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Friday 24 June 2011

Self-Justification: the whispers of shaytan


A Muslim who grows up in Western society learns how to think and act in a way alien to Islam. Although often brought up in a Muslim household some Muslim youth are unfortunately swayed by the rotten fruits of Western society including drugs, alcohol and illicit relationships. They are tempted by these rotten fruits and end up in a downward spiral growing further away from Islam every day.

Initially the salah is performed now and again, then restricted to Friday and then only to ‘Eid. The degrees to which people go into committing haram differ and everyone knows someone who they perceive as worse than themselves and better than themselves. One of the worst intellectual diseases that people have is that of self justification, it is one of the key issues that allow people to drift away from Islam justifying this to themselves every step of the way. Even though Muslims feel guilty when committing haram actions like drinking alcohol, taking drugs or engaging in haram relationships with the opposite sex, eventually the guilt wears off and they begin to justify these actions to themselves as it becomes a regular habit.

We must realise that self-justifying an action will not make it halal and doesn’t remove the inevitable reality of standing in front of Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement, with nothing except our deeds. It is the Western concept of individualism (me, myself and I) that breeds the mentality of pure greed and selfishness where people even steal and backstab their own families to achieve their sick version of enjoyment.

TYPES OF SELF-JUSTIFICATION

There are different types of excuses or self–justifications which individuals carry. People normally carry a combination of them. Some of the most common types of self-justifications that people hold are the following:
  • “At least I’m better than others”
  • “I will change in the future”
  • “I’m not ready for it yet, it’s too difficult to change”
  • “As long as I’m pure inside, Allah will forgive me”

“AT LEAST I’M BETTER THAN OTHERS”

The individual who holds this idea looks at the extreme actions of people which they consider as ‘bad” such as stealing from Muslims, rape or eating pork and compare their own actions to them. They feel reassured that they are better than those who undertake those actions. When they commit haram or neglect the Islamic duties (fara’id) they think to themselves that at least they are not like others, at least they perform some actions of Islam. If they have haram relations with the opposite sex they say, “at least I have the intention of marriage”. If they don’t wear the headscarf (khimar) they justify it to themselves saying “at least I dress modestly”.

By using this logic you could say, ‘at least a homosexual isn’t a rapist’ and ‘at least an alcoholic doesn’t eat pork’. The problem with this argument is, who defines what type of behaviour is bad and what is good? Allah (swt) is the one who defines the good actions from the bad actions. Allah (swt) views the halal actions as good and all the haram actions as evil. So in the sight of Allah (swt)  missing salah, being rebellious to your parents, eating pork, rape, socialising with nonrelated members of the opposite sex, homosexuality, taking intoxicating drugs, drinking alcohol and adultery are all haram and from the munkaraat (evil) actions that lead to the hellfire.

“I WILL CHANGE IN THE FUTURE”

This notion is commonly held by many youth. They believe that they will change in the future when they become older; they will settle down, get married, have children, go to Hajj and begin practising Islam. This excuse allows them to justify all the haram actions to themselves. If it was as simple as that, everyone can act as they please with the hope of changing someday in the future. How many of us know of young people who have died? How many of us know of cases where boyfriend and girlfriend have died in car accidents? Muslims and non-Muslims alike can agree that the most definite thing in life is death. If this is the case, how can we act as if we are going to live forever?

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (ra), “If you awoke in the morning, do not speak to yourself of the evening, and if you reach the evening, do not speak to yourself of the morning. Take from your life for your death, and from your health for your illness, as you do not know what your name will be tomorrow.” [Bukhari]

Allah (swt) said, “Say: The death from which you flee will truly overtake you: then will you be sent back to the Knower of all things secret and open: and He will tell you (the truth of) the things that you did!” [TMQ Al-Jumu’a: 8]

Besides the inevitable reality of death, do we believe that Allah (swt) will accept our good deeds in the future whilst we committed haram during our youth? Do we think that performing salah and avoiding the evil temptations in our old age when it is easier to do so will grant us Jannah?

“Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: ‘O my Lord! Send me back (to life), in order that I may do good in that which I have left behind!’ - No! It is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is a Partition until the Day they are raised up. Then when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no more kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another! Then those whose scales (of good deeds) are heavy, they are the successful. And those whose scales (of good deeds) are light, they are those who lose their own selves; in Hell will they abide.” [TMQ Al- Mu’minun: 99-103]

“I’M NOT READY FOR IT YET, IT’S TOO DIFFICULT TO CHANGE”

The true meaning behind this excuse is that people don’t want to leave the haram they’re committing. They have got so used to their lifestyle that they can’t perceive it any other way. The thought of waking up for fajr salah, having to continuously study Islam or not ‘chilling’ with the opposite sex is too much for them. There are obvious contradictions in their behaviour; many of them will spend a lot of time on things they enjoy whether its ‘looking good’, shopping or working out at the gym. In reality these people are lazy when it comes to Islam, they may spend so much effort in fitting in with the crowd and keeping up with the latest trend yet they are not willing to spend effort in staying away from the fire of hell and attempting to gain Jannah and the pleasure of Allah (swt). We need to realise that in order to become Islamic personalities we have to live our life according to the objective that Allah (swt) has set for us. Why is it that many work hard when it comes to their exams, yet pay little attention to the true exam of life? Allah (swt) didn’t create us for play.

Life is not all about ease and acting like spoilt teenagers who have everything done for them. All of us have the capacity to become Islamic personalities. Islam wasn’t revealed for angels, it was revealed for human beings. Allah (swt) says, “Allah does not place a burden upon a person except that which he is capable of.” [TMQ al-Baqarah: 282]

How can one then argue that following Islam is too difficult? Whoever believes this should look at the example of converts to Islam who completely transform their behaviour and may even face hardship from their families. If they can change why can’t we? If we look to the example of many of the Sahabah (ra) they used to be the worst of people and then became the best. Take the example of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra). He was a man that wanted to kill the Messenger of Allah and who had even buried his two daughters alive. When he embraced Islam he became the best of people.

‘Umar (ra) was neither a prophet nor angel; he was a person like us. This type of complete transformation of personalities is not restricted to the companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw). There are many examples from Muslims in our own communities in the West who used to be notorious criminals, drug dealers and alcoholics and who became active Islamic personalities working for the return of Islam when they received the Islamic da’wah (call).

Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “People are like mines of silver and gold; the best of them in the days of Ignorance (jahilliyah) are the best of them in Islam when they attain knowledge.” [Muslim] This hadith means that no matter how far away from Islam we are, we all have the potential to change and become the best of people.

“AS LONG AS I’M PURE FROM INSIDE, ALLAH WILL FORGIVE ME”

The fact that someone has this delusion proves that they are not pure from inside because they carry this corrupt notion, which contradicts Islam. Being ‘pure inside’ not only means believing in Islam, it also means practising it. What is the point of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw) if Allah (swt) is going to enter everyone into Jannah without accounting them for their deeds?

Believing in this idea allows people to gamble their life away. It will be too late to change on the Day of Judgement, when everyone will be worried about themselves to the extent that even the Prophets of Allah like Adam (as), Musa (as) and ‘Isa (as) will be worried about themselves. When the earth will narrate the actions that we performed on it and our own body will speak to Allah (swt) about what we did whilst alive. Every single action small or large will be accounted on that day.

“So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom, shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom, shall see it.” [TMQ Al- Zalzalah: 7]

The forgiveness of Allah (swt) is not achieved with false prayers, whilst continuing to disobey His commands. Allah (swt) says“Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds, until death faces one of them, and he says: ‘Now I repent’ nor of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them have we prepared a painful torment” [TMQ Al- Nisa: 18]

SELF-JUSTIFICATIONS: WHISPERS OF SHAYTAN

Even though many don’t realise it, using self-justifications to follow our own desires instead of following the commands of Allah (swt) is directly following the footsteps of Shaytan. As Allah (swt) said, “Did I not enjoin on you O you children of Adam that you should not worship Shaytan; for that he was to you an enemy avowed?” [TMQ Ya-Seen: 60]

“O you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of the Shaytan (devil).” [TMQ Al-Nur: 21] How can we be believers in Islam if we abandon its rules and follow the Shaytan instead?

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “No one of has real Iman (belief) until his desires conform to what I came with.”

We must avoid the whispers of Shaytan. So every time we feel lazy in praying the salah, we should know that this is from the Shaytan. Every time we are about to answer back in a rebellious way to our parents, we should know this is from the Shaytan. Every time we get the temptation of committing haram with the opposite sex, we should know that this is from Shaytan. Every time we are about to neglect our duty to Allah SWT or perform an action that will anger Him SWT, we should know that this is from the Shaytan.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “Shaytan reaches everywhere in the human body as blood reaches in it.”

“Shaytan only seeks to breed animosity and spite among you by means of intoxicants and gambling and to keep you from the remembrance of Allah and from salah (prayer); will you not then desist?” [TMQ Al-Ma’idah: 91]

We should seek refuge from these whispers of Shaytan as Allah (swt) taught us in the Qur’an, “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of Mankind. The King of mankind. The God of mankind. From the evil of the sneaking whisperer. Who whispers in the breasts of mankind. From amongst the Jinn and the men.” [TMQ Al-Nas: 1-6]

Many of the youth would not undertake some of their haram actions in front of their parents due to embarrassment or fear, then how can they perform these actions whilst Allah (swt) sees everything they do? We should fear Allah (swt) and be embarrassed in front of Him (swt). It was reported in sahih (authenticated) narrations that when Jibraeel (as) asked the Messenger (saw) about ihsan (perfection), he (saw) said, “To worship Allah as if you see him, and if you do not see him, then he surely sees you.”

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF

Self-justifications allow people to continue living their lives like animals, even though they know deep down that the path they are following is incorrect. Even after all the late night parties, relationships, drugs, music and alcohol many feel an inevitable uneasiness or discontent. This feeling doesn’t easily go away; some learn to live with it while it eats away at their conscience while others decide to use their mind and start thinking about Islam; the only thinking that provides tranquillity and the true answers about life. 

Sunday 19 June 2011

Oppression of Muslim women in Russia

The domestic security agency of Russia (FSB) arrested a Muslim woman, Sidikova Oomidjan Ganevna (b. 1976) on the morning of 19 May 2011 in Moscow . They did not allow her to inform anyone of her whereabouts, and her three children – a daughter, Meerkhan (12), and two sons, Nusratullah (10) and Salahuddin (8) – were placed in an orphanage.

Earlier, on the 7 December 2010, the husband of Sidikova, Farookh Fadl Dinovic (b. 1972), was arrested upon allegations of membership with a political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir . His wife was then arrested in order to put pressure on him to confess to the allegations, which were not true. The court sentenced Sidikova to two months in prison.
We see today that Russian leaders are trying to portray Russia as a civilised nation that respects human rights, yet in reality this is how they act to achieve their objectives: by separating a mother and her children in order to force a man to confess to crimes he did not commit.
On 23 May, in the city of Ufa and its surroundings, security agencies carried out raids on homes without warrants and arrested some Muslim women from their homes.
The house of Manapova Yula Kazikhanov (b. 1984) was raided by officers of the National Security agency on 23 May 2011. Her house is apartment no. 617, 11 Moshanikova St. in the city of Ufa . They led her to 55a Kalinina St. and there threatened her with a screwdriver and awl and verbally abused her. They threatened her with the arrest of her sons as a form of pressure. They repeated all this throughout the day, whilst her baby and her infant of 5 years were left alone in the house.
The house of Elmira Minnibiva Yonnerova (b. 1985) was searched while she was eight months pregnant. She lives in Ufa on Kriliva St . The search was carried out in a way contravening the law: the address written in the legal papers was wrong and the two female witnesses used during the investigation were from the agency itself. The agents of the agency recorded everything on video in order to record the face of the sister properly. The name of employee recording was Vitslav and he focused the camera upon her. During all this, her husband, Tahir Vanisovic, and her one-year old son, Aleem, were in the apartment witnessing the actions of the agents, part of which was the trampling with their dirty feet on books that contained Quran’ic verses.
By this sort of conduct the agencies seeks to degrade the feelings of the believers.
The result of their practices appeared on the sister in the form of symptoms of pressure, increase in heart rate, and pain in the lower abdomen. The ambulance was summoned and, after examination, the doctor concluded that her condition was precarious and she may lose her child. He gave her a sedative and took her to natal hospital no. 6, located in Shaviva st, and after examination to the hospital, they refused her entry on grounds that it is full.
Caquerova Ramilva Leila, born in 1982, and having 4 small children – Zainab (6 years), Salah al-Din (4 years), Ali (2 years) and Jannat (1 year) – was put under pressure, her and her family, by the security agencies. Two cars arrived at her house at 7am on May 23, 2011 and many men exited. Among them were some women, and later it became apparent that they were witnesses over the inspection process. At this time the sister was leaving her house to go to meet her husband Albert Shakirov Zkjevic, who was sentenced to imprisonment in accordance with Article 282-1 since September 22 2010, and thus this family had already lost its breadwinner and patron. They stopped her and inspected her from all sides, and without any reason they forcibly pulled her mobile phone from her. Then they started to act according to old custom, showed her a warrant, and forced her to open the gate to enter the house. During the search for prohibited literary material they searched everything and moved everything out of its place, even the freezer in the refrigerator was not spared, despite the fact that all the books in the house were issued in this country. Still not satisfied with what they found, they began threatening to tear the panels of the walls which were made of wood. They began shouting, scaring the young children and waking them up from their sleep.
After interrogating the sister they took her to the section located in Kalenna St. , 55A, room no. 218. Then they started to talk and, in sum, they had prepared written note in which the sister’s confesses to being a fundamentalist and they wanted to force her to sign it. She ask to call a lawyer, and mentioned to them Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation , but this did not affect them. Rather, the response was a threat to imprison her and to take her children and place them in an orphanage. They began calling the management in order to find the address of the nearest orphanage, and they began waving a knife and awl at her face.
O Muslims: till when will these illegal and extra-legal practices against our wives, mothers, sisters and children continue? Till when will we remain silent and act as if nothing has happened to us? How will we answer Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment when He asks us as to what we did to help our sisters and their children? Allah (swt) says
[وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْر]
And if they seek your help in the deen, than it is upon you to help them”; and at this point in time our brother, his wife and their children ask of our help. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor betray him. He who assists his brother, Allah assists him, and he who relieves a Muslim of a calamity, Allah will relieve him of a calamity on the Day of Resurrection. He who conceals a Muslim, Allah will conceal him on the Day of Resurrection” (Bukhari and Muslim), and he (saw) said, “Allah continues to assist his slave, so long as he assists his brother” and he said, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor degrade him.” (Muslim)
Thus everyone who is able to protect or assist but does not do so will be considered as having left his brother without helping him. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “A Muslim does not abandon another Muslim in a place where he desires his help except that Allah will abandon him in a place where he desires the help of Allah.
It is necessary that this incident impact us, and that each one of us partakes in freeing this Muslim family, in particular the sister and her children. We know, and we have been reminded again, that without the Imam these calamities will continue and be repeated. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “The Imam is a shield, behind whom the people fight and by whom they are protected.” The ruler of the Muslims protects the honour of the Muslim women, as was done in the past by the Prophet with Bani Qaynuqa’ and as Khalifah Mu’tasim did by sending an army in response to the call of a Muslim woman.

Dear Muslims: 
you are able to assist our brothers and sisters, first by making du’a for them that they be swiftly released. Second, we must spread the news of this incident to all the Muslims. Everyone must know about it. We must inform the Muslims and draw their attention to the like of these incidents. We must draw the attention of all segments of society and the media to this incident and to the extra-legal practices of the Government. We must demand that the prominent Muslims and Muslim activists partake in solving this problem.

O Muslims: help the deen of Allah, and He will help you.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Russia
25 May 2011 CE

Thursday 9 June 2011

David Cameron to target Islamists who hold 'un-British' values

PM wins cabinet battle over counter-terrorism strategy against those holding extremist views, such as intolerance of women’s rights.
David Cameron has won a cabinet battle to toughen up the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy and take a harder line against Islamic traditions that fail to “reflect British mainstream values”.

The successor to Labour’s Prevent strategy is likely to redefine extremists as those who hold “un-British” views, such as intolerance of equal rights for women, because ministers believe there is a link between non-violent extremism and violent acts of terrorism.

The new policy, which could be unveiled this week, will reflect the prime minister’s February speech in Munich in which he claimed “state multiculturalism” had failed. Further education colleges are likely to be targeted in the belief that they have become a breeding ground for young Islamists.

Cameron is set to tackle a string of policies that have posed a threat to his authority over the next two weeks. He is expected to give a major speech, possibly on Tuesday, on the NHS, giving the government’s first official indication of how it will respond to the listening exercise on the NHS bill.

He is also scheduled to give a speech on crime to tackle accusations from the right that he has failed to prioritise crime-fighting and allowed the justice department under Ken Clarke to liberalise prisons policy.

The justice minister Nick Herbert has indicated that up to 10,000 people every year could benefit from the government’s controversial policy to change the plea bargaining system so offenders can cut their sentence in half, instead of the current third, if they admit guilt early.

Defending the policy, Herbert told BBC1′s Politics Show: “Ten thousand offenders are pleading guilty at the very latest point in a trial and that is often particularly damaging to the interests of victims. It’s costly and it’s not in the interests of justice.

“We need a system that is deterring unnecessarily late pleas and is also incentivising those who plead guilty at an earlier stage.”
It has been reported that the Prevent strategy had split the cabinet, with Cameron and the education secretary Michael Gove pushing for a toughened version of the Prevent strategy, against the wishes of the Liberal Democrats and even the home secretary, Theresa May.


Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “Preventing extremism is … too important to be dogged by government confusion and this kind of ministerial in-fighting. It seems Theresa May has lost another battle on her own policies.”
Guardian  5th June 2011
Viewpoints: 

Cameron demands Muslims adopt ‘British values’. Meanwhile he has left the globe in wonderment of what these British values are and what they represent. The Prevent strategy is attempting to go one step further by now considering any Islamic tradition that does not represent ‘British mainstream values’ as extreme. Such ambiguity corners nearly all Muslims and this is not surprising since Cameron’s Munich speech reflected the totalitarian streak that he wishes to transcend to British society.

The hypocrisy of Cameron is highlighted by his words addressing Muslims on his campaign trail, ‘integration is a two-way street. If we want to remind ourselves of British values – hospitality, tolerance and generosity to name just three – there are plenty of British Muslims ready to show us what those things really mean’. Now that he is in power, the tone has vehemently changed. Clearly, Muslims can no longer be duped into thinking the British government is willing to protect Islamic values since now they are prepared to outlaw us as second class citizens by defying what is supposedly their own value ‘tolerance’.

The governments approach reflects an utter act of desperation to force Muslims to adopt secular liberal values over Islamic values. Threats of taking away funding will not deter this ummah from sticking to Islam and speaking for the Muslims who are suffering around the world; nor will this stop us from advocating the global call for Khilafah in the Muslim world. This ummah has gone beyond the point of bribes. We say, you can keep your money and we will keep our values regardless of the false labels and demands you introduce.