Concept of Dua’ (((audio)))
Supplication in Islam
Rutgers University -New Brunswick
Faraz Khan
October 2008
If you have the following questions in regards to dua’, You may want to listen to this audio file.
What is istikhara? and how do I make the right decision?
Are there specail dua’ that are accepted?
How do I state my dua’?
Are there any special occassions when dua’ is more acceptable?
How come my dua’ is not answered?
Why are there so many difficulties in life?
“But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.” (Quran: 7:31)
On Friday February 20, at 4:30 p.m. in PAC 001, Faraz Khan will deliver a lecture entitled, “Environmental Ethics and Islam: Providing a Pragmatic Model.”
Khan is now a senior wetland scientist for the State of New Jersey, but he started his professional career as a teacher of Islamic Studies. He obtained a degree in Quranic Recitation (Qira’at) from the University of Damascus before then earning his B.A. in Environmental Geology at Rutgers University. Khan later became certified in wetland science through a program at Rutgers University’s Cook College, and he taught as an adjunct professor of environmental science at Passaic County College. In addition to his wetlands work, he currently serves as an advisor to the Muslim Student Associations at both Rutgers University and Princeton University.
Faraz Khan maintains a blog at http://liberalartsforum.blogspot.com:
“I find this blog to be another medium to convey a message, a responsibility that I feel on my shoulders—to call people to the Truth. I have been trained as a thinker/orator in liberal arts. My interest lies in history, philosophy, environmental ethics, sharia, Arabic calligraphy, and tajweed. Here is an attempt to delineate a path within the American social context.”
Khan will discuss the Islamic concept of khalifa, or “stewardship” over nature. Islamic law includes a specific category of jurisprudence called fiqh al-bi’ah, or “jurisprudence of the environment.” Law-makers take a number of the foundational concepts of Islam (such as rahmah: “mercy,” tawazun: “harmony,” andshukr: “gratitude”) and apply them to this ethico-juridical discipline which links ecological health to the psychological health of man. Environmental degradation is seen as a sickness of the human ego because man is unable to give up short-term gratification in favor of long-term prosperity.
Khan is concerned with our modern-day “waste culture.” In a recent lecture (posted as an article on his blog), he explains: “It is clear that environmental crisis requires more than a scientific quick fix. In reality it is not an ‘environmental problem,’ but rather a human problem. Furthermore, it is only a modern human problem because there is no connection to the sacred ethics. Consequently, no scientific gadget will solve the current environmental crisis unless the society unlearns the materialism that has become part of the global culture.”
“Secular” environmental ethics, according to Khan, assumes a dichotomy between humans and other living organisms and therefore frames all ethical questions in either biocentric or anthropocentric terms. Khan compares this approach to the holistic “sacred ethics” of sharia (Islamic law): “In essence, the nature or environment is a creation of God and any deviation from natural way (fitra) is a divergence from the way of God. This natural way or fitra is a Qur’anic concept that takes into account the harmony in creation and the balance that exists between living and nonliving creatures.”
Come to Friday’s lecture and hear more from Faraz Khan!
Swetzoff is a member of the class of 2009.
http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/02/17/the-faraz-khan-lecture/
Khutba: Remembering Allah (((audio)))
New Brunswick Islamic Center – Masjid Al-Huda, Jan. 2009
The Story of Habib Najar from Surah Yasin and last few ayat of Surah Hashr.
Khutba: Our Journey to Allah:
Islamic Circle of Mercer County
Duration: 33 min.
The khutba was based on Surah al-Baqarah 151-157, in reference to the Prophetic mission and the responsibility of Believers.
Be less virtual, more 3D (((audio)))
The challenges at Home (the upbringing of youth, internet use, and pop culture) during downturn economy.
Life Cycle in the Quran:
Here is one aya in the Quran explaining away the challenges of life for all ages. The stages in one’s life are the following:
childhood – play and amusement
youth – beautification
adult – mutual boasting
elder – increase in wealth and children
Quran Al-Hadid – 57:20
YUSUF ALI translation: “Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children.
Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away.
But in the Hereafter is a Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong). And Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the devotees of Allah). And what is the life of this world, but goods and chattels of deception?”
