Rebuttal of Answering-Ansar’s Article “Who Killed Imam Hussain? (AS)”

The Shia propagandists feel the heat when the Sunnis remind them that it was the Shia of Kufa who betrayed Hussain, and that it was this betrayal that led him to his death. To counter this, Answering-Ansar wrote an article defending Shi’ism by claiming that the Kuffans were not really Shia. The basic premise of Answering-Ansar’s article is that while the Kuffans were called “Shia”, they were not the Shia’t Ali but rather the Shia’t Umar, Shia’t Uthman, or the Shia’t Muawiyyah. Anything other than the Shia’t Ali.However, this is a ridicolous interpretation of history, and no historian would claim that Kuffans were anyone other than the Shia’t Ali. But let us provide you with a historical source that the Shia considers authoratative. I kindly refer the reader to “The Origins and Early Development...

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THE HOLY QURAN

Islam appeared in the form of a book: the Quran. Muslims, consider the Quran (sometimes spelled "Koran") to be the Word of God as transmitted by the Angel Gabriel, in the Arabic language, through the Prophet Muhammad. The Muslim view, moreover, is that the Quran supersedes earlier revelations; it is regarded as their summation and completion. It is the final revelation, as Muhammad is regarded as the final prophet - 'the Seal of the Prophets."In a very real sense the Quran is the mentor of millions of Muslims, Arab and non-Arab alike; it shapes their everyday life, anchors them to a unique system of law, and inspires them by its guiding principles. Written in noble language, this Holy Text has done more than move multitudes to tears and ecstasy; it has also, for almost fourteen hundred years,...

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THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHS

With the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was faced with the problem of succession. Who would be its leader? There were four persons obviously marked for leadership: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who had not only accompanied Muhammad to Medina ten years before, but had been appointed to take the place of the Prophet as leader of public prayer during Muhammad's last illness; 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, an able and trusted Companion of the Prophet; 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, a respected early convert; and 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. To avoid contention among various groups, 'Umar suddenly grasped Abu Bakr's hand, the traditional sign of recognition of a new leader. Soon everyone concurred and before dusk Abu Bakr had been recognized as the khalifah of Muhammad. Khalifah- anglicized...

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THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHS

With the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was faced with the problem of succession. Who would be its leader? There were four persons obviously marked for leadership: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who had not only accompanied Muhammad to Medina ten years before, but had been appointed to take the place of the Prophet as leader of public prayer during Muhammad's last illness; 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, an able and trusted Companion of the Prophet; 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, a respected early convert; and 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. To avoid contention among various groups, 'Umar suddenly grasped Abu Bakr's hand, the traditional sign of recognition of a new leader. Soon everyone concurred and before dusk Abu Bakr had been recognized as the khalifah of Muhammad. Khalifah- anglicized...

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REVIVAL IN THE ARAB EAST

Elsewhere in the Arab world, meanwhile, the last vestiges of European political dominance were being eliminated. Egypt, for example, after ousting in 1952 a royal dynasty going back to the 1800s and installing Gamal Abdel Nasser as president, forced the British to relinquish control of the Suez Canal and withdraw from the country. Algeria, ten years later, won its independence from France after six years of bitter warfare. Even earlier, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon had broken their ties with Britain and France.This tumultuous period also saw an increase in the influence of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East. Neither power had played a major role in the early phases of penetration, but this changed as they developed conflicting interests with regard to the Arab-Israeli dispute,...

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ARABIC LITERATURE

The Quran, the primary document of the Islamic faith, is the first Arabic book. Its style, at once vigorous, allusive, and concise, deeply influenced later compositions in Arabic, as it continues to color the mode of expression of native speakers of Arabic, Christian as well as Muslim, both in writing and in conversation.The Quran also largely determined the course of Arabic literature. The earliest Arabic prose came into being not from literary motives, but to serve religious and practical needs, above all the need to fully understand the Islamic revelation and the circumstances of the first Muslim community in the Hijaz. The sayings and actions of the Prophet and his Companions were collected and preserved, at first by memory and then by writing, to be finally collected and arranged by such...

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THE MONGOLS AND THE MAMLUKS

In the thirteenth century still another threat to the Muslim world appeared in the land beyond the Oxus: the Mongols. Led by Genghis Khan, a confederation of nomadic tribes which had already conquered China now attacked the Muslims. In 1220 they took Samarkand and Bukhara. By mid-century they had taken Russia, Central Europe, northern Iran, and the Caucuses, and in 1258, under Hulagu Khan, they invaded Baghdad and put an end to the remnants of the once-glorious 'Abbasid Empire. The ancient systems of irrigation were destroyed and the devastation was so extensive that agricultural recovery, even in the twentieth century, is still incomplete. Because a minor scion of the dynasty took refuge with the Mamluks in Egypt, the 'Abbasid caliphate continued in name into the sixteenth century. In effect,...

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THE GOLDEN AGE

The early 'Abbasids were also fortunate in the caliber of their caliphs, especially after Harun al-Rashid came to the caliphate in 786. His reign is now the most famous in the annals of the 'Abbasids - partly because of the fictional role given him in The Thousand and One Nights (portions of which probably date from his reign), but also because his reign and those of his immediate successors marked the high point of the 'Abbasid period. As the Arab chronicles put it, Harun al-Rashid ruled when the world was young, a felicitous description of what in later times has come to be called the Golden Age of Islam.The Golden Age was a period of unrivaled intellectual activity in all fields: science, technology, and (as a result of intensive study of the Islamic faith) literature - particularly biography,...

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SCIENCE AND SCHOLARSHIP IN AL-ANDALUS

For Europe and Western civilization the contributions of Islamic Spain were of inestimable value. When the Muslims entered southern Spain - which they called al-Andalus - barbarians from the north had overrun much of Europe and the classical civilization of Greece and Rome had gone into eclipse. Islamic Spain then became a bridge by which the scientific, technological, and philosophical legacy of the 'Abbasid period, along with the achievements of al-Andalus itself, passed into Europe.In the first century of Islamic rule in Spain the culture was largely derived from that of the flourishing civilization being developed by the 'Abbasids in Baghdad. But then, during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman III (912-961), Islamic Spain began to make its own contributions.'Abd al-Rahman III was passionately...

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ARABIC WRITING

The Arabs gave to a large part of the world not only a religion - Islam - but also a language and an alphabet. Where the Muslim religion went, the Arabic language and Arabic writing also went. Arabic became and has remained the national language - the mother tongue - of North Africa and all the Arab countries of the Middle East.Even where Arabic did not become the national language, it became the language of religion wherever Islam became established, since the Quran is written in Arabic, the Profession of Faith is to be spoken in Arabic, and five times daily the practicing Muslim must say his prayers in Arabic. Today, therefore, one can hear Arabic spoken - at least for religious purposes - from Mauritania on the Atlantic, across Africa and most of Asia, and as far east as Indonesia and the...

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THE FAITH OF ISLAM

Islam, in Arabic, means "submission" - submission to the will of God. Faithful Muslims, therefore, submit unreservedly to God's will and obey His precepts as set forth in the Quran and transmitted to mankind by Muhammad, His Messenger.Muslims believe that theirs is the only true faith. Islam, they say, was revealed through a long line of prophets inspired by God. Among them are Ibrahim (Abraham), patriarch of the Arabs through his first son Isma'il (Ishmael); Musa (Moses), who received the Torah (Tawrah); Dawud (David), who spoke through the Psalms (Zabur); and 'Isa (Jesus), who brought the Gospels (Injil). But the full and final revelation came through Muhammad, the last of all prophets, and was embodied in the Quran, which completes and supersedes all previous revelations....

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THE 'ABBASIDS

In the Middle East, during these centuries, the 'Abbasids, after their victory over the Umayyads, had transformed the Umayyads' Arab empire into a multinational Muslim empire. They moved the capital of the empire from Syria to Iraq, where they built a new capital, Baghdad, from which, during the next five centuries, they would influence many of the main events of Islamic history.In the early period of 'Abbasid rule, al-Mansur, the second caliph of the dynasty, continued the reorganization of the administration of the empire along the lines that had been laid down by his Umayyad predecessor, 'Abd al-Malik. Much of the 'Abbasid administration, for example, was left in the hands of well-educated Persian civil servants, many of whom came from families that had traditionally served the Sassanid...

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ISLAM IN SPAIN

By the time 'Abd al-Rahman reached Spain, the Arabs from North Africa were already entrenched on the Iberian Peninsula and had begun to write one of the most glorious chapters in Islamic history.After their forays into France were blunted by Charles Martel, the Muslims in Spain had begun to focus their whole attention on what they called al-Andalus, southern Spain (Andalusia), and to build there a civilization far superior to anything Spain had ever known. Reigning with wisdom and justice, they treated Christians and Jews with tolerance, with the result that many embraced Islam. They also improved trade and agriculture, patronized the arts, made valuable contributions to science, and established Cordoba as the most sophisticated city in Europe.By the tenth century, Cordoba could boast of a...

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Islam and Islamic History in Arabia

THE COMING OF THE WEST:The Western world had for centuries been gradually penetrating most of the areas that had once been part of the Muslim empire, and in the latter part of the nineteenth century, in the vacuum left by the long decay and decline of the Ottoman Empire, European powers came to dominate the Middle East.Among the first Europeans to gain a foothold in the Middle East were the Venetians who, as early as the thirteenth century, had established trading posts in what are now Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, and who controlled much of the shipping between Arab and European ports. Then, in 1497, five years after Ferdinand and Isabella ended Islamic rule in Spain, Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four Portuguese ships around Africa and in 1498 found a new sea route to India from Europe. Dutch,...

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A Brief History of Islam

Mohammad was born in Arabia in the city of Mecca in 570 CE. He came from a prominent and highly respected family. When he was 25 he married a wealthy widow named Khadija. Their marriage was a happy one although only one of their children, Fatima, lived to maturity. Mohammad spent most of his time in solitary meditation. He began to have many disturbing visions. Once he believed he saw the angel Gabriel. Mohammad said that the angel gave him the following command:“Recite, in the name of the Lord who has created,Created man from clots of blood,Recite, seeing that the Lord is the most generous, Who has taught by the pen, Taught man what he did not know.”The Arabic word for “recite” is Qur’an (often called Koran), meaning the reciting or the reading. Thus, the Qur’an, the sacred book of the Muslims,...

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Islam

Muhammad's Allah religion was a counterfeit reaction to Christianity. As Christianity was sweeping across distant lands and was becoming dominate, Satan took elements from the Torah and from Christianity, and he corrupted them. As a younger generation of Muslims, most likely being born into Islam and having little choice, earn college degrees, they see Islam as a violent and backward seventh-century religion. Many of their ancestors were forced into Islam at the point of a sword. Islam is both a culture and a religion, as it tries to deify seventh-century Arabia. Freedoms that U.S. citizens take for granted (speech, religion, press, etc.), are not tolerated by ruling Islamic governance.Islam tolerates no other religions. Muslims are to regard only Islam as acceptable Reflecting Muhammad's...

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Background of Islam

Through their contacts with Jews and Christians, the Meccans acquired a certain awareness of monotheism and developed vague notions of a Supreme Being. They believed, however, that they could gain access to the Supreme Being only through intercessors--gods and goddesses in the form of idols. So they installed 360 such idols in the Ka'bah, which remained there until the Prophet Muhammad destroyed them and reconsecrated the Ka'bah, which subsequently became the holiest shrine of the Islamic religion. (Diller, Daniel C.; The Middle East, Congressional Quartely Inc: Washington, D.C.Judaism and Christianity were the only religions, before Islam, which believed in the One God. Islam has borrowed heavily from both Judaism and Christianity. Muhammed, the founder, was born in 570 AD in Mecca in Arabia....

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Some Basic Facts About Islam

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the U.S. (U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, Oct. 8, 1990). It is growing at a rate of 400% per year in the USA.Half of all the Muslims in the U.S. are African Americans.Islam has mosques in every major city in Europe and is the second largest religion in the world with 1.1 billion followers.Islam has been a dominant force in Asia and Africa for hundreds of years. It is spreading mostly through marriage and breeding in these countries.Countries with a high population of Muslims (Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc.) have a reputation for persecuting Christians.Christian nations in the West tolerate Islam, but Islamic countries are unwilling to tolerate Christianity.Islam is a theocracy, which means that Moslem laws govern both religion and civil state:...

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The Arab/Muslim Confusion

The assessment and appreciation of Islam and its role in the emergence of the modern West by George Sarton is not unique. This issue is important for Muslims as well as non-Muslims. For Muslims it is important because they need to understand the dynamics of rise and fall of nations to which Muslims are and were not immune. The primary factors behind the decline of the Muslim world were internal, even though there were external, competitive forces at work in causing the shift of the center of civilization. For non-Muslims it is important to recognize and understand that the modern west did not emerge in a vacuum. Even though there were military conflicts between the world of Islam and the west, there were deeper factors that were positively received and utilized by the west not only to reconnect...

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The History of Islam in Africa

The History of Islam in Africa is the first book to approach the role of Islam in Africa on a continent-wide basis. Until now more emphasis has been put on Islam in West Africa than any other region. The 24 contributors to the book, who all have impeccable credentials, have focused on the historical, cultural, and environmental factors which influenced diverse, local forms of Islam. This diversity has produced widely varied religious meanings, beliefs, and practices that have molded African communities which at the same time adapted Islam to its new settings.In the fourteen centuries since the introduction of Islam, Muslims have played important roles in Africa's development. Muslims were important in the process of state-building, in creating commercial networks between parts of the continent,...

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Women Scholars of Hadith

Islam, as a religion which (unlike Christianity) refused to attribute gender to the Godhead,1 and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an intermediary between creature and Creator, started life with the assurance that while men and women are equipped by nature for complementary rather than identical roles, no spiritual superiority inheres in the masculine principle.2 As a result, the Muslim community was happy to entrust matters of equal worth in God's sight. Only this can explain why, uniquely among the classical Western religions, Islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends.Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith,...

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The Expansion of Islam

Mohammad Ali writes in his article, "The condition of Arabs before the advent of the Holy Prophet and the Transformation He Wrought in Them," says that "From such debasing idolatry, the holy Prophet uplift the whole of Arabia in a brief span of twenty years . . . is not this the mightiest miracle that the world has ever witnessed ? . . . It was this fallen humanity whom the Holy prophet raised to the highest level of moral rectitude."Mohammad Ali writes in his article, "The condition of Arabs before the advent of the Holy Prophet and the Transformation He Wrought in Them," says that "From such debasing idolatry, the holy Prophet uplift the whole of Arabia in a brief span of twenty years . . . is not this the mightiest miracle that the world has ever witnessed ? . . . It was this fallen humanity...

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History of Islam

The world Islam means "submission to God". The Holy Quran describes Islam as an Arabic word Deen (way of life). The followers of Islam are called Muslims. The literal meaning of Muslim is "one who surrenders" or "submits" to the will of God. In order to understand Islam, the basic portrayal of belief in Quran must be considered. According to Quran, those who submit to one God are Muslims. Aisha Y. Musa writes in his article, Jews in the Quran: An Introduction that, "Islam is the religion of all the prophets from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. (10:71-72, 84; 2:128-133; 5:110-112)." Quran also declares that all the prophets who came before Mohammad and their followers were all Muslims.The origin of Islam dates back to the creation of the world. All the prophets who came...

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The Expansion of Islam

Mohammad Ali writes in his article, "The condition of Arabs before the advent of the Holy Prophet and the Transformation He Wrought in Them," says that "From such debasing idolatry, the holy Prophet uplift the whole of Arabia in a brief span of twenty years . . . is not this the mightiest miracle that the world has ever witnessed ? . . . It was this fallen humanity whom the Holy prophet raised to the highest level of moral rectitude."Mahatma Gandhi, in his unique style, says "Some one has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam - Islam that civilized Spain, Islam that took the torch light to Morocco and preached to the world the Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the Advent of Islam. They may claim equality with the white races. They may well dread...

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History of Islam

The world Islam means "submission to God". The Holy Quran describes Islam as an Arabic word Deen (way of life). The followers of Islam are called Muslims. The literal meaning of Muslim is "one who surrenders" or "submits" to the will of God. In order to understand Islam, the basic portrayal of belief in Quran must be considered. According to Quran, those who submit to one God are Muslims. Aisha Y. Musa writes in his article, Jews in the Quran: An Introduction that, "Islam is the religion of all the prophets from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. (10:71-72, 84; 2:128-133; 5:110-112)." Quran also declares that all the prophets who came before Mohammad and their followers were all Muslims.The origin of Islam dates back to the creation of the world. All the prophets who came...

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Female Companions of the Prophet Muhammad

Despite the stereotypes, Muslim women have always played a vital role in the Muslim community, and not only in traditional roles. Early Muslim women served the community through scholarship, teaching, nursing, and other important activities. Far from being downtrodden slaves to the men in their lives, these women served Allah and their community with bravery and wisdom. Muslim women look to them as role mod...

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Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) and Trust in Allah (SWT)

When Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the chief of the polytheists of Makkah, saw approximately ten thousand strong army of Islam (during the conquest of Makkah), he was filled with awe and astonishment. As he walked beside the battalions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), he murmured: "I wish I knew why Muhammad became victorious over me. How did he manage to gather for himself such a powerful army despite being alone and without support in Makkah?"Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) overheard him. "We became victorious over you by Allah's (SWT) assistance!" he said, placing his hand upon Abu Sufyan ibn Harb's shoulder.In the battle of Hunain, when the enemy suddenly and unsuspectingly attacked the forces of Islam, chaos reigned supreme within the Muslim ranks. When Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) watched this state of the Muslim...

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Story of Heraclius, the Emperor of Byzantine [Prophet Mohammad (saw) spreading Islam]

The tides of events, sometimes, foretell about the future developments in history. These prophecies get special importance if they are from the source of revelation. In such cases, we ought to receive such implications, and after pondering over them, we have to acknowledge them, and prepare for their occurrence. The appointment (al-Mab'ath) of Prophet Mohammad (saw) to prophetic mission was among the subjects which were foretold from long before.Noble Qur'an explicitly states that 'the People of the Book read about him and his traits, and they are aware that their prophets have elucidated the appearance of such leader.'"Those who follow the Apostle-Prophet, the Ummi, whom they find written down with them in the Tawrat and the Injeel, (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes...

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Story of Khosrow Parviz, the King of Iran (Persia) [Miracle of Prophet Mohammad's (saw) prayer]

Of the kings to whom Prophet Mohammad (saw) had sent letters inviting them to Islam, one was Khosrow Parviz, the King of Iran (Persia). The letter was sent to him through Abdullah ibn Hudhafah.In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.From Muhammad, Allah's Messenger, to Khosrow, the King of Persia. Greetings to the followers of the right path, to those obedient to Allah and His Prophet, to those who bear witness to Allah's Oneness, who worship the One God, and who bear witness to the prophecy of Allah's servant, Muhammad.Truly I call upon you to obey Allah's command and convert to Islam. I am Allah's Messenger to all the people so that living hearts will be awakened and illuminated and so that infidels will have no excuses. Submit to Islam so you will be safe and immune, and if...

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Prophet Mohammad (saw): Universal Mission of inviting people to Islam

Arabia, during the time of Prophet Mohammad (saw), was a country without any central authority. It was a country far from the civilized nations of those days. At the time Prophet Mohammad (saw) was spreading Islam; asking people to turn away from worshipping idols to worshipping Allah (SWT), the Almighty, the All-Knower, and the Master.In 6/7 AH (628CE), Prophet Mohammad (saw) dispatched several representatives to rulers and kings of different parts of the world, each with a letter in which he invited them to become Muslims and submit to Allah's (SWT) faith. All these letters had the same purport, that is, the invitation to monotheism and Islamic fraternity. Many of the letters were met with a favorable response whilst others were rejected.In many cases, the messengers of Prophet Mohammad...

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