Religion Articles   

"The word ahl means those who occupy with one the same tent, the family or inmates, relative, folk, kin, kinfolk, family, people, members, followers, etc. Under these meanings, the word ahl occurs 31 times in the Koran. According to another view, it is derived from ahala, meaning to demonstrate (the family). The word kitab, comes from the root word kataba, meaning to write down. The word kitaba occurs in the Koran for the Divine Books revealed to various prophets. Thus, the term ahl al-kitab means the possessors of the scriptures or the people of the Book. This term in Koran denotes the Jews and Christians, the repositories of the earlier books, al-Tawrat (the Torah), al-Zabur (the Psalms), and al-Injil (the Gospel).

"According to Islamic law, the non-Muslims inhabited in the Islamic state were called ahlu dh-dhimmati (people of protection) or simply al-dhimma or dhimmis. They included the Christian, Jewish, Magian, Samaritan and Sabian. Ahl al-dhimma were prohibited in the Muslim state from holding public religious ceremonies, from raising their voices loudly when praying and even from ringing their church bells aloud. All schools agree that it is not allowed to build new churches, synagogues, convent, hermitage or cell in towns or cities of Dar al-Islam (Muslim lands). When these injunctions were disobeyed, the Muslim leaders were authorized to treat the offenders as dwellers in Dar al-Harb (non-Muslim lands) and not as ahl al-dhimma in Dar al-Islam (Muslim lands), vide Subh al-A'asha fi Sina'at at al-Insha (Cairo, 1922, 13: 356) by Qalaqashandi (d. 821/1418).

As a butterfly ascended overhead, one caterpillar alleged to the other, "You'll by no means get me up in one of those things."
Yet for all caterpillars the time comes when the push to eat and grow collapses and he instinctively begins to form a cocoon around him. The cocoon hardens and you'd think for the entire world that the caterpillar is dead.

"Abu Hatim ar-Razi was born near Ray around 260/874. He was the hujjat of Ray, and conducted the mission with great efficiency and promptness. He studied Ismaili doctrines, also Arabic poetry, and the religious science of Islam, comparative religion and indeed the natural and mathematical sciences. He succeeded to bring the ruler of Ray, Ahmad bin Ali (307-311/92O-924) to the Ismaili fold, who was formerly aggressive to the Ismailis. Abu Hatim also deputed his subordinate da'is in Tabaristan, Ispahan, Azerbaijan and Jurjan; resulting a large conversion, including Mardav ad-Daylami, the governor of Tabaristan; Yousuf bin Abi'l Saj, the governor of Azerbaijan, and Asfar bin Shroya. Abu Hatim was a great philosopher, orator and writer. W. Ivanow writes in A Creed of the Fatimids (Bombay, 1936, p. 5) that, "Abu Hatim ar-Razi surely was one of the most erudite authors that Ismailism, and generally, Islam has ever produced." Seyyed Hossein Nasr writes in the introduction of A'lam al-Nubuwwah (ed. by Salah al-Sawy, Tehran, 1977, p. 1) that, "He is one of the most outstanding theologians and philosophers of Islam and a major figure in that galaxy of exceptional thinkers, such as Hamid al-Din Kirmani, Nasir-i Khusraw and Qadi Numan, who produced the Ismaili philosophy of the Fatimid period."

"Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i was hailed from Kufa. He espoused Ismailism by the hand of da'i Firuz. Imam Radi Abdullah sent him to Ibn Hawshab in Yamen for further training in esoteric doctrines as well as affairs of the state, where he stayed for a year. Ibn Hawshab then sent him towards Maghrib.

Abu Abdullah set out from Yamen in 279/892. He arrived in Mecca during pilgrimage, where he contacted the Katama pilgrims of Maghrib and exhorted them the merits of Ahl al-Bayt. The pilgrims were pleased to know that Abu Abdullah was heading towards Egypt, which was on their route to the Maghrib. After a short stay in Egypt, he reached Maghrib in the Katama homeland on 14th Rabi I, 280/June 3, 893. He established his base in Ikjan near Satif, a mountain stronghold, where he spent seven years in propagating the cause of Ahl al-Bayt among the Berber tribes. Very soon the tribesmen in the vicinity began to trek to Ikjan.

Navroz is a Persian word, meaning new day of the year. The Arabs pronounced it as Niruz or Nairuz. The Sogdians called it Nau-Sard (the new year), and also is called Nishat Afroz Jashan in Iran. It is a spring festival, beginning with the first day of the Persian solar year, corresponding to the vernal equinox and the entry of the sun into the sign of Aries, and continued until the 6th day of the month. The last day was known as the Great New Year's Day (al-Niruz al-Akbar).

A few other websites allow the initial few minutes of a reading free. It can be difficult to leave the call after just a couple of moments because much of this initial part of the reading is taken questioning your birth date.

The true story of two young brothers who are killed by a train when the younger boy's foot becomes trapped on a railroad track and the older brother refuses to leave him. A story that wonderfully illustrates the atonement of Christ and the power of the love Paul describes as "charity" (1 Corinthians 13).

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI sets out to distill the understanding he has come to after a lifelong theological study of Christianity’s central figure.

The Most Important Things About Church Loans