An introduction to this series of talks / articles under the title ‘ Pleasing Madrasah Reforms’ can be read at the end of this article. Along with this introduction there are the following charts that provide more information on the talks / articles; 1. An introduction to ‘Pleasing Madrasah Reforms’ 2. A Chart (Series 4) that lists the titles of the 10 Six Minute Talks with the corresponding Talk Number. These Scripts or Articles could be read or downloaded from www.ImtiazMuhsin.com or from www.ScribD.com 3.
A Chart (Series 3) that lists out the series of talks that covers the subject ‘Muslim History’ or ‘Islamic History’ . This interesting subject is covered in two approaches.
One set of talks (Talk No’s 114 & 116) are an outline of what happened, and The second lot of talks ( Talk No’s 117 to 119) is a description of the reaction of the Muslim world or the Muslim Populace to the changes or the social tribulations that were taking place right throughout this history. 4.
A Chart (Series 2) that lists out the 16 Talks (or Episodes) under the series ‘Knowing Allah Ta’aalah or Knowing GOD’ These Scripts or Articles too could be read or downloaded from ScribD
5.
Notes to these talks or to these scripts/ articles
The main objective of these talks (and therefore the scripts of these talks), is to stimulate thinking. Sensible, rational and logical thinking. So, my message, think, think & think! Be sensible, be rational and be logical.
Dear Friends,
The topic of this talk , ‘Evidence for Yauwmil Aakhir ’ is one in a series titled ‘Pleasing Madrasah Reforms’.. At the moment it looks like this series could have more than 20 talks and that would give you an indication as to how much material I wish to discuss and all from Aayaths from the Quran – Insha Allah! Let me briefly run through the building blocks of these talks so that you would understand the trend of these talks. I first read Aayath No 44 of Surah Baqarah which instructs as follows; (2:44) Do you enjoin Birr on people
And forget your own selves, and you keep reciting the Kithaab? Do you not use your AQL?
Now in this Aayath Allah is drawing our attention to 4 points. Let me describe those 4 points (in my words) Allah tells us that 1. We are preaching Birr, 2. We have forgotten ourselves, 3. That we are reciting the Kithaab, and 4. Why do we not use our AQL? If I break that up further I can detect two things that we are doing and two things that we are depriving ourselves of. The two things that we are doing are that; 1. We are preaching Birr and 2. We are reciting the Kithaab The two things that we are depriving ourselves of are; 1. We have forgotten ourselves 2. We are not using our AQL And what is implied in this Aayath is that due to the deprivation we do not understand the reality of Birr and also we are unable to practice or attain the true status of Birr o r the true benefits of Birr. So I now realize there are two types of Birr. One would be the ‘preachers Birr’; a sort of a pseudo Birr, the preacher is in fact fooling himself as well as fooling others. The second form of Birr would be the ‘seekers Birr’ or the ‘learners Birr’ where he would use his AQL while reciting the Kithaab. The preacher tries to give benefit to others. Neither he nor others would benefit. The seeker tries to gain wisdom from the Kithaab. He as well as those with him would benefit. 1
So now I am trying to find out through reading the many connected Aayaths from the Quran as to what AQL and Birr really mean, and I hope that Madrasah’s would benefit from this research. Let me read 2 Aayaths from the Quran that would provide us more insight in to what AQL really means and what using our AQL actually entails. S Yusuf
(12:1) Alif Lām Rā. These are Aayaths of the Book that makes clear. (12:2) We have sent it down, as an Arabic
Qur’an, so that you may use your AQL. S Al Anbiya (21:10) Surely, We have sent down to you a book in which there is ZIKR for you. Do you not use your AQL? (Afalaa ThaghQiloon?) Let me list what we read from these Aayaths; 1. Allah points out to a Kithaab and a Quran. How we understand this is that the Quran is the recitation of the Kithaab. 2. The Kithaab makes clear 3. The Kithaab contains Aayaths 4. The Kithaab contains ZIKR for us 5. The Quran is in Arabic 6. It is in Arabic so that we would use our AQL Combining all these points we see that the Kithaab contains Aayaths in Arabic and that we must make ZIKR of these Aayaths whilst using our AQL. Then the Kithaab becomes clear. The Kithaab becoming clear would also mean that the Quran becomes clear and also that the Aayaths become clear. I think to myself that ‘the operating system ’ of the AQL is in Quranic Arabic. So now we learn that we must, especially in this case, read with understanding in Arabic the Aayaths of the Quran that describe Birr, and use our AQL so that the reality or the Haqqeeqath of Birr would become clear. There are a few Aayaths in the Quran that features Birr; it is from these Aayaths that we can learn more about Birr. Aayath No 177 of Surah Baqarah however lists out the points that constitute Birr . There are 16 such points and the first 5 of them are on belief. The second out of these points is to believe in the Yauwmil Aakhir or the day of finality. Let me read the beginning phrases of this informative Aayath; [002:177] It is not Birr that that ye turn your faces Towards east or West;
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but it is Birr - to believe in Allah and the L ast Day (Yauwmil Aakhir), and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers;
Last week I began the topic to believe in ‘Al Yauwmil Aakhiri’ and the methodology was to read Aayaths that were connected to this topic and then try to work out as to how evidence points to this coming event. The Quran contains so many Aayaths on Yauwmil Aakhir or the day of finality and about the Aakhirah or what we commonly refer to as the hereafter. There are so many ways of reading the Aayaths as well as the World and then putting together the evidence that points out to us that there has to be an Aakhirah or the hereafter and that Aakhirah has to begin with a Yauwmil Aakhirah or the day we commonly refer to as the Judgment Day or the Day of reckoning. rd
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I discussed two such ways last week and now I hope to discuss a 3 way or what I call the 3 category of
collecting or observing the evidence about ‘Yauwmil Aakhiri’ We start the search for this evidence by first understanding our view point. As I have mentioned earlier, there are two ways of looking or observing the world, the first would be what we would call the atheists way, refusing to believe that there is a God or denying that there is a God, this to atheists everything just happens, there is a sort of dynamic balance that has naturally arisen and that is why everything evolves. The second way of looking or observing the World is to believe in God and to realize that everything around and even in us has been created by God. Now this vi ew is actually the more interesting view because once you realize that there is an all-powerful and majestic ma jestic God who has created everything, then you begin to get curious as to the purpose of everything. So now you begin viewing the world not just seeking comforts, profits, social status, power and such factors which we can refer to as worldly goals or worldly objectives, but you begin to think as to the purpose of everything. There is a God, then why is God taking us through all this drama? What are the objectives? Is all this activity leading us somewhere? This would mean that there is a life after death. If there is a life after death, then was there an existence or a life for all of us before we were born on this earth? If there was an earlier existence and there is going to be a future existence, then what on Earth are we doing on Earth?
Interesting isn’t it? This is really interesting because now I am trying to show you another point of view. It may be difficult to describe, but Insha Allah let me try. In last week’s talk I discussed the view that when we look around we see plenty of evidence that points to the fact that everything in this world, or everything in this Universe has to have been planned, designed, created, sustained, controlled, managed etc and the f act that though we are able to be convinced about 3
the presence of God we cannot see him or experience him in a tangible manner. So therefore we could reach a conclusion that we would see God one day and that day or that event has to be after death, and thus when we do meet God there has to be some accountability or answerability for our duties or for having fulfilled or rejected the purpose for which we were sent to Earth. The new view that I am now trying to present is actually a deeper view. What I am trying to do is to collect all the evidence and try to work out the objectives. This exercise would assist me greatly in trying to figure out the deeper or the real implications of the objectives of the many things that Allah has created or sent down to Earth as described in the Quran and thus giving me the opportunity or providing me exciting material for stimulating or processing through the AQL. So let us go step by step. We look around see the many wondrous processes and systems all at work, working seamlessly and in concert, and we come to the conclusion that everything, simply everything has to have been planned, designed, created, controlled, manages and sustained by some great and magnificent power and that power has to be GOD. Now if all this is happening by plan and design then everything has to have purpose or an objective or many objectives all leading to one o ne mega objective. So we begin to seek the objectives. We begin to look at the World and everything around us and search for meaning. In my view, though I was going through many points, a factor that kept striking me, you could even describe it as a theme of this world is that I noticed that everything, actually it is more correct to say almost everything, but let us at this moment say that everything in this World appeared to be temporary, speculative and deceptive. Let me give you a few examples, I am sure all of you would be able to easily thi nk out many more examples; Life is temporary. Whatever plans we make for life are all speculative. Factors that we consider assets eventually turn out to be liabilities; we could say assets are deceptive. Material wealth, social status or power, even beauty is deceptive. Human relationships are deceptive. Strengths become weaknesses overnight and similarly weaknesses become strengths with alarming quickness. Now when we begin to seek out those things that are temporary, speculative and deceptive, we suddenly
begin to realize that ‘Oh My God, everything fits this description!’ Then we begin to think, ‘Why did God plan and design and create and control and manage and sustain such a World?’ and we wonder with all this temporariness how do we detect the objectives or the purpose of everything? And then we suddenly begin to realize maybe the objective of this world is to provide an environment that is temporary, speculative and deceptive. WOW! Suddenly we discern some sense in what is happening.
Then we begin to think, ‘We are in this world which is temp orary, speculative and deceptive, and my presence here too is temporary, then would this not indicate that I am now on a certain phase of a journey. This is a temporary phase. phase. Therefore there has to be a permanent phase and and it looks like that permanency is the place I am destined to. The door to that permanency would be death. Which would mean we are going to face a death from temporariness and for this we have to leave behind our temporary vehicle the body that is made out of earth? Is this too not proof of temporariness? Now these are the thoughts that would assail the seeking mind. 4
So now we begin to think, if this world is temporary, then there has to be another world that is permanent, which could mean that not only are we going to that permanent world, but it also means that we have arrived on Earth from that permanent place. So this could mean that we were living in a permanent World. Due to some reason or reasons we have had to leave that permanent world and live on Planet Earth for a short time after which we return to that permanent world. Now this may sound a little confusing and we would be tempted to stop this line of thinking. But then when evidence points in this direction and we are by nature curious to know the truth to this emerging theory, why should we not pursue this line of thinking? So we begin to think, why should we leave a permanent place for a temporary visit? Let me briefly list out, using this logic or this line of thinking, a few points as to what could be our reasons for being on earth. 1. Could it be that we have come here on a sort of a holiday, to enjoy ourselves before we return? Now that does not make sense because there i s too much suffering and injustice being meted out by those who are powerful in this World for us to consider life i n this World as a sort of a pleasure holiday. 2. Could it be a sort of an imprisonment? Could it be that we have sinned in that permanent place and each one of us is being sent to this World to serve some sort of a prison sentence? One point that favors this thinking is that each of us l ive for a different number of years. So could it be that the person living for 30 years is serving a 30 year sentence whilst the person living for 50 years is serving a 50 year sentence? 3. Could it be that we have come to this world on some sort of a shopping trip. Is our life here an opportunity to collect some items which would be useful in our permanent life, so we are given a sort of a temporary or a short visit visa? Now that argument does sound probable, so let me discuss a few points that should follow from this argument. If we have come to this world to collect ‘something’, then what could that ‘something’ be? Even a cursory look at the activities of mankind would show us that man is a planning, scheming, greedy, and selfish or a self-centered creature. It is also obvious that right through his adult life he is ambitiously beavering through the ways and means of acquiring or increasing his worldly possessions as well as raising his social soc ial status influence and power. So then could it be that this is what man has come to acquire from this world? But then we realize that all his material wealth and his status or position that he built with so much of cunning and devotion, is all left behind when he dies. This means that these materials and this position or power cannot be taken with him when he proceeds to the permanent abode. So this indicates that worldly wor ldly or material possessions and worldly power is not what we have come to collect for the next world.
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So then, what is that wealth that we could collect and keep building on right through life and then, when we die or when it is time for us to go to our permanent abode this accumulated wealth would accompany us? It cannot be worldly materials or worldly positions. Then could it be good health or beauty? That too does not make sense because as we grow older our beauty and our health gradually fades away, usually leaving us (if we live long enough), bed ridden and devoid of beauty. That ‘wealth’ that suddenly begins to make sense is what we would refer to as the wealth of good character or the personality to do good-ness, not just worldly goodness but what we commonly
refer to as ‘spiritual goodness’ Now that makes a lot of sense. A very strong point in favor of this argument is that the theme of all Religious Scriptures deals with this spiritual goodness. The Scriptures instruct us as to how we should lead our lives with spiritual resolution. Then life becomes a journey where our thoughts deeds and actions help us to accumulate goodliness as described in the Scriptures. These thoughts deeds and actions of good-liness also strengthen our belief in the presence of God and help us to identify or recognize the objectives of life. This in turn increases our conviction of the life hereafter or the Aakhirah. Now continuing with this line of thinking, if we have come to this world to collect or to acquire what I term ‘spiritual good-liness’, then surely it means that for some reason we have been lacking that good-liness. Could it mean that God has created us imperfect or lacking in some way so that part of our development requires ‘value addition’ and that we have to be sent to Earth to acquire that ‘value addition’ or that we have to undergo a process that adds this value? Now in some ways that argument seems incomplete. i ncomplete. If we had come to earth for value addition and that addition is through a process of spiritual good-liness then it follows that every human being should be devoted to a life of spiritual goodliness. What we see is a situation where we are given a choice of either following worldly desires, which itself is an anathema to spiritual good-liness or following a path where we are devoted to acquiring spiritual good-liness. We also notice that a large majority of mankind is so involved in worldly pursuits whilst those devoted and sincere to seeking –spiritual good liness is so few that we could even say that they practically do not exist. So now it appears that we have been sent to this temporary world to collect some spiritual goodliness and it appears that we have a choice to devote our lives to this objective or to forget about this seeking and then devote our lives to seeking worldly wealth. So then we have a choice. You could pursue the objectives or you could neglect it. If you pursue it you would be rewarded, if not you would be punished. 6
Now what type of scenario would fit that model? Could our temporary worldly life be a sort of a rehabilitation camp?
Now things begin to make a lot of sense. We have, together with Shaithaan got in to some terrible mischief. Shaithaan has been condemned to Hell, whilst we have been given an opportunity to seek forgiveness and to return to God and to our permanent abode purified from all sin. Now keeping this argument in mind, when we read the Aayaths of the Quran we begin to notice many points that suddenly make sense. Makes a lot of sense – Maashaa Allah! Let me now read a few of such Aayaths. In Surah A’raaf from from Aayath No 10 there are around 20 Aayaths that instruct us as to how Aadham (AS) gets deceived by Shaithaan, and how Aadham (AS) prays for his forgiveness, and we are instructed that his stay on o n Earth would where he would be given the opportunity to redeem r edeem his sin or sins. Now I ask the question, though Allah is instructing us about Aadham (AS) could not this be a case study of what has happened to all of us? Could it not be, that our temporary stay on this Earth is the opportunity to redeem ourselves of these sins that we have committed by being misled or deceived by Shaithaan? Let me read to some of the phrase from these Aayaths;
First I would like to read the Aayath that describes Aadham (AS)’s and Hawwa (AS)’s prayer seeking for forgiveness from Allah. (7:23) They said, “Our Rabb, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not bless us with mercy, we shall, indeed, be among the losers. Does this prayer not indicate that Aadham (AS) and Hawwa (AS) are now of the Khaasireen or the losers,
and are beseeching Allah’s forgiveness so that they would not end up in Hell? And what is Allah’s reply to them? (7:24) He said, “Go down, some of you enemies of some; and for you on the earth there will be a dwelling place and enjoyment
for a time.” (7:25) (Further) He said, “There you shall live and there you shall die, and from there you
shall be raised again.” Do these Aayaths not indicate that Aadham (AS) and Hawwa (AS) have been deceived by Shaithaan and are deserving of Hell, but then they pray for forgiveness and Allah gives them the chance to purify themselves and the place for purification is a temporary stay on Earth. Now let me read a few phrases from some of the Aayaths that lead to this event. 7
In Surah 7 Aayath No 16 Allah informs us as to what Shaithaan tells Allah; (7:16) He said, “Now that You have led me astray, I will certainly sit for them (in ambush) on Your straight path. (007:021) (7:21) He swore an oath, “I am one of your well-wishers.”
(007:022)a (7:22)a Thus, he cast both of them down by deception.
(007:022)d (7:22)d Did I not tell you that Satan is your
declared enemy?” And then Allah instructs all of us; (7:27) O children of ’Ādam, “Do not let Satan put you in trouble the way he had your parents expelled from Paradise.
I sincerely hope and hope that all of you benefit from these talks as much as I benefit from preparing and then presenting these talks to you.
May Allah Ta’aalah guide us all and accept us all. Jazza Kalla Khairan. Assalamu Alaikum
Imtiaz Muhsin
Colombo Sri Lanka
[email protected] You Tube Channel - HaneefanMusliman
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APPENDIX An Introduction Introduction to ‘Pleasant ‘Pleasant Madrasah Madrasah Reforms’ Reforms’ Over the last two to three decades we have been noticing amongst Muslims, a surge in religious zealotry. This is a global trend, the causes and effects of which has been the topic of an enormous amount of interest and research. The Religion of the Muslims is just over 1400 years old and for almost 1300 years, the Muslim populations, as a body, operated under a series of empires. We have heard of the sprawling empires of the Ummayads, the Abbasids, the Mongols, the Mughals, the Saffavids (or the Persians) and the Ottomans, (to mention the better known ones). With European Colonization these empires just faded away and then disintegrated in to a number of separate countries.
The World could not be blamed for assuming that that was the end of ‘Muslim togetherness’ But then suddenly we are observing the emergence of vibrant Muslim communities all over the world,
youthful in character and demonstrating a rather paradoxical mix of both ‘secular rationale’ and ‘religious dogma’ So the World asks the perplexing question, ‘What happened?’ or ‘What is happening?’ How is it that the ‘Muslim World’ that has been ‘empire centered’ for over 12 centuries, is suddenly metamorphosing into a myriad of locally driven societies or communities each being energized by the others? What is even more perplexing is that every one of these millions of globally spread local communities, hold certain tenets of Islam as non-compromise-able, whilst there is that unwritten understanding amongst all of them, to criticize whilst being accommodative of differences in other areas within the teachings of Islam. So we find many groupings even within the same village community being recognized as Wahabi, or Salafi, or Tablighi, or Deobandhi, or Braelwi and so on. Similarly groupings may identify themselves with a Madhab or even a Tareeqath. All those grouping agree on the fundamental f undamental teachings of Islam whilst they also agree to disagree on a range of other teachings. So we ask from where is all this unity or all this diversity generated or sustained or even driven? Muslims all over the world take pride in announcing that Islam is superior to other religions in the fact that there is no priest class or priesthood in Islam. The thinking is that duties of religious teaching and inviting cannot belong to a class or a grouping of people. These duties are incumbent on every Muslim. Muslim. However, the bare fact is that Islamic society is heavily driven by Moulavies, Alims, Mufthies, Mullahs and Imams. This can be easily observed at any Masjid which is the center of every Muslim society and community, and the religious traditions draw heavily from these personalities.
In the absence of a structured ‘church like’ organization within the t he Muslim community, it is the personality or the charisma of these Moulavies that attracts the following. So even though Muslims take pride in saying that there is no room for a priestly class within the Muslim
community, the society is heavily dependent on the preaching’s from the Moulavies and Alims. Now is this a good thing for the community? The number of Madrasahs and Moulavies passing out o f Madrasahs has been rapidly growing over the last 2 to 3 decades. What is the curric ular of these Madrasahs? 1
Is it geared to the needs of the community and the future of the community? Do the teachings produce preachers or seekers? These are a few of the many questions that have to be asked and answers sought. Let me briefly run through the building blocks of these talks. I first read Aayath No 44 of Surah Baqarah which instructs as follows; (2:44) Do you enjoin Birr on people
And forget your own selves, and you keep reciting the Kithaab? Do you not use your AQL?
Now in this Aayath Allah is drawing our attention to 4 points. Let me describe those 4 points (in my words) Allah tells us that 5. We are preaching Birr, 6. We have forgotten ourselves, 7. That we are reciting the Kithaab, and 8. Why do we not use our AQL? If I break that up further I can detect two things that we are doing and two things that we are depriving ourselves of. The two things that we are doing are that; 3. We are preaching Birr and 4. We are reciting the Kithaab The two things that we are depriving ourselves of are; 3. We have forgotten ourselves 4. We are not using our AQL And what is implied in this Aayath is that due to the deprivation we dot understand the reality of Birr and also we are unable to practice or attain the true status of Birr or the true benefits of Birr. So I now realize there are two types of Birr. One would be the preachers Birr, a sort of a pseudo Birr. The preacher is in f act fooling himself as well as fooling others. The second form of Birr would be the seekers Birr or the learners Birr where he would use his AQL while reciting the Kithaab. The preacher tries to give benefit to others. Neither he nor others would benefit. The seeker tries to gain wisdom from the Kithaab. He as well as those with him would benefit. So now I am trying to find out through reading the many connected Aayaths from the Quran as to what
AQL and Birr really mean, and I hope that Madrasah’s would benefit from this research.
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Let me read 2 Aayaths from the Quran that would provide us more insight in to what A QL really means and what using our AQL actually entails. S Yusuf
(12:1) Alif Lām Rā. These are Aayaths of the Book that makes clear. (12:2) We have sent it down, as an Arabic
Qur’an, so that you may use your AQL. S Al Anbiya (21:10) Surely, We have sent down to you a book in which there is ZIKR for you. Do you not use your AQL? (Afalaa ThaghQiloon?) Let me list what we read from these Aayaths; 7. Allah points out to a Kithaab and a Quran. How we understand this is that the Quran is the recitation of the Kithaab. 8. The Kithaab makes clear 9. The Kithaab contains Aayaths 10. The Kithaab contains ZIKR for us 11. The Quran is in Arabic 12. It is in Arabic so that we would use our AQL Combining all these points we see that the Kithaab contains Aayaths in Arabic and that we must make ZIKR of these Aayaths whilst using our AQL. Then the Kithaab becomes clear. The Kithaab becoming clear would also mean that the Quran becomes clear and also that the Aayaths become clear. I think to myself that the operating system of the AQL is in Quranic A rabic. So now we learn that we must, especially in this case, read with understanding in Arabic the Aayaths of the Quran that describe Birr, and use our AQL so that the reality or the Haqqeeqath of Birr would become clear. In Aayath No 177 of Surah Baqarah, we find a more elaborate description of Birr. In that Aayath I could count 16 items that constitute Birr. [002:177] It is not Birr that that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is Birr - to believe in Allah and the L ast Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your wealth, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; 3
to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing.
Now from what I read, these 16 points can also be classed in to 6 categories as follows;
There are 5 points that could be categorized as ‘Beliefs’ There is one point that could be categorized as ‘Spending wealth for love of Allah’ There are 6 points that could be categorized as ‘People to spend on’ Then there are 2 points which we could categorize as ‘Swalaath & Zakat’ Then the point on fulfilling contracts could be categorized as ‘Muamalaath’ or ‘worldly dealings’ Then there is the point of Swabr which could be categorized as ‘Qualities of a Mu’min’
So to find out whether we are preaching Birr whilst using our AQL or not let us go through the Birr Aayath, by discussing these categories, one by one. Series 5
The Talks Numbered # 151 onwards is a series on ‘Pleasing Madrasah Reforms ’ The titles are as follows: Talk No
#151 #152 #153 #154 #155 #156 #157 #158 #159 #160
Talk Number & Title
Comments
Some Puzzling Mismatches Seeking Allah Attributes of Allah Combinations of Dual Attributes Some interesting factors that lead to ‘Al Yauwmil Aakhir’ Allah grants Shaithaan ‘Conditional Authority’ Evidence for ‘Al Yauwmil Aakhir’ Lessons from the story of Yusuf (AS) Is GOD Just or Unjust? Why should WE be Forgiven?
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Series 4
The Talks Numbered 125 to 134 are a series of ‘Six Minute Talks’ presented in the month of Ramadhlaan (2013). The titles are as follows: Talk No
125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134
Talk Number & Title
Comments
The Muslim Shaithaan How did the Prophets Earn? The Swudhoor
Scolding’s the Prophet Received Understanding Allah’s Justice Arabic language of the AQL Pretending to be Mu’min Jinns and Insaan The Mu'min
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Series 3 Note on Talks on History of Muslims As Muslims it is necessary that we are aware of the History of Muslims over the last 1400 years. It is necessary for us to realize the winds of change over these last 1400 years especially since Muslim Populations have been through quite some turbulent times. I have covered this vast area in 5 talks. (This is insufficient) The first two talks were on the history and the next three talks were from another viewpoint. I discuss the response of the Muslims due to the many changes that were affecting their lives their religion and thus their culture. These Talks are numbered and titled as follows: Talk No 114 116
Topic The History Series The Effects of 1400 Years - Part 1 Effects of 1400 years - Part 2
Date Broadcast th
Jan 25 2013 th Feb 8 2013
The ‘Muslim Response’ Series 117 118 119
The Religious Response of Muslims due to Events surrounding the Caliphates of the Khulafaa Ur Raashidheen The Religious Response of Muslims due to Events surrounding the beginning of the Ummayyads The Religious Response of Muslims due to Events in the Period of the Muslim Empires
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Feb 22 2013 th
March 29 2013 th
April 5 2013
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Series 2
The Talks numbered 054 to 071 is under a series titled ‘Knowing Allah Ta’aalah or Knowing GOD’ The details of the scripts of these 16 Episodes (Talks) are as follows; Talk No
Talk Number & Title
Episode 1
054 Ilm – Knowing Allah
Episode 2
055 Rationality - The Foundation of Islam
Episode 3
056 Is Man Special?
Episode 4
057 Ar Rahmaan - The Beneficent
Episode 5
058 Nature or GOD?
Episode 6
059 Our Relationship with GOD!
Date Broadcast th Dec 9 2011 Dec 16 2011
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th
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15 Episode 16
Sub Series: 060 Is this what we are created for? (Is this what we are created for? – Part 1) Sub Series: 061 What do we see on Earth (Is this what we are created for? – Part 2) Sub Series: 062 Who are WE? Where do we fit in? (Is this what we are created for? – Part 3) Sub Series: 063 Our benefits on Earth (Is this what we are created for? – Part 4) Sub Series: 066 What makes us 'Stand Out'? What makes us 'Special'? (Is this what we are created for? – Part 5) Sub Series: 067 Who is in charge? (Is this what we are created for? – Part 6) Sub Series: 068 What ALLAH Teaches Us, About Himself (Is this what we are created for? – Part 7) Sub Series: 069 Our Special Faculties How they should be used, How they should not be used! (Is this what we are created for? – Part 8) Sub Series: 070 The TWO Paths 071 Is this what we are created for? A review of Parts 1 to 8 from the Sub Series
‘Is this what we are created for?’
Dec 23 2011 t Dec 30 2011 th Jan 6 2012 th Jan 13 2012 th
Jan 20 2012
th
Jan 27 2012
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Feb 3 2012
Details of Picture on Cover Wellawatte Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka Parasangaswewa Mosque (a remote village) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka Mutwal Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka The Akbar Mosque in Slave Island, Colombo, Sri Lanka Mosque in Matara, from the Southern Province of Sri Lanka Beach Mosque at Kalmunaikudi in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka A Mosque in the Kurnegala District, Sri Lanka Maradana Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka Colpetty Jummah Mosque, in Colombo, Sri Lanka The Jummah Mosque at Natpidimunnai, in the Ampara District, Sri Lanka
Feb 10 2012
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Feb 17 2012
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The Devatagaha Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Feb 24 2012
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A Mosque in a rural village in the Ampara District, in Sri Lanka
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Mar 2 2012
The Jummah Mosque in ‘Oluvil’ a village in the Ampara District, Sri Lanka
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Mar 9 2012
The Dhanakawewa Jummah Mosque in a remote village in the Anuradhapura District in Sri Lanka
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Mosque at Madhavakulam in the Puttlam District, Sri Lanka
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A Mosque by a river in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
Mar 16 2012
Mar 23 2012
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Please Note 1. I have had the great privilege, (since Aug 2010), of presenting talks on the weekly Radio Program ‘Culture of Islam’ [Friday 5.30 to 6.00 am, Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4 ] 2. Since these are Radio Talks, I refer to, or address the audience as ‘listeners’ 3. I am well aware that the audience to these talks would consist of people belonging to a variety of faiths. So as to make people of all faiths feel included, I very often use words and names that are common to all religions. 4. For these reasons, I use the name GOD, as well as Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc as well as the names Allah, Ibrahim (Alaihis Salaam), Moosa (Alaihis Salaam), Easa (Alaihis Salaam) etc 5. Muslims by habit usually say ‘Sallallahu Alaihiwasallam’, when the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, and ‘Alaihis Salaam' when the name of a Prophet is mentioned. However, in these series of talks I have reduced the use of these prayers & sayings to the bare minimum. 6. Muslims, also by habit, use a number o f Arabic prayers or sayings, such as Alhamdulillah, Insha Allah and so on. Again, I have reduced the use of these prayers or sayings to the bare minimum. 7. Sometimes I have to write Arabic words in the English script. I have devised my own way of writing Arabic in English, as follows;
th
s
DHL
H
Gh
TH
Ss
DHZ
h
GH
SW
The dates or the schedules of these t hese talks can be viewed on the Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ImtiazMuhsin786) The Scripts of these talks can be downloaded from www.ScribD.com (http://www.scribd.com/imtiaz_muhsin_1 http://www.scribd.com/imtiaz_muhsin_1)) (www.ScribD.com Author – Imtiaz Muhsin) The audio files of these talks can be downloaded from YouTube (YouTube Channel – Imtiaz Muhsin) The YouTube Link to this talk is at
All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah and Allah alone Alhamdulillah!
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