For the dead hearts…

A much needed reminder:

Part of a lecture from Sheikh Saalih Al-Maghams, Imam of Masjid Quba in Medina.

Translated by youtube user “beautifulpatience”
Embedded from youtube user Allibadah2Allah

Niqab Legislation in France- thoughts….

Effective last Monday, France’s ban on publicly wearing niqab went into full effect, with violators liable to fines of 216 dollars. The legislation was met with a protest Monday morning, as several women stood in front of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral donning niqab’s. The protest, at least from what I can gather, appeared small in scope and was swiftly brought to a halt as French police detained two women for taking part in what was designated an “unauthorized protest.” Reports continued to be released Tuesday that more people had taken to the streets in protest, with a number of women donning niqab’s in solidarity.

Western Muslims & Human Rights: An Alternative Framework?

A Man, His Land, and Chemistry

So easy that the wonder goes out of work, so efficient that the wonder goes out of land and the working of it, and with the wonder the deep understanding and the relation. And in the tractor man there grows the contempt that comes only to a stranger who has little understanding and no relation. For nitrates are not the land, nor phosphates; and the length of fiber in the cotton is not the land. Carbon is not a man, nor salt nor water nor calcium. He is all these, but he is much more, much more; and the land is so much more than its analysis.

The man who is more than his chemistry, walking on the earth, turning his plow point for a stone, dropping his handles to slide over an outcropping, kneeling in the earth to eat his lunch; that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis. But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land.   -John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Indignation: Its all the rage

I’ll admit it: part of me wrote this post because I found the title catchy. Can you blame me?

But beyond that, I was reminded of an incident between myself and an acquaintance in the not-too-distant past.

Haiti earthquake anniversary highlights faltering aid effort

As with most catastrophes, the moment coverage of it begins to wane, so too does our concern for the affected.  For Muslims, this ubiquitous dynamic can only be described as endemic of a much larger problem facing society, that being the manner in which the media informs our opinions, and in doing so, shapes our lives.

One such event that captivated most of the world not too long ago was the Haitian earthquake of 2010.  Roughly a quarter of a million people were killed, and reports are now coming out that relief efforts, equipped with literally billions of dollars flowing in from across the globe, have done little to alleviate the suffering of the Hatian people.  Today, hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain in relief encampments with little progress on the reconstruction front.  Toppled homes, buildings, and infrastructure remain as they were in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.  Such despondency is not only tragic, but downright criminal.

I cant honestly claim to continuously spend my days contemplating about the plights being suffered by those less fortunate, and more times than not, my attention is dictated by the media coverage as well, so its difficult for me to play sanctimonious.  But I figure the least I can do is help raise awareness, and in that vein, I’ve linked two articles below as well as a link to Islamic Reliefs website for donating to Haiti.  May Allah guide us to what pleases Him and allow us to live lives in His obedience.  Ameen.

By Alice Speri Alice Speri – Tue Jan 11, 6:46 pm ET
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – For more than six weeks last fall, a brand new obstetrics hospital remained empty and closed, its Ikea furniture still wrapped in plastic, a reminder of how far Port-au-Prince had to go to recover from the Haiti earthquake.

Meanwhile across the street, a camp with 1,500 families had no access to medical care beyond occasional visits by the Haitian Red Cross. The hospital, commissioned by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has since partially opened.

But questions remain about why the project in the neighborhood of Delmas 33 was delayed by the government, a symbol of the bureaucracy that has stood in the way of many of the projects run by the more than 900 NGOs that descended on Haiti after last January’s earthquake, which killed 230,000 people and left 2 million homeless.  Continue reading here….

Article 2:

One year after a devastating earthquake toppled homes and killed roughly 250,000 people in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country is still reeling from the devastation.

As Reuters reports, despite billions of dollars of donations and aid pledges from some of the world’s most powerful leaders, a 12,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping presence and an army of relief workers, the debris that clogs much of the city and a million homeless people living in tents are blunt testimony to the unfinished recovery task. Meanwhile, the nation’s cholera epidemic, which began this past fall, continues to run rampant. Continue reading here…. 

Islamic Relief work continues in Haiti

Symptoms of Weak Faith

Disclaimer: There was no author listed for this article, but I hope it is a beneficial read nonetheless (and Allah knows best).  The article is available via: http://islaam.net/main/display.php?id=1101&category=75

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A hard hearted person remains indifferent when he does not perform some good deeds and misses those times of worship that have more reward in them. A person with a sick heart does not react to the needs of Muslims by making supplications, giving charity, or offering assistance. He does not care if his brothers and sisters are afflicted by a hardship in any part of the world such as being overwhelmed by the enemy, being persecuted, or being stricken by disasters. A believer feels pain for the believers, just as the body feels distress over what is troubling the head. A believer sees his sins as if he were sitting under a mountain, fearing it might fall upon him, while a sinner sees his sins as a fly passing over his nose, so he gets rid of it with his hand. A person sick at heart belittles small deeds of righteousness. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Do not belittle any small act of kindness even if it is to pour water from your bucket into the vessel of the one who asks for it or to talk to your brother with a cheerful face.” and “One who removes a stone from the way has a good deed written for him, and one for whom a good deed is written shall enter Paradise.” Although this article uses ‘he’ in discussing symptoms, it applies to both Muslim male and female and to other peoples.

1. Commits Sins
2. Heart is Hardened
3. Performs Acts of Worship Poorly
4. Lack of Tranquility
5. The Qur’ân Has No Effect Upon Him/Her
6. Negligent in Remembering Allah
7. Shows Indifference when Commandments of Allah are Violated
8. Loves Gatherings and Talking
9. Arrogance
10. Stinginess and Greed
11. Falls into Doubtful Matters
12. Belittles Good Deeds
13. Does Not Care About the Affairs of Muslims
14. Deprived of the Friendship of Brothers
15. Shows Grief and Fear When Afflicted by a Hardship
16. Disputes and Argues Unnecessarily
17. Attachment to Worldly Life
18. Lacks the Etiquette of the Qur’ân and Sunnah

The Responsibility of Government

For years, the harms associated with cigarette smoking have been well known, and over time, society has responded with measures intended to dissuade cigarette smoking and inoculate the general public from its corrosive effects.  It began with restrictions on marketing cigarettes to teens, then included restrictions on the types of advertising mediums tobacco companies were allowed to utilize, and over time has come to include substantial taxation on a single pack of cigarettes and surgeon general warnings on cigarette packs.  More recently, the FDA has been considering the addition of ‘shock photos’– graphic images depicting the damages of smoking to further discourage cigarette smoking.

New Series: Riyad As-Saliheen

Post 1 from Muslimmatters:

http://muslimmatters.org/2010/11/18/riyadh-as-saliheen-series-hadith-1-reward-for-intentions/

Saudi Arabia less rigid with Muslims during haj

By Ulf Laessing Ulf Laessing – Thu Nov 18, 6:17 am ETMECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters Life!) – Saudi Arabia’s religious police keep such a low profile during the haj, it’s hard to imagine that you are in Islam’s holiest city.

The kingdom, where Islam first emerged around 1,400 years ago, applies a strict form of Sunni Islamic sharia law that imposes gender segregation, forces shops to close during prayer times and prohibits women from driving.

But in Mecca, the enforcement of many of these rules is relaxed during the haj, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim. And with the government investing billion of dollars in recent years to make pilgrimage safer and more comfortable, many pilgrims end up going home as goodwill ambassadors for the country.

“We have to thank Saudi Arabia for their services. It’s getting better and better every year,” said Ritha Naji, a U.S. pilgrim performing a “stoning of the devil” rite that has been the scene of numerous deadly crushes in recent years.

The Grand Mosque, home to the Kaaba shrine which Muslims around the world turn to in prayer every day, is the only place in the desert kingdom where women and men can pray together.