Welcome to Islam, - * How an American poet, critic and author embraced Islam

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M NajimudeeN - INDIA
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The simplicity of Islam, the powerful appeal and the compelling atmosphere of its mosques, the earnestness of its faithful adherents, the confidence inspiring realization of the millions throughout the world who answer the five daily calls to prayer — these factors attracted me from the first. But after I had determined to become a follower of Islam, I found many deeper reasons for confirming my decision.
The mellow concept of life – fruit of the Prophet's combined course of action and contemplation – the wise counsel, the admonitions to charity and mercy, the broad humanitarianism, the pioneer declaration of woman's property rights - these and other factors of the teachings of the man of Mecca were to me among the most obvious evidence of a practical religion so tersely and so aptly epitomized in the cryptic words of Muhammad, "Trust in God and tie your camel". He gave us a religious system of normal action, not blind faith in the protection of an unseen force in spite of our own neglect, but confidence that if we do all things rightly and to the best of our ability, we may trust in what comes as the Will of God.
The broadminded tolerance of Islam for other religions recommends it to all lovers of liberty. Muhammad admonished his followers to treat well the believers in the Old and New Testaments; and Abraham, Moses and Jesus are acknowledged as co-prophets of the One God. Surely this is generous and far in advance of the attitude of other religions. The total freedom from idolatory ... is a sign of the salubrious strength and purity of the Muslim faith.
The original teachings of the Prophet of God have not been engulfed in the maze of changes and additions of doctrinarians. The Qur'an remains as it came to the corrupt polytheistic people of Muhammad's time, changeless as the holy heart of Islam itself.
Moderation and temperance in all things, the keynotes of Islam, won my unqualified approbation. The health of his people was cherished by the Prophet, who enjoined them to observe strict cleanliness and specified fasts and to subordinate carnal appetites ... when I stood in the inspiring mosques of Istanbul, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Fez and other cities, I was conscious of a powerful reaction ]to[ the potent uplift of Islam's simple appeal to the sense of higher things, unaided by elaborate trappings, ornamentations, figures, pictures, music and ceremonial ritual. The mosque is a place of quiet contemplation and self-effacement in the greater reality of the One God.
The democracy of Islam has always appealed to me. Potentate and pauper have the same rights on the floor of the mosque, on their knees in humble worship. There are no rented pews or special reserved seats.
The Muslim accepts no man as a mediator between himself and his God. He goes direct to the invisible source of creation and life, God, without reliance on saving formula of repentance of sins and belief in the power of a teacher to afford him salvation.
The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, colour or country, has been brought home to me most keenly many times in my life and this is another feature which drew me towards the Faith.
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Welcome to Islam, - * Tommy: I learned about Islam through Internet

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In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
Islam is truly a beautiful and noble religion. Despite all of the bad press given to Islam and to Muslims in general, it has managed to flourish and gain followers for almost 15 centuries. Islam is, in a few short words, my life. Allah is the driving force in my life. Without Allah, I am nothing. Without Allah, I am of less significance than a single atom.
When I sat down to write this introduction, I did not intend to tell the whole story of my reversion to Islam. The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is the perfect place for my story...
I was born into a fairly religious Polish, Roman-Catholic family. I was baptized at birth, and I attended a religious pre-school in Detroit, Michigan. Church was always a part of my early childhood in Detroit, although my family did not go every week. It was not until after we moved to North Carolina that my parents started going to church more often.
I had always gone to Catholic School, so from the first grade I had been schooled in the life of Jesus )peace be upon him/PBUH(, his mother, Mary, the Apostles, the Bible, and the Sacraments. I made my "First Holy Communion" at the age of 7, and I had no problem believing that the little wafer of unleavened bread was truly the "Body of Christ".
My faith in Catholic Christianity remained strong throughout most of my grade school years. I seemed to be developing into a conservative, "Old School Catholic". I respected Judaism, looked down on Protestantism and Orthodoxy, and saw religions like Islam and Hinduism as strange faiths for foreign people. However, the church that we attended didn't seem to "fill me up" spiritually.
In September of 1995, a local Melkite Byzantine Catholic )a group of Orthodox Catholics from Lebanon( parish held a liturgy at our church. I went with my mother, and I fell in love. It was simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, heard, and smelled. A traditional liturgy, chanted in English, Arabic, and Greek, with candles, icons, and lots of incense. I started attending Divine Liturgy at the Melkite church regularly.
When my friends learned about my new church, they didn't exactly criticize me, but they did not understand why I liked the Melkite Catholic liturgy better than the Roman Catholic liturgy. Some people claimed that I was doing it for attention. I always thought that if I had wanted to draw attention to myself, I would have done something a little more outrageous!
I continued to go to the Melkite church weekly, until mid-March of 1996. It was during the Church's season of Lent, which is 40 days before Easter, that I had my first serious falling-out with Christianity. I am not exactly sure what prompted it, but all of a sudden, I stopped believing in the Christian religion. For some reason, I felt drawn towards Judaism, the only other "good" monotheistic religion that I knew of. I went to a Sabbath service at a local synagogue with a Jewish friend of my parents. I had always been interested in Jewish culture, but I didn't know much about the Jewish religion.
I began to attend Sabbath services on Sunday mornings. Although I was fairly well accepted by the Jews in town, I drew a lot of criticism from my friends. Again, I was accused of trying to get attention, of trying to be different. Despite what people said, I slowly began to adopt Judaism and follow Jewish cultural and religious practices. I learned to read Hebrew and memorized a great deal of the Saturday Sabbath service.
By the time I started high school in 1996, people called me "The kid who thinks he's Jewish". I planned on eventually converting to Judaism and perhaps even moving to Israel. Little did I know, my flirtation with Jewish life would end soon.
Sometime after Thanksgiving, I was sitting at home on the Internet, looking for an interesting site or two. I was looking through an Internet magazine, and a site review caught my eye. The site was Ibrahim Shafi's Islam Page. From this page, I was confronted with Islam.
What was my previous knowledge of Islam? Not much. I had a friend in school who was a Muslim, and my mother worked with a Muslim man. However, my knowledge of Islam was extremely limited. Most of what I knew came from the "Princess" books, which made me frown at Islam's treatment of women. Plus, my exposure to Judaism had given me a slight anti-Arab/Muslim bias.
Nevertheless, I began to read up on Islam through the web. I soon began to hang out on an Islamic website on the Internet Relay Chat )IRC(, making lots of Muslim friends. Soon, I started declaring the Shahada to myself every day. My life began to take on structure, but I still did not feel that I was part of the Ummah )Muslim Community(, as I had not declared the ‘Shahada’ )Declaration of Islamic Faith( in front of a witness.
My opportunity to become a Muslim in front of other Muslims came during a trip to Chicago. My sister was going to the University of Chicago, and I realized that there was an active MSA )Muslim Student Association( there. I formally declared my belief in Allah and the Prophet of Allah )peace be upon him/PBUH( before an MSA-run organization. My life came together.
I have since adopted the name Tariq Ali, online at least, but in the regular world, I remain Tommy.
People seem to think I change my religion often. I still get comments like, "What religion are you this week, Tommy?" Usually, I just tell them I am a Muslim, and if they are interested, I tell them about our wonderful religion.

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Hajj, - Hukm al-Hajj wa’l-‘Umrah (rulings on Hajjand ‘Umrah), Dought & clear, - * A Muslimmust perform hajj for himselffirst

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M NajimudeeN - INDIA
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My mother recently passed away, on the first of Ramadan. She never
performed Hajj, so I am planning to do that on her behalf. My question
is: can I perform Hajj for her even though I have not yet performed
Hajj for myself?
Praise be to Allah.
I ask Allaah to reward you for your kind feelings towards your mother and your eagerness to perform your filial duty towards her after her death. In response to your question, if a Muslim wishes to perform Hajj on behalf of someone else, he must first have performed it for himself. The daleel (evidence) for that is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas, according to which the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) heard a man saying
“Labbayk (here I am) on behalf of Shubrumah” [i.e., he was performing Hajj on behalf of Shubrumah]. He (the Prophet) asked, “Who is Shubrumah?” The man said: “He is a brother (or a relative) of mine.” He asked, “Have you performed Hajj for yourself?” He said, “No.” He told him: “Perform Hajj for yourself, first, then perform Hajj on behalf of Shubrumah.” (Reported by Abu Dawud in Al-Sunan, Kitaab al-Manaasik, Baab al-rajul yuhijj ‘an ghayrihi).
This is a saheeh hadeeth. I ask Allaah to forgive your mother and extend His Mercy to her, for Allah is the best of Helpers.
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