Islam is a Game Changer

Islam is a game changer. Every other system, every human-made "ism" –
feudalism, tribalism, nationalism, monarchism, capitalism, communism,
fascism – treats human beings like commodities orless. Every other
system simply plays around with variables like distribution of wealth
and labor, or elevates one group of human beings based on lineage or
geography, while devaluing others to less-than-human status.
All these systems are fundamentally uncivilized, even barbaric.
Islam changes everything. Islam says, we're going to uphold the
fundamental dignity of all human beings.
"And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them
on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and
preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite]
preference." – Quran, 17:70
Allah has honored all the children of Adam. Not onlyMuslims, not only
men, notone race or nation, not only the wealthy or beautiful, but all
humans. As for the nature of man, Allah says, "[So mention] when your
Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am going to create a human being
from clay. So whenI have proportioned him and breathed into him ofMy
[created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'" – Quran,
38:71-72
A being into whom Allah breathed cannot help but be noble by nature.
Yes, we humans are corruptibleand shortsighted, but we don't have to
be. Our nature is pure. We can, at times, rise above our own
foolishness and become great.
When it comes to morality,Islam takes the approach of trusting human
beings to live by values like compassion, justice, fairness, help for
the poor, brotherhood and sisterhood, devotion to God, and
non-attachment to material luxuries.
That's what Islam is supposed to be!
This is why certain oppressive cultural practices found in parts of
the Muslim world are so abominable. I'm talking about so-called honor
killings, female genital mutilation, denial of education to women,
violence against religious minorities, etc. These practices must be
abolished. They are anathema to everything Islam represents.
Islam came to promote an idea of human dignity based on:
1- Our relationship with Allah;
2- The love and mercy we show one another;
3- The utilization of our free will for a higher purpose.
All human beings are created in the best of molds ( You Are Perfectly
Created ). All human beingsare born on the fitrah , the pure and
natural way, with an inborn inclination to recognize the Creator and
do good. Racism and nationalism are abhorred and abolished. Women
arerecognized as intellectual and spiritual beings, not property,
objects, or vassals.
That's Islam as it should be. It's a revolutionary system. Rather than
a limited material or tribal system, it is for the first time in
history a human system. If we're practicing anything less then we're
not practicing Islam. If we look down on certain races, if we hate
people because of their nationality or religion, if we subjugate
women, then we're practicing a fraud, and shaming ourselves before the
world.
Islam rises above everything that came before. Islam came to change
the world, and to elevate the essential nobility all human beings, a
nobility not based on nation or tribe, but on our eternal souls.
That's the call of Islam. That's the path we must follow.

Patiently Persevere

"The writer Mustapha Sadiq Ar-Rafei wrote, 'When I looked into history
I found a small number of individuals whose lives mirrored thelife
cycle of a grain of wheat. They were torn from their roots, then
crushed, then ground in mills, then kneaded withfists, then rolled out
and baked in ovens at high temperatures… just so they could provide
food for others.'
Patiently persevere in the face of hardship hoping fora good outcome
because you never know how many dead hearts you willbring to life in
the process. No hardship lasts forever. There is always an end."

The Tall Grass

I could listen all day
to the eucalyptus leaves
rustling in the wind, passing it on.
You said once
that the world was stale and worn,
like a room where everything's been used.
Sometimes I wonder
if you were speaking of yourself.
I don't see the world that way,
or you either. At this moment
the clouds in the Eastern sky
are limned with red light
like the edge of a forest fire.
The cows across the road are grazing
in the acres that burned last year.
Now tall green grass grows there.
I know they are slow beasts, barely aware,
but they love their calves,
and they worship in their way.
They are beautiful in their striped coats.
All is beautiful, especially you.
If your world is a stale room
then let me break the door
and carry you into the June sunshine.
Maybe you're right that everything's been touched,
but the world renews itself.
The rains wash to the sea,
and all is clean. I know that -
like the acres where the cows graze -
you've been burned.
You said you have ten thousand questions
and nowhere to turn. You said
you are a painful mystery to yourself.
That's okay. None of us have answers,
none of us know our own depths
any more than we know the stars..
You are innocent as a childto me.
You are new, never stained,
the tall grass growing green
on the acres of your soul.

1a. Ruling on raising the hands when offering supplication (du‘aa’) after burying the deceased

1a.
Theissue of raising the hands or not may be as follows:
1. Where there is a text which speaks of raising the hands, such
as offering supplication (du'aa') in 'Arafah, offeringsupplication at
the first and second Jamarah, and praying for rain (istisqa')
2. Where there is no mention of raising the hands, such as the
supplication in the Friday sermon (khutbah), when no one is to raise
his hands in supplication, neither the khateeb nor the members of the
congregation, because theMessenger (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) did not raise his hands although he delivered so many
khutbahs to the people.
3. In other cases, the matter is broad in scope; one may raise the
hands or not