Letters to the Editor
Q: I have some questions regarding learning Arabic language. I am studying Arabic language since two years with a teacher. I started with Minhajal Arabia and Miftahul Qur’an. I study daily 30-40 min,Since these two years, I have learned basic grammar & rules of Arabic language but after that I am not heading forward, meaning of Arabic words are not easy to remember, since we don’t speak Arabic.Please suggest some books or methods to learn the language.
Abdul Jaleel,
On Email
YMD
Allah (swt) has shown favor to you to have guided you towards making efforts to learn the Arabic language.
We assume that you are trying to learn Arabic of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Be on the track, and Allah’s help will come to you.
However, we regret to say that we do not know of an Arabic language book which aims to teach Arabic of the Qur’an and Sunnah alone. Most books, including those taught in religious institutions, endeavor to teach Arabic language per se, and not of the Qur’an and Sunnah. That is why, most of them, although good by themselves, are inadequate for those making non-institutional efforts.
You could make some benefits from two books:
1. That of Syed Iqbal Zaheer called, “Introduction to the Arabic language through Islamic texts” – in two volumes. If you can get the book through Young Muslim Digest, along with audios, it might make it easy to learn the language. You will not need a teacher.
2. An Arabic book, prepared, prescribed and taught by “Madrasah Ayesha” for girl students in Karachi, Pakistan. But this is in Urdu and you will need a teacher.
While you make efforts to study through your own books of choice, we recommend that you learn Tafseer Jalalayn through your present teacher. You may do Surah al-Baqarah under him. Initially it might be tough for you, but with time it should ease down.
Q: Please do something to highlight the plight of Muslims in Bangalore and for educating them about Ponzi schemes. This is just the tip of the ice berg. … I personally know so many people who have sold their own homes or leased them and invested crores in these dubious companies.
YMD
We are lucky they sold their own homes, and not other people’s homes.
Q: Women have sold their jewelry and poor people have taken chits to invest here. Unfortunately, now they are finding it difficult to pay their chits and personal loans with all their money gone. In the name of Halaal and Islam many are cheated.
YMD
It’s a case of a fox and chicken.
Q: Below is my personal experience with these frauds:
XXX,
On Email
YMD
If chicken-ness is abandoned and people become sheep, then the foxes become wolves. The wolves are wolves for what the masses are. They have to be taught to come out of their sheepishness, into manliness: rational, intelligent, sagacious and informed. But these are qualities generated by Imaan.
So long as the people refuse to listen to the voice of Revelation, they will remain deaf to the voice of reason and, consequently, gullible to Ponzi schemes?
People’s memory is short and so, the foxes and wolves will come back. They are now licking the blood on their paws.
Q: Can we use human images or videos for marketing a religious magazine?
YMD
Photos, images, sketches showing a living being in complete is not allowed in Islam, whether the magazine is religious or secular.
Q: What about viewing human images?
YMD
Making them is disallowed; so, if one lives the life of a Muslim, he is not exposed to them. One may not, therefore, watch films. Further, if it is not pornographic, people do not stare at photos.
Q: Does animation and sketching also fall into this?
YMD
If they do not show the entire body, they are allowable.
Q: What about the scholarly opinion which states, in pre-Islamic times, it was used to create deities to compete with Allah (swt), and so was haraam, which is not the case in today’s professional use of it?
Syed Taha Hashmi,
On Email
YMD
Whoever said this, was talking through his hat (because, expectedly, he who wears a cap, and not a hat, would not be talking like this through his cap).
The Prophet (saws) said that the images led to image-worship. But, in your statement the cart has been placed before the horse. It is not image-worship (or deity-worship) that led to making images.
Q: What is the ruling on investing in share, or stock, market according to Qur’an and Sahih Hadith and Manhaj of Salaf-us-Saaliheen.
H. Gove,
On Email
YMD
Investment in any business, whose business practices are not halal, is not allowed (for instance, wine-making or lending capital on interest, etc.). Investment in such companies as which run night clubs, discos, prostitution houses, or gambling houses, race courses, etc. is also not allowed. Barring such restrictions and exceptions, investment in the share markets is available.
Further, investment is investment proper, that is, both profit and loss are shared. On the other hand, if a business organization pays back a fixed amount, monthly or yearly, as profits, then, investment in such an organization would be prohibited.
Q: I have been reading YMD since childhood and I appreciate your hard work. May Allah (swt) reward you for this noble act. I am copy-pasting the question and answer from YMD February 2019 section below. YMD answer to this question is ridiculous. Instead of simply admitting your fault, you are playing with words and justifying the wrong act. It is wrong to place an ad that is objectionable and later defending it. YMD should not become the source of promoting obscenity in any way.
I also request you to answer questions in a simple and clear manner instead of playing with the words (as I always observe). Sometimes, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I admit the fault’ is enough when you are confronted with a question that is hard to answer. May Allah (swt) help you.
YMD
With reference to your words, “playing with the words” (which you always observe), the following may be noted:
It is reported in scientific circles that two scientists were traveling together, heading by flight to a seminar on how the universe works, the origin of life and its purpose. Sitting next to each other, one of them asked the other what his thoughts were on the matter. “That’s easy,” replied the other, “The purpose of life is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide.” (Sean Carroll, “The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself). It was not an expected answer. But he knew what the other scientist meant to say.
The question asked in the issue of reference is as follows:
Q: Someone gifted me the magazine Young Muslim Digest. I read it and, Alhamdulillah, it was very good. But, there was an objectionable thing in the magazine. On the back cover paper, there was an advertisement of Bearys Institute of Technology with a photograph in which boys and girls were sitting and standing together in attractive styles. The questions that arise in my mind are:
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- Are such photographs permissible in Islam?
- Is co-education lawful in Islam as the photograph indicates that you support this idea?
- Is it suitable to carry such advertisement for an Islamic Digest?
Gulzar Bhat,
On Email
YMD
We have not copy-pasted our old answer. Re-reading our answer there might lead you and some readers (nothing is impossible) to reconsider your objections.
Further, there was a message hidden in that answer, but you either didn’t get a clue of it, or decided to ignore it. We shall not impose the message on you now.
Whether such photos as being objected to, are halal or haram, our previous answer remains the same.
As for co-education, hopefully you will get a Fatwa proper from a Muslim educational body; although a Mufti (proper!) will also do.
Now, whether such an advertisement is suitable or not in an Islamic Digest, would be proper to be addressed to someone well-fed, free of worries, reclining in his easy-chair engaged in his evening gossip. But to a debt-stricken Manager who serves, at the beginning of each month, promising the Press Company to pay for the last print next month – to such persons –such questions are irrelevant.
Perhaps, he will take his eyes off the financial notes on his desk, and pay attention to questions delivered with love from moral pedestals.
Perhaps, you could suggest how we could make the question relevant so that he would pay the needed attention.
May Allah help you.
