Wednesday, September 1, 2010

EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it - StumbleUpon

The Crusaders Capture Jerusalem, 1099..Eyewitness account..."there was such a slaughter that our men were up to their ankles in the enemy's blood"..."the whole temple flowed with their blood"..."our men seized many men and women in the temple, killing them or keeping them alive as they saw fit."..."Then the crusaders scattered throughout the city, seizing gold and silver, horses and mules, and houses full of all sorts of goods. Afterwards our men went rejoicing" EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it - StumbleUpon

Why pious people need less Sleep - Science News

I was wondering how we can do our normal routine work, even more work, in Ramadhan despite getting less than normal sleep. Also how do saints (buzurgs) cope up with less sleep and do a lot of mental work during the day? Here is the research which points to the answer. Fasting and having less food prevents building up of substances that induce sleep. For details see. Why Starved Flies Need Less Sleep - Science News

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Nice article on Hijab-Fwd: HIJAB-A barrier from Hell and a way to Heaven

Dear brothers Assalamoalaikum,

The word "hijab" comes from the Arabic word "hajaba" meaning to hide from view or conceal. The Quran, clearly enjoins Muslim men and women to dress and behave modestly.Inshallah in this article will try to throw some light on the virtues of hijab and other important aspects related to hijab.

Before getting into the topic it is very important to clarify 1 point

Hijab is for both MEN n Women and not only for women

It is noticed that People usually only discuss 'hijab' in the context of women. However, in the Glorious Qur'an, Allah (swt) first mentions 'hijab' for men before 'hijab' for the women. The Qur'an mentions in Surah Noor:"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do."[Al-Qur'an 24:30]

Islam expects men and women to maintain their status by following Allah's rules designed for their advantage. Hijab is one such rule.The criterias of hijab are as follows

Criteria's for Hijab.

According to Qur'an and Sunnah there are basically six criteria for observing hijab.they are as follows
1. Extent:The first criterion is the extent of the body that should be covered. This is
different for men and women. The extent of covering obligatory on the male
is to cover the body at least from the navel to the knees. For women, the
extent of covering obligatory is to cover the complete body except the face
and the hands upto the wrist. If they wish to, they can cover even these
parts of the body. Some scholars of Islam insist that the face and the hands
are part of the obligatory extent of 'hijab'.

All the remaining five criteria are the same for men and women.
2. The clothes worn should be loose and should not reveal the figure.
3. The clothes worn should not be transparent such that one can see through
them.
4. The clothes worn should not be so glamorous as to attract the opposite sex.
5. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the opposite sex.
6. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the unbelievers i.e. they
should not wear clothes that are specifically identities or symbols of the
unbelievers' religions.

Important Reminder:

Hijab also includes conduct and behaviour among other things

A lot of people have this misconception that hijab only includes clothing.My dear brothers and sisters it is important for us to understand Complete 'hijab', besides the six criteria of clothing, also includes the moral conduct, behaviour, attitude and intention of the individual. A person only fulfilling the criteria of 'hijab' of the clothes is observing 'hijab' in a limited sense.'Hijab' of the clothes should be accompanied by 'hijab' of the eyes, 'hijab' of the heart, 'hijab' of thought and 'hijab' of intention. It also includes the way a person walks, the way a person talks, the way he behaves, etc.

VIRTUES OF HIJAB

Some of the Important Virtues of Hijab are as follows:

1. It is an act of obedience.

The hijab is an act of obedience to Allah and to his prophet (pbuh), Allah says in the Qur'an: ` Allah also said: 'And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things) and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc) and not to show off their adornment except what must (ordinarily) appear thereof, that they should draw their veils over their Juyubihinna.'(S24:31).

2. The Hijab is IFFAH (Modesty).

Allah (subhana wa'atala) made the adherence to the hijab a manifestation for chastity and modesty. Allah says: 'O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they should be known and not molested.' (S33:59). In the above Ayaah there is an evidence that the recognition of the apparent beauty of the woman is harmful to her.

3. The hijab is Tahara (Purity)

Allah (swt) had shown us the hikma (wisdom) behind the legislation of the hijab: `And when you ask them (the Prophet's wives) for anything you want, ask them from behind a screen, that is purer for your hearts and their hearts.' (S33:53).

The hijab makes for greater purity for the hearts of believing men and women because it screens against the desire of the heart. Without the hijab, the heart may or may not desire. That is why the heart is more pure when the sight is blocked (by hijab) and thus the prevention of fitna (evil actions is very much manifested. The hijab cuts off the ill thoughts and the greed of the sick hearts:

`Be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil desire for adultery, etc) should be moved with desire, but speak in an honorable manner.' (S33:32)

4. The hijab is a Shield

The prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah, Most High, is Heaven, is Ha'yeii (Bashful), Sit'teer (Shielder). He loves Haya' (Bashfulness) and Sitr (Shielding; Covering)." The Prophet (pbuh) also said: "Any woman who takes off her clothes in other than her husband's house (to show off for unlawful purposes), has broken Allah's shield upon her. "The hadith demonstrates that depending upon the kind of action committed there will be either reward (if good) or punishment (if bad).

5. The hijab is Taqwah (Righteousness)
Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: `O children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover yourselves (screen your private parts, etc) and as an adornment. But the raiment of righteousness, that is better.'(S7:26).

The widespread forms of dresses in the world today are mostly for show off and hardly taken as a cover and shield of the woman's body. To the believing women, however the purpose is to safeguard their bodies and cover their private parts as a manifestation of the order of Allah. It is an act of Taqwah (righteousness) .

6. The hijab is Eemaan (Belief or Faith)
Allah (swt) did not address His words about the hijab except to the believing women, Al-Mo'minat. In many cases in the Qur'an Allah refers to the "the believing women". Aisha (RA), the wife of the prophet (pbuh), addressed some women from the tribe of Banu Tameem who came to visit her and had light clothes on them, they were improperly dressed: "If indeed you are believing women, then truly this is not the dress of the believing women, and if you are not believing women, then enjoy it."

7. The hijab is Haya' (Bashfulness)
There are two authentic hadith which state: "Each religion has a morality and the morality of Islam is haya'" AND "Bashfulness is from belief, and belief is in Al-Jannah (paradise)". The hijab fits the natural bashfulness which is a part of the nature of women.

8. The hijab is Gheerah
The hijab fits the natural feeling of Gheerah, which is intrinsic in the straight man who does not like people to look at his wife or daughters.Gheerah is a driving emotion that drives the straight man to safeguard women who are related to him from strangers. The straight MUSLIM man has Gheerah for ALL MUSLIM women In response to lust and desire, men look (with desire) at other women while they do not mind that other men do the same to their wives or daughters. The mixing of sexes and absence of hijab destroys the Gheera in men. Islam considers Gheerah an integral part of faith. The dignity of the wife or daughter or any other Muslim woman must be highly respected and defended

Hopefully after reading this Article and knowing the virtues of Hijab I hope my brothers and sisters you have realized it is a commandment of Allah(SWT) and we need to start practicing it immediately as Allah(swt) says in the quran in surah Ahzab

It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His messenger have decreed a matter that they should have an option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, has indeed strayed in a plain error.' (S33:36).

JAZAKALLAH KHAIR FOR READING

Your brother in islam
Arshad Shaikh

--
wassalam

Sk. Zaffar Hassan (Research Scholar)
Chemical Engg, IIT Bombay
Mobile No. +919892180016

--
Dr. Mohd. Tariq Salman, MD
Assistant Professor,
Department of Pharmacology,
Era's Lucknow Medical College,
Sarfarazganj, Hardoi Road,
Lucknow.
http://medicalresearch.blogspot.com
http://sites.google.com/site/homepagepharmacology/

Monday, July 26, 2010

website for the Holy Quran

Below mentioned is an amazing website for the Holy Quran. Just put the mouse on any line and you will find the translation of that line or you can click the translation in the top of the page in the left corner for the entire Surah.. In the left side for this website you can choose Surah (from all 114 Surah). Moreover you can choose any Aayah, can search by the page number and also you can select the Qari whose recitation you want to listen. You can also select the language in which you like to have translation.

Please circulate it for benefit of all. Jazak ALLAH Khair

http://tanzil.info/quran/

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Scientific advancement of Islamic Civilization and its Caises

"The common thread or theme in all the centers of Islamic civilization was the primacy of tawhid, which inspires reverence for the coherence of the universe as a purposeful manifestation of God. This was the governing paradigm for the civilization’s creativity in science, art, and architecture, which focused on the transcendent rather than on the immanent. This contrasted with the European civilization where the governing paradigm was more clearly to control and exploit the material world as the center of reality.

The Islamic civilization, building on the early Greeks and Chinese, developed the scientific method, which was important for its rise, but its guiding purpose was to seek truth. The West, on the other hand, borrowed the scientific method from the Islamic civilization and further developed it in the search for power."
The American Muslim (TAM)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

benefits of Mediterranean diet

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <mtariqsalman@gmail.com>
Date: 2009/10/6
Subject: Found this info at Drugs.com
To: mtariqsalman@gmail.com

Hi!

Mohd Tariq Salman has sent you this information.

Check out this link for detailed information on Drugs.com:
http://www.drugs.com/news/mediterranean-diet-may-help-prevent-depression-20210.html

Mohd Tariq Salman's comments:
""

The website is http://www.drugs.com/, which has a database of over
24,000 drugs, plus a Drug Interactions checker and a pictorial Pill
Identifier.

Fwd: muslim population in world

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mohammad Kaifi <mkaifi@gmail.com>
Date: 2009/10/9
Subject: muslim population in world
To: aiman.jnmc@gmail.com, ale.imran23@gmail.com, azam.jnmc@gmail.com, gousewiz902@gmail.com, imteyaz@gmail.com, intekhabamin@gmail.com, irshad.iitm@gmail.com, kafeelbbs@gmail.com, kafilbbs@gmail.com, kaifi@smail.iitm.ac.in, kareemkhan05@gmail.com, mohd_moazzam@yahoo.com, mubarak.ali@gmail.com, mushir.cse@gmail.com, shabbir.azam@gmail.com, suhailsecret@gmail.com, waseem.akram06@gmail.com, abdullah abubaker <abdullahmath@gmail.com>, abdur rauf <abdulamu@gmail.com>, Adil Sarwar <adilsarwar123@gmail.com>, ahmad najmi <najmi.alig@gmail.com>, Ahmed Riyaz <riyazamu@zhcet.com>, arshad iitkgp <arshadamualam@gmail.com>, asim orrisa <asimamu@gmail.com>, ehtasham haque <ehtasham47@gmail.com>, ehtesham bhai bhel <md.ehtasham@gmail.com>, Ibrahim Adeyanju <adepojuib@googlemail.com>, imdadullah ------------- <imdadamu@yahoo.com>, Irfan barc <irfanalimj@gmail.com>, "M. Tariq Salman" <mtariqsalman@gmail.com>, MOHAMMAD ARIF <arif1123@gmail.com>, mudassir iitm kashmiri <mudasir11@gmail.com>, Musheer Ahmad <musheer.cse@gmail.com>, rehan sadique <rehan.sadique@gmail.com>, saifullah payami <saif.payami@gmail.com>, shabbir <shabbir@uisinfotech.com>, umar faruq nus <umarfarook12@gmail.com>, yasir alvi <yasiraliamu@gmail.com>, yasir computer <yasirkhan011@gmail.com>, yasir lahori <yasirkhan001@googlemail.com>

--
assalamualaikum
kaifi

Mapping the Global Muslim Population

A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population

October 2009

Executive Summary

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion.

While Muslims are found on all five inhabited continents, more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia and about 20% is in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, more than half of the 20 countries and territories¹ in that region have populations that are approximately 95% Muslim or greater.

More than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large. India, for example, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined.

Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.

These are some of the key findings of Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population, a new study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The report offers the most up-to-date and fully sourced estimates of the size and distribution of the worldwide Muslim population, including sectarian identity.

Previously published estimates of the size of the global Muslim population have ranged widely, from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.² But these commonly quoted estimates often have appeared without citations to specific sources or explanations of how the figures were generated.

The Pew Forum report is based on the best available data for 232 countries and territories. Pew Forum researchers, in consultation with nearly 50 demographers and social scientists at universities and research centers around the world, acquired and analyzed about 1,500 sources, including census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, to arrive at these figures - the largest project of its kind to date. (See Methodology for more detail.)

The Pew Forum's estimate of the Shia population (10-13%) is in keeping with previous estimates, which generally have been in the range of 10-15%. Some previous estimates, however, have placed the number of Shias at nearly 20% of the world's Muslim population.³ Readers should bear in mind that the figures given in this report for the Sunni and Shia populations are less precise than the figures for the overall Muslim population. Data on sectarian affiliation have been infrequently collected or, in many countries, not collected at all. Therefore, the Sunni and Shia numbers reported here are expressed as broad ranges and should be treated as approximate.

These findings on the world Muslim population lay the foundation for a forthcoming study by the Pew Forum, scheduled to be released in 2010, that will estimate growth rates among Muslim populations worldwide and project Muslim populations into the future. The Pew Forum plans to launch a similar study of global Christianity in 2010 as well. The Pew Forum also plans to conduct in-depth public opinion surveys on the intersection of religion and public life around the world, starting with a 19-country survey of sub-Saharan Africa scheduled to be released later this year. These forthcoming studies are part of a larger effort - the Global Religious Futures Project, jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation - that aims to increase people's understanding of religion around the world.

Download the full report PDF (62 pages, 10MB)

Footnotes

1 For a definition of "territories," see the methodology.

2 See, for example, CIA World Factbook; Foreign Policy magazine, May 2007; Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, 2008; Adherents.com; and IslamicPopulation.com.

3 See, for example, IslamicWeb.com; "Shia Muslims in the Middle East," Council on Foreign Relations, June 2006; and "The Revival of Shia Islam," Vali Nasr speaking at a Pew Forum event, July 2006.

Map: Distribution of Muslim Population by Country and Territory »

In this report

url:
http://sites.google.com/site/kaifistuff/

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