Blind Faith

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart

"Since arriving at an age of discretion, the beauty and the simple purity of Islam have always appealed to me. I could never, though born and brought up as a Christian, believe in the dogmatic aspect of the Church, and have always placed reason and commonsense above blind faith."

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton Bart, formerly Sir Charles Edward Archibald Watkins Hamilton, embraced Islam on 20th December 1923. A well-known English statesman, fifth baronet of the first (1770) and third baronet of the second creation (1819) Sir Abdullah was born on 10th December 1876. He was a Lieutinent in the Royal Defence Corp. and was also the President of the Selsy Conservative Association.

Rising Gas Prices

Gas Prices & Islam

The corporations are making billions in profits through the sale of natural resources. As the price or production of gasoline increases, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also increases as a result. The additional revenue collected through gas taxes also contributes to a higher GDP by enabling the government to spend more. Higher GDP is a sign of a healthy economy according to the Capitalist way of thinking. Islam has a completely different view of measuring the health of the economy. In the view of the Capitalists, man has unlimited needs and therefore there is a scarcity of resources. In order to alleviate this scarcity, they define the key economic problem to be that of production. Islam on the other hand, correctly recognizes that each individual has limited needs which must be fulfilled for his survival and be satisfied. In line with this recognition, the Islamic economic system correctly identifies the fundamental problem as being one of distribution, not production.

Soaring gas prices have been felt by people around the world. In the US, individuals on fixed incomes (such as retirees) are forced to pawn their possessions in order to pay for the higher cost of gas. On CNN, one such individual was pawning his 100 year-old watch to generate the additional funds necessary. His situation is not an isolated one. Pawn shops are noticing a rise in business from people who need loans to pay for gas. In Canada, commuters are noticing the spike in price as well. During the past week prices have jumped an average of almost 4 cents per liter raising the price to over $1 per liter in many areas of the country.

An article in the Toronto Star authored by the former director of investor relations at Petro-Canada, attempted to deflect the blame of the rising gas prices away from “Big Oil” companies. Instead, he suggested that the real blame should be directed towards the government; 40% of the cost at the pump is associated with gas taxes. Although this is true, it is also true that “Big Oil” has posted record profits. According to USA Today, gas companies reported record profits during their 3rd quarter. Exxon reported net income to be up 75% to $9.92 billion, while Royal Dutch Shell reported net income to be up 68% to $9 billion. So who is really to blame?

To simply assign blame either to “Big Oil” or to the government would be a superficial approach at best. After all, it’s a well known and accepted fact that governments usually work on behalf of business’s interests. For example, former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien went to Turkmenistan on behalf of PetroKazakhstan. The Globe and Mail reported that “Bernard Isautier, chief executive of Calgary-based PetroKazakhstan Inc., has publicly credited Mr. Chrétien, "because of his name," for landing the company high-level meetings in China and Iran”.

Islamic Insight into the Oil Issue

When trying to identify the root cause of the sky-rocketing gas prices it is important to reflect deeply upon the ayah that Allah (swt) has revealed to understand the nature of society. Allah (swt) revealed:

“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah has revealed:" They say: "No! We shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! Even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance?”

[ 2:170]

What we see from this ayah, is that people stuck to their “ways” – or “the man made system” – even when the Truth was revealed to them. Extending this thinking to the oil problem we see that by laying the blame on the symptoms of the problem we fall into the same trap. What we need to do is question the Capitalist system itself. The democratic/Capitalist ideology is based on the separation of religion (deen) from the running of man’s affairs. It is, therefore, void of wisdom and guidance. The oil companies and the politicians are players who benefit from the system (and therefore work to ensure its continuance), but it is the system itself that is to blame for the high oil prices. It is the system which gave the elite the power to legislate according to their benefit. Who gave the right to the corporate elite to extract and profit from the oil wealth?

The New York Times reported "the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters."

It also reported that "Companies that pump oil and gas on federal property are required to pay the government royalties, usually 12 percent to 16 percent of the value of what they sell."

So the public, the “owner” of the land and wealth, gets only 12-16%.

Islamic Economics: More than Honest Businessmen

Most Muslims are familiar with the idea that Islam is a complete way of life. The challenge lies in understanding how this idea translates into practice; how would an Islamic State manage the production and allocation of resources in accordance with the laws of Allah (swt).

Firstly, economy is based on the fact that the true owner of all wealth is Allah (swt). As Allah (swt) has revealed:

“It is He who created for you all that exists on earth.”

[2:29]

“He put at your disposal that which is in the heavens and that which is in the earth, all from Him.”

[ 45:12]

Therefore, Allah (swt) is in reality the true owner of wealth and it is He (swt) who has entrusted its use to human beings.

Taking the oil as an example; it would be illegal for the Islamic State to simply follow the western model of giving up oil exploitation rights to a handful few. Islam recognizes three categories of ownership; private ownership (which is the default), state ownership (e.g. government offices are actually owned by the state itself), and public ownership. Oil would be an example of a property that is held under public ownership. This is according to the Prophet’s (saw) saying:

“People share in three things: Water, Pasture lands, and Fire.”

[Abu Dawud]

Oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, and hydroelectricity, are all examples of energy sources that would facilitate “fire”. These natural resources are therefore administered by the Khaleefah on behalf of the Ummah and the profit has to be distributed to all people living within the Islamic State’s boundaries. These types of property are distinct from state owned property, in that public property can only be disposed of in a way that benefits all. In contrast, state property is disposed at the discretion of the Khaleefah. Under such regulation, the Ummah would be protected from fluctuations in oil prices since it owns it.

Based on the above, it should be clear that Islam has the ability to solve all of man’s problems without the need for other systems. To be clear, as Muslims we must take our solutions – be it practices of worship, politics, economy or otherwise – from Islam, and not from any other system. This idea is based on the following hadith where the Prophet (saw) condemned the taking of ideas from outside of Islam:

“He who introduces in our order something that is alien to it, must be rejected.”

[Muslim]

Key Problem: GDP or Distribution of Wealth?

As discussed at the beginning, the corporations are making billions in profits through the sale of natural resources. As the price or production of gasoline increases, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also increases as a result. The additional revenue collected through gas taxes also contributes to a higher GDP by enabling the government to spend more. Higher GDP is a sign of a healthy economy according to the Capitalist way of thinking.

Islam has a completely different view of measuring the health of the economy. In the view of the Capitalists, man has unlimited needs and therefore there is a scarcity of resources. In order to alleviate this scarcity, they define the key economic problem to be that of production. Islam on the other hand, correctly recognizes that each individual has limited needs which must be fulfilled for his survival and be satisfied. In line with this recognition, the Islamic economic system correctly identifies the fundamental problem as being one of distribution, not production.

Using reason, we can understand that good production is associated with good science. For example, the amount of oil that can be extracted out of the ground would be based on understanding the physics of extracting a thick liquid out of the ground. The one that understands the reality the best will have the highest rate of extraction. Therefore, the issue of production is not something that should be the focus of an economic system, as it is ultimately taken care of by good science. An economic system should instead focus on what type of society should be built. That is, it should examine the problem based on examining the reality of the human being. Allah (swt) knows what is best for the human being and therefore we turn to Him (swt) for guidance in any issue, including economics. According to the Shariah, Allah (swt) has guided us to understand that the focus of economy should be distribution and not production. Allah (swt) has revealed:

“Lest it circulates solely among the wealthy from amongst you.”

[ 59:7]

This ayah gives the illah (reason) as to why Allah (swt) ordered the distribution of wealth acquired from the Bani Nadeer expedition. The money was exclusively shared among the poor while the rich were excluded, in order to strike a balance in the provision of the basic needs within the society.

When analyzing the problem of high oil prices we see that the problem is made worse by the fact that the corporations and the government work to increase production, instead of alleviating the impoverishment of their citizens. For example, the society is not acting upon news that people are turning to pawn shops to secure additional funds to pay for the higher price of gas. Also, neither the government nor the “corporate citizens” are trying to regulate the price of gas to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of wealth in society. It is important to recognize that this problem is not attributable to the greed of certain individuals, although it may be manifested in them. Instead it is a problem associated with the entire Capitalist system; the system works to maximize production to fulfill the (according to it) unlimited desires of man, which is how the economist defines the key economic problem. Such individuals do not care about the impact of the policies of the system on the society; they do not see this as the key problem therefore they do not implement solutions to solve it. They do not care how poor the masses will become. What matters is that the elites are able to make profits and pursue their desires. Although the entire problem does not exist in the Islamic State since oil is a public property, Islam approaches the problem of economy from the correct perspective ensuring that the basic needs of citizenry are attended to and cared for – regardless of the situation.

Islam: The Solution for Humanity’s Problems

Based on the preceding discussion, it is clear that Islam has solutions that are unique and address the human being in a comprehensive manner. Understanding the correct solution enables us to understand how Islam is a way of life in a concrete manner. Such an understanding help us to train our aqliyyah (intellect) to think according to what Allah (swt) has revealed to us. Furthermore, knowing how Islam solves our problems strengthens our confidence in Islam as a way of life and strengthens our connection with Allah (swt). With such a mindset we can work with the people around us, Muslims and non-Muslims, to demonstrate how Islam organizes society in a unique way that strikes a balance in an amazing manner guaranteeing happiness and tranquility. Gas prices are something that are on people’s minds. This article gives us some ideas on how the issue can be discussed in a way that invites people to Islam.

May Allah (swt) help us to convey Islam in the appropriate manner and in a manner that pleases Him and Him alone.

“Verily, Allah will help those who help His (Cause). Truly, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty.”

[22:40]

The Chinese Executioners

Massacre of the Muslims

THE CHINESE executioners came for Ismail Semed before 9am. They led him out of his cell as the sun climbed over the Tien Shan mountains in the land he called East Turkestan. The day before, he had seen his wife, Buhejer, his son, 7, and his daughter, 6, for the last time. After three years in prison and 15 months of uncertainty since a secret trial, they had 10 minutes to say farewell.

Semed was 37, a Muslim and a political activist. He was not guilty of murder nor any act of violence.

Three Chinese judges sentenced him to death for "attempting to split the motherland" and possession of firearms and explosives. He said he was tortured into a confession. Two men whose evidence was used against him were already dead, having been executed in 1999.

In his final moments with his family - his parents, brother and sister were also there, all crying - he quietly accepted his fate.
"I did my best to prove I was innocent. I am so sorry that I leave you with two children. Please take care of them and let them get a good education," he told his wife.

The end seems to have been quick. A group of prisoners were executed at the jail that morning, February 8, Chinese officials confirmed, and economy was the order of the day.
They gave Semed's body back to his family at a dusty cemetery where devout Muslims are laid to rest with no tombstones to mark their graves.

Buhejer described it to a reporter who called from Washington on behalf of Radio Free Asia, about the only source of regular news on this forbidding place. "I saw only one bullet hole," she said, "in his heart."
The dead man was one of 9m Uighur Muslims in China's far west, a Turkic people whose quest for national identity is one of history's lost causes.

The dying embers of their struggle flamed into protests, shootings and bombings in the 1990s, all concealed from the world until September 11, 2001, when China discovered the usefulness of the "war on terror".
Today China is waging a propaganda and security battle to guarantee its control over Xinjiang, its name for the vast province rich in minerals and strategic supplies of oil and gas which are vital to the expanding Chinese economy.

China claims that Al-Qaeda has trained more than 1,000 members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, classified as a terrorist group by America and the United Nations.
The group took its name from the short-lived Republic of East Turkestan that was declared in Xinjiang after the second world war, then crushed by the communist revolution of 1949.

China has persuaded Pakistan and Kazakhstan to hand over captured militants for interrogation, secret trials and execution, a policy that may have fuelled the fundamentalist rage now gripping Pakistan.
Semed, alleged to be a political thinker behind the group, was caught while studying in Rawal-pindi in 2003 and was sent back.

Next month 1,600 Chinese troops will join exercises with Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian republics to cooperate against Islamic extremists.

Chinese security services have also created a pervasive apparatus of informers and deployed new units of black-clad anti terrorist police to patrol around mosques and markets in the cities of Xinjiang.
But the iron-fisted security policy has made more enemies than friends. Extensive travel and interviews in Xinjiang this month unveiled a society segregated by religion and ethnicity, divided by reciprocal distrust, living in separate sections of tightly policed cities.

The same human rights abuses that exist across China - forced labour for peasants, children trafficked to slave as beggars, girls lured into sweatshops - deepen political tensions here and turn young men to violence.
Two western intelligence officers said the Chinese consistently exaggerated Uighur terrorist links with Al-Qaeda to exploit any opportunity to strike at their home-grown opponents. Chinese information was unreliable and no western intelligence service had handed back Muslim citizens to China, they said.

One of the officers said the real concern was that Chinese repression was creating recruits for terrorism.
In recent weeks has come proof that 58 years of Chinese military occupation have crushed significant opposition but failed to win loyalty. Officials have confiscated the passports of thousands of Muslims in a crackdown to break the growing influence of militant Islam.

Police ordered the Muslims to hand in their passports and told them that the documents would be returned only for travel approved by the authorities.

The aim is to stop Chinese Muslims slipping away to join militants in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The decision has inflamed resentment among Muslims preparing to go to Mecca for the annual hajj in December. "Bin Laden, hao [good]," said one angry Muslim, who had been deprived of his passport. "Saddam, hao. Arafat, hao."
The memory of state violence exercises a powerful deterrent, however. Flying into the border city of Yining, the Chinese airliner descends over dun-coloured mountains into a bountiful valley rich in orchards and farms, home to a mixture of Uighurs, Kazakhs and Russians.

The ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Yining stick to their own districts. It is the tenth anniversary of a time when blood ran in the streets here and bitterness still runs deep.

"I was in the People's Armed Police when the rebellion broke out in '97," said a burly Chinese driver, who proceeded to give a vivid and satisfied account of this barely known massacre.

"For a while we lost control," he said. "The insurgents got into an armoury, killed our men and seized the weapons. There was chaos. We brought in the army - they changed into police uniforms - and then we got even. The central government ordered us to crush them without any hesitation. Believe me, we did.

"We lost a few people but we killed - I don't know exactly - thousands of them. These people know our strength. We taught them a good hard lesson."

Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman and politician now in exile, says she saw a horrific police video of the "good hard lesson" when she went to Yining in 1997 to investigate. It showed unarmed adolescent boys and girls shot dead on camera, their bodies tossed into trucks. A mother and her group of children, aged five or six, crumpled under a volley of bullets. The taped slaughter went on and on, with excited commands and shouts of glee from the Chinese on the soundtrack. Perhaps one of them was the driver.
A subdued hush has now descended on the city. The cold looks from Muslims when a Chinese walked into a shaded cafe near the main mosque told their own story. He left sharply.

Today the clash of civilisations resounds loudest in Kashgar, 2,400 miles west of Beijing, a crossroads of religions, commerce and culture. In January, only 48 miles to the southwest, "anti terrorist" units raided a training camp in the mountains where the old Silk Road winds into Pakistan, and killed 18 men with the loss of one policeman.

The clash was hailed by the state media, which called it a blow to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. But Chinese residents said the operation was bungled, allowing militants to escape.

"They made a mess of it and those people are still out there. We know they have many smuggled weapons," said a retired military officer, "so now our side is distributing arms to trained men in the bingtuan."

He was referring to the gigantic army-controlled companies that built up Chinese economic activity in Xinjiang and still dominate its business.
"All cars travelling south from Kashgar must have an armed escort along a section of the road through the desert," said a local tour operator.
China has invested billions of yuan to modernise Kashgar, renovating the square in front of its principal mosque and building new hotels to accommodate backpackers and upmarket western tourists. It has also imported thousands of ethnic Han Chinese to populate new apartments, a pattern of mass immigration used across Xinjiang.

They dwell in effective segregation from the Muslims, who keep to their old quarters of mud-brick houses, mosques and reeking alleys where freshly killed sheep hang up for sale.
The communist party does its best to achieve integration through politics. According to the Kashgar Daily, 84% of local members are Uighurs.

"Good relations are only on the surface," said a Chinese businesswoman. "They're not real."
Loud-mouthed Chinese tourists strut around the precincts of the great Id Kah mosque, reclaimed only at prayer times by the Uighur men who sit outside and stare at them sullenly.

In 1949 the Uighurs were 90% of the population of Xinjiang. Today they account for less than half.
"It is the classic colonialist model," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch, author of a critical report on Xinjiang.

In Urumqi, the industrialised capital city of Xinjiang, there was evidence that repression had united Uighurs with rival Muslim sects. A red banner hung from the eaves of a 100-year-old mosque, whose lines recalled a classical Chinese temple and whose congregation were members of the Hui, a Muslim minority from central China. "All pilgrimages to Mecca must be organised by the National Islamic Organisation under the law," it read.

"They have taken all our passports too," said an elder at the mosque.
"We Muslims must follow the party and the government to make our prayers in a stable setting and under a correct policy," the imam warned his flock at Friday prayers.

Chinese intelligence woke up late to the fact that Hui Muslims were being financed by extremists from the Middle East.
Their clerics, influenced by Saudi Arabia's purist Salafi doctrine, often fulminated against Israel and the West.

"The Hui are much more radical than the Uighurs," said Bequelin. Such radicalisation is fuelled by injustices endured by many Chinese but all the more potent when suffered by an angry minority.
South of Kashgar, an almost medieval system of forced labour, known as the hasha, continues to exist on plantations, where local Muslims are ordered to pick almonds and fruit for sale to the thriving markets of China.

The government denied it, but several people in Kashgar said their relatives were engaged in such unpaid work, and a fruit wholesaler in Urumqi admitted that it still went on.
The practice dates from the era of Khans and slave traders and was supposedly abolished after "liberation" by the Chinese communist party.

Then there is outright child slavery, exposed last month in a brave report by the Hong Kong magazine Phoenix Weekly. More than 4,000 Uighur children have been kidnapped and turned into beggars or thieves by "big brother" Fagin figures, an estimate confirmed by the provincial welfare office.

The gangmasters, usually Uighurs themselves, set daily targets of up to £50 for stealing or begging, on pain of beatings. The children are sent to richer parts of China, the girls subjected to sexual harassment and the boys tempted into drug addiction to make them easier to manipulate.

Almost as bad is the plight of hundreds of Muslim girls conscripted from desert villages and sent for "work experience" in factory sweatshops. Last March Chinese officials went into the dirt-poor villages around Yarkand, south of Kashgar, to collect more than 200 girls as young as 15 for a work programme.

The girls found themselves labouring long hours in a factory more than 1,000 miles from home on the east coast of China. Their promised wages of £33 a month went unpaid.

Several girls escaped and made their way back to Xinjiang. Chinese officials then threatened their relatives with punishment.
The other families fear that their daughters will drift from factories into prostitution, a frequent refuge for the penniless migrant female in China.

In a traditional Muslim society that fears shame and values dignity, such a fate can be seen as worse than death. It is a powerful incentive for the militants.

All over Xinjiang, China can point to growing prosperity, cleaner water, new schools, paved roads, modern hospitals, efficient airports, cybercom-merce and huge energy plants.

The price, say Uighurs, is the slow extinction of their identity. Their children take compulsory Chinese lessons. Teaching in Uighur is banned at the main university. Their fabled literature, poetry and music are fading under the assault of karaoke culture. Their history is rewritten.

For western tourists, who come to Xinjiang to roam the ruins of the Silk Road, the Chinese have erected a new museum in Urumqi. It portrays the final Chinese conquest of this harsh territory, first claimed by the Han emperors in the era before Christ.

The slick exhibits equate its 9m Uighurs with the 4,900 Tartars, 11,100 Russians and 14,500 Uzbek inhabitants.
"All cooperate as one family under the glorious nationality policy of the party," an inscription in Chinese characters proclaims.
To the family of Ismail Semed, however, it stands for grief, not glory.
Additional reporting: Sara Hashash <BR>
Bloody history of Xinjiang <BR>Xinjiang province is crossed by the centuries-old Silk Road trade route once travelled by Marco Polo
1949 Conquered by Chinese communists
1990s Shootings and bombings against Chinese targets
1997 Massacre of Muslims in border town uprising
2001 China joins war on terror, extradites and executes militants
2007 Crackdown continues to sustain oil and gas, building boom and gold rush
Population About 20m - 45% Uighur Muslims, 40% Han Chinese. As many as 45 other minority nationalities, including Kazakhs and Mongols, officially recognition

Article of the Sunday Times

Hajj

Part 1

http://www.esnips.com/doc/fb42c169-e2ef-43d9-b70e-92cff8b76956/001_A_003_Political-awareness-of-Hajj-Pt1_2006_01_01

Part 2

http://www.esnips.com/doc/82f03280-b6a7-4802-ac2b-ef07d5cd8054/001_A_002_Political-awareness-of-Hajj-Pt2_2006_01_01

Enjoy

Need!!!

Need for Love,Music,Parties,etc

Smokey dance floors with dim lights, loud music and a sickly sweet smell of aftershave, perfume, hair gel, sweat and cigarette smoke draw the crowds as university freshers arrive on campus. From Rocky Horror and Toga parties, to ''mummies and daddies'' night, up to a fortnight of hedonism has been pre-planned by university student unions to ease the new arrivals into student life. For the majority it is why they came to university, for others it has become clichéd and out of date, while others find the parties degrading. However, one thing is certain; the alcohol will be flowing and the teen arrivals will be flirting, exhibiting themselves to their new colleagues.

The experiment

University has become a human experiment. A generation of children is brought up with the idea that life is about having a good time and that they should be free to live it any way that they want to. After they all go through puberty and begin obsessing about the opposite sex, the most intelligent of them are taken away from their families and all of their friends and placed in a totally new and unfamiliar environment with some money and a lot of spare time. They are accommodated with each other in densely populated youth hostels called ''halls'' where their only semi-private space is their bedroom. Before having time to unpack they are bombarded with an itinerary of parties and social events and physically dragged to them. The lights are dimmed, pop songs are played, people dance and everyone becomes paralytically drunk night after night until the experiment yields results.

If Hollywood is to be believed, the way relationships occur is as follows. Two people meet by chance. They like each other based mainly on appearances. A quick sequence of events leads them to sleep with each other. Then they may or may not have a long relationship based on the success of the previous steps. Since this procedure is seen to have logistical problems in day-to-day life, alcohol and parties are used to catalyse the reaction in order to reach the final result as fast as possible.

Everyone knows the result of this experiment. Many of the freshers expect the result of this experiment, being willing volunteers in it. For many freshers this is the first time they have lived away from their parents. It is the first time they have had their own accommodation. It is the first time they have had the opportunity to disperse their oats and everyone wants to do it – so it's not difficult.

The results

It is astounding that the same people potentially responsible for intellectual advancement are, in their personal lives, amongst the most primitive of all human beings. Secular society has created immense insecurity in many young women, who define their success according to their ability to attract men. Thus, they decorate themselves with dresses of light materials, make up and appropriate hairstyles to make themselves available to approaches. Boys embellish themselves in similar terms and go fishing – using themselves as the bait and the attractive girl as the prize.

There are three different types of relationship that are sought after by both the boys and the girls. The first is simply physical. It may last one night or several nights or be ongoing over several years with no personal commitment. The next is a pseudo-relationship where each person commits to the other in sincerity, but the defining feature of their relationship is physical which lasts for a few months and is ended by some sort of infidelity. The final sort is a real relationship where both people truly commit to each other, believe that they love the other and build a strong personal bond to each other aside from the physical. These relationships are often characterised by strong emotions, ''creeping'', mistrust leading to possessiveness and jealousy, culminating either in marriage or a painful break up.

Most male students veer to the side of the first two types while many female students look for the third, but this is by no means the rule. The only rule is that the vast majority of students are looking for one of these three.

''He say, she say''

Every year, arrival at university is going to lead to misery, pain, the spread of disease and immense promiscuity. Many female students will be raped, probably whilst heavily under the effects of alcohol by a male student she met at a party. Recent home office statistics put the probability for each female university student to be raped in each academic year at 2%; that's 1 in 50! The culprit will probably have been drunk and excited by the nature of the fresher's parties. They would probably have mutually decided to go to one of their rooms in halls. Such a high statistic is not surprising. It will probably never be reported, the victim feeling guilty and responsible for what happened and seriously affected by it.

Many will also suffer from emotional torment. They may sleep with someone after a drunken party, thinking that it would lead to a serious relationship and finding the next day that person is off with someone else. Students arriving at university already in long-term relationships with people from their hometown will begin to cheat, causing emotional distress for both in the relationship. There will probably be hundreds of unwanted pregnancies up and down the country, requiring either the ''morning after pill'' or surgical abortion. The spread of genital warts, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV will accelerate, colonising a new young generation.

If the physical and direct personal aspects are not enough to worry about, reputations will be under attack. Rumours will fly; gossip and backbiting will be rife amongst the student body. Everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing, whom he or she slept with, whom he or she cheated on and how he or she did it. Stories will stir up distrust and even hatred between individuals, sparking off arguments and fights.

''Those who slander chaste believing women carelessly are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty''

[ An-Nur: 23].

Fortunately, student unions have all encompassing solutions to all of these problems…namely free contraceptives and student helpline telephone numbers. In reality, it is the student union members who revelled in the activities of previous years so much, that they wanted to provide it to all of the new students arriving on campus and so they are the last people that can be relied upon to deal with these problems.

The Problem of Trust It is banded around in reality and on chat shows that relationships are about trust. If two people can't trust each other, how can they go on together? It's fashionable to talk about it but few students can truly trust the person they are with. Almost everyone has cheated on a boyfriend or girlfriend at some point in their lives. Men know that other men will be trying to seduce their girlfriends and the women know that their men like looking at other women who in turn are trying to seduce them. So where does the trust come from. It's like putting a child in a sweetshop, telling him not to eat any sweets and leaving him there for a week with a pile of carrots.

The simple fact of the matter is that men and women get together in such an environment because of some benefit that they can get from the other. It may be image, sex, money or good conversation but it's always some benefit that is fulfilled by the other. So what happens to that relationship when an outsider comes along who can give something extra, or the same thing but better? It's natural for any individual to go for the bigger benefit. Sentimental reasons may hold that person back at first but it is likely to be for a very short time. Further to this, if a man or woman can get away with it without the other half finding out, it is simple business sense to maximise the benefits by mining several sources. The only thing that inhibits individuals from doing that is the fear of losing something that could not be replaced – but if they think they can get away with it, these inhibitions melt away.

How can true ''trust'' exist in such relationships? It is romantic fiction. It is true that trust is vital in relationships, but it cannot exist between two secular, capitalist ideologues that base their decisions on maximising benefit. This is why the divorce rate in the UK is now well over 50% of all new marriages and is still climbing. You cannot trust a secular capitalist!

''Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry any but a woman similarly guilty or an Unbeliever, nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the Believers such a thing is forbidden''

[ An-Nur: 3]

What do Muslims do?

Any relationship between two people is based on the thoughts that they carry. Those who carry secularism and capitalism believe in following the maximum benefit and so it is natural that the anarchy described above arises. In Islam, the objective of life is the pleasure of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) and the attainment of Jannah. This is achieved by believing in the core beliefs of Islam, sticking to what has been obliged and avoiding what has been forbidden. As long as the Muslim does this, he or she is tranquil and content.

The relationship between man and woman in Islam is marriage. It is held amongst the youth in the West that marriage should be reserved for the late 20's or 30's, that the teens and early 20's should be reserved for the aforementioned debauchery. This is a stupid misconception. The only difference between two people having an extra-marital relationship (if they are serious about each other) and having a marital relationship is that when they get married they pledge to show each other a degree of respect and dignity and afford each other certain rights. It's natural for men and women to want to get together, but Islam filters this through marriage. Thus neither of them can abuse the other in a one-night stand or a purely physical relationship without any guarantee that the next day it wouldn't be over. While they are married, the Creator (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) demands that they provide the other with certain rights. These include that they should be faithful, truthful, kind and supportive. Because these things are done for the sake of the Creator (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala), and pleasing Him (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) is the objective of life, one can easily trust that if the other is conscious of his or her accountability before Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala), he or she will fulfil such rites.

Those who say that they are too young to get married are effectively saying ''I am too young to treat a woman (or man) fairly, justly and kindly.'' They are effectively professing their lack of determination to commit, to be faithful, fair or just. Some may argue that both people in the relationship just want to have a bit of fun and are not ready to commit, so what's wrong with that? The reality of that is that people get seriously hurt, abused and exploited. Freedom backfires again.

Islamically, when a relationship begins the man and woman should respect each other and treat each other well. In Islam, men and women do not socialise freely as this is the first step in the path of fornication. Muslims don't drink alcohol, they don't gossip or backbite, they don't sleep around, go to nightclubs or pubs. Hence, the situations in which unwanted pregnancies are obtained, STDs are spread and young girls are raped and abused are avoided.

Thus, men have loyal, supportive, kind wives who are trustworthy irreplaceable companions. Likewise women have strong, kind, devoted husbands who dedicate themselves to their wives' comfort and happiness. And on top of that, they love each other.

This is the way the Creator (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) organises relationships between men and women, in perfect harmony with the rest of the universe. It is not the author of this article who has decided that a relationship of this form is perfect, rather it is the One, the All-Knowing, all-Seeing, Lord, Master and Sustainer of the universe who decided that this is the way that men and women should relate. May His (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) guidance protect us all from the misery of secular ideologies.

''Which then is best? He that lays his foundation on piety to Allah and His good pleasure? Or he that lays his foundation on an undermined sand-cliff ready to crumble to pieces? And it does crumble to pieces with him into the fire of Hell. And Allah guides not people that do wrong. The foundation of those who so build is never free from suspicion and shakiness in their hearts until their hearts are cut to pieces. And Allah is All-Knowing Wise''

[ at-Taubah: 109-110].

The veil

Interesting discussion about the veil and feminism



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/video/real/veilingandfeminism-hi.html

Thinking

Psychology and Sociology

People mix up between the inferred thoughts that result from the rational method (of thinking) and the scientific thoughts that result from the scientific method (of thinking). Due to this confusion, they consider psychology, sociology and education disciplines, as sciences. They consider their thoughts as scientific thoughts, for they resulted based on observations followed on children under different circumstances and different ages; or followed on different groups at different conditions; or on different actions of different people under different conditions. They called the repetition of these observations as experiments. The truth of the matter is that the thoughts of psychology, sociology and education are not scientific thoughts; they are rather (incorrectly concluded) rational thoughts. This is because the scientific experiments are the subjugation of the matter to conditions and factors other than its original condition and factors and the observation of the effect of that subjugation. In other words, it is carrying out of the experiments on the same matter, like the experiments of physics and chemistry. As regards the observation of a thing at different times and situations, it is not considered scientific experiments. Therefore, the observation of the child at different situations and different ages, and the observation of groups in different countries and at different circumstances, and the observation of actions from different people at different situations; all of that does not enter in the subject of scientific experiments, so it is not considered a scientific method. It is rather an observation, repetition of the observation and conclusion only. Thus, it is a rational method and not scientific method. Accordingly, the thoughts of so-called psychology, sociology and education sciences are rational thoughts, and they belong to the culture and not in the science.

Moreover, psychology, sociology and education sciences are speculative and subject to error; they are not of the definite matters. So, it is invalid to use them as a basis for judging on matters, nor it is allowed to use them as evidence for the validity or invalidity of matters. This is because they are not of the subject of scientific facts or scientific laws so as to say they are correct unless proved wrong. They are rather speculative information that came through speculation. Though they are concluded through the rational method, they are not of the subject of judging the existence of things, but rather of the subject of judging the reality of the thing. This sort of view is definitely speculative, and liable to error. Furthermore, these three disciplines: psychology, sociology and education sciences are built on erroneous bases, a matter that made many of the thoughts that they contain erroneous.

Psychology, in its generality, is built on its view towards the instincts and its view towards the brain. It views man to have many instincts, only some of them have been discovered, while others are not. Psychologists built on this view erroneous theories; a matter that led to the error that exists in many of the thoughts of psychology. Psychology views the brain divided into areas, where each area has a specific capability, and that some brains have powers not existent in their brains. Based on that, some people have capability to understand the languages, but not the mathematics. While others, in contrast to that, they have capability to understand mathematics but not the languages. Thus, there are erroneous theories that were built on this view. This, also, led to error in many of the thoughts of psychology.

The truth of the matter in all of this is that it is obscured by sensation through the following up the response, that man has a live energy that has two aspects: One of them requires the inevitable satisfaction, where man dies if it was not satisfied. The second requires satisfaction, but if it was not satisfied, man remains alive, though he feels pain and becomes worried due to the absence of satisfaction. The first aspect is represented in the organic needs such as the hunger and thirst and answering to the nature’s call. The second aspect is represented in the instincts, which are the religiousness instinct, the reproduction instincts and the survival instinct. These instincts are the feeling of deficiency, the feeling of the race survival and the feeling of the personal survival. There is nothing more than these three. Anything beside these three instincts are only aspects of the instincts, such as the fear, sovereignty and ownership are appearances of the survival instinct; reverence of the heroes and worship are appearances of the religiousness instinct; and the sexual inclination, fatherhood, motherhood and brotherhood are appearances of the procreation instinct. Thus, every one of the appearances belongs to one of these three instincts.

As regards the brain, the truth of the matter is that the brain is one and the same. Disparity and variance of the thoughts is due to the disparity and variance of the sensed matters and the previous information, and also due to the disparity of the power of linkage. There is no a capability that exists in one brain but does not exist in another. Rather, all the brains have the capability of thinking in every matter once the tangible reality, the senses, the previous information and the brain exist. The brains only vary in the power of linkage and the power of sensation, as the eyes vary in the power of sight, in strength and weakness, and as the ears vary in the power of hearing, in strength and weakness. Therefore, it is feasible to give everybody any information, and he/she has the capability to comprehend them. Accordingly, there is no basis to what came in the psychology of the capabilities in the brains or the same brain. Thus, the wrong view of psychology to the instincts and the wrong view of psychology to the brain, led to the error of the theories that were built on that view.

As for sociology, it is, in its totality, based on its view towards the individual and the society, ie, it is based on its individualistic view. Thus, its view moves from the individual, to the family, to the group (community) and to the society, on the account that the society is consisted of individuals. So, the societies, in their view, are considered separate from each other, and what suits one of them does not suit the other society. The sociologists built on this view erroneous theories that fundamentally led to the error of the thoughts of sociology. The truth of the matter is that society does not consist of individuals absolutely; for the individual together with another individual consist a group, but not a society. The group does not constitute a society unless permanent relationships developed amongst its individuals. If, however, relationships did not develop between its individuals, it would remain as a group. Accordingly, the presence of 1,000 persons as travellers in a ship does not make of them a society; they rather remain as a group. However, the presence of 200 people in one village makes of them a society due to the permanent relationships between them. Thus, the presence of the permanent relationships amongst the group is what makes of them a society. So, the study of the society must be a study of the relationships and not the group. However, what initiates this relationship between the individuals is the instinct (maslahah) they have. So, if they had an interest to them, a relationship would develop; but if they had no interest to them, then relationships would not develop. The interest would not develop a relationship unless there existed in it three matters; firstly, the thought of the two sides is unified in considering it as interest. So, if one side considers it an interest while the other considers it bad (evil),then no relationship would develop between them. So, in order that the interest exists, each one of them has to view it as an interest. Secondly, the emotions about the interest must be unified over the interest. If both sides were delighted of it or both were angry of it, then a relationship would exist. If however, one of them was delighted of it, while the other was angry of it, then no relationship will exist from it. Thirdly, the system that regulates this interest (maslahah) must be unified. So, if one of the two sides regulated the interest in accordance with a certain system, while the other side rejected that system, and regulated it in accordance with another system, then no interest would exist between them. Thus, the two sides must agree on the manner by which their interest is regulated. Accordingly, the society exists by the unification of the thoughts, emotions and the system between the individuals. However, these individuals would generate a system, specific to them. If they, however, wished to annex other individuals from other societies, then they have to refute the thoughts, emotions and systems acceptable to all of them, so as to make a society. Therefore, defining the society as individuals does not apply to the ideological society; it rather applies to a specific society. While the true meaning of society is that it is composed of people, thoughts, emotions and the systems. What is good to man in a certain place, in terms of the thoughts, emotions and systems is suitable for man in every place; and it changes the various societies to the same society, which is reformed by the thoughts, emotions and systems. The difference between the individual and man, is that when you study Mohammad, Khalid or Hasan, in regards to the characters which are not shared naturally by human beings, then you would have studied him as an individual. If, however, you studied Mohammad, Khalid or Hasan, in terms of what he has of natural characters that exist naturally in human beings, then you would have studied him as a human being, though you studied specific individuals. Thus, the reform of the society has to be radical, thou it is by studying the society, in its capacity as humans, thoughts, emotions and systems, and not as individuals. So, the view has to be a human outlook and not an individual outlook, even if the study was for a particular individual. This is the definition of the society; this is the correct view towards it; and this is the reality of the society, the reality of the group (jama’ah) and the reality of the individual. It thus becomes obvious that the error of the view of the society led to the error of the theories, and the error of sociology as a whole. In regards to what came in the sociology about the group (jama’ah), that its understanding of the matters is generally weaker than the individual’s understanding, and it is easier to be agitated emotionally then the individual. The correctness of this view does not result from the view about the society. It rather results from the prevalence of the numerous and frequent information over the individual information, thus leading to influence the view on reality. It also results from the fact that the aspect of the crowd that appears in the group agitates the emotions, for it is one of the appearances of the survival instinct. Accordingly, everything that is built on the view about the society is false; and whatever is correct of it, its correctness does not result from its view to the society, but from another reason. Therefore, sociology is invalid, because it is built upon a false view, that is the view towards the society and the individual.

As for the education sciences, they are built on psychology, and affected by the sociology theories, and result from the observation of the actions of the individuals and the conditions of the children. This makes the education sciences contain the right and the wrong at the same time. Whatever is built on psychology, and affected by sociology is invalid. Thus, invalidity led to false educational thoughts that led to the corruption of the syllabuses and methods of teaching. Considering the child not capable for some disciplines while capable for others is false. Therefore, dividing the teaching into scientific and literary, and allowing the person to choose what he studies based on his capability is of the most false views. This is contrary to the reality and harmful to the Ummah. Considering the person not capable to learn some disciplines, while capable to learn others, is also false, which led to deprive some people from studying some disciplines and deprived many people from continuing study.