People of Imân and Piety Readily Accept the Truth

All praise is due to Allâh, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and
blessings of Allâh be upon the Messenger, his household and
companions.
O you who believe! Fear Allâh as He should be feared and work towards
your salvation tomorrow on,
"The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who
brings to Allâh a clean heart." (Ash-Shu'arâ 26:88-89)
And
"The Day when man shall remember what he strove for." (An-Nâzi'ât 79:35)
Fellow Muslims! It is part of a Muslim's magnanimity, nobility and
good manners to always seek for and surrender to the truth out of
desire for the pleasure of Allâh and out of fear of falling into the
abyss of arrogance. The Messenger of Allâh said,
"Whoever has the weight of mustard seed of pride inhis heart will not
enter Paradise."
A man said,
"[What about] a person who likes his clothes to be fine and his shoes
to be fine."
The Prophet responded,
"Verily, Allâh is beautiful and He loves beauty. Pride is disregard
for the truth and contempt for people." (Al-Bukhârî and Muslim)
Disregard for the truth is to reject it. And contempt for people is to
scorn themand show them all forms of arrogance either through words or
deeds.
Rejecting the truth also implies denying it, hating it and turning
away from it, as former people who were punished had done. The
punishment of Allâh came to them in their homes and what happened to
them becamea lesson for others. Allâh says,
"And never an Ayah (sign) comes to them from the Ayât (proofs,
evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord,
but that they have been turning away from it. Indeed, they rejected
the truth (the Qur'ân andMuhammad (peace be upon him)) when it came to
them, but there will come to them the news of that (the torment) which
they used to mock at. Have they not seen how manya generation before
them We have destroyedwhom We had established on the earth such as We
have not established you? And Wepoured out on them rain from the sky
in abundance, and made the rivers flow under them. Yet We destroyed
them for their sins, and created after them other generations."
(Al-An'âm 6:4-6)
Allâh also says,
"Indeed We have brought the truth (Muhammad (peace be upon him) with
the Qur'ân), to you, but mostof you have a hatred for the truth."
(Az-Zukhruf 43:78)
As for those who have faith and fear Allâh, their most prominent
characteristic is acceptanceof the truth, submitting to it and calling
others unto it. That is why they are thewisest of all people and the
most knowledgeable of the causes of happiness,victory and success.
Wisdom is the lost property of a believer; he takes hold of it
wherever he finds it. Refraining fromrejecting the truth is safetyfrom
being in the same group with the erroneous and deniers of the signs of
Allâh. It is also the safety from sharing in the consequences of their
rejection of the truth as a result of their arrogance inthe land.
You will notice that those who fear Allâh have habituated themselves
on accepting the truth irrespective of the person from whom the truth
comes. Hence you find them accepting the truth from children, ignorant
and enemies. This is the opinion of eminent scholars like Qâdî 'Iyâd
andothers.
Another noble quality of those who fear Allâh is that when anyone of
themdebated with someone, hesupplicated secretly for his opponent to
Allâh to strengthen his opponent, make him reach at the truth and let
the truth come from him. An example of this is Imâm Ash-Shâfi'î who
used to say,
"Whenever I argued with someone, I always wished that Allâh show the
truth through him."
Brethren in faith! The God-fearing Muslim treats his brother as gently
as he can. He lowers his voice when he speaks with him, he guards his
tongue and hands from attacking his honour and never harms him with
any form. He always bears in mind the saying of the Messenger ofAllâh
that goes thus,
"A Muslim should neither be slanderer nor a curser, nor an immodest nor foul."
And his saying,
"A Muslim is someone from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe."
(Al-Bukhârî and Muslim)
He also abstains from useless argument and he fears the malice and
hatred that quarrelling leads to. In this regard he follows the
Prophet's admonition that goes thus,
"I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who
avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right." (Abû Dâwûd)
And his saying,
"No nation went astray after they had been on guidance except that
they were afflicted with quarrelling and deprived of (fruitful)
actions." (Ahmad and At-Tirmidhî)
In short, sincerity of purpose and an intention to arrive at the truth
is thegoal. The Muslim must beware of promoting his personal ego and
showing that he is better than other. He should also treat all people
with compassion and wish them well.

Struggles benefit - The man who wanted to help the butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hoursas it struggled to
force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making
any progress.It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and
it could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He tooka pair of scissors
and snipped off the remainingbit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it hada swollen body and
small,shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that,at
any moment, the wingswould enlarge and expand to be able to support
the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened! In fact,the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.It never was
able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that
the restricting cocoon andthe struggle required for the butterfly to
get through the tiny opening were Allah's way of forcing fluid from
the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for
flight once it achieved its freedom fromthe cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If Allah
allowed us to go through our liveswithout any obstacles, it would
cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never "fly"!
I asked for Strength.........
And Allah gave me Difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom.........
And Allah gave me Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity.........
And Allah gave me Brain and Brawn to work.
I asked for Courage.........
And Allah gave me Dangerto overcome.
I asked for Love..........
And Allah gave me Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favours.........
And Allah gave me Opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted ........
I received everything I needed!
"So blessed be Allah, the best of creators!"
Sura The Believer (23) verse 14

The young girl who isn't an atheist like her teacher

A young woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to
herclass of small children thatshe is an atheist. She asks her class
if they're atheiststoo. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting
to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy
fireworks. There is, however, one exception. Abeautiful girl named
Zainab has not gone along with the crowd. Theteacher asks her why she
has decided to be different. "Because I'm notan atheist."
Then, asks the teacher,"What are you?" "I'm a Muslim." The teacher is
a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Zainab why she
is a Muslim. "Well, I was brought up knowing and loving God. My mom is
a Muslim, and my dad is a Muslim, so I am a Muslim."
The teacher is now angry."That's no reason," she says loudly, "what if
your mom was a moron,and your dad was a moron, - what would you be
then?" She paused, and smiled. "Then," says Zainab, "I'd be an
atheist."
[a moron is a dumb, stupid person]

2a] Arabian's relegion before islam

2a]
'Ilumquh of the Sabeans
~
Sabean jewelery in gold carnelian and onyx (Doe).
Statue, Sabean script, and a decorative panel in marble (Doe).
While her tomb and documents of her time have yet to come to light,
and remains of the tenth century BC are still largely unknown to
archaeology, the recovery of a small amount of contemporary evidence
together with a considerable amount of material from only three or
four centuries later enables us to reconstruct ageneral outline of the
Queen of Sheba's culture with considerable probability. She would have
lived surrounded by the accoutrements of an affluent civilization: a
thriving trade that brought unparalleled prosperity; an irrigation
agriculture that provided ample subsistence; a distinctive
architecture in stone that was second only to that of Egypt in
theancient Near East in its execution and variety of ornamentation; a
richness in metallurgy and stone carving as well as an abundance of
artists and artisans who pursued these vocations; a high degree of
literacy among the people, who had a keen appreciation of the
importance of a written language and of their beautiful alphabetic
script;and an art that is representational in a symbolic archaic
manner (Pritchard 40).
"The great civilization of South Arabia was little known to the Arabs
of Muhammad's time [although] any of the Arab tribes of Muhammad's day
still had a tradition that they had lived in South Arabia before
taking to thedesert when the old civilization declined." Some tribes
retained a memory of being settled there before conditions worsened,
apparently connected with the Marib dam bursting and a return to
nomadic life. Restorations were know to have been carried out in450
and 542 which puts a final date on the demise (Pritchard 1974 88).
Sura 34:15 states:"Certainly there was a signfor Saba in their abode;
two gardens on the right and the left; eat of the sustenance of your
Lord and give thanks to Him: a good land and a Forgiving Lord! But
they turned aside, so We sent upon them a torrent of which the rush
could not be withstood, and in place of their two gardens We gave to
them two gardensyielding bitter fruit and (growing) tamarisk and a few
lote-trees."
The hoopoe visits Nikaulis to entice her to Solomon (Lassner).
Sura 27:15-44 relates many of the episodes already found for examplein
the Targum Sheni, a further indication of the familiarity Muhammad had
with details of Jewish literature outside the Pentateuch. Rather than
Bilqis being portrayed as ademon, Solomon is portrayed as a great man
of God and master of the Djinn to whom Bilquis submits in
acknowledgement of al-Llah. The story of Solomon sending the Hoopoe in
a flock of bird to summon the Queen is told. The people of Sheba are
said to be sun-worshippers. Her throne is disguised and placed before
her as a test.She says "It is like it' evasively. As she walks on to
the palace: 44 "She though it a pool and uncovered her legs. Solomon
said 'It is a place paved with glass.' She said'I have wronged myself
to God, Lord of the worlds, with Solomon I make submission.' "
al-Lat, al-Uzza and Dhu Shara: the Deities of Nabatea
A second prominent Arab culture had sprung up from Southern Sinai
around 600 BC and from around 400 BC in the land of the Edomites in
Jordan. The Nabateans had a closerelationship with the Edomites as
they each claim a female line of descent from Ishmael, through
Bashemath one ofthe three wives of Esau and her sister Nabaioth
respectively (Browning 32), conditions favourable to integration. This
also gave the Edomites descentfrom Isaac through Esau. The son of Esau
and Bashemath was Ruel the Midianite father in Law of Moses.
Moon and Sun deities surmounted by the Eagle. Al-Uzza as Moon Goddess
commands the Zodiac surmounted by the moon and carrying a moon staff.
The temple of Manatu at Petra. Dionysian tragic mask with dolphins.
Grapefreeze (centre). Aretas IV and Shaqilat II (Glueck).
The Nabateans migrated from Arabia as shepherds and caravan traders
who benefited from horse breeding and settled adaptably to form rich
irrigated productive land with a prominent trade, centred on the
previously unpopulated area round Petra - 'a rose red city half as old
as time'. During the time of Jesus, Nabatea wasan independent Kingdom
with influence spreading to Damascus. Herod was involved in
hostilities withAretas IV the King of Nabatea because Herodias
displaced Aretas's daughter as Herod's wife. Although they were
annexed by the Romans they continued to be a significant Arab power to
the time of Muhammad.
Herodotus says of the Arabs: "They deem no other to be gods save
Dionysus and Heavenly Aphrodite … they call Dionysus Orotalt and
Aphrodite Alilat" (Negev 101).
:->