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The Power of Faith

Nadeem Akram April 28, 2008

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listing 16-32   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

#142 Posted by tahir on May 10, 2008 12:49:08 pm
Re: # 139
Your profile: "I write when I am angry and that is the reason it is junk most of the time...but some editors publish it anyway...what can I say.."

Please don't; you've said enough to last us a lifetime. Only if CHOWK editors could speak and EDIT....

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#141 Posted by tahir on May 10, 2008 12:45:40 pm
Re: # 140
Mr.Stuka,

I'm sure this is not your real name; real names are very important to real people.

I hate to disappoint you but there's no such thing as a Muslim Brahmin or Mullah-ism in Islam. Pandit, padri, peer are OUT! Your fears are, hence, just fears.

Read #3 and follow through. I'm sure you haven't missed #139 from our 'sponosor'.

Show me where I used the kind of CHOWK language this 'thing' has stooped to using. Mr. Zeemax joked with this 'thing' and the 'thing' attacked me! And now you too Brute-US?

Warm summer regards.

PS: this place is about IDENTITIES....
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#140 Posted by stuka on May 10, 2008 9:56:38 am
Mr. Tahir:

There a re a couple of things:

1. Excessive religiosity leads to arrogance, which leads to downfall. That is what happened with the Brahmins of Hinduism. Today Non Brahmin Hindus like me kick Brahmins in the arse for their excessive arrogance and monopolization of the faith which at its core is egalitarian.

2. You are a Muslim "Brahmin". You are so full of arrogance about your own faith that you are filled with self righteousness. A reflective person has written an article and you are speaking down to him..a very Brahmin tendency my friend. Be careful you and your Mullahs do not end up with the same fate as the Brahmins of Hinduism who have been reduced to begging in the street.
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#139 Posted by nadeemakr on May 10, 2008 9:20:45 am
Re:135
And Tahir was looking for a turncoat..how so infantile from a man of so much self-proclaimed intellect!!!
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#138 Posted by tahir on May 10, 2008 2:36:57 am
Re: # 137

'Sahib' is fine, I-Zuber sahib. I wonder why this slip at the keyboard!

Until we meet again.
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#137 Posted by izuber on May 9, 2008 8:30:04 pm
Re: # 135
Dear Tahir sahib/sahiba
My approach is only to recognize the message while the messenger is not the subject of my comments/response or discussion.
In the meantime I feel that it takes a lot of guts to gather and compose such thoughts specially as they represent my mindset as well. I hope you will overlook the oversights and reconsider with regards to this matter.
Thanks & best regards.
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#136 Posted by izuber on May 9, 2008 8:21:36 pm
The Prayer of Taif -- The Prophet's Response to Ridicule and Abuse

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

While many Muslims once again fall into the reactionary trap set for them and confirm the thesis of the offending by exploding in rage and violence, we would do well to reflect upon the Prophet's supplication in Taif. This is the dua he recited with shoes full of blood, wounds all over his body and after having been insulted, ridiculed and abused by the people of Taif to whom he had taken recourse seeking a place of refuge. Moreover, this occurs after three years of suffering a boycott at the hands of the Quraysh as a result of which Muslims were reduced to eating grass and leaves off of trees.

The Prophet(SAW) as he walks out of Taif:

"O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me?

To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased.

There is no power and no might except by You."

If those who claim to love the Prophet (PBUH) so much that they are willing to infringe upon prophetic conduct with their blind rage and fury would reflect upon this prayer, it would be a guiding light for them and a clear instruction as to how a Muslim should respond to our current situation. It is also the only salve by which troubled hearts and souls will find peace. It will not be found on pickets and demonstrations -- not that these may not be useful in making clear our reverence for the sacred and the divine and our indignation at the injustice and double standards of the European press.

In my jum'ah khutbah today [editor: given on February 3, 2006], I spoke on this prayer and while there were some whose hearts and eyes were cooled by it, it was obvious to me that there were many who were so caught up in anger that they could not hear.

For whom does the Prophet's saying: 'Islam is good character' mean anything anymore?

Are we to revert to pre-Islamic tribal norms of vengeance and retribution rather than see this as an opportunity to turn hearts by sharing the example of our beloved Prophet's centeredness and compassion in the face of hate and enmity with those whose hearts are open?

Are we to fall into the major sin of despair-fueled violence rather than maintain hope as the Prophet (PBUH) did when the angel of the mountains met him outside Ta'if following his supplication and offered to cause the mountains surrounding Taif to crumble over the town and obliterate it to which the Prophet (PBUH) replied: 'No, I hope that these people will one day come to worship only Allah and Him alone'?

Unless we have the centeredness and the Allah-consciousness of the Prophet (PBUH) by which every event whether favorable or unfavorable (in material terms) offers us the opportunity of strengthening our relationship with Allah, we will continue to be the victim of every ruse and ploy.

Rather than reacting with violence and rage we should intensify our work to share the beautiful and merciful message of the Deen especially now that the Prophet (PBUH) is headline news. Let the Prophet's prayer of Taif be printed in European newspapers as the example of his supreme magnanimity and patience.

Violence, death threats and fury only betray a lack of trust in the power and light of the sacred which is illustrated in the Prophet's experience in the garden outside Taif when persons who overheard his prayer were moved by it to come to Islam. Moreover, on the way back to Mecca after this experience, many jinn who happened to hear the Prophet's recitation of the Qur'an in his night prayer also came to Islam. And not long thereafter the Prophet (PBUH) was conveyed on his night journey and ascent to heaven. Verily with difficulty comes ease.

Yet with the announcement by 'eminent' Muslim scholars of a 'Day of Outrage', I fear we have become nothing but saboteurs. Why not a Day of Remembrance of the Prophet, Why not a Day of Tremendous Prophetic Character? Why not a Day of the Prayer of Taif?
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#135 Posted by tahir on May 9, 2008 9:49:01 am
Re: # 133
Mr. Zuber,
I suggest you go back and read #3 and follow the thread upto #108. Perhaps then you would wish to withdraw your appreciation for THIS!

I have withdrawn mine, and left this case for God to judge; indeed He is the best of judges.

Regards.
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#134 Posted by izuber on May 8, 2008 10:04:16 pm
6:3 Wahuwa Allahu fee alssamawati wafee alardi yaAAlamu sirrakum wajahrakum wayaAAlamu ma taksiboon

6:3 And He is Allah in the heavens and on earth. He knoweth what ye hide, and what ye reveal, and He knoweth the (recompense) which ye earn (by your deeds).
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#133 Posted by izuber on May 8, 2008 9:59:10 pm
SubhanAllah Nadeem Sahib
All praise is due to Allah SWT the Almighty the Rehman & Rahim most merciful.
May Allah bless you with more power in your pen and thoughts, and bless you for furthering the word from which most of us incidental Muslims have gone further apart in practice (incidental, only because we were born in a Muslim household, were given a name accordingly & were told that you are a muslim).
Most of us who have learned to utter the Kalima only do it to qualify ourselves as a muslim, but what good is a building with a weak or no foundation. The level of faith (Taqwa)is just about non-existent in most of us since we never go to discover what a treasure the holy scripture holds within, a majority if not all don't even know that it is a complete code of life which imparts on every segment of human life and in the logical way the human nature happens to be. Now we also have a growing number of people who appear to even transgress to the extent that they refer to anyone who attempts to abide and practice according to the guidance and rules of the book to be "orthodox" or mentally backward. How sad it is that in todays world those who consider and pronounce themselves to be Muslim seem to be a self destructive society since all they seem to care about is a name they carry when pronouncing themselves to be from the faith.
It is Allah SWT's word that till there is one single practicing Muslim in this world the final hour will not come.
We the humans are no more than a maggot in comparison to the Almighty yet we take such pride even when we achieve in the slightest proportion.
We fail to recognize all that we see around us in our daily lives as to who has created all these amenities in this world that we admire and enjoy, imagine the superficial shortage of food grains which is caused by greedy practices of some in today's world and what if it happens to be a famine, who will we turn to then?
Having encountered literal death some 3 years ago due to an ailment that takes no more than 3 days to finalize the journey from this world, I cant thank Allah SWT for his mercy and kindness having miraculously saved me by placing me under the care of those whom he has blessed with "shifa" here I sit exactly 3 years later reading your beautiful article as I listen to the Rahmah pouring from the sky, all I can say is:
55:49 Fabiayyi alai rabbikuma tukazziban
55:49 Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny
May Allah SWT bless you and give you more strength to continue to enlighten those who may be waiting for a knock on the door and with Allah SWT's blessing revert to and consult the scripture, ameen, summa ameen.
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#132 Posted by tahir on May 8, 2008 5:36:19 am
Khaak kay dhair main shoola hay na chigari...

There is nothing in THAT great name, believe me!
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#131 Posted by tahir on May 8, 2008 5:33:19 am
Re: # 118
Anybody else might say, "I'd like to suck your blood" but I'll leave you alone glode-writer and let others take you on.

Horrible knowing you....
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#130 Posted by ana on May 8, 2008 2:13:08 am
no explanation necessary. i've been here longer than you, remember?
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#129 Posted by akcheema on May 8, 2008 2:07:04 am
Re: # 128; ana bibi

I don't mind that (you only have to go to my IP - I have not hidden anything, unlike some); only don't want to put my family under any "undue risk", given the mentality of the mindless filth that roams these corners.......
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#128 Posted by ana on May 8, 2008 2:03:01 am
akcheema:

i did understand that. :) thank you. i just didn't want to ask any further, personal information and all thaaaat. . .
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#127 Posted by akcheema on May 8, 2008 1:58:35 am
Re: # 123; ana bibi

my reply was directed towards the second part of your question, "Are you related to any of the Cheemas in Lahore?"

Cheers
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listing 16-32   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Interact Index

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    #156 tahir
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    #30 jayp
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    #26 Charlie
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