Supreme Mufti of Syria: 'Islamic caliphate more dangerous than World War III'

This odd message from Syria's Supreme Mufti lacks Quranic authority, and flagrantly violates the hundreds of suras and hadiths commanding jihad and the establishing of a worldwide caliphate. He is not to be trusted. My comments interspersed and at end. Read and share widely.

Moscow, October 31, Interfax via Pravmir

Supreme mufti of Syria Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun sees the danger in establishing a "caliphate," as it has happened with the "Islamic state."

�Calls to set up an Islamic state are more dangerous that calls to unleash World War III,� the mufti said at his Moscow press conference.

He stressed that �religion is relations between God and a person,� and it does not have anything in common with a political regimen.

�When they wonder what will be with the state of �Islamic caliphate,� I ask, what state it is. I ask who of prophets commanded to establish it,� the Islamic leader noted.

[Actually, the prophet and founder of Islam, Muhammad, is the one who "commanded to establish" the Islamic caliphate, as seen in these hadiths:

Allah�s Messenger said: �I have been ordered [by Allah] to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah... so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.� (Sahih Bukhari, 1:2:25, also Sahih Muslim, 1:10:29-35)

Allah's Messenger said, �the earth belongs to Allah and his Apostle.� (Sahih Muslim, Book of Jihad, 3:17:4363; also Bukhari, Book of al-Jizya, 4:58:3167)  

Islam is demonstrably both religion and political ideology. Its purpose is forever linked by its founder to the conquering of the entire globe for Allah. The mufti's protestations don't ring true and are not to be trusted. See my comments at bottom for more...]

According to him, �those, who try to impose any faith, will crush.�

He also warned Russian Muslims from the similar initiatives.

�I want to warn Russian Muslims: be careful, when someone tells you to set up a Muslim state. The destruction you now see in Syria show the danger of these words,� Hassoun said.

Speaking about Syria, the mufti points out that the country is fighting in economic, political and cultural spheres and �it is the fight of truth against lie, the fight of justice against injustice.�

According to him, 83 countries struggle against Syria today, and the Great Britain only spends 8,3 million pounds to bomb Syrian territory.

_______

My comments:

The Syrian Supreme Mufti sounds exactly like Muslim apologists in the West, who invariably seek to convince non-Muslims that the primary meaning of jihad � literally �struggle� � is internal, that is, a Muslim�s inner struggle against his faults and weaknesses, and striving in the way of God, "relations between God and a person," as the Mufti says.

These Muslim apologists often cite a hadith, where Muhammad, returning from battle, said, �We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.� Yet not only does this hadith not appear in any of the six canonical hadith collections, it has openly been called into question by many Islamic scholars as inauthentic (see Mark Durie, The Third Choice, pp 65-66.)

The doctrine of jihad warfare as the greater struggle commanded of Muslims is presented in this key passage from Reliance of the Traveller, published by Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, considered to be an authoritative manual of orthodox Sunni Islam:

Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion.

The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:

�Fighting is prescribed for you� (Koran 2:216); �Slay them wherever you find them� (Koran 4:89); �Fight the idolators utterly� (Koran 9:36);

and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet said:

�I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Mes- senger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah�;

and the hadith reported by Muslim,

�To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.�

Jihad is a communal obligation. (o9.1)

The caliph [meaning that there is to be a caliphate] makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians... until

they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax. (o9.8)
The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim. (o9.9)138

The call for Muslims to wage jihad is global and universal, though not all Muslims wage offensive jihad. Yet if they cannot do so, they are still enjoined to support jihad through other means, such as financial, material, or in their heart and through their prayers (the lesser jihad).

The success of the Islamic State in winning more and more Muslims to their cause of global jihad and an ever-expanding caliphate is due to their zealous adherence to the dictates of Islam in the Quran and the Sunnah. Muslims know the Islamic State is practicing pure, authentic Islam, and they are signing up and lining up in droves to support them (including so called "lone wolves" like the Ottawa jihad attackers and many in the U.S. as well). 

The Islamic Caliphate is not "more dangerous than World War III, it is World War III.

Ayatul Kursi - Miracles of Quran - Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan

When Islam was at its strongest, it was also at its most open-minded.

                      

Ours is the oldest religion in the world,� said the Mandaean high priest to me in 2006, when we met during my diplomatic posting to Baghdad. He did indeed turn out to be the religious leader of an ancient people whose traditions go back to third-century Babylonia; he was also, for me, the man who opened a door to an Aladdin�s Cave of forgotten faiths.

Since then, I have witnessed on a mountaintop in the West Bank a sacrifice of lambs, done by Samaritan priests in precise observance of the Book of Exodus. I discussed Greek philosophy with Druze elders, who regard themselves as a branch of Islam but believe in reincarnation. I searched for the Zoroastrians of Iran, whose founder Zarathustra was among the first to teach (perhaps three millennia ago) that our fate after death might result from the good or evil that we do in our lifetimes. I encountered the Church of the East, which sent the first Christian missionaries to China in the seventh century and once, from its base in Iraq, covered a larger span of the earth than the Pope in Rome or the Patriarch in Constantinople.

These religions have survived fourteen centuries of Islamic rule, and their survival shows not only their own tenacity but also the potential for tolerance within Islam. Now, though, they are vanishing faster than ever before.

The brutal terrorist group called the �Islamic State,� which the U.S. and its allies are now fighting in Iraq, burst onto the front pages in August with a massacre of a little-known people called the Yazidis. The Yazidis are an extraordinary people, who have preserved traditions dating back to the time of ancient Assyria and mixed them with ideas that emerged from the most radical and imaginative of Muslim thinkers. They have faced, by their own tradition, 72 persecutions. That number does not include the Islamic State�s campaign of rape and murder or, in 2007, the world�s second worst terrorist attack, which killed nearly eight hundred Yazidis at Qahtaniyah near Mosul.

When I went back to see the Yazidis in northern Iraq in August, it was like an immersion in a sea of misery. Stranded in tents and dependent on charity, Yazidi refugees saw no future for themselves in Iraq and asked only for asylum in the West. They want to join the 70% of Iraq�s Christians who have already left. As for the Mandaeans, almost all have now sought refuge in Europe, Canada and Australia.

Nor is it only war-ravaged Iraq from which the minorities are fleeing. I could hardly find Zoroastrians in the great cities of Iran, such as Shiraz and Esfahan; instead, I found their fire-temple in north London. I discovered that tens of thousands of Coptic Christians, who keep the language of ancient Egypt alive in their liturgies, now live in the suburbs of Detroit along with more than 100,000 Iraqi Christians.

What amazed me, though, about these religions was that they had survived into the modern era at all. Imagine discovering some island off the coast of Ireland where the Druids still held sway: meeting the Mandaean high priest in Baghdad was similarly a throwback to the distant past. How can a religion conceived in the era of paganism still exist today, after 1400 years of Islam? The answers teach lessons about Islam � and about ourselves.

First, they show the importance of religion. A warped form of religion is what motivated the Islamic State to slaughter the Yazidis. It is also however what helped the Yazidis to survive over the centuries and keep their traditions and their identity. Religion can be a great source of division, but that is intimately linked to its power to gather people and unify them.

Second, when minorities leave, countries are diminished. Islam was the religion of a great world empire, so prestigious that �Islamic State� wants to steal its name: the Caliphate. Islamic State�s brutal and narrow-minded imitation is quite different from the original. The first Caliphs had Christians among their closest counselors; later Caliphs used Jewish astronomers and pagan mathematicians to turn Baghdad into a center of world learning.

When Islam was at its strongest, it was also at its most open-minded. The West�s diversity and its prosperity have similarly gone hand in hand. It is a poor outlook for the Middle East if loses its ancient minorities.

Source

Nowhere To Pray In Athens

Where's your beard, bro?

 

ANONYMOUS: SALAM. JUST WONDERING WHY YOU SHAVE YOUR BEARD IF IT'S FARD? I'M A SISTER AND I HONESTLY AM CURIOUS WHY BROTHERS SHAVE THEIR BEARDS WHEN PROPHET MUHAMMAD SAW HAD ONE HIMSELF AND COMMANDED HIS FOLLOWERS TO TRIM THE MUSTACHE AND LET THE BEARD GROW.

Wa alykum as-salaam,

First point: I have a beard. I just don�t update my icon picture.

Second point: The way you phrase your question is really off-putting and I would suggest you learn to ask questions like this in a better manner.

Third: Why do you wonder about things that do not concern you? The Prophet, in Tirmidhi, is reported to have said:

�From the excellence of a man�s Islam is to leave that which does not concern him.�

Fourth: The Hanafis, the Hanbalis, and the Malikis opine that the beard is Fardh (obligatory) for a man. The Shafi�is, however, write that the beard is Sunnah (highly recommended) not Fardh.

Therefore, the reason why men shave is because they follow the Shafi�i opinion, or, as is also possible: they are unable to grow a beard. There are many more reasons, as well.

I hope this helps, insha Allah.

From the excellent http://partytilfajr.tumblr.com/

Manners of Clothing In Islam

Many people are not going to like this post, but this has to be said nevertheless. Shaykh Fazal Elahi had a lecture at Youth Club Lahore today and he explained the manners of clothing. I am going to summarize it and put it up for everyone's benefit in shaa Allah.

MANNERS THAT ARE COMMON BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

1. You should not be extravagant in your clothing.

2. You should not be proud because of it.

Imam Ahmad, Nisai and Ibn e Majah narrated this Hadith that the Prophet PBUH said that eat, drink, and give charity, as long as these three things are free from two things:

a. Extravagance.
b. Pride.

1. Extravagance:

What is Extravagance?

It involves 2 things:

i) Extravagance is that a person spends more than he can bear.

For example, a person can only afford to buy a 1000 rupees suit every 2 months. But his son, his wife or daughter insists on buying a 2000 rupees suit every month.

The buying of this sort where you overburden yourself is Haram in Islam.

ii) You should be moderate.
For example, a person can buy a suit everyday. Does he buy new clothes everyday?
Every person should notice this in his home. Do you have clothes in your wardrobe that the whole season passes but you don't even wear those clothes?

It is Haram for such a person to buy more clothes. This is a blessing from Allah. What will you answer Him on the day of judgement, that O Allah I bought clothes that I didn't even wear? I didn't even need them but I bought them? Be grateful and spend only that you need! This is extravagance and extravagance is Haram in Islam.

2. Pride:

When you start thinking that because of your better clothes, you are superior than others. Or that you look better than someone because of your clothes. Or any such feeling, then know that you are walking on a path of destruction.

3. A person should not wear clothes to deceive people.

What does this mean? Let's look at a Hadith.

A woman came to the Prophet PBUH and said that she tells people that her husband has gifted her with such and such a thing. Whereas in reality her husband has not gifted her those things.
The Prophet PBUH said that whoever shows that which he does not have, then he is wearing 2 clothes of Lie.

My sisters should ponder over this point very carefully. Usually in functions, a woman borrows clothes from her sister, her brother's wife, her husband's sister, her friend. On every function she wears new clothes showing people that she is so rich that she can wear new clothes every time.
The Muhaddiseen (scholars of hadith) interpreted this in two ways:

i) The person is spreading 2 lies. One lie that he's telling others that these are his clothes. Second lie that he's telling people that he is so rich that he can afford such clothes.

ii) This person is wearing 2 clothes of lie, the upper cloth and the lower cloth. Meaning that this person is a liar from head to toe.

A single lie is a very grave sin. How about the person who's spreading 2 lies?

This habit has destroyed many families, and is still destroying them. A woman who has 10 other woman in her family can manage to wear different clothes by borrowing every time and showing off to other people as they are her own clothes.

But what about the woman who is the only woman in family? What would she do? She would curse her husband what else?

4. No man should dress like a woman and no woman should dress like a man.

In a Hadith the Prophet PBUH cursed those men who dress like women and those women who dress like men.

Ponder over this a bit... Muhammad SallAllaahu Alaiyhi Wasallam, who did not curse the people of Taif even when they stoned him. Who prayed for their well being, who was mercy to the worlds is cursing those who resemble the opposite sex? Why is that?

That is because this is a grave matter. When a person dresses like the opposite sex, he or she is actually challenging Allah in His creation. He is saying O Allah you made me a man but I will become a woman. She is saying O Allah you made me a woman but I will become a man (actions speak louder than words).

Some sisters say.. but we only wear jeans below the Abayah. We only wear shirts in front of our husbands, to please them. We're not going out like that.

My sisters, absorb this point and embed it in your mind that these two are SEPARATE SINS.
Not covering yourself is a separate sin.

Dressing like the opposite sex is a separate sin.

The matter is shameful but it is important to say it to make the point clear. A woman can be without clothes in her bedroom, she is not sinning. Similarly she can be without clothes in her bathroom casually. She is not sinning! But if she wears clothes like men even in her room alone, she is still sinning. They are separate sins.

All 4 points above were for men and women both, this last point is for women specifically.

5. No woman should dress in a way that she is naked according to the Prophet PBUH.

The permanent fatwa committee of Saudi Arabia defined 3 such cases where a woman is clothed yet naked according to the Ahadith of the Prophet PBUH.

1. The dress is so thin that you can see the body through it.
2. The dress is so tight that you can tell what parts of the body are fat and what are thin.
3. The dress is incomplete/short.

So there you are folks. No man should point out the woman's mistakes to her in order to ridicule her or make her feel bad. Similarly no woman should do the same to a man. Your matter is with Allah. Let everyone be a judge for himself and clear his matter with Allah. Let us all return to him and let HIM be the judge for us in every matter. Let us use His gift of clothing according to the instructions He gave and not according to the instructions of the Cursed One: Shaitaan.

May Allah guide us all to the straight path and help us in being firm on it. Ameen.

Muslim leader in Israel: �Entire earth� will be �subordinate� to caliphate

Joins numerous Muslim world leaders and clerics in predicting Islam's ultimate victory over the entire world.  

via Robert Spencer,  Jihad Watch � October 26, 2014

Iran�s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself once said: �Have no doubt� Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world.� 

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir, former Jordanian minister of religious endowment, said this on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008: �We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once�� 

Hamas MP and Islamic cleric Yunis Al-Astal said this, also on Al-Aqsa TV, on April 11, 2008: �Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad.�

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent and renowned imam in the world, in writing about �signs of the victory of Islam,� referred to a hadith: 

�The Prophet Muhammad was asked: �What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?� He answered: �The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered first� � that is, Constantinople�� Romiyya is the city called today �Rome,� the capital of Italy. The city of Hirqil [that is, Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya, remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered]. This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice � once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.�

_____

Israeli Islamist Leader Kamal Khatib: Jerusalem Will Be Caliphate Capital; PA TV Cuts Interview Off 

MEMRI, October 17, 2014:

In an interview with the official PA TV channel, Sheik Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, said: �Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate.� After he repeated his views several times and said that �the entire Earth� would �become subordinate to the Islamic caliphate one day�, PA TV cut the interview short.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on October 17, 2014.

Interviewer: Let us first watch what you said at the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week.

Kamal Khatib: I have said it before, and I say it again: Allah willing, Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate�

Crowd member: Say: �Allah Akbar!�

Crowd: Allah Akbar!

[�]

In studio:

Interviewer: Sheik, we listened to what you said at Al-Aqsa earlier this week. You said that Jerusalem would be the capital of the Islamic caliphate. What caliphate are you talking about?!

Kamal Khatib: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. First, I am proud to have said this at the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, from the frontline trenches of defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and not on Facebook or other social media. I�m not good at constructing theories. I�m only good at field work. While talking about the future of Jerusalem, I emphasized that Jerusalem would be not only the capital of the Palestinian state, but the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate as well.

Interviewer: This brings to mind the ISIS organization. It is ISIS that is calling for an Islamic caliphate in the current circumstance.

Kamal Khatib: This is a simpleton�s understanding of history. The term �Islamic caliphate� has existed for 1,300 years�

Interviewer: But throughout the history of Islam, Jerusalem has never been the center or capital of any Islamic caliphate. Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and other cities were caliphate capitals, but not Jerusalem.

Kamal Khatib: Its time will come.

[�]

Interviewer: Are we expected to wait for the establishment of the Islamic caliphate in the Arab world, and only then liberate Jerusalem?

Kamal Khatib: Who says so?

Interviewer: It is supposed to be the capital of an Islamic caliphate that does not exist�

Kamal Khatib: I said that Jerusalem would be �not only� the capital of the Palestinian state. This was meant to emphasize that Jerusalem should be and will be the capital of the Palestinian state, but if we take more pride in the status of Jerusalem� Look, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Riyadh are all capital cities, but when I say that Jerusalem will become the capital of all capitals, this means that it will have a higher standing than all those capitals. These cities will be capitals of provinces, of states, but Jerusalem will be the capital of the [Caliphate] state � and I�m not referring to the one in northern Iraq and northern Syria.

[�]

Interviewer: But you haven�t answered my question regarding the caliphate. Where will it be? In Iraq? In Syria? In the Arab Mashriq? In North Africa?

Kamal Khatib: The Prophet Muhammad said that the Islamic caliphate would encompass the Earth.

Interviewer: The whole world?!

Kamal Khatib: Yes, the whole world will become subordinated to the Islamic caliphate one day.

Interviewer: Really? The entire world will turn into an Islamic Caliphate?

Kamal Khatib: Yes.

Interviewer: The West? Russia? Latin America?

Kamal Khatib: This does not mean that Islam will be imposed upon these peoples.

[�]

ISIS is a small group that was created by the West as a pretext to come to the Islamic countries of the East. Obama said yesterday that this war would last three years, and his deputy said that this war would last 30 years. They did not come here just because of an organization they say has 50,000 men. They came in order to fight the Islamic enterprise�

The interview is cut off by the PA TV

Women attending the Masjid

 

The virtues of attending the Masjid

Abu Huraira narrates the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as saying, �Shall I not tell you about that which will obliterate your mistakes and bring your near to Allah?� They replied, � Yes! Surely O Messenger.� He said, �it is to perform the ablution properly in difficult circumstances. A lot of foot steps to the Masjid and waiting for the next prayer after performing one that is the Ribat. That indeed is Ribat� (Muslim).

In the Muslim community the Masjid is the centre of Islamic activities. It is a place of worship and learning, a place for meditation, devotion, service and remembrance of Allah. In the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) it even had the role of the supreme court where the Chief Justice (peace be upon him) would issue his legal injunctions. It was also the military headquarters where the Messenger (peace be upon him) would plan the Jihad against the forces of unbelief. This Hadith directs us to the Masjid in order to have our minor sins erased and spiritual station raised, the Prophet (peace be upon him) orders us to do the wudu properly too. �The wudu is the key to the prayer and the prayer is the key to the heavens� (Hadith).

This state of physical purification is a prerequisite for a state of spiritual purification. After offering his devotion and humble prayer he sits in the Masjid waiting for the next prayer, this is spiritual vigilance, in Allah�s house absorbed in His thought. He is far from the temptations of the devil, the whispers of the uncouthed self and the lures of the glittering world. �This is Ribat, indeed the Ribat�, says the Prophet (peace be upon him). Ribat is the fort from where the soldiers use to keep a watch. The blessed Messenger (peace be upon him) equates this Ribat to the sitting in the Masjid waiting for the next prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is recommending a perfect method for self-purification and defining the limits of Islamic asceticism, i.e. solitude and austerity. Not to abandon life, home, family and friends but to live amongst them, yet find time for solitude and communion with Allah. The one who attends the Masjid regularly has been praised by the Mustafa (peace be upon him) in these words:

�Whoever you see coming and going to and from the Masjid, you must give testimony of his faith being complete�. He then recited, �surely the one who builds the masjid is the one who has faith in Allah, the hereafter and fears no one except Him. They are the one who are rightly guided� (Tirmidhi).

In another tradition narrated by Abu Haraira he (peace be upon him) says: �Whoever attends the Masjid, Allah prepares a special hospitality for him� (Muslim).

Praying with the Congregation

Abu Darda says he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying, �When there are three people in a village or in the desert and they do not pray as a group the devil takes control of them. You must be with the group. Surely the wolf attacks the sheep that is alone and separate from the flock� (Abu Dawud).

We have already read that the prayer is one of the most important qualities of the believer. It is the flavour of faith, the food of the soul and gives peace of mind. It is a personal devotion but should be offered in a congregation. This Hadith is emphasising this group aspect of the prayer.

How valuable it is to offer the prayer in congregation is explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he said, �the group prayer is twenty seven times superior than the individual prayer� (Muslim).

The Hadith under discussion instructs that even when there are only three people they should pray together as a group rather than pray separately. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then gives the similitude of the lone sheep cut off from the flock. The devil who is depicted here as the wolf attacks the lone wanderers, those who are not with the Muslim community or those who live only at its peripheries not taking active part in its affairs.

The congregational prayer has many benefits such as; fostering love and compassion for fellow Muslims, thus strengthening the bonds of brotherhood, equality, since everyone stands humbly together whether he is a pauper or wealthy, big or small. Prayer gives training in being punctual and regular in ones daily affairs. Congregational prayer is one of outstanding features of Islam, the row upon row of believers standing humbly, bowing in unison and then prostrating together, it is a moving experience for any onlooker. The congregational prayer also teaches obedience to a leader (Imam) and gives the sense of belonging to the community.

From Bukhari and Ibn Hajar

Chapter 162- Women going to the Masjids at night and darkness

Abdullah ibn Umar narrates the messenger (peace be upon him) said �When your women seek your permission to attend the Masjid at night then give them permission� (Hadith no. 865).

Ibn Hajar Asqalani (d.761 AH) is perhaps one of the greatest commentators of Bukhari. Here is a summary of his commentary on this topic:

1. The permission to attend the Masjid hints to the fact that it is not compulsory, since if it was there would be no need to seek husbands permission.

2. He quotes another Hadith from Muslim. Abdullah ibn Umar narrates the Messenger (peace be upon him) said �don�t stop women from getting their share of the Masjid when they seek your permission�. Bilal (his son) said �By God we certainly will stop them�. According to Tabarani Bilal said �I will not let my wife and whoever wishes can let his wife do as she likes�.

3. According to the narration in Muslim, when Bilal said this to his father Abdullah ibn Umar, he was furious at him, he turned to him and cursed him three times and thereafter never spoke to his son until he died.

4. Ibn Hajar comments on this �father and son fight� by saying that �Bilal saw mischief in some women of his time and that made him react in that way to protect his sense of honour and self respect and Abdullah disapproved because he was clearly opposing the Prophetic tradition�.

Chapter 164- Women�s prayer standing behind men

Umm Salma said �when the Prophet (peace be upon him) finished his prayer by saying salaam the women would get up and leave. He would stay for a while in his place. This was done so that women could leave before the men could see them�.

Anas said, �The Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed in Umm Sulaim�s house, I and an orphan stood behind him and Umm Sulaim behind us� (Hadith no.874).

Chapter 165- The quick departure of women after Morning Prayer and their short stay in the Masjid

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said �the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pray morning prayer in darkness, Muslim women used to come and go without being recognised in the dark� (Hadith no. 872).

Abdullah Ibn Umar said �There was a woman who used to attend the Morning and night prayer with the congregation in the Masjid. It was said to her why do you come yet you know that Umar does not like that. She said he has not stopped me! She said the Prophet (peace be upon him) said �Don�t stop God�s maids from attending the Masjids� (Hadith no. 900).

Commenting on these two Ahadith Ibn Hajar says �if women are permitted to attend Masjids at night despite that night is time of suspicion, the permission during daytime is even foremost�.

Full Article

Russia has experienced a Spiritual Resurrection

"In Russia during the last 26 years, 26,000 churches have either been restored or opened, as well as 800 monasteries, filled with young monks and nuns... All this has taken place in the very same era which in the West some call post-Christian."

by Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald
via Pravoslavie � October 24, 2014

I have been reading a book about Russia: Dying Unneeded by Michelle Parsons. It is about the wartime and post-war generation of former Soviet citizens whose lives came to a halt when the USSR collapsed in 1991. The meaning and purpose of their lives had come from the state, from work, from surviving with stoical humour and resignation the problems that arose in daily life from the command economy. The author examines the dramatic mortality rate during the years 1990-1994, when state socialism suddenly ended, to be followed by, as Parsons puts it, �upheaval, disorder, decay, wildness and thievery�.

Overnight, a whole generation of Russians lost their jobs, their pensions and their security. Too old to retrain for new careers they started to experience the poverty and scarcity that they had known during the war and which they had thought was over for good. Men particularly, who had defined themselves through their work, started to drink heaving (not helped by often being paid in vodka rather than in money) and to suffer stress-related heart attacks. Suicides also increased. Women survived better because they simply continued to struggle, as they always, had, with providing for their family�s needs.

Parsons paints a grim picture of a society that had been led along by their secular faith in the Communist ideology, which then failed them spectacularly. Without inner spiritual resources and living for years under the official atheism of the Soviet system, their lives became meaningless. Although she briefly mentions the notion of the �Russian soul� she defines it in a patriotic and community sense � a people held together by suffering and sacrifice, especially in the wartime years when Russia lost 27 million people.

Yet, as Robert Moynihan describes in his article of 20 October, entitled �Light from the East�, there has been a spiritual resurrection in Russia as if, after a long nightmare, people have awoken to different, transcendent sense of reality. As he put it, �An East which, until 25 years ago, was officially atheist and unrelentingly radical in its vision of a �new Soviet man� whose identity was rooted in his economic class�, is now experiencing a reconversion. According to Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is quoted by Moynihan, this turning back towards Christianity began in 1988, during the celebrations for the 1000-year anniversary of the coming of Christianity to Russia.

�From that moment there began�the revival of the Church throughout the former Soviet Union.� By the start of the 1990s hundreds of people were regularly seeking baptism in towns and villages all over the country. In the last 26 years Metropolitan Hilarion says, 26,000 churches have either been restored or opened, as well as 800 monasteries, filled with young monks and nuns. He comments that �all this has taken place in the very same era which in the West some call post-Christian.�

What a strange irony there is in all this; the West, formerly seen as a bastion of civilized values, based on their deeply Christian origins, has slipped almost as fast into a moral wilderness at the same time as the vast country once dominated by Communism has rediscovered its Christian roots and the inner transformation that comes with conversion. Russia might have enormous problems, as Michelle Parsons� book indicates, but denial of the existence of God is no longer one of them.

St. Barsanuphius of Optina: On Attacks Against the Church

I have to listen to complaints about the fact that we are now going through difficult times, that now free rein is given to all kinds of heretical and godless teachings, that the Church is being subjected to the attacks of enemies from all sides and that it will become terrible for Her, that these murky waves of unbelief and heresy are overcoming Her. 

I always answer, �Don�t worry! Don�t be afraid for the Church! She will not perish: the gates of hell will not prevail against Her, right to the Dread Judgment itself. Do not fear for Her but for yourself�that�s what you have to fear for, and it�s true that our times are very difficult. Why? Because now it is especially easy to fall away from Christ, and then�perish.� 

� St Barsanuphius of Optina (�1913)

via Pravoslavie

Imam Suhaib Webb - Reflections on Bill Maher Debate

Maryam Amirebrahimi - Seeing the Light

Metropolitan Amvrosios of Greece: 'We are losing Christian Greece'

Western political and monetary forces "are in every way supporting the development of Islam as a religion [in Greece]; more than that, at the same time they are promoting immigration of Muslims to Greece in great numbers in order to neutralize the Christian orientation of our motherland.�

Pravoslavie � October 20, 2014

�Our country has been unconditionally surrendered to foreign invaders. It is now not so important that the monuments of culture are falling into disrepair�we are losing Christian Greece!� reads the statement of Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta, cited by the Romfea portal.

�The external forces (namely Angela Merkel, the International Monetary Fund, freemasonry, the Bilderberg group, Zionism) are explicitly (Merkel) or implicitly (through so-called �globalization�) ruling our unfortunate country,� stated Metropolitan Amvrosios.

�Unfortunately, they are in every way supporting the development of Islam as a religion; more than that, at the same time they are promoting immigration of Muslims to Greece in great numbers in order to neutralize the Christian orientation of our motherland,� said the Metropolitan.

The hierarch then described the crimes committed by the jihadists (militant islamists):

�Look at this bloodstained hand of a young woman, all in wounds, holding a small crucifix! She was cold-bloodedly murdered by jihadists! Or look at a photograph of the poor African Christian, burnt alive straight on the road�.

�Our country�s leaders attach no importance to what is going on,� he states. �And what is more: they have already resolved to build a mosque in the very heart of Athens, in the �Botanical� district. And this is at the expense of the state budget to boot!

According to our information, the construction of the mosque will cost 80 million euros and will be paid allegedly from the income of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

And all this is taking place during the terrible economic crisis when there is always a lack of money for ordinary honest citizens,� the metropolitan�s statement reads.

�Moreover, before long we will not be able to talk about all this and write these things as the anti-racist law will put a veto on this,� the archpastor stressed.

�Our country has been unconditionally surrendered to the foreign invaders. It is now not so important that the monuments of culture are falling into disrepair�we are losing the Christian Greece!� the hierarch noted in conclusion.

Timothy Furnish: The Islamic State and 'Signs of the Last Hour'

"Islamic State is honing its eschatological-apocalyptic message to a fine point, by making its jihad against the 'Crusade', as well as the reimposing of slavery over non-dhimmis, Signs of the Last Hour." 

Illinois Obama and the Last Crusade � Against ISIS

The Islamic State�s latest Dabiq magazine (#4)  was issued several weeks ago, entitled �The Failed Crusade.�

by Timothy R. Furnish, Mahdi Watch � October 21, 2014

Where to now, St. Peter?

To take over your square, obviously! 

As with the previous three issues, Dabiq�which, again, refers to a major apocalyptic battle in Syria between Muslims and �Romans� predicted in hadiths�opens with the same quote from IS�s founder, the late Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi:  that the spark lit in Iraq will eventually �burn�the crusader armies in Dabiq.�  

Overall, this magazine cites the Qur�an 20 times, adduces 36 different hadiths, and quotes historical Islamic scholars (such as the 14th century Ibn Taymiyah) as well as modern ideologues (al-Awlaki, Bin Ladin and al-Zarqawi)�thus making the claim that ISIS is � not Islamic�  fatuous at best.  Its main topics are the alleged �Crusade� and its relationship to the looming apocalyptic struggle between �Romans/Crusaders� and Muslims, and the rationalization for (re)imposing Muslim slavery of non-Muslims.  

The �failing crusade� and its connection to Islamic eschatological prognostication takes up over 1/3 of this 56-page document.   Modern US forays into the Middle East, particularly Iraq (and now Syria) are linked�of course!�to the Crusades of 900 years ago.  American soldiers, who are shown loading coffins containing their dead comrades into C-5s, are equated with �cross-worshipping Romans� (Byzantines, that is) and not the 11th century Crusaders.  This is almost certainly because the relevant hadiths refer to events from the 7th and 8th centuries, when the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Christian Empire was fighting off hordes of belligerent Muslims�and not to the actual Crusades, over three centuries later.

If only American and other Western militaries WERE this determined....

The relevant hadiths (too long to reproduce here) are explicated thusly:  �Muslims will be at war with the Roman Christians�.the Christians of Europe and their colonies�.There will be a pause in this war due to a truce�.During this time the Muslims and Romans will fight a common enemy [presumably the �Safawis,� or Twelver Shi`is of Iran and Iraq]�.These events all lead up to the final, greatest, and bloodiest battle�al-Malhamah al-Kubra�between the Muslims and the Romans prior to the appearance of the Dajjal and the descent of al-Masih [Jesus].  This battle ends the era of the Roman Christians, as the Muslims will then advance upon Constantinople and thereafter Rome, to conquer the two cities and raise the flag of the Khilafah over them.�  But according to IS exegesis, they won�t stop there.   The new caliphate, either before the Mahdi comes or, perhaps, after his arrival, also will conquer Jerusalem and eventually �destroy the filthy house called the White House.�  Along the way the armies of jihad will �break your crosses and enslave your women.�  

Dabiq issue 4 also expends several pages asking why the US is allying in Syria with its mortal enemies Russia and Iran and their proxies, such as �the anti-Christ Nasrullat� (Hizbullah�s leader Hassan Nasrallah).   The �Jewish Crusader� Henry Kissinger, Michael Scheuer and Ralph Peters  are quoted (selectively) on the greater dangers of Iran than IS to the US.   (However, one might note that the ayatollahs, for all their geopolitical instransigence, have never threatened to march on the White House and enslave our wives and daughters.)   This section would seem to be an attempt corroborate the hadith which mentions a short-lived truce between the �true� Muslims and the Romans while they fight their common enemy:  the Twelver Shi`is.   The �cowardly crusaders� are mocked for relying on proxies like the PKK,  Pershmerga and Free Syrian Army and for futile airstrikes which succeed only in killing Muslim women and children.   President Obama is also ridiculed for being double-minded about fighting,  �unlike Bush whose administration at least understood �what war is and how it should be won.�   Bush is damned with faint praise: �[a]s the liar Bush truthfully said: �Either your are with us or you are with the terrorists.�� Of course, the IS spin is that Bush�s and Obama�s �crusade against the Islamic State is the greatest testimony from Allah for the proper manhaj [agenda, plan] of this Khilafah.�   

While the IS, herein, purports to be brimming with confidence about winning the upcoming Armageddon-like battle, it nonetheless encourages Western Muslims to strike individually and pre-emptively against its enemies.   �At this point in the crusade�it is very important that attacks take place in every country that has entered into alliance against the Islamic State, especially the US, UK, France, Australia and Germany�.the citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found. Let the muwahhid [believers in tawhid, �unity� of Allah especially over against Christian Trinitarian theology] not be affected by �analysis paralysis�� stemming from undertaking only operations that cannot fail.  �He should be pleased to meet his Lord  even if with just one dead kafir�s name written in his scroll of deeds.�  IS even doubles down on this incitement to jihad: �Every Muslim should  get out of his house, find a crusader, and kill him.  It is important that the killing becomes attributed to�the Islamic State�. Otherwise, crusader media makes such attacks appear to be random killings.�  Exhortation to jihad in the West fi sabil Allah goes on: �If you can kill a disbelieving American or European�especially the spiteful and filthy French�or an Australian or a Canadian or any other disbeliever�waging war�then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way�.� [including, one might well surmise, jihad-by-automobile].  �Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian, or military�.�  

Medieval Islamic slavery.   Skin color matters not at all; religion (or lack thereof, in the Muslim view) is the determining factor.

The other major theme in this latest IS publication is �the revival of slavery before the [Last] hour.�  In particular Dabiq takes pains to explain why the non-dhimmi Yazidis are enslavable�unlike Jews or Christians.  �Their creed is so deviant from the truth that even cross-worshipping Christians for ages considered them devil worshippers and Satanists.�   IS claims that its scholar �research[ed]  the Yazidis to determine if they should be treated as an originally mushrik [�polytheistic�] group or one that originated as Muslims and then apostasized.�   Obviously IS came down in favor of the former�deeming Yazidis modern descendants of ancient Persian Zoroastrians�and so ruling that �unlike Jews and Christians, there was no room for jizyah payment.  Also, their women could be enslaved�. After capture, the Yazidi women and children were�divided according to the Shari`ah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State�after one-fifth of the slaves were transferred to the Islamic State�s authority �.�  This literal application of 7th century Islamic law and history has been meted out quite methodically: �the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers [just] as the mushrikin were sold by the Companions��  Dabiq also justifies the resurrection of such brutality as �one of the signs of the [Last] Hour, as well as one of the causes behind al-Malhamah al-Kubra.� In fact, there are two entire pages of Qur�an citations and Hadith quotations explaining how slavery must exist in Islamic lands before the eschatological denouement can come. 

Other topics covered in this magazine, albeit in less detail, include: the permissibility of ghanimah (war booty) in terms of seized weapons; gloating about successful military operations against the �nusayris� (Alawis, or Syrian government forces) and the PKK/YPG murtaddin (�apostates,� because they are Marxists);  administrative creation of two new wilayat from conquered regions around al-Bukamal (in southeast Syria) and Fallujah (west of Baghdad)�in order to �eliminate any remaining traces of the kufri, nationalistic borders;� scenes of putative state-building in the IS (bridges rebuilt, elderly being fed, electricity lines under repair); SecDef Hagel�s testimony about IS before the Senate Armed Services Committee; and, finally, five pages about the beheading of Steven Sotloff (blaming it largely on his being a �Jew and citizen of the Jewish state�) and four on British hostage John Cantlie, whose IS apologia appears likely forced.   The last page of this fourth issue of Dabiq repeats, at length, the hadith about the Muslims vanquishing the �Roman Christians� in al-Malhamah al-Kubra.

Observations: 

1) Islamic State is honing its eschatological-apocalyptic message to a fine point, by making its jihad against the �Crusade,� as well as the reimposing of slavery over non-dhimmis, Signs of the Last Hour.   

2) The numerous Qur�anic verses and hadith citations employed in this issue of Dabiq�as well as the legions of such in its first three editions�prove once and for all that IS is profoundly and legitimately Islamic.   Quotations from the Qur�an are neither taken out of context, nor �misinterpreted;� they are simply rendered, and applied, literally.  Certain hadiths, however, are glossed as needed; for example, the prediction that the �Romans � (Byzantines) would land a major force in Syria to fight the Muslims is reinterpreted to mean the medieval Crusaders from Western Europe, because that better fits IS�s message.  

3) A keen awareness and indeed understanding of Western commentary on IS shows in the references to the statements of Obama, Bush, Hagel, Kissinger, Scheuer and Peters�lending further support to suspicions that he is an educated American.  

4) IS�s ongoing efforts to degrade the territorial integrity of both Syria and Iraq, as well as to engage in nation-building,  proceed apace. 

5) References to "Constantinople"--the old Greek Christian name for Istanbul--being conquered by Muslims would seem to indicate that IS does not consider the Turks true Muslims, and that the city requires (re) conquest.  

6) IS clearly has now decided to no longer simply focus on its near enemies in the region but will encourage its supporters to strike citizens of its various far enemies in their own homelands.   This will very likely mean an increase in what the media calls attacks by �lone wolves�--better known as �roaming hyenas� whose ultimate pack  loyalty is to Qur�anic literalists such as those of IS. 

While many governments of the world insist on regarding it as a (mere) �minence grise, the Islamic State's grey mantle increasingly covers more and more territory....

Diwali celebrations in Sindh and other regions of Pakistan

On the left is the official message by Government of Sindh, Pakistan in the leading newspaper 'Dawn'.

It wishes 'Happy Diwali' to all, along with the catchline, 'Diwali ki raat, Khushiyo.n ki barsaat'.

The advertisement carries photographs of PPP leaders, which most of us identify.

It also has names of Mahesh Kumar Chawla, who is Minister for Information Technology (IT) in Sindh government, and Giyan Chand Israni, Minister for Minorities.

The message also has a Nazm [poem or verse] on Diwali, which reads:

Diwali ki Raat, Khushiyo.n ki Barsaat

aai divali khushiyaa.n le kar
sang apne ummeede.n le kar

khushi ka samaa baandhe aai diwaali
is tehvaar ki har adaa hai niraali

diwaali ki raat hai behad hasee.n
khush hote hain voh jo hote hain ghamgee.n

divaali le kar aai hai aman ka paigam
ye tehvaar hai dil walo.n ka inaam


diye jalaao divali manaao
mohabbat ki shab ko pyaar se manao

Thanks to social media, we get to know more about what happens in our neighbouring country.

First, YLH [Yasser Latif Hamdani], mentioned the advertisement on his facebook post.

Subsequently, I logged on to Dawn's website and saw the epaper.

Shiraz Hassan clicked the photograph along with the report which was published in Dawn.

The nice photograph shows children at a temple in Rawalpindi, one of the big cities of Pakistan.

It is the Krishna temple. You can see photograph it on the Dawn's website AT THIS LINK.

Earlier too, this blog has carried posts about Hindu festivities in Pakistan.

You can see the picture below--Muslim League leaders in Pakistan seeing 'aashirwad' from couple posing as Bhagwans. This post was published on the blog a few years ago. CLICK TO SEE

But, it is due to the advent of social media, that we get to know better about our neighbouring country. Not just Sind, but from other regions too, you get to see reports.

Else, one mostly gets to find bad or negative news and through loud anchors on TV channels. It may be true in Pakistan too, regarding India. TRPs can be obtained not just by creating hysteria but also through the positive stories.

My problem with the mainstream media is that good news is not covered. Why mainstream media doesn't show such stories? When 300 fishermen are released, it doesn't make big news on TV. CLICK TO READ

An example is that when a person is killed in a country and the reporter writes it, 'Hindu killed in X country' or 'Muslim killed in Y country', it is pure bigotry.

Unless and until, the person is killed just because of his religion.

Or when in border firing media tells only one side of the story i.e. the number of persons killed in your own country, not by the firing of your country's troops and the others' casualties.

For knowing the complete picture, you have to see international newspapers or websites. Just like bad news, good news also should be given coverage.

EARLIER POSTS ON DIWALI ON THIS BLOG

1. Greetings on Diwali: Jashn-e-Chiraagha.n mubarak

2. An Indian Muslim celebrates Diwali in an alien land, remembers childhood

3. Pakistan ministers celebrate Diwali

4. Diwali celebrations: Crackers, fireworks and nostalgia

For more photos of Diwali celebrations in Pakistan, CHECK THIS LINK

'JERUSALEM' Omnimax Film: Observations from an Orthodox Christian Priest

"We rarely hear of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. The Muslims did not inhabit Jerusalem peacefully or by way of invitation in the 7th century.  If the Crusades are always criticized for that very reason, we need to restore a sense of historical balance..."


'JERUSALEM' - The Omnimax Film

Observations by an Orthodox Christian Priest, followed by my comments.

October 20, 2014

(Source confidential and shall remain anonymous)

Visit the website for the film to view the trailer and find showtimes in your area.

...The commentary [of the film] was clearly made to be as non-controversial as possible. In fact, although paying a bit of "lip service" to the endless historical conflicts that have been so much a part of Jerusalem's history, the text of the commentary was committed to convincing us that Jews, Christians, and Muslims can live openly and peacefully in such close proximity.

Fair enough. In today's fractured and conflict-torn world, we should realize by now that profound differences of faith and practice need not undermine the essential qualities of mutual respect and tolerance. And one does not have to be a relativist to embrace such a perspective. 

The more that a believer is secure in his/her own faith, the more this could become a reality underlying human relationships. After all, we are not talking about winning a religious debate, but simply about living together peacefully. Fanaticism and aggressive non-tolerance of the "other" could serve as cover-up for a deeper insecurity, in which the "enemy" is anyone with a world-view challenging and/or shaking that of the intolerant believer. And enemies must be destroyed before they tempt "our people" into deviating from the group's beliefs. Again, I am simply raising this issue on the religious level - and not on a political level and the use or non-use of force...

And to abandon all political correctness, I must point out that we rarely hear of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. The Muslims did not inhabit Jerusalem peacefully or by way of invitation in the 7th c. If the Crusades are always criticized for that very reason, we need to restore a sense of historical balance...

_______

My comments:

These are brave and important points to make, and I hope more Orthodox come to embrace the sober and fair-minded firmness inherent in this priest's remarks above.

But there is a more ominous point to be made, namely that one religion in particular seems to have just such a "deeper insecurity" innate to its spiritual DNA, as witnessed by such extracts from its holy book as these:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Quran 9:29)

Kill the mushrikun [unbelievers] wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. (Quran 9:5)

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes. (Sura 8:12)

Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies. (Quran 8:60) 

So, when you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly on them... Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam. (Quran 47:4)

The founder of this same religion consistently revealed his own "deeper insecurities" by his own "fanaticism and aggressive non-tolerance" towards those opposed to his creed, as seen in this incident from the earliest authorized account of his life:

Then they [the Jewish tribe of Qurayza] surrendered, and the apostle confined them in Medina in the quarter of d. al-Harith, a woman of Bani al-Najjar. Then the apostle went out to the market of Medina and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for them and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches. Among them was the enemy of Allah Huyayy bin Akhtab and Ka�b bin Asad their chief. There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900. As they were being taken out in batches to the Apostle they asked Ka�b what he thought would be done with them. He replied, �Will you never understand? Don�t you see that the summoner never stops and those who are taken away do not return? By Allah it is death!� This went on until the Apostle made an end of them. 

(Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, trans. by A. Guillaume, New York, 1980, pp 463-464.)

That the commands of the Quran are considered by Muslims to be the literal words of Allah existing pre-eternally in the "Mother of the Book" in heaven, and that Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the "perfect man" and � according to the words of the Quran � "the most beautiful pattern of conduct," makes it likely that there will always be devout Muslims who feel divinely commanded to wage war against Christians and Jews and other non-Muslims. They consider themselves to be secure in their faith, not "deeply insecure," and they prove their faith by their literal application of the commands of Allah and their literal imitation of the example of their prophet.

It seems to be working, as the Islamic State Caliphate (ISIS/ISIL) is becoming increasingly popular among Muslims in the West, who are flocking to Iraq and Syria to join ISIL and wage jihad. ISIL is equally popular among other Muslim jihadist extremist groups, as seen in the list of pledges of allegiance to the Islamic State by the Taliban, Al Qaeda offshoots, and others throughout the Muslim world.

And, by the way, the Islamic State Caliphate has targeted Jerusalem for takeover. Should that happen this Omnimax film would probably turn out to be the last documentary on Jerusalem able to be filmed by a non-Muslim group.