Thursday, April 24, 2008

The number of Hispanic Americans converting to Islam is growing rapidly


The number of Hispanic Americans converting to Islam is growing rapidly — particularly in New York, California, Texas and Florida, which have the greatest concentration of Hispanic residents. Muslim leaders say interest in Islam has increased in the past few years, and they also note that Muslims and Hispanics, many of whom are immigrants, share a number of common concerns. Steve Mort reports from a mosque in Florida that has seen a steady increase in Latino worshippers.

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Famous Converts To Islam


Islam is currently the fastest growing religion in America and around the world, with an estimated 1।2 billion adherents from every race and ethnicity. In the United States, where Muslims number over six million, the Islamic faith is believed to be the second largest religion, after Christianity. Former Presient Clinton has said of Islam, "...there is much that the world can learn from Islam. It is now practiced by one of every four people on Earth." (White House Eid ul-Fitr presentation, Jan. 10, 2000.)

The conversion rate among Americans is estimated to be at 135,000 per year, with African-Americans making up the largest group of converts followed by American women, as well as a significant number from the Latino community.
Famous Converts to IslamKhadija - wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh); the first to convert to Islam. El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz - Better known as Malcolm X; black-rights activist and religious leader. In 1964, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he announced his conversion to orthodox Islam and his belief in the possibility of brotherhood between blacks and whites.
Michael Wolfe - Author of The Hajj: An American's Pilgrimage to Mecca, and One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing About the Muslim Pilgrimage. Born of a Christian mother and Jewish father, he is most well known for his documentary "An American in Mecca", which aired on ABC’s "Nightline", April 18, 1997.
Muhammad Ali - Formerly Cassius Clay; three-time Heavy Weight Champion of the World. He converted to orthodox Islam in 1965.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Formerly Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor. Before the 1971-72 season he converted from Catholicism and took the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He played 20 seasons in the league with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. By the time the 7 foot 2 basketball player retired in 1989, he was a six-time MVP and is now one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.
Yusuf Islam - Formerly Cat Stevens, world famous British pop singer. He converted to Islam in 1973 and changed his name.
Haiqa Khan - Formerly Jemimah Goldsmith, Jewish daughter of billionaire Sir James. At the age of 21 she married famous Pakistani cricket player Imran Khan and converted to Islam.
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall - Born William Pickthall in 1875 in London. He converted to Islam in 1917 and by 1930 Pickthall published The Meaning of the Glorious Koran; which was an English language translation of the Qur’an

Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam


Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam and is now working to legally change his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis.
Ellis, who was raised Christian, said Thursday that he became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the west African nation of Senegal.
“You do it because it feels right,” said Ellis. “To me it’s no big deal. But people like to know what you believe in. And this is what I believe in.”
If anybody wants to know about Islam, I can hold an intelligent conversation,” Ellis said. “What I’ve found is how little we know about the religion.”

Islam is growing fast among African Americans


ATLANTA (Reuters) - Islam is growing fast among African Americans, who are undeterred by increased scrutiny of Muslims in the United States since the September 11 attacks, according to imams and experts.
Converts within the black community say they are attracted to the disciplines of prayer, the emphasis within Islam on submission to God and the religion’s affinity with people who are oppressed

islam and Polygamy


Quran :
[4.3] And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.

woman in islam


Because the woman is the weaker partner in the family relationship, Islam places strong emphasis on the importance of being fair to women, and not to abuse them in any way. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) describes those who are kind and good to their wives as the best of people. He (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “The best among you are those who are best to your households; I am the best among you to my house-hold.”
On his deathbed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to remind the followers of three areas as needing continuous attention. The first concerns man’s relationship with Allah while the other two are concerned with human relations, concentrating on the need to protect the rights of two vulnerable groups in society, namely, women and slaves. He said repeatedly: “Attend to your prayers. Do not ask those whom your right hands possess to accomplish for you what they cannot do. Fear Allah in your treatment of women.”"

Strong rise in number of Germans converting to Islam: study


There has been a surge in the number of Germans converting to Islam, the weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday cited an Interior Ministry-sponsored study.
Around 4,000 Germans converted to Islam between July 2004 and June 2005 which is four times as many as in the prior space of time, said the study which was conducted by the Islam-Archive Central Institute, based in the western town of Soest.
The head of the German Islam think-tank, Salim Abdullah pointed out that that most of those who converted to Islam, have been women and well-educated.

islam in Russian


The country’s Muslim community is extremely diverse - from Volga Tatars and Bashkirs to the ethnic mishmash of the North Caucasus. But unlike Muslim minorities in Western Europe, most Russian Muslims represent native people of what is now Russia, who inhabited their land for over a millennium.

Men and Women in islam


[9.71] And (as for) the believing men and the believing women, they are guardians of each other; they enjoin good and forbid evil and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle; (as for) these, Allah will show mercy to them; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.

The tiling in medieval Islamic architecture


The tiling in medieval Islamic architecture turns out to embody a mathematical insight that Westerners thought they had discovered only 30 years ago.
March 19, 2007 issue - Ancient, closely held religious secrets; messages encoded on the walls of Middle Eastern shrines; the divine golden ratio—readers of a recent issue of the journal Science must have wondered if they’d mistakenly picked up “The Da Vinci Code” instead. In stretches of intricate tiling on several 500-year-old Islamic buildings, Peter Lu and Paul Steinhardt wrote, they’d spotted a large fragment of a mathematical pattern that was unknown to Western science until the 1970s. Islam gave the world algebra, from the Arabic al-jabr, a term referring to a basic equation. But this pattern is far from basic; it comes from much higher math. “The ridiculous thing is, this pattern has been staring Westerners in the face all this time,” says Keith Critchlow, author of the book “Islamic Patterns.” “We simply haven’t been able to read it.” Now that we can, though, it is serving as a startling indication of how accomplished medieval-era Muslims may have been.

Women in Quran


“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will.
Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may take away part of the dower [money given by the husband to the wife for the marriage contract] ye have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity.
If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and God brings about through it a great deal of good. (The Noble Quran, 4:19)”

Muhammad is No 2 in boy's names


Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.

How Islam elevated women’s status


CONTRARY to what Western media and academics would have us believe, it was Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islamic teachings that transformed the status of women from being a non-entity and ‘property’ to someone who plays a central role in grooming and holding a family together.
The pre-Islamic Arab world saw girl child as a burden and a curse which was to be eliminated as early as possible. Islam and its Messenger (peace be upon him) changed all this by restoring her respect and her rights. Commenting on the pre-Islamic conditions of women in Arab society, Holy Quran says:
'And when the news of (the birth of) a female (child) is brought to any of them, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief! He hides himself from the people because of the evil of that whereof he has been informed. Shall he keep her with dishonour or bury her in the earth? Certainly, evil is their decision.' (Quran, 16:58-59)
History bears witness to the fact that baby girls have always been neglected by their respective societies. The ignorant people of the past and present, wherever and whenever found, have balked at having daughters. Poor girl children are made to feel ‘unwanted’ and ‘unwelcome’ as soon as they arrive in this world.
Commenting on the status of women in pre-Islamic era, Mary Wollstonecraft says in her book, Vindication of the Rights of Women,o that Islam 'challenged an age when women had no legal standing as daughters or wives, being under the legal identity of their fathers and husbands' (247). This meant that they could not own property, enter into contracts, or conduct business. They had no representation in the government, and they could not vote. Islam changed all this. And following the recognition of women’s rights by Islam, rights for women were adopted slowly in Britain, and even more slowly in France.
Prior to 1840’s, in the United States, women had practically no political or economic rights. The lawmakers of the time didn’t feel that women were important enough or intelligent enough to do anything by themselves. In light of this view, all laws concerning women were to the advantage of men. Women were minors if not married and seen as property if they were. Married women had no right to seek divorce; and, if divorced, had no rights to their children. Women also didn’t have any rights when it came to their occupations. The pagan, pre-Islamic Arabs regarded the birth of girl babies as a curse, and would bury alive girl children as they were seen as superfluous. The ancient Greeks did not fare any better and placed painstaking restrictions on their women.
Today, the so-called free societies continue to abuse and neglect woman, who is seen as little more than a play thing and merely as an object of desire. Many a horrendous crime takes place against women.
The Messenger of Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him), elevated the status of women and saw the girl child as a gift given of Allah. The Prophet urged the faithful to warmly welcome their girl children and see them as their God’s blessings. Time and time again, he emphasised the importance of bringing up the girl children in an effort to elevate women’s status in Islamic society and removing all pre-Islamic, misguided notions about girls as being a curse of God.
He once said: 'Whoever takes care of two girls until they reach adulthood — he and I will come together on the Day of Resurrection like this' interlacing his fingers (meaning fathers of girl children will be with the Prophet in paradise).' (Reported by Muslim)
And in another hadith, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: 'They (girl children) will be a shield for him from the Fire.' (Reported by Ahmad and Ibn Maajah)
Apart from elevating the status of women and daughters by his teachings, the Prophet offered a living example in his own actions and behaviour — for example, 'One day he (peace be upon him) led his Companions in prayer whilst carrying Umaamah bint Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) when he made ‘rukoo’ he would put her down, then when he stood, he would pick her up.' (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Raising children these days is not an easy job. Each child needs the individual attention of both parents, and time, a most precious gift that parents are sometimes unable to find for their children.
Islam makes this job easier for parents in raising girls with high moral values and a strong character। Yet ironically women’s status in Islam is attacked today by Western media and academics. They close their eyes to historical facts failing to realise that the law of Islam is as just to women as it is to men. This is because their Creator is Allah (SWT), the Most Just. BY ABID ISHAQ

Do You Know about islam and Quran?


Since then, more than fourteen hundred years have passed, and nobody has been able to meet the challenge, and nobody will, because the Qur’an is the only existing book containing the word of Allah which no man can match or imitate. The most eloquent people in the Arabic language spent years going over and searching the Qur’an, trying to find any weak or inadequate word or sentence, but they could not. They even went further, trying to find a way to substitute a word or a sentence in the Qur’an, hoping to convey a similar meaning as the original one, but they failed to do so.
As a result of this, many people, especially linguists, throughout the last fourteen hundred years believed in the Qur’an as a revelation beyond any human capacity.