Source: www.defence.pk

And since he deems it un-Islamic to own a Facebook page, it’s therefore a sin:

“Basically, going to any website which propagates immoralities and could weaken the religious belief is un-Islamic and not allowed, and membership in it is therefore haram (a sin),” the ayatollah replied.

“Only the use of websites propagating religious criteria and not leading to any kind of ethical immoralities is of no problem,” he added.Iran has a population of 70 million, of which than 60 per cent is under the age of 30.

Over 5 million websites are reportedly blocked in Iran, but Iranians use proxy software and virtual private networks (VPN) to access them.

Iranian officials have, for over three decades, been waging what they call a “battle against the invasion of Western culture.”

This has led to blockades of “immoral” internet sites and banned Western music and movies. However, pirated versions of those are easily available on the black market.

Iran at this moment have actually banned facebook from the country however as mention above, the youths do have ways to sneak through it.

So what do you think? Do you agree with the statement? 

In our point of view, Facebook as a social networking element is not all bad. Infact, it’s a double edge sword: meaning it can be for bad purposes and at the same time spread good work.

In the past it was impossible to connect old lost friends, today through Facebook it has been made easy. Today its easier to announce something, compare to in the past where you have to pay hundreds of dollars just to publicise your messages. And there are many more to lists down.

Facebook does has its benefits however note that people can also use it for the bad things. I wouldn’t want to mention all the issues that has arrised cos as you know negative information will tend to overwhelm the postive.

At the end of the day, it boils down to one’s intentions of how they are using it. Let’s do good, share great things about Allah swt and his messenger, Muhammad SAW. Insyallah you will also gain great rewards.

Do share your point of views.

“No! Why would I want to watch that?”, I replied but dragged my feet out of the room anyway to accompany my mum. I allowed my eyes to glance at the television for only 3 seconds before they started to water.

Yes, I am miles away from Japan. Yes, its true that I do not have any friends or family members in Japan. But the very fact that pictures & videos have been so easily accessible is because of this: Allah wants me to take a lesson from it, no matter where I am. The news, pictures and videos have reached me to wake me up from my slumber.

When I was younger and sat in class listening to the Ustazah speak about events of the Last Day, my puerile mind wondered how the mountains could burst & scatter like dust and how water could reach the heights of buildings. Some part of me actually wanted to see it. As I grew older, I realized that if you were still alive when it happened, you were pretty much doomed.

I’m not going to lie. When I watched “2012″, I must have been the only person sobbing as if I was watching a documentary instead. I came out of the theater with my eyes & nose red from crying. The sheer terror of the people, the thin line between survival & death, the images of buildings toppling as if they were Lego toys – all these made my heart tremble and remind me over and over again that this world does not belong to us. Although we have inhabited it for countless of years, no matter how many preparations we make to deal with a disaster, we are always taken aback by the magnitude and force of it.

In Surah al-A’raf,

97. Did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our Punishment by night while they are asleep?
98. Or, did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our Punishment in the forenoon while they play?
99. Did they then feel secure against the Plan of Allah? None feels secure from the Plan of Allah except the people who are the losers.

Ya Allah! How misguided I have been! How snug & ungrateful I am for my comfortable & secure life! Why did I complain that my pillow was too hard or too soft, when thousands in Japan and across the globe do not even have a home to return to? How indulgent was I to forgo charity only to save for the next gadget when thousands won’t ever find their favourite mug or framed photograph of their parents in the debris? Why did I cling so tightly to my material possessions and take my family for granted when thousands don’t even know whether their father or brother or niece is still alive?

Despite seeing clear signs such as these, why then am I negligent in my remembrance of Allah and in my salawaat upon the Prophet SAW? Verily, the biggest losers are not those who have lost homes or family members. The losers are people like me who continue with life as if disaster will never strike me, as if Judgment Day is not approaching, as if my sins and deeds and words and thoughts will not be accounted for. Astaghfirullah!

Surah Yunus:

6: Verily, in the alternation of the Night and the Day, and in all that Allah has created, in the heavens and the earth, are Signs for those who fear Him.

7: Those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us, but are pleased and satisfied with the life of the present, and those who heed not Our Signs -

8: Their abode is the Fire, because of the (evil) they earned.

How many more disasters will it take, of what magnitude, before I truly repent? How long will this feeling last – a week? 3 days? 10 more minutes? Before I start planning for a holiday next year, or saving for the new iPad2, or engaging in the futile Harry Potter vs Twilight debate?

May Allah help us all to learn a lesson or two from the events that have happened, and even in the seemingly ‘little’ events of everyday. May He help the Japanese and all who are affected by this catastrophe pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.

If you wish to donate and help, please click here for the available links you can go to.

The horrifying video above, showing Muslims arriving at a community charity event in Orange County, U.S.A., being mercilessly heckled and harassed by protesters, has been making its rounds on the Internet.

Many people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, have reacted to this video emotionally. Many of the comments I’ve read have been in the vein of losing faith in humanity. Others have denounced the blatant hatred and ignorance displayed by the protesters. Some have even shed tears over the jarring contrast between the fortitude of the Muslims in the eye of the storm and the uncouth hecklers.

The defence that surfaces when such inflammatory material arise—not all Muslims are the same, a billion Muslims should not be tarred by the same brush, terrorists come in all shapes and sizes—is often true, but trite.

Last week, while watching a program on CNN, I saw on the “Breaking News” crawler that two U.S. soldiers had been shot and killed in Germany. I felt my throat tighten and prayed that the killer was a random madman and not another Muslim with misguided ideas and beliefs.

I was dismayed to find out later that the killer was indeed a Muslim.

In the wake of the killings, the German Interior Minister has declared that Islam does not belong in his country, a sentiment that has been described as a “slap in the face” for the 4 million Muslims who call Germany home.

This, unfortunately, is the problem. For as long as some Muslims continue to carry out heinous acts targeting innocent people in the name of Islam, we will all be tarred by the same brush and bear the consequences of their actions. This isn’t fair, to be sure, but it’s happening anyway.

Mitigating ignorance simply is not enough. Fighting fire with fire will only add to our woes (an article I read in the aftermath of the shooting in Germany declaimed that the killing of two U.S. solders by a Muslim was justified by NATO soldiers mistakenly killing nine boys in Afghanistan. What needs to be addressed here is fear, and fear will persist as long as terrorists, politicians and the media allow it to.

It seems more than a little disheartening and demoralising to conclude that the majority of us who aren’t actively contributing to this negative image of Muslims can do little to alleviate it. Our good deeds and the Quran-sanctioned values of compassion, kindness and peacefulness we practice daily will always be overshadowed by the newsworthy actions of the misguided minority.

So what can we do?

Articles critical of Muslims often bleat about insufficient denunciation from the Muslim community when terrorist acts occur. I believe many Muslim communities already do release statements renouncing such acts when the need arises, but perhaps more forceful words and wider coverage in the media would help (media coverage can often be attained through good relationships with important journalists, a strategy successfully employed by the pro-Israel lobby).

We can also exercise patience and forgiveness. My father often tells my siblings and I this story about our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., in which a woman used to throw pebbles at him as he walked past her house every day, but he would continue to walk by, head bowed. One day, as he walked past the woman’s house, she was not outside, ready to lob pebbles at him, so he knocked on her door to enquire after her. The woman was so humbled by the Prophet’s concern and ashamed of her previous behaviour that she embraced Islam.

The Muslims in the video displayed the same fortitude and patience as the Prophet p.b.u.h., holding their heads high and remaining peaceful and unruffled despite the verbal abuse being hurled at them. This is how we should behave in these difficult times. Rather than allowing ourselves to be consumed with rage and vengeance, we should be resilient, strive to stay on the path of righteousness, and strengthen our knowledge and imaan so we can deal with such obstacles.

Shahirah is an aspiring journalist who is interested in social issues, women’s rights, the Middle East conflict, and Islam in the Western world. She is also interested in languages and would like to take up Arabic soon.

Website: http://shahirahmdansari.com

I was torn as to whether to support these freedom fighters or not. On the one hand, I feel sympathetic towards their cause, which seeks to end the repressive regimes that have ruled them most unIslamically for decades. These governments have allowed poverty to exist while the ruling class hoards wealth, allowed low literacy and levels of education to persist, and have put the needs of the ruling class before that of their citizens.

On the other hand, as Muslims, we are enjoined to obey our rulers, as long as they allow us to practice Islam.

Narrated Ibn ‘Umar: The Prophet said, “A Muslim has to listen to and obey (the order of his ruler) whether he likes it or not, as long as his orders involve not one in disobedience (to Allah), but if an act of disobedience (to Allah) is imposed one should not listen to it or obey it.” (Saheeh Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 52, Hadith 203)

Some might interpret this as encouraging fatalism and defeatism, two attitudes frequently cited as hampering progress in the Muslim world. Others may argue that the freedoms and comforts of this world are not what we should seek; instead, bearing hardship with patience and fortitude, all the while striving to be as good a Muslim as one can be, should be the aim.

As faraway observers, it is easy to ponder and judge from the safe cocoon of Singapore, where we have significant freedoms and liberties, and lead relatively prosperous lives. Unless we have truly experienced what our brothers and sisters in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the like go through on a daily basis, it is impossible to genuinely understand and appreciate their sentiments and motivations.

As the news on Libya gets increasingly dire, and as the revolution spreads across the Arab world, I came to the conclusion that in lieu of supporting or opposing the unfolding events, we can best contribute by making do’a for the best outcome for those affected, and for the violence to end quickly.

Shahirah is an aspiring journalist who is interested in social issues, women’s rights, the Middle East conflict, and Islam in the Western world. She is also interested in languages and would like to take up Arabic soon.

Website: http://shahirahmdansari.com

This week, we are sharing an article from Imam Suhaib Webb’s website written by Sohaib Sa’eed. Enjoy!

_____

Online pursuits are consuming an increasing amount of time of young people, and no less the Muslims. Those among the 500 million global users of Facebook (FB) know how it functions as a platform for many of these activities (such as news, entertainment, correspondence, campaigning, da`wah), going far beyond its description of a social networking site.

As an avid Facebook user of a few years, I have tasted its fruits but also experienced the sickness of excess and felt the danger of getting lost among the trees. Whenever Muslims are faced with a new environment, they enter it carrying their principles with them. We also need a sound understanding (fiqh) of the realities of this environment and how to handle some of its specifics.

If I dwell here on the potential and actual problems with Muslims’ use of Facebook, that is not to de-emphasize the great things that can be done with it. I say this just a week after a dictator fell from power in Egypt, with social media playing its role.

Fittingly, the genesis of this article was a series of short FB statuses I posted over 2010, each of which generated interesting discussion from friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and contacts (all of whom are designated by FB as “Friends”). Here, I shall address a few of the most crucial aspects for the conscious user to consider, with a few quotes from the original “Facebook Fiqh” series.

A Question of Time

If time is life, then Facebook is many people’s favorite weapon of suicide. We struggle to find time to seek beneficial knowledge, yet trivial comments about trivial matters get more than their fair share. Someone remarked on Imam Suhaib Webb’s FB “wall” that we check out people’s latest FB updates more frequently than we check our Qur’an to take benefits from its verses. That remark inspired the following status update:

Sohaib Saeed wants a “Like” button in his mus-haf (written text of the Qu’ran) next to each ayah. “Like OMG that’s so true!” 

In a recent discussion with some students of Islamic sciences, we wondered aloud how the great scholars of the past managed to be so prolific in their writings, and how they managed to utilize every moment of their – often quite short – lives. Someone raised the point that nowadays we do indeed manage to write a lot, but it is mostly spent on trivial discussions and debates. The angels are writing down all the useless things we say in our days and nights. What do you think if you gathered all the comments (other than social niceties) that you have left on Facebook and other such forums? For many of us, it would add up to at least a small book.

The technological aspects of Facebook, particularly with its ever-updating interface, can have an intoxicating effect. It is built upon the principle of maximal stimulation of the eyes and brain; it is not far from the imagination to compare it with hypnosis. All this has a long-term effect on the mind and on the spiritual heart. This is why our attitude to such time-consuming activities is to use them for a purpose (even if that purpose be recreation), and not allowing it to eat into time better spent on other things. For some, this may mean taking conscious note of how often they open the page, and how long is spent on each visit.

What are the signs of excess? Specialists in addiction can list a few, but let me point out one thing that I believe is frighteningly common. I noticed once that when Twitter went down for a few hours then resumed, someone commented on the experience, writing: “When Twitter went down, all I wanted to do was tweet about it!” Ridiculous, yet I would suggest that it is quite representative of a common urge to use these media as a natural outlet for all our thoughts, desires and emotions. As I once wrote:

“We express our thoughts in the form of a status update instead of turning to Allah with our fears and joys. The day of a believer should be a constant conversation with God.”

Is this constant babble not a blatant distraction from the remembrance of Allah? Yes, even when we are reading and forwarding religious content, if we do so with hearts unaware. To quote from Shaykh Abdallah Adhami’s FB comment: “By all means: share, post, sms, blog, im, email, tweet… (though most importantly, internalize)”. This is the point! If you read a supplication with your eyes, it is no use if your tongue remains dry and your heart remains silent. Is reading a du`a’(supplication) anything like making du`a’? Many times, we write such things robotically in the same way we type “LOL” with a completely straight face. I won’t go so far as to call it lying, but it certainly is bizarre when you ponder on it!

Clicking “Like” is not a sign of commitment any more than saying “I love Allah.” The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) was commanded to say, “If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful” (Qur’an 3:31). Our Islam is built on actions, not mere declarations.

Public and Private

Let’s be in no doubt that FB is a public space, though certain aspects (messaging) allow one-to-one communication. Even things you post on your own wall will come up on your friends’ homepages. Therefore, rather than merely decorating your home awaiting their arrival, you are actually dropping in on them every time you post something.

“If Facebook is like a public street, doesn’t it have rights? The first is lowering the gaze: not just from unseemly images, but from everything that doesn’t concern you. Think about it as hundreds of conversations are presented before you.”

The above FB Fiqh advice was based on a hadith (report concerning the Prophet ﷺ) reported in Sahih Muslim, in which Allah’s Messenger ﷺ questioned some people sitting in the road and instructed them to avoid doing so.  When these Companions explained their purpose, the Prophet ﷺ said: “If you must sit, then fulfill the rights of the road: lower your gaze, respond to greetings and talk in a good manner.”

Not only does Facebook make it all too easy to look at pictures of members of the opposite sex and personal details we have no business knowing, but it makes it tempting to pore through threads of comments that at best, are a complete waste our time, and at worst, involve a level of prying. Just as we take responsibility for what we post, we should also be ethical in what we access. Ask yourself: if that group of friends were chatting amongstthemselves, would I feel right standing nearby and listening in?

Many of the problems with people’s Facebook usage stem from the confusion between public and private spaces. Consider a few such cases:

1. Saying aloud what ought to have been silent, or sharing with everyone what belongs to a certain group.

Such a public forum is not the ideal place for potentially confusing ideas – such as controversial questions of theology – to be shared, as people without the relevant background knowledge may get the wrong idea.

Moreover, Facebook is not the place to develop your thoughts, wondering aloud with things that could cause others to doubt. If you have a question, direct it to someone who knows. If you’re working on an idea, try keeping a private journal.

Most importantly, beware of spreading unsubstantiated rumors. If in doubt, clarify and make certain of the reality, as the Qur’an (49:6) instructs. The following is also a thinking point:

The Prophet ﷺ said: “It is enough of a lie for a person to narrate everything he hears.” (Sahih Muslim) So how about one who narrates every fleeting thought he hears from his self?

In short: before posting anything, ask yourself “Why?” – is it something that will be of interest or benefit to those who will read it?

2. Doing things shamelessly in front of respected people and near-strangers.

Examples of this include using bad language, or writing flirtatious things in plain sight of people who could make hasty – possibly unfair – judgments. Perhaps someone would suggest that writing on the FB wall of someone of the opposite gender is more appropriate than a private message, but that is only true if the public nature of the communication does not become an excuse for a lack of etiquette.

People are clicking “Like” for the craziest things, associating themselves sometimes with immoral and unethical people and ideas, and promoting this on the newsfeeds of all their friends. It would be wise to slow down and think, if only for the following reason:

Be careful whom you love and “Like” – do you want them by your side on Judgment Day? The Prophet ﷺ said: “You are with whomever you love.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

Another common sight is photos of sinful activities, with Muslim friends pictured in compromising positions. Rather than uploading and tagging photos of these lapses, the right course of action is immediate repentance, as in the hadith: “All my nation are safe except those who publicise their sins. A servant does an evil deed by night, and wakes up having Allah’s cover upon him. Then he tells someone, ‘I did such-and-such last night!’ – He went to bed with Allah providing him cover, and woke up to throw off Allah’s cover.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

Privacy in general is a major and widely discussed issue of concern regarding Facebook, so a Muslim should be even more aware of the issue. Both sisters and brothers need to beware of broadcasting details that could be misused, and especially pictures in which they are more exposed than they ought to be in public. Even a “private” FB album is never truly private, when you think about it.

These few thoughts on Facebook Fiqh are by no means exhaustive, but I hope they provide a starting point to a greater consciousness and care when using new technology and emerging media.

Source: PhatwaFactory.com

I cannot sleep. Something gnaws at the periphery of my conscience. I take a stab at that insect, try to clap it to death – but it evades my grip. It sticks its poison in many different places. Here I am, attempting to address the different areas of concern, but scratching only on the surface.

As much as I hate to admit it, this devil goes by one name: Facebook. Surely we are near the limit of the timeline of our universe, yet this one website steals so much from our time-scarce generation. Every spare second, minute, hour is sucked into this virtual oblivion – yet it all comes to naught. And in most times as I have just come to realise, not even for that fleeting jump of joy – not anymore.

It used to be (mostly) pure, harmless fun; a portal to catch up with old friends, share school jokes, poke fun at our teachers, even a bite at that juicy fruit of gossip now and then.

Yet it has for me now, transformed into something of a hypocritical haven, where the myriad of online ‘religious scholars’ sprout holy verses sporadically, armchair ‘saints’ produce hackneyed ahadith that they use to pierce everyone and everything they see with their contemptuous ‘sacro-arrows’.

If, in the past, I could draw a distinct line between the beneficial/harmless and the less-desirable elements, I can no longer limit the latter to skimpy outfits and outrageous narcissism.

In a treacherous way, pure religious advice has been fused with almost blasphemous exhibitionism, giving birth to a ‘Battle of the Egos’, disguised as scholarly debate.

Everyone on Facebook comprehends that whatever is typed will undoubtedly be read; that fact alone halves any initial sincerity one might have had. Any leftover honesty would have had its privacy breached by the staggering array of friends; anything else is warped to a certain degree.

I am increasingly repulsed by what I see. It is now tougher to find any form of joy – fleeting or permanent, benevolent or malevolent. Therein lies only gloomy and depressing reads, pictures, expressions, reactions, comments.

For that reason I am counting down the days before I take a big step towards banishing this contemporary thief of time and faith.

- 16 June 2010

FB-free 7 and a half months on and I never looked back.

Every single time I hear the onset of gossip stemming from the latest update on Facebook – who said what about who and who’s with who and who isn’t anymore etc – I shrug it off with a smile and walk away.

Deleting Facebook brought about a much better change in my life than I had anticipated. Hours from my daily life are better spent, and I am frequently spared from finding out about irrelevant social controversies, nor tending to my farm or beating up an offline mafia. I keep in touch with close companions through my mobile, and more distant acquaintances when necessary.

The disadvantages of deleting FB that I envisaged did not surface. As I have come to realise, FB is not always a convenient way to update everyone in your life. You don’t always want to tell the whole world that you’ve just been promoted, and you might not want your whole company to get updates on your private life – someone in your family just passed away, or gave birth, or got married. It takes too much time and effort to think about who might take each piece of input adversely, blocking out that person/making sure he or she doesn’t find out about it, perhaps going to the extent of explaining that your latest status update was not sarcastically meant to hurt/insult/compare against that person. If you weigh the consequences of every word you post, you might find that you might not update anything at all.

Maybe it’s a nice platform to share pictures. They say a picture tells a thousand words, but it might just be that 500 of which convey the wrong story. And what of your recent birthday party to the one you forgot to invite, or left out due to spatial constraints?

If all the above were of any convenience, it is just insulting to mass-invite/inform contacts about your big day, as much as it is of no value to remember another’s birthday through the FB reminders. The niqab-donning narcissist’s hundred poses leave us all baffled. The bully throwing insults from behind his flat-screen monitor is only as fearsome as a spoon, and the photogenic’s date is in for a rude shock.

I’ve searched and browsed high and low for Facebookers who use the platform for a good cause, but they are few and far in between. Perhaps the enterprising from amongst us may reap the benefits in paper. Then again, the Social Networking label would be more aptly changed to Corporate Networking.

Written by:
Adib Mattar

National University of Singapore's Islamic Awareness Week

The lecture “Between Integration, Assimilation, and Affirmation: Muslims as minorities. A comparative reflection from Europe to Singapore” by Associate Professor Gabriele Marranci, an anthropologist with the Sociology Department of NUS on 8 February 2011 was apt in light of the recent furore in Singapore over Minister Mentor’s comment that Islam is an impediment to integration in Singapore in his recently published book “Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.” In his book, Minister Mentor highlighted that Muslims are “distinct and separate” and had called upon Muslims to be “less strict on Islamic observances” in order to integrate in society. Many Malay Muslims organisations and individual Muslims alike have expressed their disagreement with Minister Mentor’s opinion in the book and had amongst others proved through their own experiences that Islam is not a barrier to integration.

The talk, organised by the NUS Muslim Society, as part of its Islamic Awareness Week is ideal in deconstructing the issue and rhetoric of integration involving “Muslims” specifically as a minority in Singapore and contrasting the Singaporean experience with the experience of those in the United Kingdom. A/P Marranci provided an academic perspective to the issue. He highlighted that “integration” as it is used in the book is epistemologically problematic, as it did not accurately describe the nature of “integration”. Indeed the recent furore may be seen as an issue of assimilation rather than integration where one needs to ‘necessarily sacrifice’ parts of one’s faith and be absorbed into the so called “majority” culture in order to be considered as integrated- in this case, a Singaporean.

Politicians such as the Minister Mentor, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel were highlighted in the lecture as amongst a string of politicians who joined in the trend of talking about the failure of multiculturalism in recent times. To this end, the lecture had highlighted the importance attached to the worldview held by the politicians and every individual human being.

A/P Marranci had asked a well overlooked but very commonsensical question on the issue of Muslim community (-ies): “Who are we talking about empirically when we term someone as “Muslim” or part of the “Malay-Muslim community”?” He highlighted the fact that most of us perceived abstract concepts such as “Muslims”, “Islam”, or “nation” in some concrete term. We do not understand the world we live in naturally. We are social beings who are socialised to understand certain items in a certain perspective. We might for instance, learn what it takes to be a female, first in the family, neighbourhood and then the nation. In the case of the Minister Mentor, it would be helpful to understand that his ideas about Muslims may well come from his perspective of mixing around with the “Muslims” in his generation – in a time where “halal” logos were not yet available to Muslims, with each Muslim consuming his/her diet based on his/her own understanding of halal. We are then putting values to such abstracts through our personal experiences interacting with people whom we assumed is part of one category of society.

It is thus useful for us to understand that categories are socially constructed and may not well represent the abstract ideas in its utopian sense. Categories may also be manipulated to reinforce a certain idea that a certain group need to be managed in a certain way. For example, it is often highlighted that the Malay-Muslim community is the most problematic community in Singapore by the State but it is often overlooked that the community has the most number of youths. Precisely because of their youthfulness, they are most likely to be risk takers and ends up in trouble with the law as is the experience of those in the United Kingdom. By terming a certain issue as one that is religious, we are forcing ourselves to manage the issue in a distinctively religious way, likewise for race.

In the case of Singapore, Muslims are often being interpreted as Malays and therefore religion and race are often conflated. While it is easy to manage categories, one will only be able to live well with each other if one understands how the individuals behind the categories lead their lives and understand the underlying principles operating in their individual lives.

W’allahu a’lam.

Muhammad Yusuf Bin Osman is reading Sociology in his Honours year at National University of Singapore. He enjoys discussing politics and community issues over a cup of teh tarik. He is currently doing research on youth political participation in Singapore.

Watch an example of the Marshmallow experiment here:

From a young age, many of us are instilled with the understanding that, as Muslims, life is a test from Allah. Islam is often accused of being a “strict” religion, requiring its believers to abstain from pork, intoxicating substances, revealing clothing, premarital relations between sexes, and gambling, among other things. All of these things are so prevalent in our culture today that one of the tests that we go through on a daily basis is the exercise of self-control in the face of temptation, as in the Marshmallow experiment.

We are also assigned one of the biggest tests of our self-control every year during Ramadhan, when we abstain from food, water, and many other things, in order to purify our selves and our souls.

Also congruous with the Marshmallow experiment, exercising self-control in Islam comes with the promise of delayed gratification: escaping Allah’s wrath and hell-fire, and gaining entry to jannah.

A follow-up on the original participants of the experiment found that the thirty percent of the children who successfully waited out the fifteen minutes and were  rewarded with a second marshmallow went on to do better in school and in life than the others.

I think one explanation for this result is my belief that self-control begets self- respect. Think about it: when you refrain from committing sin, or, to use a more frivolous example, when you refrain from wasting money on something expensive that you really want but don’t really need, you feel good about yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you gain the confidence to fulfill your true potential.

We often hear that Islam is not merely a religion, but a way of life, and this for me is yet more proof of that. Our religion teaches us to manage our temptations, to resist vices, and in the process, to develop self-worth, which aids us not only in this life, but also in the hereafter.

___

Shahirah is an aspiring journalist who is interested in social issues, women’s rights, the Middle East conflict, and Islam in the Western world. She is also interested in languages and would like to take up Arabic soon.

Website: http://shahirahmdansari.com

To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and the day on which the end of time will happen, a day on which prattlers will lose out. And you will see every people kneeling; every people will be summoned to its record: “Today you are being repaid for what you used to do. This record of Ours speaks about you in truth; for We have been transcribing what you have been doing.” As for those who believed and did good works, their Lord will admit them into divine mercy. That is the evident success. And as for those who scoffed, were not My signs recited to you, yet you were arrogant, and were sinning people? And when it has been said that the promise of God is true, and there is no doubt about the end of time, you have said, “We do not understand what the end of time is; we suppose it merely speculation, and we cannot be sure.” And the evils they did will be manifest to them, and what they used to sneer at will have surrounded them.

– Qur’an, 45:27-33

No matter what a Man’s foul character may be,
Though he imagines it is concealed from the people,
It shall be revealed.
– Zuhayr b. Abi Sulma, Favorite seventh century Arabian poet of Umar b. al-Khatab

In the seven years I spent with Mauritanians who are Bedouin people of the Sahara, what struck me most about them was the transparency in their lives. They live without walls, and hence what the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung termed the “shadow self,” which holds our repressed weaknesses and darker side, seems wholly absent from their personalities. I never saw the Bedouins hide anything from me. Even when they go to relieve themselves, it is often in open space. Once I was with a particularly gruff Bedouin, and in the middle of our conversation, he turned around, walked a few paces from me, and, taking cover with his outer robe, he dropped his pants, squatted, urinated, cleaned himself with sand, returned, and continued the conversation.

Bedouins are entirely comfortable in their skin and completely unself-conscious. If I intruded on a Bedouin without warning, he did not suddenly become nervous or uneasy; he remained calm. Even after many years in “civilized” society, Bedouins retain an uncanny openness. Their homes in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, always have open doors. A hungry person, upon smelling food being served, will sometimes walk in from the street, eat a meal with them, say little, and depart as unobtrusively as he appeared.

In societies that have walls, closets, and private bathrooms, we develop a keen sense of privacy early on. We also do things in private that we would never do in company. Some of us develop profoundly dark sides; a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality seems quite common in modern society. When we read the statistics in books like Pornified, we can only be horrified at the pervasiveness of people watching pornography; the man next to us in the grocery store line might return home only to settle in for “kiddie” porn on his home computer. Do an online search on registered sex offenders, many of whom are pedophiles, and you might find one living down the street from you. Too many people are hiding things. Wives often know the truth about their “upstanding” husbands, and men may have far more secrets than women, who undeniably have their own share.

So what’s all the fuss about Wikileaks? These wikipeaks into the unseemly side of the American Empire have caused quite a stir – and quite a backlash. Julian Assange was arrested for what may end up being trumped up sexual charges in an obvious attempt at distracting people from the real story. The U.S. Attorney General is seeking excuses to bring charges against Assange for what the American media does routinely. Clearly, the war is on. Luke Skywalker-like hackers are whittling away with Wikileaks at the Empire, and the Empire is striking back.

What intrigued me is not so much what is revealed – after all, many of us knew, didn’t we? And so far, the crimes and transgressions revealed are not as severe as what the earlier Pentagon Papers revealed. But they are far more disturbing. The recent release of diplomatic cables shows the duplicitous nature on a daily basis of the inner workings of American diplomacy – the “shadow self” of America. Our government demands transparency from corporations and from its citizens in detailed tax returns. Employers do background checks on us, and our credit histories and medical records are routinely reviewed by strangers. Even our time on the internet is now monitored in many places; our phones are tapped with judicial consent. So why should our governments, especially in democratic societies, be exempt from what is routinely done to us? They are public servants, aren’t they?

Well, the fact of the matter, as the Wikileaks exposé so cogently reveals, is that they are not serving us – they are serving the Empire’s corporate profit-making, its selling of arms, and its oil interests that fuel our cars and their private jets. The corruption in dealing with Afghanistan, highlighted in these recent leaks, had initially shocked some people. But, all things considered, Afghan corruption pales by comparison to our own corruption on Wall Street, not to mention Main Street. Despite the moral depravity we witnessed in the recent financial scandals, everything is back to business as usual. The fat cats are once again doling out multimillion-dollar executive bonuses with our bailout money, as if the party never ended. Our mail boxes are again being stuffed with those same ridiculous credit card offers that had stopped a couple of years ago. The banksters are back in business, thanks to Henry Paulson, Larry Summers, et al. who cleaned out the national treasury in broad daylight, while Congress and the Senate applauded their patriotism. Unbelievable. Jesse and Frank James are no longer robbing them as outlaws: they’re on the board of directors. Al Capone must be turning over in his grave.

But something deeper is at work here. “We will show you Our signs on the horizon and within themselves, until it becomes clear to you that this is the truth; is it not enough that God is a Witness unto all these?” (Qur’an, 41:53). The computer has become the Achilles’ heel of the secret keepers. They have to use it, and they depend on it, not only to hoard their secrets but to monitor and surveil the rest of us. The inherent weaknesses in the system are now enabling whistleblowers and hackers to bring some of their dark secrets to light. Until now, the defenders of the Empire used the secrets as they wished. Former vice-president Dick Cheney, for instance, had no qualms about using classified, top-secret information in outing Valerie Plame, the CIA agent. This was a retributive act against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, who wrote a New York Times Op-Ed on the false information that Cheney and George W. Bush were promoting about sales of nuclear materials from Niger to Iraq. So when it suited him, Cheney used his own “wikileaks,” but now that the ball’s in the other court, suddenly they’re crying, “Foul.”

So leaks can obstruct justice, and leaks can redress wrongs – a double-edged sword, indeed. More leaks are said to come, and I for one am looking forward to it. It is good to see them squirm and scurry, as they feel, in their cockroach shadow lives, the light of the sun beginning to penetrate their subterranean worlds.

The Qur’an has its own “leaks” and clearly demands utter transparency. The Pharaoh’s private conversations are recorded as well as the hidden statements of the Prophet’s enemies, not to mention some of the family intrigue in the Prophet’s own household. People with integrity have nothing to hide. Like the Bedouins, their transparency is their shield.

When the great and pious Filipino historian and Qur’an scholar Cesar Majul was dying, he remarked to his son, “I want you to know, I have never done anything in my life that you would be ashamed of.” Now that’s a real deathbed confession of a saint. Murabit al-Hajj, my own teacher, has lived a life of utter transparency. I slept in his tent for months. During that time, I saw him rise every night three hours before dawn and recite the Qur’an in night vigil. I never heard him say anything unkind or unflattering about anyone. A cousin of his who has known him for seventy years affirmed this as well. Murabit al-Hajj never complained or criticized the weather, the food, the company, or any of the hardships so evident in the lives of West African nomads. Once, a man from Geru, a nearby village, saw Murabit al-Hajj in a dream in which he was praying naked. Embarrassed, this man went to a well-known dream interpreter and told him the dream but not the identity of the naked man. The interpreter said, “That could only have been Murabit al-Hajj because I don’t know anyone who prays in a completely pure-hearted state other than him.”

We are born naked because we are without sin, but we are raised naked because we will be without secrets. The Prophet, peace be upon him, lived an utterly transparent life. Even his bathing habits are described by his wife. Nothing about his life is hidden from us. No split in his personality, no shadow developed by keeping unspeakable secrets, for he is the transparent man. No shameful Wikileaks necessary in his government or family life. God meant for his life to be an open book, as he is an exemplar for leaders until the end of time. Leaders are the servants of the people, and they should never fear public opinion or the light of day. They should be concerned only about doing what is right and lawful.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, wanted to keep private an opinion he had shared with Zaid, his ward and companion, about Zaid’s difficult marriage that the Prophet, peace be upon him, had facilitated. However, the Qur’an revealed the confidential statement he had made to Zaid: “Remember how you said to the one God had blessed and you had favored, ‘Keep your wife and be conscious of God,’ then you kept to yourself what God would reveal, as you feared the people, though God is more worthy of your fear” (33:37). The Prophet, peace be upon him, did nothing sinful in wanting to conceal the conversation he had with Zaid. He was concerned that people would attack his character if they learned of his impending marriage to Zaynab, who was married at that time to his “adopted” son (through a pre-Islamic form of adoption that the Qur’an would later proscribe). People were unaware that Zaid and Zaynab’s marriage was an unhappy one because Zaynab wanted to be wed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and had only accepted the marriage to Zaid due to the Prophet’s request of her to do so. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, had kept the matter quiet for fear that if people knew, it would detract from and undermine his essential spiritual message to the people. However, the Qur’an “leaked” this private conversation to the people through the very source of the conversation. Aishah said about the above verse, “Had the Prophet hidden anything from his revelation, it would have been this verse due to the heavy impact it had upon him.” This “leak” was clearly designed to reveal the utter sincerity of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his complete and total truthfulness and transparency about his own personal life as well as everything revealed to him. The Qur’an says to all of us:

If you are on a journey and cannot find a scribe, then let pledges be taken. And if one of you entrusts another one with something, let the one entrusted return his trust, conscious of God, his Lord. And do not conceal testimony; whoever conceals it is a sinner at heart. And God knows what you do. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to God. And whether you reveal what is in your selves or conceal it, God calls you to account for it. And God forgives whom God wills, and God punishes whom God wills, and God has power over all things. (2:283-284)

The Day of Judgment is the day when nothing is concealed. All secrets are to be revealed. The Qur’an informs us that a “digital book” (kitab marqum) contains all the actions of the evildoers in perfect order, and another “digital book” contains those of the righteous. Everyone on the Day of Judgment will have a full trial, but before the actual reckoning, we will all have to endure the ‘ard, which is the review of one’s entire life with nothing omitted except those actions for which we repented and for which the repentance was accepted. Wikileaks is nothing in light of what will be revealed on that day. Tyrants will see all of their dastardly deeds, hoarders must carry all they hoarded, liars will be exposed, and traitors will have flags of treachery furled from their backsides announcing their vileness. What a day!

America prides itself on transparency. MBA students learn in school the necessity of fully transparent corporations, where the books are all in order, and nothing is hidden. Taxpayers are told to reveal all in their tax forms. And yet, there is a double standard, as the government reveals little until fifty years later, long after the secret-keepers are dead, when documents are declassified. The Federal Reserve, a private institution of bankers that controls our nation’s money, has never been audited. Yet, we the peons can be audited with impunity.

We need more whistleblowers, not less. And we need to exalt the ones who, with honor and courage, risk everything so the truth can be known. Daniel Ellsberg had the courage to blow the whistle on the Pentagon in 1971, and now the Luke Skywalkers of the day are attempting to do it again, revealing the utter hypocrisy of our public “servants” who seem to serve only themselves and their corporate paymasters. We need a far more open and transparent society if we are to flourish. If a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” means anything at all, the people must not only be informed of what is being done in their names, they must also demand of their public servants full accountability.

A close friend in Arabia informed me recently that the Wikileaks revelations have created utter contempt for America in the region, and sadly the respect that was once there despite all the shortcomings of America is now largely gone. While it is hard to restore respect once lost, if it is ever to be regained, the place to start is this: admit one’s mistakes and redress one’s wrongs. Many of us live in profound denial of why America is perceived so poorly around the world. Even many Europeans look on us with disdain. Envy undeniably plays some part, but to suggest that envy is the only reason is a poor excuse – it is an attempt by a nation’s ego to avoid the painful realities of imperial arrogance and the hubris of power. The ancient Greeks believed that arête, virtue, elevated human beings, but hubris brought them down. Hubris, in their understanding, resulted in até or reckless behavior, which unleashed nemeses, the divine forces that laid the haughty low.

I do not wish that upon my native land or fellow citizens, as I am a multi-generational American, and desiring disaster for people is not in my nature. But without real repentance and a change of business as usual, I don’t see any other possibility. The Wikileaks controversy is another wake-up call among many to this nation. Perhaps if some of those apathetic and ill-informed people in America addicted to the pipes of the pied piper leading them into the cave of shadows and ignorance would forgo seeing Jackass in 3D and other mindless films at the multiplex and actually pay attention to these developments, some good might come of it. Benjamin Franklin, upon leaving the Continental Congress, was asked by a woman what kind of a government they had settled on. He is reported to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Openness and transparency, not to mention admitting wrongs and redressing them, are all necessary to restore the republic that has clearly been damaged and profoundly threatened.

Written by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

This article is reproduced with permission from Sandala Productions.

It is true that Allah created us different from each other, but, as explained in the Qur’an:

“We have created you from male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another…” (49:13).

As Muslims, our differences in race or nationality should not be a source of discord or disunity. It should serve as an opportunity to learn from one another and adopt each other’s strengths in order to become better Muslims.

When I was studying in Sydney last year, I subconsciously shed my already weak cultural identity and considered myself as nothing more and nothing less than a Muslim. In many ways that helped me become a better Muslim because I became constantly aware and reminded of my obligations and responsibilities. It also helped me feel less alone in a city where my nationality and race makes up an almost insignificant minority.

While I did feel a sense of belonging with other brothers and sisters in Islam on my university campus, this wasn’t always the case.

I occasionally visited a Lebanese enclave about 15 kilometres away from the Sydney CBD. Its main thoroughfare dominated by halal restaurants and butchers, and shops selling Islamic books and paraphernalia, I could almost forget that I was in Australia and not some Muslim country!

Paradoxically though, it was there, amongst other Muslims, that I felt like an outsider. Perhaps because I was an unfamiliar face, or because I, with my dark skin and Indian features, look starkly different from the typical residents of that suburb, but I was disappointed when my smiles and friendliness were not reciprocated.

This phenomenon brought to mind what a Chinese friend once told me. She said that as a race, the Chinese are rather united and proud, and are quick to defend one another against the criticism of outsiders. Within the race however, they are divided by regional loyalties, by dialects, by clans.

Alhamdulillah, in Singapore I feel this is less rampant. You do still hear about certain Muslim parents or grandparents disapproving of their child’s chosen spouse on the grounds of race, and mean-spirited racist comments are not unheard of. But overall the relationship between Muslims of different races in Singapore tends to be warm and genial. We should all strive to not only maintain the status quo but to improve it such that we no longer differentiate each other as Malays, Indians or Chinese first, but acknowledge each other as Muslims first.

Source: Muslim-forum.org

Shahirah is an aspiring journalist who is interested in social issues, women’s rights, the Middle East conflict, and Islam in the Western world. She is also interested in languages and would like to take up Arabic soon.

Website: http://shahirahmdansari.com