The Creator.

Allah is the Creator.

He made everything. He made everything out of N O T H I N G.

In Arabic, the word “khalaqa” means to make out of nothing, which is something that only Allah can do; it is impossible for anyone except Allah to do this.

Once upon a time there was nothing except Allah.

There was no sky.

There was no earth.

No flowers.

No animals.

No ocean.

No human.

Ask : Look above us. What do you see?

The sky. The sun. The moon. Stars. Galaxy. Lightness. Darkness. Cloud. Rain. Heat.

There are birds that fly above. Big and dangerous. Small and colourful. And then there are butterfly, bees wasps, flies, mosquitoes and small flying insects.

Ask : Look below. What do you see?

The earth. Grass. Trees. Flowers.

And big animals like elephants and also dinosaurs from the very old age. There are tigers and camels. Cats and dogs. Horses and ponies.

And then there are mountain. Big and small. There are ocean. And rivers and lakes. There are water and wind.

There are fishes in the ocean as big as whale and as small as plankton. There are creatures in  there that have lived for million of years only found today. And perhaps many more that we do not know.

And we have fruits that we can eat while some are poisonous. And animals we can eat while some are not permissible.

هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡخَـٰلِقُ ٱلۡبَارِئُ ٱلۡمُصَوِّرُ‌ۖ لَهُ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ‌ۚ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ۥ مَا

فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡحَكِيمُ (٢٤)

He is Allah, the Creator, the Shaper out of naught, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifieth Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (24) Al Hashr  59:24

Only Allah can create. Nobody else can create.

And how does Allah create?

Kun Fayakun and it became.

Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” and it is! (Yasin 36:82)

And why do we need that Allah is Al Khaliq?
So that we understand that only Allah can create everything out of nothing.
Allah is most powerful.
Make us humble to Allah.
And we must understand that ALLAH is the one who CREATES us.

And why did Allah create you?

Reflect on this ayah. AdDhariyat 52:56

And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone). (56)

Remember, the reason Allah creates us so that we worship Allah alone.

That is the purpose you are created. Take the advantage of this knowledge and strive hard so that you can fulfill your purpose here and enter Jannah, Allah’s creation of an eternal life.

For Z and also other activities Ideas taken from Umm Ibrahim’s notes on Allah is the Creator. Allahummabareek.

People : To read up about different type of people n the world. race. Colour. Culture. Countries. And how some are not Muslims like us.

Reflect

O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. he is one of the Muttaqûn (pious – see V.2:2). Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Al Hujurat 49:13)

Animals :

Learn about different animals this week and always mention that Allah created them; learn about names for baby animals (kid, calf, etc) or what you call groups of a particular animal. Talk about farm animals; zoos, etc.

Nature :

Read about something different in nature each day, remembering that Allah created everything

People made house, car, computer and everything in it. People make it from wood, metal, stone, technology of which Allah created.

Activity for H is to listen to Surah Ar Rahman and reflect. To point out in this surah, among Allah’s signs and creations.

Reference

We live in a time where the question “It’s so confusing, how do I know who is right?” is heard quiet a lot in religious circles. Modern day Christians find themselves questioning their Bible and wondering whether their devout parents were a product of a logic-deprived generation or the Bible is more like a book of guidelines as opposed to a literal word of God. Modern day Jews wonder whether the God described in the Torah fits what is humane and logical in the world of today. They ask themselves why Torah is substantially different when compared to the Talmud and what purpose does the abundance of literature besides the scriptures serve in their spiritual growth. The confusion is understandable considering the fact that there are 33,820 denominations in Christianity and more than 6 different versions of Judaism.

Muslims aren’t far behind in this confusion. With more than 70 different sects laying claim to the truth and more than 300 tafsirs of Qur’an, many Muslims find themselves wondering the same question: “With so many options, how do we know which one is right?” To those of us who are honestly hunting for truth, let’s analyze some of the options:

1. “Those who reject faith and deny Our signs…” (5:10)

The not so wise among us take the easy approach to the issue: “If there are multiple options, deny everything” (Atheism)

An Atheist can be likened to the sheep that chooses to starve if more than one type of grass is available or an undecided voter who chooses to wait till more information becomes available. This, in itself, is a very commendable stance only if the Atheist were to continue hunting for information. The sad reality is that most of them become so comfortable with the ‘undecided’ position that they ‘decide’ to stay undecided till their end. No puns intended. Atheists might argue that ‘We’ve already decided that there is no God’ I’ve yet to meet an Atheist who can prove this conclusion with logic, though. Atheist literature is filled with ‘it might be this, it might be that’. They are more unsure of their not being a God than Hindus are sure of the existence of 100s of them.

Since this blog is not meant to be a debate between the God-fearing and the God-denier, simple and powerful words of Allah  should suffice:

“Those who reject faith and deny Our signs will be companions of Hell-fire.” Al-Qur’an (5:10)

2. “…We believe in some but reject others…” (4:150)

This class of people chose their paths based on personal vendettas and prejudices. Consider this not-so-famous quote from a Muslim who converted to Christianity:

“I find Christianity made it easy for me to live and breathe because I could do what I want and have the assurance in my heart that I’ll be in heaven. ”

It’s clear from this reasoning that the choice of becoming a Christian and there by associating partners with Allah was not based on logic or the understanding of truth, but it was merely an escape route from personal responsibilities.

People who subscribe to the ‘Qur’an Only Sect’ or the ‘Submitters Sect’ etc. are part of this group. They’ve chosen to reject all Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad based on their argument that the Sunnah has been falsely modified by human hands. Even though there isn’t any proof of this, they chose to believe it because most of the Shari’ah (Islamic Jurisprudence) comes from the Sunnah that they deny. The Sunnah also makes Qur’an clear and leaves out no room for other authorities of today to interpret it any way they please. The Sunnah puts restrictions on who can become a leader for the Ummah and who is considered a scholar in Islam. This, they do not like, because the ministries that they have set-up to extract money from the public would not work any more should the Sunnah be accepted. They say that Allah only promised to protect Qur’an not the Sunnah from corruption. Let’s see: Allah says:

“Those who follow the apostle, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the law and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him,- it is they who will prosper.” (7:157)

When Allah appointed the apostle as a law-bringer it’s logical that Allah not only would protect the Book, but also the law that this apostle talked about. If we can just read the Qur’an, why send a Prophet at all? Allah also says:

(We sent them) with Clear Signs and Scriptures; and We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them, and that they may give thought. (16:44)

If Prophet Muhammad was given the order to explain the Message to people, why would its explanation (i.e. the Ahadith) not be preserved by Allah .

This and many other ayat from the Holy Qur’an show that Ahadith need to be studied in order to fully understand the Qur’an. After all:

Say: “obey Allah and His messenger. But if they turn back, Allah loveth not those who reject Faith.” (3:32)

Qur’an says obey Allah “and” His messenger. How do we obey the Messenger without his Sunnah to guide us to what he asked of us ? We see, from the Qur’an, that a belief in the Hadith and their authenticity is mandatory to finding and following the right path. With that established let’s see those who reject some of the Hadith, not all.

Many sects today who claim to be true Muslims, such as Qadiani/Ahmedi Movement or the Barelvi Movement, fall into this category. Some deny complete books of Ahadith, others pick according to their desires. The only reasons being the maintenance of power among the masses and the money generated by the abuse of such power.

“If you want to make a little money, write a book. If you want to make a lot of money, create a religion.” (L.Ron Hubbard – Founder, The Church of Scientology)

Due to the denial of some Ahadith according to personal agendas, they put forward strange and unusual claims such as Jesus is dead, or some xyz is a messenger of Allah . The motives behind this are simple: controlling people and amassing wealth. When you tell Muslims that Jesus is not coming back, you make them disoriented and out of hope. When you tell them that you are a prophet, you make it possible for yourself to change scripture according to your will and introduce money-making schemes such as ‘Chanda’ collection of the Ahmedis and appoint it as a religious duty. When a Hadith comes in your way, you just say ‘I reject that particular narrator’ as is the case with Ahmedi’s denial of Abu Huraira’s narrations.

Muslims and students of Islam who are truly dedicated to finding and practicing the truth should know that by logic it is clear that Allah preserves the truth and leaves it apparent for those who are sincere.

…truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things (2:256)

We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). (15:9)

So we must agree on these facts before proceeding towards an honest study of the truth:

• Allah guards His Message to mankind.

• This guarded Message includes not only the Qur’an but also it’s explanation.

• The journey towards the truth may not necessarily be an easy one, for if it was, where would the test be? Allah says:

If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee. but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them (9:42)

• The books of Hadith we have with us today contain Ahadith ranked by authenticity, we must all agree to what the scholars of Islam have concluded: All of the Sahih collections are authentic.

• The Ahadith ranked as weak should not be used as the sole source of information.

• It is very important to know a little bit about those who narrated the Ahadith to protect ourselves from those who invent lies against Allah and His Messenger .

• Finally, no matter how hard the journey towards the truth may seem, a simple prayer can take us far:

اللَّهُمَّ انْفَعْنِي بِمَا عَلَّمْتَنِي وَ عَلِّمْنِي مَا يَنْفَعُنِي وَ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا

“O Allah, benefit me from that which You taught me, and teach me that which will benefit me, and increase me in knowledge.” (Tirmidhi)

3. “…Nay! we shall follow the ways of our fathers…” (2:170)

Then there is the group of people who, either due to lack of resources or most likely a lack of motivation, chose to stick with what their parents raised them up to believe. Throughout history, the philosophy of following your fathers (or elders for that matter) has returned dangerous results. The British Monarchy during the Medieval period is a classic example of how decades of ‘following the fathers’ paths’ turns out a very entertaining result. Scientists were killed for believing in facts and any woman with a less than desirable mole on her nose was burnt alive for supposed witchcraft. Their reasoning was: “We saw our elders do it” When dealing with Islam, we see that those that have always vehemently opposed the truth were the elders of the society. From the time of Noah right down to our time. Both Moses and Jesus were vigorously opposed by the elders of their nations as well. Why?

The answer lies in human psychology and the role Satan plays using his power over it. When we are born, the shock of this new life and the restrictions of human senses makes our souls very uncomfortable.  As we grow a little bit older, we start to look towards our parents as the only source of truth and knowledge in this world, mostly because to our little minds, our parents are the source of food and comfort in our lives. It is this drive in us that Satan exploits at a later age. By making us believe that some how by experience, our elders have gained more wisdom and knowledge than we ever could, Satan ensures that mistakes that he introduced in our forefather’s way of life get passed on to future generations.

Since it’s hard to associate something physical to something Unseen, instead of believing that the food we get is actually ordained by Allah , we end up restricting our thoughts on the little facts that the food actually came because our parents bought it for us. Then Satan fills in the gaps and makes the same mental  associations for knowledge as we did for food. We give up the belief that all knowledge and consequently guidance comes from Allah , and start believing that those who are more experienced among us have an edge.

If you have these thoughts as well, consider the fact that Ali was only 10 years old when he accepted Islam, and at that time in his life, he knew and understood far more than many elders of his generation. A majority of those who followed Moses  out of Egypt were the youth of their time. Most of the first converts to Islam and the first companions of Muhammad were the youth.

Our history clearly shows that the socially engineered idea that ‘Experience and Old Age’ bring ‘Wisdom and Knowledge’ is not grounded in truth. If you are not convinced, let’s also consider the fact that when Umar was young, the Prophet said: “In Bani Isra’il there were people who were not prophets but talked to Allah. Were any one in my Ummah like those people, he would be Umar” This was not said about any other Sahaba (Companion), even though many of them were much senior to Umar . This is to show that Umar’s wisdom and knowledge exceeded that of many elders of his time (even among Muslims).

This tells us that truth can find it’s way in the hearts of those that Allah chooses. We, by ourselves, can not choose who has more chances of being guided and who hasn’t based on age, stature or any other criteria.

With that cleared, some might say: “A person who has spent so many years worshiping Allah is obviously closer to the truth than I am, so I should approach this person perchance I get closer to the truth”. That’s a very valid suggestion, but in eventuality it’s wrong as we shall soon discover. This is the philosophy of some of the Sufi orders of the Subcontinent region. Some saint or scholar, they claim, has reached a status closer to Allah than any other person and hence attains the authority over scripture’s interpretation. The concept of ‘Bay’ah’ is also used by these orders. One has to completely ‘submit’ to this saint’s logic and reasoning to get close to Allah. Let’s analyse this argument a little bit further. Allah says:

Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for friends other than Allah (say): “We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah.” Truly Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful. (39:3)

This argument sounds very familiar at this point. Aren’t they saying the same thing? But Allah is refuting this argument. Allah says that all devotion should be due to Allah alone. When it comes to Saints being closer to Allah , consider the fact that when people used to come to Muhammad and ask him to pray on their behalf saying ‘O Messenger of Allah, you are closer to Allah so…’ Allah revealed:

When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way. (2:186)

I feel that clears a lot to us. We need not submit to someone no matter how pious he/she may be. Even though there are people who are closer to righteousness than others, it is not upto us to decide who is and who isn’t. A very good example is that the day Umar accepted Islam, he was on his way to murder the Prophet Muhammad . So we can’t say that he was some how special even before he received the truth. It was Allah’s mercy on him that very day that changed him into one of the greatest Khalifas of our Ummah. Mercy that is bound by no other criteria than Allah’s divine and just Will.

Once we accept that fact we come to a better understanding of the following verse:

And We have indeed made the Qur’an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition? (54:17)

Some people might still argue that the verses given above don’t apply to Sufi orders and their Saints because they dedicate their lives to the search of truth so they obviously have an edge over us in that department. Some might also say that ‘We have not taken our saints for devotion besides Allah , we just learn from them’. If that’s the case, then Christians do the same with their priests and bishops. They just refer religious matters to them, they don’t really worship them in the traditional sense do they? Christians don’t worship priests as a part of their faith, they just look to them for guidance in religious matters much like members of the Sufi following do with their saints. We need to realize that worship isn’t just a name given to bowing down and praying, worship also entails ‘turning to’ as the following verse shows:

Say: “O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah.” If then they turn back, say ye: “Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah’s Will). (3:64)

There are two distinct orders given to the People of the Book here. One is to not associate partners with Allah and worship Allah alone, the other is to not erect Lords and patrons yourself. So the words lords and patrons clearly doesn’t mean Jesus , who they hold as a god. This verse shows us that you do not have to consider someone god to commit shirk. The Christians do shirk merely by appointing lords and patrons from among themselves and turning to these for guidance and knowledge instead of Allah .

The amount of damage done to the Ummah by those who call for saint-worship is immense. This is a dangerous philosophy because it leaves quiet a lot of room for Satan to work his charm. People of Noah went astray the same way we are today. Satan told them ‘These men were pious and close to Allah, so write down their names to remember them by and give them respect’. As populations grew Satan asked them to build statues of these saints so that everyone can remember what they taught. As people began to move and cities grew bigger, Satan asked them to make smaller versions of these statues to keep in their homes. Many generations passed and the original reason for the statues was forgotten. People started worshiping these statues as if they were gods. (Excerpt from Ibn Kathir’s History of the Prophets )

This is the reason that Allah not only forbade Shirk but also all paths leading to Shirk. Giving someone so much respect that you give up the ability to think and reason yourself may lead to shirk one day and hence should be avoided just as shirk is.

As we go forward into our quest for the ultimate truth, let us take the following facts with us:

• Qur’an has been made easy to understand by the Will of Allah . Any one who says that Qur’an has hidden meanings that only ‘so-and-so’ can decipher, or that it’s interpretation can only be done by a few hand-picked leaders, or that Qur’an is just not easy to understand is in defiance of Allah’s words and should be avoided.

• Allah is close to every human being – righteous or not.

• Turning to humans and appointing them as spiritual guides and interpreters among us is a path to Shirk and thus forbidden.

• Allah alone is worthy of our complete devotion. No human can have any share of it.

• Our respect for elders should be within the bounds of Islam. Taking our history with us as a lesson, we should know that everyone can make mistakes. Elders, parents, leaders, you name it. They should all be judged by the light of Islam and not by their experiences and seniority.

• Allah hears the call of those who turn to Him alone with sincerity. So we cannot say that ‘So and so person’s prayers are more effective than mine, I should ask him/her to pray for me’

4. To be Continued in Part 2…

By Imam Hajj Abdassamad Clarke

WHO KILLED HIM?

We did!

We located Him

and confined Him to the heavens,

excluding Him from the earth.

We dared to make images of Him.

We gave the Ancient of Days

a long grey beard

and a human form.

We cast His role

as lying at the beginning of creation,

with odd interventions

here and there in history.

We only conceded to Him ”Acts of God”

strange capricious disasters

which insurance companies

will not cover.

We restricted His worship to drafty,

old, stone buildings,

one day out of seven.

We gave Him Who has no form as we know it,

a human form,

and when a mortal human being

reminded us of God’s transcendence

we elevated that man into a deity.

Our scientists stole His laws,

straight plagiarism.

The planets had moved in elliptical orbits

for millions of years

before Newton ’discovered’

the Laws of Motion.

Lacking a Supreme Being we elevated nature

to a position not hers.

Then we methodically set out

to conquer this power,

devastating land,

sea, our food

and the very air we breathe.

Already satisfied that we had got rid of God,

we revived an assembly of lesser gods

that would have confused the Greeks,

embarrassed the Romans

and are the envy of the Hindus.

We are contemptuous of worship and prayer,

yet we pass our lives

in a thousand empty rituals,

adoring and propitiating

a multitude of friendly

and hostile gods.

We spend lives dedicated to eating and drinking.

Is this not worship?

We have committed ourselves

to spending the greater part of our lives

making money,

and by that we make money our god,

for no ascetic monk in his little cell

ever showed more complete devotion.

We have restored the old idol

of voluptuous sexuality,

and its nubile form graces our newspapers,

films, our walls

and our dreams.

It, in its turn, has rewarded us

with venereal diseases,

their sister AIDS

and social disintegration

on an unparalleled scale.

We are too proud to bow before God,

but we will crawl on our faces

to the bank manager,

when we run into trouble on our mortgages.

We are, in fact, living our lives

in order to buy our houses,

like Pharaoh

who dedicated his reign

to building his pyramidical tomb.

With God passed away Heaven and Hell

and in their place we put the fantasy,

never-never land

of computer graphics

and its fully-automated,

centrally-heated,

double-glazed,

fast-food brothel

which has unfortunately

the terrifying potential

to metamorphose

into the Gulag Archipelago,

genocidal massacres and state tyranny

as a way of life.

ii

So God is dead

We killed Him.

Yet the God we killed does not exist anyway.

God one-of-three

does not exist.

God old man with grey beard

does not exist.

God remote above the heavens

does not exist.

God of this or that people

does not exist.

God who sent His son

does not exist.

There is no god,

But Allah.

iii
Allah is One.

He is not located in any place,

for if He were,

He would be limited and so,

not divine.

He has no form,

for He is the ceaseless originator of all forms.

He eternally creates the entire cosmos,

and He sustains every photon,

atom, cell

and quasi-stellar object

at every instant.

Without Allah they do not exist.

He sustains every living thing,

Christian, Jew, Hindu or Atheist.

He is not the Lord of the Arabs,

or the Jews,

or the Christians,

but Lord of the Worlds,

of all beings

and of all Being.

No thing resembles Him,

no image nor concept,

yet He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

He has no son,

for His son would have to be a god

with limitless power

and it is impossible

for two omnipotent beings to exist,

they would limit each other.

Anything limited is not a god.

He is terrible might and power,

and sublime mercy and compassion.

He is far exalted above

being one out of a pair of opposites.

He is Allah.

He is the Answerer.

He is the Vast.

He is the Universally Merciful.

God is dead.

Allah is,

The Living Who does not die.

By Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi

We want to look at the matter of tawhid so that you have a strong understanding of it, because this is the foundation of our Deen and it is the foundation of the tariqa of the people who desire knowledge of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Its declaration is found in Surat Ali Imran:

“Allah bears witness that there is no god but Him as do the angels and the people of knowledge upholding justice.” You see the significance of this — that this affirmation of the oneness of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, is the thing confirmed by the angels and the people of knowledge upholding justice. So the people of knowledge, the evidence of their being people of knowledge is that they uphold justice. You can relate this to the age we live in when people who are called ‘ulama do not uphold justice, they do not speak. I once said that the evidence that a man is teaching the Deen properly at the Ka’ba is that he would not be able to proceed before he was arrested. Unless he is upholding justice, unless he is declaring what the correct behaviour of the human beings is who have accepted this Deen, then he is not one of the people who understand or know tawhid or are indeed teaching tawhid. “There is no god but Him, the Almighty, the All-Wise.” What the ‘ulama and the muhaqqiqun have indicated and taught about this is correct. Any other hal or maqam that flows from anything but this affirmation has flaws in it.

Part 1

Tawhid has three aspects. The first aspect of tawhid is that of the common people. It is founded on testimonies, the Shahada — Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadun- Rasulullah. The second aspect of tawhid is that of the elite, the khass, and it is founded on realities. It is founded on haqa’iq. In other words, the people of the elite are those people of knowledge who have had openings lillahi, from Allah — ‘Ilm al-Laduni, a knowledge that is directly from Allah, and this gives them a higher understanding of tawhid. These people are called the khass, the elite. The Sufis divide the people into three groups — the common people, the elite, and the elect of the elite. The third aspect of tawhid is that of the khass al-khass, the elect of the elite, and their knowledge is founded on Pre-existence. It is founded on that which was before existence came into being, on the pure, absolute reality of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. When Rasulullah was asked about what was before the creation of the universe he said, “Allah was, and there was nothing with Him,” and when Imam Junayd was asked about this he simply added, “Is, as He was.”

So the first aspect of tawhid of the common people is by Shahada, that there is no divinity except Allah and He is One without association. La sharikalah — nothing is associated with Him. The first aspect of tawhid is their knowledge and acceptance of Surat al-Ikhlas: “Qul: Huwallahu Ahad. Allahu Samad. Lam yalid wa lam yulad, wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan Ahad.” This is the primary and manifest unification. This is something that all the Muslims can confirm and once you have become a person of this, by it, shirk al-‘adham is forbidden. You cannot associate anything with Allah in any direct manner whatsoever. Nothing is associated with Him, and this is established once you have made this Shahada. By it the qibla is defined and ‘ibada is fard. In other words, once you have said this then you have accepted that there is one qibla and there is not any other qibla or many qiblas, and that no other qibla is accepted. Do not forget that when Rasulullah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was given the qibla of the House of Allah in Makkah it was the going-beyond the religion of the jews and the christians. There is no way that anyone of Shahada can say, “Oh yes, these are all valid religions,” because the giving of the qibla was Allah’s evidence to the common people that the way Allah had accepted was different — otherwise the qibla would have remained the same as that of the jews and the Christians who look to Jerusalem. So this is from the Shahada. By it, blood is spared and possessions protected. In other words, by it the whole edifice of the shari’at falls into place. When you say, “Blood is spared,” it means the rules concerning legal judgments enter into action, meaning therefore that there is a mechanism within the shari’at to spare blood by pardon and by consent of the relatives and so on. Possessions are protected — all the rules of ownership come under this Shahada. All the rules of ownership that have been laid down in the Qur’an and by the Rasulullah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and then continued by the ijma’ of the community, are now established. By it, Dar al-Islam is distinguished from Dar al-Harb. This is an extension of the divine distinction that places the qibla to be the House of Allah in Makkah over and against Jerusalem. Equally this distinguishes the zone of the Muslims as being Dar al-Islam and it is distinguished from Dar al-Harb, the land where you can make jihad.

The modernists have tried to cover this over but it is inescapable because it is a logical and necessary extension of recognising the supremacy of the qibla of the House of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, in Makkah. And by it, the jama’at is approved for the people. Once you have this Shahada then it is approved that the people of this Shahada gather in jama’at for Salat, that their lived community is jama’at and that the binding factor of that community is the worship of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Even if the common people do not confirm this correctly, in other words if they have not grasped all of it, nevertheless by ascertaining it they will be freed from uncertainty, perplexity and doubt through the sincerity of their Shahada. In other words, an intellectual grasp is not the important matter, but in doing it the sincerity of the one who says it is what matters. If they have got it right, their hearts will be right so that they do not have to have the same understanding as the learned people. The example of this was shown by the Rasulullah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Some of the Sahaba became very agitated because they thought a bedouin woman was mushrik and they said to Rasulullah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “We do not think she is straight in her tawhid.” He said, “Bring her to me.” She came and he said to her, “Where is Allah?” Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was asking, “Where?” when he knew in his knowledge that Allah has no where-ness, rather he wanted to see what she would say. “Where is Allah?” She did not point to a tree or a stone, she pointed to the sky. Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, immediately understood that in her understanding, in her grasp this meant ‘no-where’. To her the sky was like nowhere. It did not have place, so he said, “It is alright. Leave her be, she is correct. She is Muslim.” He accepted that answer from her because she did not indicate a form and he left it at that. So what we are saying is that the sincerity of the Shahada will make up for failure in the intellect to grasp it completely. We are speaking of the unification of the common people. This unification of the common people is authenticated through the confirmation in the heart. This unification of the common people is also by repetition of Shahada. By confirmation of the Risala of Rasulullah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the works of Allah. In other words, as they live inside the community of Islam the people begin to confirm it by their recognising through the life of Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and through things they are taught about him and by the behaviour of the community around them — what they approve and disapprove of — and they begin to strengthen this tawhid. And of course the works of Allah: when they see Allah’s creation and see what Allah does, the power of Allah over events, all these strengthen this Shahada. It is necessary after hearing it. It is discovered by viewing the truth, and it grows by confirmation. This is the first aspect of tawhid.

Part 2

The second aspect of tawhid is that of the elect, of the khass. It is different in the sense that it is confirmed by realities, by haqa’iq. This means that the one who is on the path of dhikr begins to have openings, begins to have gleams, flashes, illuminations that come into the heart and that help free the slave from being enmeshed in events and being enmeshed in the idea of some kind of absolute reality in existence rather than that the absolute reality stands over and against and beyond existence. It is by the iskat, the casting away of the asbab — it is by the casting away of the apparent causes. This is something you must now concentrate on. It is by casting away the apparent causes — in other words, you do not look at the creation just as the creation works. The creation works, on the face of it, by cause and effect, obviously. If the apple drops, it drops by gravity. If I move, I move because I have ordered the limb to move, and so on. We live in a world of cause and effect. We think, “If you do this, that happens,” and of course at a very low level this is absolutely true, as we experience life. If you boil water you get steam. But this is not how things are because in the realm of events Allah is the Creator of you and your actions. The best example is if you take the dog. You say, “The dog has been created by Allah,” but what is ‘dog’? Dog is not just a body. We know how a dog behaves, we know what it ‘is’. We know that it will be your friend and yet it will turn on you. We know that it can be trained to hunt. We know that it is dirty and that it leaves behind it its droppings with indifference, that it licks itself, it is unclean and it is also loyal. We know all this mixture of things about ‘dog.’ You cannot separate the dog from its dogginess. The dog and its actions are one, they are the same. The animal that you see is what it is by its complete pattern of existence. There are the high, wild and noble animals which live in families, they hunt together, they share, and then they compete for mates — there is a whole pattern that is not separable from the animal. What man has done because of his intelligence, his intellect, is that he has separated himself from the animals and thinks, “Ah, that is them, but not me. I am free because while the animals mate in a season, I can mate in any season,” and he begins to think he is independent and separate from his own actions. But the man is also the whole pattern of his actions. The understanding of this begins to affect the understanding of the destiny. This is why the du’a of the elect is, “Allah, give me an Iman that is lasting.” What does this mean? It means that when the vicissitudes of life come, when the difficulties of life come, let my Iman be able to deal with it and may I not lose that Iman, because I want to have an Iman that is still there at the end of the story because I have been destined by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to be one of those people who is with the ones who will gain the Garden.

This changes your view of action. You do not look at the cause and effect. You realise that in the whole process of existence, in the words of Imam al-Ghazali, there are actually no secondary causes. That really the thing is happening in another kind of way that at first we cannot grasp. A wonderful metaphor for this was given to me by the Raja of Mahmudabad, rahimahullah: “What does the ant know of the pattern of a Persian carpet?” It is as if the ant is crawling through a forest of trees of the carpet and does not know what the pattern is, but if we look at it we see that the ant is in fact moving through a completely structured and determined set of patterns of enormous complexity. That is the reality of the existence of that instance. But this is also true of us. The matter is as ‘Umar ibn al- Khattab said, “The book is written and it is shut.” It is done, it is over. Once you grasp this, then you behave differently. Fear of Allah is recognising His power in every instant. The difference between the kafir and the mumin is that the kafir thinks he is the operator. He thinks he is free to act, but we know that we are determined, and yet we still have to act. Already our kidneys will make us afraid at a certain moment. One of Shakespeare’s characters says, “I have no kidney for this fight.” So his cowardice is from his kidneys because his kidneys become frightened, and you have been given these kidneys and not other ones. Another man is brave because his kidneys are strong. The Muslims in the Osmanli army used to bind a cloth, the cummerbund, around their kidneys so that their kidneys would not let them down in the battle. So they used tight, tight binding around their middle so that they would be brave.

They were tuning in to the understanding that already it was not a matter of, “These men are coming and I am here and I am frightened,” it is a matter of, “Already my whole body has been determined to be able to act in a certain way. Allah has already designed me to lose my temper at a certain moment, so I do not want to be at the mercy of my temper. I want to do what is pleasing to Allah.” Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, guided people saying, “Anger is fire. Water puts out fire. If you feel anger coming on, do wudu.” In other words, stay among the people of knowledge and do not become one who is ignorant as the one who is ignorant is the one whose senses have dominated not just his intelligence, but also his heart because the heart becomes clouded over. This is why the Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “There is an organ in the body that if you can guarantee it to me I can guarantee you the Janna,” and he put his hand on his heart. The heart is the vital organ of the Muslim and the intellect can become clouded over if the heart is not clear.

So the master of the whole affair is the heart, and the people of heart are not looking to secondary causes, they are looking to the Causer, who is the Actor. Allah is the Actor in every situation. This will change how you behave in every situation. Once you realise that this is His staging of events, events are His, then you will be among the knowers, you will act differently from the ones who do not know, who think they are the actors. So this goes to a very important matter. This tawhid is to go beyond intellectual debate. It is to go beyond dependence on the declaration of the Shahada. In this stage you do not depend on dalil, on argument or proof, you do not depend on sabab, on the causes, in order to have tawwakul. You do not depend on any wasila, on any means of rescue. You have put the whole matter in the hands of Allah. In the Diwan of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, rahimahullah, he says, “Make all your troubles one and hand them over to Allah,” subhanahu wa ta’ala.

You will view the precedence of Allah in His wisdom and knowledge. In other words, in every situation prior to event, Allah’s wisdom is there and Allah’s knowledge is there and you will tune to this. You will see how things are set in their place. You will see how things are relative to their moment. You will see how things are hidden under their pattern. Every thing and every person has a pattern and they are hidden under it. As I was just saying, the organs of the body also determine the actions. You see how these things are and how they are hidden under their patterns.

For example, the Shah of Iran in his heyday held a great pagan, pre-Islamic celebration in Iran and he gave all his guests golden lavatories, and he exalted them in the most vulgar way. When one saw that one said, “Now he is absolutely finished,” but they said, “Why? It is not possible! He has the CIA, he has the American support, he has the worst secret service in the world, Savak, he cannot be defeated.” “But he has gone too high, so he will be defeated when someone goes into sajda, because that is the opposite, and the thing will turn over.” So things are hidden in their form. That is what inspires the people of this spiritual quality to have wara’, to be careful. You want to be careful because you want that the form you are on is not one which is going to crash. That is why it is said that the true Sufi is like a black insect on a black stone in a room in the middle of the night — you do not even see him, because his carefulness, his wara’, his scrupulousness is his protection against the inexorability of the world’s actions. Thus you will realise causes, and at last you will step on the path of iskat. You will step onto the path of being able to cast away the viewing of new events. This is an extraordinary statement: “The casting away of new events.” The people who see new events think that the world is in command of itself, that things are being determined by other people’s actions whereas the reality is that the new event has no newness and there is no reality of events — Allah is the Actor. Allah is making it happen. So what looks like a victory is a defeat, and what looks like a defeat is a victory. When the Mongol armies came pouring down from Asia into the Subcontinent towards Europe, on the face of it, it was the greatest catastrophe possible. When Rumi’s father, who was a very great ‘alim, got to Baghdad he went to warn the people, but they did not listen. He told them this thing was happening. When the great Khan came and slaughtered these people, he mounted the mimbar and made his famous statement, “I am the scourge of Allah.” He did not say that he was the scourge against Allah, but, “I am the scourge of Allah.” He had the tawhid which they had lost! — because it was a punishment from Allah.

Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “The child is the hidden secret of the father,” and the grandchild of the Mongol leader became the first of the Muslim rulers who then dominated the whole world. All the Moghul inheritance came from his sons. So what had looked like a disaster had in fact, hidden in it, this tremendous event. Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi puts it another way, he says, “There is nothing in this world that is not a blessing for one person and a curse for somebody else.” He said, “The sultan dies and some of his family are executed and the others are mourning and they lose their positions, their palaces, and at the same time the new sultan comes and he gives amnesty and hundreds of prisoners are released from prison.” So the one event, for some it brings them low and for others it raises them up. This is the tawhid of the khass and it comes with fana’ and it is clarified by jam’. Jam’ is a very important word for the Sufis, and it means gatheredness. It is when the slave does not experience himself as separate and distinct, but where all existence is somehow gathered together in his experience, so his reality does not end with his limbs or his intellect. This knowledge will be one which attracts those who aspire to tawhid. In other words, the people of the elite are like the red sulphur. They draw to them those people who wish to have this same quality of knowledge. This understanding of tawhid is something that transmits, and the model of this is Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who poured out this knowledge onto the people around him, and it pours from the people of knowledge onto the ones who desire this knowledge. It is an alchemical process that transforms the hearts.

Part 3

The third aspect of tawhid is that of the elect of the elite, the khass al-khass. This is the tawhid that Allah has specified for Himself and has decreed as being that of His qadr. This is the aspect of tawhid which is that of His power over events. He has projected a gleam of it upon the asrar, the secrets of a number of His sincere friends. Allah has just given a glimpse of this tawhid that Allah has specified for Himself to some of His awliya, and He has made them mute so they cannot describe it, and He has made them powerless so they will not divulge it. The allusion made to this in the language of those who hint at it by reference to this strange matter about events being His doing — the casting away of new events — becomes the confirmation of Pre-existence. Allah was and there was nothing with Him, and it was Imam Junayd, the elect of the elite who then said, “Is, as He was.”This expression becomes a fault. The saying of it becomes a mistake. It becomes a blemish on it. Tawhid does not become complete until this in turn is cast away. This last is the qutb of allusions in the language of the masters of the Sufic tariqa — this abandoning of what has been given by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, casting everything out, knowing it cannot be said. They have robed it in ornaments of description, the Sufis have outlined it in chapters. The open explanations only increase its hiddenness, so getting it clear hides it more. Attributes, sifa, descriptions, only increase its reticence, expanding it only increases its difficulty. Those who are engaged in contemplation and the people of states are moving towards this aspect of the tawhid of the khass al-khass. Those who are awed by it, by Allah’s majesty, are intending to move to it. They are in the niyyat of moving to it.

Those who speak of ‘Ayn al-Jam’, the source of this gatheredness where the self becomes universal, are referring to it. Concerning it, allusion, ishara, collapses. Tongues cannot speak and expression cannot indicate, because tawhid is beyond what any created one could indicate about it, what time could encompass, and what any cause could cover. About it Abdullah al-Ansari, one of the great Hanbali Sufis wrote: “Ma wahada al-Wahida min wahid, idhkullu man wahadahu jahi. Tawhidu man yantiqu anmatihi ariyatun abtalahal wahid. Tawhidahu iyahu tawhidahu wa nattu man yanatuhu lahi.” “No-one can declare the unity of the Unique. Whoever declares His unity is a denier. The declaration of unity by anyone speaking from his description is shameful and nullified by the Unique. The declaration of His unity is for Him to declare, and the description of anyone describing Him is a heresy.” This is the poem of a lover of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, who will just not allow anything to be said about the matter. This is like a completion of his understanding which leaves him back among the common people saying with them in the jama’at, “Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadur-Rasulullah,” sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

Allahumma! Allah give us an Iman that is lasting. O Allah, give us knowledge throughout our life that draws us near to You. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to keep us among the company of the Salihun. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, for a taste of the company of the Salihun. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to keep us in the circles of knowledge, to keep us in the company of the people of knowledge. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to make us lovers of Him. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to give us a destiny which draws us always nearer to Him. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to give us a great expectation of His mercy and His light.

   ” I on powiedział : ‘ Oto idę do mego Pana , On mnie poprowadzi drogą prostą . Panie mój ! Obdarz mnie kimś sprawiedliwym ! ‘ I obwieściliśmy mu radosną wieść : chłopca wspaniałomyślnego . A kiedy ten doszedł już do wieku , kiedy mógł razem z nim się trudzić , on powiedział : ‘ Synu mój ! Oto widziałem siebie we śnie , zabijającego ciebie na ofiarę . Rozważ więc , co o tym myślisz ? ‘ Powiedział : ‘ O mój ojcze ! Czyń , co ci nakazano ! Ty mnie znajdziesz cierpliwym , jeśli tak zechce Allah ! ‘ A kiedy obaj poddali się całkowicie i kiedy on rzucił go twarzą na ziemię , zawołaliśmy do niego : ‘ Abrahamie ! Widzenie senne wziąłeś za prawdę . W ten sposób nagradzamy czyniących dobro . Zaprawdę , to jest doświadczenie oczywiste ! ‘ I okupiliśmy go wielką ofiarą . I uwieczniliśmy go wśród potomnych : Pokój Abrahamowi ! ‘ W ten sposób nagradzamy tych , którzy czynią dobro ! On jest , zaprawdę ,wśród Naszych wiernych sług ! “ ( s.37 a. 99-111)

   Z okazji Święta Ofiarowania , wszystkim Braciom i Siostrom , oraz sobie i swoim bliskim , życzę abyśmy “ poddali się całkowicie” . Tylko tyle i aż tyle. Cała reszta jest Łaską i Miłosierdziem Allaha Najwyższego ! Jemu chwała i wdzięczność .

by Hanîfah Ashawe

AT A TIME WHEN ISLÂM IS FACED WITH HOSTILE MEDIA COVERAGE PARTICULARLY WHERE THE STATUS OF MEN IN ISLÂM IS CONCERNED, IT MAY BE QUITE SURPRISING TO LEARN THAT ISLÂM IS THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION IN THE WORLD, AND EVEN MORE IRONIC TO IS THAT THE STATISTICS SHOW THE MAJORITY OF CONVERTS TO ISLÂM ARE WOMEN!

The status of women in society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled one, and where Islâm is mentioned, for many the term ‘Muslim Woman’ prompts images of exhausted mothers chained to the stove, ‘victims’ suppressed in a life of indoctrination, frantic to be westernised and so on. Others will go to great lengths to explain how the hijâb is an obstacle, clouding the mind, and comment that female converts are either brainwashed, stupid or traitors to their sex. I reject such accusations and pose to them the following question: why is it that so many women who have been born and brought up in the so-called “civilised” societies of Europe and America are willing to reject their “liberty” and “independence” to embrace a religion that supposedly oppresses them and is widely assumed to be prejudicial to them?

As a Christian convert to Islâm, I can only present my personal experience and reasons for rejecting the “freedom” that women claim to have in this society in favour of the only Religion that truly liberates women by giving us a status and position which is completely unique when compared with that of our non-Muslim counterparts.

Before coming to Islâm, I had strong feminist tendencies and recognised that where the woman was concerned, a lot of shuffling arwnd had been going on, yet without being able to pin her on the social map. The problem was ongoing new ‘women’s issues’ being raised without the previous ones being satisfactorily resolved. Like the many women who shared my background. I would accuse Islâm of being a sexist religion, discriminating, oppressing and giving men the greater privileges. All this coming from a person who didn’t even know Islâm, one who had been blinded due to ignorance and had accepted this deliberately distorted definition of Islâm.

However, despite my critidsms of Islâm, inwardly I wasn’t satisfied with my own status as a woman in this society. It seemed to me that society would define the terms such as “liberty” and “freedom” and then these definitions were accepted by women without us even attempting to question or challenge them. There was clearly a great contradiction between what women are told in theory and what actually happens in practice.

The more I pondered, the greater emptiness I fell within. I was slowly beginning to reach a stage where my dissatisfaction with my status as a woman in this society, was really a reflection of my greater dissatisfaction with society itself. Everything seemed to be degenerating backwards, despite all the claims that the 1990’s was going to be a decade of success and prosperity. Something vital seemed to be missing from my life and nothing would fill this vacuum. Being a Christian didn’t do anything for me, and I began to question the validity of only remembering God one day a week – Sundays! As with many other Christians too, I had become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the Church and was becoming increasingly unhappy with the concept of the Trinity and the deification of Jesus. Eventually, I began to look in Islâm. At first I was only interested in looking into those issues which specifically dealt with women. I was surprised. What I read and learned taught me a lot about myself as a woman, and also about the real oppression of women lies: in every other system and way of life outside Islâm. Muslim women have been given their rights in every aspect with clear definitions of their role in society – as had men – with no injustices against either of them. As Allâh says: “Whoever does deeds of righteousness, by they male or female, and have faith, they will enter Paradise and not the least injustice will be done to them.” [an-Nisâ' (4):124]

So having amended my misconceptions about the true status of women in Islâm, I was now looking further. I wanted to find thatthing which was going to fill the vacuum in my life. My attention was drawn towards the beliefs and practices of Islâm. It was only through establishing the fundamentals that I would understand where to turn and what to prioritise. These are often areas which receive little attention or controversy in society, and when studying Islâmic creed, it becomes clear why this is the case: such concise, faultless and widely comprehensive details cannot be found elsewhere.

The fundamental belief of Islâm is Tawhîd which is a simple message ‘lâ ilâha illallâh’. It is recognise that Allâh alone is to be worshipped and then to direct all worship towards Him – the root message which strikes at all false worship and it is the place where any person who seriously wants to learn about Islâm should start.

By this time I had begun to meet practising Muslim women and how I felt so secure and welcome in their company! There was a sense of tranquillity and humility about them and I wanted to share in that. These sisters, I regarded not only as friends, but advisors, and supporters too, and the beauty of their companionship was that every person was attracted due to the same reason: to help each other in worshipping Allâh. This is what united their hearts together. Allâh says: “And He has united their [i.e. the believers] hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allâh has united them. Certainly He is All-Mighty, All-Wise.” [al-Anfâl (8):63]

Alhamdulillâh, I accepted Islâm willingly.

Through my reading, researching and attending lectures, I have come to know my Rabb(Lord). I have come closer to acquainting myself with some of His Names (Asmâ’) and Attributes (Sifât) of Beauty and Perfection. I have found this a great help in understanding the whole Religion. To know, for example, that among Allâh’s Names is that He is the Most Wise (al-Hakîm) and the Most Just (al-’Adl), and therefore that He commands only that which is wise and just, would completely relieve a person from seeking to find justifications for Allâh’s Laws, or from having having doubts about the fairness of Allâh’s Laws. Now,alhamdulillâh, I can appreciate much more why the true Muslim scholars emphasise so strong for Muslims to learn about Allâh – His Asmâ’ and Sifât – before trying to reason with Allâh’s Laws.

Unfortunate I would have been, had I taken the stance that “Islâm gives the best deal to women” and made this my reason for embracing Islâm because then my faith would have been without a firm ground and sooner or later I would have come across some laws ordained by Allâh that I couldn’t logically / rationally understand or see the wisdom behind. Had I not studied the foundation of belief, namely Tawhîd and looked at how Allâh describes Himself in His Book, perhaps I would still be in darkness. And all praise and thanks is for Allâh who guided me to the truth – It is as He says: “Wherewith Allâh guides all those who seek His good pleasure, to ways of peace, and He brings them out of darkness, by His will, into light and guides them to a Straight Path.” [al-Mâ'idah (5):16]

The reason why women are turning to Islâm must certainly have something to do with the honour that Islâm gives them and the equality with which it deals with people, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of race, nationality, class, etc. However, the overriding reason why I and so many others like me were attracted to Islâm was because Islâm answered the most important question which I had ever asked: “Why am I here on this earth?” So I crossed the divide and managed to see what lies on the other side … alhamdulillâh, I chose Islâm.

Source: Kalamullah.com

Source: ad-Da’wah illa Allâh
Courtesy Of: SunnahOnline.com

THE ISLAMIC REGION

With 1.3 billion people, a rich endowment of natural resources, and large pools of captial, Islamic nations are a significant component of the global economy.

As the video below outlines, Dubai is first among equals when it comes to doing business in this region:

SHARIA LAW AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS

The principles inherent in Sharia Law have a direct impact on how business in conducted in the Islamic World. According to Frank Voegel and Samuel Hayes of Harvard University, “Westerners who plan to do business in the Persian Gulf need to appreciate the extent to which religion and Islamic Law are intertwined and permeate all levels of society, including commerce.”

The three fundamental prohibitions in Islamic Finance Include:

Riba(Interest) Essentially riba covers any return of money on money.

Gharar (Uncertainty): This is often used as the grounds for criticism of conventional finance practices such as short selling, speculation, and derivatives.

Maysir(Gambling): Often used to argue against conventional insurance and derivatives.

Sharia Law shapes Islamic Markets. Partnership is often preferred to hierarchy, speculation is prohibited, and charging of interest is not allowed because it is seen as exploitative according to the teachings of Islam. For example, prohibition of speculation forbids futures markets, currency hedging, or the representation of gambling companies in mutual funds.

The prohibition of fixed, predetermined interest payments also prevents the establishment of primary or secondary debt markets.

ISLAMIC BANKING AND ECONOMICS

To gain a more in-depth understanding of how Sharia law impacts business in Islamic regions you are strongly encouraged to review the following report from KPMG:

You can access the full report by clicking here.

ISLAMIC ETHICS AND THE “MORAL FILTER”

Gillian Rice of Thunderbird contends that “A free market capitalist economy uses market determined prices as a filtering mechanism to distribute resources. The use of a price system alone, however, can frustrate the realization of socio-economic goals.”

Dr. Rice continues, “Islam is absolutely unambiguous in its objective of eradicating form society all traces of inequity, injustice, exploitation and oppression. The intense commitment of Islam to justice and brotherhood demands that Muslim society take care of the basic needs of the poor. In the eyes of Islam the rich are not the real owners of their wealth: they are only trustees and, through Zakah, they are obligated to share that wealth to care for less privileged members of Islamic Society. In short, income redistribution is not only an economic necessity, but also a means of spiritual salvation.”

The Islamic worldview implies that the market system should be maintained, but that the price mechanism be complemented with a device that minimizes unnecessary claims on resources. This device is known as the Moral Filter. This means that people adhering to Sharia Law would pass their potential claims on resources through the filter of Islamic Values so that many claims would be eliminated before being expressed in the marketplace.

According to Rice, there are there are three primary Moral Filters:

Unity (tawhid): Unity is by Muslims as a coin with two faces: one face implies that God is the sole creator of the universe and the other face implies that people are equal partners or that each person is a brother or sister to the other. Tawid essentially means a brotherhood based on equality. Economically, Choudhury suggests that peoples of Islamic faith believe that behind the workings of an economy based on market exchange, the allocation of resources, the maximization of utility and profits there is a more fundamental truth – that of social justice.

Justice (adalah): Islam teaches that all wealth should be productive and people may not stop the circulation of wealth after they have acquired it. Equitable distribution of income and wealth is incumbent upon both the Islamic state and the individual. At a micro-level the Islamic view of inheritance helps to redistribute private property. The primary motive of the law of inheritance is to put a final check on the concentration of material assets in the hands of the few. Sharia Laws centered on the Moral Filter of Justice can present unanticipated consequences for the economic development of a region as Duke Professor Timur Kuran explains in the video below:

Trusteeship (khilafah): People are viewed as trustees of the earth on behalf of God. As we learned from Tom Standage, when Muslim merchants traveled to distant lands, the inhabitants of those lands were impressed by the trader’s social and business conduct and so became curious about their beliefs. In Islam, there is no conflict between the moral and socio-economic requirements of life. Resources are for the benefit of all and not just a few and everyone must acquire resources rightfully.

Perhaps this is why, as we learned from Tom in London, that most of the trade conducted in the Indian ocean during colonial times was governed by Sharia law.

THE MIDDLE WAY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
According to Rice, “Muhammad advised Muslims to be moderate in all their affairs; in fact he even described Islam itself as the “Middle Way”. A balance in human endeavors in necessary to ensure social well-being and continued development of human potential.”

In Islam, business activity is considered to be a socially useful function. Muhammad himself was involved in trading for much of his life. The individual profit motive is not the chief propelling force in Islam. Social good should guide entrepreneurs in their decisions besides profit. In Islam it is established that worldly goods are for the advantage of all and that no one has the right to use these goods to cause a loss to other members of society. In regards to this value, the expected behavior of the firm would not be any different from the behavior of any member of society.

According to Masudul Choudhury, the main objective of a Muslim entrepreneur is based on:

Reasonable Profit

Just Price

Just Wage

The Welfare of Society

Islamic economics requires the market to work with cooperation, compassion, justice, charity and solidarity and to produce a socially acceptable optimality alongside economic efficiency.

In conclusion, based on her research, Dr. Rice suggests that “Leaders working in Islamic regions should develop and implement a balanced business philosophy which integrates the profitability requirements of multinationals with the social, economic, and sustainability needs of the region and those who live in it.”

REVISITING THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

As we learned in London, the Globe Project findings can enhance global managers’ global competence and cultural acumen. It compares countries on nine critical cultural dimensions (see below) and discusses the implications of the cultural similarities and differences for global managers.

Throughout the course we will be using these cultural dimensions that Cornelius Grove describes as’ “The Measuring Rods of Cross Cultural Research,” in his summary (click HERE) of the Globe Study to compare and contrast cultures during in-Region activities.

Given this refresher on the cultural dimensions and the History, Civilizaiton, Culture and Business content provided on this blog, please take the following poll to determine the most pronounced cultural dimension you believe you will encounter in Dubai.

POLL:

Click HERE to return to CCL Dubai Main Page.

One never tires of gazing at the sight of the House of Allah, the Kaa’ba. The site upon which the mercy and blessings of Allah are constantly descending. There is truly nothing comparable to the House of Allah on this Earth. People wish time would stand still so they could keep gazing at the Kaa’ba; their thirst is never quenched, rather it increases.

Once, while on a visit to Washington, people told me that a woman had accepted Islam and had some questions for me. They told me that many non-practicing Muslim women had started practicing again due to her. At prayer time she would dress in her best clothes as if readying herself for someone special, and would become oblivious to everything around her as soon she started praying.

After a brief question and answer session, I asked her what prompted her to accept Islam. She sighed and started explaining; “I was a Jew and my husband was a Christian who was posted in Saudi Arabia for some technical work. Everyday I used to see Muslim men and women dressed in white on their way somewhere. I asked my husband where they were going and he told me that they go to perform pilgrimage at the Muslim shrine of Kaa’ba. I expressed a desire to go but he told me that non-Muslims were not allowed. However, I was determined and so we both bought white clothes and set out. Fortunately no one stopped us and we reached Makkah, from where we found directions to the Kaa’ba. Upon seeing the Kaa’ba our eyes froze and time seemed to stand still. When we turned to look at each other after some time, we were both crying. With our eyes we told each other that this was the Truth and we should accept Islam. No one ever told me about Islam, but there were so many blessings descending on that House that they changed my life forever.”

The blessings of Tawhid descend in Makkah, and the blessings of Prophethood descend in Madinah. One has seen nothing in life if he has not seen these two holy sites. May Allah give all Muslims the opportunity to visit to His House.

Source: Islamcan

What is the ruling of the shariah (Islamic Law) regarding someone who just doesn’t want to be a Muslim and leaves Islam?”

But there was a story about a Muslim in Afghanistan converting to Christianity some time back .

NOTE: Islam always deals with everyone in Justice and Equity. Oppression of any person, regardless of their religious belief is totally forbidded in the Islamic State on all levels.
Islam means “willing submission to the Will of God in peaceful obedience”, and as such, cannot be forced upon anyone, nor can anyone be converted to Islam against their will. When the laws of Islam are set in place they exist as a trust to protect God-given rights of everyone, under God’s Laws. Islamic State provides advantages and benefits for all who live within its domain, as well as admonision and punishment for those who violate this trust and oppress others.

An important point to keep in mind, Islam like Judaism, served as a full and complete government as well as a religious way of life for their followers for many centuries, and there was absolutely no such thing as “secular” or seperation of “Church” and state. (Note: “church” here refers to the clergy’s control of civil matters, rather than reference to the place of worship. Thus is would include the temple and the mosque for the sake of conversation)

Leaving Islam on the basis of belief only and without offering any damage or oppression to others or to the Islamic State does not carry corporal or capital punishment, or any other type of punishment that I have found evidence for. In fact, there were cases at the time of the prophet, peace be upon him, where some had entered Islam, left Islam and then came back to Islam. Other cases people left and did not come back and lived on without any persecution or prosecution for that matter, whatsoever.

This article will endeavor to provide proper understanding in simple English of Arabic and Islamic terms and of Islamic view of those who apostate or leave the fold of Islam under varying circumstances.

I personally can not offer any judgment on this issue for two very clear reasons.

<1> First, I do not consider myself as a qualified scholar according to the regulations in Islam.

<2> Second, because I do not really know anything about the truth and evidences of this particular case. Therefore, I would not be interested in even offering an “arm-chair opinion”. (There are already too many people ready to do this anyway)

“What happens to the one who leaves (apostates) Islam?”

ANSWER:

Jazakallah khair and may Allah reward you for your question regarding those who become “murtid” (apostate from Islam):
Your letter has caused me to finally sit down and prepare a complete written response this subject and it gives me the opportunity to also include this reply in our discussion boards on the Internet. I pray for you and ask Allah to reward you every time someone reads this and takes benefit from it, ameen. Please write back and let me know if the following research and presentation is of any benefit for you and for those whom you are sharing about Islam.

You probably are aware I was once a Christian music minister and preacher , coming to Islam while trying to “convert” a Muslim from Egypt to Christianity. (full story on our website at: www.YusufEstes.com

As you must imagine, I had some very serious concerns over this very same question, before accepting to leave Christianity for Islam. After all, I didn’t think anyone would kill me for doing so. It was only in the last few years I learned there is killing going on in some countries over the issue of family members and others converting to other religions. Yes! – even in these days! Egypt has cases of Christians killing someone for going to Islam, as well as the other way around. This is also true, according to the newspapers about someone in Israel going to Islam last year. And there is even a law in Chanai, India forbidden the public declaration of faith for anyone converting to Islam. I know that to be a fact, as I was there at the time of the tsunami and a man from Texas wanted to convert from Christianity to Islam while Dr. Zakir Naik’s program was going on (the man’s name was David) and the authorities would not allow it in public. They told me that there had been a series of murders as a result of a man converting from Hindu to Islam in the area and they just didn’t want any more killings or civil riots. (I think “civil riots” is an oxymoron?)

I had discussed this issue of apostasy in great depth many times, even before making up my mind to leave almost 50 years of Christianity to become a Muslim. After all I thought, what if I would like to change my mind and go back to being a Christian or make some other choice along the way; what would the Muslims do to me then? So you are most correct to ask this and we will try our best to provide the answer from historical evidences of Islam.

But before we begin, I would like to observe your particular question because it is not a general question. It deals with a specific occurrence in a particular place in certain circumstances, which I would like to come back to in a brief moment.

Also there is something not correct in the question. The man did not recently convert. He was already a Christian even before the Taliban. I do not know all of the circumstances, but I have been informed by some of the actual people from Afghanistan the man in question (I think his name is Abdur Rahman or something similar) had been Christian for a long number of years and this incident was really based on something else, but what, I don’t know.

The story presented in the news media these days is one of about an Afghani man who has been a Christian for over 16 years. This means he was a Christian throughout the entire time the Taliban were running the country there and obviously no one did anything to him throughout this time. Only now, with the western backed regime in place, are we hearing about this “problem.” It does make a person wonder what is really going on there.

Nevertheless, we will discuss the subject of how Islam views the one who leaves Islam , if God Wills (inshallah).
To begin, there is not a hard and fast rule concerning this subject because there are perhaps as many reasons why people do what they do as there are people in the world. The answer must be based on each individual situation, as it depends largely on the person, his or her knowledge, intention and understanding as well as the conditions surrounding the circumstances.

Before we can begin , to be fair to those not familiar with Islamic terms and words, we must start by explaining to both Muslims and the non-Muslims alike, who might be wondering about the answer to such a question, what Islam is really all about and set the stage for them to better understand the actual ramifications of entering and/or leaving Islam.

First, they have to understand what all of the relevant Arabic words and terms actually mean. You should explain exactly what “ISLAM” means and what is: Tawhid(monotheism); Ibadah (worship); Shar’iah (God’s Commandments in Islamic Law);Fatwah (Islamic Judge’s findings in Law and their subsequent rulings); Hudud(punishment); Murtid (apostasy). It is important for anyone desiring to understand Islam’s position on any subject, especially in such matters as this, to gain a firm grip on the importance of words being used and their meanings regarding the issues at hand.

The first word to explain is:
“Allah” – believe it or not, most people do not know the word “God” is a deficiency in the English language. There is no word for the “God” of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus, (peace be upon them all) in English. The word “god” is used both for the pagans and the monotheists. In order to distinguish between the two, the first letter “g” in the word is capitalized when written. However, this approach does help very much when beginning a sentence with the word as all sentences begin with capital letters. Nor does it provide for any type of distinction when speaking as there would be no way to differentiate between “god” and “God. “Allah” is the appropriate word for the “God” of Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. There is a word in Arabic for “god” (note the small ‘g’); it is “elah.” The word “Allah” in Arabic comes from the same root, but it can not be made plural (as in: ‘gods’) nor can the word imply actual gender (as in: ‘goddess’). Allah is the perfect word to describe the One God Almighty of the universe and it has been the word used by the writers of the Bible for both the Jews and Christians in the Arabic language for centuries. www.GodAllah.com

“ISLAM” means; surrender, submission, obedience, sincerity and peace between God and His Creatures(us); to do “God’s Will on earth, as it is in Heaven”www.WhatsIslam.com

“Muslim” comes from the same root as “Islam” and it means: the one who believes inAllah and is complying with the Shari’ah of Islam) www.IslamTomorrow.com/word/

Tawhid (monotheism) in Islam is – to believe in the One God of Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus and Muhammad, peace be upon them all, and to obey the Commandments of Allah according to His Will. It is to worship Allah, Alone without any partners (see: First Commandment; Exodus, chapter 20) and to obey the prophets of Allah, worshiping Allah according to the way they did, and to be dutiful to the parents. (examples: Fifth Commandment; Exodus, chapter 20, Duet., chapter 5) feed the poor and care for the orphan, to always tell the truth, encourage good and forbid evil. Basically, it is to believe as mentioned by the New Testament (Mark: chapter 12:29) “Know O Israel, the Lord your God is One Lord; and you have to worship Him with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. And I give you another Commandment like unto it, to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Ibadah (worship) only for Allah and not to anything in or of His Creation. All praise, worship, thanksgiving and supplications are for Him only.

Quran (Recitation and actual Speech of Allah recorded in memory of Muhammad, peace be upon him, from the Angel Jibreel [Gabriel]. It was then passed on from mouth to ear and recorded in manuscripts perserved until now. Quran is memorized by over 10,000,000 Muslims living on the earth today – 90% of whom are not even Arab, by the way. Quran is the Final Revelation and Last Testament from Allah to all mankind, as such it is considered by Muslims as the foundation for everything in the Shari’ah.

Shar’iah (God’s Commandments in Islamic Law) The Commandments of Allah in theQuran and the Sunnah (teachings of Muhammad, peace be upon him, as understood by the first generation of companions to Muhammad, peace be upon him). The shar’iah only applies to Muslims and those who live under the protection of the Islamic State (khalifate).

Fatwah Findings in Law and their subsequent rulings, by jurists and Islamic scholars who have memorized the Quran and are experts in the classical Arabic language and have correct knowledge of the meaning of the revelation of Quran and the hadeeth.

Hadeeth Authentically recorded and preserved testimonies of eyewitnesses to accounts taking place concerning Muhammad, peace be upon him, and the revelation of the Quran.

Hudud (punishment) The punishments to be initiated by those in authority according to Shar’iah as ordered according to appropriate fatawah (plural of fatwah).

Murtid (apostasy) a Muslim who makes the choice to leave Islam (submission to God’s Will).
Next let them know, no one is ever forced or coerced into accepting Islam. This always was and always will be a matter of choice left up to the individual. Muslims are not ordered to “convert” people to Islam. Rather, they are ordered to deliver the message of Islam to others through their own righteous living as an example and in respectful “reminding” as taught in the Quran.

Islam (willful submission) to Allah’s Shar’iah (God’s Commandments in Islamic Law) and is the very balance needed for all humans for all times and in all places (according the teachings of Islam). The Paradise is reserved for only those who submit themeselves to the Commandments and Judgments of Almighty Allah.

There is never to be forced conversion to Islam (if it were forced, then the word “Islam” would not really apply anyway), and it is forbidden according to the Quran, in the second chapter, verse 256: “Let there be no complusion in the religioin (“deen”: actually means way of life as opposed to “religion”). From this we understand no one can be made to believe anything by force. Rather, it must be by their own decision.

Now be sure they understand the difference between “Islam” and “Muslims“, meaning: “Islam” is perfect, but we as humans (Muslims) are not. Therefore, we can and do make mistakes. This lets us know immediately if anyone is calling for something in the name of “Islam” or the “Shar’iah”, this should be viewed in the evidence of the Shar’iah itself and not just what some jurist or scholar may conclude.

Finally, judges and scholars over the centuries have held different opinions and given various rulings based on all of the above . No one can make a blanket statement and say the same rule applies to all people in all situations.
Let us review some of the evidences starting at the time of our prophet, peace be upon him.

Even during the time of our prophet, peace be upon him, there were some who “left Islam” and then they were allowed to come back if they wanted to or stay away if they so desired. One example is from the Muslims who migrated in the first migration to Ethiopia and one of them left Islam, became a Christian (the people of Abyssinia were Christians at that time) and then even told people there he was an “author” of the Quran. Of course such actions are most despicable and worthy of some kind of reprimand, especially considering the extent of the lies against the Quran and the prophet, peace be upon him. Yet, nothing was done to this man by the Muslims. His wife, Zainab, could not tolerate his lies and his turning his back against the truth of Islam and she returned back to the Muslims in Arabia. After the man died the Christians attempted to bury him, but the next day they found his body out of the grave and laying on the ground. Considering the Muslims must have done this act, they moved him to another area and buried him there. Again, the next day they found his body out of the grave and on top of the ground. So, they took him far from there and made another grave and buried him in it. But again, the next day his body was out of the grave and laying on the ground. At this point they decided the ground would not accept his body and they left it for the wild animals. We learn from this example Allah will be the One to finally deal with these people and He may even do so in this world as well as on the Day of Judgment.

Other examples include those who entered Islam in the presence of our beloved prophet, peace be upon him, yet when they were returned back to their people (during an agreement between the pagans and Muhammad, peace be upon him) some of them reverted back to their old pagan religion. Some of them did come back to Islam again later on after Islam came to be the governing state. In this case we observe what can happen in the case of the one who is in Islam and then for whatever reason decides not to stay.

Yet another example that occurred at the time of our blessed prophet, peace be upon him, was that of some who pretended they wanted to be Muslims only to take advantage of the believers, gain some worldly benefits and then abused and slaughtered an entire group of shepherds that memorized the entire Quran, who were caring for them. They killed them in cold blood and took everything for themselves. The prophet, peace be upon him, was very disturbed over this and ordered them to be severely punished and left to die without any food or water. From this example we learn how to deal with traitors and terrorists who have no intention of doing anything except evil and spreading fitnah (evil and terror) throughout the land.
Over the centuries since the inception of Islam, we can find cases of people leaving Islam and what was their example and what the pervailing jurists decided in their particular situation. Most all of these were not punished except in the cases of treason, other acts of viloence or for propagating corruption, dissention and promoting evil along with their apostasy. Those who were found to be causing sedition or of being enemy spies during times of war or advocating the overthrow of Islamic government could understandably be courtmartialed and executed.

Now let us breifly compare the treatment of conversion and apostasy with other civilizations and societies over the centuries.
The Roman civilization would not tolerate someone who accepted the benefits of citizenship and the turned against the government. These people were made short work of as entertainment for the people, while gladiators tortured and killed them for public sport. (see: Encyclopedia Britanitca; Rome).

It may benefit us to take into consideration Judaism and Christianity to better understand the difference between what is being taught as the religion and what some people do. The Book of Genesis in the Torah (Old Testament) tells of an incident referred to by Scholars such as Rabbi Allison Bergman Vann, as the “Rape of Dinah.”(note#3 & #4 below)
It is easy to conclude the offer of circumcizing and coming to their religion was only a trick to defeat the men while they were in such pain and suffering (keep in mind, in those days there were no clinics or even sterile conditions for such operations).
Another reference to “conversion and apostasy” regarding Jews during the years after Jesus, peace be upon him, occurred in the south of Arabia in Yemen. Yusuf Dhu Nawas, a Jewish leader in Yemen, attacked the Christians of Najran ordering them to embrace Judaism or be burned in a pit of fire. Estimates put the number of those killed between 20,000 and 40,000.

(note #5 below)
The Catholic Church at one time forced people to enter into their religion at the point of the sword and with torture chambers (see: Crusades, 1095 to 1200 A.D.; and Inquisition, 1492 to 1520 A.D.) Those who wished to remain or change to Islam or Judaism or even another form of Christianity were put to the most vile of tortures and even executed. However, this cannot be said to in any way, represent the teachings of Jesus or the New Testament.
Now let us consider the realities of balance in Islam in light of today’s world:
There is no existing Islamic state with a khilafah. This means the hudud (punishment according to Islam) of the Shar’iah (Islamic Law) cannot be appropritely applied. Additionally, anyone not being a citizen living in an Islamic state could hardly be tried and convicted by the state in a proper manner.

(note #6 below)
Some would claim the Protestants are not the same as the Catholics. Read what the first real “protestant,” Martin Lurther, had to say about this (taken from Jamal Udeen Zaraboza’s article).

Let us consider the follow example for comparison:

> There is a person living in Russia decides he wants to become a citizen of the United States and goes to the United States Embassy and begins the procedure of immagration and naturalization. Later on he changes his mind, doesn’t like things the US is doing and decides to give it up.

> Now he cancels his immagration process. This would could lessen his chances of getting citizenship in the future but would not bring about retaliation against him from the US.

> Then, if he begins to publicly speak out against the US policy and puts up websites, sends out emails makes speeches calling for acts of violence against America, he definitely is going to have a problem ever getting a chance a citizenship later if he should change his mind and like to become an American.

> Next, he goes so far as to actually recruit people and train them at some paintball place while telling them they are preparing to attack America.

<>Question: Is he going to be listed as a terrorist and enemy to America?

<> What about those who joined him for paintball practice and listened to his talks? Would they be listed along with him, as terrorists?

<> Would they be tortured (in some other country) and then spend the rest of their lives in prison?

! > After all, they are enemies to the state and should be treated as such. Right?

To conclude, Islam comes from Allah, the actual Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Islam provides for all situations and dictates what are the rights and limitations. This all seeks to provide a safe enviornment for all people to learn the correct message of Almighty Allah and how to live as upright citizens in a place of pleace and mutual cooperation for all humans, regardless of their beliefs.

If a person wants to accept this belief and way of life, then they should be free to do so. If another person would reject this even though the evidence is clearly in favor of Islam, they are free to make this choice but would live in the society still receiving the benefits and services available, such as food, shelter, clothing, protection and charity. However, they would pay a larger tax on their wealth due to their not being conscripted to serve in the military and so on.

Conditions are really what bring about the different rulings on dealing with those who enter Islam and then leave it, with the clear intention of bringing about descention and unrest amongst the people. Also, those who seek to convert people away from Islam into other faiths or to destroy the Islamic government would naturally be considered as traitors and then dealt with as such.

All knowledge is with Allah and for any mistakes I seek Allah’s forgiveness and beg the pardon of anyone whom I may have offended in this writing.

Again, may Allah reward you for your effort and accept from you and all of us, ameen.
Salam alaykum,
Yusuf Estes
PS – Please include this link in the bottom of all your emails (and include this request for others to do the same, inshallah) - www.ProphetOfIslam.com

Note #1:
Regarding the “Oneness” (monotheism) of God in the Bible (even today’s English translations):
There are so many Biblical passages teaching God is only One and without any partners. This is a basic premise throughout the entire teaching of the Bible. The many explicit passages clearly declare this as a cardinal truth.
Each of the following 27 passages explicitly teach that there is one — and only one — true and living God.
Please note that the King James Version (used here) designates the Hebrew name Jehovah (or Yahweh) with “LORD” spelled with all letters capitalized; Adonai, meaning “Lord” or “Master,” is designated by “Lord;” and “Elohim,” is translated as “God.” Thus, in Duet. 4:35, for example, the phrase “the LORD he is God,” would be literally translated, “Jehovah, he is Elohim.” (In those instances were Adonai is used as a compound with Jehovah, the latter term is spelled GOD, so that the compound name “Lord GOD” designates the Hebrew, “Adonai Jehovah”).
1. DEUTERONOMY 4:35,39 — Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightiest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. (39) Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
2. DEUTERONOMY 6:4 — Hear, O Israel: The LORD thy God is one LORD. [Note in Mark 12:28-34 how Jesus and a Jewish scribe he encountered understood this text.]
3. DEUTERONOMY 32:39 — See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
4. 2 SAMUEL 7:22 — Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God; for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
5. 1 KINGS 8:60 — That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.
6. 2 KINGS 5:15 — And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
7. 2 KINGS 19:15 — And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
8. NEHEMIAH 9:6 — Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou has made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preserves them all; and the host of heaven worship thee.
9. PSALM 18:31 — For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
10. PSALM 86:10 — For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
11. ISAIAH 37:16,20 — O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou has made heaven and earth. (20) Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
12. ISAIAH 43:10,11 — Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.
13. ISAIAH 44:6,8 — Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Fear ye not, neither be afraid; have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
14. ISAIAH 45:21 — Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time: who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
15. ISAIAH 46:9 — For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.
16. HOSEA 13:4 — Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me; for there is no savior beside me.
17. JOEL 2:27 — And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
18. ZECHARIAH 14:9 — And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
19. MARK 12:29-34 —And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
20. JOHN 17:3 — And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
21. ROMANS 3:30 — Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcised through faith.
22. 1 CORINTHIANS 8:4-6 — As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
23. GALATIANS 3:20 — Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
24. EPHESIANS 4:6 — One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
25. 1 TIMOTHY 1:17 — Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be Honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
26. 1 TIMOTHY 2:5 — For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
27. JAMES 2:19 — Thou believes that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Note# 2. Dawah (inviting or calling to Islam) is prescribed in Quran as a duty to Muslims. It implies living an exemplary life and sharing the message of monotheism and obedience to Allah’s Shar’ah with others. Muslims are ordered not to dispute with others about the matters, only to conduct dialogs in a way that is better.
www.islamtomorrow.com/dawah

Note# 3. Vann says in a speech to his congregation on December 12, 2003:
The story, known commonly of the rape of Dinah, is shocking. A few minutes ago, I read from the introduction of the story. Let me summarize the entire drama:

Dinah goes out to visit her sisters in the land. Along the way, she encounters Shechem, who has intercourse with her. He then speaks tenderly to her, and falls in love with her. Shechem asks his father Hamor to get Dinah for him as a wife. Meanwhile, Jacob had heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter and was distressed, but as his sons were in the field, he decided to wait for them to come home before taking action.
Hamor comes to speak with Jacob to ask for Dinah’s bride price. At this time, Dinah’s brothers return home from the field. They were angry and distressed, for Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Dinah. Jacob’s sons refused to give Dinah to Shehem, because they were not circumcised. On the condition that all of Hamor’s men become circumcised, could Dinah become Shechem’s wife. Shechem immediately became circumcised, and shortly after that, all the men in the town also did the deed.

On the third day after their circumcision, when they were in the most pain, Simeon and Levi took their swords and went to the town. They killed all the men while they were unable to defend themselves. They seized the women, children and the property of Hamor and his men, and also took Dinah from Shechem’s home. When Jacob heard what they had done, he said, “ You have brought trouble upon me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land”.
Simeon and Levi responded: “Should ours sister be treated like a whore?”
< whole lecture at:www.beth-elsa.org/abv121203.htm

Isaac Sachs brings it even closer to home, in this explanation appropriately entitled, “The Rape of Dinah: Genesis 34″
In the story, Shechem, the son of a local king falls in love with Dinah, daughter of Jacob, sleeps with her and asks his father to request her hand for him. His father, King Hamor, paid a ceremonial visit to Jacob’s house, where he offered peaceful coexistent with the new immigrants,

“Please let my son marry your daughter, and let us marry each other; give us from your daughters and take from ours. And the land shall for you to settle, to trade and to posses.”
(Genesis 34:8)
Shechem also made the customary and lawful offer: “Please let me pay the required Mohar (dowry) and marry your daughter”.
(Genesis 34:12)

Indeed, the only other mention of Mohar (Mahr in Arabic) in the whole Bible is in the story of Shechem and Dinah! It is as if the story was made to illustrate the concept of peaceful resolution to pre-marital sex.
But before Jacob could accept or reject the Mohar, his sons jumped in, saying “we would like to take-up your offer, but you see, we have this custom called circumcision, and we could not possibly intermarry with people who are not circumcised. Now, if you and your entire male population were to circumcise, we would be glad to grant your wish”.
Incredibly, Shechem promptly takes the request to his people and convinces them to circumcise. On the third day, as the newly circumcised people of Shechem are hurting, two of Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levy (yes, the archetype of organized-professional priesthood), swords in hands, massacred every male in the city of Shechem.

Note: #4
Although the word rape is never actually, mentioned in the story, it becomes the basis for the recounting of the story in Sunday schools culture. To make things worst, the girl’s words or thoughts are not reported in the story, testifying to the low level of relevance biblical- era Middle Eastern (and today’s Islamic) societies accord to their women.
In the story, Shechem, the son of a local king falls in love with Dinah, daughter of Jacob, sleeps with her and asks his father to request her hand for him. His father, King Hamor, paid a ceremonial visit to Jacob’s house, where he offered peaceful coexistent with the new immigrants: “Please let my son marry your daughter, and let us marry each other; give us from your daughters and take from ours. And the land shall for you to settle, to trade and to posses.” (Genesis 34:8). Shechem also made the customary and lawful offer: “Please let me pay the required Mohar (dowry) and marry your daughter” (Genesis 34:12). Whether the Law of Moses is divine or just a codification of local customs, it specifies that one must offer a Mohar after sleeping with an available woman, and then he must marry her. This is all described in Exodus 22:15, and is subject to acceptance by her father. (If he refuses, he will just take the money). Indeed, the only other mention of Mohar in the whole Bible is in the story of Shechem and Dinah! It is as if the story was made to illustrate the concept of peaceful resolution to pre-marital sex. But before Jacob could accept or reject the Mohar, his sons jumped in, saying “we would like to take-up your offer, but you see, we have this custom called circumcision, and we could not possibly intermarry with people who are not circumcised. Now, if you and your entire male population were to circumcise, we would be glad to grant your wish”. Incredibly, Shechem promptly takes the request to his people and convinces them to circumcise. On the third day, as the newly circumcised people of Shechem are hurting, two of Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levy (yes, the archetype of organized-professional priesthood), swords in hands, massacred every male in the city of Shechem. Not only do they reduce the circumcision ritual to an act of macho-challenge, but they also call attention to the fact that the case of rape is really a case of prohibited seduction between two lovers who dare cross imaginary boundaries set by narrow-minded self-appointed spiritual leaders. To the chagrin of later date clergy, the Bible goes out of its way to tell us that Jacob’s son put forth the circumcision challenge with deception in mind! (Genesis 34:13) And the fact that they threatened to have Dinah removed from Shechem’s house during the negotiations (Genesis 34:17), implies that she was there as guest, not as a hostage! Jacob, who saw through the brother’s pretentious performance as defenders of the family honor, reproached his two sons: “you made me look ugly in front of the inhabitants. They are many and they could retaliate and finish me off!” (Genesis 34:30) Not one word about moral issues!

And what is God’s position? Having nothing to do with moral behavior, He is smart enough to stay out of the story altogether.

The impartiality of the storyteller proves once again that the integrity of the Bible is far greater than that of its characters, even if they are claimed to be our ancestors.

Note: #5 According to Raheeq Al-Makhtum (THE SEALED NECTAR) Author: Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, Jamia Salafia – India, translated by : Issam Diab:
Judaism was introduced into Yemen by someone called As‘ad Abi Karb. He had gone to fight in Yathrib and there he embraced Judaism and then went back taking with him two rabbis from Bani Quraizah to instruct the people of Yemen in this new religion. Judaism found a fertile soil there to propagate and gain adherents. After his death, his son Yusuf Dhu Nawas rose to power, attacked the Christian community in Najran and ordered them to embrace Judaism. When they refused, he ordered that a pit of fire be dug and all the Christians indiscriminately be dropped to burn therein. Estimates say that between 20-40 thousand Christians were killed in that human massacre.
< www.al-sunnah.com/nektar >

Note: #6: From Jamal Udeen Zarabozo’s Article

Could God Legislate Death for Apostasy?

Many Christians, in particular, seem abhorred by the fact that Muslims could believe that God has legislated death for apostasy. This author has personally heard Christians claim, once again, that Islam must be some barbaric religion to believe in such a penalty. This attitude is very perplexing to this author. It is one thing to say, “We no longer believe in such a law” and quite another to say, “We do not believe in a God that would legislate such a penalty.” In the former case, the individual is simply turning his back on what may have been part of his religion. Such an approach is common for modernist Jews, Christians and Muslims. However, the latter approach clearly denies what is stated in their holy books. (Unfortunately, this is also not uncommon for modernists. However, many less-extreme Jews, Christians and Muslims do not allow themselves to go that far.)

An in-depth study of all of the relevant Biblical texts is well beyond what is needed here. Hence, only one or two verses shall be commented upon.

Exodus 22:20 reads:

“He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” Famed and widely respected Biblical commentator Matthew Henry had the following to say about this verse:

IV. Idolatry is also made capital, v. 20. God having declared himself jealous in this matter, the civil powers must be jealous in it too, and utterly destroy those persons, families, and places of Israel, that worshipped any god, save the Lord: this law might have prevented the woeful apostasies of the Jewish nation in after times, if those that should have executed it had not been ringleaders in the breach of it.

Numbers 25:1-5 reads:

1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.

Another passage, Deuteronomy 13:6-11 is also quite telling:

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

2 Chronicles 15:8-19 has the law being applied even to the young among the apostates. The relevant verses in that passage are verses 12-13 which read,

12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

From the New Testament, one finds in Romans 1:20-32 that Paul approves of the death of idolaters, homosexuals and other sinners. This passage reads,

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

The above examples should be sufficient. The interested reader may further consult Deuteronomy 13:12-18 and Deuteronomy 17: 1-7.

Actually, as is well-known, the history of the official Christian church and many of its leaders on issues of this nature is very dark indeed. One did not need to be an apostate to be killed in the history of Christianity. Apostasy is to be distinguished from heresy, as is clear in the following passage from the Encyclopedia Britannica,

[Apostasy is] the total rejection of Christianity by a baptized person who, having at one time professed the faith, publicly rejects it. It is distinguished from heresy, which is limited to the rejection of one or more Christian doctrines by one who maintains an overall adherence to Jesus Christ.

Two examples from the history of Christianity dealing simply with heretics—not apostates—should suffice here. The Cathars, a pacifist heretical group of southern France, were crushed. Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against them. Here is how two Christian authors described part of that crusade:

In 1209, Arnold Amaury, abbot of Citeaux, called for the collective slaughter of all Cathars in the town of Beziers. His motto, which has carried forth into modern expression, stated, “Kill them all, the Lord knows those who are his.” Only a small minority of the town, perhaps five hundred, was made up of Cathars, but all the city paid the price for guilt by association. Twenty thousand were killed. Thus began the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Cathars in the thirteenth century.

Non-Catholics, of course, may respond to the above by putting the blood of those deeds on the hands of the evil Catholics. However, one should not forget Martin Luther’s ruling concerning the Anabaptists, another pacifist heretical group who had the audacity to have themselves re-baptized when adults.Martin Luther stated that such heretics are not to be tolerated and the only fitting punishment for them was hanging.

This approach is in compelling contrast to the legacy of Islam. Not long after the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the caliph Ali had to face the crisis of the heretical group known as the Khawarij. Although he sent people to preach to them to correct their misunderstandings, his approach was that they were not to be physically attacked by the state as long as they did not commit any acts of violence against the Muslims. The Khawarij did become violent, and it became necessary for Ali to fight and defeat them. Afterwards, he was asked about them. He was asked if they were polytheists, and Ali replied that they, by holding the beliefs they held, were attempting to flee from falling into polytheism. When he was asked if they were hypocrites, he replied that hypocrites rarely remember and mention Allah. Finally, they asked him, “What are they?” He replied, “They are our brethren who revolted against us and we fought them only due to their revolting against us.”

The author would like to thank Br. Hadi Hashmi for his research paper, “Verses dealing with the Death Penalty for the Apostate.”

Taken from The Bible Suite Collection (ValuSoft, 2006).

Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner, Christian Jihad (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004), p. 183.

One can only wonder what Martin Luther would have to say about today’s “born again” Christians.

[5]
See Caner and Caner, p. 162.

Abu al-Fidaa Ismaaeel ibn Katheer, Al-Bidaayah wa al-Nihaayah (Beirut: Maktabah al-Maarif, n.d.), vol. 7, p. 290.

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Last Updated (Thursday, 01 October 2009 01:25)

By Yusuf Estes