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26 Shawwal 1437 A.H.- July 31, 2016 Issue # 31, Newsletter #1665



Hadith of the Week

He is not a believer whose stomach is full while his neighbor is hungry.

Ibn Abbas reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "He is not a believer whose stomach is filled while the neighbor to his side goes hungry."

Source: Sunan Al-Kubra 19049 of Baihaqi

Comment by
Kaukab Siddique:


Neighbors have extraordinary rights in Islam. Take care of your neighbors especially if they are poor, without food, in debt or in bad health.




Spotlights
by Br.Badi

 Imam Badi Ali

No Lesser Evil in this Election Race



- Br. Badi Ali leads a large Muslim community in Greensboro, NC.




PAKISTAN

 Pakistan

Jamaate Islami Brings About United Islamic Front across Pakistan to Support Kashmir
by Qaiser Sharif

LAHORE, July 29; Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has called upon the government to start diplomatic initiative against India on the Kashmir issue as the Kashmiris' spirit for liberation had forced India to be on the defensive.

Winding up the APC on Kashmir in Islamabad, he demanded that parliamentary delegations be sent to different counties and talks with India be made conditional with discussion on Kashmir. He stressed that practical efforts be started to give a shape to Syed Ali Gilani's four point formula. In this respect.

He also called for an international moot for the solution of the Kashmir issue, discussing the Kashmir in the Parliament, and convening emergent meetings of the UN Security Council and the OIC to discuss the latest situation in Kashmir.

The political leaders who addressed the APC included PML(N) Chairman, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, PML(Q) leader Ch. Shujaat Husain, Kashmir Committee Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Federal Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique, prominent politician, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, former Chairman Senate Nayyer Husain Bukhari, PPP's Faizal Karim Kundi, Ejazul Haq, Jamat Al Dawa' chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, PTI's Naeemul Haq, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, JUP's Sahibzada Abul hair, Hurriat Conference Syed Ali Gilani;s representative Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi and JI's Liaqat Baloch and Sahibzada Tariqullalh.

Sirajul Haq said that Kashmir was not the issue of the Kashmiris, it was the issue of two hundred million Pakistanis.

Speaking on the occasion, Ch. Shujat Husain said that expecting anything from the government was befooling one self.

Raja Zafarul Haq appreciated the JI efforts to hold the APC. He said it should be made clear to India that the path to the ties with India passed through Kashmir, and if India did not come forward for the solution of the Kashmir issue, Pakistan should not be keen to have ties with New Delhi.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman said that such a grand moot in support of the Kashmiris was a proof that the hearts of the Pakistani nation throbbed with those of the Kashmiris. He said the Kashmiris had offered unparalleled sacrifices for liberation and the UN resolutions promised them the right of self- determination.

He said that a joint Kashmir policy should be evolved through the parliament. Besides, there was need for lobbying at the international level.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed advised New Delhi to stop thinking that it could keep the Kashmiris its slaves through brute force. He said that the hearts of the Kashmiris were with the Pakistanis but unfortunately, the rulers in Islamabad were keen to make friends with Indian rulers.

Former Chief Justice, Pakistan, Iftekhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said that the Kashmiris had been laying down their lives for liberation for the last seventy years and they were fighting the war of Pakistan's completion. He said that during the last three weeks, India had perpetrated untold brutalities on the Kashmiris but Pakistan had so far failed to ensure the implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Milli Yakjehti Council chairman Sahibzada Abul Khair Zubair said that as long as the situation in the country was not stable, the nation could not fight the Kashmiris case effectively. As such, there was need to solve domestic issues including lawlessness, poverty, unemployment and load shedding.




 Word Around The Net

Work Around the Net
from Br.Kris

Wachovia Bank Laundered 378.4 BILLION USD for Mexican drug cartels and not a single person went to jail. Wachovia was fined 50 million which is equal to 0.2% of their profits. Most drug dealers get at least 20 years for laundering money.
TheGuardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs

French Newspaper Le Monde will stop publishing pictures of terrorists to stop glorifying them in death, thus undermining the martyrdom aspect of insurgents.
PressGazette.co.uk/french-daily-le-monde-to-stop-publishing-pictures-of-terrorists-in-order-to-avoid-glorifying-them-in-death

Men in Iran, in order to show to solidarity with their wives, have decided to wear hijabs, as well! So sweet of them. Independent.co.uk/news/people/men-in-iran-are-wearing-hijabs-in-solidarity-with-their-wives-a7160146.html






 Snippets

American Killed fighting for Kurdish Communists in Syria.

"DENVER (AP) - A Colorado man who joined Kurdish forces in their fight against the Islamic State group was killed in combat in Syria, his mother said Thursday."

Reports indicate that YPG , a Kurdish communist group supported by the US air force, openly tries to recruit westerners to fight against ISIS.

Another American from Massachusetts was killed there earlier. A whole group of westerners has joined YPG.

[Anyone who tries to join the Islamic State faces arrest in USA and other western countries.]




Afghanistan's Children "Captured" by USA.

Human Rights Watch reported on July 28: "In some countries, children are more likely to be tortured. Interviews carried out by the UN in Afghanistan found that a higher percentage of children reported abuses compared to adults.

According to the report, US forces also detained children in Afghanistan, wih the US authorities claiming that the children were "captured engaging in anti-coalition activity".

The US also detained minors in Guantanamo Bay for up to 10 years. The report states that the children were allegedly subjected to torture. Currently, US forces would turn children over to Afghan authorities after detaining them for a few hours or days."




9 University Students killed by Bangladesh Police in Fake Encounter. 1 Wounded.

On July 26, in the Kalyanpur area of Dhaka, heavily armed police killed nine university students. Police claimed there was an hour long "battle" during which the students were killed. It seems to be a fake encounter because no policeman was injured.

The first few sentences of the police statement indicate what really happened:

"Nine suspected gunmen were killed by police in an early-morning operation in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka, according to police.

Police said they stormed the fourth floor of a rented block of flats in the Kallyanpur area at 5am on Tuesday morning, where they killed nine men who were wearing black clothes and white turbans.

The operation, which the police named Storm 26, lasted an hour. A tenth man who was shot by police survived and was taken to hospital."




TURKEY

Erdogan to West: Mind your own Business. You cry over a few losses. We lost more than 200 in one night.

alJazeera.com/news/2016/07/erdogan-west-mind-business-160729205425215.html




Latest Khutba



Should Muslims Participate in the Presidential Elections? Without Violence or breaking the Law, How should Muslim Americans Struggle for Islam?

On July 29, Br. Kaukab Siddique gave the Juma Khutba at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen in central Baltimore. The masjid was packed but as it is a small masjid, the outline of the khutba is given here for distribution on line.

[Br. Kaukab always begins his khutba with praise for Allah Almighty and salutations to all the prophets and messengers including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, [peace be on them all] as well as salutations to the family, companions and wives of the Prophet, pbuh.]

[A special dua was made for a donor who has paid the entire electricity bill of the masjid for three months anonymously.]

Text #1: [Sura 109]

Say: "Oh, you who disbelieve!
"I do not worship that which you worship,
"Nor do you worship That Which I worship.
"Nor will I worship that which you have been worshipping,
"Neither will you worship That Which I worship.
"To you your religion and to me mine."

Text #2. 11;113

And do not incline toward those who oppress, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped.

Text #3: Sura 26: 165-167

{Prophet Lot, pbuh,said] "What! do you come to the males from among all creatures! and leave what your Lord has created for you of your wives? Nay, you are a people exceeding limits." They said: If you desist not, O Lot, you shall surely be of those who are expelled.


  1. We Muslims must examine our understanding of :

    1. Iman [faith]. Are we keeping it pure or are we mixing it with shirk?

    2. Salat [obligatory prayer]. Are we focused on Allah and are we organized and disciplined?

    3. Saum [Fasting]. We asked for Allah's forgiveness during Ramadan. Are we sticking to our repentance?

    4. Zakat [charity & Giving]. How much of our wealth goes into sadaqat and how much into indulgence & pleasure?

    5. Hajj [Pilgrimage to Makka]. Are we thinking of ONE UMMAH & do we follow the pilgrims spiritually if we can't go?

    6. Jihad [Struggle against oppression]. This is where we are totally lost although almost every large sura of the Qur'an teaches it and makes it obligatory.


    We have undertaken not to break the laws and not to be violent towards the people among whom we live. Here is how it is to be undertaken in America, InshaAllah.

  2. No assimilation. No mixing Islam with other religions. They are separate and distinct from us. We do not accept the religion of Israel which is racial and supports occupation of Palestine. We do not accept Christianity because they take Jesus as "God" or as son of "God." They say Jesus, pbuh, was crucified. Hindus have many gods None of them accept Muhammad, pbuh. [We do not fight them but we do not believe in religious unity with them.]

  3. We do not accept cooperation with oppressors. Not the slightest cooperation is allowed. The words in the Quran are "do not incline." So even a mental sense of accepting the oppressors is HARAM. All oppressors must be rejected even if they claim to be Muslims.

  4. Both Trump and Hillary are leaders of oppression or preparing to be such. They support Israel without reservations. They oppose Sharia. They oppose Islamic rule and khilafa. They support "Muslim" tyrants.

  5. We are not against anyone's civil rights but homosexuality is being presented as an ideology, as a way of life equal to and even better than Islam and Christianity.

  6. Allah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The wife of the Prophet, pbuh, had some kind of very slight inclination towards the people who were being destroyed. She just turned around and looked and she was turned into a pillar of salt. So the question of any compromise over homosex does not arise. Remember the biggest "Gay" parade is in Israel.

  7. Not only is the self-aggrandizement and massive spending on presidential conventions not acceptable, the bringing forth of soldiers with Muslim names who fought for the unbelievers against Muslims is outright KUFR and HARAM. Kareem Abdul Jabbar revealed that he is a sell-out. The Pakistani man they brought could not even pronounce his own name correctly. This is how brainwashed they are.

  8. Non-violent jihad includes not spending our money on any business or products which support Israel in any way. Do your research. The way to al-Jannah is not easy.

  9. Hadith of Muhammad, pbuh. "The greatest jihad is to say the word of truth to a tyrant ruler,:

  10. These kuffar are not civilized. Look at how they treat prisoners. The prisoners are humiliated on the point of arrest and if convicted are degraded, abused, treated worse than dogs, turned into non-humans. Look at Guantanamo Bay . Can a civilized nation do this to prisoners? Tying them foot to head and leaving them like that for days. See what they did in Abu Ghraib and Bagram. How proud they are of turning all of Gaza into a concentration camp. How shamelessly proud they are of bombing people who have no anti-air defenses! Shameless savages!


O Allah! Heal those who are unwell, give jobs to those who are unemployed , give halal achievement to those who have jobs. O Allah give us compassion and empathy for the weak, the oppressed, the downtrodden, the poor. Give us spouses and children who will stand with us in Islam.

O Allah help us to study the Qur'an and the hadith. Ameen, Summa Ameen.





Jamaat al-Muslimeen National Islamic Shoora Resolutions

 Resolutions

Palestine, Africa and Political Prisoners are Central to our Concern.

  1. Muslims must evaluate themselves objectively to understand theit loyalty to Islam and the direction they are going.

  2. Police brutality widespread in America and unless strict restraints are placed, it will only get worse.

  3. Israeli brutalities against Palestinians and Police brutalities against poor Black Americans are similar in important ways and should be studied.

  4. Muslim political prisoners have been abandoned by the Muslims of America. The cases of Ziyad Yaghi and Aafia Siddiqui have highlighted the innocence of these prisoners and the unjust sentences imposed on them.

  5. Muslims should continue with and mobilize for the boycott of businesses which support Israel. This is an effective peaceful way of opposing Israel.

  6. Africa is important for Muslims. Help Jamaat to support families in Ethiopia, Ghana, Gambia and Uganda.

  7. Immigrants from Africa, particularly Somalia and South Sudan are pouring into America. Steps should be taken to help them and the current situation in which they are being ignored is not accdeptable.


 SISTERS at the Jamaat Shoora

SISTERS at the Jamaat Shoora

Political Prisoners :

AhmedAbdelSattar.org

FreeZiyadYaghi.info

FreeMasoudKhan.net





War News

 War News

Syria
Russia & Regime Bombing Aleppo, Idlib, Darayya, Damascus Suburbs. US Air force bombing Manbig and Surrounding areas.

July 25-30: Aleppo is under severe pressure. Its food supply has been cut by Assad regime's artillery hitting the Costello road and Hizbullah commandos infiltrating the area. Within the city, the Alawite enclave is directing long range artillery and air strikes against the city areas controlled by the FSA.

Civilians are being targeted by the regime and Russian air strikes and the fregime is urging the population to leave but the people are still not leaving in spite of daily terror attacks.

Hospitals and bakeries in Aleppo have been wiped out in air strikes by Russia.

The massacre of civilians by the Assad Air Force and the Russians in Aleppo has been summed up in this press release by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:

"About 60 killed by massacre by regime warplanes in Aleppo

Aerial bombardment continue around the Syrian provinces, regime warplane and helicopters continue targeting areas of al-Atarib in the western countryside of Aleppo, committing massacres against civilians, SOHR documented the death of 58 civilians including 14 children and 3 women by aerial bombardment on al-Atarib since the 16th of July until today, the aerial bombardment also led to material damages and injuries between civilians."

After 50 days of bombing and assault, the Communist Kurds have failed to capture Manbig though they have entered the city.

In the latest massacre, the US air force killed 28 civilians in al-Ghandour village north of Manbig . The people support IS.

On the fronts of Homs, Hama and Damascus, the Islamic State is pressing Hizbullah back.

Same story in Deir ez Zour.




Pakistan
Pakistan's General Raheel Shareef Meets Egypt's General Sissi.. Two Tyrants Using the military to Crush Islamic People.

What Do these Two Mean when they use the Word "Terrorists.?"

English.Ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/235098/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-keen-on-promoting-military-cooperation-with-.aspx




Pakistan
My Mother Was the Victim of a U.S. Drone

 Amnesty International Rafeequl Rehman

Amnesty International Rafeequl Rehman's mother, Mamana Bibi, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the village of Ghundi Kala, North Waziristan, Pakistan, on Oct. 24, 2012. Rehman is a teacher in Pakistan and the son of Mamana Bibi, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012

My family deserves an apology-and justiceMy story isn't much different from so many sons all over the world: I lost my mother too soon. But unlike many sons, I am still waiting for an explanation for why my mother was killed. Since the day that a U.S. drone struck and killed my mother as she stood in our family fields, I have waited for an acknowledgement or apology from the U.S. government. I'm still waiting to this day.

My children - Mamana's grandchildren - watched it happen. It was a sunny October afternoon in 2012, and she was gathering okra in our family's mostly vacant fields in Ghundi Kala village, North Waziristan, intending to cook it that evening. My children were home, standing about a hundred feet from her. They watched as she was struck by two Hellfire missiles, blown to bits before their eyes. My daughters and sons felt the explosion and were covered with the smoke and dust. Some were struck by shrapnel. My 3-year-old son Safdar, who had been standing on the roof, fell 10 feet from the blast's shockwave, fracturing bones in his shoulders and chest.

Afterward my daughter Nabeela, then 8-years-old, went to the place her grandmother had been standing. She found her grandmother's shoes. Our family gathered as many of her body parts as we could find and wrapped them in a cloth.

A year after her death, I traveled to the United States and told members of Congress about the drone strike and how it had devastated us. I saw with my own eyes how saddened they were. But no one in the U.S. government promised to investigate what happened.

President Obama recently ordered the government to start disclosing the numbers of civilian casualties to the public. We welcome that, but we are in the same position we were in four years ago. No U.S. official has ever acknowledged what happened to my mother, or apologized to us. We are still waiting for justice. Without the help of organizations like Amnesty International, which documented my mother's death in a 2013 report on drones, we might still be suffering in silence.

 Drone Attack Protest

We aren't asking for money, just that all victims of violence be treated the same. The same month my daughter Nabeela was injured in the drone strike that took my mother's life, Pakistani schoolgirl and education campaigner Malala Yousafzai narrowly survived the Taliban's attempt on her life. We are proud of Malala's bravery, and the actions of all those who stand up for human rights in our country.

But there is a double standard here: While President Obama invited Malala to speak at the White House and offered his support, there are no words of sympathy for my daughter. I wonder if the president even knows my daughter's name.

After the strike, we fled our village in Waziristan. My children had suffered not just from witnessing the death of their grandmother, but from losing their friends and from the ongoing war. They lost years of education, too. Because Safdar did not receive immediate specialist medical care after the drone strike, he continues to suffer complications from his injuries. When we go back to the village, the kids are still scared. It's not just the drone strikes; it's the Taliban and bombardment by Pakistani forces.

My children still ache from missing their grandmother. We feel deeply that the U.S. government has committed an injustice. We must have the truth about why my mother, my children's grandmother, was killed so brutally. We deserve an apology and justice for what happened that October afternoon.




Libya

US and European Special Forces in Libya as fighting rages in Benghazi.
alJazeera.com/news/2016/07/haftar-forces-suffer-losses-libya-fighting-160728063021013.html




Mali

Serious Fighting Erupts in Mali. Nampala on July 17 and Kidal on July 22-23

On July 17 there was a coordinated attack by Islamic groupa on a Malian military base in Nampala [central Mali]. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM] and Nasir Dine with a third smaller group swept into the base. The regime admitted 17 of its troops killed and 35 wounded. The Islamic fighters took away weapons and supplies from the base. Mali announced ten days of mourning.

[Mali is a secular regime supported by France including French troops.]

On July 22, fighting began between a government-organized militia and a groups supported by the Touraeg tribes.

Fighting with heavy weapons continued into July 23.

Details are not available as of yet.

[Source: Government media in Bomako.]




Somalia
A regime leader joined Shabab & attacked occupying troops.
alJazeera.com/news/2016/07/al-shabab-names-somali-mp-suicide-bomber-160728045053237.html




Indonesia
Executions to stop drug problem. Will It Work?
alJazeera.com/news/2016/07/ignoring-appeals-indonesia-plans-execute-14-160728102623908.html




News Within the U.S.

 News within the US

Tennessee

Women's "Rights" in America. Rape is not a Capital Crime [sometimes hardly a crime].

Bus driver admits to raping student, walks free

A 35-year-old former school bus driver won't serve time in jail after pleading guilty to raping a 15-year-old student in Hamilton County, Tenn.

On Thursday, Judge Barry Steelman accepted Alexander Rodriquez's plea deal for aggravated statutory rape, which included a four-year suspended sentence, though he questioned why prosecutors didn't want to put the man behind bars. "We did point out that [Rodriquez] had already served 100 days," his defense lawyer tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press, adding there were "credibility issues" with the victim.

Rodriquez will now be placed on supervised sex offender probation for 10 years and must wear a GPS monitor. But the victim's father - who's suing Rodriquez and the Hamilton County Board of Education for $10 million, per the Free Press - says it's not enough.

"We were immediately turned off by the fact that there was no jail time," he says. "I'm disappointed that somebody that commits a crime sexually, especially against a child, gets treated like a DUI [offender]," he adds.

"For me and my family, this has been an absolutely heartbreaking experience," The victim told authorities that Rodriquez drove her from Sale Creek High School to a bus loading station last March, then took her to a Super 8, where he forced her to perform oral sex and raped her, saying, "I'm trying to make it hurt," per the Chattanoogan.

After authorities called Rodriquez looking for the girl, she said he dropped her off an hour's walk from her house and told her to tell her parents she had been with a friend. (In Missouri, police say a man kept a teenage girl captive in his home for weeks.)




Boston

Police Car Chase Policies Kill People without Guns.

USAToday.com/story/opinion/policing/spotlight/2016/07/28/police-can-kill-more-than-guns-column/86955028




Question and Answer

 Questions Answers

Name of Questioner: Mohsin Khan

Reply date: 2015/02/17

Question: Dear Scholars, I have the following question: A Christian missionary by the name of Jay Smith during a debate with Brother Shabir Aly claimed that the Quran which we have today is from the period of 740-750 AD. The Quran compiled by the third caliph, Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and present in Topkapi Museum in Turkey and in Tashkent, Russia, does not reflect the period of Uthman but the period of 740-750 AD. He based his views on the coins he had of the period from 740 AD onwards.He further adds, quoting the archeology work of Patricia Crone, that Makkah was not discovered until the ninth century. In other words, he claims that we don't have any record of Makkah and our Prophet (peace be upon him) in the seventh century. What is your view regarding this accusation?

Consultant: Shahul Hameed

Answer:

Salam Mohsin,

Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.

The arguments of Jay Smith based on the so-called historical research of persons like Patricia Crone and Michael Cook betray only their bankruptcy in attempting to discredit Islam. This can be understood by anyone who has a cursory knowledge of the wonderful transformation of the Arabs of the Jahiliyyah time (pre-Quranic period) brought about by Islam.

The Islamic scholar Abdur-Raheem Green has copiously answered the questions raised by Smith and others. You may read his scholarly reply in detail by clickinghere.

The fundamentalist missionaries, such as the likes of Jay Smith, are masters in confusing and deceiving through spurious scholarship. Smith adopts the position of rejecting Muslim sources as regards Islam, and accepting only hostile non-Muslim sources.

I confine this answer only to the two points you have raised in your mail:

Quran Manuscripts

First, Smith's charge against the original copies of the Quran:

According to him, the earliest available manuscript of the Quran belongs to a period much later than that of its revelation. Even if it were true, it does not necessarily mean that the extant manuscript is not the original Qur'an revealed to the Prophet.

In fact, Muslims believe that the Quran revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been handed down intact from generation to generation for two reasons:

  1. It has been clearly guaranteed by Allah Almighty Himself in the Quran that He will preserve the Quran from corruption or loss:

    {We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it.} (Al-Hijr 15:9)

  2. From the day the Quran was originally recited to the people, it has been with the people. As soon as a few verses were revealed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught them to the Muslims and they learned them by heart.


The Quran is also the only scripture that has been memorized by the people from the time of its revelation to the present. At any point in history after the Prophet's time, there lived a large section of believers who could recite the whole of the Quran from beginning to end.

Five times a day Muslims recite portions of it in their prayers, apart from reading at least part of it daily in the morning. This has been continuing from day one to the present and so there was no question of any portion of the Quran being changed or lost.

Referring to this Islamic tradition of keeping the scripture vibrant and well-preserved, Dr. Kenneth Cragg wrote the following:

This phenomenon of Quranic recital means that the text has traversed the centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore, be handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of a distant past. The fact of hifz has made the Quran a present possession through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it a human currency in every generation never allowing its relegation to a bare authority for reference alone. (The Mind of the Qur'an, George Allen & Unwin, 1973, p.26.)

It is true that most of the early Quran manuscripts with us now date after the second century Hijrah. But there are a number of fragments of Quranic papyri that date from the first century. There is also a complete Quran in the Egyptian National Library on parchment made from gazelle skin that has been dated AH 68 (688 CE).

We have differing accounts of the number of copies directly ordered and sent out by the Caliph Uthman. Two of these are extant: one at Topkapi in Istanbul and the other in Tashkent.

Smith's arbitrary dating of the origins of the Kufic script, in which these manuscripts were written, actually contradicts early coin and rock inscriptions. Even Western scholars have noted this.

His argument is that the city of Kufah became a major center much after the Prophet, and so the Kufic script is also of a later origin. This, according to him, means that the manuscript in Kufic script is also of a later date.

There is, however, historical evidence to prove that what came to be called Kufic script was in existence much before the origin of the city of Kufah.

What is more important is that there is no deviation in these manuscripts from the Qur'an we have today. Thus the claims of Crone, Crook, and Smith about the Quran do not stand scrutiny in the light of the research findings of recognized scholars.

John B. Taylor, Director of Dialogue With People of Living Faiths and Ideologies, World Council of Churches, wrote the following:

Thus we can feel confident that the Qur'an which we have today is as far as is humanly possible the text which was established within a few years of the Prophet's death. (Thinking about Islam, quoted in Mission Islam:http://www.missionislam.com/quran/Authenticity.htm)

Makkah

The second point you have is Jay Smith's claim that Makkah was not discovered until the ninth century and that there is no record of Makkah or the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the seventh century.

By claiming that Makkah was not discovered until the ninth century, they might mean that the city was little known outside Arabia. Anyway, one can see what historians have to say on this topic.

Here is one account from an outsider's point of view, quoted from the website of the World History Project:

The Hejaz rises from the western coastal plain from Yemen in the south to the Sinai peninsula in the north. One of the oases in the Hejaz is Mecca, set among the barren hills fifty miles inland from the sea. This site had several advantages: Mecca possessed a well (the Zemzem) of great depth, and two ancient caravan routes met there. An east-to-west route ran from Africa through the peninsula to Iran and Central Asia, and a northwest-southeast route brought the spices of India to the Mediterranean world. Another significant advantage of Mecca was its importance as a religious sanctuary. An ancient temple, an almost square structure built of granite blocks, stood near the well of Mecca. Known as the Kaaba (cube), this square temple contained the sacred Black Stone, which was said to have been brought to Abraham and his son Ishmael by the Angel Gabriel. According to tradition, the stone, probably a meteorite, was originally white but had become blackened by the sins of those touching it.

For centuries the Kaaba had been a holy place of annual pilgrimage for the Arabic tribes and a focal point of Arabic cultural and linguistic unity. The Kaaba itself was draped with the pelts of sacrificial animals, and supposedly held the images and shrines of 360 gods and goddesses.

By the sixth century, Mecca was controlled by the Koraysh tribe, whose rulers organized themselves into syndicates of merchants and wealthy businessmen. The Koraysh held lucrative trading agreements with Byzantine and Persian contacts, as well as with the southern Arabian tribes and the Abyssinians (Ethiopians) across the Red Sea. In addition, a number of neighboring merchant fairs, such as one usually held at Ukaz, were taken over by the Koraysh to extend the economic influence of Mecca. The Koraysh were also concerned with protecting the religious shrine of the Kaaba, in addition to ensuring that the annual pilgrimage of tribes to the holy place would continue as a source of revenue for the merchants of the city.

(http://history-world.org/islam.htm)

This was Makkah before Islam.

By suggesting that there are no records of the connection between Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Makkah, Smith simply denies the reliability of not only the Quran, the Hadith and the seerah (the Prophet's biography), but also of all the historians who base their books on those original sources.

I hope this answers your questions, Mohsin. Please keep in touch and do not hesitate to contact us again if you have further queries.

Salam.

2016-07-31 Sun 09:02:01 ct

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