Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (peace be upon him) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
“If moderation and gentleness were physical creations that could be perceived, there would be nothing more beautiful, out of all that Allah has created, than these two attributes.”
– “Jihad al-Nafs” (from Wasa’il al-Shi’a) by Shaykh Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Hurr al-’Amili (#20482)
Here is a site that predicts the date you’re going to die. Of course, it assumes you don’t get hit by a car, sucked up by a tornado, swallowed in the ground by an earthquake, seized by an incurable genetic disease, or any of the other myriad of things that could separate you from your soul. After all, our ending was written before the beginning.
Still, The Death Clock, as it is aptly named, is an amusing distraction, and they provide nice health tips to help you take better care of your decaying body.
From OneUmmah.Net:
The New One Ummah Network
by Tavis Adibudeen, Director of Publishing
“Verily, this community (ummah) of yours is one community (ummah), and I am your Lord, therefore, worship only Me.” (Qur’an 21:92)
For the past decade, One Ummah Network has striven to uphold this principle of unity (tawhid). As is narrated from the Messenger of Allah, the Muslim ummah is one body; whenever one part of the body hurts, the rest of it shares in that pain, and when one portion experiences felicity, the entire body shares in that joy.
Now, in a time when outside forces are consciously seeking to divide Muslims along political, ethnic, and even sectarian lines, One Ummah Network reaffirms our commitment to unity and peace. Our main principles have always and continue to be the following:
The World Wide Web has evolved rapidly over the years. OneUmmah.net began in 1999 as a small web site that mainly relied on rhetoric to promote unity. As I grew in my understanding, the site also grew, and I realized that unity would be achieved not through preaching but through active dialog and by educating each other about our similarities and differences.
In the 1990s, email mailing lists were extremely popular, and we employed that method to disseminate our message. At the turn of the century, discussion boards rose to popularity, and MuslimMessage.net succeeded our mailing list and became one of the premier forums for Muslim expression on the Internet. Now, as the popularity of discussion boards begins to wane and MuslimMessage.net seems to have run the course of its short life, community sites, portals, blogs, podcasts, and other open methods of content delivery and interaction seem to be riding the wave of the future.
In light of the above, we are reorganizing OneUmmah.net to suit the developing trends. Over the course the next few weeks, during this sacred month of Ramadan, you will notice the following improvements and changes:
MuslimMessage.net will be shut down. Most of the articles in the Question/Answer section will be archived in our FAQ section. The domain name will be allocated to other resources or organizations.
Registration is now open on the OneUmmah.net main site. Users will have their own profiles, can upload images, connect with other users, comment on articles, rate their favorite content, share content, post videos, and many more features.
We will have a full staff of writers as well as guest authors in order to keep a steady flow of knowledge on a weekly basis.
The Muslim Writers Society will become more of a standard publication. We have three editors who will more closely select content and also post stricter guidelines for submission.
One Ummah will establish an advisory board of intellectuals and scholars from various schools of thought to guide our staff in better serving the community.
This is an exciting time for us at One Ummah Network, and we hope that, insha`Allah, it will be an exciting time for our visitors and friends. As always, if you would like to contribute now, in the future, or on a regular basis, you can contact us at any time. I pray that Allah blesses this venture to be a successful one and that this Ramadan proves to be a fruitful month filled with blessings for us all. May Allah send his peace and blessings upon the last Prophet, upon his honorable family, upon his righteous companions, and upon all followers of truth and justice.
Apparently, Tavis Adibudeen (that was me last time I checked) has a blog on blogspot. It has part of my conversion story, the old one that has been circulated all over the net despite its deficiencies.
The only problem is, I didn’t make this blog, yet the user wears my name. No other information is given. I’ve heard of this happening to famous people, but I’m not famous…really, I’m not.
I just checked my mail…that is, snail mail…at my Library. Anyway, I got my usual assortment of book catalogs and magazine renewal warnings. Along with all that was a catalog from Learning Media of America with “Free DVDs” written in big letters. I think these are the same people who normally send Fax SPAM, so apparently giving stuff away for free has been somewhat profitable for them.
The Las Vegas-based company will send you all kinds of educational DVDs at no cost…just $5.95 for shipping and handling…and here comes the catch…PER DVD! Now, think about it. Let’s suppose I want 10 DVDs. Does it really cost $60 to ship 10 DVDs? If there are any postal workers reading this, feel free to comment and enlighten us.
Oh, and by the way, commenting on my blog is free, but it costs $5.95 for web hosting…per click.
Tired of the same US government spoonfed “news” from Fox News, CNN, Newsweek, and most other mainstream media?
Here is my personal list of independent news sources:
Democracy Now
Black Agenda Report
The Nation
Common Dreams
AntiWar.com
truthout
IndyMedia
These are, I’m sure, just a few of the great ones out there. Feel free to comment and add to the list. I try to avoid pro-Democrat news sources just as much as the pro-Republican ones. I just want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
We just finished watching a film that is worth watching many times over, the story of the life, struggle, and eventual realization of Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. Not only is the story one that anyone seeking spiritual awakening should consider deeply, but it is also an incredibly well produced film. The style is unique, mystical, and engrossing. You can watch a trailer and purchase the DVD here.
My domain name, lanterntorch.org, was originally registered under the now defunct EV1.net. They merged with The Planet. I carelessly allowed my domain to expire, but with any other registrar, fixing such a mistake is simple. Registrars hold onto a domain for quite some time after it has expired, giving the owner time to re-register. That prevents domain-snatching companies from slurping up the mistakenly expired domains.
The Planet still has the domain listed under my name, but when I try to login to their registration site, it takes me to a search page. I contacted them for help, and the support supervisor, Aamir Abdullah (it’s really a shame if he’s Muslim), said (and I quote), “the fact that you were redirected disturbs me.”
Yeah, buddy, I’d say so. But here’s what disturbs me: He went on to say, “Would you like to renew? The cost is $106.49.”
What the flip! It seems The Planet has found a new way to make money. They’re running their own little extortion ring. Yes, that is disturbing, brother Aamir. This is the company that owns my server, so they might very well shut it down tonight. Nevertheless, I did my part. I sent the world fair warning to stay away from a company trying to make some extra change exploiting people.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“Oh you who believe, remember Allah, remembering often.” (33:41)
Imam Ja’far b. Muhammad as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) reportedly said:
“There is a limit to everything, but there is no limit to the remembrance of Allah. Excess in anything is disliked by Allah, but Allah’s love increases proportionately to the degree of His remembrance a man commemorates in his thoughts and actions. Our true followers are those who, whenever free from their legitimate duties, remember Allah a great deal.”
She calls this masterpiece “Exploding Dragon.”
