Islamic Herald 1 EDITORIAL 3 FOCUS… Contents UNITY OF MUSLIM UMMAH 9 ISLAMIC UNITY 14 BIOGRAPHY SALMAN FARSIUMAYR IBN SA’D AL-ANSARI THE LIFE OF SHEIKH ‘ABDUR RAHMAN AS-SUMAYT 23 FAMILY... HOW TO BE A GOOD HUSBAND IN ISLAM 26 THE REWARD FOR GOOD HUSBANDS 28 TRAVEL... 31 VISITING THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BOSTON RELATIONSHIP… ISLAM IN BURMA STARVATION AND MASS GRAVES FOR ROHINGYA 32 TAKE A BREAK.... 36 SCIENCE... THE HONEY BEE 40 HEART TALK... 43 WHY I EMBRACED ISLAM - YUSUF ESTET MUSLIM WORLD NEWS... Islamic Herald PATRON TUN DR. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD ADVISOR Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Muhammad Rais Abdul Karim EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Dato’Dr. Ismail Ibrahim (Chairman) Datuk Hj. Hasbullah L. Isa Datuk Zainal Abidin Abd Kadir Prof. Dr. Idris Zakaria Editorial Hj. Abdul Hanif Harun En. Zulkefli Arifin “And hold firmly to the rope (His covenant or the Qur’an) of En. Wan Abd Halim bin Wan Abd Majid Allah all together and do not become divided.” (3:103) En Mohd Zuber Zain CHIEF EDITOR Ustaz Hj. Wan Abdul Hamid Wan Teh Allah (SWT) makes it clear in the Qur’an that unity of the Muslim Ummah is very important. He tells us not to be divided EDITOR and to hold tightly to the teachings of the Qur’an. Unfortunately Firdaus Lokman Tah we Muslims have divided ourselves into different sects. We GUEST EDITOR bicker over trite issues that hold no meaning and do not benefit Datin Mawanchik Che Jais the Ummah in any way. Muslims have forgotten what Allah says in the Qur’an about unity and its importance. DISTRIBUTOR: Ishak Othman Today, if the Muslims look at themselves they will see a group PUBLISHER of people separated from one another. The Prophet Muhammad The Muslim Welfare Organisation of (PBUH) said, “Believers are like the parts of a building, each Malaysia (PERKIM) 4th & 6th Floor, one supporting the other.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari) Bangunan PERKIM Jalan Ipoh, How can we support each other if we are not united? How can 51200 Kuala Lumpur. we love each other like brothers and sisters in Islam if we hold MALAYSIA misconceptions about each other in our hearts? Tel : 03-4426224 03-4412482 Fax : 03-4427403 The answer is simple: We, as the Muslim Ummah, have to PRINTER overcome the minor and irrelevant differences that separate Percetakan Bumi Restu Sdn Bhd. 32G, Blok C, Bistari De’Kota, us. If we are able to do that we will notice that all Muslims Jalan Teknologi 3/9, PJU 5, believe in the same things: Tauheed (the oneness of Allah), all Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya. the Prophets (peace be upon them all), all the holy Books, all of Tel: 0.3-6148 1786 Allah’s angels and the day of judgement. Not to mention that Fax:03-6148 4786 every Muslim tries to follow the Qur’an and Sunnah. DISCLAIMER The Islamic Herald is published by the Muslim Welfare Muslims should understand that unity is what will make us Organisation of Malaysia (PERKIM). It con¬tains articles move forward in this world. Today the Muslim Ummah is addressing Muslim affairs in Malaysia, and throughout the entire Muslim world. Through its presentation, it behind in everything. Education, technology, trade and, most Endeavour’s to promote awareness and understanding of importantly, our faith. Non-muslims may not believe in our issues affecting the Muslim Ummah in all its geographic faith but their unity has made them come very far. Remember and cultural diversity. The Islamic Herald is also a the era when the Muslims were united and held on to Allah’s magazine covering news and activities in the field of Da’wah, social, economic and political. The Islamic rope tightly? The Islamic empire spread from the east to west Herald welcomes relevant articles by authors wishing and Allah blessed them with wealth, fame, victory and honor. to publish their work. Articles and cor¬respondence Muslims need to be united now more than ever. We have to may be addressed to: The Editor, Islamic Herald, at the think about what we will and we can do to make our lives in this above address. The Editor reserves the right to edit any contribu¬tion without prior notice. Articles will not be world and the hereafter better and blessed. returned. Views expressed in the Islamic Herald do not nec¬essarily reflect those of PERKIM, the Editor or the Magazine. Islamic Herald 2 PERKIM FOCUS Unity of [ By: Syed Soharwardy ] Muslim Ummah Islamic Herald 3 PERKIM Islamic Herald All Muslims know the value In spite of so many movements find that our leaders, Imams, and importance of uniting the of unity why Muslims are getting scholars, governments and Muslims around the world. We further divided? This paper Islamic organizations want to have read and heard many times identifies the “source” of disunity unite Muslims based upon their the famous verse from Surah and provides some suggestions “own” principles and beliefs. Ali-Imran, “ And hold fast all in this regard. This paper briefly Although, there is no dispute together by the rope which Allah discusses the unity issues during in Qur’an but nowadays every (stretches out for you) and be the early period of Islam and sect / organization / government not divided among yourselves; in spite of extremely serious / Imam / leader has its own and remember with gratitude conflicts how Muslims remained interpretation of Qur’an and Allah’s favour on you; for ye were enemies and He joined prosperous and united till the fall Hadith. Every sect / organization your hearts in love so that by of Khilafah-i-Islamiyah during / government / Imam / leader is His grace ye became brethren; early 1900s. struggling for control and power and ye were on the brink of the in order to implement their own pit of fire and He saved you BASIS FOR UNITY sectarian beliefs and policies. from it. Thus doth Allah make We talk a lot about unity but we his signs clear to you: that ye On what principles Muslims want unity based upon our own may be guided “. (Verse 103, should be united? You may say conditions. Religious groups and Ali-Imran). the obvious answer. We are all sects claim that they are killing Muslims, we believe in one God or declaring Muslims as KAFIR, Delivering long and long i.e. Almighty Allah, we believe MUSHRIK, BID’ATEE, etc. in speeches about the Unity of in one Prophet i.e. Muhammad order to please Allah. How could Muslim Ummah does not tire (PBUH) and we all have the we achieve this unity? our leaders, Imams and scholars. book of Allah i.e. Qur’an. Every Muslim talks about the With due respect to my fellow IFFERENCE OF unity. However, as days are D Muslim brothers and sisters, this PINIONS du RING THE passing by Muslims are getting sentence is nothing more than O more and more divided. The a lip service. The conflicts in B EST OF TIMES division is multidimensional. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Muslims are divided based upon Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, During Allah’s Messenger languages, ethnicity, regional Bangladesh, South Africa (within (PBUH) time whenever Muslims preferences, nationalism and Muslims), UK (within Muslims), were divided on issues, Allah’s above all sectarian beliefs in the USA (within Muslims), Canada Messenger (PBUH) used to name of Islam. The reasons of (within Muslims) and many bring them together. All the these divisions could be many. other Muslim and non-Muslim Companions (R.A) used to But in this paper I would like to countries were created in the accept his final decision from focus on two reasons. name of Islam. The conflicting their hearts. For example, 1. Division among Muslims Muslim parties fight against each after the battle of Hunain, the because of local nationalism. other in the name of Allah. The hypocrites among Muslims 2. Division among Muslims reason is clear. In all conflicts tried to divide the Muhajir and because of sectarian beliefs in if we review the conditions of Ansar on the issue of distribution the name of Islam. compromise/ unity, we will of GHANEEMAH. Muslims were very close to fight among Islamic Herald 4 PERKIM themselves. Allah’s Messenger Muslims. Although, after the was informed about the situation. After the death Martyrdom of Hadhrat Uthman, He came and talked to them, of Allah’s Muslims were divided in to and brought them together. The Messenger, two groups but neither history division disappeared. Similarly, Muslims were nor other Islamic literature tells once two companions of Prophet us that they had differences (PBUH) were engaged in a divided on in IBADAAT or Islamic dispute. Both of them belonged the issue of Jurisprudence (FIQAH) or they to two different tribes of Medina. who would declared each other as Kufr, The hypocrites saw a perfect Mushrik, etc. like our Imams and opportunity to ignite tribal succeed scholars do nowadays. rivalry. They started singing the Prophet tribal songs on both sides. (PBUH). But If we read the Islamic history Muslims got divided into two as soon as and the development of Islamic groups and were very close to Jurisprudence (The science of start a fight. The news reached the issue Fiqah), we will realize that the to Allah’s Messenger (PBUH), was resolved four Ahle Sunnat Imams of he came and presented himself peacefully... Islamic Jurisprudence, Imam to the both groups. Both groups Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, realized that for few minutes Imam Shafi’e and Imam Ahmed they had completely forgotten over a political issue of whether bin Hanbal had very high that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) the murderers of Hadhrat respect and love for the family was among them.