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Warsh Recitation of the Qur’an by Mishary Rashid Alafasy! I was looking for a good explanation of what Warsh is, but I couldn’t find it. I will post more details as soon as I get it inshaAllah. Listen to Surah Qadr or Surah A’ala first, to get an idea of what the differences are. The standard Quran recitation is known as Hafs

CD 06 - Surah Al Ibrahim (Warsh)
CD 06 - Surah Al Furqan (Warsh)
CD 06 - Surah Al Aa’la (Warsh)
CD 06 - Surah Al Qadr (Warsh)
CD 06 - Surah Al Zalzalah (Warsh)

From a Mishary Rashid Alafasy Quran Site

If you want to see the Warsh recitation of the Quran, load the link for QuranFlash.com and then go to “Book Type” and then select the last book.

Verse by verse Quran recitation project is a project to bring you the Quran in high quality format, split into seperate individual files for each ayah (verse) in each surah (chapter). You can use these files in your own dawah project - say an Islamic slideshow for school, or say you are doing an Islamic video project and you want some surahs in there, but you don’t want to take the time to chop the files between verses. This is also perfect if you are a programmer and you want to build your own Quran software, or maybe you want to start a podcast and feature 1 ayah each day, now you can get what you need quickly.. and for free!

In fact, you can choose Quran MP3s like Shuraim, Abu Bakr Ash Shatery, Sa’ad Al Ghamadi, and more coming!

Sponsored by Light Upon Light

It is amazing how Islam is attacked time and time again because “men can marry four wives.” Instead of taking the defensive, how about this time we look at the hypocrisy in modern culture regarding sexuality?

Islam makes sense. Period.

“Marry so that I can be proud (of your numbers) on the day of judgement over the other nations.” as narrated by Ibn Uthaymeen (islam-qa)

The world is in a state that populations are dwindling. People in the “1st world” are refusing to have children. Women want to work more and more. And this is harming the societies.

China, which has a 1 baby limit, is now beginning to see the consequences for such policies.

Most of the richer countries in the world today pay you to have babies. Canada gives a very generous “Child Care Bonus” or “family tax benefit” (get exact name). It is about $200 per month per child as well as money for child care (babysitting) expenses, as well as a new universal child benefit of $100 a month. For a couple earning less income, there is also more money for them.

Denmark and other countries as well pay you to have children, there are tax benefits plus cash benefits.

Why would these countries pay money for us to have kids? Because a country needs population in order to keep the society running smoothly. It especially needs young hard workers.

But are we overpopulated in the world and starving? Someone called Malthus made a theory that since food supply grows more slowly than population growth, we will starve ourselves if we keep having children. Unfortunately his theory is very flawed. Even with the current state of the world, there is more than enough wealth and food to go around, if it wasn’t for the massive injustice we have in the world.

What does $456 billion buy?

This means we can easily feed most of the world if we weren’t blowing money like this.

The reality is, that children are becoming more and more rare. For a society to keep its population constant, each family needs to have on average 2.1 children (the .1 extra is for boys who die faster than girls on average). You will learn this in economics. If the number of children per family drops below this number, then immigration is required. As well, it is important for a country to have a larger base of younger (working) people and a smaller number of older dependent people. This is called a population pyramid

And an an aside, personally, my parents are happy that I have children. All my aunties and uncles love their new nephews. My parents love their new grandsons and spoil them silly (not necessarily a good thing). Also my grandfather (nanabapa) did not get to meet them, but alhamdullilah my grandmother (nanima) is now a great grandmother and she is also very happy for the blessing. And it is all because of Islam that I am now married with kids. Unlikely in my other life had I not accepted the deen would ever have kids at this time or be married at this age (24) if I was not following Allah’s commands to protect my chastity by being in this relationship. God knows best. But it takes strength to be different from the run of the mill.

In the end.. in conclusion

Want to save the world from going extinct? Become Muslim.

Bismillah.

This article is about depending 100% only on Allah. That is the highest form of tawheed.

That is from the highest part of eman and tawheed, to not depend on anyone other than Allah. That means never asking except from Allah, even if it very difficult to do so.

Note, it is not haram to ask help from others, unless it is accompanied by incorrect belief–it is not the doctor that cures us, he is only acting by the permission of Allah.

Let us all strive towards this highest form of eman, that is, complete dependence only on Allah, Subhanahu wa ta’ala. It might take years in order to implement this, because of our years of dependence on asking our family members or friends - our wife, or our mom, or our brother to pick this up for us, to get that for us, to hold the door for us, etc.. But let us at the least strive towards this goal.

Thawban pledges not to ask anyone for anything

Al-Tabarani relates on the authority of Abu Umamah:

“The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked us who was willing to give him a pledge. Thawban, the Prophet’s servant, requested the Prophet, peace be upon him, to accept his pledge.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to him: ‘You pledge not to ask anyone anything.’

Thawban asked him what reward would a person get for honoring such a pledge, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, answered: ‘Paradise.’

I saw Thawban in Makkah when it was overcrowded with people. He was on his mount when it happened that his whip fell from his hand over someone’s shoulder. The man handed him the whip back, but he would not take it from him until he dismounted to pick it up himself.” (Also related in a shorter version by Ahmad and Al-Nassai)

Umar gives an oath never to ask anything from anyone

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from ‘Ata’ ibn Yasar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent a gift to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab and ‘Umar returned it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked, “Why did you return it?” He replied, “Messenger of Allah, didn’t you tell us that it is better for us not to take anything from anyone?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “That is by asking. Provision which Allah gives you is not the same as asking.” ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “By the One in whose hand my self is, I will not ask anything from anyone, and anything that comes to me without my asking for it, I will accept.”

[Bukhari and Muslim]

Bismillah
Sometimes as Muslims we want to really fear Allah and we start to think that we have to be poor, or we think that money is bad. However, this article is going to give evidence that being rich is not bad, but rather it can bring out the goodness that is in your heart. Let us read some hadith and discuss some points on what you can do with your money.

Narrated Abu Huraira :

Allah’s Apostle (SAllahu alaiyhi wa salam) said, “By Him in Whose Hand my life is, it is better for anyone of you to take a rope and cut the wood (from the forest) and carry it over his back and sell it (as a means of earning his living) rather than to ask a person for something and that person may give him or not.” (reference)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah (SAllahu alaiyhi wa salam), may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said from the mimbar when mentioning sadaqa and refraining from asking,

“The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper hand is the one which expends, and the lower one is the one which asks.” (reference)

The path of Islam is the middle path. It is the path that avoids excesses in worship, and excesses in worldliness. Allah made the Muslims ummatun wasata (reference)

The one with money is superior to the one with no money.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Some poor people came to the Prophet and said, “The wealthy people will get higher grades and will have permanent enjoyment and they pray like us and fast as we do. They have more money by which they perform the Hajj, and ‘Umra; fight and struggle in Allah’s Cause and give in charity.” The Prophet said, “Shall I not tell you a thing upon which if you acted you would catch up with those who have surpassed you? Nobody would overtake you and you would be better than the people amongst whom you live except those who would do the same. Say “Sub-han-al-lah”, “Alhamdu-lillah” and “Allahu Akbar” thirty three times each after every (compulsory) prayer.” We differed and some of us said that we should say, “Subhan-al-lah” thirty three times and “Alhamdu lillah” thirty three times and “Allahu Akbar” thirty four times. I went to the Prophet who said, “Say, “Subhan-al-lah” and “Alhamdu lillah” and “Allahu Akbar” all together for thirty three times.” (reference)

The Prophet (Sallahu alaiyhi wa salam) did not deny the statement that “The wealthy people will get higher grades” but rather he told the poor people how to get some reward as well. That was the understanding of the companions.

What can you do with money?

1. taking care of your parents is fard
2. taking care of your wife and kids (hadith)
3. feeding the poor (hadith) (Quran)
4. lending money to your muslim brother or sister to help them get out of riba loans
5. forgiving the debt of your muslim brother or sister
6. setup a perpetual charity (such as a non-profit charitable business) that will pave the road to jannah (hadith)
7. prepare against the forces of evil in the world - finance a mujahid (hadith)
8. get married, if you are single
9. marry a second, third, or fourth wife (if you so desire, and if you can be just)
10. help someone to get married
11. finance a da’ee (like Yusuf Estes)

We did not even mention the numerous stories of Uthman radiAllahu anh who time and time again gave literally ‘millions’ for the sake of Allah. and received the glad tidings of Jannah during his own life.

Keep in mind, that money can destroy you. It is a test from Allah. We are allowed to ask Allah to give us wealth to spend in his sake (hadith), so let us do that.

Can you think of any other benefits of having money?  How about being able to take your kids to far away places to see real bugs and real penguins instead of in the zoo?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone says Wahhab? Allah’s beautiful name?? Nope… There is a common trend, especially in the media, and sometimes among Muslims to refer to other Muslims as Wahhabi, and to talk about ‘wahhabi fundamentalism’. Don’t ever call your Muslim brothers wahhabi, you are falling into the trick of using labels given to us by our enemies, and using divide and conquer.

The name Al-Wahhab, The Bestower of Blessings, is a very beautiful and honourable name, we shouldn’t be lowering it by using it in this manner, the same way we wouldnt call someone “Allahi”.

This article The Wahhabi Myth describes accurately how wahhabi this is a stinky label applied to us that we shouldn’t be using nor promoting.

Jaafer, RadiAllahu Anh, in this eloquent speech to the negus, sums up what Islam is all about. Beautiful… just beautiful

O King, we were a people in a state of ignorance and immorality, worshipping idols and eating the flesh of dead animals, committing all sorts of abomination and shameful deeds, breaking the ties of kinship, treating guests badly, and the strong among us exploited the weak. We remained in this state until Allah sent us a Prophet, one of our own people, whose lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and integrity were well-known to us.

Assalam alaikum

Today we went to MuslimFest (My sweet wife, her sister who recently has become Muslim, our 2 kids and I)! The event is organized by Young Muslims, DawaNet and SoundVision. Overall, I think it was a wonderful day spent with the family. Adam had lots of fun on the “bouncy bouncy” as he called it (giant inflatable playareas), was kinda scared sitting on the ponies, and scarfed down his sharwama in no time.

The event is another great place to see your brothers and sisters in Islam, and gives us a sense of community feeling. Especially being a minority here, it gives you the opportunity to connect to our subculture (The Muslim subculture). New Muslims get the opportunity to meet old Muslims, and we all get a chance to sit and talk. I had a good discussion with brother Jaafer on halal RESPs and halal RRSPs as well as some!

Possible improvements / suggestions for change for next year:

• Segregate the common areas and seating - women 1 side, men other side
• I didn’t like the Musical parts of the show, the drum circle, the actual music inside the actual comedy show, better to do without it.

Salam alaikum

Many of us don’t even know who she is.. and she will dissapear into nothingness. But Allah is Al-Baseer, The All Seeing over all that they do. And we are witnesses as well. Remember the injustice of the oppressors and maybe we will not be so dazzled by them.

Click here to read more about Abeer al-Janabi, an ordinary Iraqi girl who was raped and murdered, and her family too. What do the guilty get? A slap on the wrist, not much more.

Update: The least we can do is to know about her and what happened, and spread this information among others. Let us make dua to Allah to return us to an honourable condition where the Muslims will not let things like this happen. Al Mu’tasim sent a whole army to defend one woman who was abused by a roman soldier.