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| MAS-ICNA Convention | Amazing Photos | Surah 24: 35-40 | Message Board Forum |
| MAS-ICNA Convention The MAS-ICNA convention was December 24-28th at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Chicago. It was a great success and included 69 speakers including Dr. Fatima Jackson, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Sheikh Mohammad Al Hanooti, Imam Suhaib Web, Mahdi Bray, and Dr. Ekram Beshir. The theme of the conference was "Muslims- Citizens of the West: Rights, Duties, and Prospects." One of the main points of the lectures is our duties as muslims. As muslims in the West, we tend to isolate ourselves from our communities and only participate in mosque activities. We need to change our thinking!! It is no shame to be from America. If there are problems here we do not like it is our duty to fix them, because this is our country. We need to get involved in our local communities, not only with muslims. Doing work for our community is not only charity, but da'wah. This is an obligation and required of us! By getting involved we can educate the community and let people see that muslims are good people. Many times people stare and joke about women wearing hijab and this is mostly our fault, because people are afraid of what they do not understand. When we work and volunteer in our non-muslim community we will help change people's perception of us. This is drastically needed in the US. One muslimah I met at the convention said that she and her friends volunteer for 'habitat for humanity' once a month. They go wearing their scarves and even abeyas and work right along with everyone else hammering nails and cutting wood. People were initially shocked that they were there, and able to do these things. When non-muslims get to know us, see we care, and feel comfortable with us, only then can they feel free to ask us questions. What is a greater form of da'wah than this? A common misconception is that da'wah is handing out books and pamphlets and then our job is done. We must first get ourselves involved in the community, meet people, and generate in them an interest in Islam. Then when they know us and respect us, we can be effective in our da'wah. Some ideas for getting involved may be volunteering in hospitals, homeless shelters, finding out if hospitals or schools have halal food programs and there are so many more things we can do. To search just some of the opportunities available and needed look at: www.volunteermatch.org. |
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| Photo 1: A grove of trees spell out 'There is no god but Allah' in arabic.it is said to be at a piece of farmland in Germany and that many Germans upon seeing it converted to Islam. It is also said that the German government put up steel fences around this part of the farm to keep people from visiting it. Photo 2: August 19, 1999- a mosque still stands among the collapsed buildings after one of Turkey's worst earthquakes that killed over 6,000 people. |
| Amazing Photos |
| Surah 24: 35-40 Symbolic meaning of Light and Darkness Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass; The glass as it were a brilliant star: lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose Oil is well-nigh Luminous, though fire scarce touch it: Light upon Light! Allah doth set forth parables for men: and Allah doth know all things. (Lit is such a light) In houses, which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honour; for the celebration in them, of His name: in them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again) by men who neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular charity: their only fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be transformed (in a world wholly new)- that Allah may reward them according to the best of their deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace: for Allah doth provide for those whom He will without measure. But for the Unbelievers- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: but he finds Allah (ever) with him, and Allah will pay him his account: and Allah is swift in taking account. Or (the Unbeliever's state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hand he can hardly see it! For any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light! |