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Weekly Comment |
National Credit Act
Credit, its abuse and the
interest system that has caused
the subjugation of the masses
has been gaining ground at an
alarming rate.
People are, however, quickly
finding out that the ‘buy-now,
pay-later’ schemes do not amount
to ‘never-pay’, and the easy
spending must catch-up at some
time or another.
Consumers have to be protected.
They have to be protected
against themselves. For so long,
people have been advised not to
live beyond their means. Few,
have however taken heed. The
virtues of saving and prudence
in expenditure have quickly been
forgotten. Why should ‘swiping’
and ‘no-deposit’ mask the real
toil which has to go behind
every purchase we can make? Is
it difficult for us to
distinguish between luxury and
necessity?
‘Let’s-wait-till-we-can-afford-it’
is scorned upon by financiers
promoting plastic through
aggressive advertising. Finally,
an act of parliament has been
passed. Hopefully, thanks to the
Act, consumer credit
carelessness will be in check.
Allâh speaks to us (in Sûrah Al-Isrâ,
272): “Verily, the spendthrifts
are brothers of the Shaytân and
the Shaytân is ever ungrateful
to His Lord.”
A believer does not need
government protection against
indebtedness. Indebtedness is a
step towards subservience.
Subservience of a Muslim should
be to Allâh alone!
Who will Lose the Battle between
State and Labour?
Is there more to
the strike than meets the eye?
For quite some time now the
leader of Cosatu, and the
President of the country, have
not necessarily been seeing eye-
to-eye, on a range of issues.
Could it be that wage
negotiations between the
countries biggest trade
federation, and the country’s
largest employer – the state, is
a convenient moment for a show
of political muscle, to shoulder
more room to wield political
power? Two of the biggest actors
in South African politics are at
each other's throats and neither
side is willing to budge an inch
or a percentage point. If the
underlying factor of the strike
is, as it seems, much more than
the 7.25% or 10%, then the
ordinary man in the street is
being used as a pawn in the
struggle to establish positions
and score points, in the larger
picture of the future of South
African politics.
The biggest loser in all of this
is, of course, South African
citizens. Isn't it enough to
have to suffer the consequences
of gross mismanagement and in
some cases corruption; the
maladministration of public
funds; the disappearance of
personal identification
documents in the vastness of the
Department of Home Affairs; the
terrifyingly long queues outside
vehicle licensing offices; and
the deathly silence in packed
courts?
Even more frightening is the
blatant use of intimidation to
force others, from within the
ranks of those striking, to
support the strike against their
will. Could it possible be that
the ‘sympathy’ strikes have also
been held as a result of some
sort of coercion, like the
closing of private educational
institutes who have no choice
but to call of classes, as a
result of intimidation?
Could this be the beginning of
another, and slightly more
perilous phase of the grand
theatrics in the arena of South
African politics? |
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U P D A T E |
Medical Ethics Workshop
The Jamiatul Ulama takes
pleasure in inviting all young
Ulama to attend a Workshop on
Medical Ethics, which is
scheduled for Saturday, 6th
Jumaadal Ukhra 1428 / 23 June
2007 at Baitul Hamd, 32 Dolly
Rathebe (Avenue) Road,
Fordsburg. It will commence at
9:15am and end at 1:00pm, insha-Allah.
The workshop will address
amongst others the following
issues:
1. Introduction: Scope and
Sources of Medical Jurisprudence
and Islamic Medical
Jurisprudence
2. Fertility Control: Family
planning
3. Assisted Reproduction -
overcoming of infertility
4. Termination of Pregnancy
5. Organ Transplantation
Your presence will be greatly
appreciated.
Kindly confirm your
participation by the 1st June
2007, to ensure that adequate
arrangements can be made. RSVP
to Ml. Abdul Hamid Varachia or
Ml. Obeidullah Bhoja on Tel:
(011) 373 8000.
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End the Occupation of Palestine
South Africans
have once again re-affirmed
their support and commitment to
the struggle of Palestinian
people for freedom. A line up of
events held around the country
over the past two weeks bear
testimony to this. These events
were part of in a Programme of
Action to show solidarity with
the people of Palestine who are
living under occupation since
the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli
War.
The culmination of the events
(which included marches, radio
programmes, public meetings and
distribution of literature) was
the rally held at the
Johannesburg City Hall on
Saturday 9 June 2007. At this
rally attended by well over 2500
people, Moulana Ebrahim Bham,
representing the Jamiatul Ulama
pointed out that occupation of
Palestinian territories of 1967
was not the start of the
suffering of the people of
Palestine but only an
exacerbating instalment of the
long anguish they were already
enduring since Zionist forces
started to terrorise the people
of Palestine. The period
preceding the declaration of the
Jewish state in 1948 was
especially catastrophic hence
the term Nakba.
End the Occupation campaign
brought together various
organisations, faith-based
communities, social movements,
political parties, labour
unions, students, activists and
representatives of governments
sympathetic to the non-alienable
rights of the Palestinian
people. They all called for
sanctions against Apartheid
Israel and an unconditional end
to the illegal occupation of
Palestine. |
Forthcoming: Lecture Programme
The Visiting Professor
Abdi Ismail Samatar of
the University of
Minnesota in the US
will deliver a public lecture at
the Jamiatul Ulama
Auditorium, Second
Floor Baitul Hamd, 32 Dolly
Rathebe Road (Fordsburg) on
Wednesday 20 June 2007,
insha-Allâh. The topic for the
lecture will be Economic
Strategies for Social
Development. |
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C O N
T E N T S |
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Summarised
Jumuah Bayaan |
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Question and
Answer |
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Update |
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Message from the Ameer |
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I N F
O R M A T I O N |
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Min. Mahr |
R 111.81 |
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Mahr Faatimi |
R 5,590.62 |
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Zakaat Nisaab |
R 2,236.25
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Words of Wisdom |
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Hadith of the Week |
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Reconciliation |
The gates of
Paradise will be opened on
Mondays and on Thursdays,
and every servant [of Allah]
who associates nothing with
Allah will be forgiven,
except for the man who has a
grudge against his brother.
[About them] it will be
said: Delay these two until
they are reconciled; delay
these two until they are
reconciled. Muslim
(also by Malik and Abu Dawud)
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Above
is a Hadith Qudsi,
an indirect speech of Allah
through the Prophet
Sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam.
In Vol. 2 No. 21 issue, we
quoted another
Hadith Qudsi whose
words might have been
mistakenly attributed to the
Prophet. Sallallahu 'alayhi
wasallam. It is actually
Allah's words which should
have read as follows:
"Allah the Exalted has said:
'Pride is my cloak and
greatness, My robe; and he
who competes with Me in
respect of either of them I
shall cast into Hell-fire.'
Abu Dawud (also by
Ibn Majah and Ahmad).
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Quotation for the Week |
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The Roots
of Vice |
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“The root
causes of most sins are
three major sins. The first
one is casting evil glances,
the second one is being
unnecessarily suspicious
about people and the third
one is back-biting.”
Maulana Shah Hakeem Muhammad
Akhtar
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Point of Reflection |
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Power of Word |
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In the language or word is
life, in the language or
word is death. (Hawaiian
Saying meaning:
Words can heal, words
can destroy).
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Q and A |
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All Fiqh
questions should be directed
to the Darul Iftaa. Their
address is
ulama@islamsa.org.za
and the telephone is: 011
373 8000 |
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Question: Is it
permissible to eat the meat
of zebra, hippo, kangaroo
and giraffe? |
Answer: It
is the kindness of Allah
Ta’aala, our Nourisher and
Cherisher that He has
created everything on the
earth for our benefit.
Likewise, Allah Ta’aala has
also created different types
of animals from which we
derive benefit in many
different ways, among them
is to consume the meat of
such animals that are Halaal
after they have been
slaughtered Islamically.
It is permissible to consume
the meat of zebra, hippo and
giraffe. Kangaroos are
permissible to consume,
excluding those that are
omnivorous like the
rat-kangaroo, bettongs and
musky rat-kangaroo.
Besides these animals being
halaal, they are not very
easily accessible.
Alhamdulillah, Allah has
made the meat of other
animals like chickens, cows,
and sheep etc. more readily
available. Therefore, with
practicality in mind we
advise you to consume of
that which is more easily
accessible to you.
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Summarised Jumu’ah
Bayaan:
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Mercy
The Holy Qur’ân states:
“Indeed there has come a
messenger from amongst
you; your suffering is
distressing to him, he
is deeply concerned for
you, he is gentle and
merciful upon the
believers “(9:129).
The Holy Prophet
Sallallâhu ‘alayhi wa
salaam said:
“Those who are merciful,
the Most Merciful will
have mercy upon them.
Have mercy upon those
who are on the face of
the earth That being
that is in the sky will
have mercy upon you.
The Hadeeth of the
Prophet (sallallahu
`alayhi wa sallam)
explains that Allah (azza
wa jalla) divided His
Mercy into seventy
parts. Only one portion
of this seventy parts
has been set down on the
earth. All mercy that
exists on the earth -
whether it be between
mother and child,
husband wife, friends,
from people that care
for others or between
animals for their
offspring, etc – is as a
result of this one part
of mercy. If the Mercy
of Allah is so much
more, than one cannot
really imagine the Mercy
of Allah on the day of
judgement.
The hadeeth of the
Prophet teaches us that
Allah loves us more than
a mother’s love for her
breastfeeding child.
The great love that a
mother has for her
children is clear for
all to see. Among
others:
She loves her child
unconditionally.
She loves the child
whether the child is
obedient or not.
She will sacrifice every
basic need for her
child.
She will give priority
to the child over all
else.
She will hate the one
who dislikes her child.
She pains at the small
discomfort of the child.
She will bear pain to
prevent the child from
difficulty.
She will not wish any
harm or distress upon
the child.
She cannot bear to see
tears flowing from the
eyes of the child.
If this is the love of a
mother for her child,
then what is the Love of
Allah for His creation.
Allah’s insistence on
searching for reasons to
forgive us is a sign of
His immense Mercy.
Allah’s provisions are
a sign of His Mercy.
Allah’s sending of
Prophets is a sign of
His immense Mercy.
The Prophet Muhammad
was sent as a Mercy unto
the entire creation.
Allah also requires
that we show Mercy to
those around us. A
universal message of
mercy was declared by
our prophet to all
creation. Have mercy
upon others so Allāh
will have upon you. The
Prophet (salllahu
`alayhi wa sallam) said:
“The one who has no
mercy on other human
beings will not receive
the Mercy of Allāh, the
Great and the Almighty.”
We must also show
mercy to other forms of
creation including
animals.
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Message from the Ameer of
the Jamiatul Ulama |
Don’t lose your
Imaan
The
foundation upon which the
entire edifice of the belief
and practice of a Muslim is
based upon, is the concept
of tawheed.
No-one or no being or thing
is worthy of worship besides
Allah. He is the Creator,
Sustainer and Lord of the
entire creation-the universe
and beyond; He is
Everlasting – existing
beyond the boundaries of
time; He is All-Powerful –
absolutely nothing takes
place except through His
command instruction or
permission; He is not
dependant upon anything and
everything and every being
is dependant upon Him; He
has no children, parents or
family and He has no equal
or likeness in any way
whatsoever. None deserves or
has a right to be worshipped
or even respected as He
does. He has provided for us
in every way, physically and
spiritually. We do not
require anybody besides Him
and we do not need any way
other than what He has
prescribed. These are only
some aspects related to
tawheed.
Directly opposed to tawheed
is shirk – associating
partners with Allah. Shirk
is mentioned as the most
severe of sins that a person
can engage in, and Allah
states that He will never
forgive the person who is
engaged in shirk.
It has been observed that
certain practices that work
toward destroying the imaan
and faith of people have
begun to surreptitiously
creep into the lives of
Muslims. From amongst these
practices, two most
dangerous ones are:
1. Visiting the various
bogus ‘traditional,
faith-healers’, ‘herbalists’
or self-proclaimed
‘religious/spiritual
healers’. They proclaim to
be able to assist in, among
others, solving of health
and sexual problems,
financial difficulties,
marriage and social issues
and even the ‘winning of the
lottery’. The farce of these
frauds must be absolutely
clear to all sensible
persons. The danger of even
visiting them ‘for fun’s
sake’, in as far as engaging
in practices of either
direct shirk or close to
shirk can never be ignored.
Listening to and taking the
‘medication’ of such dubious
characters puts a person in
the position of risking the
loss of his imaan and being
thrown out of the fold of
Islam.
2. Taking part in ‘trendy’,
programmes which claim to
have distressing
characteristics and are
linked to or have their
basis in Indian, or other,
ancient traditional or
religious practices. Ideas
that come into open conflict
with tawheed are
clandestinely and slyly
sneaked into the supposed
exercises aimed at
‘de-stressing’. Aspects such
as becoming ‘one with
mother-earth’, ‘greeting the
sun’, and the utterances of
‘meaningless’ words or
phrases as mantras are only
a few examples. A statement
by a representative of the
Hindu faith explained in a
newspaper, last week, that
it is impossible to separate
yoga from Hinduism.
There is no need to search
for help outside of the
boundaries of what is
allowed or prescribed by the
most beautiful and complete
deen of Islam. There can be
no better way of
de-stressing than the
performance of salah and
engaging in dhikr of Allah.
Tawheed demands that we turn
to Allah, and submit fully
to Him in every way. We must
submit to the Deen of Allah
completely and totally,
having full faith and
conviction in the truth of
the message of Islam,
believing in the fact that
success lies only in what
Islam prescribes through the
Qur`an and the sunnah of the
Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi
wa sallam), and we must
submit to all the commands
of Allah, without exception.
We must know that there is
no other way.
Allah (azza wa jalla) says
in the Holy Qur`an: O ye who
believe! enter into Islam
completely; and follow not
the footsteps of the
Shaytaan; for he is to you
an avowed enemy. (2:208)
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