NTM 1348 | NewTrendMag.org

NewTrendMag.org News # 1348 [ Click on NEWS for back issues ][ OUR BOOKS ][ Previous Issue ]

Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief

Ramadan 5, 1432/August 16, 2010 # 32

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Verses of the Week

"(Their plight will be) no better than that of the people of Pharoah, and their predecessors; they denied our Signs, and Allah called them to account for their sins. For Allah is strict in punishment. Say to those who reject Faith: "Soon will ye be vanquished and gathered together to Hell -an evil bed indeed (to lie on)! There has already been for you a Sign in the two armies that met (in combat): One was fighting for the Cause of Allah, the other resisting Allah; these saw with their own eyes twice their number. But Allah does support with His aid whom He pleases. In this is a lesson for such as have eyes to see."

-Holy Qur'an 3:11-13

Submitted by Sis. Abigail

Ed. Note: The verses refer to the battle of Badr which took place in Ramadan. Poorly armed but highly motivated, 313 Muslims led by the Prophet, pbuh, defeated a force of oppressors three times larger and heavily armed. For relevance, see the poorly armed Iraqis and Afghans and Pakistanis and Somalis who have brought hugely "superior" militaries to the edge of defeat.

Ramadan is the anniversary of Ayesha, r.a., the daughter of Abu Bakr, r.a., and the beloved wife of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. There has been a spate of abusive attacks on Ayesha, r.a., by Zionists, extreme right wingers, "Muslim" Pervezi anti-Hadith sectarians and Shi'ite sectarians. The purpose of the attacks in some cases seems to be to show that Islam does not have women leaders. Scroll all the way down for our rebuttal of the attacks on Ayesha, r.a., in our Hadith Studies section.

New Trend, are we good or what? Immediately after our analyis of the purpose behind the mosque at ground zero, the US State Deparment announced that it is sending the "imam" of the mosque to the Middle East to tell Muslims how much the US loves Islam. On August 13, President Obama came out strongly and clearly in favor of the multi-million dollar mosque (more correctly masjde zirar).
New Trend is ahead of the curve!

New Trend has added a matrimonial page to its web site. For the first ad, please go to our site and click on LINKS.

Letter

Ramadan: By Qur'an and Sunnah or by ISNA/Saudi Dates?
A large number of Muslims in North America started Ramadan fasting on August 11, 2010, not because Ramadan moon was seen but because ISNA fixed the date weeks ago.

Do you know ISNA has abandoned the Qur'an's command, and Prophet (pbuh) Sunnah to start Ramadan by moon-sighting? ISNA Fiqh Council bid'ah of forcing Saudi dates on the Muslims in North America has blinded the Muslims to the fact that the Muslims always started Ramadan and prayed Eidain after sighting a Hilal. See the Islamicmoon web site on how Saudis violate the Quran and the Sunnah.

-Dr. Omar Afzal

Ithaca, New York

A distinguished Muslim scientist in Chicago says that ICNA leader Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah's book in support of "calculation" for Ramadan, as opposed to the Sunnah of actual moon sighting, is unsound and misleading and must be rejected. Please scroll all the way down.

Under Community Issues, we have an interview with Br. Yusuf (Baltimore) on his job refusing to let him keep a beard. Scroll way down please.

Unite Against Zionism: Jamaat al-Muslimeen Shoora theme

"Zionism is a form of racism" concluded world famous mathematician Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz [ DrAAS.info ] during his scholarly discourse when he addressed Jamaat al-Muslimeen's mini Shoora.

Unite Against Zionism

"Zionism is racism" was the truth spoken by Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin for years before he was arrested. (Narrated by Imam Khalil Abdur Rahman to Jamaat al-Muslimeen's national shoora.)

Unite Against Zionism: Latest Book Uncovers Israeli War Crimes & Israeli Agents.

War Crimes in Gaza and the Zionist Fifth Column in America by James Petras. 132 pages, 26 photos. copyright 2010 (just published)

Order from: Clarity Press, #469, 3277 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30305

New Trend strongly recommends this book. It is a valuable contribution towards understanding why Obama is helpless in the hands of America's Israel lobby.

Unite Against Zionism: an Yahoo News article submitted by Br. Richard, Jamaat al-Muslimeen Omaha, Nebraska

Zionism is Racism

An Israeli attacked numerous Black people, allegedly killing five of them, and then tried to flee to Israel. He is an Israeli of "Christian" Arab background but seems infected with Zionist racism. An Israeli Jew is his lawyer.

Associated Press reported:

"August 11: Elias Abuelazam 33-year-old was arrested in Atlanta as he prepared to board a flight to Tel Aviv. He grew up nearby, in a small Arab Christian community in the Israeli town of Ramle.

He is a suspect in a total of 18 attacks. The first 14 occurred in and around Flint in Michigan's Genesee County beginning May 24 and ending early this month. They were followed by two knifings and a hammer attack in Leesburg, Va., and a stabbing in Toledo, Ohio.

Also August 14, a lawyer in Abuelazam's hometown of Ramle in Israel, Giora Zilbershtein said he will work with an attorney hired to represent Abuelazam in the United States."

The media had been giving extensive coverage to the attacks but as soon as they discovered that the perpetrator was an Israeli and had been caught trying to flee to Israel, the media coverage ended abruptly.

Unite Against Zionism

Who is a Zionist? Jamaat al-Muslimeen shoora Explains.

Anyone who believes that Israel is a legitimate entity is a Zionist.

Thus we have Jewish Zionists, Christian Zionists and even Muslim Zionists such as the 4 letter organizations whose bosses hobnob with Rabbis and hold interfaith meetings with Jews who think Israel is legitimate.

Unite Against Zionism

Protest Against the Burning of the Qur'an

By Yusuf El-Irelandi (Jamaat al-Muslimeen Tennessee)

This cause now has 2,509 members on Facebook.

Their mission: To protest against the event of a denominational church in Gainesville, Florida, which plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the 9th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

(To join the cause, go to Facebook. Under causes, search for "Protest against burning of Qur'an.")

Friday Khutba by Pakistani leader Syed Munawar Hasan

Devastating Floods in Pakistan being Used as Cover by Regime for the Treachery of Recognizing Israel

From Shamsuddin

August 13, 2010. Jamaate Islami's top leader Syed Munawar Hasan addressed a Friday prayer gathering of tens of thousands of worshippers in Mansoorah in Lahore. He urged Pakistani's to go all-out to help the flood affected people. He said that Jamaate Islami and charitable organizations like Al-Khidmat are in the forefront of the struggle to help the victims of the floods. He said that twenty million people have been affected. The flood waters, after devastating the Northern areas, have now inundated vast regions in Sind and Punjab.

While the nation is struggling to help its people, the Government has committed an act of serious treachery by trying to recognize Israel. The Government seems to be under the impression, he said that the people are so diverted by the disaster that they will not notice the latest plan to recognize Israel. In this connection, he said, the foreign ministry has set up a camp in Tel Aviv. Such moves ignore the fact, he said that the Pakistani people will not tolerate any recognition of Israel and there will be a strong response to defeat this move.

Syed Munawar Hasan hailed Turkey's move against Israel and urged the Pakistani rulers to learn a lesson from Turkey, which had close relations with Israel, but is steadily moving away from it. The Jamaat leader said that Israel is the source of evil in the world today, and no excuse can be accepted to try and recognize it as a legitimate entity.

Dr. Kaukab Siddique's Radio Interview

Allah is Changing Pakistan Thru Floods: Terms like "extremists" cut American people off from the Pakistani people

On August 14th, Dr. Kaukab Siddique was interviewed by Dr. Wilmer Leon on the "On with Leon Show", one of the most prestigious independent radio programs in America. Dr. Leon questioned him about the situation in Pakistan and read to him American reports that indicate that Muslim "extremists" may make gains in flood devastated areas.

Dr. Siddique said that terms like "extremists" create an opaque medium of non-understanding between Americans and Pakistanis. Only a couple of days back, BBC reported that "extremists" from Jamat Ud-Dawa are doing extensive work in the flood devastated areas and in one local spot alone, they are cooking three-thousand meals every day for the starving people. Dr. Siddique said these activities should be praised as being the work of good Muslims who care for humanity and not be dismissed as an extremist threat. He said Jamaate Islami is doing similar great work to help the people and this too has been ignored by the US media which is focusing on the spotty and limited relief work of the Pakistani army.

The army in fact has failed so miserably, he said, that one thousand US Marines are now in Pakistan with their helicopters trying to do what the Pakistani army should have done.US drones have been killing Pakistanis, he said. In drone attacks, the US claims to have killed a very few suspected al-Qaida leaders but in the process has slaughtered more than 700 Pakistanis, he added. This is state terrorism against Muslims, Dr. Siddique concluded.

In the meantime, the Pakistani President has been touring Europe and having fun at the expense of the Pakistani people. The British media taunted him as being "Mr. Ten Percent", but he still did not feel ashamed. He did not go, Dr. Siddique said, to the flood affected areas until after two weeks, and that was by plane.

Dr. Siddique painted the Pakistani ruling class as extremely corrupt and blamed it for waging war against its own people in the North. This flood, he said, may be a metaphor for the cleansing of a corrupt nation by Allah Almighty.

(Dr. Leon compared the Pakistani situation and what President Zardari is doing to Katrina, when the hurricane affected people of New Orleans were abandoned by President Bush)

Is Islam Winning Globally or Losing? What does the Future Hold for the Muslim World?

By Kaukab Siddique

One way of looking at the confrontation between Islam and the West is that of surface level analysis based on a conventional view of the world. Here are the facts which produce a sense of doom and gloom among Muslim immigrants and westernized Muslim intellectuals.

1. In just about every country in the Muslim world, dictators have been installed who are not interested in Islam as a dynamic force for social transformation. They are known for the brutality and ruthlessness with which they treat Muslim activists. [The exception is Iran but Iran has a nationalist, sectarian, regime which is helping the USA in the areas of conflict.]

2. Israel has been planted in the heartland of Islam and is funded and armed by the US, Germany and International Jewry.

3. Global westernization and the consumerist deluge has overtaken the Muslim world.

4. Muslims elites or their children have moved to the West in such large numbers that Muslim countries are suffering from the stereotypical "brain drain."

5. The armies of Muslim countries are willing to crush the masses of their own people at the slightest signs of rebellion against the West. The assault on the Red Mosque-Jamia Hafsa in Pakistan, the destruction of the entire city of Hamah in Syria and military raids into hundreds of mosques in Egypt are symbolic of the military attitude towards Islamic uprisings. The destruction of Islamic communities in Algeria is seldom discussed but is a chilling reminder that militaries aligned with the West will not hesitate to commit genocide against their own people.

6. The US and NATO are in military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and are supporting anti-Islam cliques in Somalia and Nigeria.
In these circumstances, what hope, if any, can there be for a future based on Islam?

Here is why the surface level facts conceal the reality of the Muslim world.

* The 20th century of the Christian era opened with most of the world under western colonial rule. Muslim nations were easily ruled by the Europeans because they no longer followed the teachings of Islam [other than in a formal sense]. Their Islam had become a private religion and they were divided into principalities and petty states, each fighting the other before they were taken over by western powers. The British dominion over India was kept in place by only 200 British officers and their Indian mercenaries in the tens of thousands. [South Africa suffered a similar fate when a relatively few White men implemented Apartheid with the help of their Black mercenaries.]

* The taint of colonial rule has vitiated the minds of "Muslims" who were chosen by the westerners to rule after they themselves left. There are ruling cliques in every Muslim country who think like the European colonial rulers. Malcolm X called it "thinking White."

The colonial hegemony was accompanied by brutal suppression of Muslim resistance. The British arbitrarily blew apart hundreds of Muslims after tying them to the muzzles of their artillery following the 1857 uprising in India. Thousands of others were hanged by the sides of city streets. Thus a modicum of terror was made real to the general population while select members of the Indian elite were pampered and honored by the British.

The power of European colonialism was greatly weakened by the terrible blows struck by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. Britain had to bring in Indian troops to fight against Germany. France used North Africans. The colonial edifice started cracking although Hitler went down, defiant to the end.

After the retreat of Colonialism came the rise of Muslim nationalism. African and Muslim nations emerged as small but fiercely, independent states. These vigorously nationalist states soon came under the influence and then the control of western powers. The civilian rulers were overturned and/or killed by military men, The military came under American influence owing to the needs for weaponry which were abundantly available from the Anglo-American world.

During the era of nationalism, Arab, African and South Asian nationalism, peaceful Islamic movements emerged. This was the first challenge to the hegemony of western powers.

Hasan al-Banna and Syed Qutb were most influential in the Arab world and Maulana Maudoodi in South Asia. The Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaate Islami attracted intellectuals and university people.

The history changing point made by the Islamic movements was that Islam is a COMPLETE WAY of LIFE. It does not need any amendments borrowed from the West. The peaceful Islamic movements were crushed by secular, nationalist rulers. Al-Banna and Syed Qutb were martyred. Syed Maudoodi was sentenced to death but reprieved in time only to be repeatedly imprisoned by regime after regime. Muslim Brotherhood was undermined and started cooperating with Egyptian tyrants. Jamaate Islami too went into decline after Maudoodi passed away. (It has re-emerged under the leadership of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Syed Munawar Hasan.)

Then came the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan resisted the Soviets village by village. This was the game changer. Jihad was to be the source of revolution and transformation in the Muslim world.

Jihad becomes Global: In Egypt, blind hafiz of the Qur'an, Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman, did his PhD thesis on Jihad from al-Azhar. He wrote that Jihad is not Fard Kifayah but Fard Ayn. If there is a Caliph, an Islamic ruler, jihad is Fard kifayah [not obligatory] on the Islamic world, but if there is no Islamic ruler, Jihad becomes obligatory on every Muslim man, woman and child, if Muslim lands, such as Palestine, are taken over by the kuffar, or if kafir military forces attack Muslim countries [such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya]. He taught that for every man on the battlefield, support is needed from writers, teachers, preachers, scholars, home makers, doctors, nurses, scientists, researchers. The list goes on. If they are supporting the fighters, they are all in jihad.

The Soviets retreated unilaterally from Afghanistan thus setting the stage for the development of armed Islamic struggle against dictatorship and imperialism around the world. Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri entered the border lands of Pakistan and Afghanistan and challenged the might of America itself. The ten year sanctions on Iraq which brought slow death to a million people, including many children, according to UN figures, were followed by the 9.11 attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers which traumatized America. The torture chambers of Egypt mutilated the lives of countless Islamic men and women. In turn Egypt also produced Muhammad Atta who led the 9.11 attacks. Torture does not defeat Islam.

At one point Iran emerged as an Islamic power under Imam Khomeini but was mired in the conflict with Iraq for so long that it lost its momentum and became a sectarian-nationalist state.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq proved to be the second turning point in modern Islamic history. President Saddam Hussain refused to surrender although Iraq had been greatly weakened by sanctions and embargoes [in which Iran participated] The Iraqi leader was captured after prolonged resistance. He died a martyr with the Qur'an in his hand during the entire mock trial and the kalima on his lips at the point of execution. He never compromised.

Islamic forces known as Al-Qaida in Iraq now control parts of Iraq and Baghdad. Other areas are under Saddamist-Islamist rule. Iraq has been a bitter pill for the US. Its forces have been kept within its heavily guarded fortress towns for two years. One third of Iraq is under Sh'ite rule who are divided into three groups, pro-US, pro-Iran and nationalist, a recipe for internal Sh'ite conflict even on days of pilgrimage.

In Africa too the situation has changed. Almost all of Somalia is ruled by Shar'ia organized by al-Shabab. Algeria is simmering with discontent as Islamic resistance under al-Qaida has emerged quite forcefully. Nigeria in its northern areas has opted for Sharia. Islamic forces such as Bok Haram called for an end to all contacts with the West and were drowned in a sea of blood by the Israeli-backed Nigerian army. However Islam is too strong for the army to destroy. Sudan has managed to remain independent and relatively Islamic in spite of serious conspiracies in Darfur under Israeli subversion.

The future of the Middle East will probably be decided with the rise of a new Islamic movement in Egypt. The betrayal of Islamic ideals by the Muslim Brotherhood and the recognition of Israel has seriously harmed Egyptian integrity, but the chances of Islamic revival are strong. Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman is being kept in prison to pre-empt such a possibility.

Turkey is emerging as an Islamic power. Slowly but steadily it is taking leadership roles in the Muslim world. The US could not attack Iraq from the north because more than 93% of Turks opposed the war on Iraq. The Turkish sacrifices in the flotilla to Gaza has helped the Muslims to see that some of the greatest fighters in the world, the Turks, will be in the ranks of Jihad in the not too distant future..

The removal of Israel from the Middle East is only a matter of time. It can be done peacefully if the Muslims of the world unite. The Jews can be sent home wherever they came from as nicely as possible, just as Salahuddin sent the crusaders packing. Once Americans realize that Israel is a liability, a criminal, terrorist, racist, entity, Israel's days will be numbered.

Is Peace Possible? The 4 keys to peace.

1. Communication. Without talking to its perceived enemies, America cannot bring about peace. America is a world power and should take the initiative for peace. This country has unequalled resources and should not behave as if it is too weak to talk to the Islamic resistance. Shaykh Osama has tried to communicate with America in several of his tapes.

2. Self-Determination. Every country has the right to determine its own future and its own system. Wherever Muslims have had an opportunity to vote without foreign controls, they have voted for the Islamic way of life. That's how Pakistan came into being. The Algerians voted for FIS. The Palestinians voted for Hamas. The Iranians voted for Ahmedinejad. America should not take on itself the Israeli agenda of the destruction of all Islamic movements.

3. An end to American support for Israel and for dictators. The Muslim world knows that Israel's crimes are committed with the support of the US and with American weaponry. Till today President Obama has not said a word about the Israeli genocide in Gaza or in Lebanon. Muslims can see that the torture regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Pakistan are in bed with the White House. The people of America have not voted for support for these rulers.

4. Withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, withdrawal of support for occupation of Kashmir and end to collusion with anti-Muslim cliques and subversives in Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and Algeria.

Conclusion: Would these 4 steps end American influence? Quite the contrary. America would become the most popular country in the world. Islam is a global power. America is a global power. Peaceful co-existence between the two, based on the 4 points, would be a big plus for all of humanity.

For more on key issues in the Islamic struggle, including the inside view of the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa leaders as well as introduction to JI's new leader Syed Munawar Hasan, read Dr. Siddique's recent book RETURN to PAKISTAN available from New Trend online. Go to our web site and click on BOOKS.

Letter

Interview with Sis. Karima al-Amin by Nadrat Siddique

Excellent. Thank you so much! is Sis Karima available for speaking engagements?

Nisa (Atlanta, GA)

Letter

Br. Kaukab's Article on Imam Bukhari & Turkish Speaking nations

Dear Brother, Asalamu Alaikum
Enjoyed reading your article on Imam Bukhari. His grave is outside Samarqand. I was fortunate to visit both Bukhara and Samarqand in 1993 when I was in Islamabad. I am attaching a few photos for your record. The site is well maintained but deserted.
An interesting location in Samarqand is Registan Square. Situated here are the abandoned buildings of what was once a big Islamic University. The buildings were being renovated just before the demise of the Soviets. The layout is quadrangular and possibly were the models for Oxford, Cambridge, etc.
Both Bukhara and Samarqand are Turkish speaking and located In Uzbekistan. Tajiks speak Farsi. Azarbaijan is also Turkish speaking.

Sincere Salaams,
Salahuddin (Qatar)

Letter

Your Article on Obama's Mosque Published in Jakarta Post

I have posted this comment on Jakarta Post: that after destroying thousands of mosques in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, they want to build a multimillion dollar mosque in New York. I copied Br. Siddique's whole article on this mosque and got it pasted on their web site. Alhamdulillah, they are good and there is really freedom of speech in Indonesia.

Sheikh Alikhan (Toronto, Canada)

Letter

Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah's book Justifying Calculation for Ramadan, rather than the Sunnah of Actual Sighting, is Unsound and must be Rejected

Waleikum Assalam,

Dear A. H. Sahib,

The book in my opinion is misleading, its premise incorrect.

First, fard -e- kifayah, by whom and how many? Expert or experienced sighters? Or one who goes out twice a year and violates principles of meteorology and astronomy? The bedouin and people of the previous generations were in tune with the lunar, diurnal and solar or seasonal cycles. They did not have to be trained, but now a city dweller who has never done hilal sighting before walks up to a self-styled fiqh council and gives testimony. Is that valid?. Previous generation fuqaha called on scores if not hundreds to sight the crescent. My intent her is not to make a case for fard-e-ayn, but in times of fitan, like the present, one could make such a case, especially when those in authority appear to be egregiously violating the Sunnah.

Certainty by calculation makes little sense. If certainty by calculation in determining the beginning of a month is the intent and spirit of the Quran and Hadith as claimed by Zulfiqar Ali then the moon can be sighted anytime with certainty by the Naval observatory and other observatories. Certainty is of three types, and here we are talking about certainty by visualization (ayyn-el-Yaqqin) and that is the most dependable form of certainty when dealing with the creation of Allah. The crescent is the reflection from the moon visible to humans on 29th of the Lunar month. The 30th of the Lunar cycle does not concern us here, because that is the limit prescribed by the Prophet (pbuh)and sightings operate within those limitations, thus sighting of crescent for the new month relates only to the29th. Before it is sighted, the sighting on the 29th day, is a probability and only becomes a certainty when actually sighted. I don't think the intent is mechanical "Newtonian" certainty. If certainty is intended, then one can sight the moon any time, and if the visible crescent by calculation is intended then one can use any part of the lunar cycle as the starting date for the new month . Thus one can have proponents for the full moon, new moon, quarter moon etc, all can be calculated with certainty. So why be specific to the crescent just after the new moon (conjunction)? So the moment you deviate from the principle of the Sunnah of new crescent sighting the doors of fitna are wide open. Thus you may have egotistical calculators who advocate sects of new mooners, quarter mooners, full mooners . After all the full moon is pretty and there is strong poetic association with it and so on. I hope that is not the intent of Zulfiqar Ali Shah. But by accepting the 'certainty by calculation' argument as intent of the Quran and Sunnah, then the argument can be applied to any phase of the lunar cycle. Not only that, we can arbitrarily divide the solar year and with certainty provide the dates for various months without reference to the the lunar cycle.

Modern day Muslims in aping other civilizations have forgotten that time change exists in relation to at least three natural time cyles, the diurnal cycle related to the daily prayers, the revolutionary or seasonal cycle, related to agriculture, commerce etc. it also influences the diurnal cycle of long days and long nights etc, Southern and Northern hemisphere etc. In addition there is the lunar cycle. , which is ignored in the current way of industrial, post-industrial societies, but has important links with biological cycles. In fact, the only real time clock telling you day of the month is the lunar cycle. Islam aims at the lowest common technological denominator for ibadah. Any one can practice Islam based on diurnal and lunar cycles, without any instrumentation. Islamic ibadah is for all times and many climes. Zulfiqar Ali's prescription further cuts us from nature's cycles, prevents community decision making in important festivals of the Muslims and produces unnecessary dependence on a oligarchy of technocrats/scholars.
We currently keep in contact with time through several mechanisms, the diurnal cycle by watch, the solar, seasonal change by the solar calendar, the relationship to history through a specific event or events (Hijri, CE, AD , BC, Chinese, Iranian, Jewish etc) and by looking at the thermometer, humidity, weather channel or Farmer's almanac in relation to the meteorological cycle and phenomenon. The lunar calendar is missing, because it is of no practical interest to the modern urbanized dweller of capitalist civilization. Muslims bend over backwards to ape and exclude an important natural cyclical element in our lives,.

For all these and many other reasons Zuklfiqar Ali Shah's book can be rejected .

Sincerely,

Teepu Siddique, Chicago

Dr. A. H. wrote:

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullhi wa barakatuhu and Ramazaan Mubarak to you and your family.

You have this as an introduction of a book by Dr Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

"This book shatters the myth that naked-eye sighting of the new moon and completing 30 days in the case of weather-related or other obscurities are the only two valid methods of determining the month of Ramadan. The author explains that certainty, not actual sighting, is the real objective of the Shari'ah and that the Qur'an does not mandate physical sighting. A careful analysis shows that those hadiths that seemingly require sighting actually require certainty. The assertion that all Muslim scholars prohibit the use of astronomical calculations, both in affirming or negating the month of Ramadan, is not correct. As calculation is now more accurate than naked-eye sighting, due to certain astronomical and scientific advancements, the use of calculation is the closest to the real objective of the Shari'ah and to the spirit of the hadiths. [Paperback ISBN-10: 1-56564-334-8]"

Allah has ordered us thus: "Then whoever sights of you the month".

Community Issues

Baltimore Muslim Fired for Refusal to Shave Beard! A Violation of Religious Freedom?

An Interview with Yusuf Robinson (Joseph Robinson)
By Sis. Ashira Na'im
For New Trend Magazine
August 9, 2010

Q: Mr. Robinson, am I understanding you correctly that you were fired from your job as a security officer due to the small "goatee" that I see you wearing now?

A: Yes, due to my not shaving my facial hair below my bottom lip.

Q: Can you tell us how this occurred since you had been only recently interviewed and hired. I believe you said you had been fired after only about 3 days of work. Did you have a beard when you went for the interview?

A: Yes.

Q: Were you asked about it then?

A: I was informed that their policy is to shave but once training is completed there should not be a problem.

Q: Do you mean a problem for whom?

A: For me.

Q: Will you tell us the relevant events of the 3-day span?

A: On Day 1, we were in training. We were warned (there were several of us with facial hair) but the discussion was that of policy and that a certain disciplinary procedure would be followed, leading up to firing.

On Day 2, knowing that the trainer meant to fire me, I made sure that I knew my rights and consulted with EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). I saw that my religious right was upheld there. I found that they had to accommodate me as long as it was reasonable. And since the company was already making accommodations for medical reasons (such as skin sensitive to shaving, etc.; so there should not have been a problem accommodating me on religious grounds.

So, I went in and discussed that I would not be shaving my beard based on my religious belief; and it was at that point that the trainer informed me that he did not care about my religious beliefs and that the company's policy had to be obeyed.

I told him my understanding of the law is otherwise, and at this point, he dismissed me, saying, "Get out until I get a witness."

On Day 3, I continued the training sessions. After a special presentation by a company Director, the Instructor called me out of the session. He was accompanied by another instructor and the Director. Basically, the policy was reiterated to me and they gave me the opportunity to shave right then and there. I refused. I stated my religious reasons and informed them that I knew the federal law regarding accommodations and exceptions based on religious reasons. They avoided this discussion, continuing to hold to their policies and said that if I could not hold to their policy, then I should resign. I refused to resign, and we were at a standstill. They talked among themselves and one of the instructors said he had no problem firing me. He told me to make arrangements to turn in my uniform, turn in my training materials and turn in all materials pertinent to the training--"you are being terminated." "Go to Human Resources."

Q: What was the purpose of going to Human Resources?

A: Only Allah knows.

Q: What discussion took place at the Human Resources office?

A: The Human Resources representative informed me that I was not fired and should hold onto the uniform right now and give her time to look into the issue. She said that the issue was sensitive and they had to be careful because privileges given to one person would have to be given to everyone. I thanked her for her time and went home.

Q: Has anything occurred since that discussion?

A: After talking on the phone back and forth for about 2 weeks and her having nothing to say, on Friday, July 9, she called and said the company would stick with its policy. I told her I would get back with her.

Q: And what did you do then?

A: I filed my EEOC complaint and contacted CAIR. CAIR contacted the President's Office of both Johns Hopkins and the Company BSI (Broadway Services, Inc. - the sub-contracting company under which I worked). I also filed my concerns with a representative of Senator McCloskey's office.

Hadith Studies by Kaukab Siddique

Hadith Provide Facts on Hazrat 'Ayesha's Age

She Was a Mature Young Woman of Great Understanding and Intellect

(In recent days the abusive attacks on Hadith distributed on the internet have gone out of all bounds. So much so that the attackers in their insistence and excitement are unknowingly attacking the Qur'an itself. One person on the internet has been insisting to his opponent, if you think it is Sunnah to marry so many women, why don't you do so yourself. Evidently the Qur'an in Surah Ahzab makes it very clear that the Prophet, pbuh, could marry many women, though other Muslims are not allowed to marry more than 4 women and that too in special circumstances. Also, women could and would offer themselves to him. When the same thing appears in the Hadith, these attackers start shouting abuses, not knowing that the Hadith is only a reflection of the Qur'an,)
(The Prophet, pbuh, was not an ordinary person. In addition to other dynamic qualities, he had tremendous sexual vitality. One Hadith narrator wrote that the Prophet could visit all his wives in one night. This has excited the critics of Hadith because they have a very low opinion of the Prophet, pbuh. They think his job was only to deliver the book and that was it. They don't notice his jihad and his all-night prayers. They have never been revolutionaries or jihadists and they can't understand that the Prophet's love and compassion was so powerful that women sought refuge with him: In fact he had to stop them from offering themselves to him in many instances.)

The Qur'an is the book of Allah, the perfect and complete guidance. But a book, however great, needs human interpretation and and human role models to make it of practical use to human beings.

Human productions can never be perfect like the Qur'an but the Islamic books of Hadith come the nearest that human production can come to perfection. For instance, out of the 2531 hadith collected by Imam Bukhari about 4 or 5 can be criticized and that also because of a misunderstanding of the methodology of Hadith. This comes to a small decimal point of error, if it can be called error.

In hadith, there are Hadith-e-Nabawi and hadith about the sahaba and the times and age in which they lived. Also, Imam Bukhari provides subheadings quoting the Qur'an as well as headings about the issues under which he wanted to collect the Hadith.

He very honestly brought together Hadith narrated by people of good character and with proper chains of narration. Books of other religions do not have any comparable stringent rules as he used to make sure of the narrations he collected.

However, one weakness of hadith has to do with calendars and time schedules because these were not so exactly available, owing to the technology of that time, as they are now. However the rules according to which Hadith should be read, reduce this margin of error.

AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF HADITH STUDY is that Hadith on the same subject should be brought together for understanding the entire subject

One Hadith collected by Imam Bukhari which can be criticized is that about hazrat 'Ayesha's age. INSTEAD OF MAKING SUCH A HUE AND CRY OF ABUSE AGAINST HER AGE AS GIVEN IN ONE HADITH, let's study the Hadith and find out more about hazrat 'Ayesha. And we do need this study because Ayesha Siddiqa (ra) has played a key role in Islam and Islamic history.

The Prophet, pbuh, NEVER said that he married Ayesha, r.a., when she was 6 or 9. Nor did he EVER teach Muslims to marry off their daughters at that age.
The narration about her age is not from him.
Here is a book review I wrote for New Trend magazine. Inshallah, it will help those who want to KNOW WHAT HADITH REALLY SAYS ABOUT HAZRAT 'AYESHA's AGE when she married the Prophet (pbuh). I wrote it in 1989 but abusers attacking Ayesha, r.a., pretend that it was never written which is an attitude inexcusable under any system of scholarship.

BOOK REVIEW:

Tahqeeq-e-'umar-e-Siddiqa-e- kainat (salamAllah alaiha) by Allama Hafiz Qari Habibur Rahman Siddiqui Kandhalwi, published in the Urdu language by Anjuman-e-Uswa-e-hasana Karachi, Pakistan, 64 pages, no date.

This book is essential reading for those who want to know the truth about the greatest personality of Islam after the Prophet: 'Ayesha Siddiqa, on whom are Allah's blessings. I first heard of this book in 1987 and finally a friend in Karachi managed to find it and send it to me. It's a very matter-of -fact and to-the-point book. Apart from the basic material it provides about hazrat 'Ayesha's age, it is also a good experience in learning to understand Hadith.

According to Bukhari's hadith, narrated by Hisham, supposedly from hazrat 'Ayesha herself, she was only 6 years old when the Prophet married her and only 9 years old when she went to him as his wife! Another narration in Bukhari from Hisham alleges that she was so young at the time of her marriage that she took her dolls with her!

These narrations, being in Bukhari, are blindly accepted by Muslims and are a staple of books about the life of hazrat 'Ayesha. Some people have exploited these hadith from Hisham to support child marriages and arranged marriages.

Those who oppose hazrat 'Ayesha's role in Islam owing to sectarian reasons have used these hadith to cast doubts on the importance of her role in Islam. (What could such a young female understand, they imply and sometimes say outright.)

Among "modern" doubters of Hadith, such narrations about Hadith are another reason for poking fun at Hadith itself. How could a sane, knowledgeable person think that a girl of 6 or 9 could have anything really important to teach about Islam, they say.

Also this provided a cause for the enemies of Islam to attack the personality of the Prophet himself who would marry a child!

Most Muslims, however, pass over Hisham's narration about hazrat 'Ayesha's age without comment, taking it for granted just because it is in an authentic book of Hadith.

Allama Habibur Rahman's great achievement is that he has brought evidence from the HADITH LITERATURE ITSELF to correct Hisham's narrations without attacking Hadith as a source of true knowledge. Thus Habibur Rahman is in the line of the true scholars of Islam, starting with hazrat 'Ayesha herself, who criticized Hadith narrations, NOT TO CONDEMN HADITH as a source of Islam second only to the Qur'an but to arrive at real authenticity.

Habibur Rahman carries out his attack on the basis of the principles according to which Hadith should be understood.
For instance: one hadith by itself is not sufficient to decide on a matter if there are related Hadith available in other narrations. There are narrations in Bukhari itself, for instance in Bukhari's kitabut tafseer, which show that hazrat 'Ayesha was older than Hisham's narrations indicate. Then there are Hadith in other books of Hadith about her age, about her role and understanding at various points during the Prophet's life, and about the age of other young companions of the Prophet as compared to her age.

Habibur Rahman also brings in classical books of the study of rijal (the narrators of Hadith after the sahaba) to make his point. Finally, he brings proofs from the classical books of history which, though not as strict in narration as the books of Hadith, do provide details on the issue under discussion. He then uses reasoning and physical facts to prove his point.

The conclusion he comes to is that at the time hazrat 'Ayesha went to the Prophet as his wife, she was at least 19 years old and there is a possibility that she was 25. At the time of her marriage she was at least 16.

During the course of his investigation, Habibur Rahman gives 22 arguments or proofs, and also provides some facts which are known to very few owing to the generally careless reading of Hadith. It is well-known, for instance, that in the battle of Uhud, hazrat 'Ayesha participated in helping the wounded and carrying water to the injured.

What is not so well known is that 'Ayesha Siddiqa, whom Allah has exalted in the Qur'an (Sura Noor), was the only female Islamic participant in the battle of Badr. This the writer proves from an authentic hadith in Sahih Muslim.

And which Muslim does not know the status of those who participated in the battle of Badr! No wonder hazrat 'Umar (as Caliph) gave a bigger stipend to hazrat 'Ayesha than to anyone else in the Prophet's family. Some people are malicious enough to accuse 'Umar (ra) of favoritism to his daughter's friend; others claim that it was because she was most beloved of the holy Prophet. Now we know that 'Umar (always strictly just) was giving her more simply because of her participation in Badr, because he placed the people of Badr over all others.

After reading Habibur Rahman's book, one wonders why Muslims ignore the facts which are before their very eyes. For example, could the Prophet, pbuh, have said this of a 12-year-old girl? (He was consoling Bashr ibn Uqraba who was weeping over the martyrdom of his father in the battle of Uhud. The Prophet said to Bashr:

"Wouldn't you like to have me as your father and 'Ayesha as your mother?" (Could he have said that of a 12-year -old?) Of course many readers ignore the fact that 14-year old males were not allowed by the Prophet to participate in the battle of Badr. Could he have allowed "10-year-old" 'Ayesha to do so?

As the Allama very rightly pointed out, 'Ayesha (ra) was not one to play with dolls. She played with swords and her participation in battles was the result of her youthful training in battle arts.

She was a young woman when she came to Madina and she knew the entire gamut of classical Arabic poetry which she recited when she visited Bilal and her father Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with both) who fell sick soon after arriving in Madina.

The Allama's comparison of the ages of Fatima, Asma, Osama (Allah be pleased with them) with that of 'Ayesha from authentic narrations leaves no doubt that he is correct and Hisham's narration is incorrect. About Hisham, the Allama documents that he became weak in his narrations when he moved to Iraq in his 71st year. That's when he narrated about hazrat 'Ayesha and her dolls. His Iraqi narrations are not accepted by Imam Malik who accepted his earlier ones. There are indications that old age and other factors had their impact on Hisham.

From tasa' ushra (19 in Arabic), he forgot or managed to drop 'ushra, thus keeping hazrat 'Ayesha's age as 9!

My understanding is that Allah brought hazrat 'Ayesha into the Prophet's household at the age when she was in the prime of youth, intelligence and ability, so that through her the Prophet, pbuh, could educate the young people of all times to come. She was more his friend and companion rather than just his wife. (They had no children.) HER HISTORIC MISSION FROM ALLAH WAS TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF FEMALE SLAVERY and to provide a frank and honest portrait of the Messenger's private and personal life to the billions of human beings who would follow the uswa of Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him) as commanded by the Qur'an, for all times to come.

There can be little doubt that the Example of 'Ayesha (whom Allah has exalted) is an essential part of the example of Muhammad (salAllaho alaihi wassalam).

This article originally appeared in New Trend magazine, July 1989

2010-08-18 Wed 04:22:37 cdt
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