Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Trace Jabran's whereabouts
The first Caliph Abu Bakr
police boss told Page 7
As-Siddiq
Page 3
Friday Bulletin
The
From Left Maahad Dawa Organisation (MDO) member Muhammad Sharrif, Islamic
Dawa Group chairman Abdallah Ndope and the chairman of Al Furqan Training Institute Hassan Al Haddad follow proceeding during the graduation ceremony of the
institution on Sunday. See story on Page 7.
secretary noted that while the government does not harbour intentions of muzzling the fourth estate, it will not look the
other away as the media foments hatred
and demonizes other faiths. We cannot look the other way when cultural and
social stability is being undermined by
the media. We cannot purport to enjoy
freedom of expression at the expense of
other ways of life, he said.
We will stand with the Muslim community in circumstances where serious principles of your religion are being undermined, the CS further said.
Continued To Page 2
This Newsletter contains some of Allahs names. Please do not throw in the trash. Either keep, circulate or shred
The teachers defied fresh orders by their employer TSC asking them to report back to work
by Monday failure to which disciplinary action
would be taken against them.
Learning in the counties of Mandera, Wajir and
Garissa has been paralyzed for the third week
as the non local teachers who constitute large
percentage of the teaching fraternity in the
area made good of their threat not to report
back to schools following two deadly attacks
in Mandera which claimed more than 60 lives.
On Monday, the Kenya National Union of
Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson
Sossion appeared at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters to record
statements over the allegations of inciting
teachers stationed in North Eastern not to return to work.
Sossion told the teachers to continue defying
orders by the TSC to return to their workstation until their grievances are addressed.
Meanwhile Muslim Education Council (MEC)
has called on the striking non-local teachers to
resume duties in their respective educational
institutions in the region.
The Executive director Munawar Khan appealed to the concerned teachers to resume
duties since the national government has
beefed up security and the county governments in the region has reassured them that
the areas are safe.
Acting Inspector General of police Samuel
Arachi assured teachers that adequate security personnel have been deployed in the area.
The deployment has been done according to
the threat analysis. If there is need for even
20 officers in a particular area we will deploy
them, said Arachi.
Intolerant and
inexcusable cartoons
Continued from Page 1
The national chairman of the Supreme
council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM)
Prof. Abdulghafur El Busaidy castigated
the media for publishing the caricatures
terming it as a deliberate act of mischief
meant to offend and provoke Muslims.
Their aim was to provoke Muslims to
show to the world that there are violent
and intolerant, he said.
His sentiments were repeated by the
vice chairman of Jamia Mosque Committee Farouk Adam who accused the
media of being behind a subtle campaign to demonize Islam and urged the
government to take up its responsibility
and rein in media houses which portray
Muslims negatively.
Despite complaints of misinformation
and negative portrayal of Muslim beliefs, several caricatures which attack
and offend Muslims beliefs continued
to be published, he said while urging
the media to respect the religious sensibilities with a caution note that it will not
be business as usual if the sordid trend
continues.
Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome who is a member of the Jamia Mosque Committee
said that there was no absolute freedom and told the media to refrain from
being agents of fermenting intolerance
and breeding hatred among Kenyans.
Particularly at this time, when Kenyans
are making efforts to co-exist, we were
taken back to see media houses coming out to offend and provoke Muslims,
he said.
On his part, Dr. Mustafa Ali who is executive director of Arigatou International
said the cartoons were published by the
local media houses to gain financial leverage at the expense of offending Muslims sensibilities.
Two local dailies, The Star which is
owned by Radio Africa Group and Business Daily , a Nation Media Group
(NMG) publication republished the offensive cartoons which had originally
been published by a French Publication Charlie Hebdo. Following outcry
from Muslims, The Star ran an apology
pledging that it will take into consideration Muslim sensibilities in the future
while the Nation publication has maintained a silence on the matter.
In 2005, despite global anger by Muslims over the publication of offensive
cartoons by a Danish publication Jyllands-Posten, a local television station
owned by the Nation media Group went
ahead to run in one its news bulletins
the disgusting caricatures.
The media house swiftly responded to
Muslim anger with an apology pledging
that the cracks would be closed to ensure that a repeat of the same did not
take place.
Page 2
DA'WA
Adnan Oktar
It was 9 A.H. (630 CE) when Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was planning the Tabuk expedition. Tabuk is an oasis town, in present day Saudi Arabia. The
expedition was an answer to the Byzantine
threats to attack Muslims.
People brought to the Prophet whatever
they could find by way of money and resources to help him with the campaign. And
then came forward one of the richest and the
noblest among the companions and offered
his beloved leader (peace be upon him) all
the wealth and property he possessed.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the
man, "What did you leave for your family?"
without hesitation, the companion calmly replied, "Allah and his Prophet are enough for
them." (Ibn Kathir)
This man was Abubakar As-Siddiq. The
birth name of Abubakar was Abdul Ka`bah
(servant of the Ka`bah). When he reverted
to Islam in 610 CE, he was named Abdullah (servant of Allah) by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Abubakar was
the first among men to accept Islam and the
foremost in fidelity to the Prophet (peace be
upon him).
Abubakar was two years younger than the
Prophet. He was of a noble family and was
known for being most upright and sincere
in his dealings. His gentleness, generosity,
and gracefulness won him the respect of all.
When the Prophet told him of the revelation
and his God-given mission, Abubakar did
not pose to think twice; right then, he embraced Islam and declared his loyalty to the
Prophet (peace be upon him), without a fear
of any consequences.
Thereafter, nothing could deter him from the
path of Islam, and no one was closer to the
Messenger of Allah. Till the end of his life,
Abubakar was strong in his faith in Allah and
unfaltering in his commitment to the way of
the Prophet peace be upon him.
Islam as taught by the Prophet (peace be
upon him) is the total and absolute surrender to the will of Allah, and Abubakar was
its best model after the Prophet (peace be
upon him). As an ordinary man and later as
the ruler of Arabia after the Prophet (peace
be upon him), Abubakar was the very embodiment of honesty and selflessness.
Soon after becomingSUNDAY
a Muslim,LECTURE
Abubakar
was spreading the word about Islam, and
many of his sincere friends followed his
example and took the shahadah, witnessing that there is only one true god and that
Muhammad (Prophet peace be upon him) is
his Messenger.
Among them were eminent persons who later became the stalwarts of Islam; examples
include `Uthman Ibn `Affan, Abdur-Rahman
Ibn `Awf, Sa`d Ibn Abi Waqqas, and Abu
`Ubaydah Ibn Al-Jarrah.
Abubakar was a rich man who kept his
money-chest open to serve the cause of Islam. He was the first in human history who
bought slaves only to set them free. Friend
to the poor and the weak, he had no love for
money, position, or power.
There is a story of a poor, blind, old woman living in the outskirts of Madinah. Every
morning, `Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, another
great companion, used to go to her house to
SUNDAY LECTURE
Umuhimu wa dawah
WOMEN
Umm Zakiyyah
You dont need this. These are the words that will probably always represent my first experience with hijab. Though I was only
four years old and in kindergarten, my mother would cover my hair
with a headscarf before I left to school each morning. My former
Christian parents accepted Islam the year I was born, and they
wanted their children to be known as Muslims when they went to
public school.
But my kindergarten teacher had better ideas. Each day that I arrived at school, she would call me to her desk and remove my head
cover, saying, You dont need this. Then, at the end of the school
day, shed call me back to her desk to put my scarf back on before
I returned home to my parents.
Yes, I was confused a bit, but Id shrug it off because in my fouryear-old world, adults always knew best. And it wasnt until years
later that it occurred to me that this was something I shouldve
talked to my parents about.
Finally, someone will help me
It certainly wasnt easy going to school each day looking different
from all the other girls. The kids poked fun at me, and it was a daily
routine for them to snatch off my scarf and toss it around just for
funwhile the teachers looked on without even a word of reprimand to the students. In fact, the only time I recall a teacher intervening was when I was in fourth grade and was outside for recess,
and I fought the boy who snatched off my scarf and threw it in the
dirt. When I saw my teacher approaching, I felt relieved. Finally,
someone will help me, I thought. But she promptly proceeded to
take only me inside the buildingfor punishment. And I had to sit in
the hall alone for the rest of the dayto teach me a lesson.
I knew I was different
I think one of the greatest benefits I gained from my experience
covering my hair in the public school was the ever present knowledge that I was different from others. While some might think thats
a heavy burden for a child to carry, my experience has taught me
its the other way around: Those Muslims who had the luxury of
blending in with peers carried the greatest burden, and I witnessed
their pain and confusion firsthand. Some of them are not even Muslim today.
I often shudder at the thought of where I would be had my parents not required me to cover my hair from young. The Muslim girls
whose parents put them in public school and believed they can
wait till puberty faced a difficult sudden life change at the onset of
menses.
One day they were just normal Jane and the next day, literally,
they had to come to school looking like some crazy fanatic from the
deserts of Arabia (as others would see it). Needless to say, many
of these girls had an extremely difficult time making this transition.
So many did what could only be expected of a youth in the height
of puberty when self-image and what others think is exaggerated in
ones mind: They did to themselves what my kindergarten teacher
did to me. They told themselves, You dont need this hijab. And
they wore hijab on their way out the door and promptly removed the
headscarf when they arrived at schoolthen put it back on before
returning home.
I love Hijab, sans men
I know its probably the corniest, most clich thing to say. But its
true. I love hijab. And its not because its easy to wear it (as my
public school experiences clearly show). And its certainly not because of all those annoying reasons so many Muslims attach to
making things easy for men. Truth be told, I think that encouraging
girls to love hijab because mens sexual desires will be less intense
is one of the most dangerous, damaging thingspsychologically
and spirituallyyou can do to a Muslim girl, especially living in the
West.
So many things are pulling at us, and its hard enough walking
around as the poster child for Islam while the boys effectively blend
in. And if a Muslim girl gets weak, she cant hide her faults so easilybecause she has only one of two options: wear hijab and announce to others that youre hijabi and human (and thats just un-
VACANCY
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
A reputable Muslim organization is looking for a Muslim
with high integrity.
Khalid Baig
For Sale
For Rent
Christmas is another story. Today shopkeepers sell and shoppers buy Christmas
symbols in Islamabad or Dubai or Cairo.
To engage in a known religious celebration
of another religion is bad enough. What is
worse is the fact that here is another pagan celebration (Saturnalia) that has been
changed in name ---and in little else--- by
Christianity.
Even the celebration considered most innocent might have pagan foundations. According to one account, in pagan cultures,
people feared evil spirits - especially on
their birthdays. It was a common belief that
evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change
in their daily life, such as turning a year
older. So family and friends surrounded the
person with laughter and joy on their birthdays in order to protect them from evil.
How can anyone in his right mind think
that Islam would be indifferent to practices
seeped in anti-Islamic ideas and beliefs?
Islam came to destroy paganism in all its
forms and it cannot tolerate any trace of it
in the lives of its followers.
Further, Islam is very sensitive about maintaining its purity and the unique identity of
its followers. Islamic laws and teachings
go to extra lengths to ensure it. Salat is
forbidden at the precise times of sunrise,
transition, and sunset to eliminate the possibility of confusion with the practice of sun
worship. To the voluntary recommended
fast on the tenth of Muharram, Muslims are
required to add another day (9th or 11th)
to differentiate it from the then prevalent
Jewish practice. Muslims are forbidden to
emulate the appearance of non-Muslims.
A Muslim is a Muslim for life. During joys
and sorrows, during celebrations and sufferings, we must follow the one straight
path --- not many divergent paths. It is a
great tragedy that under the constant barrage of commercial and cultural propaganda from the forces of globalization and the
relentless media machine, Muslims have
begun to embrace the Valentines, the Halloween ghost, and even the Santa Claus.
Given our terrible and increasing surrender
to paganism the only day we should be observing is a day of mourning. Better yet it
should be a day of repentance that could
liberate us from all these days. And all this
daze.
ISLAMIC LECTURE
page 6
NATIONAL
Why should my son be required to produce his parents or grandparents IDs and
birth certificates when the same is not
required from John and Peter, he asked
with a call to the leadership to address this
longstanding matter.
Ndope who is also a Thika businessman,
told Muslim organizations to instill professionalism in their activities in order to provide efficient services to the community.
Unfortunately many of our organizations
lack accountability and transparency and
this trend has to change, he said.
He advised Al Furqan students to diversity
and also embrace modern learning practices saying that Muslims require scholars
who are not only versed in Islamic studies but in contemporary studies as well.
We need Muslim scholars who are also
neurosurgeons, bankers, lawyers and engineers. Islam has not limited your scope
of education, he told the students whom
he implored to live by the noble ideals of
Islam which promote co-existence and tol-
erance.
Apart from the five-year Islamic course
study, students from the institution which is
located in Kajiado County near the border
town of Namanga are also tutored in the
8-4-4 syllabus which enables them to join
local universities.
During the event, Ndope also laid the foundation of a new dormitory block which will
further expand the facilities of the institution to accommodate the growing demand
of students.
Speaking at the event, the Maahad Dawa
Organisation (MDO) chairman Sheikh
Ishaak Ahmed called for support towards
the proposed Al Furqan Towers, an endowment (waqf) project which is expected to
financially sustain the institution. The ten
storey multimillion apartment block will be
located at Ngara area of Nairobi along Park
Road and income realized from the project
will further support the myriads of activities
of the organization which include educational and humanitarian projects.
Secretary/Receptionist
WAMY ACADEMY
The Friday Bulletin is a Publication of Jamia Masjid Committee, P. O. Box 100786-00101 Nairobi, Tel: 2243504/5 Fax: 342147
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