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What Islam Says About Valentine Day

Maher Afrasiab 4

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> What Islam Says About Valentine Day :<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QW5AP4IFaDc/TzdfCmUslyI/AAAAAAAABQ8/B6Z4jnpQRqw/s1600/Unhhhhtitled+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QW5AP4IFaDc/TzdfCmUslyI/AAAAAAAABQ8/B6Z4jnpQRqw/s640/Unhhhhtitled+-+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> First of all, we’d like to shed light on the origin of this festival, known as "Valentine Day" or "Festival of Love": The Festival of Love was one of the festivals of the pagan Romans, when paganism was the prevalent religion of the Romans more than seventeen centuries ago. In the pagan Roman concept, it was an expression of "spiritual love". There were myths associated with this pagan festival of the Romans, which persisted with their Christian heirs. Among the most famous of these myths was the Roman belief that Romulus, the founder of Rome, was suckled one day by a she-wolf, which gave him strength and wisdom. The Romans used to celebrate this event in mid-February each year with a big festival. The connection between Saint Valentine and this festival: Saint Valentine is a name which is given to two of the ancient "martyrs" of the Christian Church. It was said that there were two of them, or that there was only one, who died in Rome as the result of the persecution of the Gothic leader Claudius, c. 296 CE. In 350 CE, a church was built in Rome on the site of the place where he died, to perpetuate his memory. View Of Islam: It is not permissible for a Muslim to celebrate any of the festivals of the kuffaar. Valentines Day is an innovated festival for which there is no basis in Islam. The clear evidence of the Qur’aan and Sunnah – and the consensus of the early generations of this ummah – indicates that there are only two festivals in Islam: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Any other festivals that have to do with a person, a group, an event or anything else are innovated festivals, which it is not permissible for Muslims to observe, approve of or express joy on those occasions, or to help others to celebrate them in any way, because that is transgressing the sacred limits of Allaah, and whoever transgresses the sacred limits of Allaah has wronged himself. Many Muslims these days indulge in this filthy festival. However, they would do well to remember the famous saying of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم): “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawood, 4021) As regards the Islamic stance on this festival, Dr. Su`ad Ibrahim Salih, professor of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) at Al-Azhar University, states the following: Indeed, Islam is the religion of altruism, true love, and cooperation on that which is good and righteous. We implore Allah Almighty to gather us together under the umbrella of His All-encompassing Mercy, and to unite us together as one man. Allah Almighty says: (The believers are naught else than brothers. Therefore make peace between your brethren and observe your duty to Allah that haply ye may obtain mercy.) (Al-Hujurat 49: 10) Focusing more on the question in point, I can say that there are forms of expressing love that are religiously acceptable, while there are others that are not religiously acceptable. Among the forms of love that are religiously acceptable are those that include the love for Prophets and Messengers. It stands to reason that the love for Allah, and His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) should have the top priority over all other forms of love. Islam does recognize happy occasions that bring people closer to one another, and add spice to their lives. However, Islam goes against blindly imitating the West regarding a special occasion such as Valentine’s Day. Hence, commemorating that special day known as the Valentine’s Day is an innovation or bid`ah that has no religious backing. Every innovation of that kind is rejected, as far as Islam is concerned. Islam requires all Muslims to love one another all over the whole year, and reducing the whole year to a single day is totally rejected. Hence, we Muslims ought not to follow in the footsteps of such innovations and superstitions that are common in what is known as the Valentine’s Day. No doubt that there are many irreligious practices that occur on that day, and those practices are capable of dissuading people from the true meanings of love and altruism to the extent that the celebration is reduced to a moral decline.Post a Comment and tell us Your Views

Islam just for share What Islam Says About Valentine Day

What Islam Says About Valentine Day : First of all, we’d like to shed light on the origin of this festival, known as "Valentine Day&q...

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‘character’ class character class

Maher Afrasiab 1

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-935" height="98" src="http://hamarapakistan1947.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/character-class.jpg?w=150&h=98" title="Character-Class" width="150" /> </div><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Since the creation of Pakistan, we have been continuously suffering from every sorts of problem, be it from social, economical or educational. We have only succeeded and survived as a trembling state instead of a firm, strong and successful nation.</div><a name='more'></a> By Rashid Qutub Today every person has his own solution and theory to address the situation of the country, even the political parties are hardly sharing common grounds and platforms to come up with some miraculous solutions for betterment of Pakistan. For some, Pakistan has reached its worst situation today because it never had a clear, transparent and a practical vision. Some might curse the absence of a progressive educational policy. Some might blame the feudal class and some might consider the economic plight or the extremism factor to be responsible of our current scenario. The democratic and parliamentary history of Pakistan has also not been very impressive either, that could make us proud. So where lies the main deficiency? What could be the main reason of destruction of our national integrity? Can the main problem be diagnosed and pointed out? Pakistan has experienced almost all sorts of people, political parties, progressive and conservatives, who claim to provide people with the basic human necessities. There are also those who receive huge amount of money when they raised slogans of Qarz Utaro Mulk Sanwaro, then we have experienced Generals, both liberal and religious, Technocrat brands ranging from top World bank’s officials like Moeen Qureshi to CitiBank’s Shaukat Aziz. Sadly, after leaving premiership of Pakistan, they preferred to become financial advisor to prominent Indian businessman Lakshmi Mittal in 2010. Unfortunately, the nation continues to fall into a blind well, irrespective of whoever rules Pakistan. Even after 63 years of independence, we are inept to give transport solution to our people, we are unable to control the prices of basic needs and commodities, store rain water and avoid floods, can’t stop public violence like Sialkot incident. Furthermore, we aren’t able to eliminate the target killings in the financial hub of country. Adequate supply of energy and fuel still remains dream for us and more than half of our country is still deprived of clean drinking water. Of course there exist several solutions to our problems and these have been highlighted from time to time, individually by Pakistanis who feel the nation’s pain and also collectively suggested by different segments of our society. A very popular slogan is usually raised for the unification and uprising of middle class in order to solve all of our national problems. Personally, I consider this solution as only one of the remedies for the numerous evils and disorders we are facing whereas other solutions are still missing. If we study human history, irrespective of chronology and geographical regions, the utmost and prominent feature required for success of mankind is ‘character’, both individual and collective character of the society. No political, economical, social or religious reforms or revolution was able to gather noteworthy achievement and could remain triumphant without this fundamental value of ‘good character’. Let’s walk through history. We see that our beloved Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) not only addressed the poor and middle class segments of that age, but never missed any chance to guide the leading class of the society. The Islamic history is not complete without mentioning Usman Ghani (R.A.) who generously spent his wealth whenever required. We even find Prophet’s pray in Quran, seeking the help of an authority to help Him (P.B.U.H.) in accomplishing his Holy mission: <blockquote>“And grant me from You, an authority to help me.” Al- Isra- 80.</blockquote>Having said that, the very significant human attributes that were nurtured by Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) in the people of Arab were Piety and Taqwa (Fear of God), which resulted in a great characters in the individuals and in the entire Muslim society. So rather than simply focusing on middle class, Allah’s Messenger (P.B.U.H.) worked very hard to produce a human class of Character. Even if we don’t go far in history, we can see that while the Muslims of South Asia were struggling hard for a separate homeland, isn’t it noteworthy that the key person and focal point of the hopes of millions of Indian Muslims, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, also hailed from a rich mercantile family. He studied in one of the most prestigious Law Institutes of England, Licoln’s Inn. The man next to Quaid, who always stood tall and firm for the Pakistani nation throughout his political life was Nawabzada Liaqat Ali Khan son of Rukunuddaulah Nawab Rustarn Ali Khan, the Nawab of Karnal. He also, came from a very prosperous family and was able to successfully complete his bar-at-law from Oxford. These both gentlemen did not belonged to lower or middle class, but to my understanding they joined the ‘Character’ class and developed the basic required characteristics to lead the society, that greatly helped the Muslims of subcontinent. Despite the fact that they belonged to the Elite class of the society, they were able to achieve their political goals based on their good character. To conclude, we as a nation, needs to produce, develop and nurture the basic qualities of human character and then find for the solutions of our problems – social or economical does not matter. This would allow us to stand up and live as a proud nation. May Allah bless Pakistan and its people! Rashid Qutub is Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Technical University Hamburg, Germany. He is currently associated with a German company and comments on national issues

Ideology Islam Mera Iman Pakistan PAKISTAN ‘character’ class character class

Since the creation of Pakistan, we have been continuously suffering from every sorts of problem, be it from social, economical or educat...

where is Islam? Where is the Government?where is our haya?where is our IkhlaQ ?we Muslims?Is it Pakistan?Who had to Answer?

Maher Afrasiab 1

where is Islam? Where is the Government?where is our haya?where is our IkhlaQ ?we Muslims?Is it Pakistan?Who had to Answer?

Ideology Interviews Islam Mera Iman Pakistan PAKISTAN where is Islam? Where is the Government?where is our haya?where is our IkhlaQ ?we Muslims?Is it Pakistan?Who had to Answer?

“Steps shall be taken to enable the Muslims of Pakistan, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamen...

The Islamist Consensus!I wish this was not true

Maher Afrasiab 1

I wish this was not true but i am afraid its the reality... “My people will never agree upon an error.” (Hadith; Abu Daud, Al-Tirmidhi)How do you determine what a religion actually is? For instance, what is ‘true Islam’ and how do you determine that? “From the scriptures, of course” is not an adequate answer, because the scriptures don’t mean anything per se. They are always in need of interpretation, and they only mean something in the background of a theology. It is only a theology that links various portions of scripture in a coherent manner, resolves apparent contradictions, and provides a legal and moral framework for that religion. Interpretations vary, and so do theologies, and furthermore, these evolve with time. So, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a ‘true religion’ or ‘actual religion’; there are only different theologies, all based on the same scripture, interpreting it and relating to it in different ways, none of which is “true” or “false” in any objective sense.This does put us in a practical dilemma: how can we speak about a particular religion, when that religion is actually just an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ideologies? For instance, any statement you make about Christianity wouldn’t hold up if you began to analyze it with reference to all its individual sects, from Catholicism to Gnostic Christianity. Somewhere, some sect would be an exception. The same is the case with other religions and Islam. Any statement you make about Islam would likely not apply to all of its varieties, from orthodox Sunni to Perwezi Islam. So what do we do? The practical solution (and I repeat, the practical solution) to this we all apply, consciously or subconsciously, is that when we refer to a religion, we refer to the theological variety/sect that is the most dominant socially and politically, and which has the widest consensus of the followers and scholars of that religion. And when we have to refer to a non-dominant theology, we refer to it with a qualification. For example, when we refer to Christianity, we refer to Catholicism, and if we have to talk about some other sect, we have to qualify it, like Gnostic Christianity.The varieties of Islam that are being used in discourse these days are “Fundamentalist/Orthodox Islam” and “Liberal/Moderate/Progressive Islam”. Whenever Western thinkers criticize Islam at any point, the objection came up “Oh, no, the fundamentalists are just a minority. There is also the Moderate Islam. Talk about us; we are nice people.” And that was what was assumed by most, and which even West had to concede to in the name of political correctness. However, the current circumstances in Pakistan surrounding the murder of Salman Taseer have revealed something entirely different. Turns out, the silent majority, when it has spoken, doesn’t belong to Liberal Islam. Surprise, surprise, they all uphold fundamentalist ideology. The Fundamentalist Islam not only has a sweeping consensus of followers, it also has a well-developed theology, with all the references to Koran and Hadith & Sunnah worked out in detail. The Liberal Islam, in contrast, is not only in an exceeding small minority, it also lacks any consensus, it has barely any prominent scholars to point to, and it has no well-developed theology. Most of the proponents of Liberal Islam are actually young kids, who barely have an adequate knowledge of theology to compete in the religious discourse. One single properly referenced Hadith from a Fundamentalist can deflate a Liberal’s case. Yes, it’s that easy.Anyway, my point is, Fundamentalist Islam has demonstrated such wide-spread consensus and domination that they are now the current representatives of Islam. Liberal Muslims who are reading this will no doubt protest, but the facts are in front of all of us. Liberal Islam has failed. Liberal Islam has no consensus, has no scholars, has no properly worked out theology. It is all just a bunch of individual voices, shouting “No, this isn’t Islam.” It is also time that Western thinkers realize that this consensus in the favor of Fundamentalists has taken place. Fundamentalists are no longer in minority; Islam is no longer benign. It has become the current successor in the dynasty of fascists, nazis and communists, and it must be dealt with accordingly. Rome has spoken, the matter is settled.‘Fundamentalist Islam has demonstrated such wide-spread consensus and domination that they are now the current representatives of Islam. Liberal Muslims who are reading this will no doubt protest, but the facts are in front of all of us. Liberal Islam has failed. Liberal Islam has no consensus, has no scholars, has no properly worked out theology. It is all just a bunch of individual voices, shouting “No, this isn’t Islam.”‘

Islam news The Islamist Consensus!I wish this was not true

I wish this was not true but i am afraid its the reality... “My people will never agree upon an error.” (Hadith; Abu Daud, Al-Tirmidhi) How...