Basic guide to praying

Basic guide to praying

Taken from "Islam in Focus" by Hammudah AbDa-Lati

Thanks to Nazrul Islam for forwarding this material. Pictures were taken from a forum from turntoislam.com posted by islamicfajr

The following are the various kinds of prayer:

1. Obligatory (Fard), which includes the five daily prayers, the Friday's noon congregation and the funeral prayer. Failure to observe these prayers is a serious and punishable sin, if there is no reasonable excuse.

2. Supererogatory (Wajib and Sunnah), which includes the prayers accompanying the obligatory services, and the congregations of the two great festivals (Eid) and Friday Prayers. Failure to observe these is a harmful negligence and a reproachable conduct. e.g Taraweeh Prayers, Funeral prayers (Salatu-1-Janazah)

3. Optional prayer which includes all voluntary prayers at any time of the day or the night. Two periods have a special preference: the later part of the night until just before the breaking of the dawn and the mid-morning period. e.g. Tahajud prayers.

The Performance of Prayer

After the worshipper has done the ablution and after the ‘Adhan’ and ‘Iqamah’ are said, the prayer starts as follows:

1. The Early Morning Prayer (salatu-l-Fajr)
In this prayer two units (Rak’ahs) are offered first as supererogatory (Sunnah). These are followed by two other units as obligatory (Fard). Both Supererogatory and obligatory units are offered in the same manner except that, when declaring the intention, one has to distinguish between the two kinds. This is the description of performance:

Act 1. One stands in reverence and humility, facing the Qiblah, raising his hands up to the ears, and says: "Nawaytu Osalli Sunnata Salati-l-Fajr or Farda Salati-l-Fajr (As the case may be); Allahu Akbar."

This means: "I declare my intention to offer the supererogatory or obligatory (as the case may be) prayer of the morning; God is the Greatest of all." Then he lowers his arms and places the right hand over the left one right below the navel.

Act 2. He then says in a low voice the following: "Subhanaka-l-lahumma wa bihamdik, wa tabaraka-smuk, wa ta'ala Jadduk, wa La llaha Ghayruk. A'udhu bi-l-lahi mina-sh-shaytani-r- rajeem. Bismi-l-lahi-r-rah-mann-r-raheem".

This means: "Glory be to You, 0 God, and Yours is the praise, and blessed is Your name, and exalted is Your majesty, and there is no god besides You. I seek the refuge of God from the condemned devil. In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful."

Act 3. Then in a low or audible voice he recites the Opening Chapter of the Qur’an (al-Fatihah), followed by any passage from the Holy Book. (for The Opening and examples of these short chapters and verses click here for details! )

Act 4. Then he says: "Allahu Akbar," (God is the Greatest of all), lowering his head down at a right angle, placing the palms of his hands on the knees and saying in a low voice:
"Subhana Rabbiya-l-'Azeem"

("Glory to my Lord the Great", repeated three times). This is called Ruku’.

After that the standing position is resumed with these words: "Sami’a-l-ahu Liman Hamidah; Rabbana Laka-l-Hamd

(God accepts any who are thankful to Him; Our Lord, praise be to You). When saying this the hands remain on the sides.

Act 5. The worshipper then says: Allahu Akbar, prostrating himself with the toes of both feet, both knees, both hands and the forehead touching the ground. This is the position of Sujud and is accompanied with these words:

Subhana Rabbiya-l-A'La

(Glory to my Lord the Most High, repeated three times).

Act 6. Then with the utterance of Allahu Akbar comes the Julus, a short rest in a sitting posture: the outer side of the left foot and the toes of the right one, which are in an erect position, touching the ground and the two hands are placed on the knees.

After this a second prostration (Sujud) is repeated in the same way with the same utterances as in the first one. This completes one unit (Rak’ah) of the prayer.

Act 7. After the first unit the worshipper rises, saying Allahu Akbar, to assume a standing position for the second unit and recites the Opening (the Fatihah) followed by a Qur’anic passage as in the first unit.

Act 8. When he has finished the second bowing and the two prostrations in the same way as the first,

he takes a sitting position as in Julus and recites the Tashahhud with its two parts.

(Click here for details)

Act 9. Finally he turns his face to the right side saying these words: "Assalamu ‘Alaykum wa rahmatu-I-Lah (Peace be on you and the mercy of God). Then he turns his face to the left side uttering the same greetings.

This is how any prayer of two units (Rak’ahs), whether obligatory or supererogatory, is performed. When knowing how to perform this prayer in the right way, all other prayers will be found very easy. It should be pointed out that every move or every word in the Islamic prayer has a great significance attached to it and is symbolic of a very deep meaning.

2. The Noon Prayer (Sulatu-z-Zuhr)

This consists of four units as Sunnah, followed by four units as Fard, and then two others as Sunnah (+ 2 units Nafl - This is optional). The performance of the Fard of this prayer is as follows:

(a) The first two units are performed in the same way as in the morning prayer. The Fatihah and a portion of the Qur’an are recited in a low voice. Bowing and prostration postures are observed in the same way.

(b) When reciting the Tashahhud after the second unit, the worshipper stops at the end of the first part of it to resume the posture of standing.

(c) Then he recites the Fatiha only in the third unit without any added portion of the Qur’an.

(d) When he concludes the third unit, he stands for the fourth and recites the Fatihah only as in the third.

(e) After bowing and prostration he takes the sitting posture of Julus and recites the whole Tashahhud with its two parts.

(f) Then he utters the peace greetings right and left.

(g) Offering the two Sunnah units is like the morning prayer but in a low voice.

3. The Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Salatu-l-'Asr)

It consists of four units as Sunnah followed by four others as Fard. These are performed in the same way as the noon prayer and in a low voice.

4. The Sunset Prayer (Salatu-l-Maghrib)

It consists of three units as Fard followed by two as Sunnah (+ 2 units Nafl - This is optional). It may be said in the first two units with a low or audible voice; the third unit is in a low voice. It is performed in the same way as the noon or mid-afternoon prayer except that the fourth unit is excluded and the final sitting here, following recital of the Fatihah, bowing, and prostrations, comes after the third unit, which ends with the utterances of peace greetings. The two Sunnah units are offered in the same way as the Early Morning Prayer.

5. The Evening Prayer (Salatu.l-‘Isha’)

It consists of four units as Sunnah followed by four others as Fard, two as Sunnah (+ 2 units Nafl - This is optional) and three as Witr (higher than Sunnah and lower than Fard) (+ 2 units Nafl - This is optional) . The first two units of the four Fard may be said in a low or audible voice. Other than that, it is performed the same way as the noon or mid-afternoon prayer. The two Sunnah units are performed exactly like the early morning prayer.

As for the three Witr units, they are performed just like the sunset prayer with two exceptions: (a) in the third unit the Fatihah is followed by a portion of the Qur’an, and (b) while standing after bowing and before Prostration the worshipper says these words:

"Allahumma inna nasta'eenuk, wa nastahdeek, wa nastaghifiruk, wa natubu ilayk, wa nu'minu bik, wa natawakkalu 'Alayk, wa nuthni 'alayka-l-Khayra kullah. Nashkurk, wa la nakfruk, wa nakhla'u wa natruku man yafj-uruk. Allahumma iyyaka na’bud, wa laka nusalli wa nasjud, wa ilayka nas'a wa nahfid. Narju rahmatak, wa naklisha 'adhabak; inna 'adhabaka bi-l-Kuffari mulhaq wa salli-l-llahumma 'ala sayyidina Muharnmad wa 'ala alihi - wa sahbihi wa sallim."

This is called Qunut and may be interpreted as follows:
"O God! We beseech You for help and guidance, and seek Your protection and believe in You and rely on You, and extol You and are thankful to You and are not ingrate to You, and we declare ourselves clear of, and forsake, him who disobeys You.

"O God! To You do we pray and prostrate ourselves, and to You do we betake ourselves, and to obey You we are quick, and Your mercy do we hope for and Your punishment do we fear, for Your punishment overtakes the unbelievers.

"O God! Exalt our Master Muhammad and his people and his true followers."

If this Qunut cannot be commanded by memory, it is sufficient to say any recitation similar to it till it is mastered. All the Sunnah (supererogatory) prayers are to be said individually, that is not in congregation except the ‘Eed prayers, and the Witr in the month of Ramadan.

The Sunnah Prayers are not required from a person who has missed some Fard Prayers. Instead, he must make up for what he has missed and offer the obligatory services. Also the Sunnah Prayers are not required, if the due time of the accompanying Fard Prayers has expired. So, if a person misses any prayer and wants to make up for it, he has to offer the Fard only.

If a worshipper does not know how to say his whole prayers in, the Arabic version, he may use any other language he knows if it can express the same meaning of the Arabic. To make the Arabic version easy we are giving the words in transliteration.

The Fard Prayer is much more preferable when offered in a congregation (Jama’ah) led by an Imam. The congregation is best when it is held in a mosque, but it may be held in other places.

Further Reading:

Please also take time to read: Conditions & Rules of Salat and Common Errors (pdf)

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NOTE TO BROTHERS & SISTERS

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A useful software can be downloaded to help with performing salat. It is very good, has lots of sounds, pictures and transliteration. I would recomend this software.
Click here to download cyberSalat (linked to http://www.ussbg.com/ website).

Download the files, extract to anywhere on your computer, click on file called SALAT10 to start the programme. The passwordis aadam.

Also IslamWay.com has designed a full flash program that integrates audio, pictures and videos plus the Arabic transliteration in a very easy step by step explanation. Here is a link Click Here!

There is also "how to pray" section on turntoislam.com. Here is the link Click Here!

If you ever need help on Salat please email us at info@al-islam.co.uk and we will try to help. It is never too late to start learning salat.

Basic guide to Wudu, Al-Ghusl & Tayammum

The following has been taken from a forum from turntoislam.com posted by islamicfajr

Cleanliness (Taharah) is an important precondition of Islamic worship.

Wudu

Wudu is an essential part of Cleanliness. Salah(prayer) is not valid without Wudu' or Tayammum(dry Ablution).

Allah says in the Qur'an :

"Surely Allah loves those who turn to Him and those who care for cleanliness" (2:22).

1. First make Niyyah (Intention) that you are making Wudu' for Salah

N.B the place of intention is the heart and begin saying. "Bismillah.." (In the name of Allah, the most merciful and the most kind).

Wash both hands up to the wrist three times, making sure that water has reached between the fingers.

2, 3, 4 rinsed ur mouth and cleaned ur nose with water (three times)

Put a handful of water into your mouth and back it Sniff water into your nostrils three times to clean them and then wash the tip of the nose.

5, 6 Wash your face three times from right ear to left ear and from forehead to throat.




7. Wash your right arm and then your left arm thoroughly from wrist up to elbow three times.




( 8 a & b) Move the wet palms over the head from the top of forehead to the back of the head.




9) Pass the wet tips of index fingers into the grooves and holes of both ears and also pass the wet thumbs behind the ears




10. Finally, wash both feet to the ankles starting from the right, making sure that water has reached between the toes and all other parts of the feet.



At the end of the above steps recite: "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illal lahu wa ash-hadu anna Muammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh." Meaning: I testify that there si no god but Allah and He is One and has no partner and I also testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.


You Should repeat your Wudu after :
1. Natural discharge (e.g. urine, stool, wind and the like)
2. Flow of blood or pus from any part of the body.
3. Full mouth vomiting
4. Falling asleep.


Al-Ghusl (The Washing Or Bath)
The greater purification, Al-Ghusl, is obligatory when one is defiled as a result of nocturnal emission (or a wet dream),marital intercourse, child birth, or when entering into the fold of Islam.

The procedure is as follows: Begin with the name of Allah as for Wudu. Wash the hands and the affected parts of the body with water to remove any impurity. Perform Wudu as above. Then wash the whole body three times, using clean water for each wash.

Tayammum (Dry Ablution)
On certain occasions, it may become either impossible (e.g.. when water cannot be found or just enough for drinking is available), or it is dangerous, because of illness, to use water for Wudu or Al-Ghusl. In such situations, Tayammum (dry ablution) is performed.

The Procedure: Begin with the name of Allah. Strike both palms on sand, or anything containing sand or dust, like a wall or stone etc., against with the palms. Rub the right hand with the left palm from the wrist to the elbowed similarly for the left hand with the right palm. Finish with the Kalimatu Ash-Shahadah as for Wudu. Having Cleansed yourself by Wudu, you can now proceed to perform Salah. You must have a clean body, a clean place and wear clean clothes before you start offer Salah .

What Islam Did For Us! (i.e. The West)

Not many brothers and sisters are aware that inventions by Muslims throughout the ages have made great contributions to progress in science, medicine, arts - well, almost anything and everything that improved peoples lives. Most of these inventions (in some form) are still around to this day but not surprisingly you have to look very hard find any mention of them!

The founding of Islam brought about a great resurgence in scholarship and scientific investigation. The rise of Islam spawned a highly sophisticated civilisation that was to have a profound influence on the development of European culture, and ultimately, the whole world. Islam was (and still is), from its very inception, a bastion of tolerance, social justice and piety.

While Europe was being crushed and brutalised by the Dark Ages, Islam bloomed. Because the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) enjoined followers to study and to revere wisdom, many Greek sciences were protected and investigated by Muslim scholars. But perhaps more tellingly, under Islamic rule and at the height of the Moorish Empire, the three great monotheistic faiths coexisted in relative harmony, enjoying a high degree of religious tolerance in a flourishing intellectual and artistic milieu.

There have been many books and documentories written by muslims and non-muslims outlying our achievements.

One of the best books to read is ...

What Islam Did For Us
Understanding Islam’s Contribution to Western Civilization
By Tim Wallace-Murphy

Here's a book review


Below are a few documentories recently shown on television
If the links to the video's don't work then please search the titles on You Tube/ Video.Google.com

(1) What the ancients did for us – The Islamic World
BBC documentary - presented: Adam Hart-Davis.
Aired: 16th February 2005

You can view it here on google video

The first "What The Ancients Did For Us" programme explores the Muslim contribution to the western world - in art, architecture, astronomy, medicine, science, and learning. The early Muslims are credited with inventing distillation and could distil just about anything - from alcohol to perfume. Hygiene is very important in the Muslim world so they invented and manufactured soap - centuries before the West - and hundreds of bathhouses were built throughout Muslim cities. They understood the fundamentals of light and how we see, and gave us the camera obscura. They invented algebra and worked out the angle of the tilt of the earth. They built the first windmill, pioneered the concept of the crank rod, and designed the first ever torpedo. Muslim creativity also led to the invention of a unique instrument called the astrolabe – it could find the direction of Mecca, tell the time and, with the help of the stars, navigate you across deserts and oceans. But perhaps most important of all they pursued the cause of knowledge, translating and preserving the works of the ancients and building the world's largest libraries – their 'houses of wisdom'.

(2) When the Moors Ruled in Europe
Channel 4 documentary - presenter: Bettany Hughes
Aired: 5th November 2005

You can view it here on google video

As part of the Channel 4's Hidden Civilisation season exploring Islam's rich and significant contribution to western art and culture, historian Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years, but whose legacy was virtually erased from Western history. In 711 AD, a tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa crossed the straits of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. Known as The Moors, they went on to build a rich and powerful society. Its capital, Cordoba, was the largest and most civilised city in Europe, with hospitals, libraries and a public infrastructure light years ahead of anything in England at the time. Amongst the many things that were introduced to Europe by Muslims at this time were: a huge body of classical Greek texts that had been lost to the rest of Europe for centuries; mathematics and the numbers we use today; advanced astronomy and medical practices; fine dining; the concept of romantic love; paper; deodorant; and even erection creams. This wasn't the rigid, fundamentalist Islam of some people's imaginations, but a progressive, sensuous and intellectually curious culture. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised; almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that The Moors' influences on European life and culture are finally beginning to be fully understood.

(3) An Islamic History of Europe
BBC documentary - presenter: Rageh Omaar
Aired: 14 February 2007

You can view it here on google video

In this 90-minute documentary, Rageh Omaar uncovers the hidden story of Europe's Islamic past and looks back to a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning. Rageh travels across medieval Muslim Europe to reveal the vibrant civilisation that Muslims brought to the West. This evocative film brings to life a time when emirs and caliphs dominated Spain and Sicily and Islamic scholarship swept into the major cities of Europe. His journey reveals the debt owed to Islam for its vital contribution to the European Renaissance.

More video's can be found (and watched) at these website turntoislam.com and islamicvideos.net

Useful Websites:
(1) Wikipedia - Inventions in the Muslim world
(2) 1001 inventions.com
(3) Muslim Heritage
(4) Islam For Today

Scientific Miracles in the Holy Quran
(1) 55a.net (The quran miracles encyclopedia)
(2) nooran.org (Commission on Scientific Signs of Qur'an & Sunnah

Is London's future Islamic?

Who said Londonistan was a bad idea? read this interesting article...

Is London's future Islamic?
Taken from timeout.com
By Michael Hodges, Tue Jun 5 2007

It’s the capital’s fastest growing religion, based on noble traditions and compassionate principles, yet Islam can still be tainted by mistrust and misunderstanding. Here Time Out argues that an Islamic London would be a better place



The noise from the expectant crowd hushed to a murmur as an open-backed lorry that had driven slowly up the Mall – known since the Islamic revolution of 2021 as The Way of the Martyrs – nudged its way through the thousands gathered in Mohammad Sidique Khan Square.

On the lorry, two masked guards held a young man, black hood over his head; a quiver running through the material suggested he knew what was coming.

The lorry halted by the plinth that had once held Marc Quinn’s sculpture ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’ – long since removed as an insult to decency – and was now the place of public execution. A rope noose attached to a wire cable hung from a mechanised hoist. The main doors of what had been the National Gallery flung open and an Imam walked down the steps of the new Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence, opened only a week before by Sultan Charles, Prince of Islam and protector of the faithful in England.

The official executioner placed a stepladder against the plinth. The lorry pulled up and the young man was pushed out, then forced up the ladder. The noose was forced over the condemned man’s head. The crowd chanted ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greater than everything).

The hoist driver put his finger on a green button … Okay, not really – that’s a hysterical, right-wing nightmare of a future Muslim London: where an cruel alien creed is forced on a liberal city.

A society where women are second-class citizens, same sex relationships a crime and Sharia law enforces terrible public disfigurement and death. But the reality is a long, long way from this dark vision.

For a start, Islam is not an alien religion to London. At the end of World War I the city sat at the heart of an Empire that had 160 million Muslim subjects, 80 million in India alone. London was the largest Islamic capital in the world. Forty years later and the end of the Empire, unrest and war and poverty in south Asia had lead to mass immigration to the mother country and London became a Muslim capital in another sense.

According to the 2001 census there are 607,083 Muslims living in London (310,477 men and 296,606 women). The majority of Muslims live in the east of the city and, by 2012, the Muslim Council of Britain estimates that the Muslim population of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney will be 250,000. There are plans afoot (though no formal application has yet been submitted) to build the UKs biggest mosque – capable of welcoming 40,000 worshippers – near the 2012 Olympic site, a move which has prompted predictable outrage from some quarters. Consequently, Muslim disillionment with a reactionary and often ill-informed press is at an all time high.



But rather than fear the inevitable changes this will bring to London, or buy in to a racist representation of all Muslims as terrorists, we should recognise both what Islam has given this city already, and the advantages it would bring across a wide range of areas in the future.

Public health
On the surface, Islamic health doesn’t look good: the 2001 census showed that 24 per cent of Muslim women and 21 per cent of Muslim men suffered long-term illness and disability. But these are factors of social conditions rather than religion. In fact, Islam offers Londoners potential health benefits: the Muslim act of prayer is designed to keep worshippers fit, their joints supple and, at five times a day, their stomachs trim. The regular washing of the feet and hands required before prayers promotes public hygiene and would reduce the transmission of superbugs in London’s hospitals.

Alcohol is haram, or forbidden, to Muslims. As London is above the national average for alcohol-related deaths in males, with 17.6 per 100,000 people (Camden has 31.6 per 100,000 males), turning all the city’s pubs into juice bars would have a massive positive effect on public health. Forbid alcohol throughout the country, and you’d avoid many of the 22,000 alcohol-related deaths and the £7.3 billion national bill for alcohol-related crime and disorder each year.

Ecology
‘The world is green and beautiful,’ said the prophet Muhammad, ‘and Allah has appointed you his guardian over it.’ The Islamic concept of halifa or trusteeship obliges Muslims to look after the natural world and Muhammad was one of the first ever environmentalists, advocating hima – areas where wildlife and forestry are protected. So we could expect more public parks under Islam, but halifa also applies to recycling: in 2006, 12,000 Muslims attended a series of sermons at the East London Mosque explaining the theological evidence for a link between behaving in an environmentally sustainable way and the Islamic faith.

Education
Presently, Muslim students perform less well than non-Muslim students. In inner London, 37 per cent of 16 to 24-year-old Muslims have no qualifications (the figure for the general population of the same age and location is 25 per cent). When it comes to university education the picture is equally gloomy: 16 to 24-year-old Muslims are half as likely to have degree level or above qualification than other inner London young people.

Again, social factors rather than religion have led to this state of affairs. Young Muslims in London are often of south Asian origin and therefore more likely to live in households where English is not the first language, more likely to encounter racism (both intentional and unintentional) during their education, and more likely to suffer from poverty and bad housing conditions.

But Tahir Alam, education spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, claims Muslim children do better in their own faith schools than in the mainstream state sector: ‘Muslim schools have their own distinct ethos. They use the children’s faith and heritage as primary motivators to provide the backdrop for their education and behaviour. This ethos is consistent with the messages that children are getting at home, so it is a very coherent operation between the home and the school.’

If Islam became the dominant religion in London the same ethos could be applied to schooling across swathes of underprivileged and deprived areas of the city. This could have a revolutionary effect on educational achievement and, perhaps just as importantly, general levels of discipline and self-respect among London’s young people. While controversy rages over faith schools, there are 37 Muslim schools in London. As of 2004, only five were state schools, but there is growing pressure to bring more into the state sector which, according to Alam, will ‘help raise achievement for many sectors of the Muslim community. Many private Muslim schools are under-resourced and if they can be brought into the state sector this valuable experience can be extended to more children.’

Food
Application of halal (Arabic for ‘permissable’) dietary laws across London would free us at a stroke from our addiction to junk food, and the general adoption of a south Asian diet rich in fruit juice, rice and vegetables with occasional mutton or chicken would have a drastic effect on obesity, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders and associated public health problems. As curry is already Londoners’ and the nation’s favourite food (see our Brick Lane food feature), it would be a relatively easy process to encourage the adoption of such a diet. Not eating would be important as well. The annual fasting month of Ramadan instils self-discipline, courtesy and social cohesion. And Londoners would benefit philosophically and physically from even a short period when we weren’t constantly ramming food into our mouths.

Inter-faith relations
In an Islamic London, Christians and Jews – with their allegiance to the Bible and the Talmud – would be protected as ‘peoples of the book’. Hindus and Sikhs manage to live alongside a large Muslim population in India, so why not here? Although England has a long tradition of religious bigotry against, for instance, Roman Catholics, it is reasonable to assume that under the guiding hand of Islam a civilised accommodation could be made among faith groups in London. This welcoming stance already exists in the capital in the form of the City Circle (see Yahya Birt interview), which encourages inter-faith dialogue and open discussion.

Arts
Some of the finest art in London is already Islamic. The Jameel Gallery at the V&A houses ‘ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, which date from the great days of the Islamic caliphate of the eighth and ninth century’ up until the turn of the last century. Or take a free daily tour of the Addis Gallery of Islamic art (at the British Museum). London-based Nasser David Khalili, an Iranian-born Jew, has amassed what is considered to be the world’s largest private collection of Islamic art. Islamic influences have also flourished in other areas of the arts, with novelists, comedians (Birmingham-born Shazia Mirza was an instant hit on the London circuit), and music (from rappers Mecca2Medina on, to the less in-your-face Yusuf Islam).

Social justice
Each Muslim is obliged to pay zakat, a welfare tax of 2.5 per cent of annual income, that is distributed to the poor and the needy. If the working population of London, 5.2 million, was predominantly Muslim this would produce approximately £3.2bn each year. More importantly, everyone would be obliged to consider those Londoners who haven’t shared their good fortune. London would become a little less cruel.

Race relations
Under Islam all ethnicities are equal. Once you have submitted to Allah you are a Muslim – it doesn’t matter what colour you are. End of story.

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Useful Wesites:
British Muslim statistics can be found at the Muslim Council of Britain

Poem: Funny isn't it?

Funny isn't it?

Source of Poem: jannah.org, Author Unknown.

Funny how $10 looks so big when we take it to masjid

and so small when we take it to the store.

Funny how big an hour serving God looks

and how small 60 mintues are when spent playing golf, fishing or playing soccer.

Funny how laborious it is to read a juzz in the Quran

and how easy it is to read - 2-300 pages of a best selling novel.

Funny how we believe what newspapers say

but question what the Quran says.

Funny how we can't think of anything to say when we pray

and don't have any difficulty thinking of things to talk to a friend.

Funny how we need 2-3 weeks to fit an islamic event into our schedule,

but can adjust it for a social event at the last moment.

Funny isn't it?

Miracles Of Allah (SWT)

I was browsing for something nice for this blog on flickr and found these beautiful pictures...

(Note: Click on a picture to make it bigger!)

General Food Stuff

Animals

Plants & Trees

Clouds

Fire