Saying Good Bye

Salam my muslim brothers and sisters,
I am a bit thoughtful today as I reflect upon my grandmother and her life as she passed away late last night at the very hour I was praying. I thought of my grandmother "mami rosi" as my other mother. She was very close to my heart and to all the family. I was actually planning to go to Guatemala to visit her this April after not seeing her in person for many years. As this is the first loss in my family since I have chosen Islam for my life, I wanted to study about how the Qur'an addresses death and loss. Here are some of the results of my research that I pray will also bless you as they have for me.

Death , according to the Qur'an, is not the end of man's life; it only opens the door to another, a higher form of life: " We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not ." Qur'an 56 : 60 - 61 .

Since Muslims are told in the Qur'an that humans are on this earth only as passengers, we should not have this fear of loss. A Muslim's destiny is predetermined, so worrying about it is pointless. We as believers must remember that no matter what circumstances we face in life, we will return to Allah as this is a faithful attitude towards our life.

"Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction (Qur'an, 13:28)."

"O you who believe! Seek assistance through patience and prayer; surely, Allah is with the patient (Qur'an, 2:153)."

Another way of finding peace with the idea of death is to have peace with yourself by addressing your sin with Allah. Even if a person has not done anything wrong, he must insure the forgiveness of Allah.

"Then I said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord; surely, He is the most Forgiving'" (Qur'an, 71:10).

Even the reciting and reflective study of the Qur'an in itself is also calming and healing.

Another way to be at peace with the future and live faithfully in the moment is to forget about the bad things of the past and think of good things, always having hope that he can be better. Know that success comes through patience, and that ease can come through the trials we must first go through. Muslims understand that there's no reason to be worried for we know what comes after the tribulation.

Life is short and purposeful and we should make the most of it. Wasting time worrying about it could be time used for making something positive of it and prepare for what is coming next.

In conclusion, a surprisingly effective remedy for stress is to "remember death" and be fearful to face it or try to learn about what Allah has to say about it and what it means for our lives. Al7amdulEllah, Allah knows best and from Him we come and to Him we return.
This post is dedicated to the memory of my mami rosi who gave me unconditional and wonderful love and to all in her life at all times every moment of her life, and who gave me the nickname "chi chi" (but please dont tell anyone that, hahaha). Allah bless my faithful, God-loving grandmother. May Allah have mercy on her and remember her goodness in that day.

Haram and Halal

Since I first started speaking with people about Islam and being exposed to Muslims, I often heard the words Halal and Haram in regards to many different subjects. Haram and Halal are words very (perhaps overly) commonly used to describe what Allah has made permitted (Halal) or prohibited (Haram). Yesterday, I was chatting with a friend from Jordan who shared with me recitations by the Muslim brothers Sdaes and Shureem who are two of the leaders in the Haram Mosque in Mecca

(by the way, I looked into the root of mosque, and it is not from the same root as Mosquito, which comes from the LAtin root Musca (bug). And Mosque, which comes from the Etymology: earlier mosquee, from Middle French, from Old Italian moschea, from Old Spanish mezquita, from Arabic masjid temple, from sajada to prostrate oneself, worship - so it probably spelt mosque with a q because it is like the Egyptian pronounciation of MasGid).

At any rate, now that that's cleared up, back to my topic.
When he said the name of the mosque, I was immediately curious to know how the most recognized mosque in the world in Mecca, could be named "Haram" since it is a word used to refer to things that Allah has prohibited. It didn't seem like the the most appropriate word to me so I figured it must have other meanings, but I still was confused because Arabic is based on a root system similar to Hebrew so each word has three root letters and those three root letters together usually mean similar things, not polar opposites. How could Haram be used to describe the prohibited acts and mean sacred at the same time??

For example, take the word "to write" "taktab."
The words below all have the same root letters as the word "to write:"

katîb	writer
kitâba	the act of writing
kitâb	some writing, book
kutub	books
kutubî	bookdealer
kutayyib	booklet
maktûb	letter
maktab	school, office
maktaba	library, literature
maktabî	individual office
miktâb	typewriter
mukâtaba	correspondence
iktitâb	registration
istiktâb	dictation

.... and on and on. This is only a limited sample of the immense variety of words that can be formed by simple and PREDICTABLE usage of the basic root which was only the three consonants k-t-b.

So as you can see here, Arabic has a system to it. But how on earth could you derive "prohibited" or wrong or any other negative word from the same root that means "sacred??"

Immediately the next day I was chatting with another friend who brought up the term Haram. So Allah had given me the opportunity to get to the bottom of this. What does haram really mean? And what is really Haram and Halal according to the Holy Qur'an?

Why would I just accept what someone tells me is Haram or Halal if I have not read up on it myself to confirm that? This is a sensitive thing because there is a surah in the Qur'an that states;

Surah An-Nahl (The Bees) 16: 116

But say not - for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper.

So as you can see clearly here in this aya, that we must be very careful about what we ascribe as forbidden or lawful. So, now I am more careful about what I call haram or halal. As one example, meat, I already did a post about that.
A good muslim friend of mine did an Arabic word search of the word "haram" in the Qur'an, and for the most part each case referred to the word "sacred;" masjid haram, shahr haram, etc....

In the Qur'an, it also addresses the lawful and prohibited in this verse:

Say: "See ye what things Allah hath sent down to you for sustenance? Yet ye hold forbidden some things thereof and (some things) lawful." Say: "Hath Allah indeed permitted you, or do ye invent (things) to attribute to Allah."

So I wonder where all this talk of Haram and Halal came from. I still have yet to find its correlation in the holy Qur'an.
Here is a list of all of the places the word "haram" is mentioned in the Qur'an.
Just click on this link: Haram in the Qur'an

This is just another example of how we must not stray from the Qur'an as our primary source of guidance for our life. If we revere it so much should we not take as much care to know its words and apply them to our life? What higher source of guidance for our life has Allah given to us on earth than his own words as given to the Prophet Mohammad pbuh through the Angel Gabriel?
2salam wa 3laikoum.

The Pursuit of Knowledge

"My people perish for lack of knowledge..."
How can we know Allah? Through knowledge of his word.
In the bible, Hosea chapter 4:
4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else
and try to pass the blame!
My complaint, you priests,
is with you.Hosea Chapter 4
So you will stumble in broad daylight,
and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.
And I will destroy Israel, your mother.
My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.
Since you priests refuse to know me,
I refuse to recognize you as my priests.
Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,
I will forget to bless your children.
7 The more priests there are,
the more they sin against me.
They have exchanged the glory of God
for the shame of idols.^[b]

Knowledge is so crutial in our walks as believers. I typed "without knowledge" into a biblical search, and look all of the biblical references it pulled up: "without Knowledge" biblical passage search

I have always understood how important it is to test what is said to be true. Even when it comes directly from scripture. Sometimes we are quick to just accept what someone might spout off from scripture when they also mention the chapter and verse it comes from. But please remember that Issa (Jesus) pbuh, was brought into the wilderness led by his spirit and tempted by Shaytan (the devil) and Jesus overcame each temptation by using his knowledge of Scripture even when Shaytan knkew and used some scripture against him. You can read this story in the bible in Luke chapter 4.
Here it is for your convenience (Just click on this link):
Luke Chapter 4

I also remind you to not just accept what I say, just use what I say as inspiration to look further into the truth and study for yourself. At any rate, as I was saying, some people take one verse or aya from the Qur'an and use that to make Islam seem like it is about violence and killing Christians and Jews. So that Christians will be scared of it. There is one Christian sermon from a pastor that always gives very good and well-backed up sermons that often go against the main stream did a sermon series addressing Islam. Although it was very dismaying for me to hear because it was without base, full of value judgments and overgeneralizing.

People often just take what they hear as true just because of who it comes from. Look, even those with good intentions may not always give correct information, I know I try my best to give with what little knowledge I know but i may also give incorrect information and not even be aware of it, so that is why I say seek knowledge for yourself. He did not try at all to take an objective approach at presenting what Islam was.

However it was not surprising because he often takes the controversial stuff and uses that to make his sermons more powerful. I respect him for that in that he addresses somethings that other pastors might be scared to address. But sometimes I wonder if he does it just for entertainment purposes.

At any rate, it is from a well-respected and well-known pastor, someone many people might not think to question although they forget that we are all human and one must search for the truth using his own mind, not just someone else's. After all, their are so many places in scripture that emphasize the importance of the pursuit of knowledge. Even the very first Proverb (by King Solomon pbuh) addresses knowledge. Since it is short, I will paste it here:

Proverbs 1
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-
let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools ^[a] despise wisdom and discipline.

I noticed that what this says was not in line with what and how this particular pastor was preaching about Islam. It is dismaying that many people, even those supposedly knowledgeable can take one phrase from the Qur'an and twist it to instill fear and ignorance in the hearts of people. But the thing is, that this can be true for anything we are taught, even if the teacher himself is not self-aware that he is doing this. So that is why we need to do our own reflecting on what is taught to us as well as what we learn through our own study. That is one reason Allah gave us our minds.

So anyway, what inspired me to write this post is that I came accross this particular sermon and I have often heard people use this verse in the Qur'an to make Islam seem like something evil. So I decided to test what this person was saying to be true, since i knew it must be a challenge to since this person who did this sermon is educated and seems to have knowledge.

The thing that caught my eye was that the verse he used from the Qur'an, he did not say the title of the Surah, he only gave the number of the Sura and the Aya. Well, let me just paste here what he said exactly so u can see:
He wrote this:
Listen to the Koran at sura 9:5: "Fight and slay the pagans [Christians and Jews] where you find them, and seize them; beleaguer them in every strategy of war."
Not surprisingly, his sermon went on to be very one-sided and making Islam look all bad using over-generalizations and focusing on things that would make it seem so evil. And he went on to say how this shows that if people are sincere practicing Muslims who do what the Qur'an says then it will drive them to kill Christians and Jews.

He could have given an objective view of Islam and encourage people to seek knowledge through scripture for themselves, but he didn't of course, that would not serve his purposes now would it?

At any rate, if you notice, he put in parenthesis Christians and Jews after pagans, making it seem that pagans are Christians and Jews. But when I opened the Qur'an and went to this particular aya, there is no mention of the word Christian or Jew and instead of pagans, it uses the Arabic word "Mushrikun" which can be translated to mean pagan and those who believe in many gods such as those in the time of Mohammad pbuh who worshipped many idols. I say in the time of Mohammad, pbuh, because one must consider the context of the time the aya comes from. This chapter is addressing a time when Mohammad was alive (pbuh).

Also, if you continue into this Surah, it is titled surah al-Taubah, which means Repentance in English. Makes you think that might be why it was to this pastor's advantage not to state the title. He made it seem like Islam had no such thing as repentance. Anyway, as the title indicates, this chapter in the Qur'an is about repentance. He gives multiple and multiple opportunities for the people that Mohammad (pbuh) is instructed by Allah to beseige and capture (not just kill mind you) to repent and he specifically instructs Mohammad (pbuh) to give them these opportunities, even those people Christians and Jews themselves would be considered as Mushrikun or pagans and idolators.

Also, if you look back at Surat al Baqarah, the Qur'an refers to Jews and Christians as "People of the Scripture "

Surah Al Baqarah (2:105) -

"Neither those who disbelieve among the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) NOR al-Mushrikun (pagans) like that there should be sent down to you any good from your Lord. But Allah chooses for His Mercy whom He wills. And Allah is the Owner of great bounty."

At any rate, if this pastor would have read more of the chapter he would have shown the Mercy of Allah as viewed by Muslims and by the Qur'an for all people, even Mushrikun.

So, it was actually easier than I thought to discredit his presentation against Islam. I just had to look at the scripture for myself and read it from its context and in its whole. And that was even without the help of additional commentary which might have even made it even more clear. Don't let anyone intimidate you into thinking that just because they seem to know a lot that you cannot come to know what they know and even more. Do not let them make you think that they are the only way you can obtain true knowledge. If they give you information that is great, but do your own searching based on it even if it is.

So in conclusion, I just want to demonstrate that we should all, even those of us with more knowledge than others, study and learn the word of Allah, even as it was stated in the Proverb (1) above;

let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance- for understanding proverbs and parables,

the sayings and riddles of the wise.

Let us not be like blind leading the blind. May Allah increase us all in knowledge so that we may not be deceived.

Oh yeah, that reminds me, I have something else to add... As i mentioned before, Jesus was tempted by Shaytan while he was alone in the wilderness for a period of days. Jesus used his knowledge of scripture to trump Shaytan. But what some may not know is that Shaytan also knows the scripture. and he used that to tempt Jesus to do things to.
For example; in Luke 4:9-11

Then the devil brought him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.For it is written, "He will command his angels to protect you. They will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Luke 4:12

Jesus answered, "The word says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'^[d]"

So you see, just because someone might quote a scripture either from Qur'an or the Jewish or christian bible, does not mean he is not deceiving you or twisting something to his advantage.
So how do we respond to this? Through more knowledge. We must be able to defend our faith and we do that through our knowledge of Allah's word. See how Jesus responded to Shaytan and his recitation of that verse, by using another verse.

So I will leave you with that. I hope that this will inspire to continue learning and growing.

Even the bible itself says in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 -

Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good., and in the Spanish bible it translates to Examine it all, and retain the good.
and in more amplified translation of the bible it says; But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.

May Allah bless you.
:)

LIGHT

In the bible, Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus spoke,

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

This phrase since I have known it has inspired me to stay away from sin in my life so that God's light can shine through me and my good works so that others may glorify God and come to him too. I do not want to be a stone for others to trip on. Sin does not only affect the person sinning, it also affects people who might otherwise have been inspired to seek a better a life and relationship with God through the person's positive example.

One point I want to make about this verse in the bible is also about light. Light is used a lot in the bible in parables. I was curious to see if light was viewed in the same way in the Qur'an as it is in the bible.

One point I also wanted to make was about Jesus as a prophet (pbuh). Many Christians base his words in the bible as confirmation that he was God. However, the way I interpret them and what Jesus (pbuh) often said about his words is that he does not speak of himself. He only speaks of the word and law of God and of the messages from God sent through him. One thing he said was -

In John 8:12;"I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

One commentary describes the scene in which these words were spoken: "In ‘the treasury' where it was spoken (see JFB for John 8:20) stood two colossal golden lamp-stands, on which hung a multitude of lamps, lighted after the evening sacrifice (probably every evening during the feast of tabernacles), diffusing their brilliancy, it is said, over all the city. ...amidst the blaze and the joyousness of this illumination, He proclaims, "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD".

He obviously was using a parable of the lights there in the treasury (treasury is where money is managed and kept is it not), so he was stating to the Jews there that they look to material things, but they must look beyond these things because all those things pass away. The light can be material, but the light can also mean the word of Allah that illuminates our spiritual path and reveals the sin in our life so we can stomp on it. The darkness hides sin and keeps people from finding the path.
Some people, actually many, have interpreted this or have twisted this phrase "I am the light of the world, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" to mean that Jesus is stating he is God. But if you see in another verse, he also states In Matthew 5:14-16,

"YOU are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. No do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

So as you can see, he also calls his followers the light of the world just as he referred to himself or anything else he may have been referring to, such as the word of God or His law. There are many verses in the bible about light that I absolutely love. But we'll leave it at that for now, because I'm a bit short on time I'm sad to say.

This is just one example to show that through true personal reflection one can come to learn things one may not just accepting things as people tell them without reflecting for themselves.

Now the Qur'an directly emphasizes the importance of thoughtful reflection -

"If we revealed this Quran to a mountain, you would see it trembling, crumbling, out of reverence for GOD. We cite these examples for the people, that they may reflect." [59:21]

I will close this post with that verse, so that YOU may reflect. ;)