| Articles - Islamweb |
| Articles - Islamweb |
Erdogan: poll win a blow to immoral politics
3/31/2014 3:33:17 PM
Turkey's prime minister has declared victory in local elections that had become a referendum on his rule, calling the results a blow to the "immoral, aimless politics" of his rivals.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his rivals would "pay the price" for their loss as preliminary results on Sunday showed his Justice and Development party, known as the AKP, took up to 47 percent of all votes cast.
The main opposition Republican People's Party, known as the CHP, had 28 percent and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, had 13 percent, the Anatolia news agency reported late on Sunday.
The elections, which were being held amid ‘corruption allegations’ and ‘damaging security leaks’ that have shaken the 12-year rule of the AKP government, were widely seen as a vote of confidence for the rule of Erdogan.
At a rally in Ankara in the early hours of Monday, Erdogan said that "democracy and free will" had won.
"These poll results show more than who won, it shows how lost," he said. "Immoral politics have lost. Politics on tapes, on false recordings have lost. Immoral and aimless politics have lost."
He took aim at rivals who sought to capitalize on the ‘leaked recording’ in their campaign against him, and the press.
"I ask the leader of the opposition if he didn't have the recordings, what would you have said on your campaign? You only utter lies and false statements."
He gave warning that his foes would "pay the price". "From tomorrow, there may be some who flee," he said.
Hectic campaigning
More than 50 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in Turkey's local elections.
The AKP, which swept to power in 2002 on a platform of eradicating the corruption that blights Turkish life, hoped on Sunday to equal or better its overall 2009 vote of 38.8 percent.
Erdogan crisscrossed the nation of 77 million during weeks of hectic campaigning to rally his conservative core voters.
His government has purged thousands of people from the judiciary and police since December following the anti-corruption raids targeting businessmen close to Erdogan and sons of ministers.
The prime minister said that those behind the investigations were trying to form a "state within a state" or "parallel state", blaming the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric whose followers are apparently highly influential in Turkey's police forces and judiciary.
PHOTO CAPTION
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan casts his ballot at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 30, 2014.
Al-Jazeera
Myanmar census begins despite calls to postpone it
3/30/2014 8:15:07 PM
An army of 150,000 census-takers started to fan out across Myanmar on Sunday, despite calls from Human Rights groups to postpone the complex questionnaire, fearing it could further stoke ethnic tensions and violence in the region.
The UN-backed project is threatening to reignite problems between Buddhists and Muslims, particularly in Rakhine State in the country's west, and questions on the census form about religion and ethnicity have caused further unease. What's more, as the government tries to secure a nationwide ceasefire with militias, tens of thousands of people living in rebel-controlled land will be off-limits.
Tensions came to the fore this week, when Buddhist mobs attacked aid workers’ homes and offices in Rakhine's capital, throwing stones and forcing workers to flee under police protection.
Rakhine Buddhists object to a persecuted Muslim minority called the Rohingya being included in the census. They insist they should be forced to be recorded as Bengali, a name that enforces the spurious claim that they are illegal immigrants.
Presidential Spokesman Ye Htut said Saturday that Rohingya would not be allowed to classify themselves as such.
"It will be acceptable if they write 'Bengali'... We won't accept them as 'Rohingya,'" he said.
Ethnic groups have also said they will not permit census-takers access to their territory, while others have expressed concern over the impact of the census on their areas. Many minorities say the census could potentially weaken their political representation or claim to ethnicity, if the process undercounts their group.
“The mob attacks in Arakan State illustrate the risks of proceeding with the census in such a volatile atmosphere,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, on Saturday. “The government should suspend the census until it can ensure adequate security and a fair process for everyone involved.”
Arakan State is the previous name of Rakhine State, likewise Burma the previous name of Myanmar.
The last census was conducted in 1983 under a brutal military dictatorship known for manipulating figures to suit its own ends. Rights groups claim it deliberately undercounted Muslims. More accurate figures could reveal a much larger Muslim population than the 4 percent previously reported.
But Myanmar desperately needs a headcount. Estimates of its population vary from 48 million to 65 million, a divergence greater than the number of people living in The Netherlands. And the census should help the reform-inclined government to develop the impoverished country, telling it where hospitals, schools and new roads are needed most.
Supporters argue it is an integral part of reform in a nation crippled for five decades by an opaque dictatorship. The United Nations Population Fund, which along with the United Kingdom, Germany and others is paying for most of the $US75 million project, says the census will help unify the fractured country.
Janet Jackson, the U.N. Population Fund’s senior representative in Myanmar, described the census as “timely and historic” at a press conference last month.
“This is a chance, at least for the next ten years, for each person to tell their story.”
Census workers started moving door-to-door around 7 a.m. Sunday, each armed with little more than 41 questions and a black 2B pencil. By the time the workers - primarily school teachers - finish April 10, they will have travelled through crumbling colonial cities, vast mountain ranges and remote refugee camps, visiting an estimated 12 million households.
PHOTO CAPTION
Myanmar Muslims drink tea in a roadside tea ship in a Muslim neighborhood in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, Mar 30, 2014.
AA
Egypt arrests Morsi aide daughter
3/30/2014 8:05:08 PM
Egypt's security forces arrested the daughter of a former aide to ousted president Mohamed Morsi at her home in Cairo in the early hours of Sunday, a student group said Sunday.
The pro-Morsi Students against the Coup group said in a statement that security forces arrested Karima al-Serafi - daughter of Ayman al-Serafi who served as Morsi's aide for information affairs – at her home in eastern Cairo's First Settlement district in the wee hours of Sunday.
The group went on to say that security forces broke into the house where Karima – a sophomore in Cairo's Azhar University - was staying alone, and drove her to the district's police station.
Ayman al-Serafi was among those who have been detained and taken to an unknown location by military forces along with Morsi in the wake of the latter's ouster last July.
According to an Amnesty International report in February, al-Serafi has not yet been charged with any criminal offence, even though he has spent months in detention.
Thousands of opponents of the interim government had been detained over the past nine months, with one independent local report putting the number at some 21,000 - most of whom were arrested during political protests.
The military-installed interim government insists that all those who are detained are kept on criminal charges and that there are no political prisoners in Egypt.
Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected head of state, was ousted by Egypt's military establishment on July 3 following protests against his presidency.
PHOTO CAPTION
Protesters run during clashes with police in Ain Shams area east of Cairo March 28, 2014.
AA
"Hijaab is Ultimate Freedom"
3/30/2014 5:08:52 PM
Hijaab (Islamic covering) has become a highly controversial issue in the West in general and in France in particular after the ban on wearing Hijaab in its public schools and other places.
Every nation was sent a messenger
3/30/2014 5:07:50 PM
It is an Islamic belief that every nation was sent a Messenger for their guidance. The important matter was the concept of Tawheed, or belief in the Oneness of Allaah). The secondary matter was Sharee'ah, or religious Law, which kept changing from tribe to tribe and nation to another. Allaah the Most High alone knows what is good for His creation.
As it is mentioned in the Quran, what means: "And for every nation is a messenger. So when their Messenger comes, it will be judged between them in justice, and they will not be wronged." [Quran 10:47] And: "And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying]: 'Worship Allaah and avoid Taaghoot [i.e., false deities]'. And among them were those upon whom error was [deservedly] decreed. So proceed [i.e., travel] through the earth and observe how was the end of the deniers." [Quran 16:36]
Some of these Messengers are mentioned in the Quran by Allaah and some of them are not, as the Quran says, what means: "And We have certainly sent messengers before you [O Muhammad sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam]. Among them are those [whose stories] We have related to you, and among them are those [whose stories] We have not related to you. And it was not for a messenger to bring a sign [or verse] except by permission of Allaah. So when the command of Allaah comes, it will be concluded [i.e., judged] in truth, and the falsifiers will thereupon lose [all]." [Quran 40:78]
So, we decided to have a look at the issue of Messengers sent to various tribes and nations and take the advice mentioned in the Quran, which means: "… So proceed [i.e., travel] throughout the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied." [Quran 3:137]
The content in this post is a discovery by serendipity. The information sometimes came from lazy browsing through the books on social anthropology and sometimes from serious research.
The Kapauku Papuans of
The material below is an attempt to show how different tribes in different parts of the world had Monotheism, or worship of the One True God. But along with the True God some subservient gods were also worshipped in some cases. It is taken from a book called "The Kapauku Papuans of
The Kapauku Papuans are mountain people who belong to one of the several tribes whose members inhabit the central highlands of western
The Kapauku have an interesting worldview. Regarding the Creator of the universe, the Kapauku believe that the universe itself and all existence was Ebijata, 'designed by Ugatame', the creator. Ugatame has a dual nature and is manifested to the people by the duality of the sun and the moon. To them, the sun and moon are definitely not creators themselves - they are only manifestations of Ugatame to make his presence known to the people.
Ugatame is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, credited with the creation of all things and with having determined all events. Obviously, Ugatame is beyond existence because to the Kapauku, all that exists must be of phenomenal nature; one must be able to see, hear, smell, taste or feel it. But the creator is beyond this phenomenal dimension, because of the simple reason that he created it.
Here is an interesting argument between a Kapauku and a Christian Missionary: "In the year 1955 a very old man from the Mapia region, supported by his two sons, managed to meet a Christian missionary. His main purpose was a problem he wanted to have clarified before he died. He could not understand how it is possible that the white man could be so clever and ingenious in designing such amazing contrivances as aeroplanes (which the old man could see flying over his valley), guns, medicines, clothes, and steel tools, and at the same time be so primitive and illogical in his religion.
"How can you think," he argued, "that a man can sin and can have a free will, and at the same time believe that your God is omnipotent, that He created the world and determined all the happenings? If He determined all that happens, and (therefore) also the bad deeds, how can a man be held responsible? Why, if he is omnipotent, did the Creator have to change himself into a man to allow himself to be killed (crucified) when it would have been enough for him just to order men to behave?" The notion that anything can be absolutely bad or good was quite incomprehensible to him. Furthermore, the Christian notion of man resembling God in appearance appeared to him as utterly primitive (or "tabe-tabe", meaning stupid)!"
It is quite surprising that a tribe thought to be from the Stone Age could argue so rationally and logically with a Christian missionary on the aspect of God. We Muslims also use the same arguments when it comes to the concept of God. It comes as no surprise to us that when the Kapauku heard that God became man they called the concept "primitive" and "tabe-tabe" (stupid). Well, 'polemics' against Christianity started in the Stone Age itself and Muslims are not to be blamed for that!
Lastly, where is this Ugatame, their supreme god, residing? In the view of Kamu Kapauku, the world is a flat block of stone and soil that is surrounded with water and extends indefinitely into the depths thus providing no room for an underworld. Above the earth is a solid bowl of blue sky that limits the known world at the horizon. Beyond the solid bowl of sky exists another world that may be similar to ours, the abode of Ugatame, the Creator.
It is quite surprising that the Kapauku knew where their God is. The Pharaoh knew where the God of Moosaa (Moses), may Allaah exalt his mention, is, as the following verse mentions, which means: "And Fir'awn (Pharaoh) said: 'O eminent ones! I have not known you to have a god other than me. Then ignite for me, O Haamaan, [a fire] upon the clay, and make for me a tower that I may look at the God of Moosaa. And indeed, I do think he is among the liars." [Quran: 28:38]
Most people today are not aware where God is. They say that God is everywhere, in us and in them. For Muslims it is an important point of creed and must be known. Know you Lord before everything else!
To conclude, the Islamic belief is that every nation on the earth was sent a Prophet for their guidance. As time passed by, corruption was introduced in the religion and instead of worshipping One true God, false deities were worshipped along with Him. The best example would be of
[Summarised from: Islamic Awareness]
West accuses Syria over 3.5 million in need
3/30/2014 3:50:32 PM
The Syrian regime has allowed aid convoys to cross only one of eight border crossings identified by the United Nations as a priority, Western ambassadors said.
In February, the UN Security Council passed the first humanitarian resolution of the three-year war, demanding that the regime and armed opposition allow aid to reach civilians.
But in the first progress report a month on, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the situation had only deteriorated and she demanded blanket, unhindered access to affected populations.
"Conflict and violence has intensified," Amos told reporters after the closed-doors session.
According to Amos, only six percent of the population living in besieged areas had received assistance in the last month.
Since February, 22300 cases of sexual violence have been recorded in and around Damascus alone, and hundreds of thousands more Syrians had been newly displaced, Amos added.
"Spending days and weeks negotiating to get one inter-agency convoy is a waste of valuable time," Amos said.
The United States said the Syrian regime had "utterly failed" to comply with the UN Security Council resolution and remained the biggest obstacle to the delivery of aid.
Syrian regime officials use administrative snares to cripple UN field missions, repeatedly hold up convoys and remove medical supplies from convoys, US ambassador Samantha Power said.
Power said 3.5 million people could be reached "literally with the stroke of a pen" if the Syrian regime allowed UN convoys in through other border crossings.
"It is the regime alone that is denying the UN access across these checkpoints," she said.
Britain and the US said they would be working with the rest of the Security Council on what further steps could be taken to ensure compliance, though they would not be drawn on specifics, the AFP news agency reported.
"What we are seeing is a pattern of arbitrary denial of access in violation of international humanitarian law and despite the Council's demands," British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.
Of 220,000 Syrians living under siege, 80 percent remain besieged by the Syrian regime and of the total only 14,000 have been reached in the last month, Britain said.
Luxembourg, the rotating president of the Security Council, said the resolution had seen little to no progress.
But Syria hit back against the avalanche of criticism and warned against the "moral bankruptcy" of the United Nations, blaming foreign "terrorists" as responsible for the massacres of Syrian civilians.
Human Rights Watch has called on the UN to take punitive measures against Damascus for failing to comply with the aid access resolution, including an arms embargo.
The International Rescue Committee said Syria's failure to implement the resolution was "a tragedy for the Syrian people".
PHOTO CAPTOIN
Workers unload bags of humanitarian aid as a UN helmet is seen hanging inside a warehouse in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus March 20, 2014.
Al-Jazeera
Deterring people from backbiting (Gheebah)
3/30/2014 3:12:22 PM
Definition of Gheebah:
When the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, was asked about backbiting, he, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, answered: “To mention your brother in a manner which he dislikes”. Then he, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, was asked, “What if my brother actually has (this failing) that I made mention of?” The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “If (that failing) is actually found in your brother, you in fact backbit him, and if that is not in him it is a slander.” [Muslim]
Backbiting refers to a Muslim mentioning his Muslim brother in a manner that the latter dislikes, whether by referring to a defect in his body, or in his lineage, or in his morality. The meaning of insulting is included in backbiting, whether it is in the form of words, gestures, or writing.
Ruling of Gheebah:
Backbiting is forbidden in the Noble Quran and the Sunnah. The person who commits it is given the similitude of a person who eats the flesh of his dead brother. Allaah Says (what means): “…And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it…” [Quran 49: 12]
To highlight the sanctity of the Muslim, the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said in his sermon during the Farewell Pilgrimage: "…Your blood, your wealth and your honor are sacred, as this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this land of yours, are sacred…?" [Ahmad and Muslim] This firmly proves haw far beyond limits one transgresses when he backbites his fellow Muslim
Let us think deeply about this, and regard the orders of Allaah and His Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, with the awe that they deserve. In the sight of Allaah, violating the rights of your brother by backbiting is equivalent to violating the sanctity of the Day of Sacrifice, in the month of Thul-Hijjah, in Minaa. Do we really realize the enormity of this violation of a Muslim's honor?
Islamic perception of Gheebah:
Al-Baraa' Ibn 'Aazib, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "There are seventy-two degrees of Ribaa (usury), the least of which is equivalent to committing adultery with one's own mother. The worst of them (the seventy two degrees) is a man's insulting his brother's honor (i.e. by backbiting)." [Ibn Jaaroot]
`Aa’ishah, may Allaah be pleased with her, said: “I said to the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam: 'It's bad enough that Safiyyah is such and such. (Some of narrators said: she is short).' He, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "You have said a word which, if it could be mixed with the water of the sea, it would have been… (i.e., the enormity of it is such that, if it were mixed with the vast water of the sea, it would spoil it.)" [Abu Daawood]
'Amr Ibn Shu`ayb narrated from his father from his grandfather, may Allaah be pleased with them: (the people) mentioned a man to the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, saying: "He doesn't eat until he is fed and he doesn't visit anybody until they have visited him first." The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "You have backbit him." They said: "O Messenger of Allaah! We have mentioned about him something which is true." He, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "It is bad enough that you have mentioned something about your brother which is true." [Al-Asbahaani]
We should all ask ourselves: who among us is infallible? Who among us is free from errors, faults and sins? Who among us would be content to have everything about him, good and bad, spoken of by others? Any one of us becomes furious if he hears someone hinting something about him; so what would you do if it was said clearly and in detail, let alone behind your back?
'Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: “We were with the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, when a man got up and left, whereupon another man immediately started backbiting him. The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "Clean the bits of meat from between your teeth!" The man asked: "What should I clean from between my teeth? I haven't eaten any meat!" He, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "You have eaten the flesh of your brother!" [At-Tabaraani]
This is the state of our community nowadays: any one of us may commit the sin of backbiting, but then will say: I didn't backbite, I didn't eat flesh, I haven't done anything! Why?
Because we have allowed our tongues to become accustomed to speaking this way, without knowing what backbiting is. Let us learn about our religion. Let us learn about what is lawful and unlawful - as much as we can - and distinguish between the speech which is lawful and the speech which is not.
The evil consequence of Gheebah:
Due to its negative impact on individuals and communities alike, the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, frequently made mention of backbiting, and greatly warned against it.
The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “O you who have believed (only) with their tongues while (true) belief has not visited their hearts! Do not backbite Muslims nor pursue their defects (and faults), otherwise Allaah will pursue your faults, and whomever Allaah pursues his defects (and faults) He disgraces him even though inside his house.” [Ibn Abu Ad-Dunyaa]
The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, showed us the safe way of freeing ourselves from the evil consequence of backbiting others when he, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever has wronged his brother with regard to wealth or honor, should ask for his pardon (before his death), before he will pay for it (in the Hereafter) when he will have neither a Dinaar nor a Dirham (gold and silver currencies). (He should secure pardon in this life) before some of his good deeds are taken and paid to this (his brother), or (if he has no good deeds) some of the bad deeds of this (his brother) will be taken (from the person he wronged) and will be loaded on him.” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
The mother of my child
3/27/2014 8:07:41 PM
I'm not a mother. But I've been blessed with a great one for almost a quarter century. That's education enough, at least for one thing:
Choosing a partner who embodies the top four qualities I believe a mother must have to help their Muslim children, in the words of the Quran (which mean), #"He made her grow in a good manner…"## [Quran 3:37]. So here they are:
1. Maturity: This trait leads my list because the surest way to guarantee a child won't be reared properly is for it to be raised by another child. A woman of minimum maturity cares for the souls that have come from her womb like the Heavenly blessings they are: Far and away, the most important family responsibility for both mother and father. The wise woman knows the wellbeing of her offspring comes before her career, social life, even her own needs.
2. Knowledge: Education, both Islamic and academic (not that these are different), is essential in a good mother. It is not a coincidence that children of highly educated parents often do well in school. My prototypical mother is one who can help the little ones with their academics even when they get to be big ones and go on to higher education.
Moreover, a woman who is well grounded in the religious sciences makes the very best soil for child growth. That old adage about mother being the first teacher is entirely true.
During my own childhood, for instance, my mother made an effort to treat birthdays and our many other market-driven holidays just like any other day. I intend to liberate my children accordingly, having freely lived the great benefits of this policy. A good Islamic background does, indeed, have a righteous domino effect on the character of our children and, therefore, the virtue of the family.
Now, Islamic knowledge means more than giving children a laundry list of "do’s and don’ts." I was particular when I used the phrase "religious sciences" regarding a good mother's education, for a mother, like a father, needs to understand how it is that we come to judgments, practices, and jurisdictions from the Quran and Sunnah. In this way, children will not merely accumulate disconnected outcomes but learn the processes by which they are to deduce their own conclusions about moral and religious issues, instead of blindly following a person or group.
3. Patience and mercy: I really can't think of more crucial human characteristics than these twin attributes. Mothers facing the frenzied pressures of our tough social environment profoundly need both. It is critical that a good mother refrain from hitting or veiling at her children out of frustration, of which there is much to go around. Children carry the emotional scars of unnecessary and unfair beatings with them into adulthood and often develop complexes and hold grudges against their parents because of this. Additionally, it is sinful for any of us to abuse our authority in the form of harmful physical or verbal abuse.
4. Role modeling: The mother I envision for my own children is, most of all, a role model, an integrated example of Islam in motion. For it is by this that she will best represent for her children how one lives as a whole human being. It is, moreover, the preeminent, most dependable way for her to gain their sovereign respect, on top of the natural feelings they have for her as their mother, which is important. Children should live thinking that their mother is close to perfect. She can't forbid her child from listening to hip hop music, for example, while she sways to R&B or Arabic songs. Part of modeling is also literal: She dresses modestly and carries herself with the dignity a Muslim woman should.
This is not only ideal for daughters but sons, as well. The girls learn how they ought to behave and the boys— along with that—begin to understand what they should really want in a wife, someone whose merits approach the high standard they have grown up with in their mother.
I have no illusions about being able to supplant a mother's role in the life of the children I pray that God gives me. For rearing a child correctly does, indeed, take an exclusive dedication from a "real" woman.
Yet just as mothers grow proud of' their children, so too daughters and, perhaps, especially sons, swell with a unique sense of honor when they begin to realize the worthiness of their mother. Soon, they will be looking around to see how other mothers treat their children and comparing it to their own situations.
I ask Allah to grant me, and all my unmarried peers, children of the righteous who esteem their mothers. I know no human being is perfect. But good Muslim mothers (mom!), you come closer to this than any of us.
The buzzing of the bees and honey
3/27/2014 5:17:38 PM
“And your Lord inspired to the bee, "Take for yourself among the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down [for you]." There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colors, in which there is healing for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.” [Quran16:68-69]
With what glory bees buzz!
Its medicinal uses predate the Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam. But honey's history is all the more golden-rich for Islam.
The Surah of Muhammad mentions "rivers of clarified honey" [Quran 47:15] as a prime attraction of the blessed abode of the Hereafter, reserved for the God-fearing. And the Saheehs of both Muslim and Al-Bukhari, tell us the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, who prized only pure things—especially in food—so loved honey that a special supply of it enticed him to the particular company of one of his women to the jealousy of two others, for whose sake he foreswore it. (The Quran famously recounts the fallout from this in the Surah of at-Tahreem.)
Yet as the verse that opens this writing tells us, we should study the virtues of honey—both its healing properties and miraculous production. For in its sticky sweetness adheres a godly gift, indeed.
Beginning with the bees themselves, Umar Al-Ashqar, who writes on science and the Quran, in his book Belief in Allah in Light of the Quran and Sunnah, hails the hardy nature of these special bugs with a veritable catalogue raisonné of their exceptional qualities and activities. The worker bees fly forth collecting nectar from flowers and water from their surroundings, brushing pollen into containers on their posterior legs. As they buzz from place to place, they pollinate countless plants along the way. Humanity would enter a vegetation and subsequent food-chain crisis absent the incredible industriousness of bees.
Allah created the bees, moreover, with two stomachs —one for nourishment and another sack in which the nectar is stored and partially digested down into simple sugars.
Once their nectar pouch is full, the bees return to deposit its contents in their hive. There other bees fan it with their wings to condense the sugars. The honey is then scaled in hexagonal wax-comb cells. All the while, the bees carry out their specified individual tasks in buzzing harmony, contributing to the prosperity of their communities. SubhanAllah! What a sign of how singularly great and sublime He is!
A treatment for all things
More than 14 centuries ago, Almighty Allah sanctified human intuition regarding the healing power of honey. But only recently has our scientific community begun to heed. Current scholarship on bees is now proving a long tradition of honey's lay remedies for skin and cold care. In addition, traditional folks have long used apitherapy (bee sting therapy) to heel everything from arthritis to tumorous swellings. (Today, there is no more effective treatment in the world than bee venom therapy for the relief of what up till now has been chronic, excruciating post-shingles pain.) Let's take a look at the therapeutic effects of those bees that buzz by from bud to blossom.
For generations, grandmothers everywhere spread thin layers of honey on burned, ulcerated, wounded, and fungal-infected skin. Now, N.S. Al-Waili, in a 2004 study, and Lusby, two years before, tell us that honey's high sugar content, limited water, low ph, and phytochemical factors work to safely fight off dangerous bacteria and lesion infections in a shorter period of time, and without the adverse effects of pain or tissue damage, than do costly pharmaceutical company creations. The Food and Drug Administration finally approved the first honey-based wound application in 2006.
The whole medical world has been abuzz with the placebo effect of the lucrative cold medicine industry. That is, the drugs contained in the cough medicines, for children and adults, that we buy in stores or get from pharmacies for real dollars have virtually no medicinal affect on coughs at all. In 2005 in fact, researches (P.C.L. Lee and his colleagues) proved that there is a significant decrease in coughing in patients given fake vitamin treatment as opposed to no treatment at all. In other words, feeling better was pretty much in the head.
Many studies on cough medicines, writes R. Dobson in the British Medical Journal, have since found that most of their benefits come simply from increased salivation and the pleasing effects of taste. With the costly prices of cough medicines and their potential to cause harm or be abused, researchers began to look for alternatives for cold and cough relief. I.M. Paul and his associates confirmed in a 2007 study published in Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine what your sitto and jiddo already knew: Honey gives at least comparable relief to over the counter cough medicines, and actually helps you in other ways. Families whose children had upper respiratory infections that caused the little ones to cough, keeping them and their parents up at night, got significantly more sleep and cough relief with buck-wheat honey than no treatment, and at least the same relief as when they gave their children a special medication. While you still should refrain from giving infants under one year old honey due to the risks of botulism (and you do not want to go overboard and promote tooth decay with too much nighttime honey) a spoonful of honey is far more frugal and just as efficacious as delving into your pockets for another bottle of cough syrup.
What's in a Divine Sign?
When we read the Quran, we often fail to understand the meaning and wisdom of Allah's revelation. But we ought to be reflecting on the signs Allah has given us in its verses that speak to our own wellbeing and recovering our health when we fall ill. Scientific research in the dominant culture of the day lags behind in recognizing that many verses of the Quran (and hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) point to cures, and therefore ought to be empirically investigated. Yet that does not mean that we—who bear the gift of the Quran—should deprive ourselves of following its leads to bodily balance, presence, and whole health.
In considering the buzzing honey-bees, we should not merely marvel at the incredible perfection with which they were created as they zoom by in nature doing purposeful tasks. We ought to study them— and all the proofs in nature—in order to retrieve their lessons and benefits—as well as contemplate the reasons for which Allah created us as human beings, to worship Him and thank Him alone.
Al-Hamdulillah for the boundless blessing of Islam.
Source: Aljumuah
Protests near Cairo University leave one dead
3/27/2014 3:26:51 PM
One person has been killed near Egypt's Cairo University after protesters supporting ousted President Mohamed Morsi clashed with security forces, a health ministry official said.
The official, cited by the Reuters news agency, said eight people were also wounded in Wednesday's attack but could not give further details.
The protesters, along with students at other universities in the country, were demonstrating against a court ruling earlier this week condemning more than 500 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death.
The unrest came amid local media reports that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the defense minister and armed forces chief, was to resign on Wednesday in preparation for forthcoming elections in which he is expected to run for president.
At Cairo University, hundreds of students who attempted to take their protest outside the campus were met with volleys of tear gas from police, the AP news agency reported.
Khadiga el-Kholy, a student participating in the demonstrations, said the police gave no warnings before firing the tear gas, sending the students rushing back on campus.
Students responded by throwing stones and fireworks and hurling tear gas canisters back at the security forces in pitched street battles.
TV footage showed security in civilian clothes detaining protesters and taking them away in blindfolds.
There were also images of security forces seizing fire bombs from young protesters. Kholy said police had fired birdshot at the protesters.
Damage to property
A pro-Morsi student group called for the protests, and students from various university departments as well as high school students responded, Kholy said.
"We wanted to escalate our protest because of those death sentences, which included university students," she said, adding that the protesters had sought to move into a nearby public square outside the campus.
"We want to break the barriers that the security forces have imposed on all the squares."
In the Nile Delta city of Zagazig, police said students damaged the facade of an administrative building in the local university and clashed with rival students, prompting security forces to enter the campus and arrest eight rioters.
On Monday, a court in the city of Minya sentenced more 529 alleged Brotherhood members to death.
Most of the defendants at Monday's hearing were detained and charged with carrying out attacks during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14.
The verdicts came after a trial that held only two sessions and in which the defense was not allowed to present its case.
It is not known how many university students are among those sentenced.
The mass deaths sentences caused an international outcry. Thousands of Morsi supporters have already been arrested since the army removed Morsi from power and most are facing trials on a number of charges, including inciting violence, and rioting.
Morsi's supporters have continued to hold protests against his ousting. Authorities accuse the group, which they have outlawed, of fomenting violence and terrorism, a claim the group denies.
Presidential elections are now expected next month and Sisi is widely expected to run and win.
PHOTO CAPTION
Riot police fire tear gas during clashes outside Cairo University in Giza, Egypt, Wednesday, March 26, 2014.
Aljazeera
Opposition fail to get Syria Arab League seat
3/27/2014 3:09:47 PM
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) has made only marginal gains at a meeting of the Arab League, despite two days of intense lobbying.
The 22-member summit, which concluded in Kuwait City on Wednesday, decided to allow the SNC to participate in ministerial meetings on an "exceptional basis".
But the league stopped short on Wednesday of granting the group the official recognition it sought to be Syria's sole legitimate representative.
Nor did the body accede to SNC requests for weapons to be sent to rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Nabil al-Araby, the league's general-secretary, said Syria's seat had been kept empty during the summit because "the SNC is not a government and council seats are for governments".
He said this was the reason he "was against giving the SNC a seat" at last year's League meeting in Cairo.
Louay Safi, a spokesman for the SNC, appeared to confirm reports that Egypt had aligned itself with Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq in rejecting the handover of Syrian representation to the SNC. "Egypt had reservations," he told Al Jazeera.
Safi told reporters: "We are surprised that Nabil al-Araby is still trying to reach a decision in a way that is not positive but we are not going to come to any conclusions."
On Tuesday, Ahmad al-Jarba, the head of the SNC, criticized the Arab League’s decision to keep the seat empty, saying it was a message to Assad that "he can kill, and that the seat will wait for him to resolve his war".
Al Jazeera reported earlier that Lebanon had threatened to pull out of the summit if the SNC were granted the Syria seat.
The Lebanese finance minister tweeted during the opening session that he stormed out of the session during Jarba's speech "in line with his convictions and principles".
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari disagreed with the access granted to the SNC, telling Reuters news agency: "Where is their sovereignty? Where is their authority? They are not a state, they don't have a government even."
Following the declaration, Safi said: "The decisions of the summit are not against the opposition - they maintained recognition of the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people."
According to a declaration issued following the summit, the bloc condemned the "mass killing" by the Syrian government, insisting that a political solution to the three-year civil war remained a priority.
The summit did not explicitly address the diplomatic row between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew their envoys from Doha "to protect their security and stability".
The next Arab League Summit is due to be held next spring in Egypt.
PHOTO CAPTION
Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, right, and Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil El Araby, left, attend the closing session of the Arab League Summit at Bayan Palace, Kuwait, Wednesday, March 26, 2014.
Aljazeera
Egypt's Sisi quits army to run for president
3/27/2014 3:04:14 PM
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the general who ousted Egypt's first freely elected leader last July, has declared his candidacy for a presidential election he is expected to easily win.
Wearing military fatigues and speaking in a nationally televised address , Sisi said it was the last time he would wear an army uniform and that "I give up the uniform to defend the nation" and run in the elections, which are expected next month.
"I have spent all my life as a soldier for the sake of the country ... I am telling you that I intend to run for the president of Egypt, and this support from you will give me this honor," he said.
Sisi said Egypt was "threatened by terrorists" and spoke of returning the country to dignity.
"It wasn't the army or political forces who ousted the last two regimes; it was you the people. My entering the presidency race doesn't not mean that others shouldn't," he said.
The 59-year-old Sisi is widely expected to win the vote, and restore a tradition of presidents from military background that Egypt had for all but one year since 1952.
He has been the country's most powerful figure since removing President Mohammed Morsi, and Morsi's once politically dominant Muslim Brotherhood has since been declared a terrorist group.
Among his supporters, Sisi is wildly popular. Many see him as the kind of strongman needed to stabilise a country in crisis. But he is reviled by the Islamist opposition as the mastermind of a coup against a freely elected leader.
Celebrations and protests
Following Sisi's announcement, there were protests by supporters of Morsi on the streets of the capital Cairo.
Magdy Karkar, a senior member of a Brotherhood-led coalition organising anti-government protests, said Sisi's candidacy confirms that Morsi's removal was a coup aimed at wrecking democracy, as Islamists have contended.
"His running will not achieve stability in Egypt. It's true he has many supporters who love him or even worship him. But on the other hand, there are those who hate General el-Sisi and hold him responsible for the blood that has been shed," Karkar told the Associated Press news agency.
Watching his speech in a coffee shop in Cairo, however, Sabry Ahmed, in his late 50s, said Sisi has what Egypt needed.
"He is a political man, a military man, and an economics man. He understands in everything regarding the state,"he said.
"We can't compare him to anyone else. The country needs a strong man of his size."
In the neighborhood where Sisi was born in old Cairo, celebrations broke out as soon as he finished his speech. A distant relative, Mohammed Haroun, cheered: "This is the best decision he took in his life."
Death sentence outrage
Commenting on Sisi's candidacy, the United States, a major source of military aid to Egypt, said it did not support individual candidates or parties in Egyptian elections.
"As the election process moves forward we urge the Egyptian authorities to ensure that the elections are free, fair, and transparent; that all candidates are able to campaign freely, without fear of harassment or intimidation; and that the views of all the Egyptian people are fully represented," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
Sisi's decision came amid reports that one person had been killed during protests against Monday's court verdict that sentenced more than 500 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death.
At least 30 people were wounded in the protests over the ruling that drew criticism from international human rights groups and Western powers.
The authorities have yet to set a date for the presidential election. Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the 2012 election, is so far the only other candidate to have stated his intention to run.
General Sedki Sobhi, who holds the post of chief of staff, is expected to replace Sisi as army chief and defense minister.
PHOTO CAPTION
Egypt's army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) walks with Gen. Sidqi Sobhi (R) after meeting with members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in Cairo March 26, 2014.
Aljazeera
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