Perfecting one’s Ramadan experience can be a lifetime achievement. We should not expect that we can perform the fasts perfectly or in their entirety when we have not had the benefit of many years of practice. To do so would undoubtedly be counterproductive as it would be overwhelming and cause burn-out. Even those who are born Muslim and those who have been Muslim for many years struggle in perfecting the important aspects of Ramadan.

It’s for this reason that for new Muslims, the scholars often agree that reverts (and those born Muslim who are rediscovering their Islamic faith) should “ease” themselves into it by whatever way possible. Allah is Most Merciful and Forgiving of our situations and does not hold it against us.

For those who are not Muslim but following the fast in solidarity or for the experience, it is beneficial to follow the same guidelines as new Muslims. It would take a serious effort for someone not already acclimatized to performing all 30 days of Ramadan fasts perfectly from dawn to dusk and is not necessary for you to benefit from Ramadan.

There are many things to discuss about Ramadan and many more suggestions but I will try to focus on but a few to get you started.

The following is some tips on preparing for Ramadan for those who are taking on the fast…. (Remaining article published at link below)

Read more and post discussion or debate:  Ramadan for New Muslims and non-Muslim Friends

Or, visit: Islamfactor.org

This goes out to those of you who think for the past week or so you have gone through a lot of Salafi bashing. Who like to play the “victimized” role.

Playing their Salafist victimized role is like a person who slaps himself in the face and then complains that his cheek hurts. They bash themselves.

Stop crying.

They don’t like freedom of speech because freely speaking exposes them so they have to run off and backbite you elsewhere. They are those who cannot hack it on a place that allows people to freely speak their minds. They are fitna nay sayers who love to criticize others but then decry fitna at the ability of people to freely speak their minds when they begin to criticize a few Salafi. Lastly, they are those who think they are doing good by maintaining a presence and punitive to people by leaving a group. The reality is their presence rarely without agenda.

If they aren’t intelligent enough to get a clue, no one is trying to modernize Islam. They are trying to bring Islam to a “pre-Islamic” (primitive) state. Oh, that’s right, they worship scholars! Yeah, maybe the ones that live in a cave in fricken Afghanistan. Yeah, the one’s who are to cowardly to kill themselves and get others to do the work instead. No, I take that back, maybe they are those who wouldn’t go that far. I know the scholars they worship, the Saudi (or Saudi fashioned) Salafi women haters. Worshipping these scholars is like a black man who bows before the great knowledge of the Klu Klux Klan or the Jewish person who bows before the majestic wisdom of the Nazi Party. Self-oppressive, hypocritical, oxymoronic, and truly a juxtaposition for them. There are many scholars, a great deal more than the Salafi, yet they claim the glories of your Saudi and Saudi influenced non-Saudi Salafist (Wahabi) Sheikhs. Actually, I go back on myself, they claim the glories of your Saudi Sheikhs. Perhaps they know better than the Prophet (pbuh) himself. Perhaps the Majestic Salafi scholars will intercede on their behalf to Allah on the day of judgment. Allah must have passed them up for brains on the day of creation if they think that the scholars will give a *** about them on the Day of Judgment.

Let’s read a play of the final events:

Read more and post discussion or debate: Retaliate

Or, visit: Islamfactor.org

Muslims follow Louis Farrakhan

The Nation of Islam Movement (then known as the Black Muslims) was first founded by Wallace D. Fard, founder of the Temple of Islam in Detroit. In 1934 he disappeared and Elijah Poole declared himself the leader of the movement. Soon afterward Elijah Poole changed his name to Elijah Muhammad. The movement has nothing to do with Islam in practice but uses the terminology for identification. The teachings of black nationalism and civil disobedience are not Islamic teachings. Elijah Muhammad believed that he was the final prophet sent to earth. He taught that there is a mother spaceship in orbit of the earth prepared to bomb the United States for the evil they committed against blacks. White people are taught to be the creation of an evil scientist from long ago.

In 1952, Malcom Little (known as Malcom X), became a member of the Black Muslims. After attending the Hajj (pilgrimage) in Saudi Arabia he converted to Islam and accepted the unity of the races, which formed a rift between him and Elijah Muhammad. In 1964 he formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Subsequently, he was assassinated by the Black Muslim Movement.

Louis Eugene Wilcott became a member of the Black Muslims in 1955. He adopted the name Abdul Haleem Farrakhan and became commonly known as Louis Farrakhan. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975 his son, Wallace Muhammad, succeeded him. Wallace Muhammad downplayed black nationalism and disbanded his fathers organization. In 1978 Louis ….

Read more and post discussion or debate: Muslims and Louis Farrakhan

Or, visit: Islamfactor.org

“The prophet said: ‘Do not write anything from me EXCEPT QURAN. Whoever wrote, must destroy it” (Muslim, Zuhd 72; Hanbel3/12,21,39)

If Non-Muslims made that claim, some Muslims would oppose it out of ignorance, given that they themselves are Ahadith followers.

Hadith are “stories” they are not “Islamic rules”.

Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja, and Al-Nasa’I - Ahadith collectors - have confused and mislead the masses, and worst part yet, they convinced people that the Quran is not good enough to be followed on its own.

Once again I can’t help but ask, what did the Muslims that lived for 200 years before Ahadith were introduced to the masses - do? Where they bad Muslims? According to Ahadith, they were not even Muslims, because they rejected to use any other book but the Quran, and the Quran, once again, is not enough for the confused Muslims that follow Ahadith.

Read more and post discussion or debate:  Hadith Debate

Or, visit: Islamfactor.org

There is no god but God
Mohammed (sas) is the prophet of God

Allah(swt) is the Arabic word for the GOD, it is not a name given to God of Muslims as usually thought of by some non-muslims. the word Allah is used by all Arabic speakers muslims, christians and pagans etc for the God.

SWT= subbhana watala which is for Allah(swt) SAS is sallillah hu alhiwaslim which means peace be upon him and is reffered with respect to Prophet Muhammed.

It is customery for muslims to use swt and sas respectively for Allah(swt) and Muhammed(sas).

So by speaking these two sentence with sincerety in front of a muslim a person becomes muslim, shahada means to testify, so basically a person is testifying that he/she believes that there is only one God and Muhammed is His messenger.
basically we are testifying to the oneness of God, The God of Abraham, Moses, david, Jesus and all other prophets know and unknown.

As to having doubt about certain things, as brother Jim said it is human nature to doubt and question everything, Allah(swt) says in the Quran to question, challenge, inspect and satisfy yourself about every thing. Do not follow anything or any advice blindly, Allah(swt) encourages us to use our intellect, be inqusitive.

The only way to remove doubts is to study and ask questions to knowledgeable scholars, and there are many available.
Reading Quran by ourselves is great, but to really undersatnd it we have to either have a teacher or read different tafsirs, and we need to read atleast a couple of tafsirs to actually get the gist of it.

One more aspect of being muslim is practicing moderation, Prophet(sas) said the best is to follow the middle path. that is avoid either exterme. In essence as Allah(swt) says in Quran, we have made this deen(religion) easy for you.

So once a person says his/her shahada, He/she is a muslim. but there are certain obligations on him/her to become a practicing muslim.

1. obligatry prayers 5 times a day
2. Zakat
3. Fasting during Ramadan
4. Hajj

Islam defines anything which is harmful to you, your family, your community, humanity at large and all living things to be sin, as a muslim we are commanded to stay away from sins.

Read more and post discussion or debate:  Beyond Shahada

Extremist ideology, as we have learned in the last 8 years, is just as prone to attract highly-educated members of the professional class as unemployed, frustrated youth. We have to delve deeper into Pakistan’s recent past if we are to understand the crisis it faces at the present. Sub-continental history is dotted with intermittent mass movement of people – usually triggered by famine, war or worse – replete with attendant tales of distress and misery. In my reckoning, the early 1970s saw the another key migration that has so far received little analysis. It involved vast numbers of men from the rural and semi-urban parts of Pakistan moving to the emerging oil-based oligarchies in the Gulf.

Just as significant was the religiosity that came back with the workers. Historically speaking, the Wahhabi reading of Islam had found little purchase on the subcontinent. Mainly because Wahhabi ideology is at odds with practices in Pakistani culture, which cherished its sufi saints. However, this migration allowed a vast population to unlearn their “decadent” and “deviant” practices from the “pure practitioners” in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the Emirates.

In the southern valleys and northern mountains dupattas were replaced with burkas and sufi shrines with madrasas. This cultural turn dovetailed with Zia ul-Haq’s policies of Sunnification and the selling of jihad as a necessary commodity to the Pakistani people.

Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir became the de-facto topics at every Friday sermon from Doha and Riyadh to Dera Ghazi Khan and Rawalpindi. However, this Wahhabisation, which included a stricter, more literal interpretation of Qur’an, the demonisation of non-believers, antisemitic rhetoric, racism, the desire to “fund” jihads and so on, was never a straightforward process of important. Its progress was gradual and organic in a way that slowly de-legitimised established practices while distorting others: the spiritual guide was transformed into one who cast, or fought, black magic.

It is hard to find a household, a conversation, in current day Pakistan that is free of such concerns. The practitioners combine the zeal of the Wahhabi imam with the bank-teller’s command of charges due: $10 for the destruction of a marriage, $20 for an incantation for a ruined libido. All wrapped in literal reading of Qur’anic text.

Read more and post discussion or debate: The Wahhabisation of Pakistan