Project Downtown

Iqra
October 2012
The Ohio State Universitys

Issue 3: The Grind

Inside this Issue

Righteousness for Dummies Stages of Deterioration The Sunnah of Eid My name is Yemen.

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Events this month:

10/5: Sharia Law 10/12: MSA-CJP Collab. Event 10/19: Jihad in Islam 10/26: Eid al-Adha *Project Downtown every Sunday at 12:30PM*

Assalamu Alaikum! This month, MSA is bringing out some great GBMS, including hot topics like Jihad and also an event collaboration with the Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP). Eid ul-adha, the feast of sacrifice, will be occurring at the end of this month, InshAllah. Check out page 7 for some more insight on the Sunnahs of Eid and a list of a few local masjids that have Eid Salah! Finally, sisterhood and brotherhood circles will continue to be on Wednesdays at 5:30PM and Project Downtown is every Sunday at 12:30PM. So get to know your Muslims on campus and gain some ajar by feeding the homeless this month! Good luck with your studies and midterms. Mushtaq Dualeh Director of Iqra

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IQRA Newsletter
An excerpt of

Issue 3: The Grind

By Abdulrahman Alwattar 15
Public Affairs- Non Profit Management

engage in righteous deeds, and abandon less This past week, as I was preparing a Khutbah, sifting through the Quran, I came advantageous actions. across a beautiful and riveting verse. The verse comes from the second chapter, titled Allah goes on to define the virtuous as the Heifer; in it Allah eloquently describes those who donate their money, even though they righteousness. This isnt Websters love it, for his sake. Allah even goes to the definition, or Wikipedias definition, or some extent of listing what we should spend our hardscholars definition, this is Allahs definition; earned wealth on. He tells us to help our less this is what the Creator has described as fortunate family members, aid the orphans, righteousness. This is immensely salient relieve the beggars and those who are in need, because we all know welcome the Allah has proclaimed travelers, and even It is not righteousness that you turn your faces that those who are to emancipate slaves towards the East and the West, but righteousness righteous will enter or prisoners. Allah is this: that one should believe in Allah and the paradise, and those never stipulates that last day and the angels and the Book and the who are not will end we should prophets, and give away wealth out of love for up a much less exclusively help the Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the desirable destination. poverty-stricken needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for The following passage Muslims, or the (the emancipation of) the captives, and keep up is yet another example Muslim orphans, or prayer and pay the Zakat; and the performers of of why the Quran is only our Muslim their promise when they make a promise, and the not supposed to be just patient in distress and affliction and in time of family members; read like any other old rather, He simply conflicts these are they who are {rue (to book, but also commands us to themselves) and these are they who guard (against understood, embodied, evil). (2:177) give money to those and lived by. who are in desperate Allah begins need, regardless of the verse by stating what doesnt constitute their addictions, ethnicity, religion, appearance, righteousness. He explains that we do not or what have you. The only caveat Allah creates immediately become pious individuals is that we must strive to make our intentions simply by going through the motions of purely for him. If we give to make others think prayerit takes more than that, more than more fondly of us, or to impress our friends, merely turning our faces towards the East than Allah does not care for our sacrifice; and the West. Furthermore, Allah reinforces however, if we give to fulfill His mandate, to the importance of the Six Pillars of Faith and please Him, and to assist our brothers and sisters correlates them with pietyHe specifically in humanity, than our reward is with Him in the mentions in the verse that the righteous truly hereafter. believe in God, the Prophets, and the Quran. Those who truly believe in Allah, and Allah proceeds to emphasize the significance of believe that the Quran is his unaltered and praying regularly and paying the annual poorpure language, tend to be those who fear the rate, also known as Zakat. These are two of the Last Day, and are the ones who actively
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I IQRA Newsletter

Issue 3: The Grind

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Five Pillars of Islam, and they are two of the most repeated commands in the Quran. To clarify, Allah explains in the beginning of the passage that merely going through the motions of praying would not automatically make one righteous, but striving to pray each prayer on time and with the right intentions every day, in conjunction with fulfilling the other pious acts God previously mentioned, will help us to become more virtuous individuals. Zakat is the annual tax that Muslims must pay, and this money is then allocated to the impoverished and those in the most need. Clearly, giving charity is extremely importantAllah uses it twice to define the righteousso how come most of us continue to not give? It doesnt matter if youre rich or poor, Allah does not really care about the amount that you give, rather he cares about your intention, and that you gave from what you love, for His sake. He is the one that so graciously blessed us with all of the comforts we take for granted on a daily basis, such as clean water, air conditioning, electricity, ample amounts of food, easy access to doctors and medicine, and much moreit is the least we can do to help those who were not as fortunate. They are being tested with a lack of wealth, while we, on the other hand, are being tested with prosperity.
Check out the rest of this piece at www.thecavemen.org

$15/year !

A ME O BEC BER MEM Y! O DA T

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IQRA Newsletter

Issue 3: The Grind

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Issue 3: The Grind

Stages of Deterioration in the Human Body

Dua of the Week

Dua for protection against the torment of the grave

The Moment Of Death:  1. The heart stops.  2. The skin gets tight and ashen in color. 3. All the muscles relax.  4. The bladder and bowels empty.  5. The body temperature begins to drop 1 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per hour.  After 30 minutes: 6. The skin gets purple and waxy.  7. The lips, fingernails, and toenails fade to a pale color.  8. Blood pools at the bottom of the body. 9. The hands and feet turn blue. 10. The eyes sink into the skull. After 24 hours:  11. The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment.  12. In males, the semen dies.  13. The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color.  14. The greenish-blue color spreads to the rest of the body.  15. There is a pervasive smell of rotting meat. After 3 weeks: 16. The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can easily be pulled off the corpse.  17. The skin bursts open on many places on the body.  18. Decomposition will continue until the body is nothing but skeletal remains, a process that can take a month or so in hot climates, and two months or more in cold climates. Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned. (21:35) 5

O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, and from the punishment of Hell-fire, and from the trials of life and death, and from the evil of the trial of the False Messiah.
Muslim 1/412

Questions of the Grave

(Sahih Bukhari, vol. 2, pp.257-258, no.456)

Two angels come to him, make him sit up and ask him, Who is your Lord? He [the believing soul] will reply, My Lord is Allah. They will then ask, What is your religion? and he will reply, My religion is Islam. They will ask, Who is this man who was sent among you? and he will say, He is the Messenger of Allah. They will then ask, What was the source of your knowledge? and he will reply, I have read Allahs Book, believed in it, and declared it to be true.

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Issue 3: The Grind

Bismillah!
Its a habit of yours to walk slowly. You hold a grudge for years. With such heaviness, how can you be modest? With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere? Be wide as the air to learn a secret. Right now youre equal portions clay and water, thick mud. Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set. He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God. You are so weak. Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore. You need more help than you know. Youre trying to live your life in open scaffolding. Say Bismillah, In the name God, As the priest does with knife when he offers an animal. Bismillah your old self to find your real name. -Rumi

It is of Tripoli.
Amir Dada It was of the stubborn blood that stung our hearts, the sand that stuck to our black eyelashes; it was of the dense grass we tripped through. It is of his thick wrinkles that curl his nose downward, his balding headthe black helices fall to the floor. Do you hear? Do you see? Our stretchers are thrones; our yell is the beat; Tripoli is the heart. Hear the rush of the Mediterranean in our veins, the thump of our march! For us, for us, for us.

Allahu AkbarGod is great.

Got pie?

Photography by Amna Huda

Hafsa Khan

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Issue 3: The Grind

1. Keeping with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (saw), Muslims are encourage to prepare themselves for the occasion of Eid. Below is a list of things Muslims should do in preparation for Eid: Wake up early. 2. Offer Salat al-Fajr. 3. Prepare for personal cleanliness take care of details of clothing, etc. 4. Take a Ghusl (bath) after Fajr. 5. Brush your teeth. 6. Dress up, putting on best clothes available, whether new or cleaned old ones. 7. Use perfume (men only). 8. Have breakfast on Eid al-Fitr before leaving for prayer ground. On Eid-al-Adha, eat breakfast after Salaat or after sacrifice if you are doing a sacrifice. 9. Pay Zakat al-Fitr before Salat al-Eid (on Eid al-Fitr). 10. Go to prayer ground early. 11. Offer Salat al-Eid in congregation in an open place except when whether is not permitting like rain, snow, etc. 12. Use two separate routes to and from the prayer ground.

Masjid Locations near campus: Noor Islamic Cultural Center Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Sunrise Academy Masjid Ibnu Taymiyah Islamic Center on Broad

October 26th 2012

13. Recite the following Takbir on the way to Salaat and until the beginning of Salat al-Eid. On Eid-al-Adha, Takbir starts from Maghrib on the 9th Dhu al-hijah and will last until the Asr on the 12th Dhu al-ilhijah: Allahu-Akbar, Allahu-Akbar. La ilaha illa-lah. Allahu-Akbar, Allahu-Akbar. Wa-lilahi alhamd.(Allah is greater. Allah is greater. There is no god but Allah. Allah is greater. Allah is greater. And all praises are for Allah).

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Issue 3: The Grind

My name is Yemen.
I have never been the type to call attention to myself, but my situation does not permit me to push my problems under the carpet any longer. Im drowning in a pool of hopelessness and nobody seems to be paying attention. The bullet-pierced roof above my head will soon be no more. Damaged by the water that leaks through its ever so abundant holes. My precious floorboards covered in glassshattered by the hands of ruthless strangers with foreign accents. Ushered into my home by liars, cheaters, thievesmoney-loving infidels who show no regard for the sanctity of human life. Im losing my beloved children left and right. Some of them accused of conspiring with terrorists. Others slaughtered, their frail bodies left to rot where their feet once stood. Their blood stains the landstripping it of its fertility. The same land they used to play on day in and day out. The same land they helped me cultivate for thousands of years. The diverse wildlife, tall plants, and vibrant trees of fruit that once embellished the land outside my tin hut have vanished. Remote-controlled killing machines occupy the sky. Bombs and missiles fall like droplets of rain in a spring shower. The air outsideplagued with the stench of injustice. Poisonous green leaves fill the mouths of my children; their brains overtaken by nonsense, fear and corruption. Food is scarce and drinking water has become a commodity. I can hardly meet even the simplest needs of my dear children. I have run out of options. My neighbors have sold me out, in favor of newfound wealth; their eyesblind to my despair; their earsdeaf to the cries of my children. I have been forgotten.

Sarah Almusbahi 15 International Studies, Pre-Med

Adeeba Ali

Sisterhood Chair

I am super excited to be this years sisterhood chair! Im a fifth year Human Development and Family Science major specializing in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Womens Studies. I absolutely love kids and cannot wait to be a teacher, InshAllah. As sisterhood chair I hope to strengthen the bond between Muslim sisters and get more girls involved with MSA. I hope to create a sisterhood that caters to the needs and desires of the MSA sisters, making it a place where all young Muslim women can come to learn about Islam and form strong friendships with one another. My goals for this year include planning interesting and fun events for our MSA sisters, including Halaqahs covering topics such as marriage, body image and backbiting and social events such as a sisters retreat, a spa day, a camping trip and field day. Outside of MSA I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I absolutely love basketball. I am a huge Spurs fan. I love to cook, especially Indian food. BIRYANI ALL DAY! Errryday! J
Shes like an annoying sister, I never wanted. -Khaula Zafar Fun Facts about Adeeba

She always has a positive attitude, even when things arent going her way or when MSA stuff gets stressful. -Ali Esfahani

What's your favorite movie/book line? I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food. - Finding Nemo  What do you do in your spare time? Clean/Cook/Sleep/Read Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In ten years I hope to be working as a teacher at an amazing school in a big city. InshAllah! I hope to have my masters in both education and social work and volunteer as a counselor at a clinic or community center. I also want to be married with a bunch of kids InshAllah! Do you have a favorite Surah? If so, what is it? Why? I have a lot of favorite Surahs but if I had to pick one it would be Surah Maryam because it tells an amazing story and Maryam is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran. Plus it reads beautifully and the story can have a strong and positive influence on Muslim woman. What was your favorite comedy growing up? The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Friends Who is the funniest person you know? It kills me to say this but the funniest person I know would have to be Luis.

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Issue 3: The Grind

I have passed by Pho Asian Noodle house countless times, and finally got to try it out. The inside is small but had a decent amount of tables. Im told it used to be a taco bell. You order your food at the counter and take a seat until they bring it to you, so its not a typical sit down restaurant. One of my favorite vegetables is green beans, so I ordered the spicy green beans with chicken, and my friend ordered pepper beef. My dish was great, the green beans were flavorful and crisp, and the chicken was juicy and spicy. The light sauce was a perfect accompaniment to the beans and chicken, since they were both so flavorful that a heavy sauce would have masked them. Although spicy green beans and chicken is one of my favorite things to order at Chinese restaurants, I have to admit, the pepper beef was even better. The beef was extremely soft and tender, probably because it was cut so thin. It just melted in your mouth. The sauce was spicy and a bit sweet, from the caramelized onions. Overall, Another great dining experience, I highly recommend you try this place.
Pho Asian Noodle House and Grill 1288 W Lane Ave Columbus, OH 43221 Neighborhood: University District
Hours: Mon-Sun 11 am - 10 pm

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ARE YOU A WRITER, AN ARTIST, A COMEDIAN?

Iqra wants you!

Iqra is now accepting artwork and poetry for the Creative Corner feature page! Got Stories, Articles, OpEds, Photos? Send them in! To get involved in the newsletter contact the Editor, Mushtaq Dualeh, at dualeh.2@osu.edu.
The Ohio State Universitys

Iqra Newsletter 2012

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