Muslims Dictionary

Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Dreams are broken into three parts according to the Sunnah:

Ru'yaa - good visions (dreams)

Hulum - bad dreams

Dreams from one's self

Abu Hurayrah narrated Muhammad (S) said, "There are three types of dreams: a righteous dream which is glad tidings from Allah, the dream which causes sadness is from Shaitan, and a dream from the ramblings of the mind." (Sahih Muslim)

Read more here: » Islamic Dream Interpretation: Meaning of Dreams in Islam II

Islamic Dream Dictionary: Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Islamic dream dictionary with dream interpretation related to Islam and the Prophet: Includes the meaning of dreams about: Call to prayer, Bathing, Birds, Blowing, Clothing, Cover, Cows: Fat cows, Lean Cows, Fresh Dates, Ripe Dates, Door or Gate, Opening a Door, Egg, Elevation, Flowing Spring, Furnishing, Garden, Receiving a Gift, Gold, Hajj, Hand-hold, Keys, Laughing, Leg irons, Makkah, Marriage, Milk, Mountains, Pearls, Reconciliation, Right Side, Room, Rope, Ruler, Sexual Intercourse , Ship, Shirt, Silk Cloth, Sword.

See also: Meaning of Dreams

Read more here: » Islamic Dream Interpretation: Meaning of Dreams in Islam - I

Islam and Hinduism: Symbiotic Mysticism In Devotional Poems

Few have heard of the mystic poems Brahma Prakash or Dasa Avatar by the mediaeval Muslim saint Pir Shams. Both are famous ginans of South Asia's Ismaili community, sometimes also known as Khojas or Aga Khanis in popular parlance.

Ginans are hymn-like poems of spiritual import. They are revered by the faithful in deep veneration as repositories of wisdom and spiritual knowledge, and as transmitting the essential teachings of the Holy Qur'an in the vernacular. Composed in Sindhi, Gujarati, Hindustani and Punjabi among other subcontinental languages, the oldest are ascribed to the pirs or saints who first preached Ismaili Islam in India nearly 1,000 years ago.

Read more here: » Islam and Hinduism: Symbiotic Mysticism In Devotional Poems

Islam

A world religion based on the teachings and life of Muhammad (570-632 AD) in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia (then Persia). Islam is the second largest world religion, and has recently become the third largest religious body in America.

Islam is composed of two major divisions - the mainstream Sunni (the largest) and the more radical Shi'ites.

The mystical tradition of Sufism includes many Sunnis and some Shi'ites.

The Arabic word Islam means Òsubmission to the will of GodÓ and a person who submits is called a Muslim.

The Quran (or, Koran), the Torah, the Psalms of the Old Testament, and the Gospel of the New Testament are regarded as holy books. However, only the Quran is considered uncorrupted.

While many Muslims exhibit tolerance towards other faiths, even today Islamic fundamentalism promotes jihad (holy war), against those of other religious and political views.

(See also: Islam , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Persian Heritage In Hindu Traditions

Many would be surprised to learn that no ancient Hindu temple was dedicated to Rama - neither in Ayodhya nor anywhere else.

There had been many old temples and shrines devoted to Vishnu and Shiva and a few to Brahma, Ganesh, Kartikeya, Hanuman, Kubera, Nagas, Kali and Durga as well as a huge number honouring numerous local tribal deities. Only 180 years ago Raja Ram Mohan Roy coined the word 'Hindu' to describe the huge variety of faiths and sects with similar but not identical philosophies, myths and rituals.

Read more here: » Islam and Hinduism: Persian Heritage In Hindu Traditions

Hinduism versus Islam: Hinduism and Islam Compared

Similarities and differences between Hinduism and Islam.

Read more here: » Hinduism versus Islam: Hinduism and Islam Compared

ISLAM, ISLAMISM: The monotheistic religious doctrine as revealed by the Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah. There are many sects of Islam and believers are called Muslims.

(See also: ISLAM, ISLAMISM , Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Hinduism, Islam and Christianity: Hinduism Relationship with Islam and Christianity

The propagators of both Christianity and Islam have been doing a great service to Hinduism for the last several centuries, with their vehement criticism born out of their profound ignorance of Hinduism and their condescending sympathy for the natives. When they set foot on the Indian soil in the medieval period, they made every possible effort to declare Hinduism as a Satanic cult and a religion of the Brahmins in an attempt to draw converts from lower castes, ignoring its philosophical depths and its true character. Unknowingly, they helped Hinduism by forcing the Hindus of medieval and British India to become more defensive, resolute and determined to safeguard their own religion.

Read more here: » Hinduism, Islam and Christianity: Hinduism Relationship with Islam and Christianity

The Guru occupies a strategic relevance in the Sikh society, as the guidance of the Guru towards the attainment of Moksha -release - is absolutely essential. He is only a shade lighter rather than the supremacy of the Almighty. Here is a brief description of the ten gurus of Sikhism.

Read more here: » Sikhism: The Ten Gurus of Sikhism

Science and Spirituality: An Islamic View of Creation & Life

According to Islamic tradition, life is God's creation - regardless of whether life was specially created or resulted from evolution. Evolution itself is a process of creation as admitted by Darwin in The Origin of Species.

Creation falls into four categories - inanimate matter, plants, animals and human beings. According to Islam, all four are separate creations. Among living things, a number of species co-exist, all having been created separately. There is doubtless some similarity in physical attributes; yet, each has a permanent, separate existence. There is no concept of a missing link in Islam.

Read more here: » Science and Spirituality: An Islamic View of Creation Life

Oneness: Rise Above Dogma, Realise The Truth

When I pass by the neighbourhood mosque, I bow my head in respect just as I do when I pass by the temple. The mullah's call to the faithful turns me towards prayer and God. I go through the same upsurge of emotions when I visit a church or gurdwara. When I bow my head in humility to Christ and the Guru Granth Sahib, I see in them my beloved Lord Krishna. Similarly, when I hear the Buddhist chant: ''Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami'', it continues to reverberate within me for long after, giving me the same sense of peace I experience when I say my usual prayers.

Read more here: » Oneness: Rise Above Dogma, Realise The Truth

Nation of Islam

A sect of Islam originating in America composed of black Americans. Followers, sometimes called Black Muslims, believe that Allah (God) appeared in 1930 to the last great prophet Elijah Muhammad, in the person of Wallace D. Fard.

Elijah Muhammad borrowed many beliefs from traditional Islam but introduced important differences. Most notable was the focus on black oppression and equating Satan and evil with the white race.

Malcolm X became a notable leader of the movement in the 1960s and the focus on black supremacy and militancy escalated. Malcolm X later converted to traditional Islam and rejected radical black supremacy and was subsequently murdered. The current leader of the Nation is Islam is Louis Farrakhan.

(See also: Nation of Islam , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Few Western dream researchers have any familiarity with the rich dream traditions of Islam. The Muslim faith first emerged in seventh century B.C.E. Arabia as a profound revisioning of early Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices. One theme the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) drew from the scriptures of those two religions was a reverence for dreaming. In the Quran, as in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, dreams serve as a vital medium by which God communicates with humans. Dreams offer divine guidance and comfort, warn people of impending danger, and offer prophetic glimpses of the future. Although the three religions drastically differ on many other topics, they find substantial agreement on this particular point: dreaming is a valuable source of wisdom, understanding, and inspiration. Indeed, as I will propose in this brief essay, Islam has historically shown greater interest in dreams than either of the other two traditions, and has done more to weave dreaming into the daily lives of its members. From the first revelatory visions of Muhammed to the myriad dream practices of present-day Muslims, Islam has developed and sustained a complex, multifaceted tradition of active engagement with the dreaming imagination.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams in Islam: Reflections on the Dream Traditions of Islam

A Different View Of Islam & Sufism

For Anne-Marie Schimmel, Islam was a lifelong passion, as deep as her own roots in the Lutheran faith. Church rituals were as dear to her as bowing in prayer at Sufi shrines.

Sitting in Bonn she dreamed of Bijapur and Bidar, talked of her friend Allan Fakir in Sindh and brooded over the problem of selecting a site for her burial in Sindh. This gentle woman, renowned scholar of Sufism, passed away in Germany recently. As gently as she had lived.

Read more here: » Islam Sufism: A Different View Of Islam Sufism

Everyday during Ramzan, for one lunar month from sunrise to sunset, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and smoking.

Why do Muslims undertake to fast during Ramzan? The common answer is that the Qur'an ordains it: ''O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self- restraint (2:183). Socially and personally, fasting has great relevance.''

(See also: Ramzan , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Ramzan: Social Relevance of Ramzan Fast  

Islamic Fundamentalism

In Islam, Fundamentalism is a contemporary category of scholarly comparative analysis referring to those ideologues who advocate a mythic view of Islamic values and seek to restore the timeless fabric of holistic law. They oppose the secular ethos that, in their view, characterizes not only the non-Muslim West but also putatively Muslim nation-states.

Islamic fundamentalists are largely drawn from male groups who have experienced colonial rule as disruption and alienation and postcolonial independence as acculturation and hypocrisy. They resent the economic forces that produced urbanization. They protest the absence of divine mandates in the public sphere of sprawling cities. They reject the modernist hegemony, equating pluralism with relativism and atheism. Instead, they uphold radical patriarchy, for which they find sanction in both scripture and history.

Islamic fundamentalists, like other fundamentalists, are modern without being modernist. Whether accepting oil export revenues or using clandestine bank accounts, they benefit from the capitalist-driven world system, despite their official opposition to both capitalism and communism as Western ideologies. They also understand the power of modern technology. They resort to modern media (newspapers, radio, television, cassettes) and, when necessary, they use state-of-the-art weapons (car bombs, Sten guns, plastic explosives) to achieve short-term objectives. Masters of the communications revolution, they often project their message better than do their adversaries.

Yet only a few Islamic fundamentalists are terrorists, and not all Arab terrorists are fundamentalists. It is important to distinguish fundamentalists from other political or social reformers.

The late-nineteenth-century activists Jamal ad-din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh used Islamic symbols to mobilize powerful anticolonial movements, yet they did not perceive less fervent fellow Muslims as their enemies.

Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists differ from one another, especially in their attitude toward the state. Neither Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, nor Abul-Ala Mawdudi (1903-79), founder of the Muslim League, believed that the nation-state, itself a truncated residue of colonial rule, could become the vehicle for inscribing Islamic values or pursing Islamic ideals.

By contrast, their Shiite counterparts had faith in the state, provided it had adopted an Islamic constitution. Shiite fundamentalists have openly employed the range of Western worldviews, from Marxism to just-war theory to creation science. Ideology itself has been embraced as voluntary religion. Unlike customary religion, ideology requires collective ideals to be translated into reality through concerted action. Islamic fundamentalists have captured a major state (Iran in 1979), they have assassinated a bold Muslim statesman (Anwar Sadat in 1981), and they have marshalled sporadic public support in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and, most recently, Jordan. However, they remain a minority viewpoint among all Muslims.

(See also: Islamic Fundamentalism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

The gory massacre at Godhra and the subsequent retaliatory slaughter throughout Gujarat underlines how easily communal passions can be aroused among otherwise normal people.

A major cause for such behaviour is a mindset, found both among Muslims and Hindus, that believes that tolerance is a sign of weakness. Convinced about the infallibility of their own faith, they are totally intolerant to the views of others. Bolstered by the exhortations of their religious and political leaders, they feel no compunctions in smashing all that stands in their way including the laws of the land.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Tolerance the Key To Lasting Peace

The Prophet Muhammad started receiving revelations from Allah in 610 AD through an angel. When he began to propagate the divine message, the people of Mecca turned against him. In those testing times Khadijah, his wife, and Abu Talib, his uncle, were a great help to him, but shortly thereafter they both died.

When the Meccans seemed to be on the verge of crushing Islam, the Prophet Muhammad had an extraordinary experience. This is known as al-Isra and al-Miraj or the Night Journey and the Ascension.

(See also: Namaz , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Namaz: Truth Unveiled in Seventh Heaven - about Namaz  

Islam and Hinduism: The Thousand Names of Vishnu and Allah

Allah is Al-Ahad or The One and Vishnu is called Eka, The One. It's curious but there are striking similarities between the many names of Vishnu and those of Allah.

Read more here: » Islam and Hinduism: The Thousand Names of Vishnu and Allah

Enchanting Abode of The Double Devta

Having been born into a secular Hindu family which venerates a Sufi saint, I have always thought I had a special advantage over my friends whose faith in their respective religions would perhaps be more limiting than mine. So, while we commemorate the Urs of our Pir, we also celebrate Diwali and New Year at his shrine. Are we Muslim, Hindu, Sufi or Christian?

Read more here: » Islam and Hinduism: Enchanting Abode of The Double Devta