The Prophet who Guides with His Absence
Medina, the city of calm and peace, sheds tears for the first time since it became the city of the Prophet. People rush out of the clay houses, crying loudly in the city streets. Crowds of people gather at the sound of Umar's sword cutting through the air, this famous wrestler of the Uqaz fairs, master of horses and weapons. A loud shout echoes in all the streets of Medina: "Muhammad is not dead....

Search for the Abandoned City
The Messenger of Allah passed away; Medina lost its miracle, friend and leader. The physical absence of the Prophet (pbuh) hit the city that revelation had expanded like a fist. The mourning city that had sent its greatest beloved to eternity was lamenting, in Ummu Salima's words, with one sound of crying. All Muslims were living the helplessness of Fatima, who said that if the calamity that had ...

Fire in the Arabian Peninsula
Experiencing a serious uncertainty and panic with the loss of the Prophet, like "sheep caught during the night in a downpour of rain," the Muslims gathered together before long under the guidance of Abu Bakr "whom Allah had freed from hell." However, the storm had not yet died down. Successfully overcoming their first crisis in the absence of the Prophet, the Muslims found themselves in much roug...

A Big Opening in Kazan
digg_title = "A BIG ING IN KAZAN"; var sburl1076 = window.location.href; var sbtitle1076 = document.title;Until a year ago everything was just a dream. We had set out to introduce the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in all aspects to the world and respond to publication and attacks against him by means of this age's influential tool, the internet. Instead of being defensive or aggressive while d...

Being the Breath of the Prophet
The Arabian Peninsula was choking in a suffocating smoke. The fire had become enflamed in three or four blind corners of this desert geography which had found life with the Prophet's breath; the dense smoke spread over every oasis, valley and town of the peninsula. While, on the one hand, the Arabian people, who had fermented with the touch of the Prophet and had locked together with a tight clas...

A Few Long Moments in the Prophet’s Mosque
It was not yet dawn in Medina, the capital for the last ten years of land stretching from Tripoli in the west to Kirman in the east. While Muslims removed the sleep from their eyes with ablution, the muadhen was calling people to salvation with the morning adhan (call to prayer). Peace reigned in the illuminated city. Since worldly prosperity that came with conquest was distributed with a sense o...

Umar: Grace within the Caliphate
The sacred city of two religions with holy-scriptures, Jerusalem is under siege. Giving direction to world history up to that time, the Jews, Romans and Byzantines, respectively, governed this city as ancient as the history it glorified. Now it no longer attracted the attention of world history. Offended by life, it was enduring at the mercy of raiders over-flowing from desert lands. The army com...

Umar: Grace within the Caliphate – II
Here we will examine Caliph Umar's rule of grace, which became the peak of Islamic history and civilization. We seek the traces of his transition from a heart that did not shake while burying his daughter alive into a heart that sought a cure for the wounds of camels passing by his door, and the graceful rule built upon such a transition. Caliph Umar's rule, in which the foundation of the young I...

An Election in Medina
The masjid of the Prophet experiences a hectic day and hosts guests who have come from distant lands. Nobody wants to leave the town without hearing the result. All the Muslims have awoken in Medina to a critical day; the new caliph will be elected to conduct the works of the ummah (Islamic community). The morning sleepiness had been left behind; the sun shines on the people who are carrying out ...

From the Exemplary Life of the Prophet to Muslim Challenges in t
NOTES FROM THE 2007 ISNA CONVENTION This year's ISNA (Islamic Society North America) Convention took place in Rosemont, Illinois in between August 31 and September 3 with the participation of 30.000 Muslims North America. Entitled "Upholding Faith, serving Humanity", the talks in the conference were addressed by some of the leading religious scholars of North America and they were structured aro...

Uthman: Rule of Benignity
One day the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) was resting at home with his dear wife Aisha. Prophet Muhammad was trying to cool himself from Mecca's unbearable heat by slightly lifting his long gown leaving his legs bare. This holy home was a place that was frequently visited by many people; Abu Bakr and Umar were among such visitors to the Prophet, and they had the most fulfilling conversations with him. ...

Medina Surrenders to Sedition
Crowds. Rebellious crowds numbering between 600-1000 men from Egypt, Kufa and Basra. Supposedly they had set out for the pilgrimage, but these caravans were in league with one another. Leaving from three different cities and meeting at the entrance to Medina, these caravans had another common purpose: To intimidate the caliph and challenge the government in power. Even though from the early perio...