What's in a name?
I am Muhammad, son of Clenn, son of Franklin, son of Malcomb, son of Tomas, from the well-known tribe of Howell.
The Howell family name comes from an extremely ancient lineage that inhabited the hills and moors of Wales at the time of the Roman invasion around 2000 years ago. They were first found in Monmouthshire, where they were seated from very ancient times.
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Want to learn about Islam? Check out the nightly classes broadcast on Paltalk under the category: Religion / Islam / Masjid asSahaaba Columbus Ohio.
Classes begin right after sunset, Eastern Standard Time. All classes & telelinks are open the the public.
Inshallah, every Sunday afternoon at 1:30 PM EST we will be conducting teleconferences with the Islamic scholars of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Somalia and other countries. You can listen in via Paltalk in the Masjid asSahaaba room.
For a complete schedule of events, go to the as-Sahaaba Yahoo Group .
This is Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and those are rows of millions upon millions of Muslims from all over Earth, from every country and every race, all simultaneously worshiping the Creator of all that exists.Now we are zooming in on the scene to get a closer look.The black cubicle structure in the center was originally built by the Prophet Abraham & his son, Ishmael (peace by upon them).Abraham (peace by upon him) commanded the Believers to make pilgrimage to this House. That pilgrimage is called the Hajj.All Muslims face toward this House built by Abraham (peace by upon him) when they perform the Five Daily Prayers.
For those of you who knew me from back in the day, here is a brief explanation for my disappearance, and my subsequent re-appearance years later as a Muslim.
In the mid 1990's I moved from my home in rural Ohio to the third largest city in America - Chicago, Illinois. There I connected with people I knew via the underground music scene which I had been involved in. I stayed on the north side of Chicago for the next five years, which was an experience that changed my life completely.
The neighborhood I was living in was extremely diverse, populated predominantly by immigrants. There were all kinds of interesting people who lived around me. Foreigners were the majority, and I was the minority. It was normal in my neighborhood to interact daily with Serbs, Croatians, Albanians, Ukrainians, Gypsies, Hasidic Jews, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians, Russians, Greeks, Pakistanis, Afghanis, Indians, Tibetans and so forth. It was not abnormal to see dreadlocked nomad sheepherders from Western Asia, and old Muslim men with long beards dyed fire red, wearing white cotton robes and turbans on their heads. There were veiled women wrapped from head to toe in gauzy fabrics. I heard people speaking a diffusion of different languages. All of that was available to be experienced right in the middle of ultra-urban Chicago. To come from a deep rural setting to this was nothing less than enthralling.
While taking the steps to make friends with the people all around me, I went through a major shift of awareness. Many of my neighbors were Muslims, and I began to think of all the malicious stereotypes I had been presented with during my lifetime concerning them and their religion, Islam. In order to understand these people for who they really were, and not what I had been simply told, it was necessary to hurdle a barrier of socially engineered prejudice which had been brought to me from primarily from two sources; the media, and the grade-school teachings of my formative years.
Thinking back to my elementary years, I could clearly recall statements from certain teachers of mine who expounded mortifying phrases such as, "Islam is the religion of the sword, and whoever lives by the sword, dies by the sword!" In my elementary school they showed us anti-Islamic films, such as "El Cid", which portrayed Muslims as evil people. I learned at that time from my teachers and peers many descriptive labels such as "towel-heads", "sand-niggers", "camel-jockeys" and "swarthy people".
Thinking about all of this only made me want to know the truth about these people, and I proceeded to get busy doing just that.
What I eventually came to understand was that Muslims were from everywhere. I met Chinese, Philipino, Russian, Indian, Turkish, Persian, Latino, African, European and American Muslims all around me. Most importantly however, I discovered that the core belief of this religion was something already very familiar to me! I was surprised to find that Islam was very simple and straight forward in it's doctrine. Its central teaching was an affirmation of the fact that nothing has the right to be worshiped except God, the very same God that all the prophets worshipped... the same God that Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad called their people to worship! I found that Islam was the only religion that accepted ALL of the prophets and messengers. Through my studies, I eventually understood it to be the purest form of monotheism in existence, and a total rejection of polytheism and the worship of false deities. It became clear to me that this was the truly universal religion and way of life meant for all of mankind, regardless of race or creed.
I began to read the Qur'an and to my amazement, much of the content was familiar. This really shocked me. I had no idea that so many of the stories from the Bible were also in the Qur'an. The difference was that in the Qur'an they were more authentic, original, un-tampered with, and there were no inconsistencies.
My interest in Islam grew and I studied hard to learn more. By 1999, I decided it was worth changing my life over, and I began doing that, step by step.. a little at a time. I began to practice gradually at first, not telling my friends out of fear of rejection and mockery. They caught on as I eventually started dressing in Muslim clothing. This basically alienated me from many people I used to hang out with, and my changing interests caused me and my old friends to drift apart.
I cut my ties to everything I used to be and I didn't look back. I was trying very hard to clean up my act, so I could better fit into my new and hard-won faith. I have to admit, my life got considerably better when I accepted Islam and finally straightened up.
Trying to conform to the Islamic prohibition on dating and opposite-sex mixing, I submitted to a semi-arranged marriage. I was introduced to a beautiful 19 year old Somali girl, and after mutual agreement we decided to get married. I was happy. She had a lovely personality, spoke four languages, wore the niqab (veil), and she had a degree in Early Childhood Education. What more could I ask for? She has proved to be a blessing. She and I now have a family of our own; three beautiful children to raise as good Muslims, Allah willing.
Surely I could not have foreseen ending up with this life if you had asked me ten years ago to guess my future. It has turned out to be better than I ever would have expected, and I have none other than Allah to thank for that.
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All praises are due to Allah, and may Allah exalt the status of the Messenger of Allah and that of his family and his companions, and may He grant them peace.
As for what follows:
Let it be known that never did Muhammad (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace), nor his righteous successors or any of his honorable companions, ever establish factories for even the most primitive of weapons, like swords and spears, let alone atomic bombs, long-range missiles, or any other weapon of mass destruction.
Never did Muhammad (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) build a single weapon factory. Rather, he was sent as a mercy for the entire creation, to guide all Mankind towards happiness in their worldly lives and in their hereafter, such that they fulfill their Creator’s right upon them, for it is He (Allah) who created them to worship Him alone, the Creator of this universe and its Master.
As for you O Westerners, claimants of civilization, you have constitutions and statutes that destroy upright moral character and permit all kinds of forbidden acts, the likes of fornication and homosexuality, as well as usury which destroys the economies of entire nations, and the eating of improperly slaughtered animals and pork, something that causes the loss of concern for women's values, and thus a man does not feel protective of his wife, sister, or daughter, and thus she fornicates with or intimately befriends whomever she pleases. These are some of the means which lead to ruin, and they have been prohibited in all of the prophetic messages.
As for bombs and all other weapons of destruction, war planes, tanks, and long-range missiles, you are the ones who engineered and manufactured them with your satanic minds that only think about transgression, animosity, oppression, attacking, tyranny, conquering entire races of people and enslaving them, spilling their blood, and usurping their natural resources. You think only about annihilating those who oppose you and stand in the way of your greedy aspirations, your oppression and spreading of hatred. All this wrapped up in the name of civilization, human rights, freedom, and justice!
All intelligent people know this about you. For your dark history is overflowing with uncivil and terrorist acts, a history recorded against you by both your enemies and allies alike.
Anyone who does not know this should read about your history and your occupation of numerous nations, or at least read the history and some horrible results of your two World Wars. For example, the number of fatalities in the First World War in Europe reached "More than 10 million, and they were the elite of their nations' youth. And more than twice this number had incurred serious injuries disabling them for the rest of their lives." [Refer to: At-Taareekh al-Mu'aasir: Uruubbaa minath-Thawratil-Fransiyyah ilal-Harbil-'Aalamiyyaith-Thaaniyah, p.505. (Lit: Recent History, Europe from the French Revolution to the Second World War)]
The number of soldiers killed in the Second World War reached: "17 million, along with another 18 million civilian fatalities - all of them killed within a period of only five and a half years. Experts have estimated that the military expenses alone reached $1,100 billion, and that losses caused by the war reached the value of $2,100 billion. Added to this are the number of entire cities destroyed, the amount of earth scorched, the agriculture that was flooded, and the factories and plantations that stopped production, not to mention the number of livestock that were destroyed or lost." [(Al-Harb al-'Aalamiyyah ath-Thaaniyah by Ramadhaan Land, p.448-449) (Lit: The Second World War)]
The Hiroshima Bomb
Stated the author of the book, "al-Harb al-'Aalamiyyah ath-Thaaniyah" (p.446-447) (Lit: The Second World War), "And perhaps it is appropriate to speak about this first atomic bomb. Let us relay what was reported directly from one of the Japanese in his interview with Marcel Junod, a representative of the Red Cross, speaking about the reality of this most frightening explosion. He said: …And suddenly there appeared these intense, muddy pinkish lights, accompanied by an unnatural tremor. This was immediately followed by an asphyxiating wave of heat and violent winds that ravaged everything in their path.
Within only a few seconds, thousands of people who walked the roads or sat in the city's main streets were burned alive. A great number were then killed by the intense heat that spread all over. Others were left lying on the ground screaming in pain with deadly burns all over their bodies. Anything that had been at the point of impact – walls, homes, factories, and other buildings – was completely and totally annihilated, with all traces of these things sent hurling into the sky in a ghastly whirlwind. Trams were plucked from their steel tracks and flung as if they had lost their weight and substance. Trains were lifted off the ground along with their tracks as if they were mere toys. Horses, dogs, and livestock were all befallen with what befell the people. Every living thing had lost its life in one painful turn of events too difficult to describe. Trees were engulfed in blazing fires, rice fields lost their color, and farms crackled and burned away like dry straw.
As for the surrounding areas that escaped instant death: Homes were crumbled and only piles of wooden boards remained amongst bricks and stone foundations. Everything was crushed as if they were cardboard houses in a zone of destruction 10 kilometers in diameter. Those who survived found themselves totally surrounded by raging fires. The few people who managed to get to any type of shelter in time died painful deaths from gamma radiation within 20 to 30 days. By nightfall on the day of the blast, the blaze slowed down and then died out, finding nothing left to fuel it. Hiroshima had passed away into nothingness."
These are some of the landmarks of your civilization that you sing and boast about, and become insolent towards Islam and its Prophet with. Yet you continue intensifying every form of oppression and corruption and you go on inventing more and more weapons of destruction, annihilation, and devastation, and this – by Allah – is the utmost limit of barbaric and animalistic behavior.
( Or do you think that most of them even listen or use their intellects?
They are only like cattle, rather, even more astray than that. )
[Soorah al-Furqaan 25:44]
So crown yourselves with your own bombs, including the Hiroshima bomb and its likes, and crown your leaders with them. Consider all other weapons of mass destruction as your fangs and claws that you use to prey upon wild animals and all of Mankind.
( And those who oppress shall see what kind of outcome overturns them. )
[Soorah ash-Shooraa 26:227]
Written by: Shaykh Rabee' ibn Haadee 'Umayr al-Madkhalee
1426/12/28 (corresponding to 2006/1/28)
