ISLAM HERE Ramadan'15

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Active, Visable, Practised among People

RAMADAN

Volume

03,

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June

2014

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Ramadan

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Western

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Edition.

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The month of the

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HOLY QURAN

has come

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THE FAST OF DISCONNECTION

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10 MADINA INSTITUTE

IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

SECRET HISTORY WOMEN SCHOLARS

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ot too long ago we invited back the people returning from Umrah, taking in their most essential valuations of such profound experience, we were encountered with sobering vision of who the Muslims are as an Ummah. Like some grand conference of our people from all walks of life and lands, they gather at the House of Allah, to call upon Him and to experience the welcome of a Generous Host. Each story, short or long, to illustrate a Mercy they have received from Him, that they came and found what it was they were looking for, what was hidden in their hearts, in that, they were not disappointed.

Editor’s Desk

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his cannot continue to go on. We must prevent ourselves from reaction and assess truly what is taking place in front of us. We must, in a sense, Re-Discover ourselves, who we are as ‘The Muslims’.

Properly speaking there is no such thing as the ‘history of Islam’. For the ‘history of Islam’ began with the descending of Quran and prophet hood of the noble Muhammad which took place in this month in Ramadan till his famous declaration that he had perfected our Deen for us. What took place after that point – is the ‘history of the Muslims’. From that point onwards is a remarkable history and heritage of a people carrying the blessing of Islam to every shore on earth and effected every aspect of life in what today the West calls the ‘norm’.

Our Ummah is one, by our worship of Allah, One; Everlasting; Undivided and Incomparable, and by our obedience to His messenger Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The sunnah is not just our link to him, it is him, and he is our link to each other. So long as the Sunnah is alive and active, so will be our ummah. We must trust this and safe guard each other and each other’s property as we would the messenger of Allah himself. This is how we love him.

The Muslim community, both forced and willingly participated in a digital, social integration, have found themselves in a quagmire where their identities as Muslims have become blurred and shaped by the media. Hurried hashtags and fashionable Facebook campaigns to anxiously rebrand ourselves a world community of good, praying, god-fearing, law-abiding people. We are NOT extremists, we cry. We ARE human beings. What bad people do in our name is wrong but does that mean that we as a global community (at least a quarter of the Earth’s population and rapidly growing to half taking current fertility rates of Muslims worldwide) may be humiliated, ostracised and hunted down like wild animals because we uphold a traditional life-pattern in contrast to the modern model of mass individualism easily controlled by structured interests. NO.

We must look into our own history to see this. This is who we are. We need to see ourselves not through the eyes of the media but see ourselves through the eyes of Allah. We are His slaves and followers of His noble messenger and this deen we have inherited is His. We follow the Quran and the Sunnah. Inna lilahi wa ina ilayhi rajiun.

PIC: BOOMRADIO.AU

The anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe over the past few years, sparked not by a few misguided souls acting against an intolerant European media but the growing concern of European individualism on the increase of a ‘European’ Muslim population. Engendering the old Europe towards a new Islamic identity. It is not that, the Muslims have their own political agenda, nor their own economic system that they are afraid of. It is the fact that at the core, when we come together, Islam becomes Active, Visible and Practiced among people. The attractive, social and natural cohesion this forms, threatens the civic order by replacing it with something natural to people praying, working and trading with each other in a balanced way. A Halal way. By the very practice of the Deen, it effects the social nexus of the community in which the Muslims reside.

Visually speaking, we do appear to the subjected and bought media as what can be described as a mob. Uncontrollable, unorganised, emotional and reactionary, whose only predictability is that we will, without fail and without disappointing geopolitical economic agendas, to react exactly in the way they need us to. Fuelling the political jargon that legislates our own repression and targeting as a necessity for life to continue as normal.

Thereby leading us back to the same knifes edge of either reacting violently or as in the majority of cases, appealing to democratic tolerance that “INSURGENT” is actually mother; father; sister; brother; son; daughter and bystander.

And what can be applied to one group of people in the media can also be applied to another.

Some within the world Muslim community in past and well-remembered years have tried to do this through the use of violence. The language is simple enough for a child to understand. If we hurt, so can you.

Given the true nature of the global political and economic status quo: “nothing personal, just business as usual,” violence emanating from points of conflict

global leadership for over 150 years ever since the exiling of Sultan Abdalhamid II, the Khalif, so it is easy to see the mob, and not the wonderful picture we see in the prayer lines of the mosques. After the fall of the Khalifate, Ibn Saud, was asked by the British Empire if he would take up the mantle of Khalif, too which he refused.

The irrational of the French & German reaction, is a resistance towards the magnetic beauty of Muslims coming together. It is the beauty of a beloved and merciful Prophet, May Allah bless him and grant him peace come to setup residence across the street to the point that they cannot turn their heads to not see.

PIC: DAVID LAZAAR

in the Muslim world, achieves nothing but to further strengthen the repression and intimidation of the whole body of Muslims. And seems to play perfectly to tune of business as usual, except now it is personal because we have world opinion.

Looking back at the past 14 years since 9/11, the launch of the global war on ter-

ror has achieved nothing but the further cementing of those motives that placed the Muslim world in the cross-hairs of global business and neighbouring opportunists in the first place. It is ‘global chess’ in a way, and we, as well as many of our ulama and leaders, been made the pawns. In our defence, we haven’t seen a

I want to wish all our readers a prosperous month of Ramadan ahead, praying that every act we take on for the pleasure of Allah is met with an abundance of Mercy, Forgiveness and Protection from the Fire. By our actions more than our words, may we invite others to the deen of our Noble Prophet. Amin

Nabeel Abdalhaqq Editor

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one who fasts has two joys in which to delight: when he breaks his fast, he rejoices; and when he meets his Lord, he rejoices in his fast.” (Muslim: 13:163) Unlike any of the acts of worship, Allah singles out fasting as being the one that is for Him. It enjoys a special status and those who do it enjoy a special station with their Lord not granted to any other, and are granted access to Him and His everlasting reward through doors not opened to anyone else. Allah elevated it by negating that it is like any other act of worship. He negated its ownership to His servants although they worship Him by it and ascribed the fast to Himself.

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amadan is the month of Quran, the month in which the entire Book of Allah was revealed.

Allah says,

“The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur‘an was sent down as guidance for mankind, and Clear Signs with the guidance and furqan (discrimination).”

2:185 Those Clear Signs are even clearer in this month, and our own capacity to hear, taste and understand them are more enhanced. Many of the barriers between our hearts and the meanings of the Words of Allah are weakened and removed, so we make the Book of Allah our constant companion throughout its days and nights. The Messenger of Allah mentions with

respect to this month, that it is the month in which Allah has made it obligatory to fast. This is itself a great honour, for fasting is a very special form of worship in the eyes of Allah. Allah says in a hadith qudsi, Muslim transmitted in the Sahih that Abu Hurayra reported from the Messenger of Allah that Allah said, “Every action of the son of Adam belongs to him except the fast. It is Mine, and I repay him for it. Fasting is a protection. When one of you has a day of fasting, he should then speak neither obscenely nor too loudly; and if someone seeks to curse him or fight with him, let him say, ‘I am fasting.’

By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the smell of the mouth of the one who fasts is more delectable to Allah than the scent of musk. The

And what will convey to you what the NIGHT OF QADR is?

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he night of the Laylatul Qadr in Ramadan was the night that the Qur’an ascended into heart of our most noble Messenger, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, and revealed over the course of 23 years.

Allah has made it the month of fasting so that we might more fully take advantage of the blessed and exalted nature of its time. Fasting has the capacity to alter our state and make us more receptive to the gifts our Lord has put aside for us in the course of this immense month. The Gift allotted to us by the Messenger of Allah in the famous khutba he delivered in the final days of Sha’ban: “O people!

A great and blessed month has come to you - a month in which there is a night which is better than a thousand months;” The first special thing the Messenger of Allah mentions with respect to this month is that it contains the Laylat al-Qadr, a night of such immense value that a whole sura of the Quran is dedicated to it. Allah says, “Truly We sent it down on the Laytal al-Qadr. And what will convey

EBRAHIM MUTALIB

to you what the Laylat al-Qadr is? The Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand months.”

At the age of 40 years old, the Prophet began to see pleasant dreams which in turn proved true. He also felt an increasing need for solitude, and this lead him to seek seclusion and meditation in the rocky hills which surrounded Makka. There he would retreat for days, taking provisions along with him, and would return to his family for more provisions. In the blaze of day and during the clear desert nights, when the stars seem sharp enough to penetrate the eye, his very substance was becoming saturated with the ‘signs’ in the heavens, so that he might serve as an entirely adequate instrument for a revelation already inherent in these ‘signs.’

It was then that he was undergoing a preparation for the enormous task which would be placed upon his shoulders, the task of prophethood and conveying the deen of Allah to his people and the rest of humanity. It came on a night late in the sacred month of Ramadan, the Lay-

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PIC: SAJJAD HUSSEIN AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Every action of the son of Adam belongs to him except the fast. It is Mine, and I repay him for it.

This is because in reality, fasting is non-action. You are not told to do anything, you are being told to abstain. To not partake from Food, drink, intercourse, lying, fighting, and speaking obscenely, or even too loudly between sunrise and sunset.

Then he commanded that he say to the one who curses him or fights with him, “I am fasting,” i.e. I am leaving this action which you are doing, fighter or curser, to me. By the command of his Lord, he disconnects himself from this action. There truly is nothing like it. What could it possibly be comparable to?

An-Nasa’i related that Abu Umama said, lat-ul-Qadr, the ‘Night of Decree.

Prophet Muhammad was in solitude in the cave on Mount Hira. He was startled by the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel, the same who had come to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who seized him in a close embrace. A single word of command burst upon him: ‘Iqra’ ‘Read!’ He said: ‘I am not able to read!’ But the command was issued twice more, each with the same response from the Prophet. Finally, he was grasped with overwhelming force by the angel. Gabriel released him, and the first ‘recitation’ of the Quran was revealed to him:

P A G E “I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, ‘Give me something that I can take from you.’ He said, ‘You must fast. There is nothing like it.’”

He negated that it was like any of the acts of worship which are prescribed for the servants of Allah. The negation of likeness is a negative attribute.

Therefore the relationship between it and Allah is strengthened.

Shaykh Ibn al Arabi, Rahimullah said in a poem about this hadith qudsi: “There is nothing like the fast.”

The Lawgiver said that to me, so reflect on that!

This is because it is non-action.

Where is that which you have done and where is your claim?

The matter has returned to its root.

My Lord has seized control of you by that.

If you reflect on the principle of the fast and the basis of its meaning by your meaning, Someone with news came from Him about your prescribed fast which will divest you.

The fast belongs to Allah, so do not be ignorant. You are merely the place of its manifestation.

The fast belongs to Allah, and yet you are the one dying of hunger, so know that!

The Prophet said, “When Ramadan comes, the Gates of the Garden are thrown open, the Gates of the Fire are slammed shut, and the Shaytans are chained up.”

He also mentioned: “There is a gate to the Garden called ar-Rayyan through which will only those who fast will be allowed to pass and no one else on the Day of Rising.”

Allah says in His Mighty Book, “But as for him who feared the Station of his Lord and forbade The word ‘IQRA’ , echoing around the valleys of the Hejaz, broke the mould in which the known world was casted; and our Messenger, alone among the rocks, took upon his shoulders a burden which would have crushed the mountains had it descended upon them.

PIC: ROLAND MICHAUD

the lower self its appetites, the Garden will be his refuge.”

May we realise the month of Ramadan for what it is and approach its days and nights with the same awe and reverence that you would the mosques, for they with respect to time what the Houses of Allah are with respect to place.

We ask Allah to give us the best of the upcoming month. We ask Him to protect all of our limbs from wrong action during the course of it, and increase us in sabr, generosity and all the good qualities of character that it magnifies and enhances.

We ask Him to accept our fast and give us the strength and yearning to stand in prayer and take advantage of its nights, especially the Laylat al-Qadr. May He make us all among those who bring it to life and gain access to its lights and secrets. And we ask Him to unlock for us the meanings of His Book and make it our constant Companion throughout the coming month and for the remainder of our lives MOHAMMED FAROUK This night is so replete with light and Baraka that it is worth more than a thousand months, and that is not just any thousand months - a length of time equivalent to eighty-three years, but a thousand months of a believer, a thousand months of worshipping our Lord and obeying Him and His Prophet

“Read in the name of your Lord who created -created man from a clot.

Read: for your Lord is Most Bountiful, who teaches by the pen, teaches man that which he knew not.” (Quran 96:1-5) Thus began the magnificent story of Allah’s final revelation to humanity until the end of times. The encounter of an Arab, fourteen centuries ago, with a being from the realm of the Unseen was an event of such momentous significance that it would move whole peoples across the earth and affect the lives of hundreds of millions of men and women, building great cities and great civilizations, provoking the clash of mighty armies and raising from the dust beauty and splendour unknown previously. It would also bring teeming multitudes to the Gates of Paradise and, beyond, to the beatific vision.

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Cave of Hira (aerial view). Prophet Muhammad used to meditate in this cave frequently. The first revelations of the Quran came to him here.

PIC: A.Shamandour 2011

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF MUSLIM WOMEN SCHOLARS

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or Muslims and nonMuslims alike, the stock image of an Islamic scholar is a gray-bearded man.

Women tend to be seen as the subjects of Islamic law rather than its shapers. And while some opportunities for religious education do exist for women — the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo has a women’s college, for example, and there are girls’ madrasas and female study groups in mosques and private homes — cultural barriers prevent most women in the Islamic world from pursuing such studies. Findings by a scholar at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in Britain, however, may help lower those barriers and challenge prevalent notions of women’s roles within Islamic society. Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a 43-year-old Alim, or religious scholar, has rediscovered a long-lost tradition of Muslim women teaching the Koran, transmitting hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and even making Islamic law as jurists.

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dating back 1,400 years

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Akram embarked eight years ago on a single-volume biographical dictionary of female hadith scholars, a project that took him trawling through biographical dictionaries, classical texts, madrasa chronicles and letters for relevant citations. “I thought I’d find maybe 20 or 30 women,” he says. To date, he has found 8,000 of them, dating back 1,400 years,

and his dictionary now fills 40 volumes.

The dictionary’s diverse entries include a 10th-century Baghdad-born jurist who travelled through Syria and Egypt, teaching other women; a female scholar — or muhaddithat — in 12th-century Egypt whose male students marvelled at her mastery of a “camel load” of texts; and a 15th-century woman who taught hadith at the Prophet’s grave in Medina, one of the most important spots in Islam.

One seventh-century Medina woman who reached the academic rank of jurist issued key fatwas on hajj rituals and commerce; another female jurist living in medieval Aleppo not only issued fatwas but also advised her far more famous husband on how to issue his.

Not all of these women scholars were previously unknown. Many Muslims acknowledge that Islam has its learned women, particularly in the field of hadith, starting with the Prophet’s wife Aisha. And several Western academics have written on women’s religious education. About a century ago, the Hungarian Orientalist Ignaz Goldziher estimated that about 15 percent of medieval hadith scholars were women. But Akram’s dictionary is ground breaking in its scope.

Indeed, read today, when many Muslim women still don’t dare pray in mosques, let alone lecture leaders in them, Akram’s entry for someone like Umm al-Darda, a prominent jurist in seventh-century Damascus, is startling. As a young woman, al-Darda used to sit with male scholars in the mosque, talking shop. “I’ve tried to worship Allah in every way,” she wrote, “but I’ve never found a better one than sitting around, debating other scholars.”

She went on to teach hadith and fiqh, or law, at the mosque, and even lectured in the men’s section; her students included the caliph of Damascus.

It’s after the 16th century that citations of women scholars dwindle. Some histo-

missing in the self-proclaimed progressive Muslim writers,” says James Piscatori, a professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford University.

The erosion of women’s religious education in recent times, Akram says, reflects “decline in every aspect of Islam.”

Flabby leadership and a focus on politics rather than scholarship has left Muslims ignorant of their own history. Islam’s current cultural insecurity has been bad for both its scholarship and its women, Akram says. “Our traditions have grown weak, and when people are weak, they grow cautious. When they’re cautious, they don’t give their women freedoms.”

Fatima b. Abi al-Qasim (d. 1216). She was one of the most learned women of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). She engaged with works of legal theory, jurisprudence as well as Tasawuff and she was familiar with a wide variety of Islamic sciences.

According to the Andalusi scholar Abu Ja’far “She memorized by heart enumerable books including al-Makki’s Tanbih, al-Quda‘i’s al-Shihab, Ibn ‘Ubayd al-Tulaytali’s Mukhtasar, Sahih Muslim, Sira, al-Mubarrad’s al-Kamil, al-Baghdadi’s Nawadir, and other works.” She became hafidh under the guidance of Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Madwari, the great Sufi who is considered from among the abdal [an important rank in Tasawuf].

rians venture that this is because Islamic education grew more formal, excluding women as it became increasingly oriented toward establishing careers in the courts and mosques. (Strangely enough, Akram found that this kind of exclusion also helped women become better scholars. Because they didn’t hold official posts, they had little reason to invent or embellish prophetic traditions.)

Akram’s work has led to accusations that he is championing free mixing between men and women, but he says that is not so. He maintains that women students should sit at a discreet distance from their male classmates or co-worshipers, or be separated by a curtain. (The practice has parallels in Orthodox Judaism.)

The Muslim women who taught men “are part of our history,” he says. “It doesn’t mean you have to follow them. It’s up to

people to decide.” Nevertheless, Akram says he hopes that uncovering past hadith scholars could help reform present-day Islamic culture. Many Muslims see historical precedents — particularly when they date back to the golden age of Muhammad — as blueprints for sound modern societies and look to scholars to evaluate and interpret those precedents.

Muslim feminists like the Moroccan writer Fatima Mernissi and Kecia Ali, a professor at Boston University, have cast fresh light on women’s roles in Islamic law and history, but their worldview — and their audiences — are largely Western or Westernized. Akram is a working alim, lecturing in mosques and universities and dispensing fatwas on issues like inheritance and divorce. “Here you’ve got a guy who’s coming from the tradition, who knows the stuff and who’s able to give us that level of detail which is

When Akram lectures, he dryly notes, women are more excited by this history than men. To persuade reluctant Muslims to educate their girls, Akram employs a potent debating strategy: he compares the status quo to the age of al jahiliya, the Arabic term for the barbaric state of pre-Islamic Arabia. (Osama Bin Laden and Sayyid Qutb, the godfather of modern Islamic extremism, have employed the comparison to very different effect.)

Barring Muslim women from education and religious authority, Akram argues, is akin to the pre-Islamic custom of burying girls alive. “I tell people, ‘God has given girls qualities and potential,’ ” he says. “If they aren’t allowed to develop them, if they aren’t provided with opportunities to study and learn, it’s basically a live burial.”

When I spoke with him, Akram invoked a favourite poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” Thomas Gray’s 18th-century lament for dead English farmers. “Gray said that villagers could have been like Milton,” if only they’d had the chance, Akram observes. “Muslim women are in the same situation. There could have been so many Miltons.”

Carla Power

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EDUCATION THROUGH COMPASSION LEADING TO ILLUMINATION Madina Institute graduate speaks about traditional education expressed by the institute as way forward in hope growth and opportunity.

truth and moderation commanded by The Qur’aan and the authentic Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) of Rasulullah, sallalahu alayhi wasalam.

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adina Institute is a tertiary academic Islamic institution that started in January 2014 in Cape Town. It offers a ground-breaking, one year intensive Usul Ud Din (foundational Scholarship of Islamic Sciences) program.

This intensive, traditional program is designed to develop leaders who are schooled in the traditional sciences of the Religion. It is designed to take students who are post matric or have completed University who don’t necessarily want to become career scholars but have a deep interest to know more about their religion. In this way students integrate who they are as faithful Muslims and what they do as careers so that they become functional people.

The point is to raise the bar on people in general and on the scholarly leadership as well, because the more educated people are the more they demand and the more they expect and contribute. There is therefore always a justification for education. Madina Institute is a place where your spiritual journey will flourish and help you grow deeper into your faith and serve humanity, help foster academic excellence and manifests the line of

PIC: MEN USUL UD DIN STUDENTS 2014

People can be seekers and believers at the same time. So, whilst Madina Institute seeks to bring Hope, growth and opportunity to all human beings, it is also a place of deep theological reflection. This foundational scholarship year will establish a solid academic base for every student of knowledge inshaAllah.

Upon successful completion of this intensive year of study, the student will be a student-scholar, with a solid foundation in major Islamic Sciences and obtain the keys to further navigate through all the sciences of Islamic scholarship under the guidance of Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya an Ninowy and leading Islamic Scholars from all around the world.

Whilst this is a tertiary institution of Deen it encourages leadership and using the Prophetic model of teaching.

It aims to foster excellence in all fields of human endeavor. The purpose of Madina is to create a base for an academic think tank for Muslim scholars and for those who want to be Muslim scholars.

The point of Madina Institute is to go back to Madinah al Munawwarah, the spiritual home for all the Muslims. It is our place. It is our Messenger (Peace Be upon Him) who resided and ruled there, it is the Sahabah that taught us Islam that are buried in Madina. The point is to go back under the umbrella of Rasulullah (Peace be upon him). Doing that is to go back to the Book, Al Qur’aan il Kareem and the authentic Sunnah (Prophetic traditions) of the Messenger of God (Peace Be upon Him). The motto of Madina remains Education through Compassion leading to Illumination and prioritizing the Holy Book and the authentic Sunnah.

Why do we need to prioritize the Holy Book and the authentic Sunnah?

The Holy Book is from Allah Ta’ala and the Sunnah is from Rasulullah (Peace be Upon Him). The Book is Wahy (divine revelation) and the Sunnah is Wahy. Divine revelation is merciful, inclusive, unconditionally loving and unconditionally compassionate. The vision of Madina is threefold: Hope, Growth and Opportunity.

Today we live in times of chaos. Madinah offered those who used to kill their daughters during Jahiliyyah, used to do usury and who used to ransack people for a living: Hope, growth and opportunity In Makkah before the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him) and the Sahabah moved to Madina the first thing the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him) did was to turn his home into a Masjid. A Masjid but not in our understanding of it. The Masjid of Rasulullah was not just

a prayer hall. It was an institution of learning that He (Peace be upon Him) built. And that is why you found the Sahabah learning there, not only learning their Religion there but learning poetry, etiquettes and how to deal with each other. The kids would play inside the Masjid. It was a community institution in every respect.

Madina Institute is not only about teaching classical books, it is about hope, growth and opportunity. It is a hope for all of us. We need to get back to the texts that came and saved people when they were at their worst.

Today we need salvation, we need to go back to the unconditional compassion which only Rasulullah (Peace be upon him) can give.

Our Din is unconditional love towards all and malice towards none. Come, come whoever you are to the Muhammadan Garden of Hope, Growth and Opportunity.

Experience the essence and spirit of Madina distilled into the foundations of this prestigious institute.

Madina Institute is based in the award-winning ICON building, located in the heart of Cape Town’s Central Business District, opposite the International Convention Centre (CTICC) and within walking distance to various Masaajid and in close proximity to most public transport modalities

PIC: WOMEN USUL UD DIN STUDENTS 2014

Shakirah Thebus - Madina Graduate

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CAN’T AFFORD TO STUDY AFTER SCHOOL? Apply for financial assistance from NSFAS

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re you in need of financial assistance to study at a University or Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College?

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) can help on the road towards your dream job. NSFAS is a government student loan and bursary scheme. NSFAS provides loans and bursaries to eligible needy and academically deserving students.

sults, up to 40% of your NSFAS loan may be converted into a bursary, and that amount does not need to be repaid.

For more information please visit Call: 086 00 67 327 Email: info@nsfas.org.za Website: www.nsfas.org.za NSFAS is a registered credit provider in terms of the national credit act 34 of 2005 (NCRCP 2655)

NSFAS has funded over 1.5 Million South Africans from 1999. The Scheme continues to grow from R441 million in 1999 to R8,5 billion in 2013.

Apply for a NSFAS study loan or bursary through a Financial Aid Office at a public University or TVET College.

Applications may also be done online at selected higher education Institutions.

A South African citizen with financial need as determined by NSFAS means test. You will have to provide proof of your family’s household income.

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WESTERN CAPE GEARS UP FOR E-LEARNING IN SCHOOLS

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he Western Cape Government (WCG) will allocate nearly R730 million over the next three years to establish ICT infrastructure and e-learning in schools. Premier Helen Zille made this announcement in her State of the Province address earlier this year.

The WCG has identified e-learning one of eight priority areas or “game changers” that have the potential of being catalysts for substantial improvements in people’s lives, Zille said. The WCG has started implementing a project to install high-speed broadband to all residents of the Western Cape over the next decade, starting with schools and other government buildings.

The provincial government plans to connect 1 250 schools (86%), 300 health facilities and 220 libraries to the broadband system by July 2016. The WCG is providing the backbone for access to broadband connectivity via a Wide Area Network (WAN) that will connect schools and other sites across the province.

The WCED is developing Local Area Networks (LANS) in schools, district offices and head offices to connect classrooms and individuals to the broader system. The plan includes considerable investment in technology in classrooms, including interactive whiteboards, laptops, projectors and other devices to support teaching and learning. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) plans to equip 3 350 “smart classrooms”

in 248 schools over the next five years.

The department will start by converting 1 583 classrooms to smart classrooms during the current financial year, representing an investment of R53 million.

The WCED will refresh computer laboratories at 500 of our poorest schools over the next five years. The WCED is sourcing and developing digital teaching and learning materials while also inviting developers of these material to provide information on their products and services via an e-catalogue or portal on the WCED web site, said Paddy Attwell, Director of Communication at the WCED. The department has trained about 26 000 teachers over the past 10 years in the Western Cape on using ICT to support teaching and learning. The department will now provide additional training to bring teachers up to speed with the latest developments in technology.

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“The WCED is planning pilot projects to test effective ways of using the latest technology, and will work with teachers who are already provide examples of best practice to ensure that the province makes the most of this opportunity,” Attwell said Paddy Attwell Director of Communication Western Cape Education Department

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BANNING RAMADAN IN CHINA

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Of China’s 55 officially recognized minority peoples, 10 groups are predominantly Muslim. The highest concentrations are found in the north western provinces of Xinjiang, Gan-

su, and Ningxia, with significant populations also found throughout the Yunnan province in southwest China China is home to a large Muslim population. According to the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), there are more than 21 million Muslims living in the country.

PIC: KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES.

ing order Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Tatars are the other Muslim groups in China. Additionally, Tibetan Muslims are officially classified along with the Tibetan people.

According to SARA, there are approximately 36,000 Islamic places of worship, more than 45,000 imams, and 10 Islamic schools in the country.

Within the next two decades from 2011, Pew projects a slowing down of Muslim population growth in China, with Muslim women in China having a 1.7 fertility rate. Chinese family planning policy allows minorities including Muslims to have up to one child in rural areas.

IN A REGION THAT HAS HAD AN ESTABLISHED MUSLIM COMMUNITY SINCE THE BIRTH OF ISLAM, THE RELIGIOUS REPRESSION OF 21.6 MILLION CHINESE MUSLIMS BY THE GOVERNMENT HAS REACHED A TIPPING POINT. CIHANGIR YILDIRIM

uslims have been in China for the last 1,400 years in continuous interaction with Chinese society.

Islam was first brought to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas in 616. Currently, there are Muslims living in every region of China. Various sources estimate different numbers of adherents, with some sources indicating that 2 percent of the total population in China is Muslim.

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A study done by the Pew Research Centre, based on China’s census, concluded there are 21.6 million Muslims in China, accounting for 1.6 percent of the total population. According to the 2011 census, the largest ethnic groups of Muslims is Hui with 12 million and the second largest group is Uighurs with 10 million. In descend-

China’s policy on Uighur Muslims differs from the Chinese Muslim in the country. Uighur people have long suffered from human rights abuses, with 35 million people being killed since 1965 due to the Chinese army’s oppression or famine in East Turkestan, named by the Chinese as Xinjang, or the so-called “gained territories.”

Therefore, the Uighur people prefer to use East Turkestan and reject the name Xinjang claiming China aims to destroy the historical heritage of the Muslim population by changing the names of cities, emphasizing the connection to other westerly Turkic groups. According to the Uighur Human Rights Project report, the number of arrests increased by 95 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 27,000. The number of those sentenced to execution and life imprisonment increased by 50 percent in the last six months.

Xinjiang is home to some of China’s

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largest deposits of oil, natural gas which is as fate would have it where the majority of Uighur Muslims live.

Last year, Chinese authorities imposed restrictions on the Uighur Muslims during the month of Ramadan, banning government employees (including teachers) and students from fasting, in what rights groups say has become an annual attempt at systematically erasing the region’s Islamic identity.

Chinese Authorities have justified the ban on fasting by saying it is meant to protect the health of students and restrictions on religious practices by government officials are meant to ensure that state does not support any particular faith.

Wearing a headscarf in public, including on public transportation and when getting married in a religious ceremony, was banned in 2014, with fines of about R 4,400 for wearing a headscarf in public. Radical behaviour is banned. The Chinese define not drinking alcohol, non-smoking and avoiding eating non-halal food as radical behaviour. Chinese officials continue to censor media in the region, with no freedom for reflection in the press. Chinese authorities ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in Xinjiang to sell alcohol and cigarettes, and promote them in “eye-catching displays” in an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents. Establishments that failed to comply were threatened with closure and their owners with prosecution CIHANGIR YILDIRIM

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THE SUNNAH OF WET CUPPING

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ijama therapy also known as cupping is one of the oldest medical treatments known to mankind. Practiced by the ancient Egyptians, used in traditional Chinese medicine, performed throughout Africa, well recognised in Arabia, but most importantly prescribed upon the prophet Muhammad may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

“On the night of Israa I did not pass an angel except it said to me, Oh Muhammad! Order your ummah to do hijama.” “If there is any good in your medical treatments it is in hijama.”

(Sahih Sunan Tirmidhi (3479)) He may Allah bless him and grant him peace used it for hip pain, when he sprained his ankle, for detoxification of the blood after ingesting poison, he prescribed it for migraine headache and as a maintenance of health.

Narrated Abu Kabshah Al-Ansari: the Messenger of Allah may Allah bless him and grant him peace used to have himself cupped on the top of his head and between his shoulders, and that he used to say: “if any one pours out any of this blood, he will not suffer if he applies no medical treatment for anything.’ What does it involve and how is it done?

Suction is the basic principle, a vacu-

‘‘

Oh Muhammad!

Order your ummah to do hijama

‘‘

(Hijama)

um is created in valved suction cups, the cup is placed over the skin and air is sucked out. After removing the cups small cuts are made onto the skin, the cuts are very light and superficial, comparable to a finger prick blood test, although subjective pain is very minimal requiring no local or general anaesthetic.

Once done the cups are re-applied with suction, this slowly encourages the small cuts to bleed, the cups are left on for 5-10 minutes, small quantities of blood begin to collect into the cups, after a given time period waste blood is safely discarded. Bleeding stops almost instantaneously, cupping marks take less than 2 weeks to completely disappear.

That’s it, that’s all it is. Simple right?

But how can bleeding possibly be beneficial?

First let’s look at one of our most common health issues, inflammation, your best friend and worst enemy. In any injury our bodies send more blood

to the site, this is known as vasodilation and is part of inflammation.

The body’s defences and emergency services get mobilised to the site, this aids in repair, healing and protection of the area.

So what’s the problem? All our body tissues and cells are in a closed space under constant positive pressure, for there to be more blood in an area than there already is more space needed.

But our bodies are enclosed in skin, tissues and fascia so more fluid = more pressure. Increased pressure causes increased tissue stress, stretching and this becomes a swelling potentially causing more tissue damage. Increased tissue pressure, swelling and stagnation = pain and dysfunction of tissues and organs. If the problem does not resolve swiftly a perpetual cycle of damage and tissue pressure can begin. As the pressure in the affected tissue rises its blood supply becomes gradually restricted allowing accumulation or hindered eradication of waste, acidity (Co2) and dead cells.

This leads to poor health of the tissue, stretching, irritation and damage of pain receptors and eventually illness, pain and disease.

Controlling inflammation is medicines greatest challenge, as so many conditions are caused from it, arthritis, peritonitis, vasculitis, neuritis, pericarditis and many more. This is why anti-inflammatory medication is so commonly used. So what does hijama have to do with it? The negative pressure of hijama can draw blood

from deep within tissues and organs using the body’s own transport mechanisms to the surface of the skin. The small cuts allow the release of any offensive stagnant blood/fluid venting the pressure build up, only stagnant pressurised blood is released. The removal of inflamed acidic toxic blood, lymph and debris allows space for fresh nutrient rich blood to penetrate the once congested tissue. Blood saturated with waste proteins, acidity, inflammatory modulators and dead cells is removed.

Removing pressure and swelling from the tissues removes physical and chemical stimulation of nociceptors (pain receptors) and gives instant pain relief.

Fresh blood, oxygen and nutrients allows the body to repair, regain health and for tissues to regain function. The result: healthier tissues. It’s also believed to have many positive effects to the cardiovascular system, general immunity, organ function and neurological activation. Research shows it is effective for: back pain, migraine, branchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, knee pain, blood purification and general wellbeing. Hafidh Malik del Pozo provides ‘Wet’ Cupping treatment to men only and charges an affordable R200 for the basic cupping treatment. Contact him on 076 867 4676 or via email on malik_pc@yahoo.es to make an appointment Malik Del Pozo

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