A British Neo-Nazi's Journey to Islam By Abdul Aziz Myatt Islam - submission to the will of Allah. I converted to Islam because there came a time when both my mind and my heart accepted that there was no god but Allah and that Muhammad was His Messenger. All that I had believed and upheld before this conversion is at worst wrong, and at best irrelevant. My duty now, the purpose of my life, is to do the will of Allah, to submit to the will of Allah — to strive, In sha' Allah, to be a good, a devout, Muslim. To live as a Muslim in the way that Allah has decreed, through his Prophet and Messenger Muhammad. One of the many wonderful things which occurred on the day I converted was when the Imam of the Mosque explained that by accepting Islam I had begun a new life — Allah had forgiven me my sins, and it was as if I started my life again with my Book of Life, the record of my sins, empty. I have a new life now, a new identity — for I am a Muslim, and all Muslims are my brothers, wherever they happen to live, and whatever race they are said to belong to. How was it that I, a Westerner with a history of political involvement in extreme "right-wing" organizations, came to be standing one Sunday outside a Mosque with a sincere desire to go inside and convert to Islam? The simple answer is that it was the will of Allah — He guided me there. As for my political past, it belongs to the past. All I can do now is to trust in Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Lord of all the worlds. As Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid — a distinguished scholar — has said: "Asking for details of a persons past and wanting to know what sins they might have committed when they were ignorant about Islam is not right at all. Allah covers peoples' sins and loves to see them covered (i.e. not dragged out into the open). So long as a person has repented, his sins have been wiped out. Islam deletes whatever came before, so why should we ask questions that will only embarrass people? Allah accepts people's repentance without their having to confess or expose their sins to any other person. A number of the sahabah [companions of the Prophet] had committed adultery and murder repeatedly, or had buried infant girls alive, or stolen things, but when they entered Islam they were the best of people. No one needs to be reminded of a shameful past; it is over and done with, and Allah is the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful." In terms of the 'Western' explanation that most Westerners will seek in order to try and understand my conversion, I suppose my journey toward Islam began when I first went to Egypt and, as a tourist, visited a Mosque. The Adhan — the call to prayer — had begun and I was struck by its beauty. It is fair to say my heart responded to it in a way that, at the time, I did not understand. Then, I knew little about Islam, but each time I visited Egypt I learnt a little more. I talked to several Egyptians about their religion, and bought a copy of an English translation of the Qur'an. The little bits I read made a lot of sense to me, and the more I learnt about Islam, the more admirable it seemed to be. The more Muslims I met, the more I admired them. But I was still in thrall to my own ego, my own Western way of life, and by two other things which prevented me from fully appreciating Islam and investigating it further. First, my life-long belief in Nature: the belief that we somehow belong to Mother Earth in a special, almost pagan, way and that our own consciousness is the consciousness of Nature. Second, that it was our nation, our national culture, which defined us and which therefore, was of supreme importance. But, in my heart, I always felt a universal, honorable, compassion, as I always felt the need to be aware of the numinous, the sacred. Many times in my life I believed this "numinosity" derived from God, the supreme Being — while at other times I believed it derived from Nature, from the cosmos itself: from what I often termed "the gods". For decades, I wavered between these two versions regarding the origin of the sacred. Because of this awareness, these feelings, I was not as many people — and journalists in particular — believed me to be: some sort of fanatical political extremist who 'hated' people. And yet it is true to say that I was perhaps too arrogant — too sure of myself and the understanding I believed I had achieved — to give in to this compassion, this awareness, and accept I was simply a humble creation of an all-powerful supreme Being. Instead, I believed I could make if not a significant difference then at least some difference to this world, based on my own beliefs and understanding. Conversion My conversion really begins when I started a new job, working long hours on a farm, often by myself. The close contact with Nature, the toil of manual labor, really did restore my soul, my humanity, and I became really aware of the Oneness of the Cosmos and of how I was but part of this wonderful Order which God had created. In my heart and in my mind I was convinced that this Order had not arisen by chance — it was created, as I myself was created for a purpose. It was as if my true nature had fought a long battle with Shaitan, who had deceived me, but who could deceive me no more. I felt the truth of the one and only Creator in my heart and in my mind. For the first time in my life, I felt truly humble. Then, as if by chance (but it was the guidance of Allah) I took from my bookcase one of the copies of the Qur'an I had bought after one of my visits to Egypt. I began to read it properly — before, I had merely "dipped into it", reading a few verses, here and there. What I found was logic, reason, truth, revelation, justice, humanity and beauty. Then, with a desire to find out more about Islam, I "surfed the Internet" for Islamic sites. I found one with audio files of Adhan and Salah and verses from the Qur'an. Again, my heart responded. There was no need for words. In the next few days I found more web-sites as I read all I could about Islamic beliefs. Stripped of my prejudices, my arrogance — no longer deceived by Shaitan — here was everything that I myself felt, and always had felt to be true: dignity, honor, trust, justice, community, truth, an awareness of God on a daily basis, the need to be self-disciplined, the spiritual way before materialism, and the recognition of how we, as individuals, are subservient to God. I marveled at the life of Muhammad (pbuh) and at the spread of Islam — at how those early Muslims, once "rough and ready" nomads, had through only the words, deeds and revelations of the Prophet (pbuh), created perhaps the most civilized civilization there has ever been. I became enthralled reading about the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), for there was something remarkable here: he seemed to represent everything I felt in my heart and my mind to be noble and civilized. In fact, he seemed to me to be the perfect human being: the perfect example to follow. The more I discovered about Islam, the more it answered all the doubts, all the questions, of my past thirty years. It really did feel as if I had "come home" — as if I had at last found myself. It was like the time I first went to Egypt and wandered around Cairo. The sounds, the smells, the scenes, the people — I really felt I belonged there, among "Islamic Cairo" with minarets and the Adhan around me. Personally, I have always loathed cities and large towns — but Cairo was somehow different. I liked it (and still do) — despite the overcrowding, the noise, the traffic. Now, I would sit for hours listening to recordings of the Adhan (which I understood) and the Qur'an in Arabic (which I did not understand). Truly, here — I felt — was the numinous. Thus, my own conversion became not a question, but a duty. For I had found and accepted the truth that there was no god but Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) was His Messenger. So it was that I came to enter a Mosque to say that I wished to convert to Islam. They were so pleased and so friendly — so brotherly — that it brings tears to my eyes now as I remember it, and I thank Allah that I found the true Way in the end. In my new life, I have a lot to learn, and a desire to learn, as I believe I have the best guides anyone can have — the holy Qur'an and the example of the noble Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Prayer Is Better Than Sleep By Idris Tawfiq British Writer and Speaker When young Muslims meet others for the first time and find out that they are Muslim, often one of the very first questions they ask each other is, "Do you pray?" It's as if this is their touchstone to see if the person they have met is a real Muslim or not. Calling yourself Muslim is one thing, being a Muslim is something else. We all know deep down, don't we, that praying five times a day is at the heart of Islam? It is one of the things that distinguishes a Muslim from everyone else in the world; that all the activities of life can be made significant by the cycle of prayer and praise which we offer to Almighty Allah. So why, then, do we have such a problem being faithful to prayer? I performed `Umrah for the first time last April. It was one of the most important experiences of my life and it is still having its effects on me now. Being so close to the Ka`bah was a deeply moving experience. Being at the very place where our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), like all the prophets before him, had walked and prayed, was amazing. One of the things that hit me most about being in Makkah, amongst so many others, was when the call to Prayer sounded for Fajr, the Dawn Prayer. Thousands of people appeared from every direction and headed towards the Ka`bah for prayer. Getting up in the middle of the night wasn't difficult at all, because the experience of praying at the Ka`bah was so moving. At the time, moving with the vast crowd, I couldn't help thinking about what it is usually like back home. Those getting up and going to the mosque for the Dawn Prayer are certainly a minority, aren't they? Away from Makkah, it is all too easy to ignore the Adhan completely and stay in the comfort of one's bed. At special times like Ramadan, or when we go on pilgrimage, it seems so much easier to be faithful to prayer and to take Islam so much more seriously. How many of us, for example, attended Tarawih Prayers in the mosque during Ramadan, even though we might occasionally miss one or two of the obligatory prayers? It's one of life's paradoxes that we want so much to be good, and yet we find ourselves falling into the same old traps and doing things we later regret. How odd we are as human beings! We can quite happily sit in front of the television for hours or sit idly chatting on the Net to no one in particular, yet we can't manage to set aside ten minutes to pray. We do pray, of course, when we want something. Prayer is no problem for us at all then. It comes quite naturally and is no inconvenience at all. The minute a plane begins to plummet to the ground because of engine failure, even the least religious person on board raises his hands in prayer. When a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness or when we desperately want an interview to go well, we pray. The Words of the Adhan The very words of the Adhan call us to prayer and to security. There is no greater security than knowing that we are in the presence of Allah, Who controls all things. We fret so much and we waste so much time worrying about what might happen, when Allah is guiding everything and we have nothing to fear. How beautiful it is, for example, to get up in the middle of the night, when all is still and calm, and to prostrate ourselves in prayer before the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth. No one else is around and we can be completely ourselves before Him, pouring out our hearts, asking, begging, and thanking. If we want something from a friend, we have to couch our request with explanations: "Can I borrow such and such because…". With Allah we need no explanations. He knows more about what we need than we know ourselves. All we need to do is to bow down in prayer. The very movement of the prayers is relaxing to our bodies and it helps us to put our lives into the proper context. In the presence of such greatness, life is very fragile. For Muslims, the call to Prayer is like an air raid siren. In times of war or danger, an air raid siren will sound to tell the citizens to run and take cover. No one thinks twice about doing so. The siren sounds and you run as fast as your legs can carry you to a place of safety.The Adhan is just the same, but it is calling us to escape, not from bombs falling from the sky, but from the everyday concerns and worries of life which often threaten to crush us. It calls us, instead, to take shelter in Allah alone, Who knows us and cares for us and Who wants the best for us. How quickly we should rush to prayer, taking refuge in Allah. How quickly we should leave the inconsequential things of life and turn in prayer to life's Creator. We have all seen old people in the mosque and been deeply touched by this old man or that old lady who spends so much time in prayer. Praying has made a difference to them. It is very moving, too, to see a man come into the mosque from the street, straight from his work which is both back breaking and hard, and to see him prostrate himself in prayer, praying, perhaps, for his children or for the money he needs just to make ends meet. With our foreheads touching the ground, we are all equal. There is no pretending when we pray. Who Should We Thank, and How? We are truly blessed as Muslims. Allah has given us everything we need to live a good life, which will bring us happiness. The five pillars of Islam guide us to Paradise. The five daily prayers are a way of giving meaning to our lives and of setting aside just a few minutes each day to return thanks for all we have. Every Ramadan we make lots of resolutions about how we are going to improve. The greatest resolution of all is to be faithful to prayer. All our talk about Muslims and about Islam is worthless if we don't ground it in prayer. Being faithful to the five daily prayers changes us for the better. Better than watching TV, better than chatting on the Internet, prayer on a regular basis re-charges our spiritual batteries and makes us feel good. What's more, regular prayer makes us better people, better Muslims, since its effects stay with us for the rest of the day. In the words of the Adhan which call us to get out of bed and to pray Fajr, the Dawn Prayer, "Prayer is better than sleep." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idris Tawfiq is a British Muslim writer who lives and works in Egypt. He has spent many years working with young people. He was head of religious education in different schools in the United Kingdom and, perhaps more remarkably, before embracing Islam he was a Roman Catholic priest. You can visit website at www.idristawfiq.com.

Things are beginning to come out into the open,,, Hamas acted on a very real fear of a US-sponsored coup Washington's fingerprints are all over the chaos that has hit Palestinians. The last thing they now need is an envoy called Blair Jonathan Steele Friday June 22, 2007 The Guardian Did they jump or were they pushed? Was Hamas's seizure of Fatah security offices in Gaza unprovoked, or a pre-emptive strike to forestall a coup by Fatah? After last week's turmoil, it becomes increasingly important to uncover its origins. The fundamental cause is, of course, well known. Israel, aided by the US, was not prepared to accept Hamas's victory in last year's Palestinian elections. Backed by a supine EU, the two governments decided to boycott their new Palestinian counterparts politically and punish Palestinian voters by blocking economic aid. Their policies had a dramatic effect, turning Gaza even more starkly into an open prison and creating human misery on a massive scale. The aim was to turn voters against Hamas - a strategy of ********* as well as cynicism, since outside pressure usually produces resistance rather than surrender. The policy shocked even moderate western officials like James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank chief, whom the Americans had appointed to help Gaza's economy before the Hamas election victory. "The result was not to build more economic activity but to build more barriers," he said this week while explaining why he resigned in disagreement with US and Israeli strategy. It is also well known that Hamas was as surprised by its election victory as everyone else and that it offered its rival, Fatah, a coalition government of national unity. The offer was refused. If this was done initially out of wounded pride, Fatah's rejection of Hamas's regularly repeated overtures increasingly appeared to be coordinated with Washington as part of the boycott strategy. Reports have been circulating for months of a more sinister side to the boycott. According to them, the US decided last year on a plan to arm and train Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard in a deliberate effort to confront and defeat Hamas militarily. Israel has already locked up several dozen Hamas legislators and mayors from the West Bank. The next stage was to do the same in Gaza but have Palestinians, rather than Israelis, run the crackdown. Arming insurgents against elected governments has a long US pedigree and it is no accident that Elliott Abrams, the deputy national security adviser and apparent architect of the anti-Hamas subversion, was a key player in Ronald Reagan's supply of weapons to the Contras who fought Nicaragua's elected government in the 1980s. Documents doing the rounds in the Middle East purport to have evidence for Abrams's "hard coup" strategy. One text recounts Washington's objectives as expressed in US officials' conversations with an Arab government. These are, among others, "to maintain President Abbas and Fatah as the centre of gravity on the Palestinian scene", "avoid wasting time in accommodating Hamas's ideological conditions", "undermine Hamas's political status through providing for Palestinian economic needs", and "strengthen the Palestinian president's authority to be able to call and conduct early elections by autumn 2007". The document is dated March 2, less than a month after Saudi Arabia brokered the Mecca agreement under which Abbas finally agreed with Hamas on a unity government. The deal upset the Israelis and Washington because it left Hamas's prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in charge. The document suggests the US wanted to sabotage it. Certainly, according to Hamas officials whom a depressed Abbas later briefed, Abbas was told to scrap Mecca at every subsequent meeting he has had with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert or with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Abrams. Most ominously, the document of US objectives outlined a $1.27bn programme that would add seven special battalions, totalling 4,700 men, to the 15,000 Abbas already has in his presidential guard and other security forces, which were also to be given extra training and arms. "The desired outcome will be the transformation of Palestinian security forces and provide for the president of the Palestinian Authority to able to safeguard decisions such as dismissing the cabinet and forming an emergency cabinet," the document says. Alastair Crooke, a former Middle East adviser to the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and current head of a research institute in Beirut, points out that Israel blocked some arms deliveries. It was wary of sending too many into Gaza for fear Fatah might lose them, as indeed has happened. In this sense, only part of the plan went ahead. (Britain has played a small part in helping Abbas's security forces. It has provided about £350,000 of "non-lethal" equipment this year for protecting the Karni freight crossing between Gaza and Israel.) But Crooke says Hamas was irritated that the Mecca deal was being sabotaged, notably by the refusal of Mohammed Dahlan, Fatah's long-time Gaza strongman and head of the Preventive Security Forces, to accept the authority of the independent interior minister appointed to the unity government. "Dahlan refused to deal with him, and put his troops on the streets in defiance of the interior minister. Hamas felt they had little option but to take control of security away from forces which were in fact creating insecurity," Crooke says. Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas spokesman, confirms the movement thought it had to move fast. In his words, last week's events were "precipitated by the American and Israeli policy of arming elements of the Fatah opposition who want to attack Hamas and force us from office". While Hamas has successfully blocked the US-Fatah plans for Gaza, Abbas is trying to implement them in the West Bank by forming an emergency government. The policy is doomed since the constitution says such a government can only last 30 days. Parliament has to renew it by a two-thirds majority, and parliament is controlled by Hamas. The only sensible policy for Abbas must be to end the effort to marginalise Hamas. He should go back to the Mecca agreement and support a unity government. Even now, Hamas says it is willing to do so. Where does all this leave the White House idea to involve Tony Blair as a Middle Eastern envoy? It creates a "coalition of the discredited" - Bush, Olmert and Blair - and sounds like something from a satire since Blair has no credibility with Hamas or most other Palestinians. Better to leave it to the Saudis to revive the Mecca deal, or wait until Abbas realises he has fallen into a trap. Neither common sense nor democratic principles, let alone time, are on Fatah's side. CiF

Speedy gonzales has left Islington :cool: Bob, 187 chin up lads.

Whats going on man?

Lack security prevented it from happening. Why does it need millions of dollars to finance? Why not just sit under a tree to sort things out saxib?

^^So this is one is actually 'secure enough' miya? Lets just hope people turn up this time!

^^Things are very rosy i presume?

So there was no venue in Mug before this one? I know EVERY bit of news will be spun to make the TFG look good ya Duke. But come on saxib. Your slipping here,,,,

Same clan or not, still a case of trying to lay claim to another's territory no?

So we have someone trying to lay claim to another's land/area miya? Sounds familiar

What does it take to arrange a venue Duke? A phone call?

Originally posted by Faarax-Brown: quote:Originally posted by Castro: [qb] ^^^ He'd like to say the government lost but that would mean labeling his kinsmen as terrorists. A rock and a hard place really. You are what the coastal swahili people of east africa Call, Sumu Baridi ,which literaly means, Soft/Smooth/painless Poison. Very fitting

Its only fitting the originator of the thread is the first on the 100th page. Cant compare this great thread to the BOREDOM thread. This thread is not the ramblings of Mr

^^I know and thats the reason I'm not a big fan. Sports section a little quiet. No major tournaments (apart from the Asia Cup soomaaha Rocko )

I live in Islamic Banking Capital aka Dubai. I hear these things ie Sukuks to finance takeover/projects on a daily basis and bank with the oldest Islamic Bank in the world. I was lost in it all at first now its just a case of accepting it as an alternative to conventional banking. I will leave the rest to the experts and sheikhs.

Originally posted by NGONGE: quote:Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: i think i should congratulate you, Northern, and some other for your upcoming marriage ,,,, may be in 10yrs ,, no ?? Don't bother with Northerner. He's what's usually known in qaat circles as baarixi LoooooooL, how did I miss that?

Bobby, good to see you back akhi. Hope all is well in SA IA. I really can’t remember the last time I did anything exciting or adventurous. I’m a bit of a boring young man. Well I did think of going to Tel Aviv last year for an interview. I wasn’t going to take the job but wanted to make a dash to Jerusalem and pray at Al Aqsa. I was advised against it. Driving down the M1 at 130 mph was probably the last bit of adventure one had.

Good article Rahima. JZK

I have seen one Indian Film (if you can call it that) in the space of about 18 years. Bride and Prejudice

Akhi Nur By rights of the people being non-existant i meant their rights were being curtailed by criminals etc in that city/area. Their rights exist but they were not able to practice those rights due to the curcumstances. Hence why they sought those rights. You are right. Allah SWT will judge accordingly.

Juice?

Anyone remember Kids n Play's Class Act?

Indian Films fans :rolleyes: Bride and Prejudice is the only one i would call quality

ask yourself this, what does a mere nomad know about an Atheism when such word doesn’t even exist in your language? Wa wax lala yaabo!