Welcome to Islam, - * How a Minister in Trinidad and Tobago entered Islam

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Madame Fatima Mik Davidson is the Minister of State for Social Development and Local Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. In an interview given by her to the renowned Arabic Magazine Minbar-al-Islam of Cairo, Madame Fatima Mik Davidson )formerly Mrs. Model Donafarnik Davidson( talked about the beginning of her encounter with Islam and how she ultimately turned Muslim.
She said: "I totally deny the idea that I accepted Islam in 1975 by renouncing Christianity. Really I am quite unable to understand and explain what the matter was with me. Let me take you back to the 9th March, 1950, the day that was fixed for me to enter Christian Monastery. When I woke up in the morning of that day, I felt that the voice -Allaahu-Akbar Allaahu-Akbar )Allaah is the Greatest( was ringing in my ears and it was thrilling my entire inner self. Lo! I had come back to Islam.
'I did not quite know what it was, but the monastery I refused to enter. After that I passed many years, seeking Allah's guidance, until at last I was able to come across a copy of the translation of the Holy Quran. Then I readily put faith in it. I happened to meet a Muslim scholar, Maulana Siddiq from Pakistan and an Indian scholar Shaykh Ansari. I had detailed talks with them about nature and what I felt about it in my heart, so much so that these great scholars exclaimed to me: Thank Allah you are a Muslim! You are now a Muslim lady. Read what you like, enter the Mosques and pray. We are prepared to welcome you, whenever you feel disposed to learn anything."'
Iman )Faith( is Bliss
"I felt happy. Ever since that day I have been feeling that my heart is overflowing with the bliss of Iman )Faith( and with love and high esteem for the Holy Prophet Muhammad ]Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam / peace be upon him[ Although the date of my formally embracing Islam is sometime in the year 1975, I have been a Muslim for the last 33 years, ever since the day I heard the great mysterious voice and I refused to enter the monastery. My heart proclaimed: Allahu Akbar: God is the Greatest(.
"I was the first coloured girl to enter the Mosque. This encouraged many Muslim girls to enter Mosques for prayer, particularly the Mosque of the Anjuman Jami' Sanatal which was founded by the great scholar Dr. Shaikh Ansari in the city of Francis in Trinidad. Its present Chairman is Al-Hajj Shafiq Muhammad.
"Prior to this, the residents over there thought that Islam was the religion of the Indians who followed so many shades of religious tenets and paths. They thought Qadianism and Ahmadism being more important.
"Later on a large number of the islanders, mostly of African origin, embraced Islam, until the ratio of the Muslims rose to 13 percent of the total population of the Republic, as against 31 percent Catholics, 27 percent Protestants, 6 percent Hindus, and 23 percent others."
Effect on her Duties
About the effect of her embracing Islam on her work in a state where Muslims are not in the majority, she said: "Islam demands of us efficient and sincere application to duty and I practise the teachings of the Faith )Islam( with sincerity. I do not tell lies either in my )official( work or in my )personal( life. To the best of my ability and with strong consciousness of my heart I shun everything that is repugnant to Islam. As regard the impact of my conversion upon my work, it was nothing but all blessing and good. Our former Prime Minister advised me to visit Egypt, because it is the land of the renowned Jami'ah Al-Azhar and the source of civilisation. He used to talk a great deal about Islam.
"When I requested my present Prime Minister to give me permission to visit Egypt in connection with my assignment as Minister of State for Social Development and Local Government, he agreed and also advised me to visit Al-Azhar and the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs about whose activities we heard so much during our visits to the U.S.A. and the U.K.
"I took part in the parliamentary elections many a time and came out successful in spite of being a Muslim. I have worked as Minister for Education and Culture and also as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Cabinet, although I am a Muslim.
"I would like to tell something important. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago allows official holidays on the occasions of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha festivals. The Muslims have freedom to celebrate the month of Ramadan in their houses as well as in the Mosques throughout the State."
She further said: "I make an appeal to the Islamic World to close their ranks because unity is strength, particularly under cover of the excellent religion of Islam which has brought equality to mankind and which regulates our relations and dealings. It is, therefore, imperative that the Islamic World should halt the wars raging among its certain states. It is possible to resolve all difficulties and disputes with mutual negotiations, consultation and understanding.
"Almighty Allaah has guided me to Islam and I pray Him to guide the Muslims towards fraternity and peace so that they may in reality become in this present age the best community that has been raised up for mankind."

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Welcome to Islam, - * Carol: I considered Judaism but chose Islam

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For as long as I can remember, I have never been satisfied with Christianity. I could never assimilate their belief that Jesus is the “son” of God. I used to think it was a fault in me – that I was of “weak faith”.
When I was a child, I used to pray to God to help me believe that Jesus was His son. I didn’t feel God responding to my prayer to strengthen my faith in the Christian church.
I had a little Jewish friend in the 3rdgrade. I remember being fascinated by her religion. I asked her why she wrote the word God as “G’d”, and she replied that in her religion, even the word “God” was considered too holy for them to spell out. I was amazed at the supreme power of our mutual God!
I remained very interested in Judaism all the way throughout elementary school, up into high school and college, all the while researching and studying it. I decided that it was the closest thing I had found so far to what I believed about God.
During college, I joined the Jewish Students Organization, started taking Hebrew and religious study, and began to make plans for my formal conversion to Judaism.
I contacted one rabbi at a conservative synagogue, and was quickly and purposefully discouraged by him as to the amount of work and effort it would take on my part. When I persisted, saying that I was willing to work hard for something as important to me as religion, he said: “We really don’t do conversions here!”
That was the end of that conversation. I was somewhat discouraged, but decided to try again at another synagogue with another rabbi a few days later. This one told me that I could convert if I wanted to, but that I would never be considered a Jew by other Jews.
With this warm reception, I was finally discouraged, and decided to look into other faiths. I examined Catholicism, Buddhism, and even Native American Spirituality, and I was getting nowhere. I finally decided that I would just believe my own beliefs of a supreme and omnipotent God, and go my own way.
I never even considered Islam until I met the man who was to later become my husband. I had previously always dismissed Islam as a violent religion, full of bloodshed, “holy wars”, and men who abused and oppressed women!
This was entirely due to the western media’s gross misrepresentation of Islam – the only exposure most Westerners, including myself, ever have to Islam, unfortunately!
When I found out )through casual conversation( that the man I had met was a Muslim, I was somewhat taken aback. He was so sweet and warm and caring, and he had a great sense of humor! )A Muslim with a sense of humor? Impossible!(
I really liked him as a person. I thought maybe I should investigate Islam more on my own, as I had just met a Muslim who defied all of the negative stereotypes that I had in my head about Islam and Muslims.
As the months went by, and as I studied more and more in depth about Islam, my conviction began to grow steadily that this was the true religion. It was so close in many ways to what I already believed!
Then one day at a weekly women’s lesson on Islam that I had been attending, )even though I wasn’t a Muslim yet(, one of the sisters was reading a verse of the Qur’an that really affected me. It was about the Jews and their questioning of God’s commands in sacrificing the heifer in Al-Baqarah.
This verse suddenly affected me so much that, much to my embarrassment, I began to cry in the middle of the lesson. The sister who was reading comforted me by saying that the Qur’aan – the Word of Allaah )Subhana Wa Ta’ala( – often affects people this way.
That evening at home, as I was preparing for bed, I went through my usual routine of opening the Holy Qur’an at random and asking Allaah to select a passage for me to read. The verse that my eyes fell on as I opened the book read as follows: “And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, you will see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth. They pray: ‘Our Lord! We believe; write us down among the witnesses. What cause can we have not to believe in Allah and the truth which has come to us, seeing as we long for our Lord to admit us to the company of the righteous?’ And for this, their prayer has Allah rewarded them with Gardens, with rivers flowing underneath – their eternal Home. Such is the recompense of those who do good.” )5:83-85(
This was the final message to me from Allaah for me to revert to Islam! I was speechless. He )Allah( spoke to me through the glorious Qur’an. He showed me the straight path – the truth. I said Shahada )Testimony of faith( shortly after that. Shahada was a homecoming for me – I felt that my soul had been set free.
Also, in direct contrast to the less-than-friendly welcome of the Jews when I expressed a desire to convert, the Muslims all said: Allahu Akbar )Allah is the Greatest(, Al-Hamdulillah )All praise and thanks are due to Allah(, Masha’Allah )What Allah wills(, Subhan Allah )Glorified is Allah(, Ahlan wa Sahlan )Welcome(, Mubarak )Blessing(, Assalaamu Alaikum )Peace be upon you(. No one has ever told me I “would never be considered a Muslim”.
To this day, and always, it warms my heart and soul to go to a gathering of my sisters and brothers in Islam and hear the quiet murmuring of “Assalaamu Alaikum”, and see the warm smiles, hugs and handshakes, and the welcoming outstretched arms of my Ummah )community(! I will never stop thanking Allaah for guiding me to the light of Islam.

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Welcome to Islam, - * A German lady converts to Islam

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Shortly after I was born in 1934 it became a "fashion" in Germany to quit membership of the Church—Catholic or Protestant—and become "gottglaubig" which means believing in God but actually signifies rather the contrary. In fact when I was about seven years old, an elder girl told me that there was no God at all and as she seemed to me quite an authentic person and I had just learned that also Santa Claus is only an invention for children, turned all my interest towards this world. Yet the world at that time was far from being easily understandable for young people. There were bombs day after day, there was father who could come only now and then for just one day and mother who knitted gloves and socks for "our poor soldiers," there was a big house in the neighbourhood which was turned into a hospital for the wounded. When that was over, there were strange people who took away our house and American war-films started coming in which melted my heart. I was unable to judge who was right and who was wrong and everything looked cruel and senseless to me—there were a thousand whys to which nobody could give a satisfactory answer. I started to be on the outlook for God yet hard though I tried I could neither find Him in Catholicism nor Protestantism nor with Jehova's Witnesses. The road nearer to God in these religions was barred for me through the fact that all of them had doctrines in which to believe I found impossible, and injunctions to follow which strictly seemed to me impracticable. And how could I accept a faith in which I knew from the very outset that I would be tortured by self accusation for my own imperfection?
It is still a miracle for me that of all girls, I was the one to meet a young European who had already embraced Islam seven years before. The very first time we met I happened to enquire about his religion and when I learned that it was Islam I asked him to tell me more about it. I was a great sceptic at that time due to the disappointments I had had with other religions, yet when he explained to me the meaning of the word 'Muslim', i.e., one who out of free will surrenders himself to God's Commandments, something started waking up within me. Then he went on to explain to me that all men, animals, plants and everything else in this universe is already Muslim compulsorily because they would destroy themselves if they would not follow God's laws in matters such as eating, drinking, procreation and so on. Man alone, so he said, is in a position to accept Islam also spiritually, apart from the material sphere where he practically does not have a free choice but has to follow his inborn urges as animals and plants.
It was the wonderful logic, the pure commonsense in all Islamic teachings which attracted me so much, in the first few fundamental doctrines about which I learned as much as in the books I read in the following years small though the stock of unbiased Islamic literature in German language is. Apart from the help of the young Muslim he now is my husband—who never got tired of explaining things to me and answering all my questions. Muhammad Asad's book "The Road to Mecca” made me understand the deep meaning behind all Islamic injunctions and thus helped me most while I was on my way to become a Muslimah.

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Commentary on Hadeeth, - Dought & clear, - * Medicinal benefits of siwaak in the Sunnah

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I have read and heard that there are numerous benefits to using miswak (e.g. curing of headaches, prevention of memory loss, etc.) I was wondering if anyone has come across some hadeeth to support this.
Praise be to Allaah.
Encouragement to use the siwaak as part of the Sunnah is mentioned in many hadeeths, and the effect of using the siwaak is described as purifying the mouth, cleansing it of dirt, making it smell good, and preventing disease. It is a general word which affirms that siwaak possesses all powers of purification and protection.
Dr. ‘Abd-Allaah ‘Abd al-Razzaaq al-Sa’eed says:
It is indeed a miracle of the trustworthy and unlettered Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), who said: it was narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Siwaak is purifying for the mouth and pleasing to the Lord.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i (hadeeth no. 5). Al-Bukhaari narrated it as a mu’allaq majzoom report inKitaab al-Sawm,Bab Siwaak al-Ratab wa’l-Yaabis li’l-Saa’im. It was classed as saheeh by al-Mundhiri inal-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb(1/133) and classed as hasan by al-Nawawi inal-Majmoo’(1/267). In an addition mentioned inal-Mu’jam al-Awsatby al-Tabaraani (7/278) it says “and clearing to the eyesight”, but this is very weak. Seeal-Silsilah al-Da’eefahby al-Albaani (no. 5276).
How can the siwaak not be purifying to the mouth when the unlettered Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not speak on the basis of his own whims and desires, who was taught (the Qur’aan) by one mighty in power [Jibreel (Gabriel)] (cf. al-Najm 53:5), enjoined us to use the siwaak, thus giving us basic guidelines to protect our teeth and mouths from disease by cleaning them, which is what preventive dentistry tells us now. As it is said, prevention is better than cure because it gives us a life that is filled with happiness.
All the means that may be followed to keep the mouth and teeth clean are very valuable in preventive medicine. One of these means is the stick from the araak tree, which is mentioned in many hadeeths from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This stick is called siwaak.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sa’eed al-Jareedli – head of the Mouth Disease department at Cairo University – said:
The siwaak is many times better than the toothbrush and toothpaste in chemical and mechanical terms.
After carrying out research he found that the substance which is in the siwaak kills germs and heals our mouths from disease. By itself it can take the place of the toothbrush and toothpaste because of the numerous substances it contains which are superior to those contained in toothpaste. Similarly, strong, gentle natural fibres work better than the fibres of the toothbrush and do not damage the gums. They also effectively remove what is left in our mouths and clings to our teeth of leftover food, which can cause disease and damage to the mouth and teeth. Up until today, in our civilised world, there is no toothpaste that contains the substances contained in the siwaak. Similarly, it says in the weekly magazine American Dentist that most of the toothpastes used in the United States of America are not good or healthy.
For example, we see that most of the toothpastes on the market are commercial and cheap, aimed at nothing other than making a profit, and the mouth and gums do not benefit from them at all. But in the case of siwaak, it was found -- after scientific research -- that it contains a lot of effective substances carried in its fibres, including cleansers such as sinigrin, astringents which strengthen the gums, such as gallic acid, volatile oils which give the mouth a good smell, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride, calcium oxalate and a number of substances which clean the teeth. Some substances in the siwaak also kill germs, so it has an effect similar to that of penicillin.
So the siwaak is indeed the purifier for the mouth and teeth. Blessings and peace of Allah be upon you, O Beloved of Allah, O intercessor for creation, O Trustworthy Messenger, until the Day of Judgement; you brought us the Qur’aan from the Lord of the worlds, the most wise of judges, and you spoke the truth when you said: “Siwaak is purifying for the mouth and pleasing to the Lord.” End quote.
Al-Siwaak wa’l-‘Inaayah bi’l-Asnaan(p. 9-14)
In the research of Dr. James Turner, of the Faculty of Medicine in the American University of Tennessee, which is published in the journal Oral Medicine and Dentistry, it says: The miswaak of the araak tree contains substances which purify and kill microbes, the most important of which are sulphur and sitosterol B (or β-sitosterol), as well as sodium.
Research and experiments indicate that the siwaak contains a substance which stops bleeding, purifies the gums and sterilises wounds in the gums. It also contains in its fibres large amounts of mineral salts and ions such as calcium, iron, phosphates and sodium.
Siwaak contains vitamin C, and it is well known to scientists that the interaction between this vitamin and antibiotics is regarded as one of the most effective of remedies. It also contains tannin which helps to strengthen the gums.
And Allah knows best.
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