RizwanHussain's Xanga

On the last 10 Days.....

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 06:32:16 GMT

By Bushrah R. Bakhsh

"InshaAllah I hope this finds everyone in the best of health and happiness.

This is it. We've reached the greatest nights we could ever encounter in a year, and who knows if this is our last time witnessing them? We've reached the GREATEST opportunities any soul could ever hope for. We've reached the last ten days and nights of the most blessed month of Ramadan.

Don't dwell over what you didn't accomplish in the past twenty days. Start now. Say a simple subhanAllah or Alhamdulillah or AllahuAkbar. But just say something. Leave the computer for two minutes and pray a nafl. Find someone you should seek forgiveness from, no matter how much pride you have to overcome and forgive another, no matter how bad it hurts. Smile at your little brother. Look with love in your parents eyes. Send peace and blessing on the Prophet (S). All it takes is for you to move your lips. Repent to Allah. TALK to Allah. Just do SOMETHING. No matter how small. Because these very seconds we are passing by will be returned to us on the Day of Judgement exactly as we are passing them now. One word of praise to Allah and we will be elated on that Day for even a small good deed.

Contemplate. Who are you right now that you aren't during the rest of the year? Look at yourself becuase you're staring at the real deal. Theres been no Shaitan to corrupt you in the past twenty days so every deed, every word, is a direct representative of who you are. Find something to fix and ask Allah to help you in it. Find a deed you started in these past twenty days and make them habit for the rest of your life.

This is it, our guest is about to leave. BUT WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF TIME. Leave everything in the world and spend time with your guest. You will not regret it. Before it leaves, the doors to heaven ARE STILL OPEN. Allah is still taking our souls out of the fire we have created for it. Realize this. All we have to do is ask Him with sincerity. Take advantage of every second for the rewards of any deed done in these days and nights is MOMENTOUS.

May Allah accept our measly deeds and help us become better as each day passes and save us from His wrath and His Roaring Fire.

I ask that every single one from among you look deep into your heart and if I have ever, unknowingly or knowingly hurt any single person, I sincerely ask forgiveness. As the khateeb said yesterday, we will be faced on the Day of Judgment with deeds we did not know existed. So if it was someone I harmed while praying next to or walking down the hall or whatever, I ask that you please find it in your very big heart to forgive me. And May Allah forgive us for our sins and shortcomings.

Get up now and do something. The clock is ticking..."

Sent and most likely also written by Bushrah R. Bakhsh in a UIC MSA email.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:29:10 GMT

Do you all remember the hype of...?

LOL, I geuss that was the first and last of their "Annual Event" because there is no word of them having an event this year coinciding whth ISNA. I've saved the event info from last year, incase anyone is in for a good memeroble laugh: http://www.xanga.com/RizwanHussain/314815274/item.html

Here are some pics from last years protest:

Here I am all alone ......hmm I wonder who took the picture then?

Here are my Texas friends that were initially against the Fitna shirts the night before, till Asim Saeed and I, befriended them. Thanks for the support.

Another pic with the Texas friend....Sorry, I forgot his name.

Three entry bands I ummm....... I aquired ...... to get us in without paying the ridiculous $60 they were charging.

As soon as we got in they had table set up for preregistration for Jahannum (Hell).

Next we were given a taste of what's to come in hellfire, it's a guy with a guitar "Singer Torture". Trust me guys, this experience alone would deter you from the wrong path.

Me, Wondering if I could get a refund.

These poor guys were so excited and sooo early!

Asim Saeed, my partner in Crime, and his brother, my good friend Omer.

Back to me being alone again.

So, naseeb.com, I'd to think I had part in ruining your plans to have an "Annual" event, but we all know it was Allah (SWT) that does not tollerate shamefull acts on his land, at least not in Chicago.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Wed, 31 May 2006 06:58:56 GMT

Sad News

I am really sorry for this long delay and have sad news for all. Sadly, the brother I was telling you about, that was going to help us keep Salaah on our mind and music out of our ears, has tragically passed away. From what I hear he was only 18 and healthy, and the cause of death remains unknown. I make dua that Allah grants him Maghfirah in return for all the people he has helped with his Naseehah and that Allah helps us and keeps us away from the sins that this brother was giving us Naseehah for.

Though this brother passed away, his message still lives on and Inshallah we can all still benefit. As mentioned before, he has benefited many people around the globe without them ever actually seeing or hearing him in person. So for you now, I have Naseehah from him ….. right from the grave....

Weak stomach?

Please turn away!

Weak Iman?

Please scroll down and stay!

Letter Accompannying Pictures

"Aslaam-o-Alaikom Dear Brothers And Sisters

Just like to share these photos with you so that we may learn the lesson behind this bizarre and strange incident. A teenager not more than 18 yrs old is taken out of his grave just after 3 hrs of burying him, the reason being was to see what will happen to him (Allah knows best) and you can see what has happened to him.?? Normally it takes the human body 2 to 3 days to decay but in this case you can see what has happened to his body all black and blue, before his death he was handsome and had?? black hair.?? The hair has now become white, no amount of worldly torture can change a person's hair color just in 3 hrs. Now the main part WHY IS HE GETTING PUNISHED? According to his father-

- HE DID NOT PRAY.
- LISTENED TO MUSIC ALL THE TIME.

Brothers and Sisters the wisdom to select this particular individual with these specific sins and making him a example to the rest of us is amazing because these very two sins is the nation drowned in right now. Brothers and Sisters let's consider ourselves lucky that Allah?? did not make a example out of us for this or any other sin and we pray that he doesn’t Ameen, so we should consider this a mercy and should embrace the lesson that is being given to us.

So this is what we need to do.
1 Seek forgiveness for the youth.

2 Seek forgiveness for ourselves and every body else.

3 Repent for these two and any other sins.

4 Promise not to miss any more prayers and make up for the missed ones.

5 Proxzxmise not listen to music and avoid all major and minor sins.

6 If this did'nt affect you it might affect somebody else.?? May Allah Forgive our sins and give the tawfeeq to remain and die on the straight path.??

Ameen"

For any sins we are unfortunately engulfed in, we should not fool ourselves and others by making a relentless effort to justifying our actions. Rather, we should make intention to someday change and ask for Allah's help, at the same time we should keep these sins hidden and not let them spread from ourselves to others.

(For those who are skeptical of the authenticity of above article, ask yourselves the question that I’ve asked myself, “Does the authenticity even matter, if in the end it is only going to help you help you please Allah?)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 03:31:16 GMT

Salaah and Music

Assalaamu Aliakum,

(Sales Pitched Voice): Are you having trouble praying your Salaah and are you missing your prayers? Have you become strongly attached to Music and are having trouble letting go? Well my friend Murtuza Quadri may have help for you and best of all it's FREE! Mutuza has let me know of a guy that has helped people around the world with these exact symptoms. Some say, you don't even have to meet him in person to start benefitting. Sound interested? If so, post that you are interested and I'll see what I can do. Take care.

Salaams

Rizwan

Friday, April 07, 2006

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 10:24:09 GMT

KFC Unveiled

CAUTION: Reading of the following report may cause extreme discomfort in your daily life but may also be the source for great reward in the hereafter, InshaAllah.

Before you read on, I want to make clear a few points. I am not affiliated with any restaurant or meat slaughter house and do not gain anything from the loss or gain of business by KFC of Lombard. I do not have any personal agenda for or against the owner of KFC. I AM a fan of food and a strong supporter of reshaping and molding amenities that most Americans enjoy, to submit to the guidelines of Islam, so that they can be enjoyed by my Muslim brothers and sisters….; but not the other way around where the attempt is to reshape and mold Islam, in every which way, to submit to the childish desires of our Nafs.

When I decided to get to the bottom of the KFC Lombard issue, Allah did not even give me the chance to struggle and search for evidence. I had only expressed my discomfort of having eaten meat at KFC Lombard only to be later told that there is reason to believe that the meat may not have been Zabiha* and only mentioned that I plan on looking into the matter… and SubhanAllah, the work was promptly done on it's own. The online research was done by a brother and the actual footwork and intensive research was done by Br. Rasheed Ahmed of Muslim Consumer Group, may Allah reward them both. There isn’t much work they left for me to do except for sharing the findings with you.

One point I would like to add is that the brother at KFC went through the trouble of having the ISA, Islamic Services of America, certify their items like Milk and Egg Mix, Honey BBQ Dry Mix, Honey BBQ Sauce, and Vegetarian Baked Beans but did not have them certify their Chicken. What sense does that make? All of the KFC Lombard documents are available on their own site at: http://www.zabihakfc.com/docs.asp?id=docs including the document that poses the problem mentioned later stating that, “Chickens travel from the live hang area to stunner in approximately one minute. Chickens travel to mechanical kill device in approximately fifteen seconds. Each processing line runs at 140 birds per minute.”

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I am posting the following excerpts from the findings of Br. Rasheed Ahmed. The detailed report can be found on the MCG website under News / Reports.

The Lombard KFC store gets their chickens from a Co-operative company named Gold Kist based in Atlanta, GA and from plant #1277 in Athens, GA. Gold Kist employed Br. Mubarak Mohammed in maintenance department, part of his job is to say Takbir during slaughtering of chicken on two line by the machine. The two lines run at the same time and kill 140 chickens per minute on each line. The distance between the two lines is about 10 feet. According to Gold Kist the feed is vegetable based. Br. Mohammed fills a Halal certificate by himself stating that" I Mubarak Mohammed hereby certify that I am a Muslim and that the under mentioned shipment of beef- Lamb- Poultry has been slaughtered according to Islamic Rites. Accordingly this meat is Halal and suitable for the consumption of Muslims. I certify that the live stock was alive before the slaughtering and that the method of slaughtering was such that the jugular vein and trachea were cut and the animal was left to be bleed thoroughly."

Here are several objections about the slaughtering methods:

1. There is a conflict of interest here because Br. Mohammed is an employee of the Gold Kist Company. He can not comments his own views because he works for Gold Kist

2. We do not have an independent, neutral verification of what happens in the plant.

3. Halal certification is not done by a professional well reputable Zabiha certifying agency. Nor the slaughtering method was endorsed by a qualified Sheik.

4. The machine slaughtered Zabiha is not acceptable to all Muslims.

5. The system to separate Halal and Non Halal chicken at the plant was not mentioned by both Mr. Fuller and Br. Mohammed.

6. There is a difference of opinion among Ulema accepting the machine slaughtered Zabiha meat.

7. The Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products do not accept machine slaughtered Zabiha meat because it did not satisfy all the Muslims and Muslim Consumer Group can not endorse a machine slaughtered animal as a Zabiha based on advice from our Ulema . We follow the opinions of those Ulema who do not considered machine slaughtered animal as Zabiha.

8. There is no proof provided by them what Br. Mohammed is saying in his Halal certificate that chickens are alive before machine kill the chickens. Since Chicken is stunned before killing, there is no guarantee that they are alive before slaughtering. It is possible that some be dead before slaughtering. Br. Mohammed has no time even to check them on a random basis whether the chickens are alive before slaughtering or not because of the speed of the line and he is busy in pronouncing the Takbir for 280 chickens slaughtered per minute. He did not provided the proof that they are live before machine kill them. We do not know the stunning method, whether it is electric shock or passing through boiling water.

9. Br. Mohammed did not provided any evidence that the blood is complete drawn out of chicken in 2 minutes.

There is no independent verification what Br. Mohammed told us or what Gold Kist is telling about the slaughtering method at their plant.

- Taken from http://www.muslimconsumergroup.com/news.htm.

* Zabiha process http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=627

Monday, March 13, 2006

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 03:55:51 GMT

Free 411 Calls!

1 800 FREE 411 (1 800 373-3411)

1 800 411 SAVE (1 800 411-7283)

- The catch is you have to hear a 10-15 second advertisement befrore getting the number. Not bad at all in my opinion, so I thought I'd share it with you all. If you feel that these numbers have benifited you enough to make Dua for me, I make dua that Allah also blesses you with something better.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 23:25:01 GMT

The Low Down on K.F.C.

Comming Soon...

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 07:48:09 GMT

My All-time Favorite Video

(You may have to play it twice for better viewing and no lag)

Monday, February 06, 2006

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 05:49:03 GMT

- My friend Murtuza had mentioned to me to post regarding the Danish cartoon. I was following the developments and taking bits and pieces from various sources. Recently, I was emailed this interesting read, in the form of news letter, from www.albalagh.net. Though it is long, it is well worth the read and IMO it covers the issue completely and thoroughly.

Intended Insults: Unintended Consequences

By Khalid Baig
Posted: 6 Muharram 1427, 5 February 2006

On 31 January, Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, published an open letter to Muslims saying he was sorry that Muslims took offence from the cartoons (which his cultural editor had commissioned for the express purpose of causing offence). In that caricature of an apology he did not admit that the paper had done anything wrong. Rather he blamed the Muslims' poor understanding of the Danish culture for their getting so upset. Then he wondered, as did many media pundits, why Muslims were not buying his apology.

He also said in a separate comment that had he known the extent of Muslim anger, he would not have published those cartoons. Since then the same cartoons have been reproduced by one newspaper after another in Europe. How could these "especially commissioned works of art" be reproduced by other papers? Only if Jyllands-Posten, the original copyright holder, gave them permission to do so. That it should continue to let others reprint these despicable cartoons, while claiming that it had expressed its regret, is only fitting in a drama that continues to reveal the depths of hypocrisy in which Europe is mired today.

In a different setting, Jan Lund, the paper's foreign editor was more open. In his Guardian interview he said. "We apologised for hurting the feelings of a lot of Muslims in this. But we don't apologise for printing the cartoons." (Translation: I am sorry your father was killed. But I am not sorry for firing at him.)

And in the theatre of the absurd, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, offered his own wise counsel. Even as the offending cartoons continued to be reprinted, he urged Muslims to accept the publisher's apology (which was never offered) and forget everything. "What is important is that the newspaper that initially published the cartoons has apologized, and I would urge my Muslim friends to accept the apology, to accept it in the name of Allah the Merciful, and let's move on."

It all started with a shrewdly prepared script. Jyllands-Posten would publish deeply offensive cartoons of Islam's holiest person, the Prophet Muhammad . If Muslims protested or tried to discuss it, they would be ignored. If the protests grew louder, that would be even better. They would gleefully present the images of the deeply hurt protesters from around the Muslim world, without ever explaining what made them feel so hurt, so the audiences could easily draw the conclusions about these "extremists and fanatics." That would fit in nicely with the current narrative about Islam and terrorism. In either case they would be winning.

And so it began. Stunned Muslims called the editor for a meeting and were refused. When ambassadors from twelve Muslim countries tried to arrange a meeting with the prime minister, he also refused to meet them, saying the government had nothing to do with the regulation of the media. This was a lie, but in this holy campaign that did not matter. Both did find the occasion to lecture the complaining Muslims on the virtues of democracy. Obviously there was no place for a dialog in their "democracy." Democracy meant only one thing: their unending right to insult Islam and Muslims and the unending obligation of Muslims to submit to that.

Then something unexpected happened. People in the Muslim world decided to take some action beyond protests. They decided to refuse to buy any products from Denmark. With just one company, Arla Foods, facing losses of 1.8 million dollars a day, the scene changed. That is when the newspaper and the government issued half-hearted and disingenuous regrets.

Islam Teaches Decency and Dignity

However, the media machine has framed it as a clash between Islam and the cherished European values of freedom of expression.

It is true that Islam teaches decency and prohibits provocations of followers of other religions. It teaches that we are responsible for every word we utter and will have to account for it in the Hereafter (Al-Qur'an, 50:18). The prophet Muhammad said: "Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should either say something good or keep quiet." Muslims revere all the Prophets of God, from Adam to Noah, to Abraham to Moses and Jesus (peace and blessing on them all), and finally, Prophet Muhammad . While Muslims welcome debates with other religions, they want to make sure it is a civilized debate. No ridicule, no insults. They are even prohibited from using bad words about the false gods of other religions, meant only to hurt the feelings of their followers. (Al-Qur'an, 6:108). Obviously it does not recognize the endless freedom to insult.

One will be hard pressed to find comparable teachings in the Western world.

It is not that Europe is totally unaware of the idea of responsibility that should limit the freedom of expression. In every European country there are laws restricting the limits of expression. There are laws regarding libel, hate-speech, invasion of privacy, protection of national secrets, blasphemy, and anti-Semitism. However there is a fundamental difference between Islam and the West. In Islam the laws are based on eternal principles as laid down in the Qur'an and the teachings of the holy Prophet . In the West, the laws and policies are a result of compromises between competing interests. Stated principles provide a veneer but not the foundation. For example U.K. had a law against blasphemy but when Muslims tried to invoke it against the blasphemy perpetrated by the Satanic Verses in 1989, they were told that the law protected only Christianity, not Islam. What is the moral principle here? Why curbing insults against Christianity is a proper limitation of the freedom of expression but curbing those against other religions is not? Because underlying the law is not a moral principle but a compromise between Christian and secular forces.

This can take very interesting forms. Thus, on the one hand even objective inquiry into the history (of the Holocaust) is banned and people presenting an alternative view of history are sent to prison without anyone remembering freedom of expression, and on the other the filthiest of insults are permitted—even encouraged—against Islam. Very principled indeed!

The implementation of the laws follows the same "principled" approach. Thus, Denmark has laws regarding blasphemy as well as racism. Both of these laws have been violated in the current case, the assertion of the newspaper that it broke no laws, notwithstanding. Section 266b of the Danish Criminal Code provides:

Any person who, publicly or with the intention of wider dissemination, makes a statement or imparts other information by which a group of people are threatened, insulted or degraded on account of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, or sexual inclination shall be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 2 years.

And its section 140, which deals with blasphemy, reads:

Those who publicly mock or insult the doctrines or worship of any religious community that is legal in this country, will be punished by a fine or incarceration for up to 4 month.

Similarly section 142 of the Norwegian Penal Code provides for punishment for any person "who publicly insults or in an offensive manner shows contempt for any religious creed...or for the doctrines or worship of any religious community lawfully existing here."

That these laws provided no protection to the Muslims, highlights the fact that despite their sizable populations, the Muslims carry no political weight in the European democracies.

Hence the importance of the economic boycott started by the grassroots in the Muslim countries.

The expressed worry of the pundits in Europe is that the Muslim do not understand their societies; their real worry is that the Muslims have begun to understand how these societies really work. The Muslims are realizing that if they want to get any rights and respect there, they will have to show their weight. The boycott of products from offending countries is a result of that realization and it is exactly the kind of step that, if continued patiently, can help Europe deal with its arrogance and Islamophobia. Europe could then see that dealing with Muslims with respect is a good policy. And in a land where honesty is the best policy (not principle but policy), that is the best one can hope for.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:27:15 GMT

IS THE WATER OF ZAM ZAM DRINKABLE?

Water Research by Tariq Hussain

We came here again to perform the Umrah, and I am reminded of the wonders of Zumzum. Well of Zumzum is the well that Allah caused to flow at Mecca for Prophet Ibrahim's wife Hajar and for his oldest son Ismael, (peace be upon them all). Let me go back to how it all started. In 1971, an Egyptian doctor wrote to the European Press, a letter saying that Zumzum water was not fit for drinking purposes. I immediately thought that this was just a form of prejudice against the Muslims and that since his Statement was based on the assumption that since the Ka'aba was a shallow place (below sea level) and located in the center of the city of Makkah, the waste water of the city collecting through the drains fell into well holding the water. Fortunately, the news came to King Faisal's ears who got extremely angry and decided to disprove the Egyptian doctor's provocative statement. He immediately ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to investigate and send samples of Zumzum water to European laboratories for testing the potability of the water. The ministry then instructed the Jeddah Power and Desalination Plants to carry out this task. It was here that I was employed as a desalting engineer (chemical engineer to produce drinking water from seawater). I was chosen to carry out this assignment. At this stage, I remember that I had no idea what the well holding the water looked like. I went to Makkah and reported to the authorities at the Ka'aba explaining my purpose of visit. They deputed a man to give me whatever help was required. When we reached the well, it was hard for me to believe that a pool of water, more like a small pond, about 18 by 14 feet, was the well that supplied millions of gallons of water every year to hajis ever since it came into existence at the time of Hazrat Ibrahim A.S., many, many centuries ago. I started my investigations and took the dimensions of the well. I asked the man to show me the depth of the well. First he took a shower and descended into the water. Then he straightened his body. I saw that the water level came up to just above his shoulders. His height was around five feet, eight inches. He then started moving from one corner to the other in the well (standing all the while since he was not allowed to dip his head into the water) in search of any inlet or pipeline inside the well to see from where the water came in. However, the man reported that he could not find any inlet or pipeline inside the well. I thought of another idea. The water could be withdrawn rapidly with the help of a big transfer pump which was installed at the well for the Zumzum water storage tanks. In this way, the water level would drop enabling us to locate the point of entry of the water. Surprisingly, nothing was observed during the pumping period, but I knew that this was the only method by which you could find the entrance of the water to the well. So I decided to repeat the process. But this time I instructed the man to stand still at one place and carefully observe any unusual thing happening inside the well. After a while, he suddenly raised his hands and shouted, "Alhamdollillah! I have found it. The sand is dancing beneath my feet as the water oozes out of the bed of the well." Then he moved around the well during the pumping period and noticed the same phenomenon everywhere in the well. Actually the flow of water into the well through the bed was equal at every point, thus keeping the level of the water steady. After I finished my observations I took the samples of the water for European laboratories to test. Before I left the Ka'aba, I asked the authorities about the other wells around Makkah. I was told that these wells were mostly dry. When I reached my office in Jeddah I reported my findings to my boss who listened with great interest but made a very irrational comment that the Zumzum well could be internally connected to the Red Sea. How was it possible when Makkah is about 75 kilometers away from the sea and the wells located before the city usually remains dry? The results of the water samples tested by the European laboratories and the one we analyzed in our own laboratory were found to be almost identical. The difference between Zumzum water and other water (city water) was in the quantity of calcium and magnesium salts. The content of these was slightly higher in Zumzum water. This may be why this water refreshes tired hajis, but more significantly, the water contains fluorides that have an effective germicidal action. Moreover, the remarks of the European laboratories showed that the water was fit for drinking. Hence the statement made by the Egyptian doctor was proved false. When this was reported to King Faisal he was extremely pleased and ordered the contradiction of the report in the European Press. In a way, it was a blessing that this study was undertaken to show the chemical composition of the water. In fact, the more you explore, the more wonders surface and you find yourself believing implicitly in the miracles of this water that Allah bestowed as a gift on the faithful coming from far and wide to the desert land for pilgrimage. Let me sum up some of the features of Zumzum water. This well has never dried up. On the contrary it has always fulfilled the demand for water. It has always maintained the same salt composition and taste ever since it came into existence. Its potability has always been universally recognized as pilgrims from all over the world visit Ka'aba every year for Hajj and umrah, but have never complained about it. Instead, they have always enjoyed the water that refreshes them. Water tastes different at different places. Zumzum water's appeal has always been universal. This water has never been chemically treated or chlorinated, as is the case with water pumped into the cities. Biological growth and vegetation usually takes place in most wells. This makes the water unpalatable owing to the growth of algae causing taste and odor problems. But in the case of the Zumzum water well, there wasn't any sign of biological growth. Centuries ago, Bibi Hajra A.S. searched desperately for water in the hills of Sufwa and Murwa to give to her newly born son Hazrat Ismail A.S. As she ran from one place to another in search of water, her child rubbed his feet against the sand. A pool of water surfaced, and by the grace of Allah, shaped itself into a well which came to be called Zum Zum water.