Who is Allah

Dua for Forgiveness

Weep before Allah

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Rahim

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

God’s Attributes

The 99 Names of God: 

1. Ar Rahman (الرحمن) The All Beneficent
2. Ar Rahim (الرحيم) The Most Merciful
3. Al Malik (الملك) The King, The Sovereign
4. Al Quddus (القدوس) The Most Holy
5. As Salam (السلام) Peace and Blessing
6. Al Mu'min (المؤمن) The Guarantor
7. Al Muhaymin (المهيمن) The Guardian, the Preserver
8. Al 'Aziz (العزيز) The Almighty, the Self Sufficient
9. Al Jabbar (الجبار) The Powerful, the Irresistible
10. Al Mutakabbir (المتكبر) The Tremendous
11. Al Khaliq (الخالق) The Creator
12. Al Bari' (البارئ) The Maker
13. Al Musawwir (المصور) The Fashioner of Forms
14. Al Ghaffar (الغفار) The Ever Forgiving
15. Al Qahhar (القهار) The All Compelling Subduer
16. Al Wahhab (الوهاب) The Bestower
17. Ar Razzaq (الرزاق) The Ever Providing
18. Al Fattah (الفتاح) The Opener, the Victory Giver
19. Al Alim (العليم) The All Knowing, the Omniscient
20. Al Qabid (القابض) The Restrainer, the Straightener
21. Al Basit (الباسط) The Expander, the Munificent
22. Al Khafid (الخافض) The Abaser
23. Ar Rafi' (الرافع) The Exalter
24. Al Mu'izz (المعز) The Giver of Honor
25. Al Mudhill (المذل) The Giver of Dishonor
26. Al Sami' (السميع) The All Hearing
27. Al Basir (البصير) The All Seeing
28. Al Hakam (الحكم) The Judge, the Arbitrator
29. Al 'Adl (العدل) The Utterly Just
30. Al Latif (اللطيف) The Subtly Kind
31. Al Khabir (الخبير) The All Aware
32. Al Halim (الحليم) The Forbearing, the Indulgent
33. Al 'Azim (العظيم) The Magnificent, the Infinite
34. Al Ghafur (الغفور) The All Forgiving
35. Al Shakur (الشكور) The Grateful
36. Al 'Ali (العلى) The Sublimely Exalted
37. Al Kabir (الكبير) The Great
38. Al Hafiz (الحفيظ) The Preserver
39. Al Muqit (المقيت) The Nourisher
40. Al Hasib (الحسيب) The Reckoner
41. Al Jalil (الجليل) The Majestic
42. Al Karim (الكريم) The Bountiful, the Generous
43. Ar Raqib (الرقيب) The Watchful
44. Al Mujib (المجيب) The Responsive, the Answerer
45. Al Wasi' (الواسع) The Vast, the All Encompassing
46. Al Hakim (الحكيم) The Wise
47. Al Wadud (الودود) The Loving, the Kind One
48. Al Majid (المجيد) The All Glorious
49. Al Ba'ith (الباعث) The Raiser of the Dead
50. Ash Shahid (الشهيد) The Witness
51. Al Haqq (الحق) The Truth, the Real
52. Al Wakil (الوكيل) The Trustee, the Dependable
53. Al Qawiyy (القوى) The Strong
54. Al Matin (المتين) The Firm, the Steadfast
55. Al Wali (الولى) The Protecting Friend, Patron, and Helper
56. Al Hamid (الحميد) The All Praiseworthy
57. Al Muhsi (المحصى) The Accounter, the Numberer of All
58. Al Mubdi' (المبدئ) The Producer, Originator, and Initiator of all
59. Al Mu'id (المعيد) The Reinstater Who Brings Back All
60. Al Muhyi (المحيى) The Giver of Life
61. Al Mumit (المميت) The Bringer of Death, the Destroyer
62. Al Hayy (الحي) The Ever Living
63. Al Qayyum (القيوم) The Self Subsisting Sustainer of All
64. Al Wajid (الواجد) The Perceiver, the Finder, the Unfailing
65. Al Majid (الماجد) The Illustrious, the Magnificent
66. Al Wahid (الواحد) The One, the All Inclusive, the Indivisible
67. Al Ahad (الاحد) The One, the Unique
68. As Samad (الصمد) The Long, the Impregnable, the Everlasting
69. Al Qadir (القادر) The All Able
70. Al Muqtadir (المقتدر) The All Determiner, the Dominant
71. Al Muqaddim (المقدم) The Expediter, He who brings forward
72. Al Mu'akhkhir (المؤخر) The Delayer, He who puts far away
73. Al Awwal (الأول) The First
74. Al Akhir (الأخر) The Last
75. Az Zahir (الظاهر) The Manifest; the All Victorious
76. Al Batin (الباطن) The Hidden; the All Encompassing
77. Al Wali (الوالي) The Patron
78. Al Muta'al (المتعالي) The Self Exalted
79. Al Barr (البر) The Most Kind and Righteous
80. At Tawwab (التواب) The Ever Returning, Ever Relenting
81. Al Muntaqim (المنتقم) The Avenger
82. Al 'Afuww (العفو) The Pardoner, the Effacer of Sins
83. Ar Ra'uf (الرؤوف) The Compassionate, the All Pitying
84. Malik al Mulk (مالك) (الملك) The Owner of All Sovereignty
85. Dhu al Jalal wa al Ikram (ذو الجلال و الإكرام) The Lord of Majesty and Generosity
86. Al Muqsit (المقسط) The Equitable, the Requiter
87. Al Jami' (الجامع) The Gatherer, the Unifier
88. Al Ghani (الغنى) The All Rich, the Independent
89. Al Mughni (المغنى) The Enricher, the Emancipator
90. Al Mani'(المانع) The Withholder, the Shielder, the Defender
91. Ad Dharr (الضآر) The Distresser
92. An Nafi' (النافع) The Propitious, the Benefactor
93. An Nur (النور) The Light
94. Al Hadi (الهادئ) The Guide
95. Al Badi (البديع) Incomparable, the Originator
96. Al Baqi (الباقي) The Ever Enduring and Immutable
97. Al Warith (الوارث) The Heir, the Inheritor of All
98. Ar Rashid (الرشيد) The Guide, Infallible Teacher, and Knower
99. As Sabur (الصبور) The Patient, the Timeless

(Note: Allah is the literal translation of the word God and so is not one of his names.) 

Wikipedia.<Retrieved 21 August 2011>. 

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Names_of_God.

Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin.

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Rahim

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh)

Wudu

Wudu is the Islamic procedure for washing certain parts of the body in preparation of salah (prayer). It is also mandatory that a Muslim is pure and clean when handling and reading the Qur’an. According to the Qur’an, it states in surah Al-Bakara ayah 222 that, “...Truly Allah loveth those who turn unto Him, and loveth those who have a care for cleanness.” Another verse from the Qur'an highlights a similar message: "That (this) is indeed a noble Qur'an. In a Book kept hidden. Which none toucheth save the purified..." (Qur'an 56:77-79)

Water requirements

Permitted water types include

• Rain water
• Well water
• Spring, sea or river water
• Water of melting snow or hail
• Water of a big tank or pond

Prohibited water types

• Unclean or impure water
• Water extracted from fruit and trees
• Water that has changed its color, taste and smell and becomes thick because something was soaked in it
• Small quantity of water in which something unclean has fallen, eg. urine, blood, stool or wine or some animal had died after falling into it
• Water left over after drinking by animals, eg. dogs, pigs or predatory animals
• Used water of wudu

The Act of Wudu

In order to have wudu, one must complete four (4) acts. They are obligatory or fard, meaning if one of these acts is omitted, wudu is not complete and one must repeat the procedure. 

Fara’id according to Sunni Muslims

Al-Qur’an

The Qur’anic mandate for wudu comes from Al-Maeda ayah 5, which sates:

O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.(Qur’an 5:6)

From the above text, it is established that Muslims are required to:

• Wash the face once.
• Wash both the arms including the elbows once.
• Run the wet hands over the head
• Wash both the feet once up to and including the ankles. 

Sunnah of the Prophet

• Narrated by Abd-Allah ibn Amr: "...we were just passing wet hands over our feet (not washing them thoroughly) so he addressed us in a loud voice saying twice or thrice.”
• Narrated by Ubaid Ibn Juraij: “...and he used to perform ablution while wearing the shoes (i.e. wash his feet and then put on the shoes)."
• Narrated by Yahya Al-Mazini: "Can you show me how Allah's Apostle used to perform ablution? ...and washed his feet (up to the ankles)."
• Narrated by Amr: "...and then he washed his feet up to the ankles."
• Narrated by Humran: "...and washed his feet up to the ankles..."
• Narrated by Amr bin Yahya: "...and washed his feet up to the ankles..."
• Narrated by Abdullah bin Zaid: "...and washed his feet (up to the ankles).”

Sunnah (athendic practices and sayings of the prophet Mohammed (pbuh)

It is optional to preform the following acts during wudu:

• Reciting bismillah
• Intention of performing wudu
• Washing both the hands up to the wrists
• Rinsing the inner mouth
• Sniffing water and blowing it out
• Passing of wet fingers between the fingers of the hand and feet
• Passing of wet fingers into the beard
• Brushing the teeth, preferably with a miswak
• Wudu is done systematically
• Washing of each part one after the other without pause, so no part dries up before wudu is completed
• Washing each limb thrice
• Performing wudu towards the Qiblah

Invalidation of Wudu

One can preform one wudu for salah (prayer) and it can be considered valid for the entire day, however; it is be broken if any one of the following acts are committed: 

• Defecation
• Sleep while reclining
• Vomiting
• Loss of senses
• Fainting
• Laughing aloud or whistling while preforming salah
• Blood or pus leaving the body so that it leaves the point of exit (however if the blood or pus exits from the private parts than any amount breaks wudu) 
• Touching the private with the bare hands
• Emission of semen (ghusl is required) 
• Sexual contact with another person (ghusl is required)

Tayammum

Tayammun is procedure preformed in the place of wudu when access to water is restricted or when water is unavailable. Tayammun can we preformed when:

• Sufficient amounts of water for ritual washing is not available, including when using the available water for wudu or ghusl would leave insufficient water for drinking.
• When obtaining water is hazardous or prohibitively expensive.
• When using water poses a health risk.

Preforming Tayammum

When preforming tayammum, the following steps must be followed:

• Find a piece of ground which is free of najaasah. This could be any natural surface such as rock, sand, or dust.
• Recite bismillah.
• Make niyyah, or intention to make tayammum.
• Place the hands on the surface of the ground.
• Lift hands with palms downwards, ensuring that no dust remains, may rub them together.
• Rub face with hands.
• Press hands to ground and touch sides of hands together.
• Rub right arm with left hand, from the fingers to the elbow, and back along the inner arm to the hand. Do the same with the other arm.

Tyammum is permitted on the following items:

• Taahir (pure) earth
• Sand
• Stone
• Limestone
• Baked earthen pots (unglazed)
• Walls of mud, stone or brick
• Clay
• All items which have thick dust on them

Tyammum is not permitted on the following items:

• Wood
• Metal
• Glass
• Food items
• All items that burn ash, rot, or melt

Is ablution (wudu) required before touching the Qur’an

Dr.Zakir Naik on Wudu

References

• Wudu
• Qur'an (2:222)
• Qur'an (56:79)
• Qur'an (5:6)
• How to preform wudu
• Acts of wudu
• Tayammum

Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin.

Islam

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Rahim

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

What is Islam?

Linguistic meaning: The term Islam derives from the three-letter Arabic root s-l-m (seen, lam, meem), which generates words with interrelated meanings. This includes five distinct words; namely, "surrender," "submission," "commitment," "sincerity" and "peace." Commonly, it represents the last reiteration of the primordial message of God’s Oneness, a theme found in earlier monotheistic  (belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God) religious traditions. Essentially, by definition, Islam is a worldview focused on belief in the one God and commitment to his commandments. This is the general meaning in Arabic, implying absolute submission, surrender and obedience that is obeying the injunctions of the ruler without objection. 


Idiomatic meaning: The Holy Qur’an defines Islam as the Message of Prophet Mohammed (saw). Although Islam was the theme of all preceding divine messages, the word was chosen as a particular title denoting the Almighty’s final revelation to mankind. In fact the Qur’an transformed the word “Islam” from its linguistic meaning to the idiomatic meaning. Still there remains the common implication, that is submission and obedience, since Islam is the religion of voluntary submission to Allah’s Will, the obeying of His commands and surrendering to His Will without the least objection. Thus, the religion which Mohammed (saw) brought to humanity was called “Islam”. Believers demonstrate submission to God by worshiping God and following his commands, and rejecting polytheism.


Once we humble ourselves, rid ourselves of our egoism and submit totally to Allah, and to Him exclusively, in faith and in action, we will surely feel peace in our hearts. Establishing peace in our hearts will bring about peace in our external conduct as well.


Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him). (Qur’an 3:64)


Speaker: Dawud Adib (Reverted American Muslim of over 25 yrs) Source: [islaam.ca] Given: 1997

Revert Muslim on Islam

Who is a Muslim?

The word "Muslim" means one who submits to the will of God. The first principle of Islam is known as the Shahaadah (Testimony of Faith), and is as follows: "There is no one worthy of worship except Allaah (God)  and Muhammad is the Final Apostle (Messenger) of God.” In a broader sense, anyone who willingly submits to the will of God is a Muslim.

Who is Allah?

Some of the biggest misconceptions that many non-Muslims have about Islam have to do with the word “Allah.”  For various reasons, many people have come to believe that Muslims worship a different God than Christians and Jews.  This is totally false, since “Allah” is simply the Arabic word for “God” - and there is only One God.  Let there be no doubt - Muslims worship the God of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus - peace be upon them all.  However, it is certainly true that Jews, Christians and Muslims all have different concepts of Almighty God.  For example, Muslims - like Jews - reject the Christian beliefs of the Trinity and the Divine Incarnation.  This, however, does not mean that each of these three religions worships a different God - because, as we have already said, there is only One True God.  Judaism, Christianity and Islam all claim to be “Abrahamic Faiths”, and all of them are also classified as “monotheistic.”  However, Islam teaches that other religions have, in one way or another, distorted and nullified a pure and proper belief in Almighty God by neglecting His true teachings and mixing them with man-made ideas.

First of all, it is important to note that “Allah” is the same word that Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews use for God.  If you pick up an Arabic Bible, you will see the word “Allah” being used where “God” is used in English.  This is because “Allah” is a word in the Arabic language equivalent to the English word “God” with a capital “G”.  Additionally, the word “Allah” cannot be made plural, a fact which goes hand-in-hand with the Islamic concept of God.


It is interesting to note that the Aramaic word “El”, which is the word for God in the language that Jesus spoke, is certainly more similar in sound to the word “Allah” than the English word “God.”  This also holds true for the various Hebrew words for God, which are “El” and “Elah”, and the plural or glorified form “Elohim.”  The reason for these similarities is that Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic are all Semitic languages with common origins.  It should also be noted that in translating the Bible into English, the Hebrew word “El” is translated variously as “God”, “god” and “angel”!  This imprecise language allows different translators, based on their preconceived notions, to translate the word to fit their own views.  The Arabic word “Allah” presents no such difficulty or ambiguity, since it is only used for Almighty God alone.  Additionally, in English, the only difference between “god”, meaning a false god, and “God”, meaning the One True God, is the capital “G”.  Due to the above mentioned facts, a more accurate translation of the word “Allah” into English might be “The One -and-Only God” or “The One True God.”


More importantly, it should also be noted that the Arabic word “Allah” contains a deep religious message due to its root meaning and origin.  This is because it stems from the Arabic verb ta’allaha (or alaha), which means “to be worshipped.”  Thus in Arabic, the word “Allah” means “The One who deserves all worship.”  This, in a nutshell, is the Pure Monotheistic message of Islam.


Suffice it to say that just because someone claims to be a “monotheistic” Jew, Christian or Muslim, that does not keep them from falling into corrupt beliefs and idolatrous practices.  Many people, including some Muslims, claim belief in “One God” even though they’ve fallen into acts of idolatry.  Certainly, many Protestants accuse Roman Catholics of idolatrous practices in regards to the saints and the Virgin Mary.  Likewise, the Greek Orthodox Church is considered “idolatrous” by many other Christians because in much of their worship they use icons.  However, if you ask a Roman Catholic or a Greek Orthodox person if God is “One”, they will invariably answer: “Yes!.”  This claim, however, does not stop them from being “creature worshipping” idolaters.  The same goes for Hindus, who just consider their gods to be “manifestations” or “incarnations” of the One Supreme God.


Before concluding… there are some people out there, who are obviously not on the side of truth, that want to get people to believe that “Allah” is just some Arabian “god,”, and that Islam is completely “other” - meaning that it has no common roots with the other Abrahamic religions (i.e. Christianity and Judaism).  To say that Muslims worship a different “God” because they say “Allah” is just as illogical as saying that French people worship another God because they use the word “Dieu”, that Spanish-speaking people worship a different God because they say “Dios” or that the Hebrews worshipped a different God because they sometimes call Him “Yahweh.”  Certainly, reasoning like this is quite ridiculous!  It should also be mentioned, that claiming that any one language uses the only the correct word for God is tantamount to denying the universality of God’s message to mankind, which was to all nations, tribes and people through various prophets who spoke different languages.


We would like to ask our readers about the motives of these people?  The reason is that the Ultimate Truth of Islam stands on solid ground and its unshakeable belief in the Unity of God is above reproach.  Due to this, Christians can’t criticize its doctrines directly, but instead fabricate things about Islam that aren’t true so that people lose the desire to learn more. If Islam were presented in the proper way to the world, it surely might make many people reconsider and re-evaluate their own beliefs. It is quite likely that when they find out that there is a universal religion in the world that teaches people to worship and love God, while also practicing Pure Monotheism, would at least feel that they should re-examine the basis for their own beliefs and doctrines.

Does God Exist?

God: Delusion or Truth?
Source: THE BIG DEBATES.com

God: Fairy Tale or Truth

Source: THE BIG DEBATES

Islam or Atheism?

Source: THE BIG DEBATES

A Tale of Two Histories

Source: THE BIG DEBATES

Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin.