Muslim Spirituality

When most of us hear the word "Auschwitz" it immediately invokes black and white, grainy footage of living skeletons, gas chambers and inhuman brutality of a level never seen since. But the thing that most people do not realize is that before the town of Auschwitz was used as a death camp, it was one of the most posh and cosmopolitan towns in all of Austria. It was a prosperous Jewish enclave known rather fondly as "Little Jerusalem".

Do you want to build a closer, more meaningful relationship with your creator while fulfilling your life's purpose of connecting and worshipping the one that created you? The Islamic Ritualized Prayer is one of the essential pillars of Islam. It will be the first thing questioned on the Day of Judgment. If one's prayers were in order, everything else would fall into place. If one's prayers were not in order, you would be doomed.

At a time when injustice, immorality and sin ran rampant, the religion of Islam dawned to revive the bond between humanity and its creator, and to establish peace in the world. It was at the hand of the prophet of Islam that an unparalleled moral and spiritual transformation took place. But the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, prophesied that a time would come when the true teachings of Islam would be forgotten and at this time a divinely appointed reformer would appear to rejuvenate Islam.

In many societies, a woman is still regarded as a second-class citizen and deprived of basic rights enjoyed by the male population. Resenting this discrimination, they have championed a fight to obtain equal status, which unfortunately to date eludes them in the more modern Western states. Whereas the pendulum has swung to the extremes and has opened the way to licentiousness in the modern society, the West has often regarded Islamic women as being backward in a male-dominated world. On the contrary, Islam was the first religion formally to grant the women a status never known before.

Siratul-Abdal (Hallmarks of the Saints) was penned in Arabic by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, in 1903. The book describes the distinctive qualities, morals, and virtues that set apart those who have made a holy change in themselves for the sake of God. Indeed, the life of the Promised messiah himself is a compelling portrait of the characteristics of such holy personages. Siratul-Abdal is a masterpiece of the Arabic language, employing the most eloquent, powerful, and persuasive features of expression of classical Arabic.

Have you cringed at the grisly sight of a chopped off right or left hand? Or perhaps you are someone who was taught to believe such actions are sanctioned by God or Allah? If so, where did you get this belief?

Islam has been painted black these days because of terrorism. This book is going to erase those prejudices and replace them with facts. It is important that you encourage your child to respect the different religions, even if they come with beliefs different from he/she is used to.

The United States has been plagued with issues of racial tension since its inception, and the issue of racial inequality continues to be at the heart of unrest within the country. The Detroit Address is a Friday sermon delivered by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh), the Fourth Khalifah of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, on October 16, 1987, in Detroit. In it, he pinpoints factors that have caused racial tension in some communities in the United States, and presents Islam’s longstanding rejection of the notion that any one race if superior to another.