Children’s Column Content – YMD March 2014

[172] Believers! Eat of the good things that We have given you, and give thanks to Allah, if it is Him you worship.

[173] Surely, He has forbidden you only the carrion, blood, flesh of swine, and that which has been  slaughtered in the name of other than Allah. Yet, whoever has been forced to eat (these things) by necessity, but (does it) without desiring (it), and without crossing (the limits), there is no sin upon him. Verily Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Understanding the above Verses

This is a big difference between Islam and many other religions. Many religions ask their followers to give up all good things of life: good food, good clothes, etc. But Muslims are allowed to eat, drink, and wear good things. But, they should do so without over-doing it and without wasting it. The most important thing is that they should thank Allah alone for the good things of life, because He alone can give and He alone can take away. A Muslim should not think that it is his country who gives him, or his job, or his boss, or saints, or peers, or Prophet Muhammad, or anyone else. Allah alone provides.

In Islam, only a few things are prohibited out of the vast number of things. For example, a dead animals flesh is prohibited. That is, the animal which was not slaughtered, but was found dead. What decent person would like to eat its flesh? In addition, a dead body’s meat becomes dark because of chemical reactions inside, and disappearance of enzymes, which would cause diseases if the meat is eaten. Also, loss of enzymes means that the meat has lost its nutrients.

Blood is another thing that is forbidden. In many nations, blood is collected at the time of slaughter for pudding to be made.

Blood carries many poisons and harmful wastes such as: Urea, Ureic acid, Keratin and carbon dioxide. It also contains some poisons which are on the way to the liver for modification. If blood is not cooked properly, it could cause diseases. If bleeding occurs in the upper tract, the blood has to be removed by operation otherwise, it will cause harm. Blood has so many microbes, that it is used in laboratories to grow them. For these reasons doctors do not suggest blood as a suitable nutrient. If a person has loss of blood (anemic), he is injected blood, but is not advised to drink blood.

Pig is also prohibited. This is a dirty animal. A little swine misbehaves with its mother in a very bad way. Its flesh carries certain germs which die only if the flesh is burned. It is the only animal which eats its own excrement.

Another harmful thing in pork is a worm called “trichina”. If it enters the human body, it settles directly in the muscles of the heart causing heart diseases. Pork also increases weight as is seen in USA and Germany, where much pork is eaten. “Tape worm” is another harmful parasite which enters into human body through pork.

Similarly, any animal which is not slaughtered in Allah’s name is prohibited in Islam. That is, if the man who says for instance, “In the name of Christ,” or, “in the name of Krishna,” or, “in the name of Muhammad” at the time of slaughter, Muslims should not eat its flesh.

Exercise:

1. What is the difference between Islam and other religions in matters of food?
2. Muslims say, “It is Allah who gives all things.” But the scientists say that they give people things they make through their inventions. How will you answer them?
3. Are you supposed to do something more, or just saying the words of thanks is enough?
4. How many things are prohibited by the verse 173?
5.  Give a reason why Allah prohibited them.
6. Give scientific reasons why dead animal’s meat, blood and pork are unlawful.
7. Is it necessary to have a scientific reason for to accept Allah’s order?

(To be continued)

• There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with 33 different breeds.

• Cats “paw” or “knead” (repeatedly treading on a spot – sometimes its owner) to mark their territory. Cats sweat through the bottom of their paws and rub off the sweat as a marking mechanism.

• Cat urine glows in the dark when a black light shines on it. If you think your cat or kitten has had an accident in your home, use a black light to find the mishap.

• The print on a cat’s nose has a unique ridged pattern, like a human fingerprint.

• If your cat is near you, and her tail is quivering, this is the greatest expression of love your cat can give you.

• If your cat is thrashing its tail, she is in a bad mood – time for you to keep your distance!

• During her productive life, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens. A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years.

• Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of the principles of gravity, also invented the cat door.

• The more you talk to your cat, the more it will speak to you.

• A group of kittens is called a “kindle.” A group of grown cats is called a “clowder.” A male cat is called a “tom,” a female cat is called a “molly” or “queen”, and young cats are called “kittens.”

• Cats spend 30% of their waking hours grooming themselves.

• Each year Americans spend four billion dollars on cat food. That’s one billion dollars more than they spend on baby food!

• Cats can make over 100 vocal sounds, while dogs can only make 10.

• Cats conserve energy by sleeping for an average of 13 to14 hours a day.

• Cats have been used to deliver mail: In Belgium in 1879, 37 cats were used to deliver mail to villages. However they found that the cats were not disciplined enough to keep it up.

Cats see so well in the dark because their eyes actually reflect light. Light goes in their eyes, and is reflected back out. This means that their eyes actually work almost like built-in flashlights. This allows them to see at light levels six times lower than what a human needs in order to see.

here is a time of night when the whole world transforms. During the day, chaos often takes over our lives. The responsibilities of work, school, and family dominate much of our attention. Other than the time we take for the five daily prayers, it is hard to also take time out to reflect or even relax. Many of us live our lives at such a fast pace, we may not even realize what we’re missing.

But there is a time of night when work ends, traffic sleeps, and silence is the only sound. At that time – while the world around us sleeps – there is One who remains awake and waits for us to call on Him. We are told in the hadith qudsi:

“Our Lord descends during the last third of each night to the lower heaven, and says: ‘Is there anyone who calls on Me that I may respond to him? Is there anyone who asks Me that I may give unto him? Is there anyone who requests My Forgiveness that I may forgive him?'” (Bukhari and Muslim)

One can only imagine what would happen if a king were to come to our door, offering to give us anything we want. One would think that any sane person would at least set their alarm for such a meeting. If we were told that at exactly one hour before dawn a check for $10,000,000 would be left at our doorstep, would we not wake up to take it?

Allah has told us that at this time of night, just before dawn, He will come to His servants. Imagine this. The Lord of the universe has offered us a sacred conversation with Him. That Lord waits for us to come speak with Him, and yet many of us leave Him waiting while we sleep in our beds. Allah comes to us and asks what we want from Him. The Creator of all things has told us that He will give us whatever we ask.

And yet we sleep.

There will come a day when this veil of deception will be lifted. The Qur’an says:

“[It will be said], You were certainly in unmindfulness of this,
and We have removed from you your cover,
so your sight, this Day, is sharp.” (50:22)

On that Day, we will see the true reality. On that Day, we will realize that two rak`at (units) of prayer were greater than everything in the heavens and the earth. We will realize the priceless check that was left on our doorstep every night as we slept. There will come a day when we would give up everything under the sky just to come back and pray those two rak`at.

There will come a day when we would give up everything we ever loved in this life, everything that preoccupied our hearts and minds, every mirage we ran after, just to have that conversation with Allah. But on that Day, there will be some from whom Allah will turn away… and forget, as they had once forgotten Him.

The Qur’an says:

“He will say, ‘My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?’
[Allah] will say, ‘Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them;
and thus will you this Day be forgotten.'” (20:125-126)

In Surat al-Mu’minoon, Allah says:

“Do not cry out today. Indeed, by Us you will not be helped.” (23:65)

Can you imagine for a moment what these ayat (verses) are saying? This is not about being forgotten by an old friend or classmate. This is about being forgotten by the Lord of the worlds. Not hellfire. Not boiling water. Not scalded skin. There is no punishment greater than this.

And as there is no punishment greater than this, there is no reward greater than what the Prophet describes in the following hadith:

“When those deserving of Paradise would enter Paradise, the Blessed and the Exalted would ask: Do you wish Me to give you anything more? They would say: Hast Thou not brightened our faces? Hast Thou not made us enter Paradise and saved us from Fire? He would lift the veil, and of things given to them nothing would be dearer to them than the sight of their Lord, the Mighty and the Glorious.” [Sahih Muslim]

But one does not need to wait until that Day to know the result of this nighttime meeting with Allah. The truth is, there are no words to describe the overwhelming peace in this life from such a conversation. One can only experience it to know. Its effect on one’s life is immeasurable. When you experience qiyam, the late night prayer the rest of your life transforms. Suddenly, the burdens that once crushed you become light. The problems that were irresolvable become solved. And that closeness to your Creator, which was once unreachable, becomes your only lifeline.

[Source: SuhaibWebb]