Hours after major outage hits Pakistan, govt says power restoration under way

Amassive power cut across Pakistan continued after night fell on Monday, affecting most of the country’s 220 million residents, including in the metropolises of Karachi and Lahore.

Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir said on Monday night, more than 12 hours after the breakdown occurred, that officials had begun restoring electricity across the country. Power was beginning to return in parts Islamabad and Balochistan, said Dastgir.

The minister had earlier said that electricity across the country would be fully restored by 10pm after the breakdown — triggered by “frequency variation” in the national grid hit Pakistan.

Continue at page 5 the country, officials said the pandemic is not over. On Friday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam said the decision by the UN is an “important deliberation.”“Whatever the decision is made by the Director General of the WHO, I think we just need to keep going with what we’re doing now,” she said. Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo cautioned people thinking the pandemic is over.

Source: ctvnews.ca

Narrated by ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr

The Prophet said, “A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his tongue and hands. And a Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all what Allah has forbidden.”

Ask the Imam (Q&A) Actions on behalf of dead persons

Question 4247:

Assalamualaikum I’m curretnly at Question 4247:

A few months ago, you published an answer claiming that it is permissible to recite the Qur’an on behalf of a dead person and that the reward for such a recitation is granted to the dead person. This opinion has been vehemently opposed by almost all renowned Salafi scholars. They consider such a recitation as an innovation and they support that by the fact that neither the Prophet nor his companions used to read the Qur’an on behalf of those who died in battle or a natural death. They also suggest that it is not possible to compare such a recitation with offering substitute pilgrimage on behalf of a dead person, which is certainly permissible. Moreover, Allah defines the purpose of the Qur’an as “an admonition to any one who is alive”. This means that the Qur’an is for those who are alive. Please comment. I am confused by your contradictory replies. You said sometime in the past that “no one may offer prayers or other religious duties which have been left undone by a deceased person.” You have also quoted the Hadith which states that the actions of every person come to an end when he dies except in one of three well-known ways. Now you are saying that it is possible to transfer the reward of a good action to a deceased person. Will you please explain these contradictions?

Supervised by Shaykh

Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid

Answer:

These are the view of only two of my readers who have written to me on this subject. Others have written, making the same objections. To all such readers I say that this is a question which relates to an aspect of Islamic worship. The answer, therefore, must be based on what the Prophet has taught us. We cannot argue a case supporting any viewpoint on purely logical basis. Our starting point may just be the Qur’an and the Hadith. Before starting to answer the objections of my readers, I wish to say that I hold on to my position on both points and I do not see any reason to change either. Nor do I see any contradiction between what I have said on different occasions on this subject. The difficulty experienced by some people in reconciling these points can be easily overcome. Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim, a highly renowned scholar, has spoken extensively on this question, devoting to it more than thirty pages in his invaluable book, Ar-Rooh, or The Spirit. My reply is based largely on what he says, since he discusses all points in detail and replies to all objections. I have often quoted the Hadith which may be rendered in translation as follows: “When a human being dies, all his actions come to an end, except in one of three ways: A continuing act of charity, a useful contribution to knowledge or a Godfearing, dutiful child who prays for him.”

This Hadith cannot be quoted in support of the argument that our actions cannot benefit those who are dead. It is important to know that when we attempt to understand the meaning of a Qur’anic statement or Hadith, our approach should be one of careful consideration of the statement in front of us.

It must be clear to us that every Qur’anic verse and every Hadith is meant to convey only the sense of the words used in it. We cannot, and must not, carry any such statement beyond its apparent meaning. It cannot be imagined or envisaged that Allah would mean something and express it in words which convey a different meaning. Nor is it possible that the Prophet, who has been endowed by Allah with the gift of the most precise expressions, should mean anything other than what he states. Anyone who would entertain such a thought actually suggests that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could fail to convey precisely an idea which constitutes a part of his message. That is not acceptable from a Muslim. No one would remain a Muslim for a second if he attaches such an inadequacy to the Qur’an. Bearing that in mind, we have to understand every Qur’anic statement or Hadith as it is. The above mentioned Hadith

Prayer Schedule in Greater Vancouver

states that “When a human being dies, his actions come to an end, except in one of three ways, etc. “ What comes to an end, then, is the deceased person’s own actions. This does not mean that a dead person does not benefit by anything else. He simply cannot do more for himself. He is powerless and incapable of accomplishing anything. Scholars, however, are unanimous that those who are dead can benefit by what living people may do in one of two ways: What the deceased person himself initiated during his lifetime and the supplication of Muslims on his behalf, their prayers to Allah to forgive him and whatever charity or pilgrimage other Muslims may do on his behalf. Scholars have different views on whether physical worship such as fasting, prayer, reciting of the Qur’an, etc. may be done by a living person and rewarded to a dead relative at his request. Imam Ahmad and many scholars say that the reward of such actions can be credited to the dead person, while the Shafie and Maliki schools of thought take the other view, saying that it does not. As for things that the dead person himself had initiated in his lifetime, the above quoted Hadith is sufficient evidence to endorse that. Another Hadith related by Ibn Majah quotes the Prophet as saying: “What is credited to a believer of his action and good deed after his death is any useful knowledge he might have taught or spread, a God-fearing child he might have left behind, a copy of the Qur’an he might have left to an heir, a mosque he might have built, a house he might have dedicated for use by travelers, a stream or river he might have caused to run, a donation to charity (i.e. sadaqah) he might have set aside when he was enjoying good health. All that catches up with him after his death.” Another authentic Hadith related by Muslim quotes the Prophet as saying: “Any Muslim who initiates a good practice receives its reward and the reward of anyone who follows his example without reducing their reward by the smallest of fractions, and any Muslim who initiates a bad practice will bear its burden as well as the burden of everyone who follows his example without reducing their burdens in anyway.” In support of our statement that a dead person will benefit by the supplication and prayer of living Muslims, I refer to the praise Allah bestows on succeeding generations of believers for praying Him to forgive those believers who lived before them. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Those who come after them pray: our Lord, forgive us our sins, as well as those of our brethren who preceded us in faith.” (59;10). When a Muslim dies, it is a duty on the community of Muslims to offer a special prayer for him during which they pray Allah to forgive him and admit him into heaven. The Prophet says: “When you pray for a dead person, make your supplication sincere.” In his own supplication for a dead person, just before the latter’s funeral, the Prophet said: “My Lord, forgive him; bestow Your mercy on him; purge him of sin, assign to him a good abode and a wide entrance (to heaven); wash him with water, snow and hail and purge him of sin as a white dress is purged of impurity; replace his home, family and wife with better ones; admit him to heaven and protect him against torment in the grave and the suffering in hell.” There are numerous Hadiths which tell us that a number of his companions came to the Prophet individually to ask him whether they can give sadaqah or fast or do the pilgrimage on behalf of their de- ceased relatives, and he always said that they may do that and the dead person would benefit by it. Al-Bukhari relates that Saad ibn Ubadah, the chief of the Ansari tribe of Al-Khazraj, said to the Prophet: “Messenger of Allah, my mother died when I was away. Would she benefit if I give charitable donations (i.e. sadaqah) on her behalf? The Prophet answered in the affirmative. Saad said: “I would like you to be my witness that I am giving as sadaqah on her behalf my orchard at Al-Meraf.” Ibn Abbas reports that a woman traveled in a boat and pledged that should Allah save her life, she would fast for a month. She was saved but she did not fast before she died. Her daughter or her sister asked the Prophet about that and he ordered her to fast on behalf of the deceased woman. (Related by Abu-Dawood, An-Nassaie, Ahmad and others). Hadiths in support of offering the pilgrimage on behalf of a deceased person or one who is unanimously unable to undertake the journey are numerous. Moreover, it is unanimously agreed by scholars that if a person dies without settling an outstanding debt, leaving no money to settle it, anyone could pay it on his behalf. Whether the person paying it is a relative or not, the deceased is deemed to have repaid his debt. If the case is such and the deceased person may benefit by a financial payment, why should he not benefit by a gift made of the reward for a good action? It should be mentioned here that it is not possible to do the obligatory duties of fasting and prayer on behalf of a deceased person. This means that you cannot pray Dhuhr or Asr, or fast a few days of Ramadhan on his behalf. You may, however, fast if he took a pledge to fast but did not honor it, as in the Hadith quoted above. You may also do a voluntary act of worship and request Allah to credit its reward to the deceased person. That applies to reciting a passage of the Qur’an. It is important to have a clear intention when you begin such an action that you are gifting its reward to a dead person. My readers suggest that it is not known that the companions of the Prophet used to recite the Qur’an and gift the reward of their recitation to dead people. The reason is that they would view such an action as a private matter between themselves and their Lord. Why would anyone mention to other people that he recited a surah and gifted its reward to his mother or to his friend or relative? They were to gain the maximum reward for their actions in the privacy of their own home. Your motive for such publicity may not be free of self-esteem. That is bound to reduce your reward. I do not know of any Hadith or Qur’anic verse which suggests that a recitation of the Qur’an has a special status which suggests that a recitation, pilgrimage or charitable donations may not be so credited. I know of nothing to prevent that. Indeed, Allah’s generosity will ensure that the reward is credited to the person to whom it is gifted, while the reciter will be rewarded for his kindness. [This is different from the act of gathering people to recite Qur’an on behalf of the deceased. Such recitations are private matters.] The best thing that can be done on behalf of a dead person is sadaqah or charitable donation. The best of that is something which continues over a long period of time. A pilgrimage on his behalf will be highly rewarded. Prayer to Allah to forgive him and bestow His mercy on him is also sure to be answered.

(Source: Arab News)

(Source: islamqa.info/en

Gas prices are once again creeping up in Metro Vancouver, with the numbers now sitting above $1.80 per litre.

It’s yet another blow to the cost of living in the region and the situation is only expected to get worse. Prices started rising at the start of the month and have continued to climb incrementally ever since.

Drivers in Surrey were paying 185.9 cents per litre on Tuesday morning.

Analysts predict prices may stabilize in February, but come spring, they expect fuel costs will keep climbing due to an increase in carbon taxes and higher prices in the market itself. The high prices are due to tight supply and increased demand.

Experts say COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the war in Ukraine and its impact on U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve are all factors.

The Lower Mainland set an all time record last September at 241.9 cents per litre.

Earlier this month, Kalibrate, a retail analytics company that tracks fuel prices, predicted drivers could pay up to $2.65 a litre by summertime.

However, other experts believe they will only climb to about $2.50 come July.

“It requires all the stars to line up at the same time, including refinery shutdowns in the United States and Washington state, the closure of the Olympic pipeline, and of course disruptions along the existing Trans Mountain pipeline,” said Dan McTeague, an analyst for the the prediction website Gas Wizard. McTeague believes prices will continue to climb daily by a penny or so over the next several months.

While the price may drop four or five cents a litre, he says it will then go right back up again. He predicts Metro Vancouver drivers will be paying up to $2.15 a litre by the first week of April.

The region is home to the highest prices in North America in part due to the carbon and TransLink taxes.

However, come July, it could be dethroned as Newfoundland imposes a new 16 to 17 cent per litre carbon tax. The national average is currently trending at about $1.48 per litre. Metro Vancouver is 30 to 40 cents above that. “Vancouver is a bit of an island in itself and requires fuel. Whether it’s oil for its small refinery in Burnaby, or gasoline from the strained Trans Mountain pipeline,” said McTeague. He says drivers should fill up at night in order to save money, since that’s when stations shed their eight cent retail margin. In addition, he says drivers can get an even better deal by filling their tanks on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Source: bc.ctvnews.c

Culture of fear? Minister

British Columbia’s Health Minister is responding to allegations of gag orders and muzzling of the province’s health-care workers after a public outcry and widespread discussion of the issue.

CTV News first reported on statements made on background and in public by health-care workers and their associations last week. Examples ranged from concerns about patient care, to staffing levels to workplace toxicity –and claims that those speaking up face consequences ranging from being labeled a troublemaker to formal disciplinary action.

Adrian Dix’s first comment was to point out there’s whistleblower protection in place in B.C.’s health authorities, with expanded protections through the Office of the Ombudsperson coming. He also acknowledged staff have a duty to report on safety issues and said he expects them to do so.

“It’s always an obligation to do that, that’s why those provisions are in place, to ensure the health-care workers can respond to those conditions,” he said, noting the well-documented staffing crisis is having an impact.

Dix’s office said he was unavailable to speak to these issues last week but addressed what’s often described as a “culture of fear” at length during a segment in studio on CTV Morning Live on Monday, as well as during a brief oneon-one interview afterward.

“I think when the health-care system’s working well, like any system, you’re listening to people,” Dix said.

“These are challenging times for our system and you have to be able to have systems internally where you can listen to what people have to say – and I think we do that.”

Pointing out that he often can’t speak to specific cases due to patient confidentiality, Dix acknowledged that he hasn’t seen any privacy violations on the rare occasions where healthcare workers have spoken publicly. Generally, it’s professional associations that speak out on systemic issues, allowing individual workers to avoid repercussions.

Insisting that “we can always do better,” Dix emphasized that his government has already beefed up labour rights for many workers and avoided job action by health-care staff with tentative agreements with paramedics and updated contracts with family doctors. Negotiations for a new nurses’ contract are underway. “We’ve got to keep listening, keep working, that’s the way you make things better,” said Dix. “We’ve added, as you know, 38,000 net new health-care workers in the five years I’ve been Minister of Health.”

Source: bc.ctvnews.ca

VANCOUVER - The federal government has come to a $2.8-billion agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by two British Columbia First Nations related to the collective harms caused by residential schools.

At a Saturday morning news conference in Vancouver, Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Marc Miller said the government signed the deal with plaintiffs representing 325 nations that opted into the Gottfriedson Band suit.

“While settlements that are being announced like these today do not erase or make up for the past ... what it can do is help address the collective harm caused by Canada’s past -- a deeply colonial one -- in the loss of language, the loss of culture and the loss of heritage,” said Miller. The lawsuit originally involved three classes of complainants, but in 2021 all parties agreed to concentrate initial settlement efforts on survivors and their descendants to ensure they’d receive compensation during their lifetimes.

Saturday’s announcement marked the settlement for the band class of plaintiffs, which Miller called “unfinished business” from the 2021 settlement.

Miller said the settlement will be guided by four pillars: the revival and protection of Indigenous language; the revival and protection of Indigenous culture; the protection and promotion of heritage and the wellness of Indigenous communities and their members.

It marks the first time Canada is compensating bands and communities as a collective for harms related to residential schools, he said. “Reconciliation isn’t free. This is a lot of money,” Miller said. “Is it enough? I think only time will tell, but we know there’s a heck of a lot more to do.”

Miller said the $2.8 billion for members of the band class will be put in an independent, notfor-profit trust, adding more terms of the settlement will be released in the next month.

Former shishalh chief Garry Feschuk and former Tk’emlups te Secwepemc chief Shane Gottfriedson launched the suit more than a decade ago seeking justice for day scholars who were abused while attending the schools but who were ineligible for the 2006 settlement for fulltime students.

“Today we are representing 325 Indigenous nations across Canada and have developed a settlement plan to allow for the nations to work towards the four pillars,” said Gottfriedson.

“This settlement allows our Indigenous nations to control this process ... we will manage and distribute the funds, we will provide it to all 325 nations in a fair and objective manner.”

Individual nations will decide which of the four pillars to focus on and will develop 10-year implementation plans.

“This has never been done,” Peter Grant, class council for the nations, said at the news conference. “This is where the government is saying, ‘you take care and you’re in charge of how you wish to start to repair the damage.”’

Grant explained that, after the first decade, another 10-year plan will be developed with the intention of ensuring all funds are dispersed after 20 years.

Source: ctvnews.ca

A B.C. school district is warning parents, teachers and students about the “unauthorized disclosure of personal data” related to more than 19,000 people in the school community.

In a notice posted on its website Thursday, the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District says it is “investigating and mitigating” an incident in which the information was publicly released.

“Because of the high number of records (19,126), the district assumes the incident affects both students and staff,” the notice reads.

“The information that has been accessed, while concerning, was confined to easily attainable information with limited use,” it continues. “The sensitivity of this information is considered low. At this time, the school district has no evidence that critical information was disclosed.”

According to the notice, the school district learned about the incident on the afternoon of Wednesday, Jan. 17.

The information released included people’s first and last names, school/department, district email address and grade (for students).

“While this data is internally available to students and staff in our active directory (email) phone book, in the wrong hands it can be used for targeted phishing attacks that attempt to trick the recipient into clicking on links or downloading attachments,” the district says.

It’s recommending that students who use their district email accounts be “extra vigilant” with emails that request personal information. For staff, the district says it anticipates an increase in phishing attacks. “This is an important reminder for staff and students to never share their SD42 credentials (i.e. user ID and password) with anyone,” the notice reads.

The district says it initiated “an immediate review of its systems and logs for suspicious activity” as soon as it learned of the unauthorized disclosure.

“No suspicious activity was found,” it says. “While it is possible this information was obtained because of a compromised student or staff email account, our investigation into how this data was accessed is ongoing.” The district advises anyone with privacy concerns to contact it by emailing privacy@ sd42.ca.

Source: bc.ctvnews.ca

ISUSPECT many will agree about the benefits of a digital detox, ie a break from the constant stream of information on mobile devices. I enjoyed my break last week disconnected from devices, uncompelled to reply to every message, relishing the quiet that winter up north brings. But it was just that, a break, and my return to reality coincided with news of journalist Shahid Aslam’s detention by FIA.

Aslam is being accused of involvement in an article by Fact Focus that reported on former army chief Gen Bajwa’s assets. Ahmad Noorani, who wrote the article, denied Aslam’s involvement. But that did not matter to the FIA.

I was able to ascertain these details thanks to the reporting on legacy news outlets because social media was its usual cesspool of unreliability — lots of opinion parading as information. Facts don’t sell — or get shared — the way opinions do. An MIT study in 2018 showed that lies spread six times faster than fact.

Aslam was granted bail on Wednesday but his case is a reminder of how those actually in power have no respect for the law — eg the 2021 Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill which accords journalists the right to protect sources. The same powers don’t support journalism unless it sides with their

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