A fish expends a large amount of energy while swimming. This is not because it swims fast for long times. Fish need considerable amounts of energy in order to reach high speeds from being stationary. It is vital for a fish to gain speed instantaneously because it needs to do so in order to escape from predators.
Scientists studying how bees inform each other of the places they find made a most astonishing discovery. Bees “describe” the location of a distant place by dancing. All the information that other bees need to find the food source—its distance from the hive, its direction, productivity—is encoded in this dance.
In the Islamic faith, it is understood that God is in Heaven, at least this is a classical way of putting the matter. Nowadays, it is generally conceived among people, regardless of religion, that God is here, there and everywhere, but in the Qur’an God is spoken of as being in the skies, in the Heavens.
In this amazing video by the London Dawah Movement, Brother Abdurraheem Green answers this very problematic question of, has science become a new religion? And what does this mean with respect to Islam as well as other divinely revealed religions.
From the traditions of Prophet Muhammad, we learn that “The best day in the sight of God is Friday, the day of congregation”. Congregational prayers (obligatory for men) are one of the most strongly emphasized duties in Islam. It is a time when Muslims come together to worship One God, and find strength and comfort by standing shoulder to shoulder and reaffirming their faith and devotion to Him.
A person whose state was like that during those specified days better, after his Hajj, continue to do what he used to do during the Hajj. This includes remembering Allah, humbling himself with enslavement to Him during the Hajj, and being keen on following the Sunnah of His Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his guidance in spite of the hardships and discomfort that one encounters during the Hajj. Without such hardships and discomfort, one should be even keener on absolute compliance and perfect
In hajj, a pilgrim meets and peacefully deals with people from different languages, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and schools; so he trains himself to accept plurality and diversity. He will be open to live in peace and co-exist with people of different faiths and cooperate with them for the betterment of their community and the whole world.
It is at moments such as these that you begin to realize why God ordained Hajj for us at least once during our lifetime, so that we can truly and practically experience the beauty of selfless brotherhood, and come away with valuable lessons that leave an impact that lasts a lifetime.
But what I am positive about is that these three million attendees can serve as a role model for peace, as a demonstration for brotherhood and as a proof that human beings can humble themselves and put their differences aside. At this critical stage in the life of our Umma, we ask Allah to make us – through the Hajj season – a role model for peace, brotherhood, and love between humans.
Sure enough, a man by the name of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah was born in the very city that Prophet Ibrahim had made this supplication centuries earlier. For twenty-three years, Prophet Muhammad spread the message of Tawhid [true monotheism] – the same message that Prophet Ibrahim and all the other Prophets came with – and established the law of Allah upon the land.
Pilgrimage is viewed as a particularly meritorious activity. Pilgrimage serves as a penance – the ultimate forgiveness for sins, devotion, and intense spirituality. The pilgrimage to Makkah, the most sacred city in Islam, is required of all physically and financially able Muslims once in their life. The pilgrimage rite begins a few months after Ramadan, on the 8th day of the last month of the Islamic year of Dhul-Hijjah, and ends on the 13th day. Makkah is the center towards which the Muslims converge once a year, meet and refresh in themselves the faith that all Muslims are equal and deserve the love and sympathy of others, irrespective of their race or ethnic origin.
Abraham (peace be upon him) set off with his wife Hajar and newborn son on a long journey. They arrived at Makkah. Hajar looked around her. She could see nothing but a barren wasteland in all directions. There was no life. The silence was unbearable.
During this ritual, Muslims throw pebbles at the three pillars called ‘jamarat’ in Mina, just east of Makkah. During the night spent in Muzdalifah, pilgrims gather 70 stones to pelt the three pillars representing Satan on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, i.e. the day of Hajj.
Hajj was and still is the place of security where souls feel at ease in the land of revelation, where the conscience becomes tranquil in the birthplace of creed and where feelings delight in the divine blessings of this heavenly land. Hajj was and still is the meeting for Muslims from all over the world at `Arafah
The Pilgrimage to Makkah is a sign of supreme significance. It was Prophet Abraham’s unconditional commitment to God that led him to leave his wife Hagar and his infant son Ishmael in this desolated desert.
Starting from Makkah on the eighth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the Prophet at midday, on his she-camel, went to Mina, where he spent the night before leaving, after sunrise, for ‘Arafat, where he delivered his major speech. The Prophet’s speech that day was the highlight of his pilgrimage, outlining the nature of Islamic society.
The Hajj is essentially a re-enactment of the rituals of the great prophets and teachers of faith. Pilgrims symbolically relive the experience of exile and atonement undergone by Adam and Eve after they were expelled from Heaven, wandered the earth, met again and sought forgiveness in the valley of Makkah. They also retrace the frantic footsteps of the wife of Abraham, Hagar, as she ran between the hills
Pilgrims must spare no effort in adhering to these criteria and observances in order to render their Hajj valid and acceptable by Allah. If these criteria were not met while they are performing the rituals, their Hajj will be nothing more than one similar to the pilgrimage the polytheists used to perform in pre-Islamic times and it will bear no fruits whatsoever.
The historical background that led to the scientific and secular revolutions which contributed to the current day acceptance of “Godless” societies. A comparison of the foundations of Atheism and Islam.
You are like the bird. The bird does not stand on one branch of a tree all the time waiting for the grains. But it moves from one branch to another until it gets the grains. The bird has to do its best to get the grains, and providing the bird with the grains is Allah’s work.
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