Prelasci na Islam

[Haqqani]

Concordia Students Tell of their Conversion to Islam


Ewan Jones




Walking serenely on her way to class, dressed in blue jeans and a sweater, blond hair tucked behind her ears, Kim Glithero does not stand out as a visible Muslim. Most of her friends are unaware of her conversion to Islam three months ago, and the second-year human relations student does not fit the typical notion of what a Muslim looks like.

However, she has to know that hijab is her right as a Muslim woman. Yet, it is an obligation upon her, regardless of her society or nationality.

Glithero is one of the several newly-converted Muslims at Concordia (a university located in Montreal, Quebec - Canada). She recited shahada, a declaration of faith, in November 2001.

"I was nervous before saying it," she said. "I wanted to for a long time but was too shy. I finally declared faith and felt completely overwhelmed. Islam gave the concept of one God. It was easy to convert, I found a religion that fit what I already believed."

Her family took the news relatively well, she said, though her mother was upset and thus Glithero does not wear a hijab. "I gave her Carol Anway's book, Daughters of Another Path, and it helped," she said. The book tells the story of a mother's reaction to her daughter becoming a Muslim.

Islam, the fastest growing religion in the world, has 1.2 billion adherents worldwide. At Concordia, nine students have converted to Islam over the past four months.

In January 2002, a shy woman who wished to be identified only as "Ayesha" quietly embraced Islam. She has yet to reveal her faith to her family.

"I want to tell them about my decision slowly, but surely," the Mathematics student said. Only close friends know of her conversion, though her lifestyle has changed significantly.

Ayesha has given up alcohol, eats Halal food and prays five times a day. She did not always believe in God, and feels to have been "given a second chance," she said. "I am in peace, and have no reason to worry."

Ewen Jones, a British-born Biology student who was once an atheist, echoed those sentiments. "I felt very much guided from the heart," he said. "I am a changed person."

Paola Ortiz, an International student from Colombia, read the Qu'ran at age 15. "The Qu'ran speaks of embryonic development, cloud formations, and other recent scientific knowledge. It made sense," she said. The Psychology student became Muslim last January 2002. "I felt very happy and at peace, but knew of the repercussions I would face in my family."

Ortiz comes from a Catholic background, but she struggled with the concept of Trinity. After becoming Muslim, she encountered dissent from her family.

"Spiritually I am different, but not in my day-to-day life," she said. "I am coming into the religion gradually." Prayer was a surprise to Ortiz.

"I went from going to church once a week to praying five times a day," she said. She does not envision herself wearing hijab though. "Here, my culture influences my choice," said Ortiz.

Again, our dear sister Ortiz should know that hijab is the right of every Muslim woman, and an obligation upon her, regardless of her cultural background.

By: Sobia Virk

[Haqqani]

Islam Gains Hispanic Adherents in Hudson



Alex Robayo


By Falasten M. Abdeljabbar, The Jersey Journal, 02/01/02

Touching her forehead to the green-striped carpet in whispered prayer, 26-year-old Nida Martinez submitted to what she calls "the will of Allah."

"Islam gave me character, and it's the way I live my life," said the Colombian-born Martinez, who changed her name from Andrea to Nida, which means "a calling" in Arabic, when she embraced Islam five years ago.

Martinez, a Bayonne mother of three and a former Catholic, prays five times a day and covers her hair with a scarf known as a hijab.

She said she never felt comfortable with the teachings of the Catholic Church and questioned the doctrine of Jesus' divinity while attending Sunday school as a child.

She first learned about Islam from her Pakistani employers and, two months after her conversion, her Puerto Rican-born husband, Pedro, followed suit.

"Islam answered my questions and it made more sense to me," she said, adding that prior to becoming a Muslim, she explored other religions and Christian denominations. While her mother has accepted her Islamic lifestyle, her father has yet to come to terms with her Muslim identity, she said.

"To this day, I have had nothing that fulfills me like Islam does," Martinez said.

Islam, a monotheistic faith founded by the Prophet Mohammed in 7th century Saudi Arabia, has approximately 7 million adherents in the United States and 1.2 billion worldwide. In November, during Ramadan greetings to American Muslims at the White House, President Bush acknowledged Islam as "one of the fastest-growing religions in America."

Latino Muslims like Martinez are a growing community, with the Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim Council estimating there are 25,000 Muslims of Hispanic heritage in metropolitan areas around the nation.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group also based in Washington, D.C., estimates that 6 percent of all American converts to Islam are of Hispanic descent.

Nationwide, organizations such as the 26-year-old New York-based Alianza Islamica and the Latino American Dawah Organization have been linking members of the Latino Muslim community for years. Web sites like HispanicMuslims.com and Latinmuslims.com are the latest resources for new converts on the World Wide Web.

Before Sept. 11, there were two Latino converts at one North Hudson mosque alone, according to Imam Mohammed Al-Hayek of the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in Union City.

During Ramadan - the Muslim holy month of fasting and spiritual reflection that ended Dec. 16 - half a dozen people of Hispanic origin uttered the "Shahadah," or declaration "I declare there is no God but Allah, and I declare that Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah," at the mosque, Al-Hayek said.

Every new Muslim must make this public declaration, usually after Friday prayers at the mosque, he said.

Since the September terrorist attacks, the mosque has experienced a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in calls and visits from primarily Hispanics who are "seeking a better understanding of Islam," the imam said.

"People want to know what Muslims think about terrorism, war and what happened on Sept. 11," he said, adding that the attacks go against the very teachings of Islam.

"The victims were civilians, not soldiers, and they were not enemies of Islam," the imam said. "There is no justification for that. Islam is a religion of peace."

Al-Hayek said many of the interested visitors are attracted to the religion by a Muslim friend, and most of the time end up choosing Islam after "making their own investigations about the religion."

The mosque is struggling to keep up with the demand for Spanish- and English-language Qurans, he said.

The imam believes that media coverage of Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks has improved, and he considers that to be the catalyst for the increased interest in the religion.

"Before Sept. 11, I would say the media was very biased against Islam, but now it is more balanced," he said.

The North Hudson IEC has been holding lectures and events in Spanish and English to explain facets of the faith to non-Muslims. An Ecuadorian imam visited the mosque during the summer to lecture on the importance of Jesus in Islam, he said.

For 25-year-old Alex Robayo, his first thought after hearing that the Twin Towers were under attack was, "I hope it's not Muslims who did it."

"There is no justification for what happened," said the North Bergen resident and former Catholic who converted to Islam while studying at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, having been introduced to the religion by a Pakistani classmate.

"I chose Islam because it's not just going to church on Sunday," he said. "It's a way of life, not a one-day-a-week thing."

Robayo said his family was supportive of his decision to convert, but expressed concern about his personal safety after Sept. 11.

"They didn't want me to go to Friday prayers at the mosque," he said.

Unlike Al-Hayek, Robayo blames the media for reporting "misconceptions" about Islam.

"There are a lot of misconceptions that the media is spreading, and these stereotypes have been there for a long time," he said. One example, he said, is the word jihad, which means "to struggle" and is now used to signify "holy war."

"Unfortunately, a lot of the time, Muslims mean bad news," Robayo said.

Despite what he believes is negative media attention surrounding Islam, Robayo said the current situation has given him a chance to explain his faith to others, and he expressed optimism about Islam's role in American society.

"I think Islam will eventually be accepted in this country, but we just got a big setback from Sept. 11," he said.

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.s ... islam.html

[Haqqani]

HAWAII



Heather Ramaha, a Navy petty officer


Michele Ouansafi


By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion Writer

Less than three weeks after terrorists struck New York City and Washington, Heather Ramaha stood among a group of women at the mosque in Manoa and recited the shahada in Arabic:


Heather Ramaha, a Navy petty officer, is among those in Hawai'i who have converted to Islam since Sept. 11.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Ash-hadu alla illaha illa Allah. Wa-ash-hadu anna Mohamadan rassulu Allah."

She was testifying that "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah (one true God), and Mohammed is a prophet of God."

By doing so, she became a convert to the Islamic faith, extending a recent national trend.

Some Muslim clerics across the country say they are seeing a fourfold increase in conversions since Sept. 11, when stories about Islam jumped from the back pages of the religion section to front pages worldwide.

Hakim Ouansafi, the president of the Muslim Association of Hawai'i, said that prior to Sept. 11, there had been an average of three converts per month.

In the two months since then, there have been 23.

And oddly enough for a religion that is often perceived as one that cloaks its women from head to foot, the newly converted Westerners tend to be female. Ouansafi said the national ratio of converts is 4-to-1, women to men. Here, he said, it's closer to 2-to-1.

Most Mainland converts are African-Americans, who make up about a third of U.S. Muslims, some of whom found Allah while they were in jail or in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction.

On the West Coast, the men are mainly military, said Ouansafi, and most of the O'ahu converts are former Christians. One's even a single cosmetics saleswoman.

More people are looking into his religion and liking what they see, he says, despite the relentless media coverage of Muslim terrorists.

"Know you find bad people in every religion, and that religion should not be judged by that extreme minority," he said.

One thing Sept. 11 did was remind people that life is too short: "If I'm going to die, I want die a Muslim," a convert told Ouansafi.

[Haqqani]

Italy's ambassador to Saudi Arabia has converted to Islam





ROME (Reuters) -- Italy's ambassador to Saudi Arabia has converted to Islam, the second time in seven years that an envoy of Rome to the land of Mecca has adopted its religion.

Torquato Cardilli, a career diplomat from overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, revealed his decision to Saudi newspapers Saturday, his 59th birthday. Italian diplomatic sources confirmed the announcement Monday.

His official conversion was made on the eve of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Nov. 16 in Saudi Arabia. Cardilli himself could not be reached for comment but an employee at his embassy in Riyadh confirmed the reports.

The Saudi embassy in Rome said it planned a statement later. An embassy spokeswoman said there was no record of any Saudi ambassador to Italy ever converting to Catholicism.

Italy's Foreign Ministry had no comment.

The conversion of Cardilli -- who is married with two children -- follows the move to Islam made by Mario Scialoja, Italian ambassador to the Arab kingdom in 1994-95, who has since left the foreign service and is head of Italy's Muslim League.

Scialoja's decision came as a shock, made while he was Rome's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York and long before he was posted to Riyadh.

Cardilli's change of faith follows years of study of Islam. A graduate in oriental culture and languages from the University of Naples, Cardilli has spent much of his 33-year diplomatic career in the Muslim world.

Following postings in Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Libya, he took over the embassy in Riyadh in October last year. Cardilli has also served as ambassador to Albania and Tanzania.

His personal move comes at a sensitive time, with Italy a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the hard-line Islamic Taliban movement in Afghanistan and barely two months after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offended the Muslim world by saying Western Christian civilization was superior to Islam.

Corriere della Sera newspaper said Cardilli had been recalled to Rome "for consultations."

Some 3,000 to 5,000 Italians have converted to Islam from Catholicism in recent years, according to figures from the Union of Islamic Organizations and Communities.

A spokesman for the Italy-based group said it welcomed Cardilli's entry into the Muslim community, saying of his conversion: "The ways of the Lord are infinite."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/11/ ... italy.reut

[vesela]

SARAH JOSEPH

ova mi, sa svojim skupljenim rukama licu, lici na casnu sestru, samo joj jos brojanica fali!

ps
nemam namjeru da vrijedjam, nego je ja, jednostavno, tako vidim!

[Haqqani]

Bilal Philips




Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips was born in Jamaica, but grew up in Canada where he accepted Islam in 1972. He completed a diploma in Arabic and a B.A. from the College of Islamic Disciplines (Usool ud-Deen) at the Islamic University of Madeenah in 1979. At the University of Riyadh, College of Education, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology in 1985 and in the department of Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, U.K., he also completed a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology in 1994. He has written tons of amazing books and continues to spend his life teaching others about Allah and his Messenger (SAllahu alaiyhi wa salam)

[Haqqani]

Anne Sofie Roald




Anne Sofie Roald,
48, Sweden
Most angry young students join marches or sign petitions. Anne Sofie Roald took the veil. When she discovered Islam at the University of Oslo in the early '80s, the faith seemed to offer all that she sought — fellowship, moral grounding, even ideological compatibility. "I was thinking about how the First World was exploiting the Third World," she says. As she read the works of such anti-Western thinkers as Sayyid Qutb, "I saw my ideas," though she now admits the writings are "apologetic literature" for a brand of Islam more radical than her own. She ventured into Oslo's Muslim community, and the believers, most of them Pakistani, embraced her. "I asked questions, they gave answers," she says. "They even gave me keys to their flats. It was strange. Norwegians are more distant."

Now an associate professor of migration and ethnic relations at Sweden's Malmö University, Roald has seen attitudes toward her faith shift from indifference to begrudging tolerance mixed with mostly quiet disdain. "Scandinavians want to be inclusive, but it's difficult," she says, especially after Sept. 11. Thanks in part to Osama bin Laden, Roald and other Muslims unfairly bear what she calls "guilt by association."

She often feels the judgment of others the instant they see her headscarf. "When I became a Muslim, I didn't know you were supposed to wear the hijab. Most Muslims in Norway didn't," Roald recalls. "I thought people just wore it when it was windy." After a friend prodded her to study the subject more closely, she concluded that she ought to veil. This external sign of faith seemed harder for her nominally Lutheran family to accept than her new beliefs. Even today, "my mother feels I am singling myself out," she says. "She's embarrassed."

But Roald is not. As a convert, she says, she is so self-conscious about other issues, such as doubts about her objectivity as a researcher on religion, that she doesn't worry about people's views on sartorial matters. Though she deems Norway and Sweden "maybe the best places for Muslims to live" in the West, the mood has changed. Islam has become more politicized. As Palestinian militant groups, for example, have added religious overtones to battle cries that were once mostly secular and nationalistic, "people have started holding all Muslims responsible for what those fighters did — and what Sudan did and what bin Laden did," Roald says. Some Muslims have reacted by retreating into the safety of "the idea of us vs. them."

At the office, where she's studying the role of religious minorities in the modern nation-state, she feels as if she has to "work four times as hard to show my credibility because people are only perceived as objective if they think like the majority." Since Sept. 11, she has also seen more public criticism of Islam. Following a talk Roald gave recently at Gothenburg University, she recalls an audience member saying: "'Islam is the root of all the evil in the world.' He wasn't rational, but nobody in the audience responded. They just sat there."

How do you make sure that people don't just sit there any more? She points to the media — "The more they are critical, the more the people will be too" — and to government. She believes programs like language lessons should be bolstered to help "people to feel a part of society." But Muslims have to do their bit too. Roald broke off ties with non-Muslim friends after her conversion. "I regret it," she says. "The only way for Muslims to succeed in this society is to be part of it" — her Palestinian-born husband is a local councilor in Malmö.

Hopes also rest on the next generation. Roald's three teenage children mix comfortably with both Muslims and non-Muslims. "They have the religious way of Islam and the Norwegian view of society, which means I give them space and freedom." It surprises some non-Muslims that these home truths transcend sectarian lines, she says. "None of us want our children to be druggies. Most don't want our klix sleeping with boys when they are 15." We just have to lift our own veils — of stereotype and preconception — to see. — By JEFF CHU

[Haqqani]

37 Korean Troops Convert to Islam




"I became a Muslim because I felt Islam was more humanistic and peaceful than other religions. And if you can religiously connect with the locals, I think it could be a big help in carrying out our peace reconstruction mission." So said on Friday those Korean soldiers who converted to Islam ahead of their late July deployment to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq.

At noon Friday, 37 members of the Iraq-bound "Zaitun Unit," including Lieutenant Son Hyeon-ju of the Special Forces 11th Brigade, made their way to a mosque in Hannam-dong, Seoul and held a conversion ceremony.

The soldiers, who cleansed their entire bodies in accordance with Islamic tradition, made their conversion during the Friday group prayers at the mosque, with the assistance of the "imam," or prayer leader.

With the exception of the imam, all the Muslims and the Korean soldiers stood in a straight line to symbolize how all are equal before God and took a profession on faith.

They had memorized the Arabic confession, " Ashadu an La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur-Rasool-Allah," which means, "I testify that there is no god but God (Arabic: Allah), and Muhammad is the Messenger of God."

Moreover, as the faithful face the "Kaaba," the Islamic holy place in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, all Muslims confirm that they are brothers.

For those Korean soldiers who entered the Islamic faith, recent chances provided by the Zaitun Unit to come into contact with Islam proved decisive.

Taking into consideration the fact that most of the inhabitants of Irbil are Muslims, the unit sent its unreligious members to the Hannam-dong mosque so that they could come to understand Islam. Some of those who participated in the program were entranced by Islam and decided to convert.

A unit official said the soldiers were inspired by how important religious homogeneity was considered in the Muslim World; if you share religion, you are treated not as a foreigner, but as a local, and Muslims do not attack Muslim women even in war.

Zaitun Unit Corporal Paek Seong-uk (22) of the Army's 11th Division said, "I majored in Arabic in college and upon coming across the Quran, I had much interest in Islam, and I made up my mind to become a Muslim during this religious experience period [provided by the Zaitun Unit]."

He expressed his aspirations. "If we are sent to Iraq, I want to participate in religious ceremonies with the locals so that they can feel brotherly love and convince them that the Korean troops are not an army of occupation but a force deployed to provide humanitarian support."

[Haqqani]

Monica Nur Sammour-Wüst





In an interview with swissinfo, Monica Nur Sammour-Wüst, one of those to have made the switch, speaks about her beliefs and her life as a Muslim in Switzerland.

Although raised as a Protestant, 35-year-old Nur Sammour-Wüst feels she has always been a Muslim.

She converted to Islam over a decade ago and looks back to an event in Sunday school as a harbinger of the change that was to come. "The teacher told us that God sees and hears everything, but that he sent his son Jesus as an intermediary to the world," she recalls. "I went home and told my mother that if God sees and hears everything, I don’t need a mediator."

"Now, as a Muslim, if I pray for help, I pray directly," says Nur Sammour-Wüst. "Direct communication with God is a basic tenet of Islam."

Fear of death

In 1991, at the age of 22, she met and married her first husband, a Lebanese.

"During that time I was always asking myself questions, especially about death. I didn’t find the answers I sought in Christianity – there, death is a taboo subject." Her husband, on the other hand, who had lived through war, did not understand the Western fear of death – although, like her, he was only 22. "For him, everything was clear, because in Islam death is clearly defined," she says.

"I started to learn more about Islam, and at one point suddenly I knew. I already believed in God, in the prophets, in the angels, in predestination, in resurrection. I was already Muslim, I just had never realised it. In 1992 I officially converted."

After her first husband died in a car accident, Nur Sammour-Wüst remarried – again to a Lebanese. But after six years they divorced.

Muslim family

Now a single mother, she is raising her son and two daughters as Muslims.

"I am responsible for them – also religiously – until they are 18 years old," she says. "At home we live and practise Islam, and the children accept it. I think it’s normal for them." And should one of her children no longer want anything to do with Islam? "My most fervent wish to God is that this does not happen. It would be awful for me, because to me Islam is a way of life. It is not like a shirt that you simply change."

Still, she feels religion and belief cannot be forced on anyone. "If, in the worst case, a child no longer wants anything to do with Islam, then upon reaching adulthood he or she must take responsibility for that decision."

No exception

A common preconception is that Muslim women sit at home and are not allowed to go out in public. Nur Sammour-Wüst, who leads an active life, denies she is an exception because she is Swiss.

"In the time of the prophet Mohammed, 1,400 years ago, women were politically and intellectually active. The notion of house-bound women tied to the stove is patriarchal, not religious." According to Nur Sammour-Wüst, Muslim women in Switzerland often complain that they face more problems than their Swiss counterparts who have converted to Islam. She puts much of this down to a failure to learn the language.

"They absolutely have to learn German," she says. "The prophet Mohammed also said that when you live somewhere, learn the language that the people speak so you can communicate."

"In my view, if Muslim women live in Switzerland, they should be able to speak the language. If they learn German, constructive discussions can take place."

[Isabell]

Cime se ti bavis u zivotu ako nije tajna?
Mislim da li ti je posao vezan uz ovu temu ili ti je hobi sakupljanje tih informacija?

[shin]

Kako vam frajer vadi zivce to nije normalno

[danas]

Kako vam frajer vadi zivce to nije normalno

kome vadi zivce?
meni ovo super -- ovom tusionom istjera i ono naroda sto je U islamu IZ islama...

[Haqqani]

Cime se ti bavis u zivotu ako nije tajna?
Mislim da li ti je posao vezan uz ovu temu ili ti je hobi sakupljanje tih informacija?

Moj posao nema veze sa ovom tematikom.

[ztluhcs]

Cime se ti bavis u zivotu ako nije tajna?
Mislim da li ti je posao vezan uz ovu temu ili ti je hobi sakupljanje tih informacija?

Pravi http://www.convertoogle.com za ¹iroke narodne mase

[Haqqani]

Evo jedan , samo za " Danas "

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad




Born Timothy J. Winter in 1960, Abdal Hakim studied at the prestigious Westminster School in London, UK and later at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with first class honours in Arabic in 1983. He then lived in Cairo for three years, studying Islam under traditional teachers at Al-Azhar, one of the oldest universities in the world. He went on to reside for three years in Jeddah, where he administered a commercial translation office and maintained close contact with Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad and other ulama from Hadramaut, Yemen.
In 1989, Sheikh Abdal Hakim returned to England and spent two years at the University of London learning Turkish and Farsi. Since 1992 he has been a doctoral student at Oxford University, specializing in the religious life of the early Ottoman Empire. In 1996, he was appointed University Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Sheikh Abdal Hakim is the translator of a number of works, including two volumes from Imam al-Ghazali Ihya Ulum al-Din. He gives durus and halaqas from time to time and taught the works of Imam al-Ghazali at the Winter 1995 Deen Intensive Program in New Haven, CT. He appears frequently on BBC Radio and writes occasionally for a number of publications including The Independent and Q-News International, Britain's premier Muslim Magazine.

He lives with his wife and children in Cambridge, UK.

[Haqqani]

Joe Ahmed-Dobson




Joe Ahmed-Dobson, son of the former British health minister Frank Dobson, converted to Islam in his early twenties.

[Haqqani]

Jonathan Birt




Krajnji desno


Jonathan Birt, the son of John Birt, former director-general of the BBC, who has become a Muslim scholar and changed his name to Yahya.

[danas]

Evo jedan , samo za " Danas "

fala ti sto mislis na mene, ali vec sam udata

[\/\/\/]

Novi muslimani nalaze smiraj u Islamu


Jedna od stvari za koju su se muslimani nakon 11.09. pobojali jeste i ta da bi pod uticajem antiislamske propagande moglo stati i širenje Islama. Primjeri iz prakse pokazuju da su ovi strahovi bili neosnovani.
Na protiv.
Prevod Kurana na zapadne jezike ( engleski, njemački, holandski ) je mjesecima bio rasprodat. Ako ništa drugo ljudi su se barem počeli zanimati za Islam. I ne samo to. Broj onih koji su nakon 11.09. prešli na Islam povećao se je u odnosu na ranije godine. Ovaj fenomen ( koji je sam po sebi neshvatljiv, jer antiislamska propaganda je jaka ) se može uočiti svugdje na svijetu.
Sljedeći članak je preuzet iz jednih Južnoafričkih novina u kojima stoji da samo u jednoj džamiji u prošlih 10 godina 4000 ljudi je prešlo na Islam! Članak je prenesen bez izmjena.

"Novi muslimani nalaze smiraj u Islamu"

02.07.2003

Piše: Junus Kemp

Negativno izvještavanje medija o Islamu u zadnje vrijeme, kao nasilnoj i ugnjetavačkoj vjeri nije spriječilo muslimanske misionare u Cape Townu ( Juzna Afrika op.p ) da za Islam pridobiju hiljade novih sljedbenika. Za samo desetak godina džamija "Beit-ul-Šukr" ( kuća zahvale ) je bila svjedok više od 4.000 hiljade prelazaka na Islam.
Iako ne postoje zvanične statistike o broju prelazaka, islamski učenjaci kažu da ovo predstavlja samo mali dio onih koji su odlučili da pređu na Islam u ovom djelu Južne Afrike.

U džamiji Beit-ul-Šukr u utorak ( 01.07.2003 op.p ) 38 žena(!) i 3 muškarca su uvedeni u Islam pomoću imama džamije Ibrahima Claytona, za kojima su ponavljali šehadet, rečenicu kojom se postaje musliman.
"Ovo je veliki trenutak za nas... masovni prelazak ljudi na Islam koji potiču iz siromašnih mahala, koji su odlučili da ima Islam bude vodilja u životu. Islam nas podučava potpunom bratstvu i jednakošću. Allah ne gleda na boje naših koža, nego šta je u našim srcima," kaže Clayton.

Žene koje su primile Islam nosile su hidžab, a muškarci su imali fesove na glavama. Nakon što su zajedno izgovorili šehadet, Clayton je izrazio nadu da će Islam olakšati poteškoće sa kojima su se sretali u toku svoga života. "Islam predstavlja poboljšanje za vas," rekao je on.

Pumla Moyi, 26-godišnjakinja je rekla da je konačno pronašla "dom" nakon što je prešla na Islam tog utorka. "Ja ću pokušati da ohrabrim svoju porodicu koja je kod kuće da također prihvate Islam"
Zejnudin Biyela, 32, je rekao da će pokušati da iskoristi svoju vjeru da pomogne svojoj zajednici. "Probaću da pomognem onima u svome društvu isto tako kako je meni pomognuto." Noliswa Mankayi, 30, je potvrdila ova nastojanja. "Islam nas uči da ako imamo hrane da to moramo podjeliti sa komšijama koji su gladni. Moji rođaci su također prihvatili Islam"

Gafar Mpinda, 61-godišnji starac, koji je prešao na Islam prije 6 mjeseci , izjavio je da ga je ovaj korak približio Allahu."Allah je otklonio moje nevolje. Ja sam jedini musliman u svojoj porodici i oni su me takvog prihvatili."
Fatima Tonono Lesiu, 57, je prešla na Islam prije 9 godina nakon što je bila "dirnuta" kada je vidjela da njezina poslodovka i citava porodica obavljaju dnevne namaze. "Imala sam nekakav topli osjećaj u svojim prsima i njoj sam izrazila želju da želim preći na Islam. Ona je bila sa tim saglasna i čak mi je dala novo muslimasko ime. Čak sam i u svojim dokumentima promjenila ime. Jedna stvar u Islamu koja mi se između ostalih sviđa jeste što se mrtvaci pokopavaju u čaršafima, baš onako kao što su to radili moji pretci . Islam je promjenio moj život i ja se osjećam drugačije kada obavljam namaz."

Imam Ibrahim Clayton, je rekao da svi novi muslimani pohađaju šestomjesečnu školu o temeljima vjere, nakon koje im on preporučuje da nastave tražiti islamsko znanje u mahalama gdje žive.
Clayton i nekoliko njegovih kolega takođe redovno posjećuju nove muslimane u mahalama u kojima oni žive.Svakog utorka u džamiji se ponavlja proces masovnog prelaska na Islam

"Nikada nije bilo problema podučavati ljude Islamu. Uvjek je postojala iskrena spremnost i angažman sa svačije strane. Sada nam je potrebna moralna i novčana pomoć muslimana sa strane."

Izvor: Cape argus

[\/\/\/]

Džaba ti sve...


Jedna zanimljiva stvar se je desila početkom prošlog desetljeća među američkim vojnicima stacioniranim u Saudijskoj Arabiji. Sretajući se prvi put sa muslimanima njih oko 5.000 je prešlo na Islam
I ovaj put, među okupacionim snagama, ima onih kojima je Allah otvorio srce za Njegovu vjeru. Novinske agencije izvještavaju o prvom Amerikancu koji je u Iraku prešao na Islam.

Radi se o višem američkom oficiru, Josephu Simpsonu koji je početkom prošlog mjeseca izgovorio šehadet. On je u bagdadskoj četvrti Al Biyaa ušao u vijećnicu i tamo na lošem arapskom pred iračkim sudijom Abbad Sadiqom izgovorio rječi kojima se je pridružio milijardi muslimana: "svjedočim da nema drugog Boga osim Allaha i da je Muhammed Njegov Rob i Poslanik."

Abbad Sadiq je bio iznenađen kada je vidio da mu se približava jedan okupacioni vojnik okružen nekolicinom Iračana. Simpson je izjavio da je slobodnom voljom prešao na Islam i da je doveo Iračane da budu svjedoci njegovog šehadeta. Osim toga rekao je da je počeo da se zanima za Islam prilikom posmatranja ljudi u bagdadskoj četvrti Tahrija kada je vidio da mnogi ljudi idu u džamiju. Tamo je proveo mnogo vremena raspravljajući sa klanjačima, od kojih kako on kaže su mnogi pričali "tečno engleski".
Ovaj novi musliman je izrazio zahvalnost na mogućnosti koja mu je pružena da nađe put u Islam za vrijeme svoje službe u Bagdadu.

Nakog prelaska na Islam, Simpson je promjenio svoje ime Joseph u Salahuddin aludirajući time na poznatog islamskog vojskovođu Salahuddina Ejjubija, koji je bio Kurd iz Iraka i koji je uspio protjerati križarske ratnike iz Palestine u 12. stoljeću.

Džaba sva antiislamska indoktrinacija kad Allah odluči nekoga uputiti...


Izvor: March for justice

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Vise od pola miliona Ruandanaca primilo Islam!


Prema pisanju americkih novina 'Chicago Tribune' u porastu je broj Muslimana u Ruandi. Merkez dzamija u glavnom gradu Ruande, Kigaliju, je vec postala pretjesna da primi klanjace. U Ruandi je 1994 izbio gradjanski rat koji je odnijeo 800.000 zivota. Muslimani su prije tog rata sacinjavali 7% stanovnistva, a danas se broj muslimana popeo na 14%. Izrazeno u brojkama, za 8 godina mira vise od pola miliona Ruandanaca je primilo Islam!

Jedan od razloga ovog fenomena jeste i cinjenica da muslimani nisu ucestvovali u ubijanjima, kao sto je to bio slucaj sa krscanima, medju kojima je bio nemali broj popova. Muslimani su za vrijeme genocida nad etnickom grupom Tutsija su skrivali pripadnike te etnicke grupe, iako je medju muslimana bilo pripadnika Hutsija, naroda koji je cinio pokolje.


Izvor informacija: http://www.chicagotribune.com

[Isabell]

Svaka ti onda cast kada imas ovoliko energije.
To onda radis iz zadovoljstva.
Ja tako skupljam podatke o nogometu .... mislim ne bas tako predano, ali slicno.

[Haqqani]

Rabbi of Makhachkala synagogue embraced Islam.




Every person has a different way of coming to the Truth. For Moisha Krivitsky this way led through a faculty of law, a synagogue and a prison. The lawyer-to-be becomes a Rabbi, then he converts into Islam and finds himself in prison.

Today Musa (this is the name he has adopted when he became a Muslim) lives in a small mosque in Al-Burikent, a mountain area of Makhachkala, and works as a watchman in the Central Juma mosque. - Musa, before we began talking, you asked what we were going to talk about. I said: About you.What's so interesting about me?
If you wondered. then I live in the mosque.. How did you come to live in the mosque?

- Well, I just dropped in... and stayed. - Did you find the way easily? - With great difficulty. It was hard then, and it isn't much easier now.

When you go deeply into Islam its inner meaning, you understand that this religion is very simple, but the way that leads to it may be extremely difficult. Often, people don't understand how a person could be converted into Islam from the other side, as it were.

But there are no other sideshere:

Islam is everything there is, both what we imagine and what we don't imagine. -

Musa, as a matter of fact, we were given this fact as a certain sensation: a Rabbi has turned Muslim. -

Well, it has been no sensation for quite a long while already - it's more than a year that I did this. It was strange for me at first, too. But it wasn't an off-the-cuff decision. When I came into Islam, I had read books about it, I had been interested. - Did you finish any high school before coming to the synagogue? -

Yes, I finished a clerical high school. After graduation, I came to Makhachkala, and became the local Rabbi. -

And where did you come from? -

Oh, from far away. But Ive already become a true Daghestani, Ive got a lot of friends here - both among Muslims and people who are far from Islam.

- Let's return to your work in the synagogue.

- It was quite a paradoxical situation: there was a mosque near my synagogue, the town mosque. Sometimes my fiends who were its parishioners would come to me - just to chat. I sometimes would come to the mosque myself, to see how the services were carried out. I was very interested. So we lived like good neighbours. And once, during Ramadan, a woman came to me - as I now understand, she belonged to a people that was historically Muslim - and she asked me to comment the Russian translation of the Quran made by Krachkovsky.

- She brought the Quran to you - a Rabbi?!

- Yes, and she asked me to give her the Torah to read in return. So I tried to read the Quran - about ten times.

It was really hard, but gradually I began to understand, and to get a basic notion of Islam. (Here, Musa looked at my friends son, the six-year old Ahmed, who had fallen asleep in the mosque courtyard. Should we probably take him inside the mosque?

asked Musa.) And that woman had brought back the Torah.

It turned out to be very difficult for her to read and understand it, because religious literature requires extreme concentration and attention.

- Musa, and when you were reading the translation, you must have begun to compare it with the Torah?

- I had found answers to many questions in the Quran. Not to all of them, of course, because it wasnt the Arabic original, but the translation.

But I had begun to understand things.

- Does it mean that you couldnt find some answers in Judaism?

- I dont know, theres Allahs will in everything.

Apparently, those Jews who became Muslims in the times of the Prophet (let Allah bless and greet him), couldnt find some answers in Judaism, but found them in Islam.

Perhaps, they were attracted by the personality of the Prophet (let Allah bless him!), his behaviour, his way of communicating with people. Its an important topic.

- And what exactly were the questions that you couldnt find answers to in Judaism?

- Before I came into contact with Islam, there were questions which I had never even tried to find answers to. Probably, an important part here had been played by a book written by Ahmad Didat, a South African scholar, comparing the Quran and the Bible.

There is a key phrase, well-known to those who are familiar with religious issues: e g Follow the Prophet who is yet to cometh. And when I studied Islam, I understood that the Prophet Muhammad (let Allah bless him!) is the very Prophet to be followed. Both the Bible and the Torah tell us to do it.

I havent invented anything here.

- And what does the Torah say about the Prophet (let Allah bless him!)?

- We wont be able to find this name in the Torah. But we can figure it out using a special key. For example, we can understand what god this or that particular person in history worships. The formula describing the last Prophet (let Allah bless and greet him) is that he would worship One God, the Sole Creator of the world. The Prophet Muhammad (let Allah bless him!) matches this description exactly.

When I read this, I got very interested. I hadnt known anything about Islam before that. Then I decided to look deeper into the matter and see whether there were any miracles and signs connected with the name of the Prophet (let Allah bless him!).

The Bible tells us that the Lord sends miracles to the prophets to confirm their special mission in peoples eyes.

I asked the alims about this, and they said: Heres a collection of true hadiths which describe the miracles connected with the Prophet (let Allah bless him!) Then I read that the Prophet (let Allah bless him) had always said that there had been prophets and messengers before him

We can find their names both in the Torah and in the Bible. When I was only starting to get interested, it sounded somewhat strange for me. And then...

Well, my own actions led to what happened to me. Sometimes I get to thinking: why did I read all this? Perhaps, I should say the tauba (a prayer of repenting) right now for having thoughts like that.

- Should I understand you, Musa, that you now feel a great responsibility for becoming a Muslim, or do you have some other feelings? -

Yes, responsibility, but something else as well. I cant put my finger on it now. When a person knows Islam well, hes got both his feet firmly on the ground. Islam helps a person I would be insincere if I said that the all the Daghestani are such knowing Muslims.

We sometimes talk about it in the mosque and I like to say that there are not so many real Muslims in Daghestan - only the ustaths (learned theologians) and their students, and the rest of us are just candidates. I cant say that we do what the sunna requires, were only trying to. And when we dont do what we should, were trying to invent some clever excuses.

These efforts should have better been applied to doing our duty. Its hard for me to watch this. Sometimes, Im distracted by what is happening around me, as well. I havent got strength enough to fight this, and the weakness of my nature shows clearly here. I cant say Im totally helpless, but I have no right to say that Ive achieved anything in Islam. Ive only got torments. When I understood that I had to become a Muslim, I thought that Islam was a single whole - one common road, or a huge indivisible ocean. Then I saw that there were a lot of trends in Islam, and new questions appeared.

All these trends are like whirlpools, they whirl and whirl... itfs very hard! If a person tells you: Look, we fulfil all the hadiths, only we understand „u„‚„… Quran correctly then you follow this person, because you think that he speaks true things, and because you want to please Allah.

But then, after a couple of months, you understand that these claims were false. Allah controls us. And you think: if this way is the right way, then why is there something that goes the wrong way?.

. - Musa, and what brought you into the prison?

- A good question, this, isnt it?
- Who welcomed you there? -

If theres Allahs will to everything, then this was His will as well.

Regarding life from behind the barbed wire, going through all of this, that was a certain school for me

. - How did it happen?

- Ive recently seen a programme on the TV, and a representative of the Chechen republic in Moscow - I forget his name now, I believe he had some beautiful, French-sounding name, something like Binaud - he said that if the authorities were going to carry on like they had done before - barging into homes, planting drugs and weapons on people


- then the people would be out in the streets protesting. This has happened to many here. So there was something planted on me.

Then they came and took me away at night. Before that, I had had a certain notion about he forces of the law here...

well, I couldnt think they would use such, well, not very polite methods. Islam doesnt let me use a stronger word.

Allah knows what every man does, and those people will have to answer for what they have done.

But the three months I spent in prison, they probably helped me to make my faith stronger.


I saw how people behaved under the extreme circumstances, both Muslims and non-Muslims, how I behaved. It would be good, of course, if the people in power would pay their attention to this problem. They shouldnt be trying to eradicate Islam with such unsavoury methods.

- Musa, why were the authorities frightened by you?

- No idea. Even children arent afraid of me.

At this moment, our conversation was interrupted by a stunningly beautiful azan.

- Is there a muezzin in your mosque?

- Yes, his name is Muamat Tarif, it was him that weve just heard.

- And theres only you and him who works in this mosque?

- Well, as a matter of fact, only he works. He allows me... I still cant get used to things after prison. He allows me to live here.

Its hard to recall this. I had a certain trouble with the people whose flat I was living in, the understanding between us somehow failed. I started perceiving them in a different way.

But its probably bad to be looking for other peoples drawbacks, Ive probably got more. People started arriving to the mosque. We rose and hastened for the prayer, too.

[Haqqani]

NOORA BROWN



I was searching for the meaning in life, for the purpose in life...

There's no one to excommunicate you or stand in the way. It's so easy to declare you are a Muslim. You don't have to take classes; you don't have to be baptized or confirmed or go through any of that. You just declare that you accept that there is no God but God in front of two witnesses. So it's really very simple.

Once I started reading, everything that I read struck a chord deep inside me that this was the truth; for me, that Islam is the true path. I was raised in a certain religious tradition, but I would never have said that I was religious. In fact, I shunned -- you know, I would shun any, any religious discipline. I felt it was a burden. But here, I really wanted to follow this tradition.

The first day was so difficult. It was probably one of the hardest things that I did. It really hit home why fasting is prescribed: So that you can feel empathy for those who don't have, and also to be closer -- I felt -- I never felt so spiritually close to God in my life.

I would look in the mirror and say, "This is -- this is not who I am. This is somebody different." And I wasn't comfortable. But I came to a point in myself where I felt comfortable, and I identified with the scarf. I feel that this hejab or this scarf is something that we do to identify ourselves as believing women and that you are treated with more respect.

To me, it wasn't oppressive; because I did it of my own free will, of my own free choice. I think a lot of people are intrigued why women especially would accept this patriarchal tradition, where women are supposed to cover. They have an image that women are supposed to walk 10 feet behind the men. And what I found was, really, liberation in Islam. And when you read the Qur'an, you discover that women have rights. They have rights that they didn't have here until the eighteenth century.

[Haqqani]

Candice Vancraenenbroek



European Union temporary agent for research Candice Vancraenenbroek pauses before speaking during an International Women's Day Conference at the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels, Friday, March 8, 2002. Vancraenenbroek, born into a Belgian Catholic family, converted to Islam at an early age and has co-founded a group to help those women who also wish to convert. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)