Prophets and Books
By Khalid Baig According to a report in Musnad Ahmed collection of Ahadith, Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “From Adam to me, Allah sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets, of whom three hundred and fifteen were entrusted with a Book.” The question is why were there so many more Prophets than Books? To reflect on this is to gain an understanding about the very institution of Prophethood. If the role of a Prophet were simply to deliver the Book, as some mis-guided people in our time try to argue, there should have been as many Books...Read More
“Caution: There is Another anti-Islamic Site There”
Why issuing an alert letter is precisely the wrong thing to do? – By Khalid Baig The alert letters keep coming. Beware here is the latest anti-Islamic site. Then a URL so you can verify that it is indeed as described. Then a passionate request to tell all the Muslims in the world about it. Sincere. Misguided. Counter-productive. Little do the senders realize that they are actually helping the very sites they are trying to fight. The failure is in realizing that the Internet is a very different medium and the rules that applied to the previous media do...Read More
Understanding Television
By Khalid Baig (Author’s Request: Please turn off your television set as you read this article.) Television has spread like a wild fire in the world, including the Muslim world. It seems to have overcome the limitations of space and time. Consider place. In Saudi Arabia, one can find the imprints of Hollywood only a few yards away from the Haram, the most sacred of all sanctuaries of Islam. Videocassettes are easily available at stores. A hotel attendant, at a walking distance from the Haram al-Sharif in Makkah can be found busy watching English movies on the television in...Read More
Islam: Friend or Foe?
By M H Faruqi Islam’s message is plain and profound. It starts as a seed and blossoms into a garden. Seven years after Muhammad had been charged with the duty to convey the message, the Makkans banished and confined him and and his kith and kin of the Banu Hashim clan to the Valley of Abi Talib. The message had been spreading, despite all opposition and oppression, and, therefore, the oligarchs of Makkah had decided on a policy of boycott and isolation. It was assumed that while the people outside would hear no more of Islam, those under siege...Read More
Our Obligations to the Qur’an
By Dr. Israr Ahmed The pathetic and disastrous condition of the Muslim Ummah throughout the world is due to its abandoning of the Holy Qur’an. The constant attitude of indifference, along with our hypocritical lip-service, is tantamount to ridiculing the last of Allah’s (SWT) revelations. Instead, we must clearly understand our responsibilities towards the Holy Qur’an and try our very best to fulfill them. We can neither expect any improvement in our worldly state of affairs, nor hope for salvation in the Hereafter, unless we carry out all the obligations that we owe to the Qur’an. The five demands...Read More