HOW does a born Muslim meet a revert American Muslim woman? ‘Wow! Masha Allah, Allah guided you. It’s such a pleasure to meet you.’Little more than speaking glorifying words do we do. Helping her out in the issues she may be facing hardly crosses our mind. Reverts aside, our attitude gets worse toward Muslims in general.Meet Umm Ni’mah, an African American woman whose ancestors were slaves and who grew up in the late 1960s in New Jersey under the cult of Elijah Muhammad. She embraced Islam in her early twenties.“I remember how I’d often pass by a Masjid on the bus and look at how beautiful and clean the sisters looked. I wanted to be like them, I wanted to look like that,” Umm Ni’mah recalls. “I found no real satisfaction from dating and going out dancing. I wanted to submit to something greater to feel fulfilled, not used. I became tired with wasting my life and my time.”“I started to practice true Islam. I read the Qur’an more and more. I tore down and fought my desires within myself in order to please my Lord, Allah Alone. I cried to Him a number of times to remove the evil filth of shirk from my chest, my mind, and my soul. I tried to follow every rule I could and I loved reading about the religion, Alhumdulillah.”Reborn with Islam, Umm Ni’mah’s life was filled with peace, contentment and gratitude. She found the purpose of life and the way to success. Then came time for the next stage of life, the desire of every youthful being, the world’s prelude to fantasies – it was time to get married.“I married at 26. We had a son together.” But marriage is more than a fantasy, it’s about adjusting to one’s role, caring for each other and building a family.“We argued a lot and our marriage did not last over two years. We divorced, may I add, happily?” Like Umm Ni’mah, her husband was a practicing Muslim and a student of Islamic studies. He left for Yemen with their son, Abdur Rahman, to study Islam and live in a Muslim country. He remarried and settled there.Two years later, in 1999, it was Umm Ni’mah’s turn to travel to Yemen. It was her own Hijrah (migration to a Muslim land). “After two years of staying away from my only child, I wanted to leave the non-Muslim land and be with my son and support him,” Umm Ni’mah wrote in email to Saudi Gazette.“At the airport, a couple received me and escorted me to the village where my son lived. I had high hopes that my son would be learning Islam and benefitting from living in the Muslim land. Everyone seemed anxious to meet the sister who’d let her only child go to the land of the Muslims at such a young age. They didn’t know the pain and hardships I faced alone for doing this.” For more read here.
Is Iblis an angel?Q- Is Iblis, may Allah curse him, an angel or not? And if he is not an angel then what is the meaning of exclusion in Allah’s Words: “All the angels prostrated themselves, except Iblis.” (Qur’an, 15:30-31)?A – It should be known that angels are creatures of Allah. He created them from light, they never disobey Him, and do as He says. As for Iblis (Satan), Allah mentioned that he was amongst the Jinn, Allah says: “...and when We said to the angels, prostrate to Adam, they all did, except Iblis who was from the Jinn, who transgressed the command of his Lord. (Qur’an, 18:50) Allah mentions in the Qur’an what Iblis said when He commanded him to prostrate to Adam. He said: “You created me from Fire, and You created him from clay.” (Qur’an, 38:76) As for the type of exception, in His Words: “All the angels prostrated themselves, except Iblis,” it is a separate exclusion, as one may say: ‘Everyone came except for a donkey.’ There are some people of knowledge who say Iblis, may Allah curse him, is an angel except that he disobeyed Allah, the Exalted, and insisted on being disobedient. Iblis deserved the curse of Allah till the Day of Recompense.– Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Verdicts; Fatawa Islamiyah, vol. 1, pg. 96 Sunnah prayers during travelQ – Is the requirement for offering the fixed Sunnah prayers lifted during travel, and (if so) what is the evidence for this?A – It is prescribed for one to leave the fixed Sunnah prayers during travel, except Witr and the Sunnah of Fajr. It has been authentically reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the Hadith of Ibn Umar and others, that the Prophet would not pray the fixed Sunnah prayers while traveling, except Witr and the Sunnah of Fajr. As for the supererogatory prayer, they are prescribed during travel and while one is resident, and likewise the prayers for whose performance there is a reason, such as the Sunnah of Wudhu, Tawaf, Adh-Dhuha, and Tahajjud prayer at night, based upon Hadiths which have been narrated to that effect. – Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz; Fatawa Islamiyah, vol. 2, pg. 431
COMPUTER security firm Sophos issued a warning Thursday about an Internet virus transmitted from a mass email claiming to contain secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson. The email comes with the subject “Remembering Michael Jackson” and is sent from “sarah@michaeljackson.com”, Sophos said in a statement sent by its Asia office in Singapore.It tells recipients that an attached file titled “Michael songs and pictures.zip” contains secret songs and photos of the pop music icon.Sophos warned computer users not to open the attachment.“By opening the attachment, computer users are exposed to infection. Once infected, a computer will begin automatically spreading the worm onto other Internet users,” Sophos said. “Besides spreading via email, Sophos experts note that the malware is also capable of spreading as an Autorun component on USB memory sticks.”Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, said many computer users are likely to be tempted to open the attachment because of the feverish interest in the King of Pop’s sudden death.“But sensible computer users should by now be well aware that cybercriminals will be quick to exploit news events to spread malware and spam,” he said. “Anyone who receives this email should delete it immediately to save themselves the embarrassment of infecting their email contacts.” - AFP
FACEBOOK is overhauling its privacy controls over the next several weeks in an attempt to simplify its users’ ability to control who sees the information they share on the site.Privacy has been a central, often thorny issue for Facebook because so many people use it to share personal information with their friends and family and beyond. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said Wednesday that the new settings will give people greater control over what photos, updates and personal details they share with their friends, family and strangers on Facebook and, eventually, the wider Internet.To make the settings easier, Facebook is consolidating its existing six privacy pages and more than 30 settings onto a single privacy page. It will also standardize the options for each setting so the choices are always the same, something that hasn’t always been the case. That means that for various pieces of content, users will be able to click on a lock icon to choose whether to show it to everyone, only their friends, friends of friends, members of professional or school networks or people on a customized list. For more read this.
FACEBOOK is overhauling its privacy controls over the next several weeks in an attempt to simplify its users’ ability to control who sees the information they share on the site.Privacy has been a central, often thorny issue for Facebook because so many people use it to share personal information with their friends and family and beyond. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said Wednesday that the new settings will give people greater control over what photos, updates and personal details they share with their friends, family and strangers on Facebook and, eventually, the wider Internet.To make the settings easier, Facebook is consolidating its existing six privacy pages and more than 30 settings onto a single privacy page. It will also standardize the options for each setting so the choices are always the same, something that hasn’t always been the case. That means that for various pieces of content, users will be able to click on a lock icon to choose whether to show it to everyone, only their friends, friends of friends, members of professional or school networks or people on a customized list. For more read this.
