Beware of the Marriage Bandits by Shaikh (Dr) Haitham Al-Haddad

I am sick of hearing about those brothers who prey upon the susceptibility of our sisters, using deception as a tool for marriage, and marriage as a guise for the fulfillment of their evil desires. I fear that if something is not done to tackle these abuses, we will only see the number of such incidents increase. Therefore, I feel compelled to share some of the cases I have encountered in order to highlight the nature of the issues at hand, and that we as a community must take drastic action to stop or minimize this evil.

One of the incidents which I came across just recently involved a sister who was divorced and the custodian of her children. She was living alone, away from her parents, when she was approached for marriage by a brother who seemed to be a practising Muslim. She had described that her parents were unhappy with her re-marrying due to her situation. The brother managed to convince her she had a legitimate Islamic right to search for a wali other than her own father due to the fact he was forbidding marriage for her on the basis of what he deemed to be a non-Islamic pretext. She was apprehensive in having a wali appointed from the same cultural background as she feared she may have been exposed within the community. However the brother managed to comfort her, exhorting her to appoint him, himself to find her a suitable wali. Due to her naivety and his callous experience in manipulating women, she accepted. So to summarise; she accepted to marry the brother without consent from her parents via phone and skype, with no witnesses or wedding, her wali was anonymous to her, and the brother she was to marry had the ability to appoint an anonymous wali for her. A few days after the questionable �nikah� had taken place, her �husband� came to her with no other reason but to fulfil his sexual desire. It was only after this that she discovered he had various other sexual partners whom he had claimed to have married previously. A few days later he left her, however he would continue to return in order to blackmail her for sexual relations as he had convinced her their �nikah� was still valid. As a result, the sister unfortunately contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

 Full article

Islamic Quotes On Forgiveness

Islam gives great Importance to Forgiveness and Mercy. Allah SWT says in Quran a person who shows mercy on others and forgives their Mistakes I will forgive his mistakes on the day of Judgement.

Below I am posting some beautiful Islamic Quotes On Forgiveness:

Time Management in Islam

In modern science, time is still a mysterious phenomenon to explore, know and discover. One thing on which science could reach up till now is that time is a that dimension which is one way, it goes and it has no return. In holy Quran, Allah swt has talked specifically about time in these words;

Al-Quran - surah 103

�I swear) by the Time, (1) Man is in a state of loss indeed, (2) Except those who believed and did righteous deeds, and exhorted each other to follow truth, and exhorted each other to observe patience. (3) �

Allah swt has sworn by the time. In Quran, time is expressed as a passing thing i.e. an ongoing never returning phenomenon. Allah swt say that man is in a sate of loss, because of his decisions and deeds. And time is the witness of this. When Allah swt has sworn on time, then it means that this is a very serious and important phenomenon. When time is so important, most of us do not know its importance half so much. Look at the daily routines that we have, what do we mostly do? Mostly we spend time in speaking about this and that. We discuss people or events and our time goes away.

Many people complain that their days passes away so quickly that they do not even know when morning turns into evening. This is so because we spend most of time in useless things like:

1: laziness: that is, we wait and wait and wait and do not do anything on its proper time until its eleventh hour and we are left with no choice but to do it.

2: we spend our time in too much sleep: We sleep like we have nothing else to do.

3: we talk too much, we discuss people, we discuss about events and we spend hours and hours in useless, unproductive chat.

4: lack of goals. When we do not have goals, we simply indulge ourselves into a never ending loop and locating problems in our lives.

5: our lack of self control. We spend time in eating, in chatting and in disorganizing ourselves that we eventually loose control on ourselves.

6: and lastly, our lack of time management is due to our egoistic behavior. We cannot simply bear to hear a word against us.

These are those six points which have been identified as the main reasons why people waste their time. There are several ahadith which talk about the human behavior and the importance of time as follows;

Ibn Abbas (r.a.a) narrates that the Prophet (s.a.w) said, �There are two blessings which many people lose. (They are) health and free time for doing good� (Bukhari)

and

The Prophet (s.a.w) said: �On the Day of Resurrection the feet of the son of Adam will not move away till he is questioned about five matters:
1.On what he spent his life
2. In doing what he made his youth pass away
3. From where he acquired his property
4. On what he spent it (property)
5. What he did regarding what he knew.�
(Tirmidhi)

This hadith is an excellent time management tool. These five matters make our lives into whatever we want. If we spend our time wisely, then we would not be held accountable for misusing this greatest blessing of Allah swt. If we do not use our lives properly, then we will not only have nothing in this life but we will have nothing to say, and loads of shame, in the hereafter before Allah swt.

Allah�s Messenger (s.a.w) said: �Grasp five things before five others: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your leisure before your work and your life before your death.� (Tirmidhi) 

This hadith also indicates that our life has important times. We have strength and energy in our youth and experience and skill at old age. When we have strength to do things physically with ease, that is the time of gold. We should utilize it as much as possible. Similarly, what time we are left from our work, we can utilize it wisely in making our hereafter. And our entire life, we can use it in best possible way before our time in this world is over.

Abdullah bin Umar (r.a.a) said, � Allah�s Apostle (s.a.w) took hold of my shoulder and said, �Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.�  

Ibn Umar (r.a.a) used to say, � If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening and take from your health for your sickness, and take from your life for your death.�   (Bukhari)

That is, the life is uncertain. There is no surety of life. So, those who think time and life are same thing, they are wrong. Our lives have a small, very small chunk of time. And it is upon us that how we spend it. If we spend this time according to the commandments of Allah swt, they our endless life in hereafter would be in paradise.

Our lives are bound by time, and our universe is also bound by time. With every passing second, a second of your life time is over. By the time you are born in this world, your life clock starts ticking backwards. Do not think that you have a minute more, but think that you have a minute less. Life is what you cannot waste by any chance. Allah swt says in Quran;

[006:032] The life of this world is nothing more than play and pastime. The abode of the hereafter is certainly far better for the pious. Do you not understand? 

Therefore, set your goals, make use of every minute. Think of life as a bounded opportunity with endless chances of survival and opportunities. Remember Allah as much as you can, and live like a stranger in this world. Wait for the endless joyous times to come. 

Islam Promotes Or Opposes Terrorism?

What the world knows about terrorism is not what this term actually means. Just go out the street and ask anyone about terrorism. The only answer you would learn would be the unjust killing and harassment of people. But this is not what terrorism is. Let us see what oxford dictionary describes terrorism as;

Terrorism as in oxford dictionary:

�The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims�

In the American English context, terrorism means;

�The use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims�

The difference between the understood meaning of terrorism and what it actually means is too huge. It is because of the lies of sold media because of which people do not even know what they say.

Islam has been the target of the satanic forces since the very beginning. In every age, evil powers fought against Islam some times in form of decisive wars for power and some times in form of crusade. Now the trend has changed. It is because of the ease of access to the once unknown information that the powers of Satan now have found another way. Today, a huge part of non Muslim world knows Islam as the religion of terrorism. And when they are asked about terrorism, they say that it means killing non Muslims. Does Islam allow the killing of non Muslims? Non Muslims quote this verse of Quran when ever they want to spit venom against Islam;

[002:191] Kill them wherever you find them. Expel them from where they drove you away. Persecution and oppression are worse than killing. Do not do battle with them near the sacred house of worship (Makkah), unless it is they who engage you in battle there. If they fight you there, then slay them (there). That is the due punishment for the disbelievers.

This the that famous verse which non muslims use to defend their hatred for islam. Now, first thing, this verse does not use the word �infidels� or �non muslims� in particular. But this verse is about all those who can create fitnah on the land. Secondly, this verse says that persecution and oppression are worst than killing. So in islam, there is something actually worst than killing, and that it forceful attitude. No one from the non muslim world would ever tell you this because they do not know this simple yet very powerful fact about quran.
Thirdly, this verse does not in any case, tell muslims to instigate the emotions of others by unjust killing but it tells us that only fight back and kill if the opposing forces try to do the same.

Therefore, the verse which is related with terrorism more then often is not even about terrorizing but it is about RETALIATION. It is not about INSTIGATION.

History is witness of all the violence. Just open any book, tap any history button and see for yourself that when ever there was recorded an event of violence, the non muslims were behind it. The biggest massacre of the human history was done by america by bombing atom bombs on japan. The 9/11 terrorism, which was done by white house to pave way for invading Afghanistan. Then unjust pressure on UN was put by non other then America to find out nukes in Iraq which were never there as per every UN report.  Still hundreds of thousands of innocent people are dead only because of the USA terrorism.

In the recent past, what america and its friends did in arab countries is beyond any count. The stable countries like Egypt, Tunisia etc. are now under sectarian and foreign violence only because of the greed of power. The terrorism which Israel is doing in Palestine with the help of America. And now we see the situation in Syria. Bashar ul asad is killing his own people because he is persecuting them. And America and others are funding the other group for the Balance of power. While in the mean time, the mujahideen fighting in Syria are being thought as terrorists just because of America.

Therefore, all the violence and unjust political power is being used by the non muslims to persecute Muslims. Islam does not like unjust killing, so we Muslims cannot unjustly kill any one, be it a muslim or an infidel. The modern media fed definition of terrorism is as false as this picture itself is. Time is, we stand up and stand for our right irrespective of our cast and creed.  

Morocco repeals 'rape marriage law'

Morocco's parliament has unanimously amended an article in the penal code that allowed a rapist to escape prosecution if he married his underage victim.

The amendment to Article 475 of the penal code, first proposed by the country's Islamist-led government a year ago, was amended by lawmakers on Wednesday, parliamentary sources said.

The article in question made international headlines in March 2012 when Amina al-Filali, 16, was forced to marry a man who had allegedly raped her.

After seven months of marriage to the 23-year-old man, she committed suicide in 2012. Her parents and a judge had forced the marriage to protect the family honour.

The incident sparked calls for the law to be changed. The traditional practise of forced marriage can be found across the Middle East and in countries such as India and Afghanistan, where the loss of a woman's virginity out of wedlock puts a stain on a family's honour.

Source

Impact of Social Media on Muslim Society

With the advent of social media, meaning of communication has been reshaped. Once, what used to take hours now take minutes and what took minutes now is a matter of seconds. Social media has not just made everything fast, but it also has ended the boundaries.

Social media is one of the most powerful tools to spread the word with least cost and least efforts. It is now a common pinion across the globe that it has changed lives. And some times, destroyed them as well. We all have come across many cases on personal as well as public level, where we saw how some people took advantage of some one's information to create a living hell for that person. Mostly, women fell prey to social media's dark side. Women are tricked relatively easily and so they are used and misused until nothing is left for them. In many Muslim societies, such cases show up and girls and boys either committed suicide or were murdered. So just like every other thing, social media too has its dark side.

This has been a debate for long time among Muslims as whether to use it or not. At some places, Internet is considered as haram as alcohol while at some places, there are simply no restrictions. Since Internet is easily accessible and cheap, some satan worshippers have taken advantage of it and they have spread free of cost and cheap illicit material on Internet. Also, the social websites are being used by the low mentality people more than the sane ones.

Mostly, the muslim societies are being targeted through social media by spreading every kind of information against islam and to drag muslims away from Islam. Male and female interaction is evolved because there have come applications/programs which tell you about your soul mate or your love among your friends. Also, there have become online communities and groups just for free mingling where girls and boys are fooled easily.

Similarly, the use of porn material on social media has increased. It is still the policy of all the renowned social media websites to removed any such stuff, but still, in the name of freedom of expression, people are spreading pornographic content without so much as trouble.

What should be done? How can we protect our kids from the dark side of social media? How can we protect our society from becoming morally ill because of the wrong use of social media? We do not know about other societies, but Islamic society has its own rules and regulations ans they are true under all circumstances.

First, islam does not allow mingling of opposite genders. This holds true even for the virtual world. But how could it be monitored? Just like some people spread the wrong use of Internet, the same medium can be used for dawah. In fact, there are many renowned scholars on different websites who are doing dawah online for years now. Their efforts should be supported and their messages should be spread. In this way, not only will it become a mass online dawah program but also it will attract many lost souls to find the way.

Second, how to protect ourselves from the elicit material; it is not very difficult. It used to be a topic of shame once but now, some scholars have taken this necessary step and introduced help in case if one finds himself slave of his desires.

Third, if one wants to protect himself from the dark side of social media, he should spend his time on internet while sitting with his family. In this way, it would be a self monitor and control. Also, parents should check on their kids when they use computer.

It is an understood fact that wrong use of social media has effected our societies very seriously. The danger it poses to our people can be averted just by following islam. Keeping good company in real as well as virtual world is the key. Just like wrong people destroy us in real world, they also can destroy us in virtual world. 

The Proper Way to Make Wudu (Ablution)

Tahara or purification is a must for worship in Islam. One cannot offer Salah and other worships if he is not pure. This is why ablution is made a must before every salah, whether fard or voluntary. There is a proper way of making ablution. We all know that there are seven steps for making ablution, but how to perform those seven steps is not known by many. If wudu is not properly made, then any worship after it might not be accepted. Therefore it is a must to know how to do ablution properly.

Allah SWT says In Quran

[005:006] O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash (yourselves) and if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have touched the women, and you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith, Allah does not desire to put on you any difficulty, but He wishes to purify you and that He may complete His favor on you, so that you may be grateful.

The following hadith indicates its important in these words;

Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 78, Number 660:

Narrated Abu Huraira:
A man entered the mosque and started praying while Allah's Apostle was sitting somewhere in the mosque. Then (after finishing the prayer) the man came to the Prophet and greeted him. The Prophet said to him, "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed. The man went back, and having prayed, he came and greeted the Prophet. The Prophet after returning his greetings said, "Go back and pray, for you did not pray." On the third time the man said, "(O Allah's Apostle!) teach me (how to pray)." The Prophet said, "When you get up for the prayer, perform the ablution properly and then face the Qibla and say Takbir (Allahu Akbar), and then recite of what you know of the Quran, and then bow, and remain in this state till you feel at rest in bowing, and then raise your head and stand straight; and then prostrate till you feel at rest in prostration, and then sit up till you feel at rest while sitting; and then prostrate again till you feel at rest in prostration; and then get up and stand straight, and do all this in all your prayers." 

Below are given step wise instructions to do wudu in sunnah way:

1: First of all, there are some schools of thought who say that uttering niyah ( intention) loudly or slowly is a must. The fact is, everything that we intend to do, we do it for the sake of doing it. So there is no need to give words to your intentions loudly or slowly. Its an innovation and has nothing to do with islam.

2: Then, everything should be started from Bismillah ( in the name of Allah). The same goes for wudu.

3: washing hands thrice. And its just not the washing of hands but it means to wash hands up to wrist in such  way that every part of the skin and nails is wet. If there is something on nails, then it must be washed or wiped. There should not be anything on hands or nails which stops water from touching the skin.

4: Mouth should be washed from inside as well. Therefore, gargling and moving the water within the mouth for complete cleanliness is a must.

5: Nose should also be washed, by sniffing the water in and then out so that the question of cleanliness is satisfied.

6: Washing face: face should be washed up to its limits. That is, from one ear to the other, from forehead to chin, not leaving nay part of face dry.

7: Washing arms up to elbows, not leaving any part from wrist to elbow dry.

8: Performing masah i.e, wetting one forth of forehead, ears from inside and from their back.

9: washing feet, starting from fingers and ending at ankles not leaving nay part of foot from upside or downside, dry.

10: Recite shahadah after completing wudu by raising the right index finger towards sky.

Every part of ablution should be started from right side. All steps must be performed thrice, no more no less.

In case of impurity, a proper bath is required for, certain impurities like menses and after intercourse would leave you with wudu. Wudu is not valid after call of nature, passing wind ( except that there is a medical condition involved), sleep, unconsciousness, intoxication. Whereas, eating, drinking etc do not break wudu nor does wearing surma or make up or perfume break it.

Perfect ablution is not only required tahara but it is also a source of earning reward as it is mentioned in the following sahih hadith;

Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 441:

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
I brought water to Uthman bin 'Affan to perform the ablution while he was sitting on his seat. He performed the ablution in a perfect way and said, "I saw the Prophet performing the ablution in this place and he performed it in a perfect way and said, "Whoever performs the ablution as I have done this time and then proceeds to the mosque and offers a two-Rak'at prayer and then sits there (waiting for the compulsory congregational prayers), then all his past sins will be forgiven." The Prophet further added, "Do not be conceited (thinking that your sins will be forgiven because of your prayer)." 

Wudu should not be taken just as purification measure but also as a mean to earn reward. 

Ruling On Wiping Over Khuffs and Socks For Ablution

Khuffs are the leather boots and socks are made of clothes. They both are being worn since ages. There are many people who wear them as a habbit. When it comes to ablution, some people want to wash their feet while some want to do masah i.e. wiping their feet from over the khuffs or socks. So there are proper rulings for them and these rulings have been derived from sunnah. Allah swt say in Holy Quran;

[005:006] O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash (yourselves) and if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have touched the women, and you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith, Allah does not desire to put on you any difficulty, but He wishes to purify you and that He may complete His favor on you, so that you may be grateful.

From this verse, some people derive that only washing of feet is an option, while the wiping of feet is derived from sunnah. It is because cleanliness is meant from wudu, so if feet are clean, then it is possible to wipe the feet. The following hadith is evidence;

al-Mughira bin Shu�bah radiallaahu 'anhu said that the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam made wudu. Al-Mughira said, �I moved to remove his khuffs and he said, �Leave them, for indeed my feet were in a state of purity when I wore them.� So he wiped over them.�

While wiping over socks is also evident from sunnah. But it has certain conditions.

1: the first condition from this is that the person who wants to wipe on his socks should be in state of purity. That is, he should not be impure himself. If he is not pure, then he will have to make complete wudu. The evidence is given in the hadith quoted above.

2: the second stage is valid only if the first condition is met. One can wipe his feet in socks only if the socks are clean. If they are not clean, then it is obvious that salah cannot be made with putting them on. The hadith which validates it is once, prophet Muhammad pbuh offer3ed namaz in shoed which he took off during salah. Which make sit clear that if socks or khufs are dirty, they will invalidate that prayer.

3: When the wearer is in state of minor impurity but not major. The evidence, Safwaan bin Assaal radiallaahu 'anhu  said, �The Messenger of All�h sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam ordered us not to remove our socks for three days and nights when we were on a journey except if we were junub, but not from excretion, urination or sleep.� thus, major impurity would need proper washing.

4: the time limit set by the shariah. The evidence is; Alee radiallaahu 'anhu said, �the Messenger sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam set a limit of one day and night for the resident, and three days and nights for the traveler,� that is, one day and night makes it twnety four hours while three days and nights make it seventy two hours.

Thus, it is permissible to wipe over socks or khufs of the above mentioned conditions are met. Islam is the deen of ease, one must not make it hard by un necessarily doing what can be avoided.

Prophet Harun (Stories of the Prophets) - Abdul Nasir Jangda

We Muslims and Media

We all now how much power media has. the media can show a thief as a honest man and a honest man as a thief and people also starts believing In that easily. there are several types of Media like print, electronic, Social media etc. the most powerful medias according to me are Electronic TV and Social Media now a days because these two medias have most audience. Now a days the International Media is showing us Muslims as Terrorists. Wrong News against Muslims are Spread in international media. wherever a Bomb blasts takes place anywhere in the world within minutes Muslims are blamed for it. There are thousands of Websites and blogs online spreading lies against Muslims and Islam.

Everyday on average more then 8 books are written against Islam. But the question is how many Tv Channels we have to defend islam? How many websites and blogs we have? Perhaps they can be counted on fingers. we are far behind in this massive media war. There are thousands of Christian channels working in dozens of languages around the world. how many Islamic Dawah Channels we have? just 3 to 4 which can be counted on fingers.

Peace TV is a great example of what type of channels Muslims actually need? On Peace TV we see programs which answers allegations against Islam.

Its time to wake up Muslims. we need to come up in field of media and reply allegations against Islam. Allah has blessed Arabs with the wealth of oil. they can run many Islamic Dawah channels easily. What we need is to take action and do progress in field of media Industry. To know more on this topic I Would recommend everyone to listen to the lecture of Dr Zakir Naik Media and Islam War or Peace?