And the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with
depravity or taqwa, he who purifies it has succeeded, he who
covers it up has failed.
(Surat ash-Shams: 7-10)
When a good deed becomes a source of pleasure for you and an
evil deed becomes a source of disgust for you,
then you are a believer.
(Tirmidhi)
COMBUSTION WITHOUT FIRE
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The metaphor of His Light is that of a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass like a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light upon Light. Allah guides to His Light whoever He wills and Allah makes metaphors for mankind and Allah has knowledge of all things. (Qur'an, 24:35)
This verse refers to something that emits light. This light-emitting entity is compared to a star. The fact that the fuel used by this star-like, light-emitting body belongs to neither East nor West may be an indication that the body has no physical dimensions. If one assumes that the fuel source is in an energy dimension, then it is very likely that the fuel in the verse refers to electrical energy, and the light-emitting body to a light bulb.
A bulb is a body which shines like a star and emits light, inside glass, and that is in full conformity with the description in the verse. Unlike oil lamps and gas lamps, light bulbs do not burn oil, and, in line with the description supplied in the verse, combustion without fire takes place inside it. As a result of the vibration among the atoms of the heat-resistant tungsten wire, the temperature inside the bulb rises to over 2,000 Centigrade. This temperature, which would melt other metals, is so high that it gives rise to a powerful, visible light. Despite that heat, however, no combustion takes place, again in line with the verse, since the bulb contains no oxygen. In addition, the filament inside the bulb closely resembles a bright star.
If we bear in mind the fact that electricity is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the world, and that it lights just about the entire world by means of bulbs, then we may well assume that the verse may be pointing to this major discovery. (Allah knows best.)
Another explanation could be that the light is emitted as a result of the nuclear reaction in stars. Stars are bright, hot, rotating masses of gas which emit large quantities of light and heat as a result of nuclear reactions. Most newly-forming large stars begin to collapse under the weight of their own gravitational pull. That means that their centres are hotter and denser. When the matter in the centre of the star is sufficiently heated—when it reaches at least 10 million degrees Centigrade—nuclear reactions begin. (Digitale Ausgabe LexiRom (Digital Expenditure LexiRom))
What happens inside a star is that with enormous energy (fusion), hydrogen turns into helium. Nuclear fusion takes the particles that make up hydrogen and sticks them together to make helium (1 helium atom is made from 4 hydrogen atoms). In order to make the protons and neutrons in the helium stick together, the atom gives off tremendous energy. The energy released in the process is radiated from the surface of the star as light and heat. When the hydrogen is consumed, the star then begins to burn with helium, in exactly the same way, and heavier elements are formed. These reactions continue until the mass of the star has been consumed.
However, since oxygen is not used in these reactions inside stars, the result is not ordinary combustion, such as that takes place when burning a piece of wood. The combustion seen as giant flames in stars does not actually derive from fire. Indeed, burning of just this kind is described in the verse. If one also thinks that the verse refers to a star, its fuel and combustion without fire, then one can also think that it is referring to the emission of light and mode of combustion in stars. (Allah knows best.)
| THE END TIMES AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE MAHDI |
SIGNS OF THE MAHDI'S EMERGENCE:
The situation before the Mahdi's emergence
• A person's own voice will speak to him. (Mukhtasar Tazkirah Qurtubi)
The message in the hadith is quite clear: A person's hearing the sound of his own voice is another sign of the end times. There is no doubt that in order to hear the sound of one's one voice, one first needs to record it, and then to play it back to himself. Sound recording and reproduction equipment are products of the twentieth century. That development marked a scientific turning point, and led to the birth of the communications and media industries. Sound reproduction is nearly perfect now, thanks to computer and laser technologies.
In short, the electronic gadgets of our time, microphones and speakers, allow us to record sound and play it back, and are also manifestations of that related in the above hadith.
• A hand will be extended from the sky, and people will look and see it. (Ibn Hajar Haytahami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 53)
The sign of that day is a hand extended in the sky and people stopping to look at it. (Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir al-zaman, p. 69)
The Arabic word for 'hand' in the above hadiths is 'yed.' As well as 'hand,' the dictionary also provides such meanings as 'power, force, strength, means etc.' It is probable that in these hadiths the word is used in those senses.
The idea of a 'power, force, strength or means' extending from the sky and looked upon by people might not make much sense in the context of past ages. Yet, it sheds considerable light on equipment such as the television, camera and computer, which have become such indispensable parts of modern life, as described in the hadiths. In other words, the 'hand' mentioned in these hadiths is used in the sense of force. It clearly points to pictures coming down from the sky in waves, in other words television broadcasting.
• Life spans will grow longer. (Ibn Hajar Haytahami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 43)
Fourteen centuries have passed since the Prophet (saas) brought forward that news. The average expected lifespan is much higher now than it has been at any other time in recent history. A great difference can be seen even between the figures for the beginning and the end of the twentieth century. For instance, it is estimated that a baby born in 1995 will live some 35 years longer than one born around 1900. Another striking example on the same subject is that in the recent past very few people lived to be 100, whereas now it is a great deal more common.
DARWINISM IS THE IDEOLOGICAL BASIS OF SATANISM
The Secret Life of a Satanist is the biography of Anton LaVey. |
Satanism is a perverted ideology that makes violence and savagery a ritual in its creed. Satanists, who describe themselves as such, make deeds of inhumanity and brutality into acts of worship.
When the word Satanism is mentioned most people think merely of its widespread psychological influence on young people, and regard it as a kind of insignificant mystical movement. Also, due to the influence of the media, they may think of Satanists as performing strange rituals, much unlike what ordinary and well-balanced people would otherwise do. It is true that Satanists are part of a culture of violence and perform strange and horrible rites, yet, what most people fail to see is that Satanism is a materialist and atheist ideology that supports violence and which dates back to the 1800s. Furthermore, the ideology has a large number of followers throughout the world.
The fundamental principle of Satanism is that it rejects all religious values, takes the Devil as its deity, and claims that hell is a kind of salvation. According to the belief of Satanism, people have no responsibilities, apart from that of following their own desires. If his desires lead a person to anger, hatred, revenge, deceit, theft, the harming others or even murder, then that is acceptable.
One of the most common ways Satanists use to describe themselves, in their books, magazines and publications, as well as their websites, is to regard man as a "kind of developed animal," and to maintain that "only the fittest can survive." This is the most important piece of evidence to corroborate that Darwinism lies at the very root of the Satanists' beliefs. In fact, many Satanists do not hesitate to admit the fact. In A Description of Satanism, a Satanist writer describes the ideology in these terms:
…First of all, Humans are social animals... all people and animals share a common source in mere biology. Satanism is the belief that Humans are nothing more than higher animals-we have no special place in creation other than being lucky to have evolved and survived…1
It is clear from the preceding that Satanism regards Darwin's theory, that human beings evolved from animals, as the source of its own ideological "awareness."
Social Darwinism, which lies at the heart of all these deviant ideologies, is defended by Satanists as follows:
The principle of the survival of the strong is advocated on all levels of society, from allowing an individual to stand or fall, to even letting those nations that cannot handle themselves take the consequences of this inability… There would be a concomitant reduction in the world's population as the weak are allowed to experience the consequences of social Darwinism. Thus has nature always acted to cleanse and strengthen her children… We embrace reality and do not try to transform it into some utopia that is contrary to the very fabric of existence.2 
Satan Speaks and The Devil's Notebook by Anton LaVey reveal the Satanists' deviant beliefs. |
Another expression of the Satanists' attachment to Social Darwinism is their fierce support for the theory of eugenics, itself the product of fascism. The theory of eugenics maintained that the sick and the crippled ought to be eliminated from society, and the number of healthy individuals increased through breeding. The theory was most prominently implemented in Nazi Germany. According to the theory of eugenics, in the same way that healthy animal stock is bred by mating healthy species, by this way a race of humans also be improved. Those elements obstructing such improvement (the sick, crippled, mentally handicapped etc.) need to be eradicated. When this line of thinking was adopted in Nazi Germany, tens of thousands of people with genetic and mental diseases were slaughtered ruthlessly.
Satanism is also in favor of the same terrible mercilessness. Their own publications reveal their view on eugenics:
Satanists also seek to enhance the laws of nature by concentrating on fostering the practice of eugenics… It is the practice of encouraging people of talent and ability to reproduce, to enrich the gene pool from which our species can grow. This was commonly practiced throughout the world… Until the genetic code is cracked and we can choose the character of our offspring at will, Satanists seek to mate the best with the best.3
The claim that man is a species of animal, on which Satanism is founded, is utter nonsense. Mankind did not come into being as the result of blind chance. The Creator of mankind, and of the order and splendor of the entire universe, is the infinitely powerful, superior and All-Wise Allah, Who has no weaknesses of any kind. He created man with the ability to think and reason, to distinguish between right and wrong, and also with a responsibility towards his Creator. Just as each individual's ego direct him towards evil, so his conscience protects him from it, and commands him to turn away from it.
It is man's duty to listen to the voice of his conscience, not to his ego and adopt the kind of morality that is pleasing to Allah. That morality will not only allow the individual concerned, and the society in which he lives, to enjoy a peaceful and secure existence, but will also, by the will of Allah, lead to the sublimest reward in the Hereafter.
One important fact that must not be lost sight of is that the life Satan offers, which he dresses up to appear so very attractive, is mere deception. Satan may make all kinds of promises about the possibilities of the life of this world, and may try to turn people away form the true path, yet, it must not be forgotten that the road he beckons man to follow will only lead to ultimate destruction for those who take it. That is because Satan and his followers have already been defeated. As Allah explains in a verse:
… What they call on is an arrogant Satan whom Allah has cursed. He said, "I will take a certain fixed proportion of Your servants. I will lead them astray and fill them with false hopes. I will command them and they will cut off cattle's ears. I will command them and they will change Allah's creation." Anyone who takes the Devil as his protector in place of Allah has clearly lost everything. (Surat an-Nisa’, 117-119)
1 Vexen Crabtree, A Description of Satanism, (http://simon.crabtree.com/satanism/modern.html)
2 Magister Peter Gilmore, Satanism the Feared Religion, (http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Feared.html)
3 Magister Peter Gilmore, Satanism the Feared Religion, (http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Feared.html)
| THE MUSLIM WAY OF SPEAKING |
NOT TALKING BEHIND OTHERS' BACKS OR GOSSIPING
Instead of telling others about their faults and defects to their faces, people of low morality talk instead behind their backs. These people have no desire of leading others in a better way, or of helping them to correct their ways. They plunge into gossip for mundane purposes, such as to pass the time, to degrade the reputation of those they dislike, to belittle and mock them, or to glorify themselves at the expense of others. This vile behavior is so widespread amongst certain groups of people that they have made gossip a form of entertainment, or even a normal way of life by which they are even found to earn a living.
In our time, and in several countries around the world, a great number of newspapers and magazines are published, and television shows produced for the sole purpose of spreading gossip. Publications and broadcasts of this type aim to justify this form of deviance, otherwise known as gossip, and present is as socially acceptable.
In fact, these people are contradicting themselves, because, though they enjoy gossiping about others, when they find themselves in the same situation, they then realize how despicable this behavior is. But, in spite of this, they do not stop gossiping, so long as they themselves are not exposed. When they meet one whom they had been criticizing just a few minutes earlier, as if nothing had happened, they continue their phony friendship, speaking with them insincerely. Moreover, this behavior contributes to a vicious circle; two people get together and gossip about a third, then one of these people gossips with the third person about the other, and later the other two people come together and gossip about the absentee. Nobody points out to anyone else that gossip is wrong, on the contrary, they maintain that it is harmless, that it adds color to life and provides entertainment to themselves.
Allah notifies people through the Qur'an of the incorrectness of this behavior; in a verse of the Qur'an, Allah tells us that the gossip of people behind one another's backs is just as repugnant as "a person eating his brother's dead flesh":
You who believe! Avoid most suspicion. Indeed some suspicion is a crime. And do not spy and do not backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat his brother's dead flesh? No, you would hate it. And heed Allah. Allah is Ever-Returning, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Hujurat: 12)
In another verse, Allah explains in following manner the recompense received in the afterlife by those claiming that gossip is entertaining and try to excuse it as acceptable:
Woe to every faultfinding backbiter. (Surat al-Humaza: 1)
No indeed! He will be flung into the Shatterer. And what will convey to you what the Shatterer is? The kindled Fire of Allah reaching right into the heart. It is sealed in above them in towering columns. (Surat al-Humaza: 4-9)
This way of speaking by those who are far from the morality of the Qur'an is not to be found amongst the faithful. The faithful, knowing that Allah listens in on every conversation everywhere, studiously refrain from uttering a word which they know He will find spiteful, because a word uttered in another's absence is of no use either to that person or to the one who speaks it. Though in this manner other persons' defects may be analyzed or revealed, because they do not know about it, it is impossible for them to make any alteration in their behavior. So long as these defects are not explained to the related persons, and they do not recognize them for themselves, there is no possibility of them correcting them. Because of this, the faithful pass on to each other all their opinions, positive or negative, about one another, without reluctance. They know that true friendship and sincerity are dependent upon it, and that explaining faults to a person they like is not doing him or her harm but good. Their aim is to lead one another to a better, finer and purer morality.
This is a requirement of Allah as set out in the Qur'an: “enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong."
AL-FASIL
He Who Distinguishes (in the best way)
As for those who believe and those who are Jews, Sabaeans, Christians, Magians, and associaters, Allah will distinguish between them on the Day of Rising. Allah is witness of all things. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:17)
Some people seek mundane goals all their lives. Forgetting about the Hereafter, they strive for those goals they deem to be good. While doing this, however, they forget their real responsibility: to serve Allah. In order to please and thereby to earn the good pleasure of the deities they associate with Allah, they put forth a lot of effort and think that they benefit themselves and others.
Some people, on the other hand, devote their lives to Allah by using all of the means and blessings He grants them to earn His good pleasure. They seek to attain the straight path, please Allah, and display the moral excellence He demands from His servants.
The Qur’an states that the situation of these two people will not be the same, as follows:
The blind and seeing are not the same, nor are darkness and light, nor are cool shade and fierce heat. The living and dead are not the same. Allah makes anyone He wills hear, but you cannot make those in the grave hear. (Surah Fatir, 35:19-22)
On the Day of Judgment, Allah will distinguish between these people who adhere to differing paths and make them aware of their situation. On that Day, everyone will be fully repaid for what they did, and He will manifest His infinite justice:
On the Day of Rising, your Lord will decide between them regarding everything about which they differed. (Surat as-Sajda, 32:25)
SHOULD THOSE WHO KNOW THE RELIGION INFORM OTHERS, OR CAN THEY KEEP IT TO THEMSELVES?
Everyone who learns about the religion is responsible to convey its message to others. In the verse "Let there be a community among you who calls to the good, enjoins the right, and forbids the wrong. They are the ones who have success" (Surah Al `Imran, 104) Allah informs the believers of this duty. Therefore, they must strive to persuade others to live by the religion, as well as live in compliance with the Qur’an’s morals and perform acts of worship throughout their lives.
The Qur’an points out performing this task is an important attribute of believers, as follows:
The male and female believers are friends of one another. They command what is right and forbid what is wrong, establish prayer and give alms, and obey Allah and His Messenger. They are the people on whom Allah will have mercy. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat at-Tawba, 71)
(For further reference, please see, Quick Grasp of Faith
1,
2,
3 by Harun Yahya)
THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAAS)
By Harun Yahya
People today, and the young in particular, take many individuals as role models, imitate the way they behave, speak and dress, and try to be like them. Yet, since the great majority of these people are not on the right road themselves, they lack proper morality and attitudes.
A Muslim needs to try to emulate the behavior and the morality of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), who was sent to mankind as the last prophet. He was a living example of the sublime morality of Allah’s last revelation. He was a friend of Allah and inspired humanity by his nearness to Him. Allah confirms that in a verse:
You have an excellent model in the Messenger of Allah, for all who put their hope in Allah and the Last Day and remember Allah much. (Surat al-Ahzab: 21)
Although we have never seen the Prophet (saas), we can still do our very best to come to know his exemplary behaviour, his sayings and the pleasing morality he displayed, by means of the verses of the Qur’an and the hadiths. We can try to be like him, in order to be close to him in the Hereafter.
The aim in writing this book is to introduce various characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), by revealing his devotion, superior morality and noble character.
| THE RISE OF ISLAM During the last 20 years, the number of Muslims in the world has been increasing steadily. Statistics for the year 1973 indicate that the world population of Muslims was 500 million; now, it has reached 1.5 billion. Today, every fourth person is a Muslim.1 It is probable that the Muslim population will continue to increase and that Islam will become the world's largest religion. This site presents and evaluates these developments so that readers may appreciate their importance. On the one hand, this site will attempt to make believers more determined and resolved and, on the other hand, show the importance of telling everyone about Islamic morality. All of these developments have been revealed in the Qur'an: "When God's help and victory have arrived, and you have seen people entering God's religion in droves, then glorify your Lord's praise and ask His forgiveness" (Qur'an, 110: 2-3) and it is important to know that what this verse says will come true very soon. It is even happening now. God will indeed fulfill this promise. Therefore, believers must do whatever they can to take part in these developments. |
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