Saturday - Kids Special of the Week!

Cartoon for Muslim Babies

• Educational
• Entertaining
• No Musical instrument used!

Official Website: http://www.one4kids.net/

Some Shops (in USA) where you can buy the DVDs:

Al-Basheer

Online Islamic Store

Dar Us Salaam Publisher

Islamic Bookstore

Thursday - Islamic Finance News of the Week

Islamic finance assets seen at $1.6 trln by 2012

MANAMA, April 8 (Reuters) - Assets of the global Islamic finance industry are estimated to grow to around $1.6 trillion by 2012, a report by consultancy Oliver Wyman said.

It said growth opportunities lie in underpenetrated markets with large Muslim populations awaiting better Islamic finance products in the Middle East, Pakistan and South East Asia.

Islamic finance has grown by over 20 percent annually over the past years and estimates of its current assets range from $700 billion to $1 trillion.

The report by Oliver Wyman said most institutions are far from taking full advantage of that growth as they lack both an understanding of the opportunities and the required operational capabilities.

It said Islamic wholesale banking, the industry's most important sector, needs to diversify from real estate loans and ordinary lending to include advanced treasury services, innovative asset management, balance sheet management and securitisation management.

"This will allow them to address the needs of underserved market segments such as Islamic financial institutions, corporates, sovereign wealth funds and private wealth clients," the report said.

Islamic finance is a nascent and diverse industry, in which many products well-established in conventional banking are still being developed.

It is based on sharia, or Islamic law, which is open to interpretation and caters to investors who want to avoid paying or earning interest, viewed as usury under Islamic law.

(Writing by Frederik Richter; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

Source: Reuters

Wednesday - Islam Q & A for the week

Text messages and e-mails which say: “Forward this or else you will be sinning and such and such will happen to you”

Recently it has become wide spread to receive an e-mail or a text message that includes a du’a or an advice. It reads: “I ask you by Allah to forward it”, or they might say: “if you forward it you will receive good news”. What is the ruling on such messages? Will I be sinful if I do not forward it?

Praise be to Allaah.

Using modern means of communication such as mobile phones and e-mail to spread advice, exhortations, reminders and guidance is a good deed, because it is possible to reach hundreds of people with one click of the button. It is well known that the one who guides others to do good is like the one who does it, and that the one who calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow him, as Muslim (2674) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest.”

And Muslim (1893) narrated from Abu Mas’ood al-Ansaari (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The one who tells another about something good is like the one who does it.”
If a Muslims writes some advice about the adhkaar for morning and evening, for example, and sends it to a hundred people, and many of them follow his advice, then he will have a great reward for that.

Hence we should make use of these means of communication and raise the level of the messages that are transmitted through them, so that they will be most effective and beneficial.
But unfortunately some people mix this good deed with a bad deed, which is a kind of lying and falsehood, such as saying, “If you forward this, you will hear some good news”! This is a kind of fortune-telling. There is no shar’i evidence that the one who receives advice and passes it on to another will hear good news, rather he may hear bad news, or good news, or he may not hear anything at all.

The same applies to the one who says, “I am entrusting you with this to forward it and spread it, or else you will be sinning if you do not do that,” or “Such and such will happen to the one who does not forward it.” All of this is false and there is no basis for it. The one to whom it is sent does not have to do anything and there is nothing to oblige him to forward it, and he is not sinning if he does not do that. There is no basis for stating that someone is sinning without any proof from sharee’ah, and there is no basis for speaking of the unseen future which no one knows except Allaah.

Stating that reward or punishment will come as the result of actions done is something that must be referred to Allaah. Whatever He has permitted is what is halaal, and whatever He has forbidden is what is haraam, and reward and punishment are in His hand. Whoever says anything about that without proof is lying. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم): ‘(But) the things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are Al‑Fawaahish (great evil sins and every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse) whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppression, joining partners (in worship) with Allaah for which He has given no authority, and saying things about Allaah of which you have no knowledge’”
[al-A’raaf 7:33]

These people think that they are making people spread good by encouraging and warning them, but they are mistaken and they are overstepping the mark. They should limit themselves to that which is mentioned in sharee’ah, which is sufficient, praise be to Allaah, such as saying: “Whoever spreads this good, there is the hope that he will have a reward like that of all those who act upon it.” That should be sufficient to encourage people to spread it.

This explains the importance of knowledge, because most of those who do this only do it because of ignorance, like those who fabricated ahaadeeth and attributed them to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) on the basis of spreading good and encouraging people to do good, but they ended up telling lies of a type for which the one who tells them is given a stern warning, but he thought that he was earning reward!

Our aim is to point out the falseness of this method and to warn people against it. Hence we say: The one who receives any of these false messages should advise the one who sent it and explain to him that he should stop using these false incentives, and he should not believe what it says in the message, that if he forwards it such and such will happen to him and if he does not forward it such and such will happen to him, because this is a kind of lie, as stated above.
May Allaah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.
And Allaah knows best.

Source: Islam Q&A

Tuesday - Islamic Institution in USA # 1

Islamic Society of Delaware

also known as Masjid Ibraheem

Since this is the first institution of the series, let me introduce the one that is closest to our hearts in Delaware. The First State's Mosque! The place which comes second to our home in terms of comfort and pleasing to our soul.

With the challenge of being a first time mom, even though I am not that frequent in the congregation or yet to be much involved in the ongoing activities, I find peace whenever I can make it to be there.

I invite ALL of my Family & Friends in USA to stop by at Masjid Ibraheem if you are passing through Delaware from South to North or vice versa.



Link of Masjid Ibraheem: http://www.isdonline.org/


Audio slideshow of Masjid Ibraheem:

Islamic Society of Delaware holds a wide range of activities and services for the Local Muslim Community. Examples of those are -

• Quranic Class
• Arabic Class
• Free Tutoring Service
• Sunday School
• Karate Class
• Wedding Service
• Funeral Service
• Full time Islamic School
• Halaqa for Brothers
• Halaqa for Sisters

and many more...

The website provides Monthly Prayer Schedule, Community Ads, Recorded Jummah Khutba and other useful information.

The Moment's Reflection Tracker

Monday: History & Biography Series- Seerah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Tuesday: Islamic Institution in USA Series

Wednesday: Islam Q & A of the week

Thursday: Islamic Finance News of the week

Friday: Sr. Tasneem's Adopt A Hadeeth & Invocation of the week

Saturday: Kids Special

Sunday: Bonus Material