ISLAM

Midnight Sun Mosque

While most people were preoccupied with the Park51 debate and the American Muslim community battled a slew of Islamophobic attacks, a different story, a more hopeful one, developed north of the border. Quite a bit north actually, about 4000 kilometres north to be more specific. This is the story of a new chapter in the lives of the Muslims in Inuvik, Canada.

Inuvik is an arctic town in Canada’s Northwest Territories with a population of about 3500 people. It’s located right at the tip of North America facing the Arctic Ocean. With a polar climate and harsh living conditions, one wouldn’t expect to find a town there, let alone a town with Muslims. But there is a Muslim community there and a growing one, too. So much so that the trailer that was being used as the mosque ran out of room and this community now needed a new mosque.

Building a mosque in the Arctic, however, is far more complicated than it is anywhere else. The scarcity of skilled labour and material makes the cost of such a project skyrocket and this undertaking is simply impossible for a small community of a 100 people. Their situation is akin to that of the Muslims in Edmonton, who despite all odds managed to erect Canada’s first mosque in 1938. With faith in God anything is possible. At a time like this, the Inuvik Muslims could have simply prayed for a mosque to be shipped over. And that’s exactly what they were about to get.

Enter, the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation. The Zubaidah Tallab Foundation is a charity based out of Manitoba. The remarkable individuals at this organization decided to give the Inuvikans a hand and took it upon themselves to ensure that the mosque got built. After evaluating the cost of locally building the mosque, they came up with a plan which at first sight would easily be dismissed as insanity. Build the mosque in Winnipeg and ship it 4000 kilometres away to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.

As insane as that may sound, this was the most economical way of getting the mosque built. Part of the mosque’s journey was going to be on roads (2400km) and part on water (1800 km). The goal was to get the mosque on to the last barge heading towards Inuvik for the season. Not only was this going to be a logistical nightmare but it was to be a race against time as well. With receding water levels in the Mackenzie River, the shipping company decided to push up the departure date by three weeks. The 1500 square-foot mosque was built in Winnipeg and started its journey on a semi-trailer. The over-sized trailer made its way through back roads and country highways, struggling to make it to the barge in time; it was delayed further by Labour Day celebrations and highway regulations. To complicate matters even more, the bridge across Reindeer Creek proved too narrow for the trailer. The driver had to remove the back wheels and a second truck was brought in to balance the back of the flatbed as the mosque was moved carefully across bridge. But this wasn’t the biggest scare.

All hopes and dreams came close to being shattered when the mosque almost fell off the trailer into a creek near the Alberta border.

The organizers managed to request the shipping company to hold the barge for two extra days and perhaps by divine intervention, the barge was delayed further due to poor weather. With lots of prayer, the trailer managed to get to the barge just in time. The mosque was loaded on to the barge and set off for its journey towards the North Pole.

The barge arrived in Inuvik, on September 24, 2010. After an excruciating three-week journey, the little mosque arrived at its destination; all in one piece.

The Inuvik Muslims gathered around the port to witness the historical event. They chanted prayers to praise and thank God as they waited. Some jumped around with joy while others were overwhelmed with gratitude and came to tears.

Numerous finishing touches needed to be added and it took about a month to get the mosque ready for use. Fathallah Fargat, a carpenter from St. Catherines, Ontario was inspired by the story and travelled all the way to Inuvik to help set up the mosque.

He even helped build a 10-meter minaret to accompany the newly erected mosque. The Midnight Sun Mosque, as it is now called, was inaugurated on November 10, 2010 to become North America’s northern most mosque.

All in all, the entire project cost about $300,000. The Zaid Tallabah Foundation, which still has outstanding payments to make, is looking to raise another $21,000. The Inuvik mosque is a stellar example of what can be accomplished by unity, hard work and faith in God. For those let down by the petty attacks on mosques around the West, this story should rejuvenate your spirit and give you hope.

If people can manage to build a mosque in the Arctic, then building one anywhere else should be far from impossible. *The article was published by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Journal in its January-March 2011 issue

Muslim world in the footsteps of two Muslim thinkers

The Muslim world, the cradle of one of the most splendid civilizations of all time, has for more than a century been discussing why it has remained backward. If what intellectuals, academics, journalists and politicians in Indonesia, Morocco, Kazan, Yemen or other parts of the Muslim world have written in an effort to answer this question had been brought together, they would certainly have amply supplied a huge library.

In this huge imaginary library, one can obviously hear the elegiac voices in several dozen languages from hundreds of people coming from various parts of the Muslim world. Pricking up one’s ears, one will certainly find that two specific voices stand out from all the rest. One of them comes from Muslim thinker Said Nursi (1878-1960), who was vocal about the problems facing the Muslim world as well as ways to solve them in a sermon he gave at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus exactly 100 years ago.

Two great figures

And the second voice belongs to Muslim thinker Malek Bennabi (1905-1973), an Algerian who felt to the bone that colonialism, born at the turn of the last century, had oppressed many parts of the Muslim world.

These two great figures certainly have many aspects that we can focus on and discuss. But, in my opinion, what distinguishes these two intellectuals who tried to find the cause of the fall of the Muslim world is that they draw attention to the internal problems among Muslims rather than to external enemies or the colonialist policies of the Western countries. Like everyone else, they could not turn a blind eye to the developments external to the Muslim world, the brutality of its enemies and the conspiratorial policies of the West. They condemned and fought against them.

These two intellectuals did not manifest the slightest hesitation in rushing to the war front to defend their countries. When Ottoman territories were occupied by czarist Russia, we saw Nursi and his students fighting against the enemy. Similarly, when the navies of the Western states occupied Istanbul at the end of World War I, he wrote strongly worded articles in the newspapers of the time, urging people to “spit in the face of the cruel British”; he also lent full support to the War of Independence led by Mustafa Kemal.

Despite French colonialists’ obstructions, Bennabi worked with never-ending energy and incredible courage to raise awareness among youth. He left France to join the National Liberation Front for the independence of Algeria.

What makes these two figures, both of whom fought directly against the enemy and never flinched in the face of the enemy, original in their approach is that they opted to focus on the inside rather than searching for scapegoats outside the Muslim world. According to observations Nursi voiced at the Umayyad Mosque 100 years ago, there are two causes of the problem, and without addressing them, it is futile to put blame on others. In his works, Nursi constantly underlines the crisis of civilization and faith. “Our enemies are ignorance, dissension and poverty. We will fight against these three enemies with art, knowledge and alliance,” he says.

Historic decline

Similarly, Bennabi, as a person who personally witnessed occupation and colonialism, sees that the problem is an internal one. For him, the historic decline of the Muslim world started before its encounter with the West, and the Muslim world was already ready to “be exploited” when it came in contact with the West. This is the internal reason for our backwardness. As these internal causes combined with external ones - i.e., colonialism and its adverse effects - the Muslim world found itself in an inextricable vicious circle. That is, colonialism came into being as a result of internal diseases. Therefore, what must be done is to stick to knowledge and learning so that we can no longer be open to exploitation.

A speech Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu delivered at the 14th General Assembly of the Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) held in Islamabad in January of this year is a sign that the 57-member OIC has come closer to the perspective of looking inside for the source of the problem, as noted in the views of Nursi and Bennabi.

The organization was established upon the decision of a historic summit that took place in Rabat, Morocco, on Rajab 12, 1389 Hijri (Sept. 25, 1969) as a result of the criminal arson of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. This reactivity is at the heart of it. Moreover, as many parts of the Muslim world, and especially Palestine, are occupied and oppressed, and as Islamophobia is gaining traction in the West, no one can expect the OIC to just sit back and watch. Actually, it should not sit and watch.

A 10-Year Action Plan adopted in 2005 in light of principles set forth by the wise men of the Muslim world who came together in Mecca signifies a new era. This era urges the organization to take action and develop and implement concrete goals in many critical areas, including economy, culture, education, research and development projects, human rights and food security.

In other words, it seeks to combat, in Nursi’s words, ignorance and poverty and to make the Muslim world no longer prone to being exploited, as noted by Bennabi.

The facts discussed at the COMSTECH meeting in Islamabad not only indicate that the fundamental problems in the Muslim world have not changed much over the past 100 years but also promise that a different target has been set for the future in comparison to the past. According to the world average, there are 2,500 scientists for every 1 million people. This average is only 650 in OIC countries - that is, only a quarter of the world average.

OIC’s action plan

One of the major targets included in the OIC’s action plan is to ensure that each member allocates 1 percent of its Gross National Product (GNP) to Research and Development (R&D) activities. In 2005, when this target was set forth, the OIC’s average was 0.2 percent. The results of the five-year review are promising as this figure doubled to become 0.42 percent. In Turkey, this rate increased from 0.48 percent in 2003 to 0.73 in 2008. It aims to boost it to 2 percent by 2013. The progress made during the last five years is impressive. Pakistan’s rate for 2008 was 0.68 percent, while Tunisia, currently in the news for its Jasmine revolution, is one of the few countries that achieved the 1 percent target.

One of the indicators monitored by the OIC in the same context is the number of scientific and academic articles published in Muslim countries. Although these countries are behind the world average, there is a promising upward trend in this field as well. According to OIC statistics in 2000 18,391 articles were published in Muslim countries, while this figure rose threefold to 63,342 in 2009. A notable fact is that Turkey and Iran play a dominant role in this field. A total of 20,000 and 13,400 scientific articles were published in Turkey and Iran, respectively, accounting for more than half of the articles published in the rest of the Muslim countries.

I was only able to analyze one field here. I wish we could only analyze developments in boosting trade or cooperation among OIC members. If we could only examine the monthly and periodic reports issued by the Islamophobia Observatory, which reports Islamophobic incidents in each country, instead of uttering empty rhetoric against this dangerous trend that is on the rise in the West, it would be possible to better understand the OIC’s new direction. But don’t worry.

Even if we cannot examine them, the OIC will conduct a five-year performance assessment of all targets specified in the action plan, and the results will be forwarded to foreign ministers and heads of state. Let us hope that these results are positive and that the new vision of the OIC, one that focuses on the actual or real ills of the Muslim community, is pursued with a stronger will.

Marriage in Islam

The society that one lives in has a direct effect on one’s life. Hence every person desires for and strives to build a healthy society. Among the aspects that form the bedrock of a healthy society is the institution of Nikah- registration of marriages. By means of Nikah one finds solace and comfort which enables one to fulfil one’s duties to Allah.

It also provides a lawful avenue to fulfil a basic in-born need. A pure human race flourishes as a result of the bond of Nikah, while countless social evils are dispelled by it. Take away the institution of Nikah and in a short time the society will sink to such depths of moral degradation which are unimaginable.

The West has to a great extent abandoned the customary marriage and adopted in its place the “living together” concept. When the partners do not feel like “living together” anymore, they just say “good bye” and part company. The result of this is glaring for all the world to see. Abortion, thousands of illegitimate children, AIDS, teenage pregnancies and suicide are just a few of the many direct consequences of abandoning the bond of marriage.

Least Expense

Thus the importance of Nikah can never be over emphasized. In the light of what has been mentioned it is much easier to grasp the true implications of the words of Prophet Muhammad ( PBUH)who said: “Verily the Nikah which is blessed with the greatest amount of blessings is that Nikah wherein the least expense is incurred.”

By stressing the aspect of incurring the least expenditure, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) paved the way for the Nikah to be easily affordable for the rich and poor alike. When this advice is not heeded, Nikah becomes a costly affair. It becomes a big worry and a huge burden. The very rich will afford it, the middle class will resort to loans (even on interest) in order to make it, while the poor will only dream about it. The matter does not end there. Those who cannot afford it and abstain are prone to becoming victims of the social evils mentioned above and thus every level of society is affected.

Wastage

However this Sunnah of Nikah has in many cases become just at Islamic style wedding. The greatest expense is incurred. Every effort is made to keep up with the trend. To start off with, thousands of rupees are wasted on absolutely futile wedding cards (which, as time goes, become more fashionable and expensive in order to impress). The most impressionable and expensive venues are booked. Much more wealth, which is purely a gift and bounty from Allah , is squandered on hiring floral arrangements and other fancy accessories.

The “stage” (for the wedding show) is then made up at considerable cost. The wastage list goes on, with many new shocking items being added on. Such weddings are actually setting the stage to destroy all Blessings from the Nikah. The Blessing is totally lost, while the great impression which one sets out to make is also seldom achieved. After having filled their bellies, people generally leave commenting on the wastage and discussing the flaws and defects.

The Nikah is the foundation of the building that has to be erected upon it - the building of a lifelong marriage. If this foundation is absolutely weakened and deprived of the Blessing from Allah, how much hope can one then have of the building remaining firmly erect on such a weak foundation?

Solution

The only solution then is to return to the Sunnah - by adopting the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Sahaaba. Far from inviting the world, many of the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) were married while Prophet (PBUH) was present in Madina without him being aware of the Nikah. Neither did they deem it necessary that he should be informed, nor did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) take exception to this attitude. The Nikah in that era was an extremely simple affair. The least cost was incurred. The greatest amount of Blessing was attained. This is the example that we have to keep as an ideal in front of us. Then every attempt should be made to follow it as closely as possible.

Islam and the uprising in the Middle East and North Africa

Allah says in the Qur’aan “Not a leaf falls (from a tree), but He is aware of it. Nor is there a seed in the darkness of the earth, nor anything moist or dry, but it is (recorded) in a clear Book.” (An’aam, aayat 59)

Every atom moves as a direct consequence of Allah’s intervention and command. Everything is in Allah’s Knowledge. Every occurrence, big or small, is the decree of Allah.

The popular uprising ravaging the Arab countries currently are the decrees of Allah . There is wisdom and goodness in what is happening.

The mutual killing and internecine wars of Muslims are the consequence of their gross and flagrant disobedience and transgression. Allah is punishing Muslims in this manner. He says in Qur’aan: “Fasaad (anarchy/corruption) has appeared on the land and the ocean because of what the hands of man have earned, so that He (Allah) gives them a taste of some of their (evil) perpetrations. Perchance they may return (to obedience and the Haqq of the Deen).” (Room, aayat 41) The Prophet Muhammad ( PBUH) predicting the current type of crisis situation said: “The killer and the killed will be in the Fire.” This is the type of fighting, killing and plundering ravaging the Arab States presently.

However, in everything ordained by Allah there is goodness. The redeeming feature in the current situation of anarchy is that power is being wrested from those who have for decades nakedly suppressed and practically banned Islam. Islam was viewed as the greatest enemy by these tyrants.

Although those who will be substituting the displaced oppressors are not Islam’s devotees nor its sympathizers, nevertheless, under the guise of democracy they are demanding, there will be some breathing space for the true adherents of Islam - the followers of the Sunnah - to wisely and silently attend to the moral reformation and spiritual elevation of the Muslim masses who are sinking.

If only the followers of the Islam can understand that the situation of the Ummah, world Muslim community, is today totally degenerate and immoral. This Ummah as it stands today can never command respect and honour.

During the very first Gulf War when Iraq was attacked and it could not retaliate, and despite its airforce of a thousand planes, displayed humiliating impotence, the then special envoy of Gaddafi visited South Africa.

In a marathon talk with us, he made a very significant comment, namely, “We Arabs have become baboons. Israel can take Baghdad within 24 hours, and all of us can do nothing. They can crush us underfoot like ants. It is only America who is withholding Israel.”

Muslims of intelligence should utilize the breathing space created to launch massive Islamic educational and moral-training programmes to improve the moral fibre of the Ummah.

The rest will then unfold as it had unfolded during the age of the Sahaabah, companions of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) in the post-Makkah era after the Hijrah to Madinah .

Source: The Mujlisul Ulama of South Africa

Ten things we waste

1. Our Knowledge- Wasted by not taking action ith it.

2. Our Actions- Wasted by committing them without sincerity.

3. Our Wealth- Wasted by using on things that will not bring us benefit. We waste our money, our status, our authority, on things which have no benefit in this life or thereafter.

4. Our Hearts- Wasted because they are empty from the love of Allah, and the feeling of longing to go to Him, and a feeling of peace and contentment. In it’s place, our hearts are filled with something or someone else.

5. Our Bodies- Wasted because we don’t use them in the service of Allah.

6. Our Love- Our emotional love is misdirected, not towards Allah, but towards something/someone else.

7. Our Time- Wasted, not used properly, to compensate for that which has passed, by doing what is righteous to make up for past deeds.

8. Our Intellect- Wasted on things that are not beneficial, that are detrimental to society and the individual, not in contemplation or reflection.

9. Our Service- Wasted in service of someone who will not bring us closer to Allah, or benefit in this world.

10. Our prayers- Wasted, because it does not effect us or our hearts. (based on a lesson of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah)

- Courtesy servingforislam.com

[Compiled by Latheef Farook email [email protected]]