سبحن الرّزّاق

Last Saturday, Imam Malik Abdul Zahir, leader of the Masjid AlRahman in Canton, Ohio, gave a talk at the Stark County Library on the current degeneration of morals, satan’s network that supports such work, and the solutions as found within the Abrahamic faiths of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The following are from my notes and my own reflections from the talk and are only meant to give an overview; they won’t match the presence and speaking ability that Imam Malik presented with, alhamdulillah.

THE ENEMY

“It is important to understand the genesis of something to understand the whole of what’s going on,” Imam Malik said. There is  a real “Network of Darkness” going on in our world and it is controlled by Satan. Before you quit reading at this seemingly religiously archaic phrase, hold on a sec. When most people hear the word “Satan” or “Shaytan” they think of a little elf guy in a red suit with a pitchfork. Maybe you think of one of your Halloween costumes or a movie character in a red tuxedo. But as Imam said, Satan’s biggest trick has been to convince us that he’s not real, that he’s just a made-up cartoon character.

This Network of Darkness in modern days finds access to us through mass media—”tell-a-vision,” as Imam said, “Well it ain’t God’s vision.” And this network tells its vision of control and moral decay, particularly to the youth. Anyone who has taken a college psychology course understands the replaying of subtle, quick images plus music, etc. all can effect and change the mind. I can say that when I got rid of my TV, I found myself thinking differently about the world. I also began reversing my desensitization to violence and how women show off their bodies. The images that mass media and the entertainment is pushing onto people, especially young people, is altering their idea of self, what they are supposed to look like, act like, be like.

Imam brought up the example of Jay Z,  Roc-A-Fella Records, and the music video “We Run this Town”, featuring Kanye West and Rihanna. Jay Z uses a lot of symbolism from the occult and secret societies. Some points from “Run this Town”:

• First of all the video shows revolutionaries in all black. Jay Z says to pledge allegiance to the “Roc Nation” and wear all black, as if he is talking about a revolution that will uplift people. But instead he mentions his money and cars; the very symbolical objects of desire that seem to trap people and prevent them from a real revolution.
• Jay Z has a hoodie that says, “Do what thou wilt.” The line is from Aleister Crowley, who was many things, some of which include occultist, bisexual, magician, hedonist. The full line from Crowley is: “Do what thou wilt should be the whole of the law.” For any practicing follower of the masters Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon all of them, this line is directly in opposition to to the Torah, Bible, and Quran’s encouragement toward the Law of God.
• Jay Z says, after talking about his money, “Back to runnin circles around niggas, now we squared up.” The circle and square is a Mason occult symbol if you know anything about that. From what I’ve read about Masons, is that when you are sworn into the lodge you swear in on your holy book (whether Bible or Quran, etc.) with a compass and square on top of the book. I know, at least in Islam, putting anything on top of the Quran, even another book, is avoided. I would assume swearing into a secret society  by using man’s tools of building on top of God’s word would be that much worse.
• Rihanna holds up a torch, an old symbol of Lucifer, the Light Bearer, or perhaps part of pledging allegiance to “Roc Nation”. She then says some lines in the attitude of “Do what thou wilt.”

There’s a lot more in the video to look into. And the lyrics, like a lot of the popular music, are obviously ridiculously egocentric and materialistic. Other points that Imam Malik brought up revolving around Jay Z and the entertainment media include Beyonce and her “alter ego” Sasha Fierce. The occult has always been into possessions, and how Beyonce describes Sasha Fierce taking over is as if she is possessed (check out this article for a breakdown of that). The article also points out that the people who head a lot these record companies, like Columbia Records, belong to occult groups and believe in soul possession and magic.

OUR WEAPONS

This Agenda of Darkness is being forced upon us, said Imam Malik, “and we are letting it happen.” “A lot of times, when we hear about these kind of things, we aren’t given solutions,” he said. That’s why you have to go to the holy books yourself: the Torah, Bible, Quran. The Agenda of Darkness is as old as humankind, if not older, and these books are tools to decipher and react. Weapons of Darkness Destruction! Something interesting I thought of when Imam brought up the fact that the solution can be found in the holy books and that the advice is free, is all of the dieting books, self-help books, pills, doctor visits, etc. that people seem to rely on for support. All of it cost money, and usually are devices to cover up rather than root out the problem.

Because this is the holy month of Ramadan, Imam Malik brought up some points about fasting and how this is a God-given tool for our well-being and a weapon against Satan The Accursed. The spiritual structure, said Imam, is built on cleanliness, physical and spiritual cleanliness.

• Fasting is a physical detox.
• Also, when you fast, more blood is routed to the brain, stimulating your thoughts and vision, instead of to the stomach.
• Fasting gives you the feeling of hunger and thirst, putting you in tune with the suffering across the world and the thousands (billions?) who don’t have access to clean drinking water or food.
• When you fast, the real you comes out. It can be easy to get aggravated, you have to be more keen on controlling your ego, and you can’t just satisfy yourself by consuming something.
• Fasting is “about building the heart, cleansing the inside, and making yourself a better person,” Imam said.

While there are more of these tools found within the holy books, the bottom line, as Imam Malik said, is “Your love for God should be sacred to you…. Don’t put anything in your heart except love and worship of God, and you’ll do right.” My own opinion, to connect up to the beginning, is that the Agenda of Darkness would rather see you put your own ego in your heart, and really be a worshiper of yourself and of the material created world. In the end, this path is nothing but the devotion to Satan, whether you say it with words or not, or whether you think you believe in Satan or not. “It’s easy to say I’m a follower of Moses, or Jesus, or Muhammad, but are we really?” asked Imam Malik. “The world is talk, talk, talk.”

I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan The Wretched. Peace be upon all the messengers of God and the righteous devotees of God.

~~
Of the people there are some who say: “We believe in God and the Last Day,” but they do not really believe.

They desire to deceive God and those who believe, but they only deceive themselves, and realize it not!

In their hearts is a disease; and God has increased their disease. And grievous is the penalty they incur, because they are false.
~~

[Quran, Surah Baqarah, 8-10]

As it looks like I’m a signature, scan, and send button away from getting an English instructor position at Qassim University in Saudi Arabia, today I bought Lonely Planet’s Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula travel guidebook (and a book on the Tai Chi Classics—totally unrelated, at least in most minds).

Here’s a couple interesting things just from flipping through the Saudi Arabia section of the book:

I’m certain the condition of women in Saudi Arabia will improve in the next few years. Right now, there are actually more women in Saudi universities than men! And did you know that they own 70% of all savings held in Saudi banks? I also reckon that women will be able to drive within the next five years—and why not when there is already a Saudi woman pilot flying for Saudia. The number of women entering law and engineering will drastically increase too.

Saudi Women Speak, with thanks to Rawdha Al-Jaizany, journalist, Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazira newspapers (pg. 327)

In a country where cinema is banned, singles are kept strictly separated from members of the opposite sex and nightclubs are nonexistent, young Saudis have resorted to novel means of making contact…. Cars also cruise up and down outside girls schools and the shebab [teenage boys] sometimes throw their phone numbers from the window in the hope of receiving a call on their mobile phones. A similar charade takes place in the shopping malls…. Called ‘numbering’, it’s the Saudi version of a casual encounter.

Creative Cruising (pg. 317)

From within the veil I could see without being seen, understand without being understood, and ogle the magnificent tribesmen without suffering inspection myself. It shielded me from the sun and deterred the dust; it hides the blemishes and bags brought on by late-night’s writing or a 15-hour drive. It concealed uncombed hair, a crumpled shirt or clumsy cosmetics. When I returned to London, the pressure to appear fashionable, feminine and au fait again seemed overwhelming…. Underneath the austere attire, many Saudi women don the finest fabrics or Milan’s most fashionable fittings. Saudi men manage too:

‘From the fold in a woman’s ankle, you know her age; from the size of her wrist, her build; from the abeyya in motion, her figure; and from her hands, her complexion. From the eyes, you have everything else.’

Veiled Freedom? (pg. 306)

Imam Malik Abdul Zahir is presenting a talk titled The War on Darkness 2:30-4:30 pm on August 29 at the Stark County Public Library Main Branch. The library is at 715 Market Ave. N. Canton, OH.

Imam Malik gives the Friday khutba at Masjid AlRahman in Canton.

My interest in Tai Chi comes and goes. I’d like to take formal lessons in it. I wonder if there are any teachers in Qassim, Saudi Arabia???

Online lessons in Tai Chi Yang form can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=81E7290DA2A98AFB.

1. Why do you exist?

2. What does not die?

3. What is a human’s greatest and loftiest achievement?

4. Upon your death what will people say you were devoted to the most in your life?

5. What is it, that if one were to focus on, be mindful of, and fulfill his or her duties toward it, it then would fulfill his or her lowest and highest concerns?

“Remember that the Muslim ummah (the nation) was great as long as we had Muslim women  scholars. And you look at Islamic history. As soon as there was a decline in Muslim women scholardom, there was a decline in Muslim sociology, there was a decline in jihad, there was a decline in everything in the Muslim world. And that’s the case today. Not one of the muhadithat, not one of the scholars of hadith (narration) that was a women, was weak. Every last one of them were makboon, accepted…. Raheemullah.”

Abu Taubah, The F.I.K.S. Knowledge & Seminary

From an online Arabic class.

Awesome

http://www.lullatone.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/raindrop.swf

I’m learning pieces of Al-Ajurmiyah through an online class on YouTube from Makeen104 (http://www.youtube.com/user/MAKEEN104). This is part of the text in Arabic and English, as typed by me, so forgive the sloppy Arabic typing. The English is not the literal translation, but the meaning of the text with regard to grammar. The footnotes should provide more of the lesson. I’ll add more as I go through the class insh’a allah.

انّ الكلام عند نا فلتستمع
لفظٌ مُركّبٌ مُفيدٌ قدْ وُضِعَ
اقْسامُهُ التي علَيها يُغنَى اسمٌ و فعلٌ ثُمَ حرفُ مَعنَ
فا لاسمُ بِالخَفضِ و بِالتّنْوِينِ اوْ دُخُولِ ال يُعرَفُ فاقفُو ا ماقَفَو
و بحروف الخفض و هِيَ مِن إلى و عن و في و رُبَّ و باء و على و الكافُ و لامُ و اوُ و تا و مُذ و مُنذُ و لَعلَ حتَّى
و الفِعَلُ بِاسِينِ سَوفَ وَ بِقَد
فا عَلَم وَ تا التَّنِيث مَيزَهُ وَ رَد

“Verily if you want to know what speech is according to us (the Arabic grammarians) then listen up.”

“It is a sound spit off the tongue, has two words or more, is not leaving the listener waiting for more to complete the meaning, and is already intended and in Arabic form.”(1)

“Its parts that it is built upon is the noun (al-ismu) and the verb (al-fi’alu) then the letter (al-harfu) that has a meaning.”

“Then the noun is with kasra at the end (a fi’al and a harf will never have a kasra at the end) and with the tanween (kasratan, dhamatan, and fahtatan only used on an ismu and they function as an indefinite article, like ‘a’ and ‘an’ in English) or with ‘al’ (the definite article ‘the’) … “

“And the harf-ul-khafdhi (the letter connectors that change an ismun’s last letter to a kasra) are min (from), ‘ila (to), ‘an (pass by, through), fee (in), rubba (maybe), bi (with), ‘ala (upon), ka (similar to something), la (for, ownership), wa and ta (to swear by), muth (since), muntha (since longer time), la’ala (perhaps), Hatta (many meanings, still, until, even…).”(2)

“Then the verb (fi’alu) is with seen (sa), sofa and with qad. Then know that and the feminine “ta” …”(3)

(1) Literally murakkabun means something riding something else, i.e. two words or more. 

Mufeedun means something beneficial, i.e. the listener is not waiting for more words to understand the speech. For example “When Joe comes” is not mufeedun because the listener doesn’t understand anything from these words. “When Joe comes, we’ll eat” is mufeedun.

Qad wudhi’a means “already placed” and in grammar refers to the speech being intended (the speaker is not sleeping, drunk, in the throws of death, etc.) and being in Arabic form.

(2) See how the haroof-ul-khafdhi changes the last letter of the ismu (the noun): 

ismu = an ismun that means “name” (also means noun)
bi = a harfun that means “with”

bi + ismu = bismi <– the last letter changes from a dammah (u) to a kasra (i)

Also check out “wallahi”, to swear by God:

Allahu = an ismun that means “God”
wa = a harfun that is used to swear by something
wa + Allahu = wallahi <– the last letter changes from a dammah (u) to a kasra (i)

(3) Put seen “sa” before a verb to show that something will happen more immediately in the future. Put “sofa” before a verb to show that something will happen in the future, but not so immediately (when used in Quran it is referring to the hereafter). 

Put “qad” in front of a verb to show something already happened or is so close to happening it has basically already happened. “Qad qamatis salah.” “The prayer has already begun.”

Put “ta” at the end of a verb to make it feminine.

For the first time, I visited the Islamic Community of Canton and Massillon (ICCM) on 7th and Brown St. NW in Canton, Ohio. I went for jummah and caught most of the khutba, which was on the virtues of ramadan and the shortness of this life. I plan to visit this mosque for iftar, which they’ll be having every night, insh3 allah. It is mostly African-Americans there, with a couple Arabs. I was the only WASP representin.

As mosques go in Stark County, there is another one called the Islamic Society of Northeastern Ohio (ISNEO) in North Canton, near Portage and Promway. They also have a Sunday school there. www.isneo.org