Date: April 29, 2015
Reem Shaikh is a 17-year-old Muslim hails from Houston. Wonderful news is that she has finished memorizing Qur’an when she was just seven and traveled to Egypt to learn Arabic. She did not get an opportunity to go to regular schools. She was homeschooled until the age of 12. Then she pursued her bachelors in Islamic Studies at Qatar University. The very fact is that children who are homeschooled will be stereotyped as illiterates. But case for Reem is something different. She is now a social activist and joined Doha youth forum, a forum from UN to give youth an opportunity to voice their opinions, last year. She was the only young Muslim girl who addressed UN delegates and answered their questions on role of youth in fighting crimes around the world.
Prophet Muhammad once said that there are five qualities to act up on by an Islam. 1. Guard yourself against things forbidden, you will be the most worshipful of people. 2. Be content with what God has allotted you, you will be the richest of people. 3. Be good to your neighbour, you will be a believer. 4. Love for people what you love for yourself, you will be a Muslim. 5. Do not laugh much; much laughing deadens the heart. Prophet is the wisest in this universe and his goodness of mind was only excelled by his goodness of character, whose creation and nobility was not narrowed or ruffled by anything. Prophet was a person whose doors kept open for all his devotees&8217; questions and doubts. Muhammad never said no to anything for which he was asked. We the mankind must follow prophet&8217;s style that to constantly mindful of God, waste no time in useless talk and chant his prayers. He lived his time as a common man and lead a legendry simple life. He used to do the house works himself. Prophet was a person who never satisfied his hunger and gave a share to the needy at the same time. Prophet is the greatest teacher to mankind on how to live in this universe and we must follow his path by leaving the sins and gaining the goodness.
Read MoreEverybody know that what exactly Qiblah is. It is the direction of the Kaaba,the sacred building at Mecca, to which Muslims turn at prayer. Suppose, you are on a road trip and it is the time to pray Maghrib and ‘Isha. Suddenly you strated peforming the Wudu. But how do you know which direction to face? Your answer might be to use a Qiblah app from your smart phone. Thats right! But if you are not having such facilities in your hand, what is the perfect solution to find the Qiblah? Before inventing smart phones and such technologies, Muslim sailors developed the art of reading the stars to find the navigation. As the earth rotates, stars moves to different positions. Muslim sailors called it al-Qiblah and it is found in the constellation they named al-Rakabah. We know it as the North Star, found in the Little Dipper. Once you are done this, it becomes easy to locate the north star to know the Qiblah. Check out the folllowing steps to find out the Qiblah: 1. Locate Banat Naash al-Kubra (The Big Dipper). The Big Dipper is one of the easiest constellations to find. This constellation is shaped as a large spoon. That is, three stars in the handle and four stars in the head. By finding this Big Dipper, you can spot the north star. 2. Trace a line to al-Qiblah (the north star). Next step is to imagine a line that connects the front two stars of this Big Dipper. If you follow this particular line, you can spot the north star at a five times distance range. It&8217;s the first bright star you&8217;ll run into that&8217;s close to this vector. 3. Verify that you are spotted the north star itself. Be sure that you have spotted the north star itself and then only start the prayer. Otherwise, your prayer time may get conflicted.
Read MoreThis is a wonderful article on suicide and its haram in Islam. The author of this article Saba Malik shares some knowledge he got from a depression mastery seminar by a prominent Muslim Shaykh, eight years back. Suicide is a sin in Islam. But the author still wonders that by knowing the fact that suicide is a bad activity, why Muslims still tries to kill themselves. Once the seminar finished, the author went up and asked the Shaykh that if a Muslim attempts or commits suicide, what happens to him. The Shaykh answered that definitely, he will go to hell. Mental illness, hallucinations, diseases, financial conditions, family problems etc. can cause one to commit suicide. Depression can be treated with some of the tools practiced in our day to day life and concentration. Following steps are helpful to avoid depression. 1. Regular salah 2. Medication 3. Psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy 4. Regular exercise 5. Healthy eating 6. Good sleep hygiene 7. Keeping up with physical hygiene 8. Active and meaningful social relationships 9. Support groups or blog 10.Giving back to your community Dr. Al-Khater says that apart from the above tools, situational depression can be alleviated by practicing the following tools: 1. Using the Islamic creed 2. Doing righteous deeds 3. Offering salah and reciting prayers 4. Contemplating the worst cases 5. Having good opinions 6. Living with a realistic – not idealistic – point of view 7. Behaving well towards other and yourself 8. Having hope Above all, prayer and preach Allah is the best solution to forget the thoughts about committing suicide.
Read More"When a person dies, his works end, except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him."
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
"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