A PARADIGM SHIFT

"And We sent thee not (O Muhammad), but as a Mercy unto (all) the worlds"
The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 21, Verse 107

Allah tells us in the Qur’an:
"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the Night and the Day; in the sailing of the ships through the Ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth, (here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise"

He is Allah, there is nothing worthy of worship but He. He knows all things – hidden and revealed. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is Allah, there is no deity but He. The sovereign, the Holy, the Sublime, the Guardian of (True) Faith, the Watcher over his creation, the Mighty, the Irresistible, the Supreme, Glory to Allah! (High is He) above what they ascribe to Him! He is Allah, the Creator, the Originator, the Bestower of Forms. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. All in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. And He is the Almighty, the Wise. (Quran, 59:22-4)

If God sent a religion, how would people who do not know of the religion believe in it? What means did God put in the human beings by which they can decide right from wrong? Surely the religion was not revealed to the whole of humanity at once. It must have started from one point. How would others know of it and more so accept it and believe in it? What is that one faculty that is shared by all human beings by which a message can be analyzed and determined to be right?

The answer is quite simple; it is the human mind and the faculty of reasoning. It is the mind that helps us judge things and decides between right and wrong in every matter of our lives. The word of God, if it is to be transferred to other people who are foreign to it, must conform to the faculty of reasoning that God put in all of us. This is why in Islam faith in God is not the outcome of dogmas and doctrine but rather the product of reasoning and deep scrutiny of revelation.

When one era ends and a new one begins’ , as we wittness the end of decades of ruling elite, dictors, kings and preveleged rulers, we can't help but suspect that some major shift is in the works.  Couple this with the strange death of birds, bees, fish and other animals, we can be certain this will be a year never unlike any other. Or is it can we look back in history and find other times in Man's existance when such things happened?  If so, what were the outcomes?

When you talk to people from any faith or even no-faith you get the sence that something foreboding is about to happen, anyone with just average intelligence can feel and read the signs.  Depending on your perspective and knowledge base this can be anything from "The End of the known World" Senerios to a period of Global Consciousness Raising.  There certainly are changes occuring on a universal scale wittnessed in planetary alignments, sunflare eruptions, climate changes, mass blood shed, mass insanity, sucides, murders, earthquakes, vocanic eruptions, corruption, dictators being ousted, revolutions, social unrest, you name it and it is happening and increasing at an alarming rate!

So what does a person do in this uncertain times, we of the Islamic faith can look to our Prophet's legacy and the Quran for answers:

”Surely, knowledge of the Hour is with Allah alone. ” (Holy Qur’an 31:34)

 There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

 A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

 The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Islam believes in Doomsday - a day when the entire world will be destroyed. This day is called “Day of judgement.”
Holy Quran has explicitly stated this

 “Verily, Allah! With Him (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour“ (Surah Luqman 31/34).

So there is no indication in Quran or the saying of the prophet Muhammad (SA)  that 2012 is the end of the world - according to what is projected by the mayan calender, and as potrayed by the movie.

The exact time of the Doomsday is given neither in Qur’an nor in Hadith. But Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) have pointed out the distinctive signs in Hadiths and in Qur’anic verses, which will happen near to the last hour constantly warned the believers for the appointed day.

The Major Signs:
Although they appear here in no particular order, it is important to point out that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that these last, major signs will follow each other like pearls falling off of a necklace…

1. Coming of Masih ad-Dajjal (The AntiChrist)
2. Arrival of The Mahdi
3. The appearance of Masih al-Isa (Jesus Christ), the son of Mary (peace be upon him)
4. Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog)
5. The destruction of the Kabah and the recovery of its treasure
6. Emergence of the Beast
7. The smoke
8. Three major landslides (one in the East, one in the West, and one on the Arabian peninsula)
9. The wind will take the souls of the believers
10. The rising of the sun from the west
11. The fire will drive the people to their final gathering place
12. Three blasts of the trumpet (fear & terror, death, resurrection)

The Minor Signs:

1. The disappearance of knowledge and the appearance of ignorance (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Ahmad)
2. Books/writing will be widespread and (religious) knowledge will be low (Ahmad)
3. Adultery and fornication will be prevalent (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people, which their ancestors had not known.) (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Al-Haythami)
4. When fornication becomes widespread among your leaders (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that this will happen when the people stop forbidding evil) (Ibn Majah)
5. Adultery and fornication will be performed in the open
6. The consumption of intoxicants will be widespread (Bukhari & Muslim)
7. Women will outnumber men……eventually 50:1 (Bukhari, Muslim, & Ahmad)
8. Killing, killing, killing (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Ahmad)
9. The nations of the earth will gather against the Muslims like hungry people going to sit down to a table full of food. This will occur when the Muslims are large in number, but “like the foam of the sea”.
10. People will beat others with whips like the tails of oxen (Muslim) ?The Slave Trade
11. The children will be filled with rage (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
12. Children will be foul (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
13. Women will conspire (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
14. Rain will be acidic or burning (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
15. Children of fornication will become widespread or prevalent (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
16. When a trust becomes a means of making a profit (at-Tirmidhi, Al-Haythami)
17. Gains will be shared out only among the rich, with no benefit to the poor (at-Tirmidhi)
18. Paying zakat becomes a burden and miserliness becomes widespread; charity is given reluctantly (at-Tirmidhi & Al-Haythami)
19. Miserliness will be thrown into the hearts of people (Bukhari)
20. Episodes of sudden death will become widespread (Ahmad)
21. There will be people who will be brethren in public but enemies in secret (He was asked how that would come about and replied, “Because they will have ulterior motives in their mutual dealings and at the same time will fear one another.”) (at-Tirmidhi)
22. When a man obeys his wife and disobeys his mother; and treats his friend kindly while shunning his father (at-Tirmidhi)
23. When voices are raised in the mosques (at-Tirmidhi)
24. People will walk in the marketplace with their thighs exposed
25. Great distances will be traversed in short spans of time
26. The people of Iraq will recieve no food and no money due to oppression by the Romans (Europeans) (Muslim)
27. People will hop between the clouds and the earth
28. A tribulation will enter everyones home (Ahmad)
29. The leader of a people will be the worst of them (at-Tirmidhi)
30. Leaders of people will be oppressors (Al-Haythami)
31. People will treat a man with respect out of fear for some evil he might do (at-Tirmidhi)
32. Men will begin to wear silk (at-Tirmidhi)
33. Female singers and musical instruments will become popular (at-Tirmidhi)
34. When singers become common (Al-Haythami)
35. People will dance late into the night
36. When the last ones of the Ummah begin to curse the first ones (at-Tirmidhi)
37. People will claim to follow the Qur’an but will reject hadith & sunnah (Abu Dawood)
38. People will believe in the stars (Al-Haythami)
39. People will reject al-Qadr (the Divine Decree of Destiny) (Al-Haythami)
40. Time will pass rapidly (Bukhari, Muslim, & Ahmad)
41. Good deeds will decrease (Bukhari)
42. Smog will appear over cities because of the evil that they are doing
43. People will be carrying on with their trade, but their will only be a few trustworthy persons
44. Wealth will increase so much so that if a man were given 10,000, he would not be content with it (Ahmad & Bukhari)
45. A man will pass by a grave and wish that he was in their place (Bukhari)
46. Earthquakes will increase (Bukhari & Muslim)
47. There will be attempts to make the deserts green
48. The appearance of false messengers (30 dajjals) (Bukhari)
49. Women will be naked in spite of being dressed, these women will be led astray & will lead others astray (Muslim)
50. The conquest of Constantinople by the Muslims (Ahmad)
51. The conquest of India by the Muslims, just prior to the return of Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon both of them)(Ahmad, an-Nisa’i, at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
52. When people begin to compete with others in the construction of taller buildings (Bukhari)
53. There will be a special greeting for the people of distinction (Ahmad)
54. The Euphrates will disclose a treasure (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that whoever is present should not take anything from it) (Bukhari & Muslim)
55. Two large groups, adhering to the same religious teaching will fight each other with large numbers of casualties (Bukhari & Muslim)
56. Wild animals will be able to talk to humans (Ahmad)
57. A man will leave his home and his thigh or hip will tell him what is happening back at his home (Ahmad)
58. Years of deceit in which the truthful person will not be believed and the liar will be believed (Ahmad)
59. Bearing false witness will become widespread (Al-Haythami & Ahmad)
60. When men lie with men and women lie with women (Al-Haythami)
61. Trade will become so widespread that a woman will be forced to help her husband in business (Ahmad)
62. A woman will enter the workforce out of love for this world (Ahmad)
63. Arrogance will increase in the earth (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
64. Family ties will be cut (Ahmad)
65. There will be many women of child-bearing age who will no longer give birth.
66. There will be an abundance of food, much of which has no blessing in it.
67. People will refuse when offerred food.
68. Men will begin to look like women and women will begin to look like men

We are fortunate to have been given so much knowledge of the coming events as the Last Day (Qiyamah) draws closer. No other people have been blessed with such details of the future trials and events that will overcome mankind. While the prophecies in the Qur'an and those told to us by Muhammad (Peace be upon him) are already coming true as time unfolds, Muslims are either unaware or remain unserious regarding their value. Use this knowledge to prepare yourselves and strengthen your faith.

 

"Poverty Pimps"

Poverty pimp or "professional poverty pimp" is a pejorative label used to convey that an individual or group is benefiting unduly by acting as an intermediary on behalf of the poor, the disadvantaged, or some other "victimized" groups.
Those who use this appellation suggest that those so labeled profit unduly from the misfortune of others, and therefore do not really wish the societal problems that they appear to work on to be eliminated permanently, as it is not in their own interest for this to happen.
The most frequent targets of this accusation are those receiving government funding or that solicit private charity to work on issues on behalf of various disadvantaged individuals or groups, but who never seem to be able to show any amelioration of the problems experienced by their target population. Some even suggest that that if profit were eliminated as a factor, greater steps in the alleviation of the oppressive situations could begin to truly occur. wikipedia

You know the neighhood programs to help the poor that never seem to do anything but fatten the pockets of those that run the programs!

There is a wonderful article in this months Mother Jones magazine, how to get rich off the backs of the poor, "Poverty Barons".  While it spotlights the thousands of fast money loan shops and tax preparation shops in the poorest of neighborhoods, charging astronomical interest rates, fees and percentages of ones own money, targeting the low income and disparate amongst us. I would like to focus on the "Muslims" that come into our poor neighborhoods with the same ambitions.  You know them they open tobacco shops, gas stations or rental centers, selling lottery tickets, ciggeretts, pork or in some cases cheap alcoholic drinks, suggery sodas and all other kind of unhealthy paraphenalia. Tying the poor into unmanagible contracts for goods that they almost never own and certainly cannot afford.

All of this is to make quick unbelievable profits from limited financial investment and is never intended to benefit the population it serves. Many of these people have only come to this country, speaking little english to exploit the poverty cash cow.  Way back when, I can not remember a foreign Muslim comming to the hood to give "Dawa" or ever remember seeing Muslim women wearing "hijab". The first mention of Islam in my neighhood was from the nation of Islam and Malcom X.  In my early days of Islam we sewed our own clothing to get the look we wanted to represent our new faith, some of those styles have become popular fashion statements, no doubt copied from our early designs.

Nowadays, we can see Korean, Vietnemise, Italians and all sort of ethnic groups comming to the "hood" to get rich quick!  It seems like a pattern, depress the neighborhood, let property value drop and then sweep up in government set asides for a win fall profit. Same old game played again and again.  It seems to never stop and no one is trying to put an end to this shameful tactic of profiting off the backs of the working poor, who earns only $16,000 to $25,000  a year and truly live from pay check to pay check.

To add insult to injury lets add to this sad senerio count in the number of poor that enter the penal sytem for no other reason than they cannot afford an attorney and what you have is a system, hell bent on keeping a certain segment of it's population below the poverty line as an economic source for the unscrupolous business minded individuals that happen to be in position to benefit, not that they are smarter but are more willing to put moral values aside to make money.

A new image is emerging, "The Peddlers of Islamic Ilm", all sort of money grabbing opportunities packaged as the must have experience of sitting with or enjoying the company of someone annointed with the divine lineage of our beloved Prophet (saws) or one who has sipped from such a cup all at the cost of our hard earned money.  Don't mis-understand me I am all for Islamic Education but what I have seen over the years is a growing industry built on the gullibility of mainly western Muslims, who thirst for that all inspiring "Islamic Enviornment."

We no-longer save for Hajj and Umrah, we hear chatter about the next conferance, or event that allows us to sit with the scholars and learn from them.  How much learning does it take to pray 5 x's a day, fast during the month of Ramadan, pay your Zakat, make Hajj once in a life time and say there is but One God , Allah and Muhammad is his last prophet (saws).   Its true, learning Arabic and memorizing Quran are full of blessings but most of us have little time after working and providing for our families, out of our shreaking income, to do anything more than keep up with the fundamentals of our religion.

This too becomes problematic in todays time of economic down turns, we need to have lectures on how to survive these stressful times and make extra income, not taking more of that disappearing income to attend high cost Islamic events , no matter how meaningful or well intended the organizers of these events are, they too are looking more like " Ilm Pimps", may Allah forgive me, but this is my opinion and I pray that there will be some day Islamic conferances on keeping healthy and fit, money management, survial skills, building Muslim elderly communities, how we can come together and raise the economic status of all Muslims world wide. Wa Allahu Alim

Just a dua of mine

THE POVERTY PIMPS' POEM

Let us celebrate the poor,
Let us hawk them door to door.

There's a market for their pain,
Votes and glory and money to gain.

Let us celebrate the poor.

Their ills, their sins, their faulty diction
Flavor our songs and spice our fiction.

Their hopes and struggles and agonies
Get us grants and consulting fees.

Celebrate thugs and clowns,
Give their ignorance all renown.

Celebrate what holds them down,
In our academic gowns.

Let us celebrate the poor

Short Clip About Who is Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him)?

COINTELPRO

(an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations

COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological warfare, planting false reports in the media, smearing through forged letters, harassment, wrongful imprisonment, extralegal violence and assassination. Covert operations under COINTELPRO took place between 1956 and 1971, however the FBI has used covert operations against domestic political groups since its inception.^[2] The FBI's stated motivation at the time was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order."^[3]

FBI records show that 85% of COINTELPRO resources targeted groups and individuals that the FBI deemed "subversive,

FBI Director J Edgar Hoover issued directives governing COINTELPRO, ordering FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of these movements and their leaders.

In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr, MIT professor of linguistics and political activist Noam Chomsky spoke about the purpose and the targets of COINTELPRO saying, "COINTELPRO was a program of subversion carried out not by a couple of petty crooks but by the national political police, the FBI, under four administrations... by the time it got through, I won't run through the whole story, it was aimed at the entire new left, at the women's movement, at the whole black movement, it was extremely broad. Its actions went as far as political assassination."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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