MASJID AL-ISLAM
Islamic society of Northern Rhode Island.
40 Syales Hill rd, N. Smithfield RI 02896
401-762-0107
www.masjidislam.org _____________________________________________________
NEWSLETTER ISSUE 8 Rajab/Sha’ban 1431 H / July 2010 ***
7 reasons to read the Glorious Quran
(1) Intimate: It dares you to disprove it. How? It says that humans cannot write a book like this even if they pooled all their resources together and got help also from the spirits. The Quran said this fourteen hundreds years ago and yet no one has been able to disprove it. Billions of books have been written – but not another one like the Quran.
(2) Incorruptible: It is the only religious sacred writing which has been in circulation for such a long time and yet remains as pure as it was in the beginning. The Quran was kept intact. Nothing was added to it; nothing was changed in it; and nothing was taken away from it ever since it was completely revealed 1400 years ago.
(3) Unsurpassable: The Quran is God’s final revelation to humankind. God revealed the Torah to Moses, the Psalms to David, the Gospel to Jesus, and finally the Quran to Muhammad. Peace be upon all of them. No other book will come from God to surpass his final revelation.
(4) Indisputable: The Quran withstands the test of time and scrutiny. No one can dispute the truth of this book. It speaks about past history and turns out right. It speaks about the future in prophecies and it turns out right. IT mentions details of physical phenomena which were not known to people at the time; yet later scientific discoveries confirm that the Quran was right all along. Every other book needs to be revised to accord with modern knowledge. The Quran alone is never contradicted by a modern discovery.
(5) Your Roadmap for Life and Afterlife: The Quran is the best guidebook on how to structure your life. No other book presents such a comprehensive system involving all aspects of human life and Endeavour. The Quran also points out the way to secure everlasting happiness in the afterlife. It is your roadmap showing how to get to paradise.
(6) God’s Gift of Guidance: God has not left you alone. You were made for a reason. God tells you why he made you, what he demands from you, and what he has in store for you. If you operate a machine contrary to its manufacture specification you will ruin that machine. What about you? Do you have an owner’s manual for you? The Quran is from your function for success lest you fail to function. It is a healing mercy from God. It satisfies the soul, and cleans the heart. It removes doubts and brings peace.
(7) Your Calling Card to Communicate with God: Humans are social creatures. We love to communicate with other intelligent life. The Quran tells us how to communicate with the source of all intelligence and the source of all life- the One God. The Quran tells us who God is, by what name we should address God, and the way in which to communicate with God. Are these not seven sufficient reasons for reading the Quran?
IQAAMAH TIMES FOR JULY 2010
Fajr= 4:30 AM
Zuhr= 1:15 PM
Asr= 6:30 PM
Maghrib= Sunset
Isha= 10:15 PM
Note: The Iqamah above are current but it may change for all prayers except Zuhr as deemed necessary.
What’s happening at Masjid Al-Islam?
Hifz-ul Quran Class: The Hifz class at Masjid Al-Islam continues successfully. The class will remain open throughout summer. The students will get a Ramadhan and Eid break towards the end of the month of Ramadhan.
Evening Quran class: The evening Quran class continues to help students achieve the ability to read Quran properly with Tajweed. The timings are 5:30 to 6:30 PM.
Friday evening Hadith lectures series: Every Friday, a lecture of Hadith from the book of Imam Bukhari (R.A) is delivered for the benefit of people. The lecture begins at 7:00 PM followed by dinner. All brothers and sisters are welcome to join and benefit from the sayings of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu Alaihe Wa Sallam.
Tuesday Tafseer-ul Quran lectures series: Every Tuesday, we learn the Tafseer of the Holy Quran. Our goal is to broaden our understanding of Quran and how it communicates with us, so we can become better Muslims by practicing on Quran. First Friday of the month dinner The first every Friday of every month is dedicated to the community gathering. Wherein, the entire community of Masjid Al-Islam comes together to share their thoughts with each other and enhance the Muslim brotherhood.
Around us!
Masjid Al- Kareem fundraiser: Masjid Al- Kareem in Providence Rhode Island will be holding its annual fundraiser on July 10 2010 at Woonsocket Holiday Inn. All the brothers and sisters are encouraged to participate and help the Masjid.
One-Day Intensive Seminar Raising Righteous Children with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani: Saturday, July 10th, 2010 11am – 7pm Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center 100 Malcolm X Blvd., Boston, MA 02120 $45 per person, $75 per couple This full-day seminar offers guidance based on the Qur’an and Prophetic example (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and contextualizes their wisdom in light of modern day circumstances in addition to addressing the most pressing parenting questions. Have all your questions answered directly by a trained scholar and experience the impact of sound knowledge on raising children.
- Learn prophetic examples on how to respectfully teach sound values, manners and discipline.
- Learn how to become a compelling role model and effectively deal with parenting issues specific to living in the West.
- Understand the role, rights and responsibilities of both parents and children.
- Learn effective skills on how to nurture your children’s emotional intelligence and character Your children are one of your life’s biggest investments. Join us to learn CLEAR and PRACTICAL guidelines on this crucial topic. Register now at
http://righteouschildren.eventbrite.com/
Find our facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123835240991342 For further information, please call 412-523-2168 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 412-523-2168 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Hadith of the Week
FIVE BEFORE FIVE: Narrated by Amr ibn Maymun al-Awdi Radhiallahu anhu Allah’s Messenger Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said to a man in the course of an exhortation, “Grasp five things before five others: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death.” (Tirmidhi)
Quotation of the Week
Reality and State of Mind – “I used not to take food with satisfaction for the last 16 years, as a full stomach makes the body heavy, makes the heart hard, increases sleep and renders a man lazy for Worship.” (Imam Shafi’i)
Smile 
Three patients in a mental institution prepare for an examination given by the head psychiatrist. If the patients pass the exam, they will be free to leave the hospital. However, if they fail, the institution will detain them for five years. The doctor takes the three patients to the top of a diving board looking over an empty swimming pool, and asks the first patient to jump. The first patient jumps head first into the pool and breaks both arms. Then the second patient jumps and breaks both legs. The third patient looks over the side and refuses to jump. “Congratulations! You’re a free man. Just tell me why you didn’t jump?” asked the doctor. To which the third patient answered, “Well Doc, I can’t swim!”
Please contact Imam Ikram ul Haq if you wish to have any input in this newsletter
Mufti Ikram Ul-Haq
imam@masjidislam.org
Salam Alaikum. Please check the home page now. Jazak Allah khair.
“BURNING THE QUR’AN. DO SOMETHING.”
RESPONSE: “Pray, Forgive, And Educate.”
T.O.Shanavas. MD
About a year ago, I received a mail from a concerned Muslim asking, “Hindus are burning the Qur’an; Do something.” I know Hindus and I have many close friends among them. I have read Hindu scriptures. So, by knowing decent Hindus and their scriptures, I hold the view that the Qur’an-burning Hindus are only a minority, and are not any different from Muslims who killed Catholic nuns and bombed mosques in Iraq or Pakistan, and other places.
Due to the lack of responsible leadership within their community, Muslims do not recognize and resist the provocation and the “trap” set by those who would manipulate Muslims religious sensitivities. The media puppeteers, knowing what motivates Muslims to rampage, simply turned off the cameras and directed them to another venue. Muslims are well trained to tailor their activity on the basis of subliminal media directives, and it looks like we, Muslims, were duped again with the Danish cartoon. This entrapment leads to insult and humiliation, on the one hand, and cleverly insinuated conflict with free speech, on the other. While subjecting Muslims and Islam to palpable intolerance, this clever stratagem seeks to make Islam and all Muslims appear the violently intolerant. Muslims must take into consideration that in an open-free-speech-society bigotry is fought and defeated through public consciousness and rational analysis and act upon it.
Recently, all across the world, many followers of Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him] were insulting the Prophet (peace be upon him) by their knee-jerk response to the provocative Danish cartoons about the Prophet [peace be upon him]. They were attacking embassies, burning newspapers, threatening journalists, issuing bomb threats, and promoting suicide bombing. Still, they claim that they are defending the Prophet [peace be upon him]. These measures do not comply with the values of an ideal community whose Prophet is described in the divine scripture as a “Mercy to Humankind [Qur’an 21:107]” Moreover, Muslims by their angry outburst made even the initially disinterested people to search for the caricature. Unfortunately, Muslims made the existence of the offensive cartoons widely known, and some Muslims created new cartoons to add fuel to fire. Similarly, once they drove the book, Satanic Verses of Salman Rashdie, to the top of the most wanted list of books by a fatawa to kill Rashdie.
At this moment of extreme sadness, I ask Muslims to join me to read Prophet’s [pbuh] biography and the Qur’an for guidance, consolation, and self-control. Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him] was insulted and ridiculed on a regular and daily basis during his lifetime. He was even called a liar by his enemies [Qur’an 38:4]. His opponents mocked his message that challenged status quo [Quran 21:41]. They even tried to assassinate him in order to silence him forever. The Prophet (peace be upon him), however, did not get angry or react with emotional outbursts to these provocations at any stage of this ordeal. Instead, he offered a prayer of forgiveness to those who showed contempt for him. He indeed set an unparalleled example of patience and fortitude. He forgave Hind .b. Utubah who killed and mutilated Hamza (r). After his victorious entry to Mecca, he gave general amnesty to all who fought him and Islam including Utubah.
Similarly, the following verses guide us, Muslims, to tailor our conduct when the ignorant shower insult on our Prophet [pbuh] and Islam.
“And verily messengers before you were mocked but in the end, the mockers were overwhelmed by the very thing they ridiculed.” [21:41.]
“Indulge [people] with forgiveness, [accepting] what issues spontaneously from people’s manners [of behavior], and do not scrutinize them, and enjoin kindness, decency, and turn away from the ignorant, and do not counter their stupidity with the like.” [7:199]
“You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons; and indeed you shall hear many hurtful things from those to whom revelation was granted before your time, as well as from those who have come to ascribe divinity to other beings beside God. But if you remain patient in adversity and conscious of Him – this, behold, is something to set one’s heart upon.” [3:186]
“When you see those who engage in discourse about Our signs, the Qur’ān, in mockery, turn away from them, and do not sit with them, until they discourse on some other topic…”[6:68]
Here, the Qur’an counsels us, Muslims: the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and prophets before him were ridiculed; we will hear many hurtful and painful things; do not scrutinize the ignorant or counter their stupidity with similar means, but extend kindness and decency to them; do not resort to intimidation and violence against mockers but leave them alone, be patient, and conscious of compassionate God.
All the above verses illustrate that angry or violent responses to those who ridicule Muslims or even prophets (peace be upon them) is not an Islamic axiom. In fact, the Qur’an calls upon Muslims to extend patience and tolerance towards mockers. According to the verses, if Muslims ignore the ignorant and let them express their ignorance freely, the mockers will be “overwhelmed by the very thing they ridiculed.”
None of the verses mention of the abridgement of non-believer’s birthright for free speech even if it is painful, insulting, and indecent. In fact, free speech is abridged for Muslims in this painful situation because they are expected to ignore the mockers and make a polite exit from the scene. Muslims have no divine mandate to stop the mockery by force or intimidation. Therefore, the acceptance and practice of the principles of free speech is an Islamic decorum.
The human Right for free speech is not a gift from the East or the West. It is a divine gift and a mercy for humanity. Let us, Muslim, remember that “verily messengers before you [Prophet Muhammad] were mocked” and let us pray, forgive, and educate contemporary scoffers of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) and pray for human decency and free speech with responsibility and respect for people of all faiths.
Finally, Muslim’s duty is to ignore and pardon the mockers in this world and yield to God the task of calling them to account: “Say to those who believe, ‘Pardon those who do not hope for God’s days that He may reward a people for what they earned.’ Whoever does a righteous deeds, it is for their own benefits. And whoever does vile deed, it against their own selves; then to your Lord you shall be returned.” [Qur’an 45:14-15]. At the same time, we, Muslims, must educate decent people the folly of those who insult Islam and the prophet (pbuh) in rational, respectful, and peaceful manner.
Finally, Muslims must believe in God and be patient, and keep reminding themselves that Allah “…will assuredly guard the Qur’an…” [Qur’an 15:9] and let the ignorant burn 1,000 Qur’an if they want to.
Death to Islam!