My First Steps In Islam

AbdulRahman Bin Abdulkarim Al-Sheha
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 103 | Size: 1.5 MB

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may Allah exalt the mention of His Prophet, and render him and his household safe and secure from all derogatory things.

I sincerely congratulate you for the guidance Allah has granted and favored you with. I ask Allah that He keeps us and all Muslims firm upon this great religion until we meet Him, without changing anything from it and not being put through trials.

Indeed a true Muslim feels great joy when someone accepts Islam, for he wishes well for others and wants them to live as he does himself: a life of comfort and delight with spiritual joy and mental stability. This can only result from implementing the teachings of Islam. Allah (SWT) says:

(Whoever does good whether male or female and he is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did.) (16:97)

This is because Allah (SWT) clarified the condition of those who do not believe in Allah and what He revealed. Allah (SWT) says:

(And whoever turns away from My Reminder, verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection. He will say, ‘O my Lord! Why have you raised me up blind, while [before] I had sight.’ He [Allah] will say, ‘Like this Our Aayaat [proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.] came to you, but you disregarded them, and so this Day, you will be neglected.) (20:124-126)

A true Muslim wishes that they live happily forever in the Hereafter, whose delights are never-ending. Allah (SWT) says:

(Verily those who believe and do righteous deeds shall have the Gardens of Firdaws (the highest level in Heaven) for their entertainment. * Therein they shall dwell [forever]. No desire will they have for removal there from.) (18:107-108)

The end is inevitable: either eternal happiness or eternal remorse. Whoever dies upon disbelief – and refuge is sought in Allah – he will enter Hellfire for eternity. Allah (SWT) says:

(Verily those who disbelieve from the people of the Book and the polytheists will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.) (98:6)

Ruling On Attending Easter Celebrations

Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 05 | Size: 1 MB

A question answered by Shaikh Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid regarding: “I would like to no if it is haram to go to the sydney royal easter show. although it is called the easter show it really has nothing to d with easter. i like to go for the craft, fruit, animal shows, they all hav nothing to do with easter.”

Praise be to Allah.

It is not permissible for a Muslim to take part in the festivals and innovated celebrations of the kuffaar, such as Easter, Christmas and so on, because taking part and attending is helping in this evil, and increasing their numbers, and imitating them, all of which is not allowed. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Severe in punishment” [al-Maa’idah 5:2]

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (4031); classed as Sahih by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel (5/109).

Ibn al-Qayyim said:

It is not permissible for the Muslims to attend the festivals of the mushrikeen, according to the consensus of the scholars whose words carry weight. The fuqaha’ who follow the four schools of thought have stated this clearly in their books… Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a Sahih isnaad from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab that he said: “Do not enter upon the mushrikeen in their churches on the day of their festival, for divine wrath is descending upon them.” And ‘Umar also said:

“Avoid the enemies of Allah on their festivals.” Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a jayyid isnaad from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that he said: “Whoever settles in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their new year and festival and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724) The Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas was asked about Argentinean national celebrations and celebrations that are held in their churches such as Independence Day, and Christian Arab celebrations such as Easter.

They replied: It is not permissible for Muslims to hold such celebrations or attend them or participate in them with the Christians, because that is helping in sin and transgression, and Allah has forbidden that. And Allah is the Source of strength. End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah al- Daa’imah (2/76).

To sum up: It is not permissible to celebrate the festivals of the kuffaar or to participate in them, whether they do any religious practices in them or limit it to play and entertainment, because just celebrating it is a haraam innovation, but attending their religious rituals is more haraam. The Muslim should spend this day like any other day, and not have any special food or drink on it, or do anything else to show happiness that is done by those who celebrate this festival, such as going out to parks, funfairs and so on, so as to disavow himself of the sins of approving or taking part. And Allah knows best.

The Ruling On Meat Slaughtered In The West

Imam ‘Abdullah ‘Azzam
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 52 | Size: 1 MB

“…During my visits to the West, and when I am being served meals on planes or in restaurants in Europe or America, I would find that I was very hesitant to eat the food, and I wanted very much to search for halal food and find that pure bite to eat in order to protect any part of my flesh from being nourished on haram, as the Fire is more deserving of every bit of flesh nourished on the haram…”

This is a treatise that I had written a few years ago at the start of my frequent visits to the West – especially America – to attend student conferences organized by the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) that have been held until this year, and it is an annual conference that takes place during Christmas, which falls at the end of each Gregorian year. MAYA was the precursor to many Islamic organizations, and the Muslim Youth Association in America was formed from the Muslim Student Association (MSA), which initially was composed of just thirteen students in Chicago.

And this issue has concerned me on my travels, and I exhausted myself in investigating it. If there is anything I could forget, I could never forget my visit to Spain as I was making my way around Grenada and Cordova, as the Islamic awakening there had not yet led to any viable communities forming that could operate their own markets and shops, especially those for halal foods and meats. So, I would spend most of my trip eating roasted pistachios.

I dug deeply into this issue – and it deserves to be dug into deeply – as the West has its own system of life. Carcasses and pork are not considered prohibitions in their daily life. In fact, pork and lard are ingredients in many products and desserts, and the life of the Muslim in the West has become unbearable considering the temptations that surround him and the prohibited ingredients that are found in most foods – in many places, you will find that even bread is made with lard!

The problem also has spread to most of the Muslim lands, with the Muslim populations and nations importing meat from Communist and Western nations without giving any consideration as to the status of the permissibility of such meat. When concerns are raised here and there from those who are hesitant to eat imported meat, a simple seal is placed on the meat that says ‘Slaughtered Islamically.’ So, if a country does respond to some concerns, it sends an envoy from the Department of Commerce to the slaughterhouse to task the embassy in the country from which the meat is coming to supervise the process of slaughtering. The problem is that the issue usually means nothing to the diplomats who work in these embassies of the Muslim countries in the Western or Eastern world. They usually pay no attention to it, let alone spend all of their time in slaughterhouses making sure Allah is mentioned at the time of slaughtering, mentioning and exalting Him whenever another animal is slaughtered. To make matters worse, commerce officials in the Islamic world don’t care much for this issue as they consider it a manifestation of backwardness, closedmindedness, and strictness on the part of religious people due to their so-called extremism.

Also, what would you say if you knew that many commerce officials in some Muslim countries – those who are responsible for declaring what foods are religiously permissible or prohibited – are Christians who refuse to import products from the Muslim nation of Turkey, and accept only to import meat from the Eastern nations like Bulgaria? This is despite the fact that Turkish meat is generally cleaner and cheaper.

Disallowed Matters

Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Monajjid
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 19 | Size: 1 MB

We previously published a brief work entitled Muharamaat: Prohibitions that are taken too lightly, which discussed some of the various offences against Sharee’ah which may involve shirk and major and minor sins. Evidence for these  things being prohibited was quoted from the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and real-life situations were described in order to  explain clearly the different ways in which people may fall into committing sin. There are many things that have been prohibited in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and it is very important for the Muslim to know about them so that he  can keep away from them and thus avoid earning the wrath and anger of Allaah or bringing about his own doom in this world and the next. So I thought of compiling this list of prohibited things, in accordance with the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Religion is sincere advice (al-deen al-naseehah),” and in the hope that it will be of benefit both to myself and to my Muslim brothers. So I have compiled what information I could from the Qur’aan and from the ahaadeeth classed as saheeh by the scholars who specialize in this field  (relying mostly on the reports classed as saheeh by al- ‘Allaamah Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani in his books). Topics are grouped according to the classifications used in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). I have not quoted every hadeeth in full, only the relevant parts. In most cases the reports include words which clearly indicate  prohibition (such as “Do not.”), and I have explained the reason for the prohibition in some cases. I ask Allaah to help us to avoid sin and wrongdoing wherever it exists, visible or hidden, and to accept our repentance. Praise be  to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds.

Major Sins

Imam Shamsu ed-Deen Dhahabi
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 192 | Size: 2 MB

Major sins are defined as what is forbidden by Allah and His Messenger in the Qur’an and the Sunnah in addition to what is narrated on the authority of early Muslims. Allah, the Most high, promises whoever avoids the major sins to expiate his minor sins. Allah, the Almighty says, {If ye (but) eschew the most heinous of the things which ye are forbidden to do, we shall remit your evil deeds, and admit you to a gate of great honour.}(An-Nisaa :31).

Acknowledgment:

In translating this book EI-Falah staff members attempted to study and analyze some books published in the same field in order to be consistent. Although the book was written in the same style and wording used by the early Muslim scholars, the translators, in turn, have nothing but to assimilate, paraphrase and then translate in a simple English structure. Therefore, we are indebted to our translators:
Abdul-Hamid A. Eliwa Ali M. As-Sawi
Wa’il A. Shehab
Mahmud AI-Qastawi
Great appreciation is due to our editor, Jeewan Chanicka under whose guidance and supervision the subject matter took form. Our gratitude goes to friends, associates, and professors for their valuable advice and help and for many useful things we have learnt from them. In truth, the benefit yielded from this book as a spiritual sermon began before it was sent to the printer’s as it puts before our eyes the abode, which we are going to.

PREFACE:

Praise be to Allah under Whose Might all worlds are subdued and all hearts acknowledge and surrender to in fear. Thanks are due to Him for concealing my faults and sins. May Allah bless the Messenger, Muhammed and give him peace upon whom Allah revealed the surah of Qaf. To commence: I introduce this book (Major sins) written by Imam Dhahabi in another form. As I verified the text, documented1 the hadiths and maxims, and elaborated on the difficult words. Thus, it is better to keep on reading this book day and night alone and aloud. You have to bear in mind that what you view in this world is either good or bad, clear or vague, a lust followed by sorrow or sins followed by gloom. Therefore, you have to reject a perishable joy or lust, a binding condemnity, an inevitable sorrow, and a grievous affliction. Judge yourself before being judged by Allah the Lord of the universe. Remember that the one who will be prosperous, is the one who washes away the filth of his sins by repentance while repentance is available, awaked and gets out from the place of sins to the fort of guidance before repentance and apology are of no avail. May Allah safeguard us with His sleepless eyes and keep us away from faults and sins for He is the All-Hearing, the Nearest.

Evil Consequences Of Adultery

Muhammad Ibraheem al-Hamad
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 16 | Size: 1 MB

A short booklet oultining the evil consequences of adultery and fornication and its detrimental effects on the individual and society. Adultery and fornication bring about great corruption and evil which spread easily. Major evil effects result these which cause serious damage to those who commit it as well as to the Muslim nation as a whole. Due to the fact that these sins are widespread, and because there are many avenues that lead to them, the evils consequences and great damage that result from these sins must be known.