:bism: (In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)
(Peace be upon you)
Assalamu alaykum,
For me, there are so many things we don't talk about, but even rarer is actually doing something about what we discuss, this is such a broad and deep topic, but to name a few (obvious I know but so important).
Mental health (there still seems to be little awareness of it)
Youth and also women's engagement in the mosques and Muslim community.
Global warming (I mean, we're meant to be the khilafah on this earth - it's our job to protect its reserves and resources).
Helping the Ummah more - and not just giving zakat, but knowing where and how it is distributed. I think we give so much in charity alhamdulillah but resources aren't used as effectively as they could be.
Educating others about Islam (there's a shocking amount of misunderstanding about our deen among even Muslims. I can personally relate as a couple of years ago I knew *nothing* despite being a born-Muslim).
There are many amazing figures speaking up about many issues previously considered taboo or brushed under the carpet ma'sha'Allah - but I think we need more engagement from the community collectively and ourselves as individuals. Honestly, I don't do half as much as I should do about certain issues I feel strongly about.
Wonderful post, sis!
I think there's a stigma in regards to mental health issues all over the globe, which is why it is so hard for people to get the help they need to get better.
I also think you're right to be concerned about both youth and women's engagement in mosques and the Muslim community, because I think that having them engaged will make a huge difference in how
ulema (scholars) discuss issues when they're addressing women-specific or youth-specific issues in audiences. There needs to be that connectivity with the
imams willing to listen and engage both the youth and women because the women are the mothers and wives of this
ummah who will teach their children who should lead with their example and because the youth are our hope for the best possible future for humanity.
Global warming is definitely a concerning issue, because our children and children's children are to inherit this earth and we should definitely make sure that our own human activities that are negatively impacting us and our combined future are spotlighted.
Masha-Allah (as God willed), you have great ideas, sis!
We need to stop complaining about what some deem as a fake Islamic State and either accept it, or work together to build a real Islamic State where the rule of God is used to judge amongst us, if anyone tries to meddle and sabotage our efforts, we need to make clear who the enemy is rather than sit content in satanic secular states whilst encouraging the devils to bomb and maim people without just cause in order to keep their war machine running.
I'm seriously astonished when I sometimes happen to read your posts. You're still in doubt about whether it is a "fake Islamic State"? Amazing! There's a consensus among Islamic scholars that
Daesh is not the Caliphate and is the enemy of Muslims, and therefore what you are left with is an illegitimate political organization illegally vying for power and mowing down Muslims and non-Muslims getting in their way. "Complaining"?
Au contraire, Muslims haven't begun to unravel
Daesh's position as Islam's enemy; if you knew half of the things I do about
Daesh from
Daesh sources, you wouldn't disseminate uninformed opinions on the Internet in favor of their existence or their actions which are undoubtedly evil.
Really? "
uild a real Islamic State"? Hmm. Your words are steeped in a Utopian and illogical mindset of the type we've been warned by Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) is typical of the Khwaraij which have in the past and in the modern day continue to create fitna (trial) for the ummah.
Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “In the last days, there will be young people with foolish dreams. They will say the best of words in creation but they will pass through Islam just as an arrow passes through its game. Their faith will not go beyond their throats.”
In an article called "Dangers of Khwarij ideology and violence," the "foolish dreams"as quoted is explained in the following words: "Their 'foolish dreams' are their promises of an Islamic Utopia, a glorious jihad, a new Caliphate that will bring honor and strength back to the Muslims. Yet, their dreams are unrealistic and their methodologies dangerous to the very people they claim to be helping. Their understanding of faith is so shallow, superficial, and hypocritical that they cause even greater harm to Muslim community."
Let's, however, for a second humor you about establishing the real Caliphate. How do you think this is exactly supposed to happen? Most of the ummah in disarray. We might talk about the ummah as an Islamic concept, but in practical terms the reality reads quite quite different. And you and I should both know this as a fact: Muslims are a dynamic, fractured, unstructured, individualistic, tribal, factional, diverse group, not any cohesive, monolithic homogenous body. As you know, the adherents to Islam are not exclusive to any race, ethnicity, country, or creed, and do not lend themselves as a population to making a case for consolidation of power and hegemony to establish the Caliphate not only because they themselves are unprepared to do so but they are also powerless to do so.
The only reason ISIS claimed a Caliphate is because they're not on the prophetic methodology and want political power and are the bona fide Khwaraij of our time with their "foolish dreams."
And let's read what Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) has said about them. Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“There will be division and sectarianism in my nation and a people (the Kharijites) will come with beautiful words and evil deeds. They will recite the Quran but it will not pass beyond their throats. They will leave the religion as an arrow leaves its target and they will not return to it as the arrow does not return to its bow. They are the worst of the creation. Blessed are those who fight them and are killed by them. They call to the Book of Allah but they have nothing to do with it. Whoever fights them is better to Allah than them.”
So, that answers your implicit query considering whether Daesh is the fake Islamic State or not; I'd say this is an answer I'd place under the category of "obvious," and again, I'm amazed that only you don't have the memo.
Here is further proof that this world is a chess game and shortsighted Muslims like you are the reason we're in this hot mess:
As one example, a document obtained by Judicial Watch on May 18, 2015, formerly classified as "secret," is a US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document that provides evidence of Western support for Islamist extremists. The DIA report, dated August 12, 2012, reveals that in coordination with the Gulf states and Turkey, the West intentionally sponsored violent extremist groups for the purpose of destabilizing Assad, and that these "supporting powers" desired the emergence of a "Salafist Principality" in Syria to "isolate the Syrian regime."
According to Brad Hoff, an independent journalist, teacher, and former U.S. Marine who served during the early years of the Iraq War, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report formerly classified as "secret" provides extraordinary confirmation that US intelligence envisioned the terror group ISIS as "a US strategic asset." As he wrote in the Levant Report on May 2015, "US intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a US strategic asset.
Let's face some other facts in regards to establishing the real Caliphate as you said should be the goal: Most Muslims, the normal average Joe variety, from the ummah are now too immersed in worldly gain to even bother to do the basics of Islam like 5 times prayer, fasting, Hajj, alms, forget doing anything like ever uniting or knowing how to rule by shariah in a just and merciful manner as exhorted to in the Quran. Most Muslim leaders in most Muslim-majority countries themselves would not let that happen due to self-interest, i.e. not wanting to lose their positions, power, and wealth. This is not even taking into account Zionism being a real phenomena that has wide support across the political spectrum in all countries across the board in both Europe and North America, which means that any attempt to make foolish dreams into a reality will be met with failure because from either behind the scenes or from the front the leaders in those countries will ensure that this never happens because of their varied economic and political interests in the Middle East as well as the desire to maintain their worldly position as leaders of the globe.
The one and only thing left with the best chance at establishing a legitimate Islamic rule is heavenly intervention, which is the only way this can happen. And from ahadith, it is clear that the heavenly intervention comes for the ummah in the figure of Mahdi alayhis salaam (peace be upon him) fighting Dajjal (Anti-Christ) and the return of Jesus alayhis salaam (peace be upon him), all of what gives us the desired legitimate Islamic rule upon prophetic methodology. What is the proof?
Here is the proof:
Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "There shall be Prophethood (nubuwwa) among you for as long as Allah wishes it to be among you. Then it shall be lifted up when Allah wishes to lift it up. Then there shall be successorship (khilâfa) on the pattern (minhâj) of Prophetship for as long as Allah wishes it to be. Then it shall be lifted up when Allah wishes to lift it up. Then there shall be a trying kingship (mulkan 'âddan) for as long as Allah wishes it to be. Then it shall be lifted up when Allah wishes to lift it up. Then there shall be a tyrannical kingship (mulkan jabriyyatan) for as long as Allah wishes it to be. Then it shall be lifted up when Allah wishes to lift it up. Then there shall be successorship on the pattern of Prophetship."
Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The Hour shall not rise until a man from the People of my House [again the concept of royal family] shall rule by kingdom (yamluk), named after me, his father named after mine, and fill the earth with justice and equity just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice."
So, what did Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) advise to do until such heavenly intervention in the form of "successorship on the pattern of Prophetship" comes to us from Allah?
The following is what Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) advised:
عَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى الْأَشْعَرِيِّ ، قَالَ : قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : " إِنَّ بَيْنَ يَدَيِ السَّاعَةِ فِتَنًا كَقِطَعِ اللَّيْلِ الْمُظْلِمِ يُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ فِيهَا مُؤْمِنًا وَيُمْسِي كَافِرًا ، وَيُمْسِي مُؤْمِنًا وَيُصْبِحُ كَافِرًا ، الْقَاعِدُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْقَائِمِ ، وَالْمَاشِي فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ السَّاعِي ، فَكَسِّرُوا قِسِيَّكُمْ وَقَطِّعُوا أَوْتَارَكُمْ وَاضْرِبُوا سُيُوفَكُمْ بِالْحِجَارَةِ ، فَإِنْ دُخِلَ يَعْنِي عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْكُمْ فَلْيَكُنْ كَخَيْرِ ابْنَيْ آدَمَ " .
Before the Hour comes, there will be a tribulation like patches of dark night. A man will get up a believer and go to sleep a kaafir, or will go to sleep a believer and wake up a kaafir. The one who sits at that time will be better than one who stands and the one standing will be better than the one walking and the one walking will be better than one running. Break your bows, cut their strings and strike your swords against stones. If someone comes to kill any of you, then be like the better of the two sons of Adam.
Yet you insist on tenaciously holding onto mentality like of the Khawarij. Should I congratulate you for your shortsightedness and stubbornness?
Confess now to all and sundry on IB that you're one of those people who will not be satisfied until Muslims wholesale are slaughtered for your political ambition of Muslims ruling the dunya (world) in some way despite this having been characterized as "foolish dreams" by Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) because you are not ready to be patient with Divine Will and because you do not care about Muslims except when it suits your whim to create anti-Western sentiment to stoke the flames of hatred and enmity for this enumerated purpose and then you'll be the first to remember and remind Muslims of the body count in Muslim-majority countries due to the War on Terror, forgetting that most Muslims are dying and dead because of (a) Muslim infighting first and foremost in Muslim-majority countries and (b) Daesh has amassed more Muslim body count in death tolls than non-Muslims in their illegitimate warfare against the West.
I'm frankly tired of your regurgitation of the same-old same-old just because you have a personal axe to grind with the U.K. as you were subjected to police interrogation for your behavior, even though rightly warranted, as you vandalized posters and had previously a criminal record for selling drugs, yet you still insist you are in the right.
So, kindly, and I mean it nicely, stop disseminating illogical positions on the basis of ignorance. And please do not present your ignorant view as one endorsed within mainstream Islam when you well should know by now that what you speak only represents your subjective view that is the consequence of your prejudiced extremism.
The #1 issue is that Muslims and non-Muslims focus on rules and laws from the beginning. Instead of teaching about God's mercy, attributes...etc, we have made it this idea that ...There is this higher power that is just waiting to throw them into hell once they sin or slip. People grow to fear God(in the way that you fear a lion that is about to kill you, not "respectful" fear, like with one's parents).
The whole POINT is to be close to and worship God. If you don't even have a connection with God, the rules will mean nothing to you. Forcing someone to wear hijab, pray 5 times, fast, not drink wine....etc. does that person no good if their intention was that they are being forced.
The first thing a person has to do is learn about God, attributes...etc. To be close to God.....then that person will naturally abide by the laws that God has put in place without being reminded or coerced by other people. Learning about God is very broad... it's not just "God is one, created you and commands you to do this"...
I completely agree. Islam is and has always been meant to be established within the hearts of the people before shifting focus on rules and laws. Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) taught 13 years only about the Oneness of God and only when these Companions' hearts had submitted to Islam did Allah have Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) teach about rules came down to enable them to live an ethical live under the love and shelter of Allah's Mercy.
Supporting tyrants all because they talk a big game about how bad Israel is, how wonderful Islam is, or how horrible the secularists and the United States are.
You're right, and I do realize the context of your comment; so, I would like to apologize. Once upon a time, I'd really liked and favored President Erdogan for what he'd done for Turkey in terms of being pro-religious liberation like allowing hijab and giving back land that had been deemed secular to the church, making Turkey a thriving economy and a prominent and successful Muslim-majority country. So, I was happy when the coup was defeated, and I still think that it was best that the military coup was thwarted. That said, I do realize my error in placing any confidence in him because I had forgotten that we're living in the time when most world leaders are tyrannical in nature, and I hadn't realized the extent to which persecution of Gulenists would occur in Turkey.
That said, I will remind you again herein to keep praying for the welfare of your relatives and friends in Turkey and also, despite everything, for Turkey to thrive under the current leadership because as a Muslim I do want to see Turkey successful God-willing as a Muslim-majority country and you should too.
"[Al-Sakhawi] said in al-Maqasid: 'We have narrated from al-Fudayl [ibn `Iyad] that he said: "If I had one supplication that is answered, I would consider the Sultan more deserving of it. For in his uprightness lies the uprightness of those who are governed by him, and in his corruption lies their corruption.'" This is supported by what al-Tabarani narrated in al-Kabir and al-Awsat from Abu Umama, raised [to the Prophet, Allah bless and greet him]: "Do not curse the governors but supplicate that they be upright. For their uprightness is best for you."'
I think we need to help each other have more faith in the sufficiency of the Qur'an. Many people behave as though they have no thoughts or opinions of their own, they just quote IslamQA and take it as absolute fact. Many questions that get asked on forums could be answered just by studying the Qur'an more. Islam is more than just copying/pasting fatwas all the time. Scholars are fallible people and the Qur'an is infallible. We should always go the Qur'an first if we need guidance, correction and encouragement.
SubhanAllah (Glory is to God), what a wonderful point. You are entirely right of course. We collectively need to have more faith in the sufficiency of the Quran. Indeed, I loved your line when you said, "We should always go the Qur'an first if we need guidance, correction and encouragement." Jazakallah khayran.
Another conversation we should be having regularly until everyone researches the facts is the false flag of 9/11/01, this will help people to distinguish between truth and falsehood and may help towards bringing acceptance of Islam and global peace faster -since people will know to see through false propaganda and false narratives and will be more eager to stand on truth.
Keep bumping the 9/11 thread until the anniversary.
I've cursorily read the 28 pages of U.S. congressional investigation that were released showing that Saudi Arabia did have loose ties to 9/11 Attacks with possibility of more, as 15 of the hijackers were Saudi nationals.
Now, of course, I will also say that there are things which we do not yet know about 9/11.
Facially, the 9/11 Attack was committed prominently by Muslims and that is something we cannot deny even if we so wanted, and any Muslims branding it as a false flag attack still do not make their case for global acceptance of Islam. The fact of such an extremist action having taken by Muslims means that there is a problem within the ummah.
Let's, however, play a game in which all accept that this was a false flag attack. Facially the fact that Muslims committed the 9/11 Attack means that these Muslims were tools to further the agenda of countries in the West to the detriment of the ummah. This means that these specific Muslims allowed themselves to be used for the agenda of the countries in the West, which means that the countries in the West are smart and Muslims like this and like you are foolish to the point of utter and fanciful idiocy because you do not know what is in your own self-interest or in the interests of the ummah and are joyful to have the West attacked like ants biting the ankle of the elephant to give further ammunition to countries in the West to infiltrate Muslim-majority countries and bomb them to kingdom come.
On the thread I believe Muslims need to be more self critical about our cultures and some practices, The widespread belief in conspiracy theories, the unIslamic practices like Honour killings FGM, corruption and bad governance.
The sectarian fighting and a more critical look at Islamic History of people that were not so Islamic.
Great point, brother. I think you're right that we do need to be more self-critical about our cultures and specific practices within those cultures that are not all that Islamic. I think we also definitely do need to educate our ummah about the need to refrain from promoting conspiracy theories, because even if there's a grain of truth in them, they remain largely unprovable without concrete and tangible evidence. And therefore, most times, when we promote conspiracy theories, we risk sounding in denial of some real problems like a strain of extremism that does exist in a minority of the ummah.
And I think we do need to look at the sectarian fighting and have a more critical look at history and see which persons did not embody the Islamic character, because we need not defend anyone just because they were Muslim while understanding that of course some criticisms are unwarranted because they are anachronistic and born from modern prejudices and ideas.
We should make ourselves more firm on our Aqeedah, Tawheed, etc. all the beliefs-fundaments of Islam. The belief in all the Prophets AS The Reason for the Quran being revealed, believing in the previous scriptures in its pure form etc. The reason why The Bible, Taurat, may have somethings that are in the Quran, etc.
The reason is: All scriptures were revealed by Allah, the previous ones, got corrupt, and there may be remnants of the words of Allah in the Bible. Though it is not to be taken from.
All the scriptures in its purest form, has the same exact message the Quran has. But they got corrupt but there may still be remnants.
Once we are firm on Tawheed, we can proceed to other topics.
Good point. We do need to focus on the Oneness of Allah, first, foremost, and always. That is the basis of the Revelation, the Quran.
Rather than procrastinate and focus on negatively using faults of ignorant individuals as slurs in an attempt to discredit Islam, we need to focus on establishing the rule of Allah, anybody who refuses to accept the rule of Allah as supreme and the need to implement it, yet focuses on vilifying Muslims should be dismissed as a kafir, murtad or hypocrite who is seeking to sow doubt and confusion and paddle in the corruption that Godless secularism inherently espouses.
Think positive..
You are a very special type of person, do you know that? Since you're the only right kind of Muslim among us, I believe you can safely assume that we do not and most times cannot agree with you.
:wa: (And peace be upon you)
