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Challenge Your Blindness

Date: March 17, 2015

Did you ever think of what is the meaning of blindness? The meaning varies for people, for their thoughts and approach. To some, it will be merely a sickness or defect by birth. To some others, it sounds something unsound or a state of ignorance or passiveness. Often it is a frightening thought or state. Here the thing is something different. Author states that blindness has become a way of life, to be open, a disguising to lead the life. Author recollects his experience from Manipal hospital, near Bangalore, that he was bedridden due to a massive stroke which lead him to a total blindness. His illness transformed him to a blind man physically, but not mentally. Gradually he started to recover his blindness using auditory senses and the mind to be able to overcome the deficiency. And this challenging situation taught him to keep his blindness as an asset. Instead of crying about the vision loss, he found himself taking up the challenges of gaining ground and bridging the gap between being sighted and facing blindness. He read newspaper e copy by software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech). Watched movies by listening the conversation and amazingly he got extra power for his other senses. Author is giving a positive message to the blind people that to keep the defect as a challenge and live life with full of joy and activities.

Precious Gifts a Person Leaves Behind

"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."

Sunan Ibn Mājah

Angelic Daily Prayers for Generosity

"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"

Sahih Bukhari

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Fasting is a Means of Self-Purification

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent _O Believers! Fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, so that you may remain God-fearing. Fast for a certain number of days. But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, shall fast, instead of the same number of days later on. Those who find fasting a strain too hard to bear may compensate for it by the feeding of a needy person. He who does good of his own account does himself good thereby, for to fast is to do yourselves good, if you but knew it._ (The Cow, “Al-Baqarah” 2: 183-4) Fasting is a manifestation of man&8217;s determined will and his relationship with his Lord which is based on total submission to Him. It is also a demonstration of man&8217;s deliberate disregard of all his physical needs in order to win Allah&8217;s pleasure. These are necessary elements in the training of the believers so that they are able to bear the hardships of the way they have chosen. On both sides of it, there are all sorts of pleasures and temptations which beckon its travellers, trying to force them off their course. Fasting has numerous advantages for health which continue to be discovered as time passes. It goes without saying that Allah takes into consideration the physical constitution of man. Allah relalizes that man requires help and motivation in order to respond to duty and fulfill it regardless of its benefits. It takes time for man to get used to a certain duty and to be convinced of its wisdom. Hence, the decree of fasting starts with the address made to the believers which reminds them of their essential quality, that is, they believe in Allah. They are then told that fasting has always been a duty required of the believers. Its principal aim is their education and training so that their hearts acquire a high standard of sensitivity and purity and that the fear of Allah is well established in them: “Believers, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, so that you may remain God-fearing.” Fear of Allah To fear Allah, then, is the great aim of fasting which looms large before our eyes. As the believers fulfill this duty, in total obedience of Allah and in pursuit of His pleasure, they feel the quality of fearing Allah to be a life within them. This is indeed the quality which guards their hearts against spoiling their fasting by indulging in sin, even if it is of the type which only passes through the mind. Those who are addressed by the Quran are fully aware of the value Allah attaches to this quality of fearing Allah and being conscious of Him. Its acquirement is something for which they yearn. Fasting is a tool with which it is achieved. Hence, the Quran raises it before them as a noble objective. Allah Wishes to Make Things Easy They are then told that fasting is prescribed only for a certain number of days. Exempted from it, however, are the sick until they have recovered, and the travellers until they have settled: “Fast a certain number of days. But whoever of you is sick, or on journey, shall fast instead the same number of days later on.” Taken at its face value, the statement concerning the exemption of the sick and the travellers is general, unrestricted. Hence any illness or journey is a good reason for exemption from fasting, provided that compensatory fasts are held when those reasons no longer obtain. The purpose of the exemption is that it is Allah&8217;s wish to make things easy, not hard, for man. We cannot claim to have full knowledge of the divine wisdom behind relating this exemption to sickness and travelling generally. There may be some hardships which may not immediately appear to us or we may tend to overlook. Since Allah has not attached this exemption to any particular reason, we refrain from making any judgment concerning it. We obey any statement Allah has made, even if its wisdom does not appear immediately to us. What is certain is that there is a wisdom behind it, whether we recognize it or not. Using the Concessions Some people may fear that such an opinion may cause people to neglect their worship for any reason indeed, this is what has prompted Islamic scholars to adopt a more strict attitude and to lay down conditions. Islam does not compel people to be obedient. Its method is to implant in them the consciousness of Allah so that they obey Him. The acquisition of the quality of fearing Allah is the particular aim of this worship. He who tries to use a certain concession made by Allah in order to evade fulfilling a duty is, in the first place, devoid of goodness. With such an attitude, the aim behind the religious duty cannot be fulfilled. We must not forget that Islam is a religion laid down by Allah. Allah knows best that this religion achieves a perfect balance between the relaxation of certain duties and strict adherence to duty. A certain concession may serve a certain interest which cannot be served otherwise. Indeed, this must be the case. Hence, the Prophet has ordered Muslims to make use of the concession Allah has allowed them. As for the exemption from fasting in cases of illness, it appears that the exemption applies to every case which may be reasonably described as illness, regardless of its nature or intensity. It is compulsory for anyone who makes use of exemption to compensate for the days of Ramadan for which he missed the fasting due to illness or travelling. Each day is compensated for by fasting one day any time during the year.

Eid al-Fitr 2020

Praise be to Allah. Every year Muslims celebrate two major religious Holidays- Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Both celebrations commence after completing an obligational worship prescribed by Allah. Eid al-Fitr follows 30 days of fasting during Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha is celebrated after the Hajj. Fasting and Hajj are the third and fourth pillars of Islam. Eid al-Fitr will fall on May 23rd or 24th this year and many of us are unsure of what to do given the current pandemic situation causing a shutdown of all places of worship. Most of us are currently praying Jumah and Tarawih at home and will likely do the same or Eid prayers. Some of us are holding socially distanced, family visits outdoors, while others are doing drive-bys. Some families may continue with virtual visits through video calls. Islamic scholars have issued multiple fatwas on mosque closures, Friday, daily, Tarawih and Eid prayers. Please visit the following links to read details about the Islamic, legal opinions and decisions in the US: 1. The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA): https://www.amjaonline.org/fatwa/en/87736/impact-of-covid-19-outbreak-on-the-congregational-services(https://www.amjaonline.org/fatwa/en/87736/impact-of-covid-19-outbreak-on-the-congregational-services) 2. Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) / Islamic Society of North America (ISNA): http://fiqhcouncil.org/fatwa-regarding-%e1%b9%a3alat-al-eid-in-light-of-covid-19-lockdown/(http://fiqhcouncil.org/fatwa-regarding-%e1%b9%a3alat-al-eid-in-light-of-covid-19-lockdown/) For other countries, please search for proper authorities and websites in your respective locals. The Alim Foundation Inc.: NMS/NH: May 19, 2020