Sa`d bin Abu Waqqas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said, "He who says after the Adhan: `Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah Wah-dahu la sharika Lahu; wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa Rasuluhu, radhitu Billahi Rabban, wa bil Islami Dinan wa bi Muhammadin Sallahu alaihi wasalam wanabiyan waRasulan, [I testify that there is no true god except Allah Alone; He has no partners and that Muhammad (PBUH) is His slave and Messenger; I am content with Allah as my Rubb, I am content with Islam as my Deen and I accept Muhammad sallalahu alayhi wasalam as my Messenger ],' his sins will be forgiven.''
[Muslim].
You should know, may God have mercy on you, that truthfulness and sincerity are the foundations of every spiritual state. Patience, contentment, true asceticism, pleasure, and intimacy are branches of truthfulness. While sincerity branches out into certitude, fear, love, majesty, shyness, and magnifying [God]. Each believer has a place in one of these stations, which he passes, and which then is the state he is known by.
Hence, it is said of him, fearful, yet he has hope; or hopeful, but he has fear; patient, but he has satisfaction; loving, but he has shyness. The strength or weakness of every state is proportionate to the faith and spiritual maturity of the servant.
The foundation of each of these states has three signs by which it is known. Truthfulness is in three things, which are not complete without it: Truthfulness of the heart in faith that is actualized; truthfulness of intention in religious actions; and truthfulness of expression in speech.
Patience is in three things, which are not complete without it: Patience in avoiding those things God has forbidden; patience in [dealing with the difficulty involved in] following the command of God; and patience at the time of a calamity, while anticipating God’s grace. Contentment is in three things, which are not complete without it: [Being content with] little materially even though material means are available; with poverty when possessing nothing and the prospects of future abundance are lacking; and with the tranquility found in the worship of God, be He mighty and majestic, despite being steeped in poverty.
Contentment has a beginning and an end. Its beginning lies in abandoning excess despite the existence of abundance. Its end is the existence of spiritual wealth despite material poverty and lack of worldly means. From this point of departure, one of the sages mentioned that contentment is a higher station than satisfaction. What he meant is complete contentment, because the state of one who is satisfied does not change according to his being denied or given. One who is content is enriched with his Lord. He does not seek any increase along with Him to assuage the desire of his soul—unless that increase is a gift from God to him.
Abstinence is in three things, the ascetic is not called abstinent without them: Ridding himself of worldly possessions; passing up enjoyment of some lawful things; and being carefree because of the large amounts of time [devoted to God]. A man is a true ascetic if he is characterized by three other things: He protects his soul when tempted by his desires; he flees from opportunities to enrich himself materially; he only meets his needs with what he knows to be lawful.
We are pleased to announce that Ustadh Mahmud Kürkçü, Imam of Coburg Masjid in Melbourne, will be back in Perth on Sunday, July 18th for a public lecture insha Allah. As you may know, he has visited Perth several times in the past and his lectures are widely appreciated by the Perth audience.
Insha Allah the topic of the lecture will be:
Four Things You Need to Succeed in This Life and the Hereafter:
Tawbah
Tawakkul
Sabr & Shukr
This lecture covers four of the fifty-four Faraid (compulsory acts) as enumerated by the great imam of the tabi’?n Hasan al-Basri (ra). It is incumbent upon every Muslim to be aware of and put these basic principles into practice in their daily lives.The list of the 54 fara’id can be found here.
Don’t miss this great opportunity to prepare oneself spiritually as the holy month of Ramadan approaches.
Please find poster attached and details of the event below. RSVP essential.
When: July 18th, 2010
Where: Agonis Hall, Gosnells
Time: 11:30am-4:30pm (Break for thuhr & lunch and tea)
Tickets: $20 per person (Lunch & Tea included). Early booking essential.
Register: www.pathtojannah.com/register
Contact: Zeenat 0404750194 / Br Sameer 0416534300
"Trust your wound to a teacher's surgery. Flies collect on a wound. They cover it, those flies of your self-protecting feelings, your love for what you think is yours. Let a Teacher wave away the flies and put a plaster on the wound. Don't turn your head. Keep looking at the bandaged place. That's where the Light enters you. And don't believe for a moment that you're healing yourself."
Prof. Dr. M. Es’ad COSAN (RahmatuAllaihi)
As it has always been, the love for RasulAllah is accomplished by following his path, living his sunnah, serving his ummah , obeying him, and committing oneself to his real successors, authentic Islamic scholars and truly obedient leaders. One’s main goal is then to love. Love is a gratifying feeling. Other actions and feelings –prayer and obedience, and piety and good deeds-follow it.
To have the love of God, the most high, is not a hard and unreachable task since one cannot avoid being surrounded by astonishment and adoration as he contemplates The One who has created and raised him, The One who has created heaven and earth, The One who has created all things. Allahu Taala (the most high) orders us in the Koran to be committed and obedient, and to comply with God’s messenger, Muhammad Mustafa (pbuh).
It is not possible for one to be a Muslim if he does not accept Muhammed as the messenger of God. If a person denies even one of the hadiths or one of the sunnahs just because his ideas contradicts their ideas, he should reject faith and departs from this world.
God does not bestow his grace to anyone who does not believe in and become a member of the ummah of Muhammad–His beloved messenger, the most honored of His creations, the best of human kind, the highest of all prophets, the master of humanity and djinns, and the owner of the highest rank in paradise. In one hadith, the prophet says, “None of you can be a true believer, unless you love me more than your father, sons, and all human beings.” Consequently, when addressing to him, the prophet’s companions started by saying: “My mother and father are sacrificial to you, o messenger of Allah.” They have never hesitated to give their lives, properties to his cause. They had given an oath and were committed to die in his way.
As it has always been, one can love the prophet by following his path, living his sunnah, serving his ummah, obeying him, and committing himself to his real successors, authentic Islamic scholars and true obedient leaders. There are those who are unaware of these obvious facts. There are those who tie themselves to other people although they have no rights to do so. There are those who are tricked and deceived by other, yet they follow them.
God, do not stop loving us and do not allow the prophet to stop loving us either. Bring us close to those whom you love. Make us walk in your path, make us perform the deeds of which you approve. Give us the honor of returning to you as those with whom you are pleased and have considered true Muslims.
(Islam, May 1990)
In what could be a serious blow to Israel's narrative on the killing of at least nine humanitarian activists making their way to Gaza through international waters, raw video by an Al Jazeera producer, who was filming during the raid, appears to provide evidence that the IDF opened fire on the flotilla even before boarding it.
Israeli forces assert they came under attack by the pro-Palestine civilian group, and video released by the IDF appears to show one soldier being tossed overboard amid a scuffle with unidentified individuals wielding melee weapons, like clubs and chairs.
However, in raw video captured by an Al Jazeera producer and published to YouTube late Monday, two journalists provide a play-by-play of the harrowing event as pops and cracks echo in the background. Even before the Israeli forces were aboard, one says, they were pelting the boat with tear gas and stun grenades, injuring numerous people.
Then he confirms the first death, saying the individual was killed by "munitions," but not specifying whether it was a bullet or something else. Then he confirms that Israeli forces were boarding the ship.
Another of the reporters featured in the video works for the Iranian network Press TV. "We are being hit by tear gas, stun grenades, we have navy ships on either side, helicopters overhead," he said. "We are being attacked from every single side. This is in international waters, not Israeli waters, not in the 68-mile exclusion zone. We are being attacked in international waters completely illegally."
"The organizers are telling me now, they are raising a white flag -- they are raising a white flag to the Israeli army," the Al Jazeera reporter said. "This is after one person has been killed; a civilian has been killed by munition. That number could be more ... Despite the white flag being raised, despite the white flag being raised, the Israeli army is still shooting, still firing live munitions."
Early reports put the number of victims between nine and 19, with dozens injured. (Update: Figures from major wire services put the number at 10, but it may yet change.) The actual number has not yet been confirmed, as the IDF took all the Gaza aid flotilla participants into custody. Numerous victims were reported to be from Turkey. Palestinian leadership called the incident a "war crime." Israeli ally Turkey also pledged their regional neighbor will "face the consequences" for the killings and reportedly planned to send military escort with a future Gaza aid flotilla.
"At least four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the operation, some from gunfire, according to the military," The New York Times added.
"Our soldiers had to defend themselves, to defend their lives," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said. Other Israeli officials have called the charity organization responsible a group of "extremist supporters of terror." The IDF also alleged that weapons were found on board and that activists opened fire first, calling the the resulting violence a result of "provocation."
However, if these reporters' immediate accounting of the events proves accurate, the truth of Israel's claim that they opened fire in self defense would seem to be in doubt.
Portions of the raw video were featured by Al Jazeera and AFP, although the beginning segm
The action sparked protests around the world within hours.
In Turkey crowds took to the streets in several cities to vent fury after the storming of a Turkish passenger boat in the flotilla that left at least nine dead, most of them believed to be Turkish nationals.
"Damn Israel!", "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, revenge, revenge!" yelled protesters in Istanbul where about 10,000 people converged on the central Taksim square after marching from the Israeli consulate.
"Turkish soldiers to Gaza," shouted some, as others torched Israeli flags.
"I call on the government to expel the Israeli consul... And if necessary, we are ready for war," Seref Mangal, 40, told AFP. A banner carried by the crowd read: "Close down the Zionist embassy."
In the capital Ankara about 1,000 people gathered outside the residence of Israeli ambassador Gabby Levy and shouted "Damn the Zionist murderers!" and "Israel will drown in the blood of the martyrs!".
They threw eggs and plastic bottles into the garden of the residency. Reports said demonstrations were held in dozens of cities across the country.
In London more than 1,000 people -- some of whom had friends on the ships carrying aid to blockaded Gaza -- protested outside the residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Israeli embassy.
Chanting "Free Palestine" and brandishing the Palestinian flag and banners condemning Israeli "war crimes", activists blocked a major route through the capital. Hundreds of police stood guard outside the embassy.
"We have close friends on the boat on which people were killed and we are here waiting for news," said Kate Hudson, the chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
In Paris about 500 people joined a noisy protest near the Israeli embassy, waving Palestinian flags and shouting "Palestine will survive, Palestine will conquer".
Scuffles broke out when a dozen rival protestors waving Israeli flags approached, prompting police to fire tear gas, but calm was soon restored. Another 1,300 people rallied in the city of Lille.
Greek police used tear gas to force back around 1,500 protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Athens, while another 2,000 people rallied in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
In Lebanon thousands of Palestinian refugees and activists waving Palestinian flags and banners marched in the country's 12 refugee camps.
"Where is the international community? Where are human rights?" they chanted in the Al-Bass camp in the southern coastal city of Tyre.
In Beirut hundreds gathered in the city centre called on Israeli embassies in the Arab world to be shut down and for Israeli ambassadors to be expelled.
At a demonstration of about 3,000 people at the Beddawi camp in the northern city of Tripoli, anger also turned on Israel's traditional ally, the United States.
"God is great and America is the greatest evil," they chanted. "Give us weapons, give us weapons and send us on to Gaza."
There were even demonstrations inside Israel, where hundreds of protestors flooded the streets of the northern Arab city of Nazareth as Israeli police raised the level of alert across the country and deployed reinforcements.
More than 2,000 people in Amman protested what Jordan's Information Minister Nabil Sharif dubbed a "heinous crime".
Demonstrators included Islamist opposition leaders and carried banners that read "We Will not Surrender" and "Break Gaza Blockade." They also demanded that Jordan shut down the Jewish state's embassy and expel the Israeli ambassador.
In Iran's capital Tehran, dozens of people pelted stones at the UN office chanting: "This savage regime of Israel must be wiped out."
They burnt the Israeli flag and tore up pictures of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In Pakistan politicians, lawmakers and journalists staged a peaceful protest in Islamabad, denouncing the killings and calling on the United Nations and the United States to intervene.
Hundreds of Bosnians marched through Sarajevo, brandishing Palestinian flags. "We wanted to raise our voice to denounce a new attempt at genocide in modern times," one of the organisers, Edvin Cudic, told Srna news agency.
Around 200 people demonstrated outside the UN's European headquarters in Geneva demanding an inquiry into the raid, while in the Netherlands 400 rallied outside the Israeli embassy in The Hague.
There were also protests in Egypt while in Kuwait activists were planning rallies.
After Israeli PM Netanyahu canceled a planned meeting with President Obama, the White House stressed the importance of "learning all the facts" before jumping to conclusions. With AFP.
ent and the most clear allegations that Israel opened fire before boarding were not included in their entirety.
“Dubai may have the world’s tallest building and the world’s largest shopping mall, but it also has the world’s tiniest soul.”
Having spent two years in Dubai, it’s hard to disagree with George Fullerton, a Pakistan-based British journalist. Dubai in two words: Instant gratification. It’s a place for people who opt for life in the fast lane: fast cars, fast women and fast food. It may be a paradise built in glass for hedonists but the plastic city irrefutably remains a moral failure.
“It has imported all the worst aspects of western culture (excessive consumption, environmental defilement) without importing any of its benefits (democracy, art)," Fullerton said. "Slack jawed zombies roam around consuming food, clothes and electronics in a desperate attempt to fill the emptiness of their existence.
"Whilst at the Mall of the Emirates the azan goes off, nobody appears to move to the prayer room; everyone’s too busy performing sajda before Stella McCartney, genuflecting before Gucci, and prostrating themselves at Prada … The upwardly mobile South Asian man prances around wearing a silly shirt with a large picture of a polo player on a horse, whilst their women wear oversized sunglasses and carry oversized handbags. And the Arabs walk about with enough gold bling to blind you at ten paces.”
As someone familiar with the streets of Dubai, both as a resident and a visitor, I can aver Fullerton’s observation of the plastic city.
My last visit was a couple of years ago, but after reading his recent column, “At least we are not Dubai,” it seems much in the city remains the same, less the economy which depends on cheap, foreign labor.
More than 70 percent of Dubai’s population consists of expatriates. The city may have succeeded to create the world’s most glamorous buildings; including the world’s first seven-star hotel and an artificial ski-slope but the construction industry itself is anything but charming.
Tourists remain largely oblivious to the predicament of the immigrant workers responsible for turning the desert state into a busy metropolis. Says Eric Ellis, a correspondent for Fortune magazine:
“The Burj Dubai is another anything-is-possible phenomenon. Owned, like many things here, by the reclusive royal family, at 600 metres it's already the world's tallest building and seems destined to be mankind's first kilometre-high tower. What isn't much mentioned is that the building is riven with industrial strife, where workers — many billeted at Sonapur — have revolted after being denied breaks and even water, lest they be sacked and sent home, at their expense. Some have died, statistics you don't much read about in the local press.”
During my last trip to Dubai in 2008, I was able to spend a few hours in Sonapur camp, located on the outskirts of the city, far away from the five-star resorts and the average tourist eye, and the conditions were appalling. This camp is home to about 500,000 immigrants, who left their homes for a better future.
Sonapur cannot be found on an official map, in fact, most Dubaians do not even know where it is located, but it’s is one of the largest communities of Dubai. The camp is strikingly different from the rest of the city, the city that has been developed on the endless labor of the dwellers of Sonapur. Its roads are mostly gravel and sand, open sewers are visible, and women are not allowed. Dodging security guards, I was able to visit a few dormitories sprawled across the barren land and briefly speak with the laborers.
Up to 12 workers share a room furnished with bunk beds designed for two persons. All their belongings are stored above or below their beds as there is no other storage space. At meal times there is not enough room for them all to dine together, on the floor, so they take turns; four at a time. A meal consists typically of chilies, onions, tomatoes and bread.
They have a common kitchen where they do their own cooking in soiled pans, not even leaving enough room for them to be able to have their meals together at one time. They toil under the scorching sun and high humidity, which are characteristic of the desert state most of the year.
The construction buzz is inescapable, pervading all parts of the city. You see the workers covering their heads with cloth and many say they have to take salt tablets in order to prevent dehydration.
“In the heat, it is very, very tough to work. Some people faint," said a worker from Pakistan.
Another man from Nepal said, "I paid 5,000 dirhams to come here. The agent promised good facilities and good work but he lied.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the workers say that their passports, with no exceptions, are taken away by agencies as soon as they arrive and they cannot leave even if they want to.
Moreover, it is illegal for immigrant workers to go on a strike. They said that they are usually paid on time but the salaries they receive only suffice to send back home. Most of them work more than eight hours a day, six days a week.
Some workers reported not being paid for months at a stretch. Cases of suicide by unpaid workers who are the sole breadwinners of their families back home have also been reported.
“Ranver hasn't been paid in nine months by his construction firm, but the Indian worker fears he could be deported if he complains to Dubai authorities as he also works illegally on the side," an article published in the Daily Times by a Pakistani reporter says. "His plight is shared by many of the tens of thousands of labourers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, lured by promises of jobs in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.”
Ellis goes further to say:“Millions of impoverished Sri Lankans, Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Africans, working up to 80-hour-plus weeks, have built this gleaming oasis. With their passports seized as insurance, these bonded workers toil for about $US8 ($A9) a day. It is almost as if Dubai's employers have scanned the world and zeroed in on the poorest 20 nations to staff their projects. Promised riches but paid salaries well below the poverty line, they've been found jobs by unscrupulous middlemen charitably described as "employment agencies" who wouldn't have been out of place in 1780s Atlanta.” source
