Friday 31 December 2010
Sunday 7 November 2010
UK Young, white convert female Muslim
Many have ridiculed such an assertion, however. A journalist wrote: “There were so many random, petty rules. No whistling. No chewing of gum. No riding bikes. No watching Top Of The Pops. No wearing make-up or clothes which revealed the shape of my body. No eating in the street or putting my hands in my pockets. No cutting my hair or painting my nails. No asking questions or answering back. No keeping dogs as pets (they’re unclean).
These ground rules were imposed by my father and I, therefore, assumed they must be an integral part of being a good Muslim. Small wonder, then, that as soon as I was old enough to exert my independence, I rejected the whole package. After all, what modern, liberated British woman would choose to live such a life?”
In spite of the unprecedented volume of attacks on Islam since 9/11, many women who have very successful careers are choosing Islam in an environment where it is not easy to be a Muslim in public life.
In the 2001 Census, there were at least 30,000 British Muslim converts in the UK. According to Kevin Brice, of the Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University, this number may now be closer to 50,000 – and the majority are women.
“Basic analysis shows that increasing numbers of young, university-educated women in their twenties and thirties are converting to Islam,” confirms Brice. At the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, women account for roughly two thirds of the “New Muslims” who make their official declarations of faith – and most of them are under the age of 30.
So the question that comes to mind is why are so-called liberated women choosing Islam.
Kristiane Backer, 43, and former MTV presenter led the kind of liberal Western-style life that many white British teenagers yearn for, yet turned her back on it and embraced Islam. In describing her reasons, she said: “the ‘anything goes’ permissive society that I coveted had proved to be a superficial void.” In a Daily mail article she said: “Because of the nature of my job, I’d been out interviewing rock stars, travelling all over the world and following every trend, yet I’d felt empty inside. Now, at last, I had contentment because Islam had given me a purpose in life. In the West, we are stressed for superficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God. It was a completely different value system. Despite my lifestyle, I felt empty inside and realised how liberating it was to be a Muslim. To follow only one god makes life purer. You are not chasing every fad”
According to Kevin Brice from Swansea University, who has specialised in studying white conversion to Islam explained that such women are part of an intriguing trend. He explains: “They seek spirituality, a higher meaning, and tend to be deep thinkers.”
While 9/11 has led to a western military and ideological onslaught on Islam, 9/11 has also been the catalyst for increasing numbers, born and bred in the west, to question and reject western hedonistic values and convert to Islam, discovering the true meaning and purpose for life, which provides tranquility and peace of mind. (HTB)
Home Sri Lanka Think Tank-UK (Main Link)
Friday 29 October 2010
Why ARE so many modern British career women converting to Islam?
Tony Blair’s sister-in-law announced her conversion to Islam last weekend. Journalist Lauren Booth embraced the faith after what she describes as a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.
Much of my childhood was spent trying to escape Islam.
Born in London to an English mother and a Pakistani Muslim father, I was brought up to follow my father’s faith without question.
But, privately, I hated it. The minute I left home for university at the age of 18, I abandoned it altogether.
As far as I was concerned, being a Muslim meant hearing the word ‘No’ over and over again.
Girls from my background were barred from so many of the things my English friends took for granted. Indeed, it seemed to me that almost anything fun was haram, or forbidden, to girls like me.
There were so many random, petty rules. No whistling. No chewing of gum. No riding bikes. No watching Top Of The Pops. No wearing make-up or clothes which revealed the shape of the body.
No eating in the street or putting my hands in my pockets. No cutting my hair or painting my nails. No asking questions or answering back. No keeping dogs as pets, (they were unclean).
And, of course, no sitting next to men, shaking their hands or even making eye contact with them.
These ground rules were imposed by my father and I, therefore, assumed they must be an integral part of being a good Muslim.
Small wonder, then, that as soon as I was old enough to exert my independence, I rejected the whole package and turned my back on Islam. After all, what modern, liberated British woman would choose to live such a life?
Well, quite a lot, it turns out, including Islam’s latest surprise convert, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth. And after my own break with my past, I’ve followed with fascination the growing trend of Western women choosing to convert to Islam.
Broadcaster and journalist Booth, 43, says she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.
She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom, and says: ‘It was a Tuesday evening, and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy.’
Before her awakening in Iran, she had been ‘sympathetic’ to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine. ‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she says.
How, I wondered, could women be drawn to a religion which I felt had kept me in such a lowly, submissive place? How could their experiences of Islam be so very different to mine?
According to Kevin Brice from Swansea University, who has specialised in studying white conversion to Islam, these women are part of an intriguing trend.
He explains: ‘They seek spirituality, a higher meaning, and tend to be deep thinkers. The other type of women who turn to Islam are what I call “converts of convenience”. They’ll assume the trappings of the religion to please their Muslim husband and his family, but won’t necessarily attend mosque, pray or fast.’
I spoke to a diverse selection of white Western converts in a bid to re-examine the faith I had rejected.
Women like Kristiane Backer, 43, a London-based former MTV presenter who had led the kind of liberal Western-style life that I yearned for as a teenager, yet who turned her back on it and embraced Islam instead. Her reason? The ‘anything goes’ permissive society that I coveted had proved to be a superficial void.
The turning point for Kristiane came when she met and briefly dated the former Pakistani cricketer and Muslim Imran Khan in 1992 during the height of her career. He took her to Pakistan where she says she was immediately touched by spirituality and the warmth of the people.
Kristiane says: ‘Though our relationship didn’t last, I began to study the Muslim faith and eventually converted. Because of the nature of my job, I’d been out interviewing rock stars, travelling all over the world and following every trend, yet I’d felt empty inside. Now, at last, I had contentment because Islam had given me a purpose in life.’
‘In the West, we are stressed for super ficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God. It was a completely different value system.
'Despite my lifestyle, I felt empty inside and realised how liberating it was to be a Muslim. To follow only one god makes life purer. You are not chasing every fad.
‘I grew up in Germany in a not very religious Protestant family. I drank and I partied, but I realised that we need to behave well now so we have a good after-life. We are responsible for our own actions.’
For a significant amount of women, their first contact with Islam comes from dating a Muslim boyfriend. Lynne Ali, 31, from Dagenham in Essex, freely admits to having been ‘a typical white hard-partying teenager’.
She says: ‘I would go out and get drunk with friends, wear tight and revealing clothing and date boys.
‘I also worked part-time as a DJ, so I was really into the club scene. I used to pray a bit as a Christian, but I used God as a sort of doctor, to fix things in my life. If anyone asked, I would’ve said that, generally, I was happy living life in the fast lane.’
But when she met her boyfriend, Zahid, at university, something dramatic happened.
She says: ‘His sister started talking to me about Islam, and it was as if everything in my life fitted into place. I think, underneath it all, I must have been searching for something, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled by my hard-drinking party lifestyle.’
Lynne converted aged 19. ‘From that day, I started wearing the hijab,’ she explains, ‘and I now never show my hair in public. At home, I’ll dress in normal Western clothes in front of my husband, but never out of the house.’
With a recent YouGov survey concluding that more than half the British public believe Islam to be a negative influence that encourages extremism, the repression of women and inequality, one might ask why any of them would choose such a direction for themselves.
Yet statistics suggest Islamic conversion is not a mere flash in the pan but a significant development. Islam is, after all, the world’s fastest growing religion, and white adopters are an important part of that story.
‘Evidence suggests that the ratio of Western women converts to male could be as high as 2:1,’ says Kevin Brice.
Moreover, he says, often these female converts are eager to display the visible signs of their faith — in particular the hijab — whereas many Muslim girls brought up in the faith choose not to.
‘Perhaps as a result of these actions, which tend to draw attention, white Muslims often report greater amounts of discrimination against them than do born Muslims,’ adds Brice, which is what happened to Kristiane Backer.
She says: ‘In Germany, there is Islamophobia. I lost my job when I converted. There was a Press campaign against me with insinuations about all Muslims supporting terrorists — I was vilified. Now, I am a presenter on NBC Europe.
‘I call myself a European Muslim, which is different to the ‘born’ Muslim. I was married to one, a Moroccan, but it didn’t work because he placed restrictions on me because of how he’d been brought up. As a European Muslim, I question everything — I don’t accept blindly.
‘But what I love is the hospitality and the warmth of the Muslim community. London is the best place in Europe for Muslims, there is wonderful Islamic culture here and I am very happy.’
For some converts, Islam represents a celebration of old-fashioned family values.
‘Some are drawn to the sense of belonging and of community — values which have eroded in the West,’ says Haifaa Jawad, a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, who has studied the white conversion phenomenon.
‘Many people, from all walks of life, mourn the loss in today’s society of traditional respect for the elderly and for women, for example. These are values which are enshrined in the Koran, which Muslims have to live by,’ adds Brice.
It is values like these which drew Camilla Leyland, 32, a yoga teacher who lives in Cornwall, to Islam. A single mother to daughter, Inaya, two, she converted in her mid-20s for ‘intellectual and feminist reasons’.
She explains: ‘I know people will be surprised to hear the words “feminism” and “Islam” in the same breath, but in fact, the teachings of the Koran give equality to women, and at the time the religion was born, the teachings went against the grain of a misogynistic society.
‘The big mistake people make is by confusing culture with religion. Yes, there are Muslim cultures which do not allow women individual freedom, yet when I was growing up, I felt more oppressed by Western society.’
She talks of the pressure on women to act like men by drinking and having casual sex. ‘There was no real meaning to it all. In Islam, if you begin a relationship, that is a commitment of intent.’
Growing up in Southampton — her father was the director of Southampton Institute of Education and her mother a home economics teacher — Camilla’s interest in Islam began at school.
She went to university and later took a Masters degree in Middle East Studies. But it was while living and working in Syria that she had a spiritual epiphany. Reflecting on what she’d read in the Koran, she realised she wanted to convert.
Her decision was met with bemusement by friends and family.
‘People found it so hard to believe that an educated, middle-class white woman would choose to become Muslim,’ she says.
While Camilla’s faith remains strong, she no longer wears the hijab in public. But several of the women I spoke to said strict Islamic dress was something they found empowering and liberating.
Lynne Ali remembers the night this hit home for her. ‘I went to an old friend’s 21st birthday party in a bar,’ she reveals. ‘I walked in, wearing my hijab and modest clothing, and saw how everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.
‘For the first time, I could see my former life with an outsider’s eyes, and I knew I could never go back to that.
‘I am so grateful I found my escape route. This is the real me — I am happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the mosque. I am no longer a slave to a broken society and its expectations.’
Kristiane Backer, who has written a book on her own spiritual journey, called From MTV To Mecca, believes the new breed of modern, independent Muslims can band together to show the world that Islam is not the faith I grew up in — one that stamps on the rights of women.
She says: ‘I know women born Muslims who became disillusioned an d rebelled against it. When you dig deeper, it’s not the faith they turned against, but the culture.
'Rules like marrying within the same sect or caste and education being less important for girls, as they should get married anyway —– where does it say that in the Koran? It doesn’t.
‘Many young Muslims have abandoned the “fire and brimstone” version they were born into have re-discovered a more spiritual and intellectual approach, that’s free from the cultural dogmas of the older generation. That’s how I intend to spend my life, showing the world the beauty of the true Islam.’
While I don’t agree with their sentiments, I admire and respect the women I interviewed for this piece.
They were all bright and educated, and have thought long and hard before choosing to convert to Islam — and now feel passionately about their adopted religion. Good luck to them. And good luck to Lauren Booth. But it’s that word that sums up the difference between their experience and mine — choice.
Perhaps if I’d felt in control rather than controlled, if I’d felt empowered rather than stifled, I would still be practising the religion I was born into, and would not carry the burden of guilt that I do about rejecting my father’s faith. (Dailymail)
She is just one of a growing number of modern British career women to do so. Here, writer EVE AHMED, who was raised as a Muslim before rejecting the faith, explores the reasons why.
Rejecting her faith: Writer Eve Ahmed was raised a Muslim
Born in London to an English mother and a Pakistani Muslim father, I was brought up to follow my father’s faith without question.
But, privately, I hated it. The minute I left home for university at the age of 18, I abandoned it altogether.
As far as I was concerned, being a Muslim meant hearing the word ‘No’ over and over again.
Girls from my background were barred from so many of the things my English friends took for granted. Indeed, it seemed to me that almost anything fun was haram, or forbidden, to girls like me.
There were so many random, petty rules. No whistling. No chewing of gum. No riding bikes. No watching Top Of The Pops. No wearing make-up or clothes which revealed the shape of the body.
No eating in the street or putting my hands in my pockets. No cutting my hair or painting my nails. No asking questions or answering back. No keeping dogs as pets, (they were unclean).
And, of course, no sitting next to men, shaking their hands or even making eye contact with them.
These ground rules were imposed by my father and I, therefore, assumed they must be an integral part of being a good Muslim.
Small wonder, then, that as soon as I was old enough to exert my independence, I rejected the whole package and turned my back on Islam. After all, what modern, liberated British woman would choose to live such a life?
Well, quite a lot, it turns out, including Islam’s latest surprise convert, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth. And after my own break with my past, I’ve followed with fascination the growing trend of Western women choosing to convert to Islam.
Broadcaster and journalist Booth, 43, says she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.
She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom, and says: ‘It was a Tuesday evening, and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy.’
Before her awakening in Iran, she had been ‘sympathetic’ to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine. ‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she says.
How, I wondered, could women be drawn to a religion which I felt had kept me in such a lowly, submissive place? How could their experiences of Islam be so very different to mine?
Convert: Lauren Booth, who is Cherie Blair's half sister, decided to convert to Islam after what she described as a holy experience in Iran
According to Kevin Brice from Swansea University, who has specialised in studying white conversion to Islam, these women are part of an intriguing trend.
He explains: ‘They seek spirituality, a higher meaning, and tend to be deep thinkers. The other type of women who turn to Islam are what I call “converts of convenience”. They’ll assume the trappings of the religion to please their Muslim husband and his family, but won’t necessarily attend mosque, pray or fast.’
I spoke to a diverse selection of white Western converts in a bid to re-examine the faith I had rejected.
Women like Kristiane Backer, 43, a London-based former MTV presenter who had led the kind of liberal Western-style life that I yearned for as a teenager, yet who turned her back on it and embraced Islam instead. Her reason? The ‘anything goes’ permissive society that I coveted had proved to be a superficial void.
Changing values: Camilla Leyland, 32, pictured in Western and Muslim dress, converted to Islam in her mid-20s for 'intellectual and feminist reasons'
Kristiane says: ‘Though our relationship didn’t last, I began to study the Muslim faith and eventually converted. Because of the nature of my job, I’d been out interviewing rock stars, travelling all over the world and following every trend, yet I’d felt empty inside. Now, at last, I had contentment because Islam had given me a purpose in life.’
‘In the West, we are stressed for super ficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God. It was a completely different value system.
'In the West, we are stressed for super ficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God'
‘I grew up in Germany in a not very religious Protestant family. I drank and I partied, but I realised that we need to behave well now so we have a good after-life. We are responsible for our own actions.’
For a significant amount of women, their first contact with Islam comes from dating a Muslim boyfriend. Lynne Ali, 31, from Dagenham in Essex, freely admits to having been ‘a typical white hard-partying teenager’.
She says: ‘I would go out and get drunk with friends, wear tight and revealing clothing and date boys.
‘I also worked part-time as a DJ, so I was really into the club scene. I used to pray a bit as a Christian, but I used God as a sort of doctor, to fix things in my life. If anyone asked, I would’ve said that, generally, I was happy living life in the fast lane.’
But when she met her boyfriend, Zahid, at university, something dramatic happened.
She says: ‘His sister started talking to me about Islam, and it was as if everything in my life fitted into place. I think, underneath it all, I must have been searching for something, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled by my hard-drinking party lifestyle.’
Liberating: Kristiane Backer says being a Muslim makes her life purer
With a recent YouGov survey concluding that more than half the British public believe Islam to be a negative influence that encourages extremism, the repression of women and inequality, one might ask why any of them would choose such a direction for themselves.
Yet statistics suggest Islamic conversion is not a mere flash in the pan but a significant development. Islam is, after all, the world’s fastest growing religion, and white adopters are an important part of that story.
‘Evidence suggests that the ratio of Western women converts to male could be as high as 2:1,’ says Kevin Brice.
Moreover, he says, often these female converts are eager to display the visible signs of their faith — in particular the hijab — whereas many Muslim girls brought up in the faith choose not to.
‘Perhaps as a result of these actions, which tend to draw attention, white Muslims often report greater amounts of discrimination against them than do born Muslims,’ adds Brice, which is what happened to Kristiane Backer.
She says: ‘In Germany, there is Islamophobia. I lost my job when I converted. There was a Press campaign against me with insinuations about all Muslims supporting terrorists — I was vilified. Now, I am a presenter on NBC Europe.
‘I call myself a European Muslim, which is different to the ‘born’ Muslim. I was married to one, a Moroccan, but it didn’t work because he placed restrictions on me because of how he’d been brought up. As a European Muslim, I question everything — I don’t accept blindly.
‘But what I love is the hospitality and the warmth of the Muslim community. London is the best place in Europe for Muslims, there is wonderful Islamic culture here and I am very happy.’
For some converts, Islam represents a celebration of old-fashioned family values.
Ex-MTV Presenter Kristiane Backer with Mick Jagger in the late Eighties
‘Many people, from all walks of life, mourn the loss in today’s society of traditional respect for the elderly and for women, for example. These are values which are enshrined in the Koran, which Muslims have to live by,’ adds Brice.
It is values like these which drew Camilla Leyland, 32, a yoga teacher who lives in Cornwall, to Islam. A single mother to daughter, Inaya, two, she converted in her mid-20s for ‘intellectual and feminist reasons’.
She explains: ‘I know people will be surprised to hear the words “feminism” and “Islam” in the same breath, but in fact, the teachings of the Koran give equality to women, and at the time the religion was born, the teachings went against the grain of a misogynistic society.
Escape route: Former DJ Lynne Ali is happy to pray five times a day
She talks of the pressure on women to act like men by drinking and having casual sex. ‘There was no real meaning to it all. In Islam, if you begin a relationship, that is a commitment of intent.’
Growing up in Southampton — her father was the director of Southampton Institute of Education and her mother a home economics teacher — Camilla’s interest in Islam began at school.
She went to university and later took a Masters degree in Middle East Studies. But it was while living and working in Syria that she had a spiritual epiphany. Reflecting on what she’d read in the Koran, she realised she wanted to convert.
Her decision was met with bemusement by friends and family.
‘People found it so hard to believe that an educated, middle-class white woman would choose to become Muslim,’ she says.
While Camilla’s faith remains strong, she no longer wears the hijab in public. But several of the women I spoke to said strict Islamic dress was something they found empowering and liberating.
Lynne Ali remembers the night this hit home for her. ‘I went to an old friend’s 21st birthday party in a bar,’ she reveals. ‘I walked in, wearing my hijab and modest clothing, and saw how everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.
‘For the first time, I could see my former life with an outsider’s eyes, and I knew I could never go back to that.
‘I am so grateful I found my escape route. This is the real me — I am happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the mosque. I am no longer a slave to a broken society and its expectations.’
Kristiane Backer, who has written a book on her own spiritual journey, called From MTV To Mecca, believes the new breed of modern, independent Muslims can band together to show the world that Islam is not the faith I grew up in — one that stamps on the rights of women.
She says: ‘I know women born Muslims who became disillusioned an d rebelled against it. When you dig deeper, it’s not the faith they turned against, but the culture.
'Rules like marrying within the same sect or caste and education being less important for girls, as they should get married anyway —– where does it say that in the Koran? It doesn’t.
‘Many young Muslims have abandoned the “fire and brimstone” version they were born into have re-discovered a more spiritual and intellectual approach, that’s free from the cultural dogmas of the older generation. That’s how I intend to spend my life, showing the world the beauty of the true Islam.’
While I don’t agree with their sentiments, I admire and respect the women I interviewed for this piece.
They were all bright and educated, and have thought long and hard before choosing to convert to Islam — and now feel passionately about their adopted religion. Good luck to them. And good luck to Lauren Booth. But it’s that word that sums up the difference between their experience and mine — choice.
Perhaps if I’d felt in control rather than controlled, if I’d felt empowered rather than stifled, I would still be practising the religion I was born into, and would not carry the burden of guilt that I do about rejecting my father’s faith. (Dailymail)
Thursday 28 October 2010
Tony Blair's Sister-in-Law (Laura Booth) Accepts Islam
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Media Watch;
Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth converts to Islam after a 'holy experience' in Iran; Read more>>>
Why ARE so many modern British career women converting to Islam? Read more>>>
Home Sri Lanka Think Tank-UK (Main Link)
Friday 22 October 2010
Former opera singer and now revert talks about Jesus & Mary in Islam part 01-05
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Noor Saadeh used to be a professional concert and opera singer. After she embraced Islam, she left her life of showbiz. She discusses the role of Jesus (pbuh) and Mary in Islam.
Home Sri Lanka Think Tank-UK (Main Link)
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Noor Saadeh used to be a professional concert and opera singer. After she embraced Islam, she left her life of showbiz. She discusses the role of Jesus (pbuh) and Mary in Islam.
Home Sri Lanka Think Tank-UK (Main Link)
British Catholic Priest Converted To ISLAM. Subhanallah !! (MUST WATCH IT)
Wonderful Story about former Catholic Priest who used to work in Vatican and left all that for islam after he found the right Path to the Truth.
NBC NEWS: 20000 Americans Convert To ISLAM Each Year, 75% Of Them Women. Source:http://video.msn.com/?mkt=e... Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam is going to dominate man...
NBC NEWS: 20000 Americans Convert To ISLAM Each Year, 75% Of Them Women.
Source:
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&b...
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam is going to dominate many Places in USA and Europe in the next few years, and is now a fiery revival sweeping much of the planet from Africa to Asia to Latin America to Europe to USA.
The number of Europeans, Americans, Latinos and Africans converting to Islam is growing rapidly
check it out !!
CNN WORLD NEWS: Islam is the fastest-growing religion
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9704/14/egyp...
Islam is Fastest Growing Religion in United States:
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles...
Times on line: Thousands of british people convert to islam every year:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news...
Why European women are turning to Islam:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1227/p0...
Washington-Report: The Nation's Fastest Growing Religion
http://www.washington-report.org/back...
Washington Post: Islam Luring More Latinos
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-...
Islam is spreading among Thousands black South Africans
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id...
Washington Post: Islam Attracting Many Thousands Survivors of Rwanda Genocide
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
Islam - World's Fastest Growing Religion
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/301...
Many Converts to Islam Homepage:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Converts/
More Sources:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xf...
Learn more about islam:
http://www.islamreligion.com/
http://www.islam-guide.com/
http://www.sultan.org/
http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/
Today the fastest growing religion in the World is Islam..spreading through the Sword of intellect and Wisdom .
http://www.islamicweb.com/begin/resul...
in islam before we believe we have to get the Evidence of the religion to be committed without any doubt and to live contently.
Muslims don`t look islam as a normal religion, but as a whole system of Life, which gives all answers about this life and hereafter.
many people don`t think how they came to this life and what is waiting them after death. they just do not want to think about their death although they must meet it.......
The followers of other religions have no decisive proof for their belief, therefore they believe in their religions emotionally or through imitation. Some of them think that you just have to have faith without clear proof. However when it comes to normal things in life people apply a lot of thought such as buying a car, house, choosing a University course or which bank to join, so how can it be that when it comes to the most important questions about life; which define the purpose of our lives that we should just have 'faith' without being convinced absolutely.
It is therefore vital for a Muslim to believe in the existence of Allah (swt) without any doubt whatsoever and to believe in the Prophethood of Muhammad (saw) and that the Qur'an is the final revelation sent by Allah (swt) to humanity. Islam is unlike all the other religions as it has a decisive proof that convinces the mind.
Read and Listen Holy Quran online:
http://www.ediscoverislam.com/quran-o...
Discover Islam Web Book CD..
A comprehensive learning guide to understanding Islam..For Muslims and non Muslims:
http://www.ediscoverislam.com/downloa...
Sunday 5 September 2010
MIKE TYSON’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Former US heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, who is on a visit to the Kingdom to perform Umrah, Sunday prayed at the Quba’ and Qiblatain mosques.
He also visited the Islamic University and met the university’s president, Dr. Muhammad Al-Oqla, and American nationals studying there.
Tyson was mobbed wherever he went. Large numbers of fans gathered around the hotel where he is staying near the Prophet’s Mosque. Some people waited for hours just to see him and take his pictures.
Tyson had to scurry toward the Prophet’s Mosque for Dhuhr prayers as fans gathered around him in large numbers. He used the Shimagh of one of his companions to cover his head but the fans recognized him and followed him.
“I am happy that I have fans who love me here in the Kingdom, but I hope they leave me alone to enjoy my spiritual moments at the Holy Sites,” he said.
“I couldn’t resist shedding tears when I came to know that I was in one of the gardens of paradise,” Tyson said referring to Arrawda in the Prophet’s Mosque.
Tyson was accompanied by Shahzad Muhammad, head of the Canadian Dawah Association, which organized his visit to Saudi Arabia .
“Tyson became emotional when offering Salam to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),” said Shahzad.
“He cried for more than half an hour while standing in front of the Prophet’s grave, raising his hands.”
“He remained in front of the Rawdah for hours praying, reciting the Qur’an and making supplications,” Shahzad said.
Later Mike Tyson went to the Meqat to change into Ihram for Umrah. - Okaz/SG
Home Sri Lanka Think Tank-UK (Main Link)
Sunday 22 August 2010
Canadian Sis. Crystal Convert From Christianity to Islam 1-2
NB:
Sister Crystal talks about how she found Islam and about her journey from Christianity to Islam, and about what Islam means to her to be a Muslim.
Sister Crystal talks about how she found Islam and about her journey from Christianity to Islam, and about what Islam means to her to be a Muslim.
Friday 18 June 2010
22 Born American who converted to Islam and went to Hajj
NB:
Mexican Girls make Shahadah
An Entire Family Took Shahada
Ends/
Mexican Girls make Shahadah
An Entire Family Took Shahada
Ends/
Saturday 24 April 2010
Author Sarah Malani Treated with Respect - Latheef Farook
Detained Author Sarah Malani Perera. Muslim community failed
A three member team which visited the Mirihana Police on Monday 12 April l 2010 found that the allegation that Sarah Malani Perera was ill treated was false. Instead, according to Sarah Malini Perera, she had been treated with respect and dignity and provided with all required facilities.
The team which included Senior Journalists Hamza Haniffa ,Latheef Farook and community activist Dr Zurfick Ghouse visited Mirihana Police where Sarah Malani Perera was detained .The purpose of the visit was not only find out first hand her condition besides ensuring that the controversy surrounding her detention was not exploited by unscrupulous elements to pit the Sinhalese against Muslims.
They were received very well by officers at all levels who took time to explain in detail the manner she was treated .They all said that the delay in finalizing her issue was due to last week’s parliamentary elections which kept the police busy as that had to work round the clock.
When the team asked whether they could meet Sarah Malani and talk to her in person to find what really had happened the officer concerned gave immediate instruction to bring her.
She entered our room, dressed in black abaya and headscarf, with all graciousness and greeted us with salaams. When asked what really had happened she had this to say;
She had written and published with her money two books-From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers. One book is a comparative study of five different religions and one among them is Buddhism. In fact was a comparative study and was an intellectual exercise. It was not aimed at criticizing any religion in keeping with the strict Islamic teachings which strictly forbids any form of, mild or otherwise, insult of other religions and those who practice it.
She went to courier service ARAMEX office in Colombo suburbs to send some copies of these books to Bahrain. The officer concerned was very polite and she did not find any hostility towards her although later he started questioning whether she was a Sinhalese and then converted to Islam .Though irrelevant to the ARAMEX official whose duty was only to send the cargo and do the documentation Sarah Malani answered all his questions and left the office to bring the balance following as the money was insufficient to pay for the cargo. She the discussions were pleasant even at the point of her leaving the office.
She visited the ARAMEX office following with the required money and even presented copies of her these two books to the officer with whom she was dealing there and told him clearly to read the book in full to understand it properly and not to take out of context.
After completing all formalities with regard to her cargo she left the ARAMEX office. Even at that point the officer concerned was very pleasant with her. Stepping out of the ARAMEX office she was met with a person in civil who inquired about her name and stopped for while before started talking on mobile and giving the di9rection of the ARAMEX office. Then the vehicle came and she was brought to the Mirihana Police.
She was shocked and surprised. Obviously the ARAMEX officer who pretended to be friendly had informed the police. However as a person with strong faith in Allah she decided to accept what was going on.
She claims she has not done anything wrong and the police officers treated well there up-to-date she is confident that she would be released within days as there is nothing to be accused of under any law.
“Pray for me” is the only answer with a pleasant smile and confidence when we asked whether she needs any assistance from us.
Meanwhile police officials said routine inquiries have been underway and it is matter of days before this issue was solved.
Concerned Muslims (there were just a few of them) expressed shock that the plight of this sister in Islam had not evoked concern by fellow Muslims in the Island. As a writer in a Sunday paper remarked:"While the case of Rifca Barry in the USA had been taken up by a host of Muslim lawyers ,in the case of Sarah there were no Muslim lawyers to help her".
The Prophet(sal) had said that the Muslims were like one body,if one part felt pain ,the whole body would feel it". Unfortunately at the present time, as seen vividly in the case of Sarah brotherhood and sisterhood seem to be a thing of the past. Muslims seem to have become like the Israelites of old who toldthe Prophets when confronted with enemies "you and god go and fight the battle..."
Muslim apathy and indifference is unbelievable, and if this situation continues we are in for great disaster .May Allah guide us all!
Ends/
The team which included Senior Journalists Hamza Haniffa ,Latheef Farook and community activist Dr Zurfick Ghouse visited Mirihana Police where Sarah Malani Perera was detained .The purpose of the visit was not only find out first hand her condition besides ensuring that the controversy surrounding her detention was not exploited by unscrupulous elements to pit the Sinhalese against Muslims.
They were received very well by officers at all levels who took time to explain in detail the manner she was treated .They all said that the delay in finalizing her issue was due to last week’s parliamentary elections which kept the police busy as that had to work round the clock.
When the team asked whether they could meet Sarah Malani and talk to her in person to find what really had happened the officer concerned gave immediate instruction to bring her.
She entered our room, dressed in black abaya and headscarf, with all graciousness and greeted us with salaams. When asked what really had happened she had this to say;
She went to courier service ARAMEX office in Colombo suburbs to send some copies of these books to Bahrain. The officer concerned was very polite and she did not find any hostility towards her although later he started questioning whether she was a Sinhalese and then converted to Islam .Though irrelevant to the ARAMEX official whose duty was only to send the cargo and do the documentation Sarah Malani answered all his questions and left the office to bring the balance following as the money was insufficient to pay for the cargo. She the discussions were pleasant even at the point of her leaving the office.
She visited the ARAMEX office following with the required money and even presented copies of her these two books to the officer with whom she was dealing there and told him clearly to read the book in full to understand it properly and not to take out of context.
After completing all formalities with regard to her cargo she left the ARAMEX office. Even at that point the officer concerned was very pleasant with her. Stepping out of the ARAMEX office she was met with a person in civil who inquired about her name and stopped for while before started talking on mobile and giving the di9rection of the ARAMEX office. Then the vehicle came and she was brought to the Mirihana Police.
She was shocked and surprised. Obviously the ARAMEX officer who pretended to be friendly had informed the police. However as a person with strong faith in Allah she decided to accept what was going on.
She claims she has not done anything wrong and the police officers treated well there up-to-date she is confident that she would be released within days as there is nothing to be accused of under any law.
“Pray for me” is the only answer with a pleasant smile and confidence when we asked whether she needs any assistance from us.
Meanwhile police officials said routine inquiries have been underway and it is matter of days before this issue was solved.
Concerned Muslims (there were just a few of them) expressed shock that the plight of this sister in Islam had not evoked concern by fellow Muslims in the Island. As a writer in a Sunday paper remarked:"While the case of Rifca Barry in the USA had been taken up by a host of Muslim lawyers ,in the case of Sarah there were no Muslim lawyers to help her".
Muslim apathy and indifference is unbelievable, and if this situation continues we are in for great disaster .May Allah guide us all!
Ends/
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