Magic and sorcery have been seen by true Islams as advice by devils or demons and no one should indulge in any of this type of future-telling or advice. Allah and the Prophet Muhammad are the only ones who have true access to this knowledge and so they are the only ones who should be consulted on it. Allah has the answers to every problem and so should be the one to be consulted for any desire or trouble, not anyone else. However, this is not to say that magic shows are disallowed in Muslim countries, if they can prove they are only for entertainment and not for anything else.

The Prophet Abu Hurairah warned people against seven things in the world, of which magic was one of them. Whatever people consult or whomever they visit to learn these things is considered a rejection of Allah in a very bad sense, and punishment will strike these misguided people. Even the lighter forms of future-telling such as reading the stars for a person or telling their life from their palms is also forbidden. Anyone who indulges themselves with magic by visiting a witch or a soothsayer is punished by Allah by having his or her prayers ignored for forty days.

Even those who believe in it but do not practice magic are considered sinners. Magic is thought to be concerned with powers given by Satan, even though many practitioners of magic try not to bring harm to others by thoughts, deeds or other means. There is always the way down into the forbidden arts, which are considered the blackest imaginable. Many acts of absolute atrocity are committed against men, women and children and animals in the guise of magic and the lunatics who strive to make it acceptable to the world.

Magic, simple or complex, is simply seen as haraam or forbidden. It is a temptation to Man to ask of others rather than Allah for answers, future-seeing and other things, including temptation into lust, eating wrongly, consuming alcohol, all of which are forbidden in the Muslim faith. Some practitioners of the dark arts desecrate graves, eat pork and drink blood, all very wrong occupations to a Muslim and attributed to Satan, as well they should be in any country.

To a Muslim, competence in magic can only be attributed to Satan, not Allah, and, as such, it is thought the person may obtain greater powers than Allah. To a true believer this cannot be, as the only Power is Allah, and He has not given permission for this to be so. Many things are attributed to witches, warlocks and others in a Muslim country, and they will be lucky to escape with their lives if they are uncovered. Allah’s punishment is not usually very pleasant for any practitioner of the so-called dark arts.

Sultana’s Dream a science-fiction was first published in 1905 making it probably the first Indian sci-fi work. It is a short story written by Roquia Sakhawat Hussain. Begum Roquia was born in 1880 at Rangpur which is now in Bangladesh.

Sultana’s Dream was first published in The Indian Ladies’ Magazine. Fortunately, the text of the story has survived. It reads like a feminist vision of the future. But it is not just a feminist vision but also a wonderfully written sci-fi story. It is a vision where women rule the country and men are holed up in “zanana” which is now called “mardana.” Since women are ruling there is peace everywhere and through the use of science all work is done efficiently and smartly.

Some snippets from the story:

Why men should be locked-up:

And you do not think it wise to keep sane people inside an asylum and let loose the insane?’

‘Of course not!’ said I laughing lightly.

‘As a matter of fact, in your country this very thing is done! Men, who do or at least are capable of doing no end of mischief, are let loose and the innocent women, shut up in the zenana! How can you trust those untrained men out of doors?’

‘Since the “Mardana” system has been established, there has been no more crime or sin; therefore we do not require a policeman to find out a culprit, nor do we want a magistrate to try a criminal case.’

 

Harnessing solar power:

The kitchen was situated in a beautiful vegetable garden. Every creeper, every tomato plant was itself an ornament. I found no smoke, nor any chimney either in the kitchen — it was clean and bright; the windows were decorated with flower gardens. There was no sign of coal or fire.

‘How do you cook?’ I asked.

‘With solar heat,’ she said, at the same time showing me the pipe, through which passed the concentrated sunlight and heat. And she cooked something then and there to show me the process.

Vehicle of the future:

Then she screwed a couple of seats onto a square piece of plank. To this plank she attached two smooth and well-polished balls. When I asked her what the balls were for, she said they were hydrogen balls and they were used to overcome the force of gravity. The balls were of different capacities to be used according to the different weights desired to be overcome. She then fastened to the air-car two wing-like blades, which, she said, were worked by electricity. After we were comfortably seated she touched a knob and the blades began to whirl, moving faster and faster every moment. At first we were raised to the height of about six or seven feet and then off we flew. And before I could realize that we had commenced moving, we reached the garden of the Queen.

My friend lowered the air-car by reversing the action of the machine, and when the car touched the ground the machine was stopped and we got out.

Continue Reading about Begum Roqiya.

Any person who is genuinely devoted to Allah, the prophet and his teachings, is quite often given to dreams in which the Prophet or Allah, or infrequently both, appear to them. These dreams usually leave the person refreshed and filled with joy and thankfulness to Allah at their visions. The dreams are seen as a positive future, both on earth and when the person dies and is welcomed into Allah’s presence.

Sometimes the dreams tell of good fortune coming and this usually will come true. As does the feeling of lightening of the soul that these devout people often experience. These dreams are often alluded to as the person having them being allowed to glimpse the future as far as Allah permits. These dreams, if good, also signify that the dreamer is on the right path towards Allah and is to be blessed.

 

 

The dreams can signify different things when deciphered at different times of the day. Mornings are usually positive, but evenings or afternoons can be the opposite. Dreaming of nasty things, like snakes or scorpions usually means that the person is not on track according to Allah’s wishes and needs to repent and admit to their sins. Although if a grave is opened, there will only be found the normal bones of a human body and no sign of a snake’s remains or that of a scorpion the idea is ingrained from whence the person has the dream.

When a person sleeps their soul is thought to go to Allah who returns it the next morning. If He is pleased with them, they will return refreshed and energised, if not, they will have a restless sleep and be grumpy and tired the next day because of the lack of restful sleep. People may say that they do not dream. This is untrue, as the body does dream, but often the mind covers the dreams in a cloak of secrecy because they have been too unpleasant to recall. Even good dreams may fall victim to this type of censorship by the person’s own mind. The mind is conditioned to deny things that may mean something is going to drastically change a comfortable life, or a personal one, therefore dreams are not always given their due.

Dreams are not straight-forward, either in message or appearance, but, should the person seeking enlightenment continue on, they will make sense. Some may be about something that is weighing heavily on the person’s mind which may be work or personal reasons. Other times, if the person is extremely devout, they may simply be affirmations of this to the person’s inner self should some small doubt have surfaced? Many dreams may simply be a reflection of the way the person is feeling, or an illness that has not been suspected, and may be a warning of this potential problem.

There is a lot of confusion concerning this word: tasawwuf. Whereas the Quran and Sunnah are held as the highest point in a Muslim’s obedience creed, tasawwuf is mistakenly thought to supersede the two. This view is held by many people and has split the Muslim faith into two distinct camps of which one abides by the Quran and Hadith, the other by tasawuff.

Actually, the tasawuff is a later part of the Shariah, relating to feelings of the heart, and very much a part of the older religion. Every external deed is for the betterment of the heart’s feelings and thus allowing a person to pass happily into the afterlife. If this unconditional love is not obtained, then the person is destroyed inside. It is the growth of this love, the desire is to have Divine pleasure and it gives total obedience to the orders of the Shariah that makes it what it is.

Tasawuff exists purely to purify the heart from every lowly desire, lust, jealousy, nastiness whether by deed or speech, vanity and all the negatives that live in a Man’s heart and words. In return it wishes to clothe the heart with all things that are above these other emotions. These are fear of Allah, trust, love, truth, pure thoughts, and all that will make a Man worthy of attention in the afterlife, but most especially Allah’s mercy and love. This is its primary reason for existing and its soul.

To determine the problems of the heart in these issues is usually placed in the hands of a Shaykh or teacher. This person in turn has to be qualified according to the Shariah rulings, have had teachings by a suitably qualified Shaykh, who is respected by his followers, has no interest in worldly wealth for himself, tries very sincerely to teach his followers with education and morality, and has the needed religious knowledge, among other things. This person does not have to produce karamat or miracles, nor do they need to be able to see the future. Indeed, if they do, they may not be a Shaykh at all.

In order to follow the teachings of tasawuff it is good if you find a Shaykh whom you trust and like, for it will make your conversion easier. Once you have found this person, then there is a promise shared between you both in that he guides you and you follow him. There are several parts which the initiate vows to pursue, of  which are to start an everyday self-assessment before going to bed in order to repent the bad ones and give thanks to Allah for the good ones, make sure that your eyes, ears and tongue are watched strictly to prevent doing or saying the wrong things, develop a humbleness whereby you do not judge others for what they do or think you are better than them, remember Allah frequently and other items which are part of this ritual.

Tattoos are prohibited or forbidden in Islam. This verdict as proved by the Quran and Sunnah should be enough for the believing Muslims or believers in Islam but there is a group of people who keep on debating on this issue. They want to know why tattoos are prohibited or haraam but piercing of ears is allowed in Islam. If piercing with needle is haraam then why do the Muslim girls adorn their ears and nose by piercing to wear earrings and nose pins. There are lots of WHYs and sometimes all this becomes too confusing for new converts and people with weak faith in Islam.

Verdict of Quran & Sunnah

According to Quran and as told to Muslims through hadees or Prophet’s sayings any act that can hurt a person physically, mentally and spiritually is haraam and prohibited. More strictness and penalties are on those acts which are done intentionally to hurt fellow men, animals and including plants and non living things such as property of others which indirectly become a cause of hurt, injury or damage of other human beings. All these are categories of sins and hurting oneself, suicide and inducing pain in one way or the other is also called haraam or prohibited acts. Piercing one’s ears and body, injecting chemicals into the body in the name of art, fashion, display and fun is not at all wise as well as prohibited by Allah and His Apostle.

To Pierce or not to Pierce

The debate should be on the acts that are harmful for the body or not. Tattoo making is one of them. Piercing of ears and nose is not a part of Islamic culture but it is a part of Indian, African and many other cultures in the world. Muslims living in those parts of the world have adopted the norms and culture. They are merely following norms of the society they are living in. So, it is their own choice but they are answerable for their deeds like all the other Muslims in the court of Allah.

Why Tatttoos are Haraam

Women have been told and guided by Allah’s Apostle to dye their hands with Henna and their hair to appear beautiful for their husbands. No where it had been stated haraam the use of herbal extracts and products. Chemical based ingredients and products are not good for health and therefore, they were discouraged and prohibited. Same goes for the case of tattoo making in Islam.

Tattoo ink when injected in the skin can cause many unwanted and undesirable physical conditions including severe allergies, and may lead to the removal of lymph glands. They are teratogenic, one of the leading causes of mutations and carcinogenic problems. Do not pay the price of ignorance and learn more about this tattoo making procedure, the ingredients used for creating tattoo ink and the aftermath of having tattoos on your skin before subjecting yourself to having the procedure done.

Muslims men are prohibited from wearing gold as a wedding band or engagement ring made out of metal that contains yellow Gold. With time and the advancement of technology rings for men now come in a wide variety of materials and forms. A popular metal known as White Gold is available in 18 and 14 carats and is used by Muslim men which are technically also wrong. Another popular 9 carat White Gold known as Swasa also contains yellow gold and is therefore prohibited in Islam for wearing by Muslim males.

Types of Yellow Gold

There are many types of gold and most of them are precious to semi precious metals. Pure Gold or 999 Gold cannot be used in making jewelry as it is too soft and malleable to sustain the wear and tear. Another type of gold known as 916 Gold is made by adding different metal alloys is used for making jewelry and for holding gems and is much stronger as compared to the pure 999 Gold. It is more precious and used for making wedding jewelry and heavy gold sets. After that we have 18k Gold. Addition of alloys leaves it 75% pure but makes it stronger and does not allow the metal to bend. 14k Gold or 58% pure metal and 9k Gold or Swasa 37.5% pure are also used for making jewelry. Many Muslims think it is white gold so wearing it is not prohibited. But even the slightest touch of gold is not allowed by Islamic Shira so wearing it is also haraam for Muslim men.

Men prohibited wearing Jewelry in Any Form

Most of gold jewelry is plated with white, rose and black colored alloys which produces White, Rose and Black gold respectively. As the matter of fact is that it is still gold but only disguised by changing its color and addition of other alloys. In brief, Muslim men can wear silver, silver alloy not containing gold and of course, platinum rings, bracelets and chains but not the metal Gold.

Other Facts Related to Men Wearing Gold

There are many other interesting facts related to wearing gold by men in the Islamic school of thought  that are popular worldwide. Many men think that they will lose their reproductive strength if they wear gold. In some societies or male dominated cultures wearing jewelry can make a man look like a woman so they strongly forbid their males to wear any sort of jewelry. Exchanging of wedding bands or rings is considered an act for Christians and therefore they do not wear a band. However, over the passage of time and with the advent of modern technology, new thoughts and ideas of modernity have replaced old orthodox views about wearing rings and other forms of jewelry including gold ornaments. Some Muslims have started wearing these ornaments to show their individuality and stay above the crowd. All we can say is that it still is fact that gold is prohibited in the form of jewelry for Muslim men to wear.