Islamic Revival

Question: On 16 December 2010, the media reported two matters for long-term consideration: the first being the visit of the Prime Minister of China to India with a large trade delegation, of around 300 business men. This visit has been accompanied with unusual warmth. The second matter is that of a trilateral deal between South Korea, China and Japan to establish a co-operative secretariat between the three countries. This is along with cooling of tensions between the two Koreas , with respect to mutual threat between the US and South Korea on one side and North Korea on the other, with tacit support from China to North Korea . What is the significant of these happenings? Answer:  To answer this question, we review the following: 1- Since the 1960s America has feared the emergence of China as a world power and has sought to restrict China ’s ambitions to regional matters. America has used a variety of issues to contain China ’s sphere of influence, and to keep her leadership ...

The Global balance of power has for long been the international relations model to asses the international situation. As 2010 draws to an end this would be an apt time to asses the current status of the world's superpower and the nations that compete with it. USA In 2010, the US worked to extricate itself from the Iraq and Afghan wars which depleted her resources and undermined her prowess. Troop levels became synonymous with success to the US public. The US attempted to pursue the same policy in Afghanistan as it did in Iraq, but found the conditions much different to the fertile ground it found in Iraq. 2010 saw the world's superpower consumed with attempting to disengage from foreign policy ambitions that were undertaken at the beginning of the 21st century. In Iraq the US established a political architecture which would protect the interests of the various factions, however the March 2010 election has resulted in a hung parliament and with ethno-sectarian differences so...

Question:  What is going on in the Ivory Coast? The second presidential elections were held on 28th November, 2010 and the Constitutional Council which supports the incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo declared him elected with 51.45% votes, while the Election Commission declared his rival Hassan Ouattara to be winner with 54.10% votes. The United States, the United Nations and the UN Security Council have meanwhile acknowledged the results declared by the Election Commission and Hassan Ouattara as the winner. President Laurent Gbagbo has rejected this and regards himself as the winner as declared by the Constitutional Council and insists on remaining in authority. The armed forces have supported him. Is this electoral rivalry tribal in origin or religious? Or is it political rivalry, if so which are the parties involved? And what solution is to be expected in this electoral crisis? Answer:  In response to these, we would present the following facts: 1: It is a well-kno...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Legislation in Islam is derived from the fixed sources of Quran and Sunnah. To decide the legislation of the issue of the working woman, one must return to these sources. Women working in public are generally and specifically permitted as long it is within the limits of the legislation found in the Quran and Sunnah. While in Islam it is maintained that the basic and fundamental role of the woman in Islam is in the home, fulfilling her duty as a wife and a mother. These duties and responsibilities require time and effort as being the primary responsibility of the woman. However, the woman's primary role as mother and housewife does not mean she is confined to this role and prevented from pursuing other activities. Rather this means that Allah swt created man and woman with different roles and responsibilities in life, thus women were created so that man may live with her in harmony and tranquility and have children with her. Allah swt says: وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Establish the Khilafah, even though Pakistan's traitor rulers hate it O officers of Pakistan's armed forces! You are leading the largest and most capable Muslim armed forces in the world. The Muslim armed forces alone have the material strength to establish the Khilafah. As such you are the successors of the noble Ansar, who gave the material support (Nussrah) to Sayyedenah Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم for the establishment of the Islamic state in Madinah. Moreover, you must move now to uproot Pakistan's traitor rulers. For even though the weaknesses of America and India are more evident than ever before, Pakistan's traitor rulers are racing to extend support to them, using the considerable resources of the Muslims to do so. O officers of Pakistan's armed forces! As for America, her economy is collapsing around her ears, yet America is afraid that her defeat in Afghanistan, known as the "graveyard of empires," would spell doom ...

Whenever Muslims engage themselves in a debate with non Muslim journalists and media outlets on free Speech, the conversation ends up with the Muslims being told that the only reason they are able to speak is because of the freedom of speech they are entitled to in democracies and that this is the reason they can be critical and disagree in the west. This whole argument is based upon a premise which assumes that the reason Muslims speak out against the injustices which they see around the world is because that they have the freedom to do so and for this reason Muslims should be grateful. This could not be further from the truth! The fact of the matter is that even before the birth of the concept of free speech in the west, Islam had given Muslims a concept more precious and worthwhile then free speech, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. Islam made an obligation upon Muslims to enjoin the good and to forbid the evil no matter where they lived and how big or small the goo...

The month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, holds many virtues. Fasting, charity and prayer hold additional values. Surely, the months provides a great opportunity to seek the inner strength that comes from the nearness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى for Muslims in general and dedicated dawa carriers in particular. The Virtues of Fasting in the Month of Muharram Muslim reported from Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "The best of fasts after the month of Ramadan are in the Month of Allah, which you call Muharram. And the best of prayer after the obligatory prayer is the night prayer." [Muslim, 1163] This refers to general voluntary fasts according to Imam Ibn Rajab (Allah have mercy on him): These are best in the month of Muharram, just as the best general voluntary prayer is night prayer. Fasting is a secret between the servant and his Lord. This is why Allah Mighty and Exalted says, [in th...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم This series will cover specific issues related to women, primarily Western women in the workforce and its tremendous effect on the family and social structure. It will highlight this sensitive subject and its effect on the working Muslim women today. The first part is the introduction and women’s work in the West. Introduction: Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the role of men and women was clearly defined in society. Each gender had clear specific expectations that men and women were expected to uphold and honor, resulting in a more cohesive society. Young women matured into the path of motherhood and wifehood likewise with young men males guided into fatherhood as the head of household. Men were expected to be the anchor in the home to feed, clothe, and shelter his family. However this structure changed during and after World War I yielding devastating results. Women’s Work in the West: As a result of World War I, ten million men were killed. There...

FBI Paid Ex-Con $177,000 to Entrap Muslims In exchange for paying informant Craig Monteilh $177,000 to infiltrate Muslim communities, the FBI got little to show, except for embarrassment. Monteilh, a convicted forger of banks notes, was hired by federal law enforcement to spy on Muslims in Southern California and, he says, entrap them on charges of terrorism. But the FBI didn’t rack up a lot of convictions from Monteilh’s handiwork. As a matter of fact, it was Monteilh who wound up being served—after his talk of violent jihad resulted in his fellow Mosque members filing a restraining order against him. Jerry Markon of the The Washington Post writes: “Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret FBI methods and charging that his ‘handlers’ trained him to entrap Muslims as he infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the FBI.” Euro faces major crisis, says Brown Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned that the euro is facing a ...

The word ‘extreme’ only takes on meaning when defined against some benchmark. ‘Extreme’ weather is a serious departure from a normal, expected climate; extremely hot or cold water is defined as such when compared against, say, lukewarm. The word is relative and defined in relation to some ‘norm’. Ideas are not different. So to the question - is the Caliphate an extreme ‘Islamic’ goal - Islam is the benchmark against which the Caliphate’s normality is measured. Is the Caliphate a serious departure from Islam, an outlier belief that represents an extreme from the norm of Islamic orthodoxy? There is of course an altogether different question posed by the west in which ‘extreme’ is measured not in relation to Islam, but to the west, or liberal secular democracy. That’s where on the rare occasion it is accompanied with some definition. In most cases, ‘extreme’ is not qualified and used simply to brand Islamic ideas as beyond the pale. To the first question, whether the Caliphate is e...

The fires roared through the Carmel forest near Haifa baring the frailty of the “great nation” often touted to the Arab countries. Israel known for its elite technology and vigilance demonstrated their incompetence to extinguish a small fire. It appealed to the international community for help. Sixteen nations came to the immediate aid of the “great nation” including Arab nations. This incident brings to light the great myths about Israel as a mighty nation among the weak Arab countries. International powers hail Israel as a strong highly-trained and well-equipped nation despite its size. Their military numbers are often bloated to instill fear in their Arab neighbors. Now from this incident --- Israel exposed its true weakness. Aluf Benn, a Haaretz columnist, wrote on Friday that the blaze was the equivalent of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, meaning it was a disaster because Israeli authorities were unprepared. A “mighty” nation was left paralyzed from a small incident leaving Muslims wo...

Two months ago, Blair's sister-in-law's  announcement of embracing Islam, has unleashed a fairly generous amount of media banter. The repetitive debates and fiery opinions which reappear - women in Islam are oppressed, or that she became a sympathiser of a political cause or the less overtly stated one; she's another hippee looking for the latest new thing. Well I can't pretend to know what exactly went through Lauren Booth's mind before she took the religious plunge, but from what she describes as some sort of spiritual rush, it seems Islam for her just felt right. We live in times, lets be brutally honest here, where we all seeming to be swimming against some sort of tide. The way we overcome the tide is dependent on the amount of thinking we do, how much of reality we really see and whether we really find the strength and guidance to plunge our arms in the right current of water. There is never the same discovery people make when they find Islam, but one thi...

On 19 and 20th November 2010 a summit was held in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon that included the major powers and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was announced that these countries agreed on a new strategy for NATO, which covered important topics including the subject of Afghanistan, the issue of the missile shield, the relationship with Russia, as well as the ratification of the expansion of NATO powers beyond its original region to include any area in the world posing a threat to NATO. Is America serious about withdrawal from Afghanistan? What is America's aim with the missile shield? Why does America want to expand the powers of NATO? What is the Russian position towards all of this? Is America able to dictate upon the other powers whatever she wants? Has America been able to consolidate her international position? Answer: 1 - What emerged from the summit's final statement, and statements about NATO's strategy in Afghanistan stipulates thei...