idea of
fate. Fate is the idea that Allah created every single event, past,
present, and future in "a single moment." This means that every event,
from the creation of the universe until doomsday, has already occurred
and ended in Allah's sight. A significant number of people cannot
grasp the reality of fate. They cannot understand how Allah can know
events that have not yet happened, or how past and future events have
already happened in Allah's sight. From our point of view, things that
have not happened are events which have not occurred. This is because
we live our lives in relation to the time that Allah has created, and
we could not know anything without the information in our memories.
Because we dwell in the testing place of this world, Allah has not
given us memories of the things we call "future" events. Consequently,
we cannot know what the future holds.
But Allah is not bound to time or space; it is He who has already
created all these things from nothing. For this reason, past, present
and future are all the same to Allah. From His point of view,
everything has already occurred; He does not need to wait to see the
result of an action. The beginning and the end of an event are both
experienced in His sight in a single moment. For example, Allah
already knew what kind of end awaited Pharaoh even before sending
Moses to him, even before Moses was born and even before Egypt became
a kingdom; and all these events including the end of Pharaoh were
experienced in a single moment in the sight of Allah. Besides, for
Allah there is no such thing as remembering the past; past and future
are always present to Allah; everything exists in the same moment.

The truth about the holocaust

While elaborating on our views about Jews and Judaism, we need to make
special emphasis on the cruel genocide of European Jews by the Nazis
during World War II.
The Policy of Cruelty Pursued by Nazis
Jewish inmates in Buchenwald, hungry, sick and traumatized under Nazi
persecution.Right after Nazis came to power in 1933, they started to
pursue a ruthless policy of isolating and then removing the factors in
the German society they found to be "harmful". The primary target of
Nazi mass executions was the disabled and people with genetic
disorders. Influenced by the thesis of "eugenics" developed by the
German biologist Ernst Haeckel, Nazis regarded these people as
parasites harmful to the gene structure of the German society and thus
employed the most ruthless methods against these miserable people. The
handicapped and those with genetic diseases were first rounded up in
"sterilisation camps", sterilised and then began to be killed by the
secret order of Hitler.
Meanwhile, Nazis were also subjecting the opponents of the regime to
inhumane oppression. Many people with leftist or liberal stance, a lot
of priests and clergymen were arrested only because of their ideas and
were forced to work to death under severe conditions in Dachau camp,
which was established at a location close to Munich.
Another group that was oppressed by the Nazis were the Jews in the
country. The Jewish nation, who were tried to be presented as "the
source of all evil on earth" and "parasites that harmed the German
blood" by the Nazi ideologists like Hitler and Rosenberg, were
subjected to an ever-increasing oppression. The stores owned by Jews
were boycotted, feelings of hatred and enmity were instilled in the
German people against Jews and the rights of Jews were restricted by
laws.
Murders and Torture in Concentration Camps
In the meantime, first the Jews in Germany and Austria, then the Jews
all over the Nazi occupied lands during the World War II were sent to
concentration camps. However, not only the Jews but also people from
different ethnical and religious identities such as gypsies, Slavs,
Russian captives were sent to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka,
Belzec, Chelmno camps, most of which were located in Poland and were
forced to work under very hard conditions in German war industry.
However, the Nazi cruelty went far beyond the point of making people
work as slaves. Jews and other captives were transported to Auschwitz
and other concentration camps in locked wagons and during these long
travels, a lot of old and weak people lost their lives out of hunger,
thirst and crowd. People who arrived to the camps by trains were
treated as animals and those who showed a minor resistance were
executed before the very eyes of their families or children. In these
camps, many families disunited.
Jewish children in Auschwitz, 1944.The sadist Nazi officers showed no
mercy and pity to captives; for years, these captives led their lives
as slaves under the arbitrary Nazi insults, threats and torture. These
innocent people were used as guinea pigs. For instance, Mengele, the
notorious doctor of Auschwitz, is known to have carried out horrible
tests on adults and children chosen among the inmates to explore the
limits of human body. In bitter cold in winter, people soaked in icy
water were used to observe how many minutes a person could survive
before freezing. Mengele is known to have carried out anaesthesia-free
operations on inmates; he amputated their legs, arms or even stomachs
without anaesthesia. The cruelest experiments of Mengele were the ones
carried out on twin inmates. Mengele isolated all twins from other
inmates and conducted tests on them to observe the influence of
genetic factors. However, his methods were incredibly cruel. By
injecting their blood to one another, he traced the reactions of the
twins; in most cases one of the twins or in some cases both of them,
suffered severe pain and high fever. For instance, to see whether
eye-colour could change by genetic factors, he injected ink to their
eyes. These experiments resulted in unbearable pain and often in
blindness. He injected microbes of various diseases to little children
to measure their resistance to them. Many innocent children suffered
great pain and torture in the hands of this Nazi monster, became
disabled or lost their lives.
Millions of innocent people lost their lives in concentration camps
due to the systematic Nazi murders by means of gassing, shooting, and
torture of any kind. Among Jews were also gypsies, Slavs, Russians,
war captives, and anti-Nazi Germans.
The Nazi brutality explained above briefly is an undeniable and
explicit fact of history. Every person of conscience denounces Nazis
who are responsible for this cruelty.
However, there is another aspect of the issue that needs to be considered:
Those who were oppressed by the Nazi cruelty are not only the inmates
of concentration camps. They are not only Jews as well. The World War
II cost the lives of some 55 million people. Only the number of Soviet
citizens who lost their lives during the war was about 25 million.
Dozens of different nations and ethnical groups were subjected to the
torture and cruelty of the Nazis and their fascist allies. Therefore,
it would not be right to demand a special political compensation in
the name of a single nation due to the sufferings of the World War II.
The fact that Jews were oppressed by Nazis cannot be used to justify
and legitimise the cruelty inflicted on other nations (on
Palestinians, for instance) by some Jews.
We place particular stress on these two issues, because the State of
Israel and atheist Zionism, its official ideology, have been engaging
in a misleading propaganda about these two issues for the last 50
years. They instil in the minds of people that the sole nation that
was oppressed during the World War II was the Jews and that for this
reason, people must see the cruelty inflicted by Jews on Palestinians
as excusable.
Jews Who Oppose the Exploitation of the Holocaust
Millions of innocent people were slaughtered by the III. Reich. Jews
and many other victims from different nations were buried in mass
graves.In recent years, this fact about the Holocaust has been
expressed by Jews themselves. Esther Benbassa, the director of the
Contemporary Jewish History Department of Ecole Pratique des Hautes
Etudes in France, wrote in Liberation on September 1, 2000 that "the
Jewish Holocaust has been turned into a religion" and added: "Putting
oneself in the status of a victim secures every Jew against criticisms
and thus also Israel against criticisms."
An important work that stresses the fact that the concept of the
Jewish Holocaust has become a political and economic means of
propaganda is, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation
of Jewish Suffering, by historian Norman G. Finkelstein, a Jewish
himself, from New York University. In his book published in 2000,
Finkelstein, whose grandmother was also an inmate in Nazi
concentration camps, explains that the concept of the Holocaust is
being utterly exploited both by Israel and the Western Jewish
organisations. As we know, international courts held in the wake of
the World War II convicted Nazis of the crimes committed against Jews
and charged them to pay huge amounts of compensation to them. For
decades, Germany has been paying this compensation, which is expressed
in billions of dollars, to Israel and other Jews living in different
countries. Not only Germany but also other European countries,
Switzerland for instance, and even the Eastern European countries that
failed to help Jews during the Nazi occupation were several times
charged with paying compensation to Jews oppressed by the Nazis.
Finkelstein, in his book, "The Holocaust Industry", states that these
huge sums of money taken from Germany and similar governments were
channelled to irreligious, Godless Zionist organisations rather than
the Jews who were subjected to oppression during the war.
For instance, in recent years the Jewish organisations demanded a new
compensation from Germany in return for the "service of Jews who were
forced to work as slave-workers in Nazi camps". The number of Jews who
were reported to take benefit from this payment was stated to be
135,000. However, relying on official statistics, Finkelstein declares
that the number of living Jews who were forced to work in Nazi camps
is not more than 14,000-18,000. The huge difference will be channelled
to the atheist Zionist organisations under the guise of
"compensation".(1)
Finkelstein also clearly expresses that in order to form and keep the
Holocaust industry alive, Jewish organisations and, in some cases,
some Jewish people commit numerous "frauds". According to the author:
"Articulating the key Holocaust dogmas, much of the literature on
Hitler's Final Solution is worthless as scholarship. Indeed, the field
of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud."(2)
Conclusion
What has been related so far leads us to the following conclusion:
Jews were subjected to a horrible genocide during the World War II by
the Nazis. Millions of Jews -together with other people of different
nations- became the target of Nazi brutality. We denounce this
violence and want that neither Jews nor anyone from any other nation
ever receive such hostile and cruel treatment.
However, using the fact of the Holocaust with the purpose of
legitimising the crimes committed by atheist Zionism and the State of
Israel against humanity, or in the words of the Jewish author
Finkelstein, "exploiting" them, is rather wrong. History witnessed
numerous genocides or massacres carried out against many nations. We
must curse all of them and pay equal respect to the victims of all
these nations.
Footnotes:
1-Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, Verso Press, New
York, 2000. s. 126
2-Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, s. 55

All philosophies constructed on the basis of matter is collapsed

In the early 20th century, scientists discovered something new: that
matter was not as we had imagined it to be. Matter was not solid.
Matter had no colors. It gave off no smells, sounds or image. Matter
was simply energy. The chair you sit in, the table you lean on, the
house you live in, your dogs, the people around you, buildings, space,
stars—in short, the whole material world exists as a form of energy.
In the face of this unexpected discovery, all philosophies constructed
on the basis of matter therefore suffered a scientific collapse.
Science revealed the proof of something inside the human body but not
belonging to it, something that perceived the entire physical world,
but was not itself physical: the human soul.
The soul could not be explained in any way in terms of materialist
claims. Darwinism, which produced countless fictitious tales regarding
the imaginary evolution of species, remained silent in the face of the
existence of the soul. Because the soul was not matter, it was a
metaphysical concept. And metaphysics was something that materialists
were completely unable to accept, because metaphysics did away with
all the unconscious events, coincidences and random processes that
they had deified. Metaphysics submitted evidence of a conscious
creation, in other words, of the existence of Allah (God). That, in
any case, was why materialists had been denying the existence of the
soul ever since the days of Ancient Greece.
This struggle, which had persisted since Ancient Greece right up to
the present, now became meaningless because there is an entity that
makes a human being human, that lets you say, This is me. That, in
other words, is your soul: It exists, and it belongs to Allah. Science
definitively proved that the human soul observed all things as they
were presented to it and that there could be no reference to any
reality beyond these perceived images. To put it another way, it
openly declared that the only absolute Entity was Allah.
This proof by science is of importance in convincing minds that deify
materialist philosophy. In fact, though, all who possess reflection
and intellect are aware that they possess a sublime soul. Anyone who
can reason at all will understand that it is the soul that rejoices,
thinks, decides, judges, experiences joy and excitement, loves, shows
compassion, gets anxious, enjoys the taste of an apple, takes pleasure
from listening to music, builds planes, raises skyscrapers and
constructs laboratories in which it examines itself.
If human beings are possessed of souls, they cannot have been created
haphazardly. There is a purpose behind their presence in this world.
All people bear a soul that belongs to Allah and are being tested in
this lifetime, after which they will be held responsible for all their
thoughts and deeds. There is no randomness or aimlessness in life.
There are no chance events, as Darwinists maintain. Everything has
been created by the will of Allah to become part of the tests to which
we are subjected. In this life, which will end in death, the only
thing that will be left behind is the body. The soul, on the other
hand, will live for all eternity in the Hereafter, which is its true
abode.
These are great glad tidings for anyone who realizes he has a soul and
is able to appreciate its Creator. Darwinists, however, will continue
to refuse this reality with all their means and maintain that they do
not possess a soul. They will continue to refuse to accept that they
will one day enter the presence of Almighty Allah, Whose existence
they denied throughout the course of their lives. They will continue
to regard themselves as randomly formed collections of atoms and will
keep on dismissing the miraculous human consciousness that has
discovered DNA, investigated the structure of the atom and has been
amazed by the innermost workings of the cell.
The human soul is a terrible dilemma for Darwin and the supporters who
came after him. It is the basic evidence which they cannot explain,
which they cannot refute and cannot resolve. Allah has vanquished them
by providing proof, of a scientific kind that they cannot deny: the
insubstantiality of matter. In the face of this, any objections to the
soul's existence they may come up with are invalid and meaningless.
In His verses in the Qur'an, Allah tells us:
Who could be further astray than those who call on other things
besides Allah, which will not respond to them until the Day of
Resurrection and which are unaware of their prayers? When humanity is
gathered together, they will be their enemies and will reject their
worship. (Surat al-Ahqaf, 5-6)
Darwinists and materialists need to realize that the only absolute
Entity is Allah. Confronted by this truth, all hollow, empty
deceptions and superstitious faiths fall into an insuperable quandary.
Allah has enfolded all things with His Sublime Might. All things
belong to Him and are under His control. Denying creation and the
existence of the soul cannot alter these facts one iota.
The world that the soul perceives is merely an illusion, a phantom and
the sole absolute Entity Who rules the entire universe is Allah, Ruler
and Lord of the Earth and sky. Henceforth, those with unclouded minds
who understand this fact will look at the world from a different
perspective and realize that Allah is their only savior. In order to
attain salvation in the Hereafter, their true life, people need to
behave in the light of that understanding.

Story, - Taking The Risk

Hi. I'm Samvie. First of all, I hate falling in love. I hate having
feelings to someone. I just hate it. Maybe it's the fact that I always
end up alone while all of my friends are having their 'happiness'.
Maybe it's because of my past experiences where-in guys that I would
like back then didn't liked me back. And well most of the times I
don't see the way love work with anybody.
My problem is, I get attached easily.
Now I'm in college and I lost faith in finding the man of my dreams,
but there's this one guy. There's this guy I see everyday at school,
and when I walk pass by at him, he usually stares at me and I notice
it. Every single time I go to school and I see him there, with his
buddies, and he noticing me.
One year had passed since then.
One time in an social networking site, I posted random thought about
bands that I liked and he responds to me (telling me he liked those
too) and then I realized we have so many things in common. Later on he
keeps on sending me messages online, chatting with me, first one to
say hi and I really can't help thinking if he likes me. Or maybe I'm
just hoping that he do. Cause nobody ever did that to me. Nobody
stares at me like that when I happen to walk by at the hallway of our
school, nobody likes the same stuff I do, nobody else sees me and even
tries to communicate with me.
I know this is pure crap but it's bothering me for days. I know this
is just all my thoughts and they're not true at all. Maybe he just
wants to be friends and the story all ends like that. The thing is
I've developed a crush on him ever since the moment I saw him. And the
feeling's getting deeper each day.
I wish I could prevent myself because I don't want to risk anymore. I
don't wanna get hurt anymore.

Story, - Secret Love

I met my love in orkut.The day we chat for the very first time, we
exchanged phone numbers. He called me and then on we started speaking
everyday after getting tired of work. It was so good to be with him
over the phone and i never knew how long our conversation goes. I met
him for the first time and then i fall in love with him. spending my
time with him was like i came to know him much better and i discovered
a whole new love for him. His romantic, true and of course handsome.
But all that in between us is his religion.I am hindu and his Muslim.
I really hate that thing. I never said i love him but i love him so
much. I always have him as my hubby but fate where will it take me i
never know. Still i am in contact with him but never let him know that
i love him so much.I am afraid of rejection and can't handle it. I
always pray to god. Want him desperately in my life.
I wish a miracle to happen and he find me as his love too.

Fathwa, - Child's best interests should determine who takes custody of it

Question
My question is regarding the custody of a child when the parents
divorced. I have recently asked for a release from my husband while
being pregnant. I am having difficulty understanding the custody
situation in the issue that comes with divorce. The man that I married
came from Yemen for medical reasons and during this time he took me as
his third wife. When I asked for the release, the only question that
went through my mind was the custody of my daughter. He has told me
that he has more right to take her because he lives in a Muslim
country while I live here in America. At first I was very troubled by
this and became emotional on this matter and turned to Allah for help.
Over time I have came to the conclusion that it may actually be best
to have my daughter raised in an Islamic society at a very young age.
Being a revert I understand how difficult it is to adapt to new things
and to forget the old and I would never want my children to be in a
time of difficult decision if I can help it. My ex-husband has told me
that he would not take her from me until maybe the age of two... once
more the emotional roller coaster arrives. It's a bit different if he
lived down the road but seeing as though he is in another country and
he hardly has the money to send his family back to visit their family
it worries me about the heart ache I may endure from raising a child
for two years to have her just leave in one day. He has not talked to
me about financial support during this time because his solution is
simply to let her go to him and I personally do not have the money
myself to take care of two children )one from a previous relationship(
With this a new question arrives. Is it permissible for me to give my
child to him at an earlier age )say six months( can he deny the child
or is it an obligation for him to take her even without me getting
remarried? I want what is best for my child, and I know that he is a
very good father and I hold nothing
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that
Muhammadis His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you should know that it is not permissible for a wife to
ask her husband for divorce except in certain cases that we clarified
in Fatwa 131953. Even if we assume that a wife has a sound reason to
ask for divorce from her husband, she should not hasten to it, as the
benefit might not always be in divorce; rather, she should be patient
as much as she can, especially if they have children.
If divorce takes place, the mother has the right to custody of her
children as long as she does not remarry as clarified in Fatwa 82128.
If she remarries, custody moves to the female who is more deserving of
the custody of the child among the female relatives according to the
order mentioned by the jurists, which we clarified in Fatwa 84618.
On the other hand, the majority of the scholars are of the view that
if one of the parents travels to another location to live and settle
there, the custody is for the father. The father is even more entitled
to custody if he is moving to a Muslim country as it is dangerous to
the religion of the children to reside in a non-Muslim country where
there are many causes for temptation, in addition to the freedom that
has no limits. For more benefit on the danger of residing in a
non-Muslim country to the upbringing of Muslim children, please refer
to Fatwa 179175.
However, some scholars differentiated in this regard between an infant
who is still breastfeeding and other children. They are of the view
that the infant should not be taken away from his mother since he
needs her care; this is due to the harm that is inflicted on the
infant and his mother by taking him away from her, and because Islam
has taken into consideration the interests of the child. After
mentioning the statements of the scholars in this regard,Ibn
Al-Qayyimsaid in Zaad Al-Ma'aad: "All these statements are not based
upon evidence that comforts the heart as you see; the correct view is
to look into the matter and consider the interests of the child and
what is best for him, either keeping him where he already resides or
moving him to another location. It is what is more beneficial for him
and what better protects him that should be taken into account, and
residing in the same location or moving to another one has no effect."
As regards your question whether or not your husband has the right to
refuse custody, then the answer to this question is based on the
following issue over which the scholars differed: Is custody the right
of the custodian or the right of the child?Ibn Al-Qayyimsaid: "The
jurists differed in opinion over custody; is it a right for the
custodian or a duty upon him? There are two opinions in this regard
according to the Maaliki and Hanbali Schools of Jurisprudence;
accordingly, can the one who has the right of custody renounce it?
There are two opinions in this regard."
In any case, the father is obligated to spend on the child whether the
child is in his custody or in its mother's custody.
Finally, we advise you to try to reach a mutual understanding with
your husband about what is better for your daughter and opting for
what is best for her and renouncing your right for the benefit of your
daughter. But if there is a dispute, then it is better to take the
matter to an authority that is specialized in studying the matters of
the Muslims like the Islamic Centers. This is of course if we assume
that divorce has taken place, otherwise if it is possible to reconcile
and continue the marital relationship, then this is more appropriate
as we have already mentioned.
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - When teeth bleeding necessitates washing mouth

Question
salaam aleikoum dear shaykh, Many times when I use a stick to clean my
teeth in the car they bleed, then i get veru distressed because blood
is najis. Can I get rid of this blood by spitting it out and then it's
taahir/clean or it it required that I first go to a bathroom and clean
it with water to not extend the najasah with is in my mouth? jazaka
Allahu gairan. wassalamoe aleikoum
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
If the blood is much and flows in a way that it is difficult for you
to wash it whenever it bleeds, then it is sufficient for you to spit
it and you are not required to wash it; otherwise, wash it because the
basic ruling is that it is obligatory to wash the mouth from impurity
as stated in Mughni Al-Muhtaaj: "The mouth should be washed from
impurity."
Asnaa Al-Mataalib which is one of the Shaafi'i books reads:
"Al-Athra'i said that it is likely that whoever suffers a lot from gum
bleeding, to the extent that it always or often occurs, he is excused
due to having what is difficult for him to avoid, and it is sufficient
for him to spit it, and its remnants are also pardoned, and he is not
obliged to wash the blood all day because it is assumed that the gum
always bleeds or bleeds from time to another and it may increase if he
washes it." ]End quote[
Similarly, Fat-h Al-'Aliyy Al-Maalik which is one of the Maaliki books
reads: ")I have received this question:( "What is your opinion
regarding the one whose gums or teeth bleed uncontrollably, is it
obligatory on him to spit it? Is he commanded to wash blood from his
mouth? Or if he swallows it while he is fasting, will that break his
fasting or what is the solution? Please, answer us." I have answered
that question saying: "All perfect praise be to Allaah and peace and
blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allaah. If
that bleeding is abundant and does not stop, then it will be pardoned
and one will not be ordered to spit it or wash it."" ]End quote[
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - Marriage of a Muslim man to an apostate woman is invalid

Question
Assalam alaykum. There is a muslim lady who got married with a
christian, and that lady became christian too, and they have 3
children. There is a muslim man who want to take her from that
christian man and marry her in order to persuade her to come back to
islam. If that lady acceptes to come back to islam and get married
with that muslim man, so is that allowed in Islam? THANKS
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
Marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man is invalid according to
the consensus of Muslim scholars. Also, the marriage of a Muslim man
to an apostate woman is invalid.Ibn Qudaamahsaid: "It is prohibited to
marry an apostate woman, no matter what religion she adopts; because
it is not proved for her the ruling of the people of the religion to
which she converted by one's approval of her doing so. Based on this,
it is not lawful for him to marry her with greater reason." ]Al-Mughni
7/131[
Accordingly, it is not permissible for that Muslim man to marry that
apostate woman unless she repents, returns to Islam, separates from
her non-Muslim husband, and her waiting period ends or it becomes
clear that she is not pregnant from him. If that man hopes that she
would return to Islam, he should strive hard to call her to Islam
through some righteous Muslim women and not to handle that matter
himself.Allaah Knows best.

Hope is the Elixir of Life

Please join us in mediating on what motivates a farmer to work hard
and sweat. It is the hope of harvesting. What urges a merchant to
travel, adventure and leave his people and home? It is the hope of
getting revenues. What encourages a student to study hard and remain
awake for hours? It is the hope for success. What motivates a soldier
to fight desperately and endure the hardships of war patiently? It is
the hope for victory. What makes a patient like bitter medicine? It is
his hope for health. What calls a believer to disobey his desires and
obey his Lord? It is the hope of winning the Pleasure and Paradise of
Allaah The Almighty.
Hope, then, is a motivating power that makes one feel delighted when
working, that provides the stimulus for struggling for the sake of
duty and which enlivens body and soul. This power encourages lazy
people to work hard and urges hardworking people to remain as such. It
also stimulates the failing person to try repeatedly until he
succeeds, and encourages the successful person to double his efforts
to be more successful. The hope which we are talking about here is the
opposite of despair; it carries meanings of cheerfulness and good
thoughts. Despair is the demolishing tool that destroys the work
motive in man's soul and weakens the sources of strength in his body.
Therefore, Ibn Mas'oodsaid, "Destruction lies in two things: despair
and conceit." Imaam Al-Ghazaalisaid, "They were mentioned together
because happiness cannot be obtained except through endeavor, hard
work, and diligence; a despairing person neither seeks nor endeavors,
because what he hopes for is impossible in his eyes."
Faith Infuses Hope in the Soul
Faith infuses hope in the soul and defends it against despair and
sorrow. A faithful person believes that everything is at the hands of
Allaah The Almighty. Accordingly, he thinks good of his Lord and
aspires for His reward taking into consideration the Sacred Hadeeth in
which Allaah The Almighty Says: "I am as My slave thinks I am…"
How can despair sneak into a believer's heart while he reads the
Quranic verses )which mean(:
}And despair not of relief from Allaah. Indeed, no one despairs of
relief from Allaah except the disbelieving people."{]Quran 12:87[
}And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except for those
astray?{]Quran 15:56[
If a servant is a real believer, he will never despair; rather, he
will be always cheerful, satisfied, and looking forward to what is
better in all cases and under all circumstances. The Prophetsaid: "How
wondrous is the case of a believer! There is good for him in
everything. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to
Allaah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he
endures patiently and that is good for him." How, then, could a true
believer despair while he is promised of goodness in all
circumstances?
His true faith makes him feel that Allaah The Almighty is with him and
that He will support and protect him, consequently:
If he gets sick, he would hope for recovery and reward. Allaah the
Almighty says )what means(:}And when I am ill, it is He who cures
me.{]Quran 26:80[
If he commits a sin, he would repent to Allaah The Almighty
immediately in the hope that Allaah The Exalted would forgive and have
mercy upon him. In such a case, he would keep the following Quranic
verse in his mind )which
If he suffers distress or hardship, he would be certain that this
would end soon since Allaah the Almighty Said )what means(:}For
indeed, with hardship ]will be[ ease. Indeed, with hardship ]will be[
ease.{]Quran 94:5,6[ Of course, one
A believer always has great hope for the mercy, relief, and support of
Allaah The Almighty. This is because he does not count on material
means only, but also believes that these means have a Creator in Whose
Hand is the dominion of all things, and when He decrees a matter, He
only Says to it, "Kun )i.e. Be(," and it is. Hence, a believer's heart
is filled with trust in Allaah The Almighty and hope for gaining His
Mercy. This is exactly what the disbelievers lack, thus we see them
commit suicide and suffer many psychological diseases. We ask Allaah
to protect us against this.
How Difficult Life Would be Without Hope
Hope is necessary for achieving progress in all fields. Without hope,
civilizations would not have been built and science and technology
would never have progressed. Without hope, nations would have never
overcome times of distress and no call for reforming a society would
have been made. In the past, a sage said, "Without hope, none would
have built a building or planted a plant."
Hence, O believer, think good of your Lord, hope for gaining His
reward and support. If you suffer a distress or hardship, be patient
and be sure that wherever there is a difficulty, certainly there would
be ease. So, be patient and courageous, seek support from Allaah The
Almighty, and do not lose heart!

The Absolute Submission

Allaah Says )what means(: }And it is not ]possible[ for one to die
except by permission of Allaah at a decree determined..{ ]Quran 3:145[
The eternity we all wish for, Muslim or Non-Muslim, is everlasting
life in Heaven, Paradise, the Garden of Eden, the Blue Yonder,
whatever you want to call it, with its beauty, splendor, ease, and
closeness to the Divine Light of our Creator, but who is willing to
make sure that the lilt of their voice is recognized when they are
lying amongst white sheets with tubes fixed, cloudy eyes staring,
barely able to lift a finger to make the Shahadah, doctors and nurses
rushing around in their futile dealings, all those involved anxiously
awaiting the inevitable moment.
Which beliefs will bring you comfort at that intersection of life and
extinction? The belief that this is it and there is no more? Can you
really reconcile your fleeting lifetime to this thought, and not feel
that your life had no meaning? We are warned that if we are not ready
for death, if our connection to this lifetime is too strong, that at
that precise moment when we need Allaah, we might end up pushing Him
away in blinding fright, clawing at the shreds of lifetime we recall
in our stupor of death. This scenario could result in an eternity; I
will say it again, an eternity of punishment in Hell }definition -
)i-tur-ni-tee( adj 1. infinite time, past or future 2. the endless
period of life after death{. You know, fire hotter than any 70 fires
in the lifetime, smoke, ash, boiling fluids to drink... alright,
alright, I'll leave the rest to your lively imagination.
My point is, who will you call upon and expect an answer? How can you
call on Allaah when He doesn't recognize the sound of your voice? How
late is too late?
To feed my ever-constant yearning for tidbits on our earthly
departure, I stayed up recently, way past my bedtime, to watch a
documentary about death. They showed a series of people who were close
to death, young and old, and how the living around them reacted to
their slow weaning off of this life. There was a current of palpable
dread coming through the TV directly into my living room as the
families surrounded their loved ones, struggling with their own
mortality. The patients' faces were white, frozen, mouth drooping
open, with no strength left, the muscles no longer willing to obey the
commands of the brain to pull the jaw closed, unaware of the clamor
around them, stripped bare, as all is peeled away at death. It was
then that I realized that these valiant attempts to heal were for the
living, and that those passing on were fighting a whole different
battle. They looked calm on the outside, but we are told that they are
in turmoil, agony, at the time of death.
Where is the line between living and dying? Does the spirit know
before the body does? Let's stop right now to see how fine a line this
is. Take a minute and hold your hand over your mouth and nose, letting
no air in or out. Okay, now hold it...hold it... hold it.... there,
now breathe—ahhh that wonderful elixir of existence. That was a small
taste of death; the simple, but complex tightrope we walk every day.
The fact that we have life speaks to something vivid that must fade,
like calico patterns left to bleach in the sun. No one wants to die;
Allaah chooses who lives and dies and this is written before we are
born. The critical point is not when, but how you die. Will it be the
good, peaceful death, being eased out of your shell like a drop of
water from a jug, eager to meet your Lord, or the reluctant passage
out, being yanked, kicking and screaming, like a swatch of wool being
pulled from a thorny branch, in paralyzing fear of Divine retribution?
I know which one I am going to work for in the time allotted to me.
In my very early years as a Muslim, I had a brother die in his sleep.
He was only 50 years old at the time; and, unaware of his imminent
fate, went to bed and never woke up. That sobering event had a
profound effect on me, and put me on a quest to learn all I could
about the "destroyer of pleasures." After that time, I never missed my
prayers before sleep. Whether Allaah gives us a long illness with
purification and a chance to make amends, or He takes us suddenly like
my brother, we need to be ready. I realized then that no matter who
you are or what you own, at that precise moment of death, it is
between you and your Lord. We have all heard the Prophetic saying that
three things follow you to your grave; your family, your possessions,
and your deeds. The first two come back, leaving only your deeds to
speak to how you lived your life, but do we really internalize this
and live it every moment? Ask anyone who has had a car accident how
quickly lives can change—it's an instant, and we must be ready with
good works and remembrance of Allaah waiting for us in our personal
`Ethereal Bank'.
For Muslims born into the religion, this will be your reality also.
You are not immune to the trappings of death and its suffering and
there are no guarantees on that day. For converts to this beautiful
religion, do you want your non-Muslim families making your decisions
for you at that moment, or the strength of your Lord lovingly watching
over you because He knew your pleading voice in the lifetime. For
non-Muslims, the Mercy of our Creator is given to all on Earth until
death, and then it is reserved for those who believed and called on
Him at all times.
If these words caused a ripple in the folds of your heart, then take
time right now to connect to the Merciful, the Compassionate One... He
is waiting for you.

Milestones on the path ofdutifulness to parents

There is no doubt that parents play an effective role in preventing
their children from being undutiful. As it is known that prevention is
better than cure, we advise noble parents who play the greatest role
in this important process, to prepare youth and prevent them from
being undutiful.
The family is the first incubator where the adolescent grows up and
receives an upbringing. Hence, it has a far-reaching effect on the
upbringing of children. It is sufficient to know that children act in
a way that conforms to their environment. So, the environment forms
the way in which the child learns his behavior. If adolescents grow up
with a sense of righteousness and gratitude, undoubtedly, this would
greatly affect them.
The following are some of the important means that parents should use
while building the wall to prevent undutifulness:
1-Extreme warning: An extreme warning lies in bringing up the children
to be undutiful. Perhaps some people wonder about this warning. Yes,
there are parents who plant the bomb which soon explodes. For example,
some families express happiness when the child grows and is able to
speak and move. Consequently, they tell him to beat or insult one of
the parents. They mix jest with seriousness causing the disruption of
the child's moral standards. They are not aware that they are
implanting in the innocent little child, at a very young age,
disrespect to parents. This is the way it has always been, and always
will be.
2-Keenness on teaching the child the parents' favors: It is a key step
on the way of preventing undutifulness. It is to raise the children to
be accustomed to respecting and realizing the status and favor of
their parents. Ignorance of the status of parents and consequent
punishment for being undutiful to them will lead the children to be
undutiful.
3-To be equally dutiful to you: Some parents are trapped in
discrimination by favoring some of their children to others. This is
plain injustice. Therefore,Sharee'ah)Islamic legislation( strongly
forbids this matter and warns of its bad consequences. When Basheer
ibn Sa'dcame to the Prophet,, to give his son An-Nu'maan a gift; the
Prophet,, asked:"'Did you give all your children gifts like
An-Nu'maan?'He said, 'No.' The Prophetsaid:'So, look for another
witness. Do you not like them )your children( to be equally dutiful to
you?'"]Al-Albaani:Saheeh[
Steps of treatment
After dealing with the gravity of undutifulness and suggesting some
methods to prevent it, we should talk about the steps of treatment,
which are:
1-Virtues and punishments: This is one of the foremost steps which the
person who seeks dutifulness should have in mind and realize. One
could change from one state to another if he finds a strong motive.
Undoubtedly, knowing and remembering the fruits of dutifulness will be
one of the best incentives to practice it. Similarly, contemplating
the bad consequences of undutifulness and the resulting distress and
grief in the worldly life before the Hereafter will help one be
dutiful and keep away from undutifulness.
2-Good friends: You should have good friends who correct your mistakes
and inform you about the consequences of your actions. If good company
is sought in the course of worldly journeys and travel, what should be
the case in the travel of the Hereafter where the believer is in
greater need to have a righteous helper and an agreeable companion who
would be, in relation to his friend, like two hands that wash the
other.
They are righteous people who guide you to the way of righteousness
and direct you with their kind words if you commit an undutiful or a
semi-undutiful act.
Hence, it becomes mandatory to get rid of bad friends who are the
reason behind every catastrophe. You should know, especially in this
stage of adolescence, that friends are chosen by the adolescent
according to his desire and inclination. The grave problem is that
this test often comes spontaneously where the child grows up with a
neighbor at school or university. This friend may become the reason
behind his undutifulness through absorbing behavior due to frequent
interaction over a period of time. So, you should select your friends
cautiously and deliberately.
3-O people of the faith: here, you should ask yourself: Are you
faithful? Perhaps, you would quickly answer in the affirmative. This
is a good reply; however, to reach such a degree of faithfulness you
should read some questions, if your answer is in the affirmative,
then, enjoy your faithfulness. Otherwise, you should do your best to
make your answers in the affirmative.
- Do you frequently remember your parents' favors?
- Do you frequently thank them for their care and upbringing?
- Do you supplicate Allaah The Almighty for them in your prayers,
going, coming, with your friends and alone?
- Did you ever think about doing something for them and expressing
your love and faithfulness?
- Do you quickly blame yourself and rush to serve them whenever you
feel that you have fallen short to fulfill their rights?
This is the tip of the iceberg of questions which are well known to
faithful people.Subhaan Allaah)Glory be to Allaah!(, when a friend
does us a favor, we remember it, keep treating him kindly and speaking
well of him in his absence by remembering his good qualities. How come
that we do not adopt this attitude— which we adopt towards our
friends— towards our parents who sacrifice their time so that we can
enjoy our times? They spent their money so that we become rich. They
spent many nights crying because of our illness. Many times they were
preoccupied from life with our needs. There are many of their
supplications for us which were answered. How many times do kind
parents sit watching their children dreaming of the day on which they
become successful Muslim youth, with people delighting in them? By
Allaah, these are only a few matters to remember. Is it not time for
us to become faithful?
Family role
1-Understanding the stage: first, I would like to ask why do
adolescents clash with their parents. What are the reasons which drive
him to argue after he was tractable during his childhood? Why does he
tend to independence and individuality in taking decisions?
It seems that the answer is summarized in the fact that the adolescent
is living through a new stage. The more parents are able to understand
this, the more dutifulness they will get and vice versa. Missing
understanding between parents and children is the gravest matter that
culminates in undutifulness to parents. Children want to build their
own life according to their style and that of their friends. On the
other hand, parents look from their own point of view and through
their own perspectives of their customs. Hence, each party is on a
different wavelength. The deeper understanding of this stage the
parents have, the more capable they will be of dealing according to
methodology and awareness. By the permission of Allaah, it will result
in dutifulness to parents and in having good manners.
We previously clarified that the adolescent in this stage wants to
fulfill some needs such as security, acceptance, feeling responsible,
and so on. The more the parents are aware of these needs, the stronger
and more successful the relation will be. Undoubtedly, such success is
topped by dutifulness to parents. Hence, we need to read a lot on the
needs of adolescents and how to deal with them.
2-Stop the conflict: it is important that parents understand that
their children during this stage need to feel that their parents value
them highly and know that they have moved from childhood to youth. In
many cases, we find that the family's stance towards the child, which
may degrade or mock him, increases the child's tendency to resort to
his friends and compound their influence and effect on him.
3-Feeling rejected followed by loss: It is noteworthy that whenever
the adolescent feels acceptance and esteem, he loves his parents more
and more. Therefore, the more we accept the basic personal traits of
our adolescents, the more they feel at ease with us and their desire
to spend time at home increases. Undoubtedly, such a feeling of
acceptance and esteem leads to a similar result with the children.

Dought & clear, - Helping someone who faints during Jumu’ah prayers.

In one of the Friday prayer , a person praying besides me got fainted
and lied down unconsiously.
My question is , what should be done at this moment ? Should we alert
others and cry for help or just wait for the prayer to end .
Please provide the answer in detail.
Praise be to Allaah.
And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allaah and His blessings.
This depends on what has happened to this worshipper. If waiting until
you have finished the prayer will cause him harm, then you should stop
your prayer and help him. If waiting until you finish will not cause
him harm then you can help him after you finish the prayer. And Allaah
knows best.
Fatwa of Shaykh 'Abd-Allaah al-Ghadyaan.
In such cases you should act according to what you believe is most
likely to be the case, with regard to whether waiting until the prayer
is finished will cause harm or not. And Allaah knows best.
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Dought & clear, - Reasons for doing the prostration of forgetfulness.

When is it prescribed for a worshipper to do the prostration of forgetfulness?.
Praise be to Allaah.
By the mercy of Allaah to His slaves, as one of the beauties of this
perfect religion, Allaah has prescribed that His slaves may make up
for shortcomings and mistakes that they make in their worship and
cannot avoid completely, by performing supererogatory (naafil) acts of
worship, praying for forgiveness and so on.
One of the things that Allaah has prescribed for His slaves to make up
for shortcomings that may occur in their prayer is the prostration of
forgetfulness, but it is only prescribed to make up for certain
things; it does not make up for everything nor is it prescribed for
everything.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about
the reasons for doing the prostration of forgetfulness, and he replied
as follows:
The prostration of forgetfulness in prayer is generally prescribed for
three reasons:
1-Doing something extra
2-Omitting something
3-Being uncertain
Doing something extra: for example, doing an extra bow (rukoo'),
prostration (sujood), standing or sitting.
Omitting something: such as omitting an essential part of the prayer,
or omitting one of the obligatory parts of the prayer.
Being uncertain: such as when a person is not sure how many rak'ahs he
has prayed, whether it was three or four, for example.
In the case of doing something extra, if a person adds something to
his prayer – bowing, prostrating, standing or sitting – deliberately,
then his prayer becomes invalid, because when he added it, that means
that he did not do the prayer in the manner ordained by Allaah and His
Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever does
an action that is not part of this matter of ours (i.e., Islam), will
have it rejected." Narrated by Muslim, 1718.
But if he did that extra thing by mistake, then his prayer is not
invalidated, but he should do the prostration of forgetfulness after
saying the salaam. The evidence for that is the hadeeth of Abu
Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said that when the
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said the salaam
after two rak'ahs in one of the two afternoon prayers, either Zuhr or
'Asr, and they told him about that, he(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) did the rest of the prayer, then he said the salaam, then
he prostrated twice (the prostration of forgetfulness) after saying
the salaam. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 482; Muslim, 573.
And Ibn Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) narrated that the
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) led them in praying
Zuhr and he prayed five rak'ahs. When he had finished it was said to
him: "Has something been added to the prayer?"
He said: "Why are you asking that?"
They said: "You prayed five (rak'ahs)."
So he turned towards the qiblah and prostrated twice. Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 4040; Muslim, 572.
In the case of omitting something, if a person omits one of the
essential parts of the prayer, one of the following two scenarios must
apply:
Either he remembers it before he reaches the same point in the
following rak'ah, so he has to go back and do that essential part of
the prayer and whatever came after it,
Or he does not remember it until he reaches the same point in the
following rak'ah, in which case the following rak'ah takes the place
of the one in which he omitted that essential part, and he should make
up the invalid rak'ah.
In either of these two cases, he should do the prostration of
forgetfulness after saying the salaam.
For example: a man stood up after doing the first prostration of the
first rak'ah and did not sit or do the second prostration. When he
started to recite Qur'aan he remembers that he had not done the second
prostration or sat between the two prostrations. In that case he
should go back and sit as between the two prostrations, then
prostrate, then stand up and do whatever is left of his prayer, and do
the prostration of forgetfulness after saying the salaam.
An example of one who did not remember until after he reached the same
point in the following rak'ah is a man who stood up following the
first prostration in the first rak'ah and did not do the second
prostration or sit between the two prostrations, but he did not
remember that until he sat between the two prostrations in the second
rak'ah. In this case he should make the second rak'ah the first
rak'ah, and add another rak'ah to his prayer, then say the salaam then
do the prostration of forgetfulness.
Omitting an obligatory part of the prayer – such as if he omits an
obligatory part and moves on to the next part of the prayer. For
example, he forgets to say Subhaan Rabbiy al-A'la (Glory be to my Lord
Most High) and he does not remember until he has got up from
prostrating. In this case he has omitted an obligatory part of the
prayer by mistake, so he should carry on with his prayer then do the
prostration of forgetfulness before saying the salaam, because when
the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) omitted the
first tashahhud he carried on with his prayer and did not go back and
repeat anything, then he did the prostration of forgetfulness before
saying the salaam.
In the case of being uncertain, such as if a person is not sure if he
has done something extra or omitted something, e.g., he is not sure
whether he has prayed three rak'ahs or four, one of the following two
scenarios must apply:
Either he thinks that one or the other is more likely to be case,
whether it is doing more or omitting something, in which case he
should proceed on the basis of what he thinks is more likely to be the
case, complete his prayer accordingly, then do the prostration of
forgetfulness after saying the salaam;
Or neither appears more likely to be the case, so he should proceed on
the basis of what is certain, namely the lesser amount, and complete
his prayer accordingly, then do the prostration of forgetfulness
before saying the salaam.
For example: a man prays Zuhr then he is not sure whether he is
praying the third or fourth rak'ah, but he thinks it more likely that
it is the third. So he should pray another rak'ah, then say the
salaam, then do the prostration of forgetfulness.
An example of when neither seems to him more likely to be the case is
when a man is praying Zuhr and is not sure whether he is in the third
rak'ah or the fourth, and neither seems to him more likely to be the
case. In that case he should proceed on the basis of what is certain,
which is the lesser amount. So he should regard it as the third
rak'ah, then do another rak'ah and do the prostration of forgetfulness
before saying the salaam. Thus it becomes clear that this should be
done before the salaam if you have omitted one of the obligatory parts
of the prayer or if you are not sure how many rak'ahs you have done,
and neither of the two choices seems more likely to be the case. And
it should be done after the salaam if you have added something extra
to the prayer or you are not certain but one of the two choices seems
more likely to be the case.
SeeMajmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh, 14/14-16
And Allaah is the Source of strength.

*Dought & clear, - Times of prayer and fasting in the polar regions.

* I am a non muslim who currently live in a muslim country. It is my
understanding that the 5 daily pryers as well as the times for
feasting during the ramadhan are according to sunrise and sunset. My
question : How do a muslim may deterine the appropriate times for the
prayers and begin feasting if he/she lives near the artic circle where
nights and days can be quite long depending of the season.
My thanks for your answer and continue your work. It helps me
understand a few things about islam as well as understand what our
local staff were talking about.
Praise be to Allaah.
We thank you for this question and we appreciate your interest in the
prayer times in Islam. In answer to your question, those who live
close to the Arctic Circle, where they have continual night or
continual day for several months, should look to the closest city to
them where night and day are distinct in each twenty-four hour period,
then they should do the five daily prayers based on the timing in that
city.
Your interest in the matter and your keenness to ask questions and
find out gives us the hope that you will embrace this religion and
practise its rituals. We wish you well and hope for guidance for you.

Inspiring Stories for Students: Grasshopper and Ant story of Hard Work bring Success

One cold, frosty day in the middle of winter a colony of ants was busy
drying out some, grains of corn, which had grown damp during the wet
autumn weather.
A grasshopper half dead with cold and hunger, came up to one of the
ants. "Please give me a grail or two from your store of corn to save
my life," he said faintly.
"We worked day and night to get this corn in. Why should I give it to
you?" asked the ant crossly. "Whatever were you doing all last summer
when you should have been gathering your food?"
Oh I didn't have time for things like that, said the grasshopper. "I
was far too busy singing to carry corn about."
The ant laughed I unkindly. "In that case you can sing all winter as
far as I am concerned," he said. And without another word he turned
back to his work.
Islam teaches us that we should help the less fortunate. But it also
teaches us that we must work hard and not rely on the kindness of
others for our daily needs.

Inspiring Stories for Students: Fisherman Story!

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing
pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the
sparkling blue surf.
He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of
catching a fish.
About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to
relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman
sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was
fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his
family.
"You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman
to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the
beach!"
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And
what will my reward be?"
"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the
businessman's answer.
"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to
buy a boat which will then result in larger catches of fish!"
"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again.
The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the
fisherman's questions.
"You can buy a bigger boat and hire some people to work for you!" he said.
"And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman.
The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can
build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let
all your employees catch fish for you!"
Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't
you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to
work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days
sitting on this beach looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in
the world!"
The fisherman, still smiling, simply looked up, nodded and said: "And
what do you think I am doing now?" He then looked at the sunset, with
his pole in the water, without a care in the world.
However, both the fisherman and the businessman were wrong in their
materialistic outlook. We don't have to work hard so that we become
rich, sit in the beach and have no care in the world. Islam teaches us
to work hard to serve our family and our community and earn the
pleasure of Allah (swt), regardless of whether we are poor or rich.