Idris Tawfiq is much in demand as a speaker. His style of speaking is both simple and very gentle, touching hearts, as well as causing people to think. Idris points out that he is not an Islamic scholar, but rather has a way of explaining things about Islam in a very simple way. He has considerable experience in leading retreats and In-Service training for both students and adults. He uses this vast experience of dealing with ordinary people and explaining matters of faith to them to enliven his writing and style of speaking, making them both interesting and easy to understand. He tries to explain Islam to those in the West who are not Muslim.

Because of his background, Idris Tawfiq is also heavily involved in the work of inter-faith dialogue. "We should never feel threatened by goodness," he says, "wherever it comes from." In his travels, Idris has met many religious and civic leaders, extending a hand of friendship on behalf of all Muslims.

As a writer, Idris Tawfiq has written for newspapers and periodicals in the United Kingdom and has been a regular contributor and Consultant to islamonline.net and readingislam.com. Idris has a weekly column in three Egyptian newspapers: every Friday in Sawt Al-Azhar, the newspaper of Al-Azhar University; every Tuesday in Egyptian Mail and every Saturday inEgyptian Gazette.

He is the author of the following books:

• 
  
  Gardens of Delight: a simple introduction to Islam


• 
  
  Talking to Young Muslims


• 
  
  Talking to New Muslims


• 
  
  Talking to Muslims in the West


• 
  
  Talking About Ramadan


• 
  
  Calling Others to Islam


• 
  
  Talking About Other faiths


• 
  
  Looking for Peace in the Land of the Prophets

Idris Tawfiq is a lecturer in the Faculty of Languages and Translation at Al-Azhar University.

Travelling all over the globe, Idris speaks about Islam both to Muslim and non-Muslim groups. He is very popular with Muslim youth and has spoken in over forty universities worldwide. Idris is also heavily involved as a speaker on television and radio, having made nearly a hundred tv programmes.

As a Muslim, Idris Tawfiq has a deep love for the Arab world. Stories and characters from Cairo and the Arab world often find their way into his writing. After a while as Director of the Post Graduate Research Centre at Al-Fatih Islamic Institute in Damascus, Idris Tawfiq now lives in Egypt. Often asked why he chooses the Middle East as a base from which to speak to people in the West about Islam, rather than living in London, Idris says that the culture and the people of that region  are a fertile source of inspiration for him. He now divides his time between his home in Egypt and his travels around the world.

	Road To The Heart26 Jan 2012, 8.00 pm | DBS Auditorium | English |
	The Certitude of Faith27 Jan 2012, 8.00 pm | DBS Auditorium | English |
	Prayer Becomes YOU28 Jan 2012, 8.00 PM | Concorde Hotel | English |
	Wisdom's Journey29 Jan 2012, 8.00 pm | NTUC Auditorium | English |

We have actually set this prayer as a reminder on a daily basis at 10 pm each day.

Why Forgive?

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.

Source: http://www.islamicmint.com/dinar_dirham/index.html

1. History of the Dinar & Dirham

In the beginning the Muslims used gold and silver by weight and the dinar and dirhams that they used were made by the Persians.

The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver dirhams of the Sassanian Yezdigird III, struck during the Khalifate of Uthman, radiy'allahu anhu. These coins differ from the original ones in that an Arabic inscription is found in the obverse margins, normally reading "in the Name of Allah". Since then the writing in Arabic of the Name of Allah and parts of Qur'an on the coins became a custom in all mintings made by Muslims.

Under what was known as the coin standard of the Khalif Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the weight of 10 dirhams was equivalent to 7 dinars (mithqals).

In the year 75 (695 CE) the Khalifah Abdalmalik ordered Al-Hajjaj to mint the first dirhams, thus he established officially the standard of Umar Ibn al-Khattab. In the next year he ordered the dirhams to be minted in all the regions of the Dar al-Islam. He ordered that the coins be stamped with the sentence: "Allah is Unique, Allah is Eternal". He ordered the removal of human figures and animals from the coins and that they be replaced with letters.

This command was then carried on throughout all the history of Islam. The dinar and the dirham were both round, and the writing was stamped in concentric circles. Typically on one side it was written the "tahlil" and the "tahmid", that is, "la ilaha ill'Allah" and "alhamdulillah"; and on the other side was written the name of the Amir and the date. Later on it became common to introduce the blessings on the Prophet, salla'llahu alayhi wa sallam, and sometimes, ayats of the Qur'an.

Gold and silver coins remained official currency until the fall of the Khalifate. Since then, dozens of different paper currencies were made in each of the new postcolonial national states created from the dismemberment of Dar al-Islam.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

And amongst the People of the Book there are those who, if you were to entrust them with a treasure (qintar), he would return it to you. And amongst them is he who, if you were to entrust him with a dinar would not return it to you, unless you kept standing over him. Qur'an (3,75)