Originally Published as an Op-Ed Article in the New York Times.
Just hours after the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were identified as Muslims, Representative Peter T. King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, called for an “increased surveillance” of Islamic communities in the United States. “I think we need more police and more surveillance in the communities where the threat is coming from,” he told National Review. “The new threat is definitely from within.”
american flagMr. King’s hypothesis, and the widespread surveillance policies already in effect since 9/11, assume that the threat of radicalization has become a matter of local geography, that American Muslims are creating extremists in our mosques and community centers.
But what we’re learning of the suspects, the brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suggests a different story, and one that has itself become familiar: radicalization does not happen to young people with a strong grounding in the American Muslim mainstream; increasingly, it happens online, and sometimes abroad, among the isolated and disaffected.
The YouTube page of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, for example, does not contain a single lecture from a scholar, imam or institution in America. One report suggests that he found the theology taught in a local Cambridge mosque, the Islamic Society of Boston, unpalatable: while attending a Friday service in which an imam praised the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Tsarnaev shouted that the imam was a “nonbeliever.” The younger Tsarnaev brother seems to have rarely attended a mosque at all.
Representative King’s theories also fail to explain why, if young people are being radicalized within mainstream Islamic communities, there aren’t more attacks like the one in Boston. By some measures Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, and the last decade has seen a rapid expansion of Muslim institutions across the country.
Yet what’s most obvious to anyone who has spent time in these communities is that whether they are devotional or educational, focused on the arts or on interfaith cooperation and activism, this mediating set of American Muslim institutions is keeping impressionable young Muslims from becoming radicalized.
Take the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and its range of devotional, arts and educational programs, from preschool to a seminary. Or Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network, complete with a medical clinic, civic leadership education and a summer music festival that draws on the biggest names of Muslim hip-hop to promote peace through community organizing. Or Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif., the nation’s first four-year Islamic liberal arts school.
These institutions and others have different aims, but they abide by a common idea: if the center of Judaism is the law, and the heart of Christianity is love, what Islam requires, above all else, is mercy. And whether on display in health care provided for the poor at South Los Angeles’s UMMA Community Clinic, or in a patiently handled Arabic lesson that will one day lead a new convert into the fullness of the tradition, Islamic mercy, preached and practiced within the community, allows no room for radicalization.
Representative King and others have it exactly, completely wrong — the American Muslim community has actively and repeatedly, day in and day out, rejected such radicals on religious grounds: they do not know mercy.
More than a decade since 9/11, this should no longer be any secret. Across the nation, the doors are open, and more are opening every day. And despite whatever misplaced fears the Boston bombings evoke about radical Islam and homegrown terror, we’ll all find ourselves increasingly secure as more Muslims heed the call — coming to Islam as it is in the United States, as a real, living community.
Suhaib Webb is the Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. Scott Korb, who teaches writing at New York University and the New School, is the author of “Light Without Fire: The Making of America’s First Muslim College.”
No Room for Radicals Posted: 25 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT By Suhaib Webb and Scott Korb
Originally Published as an Op-Ed Article in the New York Times.
Just hours after the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were identified as Muslims, Representative Peter T. King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, called for an “increased surveillance” of Islamic communities in the United States. “I think we need more police and more surveillance in the communities where the threat is coming from,” he told National Review. “The new threat is definitely from within.”
american flagMr. King’s hypothesis, and the widespread surveillance policies already in effect since 9/11, assume that the threat of radicalization has become a matter of local geography, that American Muslims are creating extremists in our mosques and community centers.
But what we’re learning of the suspects, the brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suggests a different story, and one that has itself become familiar: radicalization does not happen to young people with a strong grounding in the American Muslim mainstream; increasingly, it happens online, and sometimes abroad, among the isolated and disaffected.
The YouTube page of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, for example, does not contain a single lecture from a scholar, imam or institution in America. One report suggests that he found the theology taught in a local Cambridge mosque, the Islamic Society of Boston, unpalatable: while attending a Friday service in which an imam praised the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Tsarnaev shouted that the imam was a “nonbeliever.” The younger Tsarnaev brother seems to have rarely attended a mosque at all.
Representative King’s theories also fail to explain why, if young people are being radicalized within mainstream Islamic communities, there aren’t more attacks like the one in Boston. By some measures Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, and the last decade has seen a rapid expansion of Muslim institutions across the country.
Yet what’s most obvious to anyone who has spent time in these communities is that whether they are devotional or educational, focused on the arts or on interfaith cooperation and activism, this mediating set of American Muslim institutions is keeping impressionable young Muslims from becoming radicalized.
Take the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and its range of devotional, arts and educational programs, from preschool to a seminary. Or Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network, complete with a medical clinic, civic leadership education and a summer music festival that draws on the biggest names of Muslim hip-hop to promote peace through community organizing. Or Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif., the nation’s first four-year Islamic liberal arts school.
These institutions and others have different aims, but they abide by a common idea: if the center of Judaism is the law, and the heart of Christianity is love, what Islam requires, above all else, is mercy. And whether on display in health care provided for the poor at South Los Angeles’s UMMA Community Clinic, or in a patiently handled Arabic lesson that will one day lead a new convert into the fullness of the tradition, Islamic mercy, preached and practiced within the community, allows no room for radicalization.
Representative King and others have it exactly, completely wrong — the American Muslim community has actively and repeatedly, day in and day out, rejected such radicals on religious grounds: they do not know mercy.
More than a decade since 9/11, this should no longer be any secret. Across the nation, the doors are open, and more are opening every day. And despite whatever misplaced fears the Boston bombings evoke about radical Islam and homegrown terror, we’ll all find ourselves increasingly secure as more Muslims heed the call — coming to Islam as it is in the United States, as a real, living community.
Suhaib Webb is the Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. Scott Korb, who teaches writing at New York University and the New School, is the author of “Light Without Fire: The Making of America’s First Muslim College.”
The dearest parts on the face of the earth near Allah
Have you come to inquire about piety?''
Hazrat Wabisah bin Ma`bad (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I went to Messenger of Allah 
[SAWW](PBUH) and he asked me, "Have you come to inquire about piety?'' I replied in the affirmative. Then he said, "Ask your heart regarding it. Piety is that which contents the soul and comforts the heart, and sin is that which causes doubts and perturbs the heart, even if people pronounce it lawful and give you verdicts on such matters again and again.''
[Masnad Ahmad, Imam Ahmad Hadith # 228/4].
Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Hajj Ayat 38."Truly, Allah defends those who believe." There are two points about this Hadith. First, it is one of the miracles of Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) who discovered the nature of the question before it was put to him. Second, man's heart is the biggest guide to him and he, therefore, should keep his heart illuminated with the light of Faith so as to continue receiving guidance from it. 
Promise
By Nabila Z
Most of us, we never really intend to break a promise when we make one. That’s why it is a promise in the first place; a confirmation to someone of a future action we pledge to do. A verbal guarantee. As children, we grow up learning about keeping promises from our parents, teachers and the children’s books with their moral stories that mold our instincts to believe breaking a promise is morally wrong. Now, as human beings we are prone to making mistakes in every department known to man so it is of no surprise when we find that yourself and I have most probably broken promises for which we can in all likelihood come up with a string of legitimate excuses. We try our best not to break promises. But when I see this happening more often than it should, particularly beyond the boundaries of just another fellow human being but between individuals who enjoy a close and loving relationship (whether they be friends or family for example), I question: are we trying hard enough?
So many promises that we say were never kept were never actually made. The trouble is that words slip off so easily like water from the tips of our tongues. We tell our siblings that we’ll definitely get back to them about that math homework question they’re stuck on, or our friends that we’ll go to see them and check up on them because they’re suffering from the flu, or maybe one of our parents whom we promised to pick up their package from the post office. Now, some may say that before I even go down that road, these are trivial matters and that no one really minds or cares if these are not fulfilled. At the end of the day, the other person knows deep down inside that we care about them and love them, and sure enough we really do. However, we need to see that the phrase ‘I promise’ need not even surface; the fact that we have said it implies to the other person that we intend to do it. If someone said something of the like to you, you would certainly have a degree of expectation for him or her to do it no matter how trivial it may be – particularly if this is someone you know, you trust.
Let us swap shoes. Going back to the homework scenario, your younger sibling has asked you for help because they look up to you and see you as someone worthy from whom they could receive assistance. You’re really busy with something important but you want to help so you offer to help a bit later, and their face lights up. Your sibling says that’s fine and they are happy to wait. And they keep waiting. Perhaps they ask you a few more times and still you are busy. To them you are a loved one and they will not want to bother you anymore. What’s more is that because you hold that special position in their hearts, they would think that you would have made that extra effort anyway – this is only natural in humans. Sooner or later, that hope they had put in you and your ‘promise’ begins to fade away and turns into disappointment. They return their homework to the teacher with that question unanswered. And you still haven’t remembered to help them, but of course once you do, you feel guilty and apologize to them. Trivial? Perhaps. Because everything is okay again, you still love your sibling and they love you back, it was just a math question. But this person still felt pain, and believe me no matter how miniscule a scale it was, they did. Because it is so easy and common for us to say things we would do but never assign the importance of fulfilling them within us, we end up doing this over and over again. So we end up hurting the people we love time after time.
The art of keeping a promise is intertwined with trustworthiness. So one would expect a person they deemed to be trustworthy or have trust in, to keep their promise. When you do not keep your words, the other party loses an ounce of trust in you and this keeps on happening until they no longer trust you to be able to ask you for help or even have faith in the words you speak. The tiniest of our actions can lead to repercussions we would never contemplate. Fulfilling a promise is a huge obligation upon us as Muslims (as most of us know already) – but sometimes it’s the little things that miss our eyes.
When you make a promise, you plant a little seed of hope and expectation in the hearts of the people you love. Think again next time before you say you will do something for them, and try to make that little extra effort their way and fulfill your promise without delaying it. I say this to myself before anyone else, as it would sadden me deeply if my sibling no longer came to me for help knowing they have no remaining faith in me. We are defined by our actions, not our words.
“Oh you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is in the sight of Allah that you say that which you do not do” (Qur’an 61:2-3).
Parent Trap
Out of the blue one day, as we were walking to a meeting, my boss turned around and asked, “So, what are your plans for the near future?” When he saw the puzzled look on my face he continued “…you know, don’t you want to move out and live on your own? Don’t you want some independence?”I smiled. Where do I begin?
What he was referring to was the fact that I am a 30-year-old woman who, despite having a job that provides comfortable financial independence, is still living with her parents. It was incomprehensible to him. It’s not the first time I get asked a question like this from my colleagues (most of whom are non-Muslim Europeans), although usually the questions are subtler. Some of my colleagues have even assumed that my father must not be around, as that would be the only reason for me to be still living with my family!
So, where do I begin?
Let’s start with the word “independence”. Independence from what? My parents? My culture? Society? And independence of what? Thought? Action?
Sure, I’m all for one making up one’s own mind especially about the important issues in life, but why must one be physically separated from family in order to think for oneself? What does geographical separation have anything to do with it? If anything, isn’t one who is able to listen to others and make up one’s own mind more independent than one who has to be in isolation in order to come up with a personal opinion and follow it through?
Of course, I did not always feel this way. There was a time in my early-mid twenties, when I did think that living alone would make my life less stressful and more enjoyable. After all, I would not have to worry about giving a minute-by-minute account of my day, or having to explain and justify every action I wanted to do or person I wanted to see. I would also be able to spend a lot more time with my friends and go to a lot more classes and events, especially the ones that run late. And I would finally be able to wear what I wanted. It would also spare me having to listen to regular complaints about relatives or politics or whatever it is that is no longer as great as it used to be!
I would be happy to visit my parents often for I love them dearly; I just wanted some breathing space. And it would also help me feel that I’ve moved on with my life. If only I could move out, or if only Mr. Right would come along – any time now would be perfect!
A few years on, there came a point where I just got tired of waiting for marriage or a miracle to magically solve the issues I had with my parents (like that was ever going to happen!). I realized that if I opened up to my parents, and explained what I really wanted and how and why that made me happy, that they might actually understand. I decided to give it a try.
It turned out that half the things I was not doing, because I did not want to ask permission from my parents to do, my parents did not really mind me doing! More importantly, I slowly began to get over the fear and worry of sharing my plans and desires with them. No matter what their opinion was, we could still talk things through. After a few months of doing this, I realized that I had created my own problems in my head (or heart).
There were still a few things I wanted to do which they were not comfortable with. Sometimes I could talk them into accepting my views. Other times I just had to accept their decision knowing that I am pleasing Allah and that He would reward me for it in this world and the next.
And what a lovely feeling it is to be able to come back home and see their faces light up when they see me, or be able to help them out, write an email or find a TV channel – priceless!
So, where do I begin?
“Of course not—why would I want to do that?” I responded with a huge smile.
Islam is based on five (pillars)
English Translation of Hadith
Hazrat Ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah 
[SAWW](PBUH) said, "Islam is based on five (pillars): testifying that there is no true god except Allah and that Muhammad (PBUH) is His slave and Messenger; performing of Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat); the payment of Zakat; performing Hajj (pilgrimage) to the House [of Allah (Ka`bah)]; and Saum (fasting) during the month of Ramadan.''
[Al-Bukhari Book 01, Chapter 02, Hadith # 07]
Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Hajj Ayat 25."the Path of Allah, and from Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah) which We have made (open) to (all) men," In this Hadith, Islam has been compared to a building which rests on five pillars. As a building cannot stand without its foundation, similarly, Islam cannot exist without these pillars. For this reason, he who denies any one of these obligations is a disbeliever, and he who neglects any of them due to slackness or want of attention is a sinful and impious Muslim.
Unnecessary questioning is disliked.
English Translation of Hadith
Hazrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah 
[SAWW](PBUH) delivered a Khutbah and said, "O people! Hajj (pilgrimage to the House of Allah) has been made incumbent upon you, so perform Hajj.'' A man inquired: "O Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH), is it prescribed every year?'' He [SAWW](PBUH) remained silent till the man repeated it thrice. Then he [SAWW](PBUH) said, "Had I replied in the affirmative, it would have surely become obligatory, and you would not have been able to fulfill it.'' Afterwards he said, "Do not ask me so long as I do not impose anything upon you, because those who were before you were destroyed on account of their frequent questioning and their disagreement with their Prophets. So when I order you to do something, do it as far as you can; and when I forbid you from doing anything, eschew it.''
[Muslim Book 07, Chapter 71, Hadith # 3095
] Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Hajj Ayat 30."That (Manâsik prescribed duties of Hajj is the obligation that mankind owes to Allah)"
Lesson : This Hadith brings out the following points:
1. Hajj is compulsory once in a lifetime for those who have the means for it.
2. Unnecessary questioning is disliked.
3. Those who believe in Allah and His Prophet [SAWW](PBUH) are required to do what they are ordained and abstain from what they are forbidden..
Islam is based on five (pillars
[Al-Bukhari Book 01, Chapter 02, Hadith # 07]
Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Hajj Ayat 25."the Path of Allah, and from Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah) which We have made (open) to (all) men," In this Hadith, Islam has been compared to a building which rests on five pillars. As a building cannot stand without its foundation, similarly, Islam cannot exist without these pillars. For this reason, he who denies any one of these obligations is a disbeliever, and he who neglects any of them due to slackness or want of attention is a sinful and impious Muslim.
Truth leads to piety and piety leads to Jannah [Paradise}
Hazrat Abdullah bin Masud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah 
[SAWW](PBUH) said, "Truth leads to piety and piety leads to Jannah [Paradise]. A man persists in speaking the truth till he is enrolled with Allah as a truthful. Falsehood leads to vice and vice leads to the Fire (Hell), and a person persists on telling lies until he is enrolled as a liar".'
[Muslim Book 32,Chapter 26, Hadith # 6306]
Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Hajj Ayat 23."Allah will admit those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds" Siddiq (veracious) and Kadhdhab (liar) both are adjectives of intensive degree. That is to say, the words stand respectively for someone whose truth has become his second nature; and in the opposite case, one is a liar who is in the habit of telling lies. As one acquires a reputation in this world for his good or bad deeds similar is his position before Allah. One who is ranked among the truthful with Him is entitled to reward, and if one is a liar, he has to suffer retribution for it. This Hadith provides incentive for truthfulness because it is a source of every good deed and contains a warning against lying as it gives rise to all kinds of mischief.
एक करोड़ की जमीनें की दान
एक करोड़ की जमीनें की दान
Wednesday, 17 Apr 2013 1:12:06 hrs IST
Wednesday, 17 Apr 2013 1:12:06 hrs IST
जोधपुर। खुद के बदन पर भले ही फटे-मैले कपड़े और पैरों में टूटी चप्पल हो, लेकिन मजूदरी करने वाले शकूर खां के जज्बे को देख इन्हें हर कोई सलाम करता है। पहले मां के नाम डिस्पेंसरी के लिए जमीन दी, तो अब 42 गुणा 58 फीट का मकान मदरसे के लिए दे दिया। यही नहीं, 60 गुणा 38 फीट की एक जमीन मस्जिद के नाम कर दी है। शकूर की तीनों जमीनें एक करोड़ रूपए से अघिक आंकी जा रही हैं। महापौर रामेश्वर दाधीच इनकी जमीन पर 40 लाख से डिस्पेसरी बनवा रहे हैं।
MUHAMMAD ALI'S ADVICE TO HIS DAUGHTER
MUHAMMAD ALI'S ADVICE TO HIS DAUGHTER
An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing.
Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:
“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
...
My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to.
Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected.
Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell.
Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.”
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.” [not a hadith]
Allahu Akbar!See More
![MUHAMMAD ALI'S ADVICE TO HIS DAUGHTER
An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing.
Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:
“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to.
Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected.
Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell.
Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.”
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.” [not a hadith]
Allahu Akbar!](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uvirYQWpoW_Rw_DsxGVc6uy-IKnnb5HIhgHqE1rAGY11St9M5Fo1pEr_Mhs4PcR1bzwN6uObrHiGHgbiwTv4CR6DvzoG7BIN0Yrwt_O0NtG6nrR254he_L3Z6ywbnQeZfSnUj99NZB9Ee8QfB7owxVco2RhYCGomWwx6gx-F7SzMK6=s0-d)
An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing.
Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:
“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
...
My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to.
Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected.
Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell.
Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.”
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.” [not a hadith]
Allahu Akbar!See More
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