NASR Presents: Living the Light…

Living the Light: An Introduction to Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith

August 10, 2007, 6:00pm – 8:30pm

a community lecture with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani to introduce and kick start the week-long program.
This lecture will be free of charge and everyone is encourage to attend with their families, friends and loved ones.
Free

Living the Light: Understanding Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith

August 11: Noon – 8:30pm
August 12: 10:00am – 6:30pm
August 13-17: 6:00pm – 8:30pm

An in-depth study of Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith.
“Forty hadith… each hadith of which is one of the great principles of our religion…” -Imam Nawawi

“Every
person wishing to attain the Hereafter should know these hadiths
because of the important matters they contain and the directions they
give in respect of all forms of obedience to Allah.” -Imam Nawawi

Topics will include:

• What is sincerity?
• What is excellence in conduct and character?
• How does Allah want us to be?
• What are keys to becoming a better believer?
• How do I become beloved to Allah?
• What are keys to closeness to Allah?
• What do I do when I keep falling?
• What are the foundations of Prophetic guidance?

Registration Required - live soon.

Living the Light: In Honour of the
Beloved of Allah

August 17, 8:30 PM (after Maghrib)

An evening of invocation and remembrance to conclude this blessed gathering.

Location

Brampton Sunnatul Islamic Association

NASR Presents: Living the Light…

Me and My Mac - Columns by PC Magazine

That’s right. I’m using a Mac, and, surprise, I like it. Deal.

Kids: 10 ways to entertain young children for $1 or less (without the TV) - Lifehacker

Sick of paying hundreds of dollars for toys your kids don’t play with? Tired of the latest toy catching your child’s attention and having it turn out to be something you consider offensive (Bratz) or impossible to acquire (break dancing Elmo)?

Never fear. These classic toys and activities can be created with stuff you probably already have lying around your house. Plus, they will entertain your kids for hours and when they are done, you can chuck ‘em without feeling bad you spent your Christmas bonus to get them. Plus, studies show a child will remember a toy you both created far longer than a store bought toy.

Friday: Praying sunnas upon entering after the khutba starts
Answered by Shaykh Sohail Hanif

May the peace and blessings of Allah be on our master Muhammad, his folk and companions and all who step in his blessed footsteps until the last day.

Both the Hanbali and Shafi’i schools state that it is recommended for a latecomer to the Friday prayer to pray the 2 rakats for greeting the mosque even if the Imam is giving the khutba (Friday sermon). The Hanafi and Maliki schools however consider this to be an impermissible act.

The former two schools take as a basis for this ruling the hadith of Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah found in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said ‘When of you comes on Friday and the imam has come out [to give the khutba] then let him pray two rakats’. In addition there is the hadith also related by Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah that is found in sahih al-Bukhari that ‘A man came whilst the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was delivering the khutba on Friday so he said “Have you prayed O so-and-so?”. The man replied “No”. The Prophet said “Stand and pray two rakats”.

Despite the seemingly clear indication of the two aforementioned rigorously authenticated hadiths, the Hanafis and Malikis deemed it impermissible to pray during the khutba. They based this ruling on a number of considerations some of which are mentioned below. The followed discussion is largely taken from the two great commentaries on Sahih al-Bukhari; Faid al-Bari by Imam al-Kashmiri [2:238, Maktaba Haqqania] and ‘Umdat al-Qari by Imam al-‘Ayni [6:230, Bulaq].

Despite the above two hadiths, it is transmitted from the majority of the early Muslims from the Sahaba, including Umar, Uthman and Ali, and the Tabi’in that they did not deem it permissible to pray during the khutba. [Read more]

TheStar.com - Travel - Cozy domes make for soothing sustainability

Circular cottages combine natural beauty, comforting curves, and energy efficiency

This isn’t a specifically “Islamic-concept…” but this could be an example of how Islamic values (even aesthetic ones) could adapt to one’s environment and the needs of the times (such as the important–critical–environmental concerns of our age), while promoting Islamic ideals and values.

A friend, who emailed me this link, notes:

This company and concept were created by an Egyptian -Canadian Salah Eldeib, it is awesome. He has been named innovator of the year.

Smart, Beautiful & best of all Enviromentally friendly and Energy efficient. Very slick. Very Canadian - think igloos. Very Islamic?

I heard sometimes the conventional dome can be 1/3 or more the cost of a masjid. not sure if there are savings to be had here - but if you know anyone planning to build a mosque let them know.

I can certainly see this form being the blueprint for the “new Canadian Mosque”. In fact wouldn’t it be neat to build a small community of such homes.

Since domes enclose the most amount of space with the least surface area, they are cool in summer and warm in winter.

Anyways thought I would share.

Toronto Star:Cozy domes make for soothing sustainability

See also:

http://www.canadianwoodendomes.ca/gallery.html

NPR : Reporter’s Religion Beat Leads to Faith Crisis

Los Angeles Times religion reporter William Lobdell was an evangelical Christian when he took the job, and during his time on the beat he almost converted to Catholicism.

But he says after covering religion for eight years, he has lost faith in Christianity and left the religion beat. Lobdell talks with Alex Cohen.

The Scarcity of Traditional Ulema « Words of Guidance

Shaykh Nuh Keller (Allah preserve him) said,

“Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional ‘ulema. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih or ‘rigorously authenticated’ hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

‘Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowledge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding’ (Bukhari, 1.36: 100. S).

The process described by the hadith is not yet completed, but has certainly begun, and in our times, the lack of traditional scholars—whether in Islamic law, in hadith, in tafsir or ‘Qur’anic exegesis’—has given rise to an understanding of the religion that is far from scholarly, and sometimes far from the truth. For example, in the course of our own studies in Islamic law, our first impression from Orientalist and Muslim-reformer literature was that the Imams of the madhhabs or ‘schools of jurisprudence’ had brought a set of rules from completely outside the Islamic tradition and somehow imposed them upon the Muslims. But when we sat with traditional scholars in the Middle East and asked them about the details, we came away with a different point of view, having been taught something about the bases for deriving the law from the Qur’an and sunna.”

Source: Shadhili Tariqa - A Closer Look at Sufism

Google Reader Introduction

Chris Wetherell, Google Reader Engineer, introduces the new version of the feed reading application.

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: The World With Us

The World Without Us, Alan Wiseman’s new book, explores what would happen if humanity suddenly vanished. How long would it take for humankind’s works to be undone? How long would our cities last? Our tools? The chemicals and plastics we’ve left behind?

This premise allows him to have great fun imagining the stages of a suburban home’s decline and fall, exploring the fate of the New York subway systems and touring various involuntary parks (like the Varosha hotel complex in Cyprus). As a thought experiment, it’s fun and useful, if gruesome, allowing Wiseman to perform a post-mortem dissection of our current impact on the planet, and how long the consequences of that impact will carry on. There’s no information here that’s all that new. If you follow environmental issues, nothing in The World Without Us will shock or astound you, though the package makes for a good read.

But I found myself dissatisfied with it. In part, that’s because Wiseman doesn’t really tackle the essential ethical problem which underlies his premise: what happened to the people? Like many deep green types before him, he simply wishes them away.

That’s problematic for two reasons.

Sikh group slams immigration name change policy

A Sikh-Canadian group is slamming the long-standing immigration policy that forces people with the surname Singh or Kaur to change their last names.

Comment is free: No development, no peace

To reduce the risk of war, we must help impoverished people everywhere get onto the ladder of economic development, says Jeffrey Sachs

The Turkish Jester

The story goes, one of the stories of a hundred, that Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi one day ascending into the pulpit to preach, said, ‘O believers, do ye not know what I am going to say to you?’ The congregation answered, ‘Dear Cogia Efendi, we do not know.’ Then said the Cogia, ‘What shall I say to you until you do know?’ One day the Cogia ascending again into the pulpit, said, ‘O Mussulmen, do ye not know what I am going to say to you?’ ‘We do know,’ they replied. Then said the Cogia, ‘Some of ye do know already, what should I have to say to you?’ Then descending from the chair he went out. The assembly separated quite astonished, and, when they were out, continued to say, ‘Which are those of us who know? Which are those who do not know?’ The Cogia one day again mounting the chair in the same manner, said, ‘O brothers, when I said to ye, “Do you know what I shall say?” there were some who said, “We know,” others said, “We do not.” It were now well that those among ye who knew what the Cogia said should teach those that did not.’

A Movable Beast: Asian Pythons Thrive in Florida - New York Times

Skip Snow, a federal biologist in Everglades National Park, would love to spend his days monitoring the dizzying array of native wildlife across this 1.5-million-acre “river of grass” west of the ever-expanding Miami metropolis.

Lately, however, he has been spending ever more time studying the
remains of the park’s birds and animals, extracted from the
stomachs of captured or road-killed Burmese pythons, the latest —
and most spectacular — addition to Florida’s growing list
of biological interlopers.

Marginal Revolution: The World Without Us

To this day, nature hasn’t come up with a microbe that eats it [a tire], either. Goodyear’s process, called vulcanization, ties long rubber polymer chains together with short strands of sulfur atoms, actually transforming them into a single giant molecule. Once rubber is vulcanized — meaning it’s heated, spiled with sulfur, and poured into a mold, such as one shaped like a truck tire — the resulting huge molecule takes that form and never relinquishes it.

Being a single molecule, a tire can’t be melted down or turned into something else. Unless physically shredded or worn down by 60,000 miles of friction, both entailing significant energy, it remains round. Tires drive landfill operators crazy, because when buried, they encircle a doughnut-shaped air bubble that wants to rise. Most garbage dumps no longer accept them, but for hundreds of years into the future, old tires will inexorably work their way to the surface of forgotten landfills, fill with rainwater, and begin breeding mosquitoes again.

In the United Sates, an average of one tire per citizen is discarded annually — that’s a third of a billion, just in one year.

That is from Alan Weisman’s truly excellent The World Without Us. Here is my previous post on the book.

Judaism - Religion - Othodox Jews - Yeshiva day Schools - Education and Schools - New York Times

A number of years ago, I went to my 10th high-school reunion, in the backyard of the one classmate whose parents had a pool. Lots of my classmates were there. Almost all were married, and many already had kids. This was not as unusual as it might seem, since I went to a yeshiva day school, and nearly everyone remained Orthodox. I brought my girlfriend. At the end, we all crowded into a big group photo, shot by the school photographer, who had taken our pictures from first grade through graduation. When the alumni newsletter came around a few months later, I happened to notice the photo. I looked, then looked again. My girlfriend and I were nowhere to be found. [read more]

Noah Feldman, a contributing writer for the magazine, is a law
professor at Harvard University and adjunct senior fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations.

Sunni Sister: Blahg Blahg Blahg » Blog Archive » To My Sister in Islam

In the midst of crisis, you ask “Why believe in God anymore? Why be Muslim?”

The answer, my friend, is because I must.

Because if I tried not to, it wouldn’t work.

Because He is there, and I can’t escape it. Nor can you.

Because even the tiniest little insect plays a role and has a marvel inside of it. And it can’t be random. It is by design. How is it that your eyes would not work if just one little component were to go missing? How can that be random?

Economics Blog : Economics According to Google

For decades, many of the brightest graduates in economics sought their fortune in finance. In coming years, they will seek it in marketing, as the Internet gives all companies the information-rich environment once available only in financial markets.

That’s the prediction of Hal Varian, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Varian is known to legions of students for his microeconomics textbooks and to the public for his columns in The New York Times. He also is a leading thinker on the economics of information, co-author of Information Rules. As of July 2 he is an example of the trend described above: he is chief economist at Google Inc.,
where he will build a team of economists, statisticians, and analysts
to assist the company in “marketing, in human resources, in
strategy, in policy related stuff.” He has given up his column
but remains on the faculty at Berkeley.

Comment is free: Harry Potter: the economics

Successful magical worlds depend on basic economic principles, and that’s where JK Rowling’s Harry Potter falls short.

Haves and Have-Nots of Globalization

US companies that move part of their operations abroad continue to report big financial gains. Defense contractors like United Technologies, for example, report a spike in foreign sales and increased stock prices. Increasing numbers of multinational companies based in the US – including United Technologies, PepsiCo and Honeywell International – report that a majority of their sales are in foreign markets rather than the US, writes William J. Holstein for the New York Times. Analysts anticipate more global growth and profits in all manner of foreign investments. US firms that do business on a global scale are further helped by a declining dollar. Investors benefit from a company’s increased profit, but the same is not necessarily true for US workers: Some employees will benefit, but others lose jobs. Investments by multinational companies eliminate inequality around the globe, but can prompt sharp economic divisions within nations and even companies, with some people and communities benefiting from globalization and others losing out. – YaleGlobal

Living the Light: Understanding Nawawi’s 42 Hadith… Coming to Toronto in August… « Traditionalist - Islam, Law, & Spirituality

Living the Light: Understanding Nawawi’s 42 Hadith

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Police warn 34 clerics of attacks

Thirty-four prominent clerics from different religious factions were
warned by the police in a series of meetings Sunday that they could be
targeted in the wake of the Lal Masjid incident, especially by
ex-prison inmates. The police and rangers are also at risk.

“The
police department informed us about the circumstances, via its town
police officers,” said Dawat-e-Islami and Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat
spokesman. “They told us to take added security measures. They
did not provide us with any extra security through.”

Only
three people out of those that were arrested for suicide attacks
between 1999 and 2000 are still serving time. Most of them belong to
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Someone, thinking about the Last Days (and then about their more mundane–yet unfulfillable–desire for an iPhone) concluded that the iPhone is a Dajjalic symbol.

It has one eye. Apple’s logo is an eye. One eye. Dajjal?

Or pure frustrated desires.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraqi river carries grotesque cargo

Five hundred mutilated bodies dumped into the River Tigris have been washed up in two years in the town of Suweira, 100km (62 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The BBC’s Mona Mahmoud and Sebastian Usher have spoken to the community through an Iraqi journalist to find out how they cope.

Fiqh of Menstruation: Birgivi’s Manual Interpreted

BIRGIVI’S MANUAL INTERPRETED is the explanative translation of a major Islamic legal work on menstruation, lochia, and related issues. Answering hundreds of questions needed by the Muslim woman practicing her din, this book provides accurate information and practical arrangement of charts and texts making it an important reference for every Muslim family.

The primary text, Dhukhr al-Muta’ahhilin [Treasure for Those with
Families] by Imam Muhammad al-Birgivi (d. 981/1573), is the most
uthoritative work on menstruation in the Hanafi school, which the
majorit y of Muslims follow. The work has been commentated upon by a
number of traditional scholars, the best known of whom is Imam Ibn
‘Abidin, the central scholar of the late Hanafi school.

The text and its commentaries have been studied by Hedaya Hartford
and Ashraf
Muneeb under various sheikhs from Syria and Turkey, among them Sheikh
Muhammad Amin Siraj of Turkey, a traditional Hanafi scholar who has an
unbroken chain to Imam al-Birgivi himself. Sheikh Siraj gave Hartford
and Muneeb his authorization to teach this volume in a written ijaza
that attests, in his words, to their “full comprehension and
meticulous understanding” of the work.

PRAISE FOR BIRGIVI’S MANUAL INTERPRETED
“A handbook of what a Muslim woman needs to know about her
monthly
period and related questions. The detailed content of this major work
should make it useful for anyone teaching women’s fiqh.”

Nuh Keller

“The most comprehensive treatise found on the subject in the Hanafi School. A
must read for every genuine student. The method of explanation is unique, and
the charts are unparalleled.”

Tahir Anwar, South Bay Islamic Association

• Title: BIRGIVI’S MANUAL INTERPRETED: Complete Fiqh of Menstruation & Related Issues
• Author: Hedaya Hartford/Ashraf Muneeb
• Publishing House: Amana Publications
• ISBN: 1-59008-046-7

Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Below is a complete listing of the articles in “How to Talk to a
Climate Skeptic,” a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the
most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four
separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by:

• Stages of Denial,
• Scientific Topics,
• Types of Argument, and
• Levels of Sophistication.

Individual articles will appear under multiple headings and may even appear in multiple subcategories in the same heading.