HISTORY :-How did Muhammad become a Messenger of God?

At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad
received his first revelationfrom God through the Archangel Gabriel.
This revelation, which continued for twenty-threeyears, is known as
the Qur'an.
Muhammad began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel and to preach
the truth which God had revealed to him. The people of Makkah were
steeped in their ways of ignorance and opposed Muhammad and his small
group of followers in everyway. These early Muslims suffered bitter
persecution.
In the year 622 CE, God gave the Muslim community the command to
emigrate. This event, thehijrah or migration, in which they left
Makkah for the city of Madinah, some 260 miles to the North, marks the
beginning of theMuslim calendar.
Madinah provided Muhammad and the Muslims the safe and nurturing haven
in which the Muslim community grew. After several years, the Prophet
and his followers returned to Makkah, where they forgave their enemies
and dedicated the Ka'bah to theworship of the One God. Before the
Prophet died at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim,
and within a century of his death, Islam had spread to Spain in the
west and as far east as China.

--
:-> :->

ISLAMIC ARTICLE :- How did the spread of Islam affect the World?

The Muslim community expanded rapidly after the Prophet's death.
Within a few decades, the territory under Muslim rule had extended
onto three continents--Asia, Africa andEurope. Over the next few
centuries this Empire continued to expand and Islam gradually became
the chosen faith of the majority of its inhabitants. Among the reasons
for the rapid and peaceful spread of Islam was the simplicity of its
doctrine--Islam calls for faith in only One God worthy of worship.
Islam also repeatedly instructs human beings to use their powers of
intelligence and observation.
As Muslim civilization developed, it absorbed the heritage of ancient
civilizations like Egypt, Persia and Greece, whose learning was
preserved in the libraries and with the scholars of its cities. Some
Muslim scholars turned their attention to these centers of learning
and sought to acquaint themselves with the knowledge taught and
cultivated in them. They, therefore, set about with a concerted effort
to translate the philosophical and scientific works available to them,
not onlyfrom the Greek and Syriac languages (the languages of eastern
Christian scholars), but also from Pahlavi, the scholarly language of
pre-Islamic Persia, and even from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian
language.

--
:-> :->

STORY :-

He told his wife:
"Alhamdulilah that I found you my princess" ♥
she asked him:"who guided you to find me?"
"Allaah (subhanahu wa ta'ala),through my prayer... I always used to
make this Duaa: (O Allaah grant me the woman You accept to be the wife
for a good servant)
"I was waiting for you" said the wife after a moment of silence
"how?" asked the husband smiling
"I always used to make thisDuaa in my prayer:(O Allaah grant me the
man You accept as a good servant)
May Allaah grant all the Muslimat husbands whom Allaah accepts as good
servants, A'ameen♥ —

--
:-> :->

ISLAMIC ARTICLE :-Be someone’s silver lining

They say every cloud has a silver lining. Goodness knows, a lot of
people these days are laboring under heavy clouds. I am, sometimes.
Maybe you are too.
Today, how about being someone else's silver lining? Relieve someone's
distress, bring ease to someone's heart, and help someone, as the
Messengerof Allah (pbuh) said,
"Whoever relieves a believer from a distress of this life, Allah will
relieve from him a distress on the Day of Judgment. Whosoever brings
ease to a believer who is in difficulty, Allah will bring ease to him
in both this lifeand the next. Whosoever conceals the shortcomings of
a Muslim, Allah will conceal his shortcomings inthis world and the
next. Allah will always help a servant as long as that servant helps
his brother."
Many of us are familiar with Allah's words in the Quran, in Surat
al-Balad. It'sa Juz Amma surah, frequently memorized:
"And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult
pass? It is the freeing of aslave, or feeding on a dayof severe hunger
an orphan of near relationship, or a needy person in misery; and then
being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and
advised one another to compassion. Those are the companions of the
right."
What if you don't have the capability at this moment of feeding an
orphan, or a needy person? The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has given us
examples of extremely simple things each of us can do that still count
in Allah's eyes as sadaqah (charity). He (peace be upon him) said:
"Charity is prescribed for each descendant of Adam every day the sun
rises." Hewas then asked: "From what do we give charity every day?"
The Prophet answered: "The doors of goodness are many… enjoining good,
forbidding evil, removing harm from the road, listening to the deaf,
leading the blind, guiding one to the object of his need, hurrying
with the strength of one's legs to one in sorrow who is asking for
help, and supporting the feeble with the strength of one's arms — all
of these are charity prescribed for you." He alsosaid: "Your smile for
your brother is charity." – Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 98
All of these are only examples. Look around youat your community. What
needs are not being met? What distress are people in? What simple
things can you do to help the people around you?
*. Muslims in communities from California to New York, and in other
nationsas well, have started soupkitchens to feed the poor and
homeless.
*. Muslims in Baltimore USA and other cities have opened shelters for
victims of domestic abuse.
*. There are many organizations that allow you to support an
orphananywhere in the world. For a monthly donation that's probably
less than you would spend on a movie or a restaurant dinner, you can
make sure that one child is fed, clothed, and educated.
*. Volunteer jobs are plentiful. The Prophet (pbuh) mentioned leading
the blind. Even today many blind people need assistance from
volunteers. You can help with grocery shopping, reading the newspaper,
or sending and reading email.
*. Many public libraries haveadult literacy programs, and always need
tutors to help teach people to read and write.
*. Campaign online, throughFacebook and forums, to raise money for
victims ofdisasters like the recent typhoon in Indonesia, or the
floods in Pakistan. Or work with your local masjid to collect
clothing,blankets and food supplies from your local community to be
sent to disaster areas.
*. Volunteers in some inner cities have turned abandoned lots into
organic food gardens. Theinner city residents all pitch in to help,
and the result is healthy food for people who otherwise would not have
access to fresh produce, and a new sense of community brotherhood and
sisterhood.
There are countless other examples I could give. Evenclearing some
broken glassout of the road or smiling at someone are counted as
sadaqah; they may seem like small things, but the stakes are greater
than youor I can imagine.
It's not about being a goody-two-shoes, impressing your friends,
having a story to tell, or earning a merit badge. It's not about
recognition. It's about changing the world one small step at a time,
earning Allah's pleasure, saving your own soul, and becoming one of
the people of Paradise. What could be more important?

--
:-> :->