Middle-East
Jerusalem is My Love
JERUSALEM – Feb 14: While people in many countries indulged in frivolities to mark Valentine’s Day [a holiday with pagan roots] on Thursday, this Palestinian girl had a message for her people, ‘Jerusalem is my love’ —AFP
May Allah return her love back to her and the Ummah.
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Malik
February 16, 2008 at 8:12 PM
a holiday with pagan roots
You say that as if it were a bad thing. Remember, even Islam and the way it is practiced has pagan roots (the Kaaba was a pagan temple seized by Muhammed; and Hajj was a pagan practice to journey to that temple)
Amad
February 16, 2008 at 8:59 PM
Malik, I stated a fact, not an opinion. So, it is you who is coloring it, not me.
The Kaba’s foundations were laid by Abraham himself, the pure monotheistic Prophet (AS) with his son Ismail. Later on, as monotheism turned into polytheism when people started worshipping holy men, Kaba did indeed become a temple with many idols. As far as the rites, they were based on Abraham as well, continued in a perverted way, by the idolaters.
Mohammad (S) returned Kaba to its original intent, worship of One God alone.
These too are facts, not opinions.
Malik
February 16, 2008 at 9:24 PM
There is absolutely no historical or scriptural evidence that Avraham ever traveled that far south. So what you say is simply faith and not fact.
Irum Sarfaraz
February 16, 2008 at 10:18 PM
Br. Malik you are doing a really good job of arguing for the sake of arguing.
sister
February 16, 2008 at 10:23 PM
sorry, wouldnt it be better not to post that pics sis like that… she is pretty, dont think its right for bros to just look at it esp. when she’s smiling?
Umm Reem
February 16, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Somebody needs to get history lesson! :)
Irum Sarfaraz
February 16, 2008 at 10:41 PM
sister:
the brothers are insisting that they are only looking at the flowers in the background !!! :)
Dawud Israel
February 16, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Jerusalem is my love too… :D
I wonder if Jerusalem can be the name of a Muslim…hmmm…
Meena
February 16, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Almost everything we do has pagan roots…
I don’t see anyone bugging our Muslim sisters who put mehndi on their hands as indulging in something pagan. Yet almost all desi girls do this for weddings, Eid, or whatnot. Is it necessary to pick and choose?
Irum Sarfaraz
February 16, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Yes it is critical to pick and choose. Specifically, why would Henna bug the Muslim sisters when the use of Henna has been encouraged by the Prophet (saw) for the dyeing of hair, beards and the hands of women? What does or doesn’t have pagan roots is again an argument for the sake of argument; if the act is proven by hadith and sunnah to be acceptable and halal, it is acceptable without furhter ado. Similary the foundation of the Kaaba WAS laid by Prophet Abraham and Hajj IS one of the five pillars of Islam. So what is ‘pagan’ about that?
Ahmad AlFarsi
February 16, 2008 at 11:57 PM
The reason celebrating Valentine’s day is haraam is not due to simply its pagan roots. As we learned in Sh. YQ’s Aqeedah 101 class, taking any day as an Eid (something which is returned to, from the root ‘aada), other than the 2 Islamic Eids, is prohibited in Islam, based on ahadeeth from the Prophet SAWS. That is why it is wrong to celebrate birthdays as well.
V-Day’s pagan roots only make celebrating V-Day worse… but that is not the origin of its prohibition. wa Allahu a’lam.
Ahmad AlFarsi
February 16, 2008 at 11:58 PM
I beg to differ…
Organic Muslimah
February 17, 2008 at 1:50 AM
Ameen to Br. Amad’s duaa.
KashifN
February 17, 2008 at 6:38 AM
Completely off topic. Where did that recent post regarding the Danish cartoons go? I didn’t know where else to post this sorry.
Meena
February 17, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Um.. before the Prophet, henna/mehndi was originally used by the Hindus as a form of worship for their gods.
My point is the Prophet didn’t go pointing his finger to everything saying “haram haram” he adapted the use to make it okay for Muslims, similar to this girl adapting Valentine’s to make it okay (love for Jeruselum). How could Valentine`s possibly be approved if it didn`t exist in that time or location.. just a thought.
reader
February 17, 2008 at 2:12 PM
Very interesting. Think you guys can edit/crop that picture? Not the best thing to have up for us bros who read daily. :)
Keep up the good work, MM!
Organic Muslimah
February 17, 2008 at 6:23 PM
Reader:
The sister in the sister in the picture has hijab on. She is doing what she is supposed to, now you do your part and lower your gaze!
dario
February 17, 2008 at 8:16 PM
LOL Organic, good response
I kind of found the comments about the picture to be a bit strange. I’m assuming most of the men commenting on this site are from the US/europe. So don’t you see women uncovered and wearing a whole less than that on at least an hourly basis every day? If you can’t handle this picture you should probably just never leave your house. God knows what you’d be like on the outside.
imran khan
February 17, 2008 at 11:02 PM
As a man I find sister and reader comments insulting!! Get a life…. are the kind of people who cover/scratch faces of characters in children’s books school books??????
Asim
February 18, 2008 at 1:42 AM
uhh Imran I think they were trying to make life easier for us…not the other way around…naw mean?
reader
February 18, 2008 at 2:25 AM
It’s just a small request. I’m sorry that even asking caused a minor commotion. It’s it’s edited, alhumdulillah, and if it’s not edited, then alhumdulillah. Some of your brothers are just uncomfortable with it, and we shouldn’t be criminalized for asking, politely, at that. If you noticed, even a sister above commented about the picture and why it’s up.
Reminds me of one time I simply, politely asked for music to be turned off and the people had a cow that I dare do such a thing.
May Allah [swt] bless all of you and forgive me for offending anyone.
A Brother
February 18, 2008 at 8:43 AM
To Organic Muslimah:
No doubt the sister is doing her part in wearing the hijab, but did the sister consent to having her picture taken and then splashed across a website which is read by hundreds of readers?
The brother just felt uncomfortable because he is reading the material around the picture, therefore you can’t lower the gaze and still read the text.
Secondly the people of this blog should find out what is the Islamic ruling on putting pictures of sisters on sites.
Secondly to dario: Fear Allah and do not say things such as “God knows what you’d be like on the outside.”
The brother was just making a small request and he gets blasted for doing so.
Allah told Musa (as) who was better than YOU to speak kindly to Firaun who was far worse than brother reader.
Speak words of goodness or keep silent!
dario
February 18, 2008 at 11:09 AM
“Fear Allah and do not say things such as “God knows what you’d be like on the outside.”
Sorry to nitpick but what is the difference between saying ‘God Knows blah blah’ and ‘Allahu Alim blah blah’ (or something like that) which I have come to learn means almost the same thing.
Amad
February 18, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Dario, I’d like to remind you to be “kind and merciful” in your replies and comments. No need for becoming defensive or personal.
“A brother”‘s and “reader”‘s requests were polite and reasonable. We talked over it and didn’t quite agree, but that doesn’t make their comments outlandish.
Furthermore, we do try to create a little Muslim enclave here so we will not probably put up what you would otherwise normally see all the time in the West. In this case, the sister was wearing hijab, so we didn’t find it inappropriate, and there was a powerful message assocation. But in the future, inshallah, I’ll try to be even more selective.
So, the message of the post was not about Valentine, or about her picture… it was about turning a “holiday” (that we don’t celebrate as Muslims) into a message that usually never comes across in mainstream media, i.e. the human face of Palestine. Its a powerful message that Israelis have used for a long time in their PR blitz: smiling faces, peaceful appearance, etc. engaging in what many Westerner reaction will be “ah, so nice”. Sometimes PR is as simple as that.
dario
February 18, 2008 at 1:16 PM
Sorry Amad, but I’m not quite sure what you’re reply to me had to do with anything especially considering all the offending comments have been removed and my above comment had zero to do with that and was a legitimate question that I would genuinely like to know the answer to
And lastly, I”m not the one who even started the whole comments about pagan holidays, valentines, or “tempting” pictures and in essence derailed the point of the entire post. You can thank your other readers for that. I merely responded to what had already been said. So I”m not quite sure what the deal is here but sorry to have offended
Yus from the Nati
February 18, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Wow…
Ahmad AlFarsi
February 18, 2008 at 6:32 PM
Salaam Dario,
What Amad was referring to when he spoke of offending comments was your comments:
A Brother
February 18, 2008 at 11:25 PM
“If you can’t handle this picture you should probably just never leave your house. God knows what you’d be like on the outside.”
We are just pointing out the implications that came with that statement. A polite request turned into dario insinuating something evil about the brother and equating his lack of lowering the gaze with being unable to controlling his desires outside of the house.
Just Advicce!!
Kree
February 23, 2008 at 7:39 PM
Brief response to Meena’s comment on henna being used by Hindus for worship :
<>
This is historically just plain wrong. Henna was used for thousands of years in the Middle East, specifically the Fertile Crescent (Iran/Iraq) long before it was introduced to India by the Moghuls. Hindu celebrations often include the use of henna (or mehndi) but it is generally not used for “worship” any more than it would be considered worship to use henna on sheep being slaughtered for Eid.
As a henna professional, I just wanted to clear that up! Thank you for your interesting website.
Amad
February 23, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Thank you Kree. You have an interesting website… I am sure many henna lovers would find it quite educational.
Henna is actually part of the Sunnah (the Prophetic practices), as he used it as a dye for his beard and hair. That would be a good factoid to mention.
AnonyMouse
February 23, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Kree, I love your site! I’m definitely a henna addict :D
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aseel
September 6, 2008 at 1:28 PM
she’s really pretty , so is jerusalem ..
palestine is the most beautiful place to me .. i love it ..