Dought & clear - , Ruling on buying clothing and other itemsduring kaafir festivals in order to benefit from discounts on prices during the Christmas season

In Australia during christmas there are hugediscounts on things like
clothing, furniture, electronics etc. is it permisible to shop to
getthis discount which is generally not available during other part of
the year?.
Praise be to Allaah.
There is nothing wrong with buying clothing, furniture and so on
during the seasons of kaafir festivals such as Christmas, on condition
that one does not buy things that are used to celebrate the festival
or to imitate the kuffaar during their festivals.
In the answer to question no. 69558 it was stated that it is
permissible for the Muslim to open his business during the daysof
kaafir festivals, subject to two conditions:
(i) that he does not sell them things that they use for
sinful purposes or to celebrate their festival
(ii) that he does not sell to Muslims thingsthat they may
use to imitate the kuffaar during these festivals.
Buying items that one needs is much less serious than selling or
opening one's business, and the basic principle isthat it is
permissible to buy things, and the fact that it happens at the time of
their festival does not matter.
And Allah knows best.

Dought & clear - Is it permissible to delay giving zakaah until the rent is due from the poor person so that it may be paid with zakaah?

Please note that my zakaah is due in Ramadan. Is it acceptable for me
to give it in the month of Hajj (Dhu'l-Hijjah) or Muharram, because
there are families who are in great need and their rent becomes due in
the months after Ramadan; if I give them the zakaah (before that) they
will spend it, then they will be borrowing money all year. Please note
that I took it out of my wallet and put it in an envelope on which is
written their names and mobile phone numbers. Then when their rent is
due, I will give it to them.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is not permissible to delay paying zakaah from the time when it
becomes due for the onefor whom it is obligatory, as we have explained
in the answer to question no. 67578 . What you have mentioned is not
an excuse for delaying it when there are so many people who are
entitled to it in Muslim countries.
If you think that these families are more deserving than others
ofreceiving your zakaah, then there is nothing wrong with you giving
the rent before it becomes due, if you think it most likely that they
will be staying in the same house or, if they move, they will not lose
the money. Giving itahead of time may be a cause of reducing some of
the rent for them.
It is also possible to pay some of the zakaah for the coming year in
advance in the month of Muharram, and to pay the rent that is due on
time, from the zakaah on your wealth. Then you can subtract what you
already paid from next year's zakaah. See the answer to question no.
98528
You can also pay the renton these families' homesdirectly to the
landlord, because when the rent becomes due, the renter is then in
debt; in that case it is permissible to give the money directly to the
one to whom the debt is owed.

Islamic Stories - , Splitting of the Moon an Amazing Story

In a TV interview with the Egyptian Geologist Dr. Zaghloul Annajar,
theanchor asked him about the verse:
"The Hour has drawn near,and the moon has been cleft asunder (the
people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] to show them a
miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon)." (Quran 54:1)
whether it contains any Quranic scientific astounding facts?
Dr. Zaghloul answered saying that he has a story to tell about this verse.
He started explaining that at a time he delivered a lecture at Cardiff
University in the West of Britain. The attendees included both Muslims
and non-Muslims. A vital dialogue was taking place around scientific
facts included in the Noble Quran. During the course of the lecture, a
Muslim young man stoodasking me, Sir Do you see in the Saying of Al
Haq Tabarak wa Ta`ala (Allah the Truth) may He be Exalted - and he
referred to the above mentioned verse - any indication to the
scientific facts included in the Quran? Dr. Najjar answered: No
because scientific astounding discoveries are interpreted through
science whereas a miracle is something supernatural, which maynot be
interpreted through the usual. The splitting of the moon is amiracle,
which happened to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in order to prove his
prophecy. Tangible miracles are only a testimony of truth for those
who witnessed it. It is only that the incident was mentioned in Quran
and Prophet's Sunnah that made us believe other wise we Muslims of
this era would have never believed in it. In addition that we know for
sure that Allah is most capable of anything. At that point Dr.
Zaghloul narrated the story of moon splitting as included in Sunnah
books.
He said, Sunnah books tell that five years beforethe immigration of
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina, a group of people from
the tribe of Quraish came challenging him saying: Oh Muhammad if you
were really a Prophet and a Messenger bring to us a miracle to
establish this fact. So he asked them what do youwant? They said in an
effort to complicate matters for him: split themoon for us. The
Messenger of ALLAH (PBUH) stood supplicating to Allah to support him
and grant him victory in this hard situation. Allah may He be Exalted
inspired him to sign towards the moon with his finger. Immediately,
the moon cleft into two parts standing far from each other for several
hours then cling back together. The pagans started claiming: Oh
Muhammad (PBUH) practiced witchcraft on us.
At this point some of the wise men explained thatmagic would only
affect the attendees whereas itcan not maintain influence on everybody
in general. They waited for travelers who were coming back from their
journeys. The pagans harried up to the borders of Mecca in
anticipation to meet the travelers. When the first arrivals appeared,
they asked them did you see anything extraordinary happened to the
moon? The travelers answered yes on the night (X) we saw the moon
splitting into two parts which remained asunder for sometime then
reattached. Upon this statement, a number of the group believed while
the rest remained pagans. Therefore, the verse explains "The Hourhas
drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah
requested Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to show them a miracle, so he showed
them the splitting of the moon). * And if they see a sign, they turn
away, and say: This is continuous magic. *Theybelied the Verses of
Allah- this Quran), and followed their own lusts.And every matter will
be settled according to the kind of deeds: good deeds will take their
doers to Paradise and similarly evil deeds will take their doers to
Hell." (Quran 54:1-3) until the end of the verses which were revealed
in this regard.
Dr. Najjar continued thatat this point a British Muslim young man
introduced himself as Daoud Moussa Peetcock head of the British
Islamic Party. He carried on saying sir if you allowme I would like to
add on this issue? I said please do. He explained saying: At the time
whenI was searching in religions (before he embraced Islam), a Muslim
student gave me as a present the translation of the meaning of Quran.
I thanked him and took it home. The first Surat I came across when I
opened the book, it was Chapter of the Moon I read "has drawn near,
and the moon has been cleft asunder". I said to myself, is this
statement logical? Is it possible for the moon to split and then
reattach what kind of power may cause this? The man explained that
this verse made me reluctant to continue reading. I became busy with
my life,yet ALLAH of course Knows how sincere I was about finding the
truth.
So,one day ALLAH made me sit to watch TV. It was a talk show between a
British commentator and three American astronautics specialists. The
show host was blaming the scientists for spending thriftily over space
trips at a time when earth is suffering hunger,poverty, diseasesand
backwardness. He was telling them, it would have been more feasible to
allocate this kind of money for reconstruction of earth. To this
argument, the three men answered defending their positionthat such
technology is widely applied in many wakes of life such as medicine,
industry and agriculture. They added that the money is never wasted
but it rather supported the development of highly advanced technology.
During their dialogue, they mentioned the trip in which a man landed
on the moon surface as it consumes the the largest cost which comesto
more than US$100.000.000.000. The British TV anchor screamed saying
what kind of thrift is this? A hundred thousand million dollars just
to plant the American flag on the moon surface? They answered no; the
objective was not to plant the American flag but rather to study the
interior composition of the moon. We actually came to a finding that
would cost us double folds of this amount for people to believe and
yet they will never believe. The show host inquired what is this fact?
They replied: One day this moon was split and then reattached. The
show host again probed: how did you realize that? The scientists
responded about finding a belt of transformed rocks cutting the moon
from its surface to core and then to the surface again. The stated
saying:we consulted with earth scientists and geologists who explained
that suchphenomenon would never occur unless this moon one day split
and then reattached.
The British Muslim man said: I jumped out of my chair saying ALLAH
(SWT)forced the Americans to spend more than a hundred billion dollars
to prove to Muslims a a miracle that took place 1400 years ago for
Mohamed (PBUH)? This religion must be the truth. He added: I went back
to the Quran and recited Surat Al Qamar, which was my gate for
accepting Islam.

Islamic Stories - , The Power of Prostration

The following story was mentioned by brother Firoz who is originally
from Guyana and now living in Scarborough, Canada. Brother Firoz lived
in the USA before moving to Canada. He can easily be identified as a
Muslim as he wears a Muslim hat and has white beard. In USA, one day
he was going to the market to buy some things when he was approached
by a white American man who asked him whether he knew of any Halal
Muslim restaurant. Brother Firoz knew of one but was unable to give
him the proper direction. He figured that the American was a new
Muslim in this area. So, brother Firoz invited him to his house to
have some food. There were also some other Muslim brothers living with
Firoz at that time. When they reached home, everyone in the house
welcomed the special guest. They were also curious to know about the
reason why he accepted Islam.
The new brother told them that he was taking a world religions course
in the University. His teacher happened to be Jewish. When they came
to the topic about Islam, the Jewish teacher at one point started
showing the class how Muslims pray. "The moment I saw the teacher
doing prostration (sajdah), I knew that I belonged to this religion,"
said the new brother. This is what led him to Islam, a simple
demonstration of sajdah.
Just one act of Islam was enough to make this individual a Muslim.
Imagine, how many people will be convincedwhen all the Muslims start
practising Islam completely!