For those who ask

I begin with the blessed name of the Most Gracious, the calling upon who results in mercy unbounded. I begin with the exalted name of the Majestic with whose power none may dare compete. All Knower of the unseen and seen, He is the Great, the Most High.

He alone created the ant and He alone created the cosmos. Feel His magnanimity for He did create you from fluid emitted. He alone sustains the balance of the heavens and the earth so that night follows day and day follows night. He alone causes the wind to blow driving clouds to you allowing the rain to fall as a mercy from Him. Then grows the herbage which you and your cattle consume; and from your cattle you drink a pure drink, eat a nutritious food, and clothe yourselves therewith.

He was there before time and would remain after it. He was there when there was no place, and He created place so that you may live for a term appointed, your provision and luxuries provided, and then return to Him, Glorified be He Lord of the Supreme Throne. Everything shall perish save His Face.

You are bound by time and space. You are limited by your senses, your need for health, sleep, food, water and relationships. You read books for knowledge and you recount your experiences for the same. Do you not realize that there are those who have experienced more than you, and those who wrote what you read, and that above every knowledgeable there is someone more knowledgeable, and above all those knowledgeable is the All-Knowing, the Irresistible? Glory be to Him who taught man how to write and taught him good speech. Glory be to Him whose knowledge is not decreased by you taking from it. Were all the trees pens and the oceans ink to write down His knowledge, they would be exhausted before His knowledge ever is, even if you doubled what is already here.

He created seven heavens one above another, Glorified be He, the Most Loving! We know that the first heaven compared to the second is as if a ring in the desert, and that the second compared to the third is as if a ring in the desert, and the third compared to the fourth is as if a ring in the desert, and the fourth compared to the fifth is as if a ring in the desert, and the fifth compared to the sixth is as if a ring in the desert and the sixth compared to the seventh is like a ring in the desert, and the seventh compared to his footstool is like a ring in the desert, and His footstool compared to His throne is like a ring in the desert. We have no knowledge of His appearance, and neither should we attempt to create a mental image, for our minds percieve only on the basis of vision, sight, smell, sound and touch. We know, as Muslims, that our eyes in this world would be unable to bear sight of the Most Gracious, though in the hereafter He would allow those nearest to Him to see Him, the Most Clement.

In need of change, in need of happiness and excitement, we pursue different things, we play, we procreate, we take a trip… Know that the creator of change is in no need thereof, that He is One, the Absolute, the Eternal, He begets not nor is he begotten, were he to take a son or daughter, were He in the need of a pastime, He could have chosen out of his creation, emphasis: out of HIS creation, whomsoever He willed. Glorified is He above all that they associate with Him, He is the one free from defects, free of all needs.

What rights have we to arrogance and self-contentment when He created us after we had been nothing? What right do we have to do injustice when we are to return to Him? The state of the Muslim individual, the Muslim family, the Muslim community and the Muslim Ummah is as if in the depths of darkness. Stand up and rise brothers and sisters, as would have done our beloved, Muhammad salleAllahu ‘alaiyhe wassalam. To those who have not yet accepted Islam, I invite you dear friend to bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and thereafter pray, educate, alleviate and heal. May Allah’s peace and joy forever more be yours. Pray for me as I pray for you and our hope is in meeting Allah, pleasing and well-pleased, drink from the hands of rasulAllah at the Kauthar, enter Jannah and ascend by the strength of our relationship with the Qur’an, and by the permission of the Most Gracious reach Al-Firdous, the highest.

"But teach (thy Message) for teaching benefits the Believers. I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. No Sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed Me. For Allah is He Who gives (all) Sustenance,- Lord of Power,- Steadfast (for ever). For the Wrong-doers, their portion is like unto the portion of their fellows (of earlier generations): then let them not ask Me to hasten (that portion)! Woe, then, to the Unbelievers, on account of that Day of theirs which they have been promised!" Al-Qur'an, 51:55-60 (Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds])

Glossary of Terms:

Allah: usually translated as God even though the word God in the English language does not encompass the complete meaning of the name Allah as is meant in the Arabic language.

Al-Firdous: the highest level of paradise.

Jannah: Paradise Qur’an: the final revelation and testament from Allah the Almighty

Jinns: A creation of Allah, other than humans. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve deep in to the subject, and it is Allah Alone whose help is sought.

Kauthar: Name of a river in Paradise

Muhammad: Final prophet and messenger of Allah to humankind.

Muslim: One who follows the way of life called Islam, in other words, one who submits his will to Allah.

rasulAllah: messenger of Allah, referring to Muhammad (p.b.u.h)

salleAllahu ‘alaiyhe wassalam: Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him; also abbreviated as (p.b.u.h)

Ummah: Nation

To those who call to Allah

How many a religious efforts go in vain when their proponents lose sight of their final Goal. When they attach themselves to the fleeting and wreck their lives by standing in prayer, yet not humbled; by sleeping much at night, and taxing their stomachs to capacity, enslaved by their desires, seeking in the land some kind of might, remembering Allah but a little, relying on their skills and efforts, and not on His guidance and authority, failing to reflect upon His greatness, His signs, His Book, not calling upon Him with the prayer of istikhara for every decision, not repenting often, not doing what they say, saying what they do not do, just on the go, victims of the cartwheel ,soon to face their fate…

O Allah we seek your refuge from the ugliness of insincerity, from disobedience, and from following other than the way of Your Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), from hearts that are not humbled upon receiving your Aayaat, from sins which pull us away from You, and from blinding extremes.

Essays

You may request a copy of these essays by sending an email to aymenahmed@gmail.com
I would send them to you by email, most likely within 24 hours inshaAllah. If you need any urgently for da’wa or research, you may contact me on my cell: +971507732013 (U.A.E) or +15199910321 (Windsor, Ontario)

All rights reserved. Material must not be used for monetary gain. May be freely reproduced and distributed for personal and da’wa purposes.


Title: The Way of Life called Islam

"… strange how the 'dormant seedlings of fear and dislike' sprout in the hearts of people when they meet someone belonging to the Islamic faith. Undoubtedly, these have been sown by the actions of some "Muslims" who do not follow the true fundamentals of Islam. Ironically, they are referred to as "fundamentalists" by the western media. The other culprit is, of course, the mass media itself. As if a scandal out of a tabloid magazine, excessive propaganda against a Faith even makes those who do not follow question the credibility of the media."

This essay also covers the five pillars, the core of the Islamic way of life.


Length: 1459 words, 4 pages (single-spaced)

Written: 22nd February 2005

Works Cited:
The Holy Qur’an

Title: Islam: On Common Terms with “The People of the Book”

The essay explores the Islamic faith with the objective of building lasting bonds,with the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), inviting them back to the Unity of Allah.
All three texts (the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Quran) have been cited and misconceptions cleared leaving little or no room for the message to be rejected due to personal biases.

Length: 2984 words, 10 pages (double-spaced)

Written: 14th April 2005

Works Cited:
Badawi, Jamal. “The Status of Woman in Islam." Al-lttihad Sep. 1971: 1
Deedat, Ahmed. The Choice - Islam and Christianity Vol 1. IPCI 1993.
Deif, Ahmed. Personal Interview. 22 February 2005
Hamid, Ayub A. Islam, Does it Make Sense? 1st ed. Waterloo: Niche Noor, 2003
Tayebi, AbdulKader. Personal Interview. 21 March 2005

Title: A Brief History of Women deprived of the Justice of Islam

"Now under this universal imperialist control .... she too has become one of the many sources of exploitation, of disempowerment and of paralysis, of stealing and hoarding from all ... she and the very essence of her life are sucked out.
How?
From her, now with the help of sociologists and psychologists, they have built a scented, arousing, undulating naked doll who wriggles through beauty and fashion journals to make herself ever prettier.
But why?
To better sell their useless surplus products...
.... The values and standards of dependence on imperialism and capitalism, make of women the object of lust, a most desirable object that must beautify and expose herself." (Rahnavard, nd, pp 11-12, 27)

"Many Muslim women the world over have, in the course of the second half of the twentieth century, chosen to abandon the West and its values for a stricter adherence to Islam: a return to the roots of the faith that has been dubbed 'fundamentalism' by the West and revivalism by the Muslims." (Afshar 1)

This essay covers the following subtopics: Women Today, Women in Pre-Islam Arabia, Women in Other Civilizations, and Women in Other Religions

Length: 2973 words, 7 pages (single-spaced)

Written: 22nd February 2005

Works Cited:
The Holy Qur’an
Afshar, Haleh "Why Fundamentalism? Iranian Women and their Support for Islam"
Skaine, Rosemarie: "The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban"
Al-Mubarakpuri, Saifur-Rahman: "The Sealed Nectar"
Badawi, Jamal "The Status of Women in Islam," originally published in the quarterly journal, Al-lttihad, Vol. 8, No. 2, September 1971.

Title: Women in Islam

After carrying out a detailed study of Islamic literature, current issues, and practical examples, I, like numerous others, have reached the following conclusion: Islam is a way of life that liberates the female soul from the bondage of current norms which cause her to live a cattle-like existence. These norms are very much indicative of male dominance. So, what status does Islam give to women, which they are deprived of when following other ways of life?

Length: 3931 words, 13 pages (double-spaced)

Written: 14th April 2005

Works Cited:
The Holy Qur’an
Al-Hashmi, Muhammad Ali. “The Ideal Muslimah.” 2nd ed. Riyadh: IIPH, 2003.
Badawi, Jamal. “The Status of Woman in Islam." Al-lttihad Sep. 1971: 1
Deedat, Ahmed. The Choice - Islam and Christianity Vol 1. IPCI 1993.
Hamid, Ayub A. Islam, Does it Make Sense? 1st ed. Waterloo: Niche Noor, 2003
Hasan, Shuaib. The Rights and Duties of Women in Islam. 1 Feb. 2005
www.sultan.org/books/womright.pdf

Naik, Zakir. Ten Most Common Misconceptions about Islam. 5 Sept. 2004.

www.irf.net/books

Skaine, Rosemarie. The Women of Afghanistan under the Taliban. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland, 2002.
Tayebi, AbdulKader. Personal Interview. 21 March 2005

Title: Zakah Vs. Taxes

The case of Muslims in countries where high taxation forces citizens to look for avenues to save more money. Are taxes other than Zakah permissible in Islam, even under a non-Islamic state? Do Muslims have to pay their Zakah on top of taxes, or can one be exempted from either one of them? What about an unjust tax policy?

A discourse which answers these questions in the light of the Qur’an, Islamic history, and a fatwa (religious edict) issued by Dr.Monzer Kahf, a well-known Islamic economist of our time.

Length: 1330 words, 3 pages (single-spaced)
Written: June 2006

Works Cited:
The Holy Qur’an
Azmi, Sabahuddin “Islamic Economics”
IslamOnline Fatwa Bank (http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546956)



Title: A Brief Historical Sketch of Islam in America

Length: 2131 words, 4 pages (Illustrated, single-spaced)

Composed for distribution during the Black History Month. The citations are many and therefore form an intensive yet coherent package of information.

Works Cited:
[1] Sulayman Nyang, Islam in the United States of America (Chicago: ABC International Group, Inc., 1999), pp. 12-13. Nyang is referring to Harvard University professor Leo Wiener_s Africa and the Discovery of the Americas (Philadelphia, 1922).
[2] Youssef Mroueh, Precolumbian Muslims in the Americas. This article is widely available on the internet, an example can be found at http://www.jannah.org/articles/precolumbus.html. To view an image of al-Idrisi_s map, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery.
[3] Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (London: Bantum Press, 2003). The author has a website as well, see http://www.1421.tv/index.asp.
[4] Michael Gomez, Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005), p. ix.
[5] Emma Powers, _Selim: a biographical sketch, in Colonial Williamsburg, see http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemeReligion/Selim.cfm.
[6] Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas (New York: New York UP, 1998), p. 48.
[7] The findings of Allan Austin, cited in ibid., p. 46.
[8] Aside from Diouf_s work, the ground-breaking work on this subject was done by Allan Austin, African Muslims in Antebellum America: a sourcebook (New York: Garland, 1984).
[9] Gomez, Black Crescent, pp. 198-199.
[10] Carson, Lapsansky-Werner, Nash, “African American Lives – Volume I” p. 94-95
[11] Carson, Lapsansky-Werner, Nash, “African American Lives – Volume I” p. 94-95
[12] First printed as Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon the High Priest of Boonda in Africa by Thomas Bluett; printed for Richard Ford, 1734.
[13] http://www.islam101.com/history/roBHistmnth.htm

Why are we here? - An Open Letter to Muslims in North America

In the Name of Allah Most Gracious Most Mericful

Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, blessed Mecca by the prayer of Ibrahim (a.s), when he said, "…My Lord, make this a City of Peace, and feed its people with fruits,-such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day..." (Qur'an 2:126), and He blessed Medina by the prayer of Muhammad (s.a.w). A prayer in Mecca is worth 100,000 times a prayer anywhere else, and a prayer in Medina is worth a 1000 times a prayer anywhere else – and there is more, much much more...
Inspite of all this, many of the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) lived and passed away in cities other than Mecca and Medina. Why?

Because they understood Islam in its true comprehensive form. Were it not for the early Muslims who left their homes to call people to Islam, people from the subcontinent might still be polytheists – i.e. no Muslims in India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka…Allah had chosen them to serve Islam in the subcontinent, and has it not occurred to you, that Allah brought us to North America for perhaps, the same purpose?

Yes, many of us did come to seek livelihood, (which is in no way against the spirit of Islam) but seeing evil and not forbidding it, and having the opportunity to encourage good and not doing it is against the spirit of Islam. The people of Canada deserve better lives. If Allah has blessed you with Islam, would you not like to share that blessing with your neighbour?

Just as Allah chose Salman Al Farisi (from Persia) to be involved in the spread of Islam with the Prophet (PBUH), just as Suhaib Ar Roomi (from Europe) was chosen to be a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and just as each and every companion and many muslim leaders were chosen for the benefit of Islam, so are we chosen to increase our own faith and also to convey the message of Islam.

Regardless of what brought us here, we can now have a renewed and better purposes, a strong will and sense of direction: to work for the pleasure of Allah, knowing that He does not need us but that we need His mercy. “O mankind! Ye are the poor in your relation to Allah. And Allah! He is the Absolute, the Owner of Praise.”(Qur’an 35:15) Indeed this will be added to our hasanaat (rewards) and be a witness in our favor on the Day of Judgment. I pray to Allah for the guidance of this nation, for the disappearance of heresy, innovation, and superficiality.

Your brothers in Islam,
Asif Manzoor & A.R