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THE REALITY OF ISLAM V.S. TERRORISM
CONTENTS:
. UNIT ONE: ABOUT THE FAITH
. Chapter 1 The Other Side of Abraham
. Chapter 2 Muhammad - The Last Prophet
. Chapter 3 Islam in Division
. UNIT THREE: THE CONCLUSION
. UNIT TWO: TERRORISM - THE ORIGIN
AL-ISLAM, translated as The Submission in Arabic, is a high-profile religion with origins dated back to the time of Abraham, a major prophet who taught the way of God originally to the Israelites. As the fastest growing religion in the world, the people who worship this faith are known as the Muslims, or the Ones who submit [to God only], and their book is known as the Holy Qur’an. Al-Islam rhymes with the Arabic word for peace, Salam, which the religion stands for. However, because of the previous attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. by September 11th, 2001, many people, mainly at the West, considered Muslims as violent by nature and failed to see the troubled Middle Eastern politics instead as possible faults of such extreme attacks on the United States. This explains this month’s blog.
U N I T O N E
ABOUT The Faith
People said that Islam was originated from Arabia by an Arab prophet known as Muhammad bin/son of Abdallah, whose name means the One who appreciates, but it was actually brought back to life after the Israelites denied having their religion, Judaism, become an open one to non-Hebrews. This is why Judaism is not an easy religion for one to be converted to. John, also known as the Elias [a.k.a. YAHYA], was slain in prison by daily ambulation. And, as Muslims and as well as Christians condemn, Christ [a.k.a. I'SA] was crucified because he claimed to be the Messiah. but, according to the Torah, the holy book of the Jews, the Messiah was supposed to lead them to a global campaign with military means. This led to the curse of being expelled by Roman soldiers to Europe for nearly two millenniums as the Philistines dominated the fallen Israelite Empire. But, the Philistines too faced Roman occupation, as the Israelites did during the time of Christ, before they were defeated by Arab Muslim invaders who converted the Philistines to Arab Muslims.
Muslims have five rules considered to be the Pillars of Islam:
1. A Muslim must pray five times daily.
2 Fast during the month of Ramadan, ninth month of the Muslim
calendar.
3. Pay alms — zA.kA’A.t — to the poor.
4. Visit Mecca during the Hajj pilgrimage season to worship if financial
state is stable.
5. Say the Testimony — Al-A.sHA.A.dA: "AshAAdU AnnA lAA ElAhA el
AllAh, wU AshAAdU An’nA MUhAmmAdA’An rAsUwlU AllAh."
TRANSLATION: I testify that there’s no other gods but God, and testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
The most serious-minded ones also consider these simple rules as their daily routines:
1. No consumption of pork or any pig-related meat.
2. No consumption of alcohol. This was banned by Prophet Muhammad
himself in Arabia on his followers.
3. No gambling.
4. Follow the Sharia Law’s demands, which are originally based on the Ten
Commandments and added features, such as punishments.
C H A P T E R 1 . 1
THE Other Side of Abraham
Abraham (called Ibrahim in Islam) is very important to Islam, both in his own right as prophet and as the father of the prophet Ismail (Ishmael), his firstborn son, who is considered the Father of the Arabs. Abraham is considered one of the first and most important prophets of Islam, and is commonly termed Khalil Allah, Friend of God. (Islam regards most of the Old Testament "patriarchs" as prophets of God, and hence as Muslims.) While most Muslims believe that Adam, the first man and the first Muslim (submitter to God), they universally agree that Abraham was a prophet of God.
One must accept him as a prophet to be a true believer in Islam. The direction in which Muslims face when praying is towards a structure Prophet Ibrahim built with his son Ismail; the Kaaba of the Holy Mosque in Mecca. Abraham also takes an important role in the one of the Pillars of Islam, the Hajj, which is is a pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque. A part of the Hajj is a commemoration of the sacrifice of the wife of Abraham, Hagar, for her son Ismail, when Abraham had settled his wife and son in the valley of Mecca by God’s order to pioneer a civilization. (It was from this civilization that the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was later born).
Muslims have a specific dua that (in some traditions) they recite daily which asks God to bless both Abraham and Muhammad. Islamic prayer, Salat, that occurs five times a day, also includes several parts that ask God for his blessings upon Abraham. According to Islamic tradition, he is buried at the Machpela Mosque; in Hebron, the West Bank. In the Masjid Al-Haram in Mecca, there is an area known as the "station of Ibrahim" (Maqam Ibrahim مقام), which bears an impression of his footprints.
There are numerous references to Abraham in the Qur’an. According to Quran, Abraham is the spritual father of all the believers. He is mentioned as an upright person who was neither a polytheist nor a Christian or a Jew (Quran 3:67). An example is like the one below:
O, ye who believe! Bow down and prostrate yourselves, and worship your Lord, and do good, that haply ye may prosper and strive for Allah with the endeavor which is His right. He hath chosen you and hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture) that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind. So establish worship, pay the poor due, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protecting Friend, a blessed Patron and a blessed Helper. (Qur’an 22.78)
According to the Qur’an, Abraham reached the conclusion that anything subject to disappearance could not be worthy of worship, and thus became a monotheist (Quran 6:76-83). As in Jewish belief, Abraham’s father (named Azar in Islam) was an idol-maker, and Abraham broke his idols, calling on his community to worship God instead. They then cast him into a fire, which miraculously failed to burn him (Qur’an 37:83-98). The well-known but wholly non-canonical Qisas al-Anbiya (Ibn Kathir) records considerably more detail about his life, which are commonly referred to in Islamic accounts of his life[1]. Traditionally, Muslims believe that it was Ishmael rather than Isaac whom Abraham was told to sacrifice. In support of this, Muslims note that the text of Genesis, despite specifying Isaac, appears to state that Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son ("Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou most loved, even Isaac," Jewish Publication Society translation, Genesis/Bereshit 22:2) to God. Since Isaac was Abraham’s second son, it is arguable there was no time at which he would have been Abraham’s "only son", and that this supports the Muslim belief that there was an original text that must have named Ishmael rather than Isaac as the intended sacrifice. The Qur’an itself does not specify by name which son Abraham nearly sacrificed saying only that it was his only son (Qur’an 37:99-111).
Also, unlike Jewish belief, Muslims also note that nowhere in the Qur’an does God say that it was He who told Abraham to sacrifice his son nor does God say He gave Abraham the dream of the sacrifice. The Qur’an teaches that God never advocates evil. Thus, it is said that for a father to slaughter his son, is an evil that cannot be coming from God; it can only come from Satan. Furthermore, Muslims state that God would not contradict Himself and, therefore, would not order Abraham to commit what he prohibited, even as a test. Since Abraham thought the dream was from God and he proceeded to sacrifice his son Ismail, God sent him the lamb to be sacrificed instead, and to save Ismail and the father-son sacred relationship. Furthermore, Muslims believe that God promised to protect His righteous believers from Satan’s tricks, and he saved Abraham and his son, Ismail, from this exact test. It is believed that Ibrahim’s dream is a test from God. And when Ibrahim told his dream to Ismail, it is Ismail who convinced Ibrahim to fulfill God’s order. So this is test for both Ibrahim, which had longed for a son for so long time, and unto Ismail. When devil teased them before sacrifice, Ibrahim and Ismail throw stone at the devils. This reincarnated as jumrah, one of rite on Hajj. This entire episode of the sacrifice is regarded as a trial that Abraham had to face from God. It is celebrated by Muslims on the day of Eid Al-Adha [a.k.a. END-FAST FESTIVAL]. Muslims also believe that Abraham, along with his son Ishmael, rebuilt the Kaaba in Mecca (Qur’an 2:125).
C H A P T E R 1 . 2
MUHAMMAD The Last Prophet
THE CASTS
MUHAMMAD: The only prophet who originated from Ishmael’s family tree. Also known as the Messenger, he ordered the creation of the first Holy Qur’an and led justified wars against the pagans who oppressed his people for years.
ALI: Muhammad’s cousin and one of his Companions/Loyalists. He led battles And also became the fourth Caliph - or Muslim leader of the Islamic Empire – who was slain, with his relatives, by an angry Persian fire worshipper in Baghdad, present-day capital city of Iraq.
BILAL: Former Ethiopian slave of an aristocrat in Mecca who was freed by Muslims through payment during his fatal punishment. He became the first imam, or caller of prayer, in Medina where the first functioning mosque of Islam was built. He also joined the first war against the pagans when he found his armed former slave master on horseback and slain him.
ABU TALIB: Muhammad’s uncle who took care of him since he became an orphan At the age of six. Before his death, as he lived in exiled with other Muslims and his nephew, he tried once again to persuade Meccans to recognize Muslims as part of the city rather than continuing the ongoing boycott.
ABU SUFYAN: The husband of Hind, the third leader during Muhammad’s prophecy. He was on both sides; Muslims and pagans. But, his pagan side was a severe blow on the Muslims’ noses. Having fought against them before, he became soft many years later by seeing how Muslims lived and taught Arab converts in Arabia the way of Islam. Already declared truce with the Muslims for ten years, and not yet a Muslim, the truce only lasted for 3 years due to bandits who Abu Sufyan leaked information about Muslim posts’ whereabouts where men were being killed late at night. Muslims overlooked Abu Sufyan with anger when he revisited Medina with request of re-amendment of the truce, and they all declared the final campaign with all of Arabia who was to capture Mecca and turn it into a Muslim state once and for all. Abu Sufyan, a day before the Muslims captured Mecca, asked for forgiveness and converted to Islam by reciting the Testimony — AL-A.sHA.A.Da in Arabic - one of Islam’s Five Pillars — at Muhammad’s presence in his tent.
ABU LAHAB: An uncle to Muhammad, he was the first of the three leaders who led Mecca during Muhammad’s prophecy. He was also the enemy of Islam and had murdered two parents of a young convert during Mecca’s counter-conversion measures, which were aimed to re-promote the native idolism to converts. He was killed in Mecca’s first collision against Muslim fighters, most of who came from Medina while the rest were exiled from Mecca by Abu Lahab and Abu Sufyan’s leadership and command. According to a chapter in the Holy Qur’an, God promised him and his wife Hell Fire.
The Messenger’s Companions/Loyalists:
. Abu Bakar
. Usman
. Omar
. Ali – his cousin
Muhammad Bin/Son of Abdallah was born at, what the people of Mecca called the "Year of the Elephant" — Monday 12th Rabi Al-Awwal [in A.D. 571]. The year was given such name because of the Yemeni king’s determination to destroy the Abraham-built Kaaba with many men and elephants as a challenge against its well known protection. They were stopped by minute meteorites, thrown by birds from Above, that scientifically transfered flesh-eating diseases into their bodies. Muhammad was born without a father who was already late, and his mother, Amina, passed away six years later. He was taken care of by one of his uncles, Abu Talib. He grew up in the world of a caravaan trader knowing not how to read or write. He lived in this World for 63 years. He left this World on Monday 11th year of Hijra. Gleam has disagreement on his day of departure, some says 2 Rabi Al-Awwal some says 3. He Lived 53 years in Mecca and 10 years in Medina. He changed this World in just 23 years of his prophecy.
At the age of 15, he participated in the war of Fujjar to defend the Kaaba. At the age of 23, his second trip Syria as Khadija’s representative. At the age of 25, he married Khadija. She was 40 years old. At the age of 35, he helped in the rebuilding of Kaaba, and resolved the matter of fitting the Black Stone in the wall of Kaaba, therefore avoided eminent bloodshed. At the age of 36-40, he spent most of his time at the Mount Hira.
LIFE IN MECCA AND THE PROPHETHOOD:
On the first day of 41st year of his life, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through Angel Gabriel — also known as Jibril. First Muslims were Hadija, Abu Bakar, t Ali, and Zaid. After three years of his prophecy, Almighty God ordered him to invite people openly to Islam. Then he declared his prophethood in an open gathering on the top of the hill called Safa. People who used to love and respect the Prophet became his enemies and started persecuting the handfuls Muslims. Prophet’s uncle, Abu Lahab – leader of Mecca, and Abu Jahal were in the forefront to oppose and torture the Prophet and his followers. In the 5th year, life in Mecca for Muslims was becoming unbearable, so they were ordered to leave Mecca on individual basis. In the 6th year, Omar and Prophet’s uncle, Hamza, accepted Islam, and right after that time, Muslims prayed openly and collectively in Kaaba. Between 7th to the 10th year the Quraish of Mecca really made Mu
المزيد
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