Dear Muslim Youth.. Islam 101

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth...

We begin with the name of God, we praise God and ask God to raise the rank of our Prophet Muhammad.

We want to talk to you about the most important knowledge that you could ever learn. This is the knowledge about God and the Prophets God sent to us. This knowledge is more important than learning a foreign language, or how to fix a car, or learning how to use a computer. How can we say this? Because if a person does not have the proper belief in God and the proper belief about the character of the Prophets, then that person is not a Muslim. If a person dies as an obedient Muslim he will enter Paradise without any torture. He will live there forever, enjoying all the pleasures of Paradise without his pleasure ending.

Every person should be Muslim. Islam is for every person. Islam is not a Religion just for a certain race or nationality. Islam is for all people. Islam is for you.

The truth about God is that He exists. He always existed. God existed before He created things. He is still creating things. Everything you see now is created by God.

God has no beginning. This means that He was not created or born. God is not like us. We die. All of us will die some day. God will never die. Moreover, God has no end.

God does not change. We change. We start out not knowing things and then we get exposed to things. We learn things and then we may do things. Some of us die at an early age, some of us die at a middle age, and some of us die at an old age. God is not like this. God does not change.

God does not need anything. God does not need our worship. He does not benefit by our worship. We do. When we do bad things we hurt ourselves. We do not hurt God. God does not need angels, jinn, humans, or anything. He created them all. All of them need Him. Even the ignorant person who does not believe that God exists needs God. God gives him life and a lot of things. But after that person dies he will be tortured forever.

Prophet Muhammad and the prophets before him told the people about God. They told the people about the proper belief in God. All the Prophets are human. All the Prophets are born from a mother like us, except for Prophet Adam, the first human.

At some point in their lives Prophets get Revelation from God. At that time, they begin their prophethood. However, even before they become Prophets they have their special characteristics.

Prophets always have the right belief about God. They never doubted about God's existence. They never believed false things about God, like that God has a son, or that God needs to take a rest.

Another special characteristic of Prophets is that they do not lie. Another is that they do not cheat. Another is that they do not sin. The only sin that a Prophet may do is a small sin which is not mean. Moreover, a Prophet would repent of that sin immediately before people copy doing that sin. Another special characteristic of Prophets is that they do not get ugly or repulsive. These are only some of their special characteristics.

God sent many Prophets to the people after the first man and Prophet (Adam) died. Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are some of the greatest of them. After God sent Prophet Jesus, He sent Prophet Muhammad. Prophet Muhammadis the Prophet of our time; he is the last and the greatest Prophet until the Day of Judgement. Prophet Muhammad taught the rules that we have to follow nowadays.

All the Muslims believe the things we have just said. Many people may claim to be Muslim. In fact they are not Muslim, because they believe things that contradict the proper belief about God and His Prophets. If a child is born to Muslim parents then he is Muslim. However, if he stops having the proper belief about God and the Prophets, then he stops being a Muslim, even if his parents are Muslim.

Even if a person does not have Muslim parents he still can be a Muslim. He becomes a Muslim by having the proper belief about God and the Prophets and saying this belief at least loud enough to hear himself. He can say his belief in the language he speaks. He says: "There is no Creator except God and Muhammad is the Prophet of God" . Or he could say "No one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". The Arabic word for God is: Allah.

Both of these statements have the same meaning. There are other statements with the same meaning that one can say to become Muslim. When a person does this he is a Muslim. He then must continue his life keeping his belief in the truth about God and the Prophets. He will enter Paradise after he dies. Therein, his happiness will never end.

[Alsunna Teacher]

A Prophet of Islam - Prophet Adam
Praise be to God, Who sent a lot of Prophets and Messengers to this earth. The first Prophet of Islam is Prophet Adam. Yes, we are talking about the first human whom God created, because he was not only the first human but also a great, respected Prophet of Allah. Know without doubt that humans did not come from apes. No matter how many people talk about it, it is not true. The truth of the matter is that Allah created Prophet Adamafter He had created animals such as apes and the like. Our Prophet Muhammadtold us about the creation of Prophet Adamand the creations which were created before him, so no one should believe differently about these things.

It is well known that Allah is the Creator of everything you see and you don't see. As you can see around you all the created things have a beginning. You know this about yourself. There was a time when you did not exist, then you had your beginning. The same is true for the earth, the things on the earth, the sun, the wind, and the sea. These are the things that people call "nature". All of nature has a beginning. If Allah had not created nature, it would not have existed. Nature does not create anything. Allah, the Creator, is different from His creation. Allah does not have a beginning.

The first thing which Allah created was water. From this "original" water Allah created other things. You see, this water did not exist at all and then Allah made it exist. No one other than Allah has the power to do this. We want to tell you that Allah did not need that "original" water to create the other things, because Allah does not need anything.

After creating the "original" water, Allah created a giant creation called the ^Arsh. This is a platform with pillars which is the ceiling of Paradise. This really exists although we do not see it now. This platform is up very, very high above the stars and what we see when we look up.

Before creating Prophet Adam, Allah created all the other kinds of creation like angels, jinn, plants, and animals. He created this earth and others earths. He created Paradise, Hellfire, and seven heavens which are above us.

After Allah created all the other kinds of creation, Allah ordered an angel to take a handful from all the different soil types on earth. Since angels never disobey Allah, that respected angel did exactly that. Some of the soil was black, some was white, and some was red. He also took from other soils that have colors in between. Some of the soil was soft and some was hard.

The angel brought all of this soil to Paradise. After the soil was mixed with the water of Paradise it became clay. Allah made this clay dry and hard. Then Allah turned this dry clay into flesh, blood and bones with a human form. After some time Allah gave a soul to this form. As a result the first man became alive. He was called Adam. From one of the ribs of Prophet Adam, Allah created a wife for him. Every human being comes from Prophet Adam.

Our history is full of great events and people. God-willing we will continue to tell you the story of the father of all of us: Prophet Adam.

Allah is not our father. Allah is our Creator.

We all come from Prophet Adam.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth..

We begin in the name of God, we praise God and we ask God to raise the rank of our Prophet Muhammad and protect his nation from that which he feared for it.

We hope that from last month's lesson it is clear who the Muslim is and how a person becomes Muslim. As we said last month every Muslim says and believes that there is no Creator except God. And we made it clear that when we say the Arabic word Allah we are talking about God, the Creator, Who is not like His creation.

Last month we talked about Prophet Adam and this month in our next section we want to continue to talk about him. One of the reasons we want to talk about Prophet Adam a lot is because a lot of lies have been told about Prophet Adam. In this section we want to talk a lot about God and one of the reasons is because a lot of lies have been told about God. These lies don't hurt God, but they are very harmful for the people who said them and the people who believe them.

One of the big lies told about God is the one that says that God is a man. We know about ourselves how weak and imperfect we are and yet still some ignorant people think that God is a man. One of the very ignorant people is a man who was named Michelangelo. In school, teachers might tell you that he was the greatest artist of all time, but in the opinion of a believer he is a very harmful man who continues to harm people today with what he did.

This man painted the inside of a very big church in Italy. One of his giant paintings there is called "The Creation of Adam". He painted an old man with grey hair with his hand stretched out. Next to the old man he painted a young man with his hand stretched out to the old man. Their fingers almost touch. If you look in some encyclopedias they say "Michelangelo showed God giving Adam the spark of life." To paint this is blasphemy. To write this is blasphemy. To believe this is blasphemy.

This is not the only painting he did of an old man whom he called God. Since he painted these some 500 years ago, they have become very famous. Nowadays reproductions of these paintings are in many books. What might a child think who sees these paintings? This is just one reason why it is so important for us to tell you the truth about God.

Whatever picture you see is not God. Whatever picture that might pop into your mind is not God. God, Who created humans, angels, and jinn is not like any of them. God is not like the soul, fire, air, or bodies. God is not light. He is not even a strong light. God created very strong lights which we cannot look at and God is not like them. Whatever a person imagines in his mind God is different than that thing he imagined. When we say "imagine" we do not mean the true things you believe in your mind, or the true things that you know with your mind. We mean that any image that comes to the mind is not God.

We know things about God, from our sound mind and what the Prophets told us, but we will not know everything about God, because there are things that only God knows about.

We are not like God at all. No person is like God. No creation is like God. Even the best of all the creations, Prophet Muhammad, is not like God at all. God is the Creator and we are created by Him. God gives us the orders and we must obey Him. No one orders God to do anything. God does whatever He wills. God does not have to do anything. No one has the right to order God to do anything.

He is the One the Muslim worships, the Creator Who is not like His creation. Next month, God-willing, we will warn you about some more lies that people are saying lately about God, our Creator.

The Creator is different from the creation.

[Alsunna Teacher]

A Prophet of Islam - Prophet Adam

Last month we started talking about the first Prophet, who was also the first human, Prophet Adam, peace be upon him. We emphasized that Prophet Adam was not like an ape and that humans do not come from apes. This is very important to know and believe. The person who believes that humans came from apes is not a Muslim. Anyone who believes this must stop believing it and believe and say the two professions of faith. Then that person would be Muslim.

Before we go on, can you answer these questions about last month's lesson?

What was the first thing that God created?

What was the second thing that God created?

What were some other things that God created before He created Prophet Adam?

The answers are at the end of this article.

Now let us continue. Every person comes from Prophet Adam. Everyone. Good people, bad people, dark skinned people, light skinned people, intelligent people, and ignorant people all come from Prophet Adam.

Prophet Adam himself was a very honorable man. He was a Prophet, so that means that Allah endowed him with firm faith and belief all his life. He never blasphemed, but instead he worshipped Allah only. His first words were in praise of his Creator.

Allah gave Prophet Adam the knowledge of the names of everything. This means that Prophet Adam knew these names without a teacher telling him. Adam first lived in Paradise living a very happy life. As we said last month, Allah created a wife for Prophet Adam from Adam's rib. We know from one of our great Muslim scholars, Ibn ^Abbas, that this was the shortest rib from Adam's left side. In Arabic we call the wife of Adam Hawwa', in English she is called Eve.

Both Adam and Hawwa' were created as adults. They were tall and beautiful. They were much taller than people are today. Prophet Adam lived in Paradise for 130 years. In Paradise, Allah permitted Adam and Hawwa' to eat from all the fruits except the fruit from one tree (it is not said that it was an apple tree). The Devil whispered to them to eat from the forbidden tree, and they did eat from that tree. Eating from that tree was a sin, but it was not a great sin.

You see, sins are of different types. The worst sin is blasphemy. Then there are sins that are great sins. Then there are sins that are small and mean. Then there are sins that are small and not mean. The sin of eating from this tree is small and not mean. Remember how last month we told you that Prophets would never sin, except for the fact they might commit a small sin without meanness? So remember that Adam was a Prophet and know that this sin was small and not mean.

Also Prophet Adam and Hawwa' repented of this sin a short time after committing it. They said: "O Allah we did injustice to ourselves. So if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us we will be losers." Allah accepted their repentance. Their sin was erased. This is the mercy of God on the believers. That is, if the Muslim repents properly, God forgives him and that sin is erased.

Then Allah made Adam and his wife descend from Paradise to earth. The place that Prophet Adam descended to was a mountain on earth call Sarandib which is in Sri Lanka, (an island off the south coast of India). This place is the healthiest place on earth with good, clean air. It smells very good there because when Prophet Adam went there from Paradise he was wearing some of the leaves of Paradise. These leaves fell on the earth and plants grew up with the beautiful smell of these leaves. Lady Hawwa' descended to the Arabian Peninsula and Prophet Adam and Lady Hawwa' met in ^Arafat which is very close to Makkah. Living on earth they had many children and built homes and other things. Prophet Adam built the Ka^bah in Makkah and this was the first house of worship on earth.

Prophet Muhammad told us that Allah sent Angel Jibril to Adam and ordered him to build the Ka^bah. Adam built it and was then ordered to go around the Ka^bah; so he did. Prophet Adam was told: You are the first human being and this building is the first building built for the worship of Allah on earth.

God willing we will continue to tell you more about this great and honorable Prophet next month; so don't miss it!

Answers to our questions

What was the first thing that God created?
The first thing that God created was water.
What was the second thing that God created?
The second thing that God created was the ceiling of Paradise (^Arsh).
What were some other things which God created before He created Prophet Adam?
Some of the things which God created before creating Prophet Adam were: angels, jinn, animals, plants, Paradise, Hellfire, the seven heavens, this earth and other earths.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth...

We are glad you have come back again this month, welcome! Do you remember that last month we were talking about how some people lie about God, our Creator? We had mentioned that one way in which people lie about God is by saying that God is a man, and by painting a picture of a male figure and calling that figure "God". Always remember and know that God is not like you or me. God is not a man, or a woman; God is not similar to His creation.

This month we would like to warn you about some other lies that people say about God, the One we worship. We know that people say these lies because we hear people saying them on T.V. If people say them on T.V. then probably people are listening to that and sadly some people are probably believing those lies as well.

One lie about God which we have heard said on T.V. is when someone says "God made a mistake". We must not say these words. By saying this a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim. It is blasphemy. Many times the blasphemer who says this also looks up and waves his finger upwards.

This saying is not funny. There is nothing funny at all about this statement. This is a lie about God, our Creator. The person who says this does not worship God correctly. He is not a believer. He is not a Muslim. To be a Muslim he would need to stop saying this and say the two professions of faith in Islam, knowing that he was blasphemous and in need to say the two professions to be Muslim. He can say: I profess that no one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

God does not make a mistake. What is a mistake? The dictionary says: a mistake is an error in action, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc. God is the Creator of everything. God owns everything. God is the One Who orders us to do some things and forbids us from doing some other things. God does with His creation what ever He wills. God is not weak. Humans are weak. No way does God make a mistake.

Usually when those people say those ugly words they are talking about something they don't like, for example when a small baby is born without an arm or is born blind. In their ignorance they think: "God created this baby. I don't like this thing about this baby, so God made a mistake". They are the ones making a big mistake.

If someone learns what the Prophet taught, he knows that in every hardship there is an opportunity for reward from God. If the Muslim parents of that blind baby are patient with this hardship they get reward. If the Muslim who is blind is patient with his hardship he gets reward. This reward is weighed on the Day of Judgment. Don't we want to be people who have a lot of reward in one pan of the balance and no bad deeds in the other pan? The one who learned about the Day of Judgment would know how much we would want this on that Day.

Also if those people believe that God is a body which is up somewhere, this is also blasphemy. God is not a body and God does not need a place to be in. Many people believe this blasphemy now a days and that is why they look up when they say something to God.

So always remember that God does not make mistakes. Instead it is likely that people make mistakes and most people make a lot of really big mistakes. We ask God to make us among those who learn Islam carefully without making mistakes. God-willing next month we will talk more about lies which people say about God.

A Prophet of Islam - Prophet Adam

This month we continue to talk about the father of all us: Prophet Adam. Did you know that in Arabic he is also called Adam? We had mentioned last month that Prophet Adam and his honorable wife Hawwa' (Eve) first lived in Paradise for a long time and then Allah made them descend to earth. You know, Paradise is a very big place that is far above us. It is a real place just like this earth is a real place. Just because we do not see it and men do not go there by rockets does not mean that it does not exist.

Remember how we said last month that even something from Paradise is with us on earth? See if you can remember what that is. Here is another question. How many years did Adam and Lady Hawwa' live in Paradise before they came to earth? The answers are at the end of this article.

Prophet Adam and Lady Hawwa' had many, many children. Usually Lady Hawwa' would have twins, a girl and a boy. Their sons could marry their sister at that time except their twin sister. So Adam's children married and had children and more and more people were on the earth. After the time of Prophet Adam, Allah revealed that brothers could no longer marry their sisters; this was only allowed in the rules revealed to Prophet Adam by Allah.

All of Prophet Adam's children were Muslim. He taught them the belief of the Muslims, that there is no God except Allah, and they accepted Prophet Adam as their Prophet and Messenger. Prophet Adam taught them prayer, fasting, and how to make pilgrimage (Hajj).

Prophet Adam also had the knowledge of how to live on earth, building buildings, farming, coining money, baking bread, living in an honorable and respectable way.

Prophet Adam lived for a long time, for 1000 years, and during his time no one blasphemed; no one went out of Islam.

Everyone was Muslim, although sinning less than blasphemy occured.

It is important to know the difference between blasphemy, and sins that are less than blasphemy. Blasphemy is a belief, saying, or action that is against the Islamic faith. When a Muslim does blasphemy he stops being Muslim. To believe that God does not exist is blasphemy. To say that Jesus is the son of God is blasphemy. To prostrate to an idol is blasphemy. These are just a few examples. If a person is Muslim and then does blasphemy, he has to return to Islam by stopping the blasphemy, and clearing himself of blasphemy by saying and believing the two professions of Muslim faith: There is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If he clears himself of the blasphemy then he is Muslim again.

Blasphemy is the worst sin. Then there are sins that are less than blasphemy. If the Muslim does them he does not become a non-Muslim but he is ordered to repent of them. Some sins that are not blasphemy are killing unjustly, fornication and adultery, not praying the required prayers, using drugs and drinking alcohol and for the woman to not cover her body properly. Every accountable Muslim must learn from a qualified Muslim teacher about what is blasphemy and what the sins are that are less than blasphemy so that he does not do them.

The first time that some person killed another person was a killing that happened between two of Prophet Adam's children, Qabil and Habil (Cain and Abel). Qabil killed Habil because he was jealous of him. This murder was a great sin, but still Qabil did not leave Islam because of this because it is not blasphemy.

It is mentioned that when Prophet Adam died he was buried in the city of Mina near a mosque called Al-Khayf. Mina is a city very close to Makkah. It is also mentioned that near to Prophet Adam seventy other prophets are buried.

After Prophet Adam died, his children and their children stayed Muslim. Allah made one of Prophet Adam's children a prophet who continued teaching the people and ordering them to do the good deeds and not to sin. Next month we plan to talk about this Prophet of Allah.

Answers to our questions

What thing on earth is from Paradise?
The black stone which is on one of the corners of the Ka^bah is a stone from Paradise. It used to be very bright but it became black after blasphemers passed their hands over it a lot.
How many years did Prophet Adam and Lady Hawwa' live in Paradise before they went down to earth?
They lived for 130 years in Paradise before going to earth.
Allah is not our father.
Allah is our Creator
and we all come from Prophet Adam.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth...

Welcome back to your special section.  We begin in the name of God.  We praise God and thank Him.  We ask God to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad and protect his nation from that which he feared for it. We hope that you are in good health, that you are doing well in school, and that you are being kind to your parents.

This month we continue to talk about lies which some people say about God, our Creator. Before we continue let us remember what we learned earlier.  We said that some people say that God is a man and this is blasphemy. God is not a man. So if someone draws a picture of a man and says that this is a picture of God, then we know that this is blasphemy. We hate for people to do such a thing.

We said before that God does not resemble His creation at all, so we know that whatever picture a person may draw is not God and whatever picture may come to a person's mind is not God.  We also mentioned that God does not need a place to exist in, so we do not believe that God is in a place up above us. Paradise is above us.  A lot of angels are above us. Paradise and angels are wonderful things that God created. God is not like them.  God exists without being in a place.

Recently the cover of a well-known magazine showed a girl holding up a picture and looking upwards.  The cover read: "What children want God to see". Know without doubt that God is not a body up above us looking down at things we hold up. God sees all seeable things whether we hold something up or we hide it.  Be firm in believing that God exists without being in a place and never accept the belief that God is a body living in a place above us.

Some people say things that might confuse people about the correct belief in God.  A man on T.V. was talking about how he did not die even though he became unconscious while piloting an airplane. He said: "The Lord walks with me daily.  He was in the cockpit with me". Muslims don't talk like this.  God is our Lord, the One Who created us and owns us. God is not like us.  We walk and we do not say about God that He walks.  We say that God sees, hears and knows about us.  And we know that God's seeing, hearing and knowing are not like ours. When we are protected in a certain place, we do not say that God is in that place. We are in that place being protected by God, but God does not need a place.

From the teachings of Prophet Muhammad we have explanation for the unusual things which sometimes happen to people. In this life Muslims and even non-Muslims are protected by angels by God's will. The man in the airplane was protected from being killed in an airplane crash by God's will.  God protected him from dying even though he did not have the right belief about God. There is a wisdom in this that God knows.  Just because God protected the man from dying does not mean that God accepts his wrong belief.  This man should give up his wrong belief and believe the correct belief about God, that God is not a man who walks, and that God exists without being in a place.

Praise be to God who sent the Prophets telling us about the correct belief in God. God willing next month we will continue to warn you about some of the lies being said about God, our Creator.

The Creator does not resemble the creation


A Prophet of Islam-Prophet Shith
Praise be to God Who created the noble, truthful prophets. Loving the prophets is among the obligations of the heart so let us continue to learn about these great examples.  For the past three months we talked about the first of the prophets, Prophet Adam.  God's willing you are now more knowledgeable about beloved Prophet Adam.  It is ugly how some people mock Prophet Adam.  Praise be to God that He guided us to be among those who love and respect the first man and Prophet.

We would like to see if you remember some things we told you last month. Who was the first person who committed the great sin of murder? Also, what is the name of the city where Prophet Adam is thought to be buried and how many other prophets are buried there near him? The answers are at the end of this article.

As we said last month, Prophet Adam lived for a long time. Do you remember how long he lived? It was for 1000 years. Prophet Adam was patient with all the discomforts of living on this earth for all those years. Allah will reward him greatly on the Day of Judgment, and he will reenter Paradise and live therein forever. Remember how we said that before Prophet Adam lived on earth he lived in Paradise with his honorable wife for 130 years!  Prophet Adam will enter Paradise again on the Day of Judgment and will never be sent out of it.

After Prophet Adam, God continued to send prophets to Earth as a mercy from Him to the people. If you remember, we told you that Lady Hawwa' gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, but once she gave birth and had a boy only.  This boy grew to be Prophet Shith, peace be upon him.  Prophet Shith was the second prophet God sent to the people.

Prophet Shith was born after Qabil had committed the great sin of killing his brother Habil. Of course Prophet Shith never committed a sin like that of his brother, for as we have said, prophets never commit blasphemy, great sins, or small, mean sins both before and after prophethood, may God raise their ranks.

The name Shith means "the gift of God".  Prophets are well mannered even as little children. They are not mischievous, rude, nor do they tell lies.  Such a child for a parent is indeed a gift from God.  Before Prophet Adam died he made Shith the custodian of his other children, but Shith was not yet a prophet. Then when Prophet Adam died, Shith received Revelation and became a prophet and a messenger.

God revealed many sheets of guidance to Prophet Shith, 50 different ones in all. Shith was a messenger as well as a prophet. What does this mean? This is something important that we would like to explain.

Both prophets who are not messengers and those who are receive Revelation from God.  They both have all those perfect human characteristics which we spoke of, such as truthfulness, trustworthiness and intelligence. But a messenger has something more.  He receives a new set of rules from God which cancels some of the laws of the messenger before him.  Not every prophet is a messenger, but every messenger is a prophet. In Arabic a messenger is called Rasul.

One of the laws of Prophet Adam's time which was canceled during Prophet Shith's time was the permissibility for a brother to marry his sister. From Prophet Shith's time until the Day of Judgment it is forbidden for a brother to marry his sister.

During the lifetime of Prophet Shith all the humans continued to be Muslims and none of them blasphemed. How beautiful it must have been during Prophet Shith's time compared to nowadays with so many blasphemers spreading their wrong beliefs and committing so many sins.

Prophet Shith spent his life in the honorable city of Makkah performing Hajj and ^Umrah until he died at the age of 912. It was mentioned Prophet Shith was buried with his parents, Prophet Adam and Lady Hawwa'.   As you can see, Prophet Adam was not the only human who lived for a long time. Prophet Shith lived a long life full of patience like his father.  Some Prophets lived even longer than a thousand years.  God's willing we will tell you more about some of these other prophets in upcoming months.



Answers to our questions

Q.Who was the first person to commit murder?

A.It was the son of Prophet Adam named Qabil (he is called Cain in English).

Q.In what city was Prophet Adam buried, and how many other prophets were buried nearby?

A.It was mentioned Prophet Adam was buried in Mina which is very close to Makkah.  It is mentioned that seventy other prophets are buried near to Prophet Adam, Prophet Shith being one of them.

All Prophets are truthful, trustworthy and intelligent

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth...
We begin in the name of Allah, we praise Allah and we ask Allah to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

We hope that you filled your summer with doing good deeds and avoiding the sinful things which we see all around us nowadays. We ask Allah to make our hearts detracted from those sinful things, remembering that there is a Hellfire and we definitely do not want to enter it even if most people nowadays seem to be rushing towards it.

Remember that surely you were created for a purpose, to worship God and obey Him.  How do we know how to obey God? We know from what Prophet Muhammad taught for truly he spoke the Revelation from God.  When we say he spoke the Revelation, we mean that Prophet Muhammad did not sit and figure out rules, but that God revealed the rules to him and then he told the people.  So, for example, the way in which we perform the five daily prayers was not an idea that Prophet Muhammad made up, instead God revealed to Prophet Muhammad how the prayers are to be done.

People other than prophets do not receive this Revelation, so those people nowadays who claim that God spoke to them and told them to do this and that are truly mistaken. They may have heard something, but it was not God's Revelation, because only Prophets receive Revelation, and Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet and Messenger whom God sent to earth.  If those people really love God, then they would become Muslim and obey God by learning and following the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

In continuing to warn you about some of the lies said about God, I can relate a conversation which I heard two people having on TV recently.  Both men were not Muslim, yet both had different false beliefs. The first man was complaining that the second man felt that everyone should follow his belief. The first man pointed out that many people of his belief do very immoral things. The second man agreed that many of his belief do immoral things and then he said that God must be very embarrassed by the doings of his people.  The second man laughed and said "Do you really think that God gets embarrassed?!"

Although the second man was not a Muslim, you can see that his mind was not ready to accept the blasphemy from the first man. Know without a doubt that God is not a man.  Getting embarrassed is something that a man does, not God! God is not hurt by our sins. Also, God does not need our good deeds. God is not in need of any of His creation.  God is the Owner and Sustainer of all the creation. How could one think of God as some weak creature who gets embarrassed?

Don't feel shy to correct people who say wrong things about God. If all the people who know about God correctly stay silent, will this stop the others from expressing their wrong beliefs about God?  On the contrary!  We should talk often about God, as Prophet Muhammad spoke about Him, and as well we should correct people who talk incorrectly about God. This is good for us, and maybe others will become Muslim as well.

Praise be to God Who gives us all the abilities. We ask Allah to guide us to do only good deeds.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Prophet Idris

In continuing to tell you about the great Prophets and Messengers of God who lived throughout the ages, we would now like to tell you about the noble Messenger Idris, peace be upon him.  Prophet Idris was the messenger after Prophet Shith, whom we learned about in "Dear Youth" number 4. Prophet Idris was not the son of Shith, but he was one of his descendants.  If you remember we said during the time of Prophet Shith all the people of the earth were Muslim. After Prophet Shith died, all the people continued to be Muslim, and they all were Muslim during the time of Prophet Idris as well. Again, just think that there was a time when everyone was Muslim on the earth! What a difference from the way the earth is now!

Prophet Idris is one of the Prophets who was mentioned in the Qur'an by name, so we have no doubt about his prophethood. Although Prophet Idris lived so long ago we know interesting details about him from what God revealed to Prophet Muhammad.  Prophet Idris was born in Babylon, which is the old name for a city in Iraq.  Before Idris became a prophet, he was (of course) a Muslim following the rules revealed to Prophet Shith. Then at one point of time in his honorable life he began to receive Revelation from God and then he knew that he was a Prophet.

In the case of Prophet Idris, God revealed new rules which canceled some of the rules of Prophet Shith.  So we know that Prophet Idris was a Messenger as well as a Prophet. When Prophet Idris told the people that a rule had changed, then the people had to stop following the rule taught by Prophet Shith and start following the new rule that God revealed to Prophet Idris.

When we speak about rules being changed, remember, we do not mean that

a new Messenger taught a new belief. This is a very important point to bear in mind.  All the Prophets and Messengers were Muslim from birth to death.  They all carried the correct belief about Allah and His Messenger.  The first Prophet, Prophet Adam, taught his people the correct belief about Allah, the Prophets and Messengers, angels, the Day of Judgment, what happens to people after they die, and that there would be a last Prophet and Messenger, Prophet Muhammad, whom they should follow if they lived to his time.  After Prophet Adam died, Prophet Shith taught the same things about Allah, the Prophets and Messengers, and about the other matters of life and death. The belief of all the Prophets and Messengers is the same, and their belief is the belief of all the Muslims who are not Prophets and Messengers.

I would like to use an example hoping that the subject of correct belief would be more clear.  Who among you has heard of angels? I expect that anyone reading this would say that he has heard of angels. Now if two people both believe that angels exist, but person number one believes that angels are pretty women with wings, and person number two believes that angels are honorable beings who are not male or female, then obviously, although these two people both believe that angels exist, at least one of them is wrong.  In this case person number one is wrong and person number two is right.  We know that person number two is correct because this is what God revealed to the Prophets and Messengers. God did not reveal to one prophet that angels are female and to another prophet that angels are neither male nor female!  The truth is the truth! So the belief of all the Prophets and Messengers is the same, and their belief is the truth which we all should believe.

God created all the creation.  Surely the One Who created everything knows the truth about all He created. All that God revealed to the Prophets and Messengers concerning unseen things is the indisputable truth about these things, including the information that God revealed about Himself. So whom should we believe, Prophets and Messengers who received Revelation from God, lived impeccable lives and performed miracles, or people who get drunk, cheat, lie, and commit adultery?  Of course the thoughtful, wise person would believe the Prophets and Messengers in an issue where the two types believe differently.

Where else are you hearing this kind of talk except from the true Muslims? I say true Muslims because sadly some people nowadays who claim to be Muslim are not teaching what Prophet Muhammad taught.  They were not careful to learn from a teacher who goes back, in a continuous chain of teaching, to Prophet Muhammad. Perhaps they read a book written by one who was astray. Consequently, they themselves went astray. So, when they talk about Islam incorrectly they lead others astray. We, who have learned about Islam as Prophet Muhammad truly taught it, must keep saying the truth openly, without shyness; how else will people know the truth about Islam?

Praise be to God Who enables us to do anything which we do.  Truly we cannot do anything unless He enables us to do it.

In "Dear Youth" number 6 we plan to continue telling you about Prophet Idris.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth...

We begin in the name of Allah, we praise Allah and we ask Allah to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad and protect his nation from that which he fears for it. To all the Muslim youth we say as-salamu^alaykum.

If you have been following this page you will notice that usually we refer to some thing said by someone on TV.  This is not because we watch TV a lot, nor is it because we are recommending for you to watch TV a lot.  On the contrary, we suggest that you involve yourself in many beneficial activities other than watching TV.

We give this advice so you can get more reward, which you will want, on the Day of Judgment. One activity we suggest is sitting in the genuine circles of knowledge and learning about what Prophet Muhammad really taught. These circles are not as numerous nowadays but they still exist and are indeed more fascinating than what we see on TV.

In addition, if you acquire the knowledge which every Muslim is required to learn before you are pubescent then you are in a great position to earn reward and not sin.  Then hopefully you will be among the people who are not punished at all after they die.

If you are already pubescent then be sure you learn the things that every Muslim must learn. Write us if you do not have a circle of knowledge to attend; in sha'Allah we will arrange for one.  Or if you are concerned about if your present circle is giving you exactly what you need, let us know. We will try to look into it and help you and the others of your group.

We expect that anyone reading this page is really serious about following Prophet Muhammad.  The issue is if the information you received about him is authentic or not. No matter your age, let us help one another. If we help you we get reward and that helps us. Helping one another and loving one another are high virtues among the Muslims.

We ask Allah to support us and help us to obey Him.

[Alsunna Teacher]

PROPHET IDRIS

We resume talking about the honorable and pious Prophet Idris, peace be upon him.  As we said in Dear Youth #5, Prophet Idris was a Prophet and Messenger after Prophet Adam and Prophet Shith.  He was not the son of Prophet Shith, but he was his descendent and after Prophet Idris died, Prophet Noah was among his descendants. Prophet Idris was the third Prophet and Messenger. Among the distinctions of Prophet Idris is that he was the first Prophet to write with a pen, and God revealed fifty tablets to him. So as we can conclude, Prophet Muhammad was not the only Prophet to receive a book. The book that Prophet Muhammad received is called the Qur'an.  Other Prophets received books with different names. All these books are holy and are the word of God, with the Qur'an being the greatest of these books. Another distinction about the Qur'an is that it is the only book revealed to a Prophet which is fully preserved with us to this day.

We do not need to go searching for the other books revealed to the other Prophets. All we need in order to know how to obey God is found in the Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad as explained by the pious and educated Muslim authorities. So, in summary, we believe that other Prophets received books from God, like Prophet Idris, but we know the Qur'an is for us now.

Prophet Idris was born in the city of Babylon. This is a city in Iraq. This was a very beautiful and plentiful place between two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.  The people accepted Prophet Idris as their Prophet; during his time all the people were Muslim, just like during the time of Prophet Adam and during the time of Prophet Shith. Again, what beautiful times those were compared to nowadays.

Although the people of Idris were Muslims, not associating partners to Allah, they were not all pious people.  Some of Prophet Idris's people committed a lot of non-blasphemous sins even after he told them not to.  Because of the sinfulness of some of his followers, Prophet Idris left Babylon with some of his followers.  This was not an easy move to make.

In our next "Dear Youth..." we plan to tell you where Prophet Idris and some of his followers moved to and what he did there.

We ask Allah to bless you and protect all of you Muslim youth. Please ask God to help us to send you more useful and fascinating Islamic information in the months to come.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Dear Youth 8..

I begin in the name of Allah, I praise Allah and I ask Allah to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. This month we would like to talk to you about a very disturbing trend among many people to commit blasphemy when talking about matters to do with the weather.


I have often heard blasphemy committed by the anchor people on news shows and by weather people on the radio and television. Many times the blasphemy which is expressed is that the news person says that the weather man or woman creates the weather we have and is responsible for it. This is so common that we fear that people would get used to and not recognize it to be blasphemy.
As you know, Allah is the Creator of everything and Allah is the only Creator. Weather men and women do not create anything. If it is sunny it is not because a person willed and created it, nor if it is stormy is it because a person willed and created it. We can not suggest that people will and create the weather even if it is in joking and even if the person joking does not believe that the weather person really creates the weather.


Many evils arise when people start taking serious matters lightly. In the media nowadays, every thing is mocked and disrespected. In fact the One Whom we must respect the most, God, is One Who is mocked greatly. One must know without a doubt that mocking God is blasphemy. Those who mock God and do not repent will go to Hellfire forever after they die.


How can we help to stop this terrible trend? We should be aware and active. When I say "aware" I mean we do not need to stop listening to all the media. In fact, if we listen to the media to know what people are saying so we can correct them this can be a beneficial thing. This is where the word "active" comes in. It is not always enough just to know that something is wrong but sometimes we must act to correct the misguidance and to try to prevent misguidance from spreading.


But...our action must be wise. We must start with our heart and check that our reason for acting is really because we have genuine concern for the belief of the people. We must realize that some people have never heard the true knowledge of Islam. If we begin by attacking those people their first impression of us may make them stay away from us and refuse a truly good advise.


It is wise to have good manners with people even when correcting them. Again, remember, the reason you are correcting them is because you hope that they will accept the advice, and repent. If you are hostile, they probably will not lean towards you, but instead will be repelled.

Remember, to like blasphemy is blasphemy. To laugh at and enjoy a blasphemous statement someone else said is blasphemy.

[Alsunna Teacher]

Test!!

We have prepared a test for you about what we have taught in the past about the Prophets of Allah.

We would like to ask you some questions. If you answer these questions correctly, then this shows you understood the material. Please know that it is very important that you do not guess at these questions. All of the answers to these questions can be found in the previous "Dear Youth..." articles. Please find the answers if you do not remember them. Email us at alsunna.org@gmail.com

These are the questions:
1. What is the name of the first Prophet of Allah?

2. What is the first thing which Allah created?

3. What is the second thing which Allah created?

4. What other things did Allah create before He created the first man?

5. What was the first man created from?

6. What did Allah create the first woman from?

7. What is the name of the man whom we all come from?

8. Where did the first man live before he lived on Earth?

9. How many years did he live there?

10. What is the first sin committed by a human?

11. The first man and woman repented from their sin. What happens to the sin when a person repents of it?

12. What is the name of the place to which Prophet Adam descended to when he came from Paradise to Earth?

13. What great building did Prophet Adam build in Makkah?

14. Mention some of the things which Prophet Adam had the knowledge of how to do.

15. How long did Prophet Adam live?

16. Prophet Adam never blasphemed. Give 3 examples of blasphemy mentioned in our article.

17. Give 3 examples of sins which are less than blasphemy mentioned in our article.

18. Name the two sons of Prophet Adam which were involved in the first murder (the murderer and the murdered).

19. What city was Prophet Adam buried in?

20. What is the name of the Prophet after Prophet Adam?

21. The second Prophet was also a Messenger. What is the special distinction of a Messenger?

22. How long did the second Prophet live?

23. What is the name of the third Prophet?

24. Where was the third Prophet born?

25. How many booklets were received by the third Prophet?

[Alsunna Teacher]

As we said before, do not guess at these questions. Instead it is a good idea to print out all the "Dear Youth..." articles from the internet (there are six previous articles) and then re-read all the articles and you will find that all the answers are clearly in the articles. Do not make your answers more than what is in the articles. The best answer will be the one most accurate, not necessarily the one with the most words.

Once you have all the articles printed out, share them with some friends who may not have access to the internet, and encourage them to complete the test as well.

Prophet Idris

Now, we would like to continue with the true story of Prophet Idris. As we said in our last article, Prophet Idris left Babylon with some of his followers.


This move was hard for the followers of Prophet Idris. They said to him: "If we leave Babylon, where will we find a place like it?". Prophet Idris replied: "If we immigrate for the sake of Allah, He will provide for us."
So some of Prophet Idris's followers went with Prophet Idris and they traveled until they reached the land of Egypt. Notice on a map that they went South-west from their original city of Babylon. When they reached Egypt they saw the Nile River. The Nile is a very long and wide river. Rivers are important for providing water for drinking, washing, crops and boats can sail on them. Prophet Idris was grateful to God that He had guided them to this great river. He stood at its bank and said "Subhanallah" which means "God is without imperfection".


Prophet Idris stayed in Egypt with those who came with him and he preached Islam to the people. He kept reminding them that we must worship our Creator and we must not worship other than our Creator. All the people believed in the message of Islam and no people associated partners with God. No people believed that God has a son. No people believed that God is our father. All the people believed that God is our Creator and God is not similar to His creation.
Prophet Idris informed the people that there is a place called Hellfire and that they should protect themselves from entering it. He told the people how to pray, fast, pay zakah, and he ordered them to do so. Prophet Idris told the people that all intoxicating drinks were forbidden.


When thinking about what it was like during the time of Prophet Idris, don't imagine that the people of the earth were a small group of believers all speaking the same language. God-willing in the next "Dear Youth..." we will tell you about the number of languages spoken during the time of Prophet Idris and will conclude our story about this great and honorable Prophet of God.
We hope to know about you, our readers. Let us know what you like to learn about from among the vast Islamic knowledge and we will try to present it to you. We ask Allah to bless you and protect you.

As-salamu ^alaykum wa rahmatullah!

[Alsunna Teacher]

Before we continue talking about the great and honorable Prophet Idris, I would like to know if you love history as much as I do?!

I love history because I know that this is something which really happened compared to all the fiction out there today, and I learn things which help me in my own life from knowing about the lives of other people in the past. By the way, did you notice that that is what some of history is, a record of what other people did. Of course included in history is the knowledge that in the past Allah created the earth and the stars and heavens, Paradise and Hell, and many other matters. Also the actions of angels and jinn are part of the record of history.


What is really important is that a record of history a person prepares is accurate. Compiling an accurate history on an Islamically significant event or person could be a very rewardable act which you may want to do someday. Also disproving an inaccurate account of history could be very rewardable, like for someone to disprove inaccurate reports made about Prophets of Allah.
This is part of what we try to do in presenting this part of your "Dear Youth..." page on the internet. So bearing all this in mind let us proceed in learning about the great and noble Prophet and Messenger, Prophet Idris.



Prophet Idris

It was reported that during the time of Prophet Idris, seventy-two different languages were spoken. Imagine that count how many languages you can think of people speaking now. So Prophet Idris's society was very sophisticated, and everyone worshipped correctly. Allah gave Prophet Idris the knowledge of all these languages to teach each people in their own language. Who among us can speak 72 languages? Praise to God, surely the Prophets are the most intelligent people!


In addition to all we have mentioned, Prophet Idris was the first to set for his own people the rules of designing cities. Every group of the nation of Prophet Idris built cities in their lands and during his time eighty-eight (88) cities were built.


As with all Prophets, Idris was well known for his great wisdom. He knew the value of patience and said "Patience, along with belief, leads to success.". Sometimes it is hard for us to wait a day or more for something we want, but as you get to know the stories of the Prophets you hear of Prophets being patient with people harming them, sometimes for hundreds of years. They did not retaliate in an immature way. Instead they sought Allah's help and were guided to take the best course.


Prophet Idris and his fascinating story is not widely known about as some other Prophets are nowadays. Share this rich history with your friends and school. Think, if the people with the truth don't talk, who will?!

Praise and thanks to Allah the Lord of the worlds!