Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA) on Attributes of Allah (SWT)

Book : Ghuniyat-ut-Talibeen
Author : Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA)
Urdu Translation By :  Amanullah Khan Armaan Sarhadi
Chapter 10, Page 187 (Third Topic From End of Chapter)

Attributes of Allah (SWT):

In this book we have briefly stated the recognition of Allah (SWT) and the beliefs of Ahl-ul-Sunnah that has been related in two rounds so that people become aware of them and keep walking on the Path of Allah (SWT).  In one round it has been related that the characteristics of slaves and their attributes should not be associated with Allah (SWT) and those points have been stated that harm Muslims and then those injunctions have been related that are not lawful to associate with Allah (SWT) and those injunctions too have been related that are lawful to glorify Allah (SWT). In the second round we relate about the deviated people and it has been told that on the Last Day their argument will turn out to be false.

Characteristics of Allah (SWT) : Now we shall describe those attributes that are not lawful and it is difficult to associate the same with Allah (SWT). These attributes are immaturity, doubt, hesitation, guessing, mistake, sin, drowsy, sleep, disease, heedlessness, humility, death, deaf, dumb, blind, carnal urge, hatred, desire, anger, sorrow, regret, sad, longing, melancholy, taste, profit, loss, craving, inspiration and lie.

...

... He has no limits and limitations. He (SWT) is neither in the front nor the back, neither beloe nor above, neither before nor later nor any comment or question be raised on Him - such attributes of Allah (SWT) do not occur in Sharah but does occur that Allah (SWT) is on 'Arsh, as it occurs in Qur'an and Hadith. He is the creator of all around and He (SWT) is free from the attributes of measure and phase.

....

From Atheism to Extinction

Nigel Barber thinks : 

Countries with the best standard of living are turning atheist. That shift offers a glimpse into the world's future.

He takes it as an evidence for extinction of religion. And he got it wrong. Let us look at the fertility rates of the countries that are turning atheist.

Belgium (1.65)
Czech Republic (1.27)
Denmark (1.74)
France (2.08)
Germany (1.41)
Japan (1.39)
Netherlands (1.78)
Sweden (1.67)
United Kingdom (1.91)

Except for Japan, protected by its Asian heritage, all of them have below 2.00 fertility rates. Thus these are the states that are going extinct on their own and whether they do down as believers or atheists is of no consequence. So one can not conclude from the data that religion is going extinct.

And now that we are at it we can give one advice also. Do not blame increasing Muslim demography, dear Europe, on Muslims. Try blame it on your atheism. And we can help you in that formulation - if you request nicely.

Kantian Calamity

An introduction to western humanities says:

The immensely influential German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) spent his entire life in Koenigsberg, in the northern part of East Prussia, and is now known as Kaliningrad, in Russia. 

There are many problems with the ideas advocated by Kant, a cornerstone of western revival, but in this note we shall focus on enlightenment in the sense that prevails in the west. His famous essay has been translated by many and the opening paragraph reads:

IMMANUEL KANT

An Answer to the Question: "What is Enlightenment?"

Konigsberg in Prussia, 30th September, 1784.

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another.This immaturity is self-imposed if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding!

 On the face of it the assertion looks deep, which it is, as well as full of wisdom and insight and that is only partially true. No wonder that as a reaction Germany lapsed into idealism from which it has yet to emerge.

Western psychotherapy and much before that Islamic mysticism were striving precisely for this maturity.

But where did he get it wrong then? Answer is simple - there is no God in the picture painted by Kant. When you try to build an edifice without God then you shall get something deep, profound, effective in some vague manner, even successful as well as remunerative and much more but it shall always be deficient in an essential way to the limit of being ultimately harmful - any benefit ensuing from it will be only temporary.

If you look at the statement then it is clearly an invitation to revolt against the authority - the Church for the intended audience. That is what it engendered - a comprehensive walk out from the Church.

Now that is a relief and that is a tragedy. It was relief because Christian Church had lost its direction -much before that, to say the least, and enlightenment should be taken as a reaction only. But this so called enlightenment is a tragedy of gigantic proportions for it removed the whole continent of Europe away from God.

Ensuing European revolution as well as European prosperity should be taken God's absolute disregard for the riches of this world - He (SWT) give it to whosoever He (SWT) wishes and there is not consideration of deserving and undeserving at all.

 The Kantian calamity had repercussions for Islam and Muslims too. Not in the form of increased opposition from Europe which too is there in the following sense. They might not say it in so many words but a western person does have on the back of his or her mind, "I have kicked my religion why don't you?"
But we are talking about a different affect. The matters concerns when a Muslim starts questioning the authority at the drop of a hat. This only the first step in the journey that the west has already made.

A Muslim should be wiser.

Scholar's Advice to Layman

Maulana A S Desai's advice to non-Ulama. Please read as it is extremely edifying.


ASSALAMU ALAIKUM

30 Muharram 1430 (26-01-2009)

Abdus Sattaar Syed
Cape Town

Respected Brother,

Your e-mail dated 24-01-2009 refers.

Islaah of the Nafs is of paramount importance. In all spheres of life,
whether in business, in family affairs, or Deeni matters, never be
neglectful of this aspect. It is essential to always examine the
intention and the motive. Even when embarking on a Deeni project,
refelect, do some soul searching and endeavour to fathom yourself to
detect whether the niyyat is sincere or contaminated with some
nafsaani motive.

When a person always adopts the practice of reflection before action,
then after some time Allah Ta'ala bestows to him the capacity of swift
detection of any thief which may be lurking in his heart. When we
criticize those whom we believe are on baatil, we should do so with
trepidation, recite Istighfaar and think deeply before the criticism
to ascertain whether the criticism is indeed motivated by Ikhlaas and
by a concern for the Haqq.

It is best and safest for laymen to strictly adhere to the issue and
not deflect therefrom. For example, when you criticize Sanha, only
point out to them their flaws, their errors and the harm they are
causing with their halaalization projects. Do not degenerate to a
personal level where you will brand them with labels and epithets in
the way in which we (Mujlisul Ulama) do. We have our own Deeni agenda
and we understand what we are doing. It is not for everyone to adopt
our methodology.

If for example a person's father is committing haraam, then it is the
duty of the son to offer naseehat. He shall plead and advise his
father. He will speak with affection and respect, addressing his
father appropriately. If his father consumes liquor, he may not begin
his naseehat by saying: "Drunkard! Faasiq, Faajir! On the other hand,
if the father admonishes his son for the latter's misdemeanours, it
will be proper for him (for the father) to say: 'O faasiq! O
shaitaan!, etc. etc.

Thus if a layman admonishes a Molvi who has strayed, he should not
address him as we do, e.g. 'Ulama-e-Soo!, etc. Relationship, rank and
position should be taken into consideration when criticizing.
Everyone does not have the same right of acquittal.

Furthermore, make dua of hidaayat and general goodness for those who
are being criticized and for those whom we believe to be on baatil,
and at the same time supplicate for our own safety and protection of
Imaan, for we do not know what the morrow holds for us.

So, do speak out strongly against baatil, but restrict the criticism
to the acts and save the culprits from epithets. Don't imitate our
example in this respect.

Source : SF

Flame : A US - Israel Collaboration

Flame is the name of a deadly virus that left even the computer security providers in shock.

Last time New York Times hinted that it was US - Israel collaboration that is responsible for it.

Now the Washington Post asserts the same.

Civil War in Syria

BBC report:

Syria is now in a state of civil war and the government has lost control of "large chunks" of cities, the UN's head of peacekeeping has told reporters.

Who Are The Alawis?

In Syria this is Shiite branch. Population is 12 % of Syria. Have control of that country for last forty years. Celebrate Christian and Zoroastrian festivals. Secular. Some element of Ali is God. According to BBC:

Syria's Alawis are concentrated mainly on the country's Mediterranean coast, in the port towns of Latakia and Tartous, spreading north across the Turkish border into the province of Hatay and south into northern Lebanon.

Either a Mistake or a Falsehood

Delayed Fatherhood Extends Life

That is BBC headline.

Either they got it wrong or there is some mischief.

Nature does not violate common sense. We do some times train our common sense to deceive us.

West is Friendly Towards India

India’s slowdown

Farewell to Incredible India

Bereft of leaders, an Asian giant is destined for a period of lower growth. The human cost will be immense

This from the Economist.

Japan has been an eternal nightmare for the west.
China has not disappeared and remains a specter for them.
No wonder that our friends are eager to write off India.

On Crows and Falcons

Religion, of necessity, is easy. It has to be followed by everybody, including the simple minded people.
What will you say of those people who try to make it difficult?
The least you can say is that they are going against common sense as well as sensibility.
And the matter indeed reaches serious proportions for they are in a way aging a war against Allah (SWT) by complicating something that Allah (SWT) wants to keep simple.
But Allah (SWT) does allow long ropes to errant people, many times.

Then there is the other reality. Some matters concepts in Deen do become difficult enough to be beyond the reach of common people.
Our scholars of the past found a solution that problem.
That is called Taqleed - follow a one of the four great scholars of Fiqh, jurisprudence, of Islam.
Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafei and Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal.
May Allah (SWT) have Mercy on them all.
This solution looks a bit inconvenient on the face of it. Our scholars should have been solved the maters between themselves and they should have given the common people the final solution.
But this ignores the ground reality - the matters that remain undecided go back to Sahabah (RA)'s opinion and one can not prefer one over the other. Sahabah (RA) are Sahabah (RA).
Hence the proposal to do Taqleed - follow one scholar of Fiqh.

This route has been arduous. Lots of acrimony and bad blood has been created in the past by this differing set of four schools. Imam Abu Hanifa has been the target of most excruciating calumny. By the last hundred years or so the dust seemed to have settled and a relative amicable peace and tranquility settled in between various schools of Fiqh - a sort of peaceful co-existence with mutual respect and love.

Except for a calamity of gigantic proportions. Saudia, a traditionally Hanbali society, fell into the grips of Salafi waywardness. With that also started the hideous imposter phenomena - using Hanbali Madh-hab as a front to revive the old differences. A masterful use of hair splitting to undermine the fabric of Islam. And the main target is again the Fiqh of Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa.

The new Mutazila, having no consideration for laity, tries to dump huge amount of information on common people and tries to bring that discussion that rightfully as well as because of pragmatic reasons belongs to the academic world of Islamic scholars. This sort of has met a limited success because youth in its enthusiasm does have an inclination to indulge in grand design and hence you see every one trying to have a go at matters of Fiqh.

There is sort of deception that our Baser Self pushes us into - you want to decide your religious matter yourself. You do not want to self-medicate, you do not want to file your income-tax return yourself, you do not want to fix your electric circuit but Islam is that rare department where everyone feels confident to decide. When beloved Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the people of cave then how many of these wannabe Mujtahids would have given the answer? None. But now they are there in the battle field, en masse to take on the followers of Madh-hab, main target being Hanafis.

To dump serious and complex technical details on unsuspecting populace is moral crime but fear of Allah (SWT) is not there in the dictionary of the enemies of religion of Allah (SWT). They think that they are having a joy ride while history is a witness that Allah (SWT) merely gives such people a long rope.

Using small technical details to undermine the whole edifice of Islam is indeed a big affront to Allah (SWT) out matched only by its silliness. It is really beyond imagination that people professing the faith of Islam could come down to this. May Allah (SWT) soon establish the truth in this matter.

And a couplet for such people :

Shauq parwaz ka rakhte ho to shaheen bano
Yoon to kawwe bhi fizaon mein uda karte hain

If you are fond of flight then be a falcon
Otherwise crows too fly in the sky

French Rush

Four French soldiers were killed in an attack on NATO convoy and this has prompted France to evacuate Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

French are also worried about the securities of their troops in Afghanistan.

NATO evacuation is slated for 2014 end. Because of an earlier attack on French troops France decided for an earlier withdrawal - by 2013.

BBC reports that rushing up is because of the election promise of French President but any onlooker could tell that it is because of the heat turned on the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

US Secrets Leaked

It is all on BBC:
(1) US conducted cyber attacks against Iran
(2) US has infiltrated into an al-Qaeda-linked group in Yemen

And the whole information has leaked.

Is the giant showing signs of loosing grip? 

Links : (1) Cyber Attack on Iran 
(2) Speeded Up Attacks 
(3) Tough Obama

US Military Caving In

Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Vietnam
Iraq
Afghanistan
.
.
.
God gave them power and they used it cruelly. The US.
The country that is wisdom savvy - they know absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And now they are caving-in.
Have a look at this report - a report that can not be summarized.

Ray Bradbury No More

Stories are fascinating.
Specially in childhood.
And then there are science fiction stories.
Every one remembers Isac Asimov and Arthur Clarke fondly.
But there was another name associated with publications like Astounding Science Fiction.
Yours truly did not get to read much from him but his name did appear in the collection of SF stories.
Ray Bradbury is no more.
A man who weaved a fascinating  world of imagination has sad good buy at 91.

For record, he was the one who said more than half a century ago, that people will be moving around with ear plugs that will be giving them news and music.

Tale of an Italian Clip

And then the things went out of control.
The meekest was the host of the show.
Can not make sense of it.
Can you?
But it is about Islam.

Metamorphosis of Barak Obama

 (1) Barak Husain Obama came to presidency of USA on the platform of closing Guantanamo Bay and end of Iraq war.
(2) He shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
(3) Persistent on targeted killings.
(4) Has relegated the responsibility to himself near completely.
(5) Approves lethal actions without hand-wringing.
(6) He finds such decision easy.
(7) Uses his lawyer capabilities to this end.
(8) Drone attack reports skewed to under report civilian deaths.
(9) Closing Guantanamo Bay meant no detention policy.
(10) This in turn means no prisoner taking.
(11) Result : Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron P. Munter, complained to colleagues that "he didn’t realize his main job was to kill people."
(12) That C.I.A.’s strikes drive American policy there.
(13) Obama's counter terrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, working like a dogged police detective from White House basement.
(14) Blessings of a priest have become indispensable for Obama to apply just war Christian theology to a modern conflict.
(15) Drone attacks since April : 14 in Yemen, and 6 in Pakistan.
(16) Every attack personally approved by the President.
(17) Drone attack refrain in White House : This is the only game in the town.
(18) Reminded me of body counts in Vietnam : Dennis C. Blair, former director of national intelligence.
(19) An unfamiliar realist side of Obama came to the fore, not carried away by his own rhetoric.
(20) Government lawyer John A. Rizzo, panicked at the prospect of closing once and for all the secret overseas “black sites” where interrogators had brutalized terrorist suspects.
(21) "Don't worry, it is only short term detention that has ended."
(22) Those who could not be transferred or tried but were judged too dangerous, their “disposition” would be handled by “lawful means, consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.”
(23) Without showing his hand, Mr. Obama had preserved three major policies — rendition, military commissions and indefinite detention.
(25) US laws seen as inconvenient stumbling blocks.
(26) "The protection of innocent life was always a critical consideration" - transfer of responsibility directly to the President.
(27) "All military-age males in a strike zone are combatants."
(28) Civilian do not hitch hike with Al-Qaida.
(29) Low civilian death because all killed were enemies.
(30) Outside officers alarmed at deceptive estimation - single digit civilian deaths in a year.
(31) President thinks that all it takes is to sketch a vision. Oblivious to the practical route to it.
(32) "Lyndon Johnson would have steamrolled the guy."
(33) Every week US security apparatus prepares the list of new targets by video conferencing run by Pemtagon.
(34) What is Al-Qaida facilitator? "If I open the gate and you drive in, I am the facilitator".
(35) A student of writings on war by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the President believes that he should take moral responsibility for such actions.
(36) He believes that his own judgment should be brought to bear on strikes.
(37) "He’s a president who is quite comfortable with the use of force on behalf of the United States."
(38) "Mr. Brennan, the C.I.A.’s agent in the White House, steering Mr. Obama to a targeted killing strategy".
(39) "Mr. Brennan, who saw closing of GB is like a priest with extremely strong moral values who was suddenly charged with leading a war."
(40) "Their policy is to take out high-value targets, versus capturing high-value targets."
(41) C.I.A. worry : " Mr. Mehsud, whose group then mainly targeted the Pakistan government, did not meet the Obama administration’s criteria for targeted killing."
(42) Attempted airliner bombing and Forthood shooting bolstered President's resolve.
(43) Target and neighbouring two families killed in first strike in Yemen.
(44) Trail of cluster bombs killed more innocents later.
(45) How do you differentiate between terrorists loading a truck and farmers loading fertilizer?
(46) Obama solution moves into secrecy against promised transparency.
(47) The president "was very interested in obviously trying to understand how a guy like Awlaki developed".
(48) "Is it legal to kill US citizen in another country?"
(49) Convenient secrecy.
(50) "Nixon to China" quality in Obama operations.
(51) Program is based on personal legitimacy of the president and is not sustainable.
(52) Childhood years in Indonesia. No war with Islam. Drones.
(53) Mrs. Clinton criticized drones only approach.
(54) If OBL complained that US undermined Al Qaida by constant propaganda of no war with Islam then we must be doing the right things.
(55) Unlike his predecessor Obama's criticism in not sweeping.
(56) Mr. Obama’s liberal reputation and “softer packaging” have protected him.
(57) Because of focus on strikes new relations with Muslim countries are difficult to forge.
(58) Drone strikes: low cost, no U.S. casualties, gives the appearance of toughness.
(59) Drone strikes is not a lurid fascination with covert action and special forces.  It is practical.

Source :NYT

Three Months for Euro

Euro has three months to come out of its current troubles.
Says George Soros.

Let Us Talk About Einstein's Theory

One tragedy of modern society in general and Muslim society in particular can be names Einstein.
You can not talk about matters scientific with common people.
It is supposed to be, or has been decided to be beyond them.

Result is that in spite of the fact that our main objective at Armchair is to talk about such things we rarely indulge in that luxury.

The argument, for lack of better formulation, can be summed up as follows.
Science includes Einstein's work.
Einstein was amongst the greatest technical brains.
Hence he did things that are most difficult.
Such things are not for us common people.
Science is not for us common people.

Now can we catch the fallacy here?

It is simple. The problems he solved were difficult but now these problems stand solved.
The genius lies in the fact that he gave the solution.
You are not being invited to compete with him.
You are only being invited to understand and appreciate that to your own abilities.

Then there is second tragedy in the same genre.
There are people who try to prove Einstein wrong.
There are such people in our own society as well as in global society.
This tragedy is of more grave nature.
People do not have the guts to make an attempt at his ideas but in the next moment they are ready to prove him wrong.
One can see the enthusiasm of a child here who has purportedly found the mistake of an adult.

So what is the safest attitude?

Well do make a sincere effort to understand what Einstein said and discourage your Baser Self from harbouring any thought, idea or intention to prove him wrong.

Some people might have asserted that he, we mean Einstein, proved Newton wrong. This is merely a dramatization of events and post facto does not serve the intended purpose, or does more harm than good. Einstein did find limits of Newton's ideas, both in laws of motion as well as gravitation, but that is not the same as proving Newton wrong.

We shall conclude by two examples of failed attempts at proving Einstein wrong. One was by late Sir Shah Sulaiman, our former Vice Chancellor and another one was rather recent one by a research group at CERN.
Einstein's ideas are there but the counter arguments stand refuted.

Now what triggered the present post? Here at Physics Today two pedagogues have presented their perspective on how to teach general theory of relativity. Yours Truly is in general piqued at B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) type of vocation - that is what articles like the present one resemble. But that is not the case wholly. What yours truly does love is the suggested books. It saves you the trouble to prepare the list yourself.

For Indian people one can, with profit, add the books by Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar.

Many texts can form the basis for an excellent undergraduate course in relativity. Here are some that we recommend, along with a smattering of classic graduate-level books.

‣ S. Weinberg, Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity, Wiley, New York (1972).

‣ C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne, J. A. Wheeler, Gravitation, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco (1973).

‣ R. M. Wald, General Relativity, U. Chicago Press, Chicago (1984).

‣ B. F. Schutz, A First Course in General Relativity, Cambridge U. Press, New York (1985; 2nd ed. 2009).

‣ H. C. Ohanian, R. Ruffini, Gravitation and Spacetime, 2nd ed. Norton, New York (1994). The first edition was written by Ohanian alone in 1976.

‣ E. F. Taylor, J. A. Wheeler, Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity, Addison Wesley Longman, San Francisco (2000).

‣ J. B. Hartle, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity, Addison-Wesley, San Francisco (2003).

‣ B. F. Schutz, Gravity from the Ground Up, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2003).

‣ S. Carroll, Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity, Addison-Wesley, San Francisco (2004).

‣ T.-P. Cheng, Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology: A Basic Introduction, Oxford U. Press, New York (2005, 2nd ed. 2010).

‣ L. Ryder, Introduction to General Relativity, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2009).

‣ R. J. A. Lambourne, Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2010).

‣ R. N. Henriksen, Practical Relativity: From First Principles to the Theory of Gravity, Wiley, Chichester, UK (2011).

‣ T. A. Moore, A General Relativity Workbook, University Science Books, Sausalito, CA (in press). See http://pages.pomona.edu/~tmoore/grw.

Prison Mubarak

AP News:

Egypt's Mubarak sentenced to life in prison

Congratulations.
Muslims have witnessed a long period in which their world was getting stomped by the western powers and their rulers were busy on the perk side of their position and ignoring the duty part. And suppressing the population is any one dared to exhort them to fear Allah (SWT). They did not fear Allah (SWT) and Allah (SWT) by His Mercy has started turning the wheels.

And all thanks and praise is due to Allah (SWT) for that.

US Warship Movement

US is going to relocate its warships, 60 % of them, to the Pacific.

It has nothing to do with China, they say.