Ramadan is known to be broken down into thirds. The first ten days of Ramadan are known as the “Ten Days of Mercy.” Muslims are aware that Ramadan is a month of spiritual opportunities, but what does “mercy” really mean to Muslims? One of Allah’s names is Ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful, and Muslims call upon Allah using this name in nearly everything they do. Thus, there is no surprise that Mercy manifests itself in the month that Allah created for Himself. In the sacred hadith below, Allah says: يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتَنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ فِيكَ…

All praise is due to Allah alone, and prayers and peace of Allah be upon the last Prophet, our prophet Muhammad, and all his family and companions.People's habits vary in receiving the month of Ramadan and investing its times in their preferred works and activities.Some receive it with laziness, unemployment, sleeping and negligence to the acts of worship.Some receive it with devoting the time for watching TV.Some receive it with staying up late at night and devoting times for visits and going to the markets, rests, parties … etc.And some receive it with excessive eating and drinking and exerting the…

APRIL 18, 2017 —Dig beneath the rubber playground surface at issue in the latest landmark case before the United States Supreme Court and you’ll find a tricky question – a conundrum born out of the gray area between the Constitution’s two key religious protection provisions. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find potentially momentous implications for the nationwide debate over school choice voucher programs. The case to be argued before the high court on Wednesday – now with a full complement of nine justices after Justice Neil Gorsuch took his seat at the bench this week – dates back to 2012,…

Many people charge that both the religion of Islam and realities of Muslim politics demonstrate that Islam is incompatible with democracy. Across the political and ideological spectrum, the Muslim experience has been one of kings, military, and ex-military rulers possessing tenuous legitimacy and propped up by military and security forces. In Syria, the president’s son recently succeeded his father; and some believe the rulers of Libya, Egypt, and Iraq now entertain such a possibility. Some “Islamic governments”—the Taliban’s Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan—have projected a religiously-based authoritarianism that parallels secular authoritarianism. And since 9/11, many Muslim governments have used the…

Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from first light until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are pregnant or nursing are permitted to break the fast and make up an equal number of days later in the year. If they are physically unable to do this, they must feed a needy person for every day missed. Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayer) from puberty, although many start earlier. Although the fast is most beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally…