Letters to the Editor

Q: I would like to congratulate you and the author of article titled ‘Islam, the Trailbiazer of Women’s Rights,’ in your December 2014 issue. Kindly make this to appear in both Islamic and other publications as well as Legislatures including Parliament, PMO etc; to enlighten them about our actual Islamic approach and Laws about the position of women’s rights. It is very sad this is not we practice, May Allah guide us on the right path, Ameen. Summa Ameen.

YMD

We leave our readers to circulate such articles far and wide.

Q. It would help us if you can add Matrimonial advertisements.

Mohamed Fakruddin, 
On Email

YMD

This magazine is open to matrimonial advertisements at no cost. Readers may send their bio-data.

Q: Masha`Allah, may Allah reward you for such an amazing Da’wah work you do; may He elevate you and never debase you, and may your efforts be a source of a flowing source of good deeds after you depart from this world, Ameen!

My name is Hammad Farooq, I work with www.eDialogue.org – which is a Live-Chat Dawah service. The organization has over 60 professional Du`at, and its main goal is to offer free (one-on-one) chat service to non-Muslims in order to convey the beautiful message of Islam and create bonds of understanding through live dialogue.

Alhamdulillah, and by the grace of Allah (swt) alone, the website receives 20,000 daily visitors with about fifteen people accepts Islam every day from various parts of the world! Our chat assures 24/ 7 coverage with professional Du’at who are trained in comparative religion and misconceptions about Islam.

If you would like to have our ‘Live Chat’ icon on your website, where our Du`at answers your visitor`s questions about Islam, we`ll be delighted to send you the code for it. Other famous Da’wah websites (e.g. IERA, TalkToIslam, IslamHouse) already have our Live Chat service installed on their sites.

Let us know inshaAllah, we’ll be eager to hear from you.

Hammad Farooq Z. Patel, 
On Email

YMD

The news of the success of the Da`wah program is soul-lifting. May Allah reward all those involved.

May Allah also reward you for the offer. It is suggested that you contact our site Manager through editor@youngmuslimdigest.com or khalidchinoy@gmail.com.

Q: Is there a hadith which mentions the knowledge of Surah Fatihah can be equivalent to seven camel loads? Is there any work available on the knowledge of Surahs especially Surah Fatihah?

Zahid,
 On Email

YMD

Such a hadith is not in our knowledge. All the same, seven camels is too few. Allah says: Say, ‘If the sea was ink for the words of my Lord, surely, the sea will be exhausted before the Words of my Lord are exhausted,’ even if We brought the like of it, in supplement.’ (18:  109).

Sorry to have disappointed you – and a million other young Muslims – if you were looking for a short-cut to knowledge. But knowledge requires that you burn your fat in the lamp late at nights.

Q: It’s this one about Hira: Hira’s Cry and the Story of Two Lion-hearts (YmD Nov. 2011).

When did the person die (she died in 2000)? How old were they? What kind of acts of worship did she do to earn Jannah? Is she in Jannah right now…? I want to learn more.

Abdirahman Osman, 
On Email

YMD

We cannot answer all your questions. Since details of publication are given with the said article, you could conduct a little research.

As to your question about how did she earn Jannah, the ‘how’ of it is very well known: absolutely unshakable faith and trust in your Lord, utmost best efforts to follow His Prophet’s examples, and, avoiding any dishonesty in attempting the two.

Q: I’m Faisal Ahmed, my query is: Every day the newspaper person throws the newspaper at the house door. The newspaper contains Hadith as well as photos of Makkah and Madinah. Should we stop taking it? Or what else can be done? Seeking your reply.

Faisal Ahmed Khan, 
On Email

YMD

Khan Sahib: One solution would be to gather together scrap wood of your house, and make a box to receive the newspaper. Another could be to wait at the door to receive the newspaper by hand. A third would be to undergo a short course on…???

Q: A detailed and self-contained article on the ‘Black Stone’ may please be published in the next/ forthcoming issue of your esteemed YMD monthly. Your reply to Br. Afroz Pasha’s queries on the ‘Black Stone,’ though informative (YMD of Jan 2015), was not exhaustive, but only tidbits. 

Aslam Shah, 
On Email

YMD

The Black Stone, al-Hajr al-Aswad in Arabic was a single piece of stone that had been placed at one of the corners of the Ka`bah (on the left side of the door), whose walls the two Prophets, Ibrahim and his son Isma`il had raised on previously existing foundation, 2100 years before Jesus Christ.

Thereafter, the walls collapsed several times and each time they were rebuilt. Some years before the Prophet was addressed with Revelation, the Quraysh undertook the reconstruction of the Ka`bah. When the time for the placement of the honored stone came, every tribe wanted to have the honor, and fingers were dipped in bowls of blood to indicate that they were ready to fight off. In one of the meetings, someone suggested that they should rather go home for the day and come back early next day. Then, the first person who arrived (who did not know of the arrangement) may be asked to decide.

It so happened that the first to arrive next morning was Muhammad. He asked for a sheet of cloth, placed the stone on it, asked every tribal representative to lift, and then, as it was raised, he himself put it in its place.

Reports say that the Stone was sent down from Paradise at the time Ibrahim and Isma`il were building the Ka`bah. It was originally milk-white, but people’s sin blackened it. Another report says that the Stone has a tongue and two lips and will bear witness to those who touch it (or kiss it, during the circumambulation).

To touch or kiss it is only Sunnah, to be performed only when it can be done without inconveniencing others. `Umar kissed it and remarked, “I know you are no more than a stone that can neither cause harm nor benefit. Had I not seen the Prophet kissing you, I would not kiss you.”

It is reported that Ibn `Umar was always found to be touching the Black Stone during Tawaf. But once he passed by without touching it. The Stone was found to be rubbed with some perfume, which was perhaps the reason why Ibn `Umar did not touch it.

There arose in the second Islamic century a sect called Isma`ilis, a branch of the Shi`as. They gave birth to a sub-sect called Qaramitah, of which, in turn, there became many branches. One of the branches ruled Bahrayn (the Eastern Province of present-day Saudi Arabia). This sect believed that Islam and the Arabs had arrived at their dead end, and a new era, that of the Mahdi was about to start, and the Persian dominance would return, heralding the end of the world.

Under the rule of this branch of the Qaramitah, one of the leaders called Abu Tahir, raided Makkah in 317 H, mercilessly slaughtered innumerable men and women in the courtyard of the Ka`bah as well as from among the citizens of Makkah, pulled out the door of the Ka`bah and the Mizab, removed the Black Stone and took it away to their headquarters in al-Qatif (even now a Shi`ah town near Dammam). They were hoping to turn the Hajj pilgrimage around by having it redirected to the Stone with them. The stone suffered breakages, but was returned after some 22 years when the Abbasid Caliph threatened military action, and when Qaramatism began to crack up.

The Hajj and the lesser pilgrimage (Umrah), of course, continued uninterrupted during the Stone’s absence for 22 years: an indication to the non-Muslims who wish to imagine that the Muslims worship the Stone or the Ka`bah.