As-Salāmu `Alaykum wa rahmatu l-lāhi wa barakātuh!

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Daily Hadith

4/29/2013

OUR DAUGHTERS ARE A BLESSING, NOT A BURDEN!!

OUR DAUGHTERS ARE A BLESSING, NOT A BURDEN!!

Our daughters are a blessing, not a burden!!by: Jamiat.org.za

Children are no doubt a great gift from Almighty Allah to all parents. Parents must think of their children as such treasures that all the wealth and material resources are worthless as when compared to one’s children. We, as parents, should thank and be grateful to Almighty Allah for blessing us with children whether they are boys or girls.

Today, it is quite disheartening to see that some parents rejoice when the newborn child is a male and show their dissatisfaction when the child is a female. But, this should not be the attitude. Islam does not condone this type of behavior, as such was the manner of the parents in the time of ignorance.

ISLAM'S UNIVERSALITY

Islam’s Universality

Islam’s universality: All people who believe in One True God without partners and submit themselves to Him are called Muslims
The message of Islam is the continuation of the clear and profound message of pure monotheism revealed by God throughout history to all of His prophets in every place on earth. Allah had sent us prophets who all taught the same religion: {“He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Noah, and that which We revealed to you (Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus”} (Qur’an 42:13).
Anyone, born in any place, and at any period of time, can become a Muslim because Islam is what the prophets had been teaching ever since the time of Adam. All people who followed one of the many prophets, who believe in One True God without partners, and submit themselves to Him are called Muslims – a person who submits his will to the will of God according to the teachings of the prophets.

THE ART OF CALLING TO ISLAM


THE ART OF CALLING TO ISLAM

by Ali Gomaa

       It is the destiny of all world religions along history to be plagued with a group of fanatics who are blinded with their immature zealotry to advocate for their religion yet they lack all the necessary qualifications such as solid authentic knowledge, intellectual discernment, sound logic and refined manners which are keys to open up hearts and souls. Prophet Muhammad’s correspondents with world kings are true embodiment of the art of calling to Islam.
      The message of Islam was universal by nature and was not confined to the borders of the Arabian Peninsula or restricted to Arabs. It was in fact a message encompassing the whole world as God says in the Quran, “Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion upon His Servant that he may be to the worlds a warner “ (25:1)
      After the reconciliation of al Hudaybiyah, the Prophet sent letters and correspondents to the non Arab kings of neighboring countries with the Persian and Roman empires topping the list. The Prophet had sent a book carried by the messenger Dehia ibn Khalifa al Kalbi to Heraclius the Roman Emperor and the message reads:

I FOUND MY ULTIMATE FREEDOM BEING A MUSLIM WOMAN

I FOUND MY ULTIMATE FREEDOM BEING A MUSLIM WOMAN

(Sister’s Christina’s Journey to the Truth)

 By Reading Islam Staff
(www.onislam.net*)

     I said Shahadah, it will be ten years in December. I took Shahadah when I was 47 years old. I considered myself to be a good Catholic lady, but I always would go to church and pray to God.
     I couldn’t pray to Jesus, it just didn’t feel right, and I would always talk to God.
       I didn’t come from a religious family. My grandmother took me to church once in a while, you know in the major holidays, but that was only when I was little.
    So at 7 years old I would pick myself up and go to church and just talk to God.
    When I was 8 I had my own Bible, and again I just always talked to God, and I was always a big believer of the truth, my whole life is based on the truth.

I WON MUHAMMAD WITHOUT LOSING JESUS

I WON MUHAMMAD WITHOUT LOSING JESUS

An Interview With a Romanian Female Convert)

by Khalid Amayreh*(Journalist — Occupied Palestine)

     In the small West Bank town of Dura, ReadingIslam.com (RI) had an interesting encounter with Manuela-Mirela Tanasecu, a Romanian woman who embraced Islam several years ago after meeting and marrying her Palestinian husband, Walid Suleiman, a globe trotter and popular Islamic preacher in the southern West Bank. He has toured more than a hundred countries, mostly on foot, as part of his 7-year global tour to promote peace and discourage war and violence.
    They met and married in Bucharest in 1991. A few months later, she embraced Islam while on a tour in Iran.

DANIEL STREICH EMBRACES ISLAM

DANIEL STREICH EMBRACES ISLAM

(Swiss Politician Bans Minarets then Converts to Islam)

       The Swiss politician Daniel Streich, who rose to fame as a result of his opposition to mosques in his homeland, Switzerland, has now embraced the faith he reviled, according to an article published in www.globalmuslim.com received by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
         Daniel Streich was a member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) in Switzerland. A well-known politician, Streich led the calls for a ban on minarets across Switzerland. He was active in building anti-Muslim sentiments throughout Switzerland.

         This sustained campaign led to him being given a high ranking position in the Swiss Army.

         Daniel Streich (born in Bulle, Canton of Fribourg) is a Swiss military instructor, community council member and a former member of Swiss People’s Party. A Protestant that converted to Catholicism and then to Islam.

        Daniel Streich, left the Swiss People's Party over the campaign for the national ban on the construction of new minarets.
       Streich was founding member and president of the Gruyères section of the party from 2003 to 2007. His followed conversion to Islam in 2005, before which he was a devout Catholic, with one of his given explanations on this conversion is that this newly discovered religion offered him "logical answers to important life questions".
     He then resigned from his presidency in June 2007 citing his discomfort with certain "extremist" positions of the party, especially the campaign to ban nationwide the construction of new minarets.
      While Streich in 2007 stated that he had "many Muslim friends" he did not make public his personal conversion to Islam until early November 2009, when he left the Swiss People's Party in protest against their campaign for the impending referendum of 29 November 2009. He then participated in setting up the Conservative Democratic Party cantonal section.
      Steich's case was reported by the most read daily newspaper in Switzerland - 20 Minuten on 23 November, during the week preceding the referendum and the story was picked up by the tabloid newspaper Blick on the following day.

Switzerland Minaret Ban and Daniel Streich

         Streich was an important member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP). His importance could be estimated from his influence on party's policy making, in which he always had a prominent role.

        His movement against minarets was aimed at gaining political attention and interest. He won the slot of military instructor in the Swiss Army due to his popularity. He was also committed to his party (SVP) and stood as a local politician in the commune of Bulle.

Daniel Streich Conversion to Islam


        Streich attempted to understand the Qur'an and Islamic teachings in order to argue against Muslims on tenets of their faith. In the course of his efforts the ex-Christian began to agree with and acknowledge the proclamations of the Qur'an.

        Born in a Christian family, Streich had a comprehensive study of Islam merely to malign and confront, but Islamic teachings had a deep impact on him.
       Eventually he de-linked himself from political activities and he embraced Islam. Streich has termed the SVO activities against the Muslims as satanic.

       He says that he used to read the Bible and often went to chapel, but now he recites the Holy Quran and offers his prayers five times a day.

      He further says that he cancelled his party membership and made public his conversion. Streich says that he has found the truth of life in Islam, which he could not find in Christianity.

     "Islam offers me logical answers to important life questions, which, in the end, I never found in Christianity," says Streich. He is now a committed Muslim, who attends the mosque, recites the Qur'an and prays five times a day.

      According to figures from the Union of Islamic Organizations and Communities, some 3,000 to 5,000 Italians have recently converted to Islam from Catholicism.

Post-Conversion Life for Daniel Streich

       Recently the question of ban on minarets was put to voting in Switzerland, wherein the Swiss nationals gave the issue a legal status.
As per voting results 42.5 per cent people voted in favour of the minarets and 57.5 per cent supported the ban, while the Muslim population in Switzerland is only 6 per cent.

       The most wondrous thing in this regard, therefore, is the support of 42.5 per cent of population for only six percent Muslims. The analysts claim that ban on minarets and Islamic rituals has attracted the people towards Islam.

       Streich has now focused his intentions on participating in the building of the new Conservative Democratic Party in the canton of Freiburg.
       Freich's new movement is in contrast to his previous one and he aims to promote religious tolerance and peaceful cooperative living, in spite of the fact that ban on mosques minarets has gained a legal status.

      He is vehemently opposed to the Minaret ban and is hoping to establish Switzerland's fifth mosque and the most beautiful in Europe. (HSH)

FEMALE CONVERTS FIND TRUE FEMINISM IN ISLAM

 FEMALE CONVERTS FINDING TRUE FEMINISM IN ISLAM

by Hasnet Lais

     You’d think after watching BBC "Three’s Make me a Muslim" documentary, being a female convert to Islam is so riddled with fault lines. Not really. My recent interviews with Muslim converts offered a rare glimpse into the lives of three women who would flatly reject such comparisons. And they’re all buzzing with spiritual ecstasy, retelling what caused them to halal-ify their wardrobes and Islamise dress codes.
     “Being Muslim keeps me from wanting to impress others and gives me more personal confidence,” says Chantelle, a 19-year-old convert from Hackney. Today, she goes by the name Khadija, as a sign of respect for Muhammad’s first wife and insists there’s more to British women trading bare midriffs for abayas than what meets the eye.
     “I wear the hijab because I want to. Because it’s between me and Allah. It’s not a fashion statement. Yes, I don’t go to clubs and don’t sleep around. It gives me a comfort which I know so many of my friends would love to have.”
    One of those friends is Monique, who recalls how Chantelle’s embracing Islam inspired a raw honesty and emotion in her, helping her sense power and security in a head-to-toe cover-up: “I can’t really say for certain that I became Muslim because I read the Qur’an. But in a weird way, I felt Chantelle had more freedom than I did by covering herself, instead of letting it all out like me. I thought to myself ‘this was worth trying’. I can’t say I don’t miss our clubs and parties but I’d rather live like this. We still do what other girls do but it’s more toned down if you catch my drift. I haven’t looked back since”.
    Both girls were gearing up for a lifetime of prostration, meditation and single-sex socialising and offered gleaning insights into how their lives had taken a better turn from the moment they embraced Islam. As we entered deep into our discussions, they also took a moment to discuss the challenges which lay in their wake.
    We talked about everything from relationships, sex and family, and it was clear the prospect of love and marriage lingered heavily over their heads. Chantelle spoke candidly about some common anxieties with converts: “It’s not just what friends and family are going to say.
    ‘Oh my God, why are you dressing like that etc.’ I don’t care about being unpopular. But I do wonder whether I can have a boyfriend or what my chances of marrying a native Muslim will be. I guess I’ll have to stick to another convert”.

“Good Fortunes” of becoming Muslims

     Similar emotions skittered across Monique’s face when I asked her the same question. Despite being saddled with the weight of conversion, theirs was a genuine humility and grace with which both accepted their “good fortunes” of becoming Muslim and as Chantelle put it, “Women who can at last be themselves and please themselves and not men”. Neither of them was borne of any resignation and were at pains to convince others that their new identities hadn’t sapped their career ambitions or aspirations in the slightest.
     Contrary to the sneering stereotypes of some sections of the press, British women converting to Islam do not enter the realm of the socially immobile and culturally policed. Like those I interviewed, they’ve found a new lease of life as tee-totalling Brits, dragging women from under the voyeuristic yoke. If Chantelle and Monique are anything to go by, then sex doesn’t have to sell for women to compete on the same terms.
     Then there was 32-year-old mother of two, Jessica. Defiant, unrelenting and unapologetic, she sat before me, niqaab-clad- a far cry from her early adolescent years which were “adrenaline soaked” and “godless”.
    “I’m just so thankful to Allah that I’ve left everything behind. The hangovers, the guilt, the promiscuous sex. Basically, I feel completely transformed and hate to be reminded of my past because that was me then, and this is me now”.

“Welcome Distraction”

    She claimed becoming Muslim was a “welcome distraction” from her previous, unspiritual lifestyle and was relieved to be confronted by a siege of female converts after she took her shahada (testimony of faith). There was a lot of frenzy surrounding her conversion, not least from her family: “My mum dismissed it as a case of teenage rebellion,” says Jessica, who spends much of her spare time buying and selling the intricate embroideries and jewel works of hijabs and jilbabs.
     As I probed a little deeper, I realised the reason why she, like some other converts I’ve met in the past, came across as a lapsed Briton, cut off from their indigenous culture: “No one from our politicians to our newspapers are doing anything to fight the prejudice against women. Our culture has become so sex obsessed, its making parenting tougher than I thought”.
     We spoke in length about the misogynistic gaffes served up by the media, and the recent description by The Daily Mail of an eight-year-old as a ‘leggy beauty’ unwittingly added fuel to her fire. “You see that’s exactly my point. My decision to become Muslim was a safety net from all this filth. My children are not going to grow up without realising that although we’ve got a lot of things right in Britain we’ve also messed a lot of things up, especially when it comes to respecting our girls”.
    For Jessica, grubby tabloids and the casual sexualisation of British society helped explain the irresistible appeal of puritanism for some British females. Accepting Islam was a way of her silently reproaching the cultural failure to improve the lot of women: “Why do you think so many women are becoming Muslim in this country? Because the ‘wonderful’ freedoms in the west have only enslaved us.”
     As interesting as it was hearing these converts share memories from the past and express delight at their leap of faith, I was looking more forward to interviewing native Muslims who had grown up in British Muslim families, to find out what they thought about their convert sisters in faith.

Spiritual Advantage

    Like me and Shanna Bukhari, the documentary’s presenter, Fatima felt converts to Islam claimed an ambiguous spiritual advantage: “Seeing them offer voluntary prayers and study the Qur’an led me to a lot of soul searching and reflection. They’re much better at being Muslim than I could ever have imagined” she says.
    For practising Muslim Lutfa, the no-nonsense hard-line exteriors of some converts bring a certain noise and colour to the religion which she feels can only be good for the faith. “If you look at Islam from a historical point of view, then you will see that we really owe a lot of our genius to the energy of converts”. I couldn’t agree any more.
     Among my Muslim friends, we’re often left feeling that converts have seized the initiative and run with it and to keep apace, we’ve got to step our God-game up so to speak. Lutfa also agrees that women converts offer Muslims a refreshing change of pace “Convert sisters are definitely setting a standard for others to follow”.
    Whatever we may think of these converts, their decision to become Muslim may be a powerful indictment of some women’s lives in the west. That’s the impression they all left me, especially Jessica who would repeatedly ask whether feminism had delivered on its promise. So amidst all the everyday sexism and cultural creepiness hounding British women, is Islam somehow squaring their circle? 
     Are burkas, niqaabs and hijaabs breathing soul in the lives of girls which desperately lack a higher calling, helping them reclaiming the watchwords of feminism? Does the conversion to Islam among British women bode healthily for Britain’s future? For Chantelle, Monique and Jessica, the answer to these questions is a resolute yes. (HSH)