Unification: Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem

American Muslims: Facts vs. Fiction

The Caliph - Part 1: Foundation - Featured Documentary

Stand Up Against Islamphobia

Source: http://bust.com/feminism/18544-stop-anti-muslim-hate-crime.html

Islam and liberty: Mustafa Akyol at TEDxWarwick

SUNNI SHIA HATE EXPERIMENT

Daily Five Prayers Chart for Sunni and Shia

PS: Another good source to know the details of prayers - http://www.inter-islam.org/Actions/Part8.html

Dr. Yasir Qadhi's Series of Lectures on Seerah of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)

Today (the original post date was November 20th 2015) I finished listening to one of the most significant lecture series in my life - Dr. Yasir Qadhi's Series of Lectures on Seerah of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). Initially I was listening to it from YouTube after knowing about it from Wali Bhai. Later Amin told me that he found an iPhone App named Yasir Qadhi where all these lectures are available in audio format and I could download it and listen to the audios offline. So this saved my data plan as in my first month I already crossed my 40GB plan just by listening to it while driving to office and coming back.

It's a 104 part lecture series containing approximately 175 hours of lectures by Pakistani descent but American muslim scholar Dr. Yasir Qadhi who stayed in Madina for 10 years for his islamic studies. Any muslim or non-muslim will be moved listening to this series. You will learn to be humble, polite, wise and humane to others. Dr. Yasir focused mainly on 2 things - rigorous academic analysis of Prophet's (pbuh) life, actions, teachings and the situations of Arab at that time; and how the we can relate those to our 21st century American muslim life.

I was in awe many times just listening to the incidents, just thinking about the patience of Sahabis (R) and their love for Islam and our Prophet (pbuh). Often I have been laughing loud or crying while driving on the way listening through my headphone, disappointed that I reached office or home already while in the middle of a great analysis of a particular fiqh issue. This work by Dr. Yasir is one of the most profound of its nature in English language. I can't think of anything else comparable.

I invite you to listen to it. I will now move into his other lectures, and then probably into Mughal, Roman and Persian empires, second world war, Mahabharat and so on that are freely available in YouTube.

Update: I have finished the Seerah series for a second time yesterday. Alhamdulillah. It was as beautiful as I felt when I finished it the first time in November last year!

What should be the rule for daily 5 times prayer on planets where the day/night length is different than on earth?

As Salam u Alaikum. I would like to ask you a hypothetical question and please don't be upset or angry with me for asking something that may sound as a waste of time or of no immediate benefit to us. I seek Allah's refuge if my question makes you uncomfortable in any way.

As Science and Technology is exponentially leaping forward with time, the question may get relevant in a few centuries from today. I am sure that the Ulama of that time will come to an ijmaa that will satisfy the Muslims, but I am curious to do the thought experiment now to understand how an Islamic Scholar comes to the conclusion on a particular controversial topic.

Assume a time when human being starts colonizing different planets in different solar systems. For our example, one group of Muslims migrate to a planet where a day consists of one-fifth of earth time i.e. 4 hours 48 minutes a day. And another group of Muslims migrate to a planet where a day is 5 times longer compared to earth i.e. 120 hours a day. So the day and night cycle happens very quickly in first planet and very slowly in the other planet. We further assume that no major biological change happened to human beings in the meantime and hence people sleeps for 6 hours in every 24 hours time no matter in which planet they inhabit. Compared to standard earth time then, in 120 hours (i.e. 5 days on earth), a Muslim on earth will pray for 5 * 5 i.e. 25 times. In your opinion, how many times should the Muslims of first (small) planet and last (large) planet pray during that same amount of time?

I could think of choosing from one of the below two possibilities.

1) Follow 5 times a day prayer cycle no matter how long is the planet's own day/night cycle time is compared to earth. In this case, in small planet, Muslims will still continue to pray 5 times a day and hence in earth standard 120 hours, Muslims will pray 5 * 5 * 5 = 125 times while on earth during that same time a Muslim will pray 5 * 5 = 25 times and in the large planet a Muslim will pray 5 times only in that same amount of time.

2) Follow earth's standard time to decide how many times you pray in other planets. In this case, all of small planet, large planet and earth the prayer will be performed exactly the same number of times i.e. 5 * 5 = 25 times in 120 hours earth standard time (which is equivalent to 1 day in large planet but 25 days in small planet). However, it will end up being that in the small planet a Muslim will pray only once a day (day of that small planet) while in the large planet Muslims will end up praying 25 times a day (day of that large planet).

What would you think as the more reasonable option be? #1 or #2? Or would you rather think of a different option other than these 2?

JAK

Hajj - The Sacred Journey

Friday Jummah Prayer - What to Keep in Mind

Yahia Emerick in Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam

Oldest Quran Manuscript Avaialble

This is one of the most ancient manuscripts of the Quran that we currently posses, written in the Hijazi script. It is displayed at the University of Birmingham, and has been Carbon-14 dated to the same era (plus or minus a few decades) of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam). To the right of the manuscript is the typed up version of the same text (courtesy of Prof Alan Godlas). 

It is patently clear, even to those of us who can't read the ancient Hijazi script with ease, that the two texts are essentially the same. No other religious text can even come close to this level of preservation. The earliest complete copies of the New Testament date back to more than three centuries after the era of Jesus Christ, and the earliest manuscripts of the Old Testament to more than a thousand years after the era of Moses. 

What is more amazing is that the Quran isn't even primarily preserved through manuscripts - it is first and foremost preserved through the memorization of huffadh of every single generation, to the point of tawatur (meaning: in each generation numerous people have recited the Quran and passed it down to the next generation, to the point that it would be impossible for all of them to be mistaken about it).

The preservation of the Quran is a matter that all Muslims have agreed on, from the beginning of Islam, and hence it is of the most fundamental and essential beliefs of Islam.

Anyone who denies that the Quran has been preserved is simply not a Muslim. 

Of the most fascinating disciplines of our academic tradition, therefore, is the specialty of documenting the preservation of the Quran, and of explaining the evolution of the script, the addition of the tashkil and diacritic marks, the development of the various recitations (the 'seven' and the 'ten' and the 'fourteen' and others), the classification and codification of these recitations and the differences between them, and of course the relationship of these recitations to the 'modes' (Ar. 'ahruf') that are referenced in the hadith. Scholars have always had many fascinating and at times heated discussions regarding all of these facets and more, and many books have been written about these topics, such as those by Ibn Abi Dawud and Ibn Mujahid and Makki b. Abi Talib and al-Dani and Ibn al-Jazari and a host of others. But despite all of the differences of opinion found in these classical works, none of those discussions ever negated the basic fact that all Muslims believe in: that the Quran, as the Speech of Allah, has always been preserved.

"Truly, we have sent down this Remembrance, and We shall, for sure, preserve it" [al-Hijr; 9].

All praise is due to Allah for revealing the Quran to us and gifting us belief in His Speech!

Source: Sh Yasir Qadhi

Your Parents Are Your Heaven - Yasir Qadhi

Ayatul Kursi Beautiful Recitation

Allahu laaa ilaaha illaa huwal haiyul qai-yoom; 

laa taakhuzuhoo sinatunw wa laa nawm; 

lahoo maa fissamaawaati wa maa fil ard; 

man zallazee yashfa'u indahooo illaa be iznih; 

ya'lamu maa baina aideehim wa maa khalfahum; 

wa laa yuheetoona beshai 'immin 'ilmihee illa be maa shaaaa; 

wasi'a kursiyyuhus samaa waati wal arda wa la ya'ooduho hifzuhumaa; 

wa huwal aliyyul 'azeem;

Understanding Quran With Tafsir

I have finished Al-Quran in Arabic when I was a young kid. But I never have been able to finish Al-Quran with the translation or with Tafsir. I made 2 attempts - once in Bengali and another time in English. But both the times laziness or other priorities diverted me. This time I am thinking I will go with English Tafsir along with the Arabic recitation. For this I picked the list of 114 Surahs from Wikipedia and plan to go one by one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surahs_in_the_Quran. For Arabic recitation I will be following the default (1st in drop down) Al-Afasy - http://tanzil.net/#2:1 .

I have the "Study Quran" (https://www.amazon.com/Study-Quran-New-Transl…/…/ref=sr_1_1…) which I plan to consult as and when needed for any of the Surahs if I get stuck. But otherwise I will focus mostly on Sh. Yasir Qadhi's lectures, Ustaz Nouman Alil Khan's lectures, Bengali tafsirs from www.quranerkotha.com (which I find the most extensive and detail). The pace I will go, it will take me approximately 5 years to finish all the 114 Surahs unless Allah guides me and it happens faster! Pray for me. During this time, this post will remain in progress or will be constantly updated as and when I finished the tafsir of each Surah.

The miracles of Quran by Sh Yasir Qadhi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2S_e1d4hb0

Surah#1: Al-Fatihah

I was following the Hafs Qirayat (which is the most common one amongst the 10 Qirayats of Al-Quran). I followed Sheykh Yasir Qadhi's series - https://www.youtube.com/watch… and Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan's lecture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHPJULuxMw. Also a good and detail Tafsir in Bengali I followed is from here - http://quranerkotha.com/surah-fatiha/ .

A few key points to note -

1. Sura # 1 in Al-Quran. Total verses (ayat) # 7. Makki Sura.
2. First complete sura revealed in Al-Quran.
2A. Surah al-Fātiḥah ("the Opening") is also called, Umm Al-Kitab ("the Mother of the Book") and Umm Al-Quran ("the Mother of the Quran"); Sab'a al Mathani ("Seven repeated [verses]"; Al-Hamd ("praise"); Al-Shifa' ("the Cure"); Al-Ruqyah ("remedy" or "spiritual cure") and al-Qasas, "The Foundation".
3. YQ gave ideas about why there is difference of opinion amongst scholars about "Bismillahir Rahman Ir Rahim" being part of Sura Fatiha or not.
4. YQ gave some astonishing numbers about how many times this Sura is recited by a single Muslim per year!
5. NAK gave some beautiful explanations of why certain words have been chosen and in exactly certain orders. He showed what would it sound like if even a single modification is done in any order or word in the Sura (loosing either in meaning, or in impact or in melody).
6. Also a fantastic demonstration from NAK is the balance of the Sura - linguistic, mathematical, meaning wise and even compared to Sura Ikhlas which is the last Sura of Al-Quran.
7. A short explanaion related to hadiths about Surah Fatiha by NAK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8I6BZQED7E

Surah#2: Al-Baqarah

Quick overview by Sh. Yasir Qadhi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a7a55bEFho

Most detail tafsir in Bengali - http://quranerkotha.com/category/%e0%a6%ac%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%95%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b0%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b9/

Nouman Ali Khan's short tafsirs (one-third verses are missing) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBoiUMdfV0&list=PL5qUbRsC8MygbSAQbkaWnY2bokW8_ZAIt

The missing tafsirs from NAK video series are - 88-90, 103-104, 116-121, 133-134, 174-175, 178-188, 194-202, 211-212

From Ayat 229 onwards, you will have to follow this link -

• NAK tafsir of ayats 88-90: http://podcast.bayyinah.com/2012/05/12/surah-al-baqarah-88-90
• NAK tafsir of ayats 229 - 232: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWDZPo8rufQ
• NAK tafsir of ayats 246 to 252 (in sequential clips): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ip-4DmVhrg&index=31&list=PL36CB72BE226BC3BF 
•  The detail tafsir by NAK of the last 2 ayats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njuq145ESzk
• Ayat ul qursi tafsir by NAK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Z25CLXE1w
• Yasir Qadhi on believers, hypocrites and disbelievers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOP0d5DWQRA
• Dhikr Allah by Sh Yasir Qadhi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9INJscE-zA 
• Ayat ul Qursi tafsir by Sh Yasir Qadhi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuMhO6A9hPQ
• Hadiths about Sura Baqarah by NAK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87PWw4LTkuM

A few key points to note -

1. Sura Baqarah is the largest sura in Quran. Total ayats 286.
2. It was revealed over 9 years from early Medina till the very end.
3. 
   

(In Progress.....)

The Selfish Gene by Ricahrd Dawkins

Religion and Science

Animated map shows how religion spread around the world

Great Debate

Translation of Quran is not Quran itself

While it is possible to translate the Arabic text of the Quran into other languages, Muslims generally consider translations to be interpretations and not the Quran itself. Since translation can change meanings and complexities that are found in the original and fails to transmit the aesthetic dimensions of the text, it is important to note that no one translation can claim to present the Quran exactly as found in Arabic.

-- From introductory brochure of Islam Through Its Scriptures

It is important for our understanding of the Quran that this text was in its origins, primarily an oral/aural revelation that had to be experienced through the sense of hearing. Indeed even today the majority of the world’s Muslims encounter the Quran on a daily basis through the ear.

-- From that same course of Islam Through Its Scriptures

Qur'anists or Qur'an Only Trends In Islam

Ulama on Core Elements of Islam

Dr Khandaker Abdullah Jahangir - An Elegant Bangladeshi Alem Who Passed Away Recently

Thanks to Shahriar, I came to know about this enthusiastic Bangladeshi Alem who passed away few days back. I know when we think of a Waz Mahfil in Bangladesh - what picture comes out in our mind. And yet, in elegance Dr. Jahangir is in equal par with Dr. Yasir Qadhi, Reza Aslan, Sheykg Hamza Yousuf or whoever else is your favorite. The added bonus for me is that I can listen to him in Bengali. I am giving just one sample here but there are many. He is Tagore's "ekti shishir bindu"....

Ignorance vs Arrogance

My Thoughts on Chess and Islam

Recently the internet and news world had a storm of debates and criticisms following a Guardian article that Saudi Arab's Grand Mufti labelled chess as forbidden in Islam. Naturally being a chess player and promoter of the game as well as being a Sunni Muslim - it was of utmost importance to me to dig a little bit into it.

Some of my friends first pointed to me it in the Facebook and I immediately saw people's shock at such news. But I couldn't remember any Quranic verse (the holy scripture for Muslims) or any Hadith (guidelines from Prophet Muhammad PBUH) related to any board game. So I understood it as an Ijtihad of Saudi Mufti's own. Islam is not like Christianity where what the Pope says is the rules. Any such Ijtihad or Fiqh issue, we as Muslims, are open to interpret our own way with the guidance of Quran and Sunnah. So I was happy enough that it doesn't matter what the Saudi Mufti decreed 2 years back in a question answer session in a TV channel. Let's just move on.

But then one of my friends pointed me to authentic Sahi Muslim Hadith that clearly forbids playing with dice. Yes, dice is not chess - but please keep reading the Hadith and the explanations I gave later.

Muslim (2260) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever plays dice is like one who has dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of a pig.” Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “This hadeeth is quoted as evidence by al-Shaafa’i and the majority of scholars to prove that playing dice is haraam. The phrase ‘dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of a pig’ refers to eating it, and this simile is used to show that this is haraam because it is haraam to eat that.” 

Abu Dawood (4938) narrated from Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever plays dice has disobeyed Allaah and His Messenger.” (Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 4129) 

সুলাইমান ইবনে বুরায়দাহ (রা) থেকে বর্ণিতঃ "তিনি বলেনঃ নবী করীম (সা) বলেছেনঃ যে ব্যক্তি শতরঞ্চ বা দাবা খেলে, সে যেন তার হাতকে শূকরের গোশত ও রক্তের মধ্যে প্রবেশ করায় । -সহীহ মুসলিম শরীফ , ৫ম খন্ড , ৪২ তম পর্ব , ১ম অধ্যায় , হাদীস নং- ১০/২২৬০

আবু মুসা আল আশারি (রাঃ) হতে বর্ণিত রাসুল (সাঃ) বলেন,“ যে ব্যাক্তি দাবা ( সতরঞ্জি) খেললো সে আল্লাহ্ ও তার রাসূলের নাফরমানী করলো। - সুনানে আবু দাউদ , অধ্যায় নং- ৪৩ , অনুচ্ছেদ নং- ৬৪ , হাদীস নং- ৪৯৩৮ / মুয়াত্তা মালিক , হাদীস নং- ১৭৮৬ (মূল আরবী নম্বর) / সুনানে ইবনু মাজাহ , হাদীস নং- ৩৭৬২

So clearly our Prophet Muhmmad (pbuh) forbade something about a game and told his companions to avoid that. As per the Science of Hadith - that saying being narrated by different people, will be different unique Hadith. Because a Hadith is a combination of the content (or the message) and the chain or narrators (Isnad). So if the same saying is narrated by 3 different companions of Prophet (pbuh) - that saying is actually 3 different Hadith. 

If you notice the wordings of the above Hadith, the translators of the Hadith have already differed on what is actually forbidden - Dice, Backgammon or Chess. In the Bengali translation they went one step ahead and mentioned both Shatranj and Chess in an OR condition, making sure both are considered as forbidden. Which one you think is actually forbidden? Well it can not be chess and its most probably about any (or a particular) board game that is played with dice. Why do I think so? Because Chess, as we know was not even invented at 6th or 7th century at the time of Prophet Muhmmad (pbuh).

First Chaturanga was invented in India sometime in 6th Century (I read an article that claims it to be to be 570 AD in which case it coincides with the birth year of Prophet PBUH). Muslims scholars took it to Arabia, then Persia where it got the name Shatranj in 7th Century. We can assume Chaturanga and Shatranj are practically the same game although there must have been minor differences in rules. Because in scholarly works and in wikipedia these 2 games are always mentioned side by side but separately indicating which tells me that Shatranj itself evolved a bit from Chaturanga. From Chaturanga a game that is played with dice named Chaturaji (picture given below) might have evolved as we see evidence of this game in a writing at 1030 AD. This was a 4 player chess like game that was also played with dice. Chess as we know today has evolved lot of centuries later from Chaturanga or Shatranj. The pieces took on their current powers in Spain in the late 15th century; the rules were finally standardized in the 19th century. So anyone who says he played chess before 15th Century - they are talking about a different game, not chess. Also from Shatranj evolved several other games pnotably Xiangqi (i.e Chinese Chess) and Shogi (i.e. Japanese Chess), Janggi (i.e. Korean Chess) and Makruk (i.e. Thai Chess.

So, the next question will be, was it Dice or Chaturanga/Shatranj that were forbidden? Clearly dice is forbidden as introduces the luck factor which is similar to gambling that also has the luck factor involved. But chess has no luck factor - its a game of skill and character. For the sake of argument, let's assume Shatranj was played in Arabia during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which is very less likely as I believe it started getting known after he passed away. Even in that case, it must be that the game was played with gambling, not the way, we play chess today. Here are some

Hadhrat Ali also said:
“Chess is gambling of the Ajam people (non Arabs)” 

Imam Malik RA said that it is worse than the game of nard (backgammon, which is also haram) and more destructive than gambling.

Naturally chess players all around the world agreed that playing chess is not forbidden in Islam. Here are couple of articles that I liked -

http://en.chessbase.com/post/are-chess-and-islam-incompatible

http://www.bbc.com/bengali/news/2016/01/160122_leading_bangladeshi_chess_players_protest_comments_of_saudi_grand_mufti

As it happens with most translators, they pick the word that they are more familiar with. I dont know the exact word used in the arabic, but after looking online, I see it has been almost everywhere pointed out as DICE (not chess). For this to be a hadith, the game of chess had to be there at the time of 6th/7th century. However, chess as we play today, has only been shaped at 15th century and finalized to detail at 19th century. Of course there was Shatranj and Chaturanga (and one of the versions used 2 dices to determine the moves - similar to backgammon, monopoly etc). So in some translations, backgammon also have been used. But the correct wording is DICE which introduces a chance or luck factor to a game - and hence in most cases forbidden in Islam (even there are cases where certain DICE games get exception from this hadith - but this is a fiqh issue and people may or may not agree on that). So the correct translation is below which, as a chess player and a muslim, I have no problem agreeing to -

Muslim (2260) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever plays dice is like one who has dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of a pig.” Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “This hadeeth is quoted as evidence by al-Shaafa’i and the majority of scholars to prove that playing dice is haraam. The phrase ‘dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of a pig’ refers to eating it, and this simile is used to show that this is haraam because it is haraam to eat that.”

However, many muslim scholars agreement (to be clear, not haadith or quran verses) is that chess is haraam (and some scholars think it permissible and some scholars think it is discouraged) -

1. "Chess can be played with gambling." - My position is that, any game or activity in the world, can be played with gambling. Hence gambling is haraam, but not the game. Chess is a game where people mostly play without gambling.

2. "Chess is a waste of time and may delay you from prayers and other responsibilities" - well, that's true for any other games and activities. Hence nothing specific to chess.

3. "Chess introduces enmity between the players" - again, that's true for most of the games. So as long as you dont feel enmity against oyur opponent, you are okay playing chess.

4. One of the chess pieces, the knight, has the image/structure of a horse. That in itself has been subject to questions on whether Muslims can use these pieces to play with. Again I believe its a fiqh issue - not a clear cut yes/no.

So I understand based on the above lights that playing chess is halal in Islam - neither forbidden nor rewarded, as long as we play it within decent manner.

No Doubt - God, Religion Politics in the Modern World by Sheykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Last February I attended the two-and-half days Almaghrib Institute Seminar organized by MCA at San Jose along with Wali Bhai and Hasinur. The presenter was none other than my favorite Sheykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi and the subject was No Doubt - God, Religion  Politics in the Modern World. I was so engaged in it that I felt like the presentation finished in two-and-half minutes despite the fact that we were there from 10 AM to 8 PM the whole weekend. His speech was so enthusiastic and the content so relevant to us, American Muslims - that I could not have hoped for anything better.

There were 5 main areas that this seminar focused on.

First, The Quest for Real Islam. Here Sheykh Yasir covered the major Muslim sects including Kharijites, Mu'tazila, Zaydis, Twelver Shi'sm, Isma'ilism and Sunni Islam and what are the differences or controversies among their theologies. He touched on Hadith of '73', the common grounds of all Muslims and the need for Circles of Cooperation.

Second, Faith and Reason. Here Sheykh gave us history of Atheism, new atheist movement, primary arguments of western theists, Quranic arguments, the role of intellect in Islam, Fitra, Darwin's Theory of Evolution. No reason to deny theory of evolution as long as we can reconcile the exception for Adam (aws).

Third, Islam and the Other. This module focused on how we deal with Non-Muslims living as a minority group in the west. He clarified several important dogmas that was very comforting. Yes, as long as you remember a few points - there is no problem mixing and co-existing with non-Muslims and yet live by a proud pious Muslim identity.

Fourth, Modernity and Islam. In my opinion this is the most enthusiastic content of the whole seminar. Here Dr. Yasir covered in details topics like 3 waves of Feminism, Gender Roles in Islam, Gay/Lesbians (LGBTQ), Liberalism. He gave a beautiful analogy of 4 major responses of Muslim communities when it came in touch with modern world. You can get the gyst of it from the below lecture.

- a group of Muslims leave Islam because they can't reconcile Quran and Sunnah in the modern context and they become Ex-Muslims.
- a traditional group who hold even more firmly to the existing Islamic rules without allowing any minor changes even in trivial practices
- a reforming group who are ready to make some adjustments with the changed contexts in the modern world without oversepping Quran and Sunnah in any way
- a progressive group who are ready to change the religion of Islam and most of its rules without any hesitance

I consider myself in the reformist group in this respect. I see Dr.Yasir started his life as part of the second group (traditional) but slowly has gained better understanding of our religion and contemporary world and have moved to the reformist group.

Fifth, Divine Law and Modern Governance. In this last module we came to know that the idea of nation state and citizenship is relatively very recent in human history. Sheykh Yasir discussed the advantage and disadvantage of Nation-state vs Tribes vs Ummah. He talked about the validity of living in a non-Muslim land as a minority Muslim community. The bottom line is we should be living here a Proud Muslim American.

You may also find some of the topics of this seminar covered here.

An overview of the major schools and branches of Islam

Quran is arabic language at its poetic height

Religions At A Glance

Counter Jihad

What Is Your Opinion Of Food Shortage?