Again, Hadith are not to be taken at random. A scholar of Hadith must have the vision to bring together all that the Hadith says on a subject. Also, understanding how Hadith was collected requires scholarship. If Imam Bukhari selected 7,257 Hadith out of 600,000, that does not mean (as Mernissi tells us on page 44) that the rest were "false." If a sahabi (companion) of the Prophet had 100 students and they heard 10 Hadith from their teacher, that would technically be 1000 Hadith, and then each of those students might have a 100 of his own students and those 10 Hadith would multiply further, each with its separate chains of narration. The process of criticism of Hadith, as Mernissi knows but easily forgets, started with 'Ayesha, r.a., and had been greatly developed before Imam Bukhari brought it to perfection.
If Mernissi does not like a Hadith, she carries out a psychological analysis of the sahabi narrating it. Hence she paints weird pictures of Abu Bakra, Abu Huraira and 'Umar (Allah be pleased with them) which are nothing more than Merissi's fancy buttressed by later writers (as she conveniently forgets that 'Umar had many sectarian enemies who spread baseless stories about him).
WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE "MALE ELITE?" One would suspect that Mernissi would refer to the corrupt (Europeanized) rulers of the Muslim countries, including her own patron the king of Morocco (bootlicker of America and Israel). Instead she targets the best of men. She writes:
"Uthman ... was a member of the small group of privileged persons from which were recruited the first caliphs." (p.40)
Thus 'Usman, r.a., and others who gave up all they had and followed a lifestyle which was so simple that no ruler in any country throughout history can be compared to them, are claimed by Mernissi as "privileged persons." It would be difficult to mention EVEN ONE privilege which they had. Equality is essential to authentic Islam and no one did more for equality than Abu Bakr, 'Ayesha, 'Umar, 'Usman, Bilal and many others with them. To confuse them with the Ummayad and Abbasid kings is a fatal mistake for a scholar.
An entire book could easily be written to refute Mernissi, but I want to go back to the "enslavement" of women owing to 'Umar, r.a., and the veil which she claims.
Mernissi does not seem to know that the curtain (hijab) is not the same as the modest dress prescribed in 33:59. Also she ignores the fact that the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) were distinguished from other Muslim women because they were to be the teachers of the community:
"O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women." [The Qur'an 33:32]
Thus the hijab (curtain) which was ordained to protect the Prophet's privacy and to stop intrusions into his small poor man's home (may Allah help us to follow his Sunnah and live modestly), was not applicable to all Muslim women. The curtains which have been imposed in mosques and harem-style Muslim homes (palaces) are not from the time of original Islam.
Merinissi's FATAL ATTRACTION for the colonizing power of the West comes out in her own words as she attacks 'Umar (who has no equal in his justice, vision, frugality, lack of love of power, desire for equality, and as a LIBERATOR OF WOMEN other than the Prophet, pbuh, himself). Here is Mernissi's claim:
" 'Umar's solution, imposing the hijab/curtain that hides women instead of changing attitudes and forcing 'those in whose heart is a disease' to act differently, was going to overshadow Islam's dimension as a civilization, as a body of thought on the individual and his/her role in society. This body of thought made dar al-Islam (the land of Islam) at the outset a pioneering experiment in terms of individual freedom and democracy. But the hijab fell over Medina and cut short the brief burst of freedom. Paradoxically, 13 centuries later it was colonial power that would force the Muslim states to reopen the question of the right of the individual and of women. All debates on democracy get tied up in the woman question and that piece of cloth that opponents of human rights today claim to be the very essence of Muslim identity." [page 188]
Thus for Mernissi, dictator Mubarak of Egypt who wants to remove that "piece of cloth" and turn all Egyptian women into copies of Jihan Sadat, is fighting for "human rights," while Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman, who defies U.S. imperialism, Israel and Mubarak, and wants women to wear that 'piece of cloth' is an opponent of "human rights!" Also, the former Shah of Iran, with his Pahlavi dolls in Parisian style, was for those rights, while Imam Khomeini, who restored Iran to a dignified independence, was "against" those rights because Iranian women wear chadors!
War News [We report the war news without taking sides.]
Syria
Horrendous toll after 12 Years of War.
Slaughter of Civilians by the Assad Regime [With help from Iran and Russia]
(From SOHR)
Rallies against Assad regime across northern [Free] Syria.
March 19 : Floods have submerged a large area in a;-Raqqa countryside.
Refugee camps in Idlib are flooded,
March 18. Protests against Turkey in Manbig city. Hundreds rallied.
Attempt to free ISIS prisoners in al-Raqqa . No details.
30 Truckloads of military supplies in Hasakeh from America for SDF,
Anti-Assad regime rallies in three areas of Deraa province
March 17
Five assad troops killed and 6 injured in southern Idlib in clash with Islamic group Liwa Abu Bakr Siddiq.Another 2 Assad troops killed in Lattakia province clashing with Liwa Usman ibn Affan. [Both groups named after sahaba, r.a]
An officer of the Assad army was killed in a clash in Aleppo province with Syrians supporting Turkey.
Three Shia militia from Afghanistan died in bad weather in Mayadeen [ez Zor]
12 years after the uprising against Assad regime, SOHR has listed 613,407 civilians killed by the regime. These include 25,546 children and 15,437 women, which have been documented by name.
On the battlefields 80,221 Islamic fighters and opponents of the regime have been killed as well as 41266 of ISIS and 28110 of Jihad fighters from outside,
On the other side 91,929 troops of the Assad regime, 67,349 of Iranian and Iran backed militias, 1736 of Lebanese Hizb, 11,095 SDF [US backed] have been killed.
Guidance from Sis. Yasmin
'Assalam Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh'
Narrated Abu Dhar [Allah be pleased with him] PROPHET ﷺ asked me at Sunset 'Do you know where the Sun goes at the time of Sunset...?' I replied, 'Allah and His Apostle know better.'
PROPHET ﷺ said... 'It goes (i.e. travels) till it Prostrates itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted. Then a time will come when it will be about to Prostrate itself, but its Prostration will NOT BE ACCEPTED {!} and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted...! then it will be ordered to return whence it had come and --- ? then it will rise in the West...! and that is the interpretation of the statement of ALLAH... 'And the Sun runs its fixed course for a term decreed, that is The Decree of ALLAH The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing'. وَالشَّم¨سُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَ¢َرٍّ لَهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِير¥ الْعَزِيœِ الْعَلِي¥
~My 'Salaams' to all ~Y a s m i n ~***********************************************
'All that is on earth will Perish. But will abide {Forever}the Face of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty and Honor'{'Quran'- Surah Al-Rahman-55.26-27 }******************************************** 'Wasting time is Worse than Death!Because Death Separates you from this World Whereas wasting Time Separates you from Allah'.
Ibn Qayimm Al-Jawziyyah
I Want to Die With my Forehead on the Ground The Sunnah in my Heart, Allah on my Mind,
Qur'an on my Tongue, and Tears in my Eyes!'In Shaa Allah'~'Aameen'
Sight the New Moon for Ramadan and Shawwal
by. C. Islaah Abd'al-Rahim
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that Allah's Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"Whenever you sight the new moon (of the month of Ramadan) observe fast, and when you sight it (the new moon of Shawwal) break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then observe the fast for thirty days."
(Sahih Muslim #2378)
This hadith describes an important Islamic tradition. Historically, Muslims have been a people who observed the moon's movements to calculate time and to identify the start and end of each lunar month. The commencement of the month of Ramadan and our two Eid holidays are marked by the sighting of the hilaal (crescent moon). In more recent times, however, many Muslims have opted to measure time using mathematical and scientific calculations.
Each year, some Muslims who live in countries without a Muslim government (or a widely-accepted, Muslim authoritative body) deliberate over the start of Ramadan. For Muslims in the West, determining the start and stop of the Islamic months is not straightforward. We may, unfortunately, engage in what has colloquially become known among some Muslims as the "moon-sighting wars." Basically, groups of Muslims debate about the start and end dates of Ramadan, with each group basing their position on their scholars' interpretations of the evidence. As a result, some of us will start our fasts whenever we hear that a righteous Muslim anywhere in the world has sighted the new moon. Some of us will only begin fasting if the moon has been sighted in our particular locale. Still, others will use calculations to forecast the appearance of the new moon, perhaps referring to the verse in Surah Ar-Rahman that says:
"The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed."
(Surah Ar-Rahman, 55:5)
Regardless of which method we choose to follow, it is important that we teach our families these Islamic traditions and make their observance family or community endeavors. It is equally important that we do not become distracted away from the objective of these traditions, which is to increase our righteousness.
Get Everyone Involved
One way we can involve the entire family in sighting the moon is to regularly watch the sky together. Too often, we get so caught up in the momentum of our daily lives that we fail to take time to observe nature and reflect. In the Quran, Allah encourages mankind to observe and reflect on nature, reminding us with His statement:
"And He has made subservient for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon, and the stars are made subservient by His commandment; most surely there are signs in this for a people who ponder."
(Surah An-Nahl, 16:12)
These truths are echoed in Surah Luqman when Allah asks:
"Do you not see that Allah has made what is in the heaven and Earth subservient to you and made complete to you His favors outwardly and inwardly?"
(Surah Luqman, 31:20)
We have to instill in our loved ones the idea that we cannot ponder or reflect on that which we never take the time to see.
Try to revive within your family and community the Sunnah of gazing at the sky. Here are some detailed suggestions:
- Pick a date. Go outside. Find a nice clearing or hill and
skywatch. Bring snacks or a picnic basket.
- Cultivate an awareness of astronomy. Find and display maps
of the sky and posters of the moon's phases.
- Learn and use the correct terminology to describe the
planets, the stars, the shape and movement of the moon, and
other celestial phenomena.
- Keep a record by sketching the night sky. Be sure to include
the date, time, and approximate direction you are each
facing.
- Compare what you each observe and what you observe over time. Have family and friends talk about what they observe and then
After a while, you may find that even the youngest members of your group are noticing things that the adults may miss.
Search for the New Moon
Once we have piqued everyone's interest in sky-watching, we can then go on to look for the new moon of Ramadan, inshaAllah, God willing. Here are some basic steps to help:
-
A few weeks before the anticipated beginning of Ramadan,
observe the sky toward the end of the 'Asr prayer time to
see where the sun sets.
-
Wait about fifteen minutes, and then look in that same part
of the sky to see if you can spot the hilaal or crescent
moon.
-
Remember that the actual new moon cannot be seen. It is
totally black. What you are looking for is the little sliver
of the crescent.
-
If the crescent can be seen that night, it will probably
only be visible for about 30 minutes.
-
If the moon is sighted, say a prayer. Talhah ibn Ubaydullah,
may Allah be pleased with him, said that when the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him, would pray:
"O, Allah, do cause the appearance of this moon to be a harbinger of peace, faith, security, and Islam for us. Your Lord, O moon, and mine, is Allah. May this be a moon that presages guidance and good."
(Mishkat al Masabih, Hadith #1233)
- Do the same thing at the end of Ramadhaan.
Why Bother? There's an App for That!
Given that there are more expedient ways to track the appearance of the new moon, why should we take time from our busy schedules to look for it?
The most obvious answer is that by doing so, we would be reviving a Sunnah. Our Prophet advised us to do so when he said:
"Know that whoever revives a tradition from my Sunnah, if it has died out after me, he will have a reward like those who act upon it without diminishing any of their rewards."
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi #2677)
Also, if we are trying to sight the moon with the specific intention of reviving a Sunnah, it could be our path to Jannah. Anas bin Malik said:
"The Messenger of Allah said to me, 'Whoever revives my Sunnah, then he has loved me. And whoever loved me, he shall be with me in Paradise.'"
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi #2678)
Beyond that, when we observe the traditions of the Sunnah together with our families and friends, it brings us closer together.
Many years ago, I taught a story to my fifth graders about a grandmother and grandson, and her insistence one night that they observe the Leonids meteor shower together. The Leonids occur when the Earth passes through the debris left behind by a comet named Tempel-Tuttle. The boy did not see the value in spending a damp, chilly evening gazing at the night sky. Still, the grandmother made him stick it out. She knew what he didn't know then - the Leonids only appear every 33 years because it takes that long to complete their orbit around the sun. The elderly woman knew she probably would not be around to see it appear again. Later in the story, when his grandmother had passed away, the boy, who was now a man, looked at the night sky in search of the Leonids. He understood that his grandmother was really teaching him, like Allah teaches us in Surah 'Asr, about:
"... the passage of time through the ages..."
(Surah Al-Asr, 103:1)
Such a lesson is invaluable.
This year, and moving forward, inshaAllah, let's spend less time debating about the intricacies of determining the beginning and end of our sacred month and focus more time on the lessons we can learn from it.
Candice "Sister Islaah" Abd'al-Rahim reverted to Islam in 1976, and considers herself a student of knowledge. She has deep education credentials which include an M.A. in Teaching, a Certificate of Advanced Studies (Post-Masters) in Administration and Supervision, a B.S. in English, and experiences as a principal (in fact the first hijab public school principal in Maryland!), curriculum and staff developer, mentor, and classroom teacher of grades pre-K through 12. She is a former adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's Graduate School of Education and is a doctoral candidate in Islamic Sciences at the International Online University. Islaah's contributions to the field have earned her honors in the Who's Who of Distinguished JHU Alumni. She is a wife, daughter, mother, and grandmother and is an active member of several Muslim communities in the Baltimore area
[Courtesy Sound Vision Canada]
Personal View
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
Miracle of Islam in the "Backwoods" of Pennsylvania
On March 17, i drove to a masjid in Coatesville, in the interior of Pennsylvania. The driving was stressful because it's narrow two way for almost an hour with trucks and six wheelers coming down the road.
Coatesville is a city of churches, one in each block, sometimes two. Way back in history, the area belonged to Native Americans, six tribes.
White folks bought some of the land.
Parts of the population is Black Caribbean.
Way back in the poorer section of town is a quaint mosque!
Very clean, very Islamic, with new prayer rugs. The pulpit is big and impressive. Verses of the Qur'an decorate parts of the ceiling.
The biggest surprise is that the imam is from India, very much dressed like an imam should be in flowing robes. His generosity and compassion have won him a firm place in this strongly Christian city.
Of course he speaks both English and Urdu! He was worried that i made the journey without gps. Coatesville is not mentioned anywhere on the narrow "highway" till you reach Coatesville.
Preparations are underway here for Ramadan and the imam emphasized that iftar and the attendance will be good.
Mahboob Khawaja, PhD
They want to Arrest Imran Khan and Destabilize the Country
Is Pakistani politics a game of deception, betrayal, and dishonesty to the national interest? Pakistan's trajectory of current affairs unfolds a self-destructive political endemic and cynicism to grab power by any means - fair or foul - the current political governance of 10 parties has no legitimacy whatsoever to run the country. Its formation resulted from the military-assisted coup to oust Imran Khan, who had been popularly elected by the masses. Now Khan is the object of a neo-colonial scheme of evil mongering to arrest him under false pretexts and to block him by any means of coming back to political power. The scenes of police firing on the protesters are drawing headlines on global news screens. The ruling elite wants to utilize disruption and distraction to mask the real socio-economic and political problems. They are masters of deception, instigating violence and calamity in the nation. They have no sense of time and history and how the current chaotic and subversive action could take the country to the unknown horizon.
Military-run Pakistan was always a source of internal conspiracies, coups, and socio-economic-political mismanagement. The Generals who planned and assisted Sharif-Bhutto's alliance in March 2022 to oust Imran Khan via a bogus Assembly vote, knew well of the coming time of great upheaval and political disruption across the country enabling them to plan another military coup. The known thugs and indicted criminals wanted to arrest Khan or kill him, clearing the way to maintain their illegal powerhouse. Few Western powers have a vested interest to destabilize nuclear Pakistan and to move in to take over the controls of its nuclear arsenals via shadowy political manoeuvres. The same plan failed to materialize during the Afghan war. Despite the planned political subversion and violation of people's right to hold peaceful gatherings and the threat of arrest, the high court has granted bail to Khan until Thursday to appear in court. The ruling elite views the power as transitory and tries to dislodge Khan and his Teherk-e-Insaf party as an emerging force of public consensus. It is a turbulent time for Pakistan to have false charges against a popular political leader. Is Pakistan fast becoming a Pandora's box of political endemic of the few?
Pakistani masses need safety and protection against great evils. Wherever the military comes into power, it destroys the culture of positive thinking, morals, and hopes for change. A few months earlier, Imran Khan alleged an assassination attempt by the current "imported regime of the few" on his life while leading a Freedom March to Islamabad. Pakistani Masses continued to react against this evil act of subversion of people's right to decide their own future in a democratic system. The Generals and their accomplices, Sharifs and Bhuttos, lack the legitimacy to govern the country. They are part of the problems, not solutions. Most have criminal records, no political integrity or honesty, and perhaps no other nation will embrace them as political figures. The planned political chaos is intended to drive the nation towards further catastrophic ends and imposition of martial law and the coming of an age of great uncertainty and beyond predicting no return to democracy.
The Ruling Elite makes Pakistan a Neo-Colonial Satellite
Most dreadful tragedies have infallibly resulted in victimizing the masses. Today, the nation is crippled with catastrophic events of political mismanagement, systematic corruption, insecurity, and socio-economic exploitation. They have incapacitated the country encouraging external enemies to walk in without any challenge. Pakistani ruling elite and the Generals are not open to reason and accountability. They cannot realize the imperatives of hopes and expectations of the new generation of educated and morally and intellectually competent people. The future belongs to the new generation of educated people, not to the naive and obsolete Generals. They view "power" and "Pakistan" as their own property. The authoritarian leaders played with their destiny and future without being questioned. They are the wrong people, with wrong thinking and doing the wrong things. If there was any fair system of accountability, some of the Generals and accomplice politicians could well have faced firing squads for their crimes against the nation. Pakistan has a history of five major military-led coups which ended up in the defeat and loss of East Pakistan. Are the Generals waiting for another mishap of formative history? Please see "British Colonialism and How India and Pakistan Lost Freedom." Global Research and Uncommon Thought Journal: 1/01/22.
American foreign policymakers view the Pakistani politicians-Generals as beggars, bootlickers who will perform all kinds of superficial acts to please the Master - the one who calls them an ally when needed but will stab Pakistanis when they become a liability. Disillusioned and disconnected from its roots, Pakistan continues to move forward - not towards planned political change, normalcy, and progress - but towards tragic events fomenting planned deaths of the citizenry, destruction of the social, economic, and political infrastructures, incapacitated and broken lifelines and ultimately to become a battleground for mindless ethnic and regional divides and national collapse. Andrew Gavin Marshall Imperial Eye on Pakistan - Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 (Global Research: 5/28/2011) states that "in December of 2000, the CIA released a report of global trends to the year 2015, which stated that by 2015:
Imran Khan Is Seen as a Person of Purpose and National Unity
Imran Khan was an elected leader and he remained in power for about four years. He did not kill anybody nor robbed any banks and was keen to have legal accountability for the stolen wealth and killings by the Sharif brothers, Bhuttos, Zardari, and others. But political governance was infested with corrupt figures of the past. He should have organized an independent tribunal to hold the monsters accountable but he flunked in this effort. Khan was unable to devise an Action Plan to reform a highly systematic culture of corruption. He needed people of new age education, intelligence and creative plans to work out innovative strategies for political change and reformation. That simply did not happen and he was hurriedly ousted by a political-military conspiracy. Imran Khan has the perception and vision for a new Pakistan but he would need people of the new and educated generation to plan for a new beginning. Imran Khan and his PTI supporters allege that a few Generals and Shahbaz Sharif were involved in his assassination plan.
At the edge of reason, Imran Khan should have recruited people of the new generation to foster change in the country.
In 2019, this author offered Khan a logical plan for sustainable change ("Pakistan: How to change political culture of corruption and rebuild the future." Media Monitors Network, USA, 2019). Most of his associates were feudal lords, uneducated and former loyalists of the current political opposition parties. None of them had any knowledge or experience in critical thinking, strategic planning, and change or future-making profile. Why did Khan waste almost four years in the fantasy of New Pakistan and fail to live up to his imagination? He was supposed to have a Plan for Change. Pakistani political culture has its psychology of self-interest and trading in their individualistic interest in exchange for the national interest. Pakistan's system of law and justice is futile and questionable as most verdicts are influenced by political motivation. If the Constitution was a reference point, the Supreme Court, according to clause 6, should have stayed out of this political chaos and not interfered and ask the politicians to work out political remedies within the National Assembly. Not, so, perhaps dictates came from above and many powerful establishments to oust Imran Khan. He should have stopped the blame game and faced the 'no confidence vote' with leadership courage. Will Khan learn from the failure of his mission, ideals, and expectations and lead a movement for rational and sustainable political change in Pakistan? Will he make a navigational change to ensure a true system of law and justice in the country? Will he evolve a fair and honest Assembly of people representing the nation?
Pakistan needs a New Constitution, New public institutions of integrity, a New System of Political Governance and educated and honest leaders who could lead the country out of its current mismanagement and corrupted system of governance. The Need is urgent for the Pakistani nation to think critically and see the Mirror and stand firm in raising voices of reason for accountability, justice, and political change. The people must ponder past misconceptions and errors of judgment to bring 21st-century's educated, proactive, and intelligent young people into political leadership roles and to safeguard the national interest, freedom of the nation, and its future.
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and is the author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Germany, 12/2019.
ca.LinkedIn.com/in/mahboob-a-khawaja-99911a98
2023-03-20 Mon 10:33:38 GMT/UTC/Zulu