Dec 18 2007

Blessed Holiday Season!

Tag: Islamic Values, World News — Mona @ 12:23 am

Eid El-Adha Greetings to my readers, may God show us all the right path and bestow peace on earth upon his creation!

“And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that, with your lives, you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and that the Apostle might bear witness to it before you.” (Qur’an 2:143)

Eid Greetings 2007

The Pilgrimage is one of the five Pillars of Islam and believers who can afford it should perform it once in his or her lifetime. (Please also read the “What is Islam?” page, link found on the right menu).

This year the number of the pilgrims have risen to a record 2,6 million. They are all present at the same time in the small desert Town of Mecca. In the last years the number of visas have been reduced simply because the infrastructure cannot support more people at one time. They are available only for older people, the sick, disabled and on other special circumstances.

Although the authorities have done a great job by enlarging the The Grand Mosque around the Kaaba and reconstructed bridges, tunnels and roads and the process is ongoing.

Pictures of The Mosque in Mecca  100 years ago, and in the early fourties:

Mecca 100 years ago Mecca in the early fourties

“O mankind ! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Q.49:13)

“Among His wonders are the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the diversity of your tongues and colors. Indeed, there are in this signs for people who are possessed of knowledge.” (Q.30:22)

A Muslim cannot afford to be indifferent, exclusive or arrogant. It is their duty to open their minds to all the realities of life and welcome all people whatever class, creed, race or nationality.

Dec 02 2007

Teach not our children the undeniable falsehood!

Tag: Clearing Misconceptions, Critical Thinking, Islamic View — Mona @ 12:20 pm

If You have read other topics on the right you may have noticed, that I am quite critical about the Hadiths - the reports from the early Muslim community and the years thereafter. They were collected, sorted out and written down ca. 250 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.).

They reflect the customs and beliefs of that time and should not always be taken literally.

Science today has a more accurate picture f.e. of the universe than people had 1400 years ago. In some hadiths astronomical phenomena are explained in clearly unscientific manner, from falling stars to the moon splitting in two. People around the Prophet narrated these and for centuries they were taken literally.

Even if the Prophet did make all these statements, then they must be seen as his sincere belief what he thought was right. After all he was an ordinary man, as He himself stated on numerous occasions.

Please read also on the right panel the topic No. 8 Hadiths (reported Sayings by The Prophet) and No. 7 What the Qur’an says about… - The Creation of the Universe.

Nebula

“O, assembly of the jinn (spirits) and the men! If you are able to pass through regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass through; You cannot pass through but with authority” (Q.55:32-37)

(Hubble space telescope image ‘Cat’s Eye Nebula”, an exploding star, NASA Oct.31st 1999 at: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991031.html)

Unfortunately, very often the Hadiths take a more important role than the Quran itself in the daily life of the believers when it comes to practical decisions.

The holy Quran was revealed to the Phophet in a dream or in a dreamlike condition and Muslims believe it to be the Word of God, literally. Until today researchers have not found any scientific inaccuracy in it.

Ref. The Bible, The Quran and Science. By Maurice Bucaille

A Student to his father: Today, my science teacher brought a mobile model of our Universe with its Sun, Moon and the Planets in our class room. It was fun to watch our Earth spinning on its own axis and at the same time also around the orbit of our Sun. When our side of the Earth faces the Sun we have the Day, and the people living on the other side of the Earth have Night. This alternating Light and Darkness within a Day has been the eternal Law of the Nature. A Muslim students dialogue with his parents.