Praise to The Almighty Allah, and peace is upon Prophet Muhammad, his family members and his

companions. This is from the pulpit of Masjid Al Khairi, Manila, Philippines. The following are five
notes from articles and sermons of Imam Abdel Aziz Dimapunong.

Excerpt 101

Avoid slander
The Holy Qur'an begins with Al hamdullillah, i.e., praise is to God-Alone, the Almighty;
and it ends with a prayer to seek refuge in Him from the evils of malignant whisperers. In
the World Wide Web, these evil whisperers lurk in many deceptive forms. They include
what came to be known as the hackers and the pirates. They are in the company of the
spammers and cyberpunks. They hide in computer virus, worms, and Trojans. They
camouflage in spywares and adwares. They employ phising and so many deceptive
mechanisms. Above all, there are personal and corporate identity thieves. The growth of
the Internet is also projected to go along with the rise of insidious and malignant
whisperers with the intent to defraud the general public.

And then through malicious postings, there are those who malign other peoples'
identities. We call them maligners, consistent with the definition: One who attacks the
reputation of another by slander or libel. My name, Abdel Aziz Dimapunong, and my
son's name, Abdel Aziz Saber Dimapunong, Jr., together with our cofounders of the
Islamic Bank, Grande M. Dianaton, Usman Rasuman, Maulana Alug, Kym Arthur Roy,
and others have been among those posted in the Internet.

We came to know that the one who has been responsible died recently without having
removed those malicious postings. As Muslims we can not say "May he rest in peace".
We are ordained by the Holy Qur'an never to pray for forgiveness for that kind of man.
(Surah Taubah 113, the Holy Qur'an).

Since he did not remove those malicious postings since 1999 until his death, leaving us
as respondents to all his lies, we resolved to just award him the most rejected AWARD
OF INFAMY.

Excerpt 102

Always be sure
In Islam, a person is forbidden to speak about anything of which he or she has little
knowledge about. This is the teaching of the Qur'an in the story of the three men by the
cave (Surah Qahf, Al Qur'an). They were believed to be young Jews who believed in the
oneness of God, the Almighty. It is for this reason that they faced persecution. So they
sought refuge in God alone. They run from persecution until they reached a cave and
slept there until nobody knows how long except God. Perhaps this is the original version
of the story about Rip Van Winkle who had fallen asleep for twenty years. But in the case
of the story in the Qur'an, some say they slept in the cave for three hundred years. And
some say more. Some say they were three young men. Others say they were five. Yet
others say they were seven, including their dog. Islam says they know but so nil.

The moral of the story, which is the teaching of the Qur'an, is: Never enter into a
controversy except on matters of which you have sufficient information. Going back to
the Lebanon war, I must confess I know about Lebanon and Israel but so nil. So what
can I say about the raging war? May I only say peace to everyone.

Excerpt 103

Hoarding is condemned
Hoarding is condemned in Islamic banking in the strongest term. Consider the following
verses in the Holy Qur'an:

Woe to every scandalmonger and backbiter!

Who pileth up wealth and layeth it by,

Thinking that his wealth will make him last forever!

By no means! He will be sure to be thrown into that which breaks to pieces.

And what will explain to thee that which break to pieces?

(It is) the Fire of God kindled (to a blaze).

Al Qur'an: 104:1-6

Hoarding prevents the use and service of wealth by those who need it. It is an act of a
miser. Instead of hoarding, Muslims are called to have traffic and trade using money,
goods and services, and goodwill too. The Noble Qur’an speaks of this:

O Ye who believe!

Eat not up your property

among yourselves in vanities:
But let there be amongst you
Traffic and trade by mutual goodwill.
Al Qur'an: 4:29
Excerpt 104

The Sincere Advisers

Just before I proceed to the privatization of the Islamic Bank, may I first re-introduce to
you the Islamic Banking Research Institute, the Trustworthy Advisor of the Islamic Bank
from the start. May I humbly say that the official appointment of the Institute in 1992 as
Advisor to the Islamic Bank was a matter of Islamic guidance. It has a strong basis both
in the Holy Qur’an and in the Hadith (Tradition) of the prophet, Muhammad, peace is
upon him. It is recorded in the Hadith, as reported by Aishah that the messenger of Allah,
Muhammad, peace is on him said:

“When Allah, the Most High desires good for an Emer (i.e., ruler, head, or a
manager), He appoints for him a sincere adviser who will remind him if he forgets
and helps him if he remembers. When Allah wishes for him the contrary, He
appoints for him an ill adviser who will not remind him if he forgets, nor will he
help him if he remembers.” [Abu Dawud with a good chain of narrators. Hadith
No 679 in Riyadh-us-Salihin, vol 1, p 578]

Allah, the Exalted, says:

(Noah said) I give sincere advice to you (Qur’an, 7:62)

(and Hud said) And I am a trustworthy adviser for you (Qur’an, 7:68)

Giving advice or counseling, therefore, is a Tradition of the prophet Muhammad,

peace is on him, the prophet Noah, and the prophet Hud. Indeed, all prophets give glad
tidings in the form of advice. In fact, it is a duty of every Muslim to provide sincere advice
to another Muslim, they being brothers to one another (Qur’an 49:10)

………………………………………..

More notes are coming, Insha Allah.