friday bulletin 385

Issue No. 385

The

The Weekly Muslim News UpdateShawwal 08 1431/September 17 2010

www.islamkenya.comThis Newsletter contains some of Allah’s names. Please do not throw in the trash. Either keep, circulate or shred

This Week Da'wa Bidding farewell to Ramadhan P3Editorial Women Issues Safiyya Bint Huyay P4Census:a wake up call to Muslim leaders P2

Youth and Children Save the changes P6

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Friday Bulletin Maintain patience

This was the overriding Eid ul fitr message to the faithful in the face of a recent government wave of harassment and arrests of Muslims in the guise of fighting terrorism.In his Eid sermon, Sheikh Muhammad Abdi Umal said although these were turbulent times for Muslims, it was important to exercise patience as this is an important teaching of Islam in times of adversity.The current clampdown, he said was a deliberate act to provoke Muslims but he went on to urge the faithful not to fall into the game plans of its adversaries.“Their aim is to launch a big campaign of oppression of Muslims and they are looking for a scapegoat so as to fulfill their wicked schemes,” Sheikh Umal who is a prominent Nairobi scholar and the former Imam of Masjid Abubakar in Eastleigh said.The Sheikh joined Muslim leaders in condemning the arbitrary arrest of Muslim youth and their illegal rendition to Uganda saying that it was unjustified and cautioned that it will further brew resentment of Muslims against the government.His call for patience, he said, was not out of fear but a move to protect and safeguard the interests of Muslims in the country. “We are not scared but we should not accept to fall into their traps as this will have grave repercussions for the country,” he said.Countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan had been forced to implement such plans by Western powers which have had negative consequences and noted that the same should not be allowed to happen in the country.The current campaigns, the Sheikh added were an attempt to contain the growing influ-ence of Muslims but scoffed at the plans saying that they were bound to fail as the light of Islam will continue to expand not only in the country but around the world. Addressing thousands who turned up for the Eid prayers at Sir Ali Muslim Club in Nai-robi to mark the end of the month of Ramadhan on Friday last week, Sheikh Umal con-demned the attempts to burn the Holy Quran saying it is a desperate attempt to eclipse the rising power of Islam. He told Muslims not to respond in a similar manner to what he described as obnoxious plans stressing that Islam respects the sanctity of the holy books of other religions. The prayers were led by the Imam of Jamia mosque Sheikh Muhammad Swalihu.Earlier, the Assistant Secretary General of Jamia Mosque Ibrahim Ahmed Yusuf urged the government to end its policies of harassment and unfair treatment of Muslims saying that its action was creating anger in the community and was “pushing Muslims to the wall.” “The rule of the law should be observed. The arbitrary arrests and the illegal rendi-tion of Muslim youth to the new African 'Guantanamo' in Uganda is pushing Muslims to the wall,” he cautioned.

He also took a swipe at a section of the me-dia saying they were deliberately criminalizing Muslims and urged them to exercise fairness as its reports were contributing to the culture of hatred against members of the community.On the Census, Ibrahim told Muslims not to ac-cept the census results pointing to a system-atic plan to suppress the number of Muslims in the country. “How do they claim that the popu-lation of Muslims has reduced from 10 million to 4.5 million yet it is clear that Muslims have the highest birth rates and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the country,” he wondered. “When we accept these figures, during the next census they will claim were are 1.5 million,” he addedThe chairman of the Muslim Human Rights Fo-

Sheikh Muhammad Abdi Umal

Thousands of Muslims gather at the Sir Ali Muslim Club in Nairobi for the Eid ul Fitr prayers last Friday

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The Friday Bulletin

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Plans for Lamu port set in motionThe government has set in motion plans to construct a new port in Lamu with the advertisement for an international tender inviting bids to build what will be Kenya’s second international gateway to the sea.The new port is expected to decongest the already over-whelmed port of Mombasa which also serves Kenya’s neigh-bours.The new port to be built at Manda Bay in Lamu town is part of a U$22bn (KShs 1.2 trillion) transport development plan dubbed ‘ Lamu port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia transport (LAPSSET)’which will include a railway line connecting Kenya to Ethiopia and Southern Sudan.The Ministry of Transport invited international companies to bid for the initial phase of construction for the proposed KShs.280 billion Lamu port project, part of the projects lined up to realize the Vision 2030 economic blueprint.This first phase will involve dredging and reclamation works and construction of the first three berths to accommodate design ships with capacities of 100,000 deadweight tonnes (DWTs), 30,000 DWTs and 100,000 DWTs for container cargo and bulk cargo respectively. The project will also see the building of re-lated infrastructure for the three berths such as access roads, railway sidings, warehouses and buildings.Earlier announcement by the government of the planned facil-ity met with protests by local residents who expressed fears that the local residents will not appropriately benefit from the project.Concerns were also raised by environmental groups that the construction of deep berths could alter the local ecosystem, which is home to a variety of marine life thereby disrupting way of life for the residents many of whom depend on fishing as their economic mainstay. Initial estimates put the cost of building the port on Kenya’s ex-treme northeast coast at Sh1.2 trillion. In the last financial year, the government allocated Sh500 million for the studies.Once complete, the project will comprise the Lamu Port at Manda Bay, standard gauge railway line to Juba, road network, oil pipelines to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia, an oil refinery at Lamu, three airports and three resort cities at Lamu, Isiolo and Lake Turkana shores.

Census results-A wake up call for Muslim leadersThe recently released census results were met with cynicism by Muslim leaders who saw them as an orchestrated plot to perpetuate the culture of marginalization of the community. The population figures recently released by Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya which indicated that Muslims in the country were only 4.3 million out of the more than 39 million Kenyans were incon-sistent with the reality on the ground. The erstwhile figures indicated that the number of Muslims in the country was more than 10 million representing 30 percent of the population. It was not therefore, surprising that the new figures drew angry reactions from Muslims who read mischief in the whole exercise and pointed to manipulation of the numbers to hide the true population of Muslims in the country. Early this year, leaked reports surfaced in the media which spoke of concerns on the part of the government about the huge rise in the population growth of Muslims. The reports which were not denied by the government had put the number of Muslims to a figure as high as 40 percent and this was cited as the reason for the delay in releasing the results which were anticipated since December last year.In 2007, the Kenya Health Demographic Survey released a report indicating that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the country and the populations of Muslims had doubled during a 14 year period between 1999 and 2009 It is also not a point of dispute that Muslims have the highest birth rate among Kenyans and in addition to the number of reversions to Islam, the figures presented by the planning minister do not reflect this reality.

The minister wants the nation to believe him when he seems to imply that there are virtually no Somalis who live outside North Eastern region. He also seems to suggest that Swahilis who in the census were placed under a cluster of groups including Arabs, only add to 100,000, a figure which even a common man on the street will roundly dismiss. Demographic figures are a vital element in the country’s pro-grammes to map future development agendas. These are the fig-ures used in the disbursement of development programmes and resources to regions. With the anticipated new administrative struc-tures which were borne out of the new constitution, these popula-tion figures become even more relevant as they will be used in the disbursement of the resources to the newly created counties, will form the criteria for the demarcation of new constituencies and the Constituency Development Fund Budget will be disbursed based on these figuresThat is why it becomes imperative that the response to these manipulated figures should not be confined to mere rhetoric but through an action plan which will ensure that the interests of Mus-lims are protectedMaking pronouncements of protests is not enough as other strate-gies need to be explored to ensure that the correct figure of Mus-lims in the country is given.At the onset of the census, Muslim leaders did appeal to the com-munity to fully participate and the community aptly responded to their call. Now with the disappointments on the face of Muslims, the onus shift is on Muslim leaders to come out forcefully in ensuring that the concerns of the community are addressed.

EDITORIAL

Shawwal 08 1431/September 17 2010

In a strange twist, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit has come out to deny the arrest of a Mombasa based journalist who was seized from his place of work last week.An officer attached to the police squad, Charles Ogeto told the High court sitting in Nairobi that the unit was not responsible for Habib Sulei-man Njoroge’s detention and furthermore, it had no information on his whereabouts.According to the Ugandan media reports and Muslim Human Rights Forum,Habib who was working for Radio Salaam is now in a Ugandan detention facility after being renditioned to the country.“The respondents in this matter are not aware of any such arrest, place-ment in the cells and eventual transfer of the subject,” Ogeto said.He said the unit which had previously admitted to participate in the ren-dition of Kenyans to Uganda only learnt on the “purported arrest” in the media. Habib’s brother Yahya Suleiman was earlier arrested by the po-lice unit and handed over to Ugandan authorities to face trial for his al-leged participation in the deadly attack in Kampala which left more than 70 people dead.The court had issued summons against the Commissioner of Police Mathew Itere, the ATPU commandant Nicholas Kamwende and the At-torney General Amos Wako in a habeas corpus case to show cause why Habib should not be released.Lawyer Mbugua Mureithi complained that his arrest and detention where he was denied legal access and family visits violated the Bill of Rights in the new constitution and international conventions which Kenya was a signatory.According to the court papers, Habib was arrested by a squad of police officers attached to ATPU at the Radio Salaam premises in Mombasa after having been lured to the station by the proprietor Noordin Hajj.

Strange twist as Terror police deny arrest

rum Al-Amin Kimathi called for concerted efforts from Muslim leaders to defend the rights of Muslims from the unfair treatment. “You have no reason to fear, stand and protect the dignity and rights of Muslims,” he said.Speaking separately, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Secretary General Adan Wachu told the government to bring back the ten Kenyans renditioned to Uganda saying if it had a case with them, they should be put on trial in the country.

Call for patienceFrom Page 1

The Friday Bulletin

DA'WA

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Bidding farewell to Ramadhan

We have bid farewell to Ramadhan, in whose shade we have been living, and whose blessings we have been testing, and so we ask Allah to accept our fasting, to grant us freedom from the Fire, and to give us the chance to meet this blessed month again and again. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “If my nation knew the secrets that Allah has put in Ramadhan, they would wish that it were Ramadhan for the whole year.” Allah has chosen this month over all other months, and we cannot possibly count the blessings it contains. Here are some of the things that we have been recommended to

do in order to preserve its gifts and blessings intact.Taking account of our actionsThe first step is to take an account of what we have done dur-

ing Ramadhan, remembering the wise saying of Umar bin al kwataab(Radhya Llahu Anhu): “Take yourself to account before you are taken to account, and weigh your own actions before Allah puts them in the balance for you.” This refers to our good and our bad deeds because we should thank Allah for our good actions and ask His Forgiveness for our bad actions. This is the way of the Mes-senger of Allah, peace be upon him, and all the Messengers and Prophets and the righteous among the believers. When we take ac-count of the actions we made during Ramadhan, we will inevitably find that they are not sufficient, and regret that we were not able to do more. If we find a good action we must thank Allah for guiding us to do it, and if we find anything bad we must ask Allah to forgive us for it. Repentance and Asking for ForgivenessWe should complete every prescribed act of worship and every

good deed by asking Allah to forgive us for our mistakes in perform-ing it, because only Allah is capable of perfection. The fifth rightly-guided Khalif, Umar ibn Abd Al-Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him, commanded his governors to seek the forgiveness of Allah, saying: “ Say as your father Adam, alayhi salam said: ‘O Lord we have wronged ourselves. If you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be among the lost.’ (7.23). Say as Nuh alayhi salam said: ‘O My Lord, I seek refuge with You for asking You for which I have no knowledge. If You do not forgive me and have mercy on me, I will be among the lost.’ (11.47). Say as Ibrahim alayhi salam said: ‘He Who I sincerely hope will forgive my mistakes on the Day of Reckoning.’ (7.82). Say as Musa alayhi salam said: ‘My Lord, I have wronged myself, so forgive me.’ (28.16). Say as Yunus alayhi salam said: ‘There is no god but You. Glory be to You. Truly I have been one of the wrongdoers.’ (21.87).”The best of the Muslims from previous times considered the way

they had performed their devotions so imperfect that they would ask Allah’s forgiveness as intensely as if they had committed a sin. A well-known scholar from the 8th Century AH, Ibn Rajab said: “Our noble predecessors would strive with all their ability to complete each good action with sincerity, and yet afterwards they would be afraid that Allah would not accept it.” Allah mentions them in the Holy Quran: “And those who give what they give with their hearts full of fear because they shall have to return to their Lord.” (23.60). Urwah ibn Zubair asked his aunt Aisha, may Allah be pleased with

them, about the meaning of this verse: “Are those the people the who committed major sins like adultery or murder?” He asked her. “No! O son of my sister!” She replied: “Those are the ones who performed good deeds but did not think they were good enough, so they were afraid that Allah would not accept them.” Allah says in the Quran: “Allah only accepts from the people who have Taqwa.” (5.27). We should follow the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, his companions and the righteous by asking Allah to forgive us for our inability to worship Him as He deserves to be worshipped. Ibn Rajab said: “Our predecessors would be praying for six months

before Ramadhan that Allah would allow them to reach the next Ramadhan and praying for six months after Ramadhan that Allah would accept their last Ramadhan. Unlike them, Muslims these days do not appreciate the value of this month, nor do they repent

or ask forgiveness for the insufficiency of their good actions. Continuing the good actions that we started in RamadhanThe sign that Allah has accepted our fasting is that He grants us

the ability to continue to perform the extra devotions that we began during Ramadhan. Ibn Rajab said; “Whoever performs an act of obedience to Allah and completes it, then the sign of its acceptance is he is granted the ability to make another act of obedience, and the sign of its rejection is that he follows it by a sin. How great to follow a sin by a good action, and how much better to follow a good

What after Ramadhan?Sheikh Juma Amir

Sat. 18th September 2010 2.00 pm-4.00 pmJamia Multi Purpose Hall

Saturday Lecture

continued on page 6

Fasting six days of Shawwal after the obligatory fast of Ramad-han is Sunnah Mustahabbah, not waajib. It is recommended for the Muslim to fast six days of Shawwal, and in this there is great virtue and an immense reward. Whoever fasts these six days will have recorded for him a reward as if he had fasted a whole year, as was reported in a saheeh hadeeth from the Prophet (peace and bless-ings of Allah be upon him). Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever fasts Ramadhan and follows it with six days of Shawwal, it will be as if he fasted for a lifetime.” (Narrated by Muslim, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa’i and Ibn Maajah).The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) explained this when he said: “Whoever fasts for six days after (Eid) al-Fitr has completed the year: (whoever does a good deed (hasanah) will have ten hasanah like it).” According to another report: “Allah has made for each hasanah ten like it, so a month is like fasting ten months, and fasting six days completes the year.” (al-Nisaa’i and Ibn Maajah.). It was also narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah with the wording: “Fasting for the month of Ramadhan brings the reward of ten like it, and fasting for six days brings the reward of two months, and that is the fasting of the whole year.”The Hanbali and Shafi fuqaha’ explained that fasting six days of Shawwal after fasting Ramadhan makes it as if one has fasted for an entire year of obligatory fasts, because the multiplication of the reward applies even to naafil fasts, because each hasanah brings the reward of ten like it.Another of the important benefits of fasting six days of Shawwal is that it makes up for any shortfall in a person's obligatory Ramadhan fasts, because no one is free of shortcomings or sins that have a negative effect on his fasting. On the Day of Resurrection, some of his naafil deeds will be taken to make up the shortcomings in his obligatory deeds, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The first thing for which people will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be their swalaah (prayer). Our Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, will say to His angels – although He knows best – ‘Look at the swalaah of My slave, wheth-er it is complete or incomplete.’ If it is perfect, it will be recorded as perfect, and if something is lacking, He will say, ‘Look and see whether My slave did any voluntary (naafil) prayers.’ If he did some voluntary prayers, [Allah] will say, complete the obligatory actions of my slave from his voluntary actions.’ Then all his actions will be dealt with in a similar manner.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood).This fast may be observed continuously non-break, or it may be observed one day at a time. If you observe it continuously, you may start on the fourth day and end on the ninth of day Shawwal, or you may select days at random, provided you complete six days before the end of Shawwal.

The virtue of fasting six days of Shawwal


Imam Muhsin Shaker al-Bayoumi

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WOMEN ISSUESThe Friday Bulletin

Saffiya bint Huyay

Safiyya bint Huyayy, (may Allah be pleased with her) married the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in 7 AH, when the Prophet was sixty years old and she was seventeen years old. As in the case of Juwayriyya bint Harith, this marriage occurred after one of the Muslims' decisive battles, in this case, the battle of Khaybar. After the battle of Khaybar in which the Muslims defeated the Jews, two women were brought before the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by Bilal, the black mu'adhdhin of Madina. One of the two women was shrieking and screaming, and rubbing dust in her hair, while the other was mute with shock.The silent one was Safiyya, the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the

chief of the Banu Nadhir who had all been expelled from Madina in 4 AH after plotting to kill the Messenger of Allah by dropping a stone on his head as he sat talking with their leaders. The noisy one was Safiyya's cousin. Safiyya could trace her lineage directly back to Harun, the brother of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon them). The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked someone to look after the woman who was screaming and then took off his cloak and placed it over the shoulders of Safiyya, whose husband had been killed in the battle. It was a gesture of pity, but from that moment she was to be honored and given great respect in the Muslim community. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned to Bilal and said, "Bilal, has Allah plucked mercy from your heart that you let these two women pass by those of their menfolk who have been killed?" This was considered a severe reprimand, for the Messenger of Al-lah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rarely criticized the behavior of those who served him. Like Umm Habiba, Safiyya was the daughter of a great chief. The

only person who could save her from becoming a slave after having enjoyed such a high position was the Prophet. Although her father had planned to assassinate Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) after the battle of Uhud, and had conspired with the Banu Quraydha to exterminate all the Muslims during the bat-tle of al-Khandaq, it was characteristic of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he did not bear any grudges. For those who did wrong, he felt pity rather than anger, and for those who had done no wrong, he had even greater com-passion. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) invited Safiyya to embrace Islam, which she did, and having given her, her freedom, he then married her. Some people may have wondered how it was that Safiyya could accept Islam and marry the Prophet when her father had been his bitter enemy, and when bloody battles had taken place between the Jews and the Muslims. The answer may be found in what she has related of her early life as the daughter of the chief of the Banu Nadhir. She said, (may Allah be pleased with her): "I was my father's fa-

vorite and also a favorite with my uncle Yasir. They could never see me with one of their children without picking me up. When the Mes-senger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Madina, my father and my uncle went to see him. It was very early in the morning and between dawn and sunrise. They did not return until the sun was setting. They came back worn out and depressed, walking with slow, heavy steps. I smiled to them as I always did, but neither of them took any notice of me because they were so miserable. I head uncle Yasir ask my father, 'Is it him?' 'Yes, it is.' 'Can you recognize him? Can you verify it?' 'Yes, I can recognize him too well.' 'What do you feel towards him?' 'Enmity, enmity as long as I live.' The significance of this conversation is evident when we recall that

in the Torah of the Jews, it was written that a Prophet would come who would lead those who followed him to victory. Indeed before the

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Madina, the Jews used to threaten the idol worshippers of Yathrib, as it was then called, that when the next Prophet came to the believers were going to exterminate them, just as the Jews had exterminated other tribes who refused to worship God in the past. It was thanks to these descriptions in the Torah, that the most

learned rabbi of the Jews, 'Abdullah ibn Salam, had embraced Islam on seeing Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and it was because of these descriptions that Huyayy ibn Akhtab was also able to recognize him. However Huyayy, like most of the other Jews, was deeply disappointed that the last Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was a descendant of Isma'il

and not of Ishaq, (the two sons of the Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon them), since the Jews of that time claimed exclusive

descent from Ishaq. Not only did Huyayy resent the fact that the last Prophet had appeared amongst the

Arabs, but also he did not want to lose his position of power and leadership over his people.

It was for these reasons that Huyayy secretly decided to oppose and fight the Prophet Mu-hammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while in public he and the other leaders of the Jews made peace treaties with the Mus-lims and the Jews broke as soon as it seemed

a favourable time to do so. Although Safiyya was Huyayy's daughter, she had a pure heart and had

always wanted to worship her Creator and Lord. Thus as soon as the opportunity arose, not only to fol-

low the last Prophet, but also to be married to him, she took it. Although Safiyya had in Muhammad (peace and blessings of Al-lah be upon him) a most kind and considerate husband, she was not always favorably accepted by some of his other wives, espe-cially when she had first joined the Prophet's household. It is related

continued on page 6


The Friday Bulletin

Ingredients

KitchenPrawn Curry in Coconut (Kamba wa Nazi)

► 1 kg of prawns (well cleaned)► 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk► 1 teaspoon curry powder► 2 finely chopped onions (or just one if its a very large onion)► 4 crushed cloves of garlic► 2 green chillis - optional ► juice from 1 lemon or lime► 3 sliced tomatoes ► 1 dessertspoon tomato puree or tomato paste► 1/2 bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped► salt to taste

● Combine in a pan all the ingredients except for the prawns and the a portion of the coconut milk, reserving the rest for a later step● Cover and cook on low heat until very much thickened, nearly dry. Add the reserved solidified coconut milk, and stir it in to dissolve it. ● Add the prawns and cook for a short time stirring occasionally to get all parts of the prawns heated enough to turn nicely pink - but not long enough for them to shrink and toughen.● Serve hot with rice or Ugali .

Method

Share your favourite recipes with our readers. Send them to P. O. Box 100786-00100 or email:[email protected] or [email protected]

The Friday Bulletin

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During the blessed and beautiful month of Ramadhan many have navigated themselves to the deen of Allah and have brought about substantial positive changes. Now is a critical time to click on the right tab- Save those changes!Nearly everyone in this age of modern technology has at some stage worked with a Computer. We have used it to draft documents, amend these documents, copied and pasted onto documents, used the 'undo' icon, edited documents, just to mention a few of the time saving operations that we find on this device.After opening a document that we have worked upon previously and made the necessary changes and improvements a little box appears on the screen asking the question: Do you want to save the changes you have made to this document? You are then given the option of selecting the YES tab or the NO tab. Selecting the YES tab will give you the desired results while selecting the NO tab literally takes you back to square one. All the effort made in editing, improving and shaping the document becomes an exercise in futility.Don't we all find ourselves in a similar predicament when the bless-ed month of Ramadhan passes us? Just think of your book of deeds like a document on your Computer. During the month of Ramadaan we have done amongst other things the following-• Increased our Ibaadah and acts of charity;• Took control of our feelings and emotions;• Responded with compassion and sensitivity to the needs of others.• Multiplied our good deeds;• Repented: we have spent many hours on the Musallah begging for Allah's forgiveness for our sins, errors and transgressions.The vital question that needs to be asked is :Do we want to save the changes that we have made in the month of Ramadhan? Are we going to press the YES tab or the No tab?Pressing the YES tab will leave us with a new, improved version. A version of heightened spirituality, a version of righteousness, a ver-sion that is pleasing to our Creator. Pressing the NO tab will take us back to square one; back to our old habits before Ramadhan, back to the life of sin and immorality, back to a life of heedlessness and back to a life subjecting ourselves to the wrath of the Almighty.How do we improve on this document; the document of our lives, the document of our deeds, the document that we are going to present to Allah the Almighty on the Day of Reckoning? Here are some hints: Copy and Paste from the life of our illustrious master Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi Wasallam.Use the 'undo' icon by making Taubah immediately after any trans-gression as the Hadith states "The one who repents from sin is like one who has committed no sin at all"There may not be a need to do a "spell check" but there is certainly a need to do a "sincerity check" and a "Shari'ah check"? Are we complying?There may be files and folders that we want to keep while there could be some others we would not even want others to know exist. Many of us begged Allah to "delete" our sins and dark deeds .We cried before Allah, shed tears of remorse and vowed not to commit those sins in future. Going back to the sins that we have asked Allah's forgiveness for would be like making a visit to the "recycle bin".What about viruses? Computer users are also very wary about e-mails they receive and the sites that they visit, fearing the ad-mission of a virus that may pollute their system and cause it to malfunction. The environment and people who we associate with could adversely infect us! Why do we then subject our minds and thoughts to immoral sites and dens of vice which would pollute our moral system and cause us to malfunction? What anti-virus soft-ware have we installed to ward off the variety of fitnahs that confront us everyday?We need to install the right version of the anti-viruses. There is indeed only One version. Without delay install every Command of Allah and the Sunnah of Rasulullah ( Salallahu alaihi wa sallam) onto our hard drives (lives). This will allow us to repel the attempts

by shaytaan and other evil forces to infect our Computers (souls).Now lets connect ourselves to deen of Islam and the amal (good actions) that takes place in our masjids...as no one knows when his or her computer will crash (when we will die)! By performing good deeds we will have permanently backed up our records in Jannah(Paradise). Be carefull not to engage ourselves in evil lest we back-up our evil deeds in jahannam (Hell)Fortunate is the person who has "saved the changes". Extremely unfortunate is the person who has made no changes as he /she has nothing to save.!IMPORTANT: As we dont know the time when our computer will shut down ...Make those Changes Now and more important.........Save it!

Ramadhan: Save the ChangesYOUTH AND CHILDREN


We all love to eat good food and Mmmm it tastes real good! We know that food is from Allah so we should thank Him. Now if our Muslim friends come by and with us take a seat, we should try to share our food and give them some to eat. Do not keep them sitting there, looking on in hope. Do not say if they want some, ‘You can‛t have some food, nope!‛ That would really not be kind, that would be quite wrong. You‛d really hurt their feelings and they would not stay for long.Imagine now how you would feel if you were hungry too. But then your friends refused to give some yummy food to you! Won‛t you start to feel upset and won‛t you feel quite sad? Then you‛ll know how others feel when you do something bad.Dearest Muslims, always share and better try to be. Allah will be pleased with this and give you more, you‛ll see! Think of me, my dear young Muslim, I will think of you. Allah loves it when we share and think of others too.

come and eat with me

Fortunate is the person who has "saved the changes". Extremely unfortunate is the person who has made no changes as he /she has nothing to save.!As we dont know the time when our computer will shut down ...Make those Change Now and more important.........Save it!

The Friday Bulletin

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NATIONAL NEWS

An obscure cleric in US threatened to burn copies of the Holy Quran, the Last Testament, to mark 9/11 anniversary. The man was con-vinced the Quran inspires evil in Islam.To most Americans, 9/11 was the work of Islam as it was ostensibly done in its name. The construction of a mosque and Islamic cultural centre in New York is being frustrated on grounds it will be too close for comfort, to the so-called ‘hallowed’ Ground Zero.From the outset, the US pastor, Terry Jones, needs to know he can seek further inspiration to burn all the copies of the Quran in the world, including those on our mobile chips, computers, CDs, and the internet but he won’t succeed in erasing it from our memory. The Quran is memorised by most Muslims and even children below the age of ten can recite or write out the entire Quran. Mr Jones and his supporters in US are largely ignorant of this fact.But I believe his primary reason for doing so is to link Islam to vio-lence and terrorism and in so doing blossom the growing Islamopho-bia in the US. Well, his Government has beaten him to it. Since 9/11, the US has used the purported war on terror to disparage Islam and portray it as an affront to ‘Western’ values and ideals. Muslims critical of its actions were soon branded radicals, extremists, militants, and were considered legitimate targets for arrests, persecu-tion and placed on ‘watch-lists’. In Abu Ghuraib, Guantanamo and other secret rendition prisons, sus-pects were denied basic human rights and tortured. Quranic ‘ma-drasas’ were deemed to be breeding grounds for terrorists and host countries pressured to shut them down, as were most Muslim NGOs involved in Islamic propagation and relief.Jones is not considered an extremist or barbaric in US; it is his demo-cratic right. If a Muslim would preach similar extremism, he would be a terror suspect, and would probably be behind bars. Sheikh Ab-dullah al-Faisal, the Jamaican Islamic preacher whose presence in

Kenya caused a storm this year was arrested and deported out of UK for extremist views against Judaism and Christianity, and placed under ‘watch-list’. In its blind duplicity, the West celebrates even the most perverted anti-Islamist such as atheist Salman Rushdie who wrote the Sa-tanic Verses, the Danish cartoonists, Ayan Hirsi, etc.Mr Jones action worries US because it places their ‘citizens and security forces’ at risk; it does not prick their conscience that ad-herents of a major world religion is offended and provoked, or profanity visited upon Islamic faith. There were no spontaneous demonstrations in the US, such as we saw in New York against the Islamic cultural centre.As the world’s super power, their actions are being copied in many countries, including our own. Secret renditions of Muslim ‘terror’ suspects are carried out with impunity amid claims of torture. Yet, when a pastor suspected of Uhuru Park bombing was arrested, he was quickly arraigned in court and released on bond. The slighting of Islam is also patented; for instance, Muslims celebrated Idd on Friday throughout the country, but it is Saturday that is declared the public holiday. Would it ever happen that Christians are asked to work on Christmas Day but have public holiday the next day?The US needs to appreciate that protection of world religions is no less important than protection of property or intellectual rights of its individuals. Allowing such uncivilised behavior only strengthens the widely held belief among Muslims that it is at war with Islam. Jones may or may not go ahead with his threat but that he has been al-lowed to entertain his weird thoughts reveals the double standards and earns US more enemies.

American Islamophobia threat to world peaceBillow Aden Kerrow

action by another good action!”In Ramadhan some of the Muslims make a special effort to perform

extra acts of devotion such as supererogatory prostrations, stand-ing in prayer during the night, reading the Quran, controlling their tongues, their eyes, their ears and all their limbs, giving to the needy and so on. It is better for these people to continue these actions after Ramadhan has passed. Allah has made it easier for us to worship Him during Ramadhan, so it is the best time to try to increase our acts of devotion.We practiced fasting in Ramadhan and so after Ramadhan we

should continue to fast. It was the custom of the Messenger of Al-lah to fast on Mondays and Thursdays, on the three days of the full moon, and six days of Shawwal. Abu Ayub al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Whoever completes the fast of Ramadhan and fasts six days in Shawal, will be rewarded as if he had fasted the whole year.” (Muslim) Some of us complete the Holy Quran once or several times during

Ramadhan. After Ramadhan we must continue reading the Quran. It is better if we can continue to control our tongue, our eyes, our ears and all our limbs as well. We should continue doing a good action even if we think it is too small, because Aisha related that the Mes-senger of Allah, peace be upon him said: “The actions best loved by Allah are the ones which are repeated continuously, even if they are small.”Al Hasan Al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “O my peo-

ple! Continue and continue, because Allah does not put any limit on the actions of the Believer until his death.” I advise you to read what Allah has said in the Holy Quran: ‘Worship your Lord until what is certain (death) comes to you.’” (15.99).We must be the slaves of our Lord, not just slaves of Ramadhan, because Allah is also the Lord of Shawwal and all the other months too! When a believer does not lessen in his worship after Ramadhan, it is a clear sign that Allah has accepted the worship that he did during Ramadhan.

Bidding farewell to Ramadhan From Page 3

by Anas that on one occasion, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) found Safiyya weeping. When he asked her what the matter was, she replied that she heard that Hafsa had disparagingly described her as 'the daughter of a Jew'. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) respond-

ed by saying, "You are certainly the daughter of a Prophet (Harun), and certainly your uncle was a Prophet (Musa), and you are cer-tainly the wife of a Prophet (Muhammad), so what is there in that to be scornful towards you?" Then he said to Hafsa, "O Hafsa, fear Allah!" Once the Prophet was accompanied on a journey by Safiyya

and Zaynab bint Jahsh when Safiyya' s camel went lame. Zaynab had an extra camel and the Prophet asked her if she would give it to Safiyya. Zaynab retorted, "Should I give to that Jewess!" The Prophet turned away from her in anger and would not have any-thing to do with her for two or three months to show his disapproval of what she had said. She still underwent difficulties after the death of the Prophet (peace

and blessings of Allah be upon him). Once a slavegirl she owned went to the Amir al Muminin Umar and said, "Amir al Muminin! Safiyya loves the Sabbath and maintains ties with the Jews!" Umar asked Safiyya about that and she said, "I have not loved the Sab-bath since Allah replaced it with Friday for me, and I only maintain ties with those Jews to whom I am related by kinship." She asked her slavegirl what had possessed her to carry a lie to Umar and the girl replied, "Shaytan!" Safiyya said, "Go, you are free." Safiyya was with the Prophet for nearly four years, She was only

twenty-one when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) died, and lived as a widow for the next thirty-nine years, dying in 50 AH, at the age of sixty (may Allah be pleased with her).

Safiyya bint HuyayFrom Page 4


Billow Kerrow is a former MP for Mandera Central and the Reli-gious Affairs Convenor Jamia Mosque Committee Nairobi

The Friday Bulletin

Kenyans send food donation to Pakistan flood victimsKenya on Friday donated foodstuffs to Pakistan, which has been ravaged by floods that have left over 1,000 people dead and dis-placed millions. President Mwai Kibaki donated 100 tonnes of aid consisting of rice, tea, powder milk and canned beef for onward delivery to Islamabad on Friday last week."I wish once again on behalf of the Government and people of Kenya, and on my own behalf, to convey to the Government and the people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, our deepest con-dolences and sympathies following deaths, human suffering and extensive damage caused by the unprecedented rains," President Kibaki said.The donation came a day after United Nation (UN) humanitarian officials cautioned that the international attention on the devastat-ing flood disaster in Pakistan is dwindling even before the millions of people affected have received adequate relief and others are awaiting assistance to rebuild their lives.Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Af-fairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said the world’s attention

was waning at a time when some of the biggest challenges for the relief effort here are still to come.Kibaki who handed over the donation to Pakistan High Commis-sioner Masroor Ahmad Junejo said the government and the people of Kenya were making the donation in solidarity with the people of Pakistan, who have suffered greatly due to the heavy floods in parts of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan."The Kenyan people, particularly crop and livestock farmers, in an act of solidarity and friendship with their brothers and sisters in Pa-kistan, have come up with a token donation of 100 tonnes of their produce for onward delivery to the victims of the floods."The President also condoled those who lost their lives in the flood-ing and assured that Kenya stood with Pakistan "during this difficult period as you begin the hard task of restructuring your country."Floods in Pakistan since late July have already created one of the largest humanitarian crisis in the Asian country. The floods are the worst in 80 years after monsoon rains swept up to 1,600 people to their deaths iand left an estimated 14 million people homeless.

Red Cross in Sh10 million water project for Lamu's Manda islandThe water crisis that Lamu’s Manda Island residents have been enduring for several years is set to be a thing of past once a Sh 10 million Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS)’s water project is unveiled this week.The humanitarian agency has since last year been connecting un-dersea pipes from Lamu Island to Manda Island to help ease the perennial acute water shortage in the area.KRCS Lamu branch chairman, Abdallah Miraj told hundred of resi-dents during Idd-ul-Fitri celebrations at Lamu Fort, at the weekend that they have successful linked up under sea water connectivity systems to pump the essential commodities from the main Island after years of difficulties.“Manda resinders will soon also enjoy a regular supply of water. They have been spending Sh 50 daily crossing to Lamu to pur-chase a jerricane of water at Sh 10 and spend the rest of money to cross the less than one kilometer channel,” Abdallah observed.He said Sh8 million was spent to lay down the undersea water pipes which supply water to underground water tanks before be-ing pumped to overhead tanks located at the agency farm within Manda Island.The chairman said the residents would later fetch water from their farm using wheelbarrows and bicycles recently donated by KRCS to boost logistics of accessing water sources.“Absolutely we have managed to alleviate water issue that has hampered the daily routine of the farming of the Manda commu-nity. We have also constructed nine new boreholes to increase water sources within Lamu,” he told the gathering.Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) has also set up at least five green houses in its farm in Manda to grow cereals and vegeta-bles. Abdallah said the green houses will also be used as training centres for local farmers to learn the latest farming technology to

Renditions: Churches condemn government

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has joined the growing list of condemnation of the government’s policy of extradit-ing those arrested in connection with the July 11 Uganda bombing without following due process of the law.A statement by the council’s Secretary General Reverend Cannon Peter Karanja said the move was being done in contravention of the law and the government should not be seen to be doing injustice to its citizens.“While appreciating the need by the government to protect Kenyans from terrorism, we reiterate that the rights of suspects should be re-spected,” said a statement signed by Karanja.The umbrella Church body called on the government to respect the rule of the law saying that its action were sending a wrong signal that the government was not respecting the constitutional rights of its Muslim citizens.The condemnation came as civil society organisations planned to hold a roundtable consultative meeting to discuss the violations and heap more pressure on the government to end its campaign against Muslims.The meeting will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Wednesday next week and scheduled speakers include former Kabete MP Paul Muite and lawyer Pherowzee Nowrojee.

boost food security in the area and reduce relying on relief foods. “I call upon Manda farmers to take advantage of this modern farm-ing system to acquire lifetime skills to produce enough food and sell surplus in the local market,” he added.

Youths have been urged to sharpen their writing skills and write to the media to demystify negative aspects about Islam.This message was given by Rashid Muiruri, a Nairobi based da’ee (Islamic propagator) who said in the current scenario where stere-otypes and prejudice against Islam are prevalent, it is important for the youth to put pen to paper in setting the record straight on Islam and Muslims to give a true picture about the teachings espoused by the faith. “There is widespread propaganda about Islam and Muslims youth have an obligation to write articles in newspapers to demystify these stereotypes,” he said at Park Road mosque."Even something as small as a letter to the editor is sometimes important in clearing the myths and misconceptions," he noted.


NATIONAL NEWS

Rashid said writing to defend Islam was a form of Jihad (striving) which had been neglected by many youth and went on to urge the youth to revive this important aspect. “This is one of the best forms of jihad and we should take it up to defend our religion from the inces-sant attacks,” he said.The da’ee commended former Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow for his vigorous defence of Islam and called on the youth to emulate his work as it was contributing greatly to dispel myths and negative propaganda against Islam and Muslims. “His efforts should be an in-spiration for the youth and may Allah reward him for his noble work,” he saidBillow is a regular columnist for the Sunday Standard and his articles mainly focus on issues to do with Muslims.

Take up the Jihad of the pen, youths adviced

APPRECIATION FOR YOUR HELP

The Chairman, Board of Directors and Staff of Ummah Foundation would like to express their gratitude to all those personalities and in-stitutions who worked with us, and those who gave us support in making our Ramadhan programmes a success. We worked closely with institutions like the Jamia Mosque, the Parklands Mosque, Park Road Mosque, Ma’ahad Daawah Organiza-tion and many others, Lillahil hamd. There were orphanages such as Mama Fauzia Chil-dren’s Home, Madaaris such as Umoja Ma-drasah, Matuu Madrasah for Tahfidhul Qur’an, Kithimani Madrasah, Prison centres such as The Industrial Area Remand, Naivasha Maxi-mum Prison, refugee camps such as the GTZ Refugee Camp and many other institutions who benefitted from food, clothes, and Islamic reading materials donated by Ummah Foun-dation. The end of Ramadhan is not the end of Ibadaat. In fact, it should be the beginning of more vigorous Ibadaat after gaining the expe-rience and Imaan of the Holy month of Ram-adhan. Some of Ummah Foundation’s objec-tives are:-To eliminate illiteracy amongst Kenyans in general, and Muslims in particular.-To empower the Ummah to be economically and socially self-sustaining.-To motivate Muslims to practice pure Is-lam according to the teachings of the Noble Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallamFor the few years of our organization’s exist-ence, we have worked tirelessly to bring a smile and hope to thousands and thousands of needy people who are struggling through poverty, underdevelopment and marginaliza-tion. At the advent of independent Africa in the 60’s, it was evident that the worst drawbacks to de-velopment were poverty, disease, hunger and ignorance. It is almost 50 years since these challenges were recognised but the situation is pretty much the same as it was then. For some, like many of our Muslim rural and urban communities, it is a fight for survival in the arid famine prone areas of North Eastern region or in the slums of Kariobangi, Korogocho, Kibera and Majengo.It is therefore, our hope that you will continue helping us to help our Muslim community to come out of underdevelopment and shine at par with the rest of the country. Saum Maq-boul for those who are fasting the Six Days of Shawwal.

The Friday Bulletin is a Publication of Jamia Masjid Committee, P. O. Box 100786-00101 Nairobi, Tel: 2243504/5 Fax: 342147 E-mail: [email protected]. Printed by Colour Magic Production Ltd-Kirinyaga Crescent P. O. Box 9581-00100 Nairobi

Niqab now officially banned in FranceThe senate passed the bill on Tuesday which means no Islamic veils will be able to be worn on public streets and other public places, according to media reports.The senate voted 246 to 1 in favour of the bill in a final step toward making the ban a law.However many Muslims believe the legisla-tion could increase the level of Islamophobia in the country.Although it affects fewer than 2000 women who wear the burqa, Islam is France's sec-ond most popular religion.The only way the ban can be overturned is if France's watchdog, the Constitutional Council, decides to reject the new bill within the month.France is the first European country to pass such a law. But others are considering fol-lowing suit.If a woman is caught wearing a burqa she faces a fine of 150 euros ($NZ268) or citizen-ship classes for any woman caught covering her face, or both.Islamic authorities in Asia warned on Wednesday that French lawmakers’ decision to ban full-face veils could spark a backlash, arguing the decision only widened rifts with the Muslim world. The top Islamic body in Indonesia said the Tuesday’s vote had violated French ideals on human rights, while Malaysia’s opposition said the decision could stoke extremism. “Muslim women wear full-face veils as part of their religious belief,” Amidhan, the chairman of the Indonesia Ulema Council, said.“If the French parliament wants to champion human rights, it should allow women to wear the veils in public. If it’s for security reasons, the question is to what extent is there a threat posed by women wearing niqabs?” Indian scholar Syed Ahmed Bukhari of the vast Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, said he “vehemently condemned” the ban and described the law as anti-Islamic. He urged the French judges to reverse the ban. “Habits of Christian nuns are not much different to the burqa so it is quite obvious the French government is against Islam and Muslims of that country,” he said. “We vehe-mently condemn this. Governments must treat all religions equally.” (Agencies)

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