Important articles from external websites

[IslamicLessons Admin]

This 'thread' is to post any important article or piece of information from an external website that may be related to purpose of this website forum, i.e. to provide answers and help to Muslims on every day life issues from an Islamic perspective.

Any post or article from an external website ought to be according to the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and it should be according to the path and understanding of Islam that has been followed by the Prophet (s), his Companions (r), the great scholars of the early and later generations of Islamic history.  We only want these posts/articles to be from other Sheikhs (Scholars) of Islam who follow Islam as mentioned above.  We do not want these articles to be from 'thinkers' who are not scholars, nor from researchers who are not scholars, nor from those Muslims who follow distorted understandings of Islam that are not consistent with the Quran, authentic hadith (i.e. Sunnah), way of Companions (Sahahbah), their students, the great Imams scholars of Islam of early generations and their followers of the latter generations.  We believe you would appreciate our reasons for this.

We hope this section will be useful to our Muslim brothers and sisters.

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Sunnah Inspirations Forums Team

[domenic]

Thanks for this.

I found a very good site which really inspires me and is very educational. This is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCap3LG_Y

[Abu Ayyash]

Good articles on animal rennet. I personally think this article is a very informative one. This article was answered by Sh. Yasir Qadhi, a scholar from US graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, and graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences and completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah in University of Madinah.

Recently, I returned from one of the largest Muslim conferences in North America. While at the convention, I had placed my son Ammaar in the day-long seminars meant for the younger children. When Ammaar got back to the hotel room, the first thing he said as he barged into the room, his eyes wide open in amazement as is his wont, ‘Baba, Baba! Do you know that Doritos and Cheetos are harām?’ I groaned internally, knowing the basic source of this ‘fatwā’, and asked, ‘Why do you say that?’ to which he replied, ‘The auntie in our class said so!’

Sigh………. One more important lesson in fatherhood: make sure you teach your children that much of what they learn in ‘Islamic’ school is not necessarily ‘Islamic’.

As all of us are so (painfully) aware, of recent there has been a flurry of e-mails in Muslim circles regarding popular products, such as Doritos, that use cheese manufactured from porcine rennet. Since these products are sprinkled with such cheese, concerned Muslims have automatically concluded that the aforementioned products must be totally harām, and thus unceremoniously boycotted. Putting aside the nutritional value of such products, such a (cheesy) attitude, although commendable due to its sincere intentions, also betrays a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding halāl and harām foods. Before jumping the gun, it would behoove Muslims to do a little more research and consider the matter from all angles.

In this article, it is my intention to examine the issue in a more academic manner. However, for those who don’t have the time to read it, then to cut a long story short, the strongest opinion appears to be that cheese, in all of its commonly available varieties (except those that actually contain pork as an added flavoring) is absolutely and totally halāl.

In order to prove this point, first we’ll discuss how cheese is actually manufactured. Then, we’ll look at the Islamic perspective on animal rennet and, finally, the ruling on cheese derived from it. As a disclaimer, please note that this is, firstly, a very cursory look at the issue, both from a chemical and an Islamic point of view (although I do feel it is comprehensive despite its brevity), and, secondly, represents only the opinion of its author.

to read more follow the link:
http://muslimmatters.org/2007/07/09/of-mice-and-men-the-cheese-factor/

Another article from Islamqa.com on the same issue. This article was answered by Sh. Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid.
http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/2841/rennet

[ismail006]

Thanks for this.

I found a very good site which really inspires me and is very educational. This is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCap3LG_Y

Jazakallah khairan brother Domenic.

The internet is full of so much useful material.  It's just up to us to make use of it!

Keep up the good posts.

[abou_zur3ah]

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Some of the brothers and sisters might be interested in knowing more about the Jinn.  The Jinn are one of the creation of Allah, who have been created from smokeless fire.  Some of them are good and some of them are bad, the most evil of them being Iblees/Shaytaan.

There is an excellent book written on the subject of the Jinn, translated from Arabic into English.  It is called "The World of The Jinns and Devils", written by one of the good scholars of our time, Shaykh Umar S. al-Ashqar.

Check it out online here:
http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/books/JinnDevils.pdf

One of the great benefits of this book is that it explains some of the wisdom behind the existence of the Jinn and some of the modern-day fallacies and superstitions that have appeared.

[Truthseeker]

Assalamu alaikum abou_zur3ah,

JINN! thats really interesting. insha'allah i will get the book and go through it.

Definitely many people wil be interested in that topic.

May Allah reward u for ur good work.

Jazkallah Khair.

[abou_zur3ah]

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

Take a look at this http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/108860

It shows how balanced and moderate these great scholars of our time are.

May Allah have mercy on those of them who have passed away, and may He preserve and protect those who are still alive.

والسلام عليكم

[abou_zur3ah]

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

Take a look at this http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/108860

It shows how balanced and moderate these great scholars of our time are.

May Allah have mercy on those of them who have passed away, and may He preserve and protect those who are still alive.

والسلام عليكم

PS Don't laugh at the topic, just take a look at the detailed answer!

[domenic]

Assalamu alaikum all

Probably the moment I saw the evidence that the moon had been split by Allah was the time when any doubts I had were taken away Alhamdulila.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHaigjw21n0&feature=related

[abou_zur3ah]

Wa alaykum salaam,

Jazakallahu khairan for the info.

The incident of the splitting of the moon reminds me of an excellent book written about the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him).

It's called "When the Moon Split", a well written book and it's easy to read and understand.  The author is one of the famous scholars who passed away recently - Safi-ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri.

The book is available from Darussalaam Bookstore in Sydney as well as most other bookstores.

[abou_zur3ah]

There is a more detailed biography written by the same author, Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Mubarakpuri.  It is quite famous and won a special prize for the best biography a few years back.

This book is called الرحيق المختوم (Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom) - "The Sealed Nectar".

You can also find this at Darussalaam in Sydney and also other Islamic book stores.

The online pdf version is available here:
http://www.islamhouse.com/p/51776
http://www.islamhouse.com/d/files/en/ih_books/signal/en_The_Sealed_Nectar.pdf

[Fu Su]

Jazakallahu khair abou zur3ah for mentioning this book (Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom).  I myself have just finished reading it, and it's really good!!  It's one of my favourites!  I'd recommend it to everyone!

[abou_zur3ah]

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah,

I found a very interesting article on the BBC website yesterday entitled "TV shows link to teen pregnancies".

Subhanallah, it shows how important it is to be careful of what you watch on TV, especially for young Muslims growing up.

You can find the article here: TV shows link to teen pregnancies

I've pasted the article below as well.

TV shows link to teen pregnancies

Teenage girls who watch a lot of TV shows with a high sexual content are twice as likely to become pregnant, according to a study.

Boys watching similar programmes, like Friends and Sex and the City, were also more likely to get a girl pregnant, the research in Pediatrics found.

The study authors said limiting exposure to sexual content on TV might reduce teen pregnancies.

Experts urged parents to talk more openly with their children about sex.

Study author Dr Anita Chandra of the RAND Corporation said adolescents received a considerable amount of information about sex through television and the problem was that programmes such as these typically did not highlight the risks and responsibilities of sex.

   
Sexual content on TV has doubled in the last few years, especially during the period of our research. We found a strong association

Lead researcher Dr Anita Chandra

She said:"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the US."

According to Dr Chandra, hers is the first study to show such a direct link.

The researchers interviewed 2,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 three times between 2001 and 2004.

Teens who watched larger amounts of sexually charged TV shows were twice as likely to experience a pregnancy in the subsequent three years, compared with those with lower levels of exposure.

Sexual content

By the third interview, 744 of the teenagers said they had engaged in sexual intercourse and 718 of the youths shared with the researchers information about their pregnancy histories.

Of that group, 91 teens - 58 girls and 33 boys - were involved in a pregnancy.

Dr Chandra said: "Sexual content on TV has doubled in the last few years, especially during the period of our research. We found a strong association."

The US has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates among industrialized nations, with nearly one million adolescent females becoming pregnant each year, with the majority of these pregnancies unplanned, according to RAND.

Britain has Europe's highest teenage pregnancy rate.

   The idea of parents sitting down with their children and talking about the issues raised in these television programmes is a great one
A spokeswoman from Brook

Tory MP Nadine Dorries said it would be interesting to see if a similar study in the UK revealed a trend.

"Information such as this empowers parents when making difficult decisions as to what they do and don't allow their daughters to watch," she said.

Psychologist David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family said many teenagers relied on the media to act as sex educator.

Dr Walsh said: "If you have a kid who no-one's talking to about sex and who then watches sitcoms on TV where sex is presented as 'this is what cool people do', the outcome is obvious.

"The message to parents is to talk to their kids about sex long before they become teenagers."

A spokeswoman from Brook said: "The causes of teen pregnancy in the UK are quite complex.

"There are a range of ways we can try to reduce the teen pregnancy rate, such as providing sex and relationship education and outreach and community services for young people.

"The idea of parents sitting down with their children and talking about the issues raised in these television programmes is a great one."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7707664.stm

Published: 2008/11/04 09:53:32 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

[abou_zur3ah]

السلام عليكم

The Virtue of the First Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

Since the season of Hajj is quick approaching, I thought this article would be of great benefit:

Virtues of the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

والسلام عليكم

[Abu Ayyash]

Another article answered by Sh. Yasir Qadhi, a scholar from US graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, and graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences and completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah in University of Madinah.

I think this is a very good article and Theology (aqeedah) is the Sheikh specialty. So, hope you guys will enjoy and benefit it

Question:
What is the historic relationship between legal schools and theology?

Answered by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi
The relationship between the schools of legal thought and the schools of theology is a very lengthy topic, and one that is worthy of more attention. I honestly think it would be a great dissertation topic!

Briefly though, one needs to realize that the four great Imam all lived in different time periods. Hence, their fiqh was dependent on their contextual setting, and the amount and type of knowledge accessible to them (as you all have studied in the Code Evolved insha Allah). Also, their statements pertaining to aqeedah were likewise influenced.

Enough quotes exist from the four Imams that prove that they all held the same creed in Asma wa al-Sifaat (in fact, in all issues of theology, except for a finer detail of Iman where one of them held a different opinion). However, the quantity of these quotes varies greatly. The earlier Imams (i.e., Abu Hanifa, Malik and Shafi’ee) were not surrounded by Mu`tazilah nor was there any major threat from them. However, Imam Ahmed witnessed the peak of their power, and was put in the limelight. Hence, the sheer quantity of quotes narrated from him cannot be compared to the other three.

To read the rest of the article, go to:
http://www.strangersoasis.com/1990/01/01/the-relationship-between-aqeedah-and-fiqh/

OR

http://aqidahpolice.blogspot.com/2007/06/aqeedah-and-fiqh.html