"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel's vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration's complicity in this assault, have reopened the question."
~Avi Shlaim, Oxford professor who once served in the Israeli army
"If you persevere in adversity and depend on God, then know that He will remove your afflictions and bestow vast blessings upon you. For in His Book God promises, "Those who depend upon Allah, Allah bestows His bounty upon them and provides for them from means unknown." Therefore follow the road of patience and rejoice in His infinite bounty."
~Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani
Prophet Muhammad (God's peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Take advantage of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you become occupied, and your life before your death."
Do you think that you will enter Paradise though (the trials) of those before you have yet to come to you? Affliction and adversity befell them, and they were shaken such that the messenger (of God) and those who believed with him said, "When will God's help come?" Most surely, the help of God is near.
~Quran, 2:214
Had We caused this Quran to descend upon a mountain, you would see it humbled, torn asunder out of awe of God. Such are the examples We set forth to people, so that they may reflect. HE IS GOD besides whom there is no god: Knower of the Unseen and the Seen. He is the All-Merciful, the Compassionate. HE IS GOD besides whom there is no god: the King, the Holy, the Peace, the Faithful, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Proud! Glory be to God, is He above what they associate . HE IS GOD, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. He is the Mighty, the Wise.
Quran, 59:21-24
"There is a sense in which the whole practice of Islam is, in one form or another, dhikr: the remembrance of God. There are reasons for believing, too, that this unceasing invocation on the part of the Muslim community provides all humanity with benefits which are incomparably preferable to those of "progress" or "development," and which, should it ever be silenced, would in all probability signal the destruction of the world."
—Roger Du Pasquier in "Unveiling Islam"
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It might be said that the environmental crisis, as well as the psychological unbalance of so many men and women in the modern world, the ugliness of the urban environment and the like, are the results of the attempt of man to live by bread alone and announce his independence from Heaven. But man cannot escape the effect of his actions, which are themselves the fruit of his present state of being.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr in "Islam and the Plight of Modern Man"
"La ilaha illa'llah" (no god but God): A phrase sublime in its meaning, brief in its construction, vast in its effect, noble in its rank, brilliant in its light, and unique in its merit. It comprises four words upon which the Faith is founded. This is the phrase that was given in every Book sent down by God to every one of His noble Messengers, and through which one is rescued from the Fire and wins eternal happiness in the Garden.
-- From the book, “Key to the Garden”
A skeptic came to Imam al-Shafi'i (God have mercy on him) and asked, "What is your proof for the existence of God?" The Imam replied, "The Mulberry leaf has a single taste, a single color, a single fragrance and a single shape. However, when the silk worm eats it, she produces silk. When the bee eats it, he produces honey. When the ewe eats it, she becomes plump and her milk becomes abundant. When the gazelle eats it, it nourishes him and mixes with his blood producing musk. Who is the one who has made these various processes and products from a single food? Surely it is God?”
(As related and translated by Imam Zaid Shakir.)
"Our indebtedness to Muslim culture is extraordinary. Try doing your finances using Roman instead of Arabic numerals, and you'll get the idea. Have you had your coffee? The attempt 400 years ago to prohibit Christians from drinking coffee because it was a Muslim drink obviously has failed. Thomas Aquinas, for centuries the pre-eminent Christian theologian, was influenced by Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Renaissance art, music and poetry, out of which today's world developed, were stimulated by encounters with Muslim thinkers."
Vern Barnet, columnist for The Kansas City Star
O you who believe, fear God and speak uprightly. He will set aright for you your works and will forgive you your sins. He who obeys God and His Messenger has attained supreme triumph. (Quran, 33:70-71)
And tell My servants that they should speak only what is good, for Satan stirs discord between them. Indeed, Satan is to man a manifest enemy. (Quran, 17:53)
And when you speak, be just, even though it may be against a kinsman; and fulfill the pact of God. This He enjoins upon you that you may remember. (Quran, 6:152)
"When intelligence is complete, then speech becomes rare" -- Ali Ibn Abi Talib
"When a person's intelligence is complete, his speech becomes infrequent. Be sure of the stupidity of a man if he speaks too much....Speech is a necessary evil, but silence is salvation. So when you have to talk, do not be prolific. You will never once repent of your silence, but oftentimes you will repent of your speech."
-- Imam al-Zarnuji
"Among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not bow to the sun and the moon, but bow to God who created them, if you truly worship Him. If they show arrogance, those who are in God's presence glorify Him night and day, and never are they wearied. And among His signs is that you see the earth still. Then when We shower down water on it, it stirs and swells . Surely He who gives it life will resurrect the dead. He has power over all things."
Quran, 41:37-39
"Islam takes man as he is and, on that basis, teaches him his duties and guides him to his goal. It is able to do so because it rejects the dogma that human nature is corrupted in its very substance. Man is weak, foolish, and forgetful, but his center is uncorrupt and he does not need a miracle to save him."
Gai Eaton, Islam and the Destiny of Man
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