by Majed Al-Sugairi
Source: Saudi Gazette

MADINAH – Former Dutch Islamophobe and a former leading member of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ party Arnoud Van Doorn visited the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah to pray and say sorry for becoming part of a blasphemous film.

Doorn was among the Freedom Party leaders who produced the blasphemous film, Fitna. Last month he reverted to Islam after an extensive study about the religion and the Prophet (peace be upon him).

He said that the worldwide outrage against the film made him study about the Prophet (pbuh) and that eventually led to his conversion.

He headed for Makkah to perform Umrah after meeting the two imams of the Prophet’s Mosque, Sheikh Ali Al-Hudaifi and Sheikh Salah Al-Badar, who enlightened him on how to lead the life of a good Muslim and confront challenges facing Islam in the West.

A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague City Council, Doorn announced his decision to accept Islam on his Twitter profile. He also posted a tweet in Arabic declaring that “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.”

At first, other users took the news as a joke. After all, an active supporter of a notorious Dutch hater of Islam, Wilders, he repeatedly approved Islamophobic statements and public actions, and personally participated in them.

But Doorn, who now serves as a regional adviser at the City Hall in The Hague, personally confirmed his decision to practice Islam in an official letter to the city mayor.

Most recently, the politician filed a formal application to the mayor of the city to allow him to perform prayers obligatory for Muslims during his working hours.

“I can understand people are skeptic, especially that it is unexpected for many of them,” Doorn told Al-Jazeera English satellite channel.

“This is a very big decision, which I have not taken lightly.”

“In my own close circle people have known that I have been actively researching the Qur’an, Hadith, Sunnah and other writings for almost a year now,” he said.

“In addition, I have had numerous conversations with Muslims about the religion.”
Driven by his party’s anti-Islam discourse, Doorn decided to dig in for the truth about the religion himself.

“I have heard so many negative stories about Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research,” he said. “Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of Islam out of curiosity.”

The 46-year-old has continued on The Hague Council as an independent candidate since splitting from Wilders’s party. Doorn’s decision to embrace Islam has won mixed reactions in the Netherlands.

“According to some people I am a traitor, but according to most others I have actually made a very good decision,” he told Al-Jazeera.

“The reactions are generally positive and I also received quite some support via twitter.

“It feels good that people who do not know me personally have understanding of my situation and support me in my choice.”

Asked if he now regretted joining the Freedom Party, he replied: “I have learned that every experience in life has a purpose. However, with the knowledge I have today, I would have undoubtedly made a different choice.”

For the Dutch politician, finding Islam was finally guiding him to the true path in his life. “I have made mistakes in life as many others. From these mistakes I have learned a lot,” Doorn said.

“And by my conversion to Islam I have the feeling that I finally found my path. I realize that this is a new start and that I still have much to learn as well.”

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ‏

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ

William Cow­per was a famous English poet of the 18th century, he oft­en strug­gled with de­press­ion and doubt. One night he de­cid­ed to com­mit su­i­cide by drown­ing him­self. He called a cab and told the driv­er to take him to the Thames Riv­er. How­ev­er, thick fog came down. After driv­ing around lost for a while, the cab­by fin­al­ly stopped and let Cow­per out, he found him­self on his own door­step:  He believed God had sent the fog to keep him from kill­ing him­self. Even in our black­est mo­ments, God watch­es over us.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not thy Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

. . .

Source: wired.com By Brandon Keim  brandon@earthlab.net

A decade ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that parents limit TV consumption by children under two years of age. The recommendations were based as much on common sense as science, because studies of media consumption and infant development were themselves in their infancy.

The research has finally grown up. And though it’s still ongoing, it’s mature enough for the AAP to release a new, science-heavy policy statement on babies watching television, videos or any other passive media form.

Their verdict: It’s not good, and probably bad.

Media, whether playing in the background or designed explicitly as an infant educational tool, “have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children younger than 2 years,” concluded the AAP’s report, released Oct. 18 at the Academy’s annual meeting in Boston and scheduled for November publication in the journal Pediatrics. “Although infant/toddler programming might be entertaining, it should not be marketed as or presumed by parents to be educational.”

Photography by : Tom Ryan

Since the AAP made its original recommendations in 1999, passive entertainment screens — televisions, DVD players, computers streaming video — have become ubiquitous, and the average 12-month-old gets between one and two hours of screen time per day. (Interactive screens, such as iPads and other tablets, are considered in the new recommendations.) The 0- to 2-year age group has become a prime target for commercial educational programming, often used by parents convinced that it’s beneficial.

As screens proliferated, so did research. “There have been about 50 studies that have come out on media use by children in this age group between 1999 and now,” said Ari Brown, a pediatrician and member of the AAP committee that wrote the new report.

Those studies have found that children don’t really understand what’s happening on a screen until they’re about 2 years old. Once they do, media can be good for them, but until then television is essentially a mesmerizing, glowing box.

Used at night, TV might help kids fall asleep, but that appears to come at a delayed cost of subsequent sleep disturbances and irregularities. While the result of TV-induced sleep problems hasn’t been directly studied, poor sleep in infants is generally linked to problems with mood, behavior and learning.

At other times, media consumption comes with opportunity costs, foremost among them the silence of parents. “While television is on, there’s less talking, and talk time is very important in language development,” said Brown.

Three studies since 1999 have tracked educational television use and language development, and they found a link between increased TV time and developmental delays.  Whether that’s a cause or effect — parents who leave kids in front of televisions might simply be poor teachers — isn’t clear, nor are the long-term effects, but the AAP called the findings “concerning.” In the same vein, there may also be a link to attention problems.

Even when media plays in the background, it distracts babies from play, an activity that is known to have deep developmental benefits. And for parents who use media to carve out a few precious, necessary free minutes in busy schedules, Brown recommended letting kids entertain themselves.

“We know you can’t spend 24 hours a day reading to your child and playing with them. That’s okay. What’s also okay is your child playing independently,” she said. “That’s valuable time. They’re problem-solving. They’re using their imagination, thinking creatively and entertaining themselves.”

As for iPads and other kid-friendly interactive computing devises, Brown said research has barely started, much less come to conclusions. But she counseled skepticism of promotional claims, which have been made with some of the same zeal as products of now-dubious standing, such as the controversial Baby Einstein videos.

“The way these kids’ programs came out was, ‘These are really educational! They’re going to help your kids learn!’ Well that’s great, but prove it. Show me the science,” Brown said. “I don’t have a problem with touch screens, and they’re not necessarily bad. But we need to understand how this affects kids.”

Citation: “Media Use by Children Younger Than 2 Years.” By the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media Executive Committee. Pediatrics, Vol 128 No. 5, November 2011.

15 Ways to increase earnings with proofs from Quran and Sunnah

We should follow the ways of the Qur’an and Sunnah to get the blessings of Allah (swt). May our Lord have mercy on us and guide to the right path.

1. The Taqwa of Allah 
And whosoever fears Allâh and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty). (2) And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allâh, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allâh will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allâh has set a measure for all things.
[Surah Al-Talq, Verse 2-3]

And if the people of the towns had believed and had the Taqwâ (piety), certainly, We should have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth, but they belied (the Messengers). So We took them (with punishment) for what they used to earn (polytheism and crimes).
[ Surah Al-Araf, Verse 96]

2. Seeking forgiveness and repentance
“I said (to them): ‘Ask forgiveness from your Lord; Verily, He is Oft-Forgiving; (10) ‘He will send rain to you in abundance; (11) ‘And give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on you gardens and bestow on you rivers.’ “
[Surah Nooh, Verses 10-12]

“And O my people! Ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him, He will send you (from the sky) abundant rain, and add strength to your strength, so do not turn away as Mujrimûn (criminals, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allâh).”
[Surah Hood, Verse 52]

And (commanding you): “Seek the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance, that He may grant you good enjoyment, for a term appointed, and bestow His abounding Grace to every owner of grace (i.e. the one who helps and serves needy and deserving, physically and with his wealth, and even with good words). But if you turn away, then I fear for you the torment of a Great Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection).
[Surah Hood, Verse 3]

3.  Tawakkul
‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab reported that Prophet (peace be upon him) said,

“If you were to put trust in Allah (Tawakkul) the way that Allah deserves, then you would be provided for as birds are; they leave (in search of food) at the beginning of the day famished, and return at the end of the day full”
[Shaykah Al-Abani’s Silsilat Al-Sahihah, # 310]

And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allâh, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allâh will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allâh has set a measure for all things.
[Surah Al-Talq, Verse 2-3]

Would that they were contented with what Allâh and His Messenger (peace be upon him) gave them and had said: “Allâh is Sufficient for us. Allâh will give us of His Bounty, and so will His Messenger (from alms, etc.). We implore Allâh (to enrich us).”
[Surah Al-Tawba, Verse 59]

4. Constantly worshiping Allah
Abu Hurayrah stated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“Allah says, ‘O son of Adam! Take time out to constantly worship me, I will fill your chest with richness , and remove your poverty. And if you do not do so. I will make your hands filled with occupation, and will not remove your poverty”
[Shaykh Al-Albani declared it to authentic in his Sunan Al-Tirmidhi]

Ma’qal Ibn Yasaar reported that Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Your Lord, all glory and honor be to Him says, ‘O Son of Adam! Take the time out to constantly worship Me, I will fill your chest with richness! O Son of Adam! Do not distance yourself from Me, or I will fill your chest with poverty, and fill your hands with work ”
[Shaykah Al-Abani’s Silsilat Al-Sahihah, # 1359]

5. Thanking Allah
And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: “If you give thanks (by accepting Faith and worshiping none but Allâh), I will give you more (of My Blessings), but if you are thankless (i.e. disbelievers), verily! My Punishment is indeed severe.”
[Surah Ibrahim, Verse 7]

6. Frequently performing Hajj and ‘Umrah
It has been reported by ‘abdullah Ibn Mas’ud that the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
“Follow up between Hajj and ‘Umrah (i.e. continuously repeat the performance of Hajj and ‘Umrah) because they both eliminate poverty and sins just like a furnace eliminates the dirty impurities of iron, gold and silver. And an accepted Hajj has no reward less than paradise”
[ Shaykh Al-Albani in Sahih Sunan Al-Tirmidhi (1/245)]

7. Establishing the ties of kinship
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever is pleased with the fact that his Rizq be increased, and his life-span be extended, then let him establish the ties of kinship”
[Al-Bukari, # 5985]

Anas Ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever wishes to have his Rizq increased, and his life-span be extended, then let him establish the ties of kinship”
[Al-Bukari, # 5986]

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Learn enough of your lineage, so that you can establish the ties of kinship, for establish the ties of kinship increases the love amongst families and multiplies wealth and extends age”
[Shaykh Al-Albani in Sahih Sunan Al-Tirmidhi (2/190)]

8. Spending in the Way of Allah
Say: “Truly, my Lord enlarges the provision for whom He wills of His slaves, and (also) restricts (it) for him, and whatsoever you spend of anything (in Allâh’s Cause), He will replace it. And He is the Best of providers.”
[Surah Saba, Verse 39]

Abu Hurayrah said that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“ Allah has said: ‘O Son of Adam! Spend I will spend on you!”
[Sahih Muslim (2/690)]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“There is not a single day in which a servant wakes that two angels come down (from the Heavens). One of them says, O’ Allah! Give to the one that spends a substitute (for what he has spent). And the other one says, ‘O Allah! Give to the one that withhold some (his money) destruction!”
[Al-Bukhari #1442]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“While a person was in an open area of land, he heard voice in a cloud above him say. “water the garden of so-and-so!” So the cloud immediately departed, and started pouring its rain out on a rocky plain. A large crevice in the rocks collected all of this water. So the man followed the water (in its course), and he found a man standing in his garden, using an instrument to direct this water in different directions *(to irrigate his garden). He said to him, ‘O servant of Allah! What is your name?’ The man said ‘So-an-so,’ the same name that he had heard in the clouds! Then the man asked him, ‘O servant of Allah! Why are you asking me my name?’ So he responded. ‘I heard a voice in the clouds- the same clouds that this water came from- saying, “water the garden of so-and-so” with your name. What do you interpret this as (i.e. why do you think this happened )?’ So he said, ‘If you say this (i.e. if what you say occurred), then (the reason for this is that) I see what (crops) come out of it (this garden), and I give one third in charity, and I eat with my family one third of it, and I return one third of it (to cultivate more crops)”” and in another narration, it is reported that he said, …and I give one third of it to the poor, and the beggars, and the wayfarers.’
[Muslim (4/2288)]

9. Hijrah, Emigrating for the sake of Allah
He who emigrates (from his home) in the Cause of Allâh, will find on earth many dwelling places and plenty to live by. And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allâh and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely incumbent upon Allâh. And Allâh is Ever Oft¬Forgiving, Most Merciful.
[Surah Al-Nisa, Verse 100]

10. Marriage
And marry those among you who are single (i.e. a man who has no wife and the woman who has no husband) and (also marry) the Sâlihûn (pious, fit and capable ones) of your (male) slaves and maid-servants (female slaves). If they be poor, Allâh will enrich them out of His Bounty. And Allâh is All-Sufficent for His creatures’ needs, All-Knowing (about the state of the people).
[Surah Al-Nur, Verse 32]

11. Supporting students of Islamic knowledge
Anas Ibn Malik said,
“There were two brothers (that lived) at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). One of them would come to Prophet (peace be upon him), whereas the other one would seek his sustenance (by working). So the the one who used to seek his sustenance complained to the Prophet (peace be upon him) about his brother. The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied,
‘It is possible that you are provided your rizq because of him’”
[Shaykh Al-Albani agreed it to be authentic, Saheeh Sunan Al-Tirmidhi(2/274)]

12. Showing kindness to the Poor
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“The only reason that you are aided in victory (against your enemies) and provided with sustainance due to your weak?”
[Al-Bukahri (14/179)]

13. Being honest in ones dealings
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“The two parties of a transaction have the right (to annul the contract) as long as they don’t separate (from each other). So, if they were truthful (to one another), and honest in explaining (the defects of an item), then they will be blessed in their transaction. But, if they lied, and hid (the defects of an item) then the blessings of their transaction are destroyed”
[Muslim, # 3836]

14. Making the Hereafter One’s main Concern
Once Zayd Bin Thabit wa with Marwan, the leader of the City, when he went to visit ‘Abd Al-Rahman Ibn ‘Uthman Bin ‘Affan, Abd Al-Rahman said, “Nothing caused him to come here, at this hour except a question that he wants to ask.” So he asked him (what the matter was). He replied, “He (meaning Marwan) asked us about matters that we heard the Prophet :saws: say”. I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say
“Whoever puts this world as his only (and primary) goal, them Allah will divide his affairs for him, and He will place poverty before his eyes, and nothing will come to him of this world except that which was already written (i.e. pre-destined) for him. But whoever made the Hereafter his goal, the Allah will gather his affairs for him, and he will place richness in his heart, and the world will come to him conquered and submissive”
[Al-Albani Silsila As-Saheehah, #950 ]

15. Striving to achieve the goal (for sustainance)
He knows that there will be some among you sick, others traveling through the land, seeking of Allâh’s Bounty; yet others fighting in Allâh’s Cause. So recite as much of the Qur’ân as may be easy (for you), and perform As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât) and give Zakât, and lend to Allâh a goodly loan, And whatever good you send before you for yourselves, (i.e. Nawâfil non-obligatory acts of worship: prayers, charity, fasting, Hajj and ‘Umrah), you will certainly find it with Allâh, better and greater in reward. And seek Forgiveness of Allâh. Verily, Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful
[Surah Al-Muzammil, Verse 20]

And We have appointed the night and the day as two Ayât (signs etc.). Then, We have obliterated the sign of the night (with darkness) while We have made the sign of the day illuminating, that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the number of the years and the reckoning. And We have explained everything (in detail) with full explanation.
[Surah Al-Isra, Verse 20]

We got a very interesting email from one of our readers. Subhan’Allah

One never tires of gazing at the sight of the House of Allah, the Kaaba. The site upon which the mercy and blessings of Allah are constantly descending. There is truly nothing comparable to the House of Allah on this Earth. People wish time would stand still so they could keep gazing at the Kaa’ba; their thirst is never quenched, rather it increases. Once, while on a visit to Washington, people told me that a woman had accepted Islam and had some questions for me. They told me that many non-practicing Muslim women had started practicing again due to her. At prayer time she would dress in her best clothes as if readying herself for someone special, and would become oblivious to everything around her as soon she started praying. After a brief question and answer session, I asked her what prompted her to accept Islam. She sighed and started explaining; “I was a Jew and my husband was a Christian who was posted in Saudi Arabia for some technical work. Everyday I used to see Muslim men and women dressed in white on their way somewhere. I asked my husband where they were going and he told methat they go to perform pilgrimage at the Muslim shrine of Kaaba. I expressed a desire to go but he told me that non-Muslims were not allowed. However, I was determined and so we both bought white clothes and set out. Fortunately no one stopped us and we reached Makkah, from where we found directions to the Kaa’ba. Upon seeing the Kaaba our eyes froze and time seemed to stand still. When we turned to look at each other after some time, we were both crying. With our eyes we told each other that this was the Truth and we should accept Islam. No one ever told me about Islam, but there were so many blessings descending on that House that they changed my life forever.”

The blessings of Tawhid descend in Makkah, and the blessings of Prophet-hood descend in Madinah.One has seen nothing in life if he has not seen these two holy sites.May Allah give all Muslims the opportunity to visit to His House.

    Source: Excerpt from a speech of Shaikh Zulfiqar

The following are the images from 1941, 1942, 1953 and some others including the latest ones. Also to clarify Muslims DO NOT Worship the black cube. It is a direction in which we bow only to our Creator, The One and Only – Allah (swt).

Someone sent me a lovely SMS today.

A group of highly educated students visited their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering them coffee, Professor returned from the kitchen with a pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – Porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all had a cup of coffee in hand, the Professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up leaving behind the plain one. While its but normal for you to want only the best, that’s also a source of stress. What you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you still went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups!”

If life is coffee, then jobs, money and status in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. Dont let the cups drive you. Enjoy the Coffee …!

Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Aid agencies are ramping up their efforts to help out hundreds of thousands of flood victims in Pakistan.

• The Pakistani government says more than eight million people, mostly in Sindh province in the south, have been affected by monsoon rains.
• The United Nations estimates about 1.5 million people are living in relief camps or temporary settlements.
• The World Health Organization says it has confirmed a number of disease outbreaks, including acute respiratory infections, skin and diarrheal diseases.
• Aid officials estimate more than two million people are affected by flood-related diseases and fear the diseases will spread quickly.

Adding to the dire circumstances is a lack of manpower.

“People who have in the past worked as aid delivery workers are themselves in problems, their homes are inundated and families displaced,” Irshad Bhatti of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told the BBC’s Urdu service. Bhatti also said there was a lack of co-ordination between aid groups and the military.

We are in no way associated with any of the organizations/NGOs/Trusts/etc mentioned. Our mission is to help the victims of such devastating floods and spread information so more people can contribute. May Allah (swt) accept our sincere efforts and guide us all to do better.

Following are some of the ways whichever method suits you please help us in this effort. HELP US add to this list email at soulthinks@gmail.com and we will add more information.

Mobilink Flood Relief Efforts: 

http://www.mobilinkfoundation.org/flood_relief.php

Together, Mobilink and Orascom Telecom has committed more than Rs. 236 million towards flood relief in addition to contributing thousands of volunteer hours.  This to date is one of the largest relief initiatives from the private sector.  Mobilink has been  recognized by the Overseas Investor’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries (OICCI) as top donor in flood relief amongst member companies.

Mobilink has donated  prefabricated sheets worth Rs. 140 million to WHO which will be used as Health Units across Pakistan. In addition to these shelters, Mobilink with the support of  Orascom Telecom Holding has committed a comprehensive relief-package, worth Rs. 85 million for the flood affectees. Additionally, over Rs. 10 million have been raised by Mobilink employees through their salaries and  friends and family; SMS donations, and other private donors.

Donate to Mobilink Foundation

Your combined efforts have allowed aid to be mobilized  right away and we hope to continue our effort with the same urgency and  momentum. If you have not donated yet, you may contribute in any of the following ways below:

• By depositing your donation in account #4880617 maintained under the title of “Mobilink Foundation” through any NIB Bank Branch. Donors residing outside of Pakistan can also contribute in any of the two currencies:
  • US Dollars
  • Euros

  International donors would be required to provide routing details of the beneficiary bank account at the time of deposit.

• For routing information to donate in Dollars click here
• For routing information to donate in Euros click here
• By sending as many blank texts to 616 from your Mobilink number as you can to donate Rs 10 + tax per SMS (Pakistan only).
• By spreading the word amongst your friends and family on how they can contribute to Mobilink’s relief efforts.

Mobilink is working with  international agencies including World Food Programme and World Health Organization to coordinate delivery of aid items, our  employees, as always, are directly and actively involved in the  entire process from procuring to loading onto trucks and even distribution where possible.

http://www.kawish-welfare-trust.org/

http://speakforchange.org/2011/09/18/contribute-to-pakistan-rangers-flood-relief-fund/

*The pictures above are without any copyright information. If any of them are copyright let us know and we will remove them.

By helping other people look happy, Facebook is making us sad.

By Libby Copeland Source: http://www.slate.com/

The human habit of overestimating other people’s happiness is nothing new, of course. Jordan points to a quote by Montesquieu: “If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.” But social networking may be making this tendency worse. Jordan’s research doesn’t look at Facebook explicitly, but if his conclusions are correct, it follows that the site would have a special power to make us sadder and lonelier. By showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people’s lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers, Facebook appears to exploit an Achilles’ heel of human nature. And women—an especially unhappy bunch of late—may be especially vulnerable to keeping up with what they imagine is the happiness of the Joneses.

In one of the Stanford studies, Jordan and his fellow researchers asked 80 freshmen to report whether they or their peers had recently experienced various negative and positive emotional events. Time and again, the subjects underestimated how many negative experiences (“had a distressing fight,” “felt sad because they missed people”) their peers were having. They also overestimated how much fun (“going out with friends,” “attending parties”) these same peers were having. In another study, the researchers found a sample of 140 Stanford students unable to accurately gauge others’ happiness even when they were evaluating the moods of people they were close to—friends, roommates and people they were dating. And in a third study, the researchers found that the more students underestimated others’ negative emotions, the more they tended to report feeling lonely and brooding over their own miseries. This is correlation, not causation, mind you; it could be that those subjects who started out feeling worse imagined that everyone else was getting along just fine, not the other way around. But the notion that feeling alone in your day-to-day suffering might increase that suffering certainly makes intuitive sense.

As does the idea that Facebook might aggravate this tendency. Facebook is, after all, characterized by the very public curation of one’s assets in the form of friends, photos, biographical data, accomplishments, pithy observations, even the books we say we like. Look, we have baked beautiful cookies. We are playing with a new puppy. We are smiling in pictures (or, if we are moody, we are artfully moody.) Blandness will not do, and with some exceptions, sad stuff doesn’t make the cut, either. The site’s very design—the presence of a “Like” button, without a corresponding “Hate” button—reinforces a kind of upbeat spin doctoring. (No one will “Like” your update that the new puppy died, but they may “Like” your report that the little guy was brave up until the end.)

Any parent who has posted photos and videos of her child on Facebook is keenly aware of the resulting disconnect from reality, the way chronicling parenthood this way creates a story line of delightfully misspoken words, adorably worn hats, dancing, blown kisses. Tearful falls and tantrums are rarely recorded, nor are the stretches of pure, mind-blowing tedium. We protect ourselves, and our kids, this way; happiness is impersonal in a way that pain is not. But in the process, we wind up contributing to the illusion that kids are all joy, no effort.

Facebook is “like being in a play. You make a character,” one teenager tells MIT professor Sherry Turkle in her new book on technology, Alone Together. Turkle writes about the exhaustion felt by teenagers as they constantly tweak their Facebook profiles for maximum cool. She calls this “presentation anxiety,” and suggests that the site’s element of constant performance makes people feel alienated from themselves. (The book’s broader theory is that technology, despite its promises of social connectivity, actually makes us lonelier by preventing true intimacy.)

Facebook oneupsmanship may have particular implications for women. As Meghan O’Rourke has noted here in Slate, women’s happiness has been at an all-time low in recent years. O’Rourke and two University of Pennsylvania economists who have studied the male-female happiness gap argue that women’s collective discontent may be due to too much choice and second-guessing–unforeseen fallout, they speculate, of the way our roles have evolved over the last half-century. As the economists put it, “The increased opportunity to succeed in many dimensions may have led to an increased likelihood in believing that one’s life is not measuring up.” If you’re already inclined to compare your own decisions to those of other women and to find yours wanting, believing that others are happier with their choices than they actually are is likely to increase your own sense of inadequacy. And women may be particularly susceptible to the Facebook illusion. For one thing, the site is inhabited by more women than men, and women users tend to be more active on the site, as Forbes has reported. According to a recent study out of the University of Texas at Austin, while men are more likely to use the site to share items related to the news or current events, women tend to use it to engage in personal communication (posting photos, sharing content “related to friends and family”). This may make it especially hard for women to avoid comparisons that make them miserable. (Last fall, for example, the Washington Post ran a piece about the difficulties of infertile women in shielding themselves from the Facebook crowings of pregnant friends.)

Jordan, who is now a postdoctoral fellow studying social psychology at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, suggests we might do well to consider Facebook profiles as something akin to the airbrushed photos on the covers of women’s magazine. No, you will never have those thighs, because nobody has those thighs. You will never be as consistently happy as your Facebook friends, because nobody is that happy. So remember Montesquieu, and, if you’re feeling particularly down, use Facebook for its most exalted purpose: finding fat exes.

First of all Ramadan Mubarik everyone, let us utilize this blessed month and take the opportunity to understand the Qur’an. We were informed of this an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Qur’an and understand it with meaning by listening to the LIVE DAWRA TAFSIR classes by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed. Hope this helps. May Allah bless the Shaykh for his sincere efforts.

The live player is in the right column on our main page. Kindly wait for the play button to appear it takes a while to load. Thanks.

Broadcast Times (Preliminary) Timings according to Pakistan and UK timezones are noted below. For other timezones, please click here for a converter. Please note that repeat timings are preliminary and may be subject to change. English (Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed) Session Time (PK) Time (UK) Live* 2pm-5:00pm 10am-1:00pm Repeat 12am-3am 8pm-11pm

*To accommodate Friday Prayers, live broadcast on Fridays will start at 2:30pm PST/ 10:30 am UK Ramadan Times (Aug 1 – Aug 18): 2pm-5pm PST / 10am-1pm UK

Shaykh’s website can be accessed from here. Incase you missed the lectures they are also available there.

Source: American Muslim Perspective Website

WorldNet – June 23, 2006

Article: NEEDED: A new policy on Islam

Author : PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

In 1938, the year of Anschluss and Munich, a perceptive British Catholic looked beyond the continent over which war clouds hung and saw another cloud forming.

“It has always seemed to me … probable,” wrote Hilaire Belloc, “that there would be a resurrection of Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture and what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest opponent.”

Belloc was prophetic. Even as Christianity seems to be dying in Europe, Islam is rising to shake the 21st century as it did so many previous centuries.

Indeed, as one watches U.S. Armed Forces struggle against Sunni insurgents, Shia militias and jihadists in Iraq, and a resurgent Taliban, all invoking Allah, Victor Hugo’s words return to mind: No army is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

The idea for which many of our adversaries fight is a compelling one. They believe there is but one God, Allah, that Muhammad is his prophet, that Islam, or submission to the Quran, is the only path to paradise and that a godly society should be governed according to the Shariah, the law of Islam. Having tried other ways and failed, they are coming home to Islam.

What idea do we have to offer? Americans believe that freedom comports with human dignity, that only a democratic and free-market system can ensure the good life for all, as it has done in the West and is doing in Asia.

From Ataturk on, millions of Islamic peoples have embraced this Western alternative. But today, tens of millions of Muslims appear to be rejecting it, returning to their roots in a more pure Islam.

Indeed, the endurance of the Islamic faith is astonishing.

Islam survived two centuries of defeats and humiliations of the Ottoman Empire and Ataturk’s abolition of the caliphate. It endured generations of Western rule. It outlasted the pro-Western monarchs in Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Ethiopia and Iran. Islam easily fended off communism, survived the rout of Nasserism in 1967 and has proven more enduring than the nationalism of Arafat or Saddam. Now, it is resisting the world’s last superpower.

What occasioned this column was a jolting report in the June 20 Washington Times, by James Brandon, alerting us to a new front.

“Arrests Spark Fear of Armed Islamist Takeover” headlined the story about the arrest, since May, of 500 militants who had allegedly plotted the overthrow of the king of Morocco and establishment of an Islamic state that would sever all ties to the infidel West – to end the poverty and corruption they blame on the West.

The arrests raised fears that Al Adl wa al Ihsane, or Justice and Charity, was preparing to take up arms to fulfill the predictions of the group’s mystics that the monarchy would fall in 2006. Though illegal, Al Adl wa al Ihsane is Morocco’s largest Islamic movement, which boycotts elections, but has hundreds of thousands of followers and has taken over the universities and is radicalizing the young.

Its founder is Sheik Abdessalam Yassine, who has declared its purpose is to reunite mosque and state: “Politics and spirituality have been kept apart by the Arab elites. And we have been able to reconnect these two aspects of Islam – and that is why people fear us.”

And, one might add, why people embrace them.

If Morocco is now in play in the struggle between militant Islam and the West, how looks the correlation of forces in June 2006?

Islamists are taking over in Somalia. They are in power in Sudan. The Muslim Brotherhood won 60 percent of the races it contested in Egypt. Hezbollah swept the board in southern Lebanon. Hamas seized power from Fatah on the West Bank and Gaza. The Shia parties, which hearken to Ayatollah Sistani, brushed aside our favorites, Chalabi and Iyad Allawi, in the Iraqi elections. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the most admired Iranian leader since Khomeini. In Afghanistan, the Taliban is staging a comeback.

This has all happened in the last year. And where are we winning?

What is the appeal of militant Islam? It is, first, its message: As all else has failed us, why not live the faith and law God gave us?

Second, it is the Muslim rage at the present condition where pro-Western regimes are seen as corruptly enriching themselves, while the poor suffer.

Third, it is a vast U.S. presence that Islamic peoples are taught is designed to steal their God-given resources and assist the Israelis in humiliating them and persecuting the Palestinians.

Lastly, Islamic militants are gaining credibility because they show a willingness to share the poverty of the poor and fight the Americans.

What America needs to understand is something unusual for us: From Morocco to Pakistan, we are no longer seen by the majority as the good guys.

If Islamic rule is an idea taking hold among the Islamic masses, how does even the best army on earth stop it? Do we not need a new policy?

———————

The reason we have posted this article is not to support any political or extremist groups but to give a perspective on how Islam is growing as an idea and as a way of life which every common human can adopt. It should be very clear that Islam denounces terrorism and violence. It is a message of peace brought to us by our beloved prophet Muhammad (sw).

Source: http://shamimsaifi.saifi.net/

Isaac’s Sons – from Commentators

The Quran does not give details of Isaac’s life (pbuh), but reliable Quranic commentators mentioned that when Abraham felt that his life was drawing to a close, he wished to see Isaac married. He did not want Isaac to marry one of the Canaanites, who were pagans, so he sent a trustworth servant to Haran in Iraq to choose a bride for Isaac. The servant’s choice fell upon Rebekah Bint Bethuel, Ibn Nahor (who was a brother of Abraham). Isaac married her and she gave birth to a set of twins, Esau (Al Eis) and Jacob (Yaqub).

READ THE COMPLETE STORY OF PROPHET ISAAC (ISHAQ) (AS) IN OUR STORIES SECTION.

This is a very common question asked by many people who often joke about it saying “There is no use planning or working hard ultimately my fate is in God’s hands so Ill get what is written.” The short video 7+ min below by Dr. Ghulam Murtaza Malik answers this question with a very interesting example. Transcription is also provided in case you do not want to watch the video. The video is in Urdu Language but subtitles are available.

[Transcription]

Question Asked….

What is Fate?

If all the things that happen to us are predestined… Then how come we are accountable for our deeds? Then why reward or punishment for our acts? Then why Heaven or Hell? Please Explain…

The truth is that this Question disturbed and grieved me for a while… And i used to think that if really Allah (Swt) (God) had already written everything for me that on so and so time I will give a lecture here … will give this speech… will offer Salah (Prayers) at so and so time … Will call names to so and so person … will slap so and so person …If all these things are pre-scheduled or pre=programmed or pre-printed by Allah (swt) in my fate then Why am i to blame?

The blame goes to who has written my Fate… This point is pernicious… Let’s get to it

What is Fate? The Arabic word used for Fate is ILMULLAHI SABIQ which means pre-attained Knowledge of Allah (swt).

Allah (God) knows that today I will at so and so time by my own free will of my own accord with my own free thinking and with my independent actions will do so and so deed. I am doing this deed freely by myself and by my own intention. But the point is that Allah (God) is…

“…Truly, You, Only You Allah are the All-Knower of all that is hidden” (Qur’an 5:116)

“…Allah is the All-Knower of that which is in (the secrets of your) hearts” (Qur’an 3:119 and 3:154)

I do not know about myself what I will do tomorrow at 10:10 AM but Allah (swt) knows… I do not know where I will be after 10 years and what I will be doing at so and so time but Allah (swt) (God) knows.

Allah (swt) (God) knows about all my deeds which I will do in future independently and freely. Allah knows about what I will do so and so deed with free will at so and so time Allah has kept all these things written by Himself. Because He has to run all the systems of the Universe.

Allah’s knowledge is magnificent but His knowledge does not clashes with my intention. I will try to explain this by an event that occurs with me. Which revealed to me what fate is. It was 1971; I was a Deputy Accountant General in an Accountant Office. there lives a famous Astrologer “Sheikh Sadiq” who used to live in Qilah Gujjar Singh…

One day he entered in my office and offered his services to me. I told him straight forward that I have no time for this fiddle faddle … I do not believe in astronomy… I am a busy person; do not diddle me in such brandish… He requested me that at least give me 1 minute of your time on which I agreed.

He then opened a chart of paper on which there were 40 cells containing names of 40 different random things such as book, pen, notebook, chair, mosque, temple, etc.

He then asked me to select one of these things and write down its name on some paper secretly. At the same moment he picked a piece of paper from my desk and wrote down something on it and overturned it

At this I queried him about this action. He answered me, he has already written down the name of the thing which you will choose and write…

Now this made me worry… This became a droll show…

The word which I will write after a while with my own choice and with my own will … He has already written it down in that paper in front of me…

Then I started thinking of writing something which he had not already written.

Sometimes I think about this sometimes about that. At last wearily I wrote one word on a piece of paper and show him what I have written…

Then when He turned his paper his written word was the same which I had chosen…

Now I cannot tell how he had done so..  Through knowledge or contrivance or chance .. God knows better

But the lesson I learned that day was that … Whatever I have written, I chose by myself not abiding by what he had written…

But that person already knew what I will choose and write down…

Then I thought, Man ! If a person with limited knowledge can keep my future deed written with him which I have not committed yet and will do by my own intention without being forced…

If such a thing can be done by a Human then why not Allah (swt). Allah (swt) has kept all my future deeds written by HIMSELF. Because HE has to find means for my food, for my life, for my death, accommodation in my grave and many more…

Hence Allah (swt) has collected all my data for HIS information that what I will do by my own will in Future…

These deeds written with Allah does not annul my free will of deeds … My responsibility does not nullify …

Hence Allah (swt) will hold responsible for the deeds done by us solely …

There are a few things maybe in which Allah (swt) might not hold us responsible as that is part of his system … or due to pressure … But there are some deeds in which Allah (swt) has purely given us free will … we will be held responsible for such deeds…

We will be rewarded for those deeds in the Hereafter .. We will get punishment for the deed we have done … May Allah (swt) save us all from HIS punishment … Similarly on accord of our deeds we will get Heaven or Hell…But we do deed freely and with our own concern.. Thats another thing Allah (swt) knows what deeds will be done by us today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, after a year and ten year and so on …All written with HIM… “…with HIM is the Mother of the Book” (13:39)

But the deeds we do, we do it with our intention and free will and will be held responsible for them.

—

Jazak’Allah Khair

One day, Abraham woke up and asked his wife Hajar to get her son and prepare for a long journey. In a few days Abraham started out with his wife Hajar and their son Ishmael. The child was still nursing and not yet weaned. Abraham walked through cultivated land, desert, and mountains until he reached the desert of the Arabian Peninsula and came to an uncultivated valley having no fruit, no trees, no food, no water. The valley had no sign of life. After Abraham had helped his wife and child to dismount, he left them with a small amount of food and water which was hardly enough for 2 days. He turned around and walked away. He wife hurried after him asking: “Where are you going Abraham, leaving us in this barren valley?”

Abraham did not answer her, but continued walking. She repeated what she had said, but he remained silent. Finally she understood that he was not acting on his own initiative. She realized that Allah had commanded him to do this. She asked him: “Did Allah command you to do so?”

He replied: “Yes.” Then his great wife said: “We are not going to be lost, since Allah Who has commanded you is with us.”

Abraham invoked Almighty Allah thus:
“O Our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley with no cultivation, by Your Sacred House (the Ka’ba at Mecca); in order, O our Lord, that they may offer prayers perfectly
(Iqamat as salat) so fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and O Allah provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks. O our Lord! Certainly, You know what we conceal and what we reveal. Nothing on the earth or in the heavens is hidden from Allah.” (Ch 14:37-38)

READ THE COMPLETE STORY OF PROPHET ISHMAEL (ISMA’IL) (AS) IN OUR STORIES SECTION.