islam

"And We had before forbidden foster-mothers for him, so she said: Shall I show you a household who will rear him for you and take care of him?"

"Let the women live (in iddat) in the same style as ye live, according to your means: Annoy them not, so as to restrict them. And if they carry (life in their wombs), then spend (your substance) on them untilthey deliver their burden: and if they suckle your (offspring), give them their recompense: and take mutual counsel together, according to what isjust and reasonable. And if ye find yourselves in difficulties, let another woman suckle (the child) on the (father's) behalf."

"And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers."

"Forbidden unto you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your father's sisters, and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and your mothers-in-law, and your step-daughters who are under your protection (born) of your women unto whom ye have gone in - but if ye have not gone in unto them, then it is no sin for you (to marry their daughters) - and the wives of your sons who (spring) from your own loins. And (it is forbidden unto you) that ye should have two sisters together, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful."

"On the day when you shall see it, every woman giving suck shall quit in confusion what she suckled, and every pregnant woman shall lay down her burden, and you shall see men intoxicated, and they shall not be intoxicated but the chastisement of Allah will be severe."

"Mothers shall suckle their children for two whole years; (that is) for those who wish to complete the suckling. The duty of feeding and clothing nursing mothers in a seemly manner is upon the father of the child. No-one should be charged beyond his capacity. A mother should not be made to suffer because of her child, nor should he to whom the child is born (be made to suffer) because of his child. And on the (father's) heir is incumbent the like of that (which was incumbent on the father). If they desire to wean the child by mutual consent and (after) consultation, it is no sin for them; and if ye wish to give your children out to nurse, it is no sin for you, provide that ye pay what is due from you in kindness. Observe your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is Seer of what ye do."

"The compulsion to identify moderate Islam as opposed to radical Islam suggests that there is something immoderate about Islam itself. People on both sides of that issue are free to debate it, however, we can agree that for most people the imprecision in nomenclature is not a function of “Islamophobia.” Rather, it stems from the prominent and deadly role of radical Islam in contemporary international events. My personal values and experience with individual Muslims militate against that imprecision, however, the realities of twenty-first-century life set Islam off from other faiths. Those claims by apologists that “all religions have their radicals” seem strained at best. When was the last time “radical Hindus” flew an airplane into a heavily populated skyscraper or when “radical Christians” beheaded Muslim citizens captured in territory they control? Similarly, with rare exceptions, Muslim leaders, lay and cleric, have not unequivocally denounced Islamists until their personal interests were threatened. “Moderate Muslim nation (or country)” is a functional term given these realities; and we should not let ideological biases cloud that functionality."

"How important is all this? During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump brought a new focus to this issue. Specifically, Trump made it clear that an unchecked radical Islam, including our inability to identify true moderates, makes Americans unsafe."

"So how do we figure out what makes a moderate Muslim? ... First, we need to get off the extremes and understand that criticism is not an attack. Recognize that we cannot ignore Islam’s role in international terrorism, nor can we condemn Islam as immutably evil. Second, recognize that there is a difference between the actions of individuals and those of a group and its leaders. Do not confuse criticism of Islam as acts of bigotry against individual Muslims."

"The only way to a more generally accepted and practiced moderate Islam is to evolve and give more credence to non-religious leadership among the Muslim community to take up issues of their welfare and become the dominant spokespersons of their grievances. In India over the past several decades, the leadership of Muslim clerics on the issue of the welfare of the community has been slowly rejected by the Muslim community itself."

"Allahu akbar has come to be widely associated with violence, nonMuslim ears are anxious about Islamic sounds, which simply do not belong, amplified or not."

"Unfortunately , the Allahu akbar has become associated with battle Islam."

"Allahu akbar ' - has instead become associated with violent terrorist attacks . Like the Takbir , religion itself , especially since 9/11 , is often seen as a source of conflict ."

"Allahu akbar has been often misinterpreted. It doesn't mean that God is great. It means that God is greater. The phrase is a comparative, not a superlative."

"Allahu Akbar has become a cry as sinister as the Nazis' Sieg Heil. By trying to conquer the world, fundamentalism has attracted its hostility."

"There where was heard before The clamour and uproar of the heathen, Now there is heard resounding The shout of ‘Allaho Akbar’."

"Wave after wave of barbarian conquest has rolled over this devoted land of ours. "Allah Ho Akbar!" has rent the skies for hundreds of years, and no Hindu knew what moment would be his last."

"Traditional Muslim women's head, face, or body covering, of numerous varieties across time and space, often referred to as the “veil.” Hijab is a symbol of modesty, privacy, and morality. The practice was borrowed from elite women of the Byzantine, Greek, and Persian empires, where it was a sign of respectability and high status, during the Arab conquests of these empires. It gradually spread among urban populations, becoming more pervasive under Turkish rule as a mark of rank and exclusive lifestyle. Hijab became a central topic of feminist/nationalist discourse during the nineteenth-century British colonial occupation of Egypt. Western feminists view hijab as a symbol of the subordination and inferiority of women in Islam. Since the 1970s it has emerged as a symbol of Islamic consciousness and the voluntary and active participation of young women in the Islamist movement, a symbol of public modesty that reaffirms Islamic identity and morality and rejects Western materialism, commercialism, and values. In the 1980s hijab became an assertion of Islamic nationalism and resistance to Western culture."

"In Islam, men and women are moral equals in God's sight and are expected to fulfill the same duties of worship, prayer, faith, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam generally improved the status of women compared to earlier Arab cultures, prohibiting female infanticide and recognizing women's full personhood. Islamic law emphasizes the contractual nature of marriage, requiring that a dowry be paid to the woman rather than to her family, and guaranteeing women's rights of inheritance and to own and manage property. Women were also granted the right to live in the matrimonial home and receive financial maintainance during marriage and a waiting period following death and divorce."

"Indeed it is the belief of the Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jama’ah that the race of Arabs is superior to the race of non-Arabs, the Hebrews (Jews), the Syrians (Arameans), the Romans (Europeans), the Persians, and others. And indeed the Quraysh [tribe of the Prophet (S)] is the most superior among the Arabs. And indeed the Banu Hashim [the clan of the Prophet (S)] is the most superior among the Quraysh. And indeed the Prophet, may the Blessings and Peace of Allaah be upon him, is the most superior of the Banu Hashim, for he is the most superior of all creation by his own self, and also the most superior among them because of his lineage (ancestry)."

"Narrated Muhammad bin Jubair bin Mut`im (رضي الله عنه) ,That while he was with a delegation from Quraish to Muawiya (رضي الله عنه), the latter heard the news that `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As (رضي الله عنه)said that there would be a king from the tribe of Qahtan. On that Muawiya became angry, got up and then praised Allah as He deserved, and said, “Now then, I have heard that some men amongst you narrate things which are neither in the Holy Book, nor have been told by Allah’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم). Those men are the ignorant amongst you. Beware of such hopes as make the people go astray, for I heard Allah’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) saying, ‘Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him as long as they abide by the laws of the religion.’ ”"

"Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard the Prophet saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers (who will rule all the Islamic world)." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them (those rulers) will be from Quraish.""

"Ali Ibn Abi Talib, said: Verily the Prophet said: God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then He chose the Arabs from among the people, then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then He chose the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and from them he chose me."

"Narrated Wathilah bin Al-Asqa’: that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: “Indeed Allah has granted eminence (istafa) to Isma’il [the ancestor of the Arabs] from the children of Ibrahim, and He granted eminence to Banu Kinanah from the children of Isma’il, and He granted eminence to the Quraish [the tribe of the Prophet(s)] from Banu Kinanah, and He granted eminence to the Banu Hashim [the clan of the Prophet(S)] from the Quraish, and He granted eminence to me from Banu Hashim.”"

"Wathila b. al-Asqa’ reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger (S) as saying: Verily Allah granted eminence to Kinana from amongst the descendants of Isma’il [the ancestor of the Arabs] and he granted eminence to the Quraish amongst Kinana, and he granted eminence to the Banu Hashim amongst the Quraish, and he granted me eminence from the tribe of Banu Hashim."

"Narrated 'Abdullah bin Masud: The Prophet entered Mecca and (at that time) there were three hundred-and-sixty idols around the Ka'ba. He started stabbing the idols with a stick he had in his hand and reciting: "Truth (Islam) has come and Falsehood (disbelief) has vanished.""

"Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah said: Gabriel came to me and said: I came to you last night and was prevented from entering simply because there were images at the door, for there was a decorated curtain with images on it in the house, and there was a dog in the house. So order the head of the image which is in the house to be cut off so that it resembles the form of a tree; order the curtain to be cut up and made into two cushions spread out on which people may tread; and order the dog to be turned out. The Messenger of Allah then did so. The dog belonged to al-Hasan or al-Husayn and was under their couch. So he ordered it to be turned out. Abu Dawud said: Al-Nadd means a thing on which clothes are placed like a couch."

"In spite of attempts to link Islamic iconoclasm and iconomachy to a Zoroastrian influence which made itself felt from the ninth century,66 the evidence seems overwhelming that Muhammad's view of idolatry, like the concept of idolatry in its very origin, as well as the later Islamic opposition to images, developed from a judeo-Christian inheritance. Here the monotheistic tradition can be opposed to the Indo-Iranian tradition in its entirety-even though in practice religious labels like Muslim or Hindu have historically not been markers of exclusive groups or understandings of cultural symbols."

"The repeated condemnation of idol-worship by various Old Testament prophets has been taken, quite plausibly, as evidence of the ongoing popularity of iconolatry. When considering the uncompromising Muslim attitude to images, however, it is important to note that Islam evolved from the judaism of the Christian period, when the earlier permissive attitudes of Hellenistic judaism had been shed in the confrontation with the Christians."

"Narrated 'Aisha: The Messenger of Allah never left in his house anything containing the figure of a cross without destroying it."

"It is a curious phenomenon that there never was a religion started in this world with more antagonism…(to the worship of forms) than Mohammedanism…The Mohammedans can have neither painting nor sculpture, nor music…That would lead to formalism. The priest never faces his audience. If he did, they would make a distinction. This way there us none. And yet it was not two centuries after the Prophet’s death before saint worship (developed). Here is the toe of the saint! There is the skin of the saint! So it goes, Formal worship is one of the stages we have to pass through."

"In Islamic iconoclasm, the whole idea was not to preserve but to destroy the idols; and more fundamentally, to destroy the religion embodied in the idols. … it artfully blurs the distinction between looting, i.e. carrying away as a prized good, done by a victorious king who shared the idolatrous tradition of his defeated opponent and continued it; and destruction, i.e. an act of contempt and hate for the idolatrous religion and meant to terminate it."

"Abu Wa'il narrated: "Ali said to Abu Al-Hayyaj Al-Asadi: 'I am dispatching you with what the Prophet dispatched me: "That you not leave an elevated grave without leveling it, nor an image without erasing it.""

"The birth-rate delivers 96% of the region's Muslim population growth on the continent, which is much higher in comparison to African population growth rates in general."

"In Niger, where it is estimated that 95 percent of the population is Muslim, population growth and high fertility levels are a major concern of government."

"“I felt I was walking through a post-apocalyptic neighbourhood,” said Atish Saha, a Dhaka-based artist.“To be honest, I was scared. It was an image of mass violence that shouldn’t ever be experienced.” Particularly jarring was said to be the sight of families, including infants, wading into the flood in celebratory “Eid day” moods. “It made me speechless,” he said."

"However, the seed of the debate on the differential population growth rates of the Hindus and Muslims was planted in the undivided India itself. Kingsley Davis, an eminent demographer, was one of the first to raise a debate on the Hindu-Muslim population growth rates in the sub- continent. In his famous book “The Population of India and Pakistan” (1951), he presented before the world the fact that Muslim fertility was higher than the Hindu fertility. For instance, the decline in the proportion of the Hindus from 75.1 per cent to 72.9 per cent in between the censuses of 1881 and 1901 (Davis, 1951) created strong reaction and fear among the Hindus that the Muslims would become the majority population in India in the future. Numerous research and review studies have been done on this area since then. But there seems to be no end to this highly debated topic and it still remains a very popular area for research studies among the research scholars and population scientists."

"At this occasion, Muslims sacrifice animals like camels, cow, and small ruminants. Small ruminants are more in demand because of their price and cost of their feed ritual."

"It is the duty of every free Muslim arrived at the age of maturity to offer a sacrifice, on the ‘Idu’l-Azha’, or ‘Festival of the Sacrifice’, provided he be then possessed of a Nisab (i.e., sufficient property), and be not a traveller. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah, Muhammad, Zufar, and Hasan, and likewise of Abu Yusuf, according to one tradition. According to ash-Shafi’i, sacrifice is not an indispensable duty, but only laudable. At-Tahawi reports that, in the opinion of Abu Hanifah, it is indispensable, whilst the disciples hold it to be in a strong degree laudable. The offering of a sacrifice is incumbent on a man on account of himself, and on account of his infant child. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah in one tradition. In another he has said that it is not incumbent on a man to offer a sacrifice for his child..."

"This is heartbreaking Animals don’t need to die for you to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Have a #vegan holiday."

"PETA organises peaceful animal protection awareness programmes for Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Janmashtami and other holidays, as well as Eid…it is shameful that in working to stop violence, our volunteers were made to suffer violence."

"Birth control should be resorted to only in cases of extreme necessity, such as the wife's ill-health owing to constant births. Imam Abu Hanifa holds it makruh (abominable)."

"In traditional Muslim countries herders and farmers can sacrifice their own animals. Others may go to the marketplace, where an animal can be bought and sacrificed, though prices are often higher than normal,..."

"Some argue that the greater halal is actually avoiding killing animals at all to eat, although this is a tiny minority among those I interviewed."

"They acknowledge that the vast majority of Halal is pre-stunned and they seek to ban non-stun for both Halal and Kosher and so do not steer into the targeting of one religious group."

"I asked what difference there was for him between being in Bombay and being in Pakistan. He said that for him, as a businessman, there was no difference; business was business. But when you were in India or some other foreign country you were never sure whether the meat had been slaughtered in the correct way; you had to ask and you couldn’t always get answers; you had sometimes to go without."

"The Qur'an says that 'Children are an ornament of life' and Hadith literature views with favour larger families for the greater strength of Ummah, and as such birth control / family planning cannot be in any way compatible with the Shari'ah."

"Should American companies be used to create greater censorship in Islamic countries? or, might this type of activity be bordering on a form of treason?"

"As the internet became widely available to Saudi citizens, the ISU and the Saudi Telecommunications Commission (STC) began to draft rules and regulations related to governance and censorship of anti-Islamic, inappropriate, and illegal online materials."

"There is no denying the fact that the political prestige and military strength of a country depends upon the size of its population. (...) In the Islamic context greater population has a double significance because one cannot wage an effective Jihad without an expanding population."