Open Thread Sunday 4/27/2008

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April 27, 2008 by MuslimMatters BlogNews
17 comments

Open Thread Sundae, I mean Sunday! Start a topic and post away.

Here's three “Old But Gold” posts for your reading pleasure. Here, we'll start off with a theme that revolves around the Book of Allah 'azza wa jal, the Qur'an.

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http://www.saqibsaab.com SaqibSaab

Something that once amazed me was realizing the Qur’an really is forreal a Book of Guidance.

I remember watching this video of a former Muslim who left Islam for Christianity. Granted the guy’s story of his former “Islamic” life was very awkward, but in his presentation he basically told Christian viewers how to attract people like him, i.e. to not-so-practicing Muslims.

His talk was full of so many misquoted verses from the Quran and ridiculous statements, it made me get so heated up inside. For a whole day I couldn’t help but think about that video, and Christians, and his stories of how his Church brought him in, how he could have left Islam, this that. I needed some guidance, straight up!

Next day, Friday, open up the Qur’an, bam. Surah Kahf, first page.

And to warn those who say, ” Allah has taken a son.” They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie.

Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muúammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow. Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed.

The answer, straight up, right there. May Allah (swt) protect us from being those who say things with no knowledge, speak lies, and do not believe.
http://www.egyptiangumbo.com Shirien

There is a post I wanted to share with everyone, I recently challenged girls at LSU to wear hijab for a day through my column in our daily newspaper. And I wrote a post about the results (which were amazing, alhamdulillah!). So I just wanted to share it:

http://www.egyptiangumbo.com

Barak Allahu feekom and I hope other MSAs and organizations do these types of events more often, the results are worth it!
http://rasheedgonzales.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/dr-marranci-terrorism-in-the-name-of-jesus-everybody-ignore/ Abû Mûsâ Al-Ḥabashî

This is a bit late, but I found this blog entry, as well as the comments, quite interesting.
http://www.muslimmatters.org AnonyMouse

On the subject of Qur’an and knowledge regarding it, subhanAllah it’s something I was thinking a lot about recently… so many of us are accustomed to looking up ayaat on the Internet or by flipping through our “English translation of the Qur’an”… but how many of us can flip through our MINDS and find it?! Because what if we’re outside, have neither a computer nor a mus_haf at hand, and need to do Da’wah? Or even just an emaan boost?
Furthermore, just memorizing the words of the Qur’an are no use if we don’t understand its meaning and interpretations. What pains me most about myself is that just because I’m memorized Juz ‘Ammah doesn’t mean I have any real knowledge about it: when I recite many – most – surahs, I don’t know exactly what its talking about, I don’t know about when it was revealed and why, I don’t know how it should be impacting my heart and mind and soul.
SubhanAllah… laa hawla wa laa quwwata illaa billaah.
May Allah forgive us and grant us true knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and love of His Words, and make us amongst those whose characters are an extension of the Qur’an, ameen!
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

anyone else tired of these fundamentalist christian extremists at chick-fil-a?? closing on sundays? what are they trying to implement some kind of terrorist oppressive christian shari’ah where no one is allowed to eat or work on sundays????????????
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

also i saw a lady plucking her chin hairs at a red light today.. is that normal?? people are crazy i tell you. i wonder if it has anything to do with the extremists at chick fil a
http://www.muslimmatters.org AnonyMouse

:lol: @ plucking chin hairs
Yes… I agree, it’s obviously part of a fundamentalist Christian conspiracy!
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

btw for the “zabihah only” folks out there, does chick fil a count as ahlul kitab meat?
Hassan

chick-fil-a closes on Sunday!!, thats preposterous, next thing you know, December 25th would be a federal holiday!!
http://trueword.wordpress.com/ aarij

Speaking of the Qur’an,

http://www.farhathashmi.com/dn/Audio/Quran/ExplanationTafseer/tabid/77/Default.aspx

Tafsir by Dr. Farhat Hashmi. It’s absolutely amazing, alhamdulillah, may Allah [swt] bless her and protect her and her family, ameen.
http://muslimmatters.org Ahmad AlFarsi

@ibnabeeomar:

I don’t think they slaughter their own meat, do they? And even if they did, they certainly do not require their workers to be Christian (that’s illegal, isn’t it?). But, if they do have all Christian workers at their slaughter houses, then it should certainly be discussed with our American shuyukh :)

The Imam at MIT, who also happens to be a student of knowledge/scholar, Imam Suheil Laher, has a very good breakdown of the zabihah issue, over on SunniPath… he breaks it down according to each madhhab.

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=7777&CATE=127
http://wishsubmission.wordpress.com Manas Shaikh

I would like to draw your attention to this:

Debbie Almontaser, founding principle of Khalil Gibran International Academy, is forced to resign
http://kgia.wordpress.com/
zk

Muslim Urban Professionals networking website.
http://www.muppies.org/

anyone here know of it? a member?
zk

Re Debbie Almontaser, A long piece from today’s NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/nyregion/28school.html?_r=1&ex=1367121600&en=491ed4b378cdf905&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
http://prayinjamat.com AbuAbdAllah the Houstonian

bismillah it’s almost the next sunday but…

i followed the link for the campus article, waded through the gumbo — finally found the second link (honestly, i would have preferred a link directly to the article from this page) and read the comments of the participants… and the critics. you know it’s almost funny. today’s islamhaters really are just like the islamhating quraysh.

and in the same vein, it’s no surprise that the decent people you’ve encountered are like the decent mushrikeen you read about in the seerah.

i’d like to offer one piece of advice, though. there’s calling people to give up their prejudices about islam, and then there’s calling people to accept Islam. you’ve got good practice now at writing/addressing the masses, mashaAllah. why not do one more semester at least of the latter?
http://prayinjamat.com AbuAbdAllah the Houstonian

bismillah. i happened to read the same article about the sister and the charter school in NY.

from what i read, she chose a “secular arab” partner group over a Muslim one, and the choice had everything to do with religion.
and she chose the name with the same mindset.

and she followed the advice of the city when it came to the articles about the tshirt. and as i watch her defenders, jewish and christian groups are most prominent in the Times, i think about the choices she made… and i can’t say i’ve read much yet that makes me especially sympathetic.

to me it just looks like she overestimated her non-Muslim friends, underestimated non-Muslim prejudice, and shortshrifted her Muslim brothers and sisters.

i would be much more sympathetic if i saw the Muslims of her community rallying all around her.
http://prayinjamat.com AbuAbdAllah the Houstonian

bismillah. every time i see a closed chik fil a, i get wistful. here’s a business-owner who really seems to be living up to his religious convictions.

so i can’t poke or peck fun at his expense. because i grow wistful when i imagine talking to him about the virtue of eating meat — like say, poultry — that was slaughtered in the name of God. i grow wistful because there’s a man i imagine who might just agree, and if i did, it would be a blessing for all his customers (who would then include me).

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