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ADVICE FROM OUR PROPHET (SAAS) REGARDING FASTING, BROTHERHOOD AND PROPER MORAL VALUES DURING RAMADAN | ||||
Believer's Love For One Another - I Love is one of the greatest blessings Allah has bestowed on humanity. Allah has created human nature in such a way that a person will take pleasure from loving and being loved, from friendship and from intimacy. Being with people who live by the moral values of the Qur'an, enjoying love and friendship with them, brings a believer greater pleasure than many other blessings. Therefore, the Paradise that Allah has promised to His servants whom He loves and with whom He is well pleased is a place of extraordinary beauty in which true love, friendship and intimacy will be experienced with enormous joy for ever. The information Allah provides about the life of Paradise in the Qur'an, always refers to joy, friendship, love, conversation, pleasing words and peace. Everything that might prove an obstacle to love and friendship has been kept far removed from the people of Paradise. In one verse, for example, Allah has revealed that He will strip away any rancour in the hearts of the companions of Paradise (Surat al-A'raf, 43). All vices that might represent an obstacle to love and friendship, such as jealousy, enmity, rivalry, anger, discord and touchiness, will be excluded from Paradise. One of the main characteristics of Muslims, who have been given the glad tidings of Paradise, is that they love all Muslims who abide by Allah's messengers, prophets and approval, in this world too. This bond of love and friendship between believers is revealed in these terms in the Qur'an: Your friend is only Allah and His Messenger and those who believe: those who perform prayer and give the alms, and bow. (Surat al-Ma'ida, 55) The faithful feel a closeness to all devout believers who strive to earn Allah's approval, and adopt them as their friends and guardians. They take great pleasure from being with them under all conditions. They are bound to all Muslims with great loyalty and devotion. This love is not based on any interest, or lineage or race. Money, rank, culture or material values are of no importance to them. They approve of the people of whom they expect Allah to approve; devout believers on the path of Allah are some of His most beloved servants. For that reason, believers also have great love and consideration for one another. Many verses of the Qur'an refer to the love, attachment, compassion and consideration that believers have for one another. Some of these verses read: Hold fast to the rope of Allah all together, and do not separate. Remember Allah's blessing to you when you were enemies and He joined your hearts together so that you became brothers by His blessing. You were on the very brink of a pit of the Fire and He rescued you from it. In this way Allah makes His Signs clear to you, so that hopefully you will be guided. (Surah al 'Imran, 103) The believers are brothers, so make peace between your brothers and heed Allah so that hopefully you will gain mercy. (Surat al-Hujurat, 10) Allah loves those who fight in His Way in ranks like well-built walls. (Surat as-Saff, 4) In another verse Allah reveals this love among believers thus: Those who were already settled in the abode [Madina], and in faith, before they came, love those who have migrated to them and do not find in their hearts any need for what they have been given and prefer them to themselves even if they themselves are needy. It is the people who are safe-guarded from the avarice of their own selves who are successful. (Surat al-Hashr, 9) Believers regard all the faithful as their brothers. They do not hesitate to make any sacrifice for the good of another believer or to ensure his or her comfort. This conception of love possessed by believers can only be acquired through faith and living by the moral values of the Qur'an. Allah reveals in one verse that He will bestow love on those who believe and do devout works: As for those who believe and do right actions, the All-Merciful will bestow His love on them. (Surah Maryam, 96) Our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has expressed the importance of love and the superior nature of believers who live by true love in one of his hadiths:
The true source of this love that believers have for one another is their deep love of Allah. Believers whose purpose in the life of this world is to attain the approval, mercy and Paradise of Allah spend their entire lives for Him. As is revealed in the verse "Say: 'My prayer and my rites, my living and my dying, are for Allah alone, the Lord of all the worlds,'" (Surat al-An'am, 162) they aim at attaining His approval in their every deed, in all their behaviour. The love of believers, who devote all they have to attaining the good pleasure of Allah, is again for Allah alone. The love of Allah of a believer who knows Allah by all His names, who witnesses His might and greatness at every moment, who feels His mercy, love and compassion throughout his life, is incomparably greater than any other love. Believers' love for other believers is similarly powerful and deep because it is based on the love of Allah, and they love in order to attain the approval of Allah. Another reason why this love is strong and permanent is because they know that the friendship with the faithful will last for ever in the Hereafter. In the Qur'an Allah has given the moral values of the Prophet Yahya (peace be upon him) as an example of this sensitivity of believers regarding love: [We said:] "Yahya, take hold of the Book with vigour." We gave him judgement while still a child, and affection and purity from Us—he guarded against evil... (Surah Maryam, 12-13) In the hadiths, our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has recalled that the love believers feel for one another is for the approval of Allah:
Believers who have great love of Allah, fear Allah, and make sincere endeavours so that He might approve of them, are auspicious individuals who bring beauty to the world. Due to these superior moral values, they also love the things that Allah has created, feel affection and compassion for them, and wish to protect them and bring them goodness and beauty. Allah has given the glad tidings that in return for this pleasing love stemming from the faith in believers' hearts and their fear of Allah, and for their sincere loyalty to Him, He will reward them with Paradise, the most beautiful sphere of love and faithfulness. It is an important religious observance for the faithful to remind one another of the importance of loving Allah and believers. Every believer must strive to live by the love to be experienced in Paradise while still in this world, and they must bind themselves to Allah, our only friend and guardian, and to other believers, with love and devotion. | ||||
EXAMPLES TO LIVING FOSSILS: | ||||
HORNBEAM AND ELM LEAVES
Age: 54 to 37 years old Size: Matrix: 31 centimeters (12.2 in) by 18 centimeters (7 in) Location: British Columbia Formation: Cache Creek Formation Period: Eocene
The fossil record shows that all plant species have survived from the beginning of their existence without the slightest change. If a living organism retains the same characteristics for millions of years, then obviously it did not evolve; but was created. One proof of this fact can be seen in the 54- to 37-million-year-old fossils of hornbeam and elm leaves pictured here.
DAWN REDWOOD FROND AND CONE
Age: 50 to 45 million years old Size: Cone: 15 millimeters (0.6 in), stem: 11 centimeters(4.3 in) and frond 27 millimeters (1 in) ; matrix: 145 millimeters (5.7in) by 11 centimeters (4.3 in) Location: British Columbia Formation: Tranquille Shale, Cache Creek, British Columbia Period: Lower Middle Eocene
This 50- to 45- million-year-old redwood cone is proof that plants did not undergo a process of evolution. Redwoods that grew millions of years ago are the same as those growing today. This shows that living species did not evolve. | ||||
THE NAMES OF ALLAH: | ||||
As for those who repent and put things right and make things clear. I turn towards them. I am the Receiver of Repentance, the Most Merciful. (Qur'an, 2: 160) Man's soul is prone to make mistakes at any time, commit sins and fall into temptation. He also has an enemy, Satan, who constantly tries to get him to rebel against Allah and whispers him anxieties. Allah, however, has shown man a means whereby he can rectify his mistakes: Repentance… As we have already seen, anyone can make a mistake at any time, commit a sin or fall a prey to satan's whisperings. Yet no matter how terrible a person's mistake, there is always a way back. Allah accepts His servants' sincere repentance and forgives them. For that reason, it is never right to fall a prey to despair, no matter what one has done in the past. | ||||
THE EVOLUTION DECEIT: | ||||
The kidneys constantly cleanse the blood flowing through the body. They send back some of the substances they filter to be re-used at a later date, and secrete useless and harmful substances from the body. How are the kidneys able to make these chemical distinctions? How can they differentiate between protein, urea, sodium, glucose and other substances? In the kidneys, structures known as "glomerules" formed from capillary vessels decide what is to be retained and what gotten rid of. How can a structure of flesh decide how much of one substance is to be expelled and how much to be kept? Could it be blind coincidence—or did unconscious atoms, which have never received any training in chemistry, physics or biology, form this selective attribute of the kidneys? Of course not! All these are some further proofs of God's flawless creation. It Is Erroneous to Claim that the Kidneys Came into Being by Chance Only 5 to -7 centimeters in size, the kidney works silently, unceasingly, without ever making its presence felt and without ever needing any maintenance. It controls the quality of the blood, orders blood cells to be produced, regulates the amount of water in the blood, and cleanses it by operating 2.4 million filtration units ideally suited to the body's needs. In fact, it keeps on working to ensure the survival of the body throughout our daily lives without setting aside just one specific time for work. A dialysis machine is the size of an average refrigerator, runs on electricity, is noisy, wears out in 3 to 4 years, requires constant maintenance. It needs constant circulation of blood in the event of a patient's kidney failure, whose blood cannot be cleansed in the body. The machine is operated by expert doctors and technicians in sterile hospital conditions. All patients' blood pressure drops enormously when they are attached to the machine. They become breathless and start trembling. Bleeding is frequent and occurs easily; muscular cramps often arise. But the dialysis machine is merely a simple filter. Since it cleanses the blood only crudely, tests need to be run on the patient and those substances that are lacking have to be replaced. Patients are attached to the machine for five hours, three days a week, during which time they are unable to move. It is totally illogical for those who know that a dialysis machine cannot have come into being by chance to claim that the kidneys—which are so far superior to it—could have done so. | ||||
THE SIGNS LEADING TO FAITH : | ||||
Super Regulators: Enzymes No one can count the number of processes carried out in living things in a single second. They are so detailed that every stage requires the intervention of "super regulators" that can control all of the complexity involved, provide the order in which they take place, and accelerate events. Each of the thousands of super regulators, known as enzymes, serves a specific purpose, such as helping DNA to replicate itself, breaking down foodstuffs, creating energy from food, bringing about molecular chains from simple molecules, and so on. They also maintain the order within a living being's body. Enzymes are produced by the mitochondria located within the cell. Their larger regions consist of proteins, whereas the rest consist of vitamins and vitamin-like substances. If these enzymes did not exist, the body could not function. At the least, the body's functions would slow down almost to the stopping point. In either case, the person would die due to his or her inability to breathe, eat, digest, or speak. In short, life as we know it would be impossible. The enzymes' most important task is to initiate, halt, and accelerate various chemical reactions in the body. As the cells carry out their functions, the chemicals within them undergo certain reactions that require the presence of high temperatures to get started. But such high temperatures threaten and even kill cells. This is where enzymes become essential. Enzymes, which undergo no chemical reactions themselves, initiate or accelerate chemical reactions without the need for high temperatures. For instance, the enzyme that cleans the carbon dioxide from our blood enables us to stay alive without suffocating. Known as "carbonic anhydrase," it speeds up the carbon dioxide cleansing process by 10 million times. (Prof. Dr. Engin Gozukara, Biyokimya (Biochemistry), 3d ed. (Istanbul: Nobel Tip Bookstores: 1997), 579-80) At this speed, enzymes cause changes in 36 million molecules a minute. ("Enzymes." Online at: www.mrothery.co.uk/enzymes/enzymep.htm ) Although a person is unaware of what is going on in his body, enzymes are both aware and make the most essential and timely interventions into all these processes. Moreover, every enzyme accelerates specific chemical reactions inside the body without any mistake, for each enzyme has been specially produced for its own task. For example, although many enzymes are effective in neutral liquid environments, those enzymes charged with digesting foodstuffs in the stomach can operate only in acidic environments. As every rational person knows, enzymes cannot think, do not possess will power, and cannot take decisions. Therefore, how can they be aware of another organ's features or produce formulae? Clearly, only God, the Lord of the Worlds, creates the enzymes and their superior properties. With this flawless functioning in their own bodies, God shows people the infinite nature of His might and knowledge. | ||||
BOOK OF THE DAY: | ||||
Basic Tenets of Islam In this book, we will explore the subject of courage, an important part of sublime morality of Islam. We will explain the true meaning of courage, as defined in the Qur'an, and, at the same time, examine how it is often misunderstood. We will compare the type of courage outlined in the Qur'an with this misinterpreted conception. Later, we will look at examples of the evil type of courage to which Satan incites people. Finally, we will offer examples of the courage of the prophets, and of pious believers, as recounted in the Qur'an.
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SITE OF THE DAY: | ||||
PERISHED NATIONS . COM This site explores some nations which were destroyed due to their rebellion against Allah and their denial of His prophets. The purpose of the site is to reveal the manifestations of the Qur'anic verses which give an account of these events and prove once more that the Qur'an is the word of Allah. Besides, it is also intended that all these incidents, each of which is an "example to their own time", can serve as a "warning". |