Her work is putting together da‘wah pamphlets and she takesquotes from here and there (instead of writingthem herself)

The nature of my work isputting together religious and da'wah
pamphlets for an Islamic centre, but I am not very good at writing, so
I have no choice but to copy poetry and other literary works by poets
and writers. I copy metaphors and other eloquent turns of phrase,
beautiful wording and brilliant ways of presenting ideas, then I try
to change it a little by adding and subtracting some words to make it
suit the topic of the pamphlet that I am writing, so that the article
is a composition of things with some alterations, and I do not add any
sentence of my own except rarely. The result is an article that is
very moving and conveys the basic idea. Isthis regarded as
stealingwork and is it not permissible for me to do this? I have been
doing this for more than two years, but now I have realised what I
have been doing. I cannot tell my bosses and colleagues the truth. Is
the salary that I am taking regarded as haraam wealth?.
Praise be to Allaah.
There is nothing wrong with learning and quoting from what others have
written of beautiful phrases, eloquent words and brilliant
presentations inthe manner that you have mentioned, so that the
article will be moving and coherent from beginning to end. Writers are
always quoting from one another, looking for material, and putting
together sentences and paragraphs. Choosing the most appropriate
material requires time and effort. Perhaps by doing this you will
reacha stage where you no longer need to quote so much.
What is not permissible in this regard is stealing the articles and
publications of others, or stealing entire passages from them. As for
taking sentences andwords from a number of articles, it does not
seemto be the case that this comes under the heading of stealing or
theft.
It is also not allowed for a person to pretend to have something that
he does not have in order to give his colleagues the impression that
these moving words are his creation or production. Rather he should be
honest with himself and others, and point out that his efforts are
limited to compiling,putting together, selecting the right wordsand
benefiting from the work of others.
It was narrated from Asma' (may Allah be pleased with her) that the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: The one who
pretends to have been given something that he was not given is like
the one who wears two garments of falsehood."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (5219) and Muslim (2129)
And Allah knows best.

When does a divorced woman have custody of her children?

I know a sister who has divorced. She and her exhave two children, who
haven't reached the age of 7 years old. We have heard, that in case
she remarries, the father automatically will have the custody of the
children. I would like to know if there are cases in which the mother
does have the right to keep the children anyway.
Praise be to Allaah.
The mother has more right to her children – if they are below the age
of discernment – that her husband, so long as she does not get
married. If she gets married then the children go back to theirfather.
Once the children reach the age of discernment, they should be given
thechoice between their parents.
This applies if the father and mother are equal in terms of religious
commitment and good character. If one of themis of bad character and
not very religiously committed, he or she should not be given the
right of custody, becausewhat counts is what is inthe best interests
of the child, and his interests cannot be served with one who will
neglect thechild's rights. This is what is indicated by the hadeeths
and this is what was mentioned in fatwas by the most prominent
scholars.
It was narrated from 'Abd-Allah ibn 'Amr (may Allah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said
to a woman who sought custody of her child fromher husband: "You are
more entitled to him so long as you do not get married." Narrated by
Abu Dawood in his Sunan (2276); classed as hasan by Shaykh al-Albaani
in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah (368).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
I heard our shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him – meaning, Ibn Taymiyah– say:
Two parents referred a dispute concerning a child to one of the
judges, who gave him the choice between his parents and he chose
hisfather. His mother said to him: Ask him why he chose his father. So
he asked him and he said: My mother sends me every day to the school
and the teacher hits me, but my father lets me play with other
children.So the judge ruled that he should stay with his mother and
said: You have more right to him.
Our shaykh said: If one of the parents fails to teach the child and
instruct him in what Allah has enjoined upon him, then he is a sinner
and he has no right to guardianship over him. The one who does not
fulfil the duties of his guardianship has no right to guardianship. He
should be dismissed and another person should be given guardianship,
who will do what is required, or he should be put with someone else
who will do what is required. The aim is obedience to Allahand His
Messenger only.
And he said: If it so happened that the father marries a woman who
does not take care of his daughter's interests or look after her, and
her mother will take better care of her than this wife, then custody
in this case should definitely go to the mother.
And he said: It should be noted that there was no general text from
the Lawgiver giving precedence to either of the parents in absolute
terms, and the child should not be given the choice between his
parents in all cases. The scholars are unanimously agreed that neither
of them should be singled out in all cases; rather one whois an
evildoer and heedless should not be given precedence over one who is
righteous and of good character.
And Allah knows best.
Zaad al-Ma'aad, 5/475, 476
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The custody of the young girl goes to her mother so long as she does
not get married or until the girl reaches the age of seven years, when
custody passes to her father so long as she will not be harmed by
staying with her father.
In the case of an older girl, custody goes to her father so long as
she willnot be harmed by staying with her father's new wife.
Fataawa al-Mar'ah al-Muslimah, 2/874
And Allah knows best.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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Signs of Allah in Dreams

Islam tells us that a person in the grave is either enjoying a
peaceful stay or going through punishments depending on his/her deeds.
However, many people doubt this fact. This is due to the reason that
when a grave is dug, we do not see any fire burning people or gigantic
snakes biting dead bodies. All we see are bones mixed with soil. Well,
then where is the punishment or peace? Whether we can see it or not,
the promiseof Allah is true. Allah gave us many things to understand
things better. He tells us that there are signs in His creations for
those who think. To understand thisparticular issue (grave) better, we
can examine our dreams. Say, a person is sleeping right beside you. He
is seeing a dream where some people are trying to kill him. They catch
him and starts beating him. Finally, they take out a gun and shoots
him. Youare sitting beside this sleeping individual, but you do not
see any of these things. However, he is experiencing all these things,
it's just youcannot see. The same way, that individual in the grave is
going through all the things that are promised by Allah, it's just we
cannot see.
There are important purposes in dreams for someone who reflects. Such
a person thinks about how "realistic" the dreams are that he sees
while asleep, which in that way are no different in their realismfrom
the moment he awakes. For instance, despite one person's body lying on
the bed, indream he went on business trips, met new people, and had
lunch while listening to music. He enjoyed the taste of his meal,
danced to the music, became excited because of the incidents that
happened, became happy and unhappy, was afraid and felt tired.He could
even have driven a vehicle that he had not previously driven until
that day anddid not even know how to drive.
So, you can experience, see, touch, hear and taste things that are not
only real but also things that are unreal.

Signs of Allah in Birds

Allah says in the Holy Quran:
"Do they not see the birds suspended in mid-air up in the sky? Nothing
holds them there except Allah. Thereare certainly Signs in that for
people who have faith." (Surat an-Nahl: 79)
A bird uses great energy when it takes flight because it has to lift
all its body with its tiny wings. Yet, once it is up in the air, Allah
has made it easy for it to remain aloft without expending too much
effort. Birds can fly for a long time by allowing themselves to rely
on thewind. This way, they hardly tire since they consume very little
energy. When the effect produced by the wind diminishes, they begin to
flap their wings again. By means of this feature Allah has given
birds, they can cover very long distances and migrate to remote
destinations.
It is interesting that birds' legs, so slender and little in
comparison to their bodies, can carrytheir entire bodies. It is
amazing that so many muscles, veins and nerves can exist in such a
slender leg! If birds' legs were thicker and relatively more bulky, it
would be more difficult for them to fly.
Almost all birds sleep on one leg. This does not upset their balance
sincetheir body weight is concentrated on this oneleg. Allah has
created birds with the features that enable them to maintain such a
delicate balance.
The eyes of water fowl have been created for clear underwater vision.
While we can't keep our eyes open underwater for even 45 seconds,
water birds can easily catch insects and molluscs in water as
theyplunge their heads into it. Since this is the only way for them to
feed themselves, they must have clear vision underwater. For this
reason, Allah has createda special structure in their eyes, which
permits seeing underwater.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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