Quoting Syeikh Ahmed Deedat

Penang police on alert for bible-burning ‘fest’

Penang police on alert for bible-burning ‘fest’  
 By Opalyn Mok
January 24, 2013


GEORGE TOWN, Jan 24 ― Heavy police surveillance will be placed on a field in front of Dewan Ahmad Badawi in Bagan Luar, Butterworth on Saturday, ahead of a purported “festival” to torch copies of Malay-language bibles there.
Penang police chief DCP Datuk Abd Rahim Hanafi said the police will not hesitate to take stern action against any groups or individuals who turn up at the site to take part in the event.
On Tuesday, a priest had lodged a police report over the distribution of anonymous pamphlets advertising a “festival” to burn the Malay language bibles at the field on Sunday.
Abd Rahim warned the public not to take part in the event.
“I urge the public not to be influenced but the ‘rumours’ in this pamphlet which was obviously created by irresponsible individuals to threaten the safety and harmony of the public,” he said.
He also warned the public not to spread further rumours on this matter and that those found to spread such rumours will be arrested and charged under Sections 298 and 507 of the Penal Code, for uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any religious groups and criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication respectively.
Earlier this week, Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali also called for the Malay version of the bible containing the word “Allah” and Jawi script to be burned.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) has come out to condemn those who had threatened to burn the sacred holy book and had called on those who are spreading hatred through such threats for political gain to cease and desist.
The state government had also urged the police to take the matter seriously.
As extra precaution, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had instructed the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) president Maimunah Mohd Shariff to ensure that no one enters the Dewan Ahmad Badawi, which belonged to MPSP, at the designated time.
The “Allah” dispute, which first erupted after the watershed Election 2008, remains a hot-button topic in the run-up to this year’s polls.
 
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For our thoughts: 

(1) Muslims shouldn't burn any other religious scriptures. The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w told us to respect other religion.

(2) There are many opinions about the Christians using the word 'Allah' refering to God. The fact is the name Allah is widely used by Christians and other religions out there.

(3) Yes the question is - why only now? Why only now Christians in Malaysia would like to use name of Allah? Why not long time ago? Christians existed in Malaysia since 7th century. And before, they used Tuhan which literally means God in Malay.

(4) We can see where they are going now. It's psychology. They know no Muslim interested in listening to their preaching when they used Tuhan. With using the real name of God - Allah, they will get the attention of Muslims. The name of Allah is no stranger amongst the Christians. The Arab Christians use it and so some English Bible still maintaining the name of Allah referring to God; namely - Eli, Elohim, Elo all referring to God in Hebrew which is a sister language of Arabic.

(5) Their decision of using the name Allah is nothing but to attracts Malay community especially. Sadly to say - Malay Malaysian are born as Muslim but still there are many of them who still do not understand Islam completely. Weak in akidah, Tauhid and Iman. There - the Christians knows the weakness of Malay Muslims here, therefore they would like to take this opportunity to attract these people to join them by preaching in Malay.

(6) Times thought them a lesson. Very important lesson indeed. The Christians in Malaysia used English as their intermediate language. Well, Christianity was brought here by the Englishman therefore English was used in preaching the religion by their missionaries. And English is a common language amongst the non Malay in Malaysia. No offence - although the English level in Malaysia is still not up to the right standards but Malaysian got no problem in understanding the language.

(7) Meanwhile Malays always prefer to speak and communicate in their native language although most of the Malays understood English. But in daily life - they would prefer to communicate in their native language.

(8) Years after years of preaching, the numbers of Christians in Malaysia increased. Large numbers of Malaysian Indians (originally Hindu) and Chinese (originally Buddhist) has converted to Christianity. How is that come about? Well, there are no strong missionaries from the Hindu / Buddhist group in Malaysia. Yes we do have tamples for both respective religions but thats it. We dont see their missionaries running active across the country preaching.

(9) Nowadays if you have a Buddhist / Hindu friends - if you asked them about their religion, I repeat Religion NOT culture - not many of them can answer. Why? Because they dont have the right understanding. That's why. So that shows how limited their knowledge on their religion.

(10) Christian missionaries aware about this. English is not a problem for the Indians and Chinese. They move and preach towards them. As a results numbers of them converting to Christianity.

(11) Christianity is beautiful. Don't get me wrong - when I said it's beautiful, I mean their theory is beautiful. Why did I say that? Ok for one second imagine if someone who has no knowledge about religion, about God, about the meaning of this life. One thing they know is that one day you going to die. And not knowing whats gonna happen after that. You must agree with me for those who has no faith, death is like a worst thing. As a Muslim we know death is part of the process of life and it's not the end of life.

(12) For Buddhist especially they do not believe in heaven. They believe that every soul will be going to hell. There's no good thing about death from their perspective.

(13) This is where the Christian come and offer them some kind of good offer. The Christian believes that everyone can go to heaven as long as you believe that Jesus Christ (pbuh) was born and die as God and believe that Jesus (pbuh) died for our sins and you'll have the ticket to heaven. Simple and beautiful. Who wouldn't want to buy that?

(14) People who has no belief would buy that. Hey come on..you dont have to do anything. The only thing you have to do is to believe that Jesus (pbuh) was born and die as God and believe that he has died for our sins. You believe that, you'll be in heaven once you die. Regardless if you have sins your soul or not but once you believe that, heaven is for you. Your sins will be forgiven immediately once you believe that Jesus has died for your sin. Isn't beautiful? Indeed it is.

(15) We Muslim, we don't buy that. Why not? We understood Islam and we believe in heaven and hell. For someone who has logic, knowledge and faith - the theory above doesn't make any sense. I'm not going to elaborate any further on the differences between Islam and Christianity, that's not the topic here.

(16) It's only to give you the view on why Christian in Malaysia insisted to use the name of Allah. That is to attract Malay Muslim who has no concrete knowledge in their religion and weak in their iman. It's psychological war.

(17) But this doesn't give us any reason to go and burn their book. Why worry? Strengthen your Iman, practice it, preach it to your children, brothers, sisters, family and friends. Isn't Da'wah is part of our responsibility? The responsibilty of Da'wah was not just left to the Messengers but also for us.

(18) In the Holy Quran stated:“Who is better in speech than one who calls to Allah, does righteous deeds and says indeed I am among the Muslims.”
Surah Fussilat 41:33

“Let there arise among you a group inviting to all that is good, enjoining righteousness and forbidding evil. Those are the successful ones.”
Surah Ali-Imran 3:104

“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good preaching.”
Surah An-Nahl 16:125

(19) But that's not the case. How many of us see da'wah as our responsibility? How many of us would do that? We are too afraid to open our mouth. We're not even dare to open our mouth to teach our own children and family members!

(20) Nowadays most people happily passing their responsibility to teachers and schools. We got money and pay to the school and expect teacher to teach them all? And when something went wrong we blame the friends of our child and the teacher at school for not educating our children good enough? What is wrong with us?

(21) That is responsibility of every parents to educate their children. Yes, no doubt we still need to send our children to school but how much can the school teach our children? They go to school there's like 12 subjects they have to learn. The school have like thousands of children to take care of. When they come home they spend whole night to complete their homework or study for exams. And we thought that we have done our part by waking up in the morning drop them to school, fetch them home and give them money to spend? And when we are at home give the responsibility to the maid to clean them, to clothes them and even to tuck them at night? Seriously.. what is wrong with us? And when something went wrong we blame the other party?

(22) Come on, do not make any reason. Yes we're working but sometime we forgot what are we working for actually. We forgot what is our main responsibility. Alhamdulillah we solat 5 times a day, we fast in Ramadhan, we pay zakat, and we went for Hajj. But we forgot in making da'wah towards our family members. We passed that to their teachers at school. We have let ourselves down again.

(23) And now Muslims in Malaysia is panicking when the Christian decided to use the name Allah in their scripture. With the reason this could get Muslim confused. Come on! What kind of reason is that? That is so lame. 

(24) We wouldn't be confused if we have thought ourselves and our children well. We have the Quran, the hadith and books everywhere in the country. We have classes at Masjid. Go and learn and teach it to your family.

(25) And in order to show our disagreement for Christian using the name Allah, we now going to burn their bible. The same way as how the Christian shows their disagreement with Islam - that is they burn our Quran. And now what? Are we copying them?

(26) We have to understand. They - Christians believes they are correct. Just like everybody else do. They are so eager in preaching their religion. They will find a way what is the best way to get the message to their 'customers'. They are doing the job.

(27) My question is - what are we doing? Whining and complaining, calling the government to stop them. The government couldn't do much. Burning the bible is the best solution we got? Unbelievable.

(28) Steadfast in your religion O Muslim. Learn everyday, be prepared. The Quran and the hadith is everywhere. Ask right people to get the right answer. Once we have understood Islam we will have no problem In Sha Allah. If happen one of the Christian missionaries come to you trying to convert you - if you have the knowledge you will convert them instead In Sha Allah.

(29) May Allah guide us all. Ameen.

The Last Ummah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

If you do not aid the Prophet - Allah has already aided him when those who disbelieved had driven him out [of Makkah] as one of two, when they were in the cave and he said to his companion, "Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us." And Allah sent down his tranquillity upon him and supported him with angels you did not see and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the word of Allah - that is the highest. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.

(Al-Quran Surat At-Tawbah, Chapter 9 Verse 40)

Before we get into details, here are the things that we already understand. To make sure the message to be very clear, I have to start with these matters.

Jews - is not a religion. It is a race. Judaism is the religion of Jews. Although majority of them follow Judaism but there are also Muslim Jews and Christians Jews. The thing is Juda-Jews believe they are the followers of Moses. Judaism somehow based very much on the race of Jews. To believe in Judaism the person must be a Jew as Judaism is only for Jewish people.

Christians - It is not based on races. Any race can be Christians as long as they believe Jesus is Son of God / God, believe in Trinity Concept, believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Whoever believes in this concept and claimed to be the follower of Jesus - they are Christians. Trinity is the catechism of Christians.

Muslims - Is the one who submit to the will of God. Anyone who is submitting to the will of God and firmly believes God is one, they are Muslims. For every Muslims they must believe in all the prophets that send by Allah that includes Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all). There are 25 names of Prophets mentioned in the Quran. We must believe in them all. Not Muslim the person is if he or she refuses to.

Here, name of Prophets mentioned in the Quran not only acknowledge us about the names of the righteous Prophets, but also helps us to know the age of time. The beginning starts with Adam and the last will be the time of Muhammad s.a.w (peace be upon them). And Muhammad s.a.w marks the end is near. Which means Qiamat surely will come after the time of Muhammad s.a.w.

By time, Indeed, mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience. (Al-Quran Surah Al-'Asr Chapter 103 Verse 1-3)

"In this Surah, Allah is making an oath by Al'Asr, by Time. Some scholars, like Malik, say that 'Asr here means the time of the 'Asr prayer. Other says that it means Time through the ages.

Time is one of the creations of Allah. All other creations are affected by time including us. Every day we grow older, every day we come closer to our destiny, to the Day of Reckoning. On that day, everyone will find out through his final account and last Balance Sheet whether he or she is in profit or in loss.

The subject of the oath is that mankind, or Al-Insan is in loss; except those who believe and do righteous deeds. Allah excludes those who believe with all their hearts and do good deeds and also exhort (or urge) one another to Truth and Patience or constancy." - Khutbah by Omar Tarhuni

According to some scholars like Malik, say that the time when the Surah was revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w to indicate that at that time the world was in the time of 'Asr. So if this surah which has been revealed about 1400 years ago, what is the current time of the world today? Maghrib? Could be Isya'. Only Allah knows that.

Back to the main topic, about the Jews claimed themselves as the follower of Moses and Christians claimed themselves as the follower of Jesus (peace be upon them all). How exactly for us to know that? Well, this is how it works.

Muslims are not only the ummah (people) of Muhammad s.a.w. Muslims also can be the ummah of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus (peace be upon them all) and so on. These are the righteous prophets selected by Allah Ta'ala to lead every mankind. It’s just all depend which age of time we are living in.

So this is how it works, if you're born and living through times of Adam, then you're the ummah of Adam(pbuh). If someone were born and live during times of Abraham, then they were the ummah of Abraham(pbuh). Same goes with other prophets. When you're born during the time of particular prophet and live through that time then you are the ummah of that particular prophet. Anyone can deny as they want, but fact doesn't lie.

Same case for Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Allah sent a prophet to lead their own nation and tribes. But the last, Muhammad s.a.w was not only sent for the people of Arab, he was sent for all the humanity who living through the times of Muhammad s.a.w. How can we confirm that? Easy, go back to the book. Let see some of the verse we can find in the Quran to confirm this statement.

"We have not sent you (O Muhammad) but as a universal (Messenger) to men giving them glad tidings and warning them (against sin) but most men understand not"

(Al-Quran Surah Saba' Chapter 34, Verse 28)

"O mankind! Verily, there has come to you the Messenger (Muhammad) with the truth from your Rabb (Sustainer). So believe in him, it is better for you. But if you disbelieve, then certainly to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise"

(Al-Quran Surah An-Nisa Chapter 4, Verse 170)

Islam also firmly tells us that differences of races, gender, and nationality are nothing but only for human recognition. All mankind are equal and same, only good deeds differ one from another. In the Quran again say:

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

(Al-Quran Surah Al-Hujurat Chapter 49, Verse 13)

It doesn't matter what races we belong to, or which generation we come from. It is the time when we were born that will indicates us which ummah do we belong to. You can be Jewish, English, American, Chinese, Malay, African, Japanese etc., you can be born as white, black, brown, Caucasian or yellow, you can be born from Muslims, Christians, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist, Hindu family but as long as you were born during the time of Muhammad s.a.w the fact stands that you are the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w.

Muhammad s.a.w was chosen by Allah Ta'ala to lead all mankind to the right path and Muhammad s.a.w just like the other Righteous Prophets - they are all Muslims which means - the one that submit to the will of God. Allah Ta'ala sent down revelation and guidelines to Muhammad s.a.w so that he can lead mankind by example. Muhammad s.a.w task was bigger to compare with other prophets, and the impacts are greater too. Muhammad s.a.w was sent not only for one nation or tribes but for the whole mankind. As we can see today there are more and more people converting to Islam regardless of their backgrounds. As Muhammad s.a.w is the last prophet, which also means that we are the last ummah.

Islam is a simply way of life and is the true religion. Islam provides solution to any kinds of problems. If anyone would like to live a good life, then take Islam and don’t substitute it with any other rules. By right, which rules are better; rules created by man or by the Creator?

"This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion."

Al-Quran Surah Al-Ma'idah Chapter 5 Verse 3

The Full Verse of Surah Ma'idah 5;3:

"Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah , and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

We can consider ourselves lucky to be part of Ummah of Muhammad s.a.w as we were born during the time of Muhammad s.a.w. This is because there are lots of benefits given to the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w.

One day the Messenger was sitting in sadness, then Jibrail A.S (Gabriel) came and asked:

"O Muhammad why are you so sad, but God has given five things that have never given to anyone before you, they are:

1. Allah always hears someone, as long as the person has no doubt in Allah,

2. Who would cover the embarrassment of others, surely Allah will cover the embarrassment of his on the Day of Judgment,

3. The door of repentance remains open until sakaratul maut (last hour) came,

4. Who recites the shahadah, would be forgiven all of his sins even the sins are as big as the size of the earth,

5. Punishment of those who have died can be removed by the prayer of those still living in the world"

Another hadith also reported that Moses (Peace be upon him) while he was at Mount Sinai, he was told about the benefits for ummah of Muhammad s.a.w by Allah Ta'ala. After heard of all the benefits, Moses asked if he can be one of the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w. Allah reject his wish:

"O Moses, I have chosen you to accept my words, so take what I give thee, and thou be among those who are grateful .."

Moses was satisfied and pleased with the answer of Allah Ta'ala.

(Source: Abu Laits a.s Assamarqandi as reported by Sanadnya and Muqatil bin Sulaiman)

Here we can see there are lots of advantages given to us (Ummah of Muhammad a.s) which even Moses (pbuh) as one of the greatest prophets of Allah would like to have. We cannot afford to take things for granted; we must work towards the blessings of Allah. Among all of the prophets, there will be only one of them that will be accepted to be as the Ummah of Muhammad s.a.w and that prophet will be Jesus or better known as Isa Al-Maseeh ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) amongst the Muslims. Jesus (peace be upon him) will be back to this earth to lead the believers to the right path and fights Dajjal and his followers (the unbelievers). And on his second coming, all teachings spread by Jesus (peace be upon him) will not be based upon Gospel or Injil but instead it will be based on the last revelation that Allah has send down to Muhammad s.a.w 1400 years ago: that is Al-Quran.

It is not an option for us to choose which prophet we want to follow. It’s our destiny. But it is for us to choose to obey or to reject.

Moses was born as Jew but his faith made him Muslim. Jesus was born as Jew but his faith made him Muslim. This is because both of them are those who submit to the will of God.

Jews today claimed to be followers and their loyalty towards Moses (pbuh) was down because of racial issues. They cannot accept the idea being the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w since Muhammad s.a.w was not a Jew but an Arab. According to Jewish beliefs, they – the Jews are the best of the best people. And they labelled non-Jews as Goyim - unclean people. Therefore they don't like the idea to be followers of Non-Jews. So they deny Muhammad s.a.w and claimed to be the followers of Moses (pbuh).

Christians today chose to be followers of Jesus (pbuh) is because the idea of Jesus had died for their sins, therefore as long as they believe in Jesus as God / Son of God, no matter what sins they have committed they will be still heading towards Heaven. Easy as A B C. No need to work hard to earn themselves a spot in heaven. This idea is so good to be true and indeed, it is a very good deal for them. Who doesn’t want to go to heaven? And here Christianity offers the simplest way, just believe and you will earn your spot. They reject Muhammad s.a.w and labelled him as false prophet and blindly claimed to be the followers of Jesus Christ. Astagafirullah. The fact is they - Christians today, are not the ummah of Jesus since they were born during time of Muhammad s.a.w.

Al-Quran was not written by Muhammad s.a.w. but he received the revelation from Allah Ta'ala through arch-angel Jibrail a.s (Gabriel). And Muhammad s.a.w is the last messenger of Allah. And we today are all belongs to the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w which makes us the last ummah regardless which nation or tribes we came from.

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Everyone of my Ummah will enter Jannah except those who refuse.” He was asked: “Who will refuse?” He (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Whoever obeys me shall enter Jannah, and whosoever disobeys me refuses to (enter Jannah).” [Sahih Bukhari]

Allah knows best.

Islam for ALL

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

(Al-Quran, Surah Al-Hujurat Chapter 49 Verse 13)