Sunni vs. Shia

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

This topic can tend to get a bit volatile in Islam, but it is mostly a source of confusion for non-Muslims whose main source of information about Islam is the evening news (or a humble little blog). Though the origins of the split of Sunni and Shia (sometimes "Shiite") Muslims is quite basic, it has grown into a more complicated thing from the implications of the split.

So, bear with me. Inshallah, I will try to make it a little more easy to understand.

So, none of this discord existed during the time of the Prophet (SAW). It was after his death that the trouble began. There was a difference in opinion on who would follow Mohammad (SAW) as the leader of the religion--he was more or less the leader of Arabia at the time of his death. Some people believed that the Prophet's (SAW) closest and most trusted friend, Abu Bakr, should succeed him, whereas others thought it should be his son-in-law 'Ali, the husband of the Prophet's (SAW) favourite daughter, Fatima.

There you have it. The origins of the trouble. A silly political tiff from 1400 years ago.

Of course, it's the implications that have really become the problem. What happened, of course, is that Abu Bakr became Caliph after Mohammad's (SAW) death, and those who wanted 'Ali to be Caliph were quite upset. As a result, all narrations in Hadith (the sayings about the ways of the Prophet) by Abu Bakr were discarded as unreliable by those who preferred 'Ali.

But who was who? Who become Sunni and who Shia? Well, "Sunni" in Arabic means "follower of sunnah," sunnah being Hadith (explained above). So those who liked Abu Bakr are called Sunni. The word "shia" refers to the phrase "shia-t-ali" or "party of 'Ali."

I have heard different ways of people trying to understand Sunni/Shia. I would like to clear a few things up.

Idea #1: "Shia Muslims are the ones who are more conservative and the Sunni are more open to progress."

First of all, I have a problem with the use of the word "conservative" here. As a students of linguistics, I am going to help you to understand the meaning of this word better if a very fun (to me) way:

conserve-ative.

What does "conserve" mean? It means to preserve things the way they are. Don't change. The suffix "-ative" turns the verb "conserve" to the adjective "conservative" making the word mean "in a way which conserves things." This, of course, makes the name of the Canadian political party "progressive conservatives" a hilarious oxymoron... I think it's hilarious, anyway.

Therefore, I am a conservative Muslim. I think Islam should be practiced the way it has been for the past 1430 years. Changing the religion, to me, is unacceptable, because as a Muslim I believe that the religion was given to humanity directly from Allah. Allah has perfected His religion... He's ALLAH, for heaven's sake, He knows what He's doing.

Most people would describe the "religion" prescribed by the Taliban as being "ultra-conservative." Nothing could be farther from the truth. Also, the phrase "extreme Islam" cracks me up. What is "extreme" Islam? To be a Muslim extremist you would have to be such a good person and so pious and so generous all the time is would just be crazy!!!!!!!! The Taliban would be better described as ultra-liberal radical wackjobs. They have brought the most ridiculous changes to Islam... how horrible.

And I am politically liberal.

Anyhow, my point is that conservatism/liberalism has nothing to do with Sunni/Shia. There are conservative and liberal Sunnis as well as conservative and liberal Shias.

Idea #2: The Sunni Muslims are more traditional about their way of practice and the Shia Muslims are all about revolution.

Okay. Listen. There was a revolution in Iran (a predominantly Shia country). It was a religious revolution, even. But that doesn't mean that the Shia are all about revolution. The exact same thing could have happened in any predominantly Sunni country with the same results. According to both Sunni and Shia, they are each respectively following the religion traditionally.

I won't get too much into how Sunni and Shia practices differ now. A basic thing that can be kept in mind: if Abu Bakr said it, the Shia probably won't like it.

However, underneath all the media hubbub about the conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslims, I have a shocking bit of information to tell you: both practices are not as different as you would normally think. Yes, there are practical differences--many of them--but the fundamentals of Islam are practiced in both sides: be generous to the poor, take care of your neighbours, pray, fast, have pure intentions, etc. It's not as though the Sunni say, "You must have good intentions" and the Shia are like, "Umm... no!" At the base of it, they are the same... actually, at the base of it, many religions are very similar.

Annnnnnyhow, I know what you've been wanting to ask me this whole time: am I Sunni or am I Shia?

I am Muslim.

Allah has said in the Holy Qur'an: Those who divide themselves into sects do not belong with you. Their judgment rests with Allah, then He will inform them of everything they had done. (Surah 6:159).

WHAT????? Ohh, yes, even the Muslims have been led astray. Of course, at the time of revelation, this verse referred to the numerous sects of Judaism and Catholicism (I am not very knowledgeable about Christianity in this sense, but I believe at this time, while there was not the dispute between Catholics and Protestants, there were different groups of Catholics... but I may be wrong), as well as all the different idol-worshipping groups. Alas, there are now many Muslims who have been lead astray, in my opinion, in this aspect.

However, it is becoming more common for people to identify themselves simply as Muslim, and this is what I do. If you want to get technical, you could call me sunni (note I did not capitalize) because I follow Sunnah and I believe Abu Bakr is a reliable source of Sunnah. After all, it was narrated numerous times by many different people that Abu Bakr was a very close and trusted friend of the Prophet (SAW). While some minor changes were made after the Prophet's (SAW) death--for example, the Prophet (SAW) wouldn't have told people to say saull Allahu 'alayhi wa salaam after his name while he was alive--I don't believe such a trusted friend of the Prophet (SAW) would lead the people astray. After all, the Prophet (SAW) was not a stupid man.

But, what the heck, you can call me Shia-t-Ali too! I like 'Ali! I've got nothing against him! He was, after all, the husband of the Prophet's (SAW) most beloved daughter, so the Prophet (SAW) must have trusted him too. The Prophet (SAW) once gave a sermon about how much he loved Fatima and if she was unhappy then he was too... so, I think 'Ali is pretty safe too.

I implore my Muslim brothers and sisters to not accept the popular labels of "sunni" and"shia" and insist that everyone just call you Muslim. As for my non-Muslim friends, please encourage others to not be obsessed with the labels of "sunni" and "shia." We want to spread the message of unity and surrender to Allah. We are not going to accomplish this by setting up barriers between ourselves and others.

Until next time, inshallah. Assalaam alaikum.

Movie Review: The Messenger

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

Subhanallah, I found a wonderful film on you tube today and I JUST finished watching it. It is called The Messenger. It is made by an Iraqi film maker and it is about Prophet Ibrahim (AS) (Abraham), yes, the very same from the Bible. As it is made by Muslims and based on the Qur'an, it focuses on Ibrahim (AS) and Ismael (AS), but not his other son so much.

The movie starts when Ibrahim (AS) is first getting some inkling that the stone idols he has been making all his life are not actually divine. After all, by the admission of those who worship them, they cannot eat, they cannot hear, they cannot talk, they cannot see. But, good prophet he was, Ibrahim (AS) insists on stirring up some trouble.

This pretty much gets him kicked out of Babylon. The king gets a little frustrated with him. From there, it follows the story from his leaving Babylon to when he and his eldest son, Ismael (AS), build the ka'aba (see right).

It is by no means your average Western action-packed, fast-paced thrilling story. It is slow-moving with scenes lasting longer than 60 seconds (studies have shown that in North America when scenes last more than60 seconds, movies tend to lose ratings... yikes). But, mashallah, it is a beautiful story. When Ibrahim (AS) tells Ismael (AS) that he must be sacrificed, Ismael's (AS) reaction makes me go all teary-eyed.

It is an incredible story about an incredible prophet. One of the things, though, that I found that made it a good movie rather than an average movie was the use of Shaitan (Satan) as a character. He wasn't around all the time, and he didn't look completely freaky or anything, but his presence was definitely somewhat disconcerting.

Anyhow, I highly recommend you watch it. If you click here (click me!) you can watch the whole thing. It is broken up into digestable 10-minute segments, so you can easily take breaks and come back to it later. But please watch it. It is actually quite touching.

Portrait of a Muslim Family

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim
Assalaam alaikum

As you probably noticed, I haven't posted for over a week. Partially this is due to absentmindedness, partially it is due to my Spanish midterm that I wrote this morning, but mostly it has to do with the difficulty of the subject.

A quick point of interest: I learned a Spanish phrase today. It is ojalá que. It means something alongthe lines of "I hope that..." but it has a very strong meaning. Espero que would be your normal, everyday way of saying "I hope that..." but ojalá is much more strong.

Has anyone divined the origins?

Arabic, of course, from when the Arabs were in Spain. They had a very interesting influence on the Arabic language, as you can tell with ojalá. Anyhow, that was just interesting... now on to the real post.

As I continue to work on my difficult post, I will, inshallah, make smaller posts and not leave my legions of screaming fans waiting... or something.

So this entry is call Portrait of a Muslim Family. I will use their real last name (it's common enough), but since they don't know I'm doing this, I will use a different name for their first names.

This family is the Khan family. The Khan family is composed of Abdullah, 'Aisha, and their two sons Musa and 'Isa. May Allah bless them in the Dunya and in the Hereafter. My husband and I owe so much to this family.

To start with the very basics, 'Aisha is an amazing cook. That on its own is enough to constitute a friendship. But, alhamdulillah, every time my husband and I see this family, we walk away saying what good friends we have.

Abdullah and 'Aisha are a good 20 or so years older than my husband and myself, but they have never treated us like we're a bunch of kids. We are welcomed as brother and sister into their household.

Anyhow. When my husband (boyfriend at the time, so I'll call him that from here on out until the point we're married) and I started looking into Islam, it was mostly a game for us. You see, we had read this book about a guy who had lived literally by the rules of the Bible for a year and the results were hilarious. When we finished reading it, my boyfriend said "Hey, what would you think if we did the same thing with Islam."

Having been interested in Islam since I was 13 or so, I was totally gung ho. We dove right into our research. I wentthrough the Qur'an, trying to find every rule it had written in it. After talking to a few Muslims in the community and after having gotten through about two and a half chapters of the Qur'an, we realized a few things. First of all, there would be no comedy in us following the Qur'an. You see, unlike the Bible (I am not badmouthing the Bible, I am stating facts), there is no rule in the Qur'an like "If you get in a fight with a man and your wife tries to intervene and she accidentally touches your opponent's privates, you must cut off her hand," (yes, that is actually in the Bible)--no, the Qur'an was all business.

Then we met the Khans. By the time we'd met them our plan had morphed from "be Muslim for a year" to "try out the rules for a year and afterwards just follow the ones that are comfortable." Abdullah came to pick my boyfriend (at this point, my fiancé) and I up from our apartment. He asked us about where we're from and what we do and this and that.

Then we got to his house and it was all business. My fiancé and I had infinity questions to ask and Abdullah and 'Aisha had the answers. They were kind, they were humble, they were helpful.

These are the people who helped us take the final step.

Of course, when I told them how helpful they had been to us, they humbly said that it was Allah. Subhanallah.

Allah had to work through someone to help my fiancé and I, and it was the Khan family. May Allah bless them with all the good things of this world and the next and may their children grow to be pious and good Muslims and help others as their parents do. Ameen.

Thought Musa and 'Isa were shy the first time we were over, they aren't anymore. 'Isa--the younger--much to 'Aisha's horror, asked to see my hair last time he was over, then when I said no he asked if I was bald. Hehe...

Musa is almost a teenager, and I can tell how much he admires my husband. Musa tries to play it off like he's a really cool kid, but he listens to every word my husband says. I am more of a novel "That cool guy's wife" to Musa, but that is okay. He is comfortable with me and mostly respectful (giving leeway for the typical teenage thing).

It is hard to give the Khan family enough credit, because the magnitude of their amazingness cannot be limited to a silly blog. Both Abdullah and 'Aisha are incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable people. I have come to take their word on what they say about Qur'an and Hadith because of how wonderfully they have helped us in the past. Every now and then when the quasi-racist attitude of Alberta gets to me and I dream of British Columbia where hippies love minorities (teehee), I quickly forget my silly dreams because I do not want to move away from the Khans.

Abdullah and 'Aisha exemplify everything that--in my mind--good Muslims should be. They care for their neighbours. They are humble. They are helpful. They are knowledgeable. They are modest. They are honest. Abdullah is helping my husband and I find a place to live on the west side of town and 'Aisha calls me to tell me whenever something good is on one of the Islamic TV channels. They are devout followers of Qur'an and Sunnah. They have brought nothing but positivity and happiness into our lives.

Alhamdulillah. Please make dua (pray) for this family. Inshallah, you will be as lucky as I am one day and meet them or meet others like them. As a Muslim, I aspire to be like them.

That having been said, I am going to go make supper, though it won't be as delicious as 'Aisha's cooking. I should mention that 'Aisha has a cooking blog--definitely worth checking out. Follow this link: click me! If you like Indian food, this is the place for you.

I hope you enjoyed this brief entry. Inshallah, I will finish my long entry soon. For the time being, assalaam alaikum.

Movie Review: Arranged

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam Alaikum

I wasn't going to be able to wait long before doing this movie review! My husband and I watched this movie a couple weeks ago and we liked it so much we watched it a second time a few days later. And this is from my husband, who watched Blood Diamond a few times close together over a year ago and he still doesn't want to watch it!

This movie is called Arranged, it is a wonderful movie about the friendship between a Muslim woman (Nasira) and an Orthodox Jewish woman (Rochel).

Arranged takes place in New York City. It has three main settings: Rochel's world, Nasira's world, and the world they share: a Brooklyn public elementary school, where they meet and become friends. Both women are first-year teachers at the aforementioned school and the movie opens with their being trained to handle the variety of different cultures that their students will come from. The first sign of tension comes from the principal of the school asking teachers to share something "juicy" about themselves to the other teachers in the group. While one woman has something decidedly juicy to say, neither Nasira nor Rochel does.

Outside of the school, both women are going through the process of trying to find a husband. Rochel has a very strict and traditional way in which she can find one, while Nasira is introduced to different men by her family. While Rochel goes through a myriad of different men (each one highly defective in their own hilarious way), Nasira has one bad experience with a friend of her father's who is twenty years older than she and chews with his mouth open.

I don't know about any other sisters out there, but bad table manners would be enough for me to send any suitor packing.

Anyhow, at school Rochel is an assistant to a special needs student who participates in Nasira's grade four class. One day, class is interrupted by some students who were saying to each other that Nasira and Rochel could never be friends because of their different religions ("But I heard the Muslims wanted to push Israel back into the ocean."). They are confronted by the principal about the event, who then goes off on a tirade about how they are beautiful girls, if only they would come out of the dark ages and dress like modern women!

As the movie goes on, tensions within Rochel's family rise (considering her incompatibility with all her suitors), and tensions between the principal and the two women rise as well, while all this time the unlikely friendship between Rochel and Nasira grows. Mashallah, it is a wonderful movie that portrays a loving Muslim family very well. And for Muslims who don't know a lot about Jews, the executive producer was Orthodox Jewish, so the portrayal of Rochel's family is probably very accurate as well.

This is a good film to open your eyes to your neighbours and consider what they are really like, rather than what All Jews are like or All Muslims. Everyone is different. This film is a beautiful example of it. I have posted the trailer below, but it really doesn't do the movie justice. If you go to youtube and type in "Arranged the movie" into the search thing, you can watch the entire thing, but frankly, I suggest you go out and buy it. It is a wonderful movie!

Enjoy the trailer, but please watch the whole thing!




Plus, I love the way Nasira wears her hijab! If anyone knows how to wrap it the way she does, please tell me!

Miracles of Allah - II

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

So, my husband, who really likes rocks, gave me the idea for this next Miracles of Allah entry. It is about a very rare gemstone only found around where we live (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) called ammolite.

You can see the brilliance of this beautiful gemstone, and the story of how it came to be is quite fascinating. Approximately 150 million years ago, giant shrimp creatures roamed the earth, though the earth they roamed was more of an ocean at the time. Anyhow, the ocean they inhabited was where the Great Plains of North America currently are. Eventually, something happened. Geologists and paleontologists don't really agree on what that "something" was--perhaps a volcano, perhaps a mudslide, perhaps a lahar (a type of volcanic mudslide). In any case, something happened and the creatures got buried under... whatever it was. Over time, the muddy substance that was on top of these creatures lithified (a compression process by which something becomes a rock) and became what we call nowadays "bear paw shale."

So, millennia passed and man came to be and all the prophets came and went and all of a sudden it was the 1930s (not hijiri, obviously), and settlers in Canada discovered ammolite for the first time (no doubt the natives had heard about it before). It was largely ignored until the 1970s and then in the 1980s Korite came to be--Korite being the company that pretty much has a monopoly on the market.

Anyhow, back to the miraculous parts (my husband told me a bunch of stuff about how much money it can be sold for, but I find that to be of less importance, personally), the skin of these creatures had a chemical reaction with whatever was on top of it all those years and that it how the colours of the creature's skin are so brilliant. The skin can be as thick as your fingernail or as thin as a tissue, so it is very fragile. Although fossils of these creatures (called ammonite, see left) can be found all over the world, the gemstone version can be found only around the Lethbridge area and a tiny bit in Montana, making it the rarest gemstone in the world. It is so rare there is hardly a market for it because so few people know about it, which makes it pretty inexpensive around Lethbridge. However, I find all the colours in the stones so beautiful, that I can't imagine it will take long for it to become a rare find all over the world.

Subhanallah, the creatures of Allah's earth are so diverse and wonderful. I hope you are able to appreciate everything he has put here for us, including the species of the past that no longer exist.

Comments!

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

Just a quick word. If you commented on a post, please go back and look at the comment because I may have responded to it. JazakAllah Khair!

Time for Asr....

Science: The Muslim's Friend

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

Subhanallah, one of my favourite things about Islam is how it is not pitted against science in some competition. We go off this crazy belief that if Allah hadn't wanted science then... it wouldn't exist. To me, science is a little gift Allah gave us to try to help us understand His world better.

The end? Hah, not quite. The Qur'an and even Hadith (words and sayings of the Prophet (SAW)) are just FULL of science. It's incredible.

Let us start with an example from our humble Prophet Mohammad (SAW). Abu Huraira narrated (according to Bukhari, volume 7, book 71, number 592): "I heard Allah's Apostle (SAW) saying, 'There is healing in black cumin for all diseases except death.'"

Now, for the sake of argument, let us suppose that the Prophet (SAW) was speaking in hyperbole, though we cannot know for sure. According to the Kitchen Doctor (http://www.kitchendoctor.com/articles/blackcumin.html), black cumin is one of the most curative things you can find in your pantry. It has the most spectacular results with asthma and allergies (especially when used in conjunction with garlic), and has been known to preemptively destroy future cancer cells (the process by which the body does this is complex--you can read about it at the above link).

At the very least, it couldn't hurt to try, right? Black cumin hasn't ever hurt a soul! The way I see it, I would try a natural remedy before putting poison in my body. But who am I?

Moving along...

Moving back, actually--way, way far back to the origins of the universe. According to a handy little book I have, the common theory today of cosmology, is that at one time was a cloud of "smoke" (an opaque, dense, and hot gaseous composition). Scientists today can observe how new stars are formed by thick, smoky clouds. Allah has told us in the Qur'an:

"Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke..."(Surah 41:11)

Over time, this smoke separated and formed what we have now: Big Bang, anyone?

"Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then we separated them?..." (Surah 21:30)

This stuff only gets better. True, these particular ayahs (verses, for the sake of my meaning, but the actual meaning is more complex) don't seem particularly convincing to my point, but there are more.

The Holy Qur'an has verses pertaining to the seas as well. As we know nowadays thanks to modern science, when two seas (including oceans) meet, between them is a barrier of sorts. This barrier makes it so that the separate bodies of water have their respective salinity (saltiness), temperature, and density (according to Principles of Oceanography page 92-93). For example, there is a place where the Atlantic Ocean meets with the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is warmer, more dense, and more salty that the Atlantic.

What I am trying to explain is that even though in the big picture, they can still be viewed as one body of water, scientists have discovered the the waters to not mix and they are made distinct by their separate temperatures, etc (in spite of how interesting I find this all, science is not my forté, which is why I am having a hard time expressing myself).

Anyhow, in the neighbourhood of 1500 years ago, the Qur'an was revealed to say: "He has set free the two seas meeting together. There is a barrier between them. They do not transgress." (Surah 55:19-20). That one is a bit more blunt.

There are so many examples of this kind of thing in both Qur'an and Hadith, but I am going to wrap it up with two of my favourites and implore you to just google "Qur'an Hadith and science" if you don't know a lot about it already.

I studied psychology this past semester (the science kind, not the Freud kind), so I found this one particularly interesting.

This following ayah is found in the Qur'an referring to someone who would not allow the Prophet (SAW) to pray at the Kaaba (a building that predates Islam which Abraham (AS) built--it what Muslims face when we pray).

"No! If he does not stop, We will take him by the naseyah, a lying, sinful naseyah!" (Surah 96:15-16)

I know your next question: what in the world is "naseyah"? Well, it is the word in Arabic that refers to the front of the head.

This may seem like strange wording. Specific wording, too. Why not the face? Why not the back of the head? The head in its entirety? Well, modern neuroscience can shed some light on this. According to the books Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology and The Human Nervous System the prefrontal area of the brain (at the the front of the head) is associated with motivation and aggression, and it is involved with foresight to plan and initiate both good and sinful behaviour.

Lastly, the Qur'an has a few things to say about human development in the womb.

"We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah, then We made the alaqah into a mudghah..." (Surah 23:12-14)

Okay, so let's decode this. So we can see so far from what we understand of English that the fertilized egg becomes "firmly fixed" to the womb. But what is this alaqah business?

The word alaqah has three meanings in Arabic: leech, suspended thing, blood clot. These are all appropriate descriptions of a baby at this point of its development.

Let's take leech. Below is a picture of a fetus at the alaqah stage (left) and a leech (right).

There is a pretty goo resemblance, but of course a baby is not a leech. The description goes beyond mere appearance. At this stage of development, the fetus gets its nourishment from the blood of the mother, as a leech gets its nourishment from the blood of... any ol' human.

Taking alaqah to mean "suspended thing" refers to how the embryo is suspended in the womb of its mother. Attached to the uterine wall, of course, but suspended, as demonstrated in this picture.

The third meaning of alaqah--blood clot--refers to the large amount of blood inside the baby at this time. Also, the blood does not circulate in the embryo until the third week, essentially making it like a clot of blood.

Then there is the mudghah stage. What does mudghah mean? In Arabic is means "chewed substance." This simply refers to the appearance of the fetus at this stage of its development (see left).

Today, this science is obvious. We know all these things commonly, or many of them. The incredible thing is that this sort of thing was not known at all 1500 years ago when the Qur'an came into existence. Mohammad (SAW) had never seen a developing baby, nor did he know what area of the brain controlled motivation to do malevolent deeds, etc etc. This, subhanallah, is one of the most important things that brought me to Islam. To me, this was proof that the Qur'an came from Allah, from God. No man almost 1500 years ago could have known things like these. I hope you can appreciate the beauty of this science. Alhamdulillah!

SWT SAW AS... WTF?

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

Dear Small Following of Readers,

It has come to my attention that I have been using apparently random letters after people's names (thank you, Krystin, for bringing it to my attention). Though I'm pretty darn sure the Muslims know what I'm talking about, some of you non-Muslims have probably been losing sleep over it, or have otherwise been spending your time in the fetal position going "Who's Jesus AS?"So, though some of you--mostly my family--know that I am in the process of writing an entry about science and Islam, I am going to take a brief moment to explain to you WTF is up with SWT.

(Important notice: WTF here means "what the frootloops" because there is no profanity on this site... duh)

Before I begin, I'm also going to give you a brief explanation of some common phrases you might come across in this blog:

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim: This is usually translated as "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate," but I have read that a better translation is "I ask the assistance of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate." We say bismillah before we do... anything. Before we eat, drink, get up, drive, etc.
Assalaam alaikum: "Peace be with you." Muslims greet each other this way. The response is walaikum asssalaam, which is just a reciprocation.
JazakAllah Khair: Roughly translated it means "may Allah bless you with goodness." We often use it as a sort of "thank you" phrase.
Subhanallah: approximately means "Glory be to Allah." It is often an expression of amazement or joy.
Alhamdulillah: (my favourite) means "All praise is for Allah." Often used like subhanallah.
Mashallah: "Allah has granted it." It is a positive expression in every context I've ever heard it. You know, Allah grants everything (ie: nothing can happen against His Will), but I don't think you would say, "My mother is sick," "Oh, mashallah." I'm not fluent in Arabic, but as far as I can tell, it's only for good things.
Inshallah: Means "If Allah wills it." We usually use it when talking about the future, because we make plans, but they won't come into fruition unless Allah wills it.

Now, let us start with good ol' (AS) which you probably saw after Jesus' (AS) name. See? Well, what it stands for is alayhi salaam which, in Arabic, means "peace be upon him." We say alayhi salaam after the name of any known prophet (because there have been 124,000 prophets throughout history, but we don't know about most of them) who isn't Mohammad (SAW). You see, these known prophets (as well as the unknown... but there's only so much that can be done) are such great men that we want them to be blessed and blessed and blessed, so we bless them every time we say their names.

Moving on, (SAW). You will see this one after Prophet Mohammad's (SAW) name. It stands for saull allahu alayhi wa salaam and it means "may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him." It's not that we play favourites or that we don't want Allah to bless any of the other prophets, but because we believe that Mohammad (SAW) was the final prophet who delivered to humanity the final flourishes of Allah's perfected religion, we give him (SAW) something a little extra.

And now we'll move on to (SWT) which you will sometimes and sometimes not see after I mention Allah. It means subhanah wa ta'ala which in turn means something along the lines of Pure and High is He.

I hope this clears up a few things and makes my blog a bit easier to read. Now I have to go cook and clean all day because we're having guests over, and also I really have nothing better to do. So off I go!

Ta!

Miracles of Allah - I

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

I have decided to do several series in this blog. One will be what this is: Miracles of Allah, which will be video clips, photos, art, etc all that show just how amazing Allah (SWT) is. If you have any ideas for this, let me know.


Other series will include book and movie reviews, as well as whatever else I come up with over time. For movie and book reviews, whenever I see a movie/read a book (besides Qur'an and Hadith) that is either: (a) about Muslims and portrays the characters as practicing Muslims, or (b) reflects Muslim morals and ideals, or (c) is just plain about Islam, I'll do a post about it. With reviews, anyone--yes, ANYONE who reads this blog can submit a review to me (my email is leah.webb@uleth.ca). If I like it, I'll proofread it and post it (giving the author credit, of course).

But for today, I am doing a "Miracles of Allah" entry.


Subhanallah, it is a miracle. Enjoy!



Alhamdulillah, what an amazing creature!

The Problem with Pork

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam Alaikum

I was asked a question on my facebook yesterday about swine: "I heard something about if you come into contact with pig, you're not allowed into heaven? [R]umor or fact?" (Natalia)

Thank you for your question, Natalia. I have spent a fair amount of time researching your question and I can pretty much definitively answer: it is a rumour.


I have heard this rumour before, though, when I was reading the diary of a woman from Saudi Arabia. My guess is that it is a cultural thing (as many things are, unfortunately). It is customary to wash oneself after having come into contact with swine (especially before prayer--I'll talk about cleanliness another time), but nowhere in Hadith or the Qur'an (or the Bible, for that matter) could I find anything remotely hinting towards eternal damnation for simply touching a pig.


Good news: we aren't insane.


However, as with Mosaic Law, the flesh of swine is forbidden in Islam. Many Christians seem to think that in Mark 7:18-19, Jesus (AS) made all food lawful: "'Are you so dull?' he asked. 'Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.'" (Mark 7:18-19 NIV).

To be fair, I can see why the Christian would believe this. That does seem to be what he (AS) is saying. Of course, in Islam we believe otherwise because we believe Jesus (AS) was a prophet to the Jews and he (AS) therefore MUST have adhered to Mosaic Law (ie: the Law of Moses (AS)). In fact, it is actually now kind of in vogue for Christians to keep... not kosher, per se, but kosher-ish. Google "What Would Jesus Eat?" and you will see--it's a health book of some sort, and there's also a "What Would Jesus Eat" cookbook. Wicked.

What do Muslims think that Jesus (AS) was saying in Mark 7:18-19? Well, I'm not sure, though I do have a few unprofessional opinions. One possibility is that Jesus (AS) didn't even ever say such a thing, or that the original meaning of what he (AS) said has been long lost. With so many versions of the Bible, and with the number of times it has been translated, translated again, again, again, and... once more, there's no telling what the original text said. If you don't believe me, go to biblegateway.com and look up 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (famous for weddings, right?) once in the King James version and once in the New International Version. It's craziness.

Another possibility would be that Jesus (AS) was simply saying that there are more important things that worrying about what you eat. The Qur'an affirms that! There are many times the Qur'an forbids the consumption of pork (Suras 2:173, 5:3, and 6:145--possibly more), however in an emergency (eg: no other food available), it is permissible to eat food that is normally forbidden (Sura 16:115 among others).

More compelling to many Christians, however, might be Jesus' (AS) quote from the Bible found in Matthew: "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17). To me, that says that Jesus' (AS) "dying on the cross" (another topic to be addressed in a later blog) did not all of a sudden excuse his (AS) followers from following Mosaic Laws. Well, well.

There are also health issues with pork. You see, during my university's Islam Awareness Week (a huge success, by the way, mashallah), one young man can up to me and told me that he liked everything about Islam and it sounded like a very good religion to him (yay!), but he thought the rules about not eating pork were archaic. At the time I was under pressure, so I could only stutter out that we do not eat pork because the Qur'an forbids it (which is very true).

I did get the opportunity to tell him a little something else a few days later. You see, my father-in-law spent 20 years of his life as a butcher, so he knows what he's talking about. He said the way swine would have been slaughtered back in the day is actually more sanitary than how it is done now (halal slaughtering will also be addressed in a future entry, FYI). In a slaughtering plant, there is a high risk of contamination with all the different animals coming in all the time... some of them diseased. However, in slaughtering an animal outside (as it would have been done) there is sufficient room to ensure that meat from separate animals does not mixed. If one diseased swine is slaughtered, then few people will become ill, instead of thousands.

Well. I have news for you, mister likes-to-eat-bacon guy: I've been doing some research. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture tells us that swine are a significant if not primary factor in giving us meek humans Human Yersinosis. What is this disease? Well, according to the medical dictionary at thefreedictionary.com, "Yersinia [the bacteria causing human yersinosis] produces several different types of disease. The most common form is a short-lived inflammation of the intestine known as enterocolitis. Most often the very end of the small intestine is involved, an area known as the terminal ileum. The result is gastroenteritis, with cramping abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea. Diarrhea generally continues for two weeks or so, but can go on for many months. Up to 40% of patients also experience nausea and vomiting; and in one-third, inflammation of the intestine leads to bleeding." Intestinal bleeding. Gross. According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture 40% of swine tested in 80 different farms tested positive for this disease

Trichinosis is the other oft-cited health concern with pork. It isn't overly common, but it comes from eating pork infected with the larvae of a certain species of roundworm. Yuck yuck yuck. Yuck yuck. Medicinenet.com says that 90-95% of people infected with trichinosis have mild or no symptoms... this doesn't really comfort me all that much because if 90% of people have no symptoms then that is waaaay more pork with roundworms in it than I'd like to even think about. Then when there are complications with the disease, it can cause such things as anxiety; lung bleeding; dyspepsia; and in 10-14% of reported cases, the worms enter the nervous system, which can be fatal. It has been estimated that one in six consumers of pork in the US and Canada have been infected with trichinosis.

That means ringworms... in your body...

So! Does this mean we should go out and kill all pigs and burn them??????

No. The Qur'an teaches us that we must be kind to animals, and it would not be very kind to kill an animal that is not attacking us (actively) and is not being consumed.

Pigs do have their uses. Oh yes. I said it. For example, in Israel (yes, Israel--Jews don't eat pork either!) swine are used to sniff for bombs (I saw this story recently on BBC--look on their webpage). Apparently, they're easier to train than dogs. Also, I was talking to a friend today who said that swine used to be used in his school to sniff for drugs... and apparently they found a bunch behind a drinking fountain.

If pigs were nothing but bad, Allah subhanah wa ta'ala would not have put them on this earth. We should not eat them, but they have other uses. Please be kind to pigs--you won't go to hell for it.

Why Islam?

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

I am just about ready to go to bed (Isha--the last prayer of the day--is late, though, so I have to stay up), but I thought I'd post this link to a wonderful You Tube video done by Baba Ali. He has some great stuff, and he is quite funny. I especially like "the haram police."

Enjoy the video. Good night!

A Small Intro

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

My name is Amina Webb. I was given the name Amina by a tearful Afghani woman after I reverted to Islam not long ago. Most people know me by my legal name, Leah, but for a blog about Islam I am going to stick to my Islamic name. For my first post I am just going to do a small intro. Hi. I'm Amina.

I was born in Michigan (USA) back in the '80s (1989 still counts) to some very loving parents. I did not grow up with religion, though I think I had some vague concept of God just from existing around religious people (or maybe it's because my grandma used to say "Oh God" all the time). Anyhow, my childhood isn't all that important. The important stuff starts about a year ago, probably almost to the day when my boyfriend at the time called and said he had succeeded in getting us an apartment in Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada). This was good news because I was going to university there.

Now, I had met this boyfriend of mine while in France on exchange during my grade 10 year, which was when I lived my teenage years, having been pretty much angelic before then (sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll weren't really my cup of tea). Yes, I did some (many) things that I'm ashamed of, but ultimately I have no regrets.

So, in August I moved in with said boyfriend and all was good in life. Come November or so, however, due to a petty little memoir (of a non-Muslim) we were reading, we started talking to some Muslims in the community. First Ahmed, then the Khan family. Before we knew it, we were hooked. Islam was the answer. Though at first we had planned to revert to Islam and get married in July, our friend convinced us that it was better to do sooner rather than later and all of a sudden I was standing in front of a small masjid full of people taking shahadah and becoming a Muslim and not soon after I was married. This is the short version.

People always want to know why I reverted, and I can never give a good answer. Mostly I tell them about the memoir that my husband and I read and how that led to us talking to Muslims around Lethbridge, etc etc etc. But how satisfying is that? Pretty much not at all. I mean, drinking is fun, right? Sex is fun! Who would want to cover herself up all the time just because some silly 1500-year-old book alludes to such a thing? Why would anyone choose a restrictive religion over the easy and free life of an agnostic?

Because.
Inshallah (God willing), in my further posts I will be able to clear up these questions and explain to any reader who happens upon this site a little bit about Islam. If you have any questions you want answered or if there are any topics you want discussed, please let me know. But remember, I am only a woman. I am not God, therefore I am vulnerable to error. Sometimes, I just don't know things. But inshallah, if you are patient we can make this a really interesting blog. Please, tell your friends (Muslims and non-Muslims alike) about this site.

JazakAllah Khair

Amina