Strokes in young people 'rising', study finds

Strokes are becoming more common at a younger age, with about one in
five victims now below the age of 55, research in the American Academy
of Neurology Journal suggests.
The study followed 1.3 million people in a US region and found 19% of
those experiencing a stroke in 2005 were in this age group, up from
13% in 1993.
This is despite a trend of overall falling rates of thecondition.
The Stroke Association said the findings were alarming.
Report author Dr Brett Kissela said: "The reasons for this trend could
be a rise in risk factors such asdiabetes, obesity and high
cholesterol."
The study looked at all people over the age of 20in greater Cincinnati
and North Kentucky over three periods in 1993, 1999 and 2005.
UK parallels
As well as a rise in the occurrence of stroke in the under-55s over
this time, from 109 per 100,000 people in 1993 to 176 per 100,000 in
2005, the study also found the average age ofthose experiencing the
condition fell from 71 years in 1993 to 69 years in 2005.
A stroke happens in an instant, but its effects canlast a lifetime,
leaving many with long-term severe disabilities"
Dr Clare Walton
Stroke Association
Those in the oldest age groups saw a decline in the rate over the same period.
Similarly, in the UK there has been a 40% reduction in the number of
people having major strokes over the past 20 years.
The decline in numbers ispartly due to improvements in prevention,
combined with an increase in healthy living public awareness.
This US study suggests a shift in the age of those experiencing
stroke, from the old to the young, although experts say the findings
need to be treated with caution.
Dr David Werring, a neurologist from University College London, said:
"Stroke is usually considered a disease of older people, but this
study reminds us that young people are also affected.
"It is possible that changes in how stroke is detected during the
study could explain some of the increase.
"The proportion having adetailed brain scan by magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI), which is the most sensitive test fordetecting stroke
damage in the brain, increased from 18% to 58%, which might have
increased therate of accurate diagnosis - particularly inyounger
people who mayhave been more likely to have these scans.
Greater burden
"Nevertheless, if these results are true, and turn out to be
generalisable to other populations, they could be very important
because strokein younger people can cause more lifetime disability."
Stroke Symptoms
The face can drop on one side - unable to smileor eye might droop
Unable to lift one or both arms
Slurred or garbled speech
Source: NHS choices
Experts suggest that similar lifestyles betweenthe US and UK mean the
two countries may experience parallel trends - and they warn ofa major
future public health challenge.
Dr Clare Walton, from the Stroke Association, said:"A stroke happens
in an instant, but its effects canlast a lifetime, leaving many with
long-term severe disabilities.
"With the number of younger people having strokes increasing, greater
strain will be placed on health services to support them with their
recovery.
"This problem needs to be addressed now. In many cases, a stroke can
be prevented and everyone can reduce their risk by making a few simple
healthy lifestyle changes.
" For example, eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and
getting your blood pressure checked can all make a huge
difference."And Allah knows best

US prepares first-strikecyber-forces

Cyber-attacks could inflictas much damage on the US as the physical
attacks on 11 September 2001, the US defence secretary has warned.
Leon Panetta said the country was preparing totake pre-emptive action
if a serious cyber-attack was imminent.
He said US intelligence showed "foreign actors" were targeting control
systems for utilities, industry and transport.
Advanced tools were being created to subvert key computer control
systems and wreak havoc, said Mr Panetta.
"An aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical
switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal
chemicals," said Mr Panetta in a speech to business leaders held on
the USS Intrepid - a former aircraft carrier that is now a museum.
"They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down
the power grid across large parts of the country.
"Such a destructive cyber-terrorist attack could paralyse the
nationand create a profound new sense of vulnerability," he said.
Smaller scale cyber-attacks were now commonplace, said Mr Panetta.
Cyber-attacks could inflictas much damage as 9/11. warned the US
defense secretary
In recent weeks, many large US firms had suffered attacks that had
involved them being bombarded with huge amounts of data, he said. In
addition, oil companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been hit by the
Shamoon attack, which had tried to replace computer datawith
gibberish. About 30,000 machines were hitby the Shamoon attack.
The US defence department had developed tools to trace attackers, he
added, and a cyber-strike force that could conduct operationsvia
computer networks. And it was now finalisingchanges to its rules of
engagement that would define when it could"confront major threats
quickly".
"Potential aggressors should be aware that the United States has the
capacity to locate them and hold them accountable for actions that
harm America or its interests," he said.
"If we detect an imminent threat of attackthat will cause
significantphysical destruction or kill American citizens, we need to
have the option to take action to defend the nation, when directed by
the president."

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The attitude of the rich Sahaabah towards helping the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) by supplying food

There are several hadis mentioned which says that our prophet (pbuh)
suffered from hunger. For example, Aisha (r) mentioned, Muhammad
(pbuh) and his family never got enough bread to satisfy their hunger
for two days before He died. (Bukhari and Muslim). Numan Ibn Bashir
(r) said, I have seen your prophet (s) that, He never got old or
rotten dates to satisfy Hishunger. (Muslim). My question is, isnt
there any Sahaba around our prophet (s) who can provide Him food?
Usman (r) was a rich Sahaba, as far I know. Isn't it a duty of a
Muslimto take care of other Muslims, especially if it was our beloved
prophet (s)? Can you please explain?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was
the most ascetic of people; Allah did not allow any room for love of
worldly matters in his heart or let him regard such matters as being
of any importance. Ahmad (7120) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that he
said: Jibreel sat with the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) and looked at the sky, and he saw an angeldescending.
Jibreel said: This angel has never descended since he was created,
until now. When he came down, hesaid: O Muhammad, your Lord has sent
me to you and He says: Shall He make you a Prophet-king or a
Messenger-slave? Jibreel said: Be humble before your Lord, O Muhammad.
He said: "Rather a Messenger-slave."
Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in as-Saheehah, 1002
Al-Baghawi narrated in Sharh as-Sunnah (5/442)that 'Aa'ishah said: I
said:O Messenger of Allah, may Allah cause me to besacrificed for you,
eat reclining for it will be easier for you. He tilted his head until
his forehead nearly touchedthe ground and said: "No; rather I shall
eat as a slave eats and I shall sitas a slave sits."
Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in as-Saheehah, 544.
The hadeeths which speak of his asceticism and lack of interest in
worldly accumulation and adornment are too numerous to be counted.
For a discussion of that and further explanation of his asceticism,
please see the answer to question no. 154864
Secondly:
The situation of most of his Companions at the beginning of Islam was
like his or close to it. Thisis explained by the report narrated by
al-Bukhaari (4242) from 'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who
said: When Khaybar was conquered, we said: Now we will eat our fill of
dates.
Al-Haafiz (may Allah havemercy on him) said:
This indicates that before that they were living on very little. End quote.
And he also said:
The fact of the matter is that many of them lived a life of hardship
before the Hijrah when they were in Makkah, then when they migrated to
Madinah, most of them were still like that and the Ansaar helped them
by giving them accommodation and in other ways. When they were enabled
to conquer an-Nadeer and after that, they returned the favour. End
quote.
When they became better off, they focused on spending in charity,
equipping armies and other kinds of good deeds. Some of them gave all
their wealth, some of them gave half of their wealth, some of them
would equip fighters who were goingout on campaign or takecare of
their families in their absence. This worldwas not their interest and
it never crossed their minds. Ahmad narrated in az-Zuhd (p. 36) that
Sa'eed ibn Jubayr said: 'Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn 'Awf (may Allah be pleased
with him) – who was one of the wealthy Sahaabah – could not
berecognised from among his slaves.
Thirdly:
No one should think thatthe Sahaabah did not pay attention to the
situation of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) or that they were heedless concerning it, even though they
knew that ifhe wanted to, he could have prayed to Allah, may He be
exalted, and He would have made him very rich. In fact they (may Allah
be pleased with them) usedto help him by giving him gifts and offering
him hospitality, especially the Ansaar. Al-Bukhaari (2567) and Muslim
(2972) narrated from 'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that
she said to 'Urwah: O son of my sister, we used to look atthe crescent
moon, then the crescent moon, then the crescent moon, threecrescent
moons in two months, and no fire would be lit in the houses of the
Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). I
said: O aunt, whatdid you live on? She said: The two black ones,dates
and water, but theMessenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) had some neighbours from among the Ansaar and they had
milch-animals, and they would send some of their milk to theMessenger
of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and he would
give it to us to drink.
And al-Bukhaari (2574) and Muslim (2441) narrated from 'Aa'ishah (may
Allah be pleased with her) that the people used to send their gifts
when it was 'Aa'ishah's day, seeking thereby to please the Messenger
of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
And there are many similar hadeeths.
It was narrated from 'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that
they slaughtered a sheep and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: "What is left of it?" She said: There is nothing
left of it except a shoulder. He said: "All of it is left except the
shoulder!"
Narrated by Ahmad, 2372; at-Tirmidhi, 2470. He said: A saheeh hadeeth.
The members of his noble household followed his example in that
regard, to the extent that they forgot their own share compared to
what they gave to other people, as they gave them precedence over
themselves.
It was narrated from Hishaam ibn 'Urwah, from his father, that
Mu'aawiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan sent one hundred thousand (i.e., money) to
'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), and she shared it out until
there was nothing left of it. Bareerah said: You are fasting; why did
you not buy a dirham's worth of meat for us? 'Aa'ishah said: If I had
been reminded, I would have done that.
Narrated by al-Haakim inal-Mustadrak, 4/15; adh-Dhahabi in at-Talkhees.
And Allah knows best.

Her husband treats her kindly but he does not give her her shar‘i right to intimacy; what shouldshe do?

Im married for 4 years and we have two children. We have a nice
marriage with no fighting and Islaam comes first.
But I feel that everythingcomes from my side, I lurn my children
everything, also Islaam, my husband is always working, may Allaah
bless him for taking careof us.
But now for 3 years he do't wanna be intimate with me, only 2 times
maby and then I was pregnant.
Because of my 2 pregnancys I became weight and that's why he said and
he sheated on me , I forgave him, and we had after a muchbetter
marriage but without intimacy, I always have to help him with oral sex
but I really need also intimacy, I allready lost a lot of weight , I
always makes myself beautiful for him, I know I'm beautiful, I do
everything for Allaah and for him and for my children, he says there
is no better or beautiful wife than me, but he dont touch me, I tried
everything. He say that itis not me but he is tyred from job. My
feelings start also to become less,he had a long beard, now it is so
short, I always talk about Islaam with him, he say that he is so proud
of me. But hehurted me so much times trough are marriage, we also
still dont live together and it's killing me. It 's so long story,
ghair insha Allaah.
I want love and intimacy, i wanna feel beautiful and loved and...He is
a good man, like he is sweet and calme and give me everythinh what I
need, but the most important I don't have with him
What must I do, and do you have an advice for him?
If I have to give you more information, I will do that.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
There is no doubt that what you mention is very difficult for a
youngwoman. A woman may be able to do without her husband spending on
her or providing her with accommodation, clothing or other material
needs. She may be able to do without allof that, by spending from her
own wealth or her family's wealth or whatever… But she has no way to
maintain her chastity and fulfil her physical desire except her
husband, or by means that Allah has forbidden – Allah forbid that she
should think of that or be tested in that way.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked
about a man who stayed away from his wife for a month or two months
and did not haveintercourse with her; was there any sin on himor not?
Could the husband be asked to do that?
He replied:
The husband is obliged to have intercourse withhis wife on a
reasonable basis, which is one of the most important rights that she
has over him; it is more importantthan feeding her. It was said that
what is obligatory with regard to intercourse is once every four
months, or according to her need and his ability, just as he should
feed her according to her need and his ability. And the latter is the
more correctopinion.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 32/271
Muslim narrated in his Saheeh (1006) from Abu Dharr (may Allah be
pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: "…the intimacy of one ofyou (with his wife)
is a charity." They said: O Messenger of Allaah, if one of us fulfils
his desire, will he be rewarded for that? He said: "Do you not see
that if he did it in a haraam manner, there would be a burden of sin
on him for that? Similarly, if he does it in a halaal manner, he will
be rewarded for it."
In that case, what the wise husband must do is take care of his wife
in that regard and give it priority over everything else, so that he
may keepher chaste, conceal her and meet her needs as much as he can,
even if he does not have an urgent need for that andeven if he had to
do it only for her, for the sakeof meeting his wife's needs. In that
there will be reward for both of them, in sha Allah, and a means of
help so that they attain spiritual and worldly wellbeing.
Secondly:
There is no doubt that what you mentioned about your husband's
situation and that having gone on for a long time without him
satisfying your needs but doing his duty towards you, is something odd
and needs to be dealt with.
If the matter is as you say, that you have not fallen short in your
duties towards your husband of adorning yourself for him, endearing
yourself to him and being prepared to meet your husband's needs, then
we think that you, along with your husband, should look at two things:
1. Make sure that there is no medical problem that is preventing
your husband from doing that, whether it is a psychological problem,
as often happens, or a physical problem. We think that the possibility
of this is not very strong,because of what you mentioned about your
husband doing that withyou, even if it is not frequent, and even his
falling into that which is haraam, even though heis married to you!
2. Make sure that you close all avenues to your husband fulfilling
his desire, except with his wife. It is natural that if your husband
has got used to other ways that are haraam, such as masturbation, or
immoral relationships – Allah forbid – or ways that are permissible,
such as fulfilling his desire with his wife without having
intercourse, then it is natural that this will weaken his desire to
have intercourse with his wife. If he has got used to these ways,
perhaps that means is that he is able to do without his wife
altogether, no matter how beautiful she is or what she does for him.
In that case, we advise you to give up all ways that may lead to that.
What you mention aboutoral sex is one of the causes of the problem and
is not a solution to it. So fulfil your husband's needs in all
permissible ways and adorn yourself for him, and ensure that
fulfillingdesires is done by meansof
some shared action that will fulfil the rights of both parties and
allow each to fulfil the duties that Allah has enjoined towards the
other.
That also involves making sure that your husband does not repeatthe
haraam action that he admitted to you and that he has repented from
that action. Try to keep him away from that as much as possible,even
if that is by changing the environment and the place where you live,
if you are able to do that.
If you do that and make the effort, but your husband does not change,
and he continues to fail to fulfil your rights and keep you chaste by
means of that which Allah has permitted, there is no doubt that the
suffering in that case is somethingthat carries weight in sharee'ah.
So if you cannot put up with your husband any more and you fear that
you may fall into haraam or think of it, then you can ask for
separation from yourhusband. Perhaps if he sees that the matter is
serious, he will mend hisways, and if he goes ahead and divorces you,
perhaps Allah will replace him with someone who is better than him and
grant you someone who will keep you chaste. Allah, may Hebe exalted,
says (interpretation of the meaning):
"But if they separate (by divorce), Allah will provide abundance for
everyone of them from His Bounty. And Allah is Ever All-Sufficient for
His creatures need, All-Wise."
[an-Nisa' 4:130].
But as you know, this should be the last resort.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Causing harm to the wifeby not having intercourse is grounds for
annulment in all cases, whether the husband did that intentionally or
otherwise, and whether he was able to do it or not; it is like
maintenance, and even more important. End quote.
Al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 5/481-482
We ask Allah to set things straight between you and your husband, and
to endear him to you and you to him, and to reconcile between you.