Eid Qurbani 2013

As we know there are Two festivals of Eid In Islam. One Is Eid Ul Fitr that is celebrated after Ramadan and other is Eid Ul Adha that is celebrated after Hajj. It is also known as Big Eid. On Eid Ul Adha Muslims do Qurbani (Sacrifice) of Animals like Bakra (Goat), Camel and Cow while most of meat is distributed among the poor people who gets chance of eating lot of meat at least once in a year. Preparations For Eid Qurbani 2013 are also underway by Muslims around the World because we are not far away now from the Eid.

It will be celebrated In the Middle of October which means only one and a half month is now left. In Pakistan people usually do Qubani of Bakra Goat and Cows as these animals have huge production in the country. Arabs prefers to do Camels Sacrifice.

Before arrival of Eid big markets of Animals are setup that are known as Bakra Mandi, Cow Mandi or Janwar Mandi. People go to these markets to select Animals and buy them. last year 2012 prices were really high due to which many people didn't done Qurbani while other kept part in Cow because that is cheaper as compare to Goat.

In other Muslims countries as well Like Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia people do Qurbani after offering Eid Ul Adha prayer. In Saudi Arabia special preparations are done for this purpose so that Millions of Muslims after performing Hajj can do their Sacrifices.

If you don't have time to go to Animal market or there is no Animal market near to your house then you can also order Qurbani Online. there are several sites for this purpose like eidqurbani.com.pk and myqurbani.com. On these sites you can find all the details, pics and prices of animals. you can choose according to your choice.

Remember the poor people In Eid Qurbani 2013 and try to feed them instead of storing all the meat in your refrigerators because that is the real essence of Qurabani. 

Islamic Quotes About Parents

Islam gives great respect and Value To parents. If we open up the Holy Quran and Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad PBUH we will find so many sayings about loving, caring, respecting and obeying the parents. Allah SWT has made it clear in Quran that we can't even say Ufff to our parents.

Prophet Muhammad SAW has told us In so many Hadiths regarding the value of parents. In One Hadith it is said that Paradise lies under the feet of the mother.

Here are some great Islamic Quotes About Parents:

Islamic Quotes About Death

Death is a reality that none of us can deny. Every human living on this planet no matter a poor man or a King have to die one day. billions of humans came before us and all of them died. Even we will die One Day. After death a new life will began. If we will do good deeds in this life then we will be in peace hereafter and if we will do bad deeds here then we will be in trouble after death.

So We should really be preparing for the death because it has to come no matter what. for some it will come soon and for some it will came later. but it will come for sure.

Here Are Islamic Quotes About Death:

Islamic Quotes About Love

Islam has a great Institution of Marriage which is not only necessary for a human being but it also saves society from the moral corruption. a question that is asked very popularly is about Love that is doing Love Halal In Islam or Haram? Well the point of view of Islam about Love is very clear. If you like someone then get married to that person. However keeping relationship outside marriage is totally Haram In Islam.

Arranged Marriages are allowed In Islam if Girl and boy are ready without any pressure. on other hand if you like someone then doing marriage to that person is also allowed In Islam if the person is also ready for it.

Here i am posting some beautiful Islamic Quotes About Love:

Hamza Yusuf & Zaid Shakir - How Just Is Islam To Followers of other religions

Female Leadership and Diversity � Interview with Dr Ingrid Mattson

 Alhamdulilah I really admire this sister :)

Professor Dr Ingrid Mattson presently serves as Chair of the Islamic Studies Program at the Huron University College of The University of Western Ontario. She was previously the Director of the Macdonald Centre for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, where she was the founder of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program � the only accredited program to train Muslim chaplains in the United States. From 2006 to 2010 she served as the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), after serving two terms as Vice President � being the first woman elected to either position. Dr Mattson was born in Canada and earned her PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1999.

Dr Mattson spoke to Al Nisa during the Symposium �Kent U Mij?� (Do you know me?) in the Theater de Meervaart in Amsterdam on 22 September 2012, in between her keynote speech on conformity and diversity among Muslim women, and an open question-and-answer session with the audience.

What makes a good Muslim leader?

There�s leadership in so many different sectors. The first thing is that leaders have this inability to just let problems remain; they see a need and they need to respond to it, and so they do something. A good leader has the ability to analyse a situation, understand it, assess what resources are available, and then come up with a practical solution.

A good leader is also looking to make him or herself replaceable, firstly by working on strengthening the institution in which he or she works (to extent that it�s appropriate and possible) and second, mentoring other people into leadership. Making sure that you have a strong organisation that could continue on without you, or that at least has the mechanisms for replacing you, and then personally mentoring or nurturing leaders.

Do you think there�s a gender difference when it comes to leadership?

There are generalisations, and they are not true in all situations. But I do think that women tend to be more consultative. They tend to try to convince people before going ahead, rather than simply making a decision and expecting everyone to go along. And that�s usually good. Although sometimes you do have to be decisive and you need to go ahead even if there isn�t buy-in.

Part of leadership is knowing when to go ahead with a decision that�s within your authority because you�re really convinced it�s the right thing, even if other people don�t understand it at that point. Between that and taking the time to really get buy-in from others, there�s a balance. I think men tend to be more of one style and women the other, and you don�t want an imbalance between those two.

While you were in ISNA, in which situations did you find yourself having more legitimacy or authority to speak on certain issues?

I think a lot of people felt that the fact that I was in a position to speak for at least my organization ISNA, if not little more broadly for the American Muslim community. I think a lot of people found that beneficial after September 11^th, because there was a great need to be able to explain Islam to Americans in terms that they understood. The fact that that�s my environment � I am Western and I�m Muslim � helped me to understand the concerns that were being raised. This helped with communication, which is natural, but it�s simply accidental that I was born in that environment.

However, there is one disturbing aspect to it, because sometimes there is an implied racism. A friend of mine who�s a rabbi and a really a good friend of the Muslim community once said, �Ingrid, it was very good that you were the leader of ISNA when you were, because you�re this small white woman so you�re not frightening in a way that maybe your predecessors were.� My predecessor and my successor were both dark-skinned Sudanese men.

Is a man scarier than a woman? Is a dark-skinned person scarier than a white-skinned person? If you ask any of my students, they will tell you I�m much scarier than either of those two people. I thought that was really terrible; just seeing my face made people comfortable. I think Muslim men of colour are the most despised people now, as their faces are associated with intimidation or violence. That is really, really sad.

How can female scholars achieve the legitimacy that male scholars do, even though they may have studied in the same places?

That�s unfortunate. I think that kind of ignorance about women scholars in our still needs to be corrected. People tend to want to make sure that what they�re getting is authentic. I think the more we learn about our tradition, the more this kind of reaction will be avoided. There�s a lot of information certainly available now about women in the isnad, like Dr. Akram Nadwi�s book Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam.

But there�s knowledge, and then there�s authority or influence. We have many women who have knowledge but if they�re not recognised by the community or given a position, then people may think that maybe they�re not really that qualified.

I once talked with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani of Seeker�s Guidance from Canada. In his organisation there are many women who have studied in Jordan and have ijazah in different fields of Islamic studies. He was frustrated because not much was being done with the knowledge that these women have. I told him the reality is that until the mosque establishes official positions (whether paid or not) recognising her as a shaykha or as a religious teacher in the community, people won�t be going to her. Why would they recognise them as authoritative if the leadership of the community doesn�t?

I think these two things are important: knowing our history to break up our inherited assumptions about religious authority, and establishing positions for these women.

So it�s important for knowledgeable women to be affiliated to an organisation. But if the current leadership is dominantly male, how does a woman negotiate that?

You have to find advocates. Allah (swt) says in the Qur�an that the believing men and women are awliya� or partners of one another (9:71). Nothing can really happen in the community without partnership. Women need to call on their teachers, or those in positions of leadership who can advocate with them. It can�t always seem like only women are asking about this; this is about building the community together.

There�s always going to be some people who resist it though. Either because they sincerely believe that men should be in authority, or, like all human beings, they don�t like to concede or share power with others. Or they�re just ignorant. But I�m sure there are some men who think this is wrong. You need to work in partnership with some men to change this.

Some people can be worked on and others will remain intransigent. Sometimes you can work within the system and sometimes you need to build your own thing while your community lends legitimacy and support.

Speaking of your own thing, I read that you have a dog. There are diverse opinions about it, so how do you deal with holding a minority opinion on an issue?

Well, my opinion comes from one of the fiqh (legal jurisprudence) positions. The majority of fiqh positions consider the saliva of all dogs to be impure, but the Maliki school considers only the saliva of wild dogs to be impure. The Maliki position does not consider domestic dogs to be najis (impurity). There�s strong justification for it in the Maliki school from the argument that the Qur�an allows us to use hunting dogs, and even eating animals caught in their mouths, for example.

So if you�re a Shafi�i or a Hanafi then you�re not going to be able to have a dog, and I�m not going to force anyone else to have one.  But certainly, I very deliberately wrote about the Maliki position to raise the issue of the problem of making a religious issue of purity into a taboo, and then even a phobia.

We have a big problem in North America, where we have many Muslim taxi drivers and are also blind and disabled people who use service dogs. These dogs help disabled people to move around in public spaces, but we Muslim cab drivers say things like �Dogs are haram� and they will refuse to accept them disabled people with service dogs in their cab.

This is just pure ignorance, because it�s not that dogs are haram, there�s nothing about putting a dog in a car. You�re not required to hate dogs. Your children leave najasa (impurity) all over, you�re not supposed to hate them right? I think it�s particular to Muslims in the West, although the widespread abuse of animals in Muslim countries is also haram. We really have to break this overreaction and confusion among Muslims.

Like the issue of dogs, do you think there are other issues that Muslims tend to fixate upon and leaving more urgent issues undebated?

Yes, very clearly. A former student of mine once told me how frustrating it was for her when she was homeless with three children. She was going to the mosque and even though people knew she was homeless, they were not coming to her � she had to come and ask for support. People would say �Well, we don�t have money for that�, yet money was being spent on all sorts of other things � fundraising for Muslims in other countries, or for certain improvements to the new building � when you have a homeless woman in the mosque.

I�m sure there will be people who will come after us and say that we were blind to certain needs. It�s not that any of us are beyond that. We�re all human and we all have limited perspectives, but this is why you need to have wide consultation and a mechanism to include as many voices as possible. The more people you include in the decision-making process, the better chance you have of avoiding at least a gross error in neglecting a true need in the community.

Are you working on any projects right now?

I�m working on a book that�s going to be called, tentatively, The Ethical Muslim. It gives tools for ethical thinking in Islam and provides case studies. I also have a new position in Canada as the new London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Like how I built that chaplaincy program at Hartford Seminary, I�m going to be looking to see what kind of religious leadership program would be suitable for Canadian Muslims in that environment, inshallah.

That sounds exciting. Finally, any advice for Muslim women who work in the public sphere but who are not visibly Muslim?

Wearing the hijab is just one part of being Muslim. More important is, are you bringing the character, behaviour, values and ethics of a Muslim to your workplace? Every Muslim should know the ethics of their field. If you are doing things correctly according to Islam and the civil law to the best that you can, you could even have an impact on your field, depending on how much authority you have. If you go to work and you�re doing things that contradict Islamic ethics or you don�t even know what the ethics of your field are � that�s problematic.

It can be a touchy subject � you don�t want to make it seem like you�re bringing religion into the workplace, but you should have an attitude of responsiveness. That if people sincerely want information, that you are available to them. It may seem burdensome � why do you have to explain your religion when others don�t � but that�s the world we live in.

Other minority groups have similar problems, so look at it as an opportunity. How many Muslims in the world have no chance to say anything? We are the elite in the Muslim world when it comes to educational opportunity and political freedom, so what kind of responsibilities do we have towards others? I don�t think you can just say you want to be a normal person. There are a lot of normal people (laughs).

That�s all, thank you for your time Dr. Mattson.

Thank you for having me, it was a pleasure.

Source

Maldives rape victim spared the lash after global anger

So pleased the sentence was overturned but truly horrified at the stats in this article :(.

Alaphia Zoyab, who has led the campaign on behalf of Avaaz, said last night: �This is great news that her flogging sentence has been overturned and that she no longer faces house arrest. The reason this is a big deal is we are talking about a 15-year-old child. She is a child. A lot of people have said she knew what she was doing, but she is a child.

�It is still just a one-off case, however. I strongly believe the overturning of the sentence is down to the spotlight being put on this case. But wider systemic problems remain � the courts can continue to hand down sharia sentences of flogging. Flogging can change to stoning. Sharia law is not codified in the Maldives, so it is still down to the courts to decide. So this is a great victory, but it is a one-off.

�We want to see a moratorium on flogging. We want the Maldives to live up to its international obligations. We are waiting and watching to see what happens in the elections, and which government we can engage with.�

A survey by Avaaz found that 92 per cent of Maldivians want a reform of national laws to protect women from sexual assault, while 73 per cent are opposed to punishments for women for �sexual crimes�. One in three women between the ages of 15 and 49 has suffered either physical or sexual abuse over the past five years. Nine out of 10 sentences for flogging in the Maldives in 2011 were given to women, while no one has been convicted of rape in the past three years.

Full article:

Female students in Indonesia may be forced to undergo 'virginity tests'

What a disgrace!! I will never understand this obsession so many men have with viginity, its truly disgusting!

Education chief Muhammad Rasyid, of Prabumulih district in south Sumatra put forward the idea, describing it as "an accurate way to protect children from prostitution and free sex". He said he would use the city budget to begin tests early next year if MPs approved the proposal.

"This is for their own good," Rasyid said. "Every woman has the right to virginity � we expect students not to commit negative acts."

The test would require female senior school students aged 16 to 19 to have their hymen examined every year until graduation. Boys, however, would undergo no investigation into whether they had had sex.

The plan has met with some support from local politicians, who said the test would help cut down on "rampant" promiscuity in the district.

"Virginity is sacred, thus it's a disgrace for a [female] student to lose her virginity before getting married," Hasrul Azwar of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) told the Jakarta Post.

The proposal seems to be in response to increasing cases of premarital sex, local website Kompas reported, including the recent arrest of six senior high school students for alleged prostitution.

It is the third plan of its kind in Muslim-majority Indonesia, where similar drafts were proposed in West Java in 2007, and again in Sumatra in 2010, but dropped after a public outcry.

Local and national MPs, activists, rights groups and even the local Islamic advisory council have all denounced Rasyid's plan as potentially denying female students the universal right to education, in addition to targeting girls for an act that may not have even been consensual, such as sexual assault.

 Full article:

Islam's ability to empower is a magnet to black British youths

A seminar was hosted last month by Christians Together in England toconsider ways to "stem the flight of black British youths to Islam and radicalisation". In an unprecedented move, Muslims were invited to attend � and they did. Together, both faith groups discussed the reasons why a growing number of young black people are choosing Islam in preference to Christianity. According to this morning's BBC Radio 4's Today programme, one in nine black Christian men are converting to Islam.

Following in my father's footsteps, I was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Sunday mass regularly as a child. I also attended a Roman Catholic secondary school � initially a cultural shock as I found myself the only black student among a predominantly white class. The religious focus of the school was, however, a refreshing contrast to my urban, street background. Teachers and students were more serious about God than at my previous schools. A student was not considered "nerdy" or "odd" due to their religiosity. I was therefore able to excel in religious studies and was successful in my final O-level exam.

During these lessons, the more we learned about religion, the more we questioned and challenged particular concepts, particularly relating to Christianity. Questions about the concept of the trinity � the Godhead being three in one � caused many debates as some of us; myself and others did not find this logical or feasible. Our religious studies teacher became exasperated by persistent questions on this topic, and arranged for the local priest to attend and address the question. His explanations did little to remove our doubts in this very fundamental and important area of faith.

I recall one particular lesson where we were doing Bible studies and I queried why we, as Christians, failed to prostrate in the same manner that Jesus had in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest. I was unable to identify any relationship between Jesus's prayer and ours as his Christian followers. However, the Muslim prayer most closely resembled Jesus's.

After leaving school, I lost contact with most of my school friends. I also abandoned many aspects of Christianity and instead submerged myself into the urban street culture of my local friends and community � we would make our own religion based on the ethics and beliefs that made sense to us.

The passivity that Christianity promotes is perceived as alien and disconnected to black youths growing up in often violent and challenging urban environments in Britain today. "Turning the other cheek" invites potential ridicule and abuse whereas resilience, strength and self-dignity evokes respect and, in some cases, fear from unwanted attention.

I converted to Islam after learning about the religion's monotheistic foundation; there being only one God � Allah who does not share his divinity with anything. This made sense and was easy to comprehend. My conversion was further strengthened by learning that Islam recognised and revered the prophets mentioned in Judaism and Christianity. My new faith was, as its holy book the Qur'an declares, a natural and final progression of these earlier religions. Additionally, with my newfound faith, there existed religious guidelines that provided spiritual and behavioural codes of conduct. Role models such as Malcolm X only helped to reinforce the perception that Islam enabled the empowerment of one's masculinity coupled with righteous and virtuous conduct as a strength, not a weakness.

My personal experiences are supported by academic research on the same topic: Richard Reddie, who is himself a Christian, conductedresearch on black British converts to Islam. My own studies revealed that the majority of young people I interviewed converted from Christianity to Islam for similar reasons to me.

Islam's way of life and sense of brotherhood were attractive to 50% of interviewees, whereas another 30% and 10% respectively converted because of the religion's monotheistic foundations and the fact that, holistically, the religion "made sense" and there were "no contradictions".

My research examined whether such converts were more susceptible to violent radicalisation or more effective at countering it. The overwhelming conclusion points to the latter � provided there are avenues to channel these individuals' newly discovered sense of empowerment and identity towards constructive participation in society, as opposed to a destructive insularity which can be exploited by extremists.

Many Muslim converts � not just black British ones � will confirm the sense of empowerment Islam provides, both spiritually and mentally. It also provides a context within which such individuals are able to rise above the social, cultural and often economic challenges that tend to thwart their progress in today's society. Turning the other cheek therefore is never an option.

Source

Changing faiths: Hispanic Americans leaving Catholicism for Islam

Tariq Ramadan: 'Egypt is returning to a Mubarak era'

'Hijab Outcry' In Sweden To Protest Violence Against Muslim Women

This is great!! Excellent initiative to raise awareness and show sister/brotherhood!

Read more @:

Pray For Our Brothers and Sisters In Egypt

Egypt is going through tough time right now due to civil war and hundreds of Men, Women and Kids are martyred in last one week in attacks of Egyptian army and clashes between security forces and protesters. After Syria now Egypt is also facing tough time.

It all started when Egypt's army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi imposed Martial Law in the country and Muslim Brotherhood's leader and elected President of Egypt Muhammad Mursi was arrested. Clashes and Killings in different cities specially Cairo are taking place daily from that day.

Egyptian Army which was ruling Egypt from several decades was not in power from last one year as Muhammad Mursi was elected as President through elections. when Muhammad Mursi stated to lose popularity Egyptian army thought its a good chance to come in power again and they enforced another Martial Law in the country.

Muslim Brotherhood refused to accept this step of army and they started protests on daily basis. Egyptian army decided to crush this uprising by power and they martyred hundreds of innocent people. Egyptian Army which takes billions of dollars in aid from US is doing genocide of its own people.

Our Brothers and sisters are facing tough time right now In Egypt so let us all pray for the Peace and Progress of Egypt.

Muslim Marriage Quotes

Marriage is a very beautiful and pure relationship which saves a human being from wrong path. This is why Islam has made it necessary to get married for every person who can afford it.

Here are some beautiful Muslim Marriage quotes showing the beauty of Marriage.