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How Does One Become a Muslim?
and
Abu Bakr Siddiq: First Caliph of Islam
by Dr Kaukab Siddique
Characters
by Saeed Malik
Mayor Mamdani Skips Columbus Day Parade
by Sr Aisha
BEWARE THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD IS A MOMENTARY DELIGHT
by Sr. Yasmin
How Does One Become a Muslim?
By Dr. Kaukab Siddique
You can become a Muslim if you believe:
There is only one God (Allah in Arabic), who is the Creator of the Universe.
All human beings and creatures are from Allah
After we die, we return to Allah
Allah sent messengers to all nations. These messengers taught the peoples of their respective nations about Allah.
Among these messengers were Moses, Abraham, and Jesus
The last of these messengers was Muhammad, who received the Book known as the Quran and who interpreted the Quran. The interpretation is called Hadith.
Muslims send blessing upon all the messengers.
Abu Bakr Siddiq: First Caliph of Islam
Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA), also known as Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafa, holds a central and highly revered place in Islamic history as the closest friend of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the first Caliph of Islam. Known for his unwavering faith, wisdom, humility, and strength, he was an early convert to Islam and played a crucial role in the establishment and consolidation of the Muslim community. His title, Siddiq, meaning "the truthful," signifies his steadfast loyalty and truthfulness, virtues that characterized his entire life.
[Translated from various Urdu texts by Dr. Kaukab Siddique]
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Speaks Out
Navi Pillay, a recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said Benjamin Netanyahu should be prosecuted for war crimes. Navi Pillay, a South African judge, said she was "confident" that the Israeli Prime Minister would one day be in the docket of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The 85-year-old last year found that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza while she headed the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
Imam Ali Siddiqui Officiates Shahadah Ceremony in Los Angeles
A Shahadah ceremony was held on September 21, 2026 with Imam Ali Siddiqui officiating. Sr. Akasha Chana Y. Orr, from Nigeria, accepted Islam. The ceremony was emotional as tears were falling on her cheeks. Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui and Dr. Adebisi Orija, the latter of Nigeria, were also present. Sr. Akasha mentioned that she had been studying Islam for the last year and a half.
World News
Pakistan
Five people were injured on October 13, 2026 when Pakistani police fired tear gas and live ammunition at demonstrators opposing Islamabad's suspension of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's elected government, the Times of India reported.
The intervention places Imran Khan's principal political stronghold under federal control as supporters demand the jailed former prime minister's release and medical treatment. The northwestern province, bordering Afghanistan, had been governed by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) since 2013.
Islamabad assumed control on October 11, removing the only provincial administration run by the party. Violence was most severe in Bara, about 15 kilometres from the provincial capital Peshawar, according to Reuters.
The following is part of a series about life in the Pakistan government and armed forces,
and is written by a Pakistani who spent considerable time in Pakistan.
Characters
By Saeed Malik
Life in the army, especially when all the many SOPs were followed as a matter of course, was hard. But early on, there was a breed of officers bent on making it no harder than they absolutely had to. This they did by not taking the army too seriously, and extracting from it all the fun that they could, thus softening the hard edges of life in the army. By doing so, they provided comic relief to such of the officers who considered themselves to be career officers--professionals.
This they did by operating precariously close to the bounds of rules and regulations, yet taking care not to infringe them. Functioning within this very narrow bandwidth was what drew attention to them. Such officers were referred to as "characters." The prince among these was Captain Ali Asghar Jilani of my unit-- 2/16 Punjab Regiment [later redesignated as 14 Punjab]. No general, except for the C-in-C, was better known in the army than him.
Jilani, known to most as Jil, was the son of an English mother, and Col Jilani of the army medical corps. The Colonel had the reputation of being half mad, though most considered him to be a trifle more. When World War 2 opened in our neck of the woods, the elder Jilani was the RMO [regimental medical officer] with 2/16 Punjab Regiment based in Singapore, while the younger Jilani, studying in the UK, had already been drafted into the British Army as a private.
When the Japanese swooped down on Singapore, their advance was so swift that before Gen Percival could gather his wits, they had already gathered up his command, killed many, and marched off the rest to various POW camps. This was where the elder Jilani spent the rest of the War.
The younger Jilani meanwhile, had landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-day, and soldiered on as ordered. Both father and son survived the War. The son had been selected to be commissioned as an officer in the British army, and sent to the Royal Sandhurst Academy to complete his training. The father, after he had been liberated and repatriated, began looking for his son whom he finally located at Sandhurst about the time that the sub-continent was partitioned. He immediately began raising hue and cry with the Commonwealth Office, and with our High Commission in London. In his view his son, being a Pakistani, ought to be withdrawn from Sandhurst and sent to the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) at Kukul to complete his training as an officer.
Col Jilani won this battle, and Ali Asghar Jilani was transferred from Sandhurst to PMA Kakul, where he joined the First PMA Long Course. At that time Lt Col Akhtar Hussain Malik was serving as the Battalion Commander in PMA. From there, Akhtar Malik was transferred to command 2/16 Punjab Regiment at Chaman. He could not be transferred to 7/16, the unit that he was commissioned in. That unit being a "war raising", was disbanded after the war, and all its surviving ranks and those of 2/16, were amalgamated into 2/16.
However that be, when Ali Asghar Jilani completed his course, he was commissioned in 2/16 on the basis of his family claim on the unit because his father had served in it during the War. And so it was that Lt Col Akhtar Malik and Lt Ali Asghar Jilani met up again in Chaman.
By the time I joined 2/16 in 1965, which had been redesignated as 14 Punjab by this time, Captain Jilani's many stories were a part of the unit's lore.
Below is my attempt to recall three such stories:
My father, the CO [Commanding Officer] was an avid bridge player, and there used to be bridge every evening in the Officers' Mess at Chaman. These sessions usually lasted till the wee hours of the morning. One day one of the officers went away on leave and the foursome had to be completed by inducting Jilani. After a few days, sheer lack sleep took hold of Jilani, and he wanted out. And so, after a hand was dealt, he addressed the CO and declared: "Sir, I can't go on and need to have a wash and refresh myself. But before I go to the bathroom, I want to show you a magic trick which I learnt in Bengal during my stint with the tea gardens there. I don't know if this will come out right or not, but if I have not forgotten the formulas, I could make something large disappear from among us."
So everyone sat back for Jilani to do his trick. He began muttering some mumbo-jumbo, and then, at the very top of his voice he counted "one, two, and three," and ran out of the mess. Not all the hollering of the CO could get him back. He was never to be seen there again until they had found a fourth for their bridge.
Since Jilani did not have much family in Pakistan, and since he knew very little Urdu, he was more or less treated special by my parents. One day he came to our house, very worried on account of the fact that EID was approaching and he would have to pray with the men, but he did not have a ghost of an idea how prayers went. My father told him not to worry because he would have him stand next to him right behind the Imam, and that thereafter all he would need to do was merely to copy the Imam. Jilani was much relieved.
When the great day came, he decked himself out in a sherwani, and reported to our house. From there he, my father, and us two brothers went off to say our EID prayers. As soon as the prayers ended and the Imam said: " As-salaam Alaikum Rehmatullah" ---Jilani immediately nudged CO and asked aloud--" sir, who's this Rehmatullah everyone is looking for??"
Every night in Chaman, a night patrol was sent out to patrol the Pak-Afghan border, and the officer leading the patrol was given the first two periods off. And that was about the time the CO used to have his breakfast before departing for his office.
Thus it came about one day that Jilani, having led a patrol the previous night, was in the mess, having breakfast. He was seated at one end of the long dining table, where he was joined, at the other end by the CO. It was known that the Commanding Officer was not given to much conversation at breakfast, being totally immersed in reading the paper.
Thus Jilani ate in complete silence, while the CO was reading and having his breakfast. It was usual for officers to be served two eggs at breakfast. When the CO saw one egg in his plate, and this for the umpteenth time, he asked "Bijli", the Mess Havildar, if there was shortage of eggs in the market. "No sir," replied the Mess Havildar. "This was as per the orders of the Food Member."
"And who is the food member?" asked the CO.
" I am sir," Jilani interjected meekly.
" Well, why the one egg, Jil? "
" Sir, two eggs was a British tradition, and well sir, I thought that since we were now an independent country, we needed to have our own traditions, and so I thought it best to reduce one egg---"
"Own traditions! My foot," roared the CO. "You are dismissed as Food Member! Bijli, go and bring me another egg!"
"But you cannot do that sir," countered Jilani. "I mean you cannot dismiss the Food Member."
" Why not? I am the CO, and it is my privilege."
"No sir, I was appointed through a Mess Committee Meeting, and only the Mess Committee has the powers to dismiss me."
"Well ok, ok, we'll convene a Mess Committee Meeting right now. Bijli, bring me the telephone!" And so, all officers on parade were called to the Mess for the meeting.
When all of them were seated, the CO stated, "Well gentlemen, I am not satisfied with the Food Member, and so he is dismissed, and you there," he said, pointing to another officer. "You are the new Food Member!"
"But sir, you can't do this!" It was Jilani once again "Someone has to propose the motion, which has then to be seconded."
"Alright, alright! You, Bashir [addressing the 2 1/C], you propose the motion, and one of you second it!"
But as soon as this was done, and a new Food Member was appointed, then Jilani objected once again. "But sir, first the accounts of the Mess have to be read out, approved, and closed, and only then the proceedings of this meeting can be considered to be in proper order."
"Well ok! Tell the 2IC clerk to bring the over the Mess accounts, and tell him to hurry!"
And just as the accounts were read out and all the formalities of the meeting were about to be concluded, Jilani raised his hand yet again: "I have to say something sir."
" What is it this time??" roared the CO.
"Sir," said Jilani, most gravely, " I resign."
To the readers, it must be obvious by now that Jil could not have lasted long in the army. A few years later, when the unit was in East Pakistan, his last chance for Officers' Standard Urdu was coming up. He knew he had no chance to get through, and so he decided to go out in his own inimitable style.
The exam used to begin with the oral interview. Jilani entered the office where this was being conducted, saluted smartly, and said: "Aye mumtahin e aala, aap ko subha ka salaam!" ["O Chief Examiner, good morning to you!"]
The officer so addressed was enraged: "Jilani, this is your last chance and you are still not being serious. Just get out of here!"
Jilani saluted once more and shouted: "Aye mumtahin e aala alwida!" ["O Chief Examiner, farewell!"]
With this Jilani marched out of the army and into life in the civvies. For well over two decades, no officer who had served just a few years, was better and more lovingly remembered.
Sis Aisha Assistant Editor
Mayor Mamdani Skips Columbus Day Parade
Tuesday, October 12th, was Columbus Day. It was also the 8th annual Indigenous Peoples' Day. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipped the Columbus Day Parade, which no New York City mayor has ever done. This will be the second parade he skipped in 2026. The first one was the Israeli Day Parade in May.
Of course, there were critics. It is an election year, and former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa and 2026 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman took swipes at the mayor's absence.
The Columbus Day Parade is viewed not just as a celebration of the Italian explorer and conqueror (or oppressor, depending on who you ask), Christopher Columbus; it is also a celebration of Italian culture. Although Mayor Mamdani did not participate in any Columbus celebrations, he did release a video message celebrating Italian Heritage Month by showcasing Italian and American Labor Party member Vito Marcantonio, a radical-thinking seven-term congressman representing East Harlem from 1935 to 1951.
There is the racist version of Columbus and the facts. The racist version wants us to believe that Columbus discovered America. The problem with this version is that there were already indigenous people here with a thriving culture. The racist version stresses the importance of European Christopher Columbus and reduces indigenous people to a nonhuman, insignificant status.
Racism is the root of white supremacy, and it is an emotion that overtakes all logic. Racists are unreasonable when confronted with moral issues.
A few years ago, someone climbed the Christopher Columbus statue in Manhattan's Columbus Circle and painted its hands red, suggesting Columbus' role and responsibilities for murders. In addition to proclaiming the world was round, Christopher Columbus enslaved, abused, assaulted, and murdered indigenous people while governor of Hispaniola, which is now split into the Dominican Republic and Haiti, politically.
Mayor Mamdani did not attend the Tri-State area Indigenous Peoples' Day festivities either. Still, he posted the following message acknowledging it on his X account: "Like so many New Yorkers, today I'm pausing to reflect on the injustices visited against the Indigenous people upon whose ancestral land we live.
Let us recommit to an honest teaching of history, to mending the pain of the past and to building an inclusive and just future."
Salaam,
Sis. 'Aisha Jamaat al-Muslimeen New York City
Guidance Wisdom from Sis Yasmin Hadith consultant
*BEWARE THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD IS A MOMENTARY DELIGHT*~*AN ILLUSION*~{'QUR`AN'}~{PONDER AWHILE}
'Beware, the life of this world is nothing
but a Pastime !
a momentary Delight.
It is but empty Bragging,
a pursuit of wealth and children.
It is like the vegetation that flourishes after rain
and is a source of delight to the farmer...
but soon it turns yellow and withers away...!
crumbling into worthless waste...!
But, in the life to come an eternal contentment
or, a grievous suffering awaits you.
The Life of this world is only an Illusion.
[Source~ 'Quran'-Surat Al-Hadid~ 57 Ayah # 20 ]
[ Surat Al -Qasas~28:A # 60]
~My 'Salaams' to all ~
Y a s m i n.
"Never Despair Of The Mercy Of Allah"
My success is only by Allah
Qur'an [11,88]
"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' }
' Son of Adam! You are nothing but a number of days, whenever
each day passes then part of you has Gone!
{Al-Hasan Al-Basri.}
