Who are the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj?

he Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj

 During the reign of Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) people will live an extremely peaceful life filled with prosperity and abundance. Then the wall which imprisons Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will break and they will surge forth in large numbers.

  "But when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush headlong down every hill" (Quran 21:97)

Who are the Ya'jooj and Majooj?

Zul Qarnain (A.S.) who was a pious and just Ruler travelled to many lands and conquered them, establishing justice and the Law of Allah therein. Allah Ta'ala provided him with all forms and material strength through which he was able to carry out his conquests and missions.

He once carried out a mission in three directions, the far west, the far east, and then in a northerly direction. It was here that he came across a tribe of people who complained to him about the tribes of Ya'jooj and Majooj which inhabited the land behind two huge mountains and often emerged from behind these mountains to perpetrate acts of anarchy and plunder among them. They requested Zul Qarnain (A.S.) to erect a barrier between themselves and the tribes of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj so that they could be saved from their atrocities. With the material strength at his disposal, Zul Qarnain (A.S.) enlisted their physical labor and set about erecting a high wall between the two mountains. The height of the wall or its exact length is unknown. What is known is that the height of this wall reaches that of the summit of both mountains. It is made with blocks or sheets of iron, which is further strengthened by molten lead. In this manner Ya'jooj and Majooj are unable to scale the wall, or cross it, except when it is the will of Allah.

  "And when the promise of my Rabb approaces, He will level it to dust" (Quran 18:98)

They are situated in a land of ice which is hidden from our gazes and the exact location of which is unknown. Though many interpretations do exist in this respect, none of these can be said to absolute.

 Ya'jooj and Majooj are human beings and according to a narration they are from the progeny of Yafith ibn Nooh (A.S.).

 Some Ahadith...

 In a lengthy hadith by Hadhrat Nawwas ibn Sam'aan (R.A.) Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) is reported to have said:

"...Allah will send revelation upon Eesa (A.S.) that 'Such a creation of mine is now going to emerge that no power will be able to stop them. Therefore take my servants and ascend the Mount of Toor.' Then Ya'jooj and Majooj will emerge and surge forth in all their fury. When those from among them who constitute the former part of their army pass the lake of Tiberias (which is in northern Palestine), they will drink up all the water of that lake and by the time those that constitute the latter part of that same army pass the lake, they will say, "There used to be water here (long ago). When they reach the Mount of Khamr in Jerusalem, they will arrogantly proclaim: 'We have conquered the people of the earth, now we will annihilate those in the sky.' So saying they will fire their arrows towards the sky. When the arrows return to the ground they will be blood stained.

In the meantime, Eesa (A.S.) will be on the Mount of Toor with his followers. At that time the head of and ox will be as valuable as is a hundred dinars to you in this day. [This indicates the scarcity of provisions]. Faced with these hardships, Eesa (A.S.) and his followers will make dua unto Allah (to remove this calamity). As a result, Allah will cause sores to appear on the necks of each and every individual of these people which will cause their death suddenly. When Eesa (A.S.) and his followers descend from the Mount of Toor there will not be a single space on the land where the dead rotting bodies of these people is not littered, giving off a horrendous odour. Eesa (A.S.) and his followers will once more supplicate unto Allah as a result of which Allah will send down huge birds whose necks will be as thick as that of the necks of camels, and they will dump these bodies in a place where Allah wills. (According to a narration by Tirmidhi, they will be dumped at a place called Nahbal).

 Allah Ta'ala will then send down a heavy rain, the waters of which will flow in every part of the earth cleansing it thoroughly. It will rain for a period of forty days.

 The Muslims will then burn the bows and arrows of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj for a period of seven years.

 Allah will order the earth to yield forth its crops in abundance and there will be such blessing and prosperity that one pomegranate will be sufficient for a whole group while the peel thereof will suffice to cast a shadow over them. The milk of one camel will be sufficient for many groups while one milk giving cow will be sufficient for a whole tribe. One milk giving goat will be sufficent for a whole family..."

(Muslim)

 Hadhrat Abu Saeed Khudri (R.A.) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:

"On the day of Qiyamah Allah will say to Adam (A.S.) to pick out the Jahannamis from his entire progeny. Adam (A.S.) will ask: 'O Rabb, who are they?'

 Allah will say: 'Nine hundred and ninety nine of a thousand are Jahannami while the one is a Jannati.'

 On hearing this the Sahaba were overtaken by fear and they asked "O Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam), who will that one Janniti be?'

 Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: 'Do not grieve, the nine hundred and ninety nine will be Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while you will be the Jannati."' (i.e. your numbers in relation to them will be one in a thousand).

(Bukhari and Muslim)

 Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Umar (R.A.) says that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:

"Allah Ta'ala divided mankind into ten parts. Nine tenths constitute Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while the remaining tenths constitutues the rest of mankind."

 Hadhrat Zainab bint Jahsh (R.A.) says: "...once Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam) awoke from such a sleep that his face was red and these words were on his tongue: 'There is none worthy of worship except Allah. Destruction is upon the Arabs on account of the evil which has come close to them. Today a hole as big as this has opened up in the wall of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj.' ..and Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) indicated the size of the hole forming a ring with his index finger and thumb."

(Bukhari and Muslim)

 Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (R.A.) narrates that every day Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj break (dig) through the wall erected by Zul Qarnain (A.S.) until they reach the end of it to that extent that they can actually see the light on the other side. They then return (home) saying that 'We will break through tomorrow.' But Allah Ta'ala causes the wall to revert to its original thickness and the next day they start digging through the wall all over again, and this process continues each day until as long as Allah wills them to remain imprisoned. When Allah wishes them to be released, then at the end of the day they will say, "If Allah wills, tomorrow we will break through." The following day they will find the wall as they had left it the previous day (i.e. it will not have returned to its orginal state) and after breaking the remaining part of it they will emerge."

 (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)

 Commenting on the above hadith, Allamah Ibn Arabi says, Three miracles are evident in this Hadith:

1.) It never occurs to these tribes that they must continue work during the night. After all, they are in such large numbers that they can easily delegate the work among themselves and work in shifts. But Allah does not allow this thought to occur to them.

 2.) It never occurs to them that they can merely cross the mountains or scale the wall, which they can do through the aid of equipment and implements wich they possess in large numbers. According to a narration by Wahab ibn Munabbah it is known that these tribes are agriculturists and artisians possessing various types of equipment.

 3.) The thought of saying "If Allah wills" never enters their minds and it will only occur to them to say it when Allah wills that they be released.

from: "Signs of Qiyamah"
by Mohammed Ali Ibn Zubair Ali

source ; http://www.islamawareness.net/Yajuj/yajooj.html

New offensive targets rebels on Aleppo's outskirts

Deaths of civilians reported in rebel-held Atareb while government blames fighters for deadly shelling elsewhere.

Syrian government forces have launched a new offensive against rebels on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo.

The fighting comes after claims by Syrian state television of at least three deaths due to opposition shelling of a district, and just two days after the Syrian army gained full control of Aleppo city.

At least six civilians were also killed on Saturday in air strikes on the rebel-held town of Atareb, west of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The SOHR, a UK-based information office that has been documenting human-rights abuses in Syria, said at least two children were among the dead.

The SOHR could not immediately specify who had carried out the air raids, but Russian and government warplanes typically carry out raids in Aleppo province.

An AFP correspondent in Atareb said military aircraft could be seen circling above the town and a nearby village throughout the day.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Turkey's Gazientep near the border with Syria, said the new wave of air strikes were concentrated on eastern, southern and northern outskirts of Aleppo, appearing to be aimed at keeping rebel forces away from the recaptured city.

"People are concerned because there are thousands of civilians who are still trapped on the outskirts of Aleppo, particularly those who have been evacuated from eastern Aleppo," he said.

"If the fighting continues, that could further exacerbate the situation."

Russia launched its air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces in September 2015, marking a major turning point in the government's fight against armed opposition groups.

In another Aleppo-related development, Syrian state TV said an explosion caused by a device left inside a school by rebels rocked the eastern part of the city on Saturday as some residents were returning to their homes.

State news agency SANA said the school had been transformed into "an ammunitions and explosive devices warehouse left behind by terrorist groups in the Sukkari neighbourhood".

Citing a police source, SANA said another 33 people were wounded in the blast, four of them critically, but did not specify whether they were civilians or government troops.

A correspondent for Lebanon's Hezbollah-run Al Manar TV was reporting live from the area when the blast sounded in the background, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

The correspondent later said that at least three people were killed.

The SOHR reported two deaths in the Sukkari warehouse, but said the blast took place as army troops were dismantling explosives.

It said one other person was killed when an explosive devide detonated inside a home in the Ansari district.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Damascus water authority  said  late on Friday that it had resorted to using water reserves to meet the city's demands.

The authority accused rebels who control territory northwest of the Syrian capital of contaminating the water's source, al-Fija spring.

The water authority said it expected the problem to be resolved in a "few days".

Syrian government forces and allied paramilitaries entered eastern Aleppo on Thursday after the last residents and opposition fighters were evacuated from the enclave under a Turkish-Russian deal.

The evacuees left for areas under control of rebels in the western Aleppo countryside and Idlib in northwestern Syria.

The pullout has given Assad's forces full control over Aleppo, which had been divided between his government and opposition fighters since 2012.


source : http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/offensive-targets-rebels-aleppo-outskirts-161224140539925.html

Islam in Libya

Most Libyans adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam, which provides both a spiritual guide for individuals and a keystone for government policy. Its tenets stress a unity of religion and state rather than a separation or distinction between the two, and even those Muslims who have ceased to believe fully in Islam retain Islamic habits and attitudes. The post-revolution National Transitional Council has explicitly endeavored to reaffirm Islamic values, enhance appreciation of Islamic culture, elevate the status of Qur'anic law and, to a considerable degree, emphasize Qur'anic practice in everyday Libyan life with legal implementation in accordance to Islamic jurisprudence known as sharia.

History of Islam in Libya

During the seventh century, Muslims, who were spreading their faith, reached Libya to spread the message. The urban centers soon became substantially Islamic, but widespread conversion of the nomads of the desert did not come until after large-scale invasions in the eleventh century by Bedouin tribes from Arabia and Egypt.

A residue of pre-Islamic beliefs blended with the Islam of the Arabs. Hence, popular Islam became an overlay of Quranic ritual and principles upon the vestiges of earlier beliefs—prevalent throughout North Africa—in jinns (spirits), the evil eye, rites to ensure good fortune, and cult veneration of local saints. The educated of the cities and towns served as the primary bearers and guardians of the more austere brand of orthodox Islam.

Saints and brotherhoods

Islam as practiced in North Africa is interlaced with indigenous Berber beliefs. Although the orthodox faith preached the unique and inimitable majesty and sanctity of God and the equality of God's believers, an important element of North African Islam for centuries has been a belief in the coalescence of special spiritual power in particular living human beings. The power is known as Barakah, a transferable quality of personal blessedness and spiritual force said to lodge in certain individuals. Those whose claim to possess barakah can be substantiated—through performance of apparent miracles, exemplary human insight, or genealogical connection with a recognized possessor—are viewed as saints. These persons are known in the West as marabouts, a French transliteration of al murabitun (those who have made a religious retreat), and the benefits of their baraka are believed to accrue to those ordinary people who come in contact with them.

The cult of saints became widespread in rural areas; in urban localities, Islam in its orthodox form continued to prevail. Saints were present in Tripolitania, but they were particularly numerous in Cyrenaica. Their baraka continued to reside in their tombs after their deaths. The number of venerated tombs varied from tribe to tribe, although there tended to be fewer among the camel herders of the desert than among the sedentary and nomadic tribes of the plateau area. In one village, a visitor in the late 1960s counted sixteen still-venerated tombs.

Coteries of disciples frequently clustered around particular saints, especially those who preached an original tariqa (devotional "way"). Brotherhoods of the followers of such mystical teachers appeared in North Africa at least as early as the eleventh century and in some cases became mass movements. The founder ruled an order of followers, who were organized under the frequently absolute authority of a leader, or shaykh. The brotherhood was centered on a zawiya (pl., zawaya).

Because of Islam's austere rational and intellectual qualities, many people have felt drawn toward the more emotional and personal ways of knowing God practiced by mystical Islam, or Sufism. Found in many parts of the Muslim world, Sufism endeavored to produce a personal experience of the divine through mystic and ascetic discipline.

Sufi adherents gathered into brotherhoods, and Sufi orders became extremely popular, particularly in rural areas. Sufi brotherhoods exercised great influence and ultimately played an important part in the religious revival that swept through North Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In Libya, when the Ottoman Empire proved unable to mount effective resistance to the encroachment of Christian missionaries, the work was taken over by Sufi-inspired revivalist movements. Among these, the most forceful and effective was that of the Senussi, which extended into numerous parts of North Africa.

Senussi

The Senussi movement was a religious revival adapted to desert life. Its zawaayaa could be found in Tripolitania and Fezzan, but Senussi influence was strongest in Cyrenaica. The Senussi's first theocracy was in the city of Bayda, located in Cyrenaica, and that was the center for them in 1841. After the Italian occupation, the focus turned from government to seminary education and then to the creation of an Islamic University which became in 1960 the University of Mohammed bin Ali al-Sanusi. The arrival of Muammar Gaddafi's rule changed the course of the university. It is now known as the Omar Al-Mukhtar University. Rescuing the region from unrest and anarchy, the Senussi movement gave the Cyrenaican tribal people a religious attachment and feelings of unity and purpose.

The Senussis formed a nucleus of resistance to the Italian colonial regime (see Italian Colonialism, ch. 1). As the nationalism fostered by unified resistance to the Italians gained adherents, however, the religious fervor of devotion to the movement began to wane, particularly after the Italians destroyed Senussi religious and educational centers during the 1930s. Nonetheless, King Idris, the monarch of independent Libya, was the grandson of the founder of the Senussi movement, and his status as a Senussi gave him the unique ability to command respect from the disparate parts of his kingdom.

Despite its momentary political prominence, the Senussi movement never regained its strength as a religious force after its zawaayaa were destroyed by the Italians. A promised restoration never fully took place, and the Idris regime used the Senussi heritage as a means of legitimizing political authority, rather than of providing religious leadership.


After unseating Idris in 1969, the revolutionary government placed restrictions on the operation of the remaining zawaayaa, appointed a supervisor for Senussi properties, and merged the Senussi-sponsored Islamic University with the University of Libya. The movement was virtually banned, but in the 1980s occasional evidence of Senussi activity was nonetheless reported. Senussi inspired activists were instrumental in freeing Cyrenaica from Gaddafi's control during the Libyan Civil War.

Islam in Gaddafi's Libya

Under the revolutionary Gaddafi government, the role of orthodox Islam in Libyan life became progressively more important. Muammar al-Gaddafi was a highly devout Muslim, with an expressed desire to exalt Islam and to restore it to its proper—i.e., central—place in the life of the people. He believed that the purity of Islam had been sullied through time, particularly by the influence of Europeans, both during and after the colonial period, and that Islam's purity must be restored by such actions as: the restoration of sharia to its proper place as the basis of the Libyan legal system, the banning of "immodest" practices and dress, and the symbolic purification of mosques.

Gaddafi also believed in the value of the Quran as a moral and political guide for the contemporary world, as is evident from his tract, The Green Book, published in the mid-1970s (see The Green Book, ch. 4). Gaddafi considered the first part of The Green Book to be a commentary on the implications of the Quranic injunction that human affairs be managed by consultation. For him, this meant direct democracy, which is given "practical meaning" through the creation of people's committees and popular congresses. Gaddafi felt that, inasmuch as The Green Book was based solely on the Quran, its provisions should be universally applicable—at least among Muslims.

Soon after taking office, the Gaddafi government showed itself to be devoutly conservative by closing bars and nightclubs, banning entertainment deemed provocative or immodest, and making use of the Muslim calendar mandatory. The intention of reestablishing sharia was announced, and Gaddafi personally assumed chairmanship of a commission to study the problems involved. In November 1973, a new legal code was issued that revised the entire Libyan judicial system to conform to the sharia, and in 1977 the General People's Congress (GPC—see Glossary) issued a statement that all future legal codes would be based on the Quran.

Among the laws enacted by the Gaddafi government were a series of legal penalties prescribed during 1973 which included the punishment of armed robbery by amputation of a hand and a foot. The legislation contained qualifying clauses making its execution unlikely, but its enactment had the effect of applying Quranic principles in the modern era. Another act prescribed flogging for individuals breaking the fast of Ramadan, and yet another called for eighty lashes to be administered to both men and women guilty of fornication.

In the early 1970s, Islam played a major role in legitimizing Gaddafi's political and social reforms. By the end of the decade, however, he had begun to attack the religious establishment and several fundamental aspects of Sunni Islam. Gaddafi asserted the transcendence of the Quran as the sole guide to Islamic governance and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret it. He denigrated the roles of the ulama, imams, and Islamic jurists and questioned the authenticity of the hadith, and thereby the sunna, as a basis for Islamic law. The sharia itself, Gaddafi maintained, governed only such matters as properly fell within the sphere of religion; all other matters lay outside the purview of religious law. Finally, he called for a revision of the Muslim calendar, saying it should date from Muhammad's death in 632, an event he felt was more momentous than the hijra ten years earlier.

These unorthodox views on the hadith, sharia, and the Islamic era aroused a good deal of unease. They seemed to originate from Gaddafi's conviction that he possessed the transcendent ability to interpret the Quran and to adapt its message to modern life. Equally, they reinforced the view that he was a reformer but not a literalist in matters of the Quran and Islamic tradition. On a practical level, however, several observers agreed that Gaddafi was less motivated by religious convictions than by political calculations. By espousing these views and by criticizing the ulama, he was using religion to undermine a segment of the middle class that was notably vocal in opposing his economic policies in the late 1970s. But Gaddafi clearly considered himself an authority on the Quran and Islam and was not afraid to challenge traditional religious authority. He also was not prepared to tolerate dissent.

The revolutionary government gave repeated evidence of its desire to establish Libya as a leader of the Islamic world. Moreover, Gaddafi's efforts to create an Arab nation through political union with other Arab states were also based on a desire to create a great Islamic nation. Indeed, Gaddafi drew little distinction between the two.

The government took a leading role in supporting Islamic institutions and in worldwide proselytizing on behalf of Islam. The Jihad Fund, supported by a payroll tax, was established in 1970 to aid the Palestinians in their struggle with Israel. The Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic at the University of Benghazi was charged with training Muslim intellectual leaders for the entire Islamic world, and the Islamic Mission Society used public funds for the construction and repair of mosques and Islamic educational centers in cities as widely separated as Vienna and Bangkok. The Islamic Call Society (Ad Dawah) was organized with government support to propagate Islam abroad, particularly throughout Africa, and to provide funds to Muslims everywhere. The symbolic purification major urban mosques took place in 1978.

Gaddafi was forthright in his belief in the perfection of Islam and his desire to propagate it. His commitment to the open propagation of Islam, among other reasons, caused him to oppose the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-based fundamentalist movement that used clandestine and sometimes subversive means to spread Islam and to eliminate Western influences. Although the Brotherhood's activities in Libya were banned in the mid-1980s, it remained present in the country maintaining a low profile. In 1983 a member of the brotherhood was executed in Tripoli, and in 1986 a group of Brotherhood adherents was arrested after the murder of a high-ranking political official in Benghazi. The Muslim Brotherhood had spread throughout Libya, but were particularly strong in the cities of Benghazi, Bayda, Derna and Ajdabiya. Gaddafi challenged the Brotherhood to establish itself openly in non-Muslim countries and promised its leaders that, if it did, he would financially support its activities. No support was ever forthcoming.


Gaddafi stressed the universal applicability of Islam, but he also reaffirmed the special status assigned by Muhammad to Christians. He likened Christians to misguided Muslims who strayed from the correct path. Furthermore, Gaddafi assumed leadership of a drive to rid Africa of Christianity as well as of the colonialism with which he associated it, despite the fact that Christianity's presence in Libya long predates Islam or its presence in much of Europe.

Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

The only son of Selim I, Suleyman I was born on November 6th 1494 at Trabzon (Black Sea coast of Turkey). At the age of 26 he became the 10th sultan of the Empire in 1520 and is known as "Kanuni", the Lawgiver, in his homeland, but for Europeans he has always been "Suleyman the Magnificent". During the course of his substantial extension of the Ottoman Empire he captured Belgrade in 1521 and Rhodes 1522, forcing the Knights of St. John to leave for Malta, defeated and killed King Lewis of Hungary at Mohacs in 1526, taking Buda (Budin) in 1529 and unsuccessfully besieging Vienna in September and October of that year, and Transylvania came into his possession in 1562. His domain extended far to the eastward and into Egypt and Persia, while his fleet was master of the Red Sea (including Yemen and Aden) and virtually the whole of the Mediterranean, waging war on the coasts of North Africa, Italy and Dalmatia under the command of its fearsome admiral Barbarossa.

Within the Empire Süleyman was responsible for transforming the army and the judicial system. Süleyman himself was a poet and accomplished goldsmith. Suleyman died on September 6th 1566 during the war with Austria outside Szigetvar in Hungary led by his Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, which two days later fell to the Ottomans. During the siege, Austrian army didn't come to help the Hungarians so they had to defend their castle heroically but desperately. After Suleyman's death, he was taken back to Istanbul and was buried in the largest of Sinan's mausoleum situated within the complex of the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Suleyman the Magnificent ruled the Ottoman Empire for 46 years between 1520 - 1566 and doubled his territory. This was a rising period for Istanbul, as it was for the whole Empire. Many valuable buildings were constructed during this period which survived until our days with no or little damage thanks to the great architect Sinan. The city was restored with a better plan including new dams, aqueducts and fountains, theological schools (medrese), caravanserai, Turkish baths, botanical gardens and bridges. The port of Golden Horn, of which the surveillance was made from Galata Tower, became one of the busiest ports. Some of the important monuments and mosques built during this period are: Suleymaniye Mosque and annexes, Sehzadebasi Mosque and establishments, Sultan Selim Mosque and establishments, Cihangir Mosque and Haseki establishments and baths built on behalf of the Hurrem Sultan (the only loved wife of the Sultan).

Istanbul had a detailed city plan for reconstruction during this time. Migration was prohibited. Building houses around the city wall was prohibited. Coffee houses were introduced to Istanbul during this period.

He was succeeded by his son Selim II.

Hurrem Sultan (Roxelane)

Wife of Suleyman, The Magnificent (ca 1558). One of the most outstanding examples of powerful women in the Ottoman Empire, Hurrem initiated the era of the "Sultanate of Women".

Like other members of the Harem from which she rose to power, Hurrem was originally a foreign girl, named Aleksandra Lisowska, born in Rohatyn city of the Kingdom of Poland back then which is in Ukraine today. She was abducted as a slave girl after one of Suleyman's expeditions in the 1520's. Soon after she entered the Harem, she routed her competition for Suleyman's affections, and persuaded him to marry, after which her influence grew increasingly. Her son Selim (The Sot), became the next Sultan, one of the Ottoman Empire's worst. Some have even speculated the Selim sprang not from Suleyman's loins, but from a passionate indiscretion on the part of the Hurrem. Besides Selim, she mothered three children who survived to adulthood; Bayezid (son), Mihrimah (daughter), and another son Cihangir (who was physically handicapped, which prohibited his ascension to the throne by law).

When she died in 1558, she was buried in a large mausoleum next to her husband in the Suleymaniye Mosque complex in Istanbul.

Mihrimah Sultan

The only daughter of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent by Hurrem Sultan, she was born around 1522. Suleyman adored his daughter, and complained with her every wish. Mihrimah Sultan was well educated. She married Rustem Pasha, Governor of Diyarbakir, who was shortly afterwards appointed as Grand Vizier. According to the Ottoman historians, Hurrem, Mihrimah and Rustem Pasha conspired to bring about the death of Sehzade (prince) Mustafa, who stood in the way of Mihrimah Sultan's influence over her father. Indeed her letters and other sources demonstrate that she took over her mother's tomb in Suleymaniye in Istanbul.

The fact that Mihrimah encouraged her father to launch the campaign against Malta, promising to build 400 galleys at her own expense; that like her mother she wrote letters to the King of Poland; and that on her father's death she lent 50.000 gold sovereigns to Sultan Selim to meet his immediate needs, illustrate the political power which she wielded. She possessed a vast fortune, and the complex which master architect Sinan built for her on the waterfront at Uskudar (Scutari) between 1540-48 is one of Istanbul's foremost monuments and is a reflection of her charitable personality. The complex originally consisted of a mosque, medresse (theological school), primary school, mental hospital, and imaret, but the latter two buildings are not standing today. Mihrimah Sultan also had a palace built for herself near the complex in Uskudar. Another mosque built for Mihrimah Sultan again by architect Sinan at Edirnekapi district of Istanbul represents the culmination of Ottoman single-domed mosques. With its abundant windows and graceful decoration, this mosque is reminiscent of a palace or kiosk (pavilion). A fountain, medresse and hammam (Turkish Bath) complete this mosque's complex. Another of Mihrimah's social works was for repairs to the Ayn Zubayda water system at Mecca, its extension into the city, and the construction of cisterns and reservoirs. Her power and influence make Mihrimah Sultan the most famous and powerful of all Ottoman princesses.

Source : http://www.allaboutturkey.com/suleyman.htm

Mosul battle: 'Iraqi forces' tortured and killed villagers

Federal police forces were involved in operations around Qayyarah in late October

Men dressed in Iraqi federal police uniforms are reported to have tortured and killed residents of villages south of Mosul, Amnesty International says.
Evidence gathered by the group suggests up to six people from the Shura and Qayyarah sub-districts were shot dead after being detained on suspicion of having ties to so-called Islamic State.
The federal police forces command has denied the accusations.

Pro-government forces launched an offensive to retake Mosul last month.
About 50,000 Iraqi security forces personnel, soldiers, police, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen are involved in the three-week operation.
On Thursday, troops were reportedly consolidating gains made in the eastern outskirts of Mosul, which they entered nine days ago amid fierce resistance.
Meanwhile, 30km (20 miles) to the south, army units retook a village near the site of the ancient city of Nimrud, where monuments were destroyed by IS last year.

• Mass graves reveal IS horrors
• The battle for Mosul so far
• On schedule but not exactly to plan
• Satellite images reveal IS barricades
• Images show IS Mosul airport damage

Amnesty researchers visited the locations where the extrajudicial executions are alleged to have taken place as IS militants retreated, taking with them hundreds of women, children and old men apparently for use as human shields.

According to information they obtained, about 10 men and a 16-year-old boy who escaped being forcibly transferred by IS were tortured after handing themselves over to a small group of men wearing police uniforms in the Nus Tal area on 21 October.

The men were taken on foot to an open desert area, where they were allegedly beaten with cables and rifle butts, punched and kicked, and had their beards pulled. One man had his beard set alight. They were also made to lie on their stomachs and shots were fired between their legs.

Three men were then separated from the group. Amnesty said men in police uniforms then subjected them to particularly brutal beatings before shooting them dead. Their remains were found in the same area five days later.
The body of a fourth man, who was handcuffed and led away by a group of men in police uniforms after being beaten, was discovered nearby almost a week later, according to Amnesty.
Also on 21 October, another young man was found dead with two bullet wounds shortly after he left a house near the Mishraq sulphur factory, which IS fighters set alight before retreating. He was blindfolded with his torso exposed.

Amnesty said the sixth man was apparently shot dead as he ran towards forces that included men in police uniform while pulling up his clothes to show that he had no explosives.

"When the Mosul military operation began, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi made clear that violations by Iraqi armed forces and its allies would not be tolerated. Now is the time for him to prove just that," said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty's Beirut office.
"The Iraqi authorities must immediately investigate these alarming reports of extrajudicial executions and torture," she added.

Up to 1.5 million civilians are believed to be living in and around the city of Mosul

A statement issued by the Command of the Federal Police Forces denied its officers had killed the six villagers, stressing its full commitment to adhere to Mr Abadi's order to protect civilians and their property.

Officers had provided aid and medical support to those affected by the fighting, and had rescued 10,000 families being used by IS as human shields, it added.

Meanwhile, residents of Mosul told the Reuters news agency that IS militants had killed at least 20 people in the past two days for passing information to the enemy.

Five crucified bodies were reportedly put on display at a road junction on Tuesday, while other bodies were seen hanging from electricity poles and traffic lights.

Source : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37930402

Islam in Kenya

The Great Mosque of Gedi

Islam is the religion of approximately 11.1 percent [1] of the Kenyan population, or approximately 4.3 million people. The Kenyan coast is mostly populated by Muslims. Nairobi has several mosques and a notable Muslim population.

The vast majority of Muslims in Kenya follow the Sunni Islam of Shafi school of jurisprudence. There are also sizeable populations of Shia and Ahmadi adherents.[2] In large part, Shias are Ismailis descended from or influenced by oceanic traders from the Middle East and India. These Shia Muslims include the Dawoodi Bohra, who number some 6,000-8,000 in the country.[3]

Historical overview
Islamic arrival on the Swahili Coast

Pioneer Muslim traders arrived on the Swahili Coast around the eighth century. The tension surrounding the succession of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and the already established trade links between the Persian Gulf and the Swahili Coast were some of the factors leading to this development.

Archaeological evidence attests to a thriving Muslim town on Manda Island by the Tenth Century AD.[4] The Moroccan Muslim traveller, Ibn Battuta, visiting the Swahili Coast in 1331 AD, reported a strong Muslim presence. Ibn Battuta said: The inhabitants are pious, honourable, and upright, and they have well-built wooden mosques.[5]

On arrival, the Muslims settled along the coast, engaging in trade. The Shirazi intermarried with the local Bantu people resulting in the Swahili people, most of who converted to Islam. Swahili, structurally a Bantu Language with heavy borrowings from Arabic, was born.[6]

Primarily, Islam spread through the assimilation of individuals, with the Arab Muslims who had settled in small groups maintaining their culture, and religious practices. Despite encountering local communities, Islam was not ‘indigenized’ along the patterns of the local Bantu communities. Nevertheless, Islam grew through absorption of individuals into the newly established Afro-Arabic Muslim communities. This resulted in more ‘Swahilization’ than Islamization.[7]

There was strong resistance toward Islam by the majority of communities living in the interior. The resistance was because conversion was an individual act, leading to detribalization and integration into the Muslim community going against the socially acceptable communal life.[7]

Islam on the Swahili Coast was different from the rest of Africa. Unlike West Africa where Islam was integrated to the local communities, the local Islam was ‘foreign’; the Arab-Muslims lived as if they were in the Middle East.

The primary concern for the early Muslims was trade with a few interested in propagating Islam. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th Century interrupted the small work in progress. On the other hand, the interstate quarrels that ensued meant that much effort was now directed towards restoring normality and not Islamization.[8]

The spread of Islam into the interior

Islam remained an urban and coastal phenomenon. The Spread of Islam was low-keyed with no impact amongst the local non-Swahili African Community. There were no intermediary Africans to demonstrate that, adoption of a few Islamic institutions would not disrupt society.[9]

The spread of Islam to the interior was hampered by several factors: for instance, the nature of the Bantu society’s varied beliefs, and scattered settlements affected interior advancement. Other factors included, harsh climatic conditions, the fierce tribes like the Maasai, tribal laws restricting passage through their land, health factors, and the lack of easy mode of transportation.[10] For Trimingham, the brand of Islam introduced to the region was equally to blame.

Muslim traders were not welcome in the social structures thereby impeding any meaningful progress until the beginning of European occupation.

Other factors affecting Islamic movement into the interior included; atrocities committed during slave trading, as these unfavourably affected the spread of Islam.[11] In addition, the embracing of Islam by large portions of coastal tribes in the Nineteenth Century aided in its spread.

Besides, local Muslim preachers and teachers played major roles in teaching religion (Ar. dīn) and the Qur’ān at the Qur’ān Schools (Swa. vyuo) and Madrasa attached to the Mosques.[12]

The coming of the second wave of Europeans, in the Nineteenth Century, brought mixed fortunes to the coastal Muslims, their strong sense of pride and belonging was greatly diminished, with efforts being redirected to self adjustments.[13]

Nonetheless, Muslim agents deployed by Europeans as subordinate labourers to assist in the establishment of Colonial administration centres, were advantageously placed throughout the country, bringing the Islamic influence to the interior.Each place where a European installed himself, military camp, government centre, or plantation, was a centre for Muslim influence.[11]

In the interior, the Muslims neither integrated nor mingled with the local communities, yet, non-Swahili Africans began joining the Swahili trends in trade with some returning as Muslims. Swahili became the trade and religious language. Alongside the interpersonal contacts, intermarriages also yielded some conversions.

Although coastal rulers did not send missionaries to the interior, local Africans embraced Islam freely through attraction to the religious life of the Muslims. Close integration with the local population helped to foster good relations resulting in Islam gaining a few converts, based on individual efforts.[14]

Subjectively, most of the surrounding Bantu communities had a close-knit religious heritage, requiring strong force to penetrate. The pacification and consolidation by European powers provided the much-needed force to open up the communities for new structures of power and religious expression (Trimingham:1983:58).

Basically, progress in the spread of Islam in Kenya came between 1880 and 1930. This was when most social structures and the African worldviews were shattered, leaving them requiring a new, wider worldview encompassing or addressing the changes experienced.

Consequently, Islam introduced new religious values through external ceremonial and ritualistic expressions, some of which could be followed with no difficulty.

Socio-culturally, Muslims presented themselves with a sense of pride and a feeling of superiority. Islamic civilization was identified with the Arab way of life (Ustaarabu), as opposed to ‘barbarianism’ (Ushenzi) hence the domination of a form of Arabism over the local variety of Islam.[15]

The ease, with which Islam could be adopted, meant adding to the indigenous practices, new religious rites and ceremonies to the African ways, with new ways of defining one’s identity by new forms of expression. Mingling with Muslims led to conversion meaning returning home as Muslims and not aliens.[15] Lacunza-Balda shows that Islam could be adopted easily.

Although most of the conversions were of individuals, there were communities that embraced Islam en-masse. Some of these included the Digo and Pokomo of the Lower Tana region. From these communities Islam slowly penetrated inland.

Organized Missionary activities

Pioneer Muslim missionaries to the interior were largely Tanganyikans, who coupled their missionary work with trade, along the centres began along the railway line, such as, Kibwezi, Makindu and Nairobi.

Outstanding amongst them was Maalim Mtondo, a Tanganyikan credited with being the first Muslim missionary to Nairobi. Reaching Nairobi at the close of the Nineteenth Century, he led a group of other Muslims, and enthusiastic missionaries from the coast to establish a ‘Swahili village’ in the present day Pumwani.

A small mosque was built to serve as a starting point and he began preaching Islam in earnest. He soon attracted several Kikuyus and Wakambas, who became his disciples.[14]

Local men converted and having learned from their teachers took up the leadership of religious matters. Khamis Ngige was a prominent local convert of the early outreach. Having learned from Maalim Mtondo, he later became the Imam of the Pumwani Mosque. Different preachers scattered in the countryside from 1900 to 1920, introducing Islam to areas around, Mt. Kenya, Murang’a, Embu, Meru, Nyeri and Kitui. This serious missionary move interior was out of personal enthusiasm with the influence being highly localized. Only a few Africans were converted, and the impact was short lived.[16]

Islam in Western Kenya

Muslim traders introduced Islam to the western region between 1870 and 1885. The chief Mumia of Nabongo accorded the Swahili traders warm welcome. During an intertribal war, the Muslims assisted Chief Mumia to overcome his enemies. In return, one Idd day, Chief Mumia, his family and officials of his court converted to Islam. Henceforth, Islam spread to the surrounding areas of Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii and Bungoma.

The Influence and the new trends in Islamic outreach Although the struggle for independence in Kenya was a very crucial time for all Kenyans, very little is documented on Muslim’s participation. Given that there were Muslims involved in the negotiation for the inclusion of the Kadhi courts in the Independent Kenya’s constitution, points to key Muslim involvement.

Events in the Muslim world from the nineteen-nineties, the experiences of crises and failures, power and success served as catalysts for the reassertion of Islam in public and private world, through a call for a return to true Islam. John Esposito sees the goal for the revivalisms as transformation of the society through Islamic formation of individuals at the grass roots (1999:20).

The growing religious revivalism in personal and public Islamic life, created awareness on Islamic beliefs, culminating to increased religious observance, building of mosques, prayer and fasting, proliferation of religious programming, publications, and emphasis on Islamic dress and values. Lately, Islamic reassertion in public life, like the quest for the upgrading of the Kadhi Courts in Kenya have not gone unnoticed (Esposito:1999:9).

Contemporary Islamic activisms are indebted to the ideology and organizational model of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhoods (Ikhwhan) led by Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb; and the Islamic Society Jamaat-I-Islami led by Mawlana Abul ala Mawdudi. Their ideas and methods of revivalism are observed in different parts of the world today. They blamed the west for misleading the Muslim leaders and the Muslim leaders for blindly following the European ways.

Whereas the Qur’ān and Hadith are fundamental, in responding to the demands and challenges of modernity, revival movements are crucial in spreading and restoring true Islam. Prolonged Muslim awareness has led to attraction to Islam, giving the converted a sense of pride.

Methods used in recent trends of Islamization, are twofold, some directed to the Muslims, and others reaching to non-Muslims. There has been increased social action, building of schools, health facilities, and relief food distribution. Moreover, proselytization is carried out through print media, broadcasting, increased formation of Missionary organizations, and organization of public debates (Mihadhara). Joseph M. Mutei, St. Paul's University, Kenya

Talha Ibn Obaidullah (RA)

Talha Ibn Obaidullah (may Allah be pleased with him) was one of the early reverts to Islam and among the ten blessed with the glad tidings of Paradise by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). He was a wealthy businessman and used to travel to different places for trade and commerce. It was during one of his trips to Syria that he met a Christian monk who informed him about the coming of the last prophet, who according to the scriptures, would appear in the land of Arabia.

The news was interesting for Talha and soon after his return to Makkah he realised that the story told by the monk was going to affect his life as on his return he learnt that Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had started claiming himself as a Prophet and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was by his side. He was so sure of the character and honesty of both, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)  , that after having analysed the whole situation he said to himself, “These two people can never be partners in anything wrong or false.” He immediately went to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)  to enquire about the veracity of the claims and then Abu Bakr took him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), where he declared his faith and said the Shahadah.

The road ahead for Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) after his reversion to Islam was replete with hurdles, obstacles, persecution and violence. The Quraish were surprised and furious over his reversion and tried every possible way to make him turn back from the religion of Islam. The strongest resistance Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) faced was from his own mother who went totally berserk after learning his son’s reversion as she had hoped that he would one day become the leader of the community because of his excellent and outstanding qualities and virtues.

Masud Ibn Kharash witnessed the sorry state of Talha (may Allah be pleased with him)   and the brutal persecution he met with at the hands of Makkans and by his own mother. He reported that one day he was making saee (running) between Safa and Marwa and then there appeared a crowd pushing and shoving a young man with his hands tied at the back. There was an old woman in the crowd who lashed the young man repeatedly and hurled abuses at him. On being enquired it was known that the young man was Talha (may Allah be pleased with him), the old woman was his mother and such inhumane treatment was because of the choice he made by accepting the religion that Muhammad brought. However all the disturbing and bone-chilling torture meted out to Talha (may Allah be pleased with him)   made him even more resolute and stronger in his faith and made the Makkans utterly failed in their attempt (The story of Talha (may Allah be pleased with him)   has a question for all of us: are we willing to endure everything with a brave heart and sublime faith when faced with the same situation?). Even the love for his own mother could not deviate and deter him from following the truth. With the passage of time, the relentless persecution became intensified and finally when it became extremely difficult to endure, Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) migrated to Abyssinia.

Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) was extremely generous and always looked for the ways to please Allah. It was on the unlimited generosity of Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah gave him the title of “Talha of goodness and bounty” and “Talha of generosity.” He used to support financially many of his relatives and friends and gave generously to the poor and destitute who cannot fend for themselves. Besides helping, he even disencumbered many with the loans they have incurred and released people from the shackles of debt. He even arranged for those who could not find the means to get married. Wealth which generally is a sense of satisfaction, boast and pride for many was more of a cause of distress for Talha (may Allah be pleased with him). His wife narrated that one day he looked very disturbed and distressed. On being asked he replied that his riches and wealth is the cause of distress and said, “How can a man think of his Lord and Sustainer when he goes to sleep with his wealth in his house?” His wife advised him to distribute and donate all his wealth to all the needy and the destitute. By midnight he distributed everything he had and finally slept well with a light heart. One of the companions of the Messenger said, “I accompanied Talha Ibn Obaidullah on journeys and stayed with him at home and I have not found anyone who was more generous with money, with clothes and with food than Talha.”

Because he was sent for one of the missions outside Madina, Talha (may Allah be pleased with him)  missed the first battle fought for Islam, the Battle of Badr. On his return to Madina he became upset with the opportunity he missed to fight alongside the Messenger of Allah. However when he got the chance to partake in the second battle, the Battle of Uhud, he fought valiantly and proved his mettle in the battlefield as well. At Uhud, when the tables were turned against the Muslims and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) was dangerously exposed, it was Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) who came for the rescue of the Messenger and repelled the Makkan fighters by fighting bravely. He supported and shielded the Messenger with his left arm and valiantly wielded the sword by his right hand. The incident caused Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) more than seventy wounds over his body which eventually made him unconscious. Thereafter the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said, “Whoever is pleased to see a man still walking on earth who had completed his span (of life), let him look at Talha Ibn Obaidullah.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)  was very much pleased with the heroics Talha displayed at the Battle of Uhud and whenever after that there was a mention of Uhud, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say, “That day, that entire day, belonged to Talha.”

By Kamran Shahid Ansari
Source: http://islam.ru/en/content/story/talha-ibn-obaidullah-ra