Girls: “Where are you guys from?”

Us:“ I’m originally from Egypt, and I (my friend) am half Laotian and half Palestinian. But born and raised here.”

I saw one of the girls eying me while I was in line, I had a feeling she wanted to strike up conversation. She asks about the hijab and why we’re wearing it, and she asks what religion we are and when we told her we’re Muslims, she asked to know a little more about our beliefs.

I asked her if her and her friend had some time and asked them to sit down. So they sat.

From the beginning I knew she wasn’t genuinely asking in order to know about our beliefs, but I knew she wanted to try to convert us to Christianity. I love it when they try to do it, because never once has someone approached me for that purpose without them leaving defeated in all their arguments , walhamdulillah.

I could make this post just on the dawah that was given that one day, but I think to make this post a little more interactive and beneficial I want to know what techniques and responses YOU give to Christians when they come with certain arguments.

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I will give you a question, and give you my response, and I would like you to give the responses you give to them when they tell you these things, let’s call it the “Frequently Asked Dawah Questions:”

1. Jesus is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — He came down to earth, in the flesh, so that he may die for our sins! (Insert some hallelujahs.)

My Technique: Break down the concept of the Trinity.

What I say: OK, Let’s take the concept of the Trinity. Christians believe that every person must accept the this in order to be saved, yet no two Christians will ever agree upon their explanation of the Trinity. Ask many questions to explain it, and they’ll say “Well, it’s kind of complicated but…” If this concept was truly from God sent down so that all of mankind should follow it, why is it so complicated? The very core of the Christian religion, it’s whole belief system is based on a concept Christians themselves cannot agree upon. Truely, if something was sent from God, he would make it very clear and easy to understand and to follow.

That is why in Islam, we have the concept of the oneness of God. If you leave a baby in the middle of the desert with no outside influences, will that baby grow up naturally calling upon God, or will that baby call upon Jesus? Every person is born upon the natural instinct of worshiping God alone, not associating partners with Him.

Also, just to go back to the concept of the trinity. Christians believe that Jesus was crucified, and while he was on the cross they said he said, “God, why have you forsaken me?” So if he is God? Was he talking to himself while he was on the cross? Or didn’t he know that he was going to be crucified if that’s the whole reason he came to earth in the first place?

(When I brought this argument to the girl, all she could say was that he just said that because it was such a hard time for him) lol.

2. But he died for our sins, so that we can be forgiven!

My Technique: Point to the injustice caused by this concept.

What I say: This concept goes against the perfect justice of God. And let’s use an example: Hitler. Hitler claimed to be a Christian. He was responsible for the killing of millions of people. Would it be fair for him to die and go straight to heaven without being punished, just because he says he accepts Jesus as his savior, and that he died for his sins? No. This goes against the perfect justice of God. What prevents a Christian from not doing crimes and heinous actions, if all their sins will be forgiven? This is not logical.

We as Muslims believe that we are responsible for our own sins. And we must first be Muslims, submitters to Allah alone, to enter paradise. However, that’s not to say that we cannot be punished for our sins. No one enters paradise without the Mercy of Allah. So we can repent before our death, and He will forgive us of our sins. But on the day of Judgment, Allah may send us to be punished in hell for what we’ve committed for a while, then after the punishment bring us to paradise.

3. No, but, Christians will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment, We have to act in accordance with Christ.

My Technique: Show them they just contradicted themselves

What I say: (What do you guys say?) I honestly just say, you just said that he died for your sins, and now you’re telling me that there’s a possibility that you will not go to heaven because of your sins?

Sometimes I get a reply “People are punished in this world.”

4. But in the Bible it says, no person can get to heaven except through me.

My Technique: Prove the Bible is no longer the true word of Allah.

What I say: There are really too many things that I say in this case. But I usually go the route of saying all historians and in any secular religious class you learn that the Bible was altered after it was revealed; by Mark, Luke, Paul, John — not only that, over 100 years after Jesus was gone. No one denies this. It was altered and therefore does not remain the true word of God, but rather the words of men. Therefore, any evidenced used from the Bible cannot be taken, because it’s no longer a true message.

Also, another thing I say, is for them to look at a “Red Lettered Bible” what this is, is a Bible that supposedly highlights the “Words that Jesus said” in red. Tell them that even their own altered book, if they look through it, and look at all those highlight places, they will not ever find a place where Jesus said to worship him, he said to “Worship thy father alone.” i.e. Worship Allah alone.

Then bring it back to saying that Jesus came with the exact same message as all the other prophets, “To worship Allah alone.”

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These are a couple of questions that almost always come up when giving dawah to Christians. These are my typical responses, what are yours?

What other FAQs can you think of, and what are your replies?

I heard all of these same questions from the girls at the coffee shop, and those were my responses. Needless to say the girl that was doing all the talking was left with no arguments. And the other girl, just sat there listening, looking a little shaken by her belief system. She didn’t look like she was ready to argue any of it, but subhanAllah, the girl looked like perhaps she just stumbled upon the truth. Wallahu alem. May Allah guide them both. ameen.

Looking forward to hearing your dawah techniques, inshaAllah.

Such a claim is hard to make without stating what are the reasons that lead me to believe this, so bear with me if you will while I outline some incidents you may have missed:

1. The “Obesssion DVD” distributed through swing states.

Recently, as many of you have heard, supporters of John McCain distributed copies of the Fox News produced DVD “Obsession” through various swing states during this election year. “Obsession” is an anti-Islamic DVD aimed at fear-mongering. A dirty political stunt, if you will. They distributed it via mail but more relevantly, they paid major newspapers to have the DVD inserted within the fold as a sort of an advertisement.

How do the Muslims feel about this?

Angry. Seeing any clip from the DVD is enough to make your head boil. It’s the typical anti-Islamic rhetoric we’ve been hearing since 9/11. “Terrorist, Islamist, etc., etc.”

How did the recipients of the DVD feel?

Furious. Yeah, that was a surprise to me too.

Recently, in an article published in the associated press, discribed the some of the reactions and consequences to distributing the DVD:

Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor’s right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

“This is definitely the most feedback that I’ve gotten to an ad,” said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. “It’s among the heaviest reaction I’ve gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative.”

Vaden said the paper received about 500 e-mail and phone messages and had some 50 cancellations. He said the paper may have sparked some of the complaints by writing a front-page story calling attention to “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” the DVD insert that critics have denounced as anti-Muslim propaganda.

Newspapers generally insist on giving a platform to a variety of viewpoints, but readers who complained were largely critical.

“I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk `Obsession’ in my newspaper!” Margaret Lewis of Durham, N.C., wrote to The News & Observer. “What will you enclose next? KKK robes?”

2. The Presidential Election

Obama, has a pretty good lead over McCain with the second of the presidential debates just ending – despite all the attempts at tying him in with Islam and “Terrorism.”

Recently, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin made comments at a fundraiser regarding Senator Barack Obama attempting to reestablish this notion that the senator was tied to “terrorism.”

“Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo.

“This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,” she said. “We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism.”

The Times reported Palin as referring to a man by the name of William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

In fact, the Times was particularly turned off by Palin’s statements:

In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers’ day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as “not like us” is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

It seems that the general public is sick of the fear-mongering and no longer blindly led to believe anything an opinion leader has to say, such as was seen in the aftermath of 9/11.

Nasru Min Allah, wa fathu Kareeb!

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So if there really is a different perception about Islam than we’ve seen in the years post 9/11, what is the cause?

Could it be that Islam is entering into every household as prophecized as one of the last signs before the day of judgment?

Perhaps mass media is not the best way to convey the message of Islam. That’s a weighty thing to say coming from a Muslim who went into mass media for the sake of Allah and spreading His deen. But my statement does not come without reason to believe that in order to really continue to change the world’s perception of Islam, we should continue with one-on-one dawah. Much like the example of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam during the early Mekkan period.

The following is a rubric for persuasion in mass media, that can very much be applied to Dawah for the sake of Allah:

Keep in mind:

Advertising and promotional media are controlled media, generally external to the (person/organization doing the marketing/PR work), that also offers access to large audiences.

News Media provide opportunities for the credible presentation of organizational messages to large audiences.

Organizational media are published or produced by the organization, which controls the message content as well as its timing, packaging and distribution.

Interpersonal communication offers face-to-face opportunities for personal involvement and interaction.

How does this all relate to the first part of the post?

Well, if we analyze the situation of Muslims in the West post 9/11 and see what is leading to this change in perception, we should analyze this model.

It’s pretty obvious that very few successful attempts at getting the proper message of Islam dissiminated through mass media whether that was advertising and promotional media, news media, and organizational media. Those in esence reach the greater audiences but dont have as big as an impact with regard to persuasion.

However, you’ll notice that interpersonal dawah efforts sky rocketed and this still remains the case, which is in my humble opinion I see is a big factor to the changing perception. It may happen slowly but there is no doubt that it is surely happening, wallahu alem.

With that said, the reason I went into mass media is because of the lack of Muslims with a proper understanding of the deen of Allah who are actually withing the feild of mass media. Sure, I’m still learning, but I hope that through my quest to seek knowledge it’ll help reach that larger audience, the mass media.

We generally cannot say that speaking to mass audiences is not effective at all — because it is. But when you throw in elements such as the guidance of Allah, planting the seed of iman in someone’s heart, and the barakah Allah ‘az wa jal has placed in your dawah, you will not only be able to reach mass audiences, but inshaAllah perhaps have mass persuasion as well.

WAllahu ta’ala alem.

*Note: I didn’t edit this post yet, please disregard all typos and grammatical errors… it’s been a long week.

Last year, I wrote and delivered a five minute speech to my public relations class. I decided to take the easy way out of the assignment and decided to take the opportunity for dawah and picked the subject of prejudice to talk about. I chose excerpts from my past opinion columns in The Daily Reveille and made them into my speech.

After delivering the speech one girl came up to me and said, “It really does make me see how ignorant we really are. Especially seeing how it’s only the actions of few that get attributed to your religion.” Others told me it was a successful PR speech because it made them look at their own beliefs about Islam and compare them to my words. I didn’t expect that feedback. Alhamdulillah it was successful, all by the will of Allah. And only Allah has allowed me such opportunities, walhamdulillah.

Meanwhile, I was working on a media kit for Leechon and particularly the upcoming documentary, “Tufaan.” During that time, we came up with the idea of shooting public service announcement videos to put at the beginning of every documentary that Leechon would produce — especially Tufaan, since its primary target audience is non-Muslims. Hence, the idea to use my speech as a script for the PSA emerged.

So we decided to do it much like the format of the “Bear Witness” video that Br. Belal Khan had produced a while back, where every person would read two lines from the script. Here’s the Bear Witness video, which in my opinion is an really nice dawah video:

*video removed because sisters shown in video

Anyway, Br. Ahmed Eid, a brother from NJ who has been working with me and the PR team for quite a while took up the challenge of shooting and editing the video for Leechon. MashaAllah, it turned out great. Although I don’t personally know anyone in the video, I wanted to give a big jazakum Allahu Khairan katheeran for the work and effort you guys put into it. May Allah make it heavy on your scales, ameeeeen. And inshaAllah I look forward to working with you all in the future, bi’ithnillahi ta’ala.

So without further adeiu, our PSA: FREEDOM FROM FEAR

(video removed)

Lastly, in the future I would like to write dawah videos that are not on the defense. Sure there are people who hate Islam, sure there is still a lot of anti-Islamic sentiment around, but I would like to move away from being on the defense to speaking to people in general about Islam. A PSA about “Islam” why they see us prostrating on the floor when we pray, etc.

Good things to come inshaAllah. Give us your feedback and if you like it spread it around inshaAllah.

I found this really cute video a couple of weeks ago of Kermit the frog and a little cute, adorable girl. I put it up and submitted it to Stumble Upon. I purposely put it under the “Islam” category because my blog is mainly about Islamic topics and they are my target audience.

Some stumblers thought I was “stupid” for doing so, so they changed the tag to the “humor” section. The result?

Hundreds of thousands of new visitors to my blog.

My RSS feed subscriber went from 7,000 to 20,000 then broke from overload. (I’m assuming i have close to 50,000 subscribers now)

And a load of comments came – some good and some bad.

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I’ll be perfectly honest, it caused me a little anxiety. Why? Because I have over thousands of non-Muslims subscribed to my Islamicly themed blog. Why would this cause me stress? Because of everything that I wanted to get away from due to my experience writing columns about Islam in The Daily Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper. Sure there were good comments and bad comments, but the worst part was I had no power at all to respond to those bad comments or defend Islam because of The Reveille’s policy. I worked for them for about a year and a half and I felt that It was a lot of emotional stress and that It wasn’t something I wanted to do again for a while.

Qaddar Allah wa ma sha’a fa3l. As I thought more and more about it, I realized that Allah (God) had given me another opportunity whether I wanted it or not at the moment. To display the true image of Islam, to dispel myths, and to educate others on the true teachings of Islam. I would be truly at loss if I would give up this opportunity that Allah has given me, and if I was ungrateful for it. Perhaps I did something right the first time for Allah to give me the opportunity again.

So what does this mean for egyptiangumbo.com and what does this mean for the new 40,000+ subscribers to my blog; what should they expect?

They should expect me continue my focus on Islamic Media, but to also write more posts about the true nature of Islam.

So for all the new non-Muslims to my blog, this one post is for you:

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It’s amazing how God can lead you to paths you’d never expect; when you least expect it and from avenues you never imagined. Who would have thought that a video of a green character with a hand inside of him would get you to a post about Islam?

Sometimes those random things make all the difference.

Often, you might have this feeling your heart like something is void and missing from your life and you just can’t seem to figure out what it is. Money, food, shelter, love… we could have it all but for some some reason we always seem to want more trying to fulfill something inside of us.

Allah (God) is the sustainer, and it is in the remembrance of him in our lives that not only sustains, but also nourishes and fills our hearts of any voids.

Islam is a very simple and beautiful religion. Everything revolves around one central concept — the belief that there is object worthy of worship, to be fully submitted to, and fully obeyed save Allah.

It’s that simple. We worship the one who created us, sustains us and the one who will resurrect us. We don’t worship the creation. Meaning we do not worship the noble prophets such as Jesus or Muhammad (peace be upon them) nor do we worship celestial objects such as the sun or moon.

We believe Jesus was born of a virgin birth to Mary (peace be upon her), but unlike Christianity we neither believe that he is a the son of God nor that he died on the cross.

Muslims believe that God is so high above having partners or children. Jesus, like all other prophets of God, came with the exact same message as all the other prophets — to worship Allah alone and to do good deeds and abstain from the bad so you can attain paradise.

To be a Muslim simply means to submit oneself to God. If someone believes in these six items of faith, they would be a Muslim:

1. To believe that there is no object worthy of worship save Allah, and the Muhammad is His messenger.

2. Belief in the angels.

3. Belief in all the prophets of Allah, starting from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses , David, Jesus, Muhammad and all other prophets in between.

4. Belief in all the books that came before. Meaning, we as Muslims have to believe in the Gospels and the Torah (among the other divinely revealed books) that they were sent by Allah to His messengers. However, we must also believe and only follow the Quran. The Quran is the last book revealed by Allah to the last messenger, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him.) The reason we follow the Quran only, and not the other books, is because the Quran remains the true word of God. It has not been altered by man since the time it was revealed.

5. Belief in the last day; belief in the day of judgment. That a person will be held accountable for everything they did in this life before Allah, and will either be destined to paradise or destined to hellfire.

6. And belief in preordainment.

If a person believes in these six simple concepts, they are Muslim.

And once a person is a Muslim there are five pillars of Islam that must be followed:

1. To testify that there is no object worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and final messenger.
2. Pray five times a day- at their appointed times
3. Fast the holy month of Ramadan
4. Give Alms (compulsory Charity)– 2.5% of yearly savings (if above a certain quota)
5. Make pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in your life IF you have the means (i.e. money, transportation, accommodation, etc.)

And it’s as simple as that. Islam does not get more complicated than these beliefs and actions. It’s all about doing the things required of us and abstaining from sins to the best of our ability.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. I hope you will enjoy the content of my blog, and if anyone wants to ask privately about anything, feel free to email me at the email address in the “contact” section of my blog.

Virtually on every blog people get into discussions/debates over the “Music Issues:” What’s halal and what’s haram? There are different of opinions — but what are the different opinions and what are the PROOFS behind the opinions? There is the view of ibn Hazm (rahimahullah) and others.

My blog is mainly about media with an Islamic view. I promote videos, I make videos (rarely), and I do PR work under certain conditions.

I asked a student of knowledge to write something up about music so that I can post it here. Everything written is from this student of knowledge and not my own words, and if it weren’t for the fact that the brother asked not to have his name mentioned, I would have mentioned it because I realize it’s important to know who you are taking knowledge from. However, the evidence speak for itself.

Before anyone decides to write a comment, I ask you to be rational and not in attack mode. I do not write to please other people, but rather inshaAllah to please Allah ‘az wa jal. Therefore, I decided to post this. And I hope that this can be a reference to you and your friends, and anyone else you would like to advice against the evils of shaytaan. Feel free to pass it on inshaAllah. This post is a little long, but worth it, inshaAllah. And I was asked not to edit anything, and that’s an amanah on me so here it is inshaAllah:

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This is a small collection of Ayaat, Ahadeeth and statements of Scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah regarding musical instruments & singing…

Proof 1 -

And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (lahwal hadeeth) to mislead from the Path of Allah without knowledge… [Luqmaan 31:6]

‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas said: “lahwal hadeeth/idle talk” means falsehood and ghinaa’ (singing).

‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ood said: Wallahi (three times) lahwal hadeeth means ghinaa’. And the same interpretation was also given by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar.

Al-Nadr ibn al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah stories of the Persians and their kings and the kings of Romans and so on, to distract people from the Qur’an. Whether it is with stories or any words drawing people away from Allah’s Words or singing, both of them are idle talk. This is why ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing.

[Tafseer at-Tabari/Ibn Katheer]

Proof 2 -

(Allah said to Iblees) And befool those whom you can among them with your voice… [Israa' 17:64]

‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ood said: bi sawtik (with your [iblees] voice) is ma’aazif (musical instruments).[Tafseer at-Tabari]
Proof 3 -

Do you then wonder at this recital (the Quran)?
And you laugh at it and weep not; Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements. [Najm 53:59-61]

Verse 61 says wa antum saamidoon (wasting your lifetime in pastime & amusement). ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas said regarding “sumood” (noun and saamiddon is verb) means ghinaa’ (singing)

And this is Yemeni dialect, “ismad lanaa” means “sing for us”…

[Tafseer ibn Katheer]

Point to note –

After the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, no one knows more about the meaning of Allah’s Words than the Companions.

‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas said: Allah’s Messenger embraced me and said, “Oh Allah given him the knowledge of the Qur’an”. [Bukhari]

Seeing this proof how can someone reject Tafseer coming from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas?

Proof 4 -

Narrated that Abu ‘Aamir or Abu Maalik al-Ash’aree that he heard the the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam saying: From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments (ma’aazif), as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, ‘Return to us tomorrow.’ Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection. [Bukhari # 5590]

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam included musical instruments along with zina and khamr which shows how heinous of an action it is.

However due to many misconceptions, lack of information, etc we need to mention a few more things about this Hadeeth.

First argument : Imam Ibn Hazm said music is not Haraam.

Imam Bukhari recorded this Hadeeth by saying wa qaala hishaamubnu ‘ammaar/and Hishaam ibn ‘Ammaar said…

Imam Ibn Hazm – rahimullah – said that there was no link between Imam Bukhari and Hishaam ibn ‘Ammaar and therefore considered this Hadeeth to be da’eef (weak). Imam Ibn Hazm made it clear that no Saheeh report reached him stating Musical instruments was Haraam. Al-Haafidh al-’Iraaqi, al-Haafidh Ibn Hajar, Ibn al-Salaah, and all the other great Hadeeth Scholars have clearly pointed out that this was Ibn Hazm’s mistake and recognizing an authentic chain. [Fath ul Baaree v.10]

No Muhaddith of the past or present has classified this Hadeeth from Saheeh al-Bukhari as weak. Those who look for excuses, point out Imam Ibn Hazm allowed Musical instruments. He simply said no Saheeh Hadeeth reached him and if he heard any authentic Hadeeth prohibiting music, he would have said so. [also check Ighaathat al-Lahfaan by Ibn al-Qayyim]

Imam Ibn Hazm was one of the Scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah, people do not follow his ‘Aqeedah or his Manhaj, but they will use this one statement from him to fulfill their desires.

Second argument: no this Hadeeth is saying that if musical instrument is accompanied by zina and alcohol then it is Haraam, otherwise it is fine.

It is very silly that many Muslims will make such a conclusion from this Hadeeth. If we follow the logic of such people then we can say “oh guess what, zina is fine as long as it is not accompanied by alcohol and music!”…or “hey alcohol is fine just don’t listen to music and fornicate while drinking”

Sheikh Albaani said: This Hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening to music are Haraam. The first is the fact that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned, including musical instruments, are Haraam according to Sharee’ah, but those people will permit them. The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned alongside things which are definitely known to be Haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical instruments) were not Haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things? (al-Silsilah al-Saheehah)

Proof 5 -

It was narrated that an-Naafi’ said: ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar heard a woodwind instrument, and he put his fingers in his ears and kept away from that path. He said to me, O Naafi’, can you hear anything? I said, No. So he took his fingers away from his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and he heard something like this, and he did the same thing. [Abu Dawood]

Some people do not understand the meaning of this Hadeeth and will argue how it is forbidding music. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar just happened to have heard while walking by (i.e. unintentionally) even then he put his fingers in his ears so as not to hear it! And he said the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam did the same. We all know that “unintentional” acts are not held accountable by Allah. Yet the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and his Companion put their fingers in their ear so as not to even let the voice of Shaytaan enter their ears unintentionally.

Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi said: the listener is the one who intends to hear, and that was not the case with Ibn ‘Umar; what happened in his case was hearing. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) needed to know when the sound stopped because he had moved away from that path and blocked his ears. So he did not want to go back to that path or unblock his ears until the noise had stopped, so when he allowed Ibn ‘Umar to continue hearing it, this was because of necessity. [al-Mughni, 10/173]

Proof 6 -

Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah said: “The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam went to to al-Nakhl with ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf, when his son Ibraaheem was dying. He took the child in his lap and his eyes filled with tears. ‘Abd al-Rahmaan said, ‘Are you weeping when you have forbidden us to weep?’ He said: I do not prohibit weeping, but I prohibited two foolish immoral voices: A voice during a calamity while clawing at one’s face and tearing one’s clothes, and Shaytan’s scream. [Tirmidhi # 1005]

Anas ibn Maalik (the servant of the Prophet) said the “wa rannatish shaytaan/and the scream of Shaytaan” refers to musical instruments.

Other proofs can be given, but for the true believers just one verse prohibiting something should be more than enough!

All the Imams of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah are in unanimous agreement that singing/musical instruments are strictly forbidden in Islam. And Imam Abu Haneefah was the strictest stating the one who listens and enjoys musical instruments has committed kufr.
Not to be confused, he didn’t call the listener of music a kaafir (disbeliever), he said listening to music is a type of kufr (disbelief)
Imam Maalik, Shafi’ee and Ahmad said: Only a faasiq will listen to music.

[Ighaathat al-Lahfaan by Ibn Qayyim/Tafseer al-Qurtubi]

Having said all this we know that the only musical instrument that is allowed in Islam is the daff (i.e. tambourine without any bells).

Proof 1 -

Narrated ‘A’ishah: Allah’s Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam came to my house while two girls were singing beside me the songs of Bu’aath (a story about the war between the two tribes of the Ansar, the Khazraj and the Aus, before Islam). The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam lay down and turned his face to the other side. Then Abu Bakr came and spoke to me harshly saying, “instruments of Shaytaan near the Prophet?” Allah’s Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam turned his face towards him and said, “Leave them.” When Abu Bakr became inattentive, I signaled to those girls to go out and they left.

So it is allowed for girls to sing/use daff (words of good meaning) on the days of ‘Eid. The reaction of Abu Bakr saying “mizmaaratush shaytaan” (instruments of Shaytaan) again points out that music/singing generally is something that is prohibited in Islam.

Proof 2 -

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: The thing that will distinguish between Halaal and Haraam in marriage is the beating of the daff. [Bukhari, Ahmad]

Women are allowed to beat the daff during weddings…in fact, it is something Mustahabb (highly recommended).

Nasheeds -
The recent trend of Nasheeds have changed dramatically and many times we see men and women together (or by men only) using all sorts of musical instruments and calling it “Islamic songs.”

Such a way of spending hours practicing, recording, selling/buying of Nasheeds is totally unheard of in the past. It has reached a point where the youth are flocking towards memorizing the lyrics of Nasheeds rather than memorizing and understanding Kalaam ul Allah, al-Qur’an.

Also there are some Nasheeds without the use of musical instruments or women where the men are making flute/drum, etc noises with their mouth and considering it to be Halaal since they are not “using any instruments but just the natural voice”.

Sh.’Uthaymeen said: There has been a lot of talk about Islamic nasheeds. I have not listened to them for a long time. When they first appeared there was nothing wrong with them. There were no duffs, and they were performed in a manner that did not involve any fitnah, and they were not performed with the tunes of haraam songs. But then they changed and we began to hear a rhythm that may have been a duff or it may have been something other than a duff, and they began to choose performers with beautiful and enchanting voices, then they changed further and began to be performed in the manner of haraam songs. Hence we began to feel uneasy about them, and unable to issue fatwas stating that they were permissible in all cases, or that they were forbidden in all cases. If they are free of the things that I have referred to then they are permissible, but if they are accompanied by the duff or performers are chosen who have beautiful and enchanting voices, or they are performed in the manner of indecent songs, then it is not permissible to listen to them. [Al-Sahwah al-Islamiyyah pg.185]

Sh. Al-Fawzaan said: As for that which is called Islamic nasheeds, they have been given more time and effort than they deserve, to such an extent that they have become an art form which takes up space in school curricula and school activities, and the recording companies record huge numbers of them to sell and distribute, and most houses are full of them, and many young men and women listen to them, and it takes up a lot of their time, and they are listened to more than recordings of Qur’an, Sunnah, lectures and useful lessons. [Al-Bayaan li Akhta' Ba'd al-Kuttaab pg. 342]

Statements from many other Scholars from Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah of our times can be given, but to keep this short we can conclude by stating the Shari’ guidelines for any Nasheed to be considered Halaal:

1. The words of the nasheed must be free of Haraam and foolish words.

2. The nasheed should not be accompanied by musical instruments. No musical instrument is permitted except the duff for women on certain occasions. See the answer to question no.

3. It should be free of sound effects that imitate musical instruments, because what counts is what appears to be the case, and imitating haraam instruments is not permissible, especially when the bad effect is the same as that which happens with real instruments.

4. Listening to nasheed should not become a habit which takes up a person’s time and affects his duties and mustahabb actions, such as affecting his reading of Qur’an and calling others to Allah.

5. The performer of a nasheed should not be a woman performing in front of men, or a man with an enchanting appearance or voice performing in front of women.

6. One should avoid listening to performers with soft voices who move their bodies in rhythm, because there is fitnah in all of that and it is an imitation of the evildoers.

7. One should avoid the images that are put on the covers of their tapes, and more important than that, one should avoid the video clips that accompany their nasheeds, especially those which contain provocative movements and imitations of immoral singers.

8. The purpose of the nasheed should be the words, not the tune.

I end by mentioning the verse:

Have you (O Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi wa allam) seen him who has taken as his Ilaah (deity) his own desire? [Furqaan 25:43]

When clear prohibition comes from Allah and His Messenger, we still disobey and follow our desires. Truly we are guilty of taking our desires as deities besides (or along with) Allah. May Allah protect us all from such misguidance…

—-

Wallahu ta’ala alem.

I started the first post of a series on the Leechon Blog called “The Best Persuader, Muhammed (Salallahu alayhi wa sallam).” I’m currently writing a book (which has been on hold for a while) about the art(sunnah) of persuasion in light of the sunnah.

This is REALLY useful information… so read on inshaAllah:

(photo courtesy of futoor.com)

Yesterday, I held a conference call with my PR team and the issue of ethos, pathos and logos came up into the conversation. With these three things properly executed in a message, one can achieve persuasion, by the Will of Allah.”OK Gumbo, what are you talking about?” I’m talking about establishing credibility (ethos), having an emotional appeal (pathos) and having a factual or logial appeal (logos). And there is no doubt the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would have all three of these elements in his speech. *these terms are terms of contemporary rhetorical scholars, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam set the first and prime example for mankind*

So first let’s give examples from the life of Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, then let’s apply that to our lives today.

When studying seerah, you will notice how scholars are not shy of establishing the credibility of the Prophet,salallahu alayhi wa sallam. For indeed, Allah ‘az wa jal chose the best of the best of the best to deliver and carry the message of Islam.

Imam Ahmad narrates a hadith in which people were talking about and describing the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam in different ways. For example, one person said that Muhammad sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam was like a green tree growing in the desert. In reality what they were trying convey was that Muhammad sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam was the only good
person in the clan. So Ibn Abbas says “certain things the people were saying reached the messenger of Allah, so he mounted the pulpit and asked, ‘Who am I?’ they replied ‘You are the messenger of Allah’ he replied ‘I am Muhammad bin Abdillah bin Abdul Muttalib. Allah divides the creation and made me amongst the best of His creatures and He made them all into two groups placing me in the better of them. He created the tribes and placed me in the better of them and divides them into clans and placed me in the best one and I’m the best of you in clan and in spirit.’”

So the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, I’m not the best person in a group of evil people. But instead he was saying that I am the best and from among the best. You’ll also notice that he referenced his linage back to Abdul Muttalib who was of course well known and highly respected in all of Hujaz.

The prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam also said, “Verily, Allah granted eminence to kinanah from amongst the descendants of Ishmael, and he granted eminence to Quraysh from among kinanah, and he granted eminence to the bani Hashim from Quraysh, and he granted me eminence from the tribe of Banu Hashim.”

Again, this establishes his credibility in a line of the best of tribes and clans. So what exactly does this credibility do? This catches the audience’s attention. It makes the speaker seem that whatever they have to say is both valuable and should be considered due to the that person’s ethos.

And what about other instances from seerah? The fact that the Prophet Salallahu alayhi wa sallam was NEVER an idol worshiper, never drank alcohol, that Allah protected him from listening to music before his prophethood. These are all things that can be categorized under ethos (or credibility of the speaker- salallahu alayhi wa sallam)

How does this apply to YOU?

Let’s say you make Islamic videos, write a speech to be delivered, have a blog or business, or even just give dawah to muslims and/or non-Muslims. You NEED to establish your credibility. And to use specific examples:

Let’s say you are giving dawah to a Muslim and you are trying to convince them to pray regularly and become more practicing. Perhaps you or someone you know was in the same position a while ago and you(or they) completely changed since that time. You should mention this experience to give you better ethos in their eyes- thus, better convincing them to take the same path you did to become closer to Allah.

Another example: Why do you think all those weight loss pills and diets catch on like wildfire? It’s because of all the testimonials they see and read about. REAL PEOPLE getting REAL RESULTS. I mean c’mon have you seen those infomercials?!

Or even just look at the sheiookh when they speak at conventions or in different communities. You will always see a moderator or MC first give an introduction with a background of the sheikh before he speaks to establish his credibility to his audience.

If they do it, you should too. Wallahu Ta’ala Alem.

*if you liked this post, remember to give it a “thumbs up” on StumbleUpon.

Farewell haters, bigots (and that one crazy woman who stalked me.) It’s been entertaining, enlightening and stressful.

What can I say, It’s been a good 1.5 years of writing about Islam (with a semester break in between somewhere), Alhamdulillah. I’ve gotten people asking me how I managed to get my job as an opinion columnist. I guess it’s kind of funny; I never really mentioned this to people, until now. Gather around chickadees while I tell you the story of my wonderful journey into journalism. Sure, I could say something like “It’s because I’m a good writer,” and stop there. But truthfully that’s not really how I got my job. *This post might get a little long, but inshaAllah it’ll be worth it*

In high school, I had an English teacher whom I really didn’t care much for — Mrs. Wimberly. (I called her Wimbo for short.) Just as she thought my writing was mediocre, I thought her outfits with dinosaurs on them were pretty mediocre too. I would say they were really tacky, but I couldn’t help staring and smiling at them all throughout class time. Wimbo would hand back my papers disappointed that I didn’t see the biblical illusions she saw in the books we would read. But that wasn’t my fault. The woman was a little crazy. It really wouldn’t be a stretch to say that if I gave her the book, “Elmo’s Big Adventure” Mr. Elmo would be the biblical illusion because he was “red and represented the blood of Christ.” Anyway, I didn’t really listen to her criticisms and decided to take journalism classes in high school, thus sparking my first interest in media.

Ahh, that really has nothing to do with how I got my job… but do I miss those dinosaurs.

Anyway, fast-forwarding to the end of my freshman year at LSU. Everyone read and still reads The Daily Reveille on campus everyday. One day, I picked up the paper and saw a cartoon drawn on the op-ed page that not only caught my attention, it infuriated me. This wasn’t the first time The Daily Reveille printed something bigoted and completely offensive to Muslims. I decided to head over to the newsroom to have a little talk with the cartoonist but to my dismay he wasn’t there. Surely, I wasn’t going to leave without complaining. After all, I had to defend Islam. And I’m a girl, complaining is in our nature.

So, I requested to speak to the editor-in-chief at the time. It turned out I wasn’t the only one offended by a cartoon which depicted the Iranian President sitting at a laundry mat waiting for his brain to be finished being “washed” with “Quran Detergent;” other people had apparently been complaining all day.

After complaining about how unacceptable it was for him to print the cartoon, he sincerely apologized and told me he “wants to make sure that it doesn’t happen again in the future,” even though he was graduating only week later. He told me that at that very moment they were holding a forum for people who wanted to apply for being on the opinon staff for the next semester. He highly recommended I apply for a position after knowing I was a mass communication major. Subhanallah, it really was the Qadr of Allah that I went to complain at that very moment, because next thing I knew he led me into the room in which I was to apply. And I did. And so did about 100 other people who wanted one of 12 spots.

Anyway, I applied, got called for an interview and then alhamdulillah I got the job. And that started my work in mass dawah. Which wallahi has been such a blessing from the very beginning. However, you have to have a strong heart when speaking the truth about Islam. Don’t sugar coat things, don’t fall under the pressure of those around you.

Wallahi I can’t tell you all how many times I got people saying “Write about something else!” and subhanallah for a brief moment you think about it… then you realize that you are doing this purely for the sake of Allah and I figured if they fire me for not wanting to write about anything other than Islam, then so be it. But they actually loved the readers I would bring and the hits I would bring to the website too, alhamdulillah.

Anyway, so it’s been a good time. I’ve seen a lot of results coming from my columns. People seeing the truth about Islam, new members to our community, changing people’s perceptions; all by the tawfeeq of Allah.

So without further adieu, my last column for the Daily Reveille (I don’t want to re-apply). This column sums up my final message to all the non-Muslims out there- Pick up the Quran and be enlightened, literally:

“‘Hijab Challenge’ successful, enlightening” — (I don’t get to chose my own headlines, that’s why they are always boring!)

It’s nothing great because it came in the middle of my finals, but alhamdulillah ,no complaints. Wallahul musta’an.

“The End” to that chapter in my life…

DEEN SCOPE COMING SOON! -Watch out Islamonline.net muahaha..

I wrote a column called surprise, surprise: “Columnist challenges women to wear hijab for a day.” And that day was April 25th. Writing my columns I really had no idea how many people read them. I know I get a lot of hate mail, and a lot of hate comments, and I knew at least a couple of thousand people read them every week, but this hijab challenge took it to a whole new level.

Melissa and Sarah B. sitting in front a fountain in the Quad at LSU

I got several emails from girls saying they wanted to participate. So I helped them out; I met with some of them and showed them how to wear the hijab. and I even ate lunch with a couple of them yesterday while they sported their hijabs. They were all some of the sweetest girls I’ve met so far at LSU.

Soon after lunch, I got a call from my friend Sarah M. who reverted to Islam about two years ago and she’s telling me that even someone at a coffee shop on campus asked her if she was wearing the hijab because of the challenge. There was a buzz already going around campus. I go the masjid later that night and some of my friends are telling me that so and so was talking about how they read my column and so on and so forth.

My plan worked.

I was able to start dialog all over campus about the hijab. Afterward I got a various people emailing me wanting interviews, I gave a talk about women in Islam to a Women and Gender Studies class; It’s definitely the type of dawah opportunity no one could turn down. That was a lot of potential ajr to pass up. People would ask the girls why they are wearing it, and they would tell them and explain to them why Muslim Women wear the hijab and how we are not oppressed. It was a mass dawah effort. A lot like viral marketing/PR. It’s no wonder why people are all about getting more Muslims in the media. The potential is HUGE for dawah. Imagine, A hijab day on campus could turn into a nation-wide awareness day, which is very possible once we get more Muslims to be trained in media and marketing work.

That’s why I’m starting my own PR company soon. Business proposal should be done tonight and my company should be legally registered soon. There is so much potential out there and so many ideas on how to tap into this field. I’ve seen It work and have felt the sweetness of Allah ‘az wa jal making my efforts successful. Wallahi it’s only by the Will of Allah. And I realize as well, that this is all a test from Allah.

Melissa, Michelle, and Maggie posing for a picture at Atcha Bakery (mmm’ Atcha.)

The Fruits And Veggies of your Efforts:

Melissa was perhaps the sweetest of them all. She was very enthusiastic and excited to take on the hijab challenge, and told everyone she knew about it. We ate lunch and at night she came to our masjid. I stole about 10 girls (unintentionally) away from the youth halaqa to join in our discussion about the hijab. Subhanallah, although I’ve taught these girls before *shout out to you girls * and I see them all the time at the masjid, I learned so much about them just from that discussion.

One of the girls came out with the news that she had just started wearing hijab officially last Sunday. Another told of how she started wearing the hijab a couple of months ago, and came with the new news that she had given up listening to music. MashaAllah, la qowwita illa billah. I couldn’t have been happier.

Alhamdulillah, Allah ‘az wa jal gave me such a blessing to be able to change people’s lives. They jokingly (but truthfully) told Melissa how I used to chase after them like herds of sheep and how I wouldn’t start the halaqah until I swung my lasso and reeled them all into the room (that’s southern talk, y’all). They said how at first they ran away from lectures. Then When I would gather them they would come for half the time then leave, then they said that the more they listened to the words of the lectures, the more they wanted to stay on their own, until it lead them to change.

Conclusion?

Don’t give up on what you are doing even if you don’t see immediate results. Never give back or refuse to accept a gift Allah is offering you (i.e. opportunities for dawah). It could be that if we turn down these opporunities and freebies that Allah gives us, that He ‘az wa jal will in turn never give you that opportunity again and give it to someone more greatful.

It is an amazing feeling seeing the fruits of your actions and the potential that is to come, but only if you remember that it was all done by the Will of Allah. and Allah is truly the one that guides the hearts.

Stay tuned for my follow up column in The Daily Reveille next Friday about the results of the Hijab Challenge, inshaAllah. It will inshaAllah be the last column I write for the paper. It’s been a good 1.5 years, alhamdulillah and an awesome way to end that chapter of my life. Wallahu ta’ala alem. So, what are YOU going to do to spread the deen of Allah? (And, do you need a PR person? )