However, they asked, “Is the man of the house home?”. She told them that he was out and not present at home at that time. The old men told the lady then cannot come in because the man of the house was not present.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. The husband told his wife to invite them in. The woman went out and invited the men in. However, the men said’ “We do not go into a House together”. The woman asked, “Why is that?”

One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman came inside the house and told her husband. The husband said, “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter was listening their conversation. She said “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!” The husband told her wife that we should listen to our daughter and invite Love inside to be the guest.

The woman went out and told three old men that they want to invite Love to be their gust. Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?”

The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever Love goes, we go with Love. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success”.

So, if someone wants wealth and success in life, the first step to get these is love. Islam teaches us Muslims to love the other human beings. Are we doing that these days? How can be we successful if we don’t love other fellow human beings?

RECENTLY I read a news item datelined Riyadh that said that Saudi Arabia was contemplating banning the marriage of girls under 18. This became necessary because a case of a girl aged eight years came to light. She was married off to a man over 40 years her senior. Many Saudi jurists and ulema, however, uphold such marriages. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh endorses the practice of marrying underage girls, arguing that in doing so they avoid spinsterhood or the temptation engaging in relationships outside wedlock. According to other reports many young girls in Arab countries that observe tribal traditions are married to older husbands but not before puberty. Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

Modern researchers have established that the hadith regarding Hazrat Aisha’s marriage appeared some 300 years after the death of the Holy Prophet. It cannot be relied upon. Moreover, the Quran describes marriage as mithaqan ghaliza (strong covenant) and if marriage is a contract, how can one enter into one with a child who is hardly conscious of the implications of the contract?

The need is to understand that what we call Sharia today includes a number of pre-Islamic Arab traditions and customary practices known as aadat (literally practices). Since the Quran was revealed among the Arabs and they were the first to embrace Islam their practices were accepted as part of Sharia law and Islamic principles had to be applied to the body of these aadat. But when Islam spread to other areas local customary laws also continued to be practised. Islamic principles as contained in the Quran are universal and surprisingly modern. It is unfortunate that our jurists and ulema are not ready to rethink our present laws which are a mixture of Islamic principles and aadat. For them Sharia law once formulated becomes eternal, though no student of classical Islamic jurisprudence will agree with such an approach. Whatever was formulated in the past must be reviewed in the light of Quranic pronouncements and child marriage must be banned. If the Saudi authorities have realised the need for banning child marriage, it should be welcomed. If they take this initiative, others can follow. But legislation, though quite necessary, is not enough. Many laws continue to be violated in practice.

Thus, there is an urgent need to spread awareness in Muslim societies. Awareness has to be created among women as, more often than not, they are the victims of many traditions and customs which have nothing to do with Islam. Also, a greater problem lies in areas where women are less literate or illiterate. They need to be made more aware of their Islamic rights to prevent more instances of child marriage and other abuses.

Read full article here

Nobody doubts that he is a very knowledgeable person, however, there are people who are opposing him as Imam because he cannot speak English the way they speak it. He contributed to LinkMuslims.com by writing Moral Corruption – ‘Youth and Sex’.

Due to strong opposition from the minority but outspoken group at Ottawa Mosque, Imam Khaled Sayed may be leaving for Egypt soon.

The reality is that Ottawa Muslim Association tried for over eighteen months to find a homegrown Imam but had to request Egypt after failed attempts to find one.  Once the decision was made to appoint present Imam, he should be allowed to complete his term.  He has some language problem and I am sure that he is trying his best to overcome that barrier to communicate with young Muslims who may just come to Mosque only once a week.

I would request Ottawa Muslims Association and all those Muslims who are opposing Imam Khaled Sayed to let him finish his term. Honouring the contracts is also part of Muslim faith then why not let him complete his contractual term as Imam at Ottawa Mosque.

Rafiq Qureshi has denied allegations, though admits that he met with the reports and pretendded to be interested. He said that, “In India, you never say ‘no’ directly, least of all to guests,” he said. “You try not to offend people by refusing to help. They said they were childless and desperately fond of Rubina after seeing her in the film. I felt sorry for them, but I was never going to give her up.”

Mumbai police asked the father and daughter to come a police station for interrogation of the reported incedent.

Rubina Ali also denied any such allegations and said she will never give interview to any foreign journalists. Rubina Ali rose to fame after acting in Slumdog Millionaire as the young Latika.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will provide $441,000 dollars for My Canada, a project that provides access to multi-faith sessions for both Muslim and non-Muslim youth in schools and community centres.

“This project demonstrates the importance of promoting common understanding and mutual respect — the basic building blocks to achieve peace and stability here in Canada and elsewhere in the world,” says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

As for the other project, the Status of Women Canada group will provide $314,000 dollars for Being a Canadian Muslim Woman in the 21st Century. With this initiative, women will be able to discuss discrimination, violence and human rights.

Both projects will be coordinated by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. Alia Hogben, Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Muslim Women said:

“We are grateful for the funding, which will assist us to foster Canadian Muslim youth’s active engagement and participation so that they can develop their sense of identity and sense of belonging. This will be achieved by their involvement in their local communities with other youth of different religions and cultural backgrounds.”

The Canadian Council for Muslim Women is a national non-profit organization of women committed to the equality, equity and empowerment of Muslim women.

The message we are delivering here targets the role of the family (i.e. the parents) not the society. As I mentioned at the first khutba that the most important reason behind the weakness of Muslim nations is the misunderstanding of Allah’s revelation.

Many parents called me asking about the solutions of their children’ problems
They are uncontrollable, naughty, involved in illegal activities, hooked up in obscene relationships. Facing these problems in the west is very different from facing them back home in Egypt, for example, or, in Saudi Arabia, or in Pakistan, or in Lebanon, or in Somalia. What makes it different here? It is the culture. The moral matters are at stake here. So, I chose this topic hoping to find answers and solutions to many problems which burden and destroy many Islamic families in the west, in general and here in Canada in particular.

The family bears the responsibility of mishandling the sexual concerns of their teenagers, and even worse the parents many times, do not respect their children and ignore the fact that their children are no longer children; they are adults.

Adding insult to injury, the parents rely often on punishment to reform their children without realizing the bad consequences of punishment, or even without explaining the reason behind prohibitions.

We should not take family as the scapegoat, the youth also bear the responsibility of falling into the trap of cohabitation, Just imagine you daughter coming after school day with aboy and telling you dad……… I’m having a boyfriend (boyfriend and girlfriend), mistreatment of the technology especially the internet which once was a blessed tool for knowledge, now it is a curse. Teenagers log into the internet to watch porn or (engage in illegal acquaintances) get involved with unknown people. Sometimes a young girl gets involved in dating online and she doesn’t even know the persons she is speaking with.

If we want to understand our future we should learn from our past , our history and our religion
So let us know The Prophetic method in dealing with sexual matters with youth:

A young man came to the Prophet (SAWS) and asked him permission fornication to having sex with a woman. The companions were angry at him, while the Prophet (SAWS) remained calm. It was narrated that the Prophet (SAWS) asked the young man if he would approve this fornication to be committed upon his mother. The young man replied negatively, then he (SAWS) asked him if he would accept it to his sister, and again the young man replied with a big no, then the Prophet (SAWS) asked him if he would approve it to his aunt. The young man replied with a no once more. The Prophet (SAWS) told him that people would deny this exactly as he did. Then the Prophet (SAWS) invocated Allah (SWT) to grant this young man strength and guidance.

Notice that the Prophet (SAWS) did not humiliate or scold the young man but he rather taught him in a gentle calm way. There are few main points that parents should communicate to their sons and daughters:

From this Hadith, we can consider our prophet the founder of a new theory in education of the youth; he advocates the principle of holding yourself accountable of your misdeeds and considering that you can be the victimized because of other one wrong doings. The prophet puts the oppressor in the shoes of the victim, the prophet puts you in the spot…for just a second…This is like the musical chairs, what if you’re in this place, what is you’re in this spot…what if your mother or sister is the victim.

The prophet doesn’t want the youth to rely on direct guidance, on the contrary, he shows the negative effects of the wrong doings, and then he left the youth to himself/ or herself….this goes in concert with the nature of the rebellious nature of the youth, the prophet also instills in the youth the ability of taking the right decision independently, with his guidance to the right path.

To sum up, thera are many points to ponder in the intrect relationship between teenagar and their parents:

1. Sex is not a game but is sacred and honorable with noble goals.
2. Sexual harassment leads to falling into complete sex.
3. Having sex without marriage is highly despised and leads to Allah’s Wrath.
4. Involvement in illegitimate sex has destructive consequences on the future of the adolescents and causes incurable damage in his/her personality.

The right way is that parents should talk with their kids and bring up the issue gradually. The talk should flow in proper, calm, respectable and friendly emotional manner. They should also make brainstorming with their kids as a means to get the kids involved in reaching the right solutions.

Sheikh Khaled Abdelhamid El Azhary is the Imam at Ottawa Mosque, Ottawa Canada. This article was published at Imam’s blog and now being shared with LinkMuslims.com readers with Imam’s kind permission.

There was a mixed responce to Momin Khawaja’s arrest in 2004. Some called it part of racial profiling and Islamphobia and some took the wait and see approach. The conviction should be considered as a wake up call to all the Muslim youth who have distorted idealogy of Islam and Jihad. If Muslims really want to change the way they are being treated around the world, they need to treat themselves and fellow citizens properly.  Violance has never been a key to success anywhere around the globe. Violance only further deteriorate the situation. 

All the parents should be very watchful of their young ones and monitor their activities to ensure none of them follow the path of Momin Khawaja which leads to only and only misery.

In the early days of December 2007, I made the decision to go to the Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference (RIS6). Prior to this experience, I heard from friends that this conference is like no other event. Furthermore, little did I realize the actual impact this gathering would have on my life as a Muslim in this dunya and the akhira.  In the next paragraphs, I would like to discuss how important these gatherings are for us, as Muslims living in North America and I will share with everyone my new aspirations as well as what other Muslims should strive for.

Firstly, I strongly urge Muslims living in the Western hemisphere of the world to make an intention to attend and participate in such gatherings.  One of the speakers present at the conference was Sheikh Hamza Yusuf.  Allah the Almighty has blessed this brother with the magnificent faith of monotheism; “There is only one Allah worthy of worship and Muhammed (peace be upon him) is His messenger”.  Sheikh Yusuf highlighted the fact that Muslims residing in North America are facing more challenges than people living in Islamic countries are. Amongst, some of the challenges he mentioned were substance abuse, domestic abuse, and pornography.  He urged the participants to discuss these issues with children and youth and not ignore these as taboo.  However, we should open discourse so they must know on what side of the fence Islam stands on issues of domestic abuse, substance abuse and pornography.  Only open dialogue with our youth can minimize the incidents of domestic abuse and any fatal incident like the death of Aqsa Parvez.

Imam Zaid Shakir talked about how parents in North America should treat their children to make them good Muslims and good citizens.

Contrary to the ever-increasing media reports and discussions, our religion promotes love and peace.  We will never achieve peace if we cannot be tolerant of our neighbors’ beliefs.  Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) lived in peace with Jewish and Christians regardless of their religious affiliations. We should all be good will ambassadors of Islam and should treat our non-Muslim neighbors the best ever way.  Only through our akhlaaq (good manners) will our neighbors see us as loving and peaceful citizens.  We also have the option of making duas to the Most Merciful to guide them to the path of Islamic monotheism.  We do not know what Allah holds in the future as only He chooses whom to guide.  I as a new Muslim had a good friend to show me the true akhlaaq of Muslims.

In conclusion, Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference made me realize I was being selfish by not sharing the wonderful message that Rasul of Allah (pbuh) brought us.  I have a new goal in life, Inshallah to revert others to this religion by simply being a fulltime good will ambassador of Islam.   Brothers and Sisters let us stop promoting hate to our children and start taking active role in their upbringing according to the basic principles of our religion.  We should share with them the life teachings of our Prophet (pbuh).  Furthermore, we need to revive our own spirit by attending large Islamic gatherings promoting the true message of Islam, peace.  It is very important to educate our children as Allah made knowledge ‘fard’ (compulsory) upon us. I pray to Allah, He guides us during our passing journey in this dunya. Ameen.

Reviving the Islamic Spirit “Family Matters: The Basis of a Civil Society” Conference (RIS6) was held from Decemeber 28 to December 30, 2007 at Toronto Metro Center. The pictures are from the Reviving the Islamic Spirit website.

The Strategic Microelectronics Council (SMC) of ITAC provides an Industrial Collaboration Award that is open to graduate degree students of a Canadian university. The Award is focused on research activity arising from university-industry collaboration which has produced substantive results with commercial potential.

 The new wireless device will help the cancer patients.  The device is self-powered, more sensitive, and completely integrated with a transmitter including an on-chip antenna. Their new dosimeter is convenient for the user because it is wireless and small.  It requires a small battery for its operation and is disposable. It is more sensitive and accurate than its competitors and is capable of continuous radiation dose monitoring.

Congratulations Muhammad Arsalan and Atif Shamim on your acheivement. We wish you all the best for success in your future endeavors.