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Allah says in His Quran (3:103):

وَٱعْتَصِمُوا۟ بِحَبْلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا۟ ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَآءًۭ فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِۦٓ إِخْوَٰنًۭا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Quran), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allah’s Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided.

Muslim recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said:

إِنَّ اللهَ يَرْضَى لَكُمْ ثَلَاثًا، وَيَسْخَطُ لَكُمْ ثَلَاثًا: يَرْضَى لَكُمْ أَنْ تَعْبُدُوهُ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا، وَأَنْ تَعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا،وَأَنْ تَنَاصَحُوا مَنْ وَلَّاهُ اللهُ أَمْرَكُمْ. وَيَسْخَطُ لَكُمْ ثَلَاثًا: قِيلَ وَقَالَ، وَكَثْرَةَ السُّؤَالِ، وَإِضَاعَةَ الْمَال

(It pleases Allah for you to acquire three qualities and displeases Him that you acquire three characteristics. It pleases Him that you worship Him Alone and not associate anything or anyone with Him in worship, that you hold on to the Rope of Allah altogether and do not divide, and that you advise whoever Allah appoints as your Leader. The three that displease Him are that you say, `It was said,’ and, `So-and-so said,’ asking many unnecessary questions and wasting money.)

Where in Islam is there room for party politics?

I had a sort of premonition of disaster. I tried to exclude myself from any responsibility. My attempt to dump the kids onto Zahira, while I hid in a dark corner somewhere, failed. As it was, I was stuck looking after them on my own.

The last time I had this feeling of dread, Dhuha took her faeces and spread them on her bedroom wall. After I cleaned her and her bedroom, I left her to play. Then she did it again, but this time in her sister’s room. It took ages to get it off the walls because of the textured wallpaper. My arm pained for two days. I hate textured wallpaper.

Last night, Dhuha snuck upstairs, while I was seeing to her brother. When I realised it had gone quiet, I rushed upstairs and found her and her wall covered with her faeces once again. The putrid but familiar smell was everywhere.

I put her in the bath, while I cleaned the walls. She loves the bath, so I allowed her to play. I went downstairs and started reading. About 10 to 15 minutes later, I heard a drip drip coming from the ceiling. I rushed upstairs and found Dhuha dumping large amounts of water onto the floor.

I stopped her and drained the water. Went downstairs and put a bowl underneath the drip. Went backup stairs and got Dhuha dressed. Came back down stairs to prevent the boy from playing with the bowl of water. Noticed that the ceiling was bowing where the drip was. I touched it gently and was shocked at how soft it was.

Dhuha came down and I prevented her from playing with the bowl of water. She went back up stairs. The ceiling bowed even more and finally came down. Abdurrahman was gasping at the dramatic scene and saying “Oh my God!”.

I cleaned the ceiling off the floor. It took a while. The hole is surprisingly large. When I went back upstairs to check on Dhuha and found that she had destroyed her nappy. I put her in the bathroom, while I cleaned up the new mess.

Finally, I gave her another bath. I didn’t let her play this time. Dried her off, dressed her. Went back downstairs and sat on the sofa and tried to contemplate what had happened over the last couple of hours.

Less than five minutes later there was a knock at the door, Zahira was home.

What mosque do you attend? What madhab do you follow? What is your opinion on ‘website w’, ‘group x’, ‘scholar y’ or ‘topic z’?

I get quizzed in this fashion often and I assume you do as well. It may be a natural tendency or a learned behaviour after centuries of division, however, we seem to seek out our differences before we seek what unites us.

If the answers are not exactly to the expectations of the questioner, he distances himself, refuses to collaborate and even fails to behave in an amicable way towards the unfortunate misguided respondent.

Not every division is so significant that it requires you to treat a Muslim as an outcast with leprosy. Neither is every difference so small that it can be safely ignored. It takes wisdom to know the difference.

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

I asked my son, ‘Do you love daddy?’. He replied, ‘No, I don’t’. Then smiled and ran away.

Dhuha is how I’ve always known her and to me, at least, that is normal. She is herself. She is my Dhuha.

Most of the time, I fail to see that any of her behaviour is abnormal, even if that behaviour is disruptive. However, there are times when I think, “Man, that is autistic!”.

Reminders of Autism

Dhuha comes down for breakfast. I give her a bowl of cereal. Suddenly, she jumps up, runs and puts the slightly out-of-place sugar container back to its perfect position. She then runs back to her seat and eats her food.

Abdurrahman is playing a game with one of the doors. He wants it closed. Dhuha dislikes the door being closed and forces it open. Abdurrahman is shouting at her to stop it and she is screaming at him. He hits her. She holds the door open.

As soon as Dhuha woke up, I changed her nappy. After a half an hour, Zahira changes her nappy again. Ten minutes later, it looks like she needs to be changed again. Zahira checks her and discovers that she doesn’t need changed, she’s stuffed four toy cars down her pants.

The joys of autism.

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

Allah says in His Quran (5:5):

Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibat. The food of the people of the Scripture is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them.

It is clear from the above ayah that their food, including meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruit, etc. are halaal. They remain halaal so long as they do not violate other dietary rules.

Allah says in His Quran (5:3):

Forbidden to you (for food) are: Al-Maytah (the dead animals), blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah, and that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by the goring of horns ـand that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal ـunless you are able to slaughter it (before its death) – and that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on An-Nusub (stone altars). .

It is very clear what is haraam. Included in maytah are modern day practices, such as electrocution. A Christian killing an animal in the name of Jesus would fall into that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah.

A Word of Caution

There are some Muslims, who use this general rule as a blank check to eat any meat killed in nominally Christian countries, like America or Britain. There is a very real danger of falling into haraam by failing to scrutinise the source of our meat.

In many countries, haraam methods and inhumane practices of slaughter can cause the meat to fall into the category of maytah or become a violation of the animal’s rights.

Allah says in His Quran (21:107):

And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

Moreover, in many Western countries, it is more likely a non-Christian or non-Jew slaughters the animal. If you’re not sure a Christian, Jew or Muslim killed the animal, can we consider such meat lawful?

Take Away

In my opinion, if there is a Muslim slaughtered option take that first. If not, buy kosher or get your meat from Amish communities and their like. It is a stretch to apply the permissibility of the meat of Ahle Kitab to the industrial killings in America or Britain.

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

There are no better days than the Days of Eid. We Muslims are honoured above all others. Our days of celebration have been legislated by God.

Eid Mubarak!