Shaykh Ahmed Deedat

SHAYKH AHMED DEEDAT [1918 - 2005 A.D.]
Born in the Surat District of India in 1918, Shaykh Ahmed Deedat at the age of 9 migrated to South Africa in 1927 with his father. At the age of 16 he took on a job in a retail store. Here he encountered students from a nearby missionary school who tried to convert him to Christianity. At the store he found a book that enabled him to defend his beliefs. This was the first of many books he read on the subject of comparative religion.

In 1940 after acquiring extensive knowledge of both the Bible and the Qur’an, he took to the stage of a local cinema to deliver a lecture called "Muhammad (Peace be upon Him), the Messenger of Peace," to an audience of under fifteen.

Word about his knowledge and amazing ability to quote religious texts from memory spread and he was soon addressing audiences of up to 40 000 in other areas of the country. In 1957 he formed an organisation called the Islamic Propagation Centre together with two of his friends.

He visited Saudi Arabia in 1976, and enthralled television audiences with his witty approach and dynamic personality. This opened the doors of financial assistance to him, and meant that his dream of printing and mass-distributing the Qur’an and other literature soon became a reality.

In 1985, Shaykh Ahmed Deedat agreed to a debate with American missionary, Floyd E Clark, at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He proved to be an instant hit, and was soon visiting other parts of the world on lecture and debate tours. In America he became famous for what is known as ‘The Great Debate’ – eight thousand people watched him debate the topic "Is the Bible God’s Word?" with American Reverend Jimmy Swaggart.

He was awarded the prestigious King Faisal Award in 1986 for his sterling services to Islam in the field of Propagation.

Shaykh Ahmed Deedat delivered his last lecture in Australia in 1996. Shortly thereafter he suffered from a stroke which left him paralysed from his neck down and unable to speak. He was flown to Saudi Arabia on a medical jet, specially flown in by the Saudi Royal family, and received specialized treatment at the King Faisal hospital in Riyadh, where he was taught to communicate using a series of eye movements.

He spent the last nine years of his life, confined to a bed in his home in Verulam, but was visited by many Muslims and non-Muslims from around the world. When asked what his message for the Ummah was, he would usually respond with one statement: "Do Da’wah."

On the 8th of August 2005 / 2 Rajab 1426, Shaykh Ahmed Hoosen Deedat departed from this world to meet his creator.

May Almighty Allah bless his soul, accept his efforts for the cause of da’wah and grant him Jannah, Ameen.

Related reading:
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
Maulana Abdul Hayy Lucknawi
Shaykh al-Hadith Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi

A Coffee Cup

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

"While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress".

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups." "Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." So don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.
source: Fee-Sabilillah blog

Zheng He

Many thanks to Muslim Heritage for granting permission to reproduce this article on my blog. Please do visit the Muslim Heritage and 1001 Inventions websites to learn more, discover 1000 years of missing history and explore the fascinating Muslim contribution to present day Science, Technology, Arts and Civilisation.

ZHENG HE [1371 - 1433 A.D.]
The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Little did the famous Muslim geographer, Ibn Battuta know, that about 22 years after his historic visit to China, the Mongol Dynasty (called the Yuan Dynasty in China) would be overthrown. The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) would begin. A Muslim boy would help a Chinese prince. That prince would become emperor and the boy would grow up to be the "Admiral of the Chinese Fleet."

His name... Zheng He. The ships that he would sail throughout the Indian Ocean would retrace some of the same routes taken by Ibn Battuta, but he would be in huge boats called "junks". He would go to East Africa, Makkah, Persian Gulf, and throughout the Indian Ocean.

Speak of the world's first navigators and the names Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama flash through a Western mind. Little known are the remarkable feats that a Chinese Muslim Zheng He (1371-1433) had accomplished decades before the two European adventurers.

The Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation retraces the route of China's 15th century admiral, Zheng He, who ranks as perhaps the country's foremost adventurer. A Muslim and a warrior, Zheng He helped transform China into the region's, and perhaps the world's, superpower of his time.

In 1405, Zheng was chosen to lead the biggest naval expedition in history up to that time. Over the next 28 years (1405-1433), he commanded seven fleets that visited 37 countries, through Southeast Asia to faraway Africa and Arabia. In those years, China had by far the biggest ships of the time. In 1420 the Ming navy dwarfed the combined navies of Europe.

Ma He, as he was originally known, was born in 1371 to a poor ethnic Hui (Chinese Muslims) family inYunnan Province, Southwest China. The boy's grandfather and father once made an overland pilgrimage to Makkah. Their travels contributed much to young Ma's education. He grew up speaking Arabic and Chinese, leaming much about the world to the west and its geography and customs.

Recruited as a promising servant for the Imperial household at the age of ten, Ma was assigned two years later to the retinue of the then Duke Yan, who would later usurp the throne as the emperor Yong Le. Ma accompanied the Duke on a series of successful military campaigns and played a crucial role in the capture of Nanjing, then the capital. Ma was thus awarded the supreme command of the Imperial Household Agency and was given the surname Zheng.

Emperor Yong Le tried to boost his damaged prestige as a usurper by a display of China's might abroad, sending spectacular fleets on great voyages and by bringing foreign ambassadors to his court. He also put foreign trade under a strict Imperial monopoly by taking control from overseas Chinese merchants. Command of the fleet was given to his favorite Zheng He, an impressive figure said to be over eight feet tall.

A great fleet of big ships, with nine masts and manned by 500 men, each set sail in July 1405, half a century before Columbus's voyage to America. There were great treasure ships over 300-feet long and 150-feet wide, the biggest being 440-feet long and 186-across, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers. Most of the ships were built at the Dragon Bay shipyard near Nanjing, the remains of which can still be seen today.

Zheng He's first fleet included 27,870 men on 317 ships, including sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers, artisans, medical men and meteorologists. On board were large quantities of cargo including silk goods, porcelain, gold and silverware, copper utensils, iron implements and cotton goods. The fleet sailed along China's coast to Champa close to Vietnam and, after crossing the South China Sea, visited Java, Sumatra and reached Sri Lanka by passing through the Strait of Malacca. On the way back it sailed along the west coast of India and returned home in 1407. Envoys from Calicut in India and several countries in Asia and the Middle East also boarded the ships to pay visits to China. Zheng He's second and third voyages taken shortly after, followed roughly the same route.

In the fall of 1413, Zheng He set out with 30,000 men to Arabia on his fourth and most ambitious voyage. From Hormuz he coasted around the Arabian boot to Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea. The arrival of the fleet caused a sensation in the region, and 19 countries sent ambassadors to board Zheng He's ships with gifts for Emperor Yong Le.

In 1417, after two years in Nanjing and touring other cities, the foreign envoys were escorted home by Zheng He. On this trip, he sailed down the east coast of Africa, stopping at Mogadishu, Matindi, Mombassa and Zanzibar and may have reached Mozambique. The sixth voyage in 1421 also went to the African coast.

Emperor Yong Le died in 1424 shortly after Zheng He's return. Yet, in 1430 the admiral was sent on a final seventh voyage. Now 60 years old, Zheng He revisited the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Africa and died on his way back in 1433 in India.

Imam Mahdi

IMAM MAHDI
The coming of Imam Mahdi is one of the major signs of Qiyamah. The term Mahdi means the guided one.

It is narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said,

"This world will not come to an end until one person from my progeny does not rule over the Arabs, and his name will be the same as my name." [Tirmidhi]

"Even if only a day remains for Qiyamah to come, yet Allah will surely send a man from my family who will fill this world with such justice and fairness, just as it initially was filled with oppression." [Abu Dawood]

Features of the Mahdi as narrated in ahadith are:
He will be tall, with fair complexion, facial features similar to that of the Prophet (pbuh), possess character of the Prophet (pbuh), his father and mother will be called Abdullah and Amina, he will have a slight stutter and when he stutters he will hit his thigh with his hand.

The Mahdi will emerge at a time of confusion and dispute and allegiance will be pledged to him in Makkah between Hajr Aswad and Maqam of Ibrahim (A.S). The number of people pledging allegiance to the Mahdi at this time will be 313. When this information is received an army will be sent forth from Syria to fight the Mahdi, but Allah will cause the earth to swallow up this army before they reach Imam Mahdi. After coming to know of this event many people will come to Imam Mahdi and swear their allegiance to him.

Thereafter the Mahdi will have to fight many battles and the rule of Shariah will be established upon earth. During the rule of Imam Mahdi will be a time of peace, happiness and great wealth, so much so that after calls are made on the streets for anybody in need of wealth only one person will come forward.

During the lifetime of Imam Mahdi the Dajjal will appear and Hazrat Isa (A.S) will descend from the heavens. Imam Mahdi will thereafter die and Hazrat Isa (A.S) will perform his funeral prayer and bury him.

I have tried to keep this post brief in order to just give a quick outline of Imam Mahdi. Please visit the links below for further information and detail.

Further reading:
Imam Mahdi by Mufti A.H. Elias and Mohammad Ali ibn Zubair Ali
The Mahdi by Shaykh Ahmad Ali

So you probably already got it that the Bloglet subscribe emails are not working (actually their whole site is down right now). Please be patient and inshallah it will either start working soon or (more likely) we* will switch to another similiar tool.

*by we, I refer to the Muslim bloggers currently using bloglet. It would be nice if any of the other Muslim bloggers had any suggestions for alternatives and we should definitely try and have the same tool to make it easier for our readers.

Inshallah, in a few months I will be in possession of 'the best object of benefit in the world'...
please make du'a for me

Wasalam

Etiquettes of Knowledge

Etiquettes for the Seeker of Sacred Knowledge and the Snare of Shaytan
Shaykh Nazim Mangera, sunniforum.com

For a long time I have wanted to discuss some etiquettes about reading Islamic literature and listening to speeches delivered by scholars. We should read and listen with the intention of benefiting from their writings and their speeches. Whatever our intention is, that is what we will get from it. If we read and listen with the intention of increasing our knowledge and trying to act upon it, Insha Allah that is what we will gain. If we read and listen with the intention of criticizing and taking out mistakes and finding faults, then we will find mistakes and faults and that is the only thing we will get from it. It’s very easy to criticize destructively and it is often said that it’s easier to haul down than to build.

Scholars elaborate this by citing the following example:Two types of animals are set free in a garden; one is a bird and the other is a swine. The bird will look for clean and pure sustenance, whereas the swine will look for filth and dirt. Whatever intention they have, they will get. So the bird enters the garden and finds clean and pure sustenance and the swine/pig enters the garden and searches for filth and garbage and dirt and finds it because no garden is filth free. They both got what they wanted.

Another point the scholars make is that we should read and listen with the desire and urge to increase our knowledge and act upon it and propagate it to others. If we have no desire to increase but rather we think we know everything, then we will hardly benefit from their writings and speeches and eventually we will only be harming ourselves.

The following example is cited:
If an empty glass is put under a tap, and the mouth of the glass is facing down, then it does not matter how fast the water is coming out, the glass will never get full for obvious reasons. But if that same glass is facing the correct way and the mouth of the glass is facing up, then it does not matter if the force of the water is low, but a time will come that the glass will be full of water.

If we have the intention of benefiting, then we will benefit tremendously. And if we have the intention of finding faults and mistakes, then we will find them. For sure, there will be times when there will be grammatical mistakes in the writings. There will be mistakes of wrong word usage. But is that a good reason to get happy over the mistake? That is nothing but the Shaytan’s method of preventing you from benefiting from a scholar’s advice. Being happy over a person’s mistake is either a sign of pride or jealousy- two of the most devastating sins of the soul. If we get happy at a mistake of another, it is a sign of a spiritual sickness. There will be times when your writings will be better than a scholar’s writings; there will be times when you will speak better than the scholar. But that gives us no reason to be put off by the scholar’s advice.

There could be many reasons why your writings or your method of speaking could be better than a scholar’s writing. One reason is usually in the Madrassah’s run by Asian scholars, very little attention is paid to the English language. The majority of our lectures were either in Urdu or Arabic. That trend is slowly changing though. Another reason could be that the scholar does not spend much time in English speaking countries. Now when the scholar will speak, there might be a stutter or an accent or the pace will be slow. But that should never be a reason to ignore the scholar’s advice. It is the content of the speech which really matters. Just because a person is an eloquent speaker does not mean that the content of the speech is correct as well. Being eloquent is one thing, and being correct is a completely different matter.

Another point I wish to clarify is that after reading an article or listening to a speech, some things might not be clear to us or go against our prior view on the matter. In this case, in a polite manner, ask the scholar that this is what I understood from your speech but I thought it was supposed to be like this. Am I correct in my understanding or not? I’m sure the scholar will not mind if we have any questions on the topic. Never hesitate to ask questions because two types of people never increase in their knowledge: A proud person and a shy person.

Also, if we think that the scholar has made a mistake somewhere, then bring up the point with the scholar in a polite manner and discuss it. We all are prone to mistakes. Only Allah is free of all blemishes and faults.

Attain the Ranks of the Pious

Hadhrat Ibraheem Bin Ad`ham said to a man who was making tawaaf:
“You will never attain the elevated ranks of the pious (i.e. the Auliyaa) as long as you have not traversed six difficult valleys.

First Valley - The closing of the door of bounties and the opening of the door of hardship.

Second Valley - Closing of the door of honour and opening of the door of disgrace.

Third Valley - Closing of the door of comfort and opening of the door of toil.

Fourth Valley - Closing of the door of sleep and opening of the door of wakefulness during the night.

Fifth Valley - Closing of the door of wealth and opening of the doorof poverty.

Sixth Valley - Closing of the door of wishes and opening of the door of preparations for Maut.”

source: Orchards of Love published by Mujlisul Ulama