₦airaland Forum

Brothers and sisters, I just want to remind us all to stay united cos wht unite us is more than just a religion, its a devine wy of life. Barka juma'ah to all.

maa salam

@ abuzola, may Allah continue to guide you and increase you in knowledge, may He bestow His abundance on you in this life, in the grave and on judgement day, amin.

@ debosky, why would you rather believe in a mystery when Islam is all explained out as logically and humanly as ever?

I called davidylan's attention because I noticed he always like to make a point that our Allah equals the god as if Muslims worship a god and not God. So I took the time to go 'copy and paste' from the site (wikipedia) he always refers to which it seems he never read to the end or didn't understand.

Allah (Arabic: الله) is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to “God” The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia. (note that god in all languages have been used to denote deities before Islam was revealed)

The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) differ among the traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity (though the supreme deity), having associates and companions, sons and daughters - a concept which Islam thoroughly and resolutely abrogated. In Islam, the name Allah is the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer back to Allah. Allah is unique, the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent. Arab Christians today use terms such as Allāh al-ʼAb ( الله الأب, "God the Father" to distinguish their usage from Muslim usage.[6] There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur'an and the Hebrew Bible.[7]

The term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and ʼilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (in case you do not get it, the contraction equals the only God, as in when you say ‘the man is here’ = a definite man which is different from ‘a man’ or ‘a god’). Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. The corresponding Aramaic form is Ĕlāhā in Biblical Aramaic and Alâhâ or Ālōho in Syriac.

Usage in Arabic
Pre-Islamic Arabia
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was used by Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity.[12]Allah was not considered the sole divinity; however, Allah was considered the creator of the world and the giver of rain. The notion of the term may have been vague in the Meccan religion.[4] Allah was associated with companions, whom pre-Islamic Arabs considered as subordinate deities. Meccans held that a kind of kinship existed between Allah and the jinn.[13] Allah was thought to have had sons[14] and that the local deities of al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and al-Lāt were His daughters.[15] The Meccans possibly associated angels with Allah.[16][17] Allah was invoked in times of distress.[17][18] Muhammad's father's name was ‘Abdallāh meaning the “servant of Allāh.” or "the slave of Allāh"[17]
(But before you ask, as ussual, ‘Which Allah was he a servant to cos he was b4 Islam? I want you to keep in mind how the past men of God were naturally righteous and faithful to God despite the idolatery practices surrounding them before God eventually calls them, e.g. Moses. Abdallah might not have known Allah as muslims later did but he was divinely guided just like his son who never worshipped idols, which was pedominant in his environ, before he was inspired.)

Muslims
According to Islamic belief, Allah is the proper name of God,[11] and humble submission to His Will, Divine Ordinances and Commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith.[1] "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind."[1][2] "He is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent."[1] The Qur'an declares "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."[1]Most Muslims use the untranslated Arabic phrase "insha' Allah" (meaning "God willing" after references to future events.[20] Muslim discursive piety encourages beginning things with the invocation of "bismillah"(meaning "In the name of God".[21]

Others
Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word "Allah" to mean "God". The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for 'God' than 'Allah'. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, uses Alla for 'God'.) Arab Christians for example use terms Allāh al-ʼab (الله الأب) meaning God the father, Allāh al-ibn (الله الابن) mean God the son, and Allāh al-rūḥ al-quds (الله الروح القدس) meaning God the Holy Spirit
Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim basm-allah, and also created their own Trinitized basm-allah as early as the eight century CE. The Muslim basm-allah reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized basm-allah reads: "In the name of Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God palatable to Muslims.
According to Marshall Hodgson, it seems that in the pre-Islamic times, some Arab Christians made pilgrimage to the Kaaba, a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as God the Creator.[2Marshall Goodwin Simms Hodgson (1922–1968), was an Islamic Studies academic and a world historian at the University of Chicago. He was chairman of the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought in Chicago. He was also a practicing Quaker.Hodgson was the author of the three-volume The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. Through this work, and his overall scholarship on Islam, he was renowned in his day. In addition to this, his modern importance rests with his work on world history, which remained relatively unnoticed during his lifetime. Much of it was rediscovered and subsequently published through the efforts of Edmund Burke III of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

A point you should note is that Allah must have chosen the Arab Language over others because of its uniqueness in expressions which is difficult for all translators to perfectly translate into other languages .e.g. Allahuakbar when translated into English is God is the greatest and this is comparative (i.e. great, greater, greatest) but actually in the Arabic language it simply states that meaning without comparing Gods greatness.

I hope with this you will get it that Allah is quite unique than God or Eledumare or Chukwu, etc cos it implies the one and only which is what the supreme being is.

Salaam

what about frozen chicken( and other imported frozen birds), can one pronounce Allah's name on them to make them halal for consumption? reason I ask this is because they are killed en masse with machines which could be violent and violently killed or gored meats are haram for consumption.

Whether, Micheal died as a muslim or a christian, it is his business now. What's important for the remainig of us still alive is to learn from him cos his life was full of lesons for those who reason. For instance, look at the controversies trailing his death. A good leson to learn from his life is that we should live for what we believe in and let everyone know us for it so there'll be no arguement as to what we were after our death. As for me, I'm a muslim, I'm proud to be one and I pray to be one till death cos I sure want to be in paradise in the hereafter.

And IF Micheal died as a muslim, I pray Allah forgive him his sins and accept him into paradise, amin

E ku ile eyin omo kaaro ojiire, mo ni ki n ki yin ni. Mo sese mo pe iru thread bayii wa ni, inu mi si dun si i. Omo yooba gidi mi, ko si ti mi loju lati soo. ee tu ma gbo lati odo mi l'agbara Olorun. Ire oo

Salam alaykum brothers and sisters,

Alhamduli'Lah, I was able to make it to jumat and in time too. I would like to remind us all that not one of us would live without being tried by Allah, even the holy prophet (pbuh) was tried many times in different ways. I also want us all never to forget that whenever we are going through hard times, whether financially, emotionally or spiritually, we should always remember that Allah is the all knower, He is ever merciful, He is the best of guides and He has power over all things.

Ma salam all

@noetic, it is obvious it's no use going all the way to convince you of facts. You ask for well researched chronological facts when you have been 'evading' those provided for you. I gave you simple facts that even a blind man would see yet you remain same old noetic- never getting the points in posts even when interpreted into simple and direct words. I would have said you scram out but I enjoy your rantings at times.Salam

@muhsin, trully the non muslim posters have made me a better muslim even though they meant otherwise.

To all muslims who have been responding, may Allah increase you all in knowledge, amin

To all nnon muslims who have contributed, including the poster, thank you for making me a better muslim

To the question, why am I a muslim?

I am a muslim because Islam is the only worthy region. Before I became a muslim, I asked myself, is there God? Does He care to be worshipped? If He does, how does He want us to worship Him? Did He lay down specific ways or would not mind if one says thank you occassionally?

To answer all these questions, I became neutral because I knew if I were otherwise I would only choose my way and hence fool myself believing I'm fooling someone else, i.e., God. In the course of my research and toughts( of creations around me), I realised there is God who created all things around me, who is worthy to be worshipped. Then the question became HOW.Then I asked myself, how do I worship this God? I thought of the major religions in which I noticed its followers worship God persay; christianity and Islam. I studied the tenets of both religions, I noticed christianity recognises God but like every other religion, someone is placed between as if one can not reach God directly.Reasons for this intermediary(ies) are not reasonable. islam encourages reasonability, as a muslim you have to KNOW. From my research and indept reasoning, there is only one God. I say indept reasoning because all creations, when reasoned about, point to the unity of our creator. It was and is Islam that portrays this fact. It is only in Islam that one gets to feel the awesomeness of God and give all due glory to Him. One thing is for sure, it has not been easy because Islam is heavily attacked, directly and indirectly, but like they say, the wrong way is always wide and smooth while the right way is narrow and rough.

I'm a muslim and am proud to be one. May Allah make me one till death, amin.

Salamalaykum  

I luuuv all the verses of the Holy Quran. It is true that whenever one reads a verse one has read before, new meanings dawn on one. You can never finish reading the Quran. I can't help but say ALHAMDULILAH for the Quran cause it trully IS a mercy and source of guidance for all mankind. Where could I have been without Allah's mercy? surelly in the pit of darkness. ALHAMDULILAH

salamalaykun, could someone please tell me the meaning of Wulaimat I was once told it means God's friend but someoneelse said it means celebrant construed from wulemat celebration? someone help me out pleeeease.thanks

Allah is the most merciful, inspite of everything He is ever merciful. Even when our prayers are not answered, Allah always wants the best for us. Sometimes its to test and develop our patience. Allah said repeatedly in the Quran that patience and peceverance is best for us and it is only possible for those that are low in spirit, i.e. in the presence of their Lord. Whenever misfortunes befall me, I always remind myself that it definitely aint as bad as Ayubs(Job) and he remained faithful to God all the way. May Allah always meet us at our points of need, I pray He makes it easy for us. Salamalaykun

aaah,refreshing

Reading this thread from the begining has certainly been refreshing. May Allaah increase all that have contributed to this thread in knowledge as He has done to me through you all.Alhamdulilah and jazakhumlahkaeran to the contributors.

salamalaykum

honeric01:
Ndbl- nepa don bring light

yeah right as if den dey bring am like that, e suppose be NDTL-nepa don take light

I'm sorry I sent the first post without reading the thread from the begining, now I'm getting the gist. Great job @mypeace, really great job

Hello to all secretaries and P.A.s in the house, I'm currently working as a P.A. to someone in a well to do organisation. It's my first working experience and therefore my first time being a P.A. My boss is very understanding but then I'll like to impress her. Could anyone please give me the basics of being a P.A. in order not to mess up my opportunity here cos I'm getting to like the whole set-up. Thank you

@Lagosboy jazakumLahkhairan, May Allah reward you in abundance. Maa Salam

gloriuss:
No man can FULLY explain the trinity because it is beyond logic! But what I do know , is what I write down. Now God being God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is still largely incomprehensable

why would someone opt for a religion that is beyond 'logic' where the explanation for the unity of God is not only fully logical but also innate. For a long time I've noticed the explanation of the trinity have been dynamic, its explanation changes with time.

Please help answer these questions, May Allah increase us all in knowlwdge, Amin

How loud should a female observe solat?

Does someone's lips have to be moving when observing zhur and asr?

From all I've been reading,Nawafils and some other non obligatory prayers like the one you say to great the mosque, are very important. What should someone who can only manage to say the obligatory solats because of work constraint do?

I pray very slowly, I can't help it, is this why I get distracted (thoughts wise) alot during solat? If so or if not, what should I do?

Maa salam

54:2
Muhsin Khan: And if they see a sign, they turn away, and say: "This is continuous magic."

Thats exactly what's happening. 'They' will keep asking for evidences, while they have been rejecting the ones they have seen.

@web jamie,I'm replying you because I believe that you are asking because you sincerely want to know, here are some tips for you

Muhammed prayed for Allah's mercy for us,thats why a mere sincere ablution cleanse off your past sins and this should be done at least five times a day so imagine how free of sin a true muslim is.

In Islam, life is sacred, taking a life, even that of an ant, is a grievious sin and therefore feared by every muslim. If one therefore does take a life because one had to do it ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH in a war and the person dies in that war, then heaven is guaranteed for such a muslim.

It simply means, Heaven is more than any being can imagine or explain,

@Tudok Like I had implied, there is no point exchanging words with a rebellious man, the best answer for such a man is[b] 'WIAT AND SEE'[/b]. I have noticed you have the light in your hands but you have chosen to ignore it so lets just wait and see who is right at the end.

@savanaha, muslims do pray and their prayers get answered, and every answered prayer is a miracle. Its only that we humans always wait for the extraordinary to happen before we believe we've seen a miracle.Even the digestion of food we eat everyday is a miracle, so sister, don't forget to thank God for the digestion of your next meal. Ma salam

OH PLEASE! What are we doing here? Muslims, Should we raise Jesus and Muhammed, both prophets of Allah, against each other when both of them won't come together to compete in order to know who is greater? The best reply to a rebellious man is WAIT AND SEE cos its no use trying to educate him any longer. But I tel u this, there are men who have been more rebellious but later submitted to Allah's will in Islam. ALHAMDULILAH I'M A MUSLIM

In the history of Islam, Hassan ibn Alli gave up the post of Leader Of All Believers(can,t remember the term for that post) to Abu Huraira who wanted the post too much( though he was older than Hassan). By so doing, Hassan united two large sects thereby bringing about peace. The act also humbled Abu Huraira even more, no tussles, no ambushes, no abuses, not even from Abu Huraira before and after he got the post. Now that is Islam,

this thread is not worth making a noise over, its just a show of human imperfectness, whether muslim or otherwise. Mind you, we should all be careful not to accuse anyone yet,i.e. Alhaji Oluwakemi, no one is 100% sure he is behind the attack.Meanwhile, the criteria to appoint an imam is knowledge, credibility and age. ma salam,

The Messenger of Allah possesses many manifest miracles and signs demonstrating [his veracity], reaching thousands and they are well known.

From amongst them was the Qur'an, the manifest and clear miracle and brilliant proof, falsehood cannot approach it from before it or behind it. It is a revelation from One Who is All-Wise and Praiseworthy. It incapacitated the most eloquent of people in the most eloquent of times to produce a single chapter that would be comparable to it, even if the whole of creation were to gather for that purpose. Allah, the Exalted says,

"Say: If the whole of mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they assisted each other." [Al-Israa' (17): 88]

It challenged them to this despite their large numbers, their eloquence and their severe enmity, and it challenges them to this day.

As for the other miracles, it is not possible to enumerate them all due to their huge number and renewing and increasing nature. However, I will mention some examples:

The splitting of the moon, water flowing from between his fingers, increasing the quantity of food and water, the glorification of the food, the palm tree yearning for him, stones greeting him, the talking of the poisoned leg [of roasted sheep], trees walking towards him, two trees that were far apart coming together and then parting again, the barren [and therefore dry] sheep giving milk, , from islam.com

Brothers, Brothers, please do not let us be caried away by distractors. Remember, the prophet and the Quran make us understand that no matter how much u argue with a deaf and blind person(ignorant yet stubborn) he will not accept the truth. So please educate the unbeleivers to the best u can but don't be drawn into abusive sessions with them, thats not a muslim characteristic. If it's Allah will that they will become muslims, they will be, no doubt about that. Salamalaykun

YES, MIRACLES DO HAPPEN IN ISLAM. I'm a living testimony to it, when these miracles occur, they occur naturally, i.e. without the action sounds like in the movies, so much that I feel that what had happened would have happened even if I had not prayed for it, which is wrong of me. I ussually have to remind myself like, 'that was a miracle, really u should be very greatful'. However, brothers and sisters, don't get me wrong,Islam preaches that if one has a medical ailment, one should seek professional advice not spiritualists We should therefore not have malaria and sit at home praying it should be gone by daylight but in whatever situation we are, after having sought professional help, one should always know that all will and power lies with Allah, He tought the doctors what they know so even a successful treatment from them is A MIRACLE,

the author has points, the so called northern leaders fool their followers with Islam while they go around satisfying selfish interests, however, what has that got to do with 'carrying religion ontop of the head'. @dean2725 noted, their are numerous extrimists in other religions,no doubt tudor is one of them. We, the enlightened ones, should know by now what the situation of things is like in the north, we should know that a bulk of the northerners are uneducated which explains their irrational reaction to issues. Haba, their are muslims in other parts of Nigeria, even in the southsouth,

In 1976, Obasanjo(Nigerian president) visited our school and said we are the leaders of tomorrow. 30 yrs later he is still our leader. He used up our parents quota, he is using our quota and now he wants to use our children's quota. SAY NO TO 3RD TERM, Be wise , This was culled from mysite.verizon.net/vzevyra3/olumese/id10.html

This was certainly posted before 2007 but if one takes a deep look at things, one will notice that though there was an election 2007, still, same old people are still in power whether directly or indirectly. This is certainly not good for 'our democracy'. Fellow nairalanders, how do we oust these old politicans or is it that there are no fresh qualified ones?

I'm quite impressed by what I've seen and would like to see more. Yeah, its true that every city has its slums, even the Great Britain has areas that she can't boast of just like the US of A but WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT WARRI COULD BE THIS BEAUTIFUL after all we've heard in the news and from commedians. Big ups to Warri and all proud wafferians.

Nigeria was bleeped up b4 yu were born it will be bleeped up after yur gone.

Thats only true if we all believe so. The buidiing of the great nations that we know of today started on a day, ours can also be,