Islam101

Friday, October 30, 2009

Pictures for Prayer

Takbeer:

Qiyam:

Rukoo':

Sujood: Isn't the baby cute?

Jalsah:

Dua':

PS. Sorry if the pictures are too far apart or messy! my computer went emo on me!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Prayer

Prayer or salat is the second pillar of Islam. The reasons and benefits of praying are:

To obey God's command

Salat is a way to worship God.
Salat is a direct relationship between you and God. Pretty much like a connection. It is the time in which you worship him, and ask him for forgiveness and guidance.

Increases one's spirituality.
Salat helps you get rid of: Depression, Loneliness (Because when you're praying, you feel very close to God spiritually) Migraines, and headaches, sinus, and pain in the back and knees.

Salat teaches us to be on time, not only with God, but with our worldly appointments as well.

Salat encourages purity of body, clothes, heart, mind, and spirit.

Salat encourages us to memorize verses of the Quran to recite in prayer. Thus making us have better memory.
It minimizes our arrogance when we bow forward and prostrate and inspires us to be humble and to acquire humility.

Praying in a congregation encourages unity, and oneness. During times of prayers Muslims from all over the world prostrate and pray in the direction of Makkah. This shows the unity of muslims.

In order to pray, a muslim must make abolution (Called Wudu' in arabic) Meaning they must purify themselves. To make wudu', a muslim must rinse the following body parts with water:

Hands (Mandatory)

Mouth (Optional but highly recommended)

Nose (Optional but highly recommended)

Arms (From wrist to elbow) (Mandatory)

Face (Mandatory)

Ears (Optional but highly recommended)

The top of the head (Mandatory)

Feet (Ankles down) (Mandatory)

I would like to talk about wudu' and the nullifiers of wudu' in further detail later on, but for now I'd like to focus on prayer.

This is how you pray:

Make a niyyah or intention, to pray to God.

Say the takbir: Allahu Akbar (God is Great)

Put your left hand over your chest, with your right hand over it. This position is called Qiyam. You then recite Surat(A chapter from the Quran) Al-Fatiha: Bismillahi Ar-rahman Ar-raheem: In the name of God the most Gracious the most Merciful (All surahs begin with this, except for one), Alhamdu lillahi rabbil alamin: All praises be to God, the Lord of the Universe, Ar-rahman Ar-raheem: The most Gracious the most Mericful, Maliki yawmi deen: Sovereign of the Day of Judgement, Iyaka Na'badu wa iyaka nasta'in: You alone we worship, amd your help we seek, Ihdina sirat al-mustaqeem: Guide us on the straight path Sirat al-lathina an-amta alayhim, ghayril maghdoobi alayhim wala ad-daleen: The path of those whom you have bestowed your favor, not that of those you are angry with or have gone astray. And then you may recite any other surah from the Quran.

Then you make Rukoo' Which is basically bending forward, with your hands on your knees. And you say "Subhana rabi al-athim" three times. It means "Glorified is my God he is the Greatest"

Then you stand straight again and say "Sami Allahu Liman Hameeda" Which means "Allah heard all those who praised him" and then you say "Rabbana wa Laka Al-Hamd" which means "Oh our Lord, our praise is for you"

Then you make Sujood, (which is done twice in a row)by putting your face, hands, knees, and toes on the ground and say "Subhana Rabi al-Ala" which means, "Glorified is my Lord, He is the Highest"

Then you make Jalsah (If you are on your 2nd Rakah, which means you have done the qiyam, ruku or another name for it is Qa'dah, which is basically sitting with your hands palm-down on your knees. Then you say the Tashahud (Which is in arabic, but I will translate): Part 1: All compliments, all physical prayer, and all monitary worship is for Allah. Peace be upon you, oh Prophet, and Allah's mercy and blessings. Peace be upon us, and all the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except for Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is his slave and messenger. Part 2: Oh Allah send grace and honor on Muhammad, and on the family and true folowers of Muhammad. Just as you sent grace and honor on Ibraheem and the family and true followers of Ibraheem. Surely you are praiseworthy and the Great. Oh Allah send your blessing on Muhammad and the true followers of Muhammad just as you sent blessings to Ibraheem and the true followers of Ibraheem. Surely, you are praiseworthy, the Great.

Then you make Taslim. Which is turning your head to your right shoulder first, saying, "Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatu allah" which means, "Peace be upon you and blessings of Allah" Then you turn your head to your left shoulder and say the same thing. This ends your prayer.

If you want to ask God for something in particular after prayer, you make Dua. You can actually do Dua at any time, but most people prefer to do it right after prayer, since this is when their hearts are their purest.

If you did not understand some of the terms I used i.e. Qiyam, Sujood, etc, then you may look at the Pictures for Prayer Post. Or if you do not understand everything I've said in general (which is ok :) and want something more visual then you can watch the video, just click on the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kScrL8m1qms

There are five daily prayer that muslims must pray:

Other, than the five daily prayers, there are many other different types of prayers for other occasions:

Salatul Eidain: Eidul Fitr Prayer, and Eidul Adha Prayer: these are prayed on the days of Eid. (Mandatory)

Salatul Janazah: Funeral Salat

Salatul Duha: After sunrise and before non. (In between Fajr and Thuhr prayers)

Salatull Taraweeh: Performed during month of Ramadan, and after Salatul Isha.

Salatul Haajah: For whenver a person is in trouble or distress.

Salatul Tawbah: When a person has made a mistake, and wants to ask for God's forgiveness.

Salatul Istikharah: When a person is confused and wants God to guide him or her to choose the right decision.

Salatul Istisqaa': When there is a drought.

Salatul Khawf: When people are struck in fear, for example if there is a earthquake, a person would pray this prayer.

Salatul Tasbeeh: Can be done anytime.

Salatul Kusoof and Khusoof: When a solar or lunar eclipse occurs.

Salatul Tahiyatul Masjid: When one enters a masjid, they can pray this prayer.

Salt after Tawaf: During Umrah or Hajj, after one makes Tawaf.

Most of these prayers aren't mandatory, but are highly recommended for good deeds.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Shahadah

The term Shahadah means to bear witness or to give a testimony. When someone wants to become muslim, they say: "I believe that there is no god but God {Allah}, and that Muhammad is his Messenger" But you can't just say this and become muslim, you have to mean and believe in it with all your heart.
Now, I'd like to talk about the existence of ONE God. Islam is a monothiestic religion, which means that people who follow it believe that there is only ONE God.
Now, I'd like to address some of the questions that atheists have towards God and Islam. And just prove God's existence.

How can you prove God exists?

If he does exist then why did he create us?

How can you believe in a book that was written centuries ago?

Answer 1: How can you prove that God doesn't exist? God's existence is evident in everything. The universe could not have just happened out of randomness. When you look at a train or cellphone or computer, you know that somebody built them, nobody would say they came together by themselves. Same with the universe (which by the way is way more complex then a computer or train.) When you are sick, you go to a doctor not someone who's in the circus right? The same applies to God. He knows what's best for us and has designed our world to match our needs. So we should look up to him for guidance. Some people claim that if they see a miracle from God then they would believe in him. Look at the human body! It is so perfect, and works in perfect harmony. Here are links to some videos that talk about miracles of the human body(Not to mention the human brain, behavior, and emotions):

The air contains 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and 0.97% is made up of other gases. If there was just one more percent of oxygen in the air, we would die. Same with the amount of nitrogen. So it couldn't have happened randomly, because there must've been someone up there to know exactly how much oxygen and nitrogen should be in the air, so that we could breathe. There is no randomness in creation, and everything was created for a reason and is based on an order.

Earth spins at about 1,000 miles per hour, and goes around the sun at about 67,000 miles an hour. It is also about 150 million kilometers away from the sun. If the earth spun faster, then there wouldn't be enough daytime, and if it spun slower there would be too much daylight. If it were even a little closer to the sun, we would burn from the heat, and if it were a little farther, we would freeze. So who couldv'e known this? There must've been a powerful being who knew this and put the sun and earth at exactly the correct distance apart so that we humans could survive.

We are protected by the powerful sunrays by the ozone layer. Who couldv'e known that we would need such a layer? It is very unlikely this happened by accident. There is a specific amount of oxygen and other gases in each layer of the ozone layer: http://paos.colorado.edu/~toohey/Fig_15.jpg

Answer 2: First of all, God can do whatever he wants, he is GOD! There are reasons given to us, according to the Quran:

To worship him

To be his custodians on Earth, which means, he created us to be in charge of managing his creations on earth (By his authority)

To test us

And we must always keep in mind that God is the most- Wise, and I'm sure there are other reasons, but we just won't understand because of our limited knowledge and capacity to think.

Answer 3: Firstly, the Quran wasn't written it was revealed. Second, to check for authenticity you should look for the following things:

Check for grammatical and historical mistakes and check to see if it contradicts itself.

Check if there are more than one version, and check if they contradict each other.

See how the book psycologically effects a person.

The Quran has no grammatical or historical mistakes, and doesn't contradict itself. There is only one version of the Quran. The psycological effect on the person is amazing. In the Prophet's time, muslims would recite the Quran and passerbys who weren't muslim would cry from the beauty of the words and immediately become muslim. That occurs today too, but not everyone knows arabic, so when they study the translations, they become muslim. And the Prophet could not have made the Quran because he was illiterate.

Many people don't believe in Muhammad as a Prophet because they say he has no miracle. But, he did have a miracle, and it was the Quran. Its miracles are:

It's language is far better and higher in standards then the highest known form of Arabic, yet anyone who's literate can understand it. Nobody has ever been able to change or imitate the Quran at all from the time it was revealed until now. And anyone who reads it over and over, never gets tired or bored of it.

It contains scientific facts that have been known to science only recently, and doesn't contradict any branch of science. Here are some examples:

There is less oxgen in the air, the higher the elevation. {10:62}

Each human being has a unique and indivisual fingerprint {75:4}

The embryo has three coverings {39:6}

Matter is made up of small particles {10:62}

News about past and future events were accurate: In one verse, it mentioned that the Byzantine Empire would overcome the Persian empire. Isn't this what happened? It also accurately talks about past events. It accurately talks about previous prophets and their scriptures.

It was revealed to someone who couldn't read or write.

Don't believe me? Check this link:

Part 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaqgo2jDbfA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnmkcQLKXY

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFSc_XkHNk&NR=1

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ocy45kzlg&NR=1

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFFzi8FMYQ&NR=1

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii3Wh07hBTg&NR=1

Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S43s-ZuVZt0&NR=1

Or pick up a Quran that has been translated to English from the library, or online and see for yourself!

If these links that I've written don't work go to harunyahya.com and look at the videos. Sorry if I overburdened you with sites, but trust me you will be amazed by what you learn.

Introduction

There are five pillars of Islam. In order to be considered a Muslim, they are:

The Shahadah
Praying five times a day
Zakat
Fasting In Ramadan
Hajj

I will go in depth for each one of these pillars, and I will begin with the most important; the Shahadah.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome! This blog is solely for the purpose of non-muslims who want to know more about Islam or have questions about it. But if you are Muslim you can ask your own questions as well! And I don't mind going off topic once in a while, so I may blog about stuff other than Islam. Please, feel free to leave comments or questions any time you want!