Islamic Revival

The following is an updated version of an article that was published previously about this topic.  Allah (swt) says: “Whoever witnesses the crescent of the month, he must fast the month."   [TMQ 2:185] Today, the matter of when to begin the month of Ramadhan and when to celebrate the day of Eid ul-Fitr is a subject of controversy, dispute and debate the world over. In many countries such as those in the west or the Indian sub-continent Muslims begin the month of fasting on different days, this variance often exists in the same country, city, locality, community and even within families. In some places like India in most years there are even three different days where people begin the blessed month. This is an area that there is legitimate ikhtilaf (difference of opinion) as its evidences are zanni (speculative) not qat'i (definitive). To get to the strongest Islamic view on this subject we have to put our emotions, national, tribal, political or even scholarly al

Since the beginning of this year, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia have been experiencing one of the most severe draughts in the last 60 years affecting more than 10 million people. Earlier this month, Antonio Guterres, the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), visited a refugee camp in Kenya stating, “I have no doubt that in today's world, Somalia corresponds to the worst humanitarian disaster. I have never seen in a refugee camp people coming in such desperate conditions.” A UN report released this year stipulated that the situation in Somalia has, “drastically deteriorated due to the combination of drought, increasing food prices and conflict. Geography & Resources Somalia is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. The country occupies the tip of a region that, due to its resemblance on the map to a rhinoceros' horn, is commonly

The following are extracts from the translation of an Arabic leaflet.  "Westerners would determine the value of something according to the level of importance an individual would attach to it, or according to its importance in relation to something else. Therefore, to them the value would be relative and not real, for it would be related to either a specific person or a specific thing. However, to the Muslims, the value is determined by the amount of benefit gained from the thing itself, with the factor of scarcity taken into consideration, but not necessarily affecting the evaluation of things. In any case, the value would be the measure by which goods and services are judged, be it to the Muslims or the others, i.e. to those who either consider the value to be real, or to those who consider it to be relative. The value would therefore be the measure of benefit obtained from the goods and services, and consequently, the knowledge of the value and how to estimate it would be i