Response of Sidi Alija Izetbegovic (May Allah have mercy on his soul) to an Interviewer's Question on Morality

Izetbegovic:

"Since morality is our act out of duty,not interest, there is a question why would a man act against his interest if there is nothing above or out of it? The idea of good cannot at all be defined logically. Kant proved mathematically that no duty can be derived from pure mind. Nobody, as far as I know,managed to successfully challenge this theory.Because doing good often does not pay off. if it did, selfish ones and scum would rush to be examples of virtue. Remember how the people we admire,real or characters from literature,were all sufferers, Socrates, Antigone, Jesus etc. So, if there is only this life, if there is no God,those sufferers are not heroes, but plain losers and their sacrifice is of no meaning or use.


As a young man I saw a film in which a man loses his life because he refuses to betray his fellow fighters. Then I thought about the controversy in my own soul.All the time I was on the hero's side, which practically meant that I wanted him to face the firing squad. Between death and betrayal, betrayal seemed worse. Why? There is only one reasonable answer: because there is something greater than life. In a universe without God, this man's sacrifice is deprived of any sense. And obviously it is not, we all feel it.


The problem is consistency, actually inconsistency. Believers should be led by duty, those who don't believe by interest. This is the only logical thing. But it does not always happen like this. People say one thing, do another, so we have many immoral believers and moral atheists. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure:no moral system can be founded without God. You have to call upon something above life and interest, and every calling upon something upon something above life is some sort of theism or faith....

The equality of people is a religious category. Peole are equal and represent value only if they are created by God. As a product of nature, the way they are, they would be completely unequal and there is no room for the "holiness of human life", so Stalins's 'cistka' are absolutely 'logical'etc....


I could conclude:there are moral atheists, but atheism as a teaching, a view of life, has nothing to do with morality. Of course, this is my opinion, you ask me and I tell you what I think."



-Interview for Ljiljan, Sarajevo, July 1999, which appears in "Inescapable Questions," pg 515, by Alija Izetbegovic



Alija Izetbegovic was a Bosnian Muslim intellectual and activistwho was imprisoned, for his written word,by the Communist regime of the Former Yugoslavia. With the fall of Communism, he served as president of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war of aggression waged by Serbs in the 1990's.



May Allah reward him abundantly for his efforts and make the distance between him and his faults like that of the distance "between east and the west."

Hadith Qudsi

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him),the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

"When Allah decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: 'My mercy prevails over my wrath."

[Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, an-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah)]



D'après Abu Hurayrah ,le Messager de Dieu(salla Allahu alehi wa salam) a dit :

Quand Dieu a décrété la Création Il s'est engagé Lui-même en écrivant dans Son livre, qui repose près de Lui : Ma miséricorde l'emporte sur Ma colère.

(Cela a été rapporté par Muslim - et aussi par al-Bukhari, an-Nasa'i et Ibn Majah).

Amal, Suggested by A Malaysian Raqi, To Combat Jinn Based Problems

"A) Preparatory Amal - to strengthen recitations and for protection

zikir LA ILAA HA ILALLAH(There is no God but ALLAH) 1,000x
Sura Ya-seen 1x


B) Amal to Tie Down Many Jinns (Bi-Iznillah)

Istiqfar 3x
Fatihah 1x, Qursi 1x, Al-Baqarah 285-286 1x,
Sura (112) Ikhlas 3x
Salawat/Darood 3x - shortest is "ALLAH humma sali 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aa-li Muhammad"
niyat - YA ALLAH, YA HAYYU QAYYUM, YA MALIKul QUDUS, YA WAHAB, YA RABB, please protect me from all calamities, all sihir, all jinn, and the evils from all creatures (repeat 3x)
Salawat/Darood 21x
Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim 21x
ALLAH HU AKBAR 33x
Qursi 1x
Sura (2) Al-Baqarah verse 163 21x
Qursi 21x
Sura (36) Ya-seen verse 17-18 21x
Salawat/Darood 21x
Aameen

Do this for 3 days in a row, insyALLAH the sorcerer/jinns will stop bothering you and anyone else

Please do not forget to blow into water immediately after finishing (B). We can use the water to spray the rooms in our house, except bathroom. And we can use the water for drinking and bathing.

For guide on blowing, upon completion of recitations, take deep breathe and blow. Repeat 3 times for each bottle. For ordinary Muslims, all blowings must be finished within 2 minutes from completion of recitations. Otherwise we have do (B) again"

Refuting the idea of the Unity of Religions

In the manual of sacred law,'Umdat al Salik by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri,there is a list of acts that entail leaving Islam. Point number 20 is:


"..to deny that Allah intended the Prophet's message(salla Allhu alehi wa salam)to be the religion followed by the entire world(al-Hadiyya al-Ala'iyya(y4),423-24).)



There is also,in 'Umdat al Salik, a section on 'The Abrogation of Previously Revealed Religions' which includes the statements of various scholars, along with their proofs, which refute the idea of the unity of religion. It reads as follows:

w4.3 (Imam Baghawi:)


The Prophet(Allah bless him and grant him peace)said:
"By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, any person of this community, any Jew, or any Christian who hears of me and dies without believing in what I have been sent will be an inhabitant of hell"

This is a rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith that was recorded by Muslim(Sharh al-sunna)

W4.4 (Ibn Kathir:)

Allah Most High says:
Surely those who believe, those of the Jewry, the Christians, and the Sabaeans-whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day, and works rigfhteousness, their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, and neither shall they sorrow" (Koran 2:62)

Suddi states that the verse "Surely those who believe, etc." was revealed about the former companions of the Salaman the Persian when he mentioned them to the Prophet(Allah bless him and grant him peace, relating how they had been saying, ""They used to pray, fast and believe in you, and testify that you would be sent as a prophet." When he had finished praiseing them, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) replied, "Salamn, they are the denizens of hell", which came to discomfit Salman greatly, and so Allah revealed this verse.



Further Elaboration On Those Who Continue To Follow The Previous Revelations,In Spite Of Being Aware Of The Message of Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace)

Ibn Naqib:

Shirk or ascribing associates to Allah Most High means to hold that Allah has an equal, whereas He has created you, and to worship another with Him, whether it be a stone, human, sun, moon, prophet, sheikh, jinn, star, angel or other.(p1.1,'Umdat al Salik)

The Quranic verses concerning the enormity of shirk (ascribing partners to Allah)"are very numerous, it being absolutely certain that whoever ascribes associates to Allah and dies in such a state is one of hell's inhabitants, just as whoever believes in Allah and dies as a believer is one of the inhabitants of paradise, even if he should be punished first."

(p1.3,'Umdat al Salik)

"Allah does not forgive that any should be associated with Him, but forgives what is other than that to whomever he wills"(Qur'an 4.48)


Belief in the prophethood of Muhammad(Allah bless him and give him peace) is an essential component of faith, without which one's testimony of faith will be rejected


Imam al-Ghazali (rahim Allah) says, as quoted in 'Umdat al Salik:

"Allah, Most High sent Muhammd(Allah bless him and give him peace), the Qurayshite unlettered prophet, to deliver His inspired message to the entire world, Arabs and non-Arabs,jinn and mankind, superseding and abrogating all previous religious systems with the Prophet's sacred law, except for the provisions of them that the new revelation explicitly reconfirmed. Allah has favoured him above all the other prophets and made him the highest of mankind, rejecting anyone's attesting to the divine onesness by saying, There is no God but Allah", unless they also attest to the Prophet by saying"Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". He has obliged man and jinn to beleive everything the Prophet(Allah bless him and grant him peace)has informed us concerning this world and the next, and does not accept anyone's faith unless they beleive in what he has told us will happen after death."
(v2.1)

The First Muslim King of England?

The presence of Islam in Western history is a subject that is rarely discussed. Periods of history in which Islam was flourishing in parts of Europe are termed as the Dark Ages and brushed aside. Islam’s presence in Europe in ‘conventional history’ is limited to a few short decades which began through economic migration in the mid 20th century. This cannot be further from the truth, as will be demonstrated in this article.

Islam has not only been known to the academic elite in the Western world for over a thousand years, but has also been known to the general public throughout history.

Islam found its roots, and became known in England in only its 2nd century (8th century C.E.), for which there is ample proof.

The evidence lies with a King of Middle England, King Offa, about whom, peculiarly, very little is said.


King Offa of Mercia was one of the most powerful and prominent Kings of a large portion of England, before the unity of England in the 10th century.

He ruled Mercia, Middle England, between 757 C.E. (139A.H.) until his death in July 796. (179A.H.)

King Offa ordered the Building of the famous ‘Offa’s Dyke‘, situated on what is now the Welsh border. It was built to fulfil a similar purpose to that of the Great Wall of China; to protect his Kingdom from foreign intrusion.

His dominion was extended from Middle England to Wessex and Northumbria, two large English kingdoms, prominent alongside his own, after his daughters were married to the Kings of those regions.[1]

King Offa made important pacts with Charlemagne, the King of Franks and Emperor of the Romans, and with Pope Adrian the 1st. He remained on good terms with these two powerful personalities until his demise.

One of the most interesting facts about King Offa is that he was the first European Monarch, outside of Byzantium, to mint gold coins. It is a particular gold coin, minted by King Offa in 774 C.E. (157 A.H.) which is of particular interest. It was a copy of a gold Abbasid coin, which bares the declaration of Islamic faith, “There is no god but Allah, the One, He has no partners” on one side, and the term “Offa Rex” (Offa Rules) on the other.

There are further engravings declaring ‘Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah, Who sent him (Muhammad) with the doctrine and the true faith to prevail over every other religion.’[2]

The coin can be seen at the Numismatic Department of the British Museum, room 68, Exhibit 1, Gold Dinar of Offa. This coin has been the subject of much debate with equal amounts of people standing on both sides of the fence.

Did King Offa become a Muslim?

Is that why he minted this coin?

There are many opinions and debates as to whether or not King Offa did indeed become a Muslim. One undeniable fact is that King Offa would have been aware of the Islamic faith in his day, albeit the doctrine, creed and ethics of Islamic teachings were grossly misrepresented and misunderstood in Western Europe in King Offa’s time. It is this misunderstanding, and Western Europe’s perception of Islam as an “anti-Christian” religion that later allowed for the Crusades to take place. But the advantage King Offa had over the people he ruled is that he would have visited many countries, and one of these is Andalusia, Islamic Spain. Some people, Al-Kalby in particular, are of the opinion that King Offa became astonished by the grandeur of the Muslim civilisation in Spain, and it is possibly here that he came across the true teachings of the Islamic faith.

It is now the common belief of historians that King Offa’s expansionist regime was not inspired by a vision of a United England, but rather by greed and power. It is for this reason, historians believe, that Offa petitioned the Pope to grant him an archbishop for his own kingdom. For allowing him this request, in return he promised 365 Mancus (gold coins) to be paid to the pope every year, one for each day of the year [3].

The pope allowed him his request, and King Offa as promised, continued to pay the amount until his death. Some people have argued that the gold coins were minted not for general circulation in his kingdom, but for a specific purpose. Many believe the purpose of the gold coins was to be paid to the pope as part of the promised 365 Mancus.

However, had this been the case, the Pope, who is seen as an Apostle of God, and a deputy of Christ on Earth, would have been offended had King Offa been paying him with Gold coins bearing the Islamic Doctrine.

Some argue that Offa did not know what the Arabic meant, and saw it as merely adornments and designs. A proof presented for this is the fact that the Arabic contained a few errors in its writing. But surely, the Vatican must have had at least one scholar who was well versed in Arabic, and could have brought the meaning to the Pope’s attention. King Offa, on the other hand, would have had no reason to retain Arabic specialists and so could well have made a mistake in an otherwise intentional inscription of the Islamic creed.

In 775 C.E., one year after minting the coins in question, King Offa took over the region of Kent and annexed it into his Kingdom. The Archbishop of Canterbury accepted King Offa as his overlord and rightful ruler. It is 11 years after this, in 786 C.E., that the Pope sent two representatives to speak to King Offa and work out an agreement to allow him to have his own Archbishop[4].

Those who say that King Offa minted these coins to include in the Mancus as payment to the pope, fail to see that the coins were minted 12 years prior to the arrival of the Pope’s representatives to talk about the agreement for an Archbishop of Mercia.

Another argument as to the coin’s invention is that it may only have been used by pilgrims who visited the Holy Land of Palestine, and that King Offa minted a gold coin similar to the traditions of the Islamic Empire so that it would be more readily accepted.

But the nature of the relationship between King and subject at that time was that the King did not go out of his way to help those he ruled over. Besides, the pilgrims would often trade rather than purchase goods when they travelled.

The fact remains that had King Offa become a Muslim at that time, and if he had publicly declared it, not only would he have lost his throne, but would also have been declared an infidel and killed.

Very little is known of the life of King Offa which is rather peculiar for such a powerful King at that time. This fact has been the basis of the argument from some quarters, claiming that he did in fact convert to Islam, and did not publicly declare his beliefs. Some say that the Church of England in its infancy destroyed all proofs of his conversion [5].

Regardless of whether or not King Offa converted, it is clear that Western Europe knew about Islam in its early days and was impressed with its civilisation.

Whether or not he became a Muslim, King Offa, certainly established the trend of minting gold coins.

He was also the first monarch in Europe to place Arabic inscriptions on gold coins, which was later mimicked by Alfonso VIII of Castile 1158-1214, who had a gold coin minted with an Arabic inscription of the Catholic Christian creed.

It is clear that the Western World has known about the Islamic faith for over a thousand years, contradicting those voices who claim that Islam is new to the West.

A thousand or so years ago those who travelled to the Islamic Empires and came into contact with Muslims were certainly attracted to Islam. There may be differing views as to whether King Offa converted to Islam or not. The gold coin minted by him, declaring there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger, is however, there for all to see.

By Mohsin Ali Akbar

---

[1] D.P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings, p. 154. Routledge; 2nd edition (November 7, 2000)

[2] Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam, writing as Professor H. M. Léon, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.P., etc. (1916) –

[3] Simon Keynes, “Offa”, in Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 340

[4] Sir Frank M. Stanton – Anglo-Saxon England p.215-216, Oxford paperbacks; 3rd edition (7 June 2001)

[5] http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/seerah/0037.htm

---

© Al-HIDAYAH MAGAZINE VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1[www.hidayahmag.com].

You are welcome to share this article without changes by any means on the condition that this message is also attached to the article.

Sudanese Lyric Poem in Praise of The Last Prophet( Salla Allahu alehi wa salam/May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

A Response, From A Malaysian Raqi,To Those Who Question Avoiding Those 'Healers' Who Ask For The Name of Our Mother

"Assalamu'alaikom,

I think we need to nip the bud; as I am getting forwarded emails from different sources.So for those who have references, please provide exact reference here.

The raging questions:

1) In which hadith, which narration does it say that the Prophet wants make dua for a person and he ASK for the patient's name and also his/her MOTHER's name

2) In which fatwa, does it say that it mandatory for a doa to ASK or HAVE the patient's MOTHER's name ?


In my limited knowledge, and this is of course my personal opinion, after few years of research. Those asking for mother's name are seeking the assistance of jinns. So either they are

H1) magicians or

H2) healers seeking assistance from jinns, or

H3) students of H1 or H2 who follows faithfully what their teachers taught them.

In all instances, making magic/sihir is not allowed (or haram); and seeking jinns assistance is not allowed (please refer Surah al-Jinn)

To my best of knowledge, ALLAH is Most Knowing, and therefore does not need the photograph, address, passport number or the names of the patient's parents. In most situation, the patient is already under the nose of the raaqi. And the barakah is in the throat of the person who has recited Quran. And if we refer to many hadiths, there was no mention of the Companions (AS) or the Prophet (SAW) ASKing for the patient's name.


For those who are unable to make doa ruqyah without full personal details of the patient, I believe it is high time you learnt more knowledge about ALLAH.


The above statement may cause discomfort to some people, especially maulanas and amils and other "Islamic healers." But since we are Muslims, we should fall back on Quran and hadith, and of course fatwa from the majority of scholars (jumhur ulama)

Thank you for reading this far."


Bilal Philips' phd thesis was on the subject of "The Exorcist Tradition In Islam" and he conducted a large number of interviews with exorcists from different parts of the Muslims world (some of whom used orthodox methods, others didn't).One of the interviewees, from Egypt, mentioned that he happened to be reading a book entitled Zaad al-Ma'aad by Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah at a time when his son had fallen ill with what psycahiarists, neurologists psychologists and various other speacialists had been unsucessful in treating. Ibn-Al-Qayyim's book contains a description of possession which he said matched those of his son and by following the advice contained therein, he was, by Allah's leave, able to cure his son. Ibn Taymiyyah (who, as you know,was Ibn Qayyim's teacher) also wrote extensively on the subject of jinn possession/affliction.

Discourse: Britain-Money-Muslims-Monarchy - Part 1 of 5

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5

Gold Dinar Scheme In Indonesia

Allah says in the Qur'an:"I created mankind and Jinn only in order that they worship me"

The ancient Jewish prayer, whilst obviously not identical to the Muslim prayer (known in Arabic as salat and in Persian based languages as namaz) does have some remarkable similarities. Given that the Quran is the last revealed revelation of God to humanity,which was sent to confirm some of that contained in God's previous revelations, the Torah and the Gospel (known in Arabic as Taurat and Injeel respectively) it is hardly surprising that one would be able to find such parallels. Another interesting example of such similarities lies in the prohibituion on usury which is mentioned in all of the revealed texts.

The Ancient Jewish Prayer:


and two examples of the Muslim Prayer:

Ethiopian Youth Sending Praise on Prophet Muhammed (salla Allahu alehi wa salam)

"Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadan (Oh, Allah bless prophet Muhammed...RasulAllah (messenger of Allah)"

"Ya Sayidi" Qasida (lyric poem)

From Wikipedia: Qasida (also spelled qasidah), in Arabic: قصيدة, plural qasā'id, قــصــائـد; in Persian: قصیده (or چكامه, chakameh), is a form of lyric poetry that originated in pre-Islamic Arabia. Well known qasā'id include the Qasida Burda ("Poem of the Mantle") by Imam al-Busiri and Ibn Arabi's classic collection "The Interpreter of Desires".

The classic form of qasida maintains a single elaborate meter throughout the poem, and every line rhymes. It typically runs more than 50 lines, and sometimes more than 100. It was adopted by Persian poets, where it developed to be sometimes longer than 100 lines.

Qasida

The Dala'il ul-Khayrat is a poem written by Imam Muhammad ibn Sulayman Al-Jazuli who died in 1465.

"La illaha ila Allah" means "no deity but Allah".

In Denial

Saad Iqbal Madni

Saad Iqbal Madni, a renowned recitor of the Quran from Pakistan was visiting Indonesia when he was kidnapped by the Americans. He was shackled and bundled onto a plane and moved from one location to another before spending five years at Guantanamo Bay on entirely false grounds.

From Indonesia, he passed through the British Indian Ocean Territory of Diego Garcia before being renditioned to Egypt where he was refused medical treatment and was torured.

He reports that he was tortured by Egyptian interrogators in the employ of the Americans and that Mubarak's son, Gamal was involved. Gamal Mubarak, incidentally, is still at large.

From there, he was moved to Bagram airbase, Afghanistan where he spent a year and where "he was hung from the ceiling with his feet barely touching the ground for long periods".

Thereafter, he was moved to Guantanamo where he was to spend the next five years wrongfully imprisoned.

In the light of the human rights abuses on their own territory,it is completely unconscionable that the proposed American humanitarian mission in Libya has anything to do with concern for the plight of Libyans.It is, as with Iraq rather more about expansionism and the liberation of, er, oil.

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