Treat the Earth And All Her Children With Respect
15/05/2013 1 Comment
Blessing Is Like A Lighted Torch
13/05/2013 Leave a comment
The Buddha said, “Those who rejoice in seeing others observe the Way will obtain great blessing.” A Sramana asked the Buddha, “Would this blessing be destroyed?” The Buddha replied, “It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed to ever so many other torches which people may bring along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of the Way.”
~ The Sutra of Forty-Two Sections
The Forgiveness of God Has No Comparison
13/05/2013 Leave a comment
Abu Yahya al-Mazini came in upon al-Shafi’i (may God have mercy upon them both) in his final sickness, and asked him, ‘How are you faring this morning?’ ‘This morning I am travelling from this world,’ he said, ‘and departing from my brethren, and going to meet my evil works, quaffing the cup of death, and coming unto God (Exalted is He!) Yet I do not know whether my spirit is travelling to Heaven, that I might congratulate it, or to Hell, that I might console it.’ Then he recited:
When my heart was hardened and my courses
constrained,
I made my hopes a stairway to Your
forgiveness.
My sin burdened me heavily, but when I measured it
by Your forgiveness, Lord, Your forgiveness
was the greater.
Always are You forgiving of sin, and always
do You show generosity and forgiveness out of
munificence and bounty.
Still, were it not for You no worshipper would be
tempted by the devil;
How could that be, when he led astray Your
chosen one, Adam?
From Imam Al-Ghazali’s The Remebrance of Death And The Afterlife, Book XL of The Revival Of The Religious Sciences (Ihya Ulum Al-Din). Page 95 in the Islamic Texts Society edition.
Boss vs. Leader
28/04/2013 Leave a comment
“O YOU who have attained to faith! Why do you say one thing and do another? Most loathsome is it in the sight of God that you say what you do not do!”
~ Holy Qur’an 61:2-3 (M. Asad)
Humans are members of the same race, the Human Family.
27/04/2013 Leave a comment
“Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny?”
~ Holy Qur’an 55:13 (M. Pickthall)
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except though piety and good action.”
~ Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. (Last Sermon)
Although it may not seem to be the case, these girls are all biological sisters. Even more extraordinary, they are not just sisters, but two sets of twins. The girls were born to mixed ethnicity couple Dean Durrant and Alison Spooner. The eldest two; Hayleigh and Lauren are pictured holding their new twin sisters; Miya and Leah.
While this is incredibly rare, it’s a powerful sign from Allah SWT that we are all brothers and sisters in the same Human Family. Race is a corrupt man-made concept, just as Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, highlighted 14 centuries ago. Today, it’s high time we threw this evil concept in the trashcan of history, where it rightly belongs. All Humans are members of the same race, the Human Family, equitable in the sight of Allah SWT.
We live in such a beautiful and unique world, we need to ensure we are not among those who try to spoil it. Share if you agree!
Paul Salahuddin Armstrong
www.khilafahonline.com
Article about the sisters:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2082429/Mixed-race-couple-Dean-Durrant-and-Alison-Spooner-celebrate-after-having-a-second-set-of-black-and-white-twins.html
Why is the Qur’an in Arabic?
21/04/2013 1 Comment
The Quran is a message; the original was revealed in Arabic to make it easy for it’s first audience to receive and understand. People often forget that…
The primary reason the Quran is in Arabic, was not to sound more beautiful, or because that language is more blessed, but because it was being read to Arabs who readily conversed in Arabic. Had it been in any other language, it would not have effectively engaged the community of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Today, English is the most widely spoken language on Earth, and Arabic doesn’t engage many Anglophones anywhere near as well as English does. Hence, we deliberately use English to engage the widest possible audience.
(cf. Holy Quran 43:3, 46:12 and other ayahs).
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…
21/04/2013 Leave a comment
“One who truly has faith in Divine Providence, fears nothing; certainly not pastors, mullahs and other Southern Baptist types, with their dogma, fear-mongering, war-mongering, homophobia, islamophobia, anti-semitism and cultic conspiracy theories.”
~ Paul Salahuddin Armstrong
