Complete Holy Quran

Complete Holy Quran In the voice of Sheikh ABdur-Rahman Sudais & Sheikh Shuraim (With Urdu Audio Translation)

The six kalmas in islam

Kuwaiti families in legal limbo at Guantanamo

Fatimah Al Kandari has not seen her son Fayiz Al Kandari in more than 10 years, but her thoughts are possessed by him. She sees Fayiz in every face. She thinks she hears him at times speaking to her. There is no room for anything else in Fatimah Al Kandari's life but her son.

Soad Abdul Jaleel feels the same way. When she last saw her son Fawzi Al Odah he was 24; he is now 34. Not a second goes by without her thinking of him, praying for him.

Al Kandari and Al Odah are incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Al Kandari has been accused of "providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy to materially support terrorism".

Al Odah has been accused of "being associated with al Qaeda and the Taliban". He has admitted to carrying a weapon through the Tora Bora Mountains in Afghanistan, but his father Kalid Al Odah has said the gun was for self-defense.

Both men have asserted their innocence. The two travelled to Afghanistan to do charity work, according to statements they, their families and lawyers have made.

Detention without charges

Though they stand accused, neither has had a trial - nor is one scheduled - to determine their "guilt" or innocence. They have filed habeas corpus petitions challenging the basis of their detention without charges, but their petitions have been denied.

The courts have concluded that there is a basis for the US government to continue to detain them under the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act, which allows the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against nations, organizations, or persons linked to the 9/11 attacks.

The US Supreme Court rejected Al Odah's appeal challenging his indefinite detention. On December 9, Al Kandari's appeal was also rejected by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The court cancelled oral arguments, meaning that the appeal was decided on the briefs.

"The judges will not even give 10 minutes to hear the appeal of a man who has now spent a decade behind bars," said David Cynamon, the lead attorney for Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Their lawyers fear that the two men will be indefinitely detained.

But the two men's mothers will not allow themselves to think that they will not see their sons again. For them, giving up hope is not an option.

"We didn't speak to him for years after Guantanamo," Fatimah Al Kandari said. They were only allowed to communicate through letters, but most of the words were crossed out. "The only words we could read were greetings and words to his mother and his signature. That's it. Everything else was crossed out with a black marker."

Time stands still for Fatimah Al Kandari. She buys her son, now 36, new clothes so he will have something to wear if he is freed and embroiders them with the letter "F" so they do not get mixed up with his brothers' clothes.

She wants to know what her son has been charged with and why has he not had a trial. She cannot believe that Americans would agree to this kind of abuse.

'Enhanced interrogation'

Al Kandari has been tortured - or as the Bush administration called it, subject to "enhanced interrogation techniques", his lawyer said. The abuse has included sleep deprivation, physical abuse, being placed in stress positions, sexual humiliation, the use of dogs, loud music, and the use of extreme temperatures, according to what Al Kandari told his military defense attorney, Lt Col Barry Wingard.

His mother has, of course, seen photos and heard about the torture. "What do I feel? You know a mother's heart. I cry all the time and I never sleep at night."

In response to previous queries about alleged abuse of Kuwaiti detainees, I was referred to a Department of Defense (DoD) report on detainee conditions, which states: "It is our judgment that the conditions of confinement, in Guantanamo, are in conformity with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions," which among other things prohibits violence to life and person and humiliating and degrading treatment.

Comander Leslie Hull-Ryde of Defense Press Operations added via email that the DoD "does not tolerate the abuse of detainees. All credible allegations of abuse are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate disciplinary action is taken when those allegations are substantiated....Although there have been substantiated cases of abuse in the past, for which US service members have been held accountable, our enemies also have employed a deliberate campaign of exaggerations and fabrications."

But is Al Kandari an enemy of the US?

His family says no. "Where are the human rights here?" his mother asked. "They are just holding them in prison. If they have done something, let the world know what they did."

According to Defense Department Documents from 2007, the following factors have favored Al Kandari's continued detention: his commitment, his training and his connections and associations. Some specifics claims leveled against him include: "an individual stated that the detainee was in charge of a group in Tora Bora" and "an individual stated that the detainee was very close to Osama bin Laden."

Sixteen out of 22 of the government's claims mentioned in a 2007 DoD report cite "an individual" who made statements against Al Kandari. According to Cynamon, the lawyer, therein lies the difficulty with the Guantanamo cases: They rely on hearsay, which is not normally admissible in US courts.

There is no way of "testing the truthfulness of the people making the allegations," Cynamon said. "The whole point of the prohibition against hearsay is the recognition that it is inherently inferior to live testimony, which can be tested by cross-examination, and where the trier of fact - whether the judge or jury - can actually see the witness and assess his or her credibility", Cynamon added.

It is also not possible to assess under what circumstances Al Kandari or other detainees may have made incriminating statements. In the 2007 DoD review, the government cites three times potentially self-incriminating statements by Al Kandari like "the detainee suggested that he and another individual travel to Afghanistan to participate in jihad and the detainee assigned them aliases".

Cynamon explained that "typically, the only way to really test a hearsay document like an interrogation report would be to cross-examine the interrogator who prepared the report: Did you interrogate Fayiz in English or Arabic? Did he answer in English or Arabic? If Arabic, do you speak it? If not, who was your interpreter? What were the qualifications?"

But with the Guantanamo cases cross-examination is not an option. "Bottom line, a supposedly self-incriminating statement in an uncorroborated interrogation report - which, according to the government's own intelligence expert, is merely the first step in the information-gathering process and is not relied upon by intelligence officials without further analysis and corroboration - is worthless", Cynamon added.

Ten Kuwaitis have returned to Kuwait from Guantanamo; Al Kandari and Al Odah are now the only Kuwaiti detainees still held at Guantanamo. Of the total 171 detainees remaining, 89 have been cleared for release. 

Soad Abdul Jaleel deeply feels her son's absence, but she said she will see him again. "I know for sure he will be free", she said. "Because my God knows he is innocent and he will not leave him like this…If I can't come together with him in this life, I will see him after Insha'allah [God willing]."

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Soad Abdul Jaleel feared her son was dead because she had not heard from him for three months. One day someone whom she did not know called her and told her that several Kuwaitis who had been praying in a mosque were captured, but she doubted the call. Then she saw a picture of her son in Kabul on the internet with a caption that said he would be transferred to Guantanamo.

For a decade now, Soad Abdul Jaleel has experienced extreme emotional ups and downs. After thinking her son was dead, she then found out he is not. He is in American custody, but then the reports came that Americans are abusing people.

"Of course they claim that they treat the prisoners well, but God exposed them and we all saw the newspapers and the photos", she said.

Her latest disappointment: Upon taking office, US President Barack Obama said he would close Guantanamo in a year, but he has failed to do.

She would trade places with her son if she could. "He's a young man. When will he get married? When will he live his life?"

After years of only being allowed to communicate with her son through letters, she can now talk to him on the phone. During her first conversation with him, she said she could not talk - she could only cry.

Now, the family is allowed a one hour video conference every two months. For the last 10 years, the Americans have not told the family why they are holding their son.

Much like the Al Kandari family, the Al Odah family is in limbo. Soad Abdul Jaleel said she has given up on the American and Kuwaiti governments.

Both families feel like victims of circumstance. Their sons were doing charity work, they said.

Ten years later Fayiz Al Kandari and Fawzi Al Odah still linger in cells far away from their loved ones. But Soad Abdul Jaleel said she knows: "One day I will wake up, and this nightmare will be over."

PHOTO CAPTION

A demonstrator protests against Guantanamo Bay prison during a Stop the War rally in Trafalgar Square, central London October 8, 2011.

Source: Aljazeera.com

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Islam at a glance

Islam and Muslims:

The Arabic word "Islam" means peace, submission and obedience. The religion of Islam is the complete acceptance of the teachings and guidance of God as revealed to His Prophet Muhammad .

A Muslim is one who believes in God and strives for the complete reorganization of his life according to ) God’s revealed guidance and the sayings of His Prophet . He also works towards building human society on the same basis. "Muhammadanism" is a misnomer for Islam and offends its very spirit.

The word 'Allaah' is the proper name of God in Arabic. It is a unique term because it has no plural form or feminine gender.

Continuity of Message:

Islam is not a new religion. It is, in essence, the same message and guidance which Allaah revealed to all Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention. The Quran says (what means): "Say: we believe in Allaah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael; Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets, from their Lord. We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to Allaah do we bow our will (in Islam)" [Quran 3:84].

The message, which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad is Islam in its comprehensive, complete and final form.

The Five Pillars of Islam

There are five pillars of Islam:

1. The declaration of faith: To bear witness that: “There is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger ” to all human beings till the Day of Judgment. The Prophethood of Muhammad obliges the Muslims to follow his exemplary life as a model.

2. Prayers: Daily prayers are offered five times a day as a duty towards Allaah. They strengthen and enliven the belief in Allaah and inspire man to a higher morality. They purify the heart and prevent temptation towards wrong doings and evils.

3. Fasting the month of Ramadhaan: The Muslims during the month of Ramadhaan not only abstain from food, drink and sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset, but also from evil intentions and desires. It teaches love, sincerity, devotion and develops a sound social conscience, patience, unselfishness and willpower.

4. Zakaah: To pay annually 2.5 percent of one's net saving on which a year has passed, as a religious duty and purifying sum, to be spent on poorer sections of the community.

5. Pilgrimage to Makkah: It is to be performed once in a lifetime, if one can afford it financially and physically.
Besides these pillars, every action, which is done with the awareness that it fulfills the Will of Allaah, is also considered an act of worship.

Islam enjoins faith in the Oneness and Sovereignty of Allaah, which makes man aware of the purpose of the Universe and of his place in it. This belief frees him from all fears and superstitions, by making him conscious of the presence of Almighty Allaah and of his obligation towards Him. Faith alone is not enough. It must be expressed and tested in action, i.e., the "five pillars of Islam", which are the manifestations of faith. Belief in one God requires that we look upon all humanity as one family under the universal Omnipotence of God, the Creator and Nourisher of all. Islam rejects the idea of a chosen people, making faith in God and good actions as the only way to Heaven. Thus, a direct relationship is established with God, without any intercessor.

Man: The Free Agent:

Man is the highest creation of God. He is equipped with the highest of potentialities. He is left relatively free in his will, action and choice. God has shown him the right path, and the life of Prophet Muhammad provides a perfect example. Man's success and salvation lies in following both. Islam teaches the sanctity of the human personality and confers equal rights upon all without any distinction of race, gender or color.

The law of God, enunciated in the Quran and exemplified in the life of the Prophet, is supreme in all cases. It applies equally to the highest and the lowest, the prince and the peasant, the ruler and the ruled.

Quran and Hadeeth:

The Quran is the last revealed word of God and the basic source of Islamic teachings and law. The Quran deals with the bases of creeds, morality, history of humanity, worship, knowledge, wisdom, the relationship between God and man, and human relationships in all aspects. The Holy Quran contains comprehensive teachings, which can be built into sound systems of social justice, economics, politics, legislation, jurisprudence, law and international relations.

Muhammad himself was unlettered, he could not read or write. Yet, the Holy Quran was committed to memory and writing by his followers under his supervision during his lifetime. The original and complete text of the Quran is available to everybody in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed. Translations of the meaning into many languages are widely used. The teachings, sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad (Ahadeeth) were meticulously reported and collected by his devoted companions, they explain and elaborate the Quranic verses.

Concept of Worship:

Islam does not teach or accept mere ritualism. It emphasizes intention and action. To worship God is to know Him and love Him, to act upon His law in every aspect of life, to enjoin goodness and forbid wrongdoing and oppression, to practice charity and justice and to serve Him by serving mankind.

The Quran presents this concept in the following sublime manner (which means): "It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West, but it is righteousness to believe in Allaah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; and to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and give Zakaah, to fulfill the contracts which you have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all period of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing." [Quran 2:177]

Islamic Way of Life:

Islam provides definite guidelines for all peoples to follow in all walks of life. The guidance it gives is comprehensive and includes the social, economic, political, moral and spiritual aspects of life. The Quran reminds man of the purpose of his life on earth, of his duties and obligations towards himself, his kith and kin, his community, his fellow human beings and his Creator. Man is given fundamental guidelines about a purposeful life and then he is left with the challenge of human existence before him, so that he might put these high ideals into practice. In Islam, human life is a wholesome integrated unit and not a collection of fragmented competitive parts. The sacred and secular are not separate parts of man: they are united in the nature of being human.

Historical Perspective:

Prophet Muhammad was born in the year 570 CE in the city of Makkah in Arabia. He came from a noble family; he received the first revelation at the age of forty. As soon as he started preaching Islam, he and his followers were persecuted and had to face severe hardships. Therefore, he was commanded by God to migrate to Al-Madeenah, another city in Arabia. During a short span of 23 years, he completed his mission of prophethood and died at the age of 63. He led a perfect life and set an example for all human beings, as his life was the embodiment of the Quranic teachings.

Islam's Rational Appeal:

Islam in its clear and direct way of expressing truth has a tremendous amount of appeal for any seeker of knowledge. It is a solution for all the problems of life. It is a guide towards a better and complete life, glorifying in all its phases, God, the Almighty Creator and the Merciful Nourisher.

Islam - The Solution of Modern Problems:

The Brotherhood of Man: It is really a major irony that advanced nations can send men to the moon, but cannot stop them from hating and fighting their fellow man. Over the last 1400 years, Islam  has shown in practice how racism can be ended. Every year, during Hajj, the Islamic miracle of real brotherhood of all races and nations can be seen in action.

The Family: The family, which is the basic unit of civilization, is disintegrating in all Western countries. Islam's family system brings into a fine equilibrium the rights of man, wife, children and relatives. Islam nourishes human unselfishness, generosity and love in a well-organized family system.

Unfragmented View of Life:

Human beings live according to their view of life. The tragedy of secular societies is that they fail to connect the different aspects of life. The secular and religious, the scientific and the spiritual seem to be in conflict. Islam puts an end to this conflict and brings harmony to man's vision of life.

Who is Allaah?

Allaah is the proper name of the One True God. Nothing else can be called Allaah. This term has no plural or gendfer, which shows its uniqueness when compared with the word ‘god’, that can be made plural, gods; or feminine, goddess. It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not the case with Allaah.

Some of the biggest misconceptions that many non-Muslims have about Islam have to do with the word "Allaah". For various reasons, many people have come to believe that Muslims worship a different God than Christians and Jews. This is totally false, since "Allaah" is simply the Arabic word for "God" -- and there is only One God. However, it is certainly true that Jews, Christians and Muslims all have different concepts of Almighty God. For example, Muslims, like Jews, reject the Christian beliefs of Trinity and Divine Incarnation. However, this does not mean that each of these three religions worships a different God – because there is only One True God. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are classified as ‘Monotheistic’, however, Islam teaches that other religions have, in one way or another, distorted and nullified a pure and proper belief in Almighty God by neglecting His true teachings and mixing them with man-made ideas.

The One True God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with God. To a Muslim, Allaah is the Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about Allaah; the answer came directly from Allaah Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is considered the essence or the motto of monotheism. This is chapter 112 which reads (what means):

“Say: ‘He is Allaah, (who is) One, Allaah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.’” [Quran 112:1]

Some non-Muslims allege that God in Islam is a stern and cruel God who demands to be obeyed fully. He is not loving and kind. Nothing can be farther from the truth than this allegation. It is enough to know that with the exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the Quran begins with the verse: "In the name of Allaah, the Merciful, the Compassionate." In one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad we are told that: "Allaah is more loving and kinder than a mother to her dear child."

However, Allaah is also Just. Hence, wrongdoers and sinners must have their share of punishment, and the pious will receive His bounties and favors. People suffering throughout their lives while seeking Allaah’s bounty and people oppressing and exploiting other people all their lives should not receive similar treatment from their Lord. Expecting similar treatment for them is contrary to the very belief in the accountability of man in the Hereafter, which removes all the incentives for striving to attain a moral and virtuous life in this world.

Islam rejects characterizing God in any human form or depicting Him as favoring certain individuals or nations on the basis of wealth, power or race. He created human beings as equals. They may distinguish themselves and get His favor only through virtue and piety.

The concepts that God rested in the seventh day of creation, that God wrestled with one of His soldiers, that God is an envious plotter against mankind, or that God is incarnate in any human being are considered blasphemy from the Islamic point of view.

The Creator must have a different nature from the things He created, because if He were of the same nature as them, He would be temporal and would therefore need a maker. Therefore, nothing is like Him. If the Maker is not temporal, then He must be Eternal. The Eternal cannot be bound by limitations. He is the Self-Sufficient because nothing outside Him can cause him to continue to exist, and if nothing outside Him causes Him to continue to exist, this means that He is Self-Sufficient. And if He does not depend on anything for the continuance of His own existence, then His existence can have no end. The Creator is therefore Eternal and Everlasting.

Linguistically, it is interesting to note that the Aramaic word "El", which is the word for God in the language that ‘Eesaa (Jesus) spoke, is certainly more similar in sound to the word "Allaah" than the English word "God". This also holds true for the various Hebrew words for God, which is "El" and "Elah", and the plural form "Elohim". The reason for these similarities is that Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic are all Semitic languages with common origins. It should also be noted that in translating the Bible into English, the Hebrew word "El" is translated variously as "God", "god" and "angel"! This imprecise language allows different translators, based on their preconceived notions, to translate the word to fit their own views. The Arabic word "Allaah" presents no such difficulty or ambiguity, since it is only used for Almighty God alone. Additionally, in English, the only difference between "god", meaning a false god, and "God", meaning the One True God, is the capital "G" which is commonly used in written works.