Date: May 29, 2016
The author Jameel Syed expresses his experience in Umrah that he witnessed while his pilgrimage. He says nobody can walk empty handed from this place of purification. He first visited Umrah in the month of Ramadan in 1998. The pilgrimage journey was a gift from his parents for graduating from the University of Michigan. Pilgrims chanted loud and loud as they moved closer to the object of desire. His heart beats started to beat faster and faster when he reaches the place of Allah. His eyes started to fill with tears and while walking towards the object of desire he was in a dreamy state. Finally he stopped and he knew that he was in the presence of majesty. People come from far and near to have their prayers heard. Different people believes in Islam with different skin colors eat different foods, speak different languages, wear different clothes and practice different customs all gathered in one place to celebrate peace, brotherhood and unity. The pilgrimage places like Mecca and Madinah have their own flavors. Both cities carry the wonderful air of devotion and humanity and both are complimentary to one another. Both cities make you feel safe and privileged. While the trip to Madinah, he could meet many notable personalities who are working for Islam and its teachings. Qalam Institute, Ustadh Wissam Sharieff, Imam Dawood Yasin, Imam Khalid Latif, imam Omer Bajwa, Ustadh Jameel Besada were some among them. The ever loving and memorable thing that the author could do was being given the permission to raise the adhan in two masajid of the holy city: Darul Hadith and the famed Islamic University of Madinah. Since this greatest thing happened, he believes that nobody can walk away from this place empty handed.
"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
"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
The Initiative on Islam and Medicine (II&M)(https://www.medicineandislam.org/overview/), located in Brookfield, Wisconsin, conducts research on Islam and Biomedicine. Their research programs are focused on the theological, social, and biomedical aspects of religion and medicine and are meant to benefit the health of American Muslims and also in the development of an academic, multidisciplinary field of Islamic Bioethics. They support and provide scholarships to healthcare providers and religious leaders and act as a platform for impactful research and tailored education. Additionally, II&M provides educational opportunities, workshops, consultations, courses and certifications, medical student internships, and hosts events that facilitate the participation of medical and social scientists, Islamic studies experts, and Islamic scholars. After extensive pilot testing and methodical curation, as claimed by II&M, they have announced the launch of a self-paced, multi-modal course named “An Introduction to the Field of Islamic Bioethics”(https://www.medicineandislam.org/bioethics-course/). This course is said to benefit Muslim clinicians, healthcare practitioners, medical students and trainees, chaplains, religious leaders, bioethicists, and patients and is based on II&M’s principles of data-driven, theologically appropriate, and research-tested intellectual resources to engage with contemporary healthcare. The course will introduce learners to: * Critical concepts in Islamic theology and law that undergird normative ethical frameworks * Scholarly discussions regarding the methods, content, and scope of Islamic bioethics and * Extant normative rulings and discursive products of applied Islamic bioethics relate to end-of-life care, organ donation, and reproductive health. This course is based on adult learning theory and is a 10-module course that runs in 4-months cohorts. It involves: * Specially curated lectures and readings that allow for active learning as participants engage with the source material of Islamic bioethics, * Summative lectures that hit on the key points from the material with added experiential commentary and explanation from a practicing clinician, clinical ethicist, health policy consultant, and scholar * Short quick-hitting reflection questions and quizzes that allow for the learning to be concretized Additionally, the course yields 16.5 CME and MOC credits for physicians. At the completion of the course, participants will be able to: * Describe the sources of Islamic morality * Identify the producers, consumers, and the discursive material of Islamic bioethics * Describe the contentions around what constitutes the "Islamic" in Islamic bioethics * Apply critical analysis skills to decipher gaps in the Islamic bioethics discourse * Delineate the major Islamic juridical views on end-of-life healthcare, organ donation, and reproductive health Register now(https://www.medicineandislam.org/bioethics-course/) for the course at II&M’s website and avail of the introductory 50% discount.
Read MoreThis study was designed to determine the effect of Quran listening without its musical tone (Tartil) on the mental health of personnel in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, southeast of Iran. The results showed significant differences between the test and control groups in their mean mental health scores after Quran listening (P = 0.037). No significant gender differences in the test group before and after intervention were found (P = 0.806). These results suggest that Quran listening could be recommended by psychologists for improving mental health and achieving greater calm.
Read MoreIn Islam, Ahadith are derived from the sayings, teachings, habits, and life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). These represent the sunnah of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and are meant to be followed by all Muslims to live a righteous Islamic life. Ahadith are reported by Companions of our beloved Prophet (PBUH) and by His wives, the prominent being Hazrat Aisha (RA). Often Ahadith are reported by a chain of narrators, starting from a contemporary companion of Prophet Muhammad (PHUH) followed by the followers of the followers, and generations of scholars in Ahadith. Ahadith have been collected and organized as various books like Sahih Al Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Fiqh Us Sunnah, Tirmidhi, etc. Now Ahadith are the leading source of Islamic guidance after the holy Quran, and they act us the complete authority of sunnah and the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Majority of Ahadith have their root in the holy Quran, the holy text revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Allah (SWT) through angel Jibreel (AS). This happened because, Prophet Muhammad’s (PHUH) life was strictly according to the Quranic guidance and its derivations, and the Ahadith are narratives from His (PBUH) life. The holy Quran is revealed first, and Ahadith are later derived from Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah, means Quran is the foundation and reference to Ahadith. Also true is the fact that, some Ahadith act as explanation to many Quranic verses. This is apparent in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, where the Quran is explained through Ahadith. When Quran Ayaath are linked and stated along with Ahadith, it adds the authenticity of the Ahadith, since the holy Quran is the ultimate and undisputed truth. Moreover, Quran Ayaath make the Ahadith strong and provides direction to the reader to understand the Ahadith better. It is in the above context, Alim.org has decided and implemented linking of Ahadith with Quran Ayaath that act as references to the Ahadith. We have used techniques like context matching, machine language and pattern matching to identify Quran Ayaath that matches with Ahadith in context, meaning and background. Thus, Ahadith are linked to their Quran Ayaath references and these Ayaath are shown by side of the Ahadith as Quran references. Our implementation is unique in its kind, and we are delighted to roll out this feature for our users to experience and to provide feedback. Kindly refer to the reference Ayaath of some Ahadith and let us know your valuable feedback. Currently we have done Ayaath linking to Fiqh Us Sunnah Ahadith only and other Ahadith books will be linked and released soon. We are in the process of continuous refinement of our Ahadith Ayaath linking algorithm and your feedback will be used to derive rules to match Ahadith and Ayaath further. Our goal is to provide the users with a complete Ahadith referencing platform through Alim.org and enable them to contemplate upon the meanings and implications of Ahadith to understand it better and complete.
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