Please answer in Yes / No

Q Did you tell your parents that you are a gay?

Yes / No

No Offence

May God grant your mother peace and health. I will god willing pray for her.

God Bless

Dear All

Poverty and education in Africa is a major issue and as Bro N.Amin said

I think that we should set up a system of some sort to get money to these people rather than paying government companies.

even i dont believe where the money goes, if given to a group as charity. Many maybe eaten up by them or top level executives as per my tiny brain.

I dont trust them at all.

One thing we can do is, if any bro here resides nearby ie. Africa, we can generate funds and provide it to him to carry out the charity on our own instead of relying on a group of charity based company

We should create a fund A/c for charity and maintain records/accounting for the same.

For me, I believe it better to give charity myself than to rely on groups/charity organisation and I do so when i go to India or give it to my parents/relatives to forward it to the needy ones.

Peace

Peace Naxus and all

I agree, there are too many people who can be guided by Quran in Urdu that includes my parents and relatives. Its hard for them to understand english whereas Urdu is just like a mother tongue.

From Urdu it will be easy to translate to Hindi by some translator and rechecked.

I keep searching for something in Urdu that i can forward to my father and all others who need it.

God Bless

Salaams

Dating can be harmful and at the same time harmless. If the couples are decent and they just meet with the intentions of knowing each other, then there would be no problem. However the moment of dating is very sensitve and people can easily get carried away with their selfish desire created by Satan, who is always on a lookout for a chance to make people astray. It is upon oneself and how he/she can control onself while dating. Also however good a man may be, he will definitely think of intimate things like kissing, hugging or sex while dating.

However God has commanded us to "subdue our eyes" or "meeting secretly" or "alone" and "maintain chastity". we are commanded not even to meet our fiancee secretly unless we have something righteous to discuss. if we are not allowed to meet our fiancee secretly how can we meet another person alone/secretly giving it a shape of dating. If we are to hug or kiss someone, we will be doing more than subduing our eyes. While dating, it is also common to keep looking or staring at your date and this may lead to unwanted thought, thus making dating more than innocent.

My personal opinion, stay away from dating or be emotionally strong to control onself of loosing out to satan or have group datings. However a person try, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to avoid unwanted thoughts.

Peace

A Bush Era Devil's Dictionary
Herewith, then, entries (or are they entrees?) for a modern Devil's Dictionary (with a small bow to Ambrose Bierce).
Homeland n A term successfully used by the Germans and the Soviets in World War II, less successfully (and in the plural) by Apartheid-era South Africa.
It means neither home, nor land, has replaced both country and nation in American public speech, and is seldom wielded without the companion word "security." It is the place to which imperial forces return for R&R.
Homeland Security synonymous with Homeland insecurity.
Homeland Security Department The new Defense Department, known for declaring bridges yellow and the Statue of Liberty orange.
Homelandism n a neologism for love of the Homeland Security State as in, "My Homeland, ?tis of thee, sweet security state of liberty?"
Intelligence n What Dick Cheney wants and the CIA must provide -- or else. (See, Iraq, weapons of mass destruction)
Nationalism n How foreigners love their country (when they do). A very dangerous phenomenon that can lead to extremes of passion, blindness, and xenophobia. (See, Terrorism)
Oil n 1. Black gold. 2. (defunct acronym) Operation Iraqi Liberation or OIL (name changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF, without explanation). 3. What the Bush administration wasn't after in Iraq and isn't after in Iran. (See, Democracy)
Patriotism n How Americans love their country. A trait so positive you can't have too much of it, and if you do, then you are a super-patriot which couldn't be better. (Foreigners cannot be patriotic. See, Nationalism)
Pentagon n Formerly, the Defense Department, but since we now have a new defense department (see, Homeland Security Department), soon be renamed the Global Forward Deployment Department or GFDD (Ge-Fudd). Its forward-deployed headquarters will be established in a two-sided building, the Duogon, now being constructed in Bahrain out of sand imported from the beaches of Texas by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. From there, it plans to rule the known world.
Arlie Hochschild
Environmental Protection Agency Economic Predators Inc.
Homeland Security Advisory System Color-coded program for emotional destabilization.
Leave No Child Behind Social class divide maintenance system
Adam Hochschild
Senate n Exclusive club, entry fee $10 to $30 million.
House of Representatives Exclusive club, entry fee $1 to $5 million.
Washington Press Corps Extension of White House and Pentagon press offices.
Chalmers and Sheila Johnson
Stuff Happens Donald Rumsfeld as master historian.
March of Freedom Around the World John Negroponte's career.
Shock and Awe A classic combination like "surf and turf"; special effects produced at missile point by the U.S. military. (See, State Terrorism).
Bill Moyers
Burning Bush A biblical allusion to the response of the President of the United States when asked a question by a journalist who has not been paid to inquire.
Jonathan Schell
Republican Party A party that assails the foundations of the Republic, attacking the balance and separation of powers (See, Assertions of Untrammeled Presidential Authority -- to violate domestic and international laws forbidding torture); habeas corpus (See, Assertion of Right to Lock Away "Enemy Combatants" Forever -- without due process of law); and federalism (See, Legislative and Executive Rampage -- to overturn state court decisions in the Terry Schiavo case).
Orville Schell
Strategic Competitor (China branch) Containing China militarily while using it as an industrial park for outsourcing low-paying and often polluting industries.
Michael Schwartz
Democracy n A country where the newspapers are pro-American.
Public Opinion Polls Progress reports for spin doctors.
Stephen Shalom
Checks and Balances. The system whereby the campaign checks of the few balance the interests of the many.
Free Speech Zone The area to which those who differ from the administration are confined should they be so audacious as to wish to exercise their right of free speech.
Free Press 1. Government propaganda materials covertly funded with a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money but given out for free to the press and then broadcast without any acknowledgment of the government's role in their preparation. 2. Newspapers that obscure the truth on behalf of corporate and government interests for free.
Town-hall Meeting A meeting in a hall in a town where all the participants have first been vetted for loyalty to the Bush administration.
Mandate 1. The opinion expressed by about a quarter of the eligible voters. 2. The opinion reflected in an electoral-vote margin smaller than in any 20th century election other than 1916 and 2000. 3. The opinion expressed by the smallest popular vote margin obtained by a sitting president since 1916.
Rebecca Solnit
China See WalMart.
Death n An increasingly rare phenomenon, no longer occurring among soldiers of the U.S. army or civilians in affected countries. However, the media reports that death is still caused by lone gunmen and over-consumption of saturated fats as well as natural disasters.
Democracy n 1. A product so extensively exported that the domestic supply is depleted. 2. When they vote for us. (See, tyranny When they vote for someone else.)
Liberal adj Widely used after the words progressive, radical, left, revolutionary, and insurrectionary were banned from the mainstream media, having the double benefit of making moderates seem vaguely dangerous and making revolutionaries seem vaguely embarrassing and ineffectual. Liberal media Ted Koppel and anarchist zines.
Negroponte, John Good diplomat, in the sense that Pol Pot is a good family-planner.
Ownership Society You no longer own your national parks, your public transit, your commons, your government, your Bill of Rights, or your future, but you may purchase a Burger King franchise or some stocks with your WalMart earnings.
Peace n What war is for.
Security n Something to be applied to the homeland but not to the social.
Social Security A good idea except for two problems Social verges on socialism and guarantees of security violate a free market.
The Marketplace of Ideas Buy low, sell high.
WalMart The nation-state, future tense.
Nick Turse
Abuse n Modern word for what was once referred to as torture. An interim term, soon to be replaced by "tough love" (which, in turn, is expected to be replaced by "freedom's caress").
Mullah n 1. (archaic) Religious teacher or leader, a title of respect in Islamic countries, pronounced "mull-a." 2. (informal) In the modern presidential vernacular, a title of disrespect (pronounced "moo-lah") in reference to Muslims deemed too fanatical to be bought-off by American "moo-lah."
Rummy slang 1. (archaic) A person so drunk he can't recall a thing. 2. (modern) A SECDEF so drunk on power that he refuses to remember anything.
Support the Troops A mandatory mantra which need no longer be mouthed since full "support" can be offered with a simple $1 investment in a magnetic yellow ribbon to affix to the back of your SUV.
Chip Ward
Healthy Forests Forests made safe from the ravages of nature, i.e. bugs and fires, by removal to pulp mills and lumber yards.
Wilderness n 1. Publicly owned former habitat for wildlife, often endangered, where private corporations go wild drilling for oil and gas, grazing cattle, logging, and building roads. 2. Off-road vehicle theme parks characterized by abundant stumps, oil slicks, tire tracks, flattened owls, and coughing caribou.

http//us.rediff.com/news/2004/sep/23spec.htm?headline=Private~horror~behind~Gudiya's~public~trial

The Rediff Special/Ehtasham Khan in Meerut

September 23, 2004

In the eighth month of pregnancy, Gudiya has literally become a specimen for the public to ogle at. She is now living with her first husband ? a soldier who disappeared five years ago after the Kargil conflict and returned home last month.

Lying on a cot in the courtyard of the house of Sapper Mohammad Arif, Gudiya is surrounded by some 50 women from the neighbourhood. An equal number of men are gathered in the doorway to the house. Arif is busy attending to phone calls from journalists, friends and relatives.

Women discuss Gudiya's future as she watches helplessly. People come, look at her, and leave. Journalists and cameramen flashing their gadgets are part of the audience.

Gudiya has been under the 'protection' of these village folk ever since she was brought here last Saturday. When I visited her on Wednesday at her in-laws' place in Mundali village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh ? about 75km from Delhi ? she looked fragile, tired, almost broken. She could not speak properly though the fever that had gripped her for about a fortnight had subsided.

Just a day before, Zee News, a satellite television channel, had organised a 'mock panchayat ' to discuss the dispute. Gudiya was bold enough in the television studio to say, "I want to go with Arif." The statement decided her fate. Islamic scholars present in the audience applauded her decision, proclaiming it to be in accord with the Shariat (Islamic jurisprudence). The second marriage, they claimed, was illegal.

Her second husband, Taufeeq, was taken aback and could not say anything. Arif went on to announce that he would take care of Taufeeq's unborn child.

The controversy arose when Arif, who was held by the Pakistan Army as a prisoner of war, returned to India on August 9. He had disappeared from the Drass sector in Jammu and Kashmir while sweeping mines along the Line of Control on September 16, 1999.

Gudiya married distant relative Taufeeq on April 20, 2003. They have known each other since childhood. Their marriage was arranged by their parents because there was no news about Arif, who had by then been declared a deserter by the army. Arif's family had also supported Gudiya's remarriage. After all, she and Arif had been married for barely 10 days before he was recalled to the front.

But her peace was shattered when it was discovered that Arif was no deserter, but had been taken prisoner by the Pakistanis. Last month, the Pakistanis finally released Arif and he returned home to a warm welcome. Gudiya was then living with her parents in Kalunda village on the outskirts of Delhi.

On Tuesday, Arif, Taufeeq, Gudiya, and their relatives were brought to the television studio. Islamic scholars and clerics, including Maulana Wahiduddin, were part of the discussion. The debate ended with Gudiya going back to Arif. It was for the first time in the history of Indian television that a personal issue had been debated and decided on television.

But newspapers criticised the event. A headline in The Indian Express screamed Gudiya's personal trauma, nightmare paraded in public on TV horror show.

An investigation by rediff.com revealed how Gudiya was forced to make her choice.

When Arif crossed the border and reached Wagah, it was reported widely in the print and electronic media. It was also reported that Arif's wife Gudiya had married Taufeeq. So, what would Arif do now? The legality of her second marriage was also questioned.

According to the Shariat, a Muslim woman cannot marry another man as long as her husband is alive and has not divorced her. In the case of the husband disappearing, the woman needs to wait for four years and then ask for a decree from the local qazi (religious head and expert on Shariat) nullifying her marriage.

Gudiya had not nullified her previous marriage before marrying Taufeeq. So the experts said her second marriage was illegal and the child born to her and Taufeeq would be termed illegitimate.

As the debate heated up in the media, Gudiya became nervous. She had to be admitted to hospital for a few days owing to high fever. At that point she told reporters that she had left the past behind and only loved Taufeeq now. "I am not a cow or a buffalo that I can be sent away just like that," she had remarked.

Currently living in Mundali village with Arif, she has not yet recovered from the trauma. Left in a corner of the courtyard, she lay on the cot with her eyes closed, unwilling to speak to anyone. She looked like a stranger in her own house. When I addressed her as "apa" (elder sister), she reciprocated with a smile.

Offering a seat next to her, she explained her sordid tale, her voice choking, fumbling over every sentence. Gudiya said, "When it was reported in the newspapers, the maulana spoke to me. I was then living with my parents in Kalunda ." Her second husband Taufeeq had left her there for the delivery.

"My father didn't tell me anything initially. But then everybody started telling me to go to Arif. My father also joined them. It was according to the Hadith . I had to go to Arif."

Asked if it was her decision to go back to Arif, she said, "It was everybody's decision", then burst into tears. Her voice choked and she hid her face in her dupatta. The women around looked on with surprise.

Gudiya sensed it and controlled herself. A woman from the crowd shouted, "Don't show your tears. Smile. Make your face look good." She followed the instructions.

But she revealed in private that her father took her to her aunt's village, Naurangabad, in Meerut district last Friday. This, despite Gudiya being in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Here, a panchayat was called, which was attended by people from the villages of Mundali and Naurangabad. Arif, his elder brother, and relatives were also present. Clerics from nearby mosques and seminaries joined in.

In all, nearly 1,500 people had gathered. But neither her second husband Taufeeq nor his parents were informed about the meeting. She last spoke to Taufeeq five days ago.

The panchayat in Naurangabad gave the verdict that Gudiya should go back to Arif as her second marriage was null and void.

Asked if she was pressured by the panchayat to accept Arif, she maintained silence. After a lot of hesitation, she said, "It was everybody's wish. The Hadith enjoins it."

Earlier, Arif told rediff.com "The panchayat decided that she should go with me. It was according to the Shariat. The panchayat also asked me to talk to her alone. I asked her what she wanted. She frankly told me that she wanted to come with me. She said her father had forcibly married her to Taufeeq."

Asked about this, Gudiya remained silent. She had only one thing to say, which she repeated, "It was everybody's wish."

After the decision was announced in the panchayat, Arif took Gudiya home to Mundali. All this happened without Taufeeq being even informed.

Riyasat Ali, who witnessed the panchayat in Naurangabad, said, "She was pressured by the people there. She was not allowed to speak. The clerics told her that she had to follow the Shariat and go to Arif. They said her son would become illegitimate if she did not.

"She was left with no option. Can a woman express herself in front of so many men?"

Ali is Gudiya's uncle and a relative of Taufeeq. He had proposed her marriage to Taufeeq.

Three days after this incident, Arif was invited to a felicitation ceremony in New Delhi on Monday. Here, a Zee News reporter asked him to come to the studio for an interview, to which he agreed.

Another reporter from the same channel brought his brother and Gudiya from Meerut to the studio for the interview.

Taufeeq told rediff.com, "The MLA of my area told me that he was taking me to his house in NOIDA. But he took me to the television studio. I didn't know anything about it. I saw that the religious scholars were also there. The discussion started all of a sudden. I didn't know how to react. I was quite upset.

"When Gudiya said she wanted to go with Arif, I was out of my mind. I stopped thinking. I don't know what happened after that. I became senseless.

"But I am sure she was pressured. I didn't get time to speak. She also could not express herself. There was a women's group. They wanted to speak to her alone. But the TV guys didn't allow it. Finally the decision was taken and we all returned home. When the clerics gave their verdict, what could I do? The TV people cheated me. This is not the way to settle disputes."

Taufeeq said Gudiya had spoken to her on telephone five days before this incident. She had explained to him the pressure she was being under. Her father had even threatened to commit suicide if she did not go back to Arif.

The family forced her to go back to her first husband because the second marriage had been anti-Islam, he said. Moreover, when she had already been sent to live with Arif on Saturday, it was not possible for her to come back to him.

While Gudiya is still in shock, for the men in Mundali it is celebration time. Arif has returned home with two trophies the one he got as a war hero; the other, Gudiya...

"We celebrated like anything," said next-door neighbour Farasat Ali, pointing to the decorations in the doorway. "There was a huge procession of more than 2,000 people when Gudiya came here on Saturday. We danced and distributed sweets."

Arif's elder brother summed up the mood in the village. "It was a matter of the pride of our village," he said. "Had there been no amicable solution, there would have been a bloodbath here."

Peace

I fully agree on what is halal and what is haraam. As god said in his revelations

6145
Say, "I do not find in the revelations given to me any food that is prohibited for any eater except (1) carrion, (2) running blood, (3) the meat* of pigs, for it is contaminated, and (4) the meat of animals blasphemously dedicated to other than GOD." If one is forced (to eat these), without being deliberate or malicious, then your Lord is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

Ofcourse, provided we take Gods name, whenever, whereever and whatever we consume.

6146
For those who are Jewish we prohibited animals with undivided hoofs; and of the cattle and sheep we prohibited the fat, except that which is carried on their backs, or in the viscera, or mixed with bones. That was a retribution for their transgressions, and we are truthful.
6147
If they disbelieve you, then say, "Your Lord possesses infinite mercy, but His retribution is unavoidable for the guilty people."

However, while arguing with my father wink I was told that god strictly told to mention his name while sacrificing animal in Surah Al Anam i.e. Live Stock and below verse also confirms it.

6138 - Dr. Rashad Khalifa
They said, "These are livestock and crops that are prohibited; no one shall eat them except whomever we permit," so they claimed. They also prohibited the riding of certain livestock. Even the livestock they ate, they never pronounced GOD's name as they sacrificed them. Such are innovations attributed to Him. He will surely requite them for their innovations.

6138 - Yusuf Ali
And they say that such and such cattle and crops are taboo, and none should eat of them except those whom - so they say - We wish; further, there are cattle forbidden to yoke or burden, and cattle on which, (at slaughter), the name of God is not pronounced; - inventions against God's name soon will He requite them for their inventions.

6138 - Progressive Muslims
And they said ?These are livestock and crops that are restricted, and none shall eat from them except as we please,? by their claims; and livestock whose backs are forbidden, and livestock over which they do not mention God?s name as invention against Him. He will recompense them for what they invented.

Waqaloo hathihi anAAamun waharthun hijrun la yatAAamuha illa man nashao bizaAAmihim waanAAamun hurrimat thuhooruha waanAAamun la yathkuroona isma Allahi AAalayha iftiraan AAalayhi sayajzeehim bima kanoo yaftaroona

Only the translation of Progressive muslims, does not show that gods name has to be mentioned and that such is thing is an invention. So all other translations are wrong except progressive muslims.

As per PM those who say to pronouce gods name while sacrificing will be retributed or vice versa.

We need to include this verse in the article of Halal/Haram with due explanation.

God Bless All.

Salaams All

Born in Bombay, India in an typical muslim family and graduated from Bombay University. All these time my parents were very religious, but we (childrens) were not so involved in Islam. Infact we didnt knew anything about Islam nor the meaning of Al Fatiha recited in every prayer. Though my father used to tell me to always read Quran with meaning and he had doubt about hadiths. But he still believes in part of it and reject part of it.

So armed with practically no knowledge about Islam, I got landed in Dubai and started my career in Accounts. There along with other colleagues I started to pray 4 times a day (always missing/skipping morning) and for the first time I was gifted with a Quran with English Translation from a colleague on my birthday and so started my recitation of Quran in English. For the first time in my life of 28 years, I started reading the Quran in English.

After some time, i was transferred to so other division in which my boss (now ex ) introduced me with God Alone thoughts and Dr. Rashad Khalifa. I was very much impressed and guided and started reading from submission site. In Dubai one is like a bonded labourer, and have to work whole day with no benefits and so i got little time to learn more about it, but GOD ALONE was firmly established in my mind.

In the 5-6 years that I spent in Dubai I was constantly pointed by many colleagues that I drink with left hand (I am lefthanded) and eating with spoon with left hand and I too used to try with my right hand thinking I was making sin. Till that time i was not so deep in Quran Alone and still was following many traditions.

I was later transferred to Hong Kong and here I got time to read more and more and everything came to light. Now Al humdullilah I am trying to become God Alone submitter. I have realised that all these practicies which I was following were all traditions and did little with religion. Thus God Alone was a process which took 7 years, but I thank God for it. Better late than never.

Got married and got a very understanding wife, who initially didnt believe in God Alone but over a period of time she started to accept it. But I still have to convince her on few topics such as Hijaab, praying during menstruation, etc.

Lastly, I had been on vacation in India and had a little argue with my father about the Sahada and he said that God has said in the Quran to pay homage to our prophet i.e "Yasoolan nabi". I later read about it but am unable to still convince my father. Is there anyone who can explain in clear about it or guide me to any site which clarifies this.

I hope i have not taken lot of time of you guys and bored you.

God Bless All.