Page 26 Page 27 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 16 PROPHET YUNUS (AS) Prophet Yunus (Jonah) was sent by Allah to a big town where many people had forgotten Allah’s orders and did many things which Allah had forbidden. You should believe only in Allah and obey only Him, Yunus told them. You should worship Him alone and do good, otherwise a severe punishment will come upon you! But Yunus soon discovered that the people did not want to listen to him. He lost patience with them and left the town in anger. Afterwards, Yunus decided to go across the sea, and boarded a ship for the voyage. But when the ship was in the middle of the ocean, Yunus suffered a great misfortune. He was thrown overboard and swallowed up by an enormous fish! Fortunately though, the fish had swallowed Yunus in one big gulp, so he landed in its stomach unhurt. It was very dark inside the fish’s stomach and Yunus grew very fearful. In his loneliness, he started to think over what had happened in the town and came to realize that he should not have acted so hastily and in such a quick-tempered manner. Instead, he should have stayed and kept on speaking to the people and ask them to return to Allah. In his despair, Yunus started to pray with all his heart to Allah. He said, “Oh Allah, there is no God apart from You. You alone do I praise and honor. I have done wrong. If you do not help me, I shall be lost forever.” Allah hears the prayers of those who pray to Him and those who believe inHim. Allah heard Yunus’s prayers andHe caused Yunus to come out of the fish’s stomach, and to be swept by the waves of the ocean all the way to the shore. Poor Yunus was in a terrible state after all that and just lay on the beach weak, ill and helpless. He felt dreadfully miserable, but Allah caused a tree to grow and this tree provided Yunus with shade and good fruits. Before long, Yunus had recovered his health and strength. When he was better, Allah sent Yunus back to the town. This time, though, the people there listened to Yunus when he told them it was better for them if they believed in Allah and worshiped Him alone and that they must do good. Everyone was much happier after that. the ProPhetS Quiz As Muslims, we must believe in all the prophets and messengers of Allah. Allah’s guidance to mankind began with Adam (pbuh) and was completed with Muhammad (pbuh). Below are the 25Holy Prophets (peace be upon them) mentioned in the Holy Qur’an...can you match the names with the clues? Put them on the tree on the next page in the order inwhich they came tomankind. How many of the Prophets can you name without looking? Play this with Mom or Dad to see how many they can name! Hud Mohammed Idris (Enoch) Harun (Aaron) Ismail Musa (Moses) Adam Ayyub ( Job) Isa (Jesus) Al-Yasaa (Elijah) Nuh (Noah) Zul-Kifl(Ezekiel) Ibrahim (Abraham) Sulaiman (Solomon) Ilyas (Elias) Z a k a r i y a Ishaq (Issac) L u t ( L o t ) Ya’qub (Jacob) Sa l i h Yusuf (Joseph) Yahya ( John) Shu’aib Yunus (Jonah) Dawud (David) Within a century of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)’s death, Islam had spread west to Spain and Portugal and northeast to Central Asia, establishing Islam as a formidable world empire. Islamic rule also pushed into northern Africa and other parts of the Mediterranean basin within the first 20 years of its establishment. With every advance, Islam adopted and adapted features of many other cultures. By the Middle Ages, Islam was established in parts of Europe, for example, Spain in the west and the former Yugoslavia in the east. In the 1500s, Hispano-Arab Muslim explorers arrived in America from Spain. In the early 1700s, the slave trade brought the first Muslims, captured African slaves, to this part of the world. By the end of the 19th century, free Muslim immigrants were reaching North America from the Middle East and other Muslim lands. Today, more than 1,300 years after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Islam continues to thrive, a growing, global religion with a powerful ideology that now binds one-fifth of the human race in a common system of beliefs. MOTHER OF THE RENAISSANCE Muslims were the inheritors and guardians of the body of knowledge that created modern society and are credited with having kept scholarship alive through the Dark Ages. After the decline of Roman government and civic order in the 5th century, Europe turned from the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Indians. Elsewhere, however, Islam’s large universities continued to advance these intellectual interests. Although the Renaissance, which occurred between the 14th and 16th centuries, is considered the period of revival of art, science, and literature, historians say its roots can be found in the 12th and 13th centuries. Then, medieval scholars began to question traditional ways of viewing knowledge and regained access to important classical and Islamic texts. European scholars came to Muslim cities to use the vast libraries. They translated Arabic works into Latin and, often inadvertently, soaked up Muslim culture. This was a pivotal time as the legacies of several cultures began to mingle, most notably, Greek, Persian, Indian, European, and Islamic. During this epoch when intellectual curiosity was at a peak, education was introduced to those outside the Catholic Church hierarchy, creating a professional class of intellectuals. Visiting European scholars returned home and helped to establish universities based on what they had translated from Islamic texts and what they had experienced from their immersion in Muslim culture. As a result, large bodies of Islamic knowledge subsequently were transferred to the rest of the European world. Women’s Rights and Islam Traveling through the Islamic world, visitors notice that the status of women changes drastically from country to country. Westerners question why Muslim women cover their heads and most of their bodies. They question the nature of freedom where women have very little political power or social clout. In many cases, the differences are based on local customs and culture only. Wearing veils over the face for example, is not required by the Qur’an but in some places is local custom. Islam requires that women dress and behave modestly. Historians note that, before the rise of Islamic culture in the 7th century, women in much of the world had few rights and were considered little more than chattel. Against that background, the Qur’an and Islamic tradition were positively revolutionary in teaching that men and women are spiritually equal and that women have the right to own and inherit property, seek divorce, gain an education, retain one’s family name after marriage and the right to vote. Muslims such as Rkia Cornell, who teaches Asian and African languages and literature at Duke University, argue that “every culture is inherently sexist to some degree.” Cornell insists that, as a Muslim woman, she still has the freedom to control her own life. “Muslim women historically have had a strong role in Islamic society.” What some see as oppressive, Muslims view as protective. While Americans may regard a Muslim woman’s attire as stifling, Muslims may view the way American women generally dress as sexist and compromising, devaluing the woman to a sex object. The Prophet (SAW) said to make use of these five things before you are overpowered by the other five: LIFE before you are overcome by DEATH HEALTH before you are overcome by SICKNESS YOUTH before you are overcome by OLD AGE TIME before you are overcome by OCCUPATION WEALTH before you are overcome by POVERTY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjQ1