The LIGHT of the TRUTH

What Is Life?

Man's existence in this world and the creation of this entire universe are not mere accidents or products of a fortuitous nature. This universe, every single atom of it, manifests and leads us to the realization of a Loving, Merciful and All-powerful Creator. Without a Creator, nothing can exist. Every single human being is aware that their existence is dependent upon a Creator. He knows for sure that he cannot create himself. Therefore, it is his duty to know his Master, the Creator.

Humankind

Man is a unique creature. Allaah, the Most Exalted, established man as His representative or deputy, to govern over all other creatures in this world. He is endowed with the faculty of reason, which sets him apart from all other animals. Together with this faculty to discriminate and discern, man has been given the freedom to choose for himself a way of life worthy of his position as Allaah's representative, or to fall lower than the lowest of all animals or creations. Almighty Allaah Says in the Noble Quran (what means):

"And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it. And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness. He has succeeded who purifies it. And he has failed who instills it [with corruption]." [Quran 91: 7-10]

Man is born pure and sinless and has been given the choice to do righteous deeds or indulge in sins. Prophet Muhammad said in an authentic Hadeeth (narration):  "No babe is born but upon Fitrah (innate nature, which is Islam). It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian." [Muslim]

Divine Guidance

The Creator, out of His abundant Love and Mercy for mankind has not left us in darkness to discover the right path by trial and error alone. Coupled with our intellectual capability to reason, our Creator bestowed upon us Divine Guidance that outlines the Criterion for Truth, knowledge, as well as the reality of our existence in this world and the Hereafter.
Revelations
From the beginning of mankind, our Creator sent Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, to convey His Revelation and to invite human beings to the Path of true peace and obedience to the one true God. This is Islam. This message has been conveyed to man in successive generations through the different prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, who invited mankind to the same Path. However, all the earlier messages or revelations from Allaah Almighty were distorted by people of later generations.

As a result, the pure Revelation from our Creator was corrupted with myths, superstitions, idol worship and irrational philosophical ideologies. The religion of Allaah, the Exalted, in a sense was lost in a plethora of religions. Human history is a testament of man's drift between light and darkness, but Allaah, out of His Abundant Love for mankind, has not forsaken us.
Final Revelation
When mankind was in the depths of the Dark Ages, our Creator sent His final Messenger, Prophet Mohammed to redeem humanity with the final Revelation, which represents the ultimate and permanent source of guidance for the whole world.

Criteria for Truth

The following criteria can best serve as a gauge to find out the authenticity of the last Revelation (the Quran), the Word of Allaah:

1. Rational teachings

Since our Creator bestowed reason and intellect upon us, it is our duty to use it to distinguish the truth from falsehood. True, undistorted Revelation from Almighty Allaah must be rational and can be reasoned out by all unbiased minds.

2. Perfection

Since our Creator is All-Perfect, His Revelation must also be perfect and accurate, free from mistakes, omissions, interpolations and multiplicity of versions. It should be free from contradictions in its narration.

3. No myths or superstitions

True Revelation is free from myths or superstitions that degrade the dignity of our Creator or man himself.

4. Scientific

Since our Creator is the Creator of all knowledge, True Revelation is scientific and can withstand the challenge of Science at all times.

5. Factual prophecy

Our Creator is the Knower of the past, present and future. Thus, His prophecies in His Revelation will be fulfilled as prophesied.

6. Inimitable by man

True Revelation is infallible and cannot be imitated by man. Allaah's true Revelation is a Living Miracle, an open book challenging all mankind to see and prove for themselves its authenticity or veracity. Almighty Allaah Says in the Noble Quran (what means):

"Then do they not reflect upon the Quran? If it had been from [any] other than Allaah, they would have found within it much contradiction."

[Quran 4:82]

YRC

Tony Blair reads the Quran every day

London:  Former British prime minister Tony Blair has become "increasingly open" about the importance of religion, and reads the Quran every day to be "faith-literate".
Blair, who reportedly said he was not interested in religion, converted to Catholicism after leaving No.10 Downing Street in 2007.
The former Labour Party leader now says reading the Islamic holy book ensured he remained "faith-literate", reports the Daily Mail.
"To be faith-literate is crucial in a globalised world, I believe. I read the Quran every day. Partly to understand some of the things happening in the world, but mainly just because it is immensely instructive," he said.

Blair said a knowledge of the faith was important for his role as an envoy for the Quartet of the UN, US, European Union and Russia.
Blair earlier reportedly praised the Muslim faith as "beautiful". He said Prophet Mohammed had been "an enormously civilising force".
The former prime minister said the Quran was a "reforming book, it is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and way ahead of its time in attitudes to marriage, women and governance".


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/tony-blair-reads-the-quran-every-day-112037?cp

Mirror Mirror on the Wall..... The Obsession of Good Looks

For many bride hunters, an extra ordinary beautiful girl has become a status symbol. There are marriage centers in Mumbai.. where the match makers charge higher fees for finding out a very good looking  girl !There was this sister who attended Islamic classes which were conducted for college girls during vacations. Somebody spotted her taking contact numbers of fair  and slim girls from the crowd. Some one asked her the reason. She replied, "I am looking for some good girls for my nephew...!" One of the lady rightly protested " Excuse me! Kindly dont do this  hunting here.. there are other girls here  who may not be very beautiful and they may get terrible complexes for not being good looking."

 A very rich person I know, stays in a south Indian Metropolitian city, has a daughter, and when she was around 20 they started looking for a rich boy to suit the status of the family. His girl, probably, was average looking as almost  all of the girls in the world are.  Many rich families discarded the proposal upon finding the girl to be average looking and found her too orthrodox in hijab. They wanted a girl  who wore colourful hijab and could look good even in hijab. That was the status factor perhaps they were also  looking for. 

   The hunt went on for two and a half years, and the more proposals got rejected the more worried the girl's parents got. Some well wishing females advised her to wear colourful  hijab and scarf  and apply  some good make up while attending some one's marriage so that she can be spotted by women looking for daughters in law. The girl was simple so she choose simplicity. One day she announced before her parents : Daddy Mummy ! I  give you two months to find out a prospective groom for me, after that I will give my bio data to so and so Dawah Center and I ll get married to any good guy without asking how much he earns, if I find him on deen.. The shocked parents speeded up the search and today the girl is married to a very good boy from the richest family of another city in South India. The family is on Qur'an and Sunnah. I am not mentioning even the name of the cities , to hide the identity of the family and the girl. 

   Many boys choose girls with a vision of displaying them like trophies where ever they go, be it a marriage ceremony or some other social gathering. A boy would be happy to note that other females in the gathering found his wife to be the most beautiful in the crowd!  Some mothers of grooms love for comments like " Wow you daughter in law looks like .......!" Some one once passed a comment after recieving compliments about her daughter in law " She looks awesome like "Aishwariya Ray". This reflects that even wives and husbands arebeing taken up like status symbols.

   This is one of the reasons that make me uncomfortable when I happen to find my self in a wedding reception where the husband and the wife sit together and all types of men come on the stage and  look at the bride and congrajulate the husband. Then there is a camera man standing on the stage recording all these happenings as if the angels are not recording anything. These camerman's lens move on the bride with close ups and other angels and the husband, nor the Wali of the bride nor any person among the crowd get a feel of gheerah (self respect). I  would say this is a sin in congregation, or rather sin approved as normal culture.

 Some one rightly said to me, " if you want to judge the attitude of  Muslim families  towards the deen attend their marriages" 

The most common places people look for grooms and brides are marriages of  other people. They say," In one marriage there are many marriages taking place..." It is right. Men look for good looking young men for their daughters and neices and women look for young girls appearing pretty (yes appearing pretty through the  layers of make ups) and moving here and there being introduced to other ladies. The message though un announced yet very clear, "my daughter is very smart and beautiful and we are looking for some awesome guy for her...."

 My words of advice to my brothers who are getting ready for marriage or ready for marriage but not yet getting ready.... Selection of your spouse should not be on the basis of what people will say but it should be on how much peace will you get and affection will follow in our marriage life. As the Qur'an says : And among His signs are, He created spouses for you in  THEM YOU FIND SOLACE AND HE HAS MADE AFFECTION AND MERCY BETWEEN THEM...   IN this  are signs for people who reflect  (Surah ar Room ch 30, verse 21).. Will you reflect in this?

Source

[Peace for Humanity]

-Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala writes and speaks on socio-educational issues from Islamic view point.