The world of Islam

 

A fifth of humankind follows Islam, the fastest growing and perhaps most misunderstood religion on earth. Faced with a secular modern world, Muslims are turning anew to the roots of their faith.

Borne aloft five times a day, from Shanghai to Chicago, Jakarta to Timbuktu, Islam's call to prayer stirs the soul of devout Muslims everywhere. Whether cast from metal loudspeakers over teeming city streets or lifted as the murmured song of camel drivers kneeling in the sand, it begins with the same Arabic phrase Muslims have used for nearly 1400 years, Islam's melodic paean to the Creator: "Allahu Akbar -- God is Great."

Some 1.3 billion human beings -- one person in five -- heed Islam's call in the modern world, embracing the religion at a rate that makes it the fastest growing on Earth, with 80 percent of believers now outside the Arab world.

The term Islam, is an Arabic word meaning "submission to God," with its etymological roots firmly planted in "salaam", or peace.  

Muslims revere all Prophets of God, including Moses and Jesus, may Allah exalt their mention, and regard the books revealed to these prophets – Torah and Injeel -- as an integral part of their tradition. They disagree with Christians about the divinity of Jesus, may Allah exalt his mention, but honor him as an especially esteemed Messenger from God. The ultimate Messenger for Muslims is the Prophet Muhammad  (may Allah exalt his mention).

Born about 570 CE at Makkah, Muhammad  was an orphan raised by his grandfather and uncle. He grew up to be a modest and respected businessman who rejected the widespread polytheism of his day and turned to the One God.

At about age 40, Muhammad  retreated to a cave in the mountains outside Makkah to meditate. There, he was visited by the archangel Gabriel, who began reciting to him the Word of God. Until his death 23 years later, Muhammad  passed along these revelations to a growing band of followers, including many who wrote down the words or committed them to memory.

These verses became the Quran, or "recitation," the literal Word of God and confirmation of the real Jewish and Christian Scriptures.

The Quran consists of 114 chapters, and covers everything from the nature of God (Compassionate and Merciful) to laws governing the mundane affairs of men. Among its commands are (what mean): "Do not usurp one another's property by unjust means" and "Do not kill anyone which God has forbidden."

The Quran is also a source of the pure Arabic language memorized by Muslim school children and recited by Muslim adults on every important occasion.

One of the five pillars of Islam, along with the two testimonies of faith (Shahaadah), prayer (Salah), fasting the month of Ramadan (Sawm), charity (Zakah), the pilgrimage (Hajj) is required of all who can manage it at least once in a lifetime.

By the time the Prophet  passed away in 632 CE, Islam was established throughout the Arabian Peninsula, bringing peace and unity to the tribes for the first time in memory. Within a century of his death the armies of Islam, empowered by faith, had conquered a vast swathe of territory -- stretching from India to the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal, including North Africa and the Middle East.

This Islamic world built on the intellectual achievements of other civilizations, sponsoring an explosion of learning unparalleled until the Renaissance.

At a time when Europe was languishing in the early Middle Ages, Muslim scholars and thinkers were giving the world a great center of Islamic learning (Al-Azhar in Cairo) and refining everything -- from architecture to the use of numbers. At the same time, seagoing Muslim traders were spreading the faith to southern Asia, China and the east coast of Africa.

Flourishing by the end of the first millennium, the realm of Islam was tested as western Europe, spurred by its contact with the Islamic near East, awoke and lashed out, launching a series of armed Crusades to wrest Jerusalem from Muslim control.

Though fragmented and initially overcome, Muslims rallied to ultimately defeat the invading Christian armies, whose blood-soaked legacy -- the indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Muslim and Christian Arabs, and the Jews of Jerusalem -- lives on in the minds of people to this day.

As Europe rose to glory during the Renaissance and beyond, the Islamic world continued to thrive after the creation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 1200s CE. This powerful state fell at the end of World War I, resulting in the subdivision of its mostly Muslim lands into the Middle Eastern countries we know today.

Although a few Muslim nations are wealthy from oil resources, most are poor and increasingly demoralized by their position in the world. Disaffected and disenfranchised, many people in these societies are turning to Islam to assert their identity and reclaim power over their own lives.

In addition many Muslims, especially in the Arab world, are angry at the United States’ continued support of Israel, the war and the economic sanctions against ‘Iraq, which are widely perceived to have hit the people of ‘Iraq -- who are fellow Muslims -- right between the eyes.

For most of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, Islam is a way of life, a discipline based on looking at the world through the eyes of faith.

"Islam gave me something that was lacking in my life," says Jennifer Calvo of Washington, DC.

Calvo is 28 and looks as if she just stepped out of a painting by Botticelli, with aquiline features and striking blue eyes, set off by a white head scarf tucked neatly into her full-length robe. Calvo was raised Catholic and works as a registered nurse. 

Two years ago, as people have done for 1,400 years, Jennifer became a Muslim by simply declaring the words: "Laa ilaaha illallaah, Muhammad Rasoolullaah”  (There is none  worthy of being worshipped except Allah (God), and Muhammad is His Messenger)."

"Everything is so much simpler now," she said. "It's just me and God. For the first time in my life I'm at peace."

For Calvo and most Muslims on Earth, that is what Islam's call to prayer represents. Kneeling to God five times a day, in unison, facing Makkah from wherever they happen to be, they find peace in an act of surrender. - islamweb.net

The She-Camel in the Quran

 

I believe you are referring to the she-camel in the story of Prophet Salih, who was sent to the Thamud people.

The story is told in Surat Al-A`raf 7:73–79 and in Surat Hud 11:61–68, and mentioned briefly elsewhere in the Quran (26:141–159; 54:23–32; 91:11–15).

This is how Pickthall translated one of the relevant passages:

{And to (the tribe of) Thamud (We sent) their brother Salih. He said: O my people! Serve Allah. Ye have no other God save Him.

A wonder from your Lord hath come unto you. Lo! this is the camel of Allah, a token unto you; so let her feed in Allah’s earth, and touch her not with hurt lest painful torment seize you. And remember how He made you viceroys after Aad and gave you station in the earth.

Ye choose castles in the plains and hew the mountains into dwellings. So remember (all) the bounties of Allah and do not evil, making mischief in the earth. The chieftains of his people, who were scornful, said unto those whom they despised, unto such of them as believed:

Know ye that Salih is one sent from his Lord? They said : Lo! In that wherewith he hath been sent we are believers. Those who were scornful said : Lo! in that which ye believe we are disbelievers. So they hamstrung the she-camel, and they flouted the commandment of their Lord, and they said:

O Salih! Bring upon us that thou threatenest if thou art indeed of those sent (from Allah). So the earthquake seized them, and morning found them prostrate in their dwelling place. And Salih turned on them and said: O my people! I delivered my Lord’s message unto you and gave you good advice, but ye love not good advisers.} (Al-A`raf 7:73–79)

According to footnotes for this passage in Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Quran, the Thamud were the successors to the culture and civilization of the Aad people that are also mentioned in the Quran (7:65–72; 11:50–60 and elsewhere). The Thamud lived in the northwest corner of Arabia, between Madinah and Syria.

The main sin of the Thamud is that they were arrogant and would not give the poor their rights to pasture and water, both of which are gifts of Allah and should be shared by all.

Miracle From Allah

The she-camel was a sign or symbol sent to Prophet Salih. It was a test case to see if the arrogant ones would come to reason.

There are various traditions that say that the she-camel appeared miraculously. Ibn Kathir (d. AH 774), in his Stories of the Prophets, says that the Thamud people asked for a miracle, specifically that a pregnant she-camel would issue from a rock.

Allah granted them the miracle, and Salih warned them to allow the she-camel to have access to the water springs on alternate days with their own animals.

Ibn Kathir further repeats various traditions that say that the miraculous she-camel would drink all the water on her days, not leaving any for the other animals, but in return she provided enough milk for all; and that the other animals were afraid of it and would not approach it or sleep where it had slept.

While some of the people accepted Salih’s message to worship only Allah and to be just to one another, the rich continued in their arrogance and refused to accept his message.

Finally, several young men plotted to hamstring and then kill the she-camel. After they did so, Salih warned them that they had three days to repent of their crime. They refused, and the people were destroyed by an earthquake.

(From Ask About Islam archive)

About AElfwine Mischler

AElfwine Mischler is an American convert to Islam. She has undergraduate degrees in physics and English, and a master's degree in linguistics and teaching English as a foreign language.

-aboutislam.net

ATHEISM : DENYING THE UNDENIABLE & A QUESTION OF UNDERSTANDING

“Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and not to miss him.”

--F.W. Norwood

DENYING THE UNDENIABLE 

Atheists might assert that they don’t acknowledge the existence of God, but the view of some Christians and all Muslims is that at some level even the confirmed Atheist affirms God’s presence.  The innate but neglected awareness of God typically surfaces in Atheist consciousness only in times of severe stress, as exemplified by the World War II quote “There are no Atheists in a fox-hole.”[1]

Undeniably there are times -- whether during the agonizing days of a lingering illness, the seemingly eternal moments of a violent and humiliating mugging, or the split second of anticipating the impact of an imminent car crash -- when all mankind recognize the reality of human fragility and the lack of human control over destiny.  Who does a person beseech for help in such circumstances other than The Creator?  Such moments of desperation should remind every person, from the religious scholar to the professed Atheist, of the dependence of mankind upon a reality far greater than our own meager human selves.  A reality far greater in knowledge, power, will, majesty and glory.

In such moments of distress, when all human efforts have failed and no element of material existence can be foreseen to provide comfort or rescue, Whom else will a person instinctively call upon?  In such moments of trial, how many stress-induced appeals are made to God, complete with promises of lifelong fidelity?  Yet, how few are kept?

No doubt, the day of greatest affliction will be the Day of Judgement, and a person would be unfortunate to be in the position of acknowledging the existence of God for the first time on that day.  The English poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, spoke of the irony of the distressed human appeal in The Cry of the Human:

“And lips say “God be pitiful,”

Who ne’er said, “God be praised.”

The thoughtful Atheist, full of skepticism but fearful of the possibility of the existence of God and a Day of Judgement, may wish to consider the ‘prayer of the skeptic,’ as follows:

“O Lord--if there is a Lord,

Save my soul--if I have a soul.”[2]

In the face of skepticism blocking belief, how can a person go wrong with the above prayer?  Should Atheists remain upon disbelief, they will be no worse off than before; should belief follow a sincere appeal, Thomas Jefferson had the following to say:

“If you find reason to believe there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under His eye, and that He approves you, will be a vast additional incitement; if that there be a future state, the hope of a happy existence in that increases the appetite to deserve it…”[3]

The suggestion can be made that if an individual doesn’t see the evidence of God in the magnificence of His creation, they would be well advised to take another look.  As Francis Bacon is noted to have commented, “I had rather believe all the fables in the legend, and the Talmud, and the alcoran (i.e. the Quran), than that this universal frame is without a mind.”[4]  He went on to comment, “God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.”[5]  Worthy of contemplation is the fact that even the lowest elements of God’s creation, though perhaps ordinary works in His terms, are miracles in ours.  Take the example of as tiny an animal as a spider.  Does anybody really believe that such an extraordinarily intricate creature evolved from primordial soup?  Just one of these little miracles can produce up to seven different kinds of silk, some as thin as the wavelength of visible light, but stronger than steel.  Silks range from the elastic, sticky strands for entrapment to the non-adhesive drag-lines and frame threads, to the silk for wrapping prey, making the egg sac, etc.  The spider can, on demand, not only manufacture its personal choice of the seven silks, but reabsorb, breakdown and remanufacture--self-recycling from the component elements.  And this is only one small facet of the miracle of the spider.

And yet, mankind elevates itself to the heights of arrogance.  A moment’s reflection should incline human hearts to humility.  Look at a building and a person thinks of the architect, at a sculpture and a person instantly comprehends an artist.  But examine the elegant intricacies of creation, from the complexity and balance of nuclear particle physics to the uncharted vastness of space, and a person conceives of…nothing?  Surrounded by a world of synchronous complexities, we as mankind cannot even assemble the wing of a gnat.  And yet the entire World and all the Universe exists in a state of perfect orchestration as a product of random accidents which molded cosmic chaos into balanced perfection?  Some vote chance, others, creation.

A QUESTION OF UNDERSTANDING

Most Atheist arguments challenge the compatibility of an all-loving God with the perceived injustices of life.  The religious identify such challenges as reflecting an arrogance of intellect -- being the assumption that we as mankind, an element of creation ourselves, know better than God how His creation should be ordered -- coupled with the failure to appreciate a larger design.

The fact that many of mankind fail to make sense of certain aspects of this life should not dissuade from belief in God.  The duty of man is not to question or deny the attributes or presence of God, and not to incline to arrogance through professing to be able to do a better job, but rather to accept human station in this life and do the best that can be done with what we’ve been given.  By analogy, the fact that a person does not like the way the boss does things at work, and fails to understand the decisions he makes, does not negate his existence.  Rather, each person’s duty is to fulfill a job description in order to be paid and promoted.  Similarly, failure to grasp or approve of the way God orders creation does not negate His existence.  Rather, humankind should recognize with humility that, unlike the workplace boss, who may be wrong, God by definition is of absolute perfection, always right and never wrong.  Humankind should bow down to Him in willing submission and in recognition that failure to understand His design on our part does not reflect error on His part.  Rather, He is The Lord and Master of Creation and we are not, He knows all and we do not, He orders all affairs according to His perfect attributes, and we simply remain His subjects, along for the ride of our lives.

The confused and sensitive souls who encounter difficulty reconciling God’s existence with a harsh and often painful life deserve sympathy and explanation.  If a person accepts the fact that God knows what He is doing and we don’t, he or she should rest comfortable with the understanding that deep down things may not be what they at first seem.  Perhaps the wretched amongst humankind deserve their lot in life for reasons unforeseen, and perhaps they suffer only a short worldly existence to receive an eternal reward in the next life.  Lest a person forget, God granted the favorites of His creation (i.e. the prophets) the greatest worldly gift of certainty, guidance and revelation; however, they suffered greatly in worldly terms.  In fact, the trials and tribulations of most people pale in comparison to those of the prophets.  So although many people do suffer terribly, the message of hope is that the archetypes of God’s favorites, namely the prophets, were deprived of the pleasures of this world in exchange for the rewards of the hereafter.  A person might well expect a comparable reward for those who endure the trials and hardships of this life, while remaining steadfast upon true belief.

Similarly, a person cannot be faulted for expecting the disbelieving tyrants and oppressors to have all the enjoyments of this world, but none of the hereafter.  Some of the known inmates of Hell spring to mind.  Pharaoh, for example, lived a life of posh magnificence to the point that he proclaimed himself to be the supreme god.  Most likely opinions changed when he broke wind.  In any case, a person can reasonably expect him to be somewhat dissatisfied with his toasty abode of the moment, and the memories of his plush carpets, fine foods and scented handmaidens to have lost their charm of consolation given the heat of the moment.

Most people have had the experience of ending a great day in a bad mood due to some sour event at the conclusion of events.  Nobody values a fine meal that ends in divorce, a romantic interlude rewarded with AIDS, or a night of revelry capped off by a brutal mugging or crippling car crash.  How good could it have been?  Similarly, there is no joy in this life, no matter how great the ecstasy or how long the duration, which is not instantly erased from memory by a 100% full body burn.  One side of one hand represents 1% of the total body surface area of a human being, making a kitchen burn of a fraction of a fingertip count for less than a thousandth of the total body surface area.  Nonetheless, who doesn’t forget absolutely every little, every big, everything during that moment of painful thermal affliction?  The agony of a whole-body burn, especially if there is no relief -- no jumping back, no pulling away -- is beyond the capacity of human imagination.  The few who have survived such burns agree.  Not only does the torture of a total burn exceed the boundaries of human imagination, but the agony of the experience surpasses the limits of language.  The horror can neither be adequately conveyed by the unfortunate of experience, nor fully understood by those blessed to have escaped initiation.  Certainly one looooooong, eternal, full-body bath in fire can be expected to erase any pleasant memories of the past, consistent with the conclusion that

“…the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment.” (Quran 13:26)

With regard to the subject of the present appendix[1a], two elements of guiding consciousness deserve consideration, the first being that deep down all people have an innate knowledge of the presence of the Creator.  Humankind may intellectualize this awareness away in search of the conveniences and pleasures of this world, but deep down, all mankind know the truth.  What is more, God knows that we know, and He alone can calculate the level of individual rebellion and/or submission to Him.

The second element of dawning spiritual awareness is simply to understand that there is seldom a free lunch.  Rarely does anybody get something for nothing.  Should a man work for a boss whom he does not understand or with whom he does not agree, in the end he still has to do his job in order to get paid.  Nobody goes to work (for long, anyway) and does nothing more than saying, “I’m at work,” expecting a paycheck to follow based on nothing more than unproductive attendance.  Similarly, humankind must satisfy a duty of servitude and worship to God if hoping to receive His reward.  After all, that is not only the purpose of life, it is our job description.  For that matter, Muslims claim that such is the job description for both men and Jinn (plural for ‘spirits;’ singular ‘Jinn’ee,’ from which the Western word ‘genie’ is derived), for God conveys in the Holy Quran:

“And I have not created Jinns and men, except that they should serve (worship) Me.” (Quran 51:56)

Many people question the purpose of life, but the position of the faithful of many religions is exactly that stated above – mankind exists for no other reason than to serve and worship God.  The proposal is that each and every element of creation exists to either support or test mankind in the fulfillment of that duty.  Unlike worldly employment, a person can duck his or her responsibilities to God and be granted a grace period.  However, at the end of this probationary period called life, accounts become due and payable, and such is certainly not the best time to find one’s account ‘in the red.’

Francis Bacon provided a wonderful closure to the topic of this appendix, stating, “They that deny a God destroy man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.”[2a]  Should a person believe that after a few million years something worthy of the barbecue will emerge from the froth of Stanley Miller and Harold Urey’s primordial bouillabaisse, humankind still has to account for that which we all feel within us—the soul or spirit.  Each and every element of mankind has one, and here is the metaphysical keystone which separates man from animal.

Again, those who doubt that which cannot be directly experienced may find excuse for denial of the soul, but they will most likely find themselves to have scant company.  Furthermore, the discussion then moves into one of the nature of truth, knowledge, and proof, which logically springboards into the next section, on agnosticism. - islamreligion.com

FOOTNOTES:

[1]N.Y. Times.  13 Apr 1944.  Cummings: Sermon on Bataan, The Philippines.

[2]Renan, Joseph E.  Prayer of a Skeptic.

[3]Parke, David B.  p. 67.

[4]Bacon, Francis.  Atheism.  p. 16.

[5]Bacon, Francis.  Atheism.  p. 16.

[1a]This article is originally an appendix to the book “The First and Final Commandment” by the same author.

[2a]Bacon, Francis.  Atheism.  p. 16.

The beauty of Islam as seen by others

 

American poet, critic and author Colonel Donald S. Rockwell writes: "The simplicity of Islam, the powerful appeal and the compelling atmosphere of its mosques, the earnestness of its faithful followers, the confidence inspiring realization of millions throughout the world who answer the five daily calls to prayer, these factors attracted me from the first.

But after I had determined to become a follower of Islam, I found many deeper reasons for confirming my decision. The mellow concept of life -- fruit of the combined course of action and contemplation, the wise counsel, the admonitions to charity and mercy of the Prophet, , (may Allah exalt his mention).

The broad humanitarianism, the pioneer declaration of women's rights, these and other factors of the teachings of the man of Makkah, were to me among the first obvious evidence of a practical religion so tersely and so aptly epitomized in the cryptic words of Prophet Muhammad, : 'Trust in God and tie your camel.' He gave us a religious system of normal action, not blind faith in the protection of an unseen force in spite of our own neglect, but confidence that if we do all things rightly and to the best of our ability, we may trust in what comes as the Will of God...

When I stood in the inspiring mosques of Istanbul, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Fez and other cities, I was conscious of a powerful reaction -- the potent uplift of Islam's simple appeal to the sense of higher things, unaided by elaborate trappings, ornamentation, figures, pictures, music and ceremonial ritual. The mosque is a place of quiet contemplation and self-effacement in the greater reality of the true God.

The democracy of Islam has always appealed to me. Potentate and pauper have the same rights on the floor of the mosque, on their knees in humble worship. There are no rented pews or special reserved seats.

The Muslim accepts no man as mediator between himself and his God. He goes direct to the invisible source of creation and life -- God -- without reliance on a saving formula of repentance of sins and belief in the power of a teacher to afford him salvation. The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, color or country, has been brought home to me most keenly many times in my life, and this is another feature which drew me towards the Faith."

The baseless claim that Islam converted the peoples it had 'conquered by force' has also been refuted by prominent non-Muslims.

 

 

Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, writes in Young Indian, 1924:

"I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, , the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble."

James A. Michener writes in the Reader's Digest, under the title Islam: The Misunderstood Religion: "No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts that idea, and the Quran is explicit in support of the freedom of conscience."

Laurence E. Browne writes in The Prospects of Islam: "Incidentally, these well-established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings about the Muslims, that wherever they went, they forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword."

De Lay O'Leany also writes in Islam at Crossroads, London, 1923, p. 8: "History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims, sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fanatically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated."

It is worth mentioning here that it is absolutely wrong to judge Islam by the deteriorating condition of Muslims and the blatant corruption that pervades the Muslim world. What Islam preaches is one thing, and what so many Muslims nowadays practice is something else.

The only way whereby we do justice to Islam is to find out about its noble teachings, which are clearly set out at length in the Holy Quran and the Prophetic traditions. The famous popular singer, Cat Stevens, who later embraced Islam once observed: "It will be wrong to judge Islam in the light of the behavior of some bad Muslims who are always shown on the media.

It is like judging a car as a bad one if the driver is drunk and he bangs it into a wall. Islam guides all human beings in daily life -- in its spiritual, mental and physical dimensions. Nevertheless, we must find the sources of these instructions -- the Quran and the example of the Prophet, . Then we can see the idea of Islam."

What is generally said about Islam in the media and in many academic circles can also give a wrong idea about it. As Maurice Bucaille put it: "The totally erroneous statements made about Islam in the West are sometimes the result of ignorance, and sometimes of systematic denigration.

The most serious of all the untruths told about it are, however, those dealing with facts, for while mistaken opinions are excusable, the presentation of facts running contrary to reality is not. It is disturbing to read blatant untruths in eminently respectable works written by authors who a priori are highly qualified."

[From: A Glimpse at the Beauty of Islam]

- islamweb.net

What to Do When Your Friend Becomes Too ‘Demanding’

 

Your friend is highly dependent on you and wants to be with you all the time.

Your friend has low self-esteem and depression and has even tried to commit suicide if you do not meet her.

This also affects your relationship with your mother since she gets to see less of you.

Further, I understand that your friend does not like your mother and wants you not to like her as well. She disapproves you of spending time with your family.

You want to start working online and go to your home to complete the job so that you can spend time with your family as well as work without interruptions from your friend.

Your right

Sister, you need to understand that spending time with your family and working (however you wish to) is your right.

You should not have to lie to your friend about the matter, but if you think it is better to lie so that she does not feel bad, it would be okay to lie. And Allah knows best.

However, you must understand that lying will not solve the roots of the problem.

There seems to be a severe problem with your friend since she has tried committing suicide only because you did not visit her.

It is apparent that her behavior also affects you and your relationship with your family.

It could also be affecting your grades and other things in your life.

There is a lot of missing information about your friend, so I cannot say what her problem could be.

You have mentioned she has depression and has a low self-esteem. Her attempt at suicide reveals that her problem runs quite deep.

It is possible that she has been a victim of emotional, physical or sexual abuse in the past. Perhaps, her family is disintegrated, and she was deprived of emotional needs in childhood and adolescence.

However, I cannot say any of these for sure since I do not have complete information.

Involve a trusted adult

You are a strong girl ma sha’ Allah that you are helping her out in her hard time, beyond your capabilities.

However, she does need proper help to have her problems sorted out.

Perhaps you should try to involve some adults such as her parents or any elder siblings or other close relatives.

Also, I would advise you to let an elder know immediately that she has attempted or threatened to commit suicide.

As she has done that once, it is apparent that she has a suicidal tendency and she can do it again…and again.

Therefore, it is best to involve an adult in this matter. Don’t be afraid that you would be “betraying” your friend.

I think hiding her suicidal tendencies would be a great risk. It would be better for everyone involved if you do not keep this a secret.

Also, you are not liable to pay her fees for counseling unless you absolutely want to.

I would suggest advising your friend’s parents or caretakers about the situation.

Get their help to have her counseled by a professional psychologist.

Do not blame yourself for her negative actions

Sister, please understand that if your friend tries to commit suicide because you are not available, or goes through any other negative emotions because you are not there with her, there is no need for you to feel guilty or blame yourself.

You are a young girl and are not responsible for her.

She has imposed you to be in charge of her needs and be there for her at every whim – without taking into account your preferences and what you want to do with your time.

She is controlling your actions by emotional blackmailing to take care of her own needs.

Take a firm stance about your family

In Islam, parents and especially one’s mother has a great deal of importance.

You should talk positively about your mother when your friend talks wrong about her.

You should be clear about the time you want to spend with your family.

Also, try to make her understand the value of family and especially parents.

According to Hadith,

“A man came to the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayihi Wasallam) and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the worthiest of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your father.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

According to the Quran,

“And We have enjoined on man (to be dutiful and good) to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years give thanks to Me and to your parents, unto Me is the final destination.” (31:14)

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Check out this counseling video:

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Help her increase her faith to quell her fears

It’s great that you and she both pray together, Alhamdulillah.

Encourage her to rely on Allah for her needs. Allah is our Creator and Sustainer. In the Quran, Allah says,

“And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein.” (50:16)

Set healthy limits

You’re a teenager, and in this age, friends take up a lot of your time.

Also, peer approval means a lot, especially during the teen ages.

However, if you let your friend be dependent on you consistently, you will eventually feel emotionally burned out.

You two are quite young and need your own space.

You would want to interact and meet with other people in future while your friend is going to keep hindering you from meeting others just so that you can stay with her. This is not healthy.

Be assertive

She needs to learn to live on her own. You need to start making her realize that you have your own aspirations, goals, and values in life.

I think it would be best if you set your limits with her.

For instance, you could start by starting your job and going to your parent’s home to do your job.

Then gradually, you could make her understand that you wish to spend your weekends with your family as well.

Similarly, carry on a gradual increase in your distance with her until you feel comfortable.

I pray for wellness and peace of mind for both you and your friend.

I hope that your friend can overcome her dependence on strength and determination.

You are a great person who is going out of her way to help and protect your friend.

However, you need to understand that you are not responsible for her feelings and actions as long as you do not abuse her verbally (to hurt her).

May Allah guide you and your friend.

***

Disclaimer: The conceptualization and recommendations stated in this response are very general and purely based on the limited information provided in the question. In no event shall MyISLAM or AboutIslam, its counselors or employees be held liable for any damages that may arise from your decision in the use of our services.

-aboutislam.net

Origin of birds and mammals

 

Evolutionists embark on flights of fancy of their own, while trying to justify how birds and mammals developed from amphibians

According to the theory of evolution, life originated and evolved in the sea and was then transported onto land by amphibians. This evolutionary scenario also suggests that amphibians evolved into reptiles, creatures living only on land. This scenario is implausible, due to the enormous structural differences between these two classes of animals. For instance, the amphibian egg is designed for developing on land. A “step by step” evolution of an amphibian is out of the question, because without a perfect and fully-designed egg, it is not possible for a species to survive. Moreover, as usual, there is no evidence of transitional forms that were supposed to link amphibians with reptiles. Evolutionist paleontologist and an authority on vertebrate paleontology, Robert L. Carroll has to accept that ‘the early reptiles were very different from amphibians and that their ancestors could not be found yet.'

Yet the hopelessly doomed scenarios of the evolutionists are far from over. There still remains the problem of making these creatures fly! Since evolutionists believe that birds must have somehow evolved from lower life-forms, they assert that they were transformed from reptiles. However, none of the unique mechanisms of birds, which have a completely different structure from land-dwelling animals, can be explained by gradual evolution. First of all, the wings -- which are the exceptional traits of birds -- pose a great impasse for evolutionists. One of the Turkish evolutionists, Engin Korur, confesses the impossibility of the evolution of wings: 

"The common trait of the eyes and the wings is that they can only function if they are fully developed. In other words, a half-developed eye cannot see; a bird with half-formed wings cannot fly. How these organs came into being has remained one of the mysteries of nature that needs to be enlightened."

The question of how the perfect structure of wings came into being as a result of consecutive haphazard mutations remains completely unanswered. There is no way to explain how the front arms of a reptile could have changed into perfectly functioning wings as a result of a distortion in its genes (mutation).

Moreover, just having wings is not sufficient for a land organism to fly. Land-dwelling organisms are devoid of many other structural mechanisms that birds use for flying. For example, the bones of birds are much lighter than those of land-dwelling organisms. Their lungs function in a very different way. They have a completely different muscular and skeletal system and an extremely specialized circulatory system. These features are pre-requisites for flying, at par in their importance with wings. All these mechanisms had to exist simultaneously,  they could not have formed gradually by being “accumulated”. This is why the theory asserting that land organisms gradually evolved into aerial organisms is completely fallacious. 

All of these bring another question to mind: even if we suppose this impossible story to be true, why are evolutionists unable to find any “half-winged” or “single-winged” fossils to back up their story?

Another alleged transitional form: Archaeopteryx

Evolutionists pronounce the name of a single creature in response. This is the fossil of a bird called Archaeopteryx which is one of the most widely-known so-called transitional forms among the very few that evolutionists still defend. Considered the ancestor of modern birds by evolutionists, Archaeopteryx lived 150 million years ago. The theory holds that some of the small-scaled dinosaurs named Velociraptor or Dromeosaur evolved by acquiring wings and then starting to fly. Thus, Archaeopteryx is assumed to be a transitional form that diverted from its dinosaur ancestors and started to fly for the first time.

However, the latest studies of Archaeopteryx fossils indicate that this creature is absolutely not a transitional form, but a bird species bearing some characteristics distinct from today’s birds.

The thesis that Archaeopteryx was a “half-bird” that could not fly perfectly was popular among evolutionist circles until not long ago. The absence of a sternum (chest bone) in this creature, or at least the structural difference from flying birds, was held up as the most important evidence that this bird could not fly properly. (The chest bone is a bone found under the thorax on which the muscles required for flight are fastened. In our time, this chest bone is observed in all flying and non-flying birds, and even in bats – a flying mammal which belongs to a very different family).

However, the seventh Archaeopteryx fossil found in 1992, caused great astonishment among evolutionists. The reason was that in this recently found Archaeopteryx fossil, the chest bone that was assumed to be long missing by the evolutionists actually existed. This recently-found fossil was described in Nature magazine as follows:

"The recently discovered seventh specimen of the Archaeopteryx preserves a partial rectangular sternum, long suspected but never previously documented. This attests to its strong flight muscles."

This discovery invalidated the mainstay of the claims that Archaeopteryx was a half-bird that could not fly properly.

On the other hand, the structure of the bird’s feathers became one of the most important pieces of evidence verifying that Archaeopteryx was a flying bird in the real sense. The asymmetrical feather structure of Archaeopteryx is indistinguishable from modern birds, indicating that the animal could fly perfectly. As the famous paleontologist Carl O. Dunbar states: “because of its feathers Archaeopteryx is distinctly to be classed as a bird”.

Another fact that was revealed by the structure of Archaeopteryx’s feathers was the bird’s warm-blooded metabolism. As it is known, reptiles and dinosaurs are cold-blooded animals that are affected by environmental temperatures and are incapable of regulating their body heat independently. A very important function of the feathers in a bird is the maintenance of the animal’s body heat. The fact that Archaeopteryx had feathers showed that it was a real, warm-blooded bird that needed to maintain its body heat in contrast to the dinosaurs. - islamweb.net