My trip to Malaysia-part 12-Braille Quran Institute

Dato Mah Hassan Haji Omar demonstrating how the braille qurans are made.

On the  next part of my trip I did something quite different. Instead of doing something related to in-laws,friends or touristy I made a trip to the Braille Quran Institute in Malaysia. I found out about it from another blog; sketchedsoul. Alhumdullilah we were able to go there and hopefully make a difference. We were picked up, after our trip by monorail, by the family of the founder. The building is non-descript in a poorer kind of neighbourhood, not what I was expecting. When we got there we went upstairs and listened to Dato' Mah Hassan Haji Omar talk about what inspired him to start this organization. He told us how he was born sighted and became blind only at 3 yrs of age. He said he could remember seeing. When he grew up despite being blind, he went to study law in the UK at Southhampton after first studying it at the University of Malaya.It was in England that he found out that bibles were available in braille. This inspired him to make Braille Qurans. He showed us the room where the Qurans are made and talked to us about his wonderful volunteers who put in long hours helping to make them,teach how they are to be read from and distribute them whenever donations are made,even sending them out of the country when requests are made. Besides Saudi they are the only ones making braille Qurans. It was very inspiring to see a blind man who not only became a lawyer (Mah Hassan and Associates) but also started an institute to help other blind people to learn the word of Quran. It was a very humbling experience.


If you would like to pay for a braille Quran so that your brother/sister can learn to read the Quran it costs 240MR which is about $80 Canadian. Please let the nur of Quran reach their souls. Volunteers are also always needed to help out . Think about making a difference today. 
 

Friday Nasihah

Living The Quran Pleasing God Al-Baqara (The Cow) Chapter 2: Verse 120 (partial) "The Jews and the Christians will not be pleased with you unless you following their religion [milla]." This verse is quoted at will in times of trouble or simply when people want to justify mistrusting some Jews and Christians. The verse is heard from mosque pulpits, in conferences, and at seminars, with the implication that it explains the attitude of Jews and Christians toward Muslims: their rejection of Islam, their double dealing, not to say deceitfulness, and colonization, proselytism, wars, Bosnia, Palestine, and so on. But that is not what the verse says: the phrase "will not be pleased with you" [lan tarda anka] translates here the idea of full absolute satisfaction, expressed with the heart as well as the mind. For Jews and Christians convinced, like a Muslim, of the truth of their own message, complete satisfaction with the other is attained when the experience of faith and truth is shared. One has the feeling of living and sharing this essential element that gives meaning and light to one's life. This does not imply that in the absence of this full satisfaction one can live in and express only rejection, mistrust, and conflict. One can feel and manifest deep and sincere respect toward a human being with whom one does not share this full spiritual communion. It is a matter of being sincere and of recognizing the states of our souls and hearts. It is within our communities of faith that we live most deeply the fullness of the meaning of (rida) with the other who shares our truth, even if it is possible (though it is the exception rather than the rule) that we might experience a unique spiritual relationship with a woman or a man from another tradition. The Quran here is speaking only of the intimate and very natural inclination of people of faith toward one another. At a deeper level, believers must be conscious that ultimately what they must seek before all else is to please God [rida Allah], not other people. Compiled From: "Western Muslims and The Future of Islam" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 207

Understanding the Prophet's Life Greed Greed is a sickness as is miserliness, and jealousy is worse than miserliness as occurs in the hadith reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him), "Jealousy eats away at good deeds, just as fire eats away at firewood, and giving charity extinguishes sins just as water extinguishes fire." [Ibn Majah] This is because the miser only stops himself from having good but the envier dislikes the favours of Allah bestowed upon His servants. It is possible that a person give to those lesser than him who would help him achieve his objectives and yet display jealousy to those of the same level as him just as it is possible for him to be miserly without displaying envy to others. Greed is the basis for this. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Beware of greed for it destroyed those that came before you: it commanded them to be miserly and they were, it commanded them to be oppressive and they were and it commanded them to break the ties of kinship and they did." [Abu Dawud] Compiled From: "Diseases of the Hearts and their Cures" - Ibn Taymiyyah, pp. 76, 77

Blindspot! Four Stations [... continued from previous issue] 3. Ansarullah The meaning of the word ‘ansar’ is helpers, supporters. When Isa (peace be upon him) called out to his nation asking, “who are my helpers for Allah?” some of them responded by saying, “We are helpers of Allah.” [As-Saff 61:14] They showed their servitude to Allah by offering themselves as “helpers of Allah” (Ansarullah). In another place in the Quran Allah says, “O you who believe, if you help Allah, He will help you and make your feet firm.” [Muhammad 47:7] Why would Allah, the owner of the universe, who does not need anything from His creations, ask for help from the believers? Allah has decreed laws that govern all of His creations. The sun, the moon, stars, galaxies, plants, trees, rivers, oceans, fire, water, air, birds, insects and animals all of them are governed by the laws prescribed by Allah. These laws that needed no Messenger govern every aspect of those creations. Allah has not given those creations the free will to accept or defy the laws that govern them. Indeed, Allah has subjected all of His creations to the divine laws, except for humans. Allah has not forced the acceptance and obedience of divine laws on humans. He does not even reach out to every single human being with the divine message, instead he sent down Messengers with His divine guidance and has given humans the choice to accept or defy His guidance. This is why the help of humans are needed to establish a system in accordance with the guidance from Allah. Allah has done so not because He is incapable but to reward humans who offer themselves to be His helpers. Those who offer themselves as helpers of Allah to establish the Divine guidance among humans are given the station of Ansarullah. One who serves Allah only in personal life and does not work towards establishing Divine laws sent by Allah through His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cannot reach the station of Ansarullah. Even if a person is known to be ‘pious’ and a ‘scholar’, he or she cannot reach the station of Ansarullah without working towards establishing a system based on divine guidance. Allah has reminded the Prophet (peace be upon him) of this important task in several places of the Quran (At-Tawba 33, Al-Fath 28, As-Saff 9) saying, “It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the true way of life, to prevail over all other ways of life.” The Quran, the life of the Prophet and his companions, show that the responsibility to establish a divine way of life is not solely the responsibility of Prophets. Those who believe in the last Prophet also bear the same responsibility. That is why those who did not aid the Prophet in his attempt to establish the divine way of life were labelled as hypocrites despite their prayers and fasting. [to be continued] Compiled From: “Four Stations of Believers” - Ghulam Azam

Friday Nasihah

Living The Quran The Ingrate An-Nahl (The Bee) Chapter 16: Verse 78 "God brought you forth from the bellies of your mothers; you knew nothing and He gave you hearing, sight and minds so that you might have cause to be grateful." The Quran frequently returns to the theme of the arrogance of those who have a sense of entitlement to their wealth and social status. The unbeliever claims self-sufficiency when the reality is that everything he possesses, even his body and mind, were created by God. The great scholar of the Quran Toshihiko Izutsu showed the importance of this Quranic concept of "gratitude" (shukr) in defining the relationship between God and humanity. He rightfully pointed out that the word kufr, usually translated as "disbelief," also signifies "ingratitude." In this respect, the Quran draws a close connection between faith and gratitude towards God. Disbelief is a wilful refusal to acknowledge God's favours to humanity. It is to be expected that someone who does not even acknowledge his responsibility to show gratitude to God will reject the idea that he has moral obligations towards humanity. Presenting himself as a "self-made man," the ingrate is arrogant and irresponsible towards God and humanity. Compiled From: "The Story of The Quran: Its History and Place in Muslim Life" - Ingrid Mattson, p. 48

Understanding the Prophet's Life Reconciliation "Bringing about justice between two is an act of charity." [Bukhari, Muslim] The wording of the above saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) implies bringing peace between two people, making conciliation between two people, judging justly between two people and so forth. It implies bringing two people or parties together in such a way that one has not made something forbidden permissible or vice-versa. Making things aright between people is described as a kind of charity because of the wonderful results it brings about. It brings about peace, love and harmony between people who may have had, for whatever reason, some disharmony in their relationship with one another. From the Shariah point of view, this goal is so important that it is one of the few areas in which some form of lying is considered permissible. According to al-Bugha and Mistu, reconciling relationships between individuals is a communal obligation (fard kifayah). Sultan points out that the effect of such conciliatory behaviour is that it will make society like one body, united and working in accord with one another. Compiled From: "Commentary on the Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo, p. 1000

Blindspot! Four Stations [... continued from previous issue] 2. Awliyaullah The word ‘Awliya’ is plural of ‘wali,’ which means protector, guardian, supporter, and friend. In the Quran the derivatives of the word ‘wali’ is used for both Allah and His creation. The word ‘wali’ when used as an attribute of Allah usually means protector, guardian: “Allah is the protector and guardian of those who believe” [Al-Baqara 2:257]. The same word when used in reference to humans usually refer to close friends: ‘Know that the friends of Allah need not worry or be afraid” [Al-Yunus 10:62]. One may wonder what is the difference between an abd of Allah and a wali of Allah. Allah explains the progression in a beautiful hadith Qudsi that when Allah’s servants and admirers go beyond obeying all the commands of Allah and strive to get closer to Him through supererogatory acts then they become his friends and reach the station of Awliyaullah; consequently their ears, eyes, hands, and feet only do what Allah is pleased with [Bukhari, Book #76, Hadith #509]. They don’t do anything that is against the wish of Allah. They are indeed the true Ibadullah and only those who have reached the level of Ibadullah in every aspect of their lives can reach the station of Awliyaullah. Those who do not feel any urge to enjoin what is good and stand up against what is evil in their societies through establishing a system of governance in light of the guidance from Allah cannot be the wali of Allah just through prayers, fasting and remembrance. This is evident from the hadith where Jibreel was commanded to destroy a city because of their disobedience and evildoing. When Jibreel inquired about a person living in that city that he thought never disobeyed Allah, Allah responded by saying, “Destroy him as well, because he was not offended by their evildoing.” [Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Bahaiqi] True remembrance of Allah is to always be active in serving the wishes of Allah and feel the urge to improve the condition of the society one lives in according to the guidance of Allah. When we do that and reach a state whereby all of our limbs act in accordance with Allah’s command only then we have truly reached the station of Awliyaullah. [to be continued] Compiled From: “Four Stations of Believers” - Ghulam Azam

Friday Nasihah

Living The Quran Wantonness Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War) Chapter 8: Verse 47 "And do not be like those who leave their homes filled with wantonness (batara), showing off before people and preventing others from the way of God. And God encompasses what they do." The word batar has several other meanings: the inability to bear blessings, bewilderness, dislike of something undeserving of dislike, and reckless extravagance. Wantonness is a disease to which the world's affluent societies are particularly vulnerable. In societies that are extremely pleased with their standard of living, their extravagance and hubris are obvious. One sign of these conditions is the ease with which people enter into debt and live contentedly with it. People are consciously living beyond their means in order to maintain the appearance of affluence. This is a product of wantonness, willingly falling headlong into debt in order to achieve a certain material standard of living. The treatment of wantonness is to wilfully experience hunger and to reflect seriously on death and the Hereafter. Hunger can be achieved through voluntary fasting or by simply reducing what one eats. Reflecting on death and the Hereafter is to reflect on the state of the grave, which will be either a parcel of Paradise or a pit of Hell. Compiled From: "Purification of the Heart" - Hamza Yusuf, pp. 27-29

Understanding the Prophet's Life Reason to Live We were not created only to eat, drink, and reproduce; these are natural facts of our life and natural needs. Our main purpose is to recognize and serve God. All Prophets were sent to show us how to do this. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been sent to open the way to the guidance of humanity and jinn, and for all time. Once this had been done, there would be no reason for him to live, for he would have nothing more to do. This implies that believers should never neglect their essential duties in this world, and should pray, as instructed by God's Messenger (peace be upon him): "O God, make me die if death is good for me; or else, make me live long as long as living is good for me!" [Bukhari] Compiled From: "The Messenger of God: Muhammad" - Fethullah Gulen, pp. 25, 26

Blindspot! Silence of Minds When Muslims speak among themselves, they are inexhaustible in criticism of their co-religionists and, more broadly, of the catastrophic state in which the Ummah finds itself. Complaints and rejections are the rule. The least that can be noticed, from Morocco to Indonesia, is a feeling of bitterness, malaise and deep disenchantment that is shared by a large majority of the people. The affective inventory is negative. We can certainly understand this, for there is nothing delightful in that which we can observe today. Yet, what is more vexing is the fact that the affect takes precedence over a real, precise, in-depth, critical and uncompromising analysis of the causes of these fractures. The Muslim World, for the one who can see, is still lacking intellectual exactness. Very limited in number are those voices that go to the limits of honest analysis, that refuse to say something and then keep quiet when they see its contrary being applied, that denounce events, governmental policies or silent conspiracies. We are in a state of emergency. It would be too difficult to emerge from the actual upheaval without making a precise analysis of the causes and responsibilities: from the illiteracy of people to the betrayals of the powers in place whose hypocritical policies one must denounce at the cost of one's life perhaps – but this is the passage obligated by reform. Keeping silent is tantamount to being an accomplice, it is "betraying God, His Prophet and all the Believers," according to the exacting expression of the Prophet (peace be upon him). On the geo-strategic level and at the level of economic policies, some Muslim countries participate and collaborate in an immoral management of the world and are implicated in some of the most dubious dealings and trades. All this must be analysed, rigorously described, stated and then denounced. It should, of course, be denounced in a constructive manner, but also loudly, clearly and intelligibly. Compiled From: "Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 288, 289