islam

The One whose Existence is without an end.
The Last

This is a tricky one. Who was the messenger who was neither of the human nor of the jinn and who warned his people and is mentioned in the Quran?

Answer:Ant (Surah Naml)

Greed for wealth made me gone astray, my story is mentioned in Surah Qasas. Who am I?

Answer:Karoon

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. I praise Him, the Most Exalted as be fitting to His Sublime Countenance and Supreme Status. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the Servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his pure blessed family and companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

As to what follows,

I urge you, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted, for His obedience is the doorway to attain His Mercy. The Almighty says, "but My mercy encompasses all things. So I will decree it [especially] for those who fear Me and give Zakat and those who believe in Our verses." (Al-Aaraf: 156).

Dear Muslims,

New Mosque (Yeni Camii) was the last example of large mosques built in Istanbul by the Ottoman family. The construction of the mosque, which is situated on the Golden Horn in the Eminonu quarter of Istanbul, was started in 1597 and ended in 1665. The mosque's original name, Valide Sultan Mosque, meaning Queen Mother, was named after Sultan Mehmet III's mother, who ordered the mosque to be built when her son ascended to the throne; however, since the construction lasted so long, she did not live to see its completion. As with other imperial mosques in Istanbul, the New Mosque was designed as a külliye, or complex with adjacent structures to service both religious and cultural needs.
Since the construction lasted more than sixty years, the mosque project experienced managerial changes, as well. The original architect was Davut Ağa, an apprentice to the great Mimar Sinan. However, Davut Ağa died in 1599 and was replaced by Dalgıç Ahmet Çavuş.

Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional `Ulama. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih, rigorously authenticated hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,



"Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowledge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding" (Fath al-Bari,

1.194, hadith 100).

As Muslims, we must accept and believe in all of the Books of Allah. It is a required part of our faith. We cannot accept the book revealed to Prophet Muhammad and reject the book of Prophet Moses (peace be upon them both).
When we speak of Allah’s books, we are really talking about His revelations. These revelations were sent by Allah to his messengers as guidance for mankind. And as Muslims, we are obliged to believe in them all.

Sadly, most of Allah’s revelations have been lost, tampered with, or altered. They have been combined with legend, folklore, and personal desires to create something very much unlike what Allah originally revealed.
Only one of Allah’s books is still in its original form. Only one book is still in its original language. And only can be traced back, word for word, chapter for chapter, to the prophet it was revealed to.
This book is, of course, the Quran.

The Different Books

Ka'bah
the first house of worship built for mankind. It was originally built by Adam and later on reconstructed by Abraham and Isma'il. It is a cubed shaped structure based in the city of Mecca to which all Muslims turn to in their five daily paryers.

He is the Ruler and His judgment is His Word.
The arbitrator, the Judge

Nemrut Dağı, or Mount Nemrut, is a 2134 meter tall mountain in eastern Turkey, near Malatya, Adıyaman, and Kahta. Nemrut Dağı is topped by a strange collection of huge statues put there around 62 BC by Antiochos I Theos of Commagene, a megalomanical king. The collection of statues is a hierothesion, it is intended to represent the king and his relatives, the deities of all the surrounding Greek, Armenian, and Iranian civilizations:
• Vahagn / Artagnes — Herecles — Ares
• Oromasdes / Aramzd — Zeus
• Ahura Mazda
• Bakht — Tyche
• Mihr / Mithras — Apollo — Helios — Hermes
Antiochus created a royal cult for him to be worshipped after his death. It was based on the Greek form of the Persian religion Zoroastrianism. Several Greek inscriptions survive explaining Antiochus's religion and why he created it. His tomb should be in an isolated high place, remote from people and close to the gods with whom he should be associated.

Let me begin by saying that I cannot offer every solutions to the issues of identity, clique-ism, drugs, and confusion which we are facing. Our generation is the testing ground for an unprepared and unsupportive social structure which cared more about building masjids then building men, and the results is a confused and struggling Muslim American generation. But we all know this. I hope insha Allah that we can pull together as a community with just the mere idea of hope and understanding.



Defining The Struggle



“Well, I wasn’t born with a kufi and beard!”



This is the reply I give to the few Muslims out there who were so perplexed at a ‘religious’ guy treating them so kindly, so normally. Yet, I knew they were just struggling. Alright, so they have identity issues; they don’t know if they are truly punk rocker or ghetto fabulous; they find it so difficult to de-conform from society by covering their hair; and they don’t know where to find that inner peace.

The word ebru (cloud, cloudy) or abru (water face) means in Turkish the technique of paper marbling. The term is derived from the word ebre which belongs to one of the older Central Asian languages and it means the "moiré, veined fabric, paper" used for covering some manuscripts and other holy books. Its origin might ultimately hark back to China, where a document from the T'ang dynasty (618-907) mentions a process of colouring paper on water with five hues. Through the Silk Road, this art came first to Iran and picked up the name Ebru. Subsequently it moved towards Anatolia. Specimens of marbled paper in Turkish museums and private collections date back as far as the 15th century, but unfortunately there is no evidence to show at what date the art of marbling paper first appeared in Anatolia.

Yathrib
Living in contact with the Jews, the Aws and the Khazraj tribes were not foreign to the idea of the unity of God. They had heard from the Jews that a Prophet was to come. Some of their people had come into contact with the Prophet at Mecca and had been deeply impressed by Him. The deputation (of three to five hundred referred to above) which they had sent to Mecca had returned entirely satisfied. The disciples who had preceded the Prophet were spreading the message of Islam throughout Yathrib. Unlike the Meccans, the Yathribites had no vested interest standing in the way of their accepting the new religion. Islam had already taken roots in Yathrib thus before the Prophet arrived there on the invitation of the people of Aws and Khazraj. No wonder they gave the Prophet a tumultuous welcome at Yathrib.

Solomon inherited David's prophethood and dominion. This was not a material inheritance, as prophets do not bequeath their property. It is given away to the poor and needy, not to their relatives. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "The prophets' property will not be inherited, and whatever we leave is to be used for charity." (Sahih Al-Bukhari).
And indeed We gave knowledge to David and Solomon, and they both said: "All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has preferred us above many of His believing slaves!"
And Solomon inherited (the knowledge of) David. He said: "O mankind! We have been taught the language of birds, and on us have been bestowed all things. This, verily, is an evident grace (from Allah)."
And there were gathered before Solomon his hosts of jinns and men, and birds, and they were all set in battle order (marching forwards). (Ch 27:15-17 Quran).