To Brother Farrukh through Islamcity. Dear Brother in Islam Assalaam Alaikum,
Your storry (not so long but fictious at the same time) has attracted me to reply you. You may agree with me if I say "when a person speaks he speaks according to the level of knowledge and wisdom of his own personality". What I am writing here is also within the knowledge I gained upto now. My dear brother, when our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has said sight of the moon means one amongst us must see the moon with his eyes. If there is cloud cover and you are intended to see the moon with the help of any modern device it is a different story. In my opinion we can celebrate Eid only when we see the moon. Every society face problems of different type and if we have some problem we must sort it out according to the rulings of Islamic law. If we do not posses much knowledge it is the responsibility of the one who is knowledgeable and has an authority over the rulings of Islamic law. We, as common person, have to obey the orders of the authorities and that is our duty. Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) will ask the authorities on the day of judgement about their mistakes (if any). Beginning of every Arabic month is with the sight of the moon so also Ramadan. To add to your knowledge, learned people say that Arabic months can be 29 days or 30 days neither less nor more. Also no 3 months can be same i.e. 29 days 29 days 29 days. If last 2 months were 29 days the third month should be of 30 days. We should try to do our best in our own capacity and not intervene in the matters which should be decided by the authorities. According to my knowledge calculating the dates according to the position of moon is not allowed in Islamic law. If you take into account "sight of the moon" this will surely be a contradiction. May Allah guide us to the right path Aameen. Ghaziuddin -----Original Message----- From: islamcity@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of "brother_farrukh" Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 3:07 AM To: islamcity@yahoogroups.com Subject: [IslamCity] Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle Assalam alaikum, The center of Kiev seems laden with underground shopping malls, a world in their own right. Entirely unaware that the droll dome in the central square is in fact the ceiling of a glittering underworld of designer stores and food courts, as I journeyed earlier in the evening I found myself taken back by this `other' life. My apartment is so central that military police patrol the streets where all about abound embassies, government offices, and of course, the notorious mafia hang-outs. Imagine, a country where the number of windows along the front façade of a home determines its tax. The local joke being a 2 windowed front being that of a prosperous man, a 3 windowed front that of a government official, a 4 windowed front that of a corrupt government official, and a 5 windowed front the home of a mafia member. Of course if I'm not blinded by the glitz of the worlds most expensive cars driving past, then I'm blinded by this hidden underworld. Imagine stepping out of your home into a street with near zero visibility thanks to the Michael Jackson thriller style fog, where shadows in the night, despite the security the military police offer, make one weary. It seems that at this time of year, while the over-ground areas are as empty as if someone has sounded a Chernobyl II bell, the people have in fact congregated in this under-world. The parallel to the Islamic psyche particularly in light of the recent Eid festivities are uncanny. On the left we have the ultra Salafi types, where self styled clerics decide it encumbering to lecture the attendees in Arabic knowing full well that less than 5% of the congregation can actually understand what the imam says. I always wonder whether these enlightened imams pause for a moment and wonder why it is that the passion which they step into midway through their speech draws upon deaf ears as the congregation who do not understand the language gaze into oblivion wondering how much longer this will take. On the right we have the ultra Sufi types. I must rock, can't say this prayer without `feeling the vibe', who would have thought that the same momentum driving hasedic jews being mimicked by the pious Muslims. That is, assuming you can cut your way through the confused philosophy which drives many interpretations of various sufi traditions. Either way, it seems that if you don't fall into one camp, you fall into the other. Actually, no. This evening, strolling through what seemed like endless corridors of this secret Kiev underworld, I discovered those who were stuck in the middle. Neither exiting to one side or the other, they have created their own niches in which they live in their underworld. The cliques of florists, the ulta-chic `ridiculously large beer in one hand and girlfriend in the other', the musicians playing in anticipation of a recording producer walking past and who could forget the poor tradesman selling boxes of tissues. It seems that even in this underworld we have divisions/ groups of people. Similarly, I notice that amongst the Muslims there are many of us who neither swing one way or the other, rather find ourselves somewhere in the middle. Next year I look forward to again another spat of confusion as we celebrate Eid over two days. To think that my colleague can plan his scuba diving trip with his wife in the Caribbean to watch the spawning on the coral reef, something which happens just once a year for 30 minutes and is calculated by the moons position. Imagine that, calculating the moons position to plan for a future event. I suppose when the Prophet said that the fact that one trustworthy person has seen the new moon means that others should accept that proof becomes almost insignificant particularly in countries where we have cloud cover. But didn't Prophet Muhammad also say that `we do not know accounts', does that mean no Muslim studies or works in the field of accounts? For every time and place there seems to be a rule, an interpretation. Sad matter of fact when with the progression of knowledge we have today – all of which was gained by the Mercy of Allah – we do not use that knowledge to calculate when Eid will and will not begin, lambasting ourselves into the annual shannagans often associated with the start of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. I can't help but wonder whether we would be better off with a ground hog, after all, it did help Bill Murray… So I say, clowns to the left, jokers to the right, I'm stuck in the middle of with you… fi amanillah, assalam alaikum, f *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
